THE French King's APPEAL FROM THE PROCEED OF THE POPE TO A General Council, September 28. 1688.  
Faithfully Translated from the French Copy Printed at Paris.  
LONDON, Printed for Richard Baldwin. 1688.   


AN Act of Appeal Made to the Future Council, BY THE KING'S Attorney General; And Judgement given thereupon, by the Chamber of Vacation, the 27th. of September, 1688.  
An Extract from the Records of PARLIAMENT.  
THIS Day the King's Attorney General, being come into the Chamber of Vacation, declared that the Matters of Fact laid open in the Letter the King sent to the Cardinal d'Estrees the 6th. of this Month, having obliged his Majesty to represent to our Holy Father the Pope, that he cannot look upon him otherwise for time to come, than as a Prince that takes part with his Enemies, or own him for a Competent Judge in all Cases wherein his interest may be concerned: The King's Attorney General has thought it his duty at the same time, to make use of the Precautions provided by the Law, practised in many Cases, and founded on the Opinions of the Italian Canonists themselves, to prevent his Holiness from passing any Valid and Regular Decrees in these Matters: With this purpose he hath made an Extrajudiciary Appeal from all the Proceed his Holiness may already have made, or make for time to come; and Decrees he may have passed, or pass for time to come, in prejudice to the King, the Rights of his Crown, and of the Subjects of his Majesty: The Respect he owes to this Court, has obliged him to come and give them an account hereof, and to tender to them the Act of Appeal he has made thereupon: They will easily perceive from the Command he has received from the King on this occasion, the Piety, Wisdom, and Moderation, which seem to have quite extinguished in this Prince those passions which so powerfully bias the rest of Mankind. He hopes the Court will approve his Conduct herein; and is fully assured they will with abundance of zeal and faithfulness employ all the Authority the King has been pleased to trust them with, to maintain the respect due to his Majesty upon so many just Titles; and to preserve the Rights of his Crown, the peace of his Subjects, and those Liberties which are not peculiar to the Gallican Church, but which she has preserved always with more Lustre and Vigour than any other Church whatsoever.  
The King's Attorney General being withdrawn, after having read the said Act of Appeal with his Conclusions thereupon, by him left in the Office of the said Court, and the Matter put to debate,  
The Chamber Orders, That the said Act of Appeal shall be entered in the Office of Records, to resort unto as occasion shall be, and that most humble thanks be returned to his Majesty; that he hath thought good his Attorney General should begin those Proceed which have been practised upon the like occasions: And that the first Precedent shall assure our said Lord the King, in the Name of the Court, of their constant adherence to his Sacred Person and Service; and of their Zeal ever to employ the Authority his Majesty has been pleased to intrust them with; in maintaining the Rights of the Crown, the Liberties of the Kingdom, and the Peace of his Subjects.  
Given in Vacation, the 27th. of September, 1688. Signed DONGOIS:   

Before the Apostolical Notaries under-written, to that purpose sent for to the Bar of the King's Council in the Palace of this City, my Lord Achilles de Harlay made his personal appearance, and declared that the Repute of our Holy Father the Pope Innocent the 11th. his Piety having made the King to look upon his Exaltation to the supreme Pontificate with much joy, his Majesty has ever since endeavoured to join with his Holiness, in labouring with one accord to promote the Concerns of the Glory and service of God.  
That the King's desires herein, and the steps he has already made in this matter having missed of the good success he might have expected from them, his Majesty notwithstanding has continued on his part to employ the Power God has entrusted him with, in preserving the Purity of Faith within his Dominions, and in bringing back to the bosom of the Church a great number of the Children that were gone astray from her; and in affording her all the protection she could expect from the Authority of a great King: His Majesty having moreover at the same time edified her by his own example, and instructed all his Subjects by his singular Piety.  
In the mean time, our Holy Father the Pope, to whom so many Virtues and wonderful Acts ought particularly to have endeared the Person of the King, has with fervency embraced the Complaints that two Bishops have made to him, concerning the Right of the Regale, having at the same time rejected the Attestations tendered him by all the other Bishops of that Kingdom, concerning the favours they had received of the King in that regard, even in prejudice to his own Right.  
His Holiness has deprived the King's Ambassadors at the Court of Rome of those very Franchises which they have enjoyed during his Papacy, in a City where it might have been expected the gratitude of the Popes would have reserved for our Kings those more Illustrious and peculiar marks of Sovereignty, which they in former times divested themselves of in favour of the Holy-See.  
Our Holy Father the Pope, has judged the Declaration which the Deputies of the Clergy assembled in the City 1682. made of their Opinions concerning the Power of the Church, to be at least a suspicious and dangerous Doctrine, and at a Juncture wherein many of his Predecessors would rather have gone to the uttermost bounds of Europe, than to leave so many new Catholic Converts destitute of Pastors: His Holiness has refused his Bulls to many ecclesiastics the King had nominated to fill the vacant Churches of his Kingdom; and to whom no other Crime can be imputed, than that of having known the Truth by their Learning, and declared the same with a sincerity joined with a great Respect for the Holy See.  
Our Holy Father the Pope's Behaviour for some Months since, in the Business of the Archbishopric of Cologne, has given occasion to Men to believe, that his Partial Deal might as well raise as dissipate a part of his Scruples and Difficulties.  
His Holiness persisting in his not owning, and resusing Audience to an Ambassador, whom the King was pleased to send at this Juncture, the Thunderbolts he has made use of against that Ministry, the Interdiction of the Church dedicated to God under the Name of St. Lewis in the City of Rome; and last of all, his unheard of refusing not long since to give Audience to a Person, whom the King had sent to him on purpose, and even so much as to receive a Letter from his Majesty, wherewith the said Person was charged, will leave an ●●most Incredible Instance to Posterity, of the power that Religion, and the desire of preserving the Peace of Christendom, have had over the heart of the King, as well as of the prevalence of prejudice over the Spirit of the Pope, so contrary to the Obligations lying upon him from the place he fills.  
It would be to no purpose to enlarge here any further on this Subject, since the King has been pleased to permit, that his Letter writ on this occasion to the Cardinal D'Estrees the 6th of this Month, should be published.  
And because we see, that his Holiness thus stops his Ears to all the Informations the King has been pleased to give him, as well as to the most just Complaints that were to be laid before him from his Majesty, we are at last forced to stand up in our own Defence, to maintain the Dignity of the Crown, and the Peace of the King's Subjects by the Rule of Justice, at the same time that his Majesty performs the same with so much Glory by the Puissance of his Arms.  
And though we might Dispense with entering any Proceed against those Decrees which would be null and void, by the condition of him that pronounces them, by the Quality of the Matters in Question, and the Persons they respect. Notwithstanding, that his Majesty may omit nothing of what is his Duty, and, according to the example of his Predecessors, the said Attorney General doth as such, and after having obtained Permission from his Majesty, declare that he makes his Appeal on behalf of the King and his Subjects to the General Council, which it shall please his Holiness to Convene according to Canonical Form, from all the Proceed and Acts of our Holy Father the Pope, and from any Decrees his Holiness may have past since the notice given him by Order of his Majesty, of the just Causes of complaint and exception he hath against the Person of his said Holiness, and in like manner from all other Proceed and Decrees he may make for the future, to the prejudice of his Majesty, the Rights of his Crown and Subjects; protesting at the same time, in the Name and by express Command from the King, that his Intentions are ever to continue inviolably devoted to the Holy See, as to the true Centre of the Unity of the Church, to preserve the Rights, Authorities, and Preeminencies thereof, with the same zeal his Majesty has done on so many important Occasions, to render to the same himself, (and causing all his Subjects) the Respect, Deference, and Submission due unto it, and that as soon as our Holy Father (being better informed) shall give Demonstration of the Equity and Disposition of a Judge and common Father, his Majesty will pay (as he has done always heretofore) to his very Person the Filial Duty he owes him, which the sole Behaviour of his Holiness forces him to forbear at present.  
Given and passed at Paris, in the Palace, at the Bar of King's Council, in the year 1688. the 27th. of September, before Noon. Signed. Moussinor Senior & Batteliée.   

And at the same time the foresaid Attorney General made his Appearance in Presence of the Apostolical Notaries at Paris underwritten, before the Reverend Nicholas Cheron, Priest Doctor in Divinity, and Official of the Archbishopric of Paris, and after having tendered him the said Act of Appeal by him made, and desired to grant him the accustomed Letters to Summon, and the Party concerned to prosecute the same when occasion shall be, the said Official hath as far as in him lies, granted the said Letters out of the respect he bears to the Universal Church, represented in a General Council, and in consideration that the said Appeal concerns the King's Rights, the Liberties of the Gallican Church, and Peace of the Kingdom.  
Given at the Hall of the Ecclesiastical Court of Paris, in the Year 1688. the 27th of September, before Noon. Signed Moussinot Senior & Battelier.   
FINIS.