the Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed that great numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and Parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempts upon the said Cities and the Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his Most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Though we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one and secure the other that by God's assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of our great and tender concern we have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists to require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns of England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and Parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsoever as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all power of doing Mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their force and be strictly executed And we do hereby likewise declare That we will protect and defend all those who shall not be afraid to to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others of what condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to execute vigorously what we have required of them and suffer themselves at this juncture to be cajolled or terrified out of their Duty we will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men Betrayers of their Religion the Laws and their Native Country and shall not fail to treat them accordingly resolving to expect and require at their hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish and every House that shall be burnt and destroyed by Treachery and Cowardize Given under our Hand and Seal at our Head Quarters at Sherburn Castle the Twenty eight of November 1688. WILLIAM HENRY PRINCE OF ORANGE By his Highness's special Command C. HUYGENS. This was the boldest Attempt that ever was made by a private Person for it is certain the Prince knew nothing of this Declaration and disowned it so soon as he heard of it but yet it was printed in London and a quantity of them were sent in a Penny-Post Letter to the Lord Mayor of London who forthwith carried them to the King to Whitehall and it is thought this sham Paper contributed very much to the fixing and hastning his Resolution of leaving the Nation however there was no enquiry made after the Author or Printer of it that I could take notice of On Sunday the Ninth of December it is said Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from Whitehall and the next Morning about three or four of the Clock the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches each of six Horses and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Gravesend where they imbarked on a Yatch for France And it is supposed she carried the Great Seal of England with her it having never appeared after this Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THe King commanded 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 advisable to defer it till things were more composed 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 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 to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or at any time have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. 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 IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if his Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade
Romish Priests who are in or about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by Us for promoting his Highness's Generous Intentions for the Publick Good we shall be ready to do it as occasion requires Signed W. Cant. T. Ebor. Pembrook Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Berkeley Rochester Newport Weymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph F. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Potriburg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandois Montague T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crowe Osulston Whereas His Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn himself we the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are hereunto Subscribed being assembled in Guild-Hall in London having agreed upon and Signed a Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrook the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend His Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same time to acquaint His Highness with what we have further done at this Meeting Dated at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. The same day the Lieutenancy of London Signed this following Address to the Prince of Orange at Guild-Hall and sent it by Sir Robert Clayton Knight Sir William Russel Sir Basil Firebrace Knights and Charles Duncomb Esquire May it please your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sense we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts that your Highness has exposed your Person to so many Dangers by Sea and Land for the preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we had not any seasonable opportunity to give your Highness and the World a real Testimony That it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is dear to us to attain those Glorious Ends which your Highness has propos'd for restoring and settling these distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to your Highness our just and due acknowledgments for that happy relief you have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a posture that by the Blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which your Highness has so happily begun to the general joy and satisfaction of us all After his Highness had certain Intelligence that the King was gone back to London he came forward by easie Journeys and entered Salisbury on Tuesday the 4th of December The 5th the Earl of Oxford came thither to him The same day the Lord Herbert of Cherbury and Sir Edw. Harley and most of the Gentry of Worcestershire and Hereford shire met at Worcester and Declared for the Prince of Orange Ludlow Castle was also taken in for him by the Lord Herbert and Sir Walter Blunt and the Popish Sheriff of Worcester secured in it by that Peer The 7th of December his Highness came on to Hungerford the 8th the Lords sent by the King came thither to him and had the Dispatch I have mentioned and after Dinner he went to Lidcot The 14th his Highness entered Windsor about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon The King in his departure put himself aboard a small Yatch or Smack commanded by one Captain Sanders but was forced for shelter to take into East Swale the Eastern part of the Isle of Sheppy in order to the taking in Ballast where the Inhabitants of Feversham in Kent being out to take up Jesuits and other suspected Persons found this small Vessel and seized it on Wednesday the 12th of December there were then present with him Sir Edward Hales and Mr. Labady and none of them being known at first they were very ill treated by the Seamen and brought up to Feversham as suspicious Persons The King being come there and by that time known he lodged that night at the Mayor's House and sent for the Earl of Winchelsea the Lord Lieutenant of that County to come to him The Lord Feversham having received a Letter from the King the 11th of December disbanded Four Thousand Men which was all the Army was left at Vxbridge where their head Quarters then were as I have said The same day the Dutch Officers taken in the Fly-boat and till then Imprisoned in Newgate were Discharged The 12th of December the Lords Spiritual and Temporal fate in the Council-Chamber at Whitehall and it was absolutely necessary they should the noise of the King 's withdrawing having put the Rabble of London into such a Ferment as has scarce been seen That Night they demolished the Popish Convent and Chappel at St. John's which they had attempted before the King went away and had hardly been prevented from destroying it by the Death of three or four Persons the Convent and Chapel of Fryars in Lincolns Inn-Fields and the Popish Chapels in Lime-street and Bucklers-Berry and the Chapel at Wild-house which was the Residence of the Spanish Ambassador Out of the Materials of these Buildings they made great Piles and at Night fired them instead of Bon-fires and the number that ran together was incredible and very terrible not only to the Roman Catholicks but to all considering men who did reflect seriously on the nature of the Times and the rage of the People The same day therefore the Lords put out an Order for the discovery of the Goods taken from the Spanish Ambassador promising a good Reward and commanding all Books and Papers taken out of his Library to be brought to the Council-Chamber in Whitehall The same day the late Lord Chancellor Jeffreys was taken at Wapping in a disguise and sent to the Tower first by the Lord Mayor which after was confirm'd by the Peers and Privy Council The 13th an Account being brought that the King was taken at Feversham several of his Servants went down to him but I do not find the Peers or Council sate that day The 14th the Privy Council and Peers met again and made this Order WE the Peers of this Realm assembled with some of the Lords of the Privy-Council do hereby require all Irish Officers and Souldiers to repair forthwith to the respective Bodies to which they do or did lately belong and do hereby declare that behaving themselves peaceably they shall have Subsistence pay'd them till they shall be otherwise provided for or imployed And the said Officers and Souldiers are to deliver up
they receive this Report against the Right Reverend Bishops the Design in which they are said to Embarque being founded on that very Principle in pursuance of which the Head of Charles the Blessed Martyr was brought to the Block and Embarque they cannot but by joyning with a Foreign Army the chief part of which is made up of those who though they would willingly enough ensnare our Bishops cannot be reasonably supposed to be true in the Promises they make about supporting their Hierarchical Grandeur the utmost they must expect in the long-run can be no more than a turning their Lands into Money that to the end their dependance on the Government may be the more effectually secured instead of their present Lands Leases c. they may have an Yearly Salary answerable to their worth and desert which as 't will be uncertain so it cannot be hopâ—d that its utmost height shall arise to the State and Degree of a Baron for Baronies go with their Lands By this you may see how unlikely any sort of English-men should by this Invasion gain any thing but Misery TO this was subjoyned a short Discourse stiled Animad-versions upon the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange Which is about twelve Pages in Quarto supposed to be written by Steward but then attributed to Castlemain but whoever was the Author of it it is a spruce piece of Sophistry and he was a Person who well knew what could be said for a bad Case and where it was not possible to make any defence and there would insensibly glide by as if he had not minded the difficulty Page 21 he has this Expression Put it to the Nation and all the Nation must declare that every Man enjoys his Conscience his Liberty and his Property even to the envy of their less happy Neighbors and that there has been no proceeding against a single Man but for his single misdemeanor and this is not Arbitrary but Legal Power And then to asperse his Majesty with overturning all Laws under the Name of Evil Counsellors Why Sir let his Counsellors be never so bad they are worse whose Service his Highness has used in Pâ—uning his Declaration By this Sample the Reader may judge of that whole Paper First He useth the utmost assurance to out-face the World as to the Matter of Fact. Secondly Pretends Redress Thirdly Promiseth a Parliament when it may be denied or over-awed Fourthly Makes all the Prince's Assisters Traytors and Perjur'd And Lastly Because the King was not accountable to his own Subjects concludes that neither was he so to the Prince though a Sovereign Prince So he was to be revered like a God and No-body not a Neighbour-interested Prince was to presume to say to him What doest thou To that height of stupidity was their Flattery then arrived but soon after it expired This is the best Abstract I can give of that Defence which is too long to be intirely inserted in this Work though it were to be wished a larger might in due time be published with all the material Papers at large This Paper was afterwards Answered but things then had so rapid a motion that the Reply coming too late was scarce read or regarded The Prince being then invited to London by the Peers by the Guild-Hall Declaration Though there was not all that Men had fondly expected in this Declaration yet here was enough to satisfie any rational Man that the Expelling this Prince and his Army before our Religion Liberties Properties and Government were effectually setled in Parliament and those who had so outragiously attempted the ruine of them were call'd to an Account would certainly end in the ruine of them and was a kind of cutting up our Laws and Religion with our Swords This and nothing else was the cause that where-ever the Prince's Declaration was read it conquered all that saw or heard it and it was to no purpose to excite Men to fight against their own Interest and to destroy what was more dear to them than their Lives At the same time an Extract of the States General their Resolution Thursday the Twenty eighth of October 1688. was also Printed privately in London wherein among other Reasons why they had intrusted the Prince of Orange with this Fleet and Army is this which follows THE King of France hath upon several occasions shewed himself dissatisfied with this State which gave cause to sear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to compass within his Kingdom and obtain an Absolute Power over his People that then both Kings out of Interest of State and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion would endeavour to bring this State to Confusion and if possible quite to subject it At the same time was Printed also this Letter of the Prince of Orange to the Officers of the Army Gentlemen and Friends WE have given you so full and so true an Account of our Intentions in this Expedition in our Declaration that as we can add nothing to it so we are sure you can desire nothing more of us We are come to preserve your Religion and to restore and establish your Liberties and Properties and therefore we cannot suffer our selves to doubt but that all true Englishmen will come and concur with us in our desire to secure these Nations from POPERY and SLAVERY You must all plainly see that you are only made use of as Instruments to enslave the Nation and ruine the Protestant Religion and when that is done you may judge what ye your selves ought to expect both from the Cashiering all the Protestant and English Officers and Soldiers in Ireland and by the Irish Soldiers being brought over to be put in your Places and of which you have seen so fresh an Instance that we need not put you in mind of it You know how many of your Fellow-Officers have been used for their standing firm to the Protestant Religion and to the Laws of England and you cannot slatter your selves so far as to expect to be better used if those who have broke their Word so often should by your means be brought out of those streights to which they are at present reduced We hope likewise that ye will not suffer your selves to be abused by a false Notion of Honour but that you will in the first place consider what you owe to Almighty God and your Religion to your Country to your Selves and to your Posterity which you as Men of Honour ought to prefer to all private Considerations and Ingagements whatsoever We do therefore expect that you will consider the Honour that is now set before you of being the Instruments of serving your Country and securing your Religion and we shall ever remember the Service you shall do us upon this occasion and will promise you That we shall place such particular Marks of our Favour on every one of you as your Behaviour at this time shall deserve of us and the
Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned us for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the Sitting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the landing of the French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Us shall be agreed on Tilbury-Fort was then Garison'd by the Irish and there were a great many of them and other Papists in Portsmouth This Answer was sent to His Majesty on Monday the Tenth of December by an Express yet he resolved to leave the Town and ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of the Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of those that were sent down And at the same time he sent Order to the Earl of Feversham to Disband the Army and Dismiss the Soldiers The Letter to the Earl of Feversham was in this Form. THings being come to that Extremity that I have been forced to send away the Queen and my Son the Prince of Wales that they might not fall into the Enemies Hands which they must have done if they had stay'd I am obliged to do the same thing in hopes it will please God out of his infinite Mercy to this unhappy Nation to touch their Hearts again with true Loyalty and Honour If I could have rely'd on all my Troops I might not have been put to the Extremity I now am in and would at least have had one blow for it But though I know there are many and brave Men among you both Officers and Soldiers yet you know that both you and several of the General Officers and Soldiers and Men of the Army told me It was no ways advisable for me to venture my self at their Head or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them And now there remains only for me to thank you and all those both Officers and Soldiers who have stuck to me and been truly Loyal I hope you will still retain the same Fidelity to me and though I do not expect you should expose your selves by resisting a Foreign Army and a Poyson'd Nation yet I hope your former Principles are so inrooted in you that you will keep your selves free from Associations and such pernicious things Time presseth so that I can add no more Jamex Rex The Earl of Feversham presently after the receit of this Letter Disbanded Four thousand Men which was all the Army he had then with him and under his Command after which he sent this Letter to the Prince of Orange SIR HAving received this Morning a Letter from His Majesty with the unfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England I thought my self obliged being at the Head of his Army and having received his Orders to make no Opposition against any body to let your Highness know it with the Advice of the Officers here so soon as was possible to hinder the effusion of Blood. I have ordered already to that purpose all the Troops that are under my Command which shall be the last Order they shall receive from Feversham This was to all intents and purposes a clear and full Abdication or Desertion of the Army and put them under an inevitable necessity of submitting to the Prince of Orange they having no body to Lead or Head them against him And it is not conceivable how they could keep themselves from entring into an Association or Oath of Allegiance to the Prince now he was gone without exposing themselves by resisting a Foreign Army and a Poyson'd Nation For neither could the Nation long continue without a Prince nor would any Person that succeeded in that Capacity have ever suffered them to live within his Government without giving him Security by Oath for their Submission and Loyalty to him So that the whole design of this Letter seems to be the Sowing a Division in the Nation that at the same time he left us we might not unite or settle our selves under the other but by our Principles be divided that so he might the more easily reduce us again into the State we were in when the Prince first designed his Expedition against England This being done about Three of the Clock in the morning December the 11th the King went down the River in a small Boat towards Gravesend The principal Officers of the Army about the Town thereupon met about Ten of the Clock at Whitehall and sent an Express to the Prince of Orange to acquaint him with the Departure of the King and to assure him that they would assist the Lord Mayor to keep the City quiet till his Highness came and made the Souldiery to enter into his Service Much about the same time the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about the Town came to Guildhall and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen made the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably hope that the King having issued out his Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested secure under the expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn himself and as we apprehend in order to his departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of Persons ill affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore unanimously resolve to apply out selves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard hath undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue us with as little effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby declare That we will with our utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties may 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 may be supported and encouraged to the Glory of GOD the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the parts adjacent by taking care to disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and
their Arms to some of the Officers of the Ordnance who are to deposite the same in the Stores in the Tower of London And we do require and command all Justices of the Peace Constables and other Officers whom it may concern that they apprehend and seize all such Souldiers as shall not repair to their respective Bodies and that they be dealt with as Vagabonds Given at the Council-Chamber at Whitehall the Fourteenth of December 1688. Tho. Ebor. Hallisax Dorset Carlisle Craven Nottingham Rochester N. Duresme P. Winchester North and Grey J. Trever J. Titus It was but time to put out this Order for on Thursday morning the 13th of December about Three of the Clock there was a dreadful Alarm that the Irish in a desperate Rage were approaching the City putting Men Women and Children to the Sword as they came along whereupon the Citizens all rose placing Lights in their Windows from top to bottom and guarded every man his own Doors with his Musquet charged with Bullet and all the Trainbands in the City were assembled and there was nothing but shooting and beating of Drums all night This Alarm spread it self the whole length and breadth of the Kingdom of England and all that were able to bear Arms appeared at their several places vowing the Defence of their Lives Religion Laws and Liberties and resolving to destroy all the Irish and Papists in England in case any injury were offered them but then there were very few Papists slain in these Tumults and Frights but their Houses were generally rifled on pretence of searching for Arms and Ammunition The Lords after this sent the Lords Feversham Ailes bury Yarmouth and Middleton most humbly to entreat the King to return to Whitchall and ordered his Guards to go down to him to see him safe on board any Ship he should chuse if he persisted in his Resolution to go out of the Nation With them went the Servants of his Houshold to carry him Money and Cloaths all he had of the former being taken from him by the Seamen and his Cloaths rent and torn in the searching of him before he was known as he had in part signified in a Letter to the Lord Feversham Now considering the whole Nation in a manner had submitted to the Prince of Orange before the King was heard of after he had withdrawn himself it had perhaps been but reasonable to have suspended the inviting him back to Whitchall till they had received his Consent or at least asked it or had called a greater Assembly of the Peers than that day met The 12th day the four Lords sent by the Peers with four Aldermen and eight of the Common Council of London parted to wait upon the Prince of Orange with the Declaration signed by the Body of the Peers the day before at Guildhall The 15th the King removed to Rochester in order to his Return to London and some of his Troops of Guard went down thither to him And the next day being Sunday he returned about Five in the Evening to Whitchall attended by one Troop of Grenadiers and three Troops of Life Guard a Set of Boys following him through the City and making some Huzza's whilst the rest of the People silently looked on His Highness the Prince of Orange who was then at Windsor had sent Monsieur Zulestein to the King to desire him to continue at Rochester but he missing him the King came to Whitehall and from thence sent the Lord Feversham with a Letter to the Prince to Windsor to invite him to St. James's with what number of Troops he should think fit to bring with him he could now do no otherwise his own Army having been disbanded by his own order all the Forts in England except Portsmouth being in the Prince's hands and London and almost all the Peers in his absence having sent their Submission and inviting him to come forthwith to Town to take upon him the Care of the City This Letter being by the Prince referred to the Peers that were then at Windsor they concluded that the shortness of the time could admit no better Expedient than that the King might be desired to remove to some place within a reasonable distance from London and Ham a House belonging to the Dutchess of Landerdale was pitched upon and a Note or Paper to that purpose drawn up which was ordered to be delivered after the Prince's Guards were in Possession of the Posts about Whitchall WE desire you the Lord Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Lord Delamere to tell the King That it is thought convenient for the great quiet of the City and the greater safety of his Person that he do remove to Ham where he shall be attended by his Guards who will be ready to preserve him from any disturbance Given at Windsor the Seventeenth of December 1688. W. Prince de Orange Monsieur Zulestein followed the King to London and there delivered his Letter and the Sixteenth returned to Windsor The Earl of Feversham went the same day with the Letter to the Prince which was mentioned above and was by him committed to the Castle of Windsor The King so soon as ever he came to Whitehall issued out this Order of Councill At the Court at Whitehall the Sixteenth day of December 1688. Present The King 's most Excellent Majesty Duke Hamilton Earl of Craven Earl of Berkley Earl of Middleton Lord Viscount Preston Lord Godolphin Master of the Rolls Mr. Titus HIS Majesty being given to understand That divers Outrages and Disorders are committed in several Parts of the Kingdom by Burning Pulling-down and otherwise defacing Houses and other Buildings and Rifling and Plundering the same to the great terror of His Majesty's Subjects and manifest Breach of the Peace His Majesty in Council is pleased to Direct and Command all Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace Mayors Constables and all other Officers whom it may concern to use their utmost endeavours for the preventing of such Outrages and Disorders for the future and for the suppressing all riotous and tumultous Meetings and Assemblies whatsoever William Bridgeman There having been sufficient care taken for this by the Council before it was not consistent with his Interest thus to shew his Zeal for the Popish Party in the very first Act he did upon his return as if he had come back only to serve them During the time the King stay'd at Whitehall it was crowded with Irishmen Priests Jesuits and Roman Catholicks afrer the old wont and it is said one of the Priests sent an imperious Message to the Earl of Mulgrave the Lord Chamberlain to furnish his Lodgings with new Furniture for he meant to continue in them And the King also as was said discharged Leiburn a Popish Bishop out of Newgate on Monday the Seventeenth of December So that all things were returning apparently into the old Chanel and we were to expect nothing but what we had already seen and felt and
some that wished well to the King said he was cunningly invited back to Whitehall with a design to ruine him the more effectually and without any pity from his Protestant Subjects The Peers at Windsor did not think it reasonable hearing this that the Prince of Orange should accept the King's Invitation and venture his Person in the same place for this they had another good reason the Duke of Grafton marching through the Strand on the Fourteenth day at the Head of a Foot Regiment of Guards to take the Fort of Tilbury out of the hands of the Irish by the Order of the Council an Irish Trooper came riding up to him and being beaten off by the Soldiers drew a Pistol against him for which he was shot dead upon the place And it was not improbable there were more of the same temper Hereupon the Peers at Windsor resolved to send the Prince's Guards to take Possession of the Posts about Whitehall to prevent all possibility of a Disturbance from Guards belonging to two several Masters which besides other ill Consequences might have perhaps involved the King 's own Person in the danger that might have arisen from any Dispute These Guards got not to London before Ten at Night being commanded by Count Solmes and the Guards then on Duty not being willing to dislodge it was Twelve at Night before the Lords could deliver the Paper they had brought from Windsor of which they first sent this Account to Secretary Middleton 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 immediately admitted and therefore desire to know where we may find your Lordship that you may introduce My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servants Hallifax Shrewsbury Delamere He accordingly presently introduced them the King being by that time in Bed. Where they made an Apology for coming at so unseasonable a time and delivering him the Paper the King read it and said he would comply with it Upon which the Lords humbly desired he would remove so early as to be at Ham by Noon to prevent meeting the Prince in his way to London where he was to come the same day His Majesty readily agreed to this too and asked whether he might not appoint what Servants should attend him to which the Lords replied That it was left to him to give order in that as he pleased and so took their leave of him When they were gone as far as the Privy-Chamber the King sent for them again and told them He had forgot to acquaint them with his Resolutions before the Message came To send my Lord Godolphin next Morning to the Prince to propose his going back to Rochester he finding by the Message Monsieur Zulestein was charged with the Prince had no mind he should be at London and therefore he now desired he might rather return to Rochester than go to any other place The Lords replied That they would immediately send an Account to the Prince of what His Majesty desired and they did not doubt of such an Answer as would be to his Satisfaction Accordingly they sent to him who was then at Sion and before Eight next Morning there came a Letter from Monsieur Benting by the Prince's Order agreeing to the King's Proposal of going to Rochester whereupon he went the Guards being made ready and Boats prepared that Night to Gravesend in his own Barge attended by the Earl of Arran and some few others The same day Dec. the 18th about Three in the Afternoon his Highness the Prince of Orange came to St. James's attended by Monsieur Schomberg and a great number of the Nobility and Gentry and was entertain'd with a Joy and Concourse of the People which appeared free and unconstrained and all the Bells in the City were rung and Bon-fires in every Street The King continued at Rochester till the 23. of December and then about one or two in the morning privately withdrew himself taking only with him Mr. Ra. Sheldon and Mr. Delabady he went towards Dover and embarqued in a Vessel laid ready for his Transportation for France The Queen who went hence the 10th arrived the 11th at Calais and was in great pain not knowing what had happened in England for the King whom she expected every tide The King before he withdrew this second time wrote and left behind him this following Letter which was afterwards printed by his Order in London His Majesty's Reasons for withdrawing Himself from Rochester Writ with his own Hand and ordered by him to be Published THE World cannot wonder at my withdrawing my self now this second time I might have expected somewhat better usage after what I writ to the Prince of Orange by my Lord Feversham and the Instructions I gave him but instead of an Answer such as I might have hoped for what was I to expect after the usage I received by the making the said Earl a Prisoner against the Practice and Law of Nations the sending his own Guards at Eleven at Night to take Possession of the Posts at Whitehall without advertising me in the least manner of it the sending to me at One of the Clock at midnight when I was in Bed a kind of Order by three Lords to be gone out of my Palace before Twelve that same morning After all this How could I hope to be safe so long as I was in the power of one who had not only done this to me and invaded my Kingdoms without any just occasion given him for it but that did by his first Declaration lay the greatest Aspersion on me that malice could invent in that clause of it which concerns my Son I appeal to all that know me nay even to himself that in their Consciences neither he nor they can believe me in the least capable of so unnatural a Villany nor of so little common Sence to be imposed on in a thing of such nature as that What had I then to expect from one who by all Arts hath taken such pains to make me appear as Black as Well to my own people as well as to all the World besides What effect that hath had at home all Mankind hath seen by so general a defection in my Army as well as in the Nation amongst all sorts of people I was born free and desire to continue so and tho I have ventured my Life very frankly on several occasions for the Good and Honour of my Country and am as free to do it again and which I hope I shall yet do as old as I am to Redeem it from the Slavery it is like to fall under yet I think it not convenient to expose my self to be secured as not to be at Liberty to effect it and for that Reason to withdraw but so as to be within Call whensoever the Nation 's Eyes shall be opened so as to see how they have been imposed upon
any of the Parliaments in the time of His late Majesty Charles II. As also the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Fifty of the Common Council of the City of Lrndon being desired by His Highness to attend Him this day One hundred and Sixty Members and the rest came call but the Mayor who was sick to St. James's and were by Him acquainted with the State of things and desired to repair to the Commons House at Westminster where they chose Mr. Powle for their Speaker then sending to know what the Peers had done the Addresses as above recited were delivered to them with which they concurred And the 27th they also presented them to the Prince to whom He gave the same Answer he had given to the Lords the 28th in the Afternoon The 30th His Highness put out the usual Proclamation for the continuance of the Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers and Ministers not being Papists to act in their Respective places till the Meeting of the Convention or other Order to the contrary Excepting also all such Offices or Places where since His Arrival in this Kingdom he had already or should hereafter otherwise provide month January The 2d of January He put out a Declaration for the better Collecting the Publick Revenue which I need not transcribe The 5th of January His Highness put out this following Order FOR the better Preventing Disorders that may happen in any Burrough Corporation or other place of Election of Members for the intended Convention by any Souldiers Quartered in those places And that such Elections may be carried on with the greater Freedom and without any colour of Force or Restraint We do hereby strictly charge and require all Collonels and Officers in chief with any Regiment Troop or Company to cause such Reigments Troops or Companies to march out of the Qaurters where such Election shall be made the several Garrisons only Excepted the day before the same be made to the next Adjoyning Town or Towns being not appointed for any Election and not to return to their first Quarters until the said Respective Elections be made and fully compleated wherein they are not to fail as they will answer the contrary at their peril The Scotch Nobility and Gentry in or about London were also by His Highness's Order Summoned to St. James's where they met the 7th of January at Three in the Afternoon to whom the Prince made this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THE only reason that induced me to undergo so great an Undertaking was That I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned and the Protestant Religion in eminent Danger And seeing you are here so many Noblemen and Gentlemen I have called you together that I may have your Advice what is to be done for the securing the Protestant Religon and Restoring Your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration Then they withdrew to the Council Chamber at Whitehall and chose the Duke of Hamilton their President And after some Debates Agreed the heads of a Paper which they ordered to be drawn The 8th they met again and the Paper was Read and Approved and ordered to be Ingrossed The Earl of Arran proposed in this second Meeting That it was his Advice that the Prince of Orange should be moved to desire the King to return and call a Free Parliament for the securing our Religion and Property according to the known Laws of the Kingdom which said he in my humble opinion is the best way to heal all our Breaches which was Disgusted by all and seconded by none of them The 9th They met again and Signed the Paper which was in these Words WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland Assembled at Your Highness's desire in this Extraordinary Conjunction do give Your Highness our humble and hearty thanks for Your Pious and Generous Undertaking for preserving of the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom In Order to the attaining of these Ends Our humble Advice and Desire is That Your Highness take upon You the Administration of All Affairs both Civil and Military The disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland and the doing of every thing that is necessary for the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom until a General Meeting of the States of the Nation which we humbly desire Your Highness to call to be holden at Edinburgh the 14th day of March next by Your Letter or Proclamation to be Published at the Market Crosses of Edinburgh and other Head Burroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient intimation to all concerned according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these Your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriff or Stewart-Clerks for the Free-Holders who have the value of Lands holden according to Law for making Elections and by the Town Clerks of the several Burroughs for the Meeting of the whole Burgesses of the Respective Royal Buroughs to make their Elections at least Fifteen days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edinburgh and the Respective Clerks to make intimation thereof at the least ten days before the Meetings for Election And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edinburgh qualified as above expressed be Protestants without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever To deliberate and resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom according to Your Highness's Declaration Dated the 10th day of January 1689. at the Council Chamber at White-Hall It was Signed by about Thirty Lords and Eighty Gentlemen and was presented in their presence at St. James's by the Duke of Hamilton their President The 14th His Highness met the Scotch Lords and Gentlemen in the same place again and spake to them as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen IN pursuance of Your Advice I will until the Meeting of the Estates in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the calling of the said Meeting for the preservation of the Peace the applying of the Publick Revenue to the most pressing uses and puting the Fortresses in the hands of Persons in whom the Nation can have a just confidence And I do further assure you that you will always find me ready to concur with you in every thing that may be found necessary for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation The Earls of Crawford and Louthain being present in this last Meeting but coming up to London after the former desired they might Sign the said Address and they accordingly did so The 8th day January His Highness put out a Declaration against quartering Soldiers on private Houses And that all Houses should be deemed Private Houses except Victualling Houses and Houses of Publick Entertainment or such as sell Wine or any other Liquor by Retail In all which Houses We do think
After this Edward the Fourth returned into England and pretending to lay aside all Claim to the Crown and only to seek the recovery of his Lands which belonged to him as Duke of York which he confirmed to the men of York by his Oath being thus received in the North he won over his Brother Clarence and hasted to London and there he took poor King Henry his Prisoner again and in a Battel slew the Earl of Warwick who came to rescue King Henry and in another Battel defeated Margaret the Wife of Henry the Sixth took and in cold blood murdered Prince Edward the Eldest Son of Henry the Sixth and not long after Henry the Sixth himself Now what saith our Letter-man to all this If it had been a known Law of England that a Prince had Ipso facto forfeited his Crown by going beyond Sea without leaving a Deputation tho his departure should happen to be involuntary it would have been a great Advantage to Henry the Sixth Yes doubtless his departure did facilitate the Recrowning of Henry the Sixth for he was not so well beloved as Edward the Fourth was and it is apparent the Nation swore Allegiance to Henry the Sixth de novo for that very cause for no body then questioned but that Edward's was the better Title and the Crown was Entailed to Henry and his Heirs Male and for want of such Issue to George Duke of Clarence and his Heirs and when Edward the Fourth after this came up to London every body forsook Henry the Sixth and he was retaken and imprisoned without any resistance Now after two Victories what wonder was it if Edward the Fourth exercised all Acts of Soveraignty and Tyranny too before the calling of a Parliament and in it restored all his own party and attainted King Henry's He might as well have proved it lawful to stab and murder Kings and Princes and to swear and forswear from the same story His next Instance is the flight of Charles the second from Worcester fight which was nothing to the purpose neither for that Prince had done nothing to forfeit his right and was ready to have done any thing to assure his subjects of theirs But James the Second had as is confessed on all hands violated the rights of his Subjects above any Prince that ever swayed this Scepter and would rather throw up the Government than suffer a Parliament to meet to redress their Grievances and this was the only reason why he as our Author saith Had fewer friends to stand by him than his Brother had after the unfortunate Battel of Worcester in 1651. The true Fountain of the Law that is to Determin this difficult and rare Case is our Fundamental Constitution and the General Laws and Practise of other Nations in the like or simular Instances And as there is an Analogy of Faith in Theology so there is an Analogy here too for those who are sufficiently Qualified to judge by but then they must be no young smatterers in Law History or State Politicks Nor was this Question determin'd by such but by the whole three Estates upon Reasons altogether unknown perhaps to this Gentleman but which may be sufficient to satisfie all the Princes in Christendom when they shall be laid before them In the mean time the Judgment of the States is conclusive to us and tho' we know not all the Reasons they might have yet we now know enough to acquiess and be satisfied But then this has been so very well laid down and pursued by the Author of the Case of Allegiance in our present Circumstances considered in a Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Country that I will rather refer my Reader to that Book than transcribe it to no purpose In the 29. Sect. He tells us the last refuge of the Case of Dereliction are the Laws of Nature but a very little storming will serve to drive it from this last Retrenchment Bold and like an Hero considering whom he engageth with For saith he the Law of Nature is nothing but the reason of the thing very true Now Impartial reason has always a regard to the circumstances of Action and makes allowances for Surprize for streightness of time for resentment upon Extraordinary Provocation and never takes Advantage of an Omission which may be fairly Interpreted from any or all of these causes Now tho he saith the present case needs not any such allowances Yet I will be so fair as to give all these Advantages and put it upon this fair Issue 1. Was not the whole English constitution acknowledged by the Late King to be so much in his favour That he said in his First Speech to the Council I have been reported a Man for Arbitrary power but that is not the first Story that has been made of me And I shall make it my endevour to preserve this Government both in Church and State as it is now by Law Established I know the Principles of the Church of England are for Monarchy and the Members of it have shewed themselves good and Loyal Subjects Therefore I shall always take care to defend and Support it I know too that the Laws of England are Sufficient to make the King as Great a Monarch as I can wish and as I shall never Depart from the Just rights and prerogatives of the Crown So I shall never invade any Mans Property Yet after all this Look upon nine of the ten Proposals made by the the Bishops Look upon the Prince of Orange's Declaration Look upon the Declaration made by the Lords and Commons the 12th of February last past and you will soon be satisfied in how many instances he had violated the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom and Sought the Ruine and utter Subversion of this Loyal Monarchical Church of England This conduct Lasted to the very moment they knew the Dutch preparations were made against him After this what could be done or said that was omitted to obtain a Redress in Parliament Was there any other way to Secure us than that of a Parliament Was this granted before it became Impossible to hinder it And when all mens Eyes were upon this did he not then Deliberately resolve to defeat our Expectations and to withdraw and leave us in a State of Anarchy and Confusion Here was no Surprize streightness of time no just resentment except he were angry that we could not contribute to our own Ruin and enslaving that we would not cut up our Laws Liberties and Religion with our Swords and Sacrifice our Deliverers to our Oppressors Nor were these violations only personal Injuries but they extended to the whole Church and Kingdom and to the whole Constitution and every branch of it nor were they such as would have ended with his Late Majesties life but were to have been intailed upon us and our posterity for ever for the Queen might have brought forth every year at that rate the Pretended Prince of Wales