and does hereby Dissolve it and from this time excuses your farther attendance here but with his repeated Thanks for your Service hitherto and with the assurance of his Satisfaction in you so far that he should not have parted with you but to make way for this new Constitution which he takes to be as to the Number and Choice the most proper and necessary for the uses he intends them And as most of you have Offices in his Service and all of you particular Shares in his Favour and good Opinion so he desires you will continue to exercise and deserve them with the same Diligence and good Affections that you have hitherto done and with confidence of his Majesty's Kindness to you and of those Testimonies you shall receive of it upon other occasions Therefore upon the present Dissolution of this Council his Majesty appoints and commands all those Officers he hath named to attend him here to morrow at Nine in the Morning as his Privy-Council together with those other Persons he designs to make up the number and to each of whom he has already signed particular Letters to that purpose and commands the Lord Chancellor to see them issued out accordingly which is the Form he intends to use and that hereafter they shall be signed in Council so that nothing may be done unadvisedly in the Choice of any Person to a Charge of so great Dignity and Importance to the Kingdom Names of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council HIS Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Heneage Lord Finch Lord Chancellor of England Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury Lord President of the Council Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy-Seal Christopher Duke of Albemarle James Duke of Monmouth Master of the Horse Henry Duke of Newcastle John Duke of Lauderdale Secretary of State for Scotland James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the Houshold Charles Lord Marquess of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Falconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Ernle Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Knight Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esquire Henry Powle Esquire Whitehall April 11. 1679. HIS Majesty being this day in Council did cause such of the aforementioned Lords and others who were then present to be Sworn Privy-Counsellors which being done they took their places accordingly His Majesty was also pleased to declare that he intended to make Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath Daniel Finch Esquire Baronets Sir Thomas Lee Sir Humphrey Winch Sir Thomas Meers Edward Vaughan and Edward Hales Esquires Commmissioners for the Execution of the Office of Lord High Admiral of England And his Majesty being afterwards come into the House of Peers in his Royal Robes and the House of Commons attending his Majesty was pleased to make this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen I Thought it requisite to acquaint you with what I have done now this day which is That I have Established a new Privy-Council the Constant number of which shall never exceed Thirty I have made choice of such Persons as are Worthy and able to Advise Me and am Resolved in all My Weighty and Important Affairs next to the Advice of my Great Council in Parliament which I shall very often Consult with to be Advised by this Privy-Council I could not make so great a Change without acquainting both Houses of Parliament And I desire you all to apply your selves heartily as I shall do to those things which are necessary for the good and safety of the Kingdom and that no time may be lost in it The Message from the King by Mr. Secretary Jenkins to the Commons on the 9th of November 1680. CHARLES R. HIs Majesty desires this House as well for the satisfaction of His People as of Himself to expedite such Matters as are depending before them relating to Popery and the Plot and would have them rest assured That all Remedies they can tender to his Majesty conducing to those Ends shall be very acceptable to him Provided they be such as may consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal course of Descent The Address to his Majesty from the Commons Saturday November 13. 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE Your Majesty's most Loyal and Obedient Subjects the Commons in this Present Parliament assembled having taken into our most serious Consideration Your Majesty's Gracious Message brought unto us the ninth day of this instant November by Mr. Secretary Jenkins do with all thankfulness acknowledge Your Majesty's Care and Goodness in inviting us to expedite such Matters as are depending before us relating to Popery and the Plot. And we do in all Humility represent to Your Majesty that we are fully convinced that it is highly incumbent upon us in discharge both of our Duty to Your Majesty and of that great Trust reposed in us by those whom we represent to endeavour by the most speedy and effectual ways the Suppression of Popery within this Your Kingdom and the bringing to publick Justice all such as shall be found Guilty of the Horrid and Damnable Popish Plot. And though the Time of our Sitting abating what must necessarily be spent in the choosing and presenting a Speaker appointing Grand Committees and in taking the Oaths and Tests enjoyned by Act of Parliament hath not much exceeded a Fortnight yet we have in this Time not only made a considerable Progress in some things which to us seem and when presented to Your Majesty in a Parliamentary way will we trust appear to Your Majesty to be absolutely necessary for the Safety of Your Majesties Person the effectual Suppression of Popery and the Security of the Religion Lives and Estates of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects But even in relation to the Tryals of the Five Lords impeached in Parliament for the Execrable Popish Plot we have so far proceeded as we doubt not but in a short time we shall be ready for the same But we cannot without being unfaithful to Your Majesty and to our Country by whom we are entrusted omit upon this occasion humbly to inform Your Majesty that our Difficulties even as to these Tryals are much encreased by the evil and destructive Councels of those Persons who advised Your Majesty first to the Prorogation and then to the Dissolution of the last
STATE TRACTS Being a Farther COLLECTION OF Several Choice Treatises Relating to the GOVERNMENT From the YEAR 1660. to 1689. Now Published in a Body to shew the Necessity and clear the Legality of the Late REVOLUTION and Our present Happy SETTLEMENT under the Auspicious Reign of Their MAJESTIES King William and Queen Mary LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by RICHARD BALDWIN near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane MDCXCII PREFACE to the READER THE Main and Principal Design of making this following Collection was to preserve entire in this Second Volume some other Excellent Tracts of equal esteem and value with the former which made that Book so much obtain among the Learned and Curious as that the whole Impression of it is already near sold And as it cannot but be very entertaining to Vs in the reading of them who do yet so sensibly remember what we then felt and looked for worse to fall on us every day than other so it will certainly be of great Benefit and Advantage to our Posterities in future who may considerably profit themselves by our Misfortunes This is a Collection that in the general will set forth the true and Legal Constitution of our Ancient Famous English Government which of all the Countries in Europe Memoirs of Philip de Comines Kt. lib. 5. cap. 18. p. 334. in Octavo Printed 1674. where I was ever acquainted says the Noble Lord of Argenton is no-where so well managed the People no-where less obnoxious to Violence nor their Houses less liable to the Desolations of War than in England for there the Calamities fall only upon the Authors 'T was a true Observation that this Great Man made of the Justice of our Gallant Ancestors in his days how miserable the Successive Generations have deviated from the vertue of their steps how much the strict Piety of their Manners and the noble Bravery of their Spirits Tempers and Complexions have been enervated and dissolved by the later looseness supine carelesness and degeneracy the present Age hath great reason to bewail and 't is hoped that those to come will be hereby cautioned to grow wiser and better by those past Follies and Miscarriages In particular Here will be seen the dangerous Consequences of keeping up a standing Army within these Kingdoms in a time of Peace without consent of Parliament The Trust Power and Duty of Grand Juries and the great Security of English-mens Lives in their faithful discharge thereof The Right of the Subject to Petition their King for Redress of their Wrongs and Oppressions and that Access to the Sovereign ought not to be shut up in case of any Distresses of his People The Spring of all our late private Mischievous Councils and Cabals and the Special Tools that were thought fittest for Preferment to be imployed under a colour of Authority to put all those concerted Designs in motion and execution The Parliament's Care in appointing a Committee to examine the Proceedings of the Forward and Active Judges upon several Cases that were brought before them of grand importance to the Common-weal Peace and Safety of the Nation ☞ and the Resolution of the House of Commons upon their Report That the Judges said Proceedings were Arbitrary and Illegal destructive to Publick Justice a high and manifest Violation of their Oaths a Scandal to the Reformation an usurpation of the Legislative Power to themselves and a means to subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom And the several Grievances that this Nation hath long been labouring under for the Advancement of Popery Arbitrary Dominion and the unmeasurable Growth and Power of France There are likewise interspersed in this Volume several Matters of Fact relating to the Male-Admininistration of Affairs in Scotland under Duke Lauderdale and his Favourites as also a Large and Faithful Account of the late Earl of Argyle's Tryal Escape and Sentence with divers other things for the better clearing of his Case In a word This Collection will discover to us the Mysteries of the Monarchy in the two Late Reigns and the Abused Trust of Government in those Princes by a Dispencing Power both in Ecclesiastical and Civil Matters to Tyrannize over their Subjects who in the mean while were taught by sâ—me Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance Doctrine-holders That all their Duty was tamely to submit to and patiently sigh under their daily Sufferings and Oppressions and I think we bore them so long till we were within one throw more of loosing all our good old Laws and Constitutions and even the Government it self Our Miseries were lately so great and many as you will find here that it is impossible for any one better and more fully to express them than in the words of a very Learned and Judicious Author who hath thus given us a just and lively Representation of them Our Laws says he were trampled under foot and upon the matter abolished to set up Will and Pleasure in their room under the Cant and Pretence of Dispencing Power Our Constitution was overthrown by the Trick of New Charters and by closetting and corrupting Members of Parliament Men were required under pain of the highest Displeasure to consent Some Considerations about the most proper way of raising Money in the present Conjuncture Printed Octob. 1691. and concur to the sacrificing their Religion and the Liberty of their Countrey The worthiest honestest and bravest Men in England had been barbarously murthered and to aggravate the Injustice which was done them all bad been varnished over with a Colour of Law and the Formality of Tryals not unlike the Case of Naboth and Ahab Those whom the Law declared Traytors were in defiance of the National Authority introduced into our Councils and the Conduct of Affairs put into their hands Our Vniversities were invaded by open Force those who were in the lawful possession of the Government of Colledges turned out and Papists sent thither in their room And if that Attempt had throughly prospered the Churches and Pulpits would soon have followed It were vain to go about to enumerate Particulars In a word the Nation was undone All was lost The Judges were suborned or threatned to declare that the King was Master of all the Laws and the Bishops were required to publish this New-created Prerogative in all the Churches of England by the Mouths of the Clergy which when some of them refused to do representing to the King with the utmost submission and modesty that neither Conscience nor Justice permitted them to do what he desired they were prosecuted at Law as if they had been guilty of some great Crime Letters were written and intercepted by which it appeared evidently that the change of our Religion was determined and that Popery was to be brought in with all speed least the opportunity should be lost And for the better compassing this pious design our Civil and Parliamentary Rights were to be taken away in Ordine ad Spiritualia And when the Nation and those who were concerned
found this following Paper which immediately either by himself or a Relation of his was delivered to Sir William Morrice one of his Majesties Principal Secretaries of State The Contents of the Paper are as follows A Warning to Protestants I Who have been a Papist from my Infancy till of late and in Zeal for their horrid Principles had too great a share in the Firing of the City and did intend to do further Mischief to the Protestants of which I am now and ever shall be a Member do upon Abhorrence of that Villany and Religion that hath moved me to it declare to all Protestants the Approach of their sudden Ruine that it may be prevented if it be not too late When I together with other Papists both French Irish and English fired the City others were imployed to Massacre the Protestants we thinking thereby to destroy the Heads of your Religion but the Massacre was disappointed by the Fear of him who was the chief Agent in this Villany And the Fire not having done all its Work they have often endeavoured to fire the remaining part They intend likewise to land the French upon you to whose Assistance they all intend to come and for that purpose are stored with Arms and have so far deceived the King that they have the Command of most part of the Army and the Sea-Ports The French intend to land at Dover that Garison being most Papists And the Papists in England have express Command from Rome to hasten their Business before the next Parliament and to dispatch Therefore as you love your Lives and Fortunes prevent your Ruine by disarming all the Papists in England especially C. L. from the Tower and the L. D. and all his Adherents and Souldiers from Dover and by disarming all Papists I have such an Abhorrence that I would willingly undergo any Punishment for it and declare my self openly were I not assured that I could do you more good in concealing my Name for the present Delay not from following these Directions as you love your Lives and be not deceived by any Pretences whatsoever An Impartial Account of some Informations taken before several Justices of the Peace concerning the several Fires happening of late in and near the City of London ABout the latter end of June and in July one Joseph Harrison came several times to the Greyhound-Inn in Holborn pretending to enquire for Letters for himself and about the beginning of July comes into the said Inn and meeting Mr. Atkins the Master of the said Inn He the said Harrison asked him for a Can of Beer whereupon Mr. Atkins ordered his Man to draw two Cans drinking one himself and giving the other to Harrison After which the said Harrison took Mr. Atkins by the Hand and lead him out of his own Yard into Holborn and by the Rails in the Street the said Harrison advised the said Atkins to put off his House and dispose of his Goods as soon as he could for within Three Weeks or a Month there would be great and dreadful Fires in and about London Mr. Atkins asked him How he knew so The said Harrison replied If you will not believe me you may chose and so left him One Monday July the 25th Mr. Atkins his Wife hearing of the Fire at the George-Inn in Southwark went to her Mother at the Talbot-Inn in Southwark the back-part of which said Inn is adjoyning to the George-Inn and was likewise on Fire and being there she espied the aforesaid Joseph Harrison in the Yard and remembring the aforesaid Advice to her Husband desired some Persons that were next her to lay hold on him which being done he was conveyed to a Foot-Company that stood in Arms near the said Inn judging that the nearest place to secure him After which Sir John Smith one of the Sheriffs of London was acquainted with the whole matter Upon which he with the L. C. went to the said Company and in the hearing of several gave Charge to the Captain of the said Company to keep him safe until they had time to examine him After the Fire was put out some went to enquire after the Prisoner and the Captain told them The L. C. had dicharged him The next Day being Tuesday a Person was informed that the said Harrison taught School in Thread-Needle Street and that he boasted of his Deliverance and said That the L. C. was pleased to honour him so far as to take him in his Barge with him to White-hall and bad him but be patient a while and he should have Satisfaction from the Persons that had troubled him But hearing where to find him Endeavours were used to retake him and accordingly was accomplished on Wednesday July 27. and had before the Worshipful Sir John Frederick who sent him to Bishopsgate and ordered him to be brought before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen the next day to be examined Before whom were these following things proved against him upon Oath 1. THat he hath had frequent Correspondency with Jesuits and Papists 2. That he hath spoken to several of his Acquaintance to go with him to Popist Meetings declaring that he knew of many 3. That he hath been perswaded to turn Mendicant Fryer and hath been offered a Stipend to turn to the Romish Religion 4. That he knew there would be divers great and dreadful Fires in and about London within a Month. 5. That he advised Friends to rid their Hauds of all their Concerns in and about London for there would be a great Consumption of houses there 6. That when he was in the Custody of the Foot-Company aforesaid Mr. Atkins aforesaid affirming to swear the former Article he threatned him if he did it should cost him the best House he had 7. That he said there were forty thousand French Papists lately come over to his Knowledge besides many that were amongst us already 8. The Lord Mayor asking him Who perswaded him to turn Catholick He answered The King's Under-Barber Phillips After which he told the Court That when he was apprehended for these things my L. C. discharged him and took him with him in his Barge to White-hall He further told the Court That he was some time an Assistant to Mr. Lovejoy Schoolmaster at Canterbury and that he had Letters Testimonial of his good Behaviour from the Dean of Canterbury Upon which my Lord Mayor remembring that he had seen him with Mr. Lovejoy and said that Mr. Lovejoy told him That he was an idle Rogue And so he was committed to Newgate On Saturday the 30th of July it was further deposed upon Oath by Thomas Roe before Sir John Frederick as follows The Information of Thomas Roe of Bernard-Inn Gent. taken the 3th of July 1670. by Sir John Frederick Alderman one of His Majesties Justices of Peace in the City of London upon Oath as followeth THomas Roe saith that he hath for at least twelve or thirteen Years last past been acquainted with one Joseph Harrison who was
that detain Church-Lands especially since the Papists themselves â—ehâ—mently accuse King Henry the eighth for sacrilegiously robbing of Religious Houses and seising of their Lands a great pâ—â—t of which Lands are to this very day possess'd by Papists Now though there may be some Plea for the Popes Authority in the interim of a general Council and in such things wherein they have made no determination yet in this matter there is no colour for any pretences since the Council of Trent was actually assembled within sew years after these Alienations and expresly condemned the possessors of Abby Lands and after all this was all consirm'd and ratified by the Pope himself in his Bulla Super conf gen Concil Trid. A. D. 1564. And tho' we have here the Judgment of the infallible See as to this matter in the Consirmation of the Trent Council yet because there be some that magnifie the Popes extravagant and unlimited power over the Church and pretend that he confirm'd the Abby-Lands in England to the Lay-possessors of them I shall shew Secondly That the Pope neither hath nor pretends to any such Power nor did ever make use of it in this matter under debate only I shall premise that whereas some part of the Canon Law seems to allow of such particular alienations as are made by the Clerks and Members of the Church with the consent of the Bishop yet such free consent was never obtained in England and as to what was done by force fraud and violence is of so little moment as to giving a legal Title that even the alienations that were made by Charles Martell who is among the Papists themselves as infamous for Sacriledge as King Henry the Eighth yet even his Acts are said to be done by a Council of Bishops as is acknowledg'd by Dr. Johnston in his assurance of Abby Lands p. 27. I shall proceed to shew First That the Pope hath no such power as to confirm these Alienations and this is expresly determined by the infallible Pope Damasus in the Canon-Law Caus 12.9.2 c. 20. The Pope cannot alienate Lands belonging to the Church in any manner or for any necessity whatsoever both the buyer and the seller lie under an Anathema till they be restored so that any Church-man may oppese any such Alienations and again require the Lands and Profits so Alienated So that here we have a full and express Determination of the infallible See And tho in Answer to this it is urg'd by Dr. Johnston that this Canon is with small difference published by Binius in the Councils and so as to confine it to the suburbicacy Diocess of Rome yet that this Answer is wholly trivial will appear First Because if the Bishop of Rome hath no Authority to confirm such alienations in his own peculiar Diocess where he hath most power much less can he do it in the Provinces where his power is less Secondly That in all Ecclesiastical Courts of the Church of Rome it is not Binius's Edition of the Councils but Gratian's Collection of Canons that is of Authority in which Book these words are as here quoted Thirdly Since this Book of the Popes Decree hath been frequently reprinted by the Authority and Command of several Popes and constantly used in their Courts this is not to be look'd upon as a Decree of Pope Damasus only but of all the succeeding Popes and in the opinion of F. Ellis Sermon before the King Decem. 5. 1686. p. 21. what is inserted in the Canon Law is become the whole Judgment of the whole-Church Fourthly It 's absolutely forbid by Pope Gregory the Thirteenth in his Bull presixed before the Canon-Law A. D. 1580. for any one to add or invert any thing in that Book So that according to this express Determination in the Popes own Law the Bishops of Rome have no power to confirm any such Alienations as have been made in England and agreeable to all this Pope Julius the Fourth the very person that is pretended to have confirm'd these Alienations declar'd to our English Ambassadors that were sent upon that Errand That if he had Power to grant it he would do it most readily but his Authority was not so large F. Paul's H. of Council of Trent Lond. A. D. 1629. And therefore all Confirmations from the Bishop of Rome are already prejudg'd to be invallid and of no force at all Secondly No Bishop of Rome did ever confirm them The Breve of Pope Julius the Third which gave Cardinal Pool the largest powers towards the effecting this had this express limitation Salvo tamen in his quibus propttr renem magnitudinem gravitatem haec Sancta sedes merito tibi videtur consulenda nostro prefatae sedis beneplacito confirmatione i. e. Saving to us in these matters in which by reason of their weight and greatness this Holy See may justly seem to you that of right it ought to be consulted the good pleasure and confirmation of us and of the holy See which is the true English to that Latin and that this whole Kingdom did then so understand these words is evident from the Ambassadors that were sent to Rome the next Spring Viz. Viscount Moitecute Bishop of Ely and Sir Edward Carn These being one to represent every state of the Kingdom to obtain of him a Confirmation of all those Graces which Cardinal Pool had granted Burnet's H. Ref p. 2. f. 300. So that in the esteem of the whole Nation what the Cardinal had done was not valid without the Confirmation of the Pope himself Now this Pope Julius and the next Marcellus both died before there is any pretence of any Confirmation from Rome but this was at length done by Pope Paul the Fourth is pretended and for proof of it three things are alledged First The Journals of the House of Commons where are these words After which was read a Bill from the Popes Holiness confirming the doing of my Lord Cardinal touching the assurance of Abby Lands c. Secondly a Bull of the same Pope to Sir Will Peters Thirdly The Decrees of Cardinal Peol and his Life by Dudithius To all which I answer First That it s confess'd on all hands that there is no such Bull or Confirmation by Pope Paul the Fourth to be any where found in the whole World not any Copy or Transcript of it not in all the Bullaria nor our own Rolls and Records tho' it be a matter of so great moment to the Roman Catholicks of England and what cannot be produced may easily be denied Nor can it be imagined that a Journal of Lay-persons that were parties concerned or a private Bull to Sir Will Peters or some hints in the Decrees and Life of the Cardinal will be of any moment in a Court at Rome whensoever a matter of that vast consequence as all the Abby Lands in England shall come to be disputed especially if it be observed that this very Journal of the House of Commonâ— is
Their Highnesses who shall blame them for any inconveniency that may arise from thence since they have declared themselves so freely on this Subject and that so much to the advantage even of the Roman Catholicks And since the Settlements of matters sticks at this single point that Their Highnesses cannot be brought to consent to things that are so contrary to Laws already in being and that are so dangerous and so hurtful to the Protestant Religion as the admitting of Roman Catholicks to a share in the Government and to places of Trust and the repealing of those Laws that can have no other effect but the Securing of the Protestant Religion from all the Attempts of the Roman Catholicks against it would be You Write That the Roman Catholicks in these Provinces are not shut out from Employments and places of Trust But in this you are much mistaken For our Laws are express excluding them by name from all share in the Government and from all Employments either of the Policy or Justice of our Country It is true I do not know of any express Law that shuts them out of Military Employments that had indeed been hard since in the first Formation of our State they joyned with us in defending our publick Liberty and did us eminent service during the Wars therefore they were not shut out from those Military Employments for the publick sifety was no way endanger'd by this both because their numbers that served in our Troops were not great and because the States could easily prevent any Inconvenience that might arise out of that which could not have been done so easily if the Roman Catholicks had been admitted to a share in the Government and in the Policy or Justice of our State I am very certain of this of which I could give very good proofs that there is nothing which Their Highnesses desire so much as that his Majesty may reign happily and in an intire Confidence with his Subjects and that his Subjects being perswaded of his Majesties fatherly affection to them may be ready to make him all the returns of duty that are in their Power But their Highnesses are convinced in their Consciences that both the Protestant Religion and the safety of the Nation would be exposed to most certain Dangers if either the Tests or those other Penal Laws of which I have made frequent mention should be repealed Therefore they cannot consent to this nor concur with his Majesties Will for they believe they should have much to Answer for to God if the consideration of any present advantage should carry them to consent and concur in things which they believe would be not only dangerous but mischievous to the Protestant Religion Their Highnesses have ever paid a most profound duty to his Majesty which they will always continue to do for they consider themselves bound to it both by the Laws of God and of Nature But since the matter that is now in hand relates not to the making of new Laws but to the total Repealing of those already made both by King and Parliament they do not see how it can be expected of them that they should consent to such a Repeal to which they have so just an aversion as being a thing that is contrary to the Laws and Customs of all Christian States whether Protestants or Papists who receive none to a share in the Governments or to publick Employments but those who profess the publick and established Religion and that take care to secure it against all attempts whatsoever I do not think it necessary to demonstrate to you how much their Highnesses are devoted to his Majesty of which they have given such real Evidences as are beyond all verbal ones and they are resolved still to continue in the same Duty and Affection or rather to encrease it if that is possible I am SIR Yours c. Nov. 4. 1687. Reflexions on Monsieur Fagel's Letter SIR I Shall endeavour to Answer yours as fully and briefly as possible 1. You desire to know whether the Letter I sent you be truly Monsieur Fagel's or not 2. Whether their Highnesses gave him Commission to Write it 3. How far the Dissenters may rely on their Highnesses word 4. What effects it has on all sorts of People Sir Roman Catholicks may be pardoned if they endeavour to make that Letter pass for an Imposture it is their Interest so to do and they are seldom wanting to promote that let the methods be never so indirect which they are forced to make use of It does indeed spoil many hopeful Projects of theirs But how any Protestant among us can really doubt the truth of it is strange to me Some things carry their own evidence along with them I take this Letter to be one of that kind I do not desire you to believe me upon my bare affirmation that I know it to be genuine tho this be most true but shall offer my Reasons to convince you that it cannot be otherwise First The Letter is like its Author the matter is weighty the Reasoning solid the Stile grave full and clear like that of a Lawyer It has an Air all over which as well shews the Religion and Temper of its Writer as the Matter and Method of it do his Capacity and Judgment Now all these Qualities make up the Character of Monsieur Fagel Secondly There are the same grounds to believe this Letter to be M. Fagel's as there are to believe any thing you have not seen Viz. The constant Asseverations of Persons of undoubted Credit that come from Holland who all agree in it and assure us of it M. Fagel own'd it to several English Gentlemen and many both here and in Holland knew two Months ago that such a Letter was written a Forgery would before this time have been detected especially such a one as ruines the Designs of the Triumphing Party Thirdly It was written by M. Fagel in answer to Letters from Mr. Stewart sent by his Majesties special Orders and Mr. Stewart had both an English and Latin Copy sent him Therefore the English Copy is not called a Translation but it is a sort of Original For you are not to doubt but the matter was ordered so that her Royal Highness might peruse it as well as his Majesty In the next place you would know whether their Highnesses gave Order to Monsieur Fagel to write it I wish Sir you would take the pains to read the Letter over again and consider who this Monsieur Fagel is He is Pensionary of Holland and first Minister of State raised to that Dignity by the Prince's Favour he Answers Letters written to him which are ordered by his Majesty to be Communicated to their Highnesses In his Answer he gives an Account of their Highnesses Opinions about the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test matters of a National Concern and of the greatest Importance Now you must have a strange Opinion of Monsieur Fagel if you think him capable
together with the defection of many of the Roman Catholicks from all the Terms of that Pacification the War came again to be revived against the King of Spain and all that had been agreed unto at Gant was rendred ineffectual and overthrown And I would fain know of our Learned and Wise Author how the States of the Seven Provinces are more guilty of the violation of that Pacification by making the Protestant Religion to be that of the publick Establishment within their Territories and Jurisdiction than the King of Spain and the States of the Spanish Netherlands are in their denying a Toleration of the Protestant Religion in those Provinces seeing I am sure it was agreed and sworn unto in that Pacification And as for the Union concluded at Vtrecht the Terms whereof our Author upbraids these States with a departure from It will be no difficult matter to shew how his knowledge and sincerity are in reference to this particular of one measure and piece For tho' diverse of the Provinces which entred into that Union did thereby enjoy a Liberty of chusing and determining which of the two Religions should have the stamp of the publick establishment within their own Jurisdictions yet it was then and there ordained that the Protestant Religion alone should be publickly professed and have the protection of the Laws in the Provinces of Holland and Zealand And as the other Provinces were left to do as they should judge best for the peace and safety of their respective Territories and the support and defence of the Union so it is a thing wherein all that have written with any integrity do agree that the alterations which were afterwards made in these Provinces or in reference unto them concerning Religion were either resolved and decreed in the Provincial Assemblies of the States of those several Provinces or else in the meetings of the States-General where not only the Deputies of those several Provinces were present and consenting but behoved to have the approbation of their Principals in order to the rendring those Alterations legal and binding Nor is it unworthy to be observed that the chief occasion for shutting the Roman Catholicks out of the Government and for depressing the Romish Religion from being Dominant arose from the Papists themselves in that not only contrary to their stripulations and promises they were found in the verture of a malice imbib'd from their Religion to be upon all occasions committing violences and outrages against the Reformed but in that the Roman Catholick Magistrates and many others of that Communion were discovered to retain too great an inclination to Spain and to be ready to abandon and betray the Freedom and Civil Rights of their Countrey instead of continuing stedfast and faithful in the defence of them as they had covenanted and sworn In a word as neither the Articles of the Union at Vtrecht nor any other Terms agreed upon before the Abdication of the King of Spain which was not until Anno 1581. can be called the Fundamental Laws of the Government of this Republick tho' they may be stiled conditions upon which such and such Provinces Associated for mutual defence against the Spanish Power and Tyranny so it is undeniable that by reason of the many dangers they found themselves exposed unto and the hazards they had run of being betrayed again into the hands of the Spaniard through their having suffered the Magistracy to remain any wherein Papists and thro' their having allowed the Roman Catholick Religion to be publickly preached and exercised they thereupon re-assumed and gave a new frame unto their Union in the Year 1583. in which it was agreed and enacted by all the Provinces that from that time forward the Reformed Religion should alone be openly professed and preached and that none but Protestants should from that time be admitted to any Office of Policy and Justice in the Government And as this is the true Fundamental Law upon which this State hath since so happily subsisted and flourished so there can be nothing objected against the Justice of it but what will lye against all States of the World who have always changed and moulded their Laws as they have been necessitated in order to self-preservation And so remote from all truth is our Author 's affirming the Roman Catholicks to have been upon these Alterations brought under Persecution that Sir William Temple whom the World will much sooner believe than this Gentleman tho' possibly he may bear the same character which that worthy person once did does assure us in his excellent Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands That no Papist can here complain of being pressed in his Conscience of being restrained from his own manner of Worship in his House or obliged to any other abroad and that all such who ask no more than to serve God and save their own Souls have as much Freedom Ease and Security as they can desire Yea it is demonstrable that the Roman Catholicks enjoy advantages under this Government which they have not in Popish States In that being suffered to exercise their Relgion so far as is necessary to attain all the ends of it if it be capable of affording them any whereon they can hereafter find themselves happy they are delivered from the Tyranny of Priests over their Persons and Estates and hindred from being in a condition to do that ill to others which the Doctrines of their Church would both tempt them unto and justifie them in And as to that which our Author says of the injustice done to the City of Amsterdam and of the violating the Conditions towards the Roman Catholicks there upon which under the guaranty of the Prince of Orange they came into the Vnion he is mistaken in that whole matter and betrays only his ignorance infidelity or both For the Conditions which he mentioneth were the result of an Agreement made Anno 1578. when upon the Nassovian Army's coming before their City to attack them they abandoned the Party and Interest of the King of Spain whom they had till that time adhered unto and came into an Alliance with the rest of the Towns of the Province to oppose him in defence of the Priviledges of these Countreys And as this was a year before the Vnion concluded at Vtrecht into which Amsterdam entred at the same time that Gelderland Zutphen Holland Zealand and Utrecht did so they joined in the Vnion upon the same Terms that the other Towns of their own Province had agreed unto Nor could the Prince of Orange be Guaranty in reference to the conditions specified in the Vnion forasmuch as tho the Act of Vnion was signed Jan. 23. 1579. yet the Prince did not sign it till the May following And that the Roman Catholick Magistrates came to be divested of the Government contrary to the Articles made with them when they forsook the party of the King of Spain they have none to blame for it but themselves nor was
time acquaint his Highness with what we have further done at that Meeting Dated at Guild-hall the 11th of December 1688. A Paper delivered to his Highness the Prince of Orange by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty to treat with him And his Highness's Answer WHereas 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 Word following viz. 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 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 Hungerford Dec. 8. 88. Signed Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin We with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Vs have in Answer to the same 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 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 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 shall think fit to be at London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with equal Number of our Guards Or if his Majesty shall please to be in any place from London at what-ever distance he thinks fit 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 V. That for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the said City VI. That to prevent the Landing of French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by Your Majesty and Us shall be agreed upon VII That some sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be Assigned Us for the Maintaining of our Forces until the Meeting of a Free Parliament Given at Littlecott the Ninth of December 1688. W. H. Prince of Orange The Speech of the Recorder of Bristol to his Highness the Prince of Orange Monday January the 7th 1688. The Mayor Recorder Aldermen and Commons of the Principal Citizens of the City of Bristol waited upon the Prince of Orange being introduced by his Grace the Duke of Ormond their High-Steward and the Earl of Shrewsbury Where the Recorder spake to this Effect May it please your Highness THE Restitution of our Religion Laws and Liberties and the Freeing us from that Thraldom which hath rendred us for many Years useless and at last dangerous to the Common Interest of the Protestant World by your Highness's singular Wisdom Courage and Conduct are not only a Stupendious Evidence of the Divine Favour and Providence for our Preservation but will be and ought to be an Everlasting Monument of your Highness's Magnanimity and other the Heroick Vertues which Adorn your great Soul by whom such a Revolution is wrought in this Nation as is become the Joy and Comfort of the Present and will be the Wonder of all Succeeding Ages In the Contrivance and Preparation of which great Work your Highness like the Heavens did shed your propitious Influences upon us whilst we slept and had scarce any prospect from whence we might expect our Redemption But as since your happy Arrival in England we did among the first Associate our selves to assist and promote your Highness's most glorious Design with our Lives and Fortunes so we now think our selves bound in the highest Obligation of Gratitude most humbly to present to your Highness our humble and hearty Thanks for this our Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and likewise for declaring your gracious Intentions That by the Advice of the Estates of this Kingdom you will rectifie the late Disorders in the Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil according to the known Laws The due and inviolable Observation of which will in our poor Opinion be the only proper Means to render the Soveraign Secure and both Soveraign and Subject happy To which his Highness returned a most Gracious Answer By the Commissioners of Lieutenancy for the said City Guild-hall London December the 11th 1688. Ordered THat Sir Robert Clayton Kt. Sir William Russel Kt. Sir Basil Firebrass Kt. and Charles Duncomb Esq be a Committee from the said Lieutenancy to Attend his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange and present to his Highness the Address agreed by the Lieutenancy for that purpose And that they begin their Journey to Morrow Morning By the Commissioners Command Geo. Evans Cl. Lieu. London To His Highness the Prince of Orange The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London 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 both 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 have not had 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 proposed for restoring and settling these Distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to Your Highness