Against that usurpation they protested, not only as friends to civil liberty, but as members of the royal house, who had a deep interest in maintaining the rights of that crown which they might one day wear.

For experience had shown that in England arbitrary government could not fail to produce a reaction even more pernicious than itself; and it might reasonably be feared that the nation, alarmed and incensed by the prospect of despotism, might conceive a disgust even for constitutional monarchy.

The advice, therefore, which they tendered to the King was that he would in all things govern according to law.
They readily admitted that the law might with advantage be altered by competent authority, and that some part of his Declaration well deserved to be embodied in an Act of Parliament.

They were not persecutors.
They should with pleasure see Roman Catholics as well as Protestant Dissenters relieved in a proper manner from all penal statutes.

They should with pleasure see Protestant Dissenters admitted in a proper manner to civil office.