THE DECLARATION OF HIS HIGHNESS WILLIAM HENRY, By the Grace of God PRINCE OF ORANGE, etc.  
Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England, for Preserving of the Protestant Religion, and for Restoring the Laws and Liberties of ENGLAND, SCOTLAND and IRELAND.  
Here unto are added the Letters of the aforesaid his Illustrious Highness to the Sea and Land forces of England, together with the Prayer for the present Expedition.  
IE MAINTIENDRAY  
PROT. RELIGION AND LIBERTY  
Printed at the Hague by ARNOLD LEERS, Bookseller at the Sign of Plutarch. By special order of his Highness, 1688.  
With Privilege of the Great and Mighty the States of Holland and Westfriesland.   

THE DECLARATION OF HIS HIGHNESS WILLIAM HENRY, By the Grace of God PRINCE OF ORANGE, etc. Of the reasons inducing him, To Appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England.  

IT is both certain and evident to all men, that the public Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom, can not be preserved, where the Laws, Liberties and Customs established by the lawful authority in it, are openly transgressed and annulled: more especially where the alteration of Religion is endeavoured, and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced: upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it, are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the established Laws, Liberties and Customs: and above all the Religion and worship of God, that is established among them; and to take such an effectual care, that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom, may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights. Which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of King's Royal families, and of all such as are in Authority, as well as the happiness of their Subjects and People, depend in a most especial manner upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their Laws, Liberties and Customs.  
Upon these grounds it is, that We cannot any longer forbear to Declare that to our great regret We see that those Counsellors, who have now the chief credit with the King, have overturned the Religion, Laws and Liberties of those Realms, and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences, Liberties and Properties, to Arbitrary Government: and that not only by secret and indirect ways, but in an open and undisguised manner.  
Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible pretexts, did invent and set on foot the King's Dispencing power, by virtue of which, they pretend that according to Law, he can Suspend and Dispense with the Execution of the Laws, that have been enacted by the Authority, of the King and Parliament, for the security and happiness of the Subject, and so have rendered those Laws of no effect: Tho there is nothing more certain, then that as no Laws can be made, but by the joint concurrence of King and Parliament, so likewise laws so enacted, which secure-the Public peace, and safety of the Nation, and the lives and liberties of every subject in it, can not be repealed or suspended but by the same authority.  
For though the King may pardon the punishment, that a Transgressor has incurred, and to which he is condemned, as in the cases of Treason or Felony; yet it can not be with any colour of reason inferred from thence, that the King can entirely suspend the execution of those Laws, relating to Treason or Felony: unless it is pretended, that he is clothed with a Despotic and Arbitrary power, and that the Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates of the Subjects, depend wholly on his good will and pleasure, and are entirely subject to him; which must infallibly follow on the Kings having a power to suspend the execution of the Laws, and to dispense with them.  
Those Evil Counsellors, in order to the giving some credit to this strange and execrable Maxim, have so conducted the matter, that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges, declaring that this Dispencing power is a Right belonging to the Crown; as if it were in the power of the twelve Judges to offer up the Laws, Rights and Liberties, of the whole Nation, to the King, to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expressly contrary to Laws enacted for the security of the Subjects. In order to the obtaining this Judgement, those Evil Counsellors did before hand examine secretly the Opinion of the Judges, and procured such of them, as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence, to be turned out, and others to be substituted in their rooms till by the changes which were made, in the Courts of Judicature, they at last obtained that Judgement. And they have raised some to those Trusts, who make open profession of the Popish Religion, though those are by Law rendered incapable all such Employments.  
It is also manifest and notorious, that as his Majesty was, upon his coming to the Crown, received and acknowledged by all the subjects of England, Scotland and Ireland, as their King without the least opposition, though he made then open profession of the Popish Religion so he did then promise, and solemnly swear at his Coronation, that he would maintain his subjects, in the free enjoyment of their Laws, Rights and Liberties, and in particular, that he would maintain the Church of England as it was established by Law: It is likewise certain, that there have been at divers and sundry times, several Laws enacted for the preservation of those Rights and Liberties, and of the Protestant Religion: and among other Securities, it has been enacted that all Persons whatsoever, that are advanced to any Ecclesiastical Dignity, or to bear Office in either University, as likewise all other that should be put in any Employment, Civil or Military, should declare that they were not Papists, but were of the Protestant Religion, and that by their taking of the Oaths of Allegange and Supreamacy and the Test, yet these Evil Counsellors have in effect annulled and abolished all those Laws, both with relation to Ecclesiastical and Civil Employments.  
In order to Ecclesiastical Dignities and Offices they have not only without any colour of Law, but against most express Laws to the contrary, set up a Commission of a certain number of persons, to whom they have committed the cognisance and direction of all Ecclesiastical matters: in the which Commission there has been and still is, one of His Majesty's Ministers of State, who makes now public profession of the Popish Religion, and who at the time of his first professing it, declared that for a great while before, he had believed that to be the only true Religion. By all this, the deplorable State to which the Protestant Religion is reduced is apparent, since the Affairs of the Church of England, are now put into the hands of Persons, who have accepted of a Commission that is manifesty Illegal; and who have executed it contrary to all Law; and that now one of their chief Members has abjured the Protestant Religion and declared himself a Papist; by which he is become Incapable of holding any Public Employment: The said Commissioners have hitherto given such proof, of their submission to the directions given them, that there is no reason to doubt, but they will still continue to promote all such designs as will be most agreeable to them. And those Evil Counsellors take care ta raise none to any Ecclesiastical dignities, but persons that have no zeal for the Protestant Religion, and that now hide their un concernednes for it, under the specious pretence of Moderation. The said Commissioners have suspended the Bishop of London, only because he refused to obey an order, that was sent him to suspend a Worthy Divine, without so much as citing him before him, to make his own Defence, or observing the common forms of process. They have turned out a Precedent, chosen by the fellows of Magdalen College, and afterwards all the Fellows of that College, without so much as citing them before any Court that could take legal cognissance of that affair; or obtaining any Sentence against them by a Competent Judge. And the only reason that was given for turning them out, was their refusing to choose for their Precedent; a Person that was recommended to them, by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors; though the right of a free Election belonged undoubtedly to them. But they were turned out of their freeholds, contrary to Law, and to that express provision in the Magna Chartae; that no man shall lose life or goods, but by the Law of the land. And now these Evil Counsellors have put the said College wholly into the hands of Popists, though as is abovesaid, they are incapable of all such Employments, both by the Law of the Land, and the statutes of the College. These Commissioners have also cited before them all the Chancellors and Archdeacon's of England, requiring them to certify to them the names of all such Clergymen, as have read the King's declaration for Liberty of Conscience, and of such as have not read it: without considering that the reading of it was not enjoined the Clergy, by the Bishops, who are their Ordinaries. The Illegality and Incompetency of the said Court of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners was so notoriously known, and it did so evidently appear that it tended to the subversion of the Protestant Religion, that the Most Reverend Father in God, William Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England, seeing that it was raised for no other end but to oppress such persons as were of eminent virtue, learning and piety, refused to sit or to concur in it.  
And though there are many express Laws against all Churches or Chappells, for the exercise of the Popish Religion, and also against all Monasteries and Convents, and more particularly against the order of the Jesuits, yet those Evil Counsellors have procured orders for the building of several Churches and Chapels, for the exercise of that Religion: They have also procured divers Monasteries to be erected, and in contempt of the Law they have not only set up several Colleges of Jesuits, in divers places, for the corrupting of the youth, but have raised up one of the Order, to be a Privy Counsellor and a Minister of State. By all which they do evidently show, that they are restrained by no rules or Law whatsoever; but that they have subjected the Honours and Estates of the subjects, and the established Religion to a Despotic power and to Arbitrary Government: In all which they are served and seconded by those Ecclesiastical Commissioners.  
They have also followed the same methods with Relation to Civil affairs: For they have procured orders to examine all Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Sheriffs, Justices of Peace and all others that were in any Public Employment, if they would concur with The King in the repeal of the Test and Penal Laws: and all such, whose consciences did not suffer them to comply with their designs, were turned out; and others were put in their places, who they believed would be more compliant to them in their designs of defeating the intent and Execution of those Laws, which had been made with so much care and caution for the security of the Protestant Religion. And in many of these places they have put professed Papists, though the Law has disabled them, and warranted the subjects not to have any regard to their Orders.  
They have also invaded the Privileges, and seized on the Charters of most of those Towns that have a right to be represented by their Burgesses in Parliament: and have procured surrenders to be made of them, by which the Magistrates in them have delivered up all their Rights and Privileges, to be disposed of at the pleasure of those Evil Counsellors: who have thereupon, placed new Magistrates in those Towns, such as they can most entirely confide in: and in many of them they have put Popish Magistrates, notwithstanding the Incapacities under which the Law has put them.  
And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the administration of good and impartial Justice, upon which men's Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates, do depend; those Evil Counsellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotic power: In the most important affairs they have studied to discover before hand, the Opinions of the Judges; and have turned out such, as they found would not conform themselves to their intentions: and have put others in their places, of whom they were more assured, without having any regard to their abilities. And they have not stuck to raise even professed Papists to the Courts of Judicature, notwithstanding their Incapacity by Law, and that no regard is due to any Sentences flowing from them. They have carried this so far, as to deprive such Judges, who in the common administration of Justice, showed that they were governed by their Consciences, and not by the directions which the others gave them. By which it is apparent that they design to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives, Honours and Estates of the subjects, of what rank or dignity soever they may be: and that without having any regard either to the equity of the cause, or to the consciences of the Judges, whom they will have to submit in all things to their own will and pleasure: hoping by such ways to intimidate those who are yet in Employment, as also such others, as they shall think fit, to put in the Rooms of those whom they have turned out; and to make them see, what they must look for, if they should at any time act in the least contrary to their good liking, and that no failings of that kind are pardoned in any persons whatsoever. A great deal of blood has been shed in many places of the Kingdom, by Judges governed by those Evil Counsellors, against all the rules and forms of Law; without so much as suffering the persons that were accused to plead in their own Defence.  
They have also by putting the administration of justice in the hands of Papists, brought all the matters of Civil Justice into great uncertainties: with how much exactness and Justice soever that these Sentences may have been given. For since the Laws of the Land do not only exclude Papists from all places of Judicature, but have put them under an Incapacity, none are bound to acknowledge or to obey their Judgements, and all Sentences given by them, are null and void of themselves: so that all persons who have been cast in trials before such Popish Judges, may justly look on their pretended Sentences, as having no more force than the Sentences of any private and unauthorised person whatsoever. So deplorable is the case of the Subjects, who are obliged to answer to such Judges, that must in all things stick to the rules which are set them by those Evil Counsellors, who as they raised them up to those Employments, so can turn them out of them at pleasure; and who can never be esteemed Lawful Judges; so that all their Sentences are in the Construction of the Law, of no force and efficacy. They have likewise disposed of all Military Employments, in the same manner: For though the Laws have not only excluded Papists from all such Employments, but have in particular provided that they should be disarmed; yet they in contempt of these Laws, have not only armed the Papists, but have likewise raised them up to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land, and that Strangers as well as Natives, and Irish as well as English, that so by those means having rendered themselves Masters both of the affairs of the Church, of the Government of the Nation, and of the course of Justice, and subjected them all to a Despotic and Arbitrary power, they might be in a capacity to maintain and execute their wicked designs by the assistance of the Army, and thereby to enslave the Nation.  
The dismal effects of this subversion of the established Religion, Laws and Liberties in England appear more evidently to us, by what we see done in Ireland, Where the whole Government is put in the hands of Papists, and where all the Protestant Inhabitants are under the daily fears of what may be justly apprehended from the Arbitrary power which is set up there: which has made great numbers of them, leave that Kingdom and abandon their Estates in it, remembering well that cruel and bloody Massacre which fell out in that Island in the year 1641.  
Those Evil Counsellors have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland that he is clothed with Absolute power, and that all the subjects are bound to obey him without Reserve: upon which he has assumed an arbitrary power, both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom, from all which it is apparent, what is to be looked for in England, as soon as matters are duly prepared for it.  
Those great and insufferable Oppressions, and the open Contempt of all Law, together with the apprehensions of the sad consequences that must certainly follow upon it, have put the subjects under great and just fears; and have made them look after such lawful remedies as are allowed of in all Nations: yet all has been without effect. And those Evil Counsellors have endeavoured to make all men apprehend the loss of their Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates, if they should go about to preserve themselves from this Oppression, by Petitions, Representations, or other means authorised by Law. Thus did they proceed with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the other Bishops, who having offered a most humble petition to the King, in terms full of Respect, and not exceeding the number limited by Law, in which they set forth in short the Reasons for which they could not obey that order, which by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors, was sent them, requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read in their Churches the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience; were sent to prison and afterwards brought to a Trial, as if they had been guilty of some enormous Crime. They were not only obliged to defend themselves in that pursuit, but to appear before professed Papists, who had not taken the Test and by consequence were men whose interest led them to condemn them; and the Judges that gave their opinion in their favours were thereupon turned out.  
And yet it can not be pretended that any Kings; how great soever their power has been, and how Arbitrary and Despotic soever they have been in the exercise of it, have ever reckoned it a crime for their Subjects to come in all submission and respect, and in a due number, not exceeding the limits of the Law, and represent to them the reasons that made it impossible for them to obey their orders. Those Evil Counsellors have also treated a Peer of the Realm, as a criminal, only because he said that the subjects were not bound to obey the orders of a Popish Justice of Peace: though it is evident, that they being by Law rendered incapable of all such trusts, no regard is due to their orders. This being the security which the people have by the Law for their Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates, that they are not to be subjected to the Arbitrary proceedings of Papists, that are contrary to Law put into any Employments Civil or Military.  
Both We ourselves, and our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort, the Princess, have endeavoured to signify in terms full of respect to the King the just and deep Regret which all these Proceedings have given us; and in Compliance with his Majesty's desires signified to us, We declared both by word of mouth, to his Envoy, and in writing what our Thoughts were touching the Repealing of the Test and Penal Laws; which we did in such a manner, that We hoped We had proposed an Expedient, by which the Peace of those Kingdoms, and a happy aggreement among the Subjects of all Persuasions, might have been settled: but those Evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good Intentions, that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us: as if We had designed to disturb the quiet and happiness of the Kingdom.  
The last and great Remedy for all those Evils, is the Calling of a Parliament, for securing the Nation against the evil practices of those wicked Counsellors: but this could not be yet compassed, nor can it be easily brought about. For those men apprehending that a lawful Parliament being once assembled, they would be brought to an account for all their open violations of Law, and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion, and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects; they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience, first to sow divisions among Protestants, between those of the Church of England and the Dissenters: The design being laid to engage Protestants, that are all equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression; into mutual quarrelings; that so by these, some advantages might be given to them to bring about their Designs; and that both in the Election of the Members of Parliament, and afterwards in the Parliament itself. For they see well that if all Protestants, could enter into a mutual Good Understanding one with another, and concur together, in the Preserving of their Religion, it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England, that either were in any Employment, or were in any considerable Esteem, to declare before hand that they would concur in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws; and that they would give their voices in the Elections to Parliament, only for such as would concur in it. Such as would not thus preingage themselves were turned out of all Employments; and others who entered into those engagements were put in their places, many of them being Papists: And contrary to the Charters and Privileges of those Burroughs, that have a right to send Burgesses to Parliament, they have ordered such Regulations to be made, as they thought fit and necessary for assuring themselves of all the Members, that are to be chosen by those Corporations: and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved; though it is apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves. So that no Parliament can be Lawful, for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Sheriffs and Majors of Towns; and therefore as long as the Authority and Magistracy is in such hands, it is not possible to have any Lawful Parliament. And though according to the Constitution of the English Government and immemorial Custom, all Elections of Parliament men ought to be made with an entire Liberty, without any sort of force, or the requiring the Electors to choose such Persons as shall be named to them, and the Persons thus freely elected aught to give their Opinions freely upon all Matters, that are brought before them, having the good of the Nation ever before their eyes, and following in all things the dictates of their Conscience, yet now the People of England can not expect a remedy from a free Parliament, Legally called and chosen, but they may perhaps see one called, in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force, and which will be composed of such Persons, of whom those Evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured, in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest, without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation. Which may appear evidently from this, that the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament, to gain them to consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws, and procured that Parliament to be dissolved, when they found that they could not, neither by promises nor threatenings, prevail with the Members to Comply with their wicked Designs.  
But to crown all, there are great and violent Presumptions, inducing us to believe, that those Evil Counsellors, in order to the carrying on of their ill designs, and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the Effecting of them, for the encouraging of their Complices, and for the discouraging of all Good Subjects, have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son: though there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended Bigness, and in the manner in which the Birth was managed, so many just and visible grounds of suspicion, that not only We ourselves, but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect, that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen. And it is notoriously known to all the world, that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness, and of the Birth of the Child, and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfy them, or to put an end to their Doubts.  
And since our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort, the Princess, and likewise We ourselves, have so great an Interest in this Matter, and such a Right, as all the world knows, to the Succession to the Crown, since also the English did in the year 1672. when the State's General of the United Provinces were Invaded in a most injust war, use their uttermost Endeavours to put an end to that War, and that in opposition to those who were then in the Government: and by their so doing, they run the hazard of losing both the favour of the Court, and their Employments; And since the English Nation has ever testified a most particular Affection and Esteem, both to pur Dearest Consort the Princess, and to Ourselves, WE cannot excuse ourselves from espousing their Interests in a matter of such high Consequence, and from contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion, and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms, and for the Securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights. To the doing of which We are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords, both Spiritual and Temporal, and by many Gentlemen and other subjects of all Ranks.  
THEREFORE it is that We have thought fit, to go over to England, and to carry over with us a force sufficient by the blessing of God, to defend us from the violence of those Evil Counsellors. AND WE being desirous that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood, have for this end prepared this Declaration, in which as we have hitherto given a true Account of the Reasons inducing us to it, So We now think fit to DECLARE that this our Expedition is intended for no other Design, but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible: and that in order to this, all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burgesses are limited contrary to the ancient custom, shall be considered as null and of no force: and likewise all Magistrates who have been Injustly turned out, shall forthwith resume their former Employments, as well as all the Borroughs of England shall return again to their ancient Prescriptions and Charters: and more particularly that the ancient Charter of the Great and famous City of London, shall again be in Force; and that the Writts for the Members of Parliament shall be addressed to the Proper Officers, according to Law and Custom. That also none be suffered to choose or to be chosen Members of Parliament but such as are qualified by Law: And that the Members of Parliament being thus lawfully chosen they shall meet and sit in Full Freedom; That so the Two Houses may concur in the preparing of such Laws, as they upon full and free debate, shall Judge necessary and convenient, both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test and such other Laws as are necessary for the security and Maintenance of the Protestant Religion; as likewise for making such Laws as may establish a good aggréement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters, as also for the covering and securing of all such, who will live peaceably under the Government as becomes good Subjects, from all Persecution upon the account of their Religion, even Papists themselves not excepted; and for the doing of all other things, which the Two Houses of Parliament shall find necessary for the Peace, Honour and Safety of the Nation, so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter, under Arbitrary Government. To this Parliament we will also refer the Enquiry into the birth of the pretended Prince of Wales, and of all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession.  
And We for our part will concur in every thing, that may procure the Peace and Happiness of the Nation, which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine; since we have nothing before our eyes in this our undertaking, but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, the Covering of all men from Persecution for their Consciences, and the securing to the whole Nation the free enjoyment of all their Laws, Rights and Liberties, under a Just and Legal Government.  
This is the design that we have proposed to ourselves, in appearing upon this occasion in Arms: in the Conduct of which, We will keep the Forces under our Command, under all the Strictness of Martial Discipline: and take a special Care, that the People of the Countries thro' which We must march, shall not suffer by their means: and as soon as the state of the Nation will admit of it, We promise that We will send back all those Foreign Forces, that We have brought along with us.  
We do therefore hope that all People will judge rightly of us, and approve of these our Proceedings: But We chiefly rely on the blessing of God for the success of this our undertaking, in which We place our whole and only Confidence.  
We do in the last place invite and require all Persons whatsoever, All the Peers of the Realm, both Spiritual and Temporal, all Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, and all Gentleman, citizen's and other Commons of all ranks, to come and assist us, in order to the Executing of this our Design; against all such as shall Endeavour to Oppose us: that so We may prevent all those Miseries, which must needs follow upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery: and that all the Violences and disorders, which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government, may be fully redressed in a FREE AND LEGAL PARLIAMENT.  
And We do likewise resolve that as soon as the Nations are brought to a state of Quire, We will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland, for the restoring the Ancient Constitution of that Kingdom, and for bringing the Matters of Religion to such a Setlement, that the people may live easy and happy, and for putting an end to all the Injust Violences that have been in a course of so many years Committed there.  
We will also study to bring the Kingdom of Ireland to such a state, that the Setlement there may be Religiously observed: and that the Protestant and British Interest there may be secured. And We will endeavour by all possible means, to procure such an establishment in all the three Kingdoms, that they may all live in a happy Union and Correspondence together; and that the Protestant Religion, and the Peace, Honour and Happiness of those Nations may be established upon Lasting Foundations.  
Given under our Hand and Seal, at our Court in the Hague, the Tenth day of October in the year 1688. WILLIAM HENRY, PRINCE OF ORANGE. By his Highness' special command C: HUYGENS.   

His Highnesses Additionall Declaration.  
AFter we had prepared and printed this our Declaration, we have understood, that the subverters of the Religion and Laws of those Kingdoms, hearing of our Preparations, to assist the People against them, have begun to retract some of the Arbitrary and Despotic powers, that they had assumed, and to vacate some of their Jnjust Judgements and Decrees. The sense of their Gild, and the distrust of their force, have induced them to offer the City of London some seeming relief from their Great Oppressions: hoping thereby to quiet the People, and to divert them from demanding a Secure Reestablishment of their Religion and Laws under the shelter of our Arms: They do also give out that we Intent to Conquer and Enslave the Nation, And therefore it is that we have thought fit to add a few words to our Declaration.  
We are Confident, that no persons can have such hard thought of us, as to Imagine that we have any other Design in this Undertaking, then to procure a setlement of the Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the subjects upon so sure a foundation, that there may be no danger of the Nations relapsing into the like miseries at any time hereafter. And as the forces that we have brought along with us, are utterly disproportioned to that wicked design of Conquering the Nation, if we were Capable of Intending it, so the Great Numbers of the Principal Nobility and Gentry, that are men of Eminent Quality and Estates, and persons of known Integrity and Zeal both for the Religion and Government of England, many of them being also distinguished by their Constant fidelity to the Crown, who do both accompany us in this Expedition, and have earnestly solicited us to it, will cover us from all such Malicious Insinuations: For it is not to be imagined, that either those who have Invited us, or those that are already come to assist us, can join in a wicked attempt of Conquest, to make void their own lawful Titles to their Honours, Estates and Interests: We are also Confident that all men see how little weight there is to be laid, on all Promises and Engagments that can be now made: since there has been so little regard had in time past, to the most solemn Pormises. And as that Imperfeit redress that is now offered, is a plain Confession of those Violations of the Government that we have set forth, So the defectiveness of it is no less Apparent: for they lay down nothing which they may not take up at Pleasure: and they reserve entire and not so much as mentioned, their claims and pretences to an Arbitrary and Despotic power; which has been the root of all their Oppression, and of the total subversion of the Government. And it is plain, that there can be no redress nor Remedy offered but in Parliament: by a Declaration of the Rights of the Subjects that have been invaded: and not by any Pretended Acts of Grace, to which the extremity of their affairs has driven them. Therefore it is that we have thought fit to declare, that we will refer all to a Free Assembly of the Nation, in a Lawful Parliament.  
Given under our Hand and Seal, at our Court in the Hague, the 24. day of October in the year of our Lord 1688. WILLIAM HENRY, PRINCE OF ORANGE. By his Highness' special Command C: HUYGENS.    

THE DECLARATION OF HIS HIGHNESS WILLIAM HENRY, By the Grace of God PRINCE OF ORANGE, etc. Of the reasons inducing him, To Appear in Arms for Preserving of the Protestant Religion, and for Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the ancient Kingdom of Scotland.  
IT is both certain and evident to all men, that the public Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom, can not be preserved, where the Laws, Liberties and Customs established by the lawful authority in it, are openly transgressed and annulled: more especially where the alteration of Religion is endeavoured, and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced: upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it, are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the established Laws, Liberties and Customs: and above all the Religion and worship of God, that is established among them; and to take such an effectual care, that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom, may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights. Which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of King's Royal families, and of all such as are in Authority, as well as the happiness of their Subjects and People, depend in a most especial manner upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their Laws, Liberties and Customs.  
Upon these grounds it is, that We cannot any longer forbear to Declare that to our great regret We see that those Counsellors, who have now the chief credit with the King, have overturned the Religion, Laws and Liberties of those Realms, and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences, Liberties and Properties, to Arbitrary Government: and that not only by secret and indirect ways, but in an open and undisguised manner.  
And indeed the lamentable effects of an Arbitrary Power and of Evil Counsels are so Manifest in the deplorable State of the Kingdom of Scotland, that both our reason and conscience do prompt us to an abhorrence of them. For when we consider the sad condition that Nation, though always affectionate to the Royal Family, and governed for many Ages by Laws made by the authority of their Kings, and of the Estates of Parliament, and by Common customs, is reduced to, by endeavours that have been used to change the constitution of the Monarchy regulate by Laws, into a Despotic or Arbitrary Power: which doth evidently appear not only by the actings of Evil Counsellors in power, but by the deliberate and express public Declarations, bearing that the King is an Absolute Monarch, to whom obedience ought to be given in all things without reserve, thereby to make way to introduce what Religion they please, without so much as the necessity of the consent of the Nation by their Estates in Parliament. Whilst we consider and ponder these things as we cannot but be touched with a tender sense of those miseries, so the giving such a remedy to them as may be proper and may answer the expectation of all good men, and true Protestants, is the great thing which we propose to ourselves in this undertaking: the Equity where of will be justified to the world, if what hath been acted at the instigation of those Evil Counsellors be further impartially weighed.  
It is well known, that the Laws, Privileges and Rights of the Kingdom have been overturned to the great prejudice of King and people, whilst thus all foundation of confidence and trust is removed. And it is no less known what have been the Arbitrary procedures of an encroaching Privy Council; for although by the Laws enacted by the authority of King and Parliament, it is expressly prohibited that the Popish Religion should be professed or Seminary Priests suffered within the Kingdom, or that the children of any Noblemen or Gentlemen should be sent abroad to be educated in Popish Colleges; yet have these Evil Counsellors ordered or suffered young Noblemen to be taken from their relations, and to be sent abroad to be instructed in Jesuits Colleges, and have likeways caused Schools to be erected under the conduct of Popish Priests, and that in the Capital City of the Kingdom.  
In an open contempt also of the known Laws of the Kingdom, Papists are put into places of Highest Trust both Civil and Military, and entrusted with all the Forts and Magazines. The rights and Privileges of the Royal Burrows, the Third Estate of Parliament, having as many Deputies in it as all the Shires in the Kingdom, are taken away, and they hindered in the free election of their Magistrates and Town-Councells, to the manifest violation of their Charters, established by Law and immemorial possession. And all this is done by mere Arbitrary power without any Citation, Trial or Sentence.  
And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the administration of good and impartial Justice, upon which men's Lives and Liberties their Honours and Estates depend, yet those Evil Counsellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotic power: having turned out Judges, who by Law ought to continue during their Life or their good behaviour, becase they would not conform themselves to their Intentions, and put others in their Places, who they believe would be more compliant, and that without any regard to their abilities: by which it evidently appears that those Evil Counsellors design to render themselves the Absolute Masters of the Lives, Honours and Estates of the subjects, without being restrained by any rule or Law.  
By the inflence of the same Evil Counselors hath a most exorbitant power been exercised in imposing Bonds and Oaths upon whole Shires without any Law or Act of Parliament: in permitting Free quarters to the soldiers, although they had a sufficient Establisment for their pay, whereby the Kingdom was doubly burdened without any redress; in imprisoning Gentlemen without any, so much as alleged, Reason, forceing many to accuse and witness against themselves, imposing arbitrary fines, frighting and harassing many parts of the Country with Intercommoning and Justice-Aires, making some incurre forfeiture of life & fortune for the most general and harmless converse even with their nearest relations outlawed. And thus bringing a consternation upon a great part of the Kingdom, which when Outlawries and Intercommoning went out against multitudes upon the slenderest pretexts, was involved so universally in that danger, that those Counsellors themselves were so obnoxious as to find it necessary to have Pardons and Indemnities, whilst the poor people were left to mercy; impowering Officers and Soldiers to Act upon the subjects living in quiet and full peace, the greatest Barbarities, in destroying them by hanging, shooting and drouwning them without any form of Law, or respect to Age or Sex, not giving some of them time to pray to God for mercy: And this for no other reason but because they would not answer or satisfy them in such questions as they proposed to them without any warrant of Law, and against the Common Interest of Mankind, which frees all men from being obliged to discover their secret thoughts; Besides a great many other Violences and Oppressions, to which that poor Nation hath been exposed without any hope of having an end put to them, or to have Relief from them.  
And that the Arbitrary and Illegal proceedings of those Evil Counsellors might be justified and supported, such a Declaration hath been procured by them, as striketh at the root of the Government, and overturns the most sacred Rights of it, in making all Parliaments unnecessary, and taking away all defences of Religion, Liberty and Property, by an assumed and asserted Absolute Power, to which Obedience is required without Reserve: which every good Christian is persuaded to be due to God Almighty alone, all whose Commandments are always Just and Good.  
These Evil Counsellors have used their utmost endeavours to abolish Penal Laws excluding all who are not Protestants from public Trust, which give too great a check to their designs. For the accomplishing of this a Liberty hath been granted to Dissenters, but such a●one, as that the continuance thereof is plainly insinuated to depend upon their hearty concurrence for Abolishing the abovementioned Penal Laws, the only legal defence of their Religion; Although the Dissenters have just cause of distrust when they call to mind how some hundreds of their Ministers were driven out of their Churches without either accusation or citation: the filling of many of whose places with Ignorant and Scandalous persons hath been one great occasion of all those Miseries which that Country for a long time hath Groaned under. And Dissenters have but small ground to rest on any present ease founded upon a Proclamation which may be recalled every hour, and which in the first and second Editions of it gave no relief to them, especially considering that not many monts before, the greatest of the forementioned severities and barbarities had been exercised upon them.  
But to crown all, there are great and violent Presumptions, inducing us to believe, that those Evil Counsellors, in order to the carrying on of their ill designs, and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the Effecting of them, for the encouraging of their Complices, and for the discouraging of all Good Subjects, have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son: though there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended Bigness, and in the manner in which the Birth was managed, so many just and visible grounds of suspicion, that not only We ourselves, but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect, that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen. And it is notoriously known to all the world, that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness, and of the Birth of the Child, and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfy them, or to put an end to their Doubts.  
And since our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort, the Princess, and likewise We ourselves, have so great an Interest in this Matter, and such a Right, as all the world knows, to the succession of these Kingdoms, which those Men have attempted to violate, for preventing of all redress of miseries, by the lawful Successors of the Crown, educated by the good providence of God, in the true Profession of the Protestant Religion, We cannot excuse ourselves from espousing the true interest of these Nations in matters of such high Consequence, and from contributing all that lies in us, for the defence of the Laws and Liberties thereof, the maintaining of the Protestant Religion in them, and the securing of the People in the enjoyment of all their just Rights.  
But that our Intentions may be so manifest that no person may doubt or pretend to doubt thereof, to excuse themselves from concurringh with us in this just Design for the Universal good of the Nation. We do Declare that the freeing that Kingdom from all hazard of Popery and Arbitrary power for the future, and the delivering it from what at the present doth expose it to both, the settling of it by Parliament upon such a solid Basis as to its Religions and Civil concerns as may most effectually redress all the above mentioned Grievances, are the true reasons of our present undertaking as to that Nation,  
And therefore We persuade ourselves that our Endeavours to give the best assistance we can for the Relief of so distressed a Kingdom, shall not only not be misconstrued, but shall also be accompanied with a cheerful and universal Concurrence of the whole Nation, that even those who have been Instruments for the enslaving of it, will now show their Dislike of what they have done, by their timeous and reasonable Diligence for its Rescue; and that if any shall not give us that Assistance which their Conscience to God, and their Respect to their Country oblige them to, they shall be justly charged with all the Evils that may be the effects of such a want of their duty.  
And as we ourselves desire to trust to the Almighty God alone for the success of our Arms, so we expect of all good men, that they will apply themselves most earnestly to Him for his Blessing upon our Endeavours, that so they may rend to the Glory of his Great Name, to the Establishment of the Reformed Churches, and to the Peace and Happiness of that Kingdom.  
Given under our hand and Seal at our Court in the Hague, the tenth of October in the Year of our Lord 1688. WILLIAM HENRY, PRINCE OF ORANGE. By his Highness' special command C: HUYGENS.   


To all Commanders of Ships and all Seamen that are now employed in the English Fleet.  
gentlemans AND FRIENDS,  
OUr Right Trusty and Well beloved Admiral Herbert is fully Instructed by Us: And therefore We expect that you will give an Entire credit, to every thing that he shall say to you in our Name: We have prepared a Declaration, containing the Reasons that induce Us to undertake the Present Expedition, in which We have no other design but the preservation of the Protestant Religion, and the restoring of the Laws and Liberties of England. The total ruin of your Religion being as much designed by the Papists in England, as it is already accomplished in France; and it will as certainly be effected, if they are able to prevail at this time.  
We can not believe, but that you must be already sensible, that you are only made use of as Instruments, to bring both yourselves and your Country under Popery and Slavery, by the means both of the Irish and the Foreigners who are preparing to complete your Destruction. And therefore We hope that God will put it in your hearts at this time, to Redeem yourselves, your Country and your Religion from all those Miseries.  
This in all humane appearance can only be done, by your coming now to assist Us, who are labouring for your Deliverance. And We do assure you that We will be ever mindful of the services that youw shall now do Us: And We promise to you that We will place particular marks of our Favour on all those who will upon this Occasion deserve well of Us and of the Nation, We are with all sincerity Your truly well wishing and affectionate Friend  
Given at Our Court at Dieren the 29. day of Septembre 1688. WILLIAM H: PRINCE OF ORANGE. By his Highness' special command C: HUYGENS.   

To all the Officers and Soldiers in the English Army.  
gentlemans AND FRIEND'S.  
We have given so true and so full an account of our Intentions in this Expedition, in our Declaration, that as We can add nothing to it, so We are sure that you can desire nothing more of Us. We come to preserve your Religion, and to restore and establish your Liberties and Properties: and therefore We can not suffer ourselves to doubt, but that all Protestants and true Englishmen will come and concur with us in our designs to secure these Nations from Popery and Slavery. You must all see plainly, that you are made use of only as Instruments, to enslave the Nation and to ruin the Protestant Religion: and when that is done you may judge what you yourselves ought to expect, both by the casheering of all the Protestant and English Officers and Soldiers in Ireland, and by the Irish Soldiers that are brought over to be put in your places, of which you have seen so fresh an Instance, that we need not put you in mind of it. You know how many of your Fellow Officers have been used, only for their Standing firm to the Protestant Religion and to the Laws of England: and you can not flatter yourselves so far, as to expect to be better used, if those who have broke their word so oft, should by your means be brought out of the straits, to which they are reduced at present.  
We hope likewise, that you will not suffer yourselves to be abused by a false notion of Honour: but that you will in the first place consider what you owe to Almighty God and your Religion, to your Country, to yourselves and to your Posterity: which you as men of Honour ought to prefer to all Private Considerations and Engagements whatsoever. We do therefore expect, that you will consider the Honour that is now set before you, of being the Instruments of saving your Country and of securing your Religion. We will ever remember the services that you shall do upon this occasion: and We promise to you, that We will place such particular marks of our Favour on every one of you, as your behaviour at this time shall deserve of us, and of the Nation, in which We will make a great distinction of those, that shall come seasonably to join their Arms with Ours. And you shall ever find us to be Your Well Wishing and assured Friend  
WILLIAM HENRY, PRINCE OF ORANGE. By his Highness' special command C: HUYGENS.    

A Prayer for the present Expedition.  
ALmighty God, the Lord of Hosts, and the aid and refuge of all that trust in thee, We humbly pray thee, to bless and prosper this Undertaking, for the glory of thy Name, and for the good of thy People: Let not our sins provoke thee, to deny thy blessing to thy Servant the PRINCE, compass him with thy favour as with a shield: Direct him in all his Counsels, and be thou ever present with him and assisting to him in all his Actions: that so he may be Successful in this great Design: and that he may Employ all the power, that thou puts in his hands, to the honour of thy Great Name, to the establishing and advancing of thy true Religion, and to the Procuring of the peace and Happiness of these Nations: Bless both the Army and Fleet under his Command, with Success and Victory. And grant o Gracious God that all of us, may be turning to thee, with our whole hearts; Repenting us truly of all our past sins, and solemnly vowing to thee, as we now do, that we will in all time coming, amend our lives, and endeavour to carry ourselves as becomes Reform Christians. And that we will show our Zeal for our holy Religion by living in all things suitably to it. Hear us Holy Father, and set thy Angels to encamp round about us, for we put our whole trust in thy Protection and Defence, which we humbly pray thee to grant us, for the sake of Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer.  
Amen.