offered to justifie the Laws in a legal Course against the Arbitrary Proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By Burthening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects 8. By discountenancing the Establisht Reform'd Religion 9. By forbidding the Subjects the Benefit of Petitioning and Construing them Libellers so rendring the Laws a Nose of Wax to serve their Arbitrary Ends. And many more such like too long here to enumerate We being thus made sadly sensible of the Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government that is by the Influence of Jesuitical Councels coming upon us do unanimously declare That not being willing to deliver our Posterity over to such a Condition of Popery and Slavery as the aforesaid Oppressions inevitably threaten we will to the utmost of our Power oppose the same by joining with the Prince of Orange whom we Hope God Almighty hath sent to rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid will use our utmost Endeavours for the recovery of our almost ruin'd Laws Liberties and Religion and herein we Hope all good Protestant Subjects will with their Lives and Fortunes be assistant to us and not be bugbear'd with the Opprobrious Terms of Rebels by which they would fright us to become perfect Slaves to their Tyrannical Insolencies and Usurpations for we assure our selves that no rational and unbyassed Person will Judge it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have Sworn at their Coronations which Oath how well it hath been observed of late we desire a Free Parliament may have the Consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law but he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to resist such an one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence and in this Consideration we doubt not of all Honest Mens Assistance and humbly hope for and implore the great God's Protection that turneth the Hearts of his People as pleaseth him best it having been observed That People can never be of one Mind without his Inspiration which hath in all Ages Confirmed that Observation Vox Populi est Vox Dei The present restoring of Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen Colledge Fellows is plain are but to still the People liâ—e Plums to Children by deceiving them for a while but it they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present storm that threatens the Papists he past affoon as they shall be resetled the former Oppression will be put on with greater vigour but we hope in vain is the Neâ— spread in the sight of the Birds For 1. The Papists old Rule is That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho' the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresie And 2. Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk-men that helpt her to her Throne And above all 3 The Popes Dispensing with the breach of Oaths Treaties or Promises at his Pleasure when it makes for the Service of Holy Church as they term it These we say are such convincing Reasâ—ns to hinder us from giving Credit to the aforesaid Mock-Shews of Redress that we think our selves bound in Conscience to rest on no Security that shall not be approved by a freely Elected Parliament to whom under God we refer our Cause The Lord Delamere being assured of the Resolution and Couragious Zeal of all his Followers continued a while in those Parts to watch the Morions of the Papists in Lancashire who began to take Arms under the Lord Molineux and for a time assisted to Guard Chester for the King but upon the surprizal of that Garrison for the Prince were soon after beaten or rather run away out of the Town and disbanded of themselves In the North the Earl of Danby the Lord Fairfax and other Persons of Quality seized upon the City of York and turned out the Lord Mayor and other Magistrates that were Papists or ill-affected Collonel Copley the Deputy Governour of Hull seized upon all the Guards of that Garrison and with the Assistance of some of the Townsmen and some Seamen made the Lord Langdale the Governour and the Lord Montgomery the Marquess of Powis his Sons Prisoners till he had secured the Citadel wherein was a plentiful Magazine of Powder and all sorts of Provisions with a Train of Artillery ready fixed to be drawn out into the Field Plymouth also with the Earl of Huntington and all the Popish Officers and Souldiers was seized by the Earl of Bath for his Highness and at the same time all the chief Sea-Port Towns in Cornwal declared for the Prince so that there was no Enemy behind him to disturb the Râ—re of his advancing Army But the King being as yet in hopes to force his way through all the great Opposition made him by the whole Kingdom having sent his Army before to Salisbury goes thither to them yet before he went he thought it requisite to provide for the Safety of the pretended Prince of Wales and not daring to trust to the Validity of the forementioned Affidavits for more Security he sent him away with a strong Guard to Portsmouth that if things went ill he should be conveyed over to France when the King came to Salisbury he began to bleed at the Nose and was observed to continue bleeding for some time which seened at that time Ominous to him But in the midst of these sarprizes more ill News arrives to increase his Astonishment for besides the Lord Cornbury who had carried off a consideraâ—â—â— Party of Horse to the Prince some time before several other Regiments of Foot had now Deserted and were gone the same way upon His arrival near to Salisbury he was met by the Duke of Berwick the Earl of Feversham and several other Officers on Horseback and by them attended to the Gates of the Town being met by the Mayor and Aldermen in their Formalities and Conducted to the Bishops Pallace but these flatteâ—ing appearances soon vanisht He quickly perceiving that his English Forces were generally dissatisfied and seem'd unwilling to engage in Civil Bloodshed against their own Countreymen and of their own Religion which was to Fight with their Bodies against their Consciences and likewise discovered the Discontents of the People who supplied the Machels very sparingly for his Army so that not judging himself safe among them and upon a false Alarm that Marshal Schomberg was within thirty or twenty Miles of him he returned back in all haste to Windsor and from thence to London being extreamly discouraged that Prince George and the Lord Churchil were gone both to the Prince and that the Princess Ann of Denmark was also retired from the Court The Prince of Denmark and the Lord Churchil left each of them the following Letters behind them directed to the King SIR with a Heart full of Grief am I forced to write that Prudence will not permit me
sides the Irish Dragoons bearing the Brunt of the Encounter and though the Scotch Horse in small Detached Bodies made some Fire yet they were over-poured driven out of Town and obliged to Retreat to Twyford-Bridge and at length many of the Kings Party Deserted and the rest were Constrained to quit the Pass and make the best of their Retreat there being about thirty killed and several wounded in this Skirmish Upon this ill Success and the King having no Considerable Forces left the Day before his going away he sent a Letter to his General the Earl of Feversham to this Effect That things being come to that Extremity that he had been forced to send away the Queen and his Son the Prince of Wales lest they should fall into his Enemies Hands He was resolved to secure himself the best he could that if he could have relyed on all his Troops he was resolved to have had at least one Blow for it But that his Lordship knew that both his Lordship and several of the General Officers of the Army had told him that it was not safe to venture himself at the Head of his Troops or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them and therefore it only remained for him to thank those Officers and Souldiers that had been truly Loyal to him not expecting they sheuld farther expose themselves in resisting a Foreign Enemy and a Poysoned Nation In pursuance of this Letter the Earl of Feversham sent another to his Highness the Prince of Orange to let him understand That he had received a Letter from the King with the unfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England and he was actually gone with Orders to make no Opposition against any Body which he thought Convenient to let his Highness know so soon as it was possible to hinder the effusion of Blood having already given Order to that purpose to all the Troops under his Command which would be the last Order they should receive from him c. The Kings Departure being publickly known the Multitude got together in divers places as is usual in such Disturbances and Dissolutions of Government Spoiling and Demolishing the new erected Mass-Houses and Chappels pulling down Burning and Destroying all before them they pluckt down the New Convent for Monks at St. John's which had been two years in Building at vast Expence and burnt the greatest part of the Timber and Materials in Smithfield having before Seized upon the Goods as they were Removing and burnt them in Holborn they likewise Defaced the Chappels in Limestreet and Lincolns Inn Fields with that of the Spanish Ambassadors at Wild-House where some common Thieves mixing with the more harmless Boys they got great store of Plunder in Plate Money and Rich Goods They likewise committed Violences at the Lodgings of the Resident of the Duke of Florence and much Defaced the Dwelling-Houses of several Eminent Papists who were fled for fear of being Secured and though the Magistrates Laboured to quiet these Tumults and Disorders Yet they found their Authority too weak till the Mobile had in some measure vented their Rage they being grown so Numerous that neither the Watches nor Trained Bands thought it safe to oppose their Fury Therefore for Redress of these Mischiefs the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then in Town Repaired to Guild-Hall and sending for Colonel Skelton then Lieutenant of the Tower Demanded the Keys which being by him readily Resigned they committed the Charge of that Important Place to the Lord Lucas a Person of known Honour and Integrity to his Country Nor were they less Active in Suppressing those Lawless Rioters So that in a short time they were all Dispersed and Quelled and some of the Principal committed to Prison and then taking into Consideration the Great and Dangerous Conjuncture of the Time in regard of the Kings having withdrawn himself they drew up a Declaration to this Effect That they did Reasonably hope that the King having Issued out his Proclamation and Writs for Calling a Free Parliament they might have rested securely under the Expectation of that Meeting but that the King having withdrawn himself as they apprehended in Order to his Departure out of the Kingdom by the Pernicious Councils of Persons ill Affected to the Nation they cannot without being wanting to their Duty be silent under the Calamities wherein the Popish Councils which have so long prevailed had miserably involved them and therefore unanimously resolved to apply themselves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard to his own Person had undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to Rescue them with as little Effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the Imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery Declaring further that they would with their utmost Endeavours Assist his Highness in the Obtaining of such a Parliament with all Speed wherein their Laws Liberties and Properties might be secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in General the Protestant Religion and Interest over the whole World might be Supported and Encouraged to the Glory of God the Happiness of the Established Government and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be therein Concerned This was Signed by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury 22 Temporal Lords and 5 Bishops and the Earl of Pembroke Lord Weymouth Lord Bishop of Ely and the Dord Culpeper were Ordered to Attend his Highness with the said Declaration at Henley upon Thames the same Day the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council Assembled in the same place and Drew up an Humble Address to be Presented to his Highness in their Names on the behalf of the City of like Effect with the Declaration four Aldermen being appointed to Wait upon the Prince therewith and the Lieutenancy of London meeting that Day also Drew up an Address to his Highness on the behalf of themselves and the rest of the Militia to the like purpose which were accordingly Presented to the Prince and very favourably Received Imploring his Highness Protection and beseeching him to Repair to the City where he would be received with Universal Satisfaction The next day the Tumults being somewhat allayed search was made in divers places for such as were fled from Justice and among others to the great Rejoicing of the People the Lord Chancellor Jeffery's was taken in an obscure House at Wapping Disguised like a Saylor and endeavouring to make his Escape in a Vessel that lay there for Hamburg who being brought before the Lord Mayor with a Numerous and inraged Guard of Attendants his Lordship was suddenly Seized with such a frightful Indisposition that he was incapable of examining the Matter So that the Chancellor was carryed to the Tower by his own Consent to preserve himself from the Fury of the Rabble Dec. 14. His Highness by easy Marches came to Windsor where
THE HISTORY OF THE House of Orange OR A Brief Relation of the Glorious and Magnanimous Atchievements of His Majesties Renowned Predecessors and likewise of His own Heroick Actions till the Late Wonderful Revolution Together with The HISTORY of William and Mary King and Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland c. Being an Impartial Account of the most Remarkable Passages and Transactions in these Kingdoms from Their Majesties Happy Accession to the Throne to this time By R. B. LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1693. TO THE READER I Am very sensible that the greatness of the Subject is a sufficient reason to deter me from adventuring to publish my mean endeavours in Relating the Glorious and Magnanimous Atchievements of His Majesties Renowned Ancestors as well as His own Or of the excellent Conduct of Their Majesties since Their happy Accession to the Throne But because we have such a furious Generation of Murmurers who if they had their desires would ruine both themselves and their Countrey and reduce us to French Popery and Slavery It may seem to be the Interest of every man to strive to undeceive those whom these Miscreants would delude since both our Eternal and Temporal happiness very much depends upon the supporting the present Government against all its Forreign and Domestick Enemies A Government founded upon Law and Justice A Government calculated for the support of the Protestant Interest throughout the World wherein we have a King and Queen of the same excellent Religion with our selves a happiness which we have been deprived of for almost an Age past Princes of such exemplary Virtue and Piety that they discourage Vice and Prophaneness and constantly endeavour to support Goodness and Modesty which seem'd lately designed to be hissed out of the Nation God grant that our ingratitude and impenitence may never deprive us of such inestimable blessings and that we do not fall a Sacrifice to our stupendious folly and discontents THE HISTORY OF THE House of Orange THE Family of Nassau from whom our Gracious Soveraign is descended is not undeservedly accounted one of the most Antient and Honourable in Europe not only for its great Allianceâ— and Branches but also by the Advancement of one of this House to the Empire of Germany Adolphus Nassau by name about the Year 1200 and that there has been a Succession of the Family in a direct Line for above a thousand years past and among them OTHO Count of Nassau who lived about six hundred years since and had two Wives with the first of whom he had the Province of Gueldres and with the other that of Zutphen About three hundred years after a second Count OTHO of Nassau married the Countess of Vranden whereby he became possest of several other Territories in the Netherlands In the Year 1404. Engilbert who was his Grandchild married the Heiress of the Town of Breda and Loeke and was Grandfather to Engilbert 2d Earl of Nassau who in 1491. was by Maximilian King of the Romans going into Hungary made Governour Lieutenant and Captain General of Flanders and afterwards in 1501. Arch-Duke Philip going into Spain constituted him Governour General of the Netherlands an experienced Prince both in War and Peace but dying Childless left his Brother John his large Territories this John had two Sons upon Henry the eldest he bestowed all his Possessions in the Low-Countries and to his youngest Son William he bequeathed all his Inheritance in Germany By the earnest Endeavours of Henry Nassau Charles the 5th was advanced to the Empire against the pretensions of Francis I. the French King and at his Coronation placed the Crown on his Head And yet when upon concluding Peace between these two Monarchs Henry was sent by the Emperor to do Homage to King Francis for the County of Flanders and Artois that Prince forgetting former differences and being fully sensible of his extraordinary Merits married him to Claudia only Sister to Philibert Chalon Prince of Orange by which Marriage his only Son Revens of Orange and Chalons became Prince of Orange William Earl of Nassau Brother to Prince Henry profâ—ssed the Protestant Religion and expell'd Popery out of his Territories and was Father to the great William of Nassau who attained to be Prince of Orange and Lord of all the Possessions of the House of Chalens by the Last Will of Revens de Nassau who died Childless The Emperor Charles the 5th having a favour for the House of Orange and received great services from them was concerned that the young Prince William should be educated in the Reformed Religion and therefore took him with much regret from his Father and endeavoured to instruct him in the Romish Faith but afterward the former Opinions which he had suckt in with his Mothers Milk prevailed upon him so that he became an earnest Professor of Protestantism William Count of Nassau his Father had five Sons and seven Daughters by Juliana Countess of Stolberg WILLIAM the eldest was born in 1533. at the Castle of Dillemberg in the County of Nassau and being taken from his Father by the Emperor Charles as we said he became a great Favourite by his extraordinary Wisdom and Modesty so that the Emperor confest this young Prince often furnisht him with notions and hints he should else never have thought of and upon giving of private Audiences to Ambassadors when the Prince would discreetly offer to withdraw the Emperor mildly remanded him saving Stay Prince and it was admired by the whole Court that a Prince not above twenty years old should be intrusted with all the Secrets of the Empire and carry the Imperial Crown upon his resignation to his Brother Ferdinand though the Prince with some reluctancy seemed to refuse the Imployment by alledging That it was no ways proper for him to carry to another that Crown which his Uncle Henry of Nassau had set upon his Head Yea the Emperor had so much confidence in his Conduct that in the absence of the D. of Savoy his General of the Low Countries though the Prince were not above 22 years old yet contrary to the Advice of all his Council rejecting all other experienc'd Generals he constituted him Generalissimo who managed that great Imploy with such discretion and courage that he caused Philipville and Charlemont to be built in the fight of the French Army which was then commanded by Admiral Castillon that great Captain These Magnanimous actions caused the Emperor to recommend the Prince of Orage to Philip II. his Son but his Virtue and Courage were so emulated by the Spaniards that all his most innocent words and actions were misinterpreted and the opposition that the Provinces made to the Kings Will and Pleasure in defence of their Priviledges were attributed to his contrivance which King Philip made him sensible of when he was imbarking from Flushing for Spain charging him with preventing all his private Intrigues with a furious countenance And when
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
the English Religion which his Majesty has also resolved to destroy Both which enterprises being so contrary to the Laws of God and Man and particularly of those of the Kingdom of which they threaten the utter Subversion the Prince of Orange instigated by the Motives of his own innate Piety which will not permit him to suffer the ruine of Religion nor the overturning of so fair a Kingdom has resolved to call a Free Parliament c. For which Reasons and because the Design of the King of England is manifestly apparent by the striâ—t Alliance which he has Contracted with the most Christian King who bears no good will to the United Provinces and whose Proceedings are justly therefore by them to be suspected so that if His Britâ—â—niek Majesty should be suffered to become Absolute in his Dominions the United Provinces could no longer be in Security and therefore it being their Interest that the Fundamental Laws of that Kingdom and the English Religion should be preserved they hoped that God would bless the Prince of Orange with Happy Success King James though at first he would not believe that the Vast Preparations in Holland concerned him though the French King had given him notice of them some time before was now fully convinced thereof by this Mâ—nifesto and all of a sudden the Bells 〈◊〉 to ring 〈…〉 at White-Hall and the first Nâ—â—â— we heard of thâ—â—â— disturbance was a Proclamatiâ—n 〈…〉 28 1688 by which it was intimated That the King had received undoubted Intelligence that a great and sudden Invasion from Holland was to be speedily made in an Hostile manner upon this Kingdom under the false pretences of Liberty Prop my and Religion but that an absolute Conquest of his Kingdoms and the subduing him and his Dominions to a Foreign Power c. However relying upon the Ancient Courage Faith and Allegiance of his People as he had formerly ventured his Life for she Honour and Safety of the Nation so he was now resolved to Live and Dye in Defence thereof against all Enemies whatsoever c. After this the King published a Proclamation of General Pardon with some few Exceptions Restored the injured Gentlemen of Oxford and Cambridge to their Rights Dissolved the Ecclesiastical Commissions Vacated the Quo Warranto against the City of London and issued forth a Proclamation for restoring all Corporations to their Ancient Charters Liberties Rights and Franchises In short He undid almost in one day all that he had been doing since his first coming to the Crown Yet such was the Folly of the Romish Party in the midst of this Consternation that the show of the Prince of Wales still went on and Oct. 15 the â—hild was Christned the Pope represented by his Nuncio being God-father and the Queen 〈◊〉 onâ—ger God-mother and two days after the King to secure his Territories commanded his Lord and Deputy-Leiutenants and all other Officers concerned to cause the Coasts to be strictly Guarded and that upon the first approach of the Enemy all the Oxâ—n Horses and Cattel which might be fit for Draught should be driven twenty Miles from the Place where the Enemy should attempt to Land Oct. 22. The King commanded a particular Assâ—mbly of his Privy Council and sent for all such Peers Spiritual and Temporal as were in Town together with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London the Judges and several of his Council Learned in the Law telling them That he had called them together upon a very extraordinary Occasion but that extraordinary Diseases must have extraordinary Remedies that the Malicious Endeavours of his Adversaries had so poysoned the Minds of some of his Subjects that very many of them did not believe that the Child wherewith God had blest him was his but a supposed Child However he could say that by a particular Providence scarce ever any Prince was born where there were so many Persons present that he had taken time to have the matter heard and examined expecting that the Prince of Orange with the first Easterly Wind would Invade the Kingdom and therefore as he had often ventured his Life for the Nation before he came to the Crown so he thought himself more obliged to do the same being King and did intend to go against him in Person by which in regard he might be exposed to various Accidents he therefore thought it necessary to have this done first to satisfie his Subjects and prevent the Kingdoms being ingaged in Blood and Confusion after his Death After this the Affidavits of several Ladies were produced of which some swore that they saw Milk upon her Majesties Smock for they did not think fit to mince the matter others that they saw the Midwife take the Child out of the Bed another that she stood by the Bedside when her Majesty was delivered of the Prince another swore that having had the Honour to put on her Majesties Smock she saw the Queens Milk another deposed that she saw the Queen in Labour and heard her cry out much another that she saw the Midwife give the Prince three drops of the Blood of the Navel-string mixt with Black Cherry-water with a great deal of other Nauseous stuff Then the Affidavits of the Lords were produced among whom one swore that he saw Mistris Labadie carry the Child into another Room whither he followed her and saw the Child when she first opened it and that it was Black and Reeking another swore that he saw the Child and that it had the Marks of being new Born another that he heard the Queen make three Groans or Squeeks and that at the last of the three the Queen was delivered of a Child the Physicians swore what was proper but not fit to be repeated However the whole was at length published to the shame and scandal of all modest Eyes and Ears And now my Lords said the King after all the the Depositions were read although I did not Question but that every Person here present was satisfied before yet by what you have heard you will be the better able to satisfie others Besides could I and the Queen have been thought so wicked as to impose a Child upon the Nation we saw how impossible it would have been neither could I my self have been imposed upon having constantly been with the Queen during her being with Child and the whole time of her Labour and therefore there is none of you but will easily believe that I who have suffered so much for Conscience-sake cannot be capable of so great a Viliany to the prejudice of my own Children I thank God that those that know me know well that it is my Principle to do as I would be done by and that I would rather die a thousand Deaths than do the least wrong to any of my Children Yet this Zealous Harangue had but little Influence upon the Generality of the People with whom the King by his late Actions had wholly forfeited his Reputation who
he was received with all kind of Respect and Submission by the Mayor and Aldermen in their Formalities and Congratulated in an Elegant Speech the Prince of Denmarks Lodgings being provided for his Reception whilst his Highness was preparing for London he had notice that the King designing to pass the Seas in Disguise having betaken himself accompanyed only by two or three Persons in a small Vessel to Sea was forced by foul Weather upon the Coast of Kent near Feversham and as soon as he came to that Town was seized upon by the Multitude there being a Report at that time that several Persons were making their Escapes out of the Land and being ignorant who he was they carryed him to a House in the Town rifling him of some Jewels a considerable quantity of Gold and his Crucifix which he very much valued but at last the King being known by a Gentleman who came to see the Prisoners they had taken and fell on his Knees to pay him Duty the Common People were strangely Surprized a great number instantly retiring and others begged his Pardon offering to restore what they had taken from him but the King refused to take his Gold again giving it them freely However his Person was detained till the News of his being there could be carryed to London The Lords who first Assembled in the City being then at White-Hall and having notice of it sent the Lords Feversham Alesbury Yarmouth and Middleton to the King with their earnest Desires that he would be pleased to return to his Royal Pallace at London to which though at first he shewed some unwillingness yet being pressed thereto he at length Condescended the Servants of his Houshold who went along with the Lords having brought him Money and Cloaths those he had being Old and rent in the Searching him before he was known But His Highness the Prince of Orange being fully Determined to come to London with all speed it was upon Consultation thought very inconvenient in regard it might Create daily Disputes and Quarrels between the Souldiers of both Parties and in divers other Respects for the King and himself to be there at one and the same time therefore upon notice of the Kings returning Monfr Zalestein was sent to meet him on the way and to intreat him to return to Rochester which the King would certainly have done had not Mounsieur Zulestein missed him by taking another Road So that the King Arrived at White-Hall on Sunday Dec. 16. in the Evening attended by three Troops of the Life-Guard and a Troop of Granadeers a Set of Boys following him through the City and making some Huzza's while the rest of the People silently looked on From thence the King sent the Earl of Feversham to the Prince then at Windsor to invite his Highness to come to St. James's and take that Pallace as his Residence with what number of Troops he thought Convenient The Prince Deliberating with the Lords about this Message was advised by no means to accept of this Invitation and there being a necessity his Highness should be in Town the next Day the following Paper Signed by the Prince was ordered to be carryed the King the next day by the Lords therein mentioned We Desire you the Lord Marquess of Hallifax the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Lord Delamer to tell the King that it is thought Convenient for the greater Safety of his Person that he do remove to Ham where he shall be Attended by Guards who will be ready to preserve him from any Disturbance Given at Windsor Dec. 17. 1688. And further to prevent the possibility of any disturbance it was resolved that his Highnesses Guards should be possest of all the Posts and Avenues about White-Hall before the Paper was delivered and it was Computed that these Guards might have reached White-Hall by eight a Clock at Night but they were so hindred by the foulness of the ways that it was past ten before they arrived and there being difficulty made of withdrawing the Kings Guards so much time was spent that the Lords could not proceed in their Message till past twelve so that the King was in bed but to preserve Decency and Respect and not break hastily in upon him they sent the Lord Middleton his Principil Secretary of State the following Letter My Lord There is a Message to be delivered to his Majesty from the Prince which is of so great importance that we who are charged with it desire we may be immedlately admitted and therefore desire to know where we may find your Lordship that you may introduce My Lord your Lordships most humble Servants c. The Lord Middleton upon the Receipt hereof came and introduced them to the King and their Lordships having made an Apology for coming at a time that might disturb him the Princes Message was delivered to the King who reading it said that he would readily comply the Lords as they were directed humbly desired that if it might be with his Majesties Conveniency he would be pleased to remove so early as to be at Ham by Noon thereby to prevent his meeting the Prince in his way to London to this the King readily agreed and asked if he might not â—ppoint what Servants should attend him The Lords replied it was wholly left to his Majesty The Lords then took their leaves but were instantly sent for back by the King who told them He had forgot to acquaint them with his Resolution before the Message came to send the Lord Godolphin the next Morning to the Prince to propose his going back to Rochester he finding by the Message Monsieur Zulestein was charged with that the Prince had no Mind he should be at London and therefore he now desired that he might rather return to Rochester The Lords replied that they would immediately send an account to the Prince and doubted not of an Answer to his Satisfaction and accordingly disparching a Messonger to the Prince who was then at Ston House the Sieur Benting by eight next Morning sent a Letter by the Princes Order agreeing to the Kings Proposal and the Guards and Barges being prepared to attend him and his Coaches and Sumpters to follow he reached Gravesend on the eighteenth in the Evening and passed over Land in his Coach attended by the Earl of Arran and several others and made his Residence in Sir Richard Heads House In the Afternoon of the same day his Highness with a very splendid Equipage and a numerous attendance arrived at St. Jameses and received the Congratulations of all the Nobility and Persons of Chiefest Quality in the Town the People crowding to see their Deliverer and expressing their Satisfaction at so Happy a Revolution by Ringing of Bells Bonfires and all the publick Demonstrations of joy imaginable A Remarkable Accident happened between the Kings first going to Rochester and his return to London a general Alarm being given one Night about Midnight at almost one and the same time in the
and the actual Invasion of Ireland and Supporting the Rebels there he is promoting the utter Extirpation of the Protestants there His Majesty being therefore thus Necessitated to take up Arms and Relying on the help of Almighty God in his just undertaking hath thought fit to declare War against the French King and will in Conjunction with his Allies vigorously prosecute the same by Sea and Land since he hath so unrighteously begun it being assured of the hearty Concurrence and Assistance of his Subjects in Supporting of so good a Cause forbidding all Correspondence or Communication with that King or his Subjects and that all the French Nation in his Majesties Dominions who shall Demean themselves Dutifully and not Correspond with his Enemies shall upon the Kings Royal word be safe in their Persons and Estates and free from all Molestation and Trouble of any Kind About the same time the King of Spain proclaimed War against France and the Emperor of Germany sent a Letter to his Majesty wherein after he has returned thanks to the King for taking care that no Violence should be offered to the Roman Catholicks he promises the same thing in respect to the Protestants His Majesty gave Advice to the Switzers of his Advancement to the Throne So that now King William and Queen Mary were acknowledged for lawful Soveraigns of Great Brittain by all the Protestant and the greatest part of the Roman Catholick Princes and States for besides the Emperor and the King of Spain the Duke of Bavaria the three Ecclesiastical Electors the Duke of Newburg the Elector Palatine and the Bishops of Leige and Munster all Roman Catholicks declared themselves Enemies to France and by this we may observe that the French Polititians were greatly deceived in their Measures for upon notice of the Prince of Oranges Expedition into England it is reported some of them thus Discourst King Lewis Sir said they There is a Civil War kindling in England which will last this two or three years and Disable that Island and the United Provinces from Acting In this time your Majesty will have Conquered all or the greatest part of Germany If King James has the worst we will perswade all the Catholick Princes to Unite and Restore him All this while your Majesty will be Head of the League will preserve your Conquests and King James cannot refuse you Ireland or any other portion of his Kingdom for the Expences of the War This done your Majesty shall fall upon Holland which will be weak and unprovided of Men and Money and shall be able in a little time to oppress the Remainder of the Protestanâ—s and so become Emperor of all Europe But unfortunately for them King James II. too soon forsook his Country and then they cryed Religion is ruined unless all endeavours are used for his Restoration Upon which some would fain know what Religion the French King is of who persecutes and invades Papists as well as Protestants and think that he must be either a Pagan or Mahumetan or else of a Christianity all of his own Contriving to carry on his Perjuries and Usurpations upon his Neighbours May 1. A Squadron of English Men of War under Admiral Herbert Sailing toward the Coast of Ireland to prevent the French from Landing Forces and Provisions there understanding they were got to Sea under favour of the Night they got sight of them lying in the Bay of Bantree in the West of Ireland and resolved to Attack them with Nine Ships in the Harbor they being about 44 Sail in all whereupon the next Morning the Fight began we continued Fattering upon a Stretch till five in the Afternoon when the French Admiral Tackt from us and stood farther into the Bay In this Action Captain Aâ—lmeâ— and 94 Seamen were killed and about 250 wounded but the Enemy were Reported to have 200 Slain and many more Wounded and having Landed some few Men for fear of a second Ingagement Retreated after which our Squadron returned to Portsmouth whither His Majesty came soon after and declared his Royal Intention of Conferring the Title of Earl upon the Admiral and accordingly he was afterward Created Earl of Torrington Baron of Torbay c. and the Captain Shovell and Ashby were Knighted and Ten Shillings a Man was given to those Seamen that had been ingaged against the French King James found himself at this time greatly mistaken in Scotland which he called his Ancient Kingdom where he thought himself absolute Master by making so many Creatures and Friends whereas that Kingdom in general now owned King William and the Rebels whose number is inconsiderable and Discovered and Secured The Lord Dundee only escaped who roam'd about the North parts with some few followers and General Mackay at his Heels Letters about this time were intercepted from the late King and his Secretary Melfort to the Lord Belcarris and others wherein were some Expressions that highly incensed the Scots against them You will ask me without question says Melfort to Claverhouse How we intend to pay our Army but never fear that so long as there are Rebels Estates we will begin with the Great Ones and end with the Little Ones In another Letter to Belcarris says he The Estates of the Rebels will Recompence us Experience hath taught our Illustrious Master that there are a good Number of People that must be made Gibeonites because they are good for nothing else you know there are several Lords that we markt out when we were both together that deserve no better These will serve for Examples to others after the Reading of these Letters the President of the Convention Addressing himself to the Members of the Assembly You hear Gentlemen said he Our Sentence Pronounced and that it behoves us either to Defend our Selves or Dye Upon which the Lords Belcarris and Lochore and Lieutenant Colonel Balfour were Committed to Prison and being thus forewarned they Resolved to keep the Army afoot which they thought of Disbanding As to the Hopes of the Enemies of that Kingdom that the Abolishing of Episcopacy may occasion another Revolution there is no reason to believe it since the late Carriage of the Scotch Bishops has utterly Alienated the Affections of the greater part of the People from them so that if they were Protestants at the bottom of their Souls yet they appeared to be Men of no Policy nor Conduct For they sent an Address to King James wherein they Highly Congratulated the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales they read that Kings Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in favour of the Papists and for the Abolition of Penal Laws and how could they imagine that when they knew it was a long timebefore they could gain that single Point of the Superiority of Bishops above private Ministers that the Scots would ever endure Popery and Arbitrary Power to Domineer over them Experience shews us that they only wanted a Leader before this time So that when the Prince of Oranges Design
he lived in great State with the Spanish Governor of the Netherlands at Brussels and was imploy'd by that King to conduct into the Netherlands his Bride and Spouse that was to be the Infanta Isabella to whom K. Philip had given in Dowry the Soveraignty of the 17 Provinces This was a very astonishing Policy to all the Netherlands that the Son of a Prince who was so abhorr'd by the Spaniards should be chosen for this honourable Imployment and caused such a Jealousie in the States of the United Provinces towards him the King of Spain having likewise restored to him all his Estate in the Spanish Low-Countries and the French Comte that they would not allow him to make any Visit much less to reside in any of their Provinces though he was very desirous so to do And though his younger Brother Prince Maurice out of his generous temper surrendred up all the great Estate that belonged to Philip his older Brother as Breda and other places yet to prevent his being suspected by the States General he declined seeing him in Person rendring his Respects to him constantly by Persons deputed thereunto He married Eleonora Burbon Sister to the Prince of Conde and by marching with a Princess of the Blood he was reinstated in his Principality of Orange and died without Children at Brussels in 1618. leaving his Inheritance and Title to his Brother Maurice of Nassaw Prince of Orange Successor to his Father both in Conduct Courage and Success who being but 17 years old at the Death of his Father was yet called to the Government and was no ways discouraged at the great Successes of Alexander Famese Duke of Parma who in a very short time had reduced several Cities and Towns to the Crown of Spain Nor with the insolence of the Earl of Leicester who at the desire of the State General was sent by Q. Elizabeth to be their Governor though by his insupportable Pride and Ambition he more endamaged the Low Countries than the Succours he brought relieved them so that for 4 years together that Commonwealth laboured under dreadful Convulsions occassion'd by the Intrigues of the Earl of Leicester and the Policies of the Spaniards till at length by the fortunate and total destruction of the Nick-named Invincible Spanish Armada designed to have devoured all England the Prince of Parma lost all his reputation at once Prince Maurice about the same time obliging him to his everlasting shame to rise and run away from the Siege of Bergen 〈◊〉 Zoom And for Twenty Years after even till the time of the Truce Fortune was so favourable to the Prince that Victory seemed to attend him insomuch that he recovered near 40 Cities and many more Fortresses and in three pitched Battels defeated the Forces of the K. of Spain besides the Victories his Admirals obtained at Sea upon the Coasts of Flanders and Spain The Stratagem by which he surprized Breda was very remarkable For the Garrison of that Town being Italians and greedy of Fuel in that cold Country they very readily assisted the Boatman to draw his Bark of Turffs over the Ice within the Castle Walls under which the Prince had laid several armed Soldiers who suddenly starting up surprized and soon seiz'd the Guards taking Possession of the Castle with the loss only of one Man though it were an Action of such Danger and Importance Soon after the Town of Gertrudenburg was surrendred to the Prince in View of the Spanish Army consisting of 30000 Men commanded by Count Mansfield an experienced General who could not force the Prince out of his Trenches though he daily provoked him so that Prince Maurice having sent a Trumpeter to the Count he askt him How his Master being a young and fiery Prince could contain himself within his Trenches after such fair Provocations The Trumpeter replied That the Prince of Nassaw was a Young Prince but as old and experienced a General as his Excellency The next Year the Prince took Groning the Capital City of that province also Rhineburg Meurs and Grave and gained great Reputation by the defence of Ostend for the Spaniards having made themselves Masters of it after a Siege of three Years with the loss of Sixty thousand Men and the expence of above a Hundred Millions of Treasure they were possessed of nothing but a heap of Ruins more like a Burying place than a City And the Prince soon after gained Sluce a place of far greater Importance And at the Battle of Newport he had so great Success against far more numerous Forces than his own That the Archduke Albert with several other Persons of Quality were wounded All the Spaniards Cannon with above 100 Cornets and Ensigns falling into the Victor's hands with the slaughter of 6000 of the Enemy upon the place the Prince having before the Fight sent away all the Ships that Transported his Men into Flanders telling them That now there was no way to escape but they must either march over the Bellies of their Enemies or else drink Salt Water After several other successes against the Prince of Parma and other Spanish Generals whereby he raised up the sinking Republick of the United Netherlands he died in 1625. He was never Married and left his Titles and large Possessions to his younger Brother Henry Frederick of Nassaw Prince of Orange Who was third Son to the renowned W. P. of Orange He was born in 1584. and was an excellent General not in the least degenerating from the Courage and Gallantry of that Heroick Family being every way equal in Fame to his Brother Prince Maurice taking the famous Cities of Odousel and Groll in despite of the Spanish General who with a numerous Army was not able to relieve it Nor was he less successful at Sea his Vice Admiral Hein taking a Fleet of the Spaniards near Cuba in the West Indies valued at above twenty Millions After this he took Bois le Duc which had withstood all the attempts of his Brother Maurice and would not be drawn away till he had reduced it though Count Henry of Bergnes the Spanish General made an Incursion into the Province of Utrecht to divert him And afterward happily surprised the City of Wessel where the Magazine of Provisions and all the great Artillery of the Spanish Army were laid up About this time Count John of Nassaw his Kinsman upon some discontent revolting to the Spaniards was defeated by one of the Princes Captains near the Rhyne in the open Field with half his number of men himself being carried Prisoner to Wessel from whence he could not be redeemed without the payment of 18000 Rix Dollars To revenge which dishonour Count John when at liberty endeavoured with a strong Navy of Ships to seize the Town of Williamstadt but was totally defeated by the Hollanders and 4000 Prisoners taken and the rest either kill'd or drowned He himself and the Prince of Brabancon hardly escaping The States General to testifie their gratitude to Henry Prince of Orange
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
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
daily discovered as far as they durst their longing desires for the Arrival of his Highness the Prince of Orange to deliver them from the apparent Mischiefs that impended over the Nation His Highness Preparations for his Expedition went on apace and the Marquess of Albeville King James his Ambassador at the Hague presented a Memorial to the Deputies of the States General upon that Subject but while he expected an Answer the Troops Embarqued and his Highness and the Marshal Schomberg came to the Hague and on Friday Oct. 16. The Fleet consâ—â—â—ing of 635 Men of War Fireships Tenders c. For the carriage of Horse Foot Arms and Ammunition sailed about four Afternoon from the Flats near the Brill with the Wind at S. W. and by S. The Prince Embarqued on a Vessel of between 28 and 30. Guns with Count Solmes Count Stirum the Sieur Bentwick the Sieur Overkirk Marshal Schomberg Count Charles his Son with several others as well English Noblemen as Strangers who were in the Fleet next day they came in sight of Schevelinge but meeting with a very terrible Storm which continued for two days and nights together was forced to put into Harbour again some Ships and small Vessels on which the Horse were aboard suffering some prejudice upon their return the Prince immediately gave an account to the States General of the Condition of the Fleet which was not so much damaged as was published in the English Gazette but rather turned to the Advantage of his Highness as the Affair was managed for to make the English Court more remiss in their Preparations the Haarlem and Amsterdam Gazettes told a most lamentable Story of what had happened As that the Prince was returned with his Fleet so miserably Torn and Shattered that he had lost nine of his Men of War and several lesser Vessels That 1000 of his Horse were utterly lost that a Calenture was got among the Seamen that Dr. Butner and several of the Princes chief Ministers were drowned and that the States had an ill opinion of the Expedition in General so that it was a thing almost impossible that the Prince should be in a Condition to pursue his Design till the next Spring This Stratagem had some effect upon the Court for the Papists hopes hereupon began so to revive that the King Ordered the Restoring the Charters and the Fellows of Magdalen Colled the Vacaring the Ecclesiastical Commission and the other Grants which he had newly made to be suspended till he heard the Prince was again put to Sea and thereby made the whole Nation sensible how little Trust or Credit was to be given to his most solemn Promises and Declarations but all hands being at work the damage that had been sustained was repaired in eight days time so that Nov. 3. about ten in the Morning upon a signal given the whole Fleet once more set Sail about Midnight an Advice Boat brought Intelligence that the English Fleet consisting of thirty three Sail lay to the Westward of the Princes upon which the Prince fired a Gun which caused a great Consternation through the whole Fleet but the small Advice Boats Cruising for more certain Intelligence brought news that instead of the English Fleet which had given the Alarm it was only Admiral Herbert with a part of the Dutch Fleet which had been for some hours separated from the main Body in the Morning the Prince gave a Signal for the Admirals to come aboard of him and soon after the Fleet was got into the North Forelands at what time the Fleet was Orderâ—d to close up in a Body fourteen or fifteen Foot deep his Highness leading the Van in the Ship called the Brill carrying a Flag with English Colours with this Motto The Proteâ—tant Religion and Liberties of England and underneath I will maintain it in the mean time the Council of War sent three small Frigates into the Mouth of the Thames who returning brought news that the English Fleet lay at the Bâ—oy in the Oar about thirty four Sail the Wind centrary at E. N. E. Upon which the Prince gave Order for stretching the whole Fleet between Dover and Calice seventy five deep which extended in breadth within a League of each Place the Flanks and Rear being guarded by Men of War the Trumpet founding and Drums beating at least three hours together after which the Prince giving the Signal for the Eleet to close they sailed that night as far as Beachy and the next Morning came within view of the Isle of Wight and then Order was given to extend the Fleet in a Line as before the next Morning they made directly for Toâ—â—ay upon his Highness Arrival the People flocking in great numbers to the Shoar signified their welcomes in loud Acclamations of Joy soon after the Prince gave two signals for the Admirals to come aboard and then the whole Fleet cast Anchor and Preparation was made for Landing whilst the Admirals stood out to Sea as a Guard and the small Men of War at ended for the Defence of those that Landed besides six men of War that were Ordered to run in and guard the Bay it self It is remarkable that his Highness had a brisk East and North Easterly Wind for two days which brought them directly toward Torbay and the Wind then turning Westerly carried them into the Bay which otherwise might have been very troublesome and dangerous The Prince now displayed a Red Flag at the Mizen yards Arm while General Mackay with six Regiments of Foot was the first that set Foot on Shoar under the Protection of the little Porpoise which was ordered to run her self aground to secure their Landing this was upon Nov. 5. a day memorable to the English before but now doubly remarkable for a second Deliverance from the Bloody Designs of the Papists But the People were so far from making Opposition that they only stood there to welcome their Guests with all manner of Provisions and Refreshments So that his Highness safely Landed his whole Army consisting in 10692 Foot and 3660 Horse in all 14352. The News of the Princes being Landed was carried to the Earl of Bath at Exeter and Captain Hicks going thither the People flock'd to him in great numbers to List themselves in the Service of the Prince of Orange for which the Mayor of the City would have sent him to Prison but was prevented by the People the next day the Lord Mordaunt with Dr. Burnet came thither with three or four Troops of Horse and commanding the Gates to be opened released the Captain and going to the Mayor askt him if he would wait upon the Prince at his Entrance who pleading his Obligation of an Oath to King James and desiring that his Conscience might not be imposed on he was excused The next day the Prince with his Guards marched into the City and went to the Deans House where he resided during his stay at Exeter after whom followed the whole Body of his Army
Evil Councillors proceeded with all Rigor against those that used those Methods particularly the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and others who humbly offering their Reasons why they could not Order the Declaration of Liberty of Conscience to be read in the Churches were sent to Prison and after Tried as if guilty of some enormous Crime and obliged to appear before profest Papists and those Judges that gave their Opinion in their favour were turned out They have also Treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal for saying that the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace because they are put into Imployments contrary to Law That his Highness and his Dearest and most Beloved Consort the Princess have signified to the King in Terms full of respect the just and deep Regret these Proceedings have given them and in compliance with His desires have declared their Thoughts about Repealing the Penal Laws and Tests whereby they hoped there might have been an happy agreement among the Subjects of all Perswasions which yet these Evil Councillors have so misrepresented as to endeavour to alienate the King more and more from them as if they designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom and the last and great Remedy for all these Evils being the calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against the Practices of these Evil Councillors cannot be easily brought about since by a Parliament duly chosen they doubt to be called to account for all their open Violations of the Laws their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects their designing under the specious pretence of Liberty of Conscience to sow Divisions among Protestants and from their mutual quarrels to carry on their own Designs to prevent which the Electors and Elected for Parliament men are to be beforehand ingaged to comply with their wicked Desires and the returns are to be made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns so that this only remedy of a Free Parliament is hereby made impracticable And to Crown all There are great and violent Presumptions inducing their Highnesses to believe that these Evil Councillors to gain more time to carry on their ill Designs for incouraging their Complices and discouraging all good Subjects they have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son though there appeared both during the Queens pretended bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of Suspition that not only their Highnesses but all the good Subjects of this Kingdom vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born of the Queen and since their Highnesles have both so great an Interest in this matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession of the Crown and since the English Nation had ever testified a most particular Affection and Esteem to them both their Highnesses cannot excuse themselves from espousing their Interests in a matter of such high consequence and from contributing all that in them lies for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which his Highness is most earnestly sollicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks Therefore it is that his Highness hath thought fit to go over into England and to carry over a Force sufficient by the Blessing of God to defend him from the Violence of those Evil Councillors His Highness declaring that this Expedition is intended for â—o other design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled as soon as is possible and that in Order thereto all the late Charters limiting of Elections contrary to Ancient Custom shall be considered as null and of no force and all Magistrates to return to their former Imployments and particularly the Ancient Charter of London to be again in force and none to be suffered to chuse or be chosen Parliament men but those qualified by Law and that the Members of Parliament so chosen shall sit in full Freedom for making Laws to secure the Protestant Religion and to establish a good Agreement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters as also for the securing and covering of Papists and all others who will live peaceably from all Persecution for Religion and for doing all other things which the two Houses of Parliament shall find necessary for the Peace Honour and Safety of the Nation so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter under Arbutrary Government to which Parliament his Highness will also refer the Inquiry into the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and of all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession And his Highness declares That for his Part be will concur in every thing that may produce the Peace and Happiness of the Nation which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine since his Highness hath nothing before his Eyes in this His Undertaking but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the covering of all men from Persecution 〈◊〉 their Consciences and the securing to the whole Natâ—on the Free Enjoyment of all their Laws Rights anâ— Liberties under a Just and Legal Government His Highness further declares that this is the Design he has proposed in appearing upon this occasion in Arms in the Conduct of which his Highneâ— would keep the Forces under his Command undeâ— all the strictness of Martial Discipline and take a special care that the People of the Countreys througâ— which He shall March shall not suffer by their meanâ— and as soon as the State of the Nation will permit iâ— his Highness promises that he will send back all thoâ— Foreign Troops that He hath brought along witâ— him his Highness does therefore hope that all People will judge rightly of his Proceedings though 〈◊〉 does chiefly rely on the Blessing of God for the sâ—â—cess of this his Undertaking in which he places 〈◊〉 whole and only Confidence Lastly his Highness doth invite and require all Perâ—ons whatsoever all the Peers of the Realm both Spâ—ritual and Temporal all Lords Lieutenants Depâ—â— Lieutenants and all Gentlemen Citizens and otheâ— Commons of all Ranks to come and assist him in Order to the executing of this His Design against all suâ—â— as shall endeavour to oppose Him that so all thoâ—â— Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nation being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slaveâ— may be prevented and that all the Violences anâ— Disorders which have overturned the whole Cons tâ—tution of the English Government may be fully Redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament his Highness likewise Resolving that as soon as the Nations are brought to a State of Quiet He will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland
whom now were a great part of the Nobility He recalled his Remainder of them with the Train of Artillery and upon his return to White Hall he appointed Colonel Beril Skelton to be Lieutenant of the Tower in the place of Sir Edward Hales and in pursuance of the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Ordered the Chancellor Jefferies to issue out writs for summoning a Parliament to sit Jan. 15. following the Bishop of Exeter who left that City upon the approach of the Prince was likewise nominated Arch-Bishop of York which had been vacant for some time and was thought to have been designed for Father Peters if things had gone on But the King Affairs growing daily more desperate and the Prince of Orange marching forward with his Army and being advanced to Hungerford after a Consultation with the Queen and the Jesuits it was resolved to send the following Proposals of Accommodation to his Highness which were soon after published with the Princes Answer thereto VVHEREAS on the 8th of December 1688. at Hungerford a PAPER Signed by the Marquess of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin Commissioners sent unto US from his Majesty was Delivered to US in these Words following viz. SIR The King Commandeth us to acquaint You That he observeth all the Differences and Causes of Complaint alledged by Your Highness seem to be referred to a Free-Parliament His Majesty as He hath already Declared was Resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present State of Affairs it was adviseable to defer it till things were more Compos'd Yet seeing that His People still continue to desire it He hath put forth His Proclamation in order to it and hath Issued forth His Writs for the calling of it And to prevent any Cause of Interruption in it He will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that shall come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent Us to attend Your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready immediately to enter into a Treaty in Order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the Respective Armies may be Restrained within such Limits and at such a Distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may in any kind be disturbed being desirous that the Meeting of it may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Signed Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen Assembled with US have in Answer to the same made those following PROPOSALS 1. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and Removed from all Employments Civil and Military 2. That all Proclamations which Reflect upon Us or any that have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having so Assisted have been committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty 3. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the hands of the said City 4. That if His Majesty shall think fit to be at London during the Sitting of the Parliament that we may be there also with an equal Number of Our Guards Or if his Majesty shall please to be in any place from London at what-ever distance he thinks fits that We may be at a place of the same distance And that the respective Armies do remove from London Thirty Miles and that no more Foreign Forces be brought into the Kingdom 5. That for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury Fort be put into the hands of the said City 6. That to prevent the Landing of French or other Foreign Troops Port mouth may be put into such hands as by Your Majesty and Us shall be agreed upon 7. That some sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be Assigned Us for the Maintaining of our Forces until the Meeting of a Free Parliament But these Proposals of the Prince proving of too hard Digestion at White-Hall the Offer of Accommodation was thought to be Designed only to gain time and the Romish Councellors perceiving that this would not obtain began to think of other measures So that the Child being sent for back from Portsmouth to White-Hall in great haste the Queen having made up her Equipage Dec. 10. took her Solemn Leave of the King and with the pretended Prince of Wales and her Attendants whereof it is said Father Peters was one but it was thought with a large proportion of Treasure and Jewels She Crossed the Water at Lambeth where three Coaches with Six Horses awaited them and with a Strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Graves-End where she and her Retinue Imbarked in a Yatch for France and Landed the next Day about four a Clock in the Afternoon the Queen and several Courtiers being gone the Popish Priests began to shift for themselves and the same Night the King called an Extraordinary Council and sent for the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London Charging them to preserve the Peace and Quiet of the City as much as in them lay after which they were Dismist But the Council continued their Debates upon the present Exigency of Affairs a great while longer and were ordered to meet again the next Morning when to the Surprize of the City and Kingdom About three a Clock in the Morning the King took Barge at the Privy Stairs with a small Equipage and went down the River without being so much as known to many of the Officers of his Houshold who were then in waâ—ing whose sudden Departure may be supposed to be occasioned by the News that Alarm'd the Court the Day before that the Princes Forces had made their way through Beading and gain'd the Pass of Twyford-Bridg without any Considerable Resistance for about 1500 Horse and three Troops of Dragoons being Quartered in the Town of Reading they had notice that a Detatchment of the Princes Army were Marching up towards them which put them into such a Consternation that not finding themselves strong enough to maintain the Town the Officers upon Consultation Concluded to draw off and make good their Post at Twyford-Bridge out their Scouts coming in with News that the Roads were clear the Commander ordered a Scoten Regiment of Horse and the Irish Dragoons to march back and Repossess themselves of Reading which they did and were placed in the Market-place and other Posts continuing on Horseback most part of the Night to prevent Surprize yet hearing no more of the Princes Advanced Party their Officers ordered them to alight and refresh themselves and their Horses But about ten in the Morning the Trumpet Sounded to Horse the Princes Forces being at the Towns-end almost before they were Discovered and thereupon sharp Firing began on both
Chrissians ought to do and not to be obliged to Transplant themselves which would be very grievous especially to such as love their own Countrey and I appeal to all Men who are considering Men and have had Experience Whether any thing can make this Nation so great and flourishing as Liberty of Conscience Some of our Neighbours dread it I could add much more to confirm all I have said but now is not the proper time Rochester Decemb. 22. 1688. Upon these Reasons we may make these few Cursory Remarks That as to the detaining of the Earl of Feversham who was sent without a Pass in a time of open War it may be very well justified He having likewise disbanded the Army and left them at large to lie upon the Countrey The Message for his removal from Whitehall was managed as we have heard with all the respect and decency imaginable and absolutely necessary upon several accounts as well as for the preservation of his own Person whose late Actions especially his extraordinary Severity in the West had raised him many inveterate Enemies who now might have taken the opportunity of offering Violence to him that his Highness had sufficient Reason for this Glorious Expedition the King had made the Nation too sensible of and as to the business of the Child it is well known that his Zeal for the Catholick Cause made him shut his Eyes to all other Considerations whatsoever and besides it was managed with such a number of Suspitious Circumstances that we are told one of his own Commanders in Ireland should say That the Prince of Orange had one plausible pretence for his Invasion namely that of the Prince of Wales since if it was a real Birth the Court managed the matter so as if they had Industriously contrived the Nation should give no Credit to it as to his Hopes of Conquering is we have as great Hopes and better Reason to believe the contrary since the People will scarce be ever fond of giving up their Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the Will of an Arbitrary Prince or ever submit to a French Government as to a Parhament we may think he did not design to call any since some time before his departure he ordered all the Writs that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of such as were already sent into the Countreys as to Liberty of Conscience which he seems so much to value his Proceedings in freland and against the Universities together with his recalling the Protestant Ministers from Preaching to the English Merchants in Popish Countreys with many other Instances that might be given are sufficient Demonstrations of the reality of his Intentions therein Soon after we had an account that the King was arrived in France and gone to the Court where his Queen came some time before having as soon as she landed sent as it is said the following Letter to that King An unfortunate Queen all bathed in Tears has Deemed it no trouble to expose her self to the greatest Perils of the Sea on purpose to seek an Asy lum and Protection in the Dominions of the greatest and most Glorious Monarch in the World Her bad Fortune has procured her a Happiness which far distant Nations have sought with eagerness nor does the necessity lessen the value while she makes choice of this same Sanctuary before any other that she might have found in any other place She is perswaded his Majesty will look upon it as a Demonstration of the singular Esteem she has of his Great and Royal Qualities that she intrusts him with the Prince of Wales who is all she has most dear and precious in the World He is too Young to partake with her in the acknowledgments due for his Protection that acknowledgment is entirely in the Heart of his Mother who in the midst of all her sorrows enjoys this Consolation to live sheltred under the Lawrels of a Prince who surpasses all that ever was of most Exalted and Mighty upon Earth These fulsom Flatteries which are so admired by that King doubtless moved him to entertain her with great Tenderness and made way for the Reception of the King her Husband who soon after Arrived there and had St. Germains allowed for their Residence with such a Revenue as that King can spare from his other mighty Expences for their Subsistance though it is a question whether King James consulted his own Interest in Flying to the French King for certainly after all that he had done at home to see him Harbour himself with the Enemy of the English Name the Contriver and Adviser of all the Mischiefs for several years perpetrated in the Kingdom what could more Convict him of the Oppressions of his Reign or more Inveterately Alienate the Peoples Affections from him Upon the Kings second withdrawing Portsmouth that held out with some Obstinacy under the D. of Berwick and Sir Edward Scot Deputy Governor submitted and Received a Garrison sent thither by the Princes Order And now to fill up this Breach and Rupture in the Government the Lords Spiritual and Temporal immediately met in the House of Peers at Westminster where they drew up an Humble Address which they presented to his Highness Requesting him in this Conjuncture to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion Rights Laws Liberties Properties and the Peace of the Nation and to take into his particular Care the present Condition of Ireland and to use Speedy and Effectual means to prevent the danger threatning that Kingdom At the same time these Honourable Lords further Humbly Requested That His Highness would please to cause Letters to be Written Subseribed by himself and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants to the several Counties Universities Cities and Boroughs c. directed to the Chief Magistrates of each within Ten Days after the Receipt thereof to chuse such a Number of Persons to Represent them as are of Right to be sent to Parliament Both which Addresses were Presented to the Prince at St. Jamese's who answered that he had considered their Advice and that he would endeavour to secure the Peace of the Nation till the meeting of the Convention Jan. 22. next and that he would forthwith Issue out Letters to that purpose and that he would apply the Publick Revenues to their proper use and likewise Endeavour to put Ireland into such a Condition as that the Protestant Religion and the English Interest might be maintained in that Kingdom Further assuring them that as he came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom so he should always be ready to Expose himself in any Hazard for the Defence of the same His Highness likewise sent for all such as had been Members of Parliament in the Reign of Charles the II. together with
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