Declaration of the Comte de Tourville Commandant his most Christian M ties fleet.  
Translated from the French Original.  
THe English possibly may be sensible, now the French Fleet is upon their Coasts, how much they have been deluded these two years by false notions, industriously imposed upon them of the weakness of France, and strength of the Allies. They may perceive that those, who by subverting the Laws of the Government, and dispossessing the rightful King, have drawn so powerful an Enemy upon them, have also brought them so low, that they are not able, even with the help of the Dutch, to maintain the Dominion of their own Sea, nor preserve their trade, & themselves from utter ruin. The People, instead of that full enjoyment of their Liberties & Properties. which they promised to thmselves from their new Master, have never been more oppressed with Taxes, & the vexations of Arbitrary proceedings, & with all those mischief, the bare apprehension where of has hurried them into their present extremities.  
The Usurper at first extorted great sums from a Parliament abonding in Presbyterians, by giving up to them the Religion Established by Law. He has squeezed more out of this last Church-of-England Parliament, by sacrificing the Presbyterians to them: all the while equally fleecing both. These aids were more than needed though secure the Quiet an Trade of the Kingdom, both at home & abroad, if they had been applied that way, & not diverted to secret & infinitely expenceful courses to strengthen himself by foreign Forces, always suspicious, and always fatal to the Nation. Parliaments have been already twice hindered from taking an account of this Money, lest their Eyes should be opened, and the design of their total oppression exposed to their clear view. That oppression would have been easy enough, if the Usurper had not met with such an Enemy as the King of France. But it would be more easy, if the Nation deprived of trade; drained of Money an divided by the animosity of two Parties, both fomented by the Usurper, with his countenancing now the one, and now the other, become a defenceless looker on, while the Authority of the Laws is subjected to the foreign force, with which he seeks to fill the Kingdom.  
His weakness will oblige him to go on yet a while in overreaching the English, and persuading them his Most Christian Majesty arms so strongly, only to pursue the pretences with which he amused them at first, to drive them into utter ruin, by engaging them to maintain to the utmost a quarrel which is his ovun, not theirs. In the mean time the French come not against the English but against an Usurper, who has engaged them into à Revolt equally contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England, an the Laws of the Kingdom; and on which he could put no better colour than the votes of men convened without Legal Authority: in a word, who actually has brought more mischief upon them in eighteen months, than an Enemy could have done in a long war.  
There are many who preserve a sense of their fidelity: imports to unite, and assure themselves His most Christian Majesty h●s no design to Invade the English Nation, nor take advantage of their disorders for his particular ends. He has preserved their Lawful Sovereign for them, and the Heir apparent of the Crown, from whom they may hope for quiet & security, which they can never expect while foreign and usurping hands are, & always will be snatching the Crown. He has furnished His Majesty of great Britain with means to keep himself up in Ireland, & to prevent the Usurper from ruining them utterly by the easiness with which they put into his hands the opportunity to enslave them. He is in a condition to cross all his designs by sending new succours to His Majesty of Great Britain, and cutting off the means of subsisting from the Enemy's His conduct is demonstration that he aims at nothing but the Restoration of a Prince his Ally, and never dream of destroying a Kingdom, which he ma●es it his business to preserve to him. All then who love their King, their Country, their Religion, their Laws, & the good of the Kingdom, aught to be sensible that they cannot run themselves into any danger so great, as being at the mercy of the Prince of Orange, if orce he be out of fear of His most Christian M ties Arms, & get the Irish thorn out of his foot; and that the French far from Enemies, are truly the Defenders of their Liberty.  
It is therefore declared that as on the one side His M. ties Fleet has orders to fall upon the enemies and rebels of his M. ty of England wherever they shall be found: so on the other that all who will return to their duty, & recognise their own King, shall not be looked upon as enemies: that on the contrary they shall meet with all possible Kindness & succour for themselves as well as all other his good subjets: that no hostility shall be exercised against the Persons, or Places which will return to his obedience. That we shall confide in all who shall come authorised by him, & join with them in all expedient● proper to avoid shedding the blood of his People, and the other miseries of war. And that we shall make it effectually appear, that as we act according to the intentions of a Prince whose goodness towards them had no bounds, and the want of whose mild Government has been so often lamented, we have no design but against R●●●lli●● we shall manage with consideration and tenderness even to the Rebels themselves, if by a speedy submission they will prevent the punishment which they have deserved. They may farther be assured, that regard shall be had to their service who shall become examples to others, & rewards procured for them, such as their fidelity can ex●ect. And we hope, that those who mass have been surprised by passion & the artifices of enemies to their quiet, will open their eyes, acknowledge the sin erity of our intentions, thank France for preserving so good a Master for them, & become sensible, that as they cannot hope for any end of their misfortunes and divisions but by his return, they can as little expect their Trade again, as long as it depends on Allies so much interested as the Hollanders, who in less than a year of their close union, have done them more harm, than in many years of open war.