England and Wales Sovereign (1685-1688 : James II)

Caption title. Pagination error: page 8 misnumbered as 4.

[“Right of Parliament to vote on the accession of the princess Mary Stuart to the Crown of England, against the letter of the late King James the Pretender, to the Lords of the Secret Council, and counter-questions to the posed fifteen questions [regarding the legitimacy of the son of James II.”] Letter of King James II to the Privy Council, January 4, 1689, requesting that the Council assure the Lords in London and Westminster that James wished to return to England as king and establish a free parliament. Sent from St. Germain (France) on January 14, 1689.

Two letters: 1. From “N.” to James II (then Prince of Orange) of England…..William, Prince of Orange, enters England armed; King James II of Great Britain fled with his wife and son the Prince of Wales to France……….2. From James II of England (then Prince of Orange) to Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham. Written the day before he fled to France after being deposed. TEXT: “Whitehall, December 11 [22nd new style], 1688: Things being come to that extremity that I have been forced to send away the Queen and my son the Prince of Wales, that they might not fall into my enemies' hands (which they must have done had they stayed), I am obliged to do the same thing, and to endeavour to secure myself the best I can, in hopes that it will please God, out of his infinite mercy to this unhappy passion, to touch their hearts again with true loyalty and honour. If I could have relied on all my troops I might not have been put to this extremity I am in, and would, at least, have had one blow for it. But though I know there are amongst you very many loyal and brave men, both officers and soldiers, yet you know that both yourself and several of the general officers of the Army told me it was no ways advisable for me to venture myself at their head or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them. And there remains only for me to thank you and all those, both officers and soldiers, who have stuck to me and been truly loyal, and hope you will still retain the same fidelity to me. And though I do not expect you should expose yourselves by resisting a foreign army and a poisoned nation, yet I hope your former principles are so rooted in you, that you will keep yourselves free from associations and such pernicious things. Time presses me so that I can say no more. J.R. I must add this, that as I have always found you loyal, so you have found me a kind master as you shall still find me.“

Depositions by the Council Chamber at Whitehall regarding the legitimate birth of James Francis Edward Stuart ("Jacobite Pretender") on June 10, 1688. Son of James II (deposed 1688); raised in France and recognized by King Louis XIV as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Answer to the following letter: “The declaration of James Duke of Monmouth, & the noblemen, gentlemen & others, now in arms, for defence & vindication of the Protestant religion, & the laws, rights, & privileges of England, from the invasion made upon them, & for delivering the kingdom from the usurpation & tyranny of James Duke of York.”………After the failed Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, in which he tried to depose the Catholic King James II, he was executed at Tower Hill by beheading on July 15, 1685.