Above: an assembly of the States General of the Netherlands in the 1600s. © Rijksmuseum
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Arthur Hill-Trevor, the 3rd Viscount Dungannon (1798-1862) wrote The Life and Times of William the Third, King of England, and Stadtholder of Holland in 1835. It's online here - chapter 12 is about the Declaration of William Henry, Prince of Orange and has a summary of its content. There's some tantalising additional commentary too, on page 276:
"... About the same time was published the resolution of the States General*, containing the reasons that had obliged them to assist his Highness the Prince of Orange, with ships, men, and ammunition, in his intended expedition into England.
The two principal reasons were, —
1st, That the Prince of Orange had been invited to this expedition by the English nobility, gentry, and clergy.
2dly, That the States had just cause to fear, that, in case the King of England became absolute in his own kingdom, he would, in conjunction with the King of France, endeavour to bring their state to confusion, and, if possible, totally subject it.
This fear, according to Dr. Burnet, was founded upon the Earl of Castlemain having pressed the Pope to admit his master to mediate a reconciliation between the courts of Rome and Versailles, assuring his Holiness that when the reconciliation should be effected, the two kings would serve the cause of the church by a destructive war against Holland.
The Pope, who did not at the time approve the plan, informed the Emperor of the matter, by whom it was communicated to the Prince of Orange..."
The Earl of Castlemain was Roger Palmer (1634-1705 - Wikipedia here), and from this account he seems to have disclosed to Pope Innocent XI the masterplan to destroy Holland – by inviting the Pope to join the forthcoming King James II and Louis XIV team. But the Pope wasn't up for it – so he relayed this intelligence to William Prince of Orange, via the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.
The backdrop is very seedy. Roger Palmer and Barbara Villiers (Wikipedia here) married in 1659, but the very next year she became one of the many mistresses of King Charles II. The King then granted Palmer the titles of Earl of Castlemaine and Baron Limerick - "for her services in the King's bedchamber". She had five, and probably six, children to Charles. There is low life in high places.
Fast forward to the new King James II and in 1686 he made Palmer Ambassador to the Vatican "where he was ridiculed as Europe's most famous cuckold" - and this is how Palmer came to have an audience with the Pope.
The Dr Burnet referred to was of course Gilbert Burnet, a first hand witness of the time...
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* the States General of the Netherlands is the overall governing legislature for its many provinces. The Extract of the States General their Resolution was published on 28 October 1688 and is online here.
"... His Highness hath declared to their Highness, that he is resolved, with Gods Grace and Favour, to go over into England, not with the least insight or intention to Invade or Subdue that Kingdom, or to remove the King from the Throne, much less to make himself Master thereof, or to invert or prejudice the Lawful Succession, as also not to drive thence, or persecute, the Roman Catholicks, but only and solely to help that Nation in Re-establishing the Laws and Priviledges that have been broken, as also in maintaining their Religion and Liberty..."



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