The declaration of James Duke of Monmouth, & the noblemen, gentlemen & others, now in arms, for defence & vindication of the Protestant religion, & the laws, rights, & privilieges of England, from the invasion made upon them, & for delivering the kingdom from the usurpation & tyranny of James Duke of York

THE DECLARATION OF JAMES DUKE of MONMOUTH, & The Noblemen, Gentlemen & others, now in Arms, for De∣fence & vindication of the Protestant Religion, & the Laws, Rights, & Privilieges of England, from the Invasion made upon them: & for Delivering the Kingdom from the Usurpation & Tyranny of JAMES DUKE of YORK.

AS Gouvernment was originally Instituted by God, & this or that forme of it chosen and submitted to by M••••, for the peace happi∣ness & security of the Governed, & not for the private Interest, & personall greatness of those that Rule: so that Government hath been alwayes esteemed the host where the supreme Magistrates have been vested with all the power & prerogatives that might Capacitate them, not only to preserve the people from violence & oppression, but to pro∣mote their prosperity; & yet where nothing was to belong to them by the Ru∣les of the Constitution, that might enable them to injure and oppress them.

And it hath been the Glory of England above most other Nations, that the Prince had all intrusted with him that was necessary either for advanceing the wellfare of the people, or for his own protection in the discharge of his Office, & with all stood so limited & restraines by the fundamental Termes of the Constitution, that without a violation of his own Oath, as well as the Rules, & measures of the Government, he could do them no hurt, or exercise any act

of Authority, but through the administration of such hands, as stood obnoxious to be punished in case they transgressed. So that according to the primitive Frame of the Government, the prerogatives of the Crown, & priviledges of the subject, were so far from justling one another; that the rights reserved unto the People, tended to render the King honorable & Great; and the prerogra∣tives setled on the Prince, were in order to the subjects protection & safety.

But all humane things being liable to pervertion, as well as decay; it hath been the fate of the English Government, to be often changed, & wrested from what it was, in the first setlement & Institution. And wee are perticularly com∣pelled to say, that all the boundaries of the Government have of late been bro∣ken, & nothing left unattempted. for turning our limited Monarchy into an absolute Tyranny. For such hath been the transactions of affaires within this Nation for severall Years last past, that tho the Protestant Religion, & Liber∣tyes of the people, were fenced & hedg'd about, by as many Laws, as the Wisdome of men could devise, for their preservation against Popery and Ar∣bitrary Power; our Religion hath been all a long undermined by Popish Coun∣cells, and our Priviledges ravished from us by fraud & violence. And more especially, the whole course & series of the Life of the present Usurper, hath been but one continued conspiracy against the Reformed Religion, & rights of the Nation.

For whosoever considers his contriving the burning of London; his Instiga∣ting a consederacy with France, and a Warr with Holland; his somenting the popish Plot; and incouraging the Murther of Sr. Edmund-Bury-Godfry to Stifle it; his forging Treason against Protestants; & suborning witnesses to sweare the Patriots of our Religion & liberties out of their Lives; his hireing execrable Villaines to assassinate the late Earle of Essex; and causing severall others to be Claudestinly cut off in hopes to conceale it; his advising and procuring the Prorogation and Dissolution of Parliaments, in order to prevent enquiry into his Crimes, & that he might escape the justice of the Nation: such can imagine nothing so black and horrid in it selfe, or so ruinous & destructive to Religion, and the Kingdome, which we may not expect from him, upon his having in∣vaded the Throne; and usurped the Title of a King. The very Tyrannies which he hath exercised, since he natched the Crown from hi Brothers head, do leave none under a possibility of flatering themselves, with hopes of safety either in their consciences, persons, or Estates.

For in defiance of all the Laws & Statutes of the Realme, made for the secu∣rity of the Reformed Protestant Religion, he not only began his Usurpation and pretended Reign, with a bare faced avowing himselfe of the Romish Religion, but hath call'd in muititudes of Preists & Iesuits (for whom the Law makes it treason to come into the Kingdom) and hath impower'd them to exercise their

Idolatries, and besides his being dayly present at the worship of the Mass, hath publickly assisted at the grossest Fopperios of their superstition.

Nor hath he been more tender in trampling upon the Laws which Con∣cerne our Properties, seeing by two Proclamations, whereof the one requires the collecting of the Customes, & the other the continuing that part of the Excise which was to expire with the late Kings death, he hath violently & against all the Laws of the Land broken in upon our Estates. Neither is it any extenuation of his usurpation & Tyranny, that he is countenanced in it by an extra Judiciall opinion of seven or eight suborned & forsworne Judges: that rather declaring the greatness and extent of the conspiracy against our Rights, and that there is no meanes left for our releife, but by force & Armes. For advancing those to the Bench, who were the scandal of the Barr; and Constituting those very men to deelare the Laws, who were accused & branded in Parliament for perverting them; Wee are precluded all hopes of redress in Westminster-Hall: and through packing to gather by false returnes, new Illegall Charters, & other corrupt meanes, a company of men which he intends to stile a Parliament; he doth at once deprive us of all expectation of succour, where our Ancestors were wont to find it: and hopes to render that which ought to be the peoples fence against Tyranny, & the conservators of their Liberties, the meanes of subver∣ting all our Laws, & of establishing his Arbitraryness, & confirming our thral∣dome. So that unless Wee could be contented to see the reformed Protestant Religion, and such as profess it extirpated; popish superstition and Idolatry esta∣blished: the Laws of the Land Trampled underfoot; the Liberties & rights of the English people subverted; all that is Sacred, and Civil, or of regard amongst men of Piety, or Virtue Violated; and an Usurper Tyrannising on the Thro∣ne: and unless Wee could be willing to be Slaves as well as Papists; & forget the example of our noble & generous Ancestours, who conveyed our Priviled∣ges to us at the expence of their blood & treasure; and with all be un mindfull of our duty to God, our Country and Posterity; deafe to the cries & groanes of our oppressed Freinds; and be satisfyed not only to see them and our selves Im∣prison'd, robb'd, & murthered; but the Protestant Interest throughout the whole world, betrayed to France & Rome. Wee are bound as Men & Christians and that in discharge of our duty to God, & our country, and for fatisfaction of the expectations of the Protestant Nations round about us, to betake ourselves to Armes: which wee call Heaven & Earth to witnes, wee should not have done; had not the Malice of our Enemies deprived us of all other meanes of re∣dress, and were not the miseries wee already feele, & those which do further threaten us, worse then the Calamities of Warr.

And it is not for any personall injuries or private discontents, nor in pursuance of any corrupt Interest, that wee take our swords into our hands; but for

Vindicating our Religion, Laws, & Rights, and rescueing our Country from ruin & destruction: and for preserving our selves, Wives & Children, from Bondage & Idolatry; wherefore before God, Angels, & Men, wee stand ac∣quitted from, & do charge upon our Enemies, all the slaughters and devasta∣tions, that unavoidably accompany a Intestine Warr.

Now therefore Wee do hereby solemnely declare & proclaime Warr against JAMES DUKE of YORK, as a Murderer, and an Assassin of Innocent men; A Popish Usurper of the Crown; a Traytor to the Nation; and Tyrant over the People. And wee would have none that appeare under his Banners, to statter themselves with expectation of forgiveness; it being our firme resolution to prosecute him & his adherents, without giving way to Treaties, or Accommodations, untill wee have brought him, & them, to un∣dergo what the Rules of the Constitution, & the Statutes of the Realme, as well as the Laws of Nature, Scripture, & Nations, adjudg to be the punish∣ment due to the Enimies of God, Mankind, their Countrey, and all things that are honorable, Vertuous, & good.

And thô wee cannot avoid being sensible, that too Many have from Cowar∣dise, Covetousness, & Ambition, cooperated to the subverting Religion, & inslaving their Country; Yet Wee would have none from a despaire of finding Mercy, persever in their Crimes, nor continue to pursue the ruin of the Kingdom. For Wee Exclude none from the benefit of Repentance, that shall joyne with us in retreiving what they have been accessory to the loss of; nor do wee designe Revenge upon any, but the Obstinate, and such as shall befound at this Juncture, yeilding aid & assistance to the said James Duke of York.

And that Wee may both Governe our selves in the pursuit of this Glorious Cause where in Wee are ingaged, and give encouragement to all that shall assist us in so righteous & necessary an Undertaking: Wee do in the Presence of the Lord who knows the secrets of all hearts, & is the Avenger of Deciept & Falsh∣ood, Proclaime & publish what Wee aim at, & forthe obtaining Where of Wee have both determined to Venture & are ready to lay down our lives. And thô Wee are not come into the Feild to Introduce Anarchy & Confusion, or for laying aside any Essentiall part of the old English Government: Yet our purpose & resolutions are to reduce things to that Temperament & ballance, that fu∣ture Rulers may remaine able to do all the good, that can be either desired or expected from them; and that it may not be in their power to invade the Rights, & infringe the Liberties of the People.

And Whereas our Religion (the most Valuable blessing Wee lay claime un∣to) hath been shaken by unjust Laws; undermined by Popish Councills, and is now in danger to be subverted by a Tyrannous & Idolatrous Usurper. Wee are therfore resolved to spend our blood for preserving it to our selves & posterity

nor will wee lay down our armes, til wee seen established & secured, beyond all probability of being supplanted, and overthrown; and untill all the penall Laws against Protestant Diffenters be repealed, and legall provision made against their being disturbed by reason of their Consciences, and for their en∣joying an equall Liberty with other Protestants. And that the meekness & pu∣rity of our Principles, and the moderation & Righteousness of our Ends, may appeare unto all men; Wee do declare, that wee wil not make Warr upon, or destroy Any, for their Religion how false & erroneous soever: so that the very Papists, provided they, Withdraw from the tents of our Enemies and be not found Guilty of Conspiring our destruction, or Abettors of them that seek it, have no thing to fear or apprehend from us, except what may hin∣der their altering our Laws, & endangering our persons, in the profession of the reformed Doctrine, and exercise ofour Christian Worship.

Our Resolution in the next place is, to maintaine all the just Rights & Pri∣viledges of Parliament, & to have Parliaments annually chosen & held, & not prorogued, dissolved, or discontinued with in the yeare before petitions be first answered & Grievances Redressed.

And seeing many of the miseries under which the Nation doth groan arise from displacing such out of the Number of Iudges, as would not for promoting popish & arbitrary designes, wrest & misapply the Laws; and from constitu∣ting Corrupt, & Mercenary men in their Roome, on purpose to stretch the Laws beyond the Reason and Intention of them, and to declare that for Law which is not: Wee can neither with silence pass over the mentioning of them, nor should wee have peace in our selves, if wee did not endeavor to prevent the like mischeifes in time to come. For by meanes of Ill mens being ad∣vanced to the Bench, and holding their places only durante bene placito, Many persons have been condemned in Exorbitant fines for no Crimes, or for Very small ones; many statutes made for the safety of the subject, particularly the Habeas Corpus Act, hath been wickedly eluded, to the oppression of Inno∣cent & loyall men; the Popish Lords that were Impeached in Parliament, for a most Hellish Conjuration, have to the subverting of the rights of the Hou∣se of Commons, & trampling on the Jurisdiction of the House of Lords, been discharged & set free; the imposing a malignant Major, & Sherriffes, upon the City of London by fraud & Violence hath been justified, & those who in discharge of their duty opposed it, illegally prosecuted & arbitrarily pu∣nished: London, & other Cities & Corporations have been robb'd of their Charters, upon unrighteous judgments of pretended forfeitures; Sr. Thomas Armstrong executed, with out being allowed the benefit of a Tryall; Collonell Algernon Sydney condemned to dye upon the deposition of one scandalous Witnes: And that loyall & excellent person the late William Lord Russell mur∣dered,

for alledged crimes, in reference to which, if all had been truth that was sworne against him, yet there was nothing that according to Law could have reached his life: Wherefore wee do upon the considerations a foresaid further declare, that wee will have care taken for the future, for debarring ignorant, scandalous, & mercenary men from the Administration of Iustice, and that the Iudges shall hold their places by the ancient tenure of quam diu se bene gesserint, and do leave it to the wisdome of a Parliement, to settle some way & method, for the approbation of such as shall be advanced to the degree & dignity of Iudges.

And for asmuch as the invasion made upon the rights of Cities, Burroughes, & Towns corporate, in the seisure of their charters, whether by surrender, or upon pretence of forfeiture, hath been wholly arbitrary & illegall: Wee li∣kewise therefore declare, that wee will to our utmost endeavor to see them re∣possessed in whatsoever they formerly had, & could legally claime before the late Usurpation upon them; and that wee do esteeme all judgments given against them, & all Surrenders made by a corrupt & perjur'd party amongst themselves, null & void in Law; and do hold & declare their old charters (norwithstanding the new ones lately granted) to be good & valid: And ac∣cordingly Wee de invite & incourage all honest Burgesses, & Freemen, to reassu∣me the Rights & Priviledges, which by virtue of the said old charters belon∣ged to their severall & respective corporations, and to deliver themselves from those Court Parasites, & instruments of tyranny, set up to oppress them.

More over for restoring the Kingdom to its primitive condition of Freedom & safety: Wee will have the corporation, & militia Acts, repealed, and all Outlawries of treason, against any person whatsoever upon the late pretended Protestant plot reversed; and also all other outlawries, banishments, war∣rants, judgments, imprisonments, abjurations & proceedings, against any other persons, upon any of the penall statutes made against Protestant dissenters, reversed & made null & void; and Wee will have new Laws enacted, for placeing the Election of Sherriffes in the Freeholders of the severall Counties; and for setling the Militia in the respective Sheriffs, and for preventing all mi∣litary standing Force except what shall be raised & kept up, by Authority & consent of Parliament.

And wheras severall Gentlemen, & others, who have been worthy & zea∣lous astertors of the Protestant Interest, & laws of the Kingdom, are now in custody in diverse prisons within the Realme, upon most unjust accusations, pretences, proceedings, & judgments; Wee do hereby further declare their said imprisonments to be Illegall, and that in Case any violence shall be offered to them, or any of them, Wee will revenge it to the utmost, upon such of our Enemies as shall fall into our hauds.

And wheras the said James Duke of York, in order to the expediting the Idolatrous & bloody designes of the Papists, the gratifying his own boundless ambition after a Crown, and to hinder enquiry into his Assassination of Arthur Earle of Essex, hath poysoned the late King, and there in manifested his in∣gratitude, as well as Cruelty, to the world, in murdering a Brother, who had almost ruin'd himselfe to preserve & protect him from punishment: Wee doe therefore further declare, that for the aforesaid Villanous and unnaturall Crime, & other his crimes before mentioned, and in pursuance of the Reso∣lution of both Houses of Parliament, who Voted to revenge the Kings Death, in Case he came to an untimely end; Wee will prosecute the said James Duke of York, till Wee have brought him to suffer, what the Law adjudged to be the punishment of so excrable a fact. And in a more particular manner, his Grace the Duke of Monmouth, being deeply sensible of that barbarous & horrid parricide committed upon his Father, doth resolve to pursue the said James Duke of Yorke, as a mortall and bioudy Enemy, and will endeavor as well with his own hand, as by the assistance of his Friends, & the Law, to have justice executed upon him.

And forasmuch as the said James Duke of Monmouth, the now Head & Ca∣ptaine Generall of the Protestant forces of this Kingdom assembled in pursuan∣ce of the Ends aforesaid; hath been, & still is beleived, to have a legitimate, & Legall right, to the Crownes of England, Scotland, France & Ireland, with the Dominions there unto belonging, of which he doubts not in the least, to give the world full satisfaction notwithstanding the means used by the late King his Father, upon popish motives, & at the instigation of the said James Duke of Yorke, to weaken & obscure it; The said James Duke of Monmouth from the generousness of his own nature, and the Love he beares to these nations, (whose wellfare & setlement he infinitly prefers, to whatsoever may concerne himselfe,) doth not at present insist upon his Title, but leaves the determination thereof to the wisdom, justice, & authority of a Parliament, legally chosen & acting with freedom. And in the time meane doth promise & declare by all that is sacred, that he will in conjunction with the People of England, Imploy al the Abilities bestowed upon him by God & Nature, for the reestablishment & preservation of the Protestant reformed Religion in these Kingdomes, and for restoring the Subjects of the same, to a free exer∣cise thereof, in opposition to Popery, & the consequences of it, Tyranny & Sla∣very; To the obtaining of which ends, he doth hereby promise, & oblige himselfe to the people of England, to consent unto, & promote the passing into Laws, all the methods aforesaid; that it may never more be in the power of any single person on the Throne, to deprive the subjects of their Rights, or subvert the fundimentall Laws of the Government designed for their preser∣vation.

And Whereas the Nobility, Gentry, & Comons of Scotland, are now in arms, upon the like motives, & Inducements that wee are, & in prosecu∣tion of ends agreable with ours; Wee doe therefore approve the Iustice of their cause, commend their Zeale & Courage, expecting their, & promiseing our Assistance, for carrying on that glorious work wee are joyntly engaged in.

Being obliged for avoiding tediousness, to omit recounting many Oppressions under which the Kingdom hath groaued, & the giving a Deduction of the se∣veral Steps that have been taken for introducing & establishing of popery & Tyranny: Wee think fit therefore to signify, both to our Country men, & Forreigners, that Wee intend, a larger Manifesto, & Remonstrance of the Grievances, Persecutions, Crueltyes & Tyrannies, Wee have of late layne under, and therein a more full & particular account of the Unparralleled Crimes of the present Usurper.

And Wee make our appeale unto God, & all Protestants Kings, Princes, States, & People, concerning the Iustice of our Cause, and the necessity wee are reduced unto, of haveing our recourse to Armes. And as wee do beseech require & adjure all sincere Protestants, and true Englishmen, to be assisting to us against the Enemies of the Gospell, Rights of the Nation, and liberties of mankind; so we are confident of obtayning the ut most ayde & succour which they can yeild us with their Prayers, Persons, & Estates, for the De∣throning the said Tyrant & Popish Usurper.

Nor do Wee doubt being justifyed, contenanced, & assisted, by all Prote∣stant Kings, Princes, & comon Wealths, Who do either regard the Gospell of Jesus Christ, or their own Interest: and above all our dependance & trust is upon the Lord of hosts, in whose name Wee goe forth, & to whom wee com∣mit our cause, and referr the dicision betwixt us & our Enemies in the Day of Battle. Now let us play the men, for our People, & for the Cities of our God, and the Lord do that which seemeth good unto him.