Party 10. A great number of Officers that were Papists had been imployed and several under half Pay and many other Things of the like Nature All which Particulars laid before your Brother in this Address justify the Credit the Evidences of the Popish Plot had in Parliament But that I may not leave you so I pray peruse the Address it self it was a Swinger I 'll assure you and much to the purpose The humble Address of the Commons in Parliament assembled Presented to his Majesty Munday the 29th of Nov. 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most Obedient and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament assembled having with all Duty and Regard taken into our serious Consideration your Majesty's late Message relating to Tangier cannot but account the present Condition of it as your Majesty is pleas'd to represent in your said Message after so vast a Treasure expended to make it useful not only as one Infelicity more added to the afflicted Estate of your Majesty's faithful and loyal Subjects but as one result also of the same Counsels and Designs which have brought your Majesty's Person Crown and Kingdoms into those great and imminent Dangers with which at this Day they are surrounded and we are the less surprised to hear of the Exigencies of Tangier when we remember that since it became a part of your Majesty's Dominions it hath several Times been under the Command of Popish Governors particularly for some Time under the Command of a Lord impeach'd and now Prisoner in the Tower for that execrable and horrid Popish Plot that the Supplies sent thither have been in a great Part made up of Popish Officers and Soldiers and that the Irish Papists amongst the Soldiers of that Garison have been the Persons most countenanced and encouraged To that part of your Majesty's Message which expresses a Reliance upon this House for the Support of Tangier and a Recommendation of it to our speedy Care we do with all Humility and Reverence give this Answer That although in due Time and Order we shall omit nothing incumbent on us for the Preservation of every Part of your Majesty's Dominions and advancing the Prosperity and flourishing Estate of this your Kingdom yet at this Time when a Cloud that hath long threatned this Land is ready to break upon our Heads in a Storm of Ruin and Confusion to enter into any further Consideration of this Matter especially to come to any Resolutions in it before we are effectually secured from the imminent and apparent Dangers arising from the Powâ—r of Popish Persons and Counsels we humbly conceive will not consist either with our Duty to your Majesty or the Trust reposed in us by those we represent It is not unknown to your Majesty how restless the Endeavors and how bold the Attempts of the Popish Party for many Years last past have been not only in this but other your Majesty's Kingdoms to introduce the Romish and utterly to extirpâ—te the Protestant Religion The several Approaches they have made towards the compassing this their Design assisted by the Treachery of perfidious Protestants have been so strangely successful that 't is matter of Admiration to us and which we can only ascribe â—o an over-ruling Providence that your Majesty's Reign is still continued over us and that we are yet assembled to câ—nsult the Means of our Preservation This bloody and restless Party not content with the great Liberty they had a long time enjoyed to exercise their own Religion privately among themselves to partake of an equal Freedom of their Persons and Estates with your Majesties Protestant Subjects and of an Advantage above them in being excused from chargeable Offices and Employments hath so far prevailed as to find Countenance for an open and avowed Practice for their Superstition and Idolatry without controul in several Parts of the Kingdom Great swarms of Priests and Jesuits have resorted hither and have here exercised their Jurisdiction and been daily tampering to pervert the Consciences of your Majesty's Subjects their Opposers they have found means to disgrace and if they were Judges Justices of the Peace or other Magistrates to have them turned out of Commission and in contempt of the known Laws of the Land they have practised upon People of all Ranks and Qualities and gained over divers to their Religion some openly to profess it others secretly to espouse it and most conduced to the Service thereof After some time they became able to influence Matters of State and Government and thereby to destroy those they cannot corrupt The Continuance or Prorogation of Parliaments has been accommodated to serve the Purposes of the Party Money raised upon the People to supply your Majesty's extraordinary Occasions was by the prevalence of Popish Counsels imployed to make War upon a Protestant State and to advance and augment the dreadful Power of the French King though to the apparent Hazard of this and all other Protestant Countries Great Numbers of your Majesty's Subjects were sent into and continued in the Service of that King notwithstanding the apparent Interest of your Majesty's Kingdoms the Addresses of the Parliament and your Majesty's gracious Proclamations to the contrary Nor can we forbear to mention how that at the beginning of the same War even the Ministers of England were made Instruments to press upon that State the acceptance of one Demand among others from the French King for procuring their Peace with him That they should admit the publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Vnited Provinces the Churches there to be divided and the Popish Priests to be maintained out of the publick Revenue At home if your Majesty did at any time by the Advice of your Privy Council or of your Two Houses of Parliament command the Laws to be put in due Execution against Papists even from thence they gained Advantage to their Party while the Edge of those Laws was turned against Protestant Dissenters and the Papists escaped in a manner untoucht The Act of Parliament enjoining a Test to be taken by all Persons admitted into any publick Office and intended for a Security against Papists coming into Employment had so little effect That either by Dispensations obtained from Rome they submitted to those Tests and held their Ofces themselves or those put in their Places were so favourable to the same Interests that Popery it self has rather gained than lost Ground since that Act. But that their Business in hand might yet more speedily and strongly proceed at length a Popish Secretary since executed for his Treasons takes upon him to set a foot and maintain Correspondencies at Rome particularly with a Native Subject of your Majesty 's promoted to be a Cardinal and in the Courts of other foreign Princes to use their own form of Speech for the subduing the pestilent Heresy which has so long domineer'd over this Northern World that is to root out the Protestant Religion out of England and
thing without being made privy to the same but also all Arlington's friends at Court lay under your great displeasure but some of them who had as much Courage as you had Wrath dealt plainly with you in the point and told you that your Daughter was not to be look'd upon as yours but as the King's Daughter and Child of the Kingdom and so that your consent was not much to be considered in the disposal of her but only the Interest of State but this was not at all satisfactory to you and your French Pensioners and Popish Crew because you all foresaw by that that the Protestant Interest would be strengthened and the French and Popish Interest hurt and Arlington would render himself the darling of the Parliament and the Protestant Interest and the States General of the United Provinces Well Sir you may remember that this trusty friend of yours the Lord Arlington set forth upon this Errand upon November the 11th 1674 and returned not till the sixth of January during his absence Old Veracity and Duke Lauderdale and some other of your French Pensioners who were the Persons of considerable credit with the King your Brother and did pretend to be united to you These Villains set up their Throats and roared declaiming loudly and with the greatest violence against poor Arlington and his actions and truly they gave you such hopes in his absence to blow him up and his whole party at Court so that as Beddingfield told me you passed the time pretty comfortably you expecting by these trayterous impliments to have routed him and all his Creatures and in so doing they drew you on to believe that upon the ruine of the Lord Arlington they could do you Service and the French King and that they could with the greatest ease imaginable manage and deal with your Band of Pensioners but protested to you till they could get rid of him they had not courage to speak to the Parliament for fear they should not succeed nay your old White-hair'd Friend whose gratitude to the Duke of Buckingham was so notorious told you that if you could not get rid of Arlington that the Parliament would sit again in spight of them all and further acquainted you that if the Parliament should come to hear of this that they had used their endeavours against their sitting would prove an unpardonable Crime that neither the French King nor you no nor your Brother could save them from punishment these Villains knew the greatness of their Crimes and therefore they were forced to play an odd trick with you now and then to save themselves harmless but you whose nature and property was never to forgive was forced at this time to dissemble with them by your pretended acquiescing in their judgments tho' full sore against your proud Stomach and if you remember Arlington was too many for all your Party for if I am not out he would not have you to treat with the Parliament in his absence for on the Tenth of November the very day before his departure he so managed his Affairs the Parliament was put off till the thirteenth of April 1675. What overtures these two Lords made in relation to the match I cannot well tell nor will it be much to the point if I could but when they had done that for which they were sent they returned home but alas the creatures found themselves not able to prevail against Arlington by those means and arts they had then tryed they resolved now upon counsels which were to out-run him in his own course which accordingly they undertook and became as zealous men for the Protestant Religion and Liberty and Property as ever the Lord Arlington could pretend to have been before and in pursuance thereof perswaded the King your Brother to issue out those severe Orders and Proclamations against your Brethren in the Faith which you knew came out in Feb. 1674 5 by which you see they even they your own French Pensioners did what in them lay to extirpate your own dear Religion and to Banish your Brethren out of the Kingdom what ungrateful wretches were these to pursue such counsels as were in opposition to your Worship Had you advanced these Vermin O yes and they had professed much duty and service to you what Scoundrels were these so basely to leave you Come don't cry your friend Coleman knew who it was that would support you in order to this presently an Express was dispatched over to France and trusty Jack Smith was dispatched away to the Most Christian Turk and oh what Complaints you made to his Father Confessor of these Rogueries and truly it was high time to enter upon new thoughts how to preserve you in this juncture of affairs from the deceits of these men upon whom you used to depend very much for the support of your Cause alas Sir what would you have them do they had for a long time been acting in your designs till they were as obnoxious to the people as the Devil could make them it was therefore highly necessary that they should do some small matter to render themselves a little grateful to the Parliament provided there was a necessity of its sitting at the time appointed and you know that nothing was so pleasing to the Parliament as brushing of Popery s Jacket a little notwithstanding all this the sence of their Guilt was such that they had rather have seen the Devil than a Session of Parliament and therefore they would have been glad to have found out any expedient to have put it off though they durst not for their ears engage in it openly themselves But Sir what was all this but shamming the Nation for all this while like State-Moles they were hard at work under-ground to secure you for what they had done openly against your interest and the interest of the French King their point Sir was to whet your zeal for the dissolution of the Parliament and that they had been somewhat severe against the Saints of your cursed Church only to make way for a dissolution and that an objection of the people might be fairly obviated viz. that the dissolution of the Parliament was in favour of Popery which clamour theyt old you was prevented before-hand by the severity they had used against it Upon this you sent to the French King as before and made your propositions in good earnest for it was but in vain to trifle since you saw your self shammed you could but judge what sort of Cattel you had to do withal and what you had to trust to if you lay at their mercy and that you now must trust in the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty then you made your application to him and like a good Boy you promise heartily to perform what was required from you he complies with you and so you were safe you had his Purse and so you were easie and Coleman his 20000 l. and so all was well and what could
that the World may see my plainness and sincerity in this particular that your wicked party may be left without excuse that always admired you and would not have had your Crimes detected But Sir it was attempted though in vain by several Parliaments to have called you to an account whilst you was James Duke of York but the King your Brother at your procurement broke up those Parliaments that would have done the Nation and you too that right that become the Patriots of their Country but since it was so I think it necessary to remind you of those great assistants you had to support you in order to carry on your wicked designs of changing our Religion into downright Popery and the well establisht Government into downright Slavery and of these in their order 1. Lewis the French King was your main support in this affair it was he that gave you his friendship and the use of his Purse to assist you against those who had reason to cry lowdly against you though they could not be heard these you called your Enemies because they opposed Popery and the French interest and these were looked upon not only Enemies to your self but also to the French King nay the band of Pensioners thought they had gone as far with your as they durst and when they could not for their own sakes keep your Company any farther you presently Proclaimed War against them as being neither in the French King's interest nor yours and therefore you stuck close to him and for what reason you can best tell he did desire you to make what propositions you should think fit in the then conjuncture of affairs your main agent there was Sir William Throgmorton who was much obliged to you for the good opinion you had of him for you acquainted Old Le Chaise the French Kings Confessour that the said Sir William was a very honest Man one of great veracity though he was not a Lord Chancellour that held Correspondence with Coleman one of your Family in whom you had great confidence and what then truly you took the French King at his word and made such Proposals to him as you thought necessary to bring your designs about I pray Sir what were those Proposals I remember they were these Seven 1. That it was necessary that your Catholick Friends should be without the least noise formed into Troops for which there would be a Sum of Money necessary to put at least two Months pay into their Pockets 2. That his Majesty would heartily come into the design if 300000 l. were paid for Three Years by which he might bridle the Impertinency of the then Parliament 3. That in case the thing should take wind and that design should reach any of their Credits that all Commissions should run in the Name of Johannes Paulus de Oliva to render the thing very improbable if any discovery should be made 4. That his most Christian Majesty should set apart such Sums of Money from time to time as should be necessary for the Landing of an Army in Ireland 5. That his most Christian Majesty should prevail with the King your Brother to lay aside Arlington and several other Ministers of State that were not in his Interest and yours and dissolve the Parliament 6. That all Correspondence that he the said French King should maintain with you should not come by the way of Barrillon but by the way of the Portugal Ambassador and under a cover to Coleman and that no Correspondence should be held with the King your Brother but what you were to be acquainted with but not he with yours but when you pleased 7. That what Money there was transmitted was to be in the names of this Coleman and Sir William your honest Man and they accountable to you every thing was agreed to but that of the Three Hundred Thousand Pound per Annum for Three Years to your Brother 't is true since all Sums were transmitted but the French King's Opinion and yours was the same with yours that he could not mend his pace in the Design and therefore not a penny could be got till he could give the French King reasonable good proof of his Stability and Sincerity as you had done these Seven Propositions were the then Propositions what other Propositions there were made when the design was ready for Execution you shall have them in their proper place but these Propositions were such as when the Popish Plot was discovered would have proved fatal to you and much to the discredit of your Brother the King if Coleman had not been Hanged in England and Peter Talbot Poisoned in Ireland for both of them would have come in Witnesses against you and Honest Dick Talbot your trusty Tyrconnel would have been a Third and being Covetous of gaining a Fourth which was Old Plunket the Popish Primate whose Death you hastned as a gracious reward of his telling them the design he saved you from Suffering the public Justice of the Nation due for your then Treasons and you got him hanged for his pains an admirable piece of gratitude Some may inquire why the Lord Arlington was to be had aside I have told you already in the first part of my Memorial to you but I must tell you now one thing more that is I will put you in mind of it for you know it well enough it so nearly concerned you be pleased therefore to observe that the Lord Arlington was once the only Minister in Credit and he thought himself out of all danger of the Parliament for once you know that he had burnt his fingers with you in your Popish and French designs and was in danger of being impeached but came off you know how and being so fairly delivered he faced about and was always for the sitting of the Parliaments and to recover and increase his Reputation with the Parliament and to become their greatest Favourite he exerts his power in appearing an Enemy to the Popish Party tho' at that very time was a Papist in Masquerade himself and not only so but opposed the French Interest to show his Zeal against your Popish Crew he revived certain Orders for prohibiting the Papists from coming into your Brothers presence and put them in Execution at his first coming to be Lord Chamberlain nay he did what he could to strengthen his hands against your mighty Ally the French King and your self for he prevailed with the King your Brother that he and the Earl of Ossory who had Married two of Min Heer Odyke's Sisters might go into Holland with the said Odyke to make a visit as they did pretend to their Relations there but to your great Sorrow you found that they went to propose the then Lady Mary your Eldest Daughter as a Match for the Prince of Orange a Match with whom you always abhorred for you was in a very great rage not only with Arlington and Ossory for that presumption of theirs of offering at such a
thereby to make way the more easily to do the same in other Protestant Countries Towards the doing this great Work as Mr. Coleman was pleased to call it Jesuits the most dangerous of all Popish Orders to the Lives and Estates of Princes were distribâ—ted to their several Precincts within this Kingdom and held joynt Councels with those of the same Order in all Neighbour Popish Countries Out of these Councels and Correspondences wus hatched that damnable and hellish Plot by the good Providence of Almighty God brought to light above Two Years since but still threatning us wherein the Traytors impatient of longer delay reckoning the prolonging of your Sacred Majesty's Life which God long preserve us the great Obstacle in the way to the Consummation of their Hopes and having in their Prospect a proselyted Prince immediately to succeed in the Throne of these Kingdoms resolved to begin their Work with the Assassination of your Majesty to carry it on with armed Force to destroy the Protestant Subjects in England to execute a second Massacre in Ireland and so with ease to arrive at the Suppression of our Religion and the Subversion of the Government When this accursed Conspiracy began to be discovered they began to smother it with the barbarous Murther of a Justice of the Peace within one of your Majesty 's own Palaces who had taken some Examinations concerning it Amidst these Distractions and Fears Popish Officers for the Command of Forces were allowed upon Mâ—sters by special Orders surreptitiously obtained from your Majesty but counter-signed by a Secretary of State without ever passing under the Tests prescribed by the aforementioned Act of Parliament In like manner above Fifty new Commissions were granted about the same time to known Papists besides a great Number of desperate Popish Officers though out of Command yet entertained at half pay When in the next Parliament the House of Commons were prepared to bring to a legal Tryal the principal Conspirators in this Plot that Parliament was first prorogued and then dissolved The Interval betwixt the Calling and Sitting of this Parliament was so long that now they conceive Hopes of covering all their past Crimes and gaining a seasonable Time and Advantage of practising them more effectually Witnesses are attempted to be corrupted and not only Promises of Reward but of the Favour of your Majesty's Brother made the Motives to their Compliance Divers of the most considerable of your Majesty's Protestant Subjects have Crimes of the highest Nature forged against them the Charge to be supported by Subornation and Perjury that they may be destroyed by Forms of Law and Justice A Presentment being prepared for a grand Jury of Middlesex against your Majesty's said Brother the Duke of York under whose Countenance all the rest shelter themselves the Grand Jury were in an unheard of and unpresidented and illegal Manner discharged and that with so much haste and fear lest they should finish that Presentment that they were prevented from delivering many other Indictments by them at that time found against other Popish Recusants Because a Pamphlet came forth weekly called The weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome which exposes Popery as it deseâ—ves as ridiculous to the People a new and arbitrary Rule of Court was made in your Majesty's Court of King's Bench rather like a Star-chamber than a Court of Law that the same should not for the future be printed by any Person whatsoever We acknowledg your Majesty's Grace and Care in issuing forth divers Proclamations since the Discovery of the Plot for the banishing Papists from about this great City and Residence of your Majesty's Court and the Parliament but with trouble of Mind we do humbly inform your Majesty that notwithstanding all these Prohibitions great Numbers of them and of the most dangerous Sort to the Terrour of your Majesty's Protestant Subjects do daily resort hither and abide here Vnder these and other sad Effects and Evidences of the prevalency of Popery and its Adherents we your Majesty's faithful Commons found this your Majesty's distressed Kingdom and other Parts of your Dominions labouring when we assembled And therefore from our Allegiance to your Majesty our Zeal to our Religion our Faithfulness to our Country and our Care of Posterity we have lately upon mature Deliberation proposed one Remedy of these great Evils without which in our Judgments all others will prove vain and fruitless and like all deceitful Securities against certain Dangers will rather expose your Majesty's Person to the greatest Hazard and the People together with all that 's valuable to them as Men or Christians to utter Ruin and Destruction We have taken this Occasion of an Access to your Majesty's Royal Presence humbly to lay before your Majesty's great Judgment and gracious Consideration this most dreadful Design of introducing Popery and as a necessary Consequent of it all other Calamities into your Majesty's Kingdoms And if after all this the private Suggestions of the subtle Accomplices of that Party and Design should yet prevail either to elude or totally to obstruct the faithful Endeavours of us your Commons for the happy Settlement of these Kingdoms we shall have this remaining Comfort That we have free'd our selves from the Guilt of that Blood and Desolation which is like to ensue But our only hope next under God is in your Sacred Majesty that by your great Wisdom and Goodness we may be effectually secured from Popery and all the Evils that attend it and that none but Persons of known Fidelity to your Majesty and sincere Affections to the Protestant Religion may be put into any Employment Civil or Military That whilst we shall give a Supply to Tangier we may be assured we do not augment the Strength of our Popish Adversaries nor encrease our own Dangers Which Desires of your faithful Commons if your Majesty shall graciously vouchsafe to grant we shall not only be ready to assist your Majesty in defence of Tangier but do whatsoever else shall be in our Power to enable your Majesty to protect the Protestant Religion and Interest at home and abroad and to resist and repel the Attempts of your Majesty's and the Kingdoms Enemies 9. Observe the Vote against your self which was made April the 27. 1679. That the Duke of York's being a Papist and the Hopes of his coming to the Crown such hath given the greatest Incouragement to the present Conspiracy and Designs of the Papists against the King and the Protestant Religion Upon which Sir a Bill was brought in and is as follows A Copy of the Duke of York 's BILL WHereas James Duke of York is notoriously known to have been perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great Incouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and carry on most Devilish and Horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of his Majesty's Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the true Protestant Religion But also if
by us except only the Descent upon the Person of the Duke of York who by the wicked Instruments of the Church of Rome has been manifestly perverted to their Religion And we do humbly represent to your Majesty as the Issue of our most deliberate Thoughts and Consultations That for the Papists to have their Hopes continued That a Prince of that Religion shall succeed in the Throne of these Kingdoms is utterly inconsistent with the Safety of your Majesty's Person the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Prosperity Peace and Welfare of your Protestant Subjects That your Majesty's Sacred Life is in continual Danger under the Prospect of a Popish Successor is evident not only from the Principles of those devoted to the Church of Rome which allow That an Heretical Prince and such they term all Protestant Princes excommunicated and deposed by the Pope may be destroyed and murthered but also from the Testimonies given in the Prosecution of the horrid Popish Plot against divers Traytors attainted for designing to put those accursed Principles into practice against your Majesty From the Expectation of this Succession has the Number of Papists in your Majesty's Dominions so much increased within these few Years and so many been prevailed with to desert the true Protestant Religion That they might be prepared for the Favours of a Popish Prince as soon as he should come to the Possession of the Crown And while the same Expectation lasts many more will be in the same Danger of being perverted This it is that has hardned the Papists of this Kingdom animated and confederated by their Priests and Jesuits to make a common Purse provide Arms make Application to foreign Princes and solicit their Aid for imposing Popery upon us and all this during your Majesty's Reign and while your Majesty's Government and the Laws were our Protection It is your Majesty's Glory and true Interest to be the Head and Protector of all Protestants as well abroad as at home but if these Hopes remain What Alliances can be made for the Advantage of the Protestant Religion and Interest which shall give confidence to your Majesty's Allies to join so vigorously with your Majesty as the state of that Interest in the World now requires while they see this Protestant Kingdom in so much Danger of a Popish Successor by whom at the present all their Counsels and Actions may be eluded as hitherto they have been and by whom if he should succeed they are sure to â—e destroyed We have thus humbly laid before your Majesty some of those great Dangers and Mischiefs which evidently accompany the Expectation of a Popish Successor the certain and unspeakable Evils which will come upon your Majesty's Protestant Subjects and their Posterity if such a Prince should inherit are more also than we can well enumerate Our Religion which is now so dangerously shaken will then be totally overthrown nothing will be left or can be found to protect or defend it The Execution of old Laws must cease and it will be vain to expect new ones The most sacred Obligations of Contracts and Promises if any should be given that shall be judged to be against the Interest of the Romish Religion will be violated as is undeniable not only from Argument and Experience elsewhere but from the sad Experience this Nation once had upon the like Occasion In the Reign of such a Prince the Pope will be acknowledged Supreme though the Subjects of this Kingdom have sworn the contrary and all Causes either as Spiritual or in order to Spiritual Things will be brought under his Jurisdiction The Lives Liberties and Estates of all such Protestants as value their Souls and their Religion more than their secular Concernments will be adjudged Forfeited To all this we might add That it appears in the Discovery of the Plot that foreign Princes were invited to assist in securing the Crown to the Duke of York with Arguments from his great Zeal to establish Popery and to extirpate Protestants whom they call Hereticks out of his Dominions and such will expect performance accordingly We further humbly beseech your Majesty in your great Wisdom to consider Whether in case the Imperial Crown of this Protestant Kingdom should descend to the Duke of York the Opposition which may possibly be made to his possessing it may not only endanger the further Descent in the Royal Line but even Monarchy it self For these Reasons we are most humble Petitioners to your most Sacred Majesty that in tender Commiseration of your poor Protestant People â—â—ur Majesty will be graciously pleased to depart from the Reservation in your said Speech and when a Bill shall be tender'd to your Majesty in a Parliamentary Way to disable the Duke of York from inheriting the Crown your Majesty will give your Royal Assent thereto and as necessary to fortify and defend the same That your Majesty likewise will be graciously pleased to assent to an Act whereby your Majesty's Protestant Subjects may be enabled to associate themselves for the Defence of your Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and the Security of your Kingdoms These Requests we are constrained humbly to make to your Majesty as of absolute Necessity for the safe and peaceable Enjoyment of our Religion Without these Things the Alliances of England will not be valuable nor the People encouraged to contribute to your Majesty's Service As some farther means both of our Religion and Property we are humble Suiters to your Majesty That from hence-forth such Persons only may be Judges within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as are Men of Ability Integrity and of known Affection to the Protestant Religion And that they may hold both their Offices and Salaries Quam diu bene se gesserint That several Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace fitly qualified for those Employments having been of late displaced and others put in their Room who are Men of Arbitrary Principles and Countenancers of Papists and Popery such only may bear the Office of a Lord Lieutenant as are Persons of Integrity and known Affection to the Protestant Religion That Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace may be also so qualified and may be moreover Men of Ability of Estates and Interest in their Country That none may be imployed as military Officers or Officers in your Majesty's Fleet but Men of known Experience Courage and Affection to the Protestant Religion These our humble Requests being obtained we shall on our part be ready to assist your Majesty for the Preservation of Tangier and for putting your Majesty's Fleet into such a Condition as it may preserve your Majesty's Sovereignty of the Seas and be for the Defence of the Nation If your Majesty hath or shall make any necessary Alliances for defence of the Protestant Religion and Interest and Security of this Kingdom this House will be ready to assist and stand by your Majesty in the Support of the same After this our