+Source.+--A. Boyer's _Political State of Great Britain_, 1720. Vol. x., pp. 626-630.
_His Majesty's Most Gracious Declaration._
James 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 lose any Opportunity of asserting Our undoubted Title to the Imperial Crown of these Realms, and of endeavouring to get the Possession of that Right which is devolv'd upon Us by the Laws of God and Man: so we must in Justice to the Sentiments of our Heart declare, That nothing in the World can give Us so great satisfaction, as to owe to the Endeavours of Our Loyal Subjects both our own 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 enjoy'd softened 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 Inclination to Justice, we could not but persuade Our Self, 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 the Inheritance out of which We had been so long kept, which her Conscience must inform her was our Due, and which her Principles must bend her to desire that We might obtain.
But since the Time that it pleased Almighty God to put a Period to her Life, and not to suffer Us to throw Our Self, as We then fully purposed to have done, upon Our People, We have not been able to look upon the Present Condition of Our Kingdoms, or to consider their Future Prospect, without all the Horror and Indignation which ought to fill the Breast of every Scotsman.
We have beheld a Foreign Family, Aliens to our Country, distant in Blood, and Strangers even to our Language, ascend the Throne.
We have seen the Reins of Government put into the Hands of a Faction, and that Authority which was design'd for the Protection of All, exercis'd by a Few of the Worst, to the oppression of the Best and Greatest number of our Subjects. Our Sister has not been left at Rest in her Grave; her name has been scurrilously abused, her Glory, as far as in these People lay, insolently defaced, and her faithful Servants inhumanely persecuted. A Parliament has been procur'd by the most Unwarrantable Influences, and by the Grossest Corruptions, to serve the Vilest Ends, and they who ought to be the Guardians of the Liberties of the People, are become the Instruments of Tyranny. Whilst the Principal Powers, engaged in the Late Wars, enjoy the Blessings of Peace, and are attentive to discharge their Debts, and ease their People, Great Britain, in the Midst of Peace, feels all the Load of a War. New Debts are contracted, New Armies are raised at Home, Dutch Forces are brought into these Kingdoms, and, by taking Possession of the Dutchy of Bremen, in Violation of the Public Faith, a Door is opened by the Usurper to let in an Inundation of Foreigners from Abroad and to reduce these Nations to the State of a Province, to one of the most inconsiderable Provinces of the Empire.
