The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.

LETTER LIII. (Book 53)

Instructions given to the French Emissaries, to infuse into some English Peers upon the subject-Matter of King James's Deserting of the Crown, in Favour of his Inter∣est.

My Lord,

ITs not doubted here but that there will be strong Efforts made for the Advancing of the Prince of Orange to the English Throne, and by the Returns made of Members to serve upon the present Occasion in the Lower House, it is concluded that their Procedures will be much in favour of his Interest, and consequently to the Disadvantage of this Court, and therefore they have taken care to give them a Bone to pick, tho' I know not well what it is for the present; But of the House of Lords they have entertained a more favourable Opinion; but foreseeing that whatever is agitated among the Commons is also likely to creep into a De∣bate among the Lords, and that the King's Re∣sigion, his Evil Administration, his Retreat out of the Kingdom, and the Compact between him and his People may be called in question; They have by way of Precaution given Instru∣ctions to their Emissaries slily to infuse into

any such Peers as they judge susceptible of such Insinuations (but I cannot think your Lordship of that Number) That it was true, the King's Religion had been a very main Cause to bring those Misfortunes upon himself and the Nation which they laboured under, but hereby it could not be thought that should be as much as once debated for a sufficient Ground to exclude him from his Throne; That this would appear strange in the Sight of all Nations, that a Po∣pish Prince was incapable to sway a Scepter, when even in England it self there had been no less than Forty Roman Catholick Kings, who had governed England, from King Egbert to Queen Elizabeth; That it was but the other Day that all the Kingdom had by Addresses on purpose disavowed that Maxime; That the two Universities had condemned the same for an Error, and that the Parliament in One thousand six hundred and eighty five, did believe it to be a thing so pernicious and destructive to a State, that they were minded to brand with Infamy all those who would have excluded the Duke of York from the Succession; That all the Nation having acknowledged this Prince at a Time when he made open Profession of the Popish Re∣ligion, it would be a ridiculous inconsequence to pretend that that same Religion was an Hin∣drance to his reigning as King of England; and that as for any previous Compact that might be alledged by ill disposed Men to have been between King and People, i•• was a pernicious chimerical Notion, often condemned as a Gap opened to seditious Practices for the imbroiling of the State; That surely that Retreat could not be called a Desertion in the King, full of Discontent, and finding himself abandoned

by his Subjects to the Mercy of a Foreign Na∣tion, especially seeing the Royal Character the bore, did but expose him to the Insults of the People, and his Person into the Hands of a Prince that imposed Laws upon him, seized him in his own Dominions, and gave him Um∣brages that ought to presage greater Dangers un∣to him; That the Offers he had again and again made to the Nation, and even to the Prince of Orange, who protected it, to treat with them amicably, to leave nothing undone for the re∣dressing of their Grievances, could not but be adjudged Reparations sufficient for those Faults that were imputed to him; That the Letter he had writ, left behind him at Feversham, and ordered to be printed, with several other Let∣ters which he had actually writ to diverse Per∣sons, asserting his Authority and Claim; And that the Protestations, which no doubt he would make against any Acts of the Assembly to meet, if any such should happen in disfavour of him, which could hardly be credited, and the Mea∣sures which he had taken, and whereof they heard enough every Day, and would doubtless more and more dayly, for the Recovery of his Dominions, were evident Demonstrations that he had not renounced them; And that if they were deserted by him, it was because his Person was in no Security there, and not the Throne, which he still looked upon as a Property apper∣taining to him alone; That he was not the first and only King, even of England, that had made this Step; That Ethelrede in the Time of the Saxon Kings retired into Normandy, and that among the Royal Stem of the Plantagenets, Ed∣ward IV. past over into Flanders without King Henry VI. his Competiter his believing that he

had thereby acquired a new Title to the Crown; That as to the present conjuncture the King found himself in, the Condition of Kings would be very hard, if they of all Mankind were the only Persons who were not allowed the Favour to shun a Danger they were exposed to, and which could not be avoided but by fleeing from it, and that surely it was a Man's Prudence when he saw his House on Fire beyond a possibi∣lity of extinguishing it, to save his own Life, and attend an Opportunity to rebuild it again, since he could not save it from burning. What Successes, my Lord, these Remonstrances have met with, or may still, it may be your Lord∣ship can tell; But I can tell you, if this fails, there is another Mine to spring, whereon they rely very much, and on which they intend to work with utmost Diligence; but I pray God to keep my poor Country from falling again into their Shares, from which it now is in so fair a way of being delivered, and to inspire your Lordship and other worthy Patriots sit such a juncture with a proportionable Zeal for the good of it, and so I rest.

My Lord,

Your Lordship's most Humble Servant.

Paris, Feb. 5. 1689. S. N.