DECLARATION, OF HIS EXCELLENCY, JAMES MARQUES OF MONTROSE.
THough it may ſeem, Publick (both) and Privat Injury, Rather then mater of Duety or Juſt Procedeur, to do any Act whatſumever that can in ſo much as appear to diſpute, the Clearneſſe of this preſent ſervice, or to hold ſuch enemyes as a Party; The Juſtice of his Majeſties cauſe, The wickednes of thos Rebells, and my oun Integrity, Being (all of them) ſo weell and ſo throughly knoun as they are;
Yet the further to confirm the world, The more to encourage all who are to engage, And the Pouerfullier to convince many, who have Harmleſly been envolved, and Innocently Inveigled, in thoſe deſperate courſes; I do in the name of his moſt ſacred Majeſty, and by vertue of the Pouer and Authority granted by him unto me. Declare.
2That Howbeit ther hath been (and ſtill are) ane Horrid and Infamous Faction of Rebells within the Kingdome of Scotland [who moſt cauſlesly at firſt did hatch Rebellion againſt his late Majeſtie of Glorious Memory, And when he had granted unto them (by their oun acknouledgement) all their Violent and moſt unjuſt deſyrs, They were ſo farr from reſting, notwithſtanding, ſatisfyed (as being Themſelves able to fynd no further Pretences) They did Pernitiouſly Solicit ane Party in the Kingdome of England, to beginn, where Shame and Neceſsity had forced them to break off, And when Thos of the Engliſh (being by much leſſe wicked) would have often Satisfyed themſelves by his Majeſties extraordinary Conceſsion; (They then not intending the deſperate lenths which fatall ſucceſſe and their hollow Practiſers did therafter dryve them too) Then did they ſtill thurſt in (as Oyll to the Fyre, and Ganger to the Wound) untill they had randred all Irrecoverable;3 Neyther were they contented in the Fox skinn allone, to act this Their ſo Brutiſh a Tragedy (which indeed could never have ſerved their ends) But while they had received all Imaginable Satisfaction at Home, (As their werry oun Acts of Parliament doth witneſſe, wherein, They ſay, That his Late Majeſtie parted a Contented King from a Contented People,) Fynding their Rebell Brood, how they had begot in England beginning to leſſen, and that his Majeſties Party appeared to have by much the better, They not only contrary to the Duety of ſubjects, But all Fayth, Covenants, Oathes, Atteſtations, to which they had ſo often Invoked God, his Angells, the World, and all as witneſſes, Did enter with a ſtrong Army the Kingdome of England, Perſecute their Prince, in a Forraigne Nation, Aſsiſt a company of ſtranger Rebells, againſt their Native King, and thos of his Loyall Party within that ſame Kingdome, Except for which the whole4 world does know his Majeſtie had without all Peradventure Prevailed; And not aſhamed of all this, (which even many of their oune Party did bluſh to awow) when his late Majeſtie wes by (God knows) how many unhappy treacheries, redacted to think upon extream Courſes for his ſafety, He wes pleaſed, out of his ſo much Invincible goodneſſe, and Naturall Inclination towards his Native People (Notwithſtanding all Their former Villanies) To chuſe that Ignoble Party to fall upon, Thinking that Thos who his Greatneſſe and their Duty could not obliedge, His Miſſery, and their Compaſsion, might perhaps move with Pitty; Yet too Juſtly fearing their Punik Faiths, He firſt reſolved to Ingage them by a Treaty, After which, when by many Intercourſes, his Majeſty had receaved all manner of Aſſurances, (which tho Shame would make them willingly excuſe, Yet guylt will let Them have nothing to ſay for it, It being ſo undenyable5 and to all the world ſo knoun a Trueth) Caſting himſelf in their hands, They (Contrary, to all Fayth and Faction, Truſt of Friends, Duty of ſubjects, Laws of Hoſpitality, Nature, Nations, Divine and Humane, to which there hath never been Precedent, nor can ever be a Follouer) Moſt Infamouſly, and beyond all Imaginable Expreſsion of Invincible Baſenes, (to the Bluſh of Chriſtians Abomination of Mankynd) Sold their Soveraigne ower, to their Mercyles Fellow Traytors to be deſtroyed; with whom How they have Comploted his Deſtruction, Their ſecret Intercourſes, both before, In the tyme, and ſince his Horrid Murther, do too evidently declare; Of all which Villanies, They are ſo little touched with the guylt, as they now beginn with his Majeſty upon the ſame Scores they left with his Father, Declaring him King with Proviſoes, ſo Robbing him of all Right while they would ſeem to give ſome unto him, Preſsing him to6 Joyne with Thos who have liged all his Dominions in Rebellion and layd all Royall Pouer into the Duſt, That in effect he would Condemne the Memory of his Sacred Father, Deſtroy himſelf, and Ruin his Faithfull Party within all thos Dominions; Thir are Thos who at Firſt entred England, Soliciting all to Ryſe in this Deſperat Rebellion (as the Prologue of their enſeuing Tragedy (who who wer the Cheeff and Mayne Inſtruments of all the Battells; Slaughters, and Bloody Occaſions, within that Kingdome, who ſold Their Soveraigne unto the Death, And that yet Diggs in his Grave, and who are more Pernitiouſly Hatching the Deſtruction of his preſent Majeſtie, by the ſame bare, Old, Outdated Treacheries, then ever they did his Sacred Fathers] Yet the People (in Generall) Having been but Ignorantly miſled to it (Whos eyes now for moſt part, God hes opened, and turned their hearts, (at leaſt in their Deſyres) to Their Dutyful obedience,7 And that there hes ſtill been a Loyall Party, who have givvin Such Proffs of their Integrity, as his Majeſtie is mowed with a tender Compaſsion; for thos Righteous ſakes, in behalf of All, who now at laſt, have Remorſe for their former miſdemeanours. His Majeſtie is not onely willing to Pardon every one, (Excepting Such who upon clear evidencies ſhall be found guylty of that moſt Damnable Fact of the Murther of his Father) (who upon ſight or knouledge heerof do Immediately or upon the Firſt Poſsible Conveniency, Abbandon thos Rebells and Ryſe and Joyne themſelves with ws and our Forces in this preſent ſervice) But alſo to aſſure all who are or will turne Loyall unto him of that Nation; That it is his Majeſties Reſolution (which He doth Aſſure, and Promiſe unto them, upon the word of a Prince (to be ever ready to Ratiefy (ſo ſoon as it ſhall pleas God to put it in his Pouer, According to the advyce of the Supreame Judicatories8 of that Kingdome) All what hes been done by his Royall Father in Order to their Peace; Deſyring nothing More, but Their dutyfull Obedience, and Faithfull Services, for the Rewenge of the Horrid Murther of his Father, His Juſt Reeſtabliſhment, and their oun Perpetuall Happienes, under his Gouernment.
Wherfor, All who haue any Duety left them, to God, their King, Countrey, Friends, Homes, Wyves, and Childreen, Or Would chang (now at Laſt) the Tyrrany, Violence, and Oppreſsion, of Thos Rebells, With the Myild and Innocent Gouernment, of their Juſt Prince; Or Revveng, the Horrid, and Execrable Murther of Their Sacred King, Redeem their Nation from Infamy; themſelves from Slavvery, Reſtore the Preſent, and Obliedge the Ages to come; Let Them, as Chriſtians, Subjects, Patriots, Friends, Husbands, and Fathers, Joyne themſelues Furthvvith with ws, In this Preſent ſervice, that is ſo full, of Conſcience,9 Duety, Honnor, and all Juſt Interreſts, And not apprehend any Evills, (which they may feare Can befall) Halfe ſo much, as Thos they Preſently lye vnder, For tho ther may appeare many Dificulties, Yet let them not Doubt of Gods Juſtice, Nor the Happie Providence that may attend his Majeſtie, Nor their oun Reſolutions, Nor the Fortuns of Thos, who they are Joynd withall; Reſolving with Joab; to play the Men for their People and the Cittyes of their God, And let the Lord do whatever ſeemeth him Good; Wherin, whatsum euer ſhall behappin, They may (at leaſt) be aſſured, of Craſtinus Recompence, That Dead, or Allyue, the World will giue Them Thanks.