ABSTRACT
TAMES VIII. By the Grace of God, of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all our Loving Subjects, of what Degree or Quality soever, Greeting. As we are firmly resolved never to omit any Opportunity of Asserting Our undoubted Title to the Imperial Crown of these Realms, and of endeavouring to put Ourself into the Possession of that Right, which is devolved upon Us by the Laws of God and Man; so must We, in Justice to the Sentiments of our Own Heart, Declare, That nothing in this World can give Us so great Satisfaction, as to owe to the Endeavours of Our Loyal Subjects, both Our and their Restoration to that happy Settlement, which can alone deliver this Church and Nation from the Calamities which they lie at present under, and from those future Miseries, which must be the Consequences of the present Usurpation. During the Life of Our Dear Sister of Glorious Memory, the Happiness which Our People enjoyed, softned in some Degree the Hardship of Our own Fate: And we must further confess, That when We reflected on the Goodness of Her Nature, and Her Inclinations to Justice, We could not but perswade Ourself, That she intended to establish and perpetuate the Peace, which she had given to these Kingdoms, by destroying for ever all Competition to the Succession of the Crown, and by securing to Us at last the Enjoyment of that Inheritance, out of which We had been so long kept; which Her Conscience must inform Her was Our Due, and which Her Principles must lead Her to desire that We might obtain.
