The King and William Penn. Declaration of Indulgence

Abstract

J ames II adhered to his purpose of effecting in a parliamentary way the repeal of the statutes by which the Catholics were oppressed, and of so making the measure legally valid. But in this case, as in more than one previously, Scotland was to set an example to the English Parliament. On the 29th of April, 1686, the Parliament of Edinburgh was opened by the reading of a letter, in place of a speech from the throne, in which the King reminded that body of his exertions to promote the material prosperity of the country, especially in relation to trade, and announced a general pardon for all offences and crimes committed against the crown, but on the other hand recommended to the care of Parliament his subjects of the Roman Catholic religion, ‘who had given so many proofs of their loyalty and love of peace’: he begged that they might be granted the full protection of the laws, and might be relieved of obligations with which their religion could not be reconciled. It was the same Parliament which, at its last session, had made the King a declaration of the most zealous devotion to his interest; he hoped that it would also grant him the repeal of the penal laws against his fellow-believers, and the abolition of the oaths which prevented their holding appointments in the public service. But the sympathies which James II had won in Scotland did not certainly reach far enough to procure him satisfaction in this matter.