‘And knowing that where the word of a king is, there is power, we in Christian humility, and for Christ’s sake, intreat, that the king will please to find out some expedient for our relief in these cases, from prison, spoil, and ruin, and we shall, as in Christian duty bound, pray God for the king’s welfare in this world, and his eternal happiness in that which is to come.’
An account of the number of the said prisoners called Quakers, in the several counties.
| Prisoners. | |
| Bedfordshire | 30 |
| Berkshire | 37 |
| Bristol | 103 |
| Buckinghamshire | 19 |
| Cambridgeshire | 8 |
| Ely | 11 |
| Cheshire | 9 |
| Cornwall | 32 |
| Cumberland | 22 |
| Derbyshire | 1 |
| Devonshire | 104 |
| Dorsetshire | 13 |
| Durham | 39 |
| Essex | 10 |
| Gloucestershire | 66 |
| Hertfordshire | 18 |
| Herefordshire | 1 |
| Huntingdonshire | 10 |
| Kent | 16 |
| Lancashire | 73 |
| Leicestershire | 37 |
| Lincolnshire | 12 |
| London and Middlesex | 66 |
| Norfolk | 52 |
| Northampton | 59 |
| Nottinghamshire | 6 |
| Oxon | 17 |
| Shropshire | 18 |
| Somersetshire | 36 |
| Southampton | 15 |
| Staffordshire | 1 |
| Suffolk | 79 |
| Surry | 29 |
| Sussex | 17 |
| Warwickshire | 31 |
| Westmoreland | 5 |
| Wiltshire | 34 |
| Worcestershire | 15 |
| Yorkshire | 279 |
| Wales | 30 |
| —— | |
| Sum of Prisoners | 1460 |
Delivered to the king the 3d of the First month called March, 1684-5.
This list, with the aforesaid petition to the king and parliament, was not altogether ineffectual: for there was much talk now of liberty of conscience; but since all the liberty that was enjoyed was only precarious, it could be but little depended upon; yet many seemed to be in expectation that some grant of that liberty would be published in print, and thus it became a common saying that liberty of conscience was in the press, which being of an equivocal signification, sometimes afforded matter of sport. But many of the Episcopal church were so strongly bent to withhold that liberty from other Protestants, that there were no ill-grounded reports, that some in authority had promised the king, to give their vote for liberty of conscience to the Papists, provided it was not granted to other dissenters. Nevertheless the abovesaid petition of the Quakers had such effect, that the king resolved to ease them from the burden of their oppression, by way of pardon; for thus far his power reached; but the abrogating of laws could not be done without the consent of the parliament, which grew jealous that by the repeal of those laws, the Papists, who now had a king of their own religion, would become too powerful. In the meanwhile the king published the following proclamation:
‘James R.
‘Whereas our most entirely beloved brother, the late king, deceased, had signified his intentions to his attorneys general for the pardoning such of his subjects who had been sufferers in the late rebellion for their loyalty, or whose parents or nearest relations had been sufferers in the late rebellion for that cause, or who had themselves testified their loyalty and affection to the government, and were prosecuted, indicted, or convicted for not taking, or refusing to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, or one of them, or had been prosecuted upon any writ, or any penalty, or otherwise, in any of the courts of Westminster Hall, or in any of the ecclesiastical courts, for not coming to church, or not receiving the sacrament:
‘And whereas the several persons, whose names are mentioned in the schedule annexed to this our warrant; have produced unto us certificates for the loyalty and sufferings of them and their families:
‘Now in pursuance of the said will of our said most dear brother, and in consideration of the sufferings of the said persons, our will and pleasure is, that you cause all process and proceedings, ex officio, as well against the said persons mentioned in the said schedule hereunto annexed, as against all other persons as shall hereafter be produced unto you, to be wholly superseded and stayed; and if any of the said persons be decreed or pronounced excommunicated, or have been so certified, or are in prison upon the writ de excommunicato capiendo, for any of the causes aforesaid, our pleasure is, that you absolve and cause such persons to be absolved, discharged, or set at liberty, and that no process or proceedings whatsoever be hereafter made in any court against any of the said persons for any cause before mentioned, until our pleasure therein shall be further signified.
‘Given at our Court at Whitehall, this 18th of April, 1685, in the first year of our reign.