A New-Years Gift to IMPOSTORS: OR, The Manifest of William the Third King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, delivered and dispersed at the French Court, etc. as an Overture to the General Peace, proposed about the later end of the Year 1693. and concluded in 1697. Faithfully done out of the Original into English, and now published by a true Friend to Truth and Justice, and consequently to his King and Country.  
THey, who in expectation of a Peace, seriously consider the Situation of the Affairs of Europe, and who, without Passion, inquire into the chief Cause of the Revolutions which disturb it, have not hitherto thrown it upon me, nor imputed the Misfortunes of it to my Elevation to the Throne of the three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. None but the King of France and his Partisans labour at this time to do it; none but they call me Tyrant and Usurper; and, troubled at the Fidelity of my Subjects, obstinately persist in continuing a War, which they undertook ●…t out of Despair, and which is of my Honour and Glory to make an end of.  
They lay to my Ambition all the Disorders of Europe, and make me the Author of the Rebellion of the English; they reproach me with having excited the famous League of Ausbourg, and to ●ave driven from his Throne, in order to mount ●t myself, an Illustrious and Magnanimous Prince, whom the Ties of Blood obliged me to respect: in fine, they overload and blacken me with such a number of Impostures, that I can't, in my own Justification, but give the Universe an account of my Conduct. Which that I may do with Ease, I need but represent in a few Words what happened in Europe before the War, and hence infer in my Favour what right Reason will naturally admit; by which alone it will appear, ●hat far from having had the least share in raising the Troubles Europe is involved in, I have, on the contrary, sought all Occasions to calm ●hem. Every one will be convinced of the Sincerity of my Intentions, and the Justice of my actions will gain over the Perfidies of my Enemy's.  
The Condition all the Kingdoms of Europe were in, in the Year 1688. is well known: They, ●…r the most part, enjoyed profound Peace. The emperor, the King of Poland, and the Venetians, ●…ntinued with Success their Conquest over the ●…rks: Hungary was retaken from the Infidels, ●…d Belgrade, which the Imperialists took with ●ord in Hand, opened to their Conquest a ●…e Passage to the Head-City of the Turkish ●mpire.  
The Misfortunes of the One and Prosperity of ●…e Other, touched the King of France in a very ●…ferent manner: He became sensible of the Dis●…nce of the Ottomans, and jealous of the Emperor's Victories. The Power and Policy of that Monarch forbidding their further increase, put him upon the design of lessening 'em by hidden and indirect ways. His Honour would not permit him to appear barefaced in favour of the Infidels; the Division he meditated was equally against his Reputation and Character of Most Christian: But the Hereditary Hatred of the House of France to that of Austria, carried it over the general Good of Christendom, and over a Twenty years' Truce newly concluded, which promised to Germany a full Repose.  
In view of an ensuing War, and with design to prosecute it, the Agents of France at the Court of Maximilian-Henry of Bavaria Elector of Cologn, disposed that Prince to demand, before his Death, a Successor of his Chapter: The Canons-Suffragans, who composed it, being for the most part gained by the Money and fair Promises of France, gave him Cardinal Fustemberg for Coadjutor: The Forces of that Crown had at the same time in their Possession one of the best Places of the Electorate, and after having furnished it with all sorts of Ammunition, laid still till Heaven should dispose of the Elector.  
After the death of this Prince, which happened the 3d of June 1688. the King of France undertook to have Cardinal Fustemberg Recognized for his Lawful Successor; but as the Postulation to the Coadjutorship was not accepted at the Court of Rome, the Threaten of the Pope and of the Emperor, obliged the Canons to proceed, a second time, to the Election of a new Prince; where the Count of Conis, in the Emperor's Name, proposed Prince Clement of Bavaria, with the exclusion of Cardinal Fustemberg.  
The Canons, to the number of 25, meeting in their Assembly the 19th of July 1688. divided in their Choice; 14 postulated the Cardinal, 9 the Prince of Bavaria by virtue of his Brief of Eligibility, by which the Pope supplied the defect of his Age, he being then but 17 years old: In all appearance the Cardinal ought to have carried it; but the Contest being sent to Rome, the Pope decided in favour of the Prince of Bavaria; tho', to take the thing right, the Postulation of the Cardinal was Legal and Canonical.  
This partial Stroke provoked the King of France beyond measure, and unseasonably confounding his Politics obliged him to declare himself openly, and support with Honour his first Design and his first Intentions. To this end he levied a powerful Army, which he sent under the Command of the Dauphin his Son into Germany. This Prince meeting no opposition took Philipsbourg, Mayence, Manheim, Spire and Frankendal; put all the Palatinate to Fire and Sword, and destroyed that fine Country in so dreadful and terrible a manner, that one may seek at this time for the four last mentioned Towns, in the very Place wherein they stood 5 years ago.  
The Reasons which that Monarch made use of to justify such barbarous Hostilities, were not grounded upon the Quarrel about the Electorate of Cologn, but on the late Elector Palatine's refusing to give the Duchess of Orleans an account of the Estate fallen to her by the death of her Father.  
This Elector seeing himself innocently the unfortunate Sacrifice of a powerful Monarch, engaged the Council of Vienna and the Princes of Germany to revenge the ill Usages he met with all from the Crown of France: They unanimously espoused the Quarrel at Ausbourg; and the State of my Affairs required I should enter into the League with them, the better to resist the first Efforts which I foresaw would be Leveled against me.  
I was then in England, whither the Troubles raised against King James, by his Subjects, called me to be a Mediator and Arbiter betwixt them; and perhaps would have accomplished it, had that Prince and his Subjects, reciprocally had, more Deference for each other.  
King James quietly succeeded King Charles the Second, his Brother, in his Dominions, and the beginning of his Reign seemed to promise him a continued Tranquillity. The Death of the Duke of Monmouth and the most part of his Accomplices struck Terror into the most Desperate; and were it not for the Design he form to reunite to his own Religion, that of the Subjects one may say, he might have been still upon the Throne, and that no Revolution could have interrupted the Felicity of his Reign; but ambitious to render himself absolute in a Monarchy depending of the Humours of those, who compose it, and to fix a Constancy in a People naturally Inconstant; and to imitate the Actions of a powerful King, without having the Means and Forces, like him, to effect it; drew upon him that dreadful Crowd of Misfortunes, under which, perhaps, his Head, after the Hereditary Fatality, would have fallen, had not I taken Care, under Hand, to save it from his Subjects. The King of France, whose Steps he intended to follow, was then endeavouring the extinction of Calvinism in his Dominions: The numerous Troops he employed in that Work forced the most obstinate to a speedy compliance: His Policy reserved this great Action, that by the happy Success of it, his Glory might be completed. It was certainly a Design becoming the Greatness of that Monarch, and the everlasting Peace which he promised to himself after that Stroke, would never have been disturbed, had he but by a refined Foresight, had the Art either to have kept within his Kingdom the Leading Men among the Protestants by force of Reward, or had caused them to be sacrificed without Mercy on the Frontiers, instead of suffering them to go out on't.  
But those unfortunate Fugitives carrying Misery, Desolation, and Terror every where they went, looked upon England the only Place of Comfort and Ease to their Misfortunes; thither they retired in hopes to find Tranquillity and Rest, still bewailing the Cruelty with which they were forced to abandon, as one may say, their Household-gods, and their Religion.  
King James at the same time takes upon him to re-establish the public Exercise of the Catholic Religion all over England. The English, who had before their Eyes the sad Example of the French Refugees, contented themselves at first to murmur at the Design: The Novelty of it seemed strange to them, and were fond of that Liberty of Conscience they had enjoyed for above Two Centuries. But when they saw the execution of the Design pressed upon 'em through the Ministry of the Jesuits; when they saw their Town's Privileges taken away, the Bishops Imprisoned in the Tower of London, Friars reestablished in their ancient Convents, and those very Jesuits (the unlucky Authors of all Mischiefs) in Possession of a College in the midst of the City of London; then they generally, and in common Concert with the Nobility, revolted. These to maintain themselves in the Church-Lands whereof the Kings Henry 8. Edward 6. and Queen Elizabeth, put their Ancestors in Possession: The others to secure their Privileges: Both together stirred by the implacable Motive of Religion, that seldom fails to cause a Revolution, which is of extreme Consequence to prevent.  
The Revolters in the mean time seek for a powerful Protector and a disinterested Mediator, and unluckily cast their Eyes upon me: They solicit my passing into England, and hasten to the Succour of their Religion. I was then in Holland at the Head of a numerous Army which I had raised, not for that end, as I am unjustly reproached with, but to support in Germany the Interest of Pope Innocent XI. against Cardinal Fustemberg, or rather, more properly speaking, against France.  
All the World knows how the Court of Rome solicited me at that time; the Alliances she had with me by the Intrigues of Casonis, the Remittances of Money I had from thence for the execution of this Design. All the World knows besides, that the very same Court of Rome had chose me, above all the other Princes of Europe, to oppose the Fortune and Greatness of the King of France: I was promised an honourable Preferment which should crown me with Glory; and the Power of the Enemy I was to oppose took up, at that time, all my Thoughts and Care.  
However the Necessities of England at that Juncture, seemed to me more pressing than those of Cologn; and the Interest of a Religion so near and common to my own, prevailed with me before the Interest of a Stranger under Oppression: The Glory of reconciling a King and his Subjects, and of reciprocally succouring both, weighed in my Mind over that of supporting in Germany the Pretensions of a young Prince, whose Right, besides, did not appear to me to be incontestable.  
Upon this I passed into England, Landed my Troops without any opposition, the People received me with open Arms: King James' Army insensibly deserted to me, ranging themselves under my Banners; so that in a little time I found myself in the midst of the City of London, absolute Master of all Things, without so much as costing the Life of one single Man, or that any of King James' Subjects had Loyalty or Courage enough to Fight one Struck in his Favour.  
Thus, in the midst of a People swelled with Rage and Hatred against their King, I sent the Prince private Notice that they openly threatened him, and that it was high time he should save himself. I consented to his Escape out of excess of Regard and Tenderness, and not in view of any private Interest of my own. I facilitated all Things for his Embarquement, and if he was taken the first time, the very moment he was going about it, it was solely an effect of the ill Fortune that attended him, and not of any Artifice or Subtlety I am reproached with: The second time he had better Luck, and unthankful for the Service I had rendered him, he stirred up the Most Christian King, and made him declare against me, as if I had been guilty of a Misfortune which he ought to have imputed to nothing but the Imprudence of his own Conduct.  
The English, on their part, no sooner understood their King's retreat, than they pretended his Flight to be a tacit abandoning the Crown, which, by Disertion, he left vacant. The Convention assembled, seriously and sincerely examined the Matter, and declared it a true Vacancy according to the Laws of England, and consequently resolved to give themselves a new Prince; upon which they offered me the Crown and Sceptre, and constrained me to accept both; and, against my Will, forced me to suffer myself to be proclaimed King, in all the Forms and with all the Ceremonies accustomed. Obliged to yield to the Violence of their Choice, I rendered myself depositary of a Crown which I am ready to abandon at any time the public Tranquillity will require it.  
It's near five Years that I Reign on this Footing, and France alone persists to disturb me, and give me the odious Names of Usurper and Tyrant: Name's no way becoming a Prince of m● Character, and one would think that she harden●… at this time, in reference to me, as an Atonement or Penance for her having formerly Negotiated with Cromwell, who was a right Tyrant and a true Usurper. Can it be said hereafter tha● I have Usurped the Crown of England? Shall be reckoned one Day in the number of thos● Tyrants, she hath so often experienced the Barbarity of? An Usurper is one who, without any Right, assumes to himself the Dignity of a Sovereign, enters into a Country with Violence forces the People he hath subdued to own him for their King, oppresses them with Levies and Taxes, cements his new Throne with the Blood of the most Illustrious of his Subjects, and upon the least Suspicion sacrifices to the Security of hi● Crown and his Life those, whose Conduct might occasion the least Umbrage. A Tyrant is one who, seducing his Fellow Subjects, declares against his Prince and the Government of his Country, and who by excess of Power and Success acquires and engrosses to himself alone the Sovereignty and Dominion, and who according to his own Avarice and Fury disposes of all th● Treasure of the People, whereof he himself is bu● a Member; and, in short, whose Power generally ends with his Life.  
Am I an Usurper? Am I a Tyrant? Can any one of those barbarous Qualities which form the one, or the other, be observed in my Conduct? Am I born a Subject of England? Am I got into it by Force or Violence? Have I overloaded its People with Levies and Taxes? Can I be reproached with any of those brutal Actions which darkens the Histories of the most Illustrious Conquerors? If I am neither an Usurper nor a Tyrant, but Rightful and Lawful King of England, what Shame can it be for France, at this time, to own me as such? She, who at other times not only acknowledged such, but concluded Treaties of Peace, Alliance and Commerce with 'em, as if they had been lawful Princes? But if this obstinacy of France causes all my Pain and Trouble, if by her ways she alone hath hitherto opposed the Happiness of my Fortune; I have still this Comfort to see myself Recognized by all the other Princes of Europe, and to see my Ambassadors hold the same Rank at their Courts, which those of England have always had. The Emperor, the King of Spain, the Duke of Savoy, the Princes of Germany, and the State's General, have voluntarily entered into a League together to support me upon the Throne: They'll sooner perish, as I may say, then let me fall; while my Enemies, by open Force, strive to wrest the Sceptre from me. And when, on the contrary, they'll come to Reason and fair Means, I am of myself ready to quit the Throne, in order to restore the Tranquillity of all Europe.  
Let France gain as many Victories as she will, let her take Towns and Ships, drowned the Frontiers with Soldiers, threaten all the Earth with an ensuing Conquest; all that will but turn to her Ruin, because she is but one against many. Let her examine her own inward State; let her behold, with Motherly Eyes, the Dearth and Scarcity of Corn her Inhabitants are reduced to. In fine, let her cease to delude, with the Power of her Money, a Prince who freely renounces the Crown; and an Infant, who in a long time will not have Strength enough to wear it. Let her also consider the number of Enemies she is surrounded with; and let her measure the greatness of their Hatred to her, with that of her Outrages to them. Let her look upon all her concluded Treaties violated, all the Truces she hath broke, all the Towns she hath burnt, all the People she hath reduced to Beggary, and who demand Justice of Heaven for these Evils. Let her at last seriously reflect on the unsteadiness of her own Conduct, and she'll find herself guilty of the same Perfidies she unjustly upbraids me with, and whereof she accuses my Allies.  
Would a Treaty of Peace secure unto us her Friendship, tho', to obtain it, we should grant her all her Pretensions? Would the Emperor trust to it, after seeing her, in cold Blood, break a Truce of 20 Years, newly concluded between her and him? Would the King of Spain send his Fleet to Sea with Safety, after the Insult made in full Peace upon his Admiral Papachini? Would the Duke of Savoy be more Civilly treated by her Minister? Would the Princes of Germany keep their Countries and Privileges with Security and Freedom? And would not the State's General have cause to fear her Resentment and Revenge, in Hatred to the generous Protection, and the powerful Succours which they have given me?  
However, if it be resolved to restore Peace to Europe who require it, all the World that seek it will be astonished at the Effort which secretly invites me to it, when every one tells me that the public Good aught to weigh over my private Advantage.  
Let us therefore commit that happy Violence upon ourselves, and sacrifice my Glory to this Repose; and let us at least by excess of Generosity, surpass those, who have not been able to overcome us by their Arms.  
To accomplish so fine a Project, and of so general an Advantage, I declare. as to my part, I am ready to renounce the Three Crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland, to abandon these Isles for ever, and give 'em up to King James, secure the Possession of them to the Prince his Son, and to return to Holland quietly to exercise the Dignity of Stateholder; if France will but on her part restrain herself to the Execution of the Pyrenean. Treaty, and consent to annul all subsequent Ones. His Most Christian Majesty knows that he never performed but One Article of that Treaty, which without any other Proof is sufficiently evinced from all that's passed since that time.  
If Offers so reasonable and Proposals so advantageous be rejected, the evil Consequences of their refusal ought not to be imputed to me: The Sacrifice I make to the public Good is a sufficient Justification of me, and is a Satisfaction to me in the midst of my Pains and Afflictions. I quit a Radiant Crown and a Sceptre Illustrious and Flourishing, to give them to another. I descend of my own Accord, without Violence and without Constraint, from the Throne, after having had the extreme Pleasure of mounting it, and Sweet of commanding in it. I forsake Fortune, Honour, Glory and Triumph, to become nothing, in reassuming a private Condition. I become as it were a Phantom, after having been something on the Theatre of the World, and after having had so much Suceess, whereof I ought now to enjoy the Benefit; I reserve no more on't to my Ambition and Fortune than the Imagination and Shadow.  
After this let my Enemies say what they will against me, let 'em form all the Ideas to themselves they please, my Sincerity will give the Lie to all their Impostures. They shall always find me ready to execute what I offer; and always ready to restore, together with the Peace, the Tranquillity and Happiness which they have lost.  
FINIS.   

Besides other States, Crown'd-Heads and Potentates, who than Complemented Their Majesties on the Birth of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales:  
Nota Bene out of the London Gazette of the Year, 1688.  

Number, 2358.  
Hague, June 29.  
ON Friday last, the Marquis d' Albyville, Envoy Extraordinary of His Majesty of Great Britain, Communicated to the Princess and Prince of Orange, the Happy News of the Birth of the Prince, to whom he delivered at the same time His Majesty's Letters. And the next day he had Audience of the State's General, to notify the same to them. The Heer Van Zuylestein parted from hence yesterday for England.  
Whitehall, June 23. This Day the Sieur Zuylestein, who is come from her Royal Highness the Princess and His Highness the Prince of Orange, to of the Prince, had his first Audience of the King, being Conducted by Sir Charles Cottrel Master of the Ceremonies.  
Whitehall, July 1. The 28th past the Sieur de Zuylestein, who is sent from her Royal Highness the Princess, and His Highness the Prince of Orange, to Congratulate upon the Birth of the Prince, had Audience of the Queen; the 30th of the Queen-Dowager; and this Day of the Prince, being conducted by Sir Charles Cottrel Master of the Ceremonies.   

Numb. 2367.  
THe Sieur de Zulyestein has had his Audience of Leave of Their Majesties, of the Queen-Dowager, and of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, being Conducted by Sir Charles Cottrel Master of the Ceremonies.   
Add, That he was publicly Prayed for as Prince of Wales at the Chappel-Royal at the Hague, till it was thought convenient to discontinue it.