DECLARATION OF KING JAMES.

Meanwhile James addressed a letter to several lords who had been formerly members of his council, as well as to divers ladies of quality and distinction, intimating the pregnancy of his queen, and requiring them to attend as witnesses at the labour. He took notice of the injury his family and honour had sustained, from the cruel aspersions of his enemies concerning the birth of his son, and as Providence had now favoured him with an opportunity of refuting the calumny of those who affirmed that the queen was incapable of child-bearing, he assured them in the name of his brother the French king, as well as upon his own royal word, that they should have free leave to visit his court and return after the labour.*

* The letter was directed not only for privy counsellors,
but also to the duchesses of Somerset and Beaufort, the
marchioness of Halifax, the countesses of Derby, Mulgrave,
Rutland, Brooks, Nottingham, Lumley, and Danby, the ladies
Fitzharding and Fretchville, those of sir John Trevor,
speaker of the house of commons, sir Edward Seymour, sir
Christopher Musgrave, the wives of sir Thomas Stamford,
lord-mayor of London, sir William Ashhurst and sir Richard
Levert, the sheriffs, and, lastly, to Dr. Chamberlain, the
famous practitioner in midwifery.

This invitation however no person would venture to accept. He afterwards employed his emissaries in circulating a printed declaration, importing that the king of France had enabled him to make another effort to retrieve his crown; and that although he was furnished with a number of troops sufficient to untie the hands of his subjects, he did not intend to deprive them of their share in the glory of restoring their lawful king and their ancient government. He exhorted the people to join his standard. He assured them that the foreign auxiliaries should behave with the most regular discipline, and be sent back immediately after his re-establishment. He observed, that when such a number of his subjects were so infatuated as to concur with the unnatural design of the prince of Orange, he had chosen to rely upon the fidelity of his English army, and refused considerable succours that were offered to him by his most christian majesty; that when he was ready to oppose force with force, he nevertheless offered to give all reasonable satisfaction to his subjects who had been misled, and endeavoured to open their eyes with respect to the vain pretences of his adversary, whose aim was not the reformation but the subversion of the government; that when he saw himself deserted by his army, betrayed by his ministers, abandoned by his favourites, and even his own children, and at last rudely driven from his own palace by a guard of insolent foreigners, he had for his personal safety taken refuge in France: that his retreat from the malice and cruel designs of the usurper had been construed into an abdication, and the whole constitution of the monarchy destroyed by a set of men illegally assembled, who, in fact, had no power to alter the property of the meanest subject. He expressed his hope that by this time the nation had fairly examined the account, and from the losses and enormous expense of the three last years, were convinced that the remedy was worse than the disease; that the beginning, like the first years of Nero’s reign, would in all probability be found the mildest part of the usurpation, and the instruments of the new establishment live to suffer severely by the tyranny they had raised; that even though the usurpation should continue during his life, an indisputable title would survive in his issue, and expose the kingdom to all the miseries of a civil war. He not only solicited but commanded his good subjects to join him, according to their duty and the oaths they had taken. He forbade them to pay taxes or any part of the revenue to the usurper. He promised pardon, and even rewards, to all those who should return to their duty, and to procure in his first parliament an act of indemnity, with an exception of certain persons * whom he now enumerated.

* Those excepted were the duke of Ormond, the marquis of
Winchester, the earls of Sunderland, Bath, Danhy, and
Nottingham; the lords Newport, Delamere, Wiltshire,
Colchester, Cornhury, Dunblain, and Churchill; the bishops
of London and St. Asaph; sir Robert Howard, sir John Worden,
sir Samuel Grimstone, sir Stephen Fox, sir George Treby, sir
Basil Dixwell, sir James Oxenden; Dr. John Tillotson, Dr.
Gilbert Burnet; Francis Russel, Richard Lovison, John
Trenchard, Charles Duncomb, citizens of London; Edwards,
Stapleton, and Hunt, fishermen, and all others who had
offered personal indignities to him at Feyersham; or had
been concerned in the barbarous murder of John Ashton Cross,
or any other who had suffered death for their loyalty; and
all spies, or such as had betrayed his council during his
late absence from England.

He declared that all soldiers who should quit the service of the usurper and enlist under his banners, might depend upon receiving their pardon and arrears; and that the foreign troops, upon laying clown their arms, should be paid and transported to their respective countries. He solemnly protested that he would protect and maintain the church of England, as by law established, in all her rights, privileges, and possessions: he signified his resolution to use his influence with the parliament for allowing liberty of conscience to all his subjects, as an indulgence agreeable to the spirit of the christian religion, and conducive to the wealth and prosperity of the nation. He said his principal care should be to heal the wounds of the late distractions; to restore trade by observing the act of navigation, which had been lately so much violated in favour of strangers; to put the navy in a flourishing condition; and to take every step that might contribute to the greatness of the monarchy and the happiness of the people. He concluded with professions of resignation to the Divine Will, declaring that all who should reject his offers of mercy, and appear in arms against him, would be answerable to Almighty God for all the blood that should be spilt, and all the miseries in which these kingdoms might be involved by their desperate and unreasonable opposition.

While this declaration operated variously on the minds of the people, colonel Parker, with some other officers, enlisted men privately for the service of James, in the counties of York, Lancaster, and in the bishopric of Durham: at the same time, Fountaine and Holeman were employed in raising two regiments of horse at London, that they might join their master immediately after his landing. His partisans sent captain Lloyd with an express to lord Melfoot, containing a detail of these particulars, with an assurance that they had brought over rear-admiral Carter to the interest of his majesty. They likewise transmitted a list of the ships that composed the English fleet, and exhorted James to use his influence with the French king, that the count do Tourville might be ordered to attack them before they should be joined by the Dutch squadron. It was in consequence of this advice that Louis commanded Tourville to fall upon the English fleet, even without waiting for the Toulon squadron commanded by the marquis D’Etrees. By this time James had repaired to La Hogue, and was ready to embark with his army, consisting of a body of French troops, together with some English and Scotch refugees, and the regiments which had been transported from Ireland by virtue of the capitulation of Limerick.