Chapter IV: Part 4

Mr. Justice _Powel_ more plainly declar'd, That He could discern no Sedition or any other Crime fixed upon the Bishops, since there was nothing offer'd by the King's Councel to render the _Petition_ False, Seditious or Malicious. He admonish'd the Jury to Consider that the Contents of the _Petition_ were, That the Bishops Apprehended the _Declaration to be Illegal, as being founded upon a_ Dispensing Power _claim'd by the King_; and that for his Part he did not remember in any Case in all the Law, that there was any such Power in the King, and if not, the _Petition_ could not be a Libel. He concluded with telling them, That he could see no Difference between the King's Power to _Dispense_ with the Laws Ecclesiastical, and his Power to Dispense with any Laws whatsoever: That if this was once allow'd of, there would be no need of Parliaments, and all the Legislature would be in the King, and so he left the Issue to God and their Consciences.

Mr. Justice _Allibone_ was prepossess'd against Protestant Bishops, and to deliver his Opinion of their Guilt, he laid down Two odd Positions; 1. That no Man can take upon him to Write against the Actual Exercise of the Government, unless he have Leave from the Government, but he makes a Libel by what he Writes, whether True or False. 2. That no private Man can take upon him to Write concerning the Government; and therefore if he intrudes himself into the Affairs of the Publick, he is a Libeller for so doing. These Positions he back'd by a Resolution of the Judges of King James 1st's Time; _That to frame a_ Petition _to the King to put the Penal Laws in Execution, was next Door to Treason_; which is a gross Misquotation, instead of a Petition _against the Penal Laws_, and for which, being taken up by Justice _Powel_ and Serjeant _Pemberton_, little Heed was given to any thing he said afterwards. Whereupon the Jury withdrew, sat up all Night, and next Morning brought in the Reverend Prelates, _Not Guilty_.

There were immediately very Loud Acclamations thro' _Westminster_-Hall, and the Words _Not Guilty_, _Not Guilty_, went round with such Shouts and Huzza's, that the King's Sollicitor mov'd very earnestly that such as had shouted in the Court might be Committed; whereupon a Gentleman of _Grey's-Inn_ was laid hold on, but soon discharged with this short Reproof from the Chief-Justice; "_Sir, I am as glad as you can be that Lords the Bishops are Acquitted but ... you might Rejoice in your Chamber ... and not here_."

THE INVITATION TO THE PRINCE OF ORANGE (1688).

+Source.+--Mackintosh: _History of the Revolution in England, in 1688_. London, 1834. Appendix III., p. 691. (Reprinted from MS. in British Museum.)

We have great satisfaction to find, by 35, and since, by Mons. Zuylistein, that your Highness is so ready and willing to give us such assistance as they have related to us. We have great reason to believe we shall be every day in a worse condition than we are, and less able to defend ourselves, and, therefore, we do earnestly wish we might be so happy as to find a remedy before it be too late for us to contribute to our own deliverance; but, although these be our wishes, yet we will by no means put your Highness into any expectations which may misguide your own councils in this matter; so that the best advice we can give is, to inform your Highness truly both of the state of things here at this time, and of the difficulties which appear to us. As to the first, the people are so generally dissatisfied with the present conduct of the government in relation to their religion, liberties, and properties (all which have been greatly invaded); and they are in such expectations of their prospects being daily worse, that your Highness may be assured there are nineteen parts of twenty of the people throughout the kingdom who are desirous of a change; and who, we believe, would willingly contribute to it, if they had such a protection to countenance their rising, as would secure them from being destroyed, before they could get to be in a posture able to defend themselves: it is no less certain, that much the greatest part of the nobility and gentry are as much dissatisfied, although it be not safe to speak to many of them beforehand; and there is no doubt but that some of the most considerable of them would venture themselves with your Highness at your first landing, whose interest would be able to draw great numbers to them, whenever they could protect them, and the raising and drawing men together; and, if such a strength could be landed as were able to defend itself and them, till they could be got together into some order, we make no question but that strength would be quickly increased to a number double to the army here, although their army should remain firm to them; whereas we do, upon very good grounds, believe, that their army then would be very much divided among themselves; many of the officers being so discontented, that they continue in their service only for a subsistence (besides that some of their minds are known already): and very many of the common soldiers do daily show such an aversion to the Popish religion, that there is the greater probability imaginable of great numbers of deserters which would come from them, should there be such an occasion; and amongst the seamen, it is almost certain that there is not one in ten who would do them any service in such a war. Besides all this, we do much doubt whether this present state of things will not yet be much changed to the worse, before another year, by a great alteration, which will probably be made both in the officers and soldiers of the army, and by such other changes as are not only to be expected from a packed parliament, but what the meeting of any parliament, in our present circumstances, may produce against those who will be looked upon as principal obstructers of their proceedings there; it being taken for granted, that, if things cannot then be carried to their wishes in a parliamentary way, other measures will be put in execution by more violent means; and, although such proceedings will then heighten the discontent, yet such courses will, probably, be taken at that time, as will prevent all possible means of relieving ourselves.

These considerations make us of opinion, that this is a season in which we may more probably contribute to our own safeties than hereafter (although we must own to your Highness there are some judgments differing from ours in this particular), in so much that, if the circumstances stand so with your Highness, that you believe you can get here time enough in a condition to give assistance this year sufficient for a relief under those circumstances which have been now represented, we who subscribe this will not fail to attend your Highness upon your landing, and to do all that lies in our power to prepare others to be in as much readiness as such an action is capable of, where there is so much danger in communicating an affair of such a nature, till it be near the time of its being made public. But, as we have already told your Highness, we must also lay our difficulties before your Highness; which are chiefly, that we know not what alarum your preparations for this expedition may give, or what notice it will be necessary for you to give the states beforehand, by either of which means their intelligence or suspicions here may be such as may cause us to be secured before your landing; and we must presume to inform your Highness, that your compliment upon the birth of the child (which not one in a thousand here believes to be the Queen's) hath done you some injury; the false imposing of that upon the Princess and the nation being not only an infinite exasperation of people's minds here, but being certainly one of the chief causes upon which the declaration of your entering the Kingdom in a hostile manner must be founded upon your part, although many other reasons are to be given on ours. If, upon a due consideration of all these circumstances, your Highness shall think fit to venture upon the attempt, or, at least, to make such preparations for it as are necessary (which we wish you may), there must be no more time in letting us know your resolution concerning it, and in what time we may depend that all the preparations will be ready; as also whether your Highness does believe the preparations can be so managed as not to give them warning here, both to make them increase their force, and to secure those they shall suspect would join with you. We need not say any thing about ammunition, artillery, mortar-pieces, spare arms, etc., because, if you think fit to put any thing in execution, you will provide enough of these kinds, and will take care to bring some good engineers with you; and we have desired Mr. H.[21] to consult you about all such matters, to whom we have communicated our thoughts in many particulars too tedious to have been written, and about which no certain resolutions can be taken till we have heard again from your Highness.

25 24 27 29 31 35 33
SH.[22] DEV.[23] DANBY LUMLEY LONDON[24] RUSSELL[25] SYDNEY[26]

[21] Admiral Herbert.

[22] Shrewsbury.

[23] Devonshire.

[24] Compton, Bishop of London.

[25] Admiral Russell.

[26] Henry Sidney.

THE COMING OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE (1688).

+Source.+--From Burnet's _History of His Own Times_, pp. 286-293. Abridged edition, 1841.

Torbay was thought the best place for the fleet to lie in, and it was proposed to land the army as near as possible; but when it was perceived next morning, that we had overrun it, and had nowhere to go now but to Plymouth, where we could promise ourselves no favourable reception, the Admiral began to give up all for lost, till the wind abating, and turning to the south, with a soft and gentle gale carried the whole fleet into Torbay in the space of four hours.

The foot immediately went on shore, the horse were next day landed, and the artillery and heavy baggage sent to Topsham, the seaport of Exeter, where the Prince intended to stay some time, both to refresh his men and to give the country an opportunity to declare its affections. When the Prince entered Exeter, the Bishop and Dean ran away, the clergy stood off, the magistrates were fearful, and it was full a week before any gentlemen of the country joined him, though they saw every day persons of condition coming in to him--among the first of whom was Lord Colchester, eldest son to the Earl of Rivers, Lord Wharton, Lord Abingdon, and Mr. Russell, Lord Russell's brother.

Seymour was then Recorder of Exeter. He joined the Prince, with several other gentlemen of quality and estate, and gave the good advice of having an association signed by all who come in, as the only means to prevent desertion, and to secure them entirely to the Prince's party.

The heads of the university of Oxford sent Dr. Finch, son to the Earl of Winchelsea, then made Warden of All Souls College, to assure the Prince that they would declare for him, inviting him at the same time to come to Oxford, and to accept of their plate if he needed it. A sudden turn from those principles which they carried so high not many years before! But all this was but a small accession.

The King came down to Salisbury, and sent his troops twenty miles farther; whereupon the Prince, leaving Devonshire and Exeter under Seymour's government, with a small garrison and the heavy artillery under Colonel Gibson, who was made Deputy Governor as to the military part, advanced with his army; and understanding that some officers of note (Lord Cornbury, Colonel Langston, and others) designed to come over and bring their men with them, but that they could not depend on their subalterns, he ordered a body of his men to advance, and favour their revolt. The parties were within two miles of one another, when the whisper ran about that they were betrayed, which put them in such confusion that many rode back, though one whole regiment, and about a hundred besides, came over in a body, which gave great encouragement to the Prince's party, and (as it was managed by the flatterers) was made an instance to the King of his army's fidelity to him, since those who attempted to lead their regiments away were forced to do it by stratagem, which, as soon as they perceived, they deserted their leaders and came back.

But all this would not pacify the King's uneasy mind. His spirits sank, his blood was in such a fermentation that it gushed out of his nose several times a day, and with this hurry of thought and dejection of mind all things about him began to put on a gloomy aspect. The spies that he sent out took his money, but never returned to bring him any information; so that he knew nothing but what common report told him, which magnified the number of his enemies, and made him believe the Prince was coming upon him before he had moved from Exeter. The city of London, he heard, was unquiet; the Earls of Devonshire and Danby and Lord Lumley were drawing great bodies of men in Yorkshire; the Lord Delamere had a regiment in Cheshire; York and Newcastle had declared for the Prince; and the bulk of the nation did so evidently discover their inclinations for him, that the King saw he had nothing to trust to but his army; and the army, he began to fear, was not to be relied on. In conclusion, when he heard that Lord Churchill and the Duke of Grafton (who was one of King Charles's sons by the Duchess of Cleveland), and the most gallant of all he had, were gone to the Prince, and soon after that Prince George, the Duke of Ormond, and the Lord Drumlanrig, eldest son to the Duke of Queensberry, had forsaken him, he was quite confounded, and not knowing whom to depend on any longer, or what further designs might be against him, he instantly went to London.

The Princess Anne, when she heard of the King's return, was so struck with the apprehension of his displeasure, and what possibly might be the consequence of it, that she persuaded Lady Churchill to prevail with the Bishop of London to carry them both off. The Bishop, as it was agreed, received them about midnight at the back-stairs, and carried them to the Earl of Dorset's, where they were furnished with what they wanted, and so conducted them to Northampton, where that Earl soon provided a body of horse to serve the Princess as her guard; and not long after a small army was formed about her, which, according to their desire, was commanded by the Bishop of London.

At this time there was a foolish ballad went about, treating the Papists, and chiefly the Irish, in a ridiculous manner, which made an impression on the army, and thence on the whole country, not to be imagined but by those who saw it; and a bold man adventured to publish in the Prince's name another Declaration, setting forth the desperate designs of the Papists, and the great danger the nation was in by their means, and requiring all persons to turn them out of their employments, to secure all strong places, and to do their utmost in order to execute the laws, and bring all things again into their proper channel. The paper was penned with a good spirit, though none ever claimed the merit of it, and no doubt being made but that it was published by the Prince's direction, it set everything to work, and put the rabble and apprentices to pulling down mass-houses and doing many irregular actions.

When the King saw himself thus forsaken, not only by those whom he had trusted and favoured most, but even by his own children, the army in the last distraction, the country on every side revolting, and the city in an ungovernable fermentation, he called a general meeting of all the Privy Councillors and Peers in town to ask their advice and what was fit to be done. The general advice was that he should send commissioners to the Prince to treat with him, which, though sore against the King's inclination, the dejection he was in and the desperate state of his affairs made him consent to. The persons appointed were the Marquis of Halifax, the Earl of Nottingham, and the Lord Godolphin; and when they had waited on the Prince at Hungerford, desiring to know what it was that he demanded, after a day's consultation with those who were about him, he returned answer "that he desired a Parliament might be presently called, and no one continued in any employment who would not qualify himself according to law; that the Tower of London might be put in the keeping of the City, and the fleet and all strong places in the hands of Protestants; that the armies on both sides might not, while the Parliament was sitting, come within twenty miles of London; that a proportion of the revenue might be set apart for the payment of the Prince's army, and himself allowed to come to London with the same number of guards that the King had."

These were the Prince's demands, which, when the King read, he owned more moderate than he expected; but before they came to his hands he had engaged himself in other resolutions. The priests and all violent Papists, who saw that a treaty with the Prince would not only ruin their whole design, but expose them as a mark and sacrifice to the malice of their enemies, persuaded the Queen that she would certainly be impeached, that witnesses would be set up against her and her son, and that nothing but violence could be expected. With these suggestions they wrought upon her fear so far, that she not only resolved to go to France herself, and take the child with her, but prevailed with the King likewise to follow her in a few days. The Queen went down to Portsmouth, and from thence in a man-of-war went over to France, taking along with her the midwife and those who were concerned in her son's birth, who not long after were all so disposed of that it never could be yet learned what became of them; and on the 10th of December, about three in the morning, the King went away in disguise with Sir Edward Hales, whose servant he pretended to be. They passed the river, throwing the Great Seal into it, which was afterwards found by a fisherman near Vauxhall, and in a miserable fisher-boat, which Hales had provided to carry them over to France, when, not having gone far, some fishermen of Feversham, who were watching for priests and such other delinquents as they fancied were making their escape, came up to them, and knowing Sir Edward Hales, took both the King and him, and brought them to Feversham.

It was strange that a great King, who had a good army and a strong fleet, should choose rather to abandon all than either try his fate with that part of the army that stood firm to him, or stay and see the issue of Parliament. This was variously imputed to his want of courage, his consciousness of guilt, or the advice of those about him; but so it was that his deserting in this manner, and leaving them to be pillaged by an army that he had ordered to be disbanded without pay, was thought the forfeiture of his right, and the expiration of his reign; and with this notion I now proceed to relate what passed in the Interregnum (though under the same title still) until the throne, which was then left vacant, came to be filled.

When it was noised about town that the King was gone, the apprentices and rabble, supposing the priests had persuaded him to it, broke out again with fresh fury upon all suspected houses, and did much havoc in many places. They met with Jeffreys as he was making his escape in disguise, and he being known by some of them, was insulted with all the scorn and rudeness that malice could invent, and after some hour's tossing about, was carried to the Lord Mayor to be committed to the Tower, which Lord Lucas had now seized, and in it declared for the Prince.

The Lord Mayor was so struck with the terror of the rude populace, and with the disgrace of a man who had made all people tremble before him, that he fell into fits of which he died soon after; but to prevent all future disorders in the City, he called a meeting of the Privy Councillors and Peers at the Guildhall, who all agreed to send an invitation to the Prince, desiring him to come and take the government of the nation into his hands until a Parliament should meet and reduce all things to a proper settlement.

The Prince was at Abingdon when the news of the King's desertion and the City's disorder met him, and upon this it was proposed that he should make all imaginable haste to London; but some were against it, because, though there had been but two small actions, one at Winkinton, in Dorsetshire, and the other at Reading, during the whole campaign, in neither of which the King's forces gave them much reason to dread them, yet there were so many of the disbanded soldiers scattered along the road, all the way to London, that it was thought unsafe for the Prince to advance faster than his troops could march before him, which delay was attended with very bad consequences. When the people of Feversham understood that it was the King they had in their custody, they changed their rough usage into all the respect they could possibly pay him. The country came in, and were moved with this astonishing instance of all worldly greatness, that he who had ruled three kingdoms, and might have been arbiter of all Europe, was now found in such mean hands, and in so low an equipage; and when the news was brought to London, all the indignation that was formerly conceived against him was turned into pity and compassion. The Privy Council upon this occasion met, and agreed to have the King sent for. The Earl of Feversham went with the coaches and guards to bring him back. In his passage through the City he was welcomed by great numbers with loud acclamations of joy, and at his coming to Whitehall had a numerous Court; but when he came to reflect on the state of his affairs, he found them in so ruinous a condition, that there was no possibility of making any stand; and therefore he sent the Earl of Feversham (but without demanding a pass) to Windsor, to desire the Prince to come to St. James's and consult with him the best means of settling the nation.

The Prince had some reason to take this procedure of the Council amiss, after they had invited him to take the government into his own hands; and because the Earl of Feversham had commanded the army against him, and was now come without a passport, it was thought advisable to put him in arrest. The tender point was how to dispose of the King's person; and when some proposed rougher methods, such as keeping him in prison or sending him to Breda, at least until the nation was settled, the Prince would not consent to it; for he was for no violence or compulsion upon him, though he held it necessary for their mutual quiet and safety that he should remove from London.

When this was resolved on, the Lords Halifax, Shrewsbury and Delamere were appointed to go and order the English guards to be drawn off, and sent into country quarters, while Count Solms with the Dutch was to come and take all the posts about Court. The thing was executed without resistance, but not without murmuring, and it was near midnight before all was settled, when the lords sent notice to the King that they had a message to deliver to him. They told him "the necessity of affairs required that the Prince should come presently to London, and they thought it would conduce both to the safety of the King's person and the quiet of the City to have him retire to some house out of town, and they named Ham; adding that he should be attended with a guard, but only to secure his person, and not give him any disturbance." When the lords had delivered their message they withdrew; but the King sent immediately after them to know if the Prince would permit him to go to Rochester. It was soon seen that the intent of this was to forward his escape, and therefore the Prince willingly consented to it; and as the King next day went out of town, the Prince came through the park privately to St. James's which disgusted many who had stood some time in the wet to see him. The next day all the bishops in town (except the Archbishop, who had once agreed to do it), the clergy of London, and the several companies of the City came to welcome him, and express a great deal of joy for the deliverance wrought by his means. As the Prince took notice of Serjeant Maynard's great age, and how he had outlived all the men of the law, he answered he had liked to have outlived the law itself, had not his Highness come over to their relief.

When compliments were over, the first thing that came under consultation was how to settle the nation. The lawyers were of opinion that the Prince might declare himself King, as Henry VII. had done, and then call a Parliament, which would be a legal assembly; but their notion in this was so contrary to the Prince's Declaration, and so liable to give offence, that it could not be admitted. Upon this the Prince called together all the peers and members of the three late Parliaments that were in town, together with some of the citizens of London, desiring their advice in the present conjuncture. They agreed in an address to him that he would write missive letters round the nation, in such manner as the writs were issued out, for sending up representatives, and that in the meantime he would be pleased to take the administration of the government into his hands.

While these things were carrying on in London, the King at Rochester was left in full liberty, and had all the respect paid to him that he could wish. Most of the Dutch guards that attended him happened to be Papists; and when he went to Mass they went with him, and joined very reverently in the devotion; whereupon, being asked how they could serve in an expedition that was intended to destroy their own religion, one of them answered briskly that his soul was God's, but his sword was the Prince of Orange's. The King continued there a week, and many who were zealous for his interest went to him, and desired him to stay and see the result. But while he was distracted between his own inclinations and his friends' importunities, a letter came from the Queen reminding him of his promise, and upbraiding him for not performing it, which determined his purpose; and on the last day of this memorable year he went from Rochester very secretly, and got safely into France, leaving a paper on his table, wherein he reproached the nation for forsaking him, and promised that, though he was going to seek for foreign aid to restore him to his throne, yet he would make no use of it either to overthrow the established religion or the laws of the land.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS (1689).

+Source.+--_Statutes of the Realm_. Vol. vi., pp. 142-145.

Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, assembled at Westminster, lawfully, fully, and freely representing all the estates of the people of this realm, did, upon the thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-eight, present unto their Majesties, then called and known by the names and style of William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, being present in their proper persons, a certain declaration in writing, made by the said Lords and Commons, in the words following; viz.:--

Whereas the late King James II., by the assistance of diverse evil counsellors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom:--

1. By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws, and the execution of laws, without consent of Parliament.

2. By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates, for humbly petitioning to be excused from concurring to the same assumed power.

3. By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the Great Seal for erecting a court, called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes.

4. By levying money for and to the use of the Crown, by pretence of prerogative, for other time, and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament.

5. By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace, without consent of Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law.

6. By causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be disarmed, at the same time when Papists were both armed and employed contrary to law.

7. By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in Parliament.

8. By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench, for matters and causes cognizable only in Parliament; and by diverse other arbitrary and illegal courses.

9. And whereas of late years, partial, corrupt, and unqualified persons have been returned and served on juries in trials, and particularly diverse jurors in trials for high treason, which were not freeholders.

10. And excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases, to elude the benefit of the laws made for the liberty of the subjects.

11. And excessive fines have been imposed; and illegal and cruel punishments inflicted.

12. And several grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures, before any conviction or judgment against the persons upon whom the same were to be levied.

All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes, and freedom of this realm.

And whereas the said late King James II. having abdicated the government, and the throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and diverse principal persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, being Protestants, and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs, and cinque ports, for the choosing of such persons as represent them, as were of right to be sent to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon the two-and-twentieth day of January, in this year one thousand six hundred eighty and eight, in order to such an establishment, as that their religion, laws and liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted; upon which letters, elections have been accordingly made.

And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections, being now assembled in a full and free representation of this nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done), for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare:--

1. That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal.

2. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal.

3. That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious.

4. That levying money for or to the use of the Crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.

5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal.

6. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of parliament, is against law.

7. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law.

8. That election of members of parliament ought to be free.

9. That the freedom of speech, and debates or proceedings in parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament.

10. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

11. That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders.

12. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction, are illegal and void.

13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws, parliaments ought to be held frequently.

And they do claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular the premises, as their undoubted rights and liberties; and that no declarations, judgments, doings or proceedings, to the prejudice of the people in any of the said premises, ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example.

To which demand of their rights they are particularly encouraged by the declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange, as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein.

Having therefore an entire confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the violation of their rights, which they have here asserted, and from all other attempts upon their religion, rights, and liberties:

II. The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, assembled at Westminster, do resolve, that William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, be, and be declared, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the Crown and royal dignity of the said kingdom and dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them; and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in, and executed by, the said Prince of Orange, in the names of the said Prince and Princess, during their joint lives; and after their deceases, the said Crown and royal dignity of the said kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said Princess; and for default of such issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark, and the heirs of her body and for default of such issue to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly.

III. And that the oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the oaths of allegiance and supremacy might be required by law, instead of them; and that the said oaths of allegiance and supremacy be abrogated.

I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their Majesties King William and Queen Mary: So help me God.

I, A. B., do swear, That I do from my heart, abhor, detest, and abjure as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm: So help me God.

IV. Upon which their said Majesties did accept the Crown and royal dignity of the kingdoms of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, according to the resolution and desire of the said Lords and Commons contained in the said declaration.

V. And thereupon their Majesties were pleased, that the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, being the two Houses of Parliament, should continue to sit, and with their Majesties' royal concurrence make effectual provision for the settlement of the religion, laws, and liberties of this kingdom, so that the same for the future might not be in danger again of being subverted; to which the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, did agree and proceed to act accordingly.

VI. Now in pursuance of the premises, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in parliament assembled, for the ratifying, confirming, and establishing the said declaration, and the articles, clauses, matters, and things therein contained, by the force of a law made in due form by authority of parliament, do pray that it may be declared and enacted, That all and singular the rights and liberties asserted and claimed in the said declaration, are the true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this kingdom, and so shall be esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed, and taken to be, and that all and every the particulars aforesaid shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed, as they are expressed in the said declaration; and all officers and ministers whatsoever shall serve their Majesties and their successors according to the same in all times to come.

VII. And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons ... declare, that King James II. having abdicated the government, and their Majesties having accepted the Crown and royal dignity aforesaid, their said Majesties did become, were, are, and of right ought to be, by the laws of this realm, our sovereign liege Lord and Lady, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging....

VIII. And for preventing all questions and divisions in this realm, by reason of any pretended titles to the Crown, and for preserving a certainty in the succession thereof, in and upon which the unity, peace, tranquillity, and safety of this nation doth, under God, wholly consist and depend, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do beseech their Majesties that it may be enacted, established, and declared, that the Crown and regal government of the said kingdoms and dominions, with all and singular the premises thereunto belonging and appertaining, shall be and continue to their said Majesties, and the survivor of them, during their lives, and the life of the survivor of them. And that the entire, perfect, and full exercise of the regal power and government be only in, and executed by, his Majesty, in the names of both their Majesties during their joint lives; and after their deceases the said Crown and premises shall be and remain to the heirs of the body of her Majesty: and for default of such issue, to her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark, and the heirs of her body; and for default of such issue, to the heirs of the body of his said Majesty....

IX. And whereas it hath been found by experience, that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom, to be governed by a Popish prince, or by any king or queen marrying a Papist, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do further pray that it may be enacted, That all and every person and persons that is, are, or shall be reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the See or Church of Rome, or shall profess the Popish religion, or shall marry a Papist, shall be excluded, and be for ever incapable to inherit, possess, or enjoy the Crown and government of this realm, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, or any part of the same, or to have, use, or exercise any regal power, authority, or jurisdiction within the same; and in all and every such case or cases the people of these realms shall be and are hereby absolved of their allegiance; and the said Crown and Government shall from time to time descend to, and be enjoyed by, such persons or persons, being protestants, as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case the said person or persons so reconciled, holding communion, or professing, or marrying as aforesaid, were naturally dead....

XII. And be it further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after this present session of parliament, no dispensation by _non obstante_ of or to any statute, or any part thereof, shall be allowed, but that the same shall be held void and of no effect, except a dispensation be allowed of in such statute, and except in such cases as shall be specially provided for by one or more bill or bills to be passed during this present session of parliament....

CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE NON-JURORS (1691).

+Source.+--_Letters between Ambrose Bonwicke and Richard Blechynden (Cambridge in the Days of Queen Anne_, by J. E. B. Mayor, pp. 217-221).

_Aug. 11. Bonwicke to Blechynden_.

I suppose ... that king _James_ had a right to my allegiance, and that secured by an oath; and unless he has given away this right or forfeited it, it is still in him. Now to me it does not appear that he has done either, therefore I dare not give it to another, which ... is the design of the new oaths.... I ought not to have entered into the obligation if I had not designed to have kept it.

_Aug. 15. Blechynden to Bonwicke._

He that has no longer a right to the government has no longer a right to my allegiance.... King _James_ has shewn, that he neither has the qualifications for government, nor for this of the _English_.... A full possession of the power, especially when recognised by the grandees and main body of the people, gives him that has it a title to the obedience and fidelity (or, if you will, allegiance) of all within his territories; at least they are guilty of no sin that promise fidelity to him.

_Aug. 20. Bonwicke to Blechynden._

I should be glad to find my friends and relations (whom I have so great a concern for) are in the right, and that it is prejudice in me has blinded me so long. Though I suppose it would be perjury in me to quit that oath that I still think obligatory, yet I have a very charitable opinion of those that have taken the new one, and suppose that conscience has been as much their guide in taking it, as it has been mine in refusing it.... I suppose a man may be dispossessed of a legal right no otherwise than by law.... I am to consider how I am to behave myself under a king, that has possession and not right. The execution of those laws that protect me are (_sic_) in his hands; I will give him all the obedience that is necessary for that purpose.... But to take an oath of allegiance to the king _de facto_, certainly cancels my oath of allegiance to the former.... If it were barely submitting to him in power, I suppose we should have no great dispute.

_Aug. 25. Blechynden to Bonwicke._

Municipal laws are not the sole measure of right and wrong. There is a superior law of right reason, which respects the common good of mankind, which gave beginning to all civil societies.... You say treason against the king _de facto_ is not treason _de jure_; hereby you must mean according to equity and right reason; for treason against a king _de facto_ is the only treason by the law of the land, if _Coke_ and _Hales_[27] may be credited.... You call for a legal forfeiture; nothing else, say you, will forfeit a legal right to a crown. But if you please to consult the gentlemen that write politics, who surely are the best guides in this affair, you will find them assign a great many others.... The assemblies of the grandees and parliaments have near forty times either deposed their prince or waived the next of kin for the good of the community.

_Aug. 31. Bonwicke to Blechynden._

Reason must be our best guide, and she has directed you to take the oaths, as she does me to refuse them. I consider on one side there is only a little temporal concern, and on the other the danger of perjury.... For what you urge, that therefore I ought to have no protection from king _William_, I must be contented; but I think it is the law that protects us both. At present it only deprives us of our livings, and that we must submit to. When the laws become more severe, we must shift as well as we can, and if we cannot live in this country, fly to another.... A whole nation can as ill dispense with their oaths as a single person.

_Sept. 5. Bonwicke to Blechyenden._

I do really take those laws which have been made since king _William's_ coming to the crown to be good laws.... King _James_ has lost thus much by losing possession: he has lost the assistance of his people, for it would be treason and illegal to fight against king _William_, who has now the law on his side.

_Sept. 8. Blechynden to Bonwicke._

The defence of the society being the sole ground (and measure too) of our obedience and fidelity to our chief governor, it is plain that it is due to him, and to him only, that can and does defend society.... If you will rightly weigh the matter, it is not only a little temporal concern that pleads for your taking oaths. For (pardon my plain dealing) you are chargeable with disobedience to the powers that be, with depriving your country (for which we are all in a great measure made) of the good you may do in your present station, or in the ministry; and with the making or strengthening a party against the public establishment, to the great prejudice of church and state; besides the injury to yourself and family, which an honest man ought not to prejudice but upon very good grounds. All this, I say, you are chargeable with, if the taking the oaths be not manifestly sinful. For the danger or fear of its being so is not sufficient to justify the neglect of any duty, and an opposition to a public establishment and the benefits of it. Reason will prefer the good of the community before that of a single man, especially of one already very false to his trust.... It is not plain that I am sworn to king _James_; the oath in an equitable interpretation not reaching the present case; nor has king _James_ any reason to insist on it as the present circumstances are; nor ought you to oblige me by my oath to hurt my neighbours, or my country, how rigorous soever I might be otherwise to myself. There is a great deal of difference between a private oath relating to my own concerns of which I am master; and a public, which was made for the good of the public, and therefore ought in no wise to be strained to the prejudice of the same.... The affection that men are bred up with towards the memory of king _Charles_ the first, and the abhorrence of the parliament of 1641, does extremely prejudice men for kings and against parliament; but both extremes are to be carefully shunned.

[27] Coke and Hales were amongst the most eminent of Stuart lawyers.

PACIFICATION OF THE HIGHLANDS (1692).

+Source.+--_Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1691-92_:

[Pp. 101, 102.]

_Jan. 16, 1692._--Instructions, signed by the King, for Sir Thomas Levingston:--

We allow you to receive the submissions of Glengarry, or those with him, upon their taking the oath of allegiance and delivering up the house of Invergarry; to be safe, as to their lives, but as to their estates they must depend upon our mercy.

In case you find the house of Invergarry cannot probably be taken in this season of the year, with the artillery and other provisions that you can bring there, we leave it to your discretion to give Glengarry the assurance of an entire indemnity for life and fortune, upon the delivery of his house and arms, and taking the oath of allegiance. In this you are allowed to act as you find the circumstances of the affair requires. But it were much better that these who have not taken the benefit of our indemnity, in the terms and with the "dyet" prefixed by our proclamation, should be obliged to "render" upon mercy; and the taking of the oath of allegiance is indispensable, others having already taken it. "If McKean of Glencoe and that tribe can be well separated from the rest, it will be a proper vindication of the public justice to extirpate that set of thieves." The "double of these instructions are only communicated to Col. Hill."

[Pp. 153, 154.]

_Feb. 28, 1692. Colonel Hill to the Earl of Portland._

My last gave you an account of the houses of Invergarry and Island Donan being in my possession for the King, and of the ruin of Glencoe, the latter named of which houses, I presume, were better destroyed than kept, for it is situated in such a place that it is hard to relieve it in winter, or at any time well, but by sea; it cannot contain a force to awe those countries in case they should again prove rebellious, and whilst my Lord Seaforth is come in, there is no doubt but his people may be kept quiet, and young Sir Donald McDonald is "a peaceable inclined man," and his relations in Skye mostly protestants, so there is no fear from thence, and that house will be but a charge to little other purpose, as is fit to be blown up.

Those men of Glencoe that (by help of the storm) escaped, would submit to mercy if their lives may be granted them, upon giving security to live peaceably under the government, and not to rob, steal, or receive stolen goods hereafter, and I humbly conceive (since there are enough killed for an example and to vindicate public justice) it were advisable so to receive them, since it will be troublesome to take them, the Highlanders being generally allied one to another, and they may join with other broken men, and be hurtful to the country. Nevertheless, in the meantime, it were necessary that the proclamation against them ... were issued out. At the present they (the men of Glencoe) lie dormant in caves and remote places.

The people now all seem resolved on settlement, and cry out for a jurisdiction among them (and the country will never be right till it be so) they flock in daily to submit to the King's mercy. Appin is a much changed man for the better, professes to everyone he meets his sincerity in keeping the oath of allegiance, and all those people of Appin have good inclinations to quiet, being many of them intelligent men, of whom I doubt not to make very good subjects. The Laird is a "pretty young man" of about 21 years, and had taken the oath before the day, but that he was tied to his bed by sickness at that time, and was carried in a boat to me, to do it, sooner than he was well able.

It were meet that some things were left to the discretion of whoever commands in so remote a place as this, otherwise sometimes advantages are lost before orders can be obtained, and then (for want of true intelligence of matters) the orders may happen to be wrongly conceived, and when I was here before, the whole was left to me, and it succeeded well. The more authority any(one) has here, the more the people observe to obey.

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