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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82298	A collection of speeches of the Right Honourable Henry late Earl of Warrington, viz. I. His speech upon him being sworn mayor of Chester, in November, 1691. II. His speech to the grand-jury at Chester, April 13. 1692. III. His charge to the grand-jury at the quarter-sessions held for the county of Chester, on the 11th. of Octob. 1692 IV. His charge to the grand-jury at the quarter-sessions. Held for the county of Chester, on the 25th. day of April, 1693	Warrington, Henry Booth, Earl of, 1652-1694. Selections.	1694 (1694)	Wing D876; ESTC R11819	38,885	113

BOOKS Sold by Richard Baldwin BIbliotheca Politica Or An Enquiry into the Ancient Constitution of the English Government with respect both to the just Extent of Regal Power and to the Rights and Liberties of the Subject Wherein all the Chief Arguments both for and against the Late Revolution are impartially represented and considered In XIII Dialogues Collected out of the best Approved Authors both Ancient and Modern To which is added An Alphabetical Table to the whole Work The Works of Fr. Rabelais M. D. or the Lives Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and Pantagruel Done out of French by Sir Tho. Urchard Kt. and others With a large Account of the Life and Works of the Author particularly an Explanation of the most difficult Passages in them Never before publish'd in any Language Mercury or the Secret and Swift Messenger Shewing how a man may with privacy and speed communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any distance The second Edition By the Right Reverend Father in God John Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester Printed for Richard Baldwin where are to be had The World in the Moon and Mathematical Magick The Antiquity and Justice of an Oath of Abjuration In answer to a Treatise Entituled The Case of an Oath of Abjuration An Essay concerning Obedience to the Supream Powers and the Duty of Subjects in all Revolutions With some Considerations touching the present Juncture of Affairs A Compendious History of the Taxes of France and of the Oppressive Methods of Raising of them An Impartial Enquiry into the Advantages and Losses that England hath received since the beginning of this present War with France A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY Late EARL of Warrington VIZ. I. His Speech upon his being Sworn Mayor of Chester in November 1691. II. His Speech to the Grand-Jury at Chester April 13. 1692. III. His Charge to the Grand-Jury at the Quarter-Sessions held for the County of Chester on the 11th of Octob. 1692 IV. His Charge to the Grand-Jury at the Quarter-Sessions Held for the County of Chester on the 25th day of April 1693. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick Lane 1694. A Collection of SPEECHES Of the Right Honourable HENRY Late EARL of Warrington THE SPEECH Of the RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY EARL of Warrington Upon his being Sworn MAYOR of Chester In NOVEMBER 1691. I AM much oblig'd to you for the respect you have done me by putting this Trust into my hands and your Kindness is the greater because you did it without any Sollicitation on my part for I did so little expect it that I was extreamly Surpriz'd when I read my Predecessor's Letter which gave me to understand That your Choice of a Mayor for the Year ensuing was fallen upon me it is a great Trust that you repose in me and I hope I shall not Disappoint you in the Considence you have of me It is with some Inconvenience to my private Affairs That I have taken this Journey yet had my particular Occasions suffer'd more I should have made no difficuly in postponing them when an opportunity offers it self of doing any Service to the Publick or to th● Corporation neither could I have been excusable if I should have put so great a slight upon the Respect and good Will of my Friends as to refuse to Serve them in this or any other Capacity By the Oath I have now taken I have oblig'd my self before God and the World to that to which my own Inclinations did zealously dispose me for it was with extream Grief when in the late Reigns I beheld your Liberties and Franchises were Ravish'd from you What in me lies shall not be wanting to repair those Breaches that have been made and to prevent the like Invasions for the future I hope during this King's Life we are out of such Dangers since the offering up of Charters can be no acceptable Sacrifice to him because he came to the Crown upon English Principles and Governing by such Politicks is that alone which can make him Safe and Glorious But you may remember that lately we had Two Kings to whom nothing was so acceptable as the submitting our Religion and Liberties to their Arbitrary Wills and Pleasure and this Nation was then so unfortunate as to have a Party in it tho much the least who were industrious to comply with those two Kings in their wicked Desires The first step made by that Party was in their fulsome Addresses where they deliver'd up themselves and all they had to be disposed of at the King's Pleasure Making no other claim to their Liberties and Civil Rights but as Concessions from the Crown telling the King withal That every one of his Commands was Stampt with God's Authority and a great deal of such nauseous Stuff much fitter to be offer'd to some Eastern Monarch or the French King than to a King of England governing by the Laws of the Realm Well had it been if their Falshood and Flattery had gone no further but contrary to their Oath and the Trust reposed in them they proceeded to the Surrendring of Charters a thing so contrary to Justice and inconsistent with the Fundamentals of the Government of England that if such Surrenders can be justified I don't see what can be Dishonest or Vnlawful yet such Proceedings became a Test of Loyalty by which they thought to recommend themselves to the King's Favour whilst those who dissented in this point were accounted disaffected to the Government and were loaded with all manner of Reproaches But Gentlemen till then it was never accounted Liberality to be generous at the expence of others nor the usual way of recommending a man's Fidelity by betraying of a Trust nor to bring a man's word into credit by making light of an Oath These things I mention not that I desire to keep up Divisions amongst us or to discourage any that are sorry for what they have done and are willing to come into the Interest of this Government for I wish from my Soul that we were all of a mind but I mention these things to testify my dislike of such Proceedings and to shew how much I desire to prevent the like for the future For I am sure no man can be hearty for this Government who does not abhor such Proceedings as these were And saying this it puts me in mind of an Observation which I have made for some time which is this That generally those people who refuse to take the Oaths to this King and Queen are such as were active in or consenting to the surrendring of Charters which shews they are men of extraordinary Consciences who think it unlawful to Swear to this Government and yet could think it not only lawful but an Act of unshaken Loyalty to break their Oaths and betray their Trust If there be any such in this Corporation I hope they are but few and will serve as Examples not of Imitation but Admonition to

in false and counterfeit Money knowing it to be such to make payment with it is High-Treason by 25 Edw. III. and so it is to clip file or wash Money by 3 Hen. V. and very good reason it should be so for these and every of them is a great Offence against the Publick for Mony being as it were the Sinews of the Nation to impair or counterfeit it is a great Joss and damage to the Publick so that the Offence in so doing is not because it is marked with the King's Image for the French Money and the Spanish Coin and others are current in England which have not the King's Image upon them but the true reason is because of the great interest the Publick has in it and it would be the same thing if the Money had any other Stamp or Size put upon it by Publick Authority To kill the Chancellor Treasurer or the King's Justices being in their Places doing their Offices is High-Treason by 25 Edw. III. It is very great reason that they who serve the Publick in such eminent Stations should have the publick protection for when they faithfully and honestly discharge their several Trusts the Publick receive great advantages by it and therefore this Offence was made High-Treason To counterfeit the Sign-Manual Privy-Signet or Seal is High-Treason by 1 M. 6. and I think it is so by 25 Edw. III. to counterfeit the Privy-Seal And the reason why the Offences in these Cases are made so capital is because of the great detriment they bring upon the Publick To extol a Foreign Power is High-Treason by 1 Eliz. and very fit it should be so for every man will allow it is a great Offence to set up any other Power in opposition to the Publick Authority For a Priest or a Jesuit to come and abide within this Realm is High-Treason by 27 Eliz. I believe a great many people have been under a very great mistake in this matter supposing it was upon the Score of Religion that the Priests and Jesuits were put to death whereas it was quite otherwise for it was upon a Politick account that they suffered it was for an Offence against the Government that they were executed For it having been found by experience that this sort of Vermin by their Doctrine and Practice sowed the Seeds of Division and thereby wrought great Disturbances in the Nation it was therefore thought fit by the Parliament to take this way as the most effectual to keep them out for as what they did amounted to nothing less than Treason so it was highly reasonable that the punishment should be commensurate to the Offence And since it is become a Law of the Realm if this sort of people will be so presumptuous as to break it they have no body to blame but themselves if they suffer by it for it is a very just and reasonable Law To absolve any from their Allegiance or to be absolved is High Treason by 3 Jac. 1. the Law does heighten or abate the Punishment according as the Offence does more or less affect the Publick Peace so that the more it tends to the Publick Prejudice the greater is the Offence and what can strike more directly at the ruin and overthrow of the Nation than to withdraw the People from their Allegiance and to become the Destroyers of their Native Country And since those that absolve and those that are absolved have thereby declared themselves Enemies to the Nation it is very fit the Government should treat them as such The next Offence is Petty-Treason as for a Wife to kill her Husband a Priest his Ordinary a Servant his Master these are made so Capital because of the Obedience and Subjection which they ought to pay by reason of the Power and Authority which the Law gives the other over them The next Offence is Felony and it is either against the Person or the Goods or Possession Against the Person of another To kill another with Malice prepensed either expressed or implyed is Murther Designedly to cut out the Tongue maim or disfigure another is Felony without benefit of Clergy To Stab or Pistol another without a Weapon be drawn or a Blow given by the Party that is slain is also Felony without benefit of Clergy And so is Buggery with Man or Beast a Sin that could never have entered into the thoughts of Man till they were fallen to the lowest degree of Depravity So it is to Ravish a Woman that is to have the Carnal Knowledge of her Body against her Consent and so it is to lye with a Child under Ten years old tho with her Consent So is Witchcraft but it is an Offence very hard to prove So is Poysoning the most Secret and Treacherous way of Murthering of all others an Offence so abhorred by the Law that by Statute 22 Hen. 8. c. 9. it was made Treason and the Judgment was to be boiled to Death but it is since altered and made Felony by 1º Edward 6th c. 12. It is surely an Offence that deserves a severe Punishment because there is no Fence against it In all other Cases a Man has some means of defending himself but in this none All these Felonies are Death without benefit of Clergy Manslaughter is when two fall out and Fight immediately or so soon after as it may be supposed that that heat continued and one of them is Slain Here there is benefit of the Clergy because there does not appear to be any premeditated Malice To kill another by Accident doing a lawful Act is Chance-medly and if a Man is assaulted by another and in his own Defence he happens to kill him these the Law pardons of course Felonies against the Goods or Possession of another are such as these viz. To Rob on the High-way for the Law will protect the Goods and Persons of those who are upon their lawful Occasions and it is very reasonable that those who Travel on the Road should have some such Guard or else the Trade and Business of the Nation would be very much obstructed and suffer great damage To take away any thing privately from the Person of another if the Punishment of this were not great it would become a great Trade for it is so easily done and so hard to be prevented that a Mans Money would be safer any where than in his Pocket To steal a Horse Designedly to burn a Stack of Hay or Corn if it be done by Accident it is but a Trespass but being done by Design it carries so much Malice and Wickedness along with it that it justly deserves to be punished with Death To Rob a Church To break into a House and take any thing thence by Night or by Day for this carries a double Offence along with it for the Goods of another are not only Feloniously taken from him but he is also put in fear of his Life where he ought to be most secure and undisturb'd which the Law accounts a

Execution For they must intend either good or bad to us thereby and which was most likely I leave to every Man to judge I mention these things not that I am of Opinion That any or all of them put together without some other direct proof is evidence sufficient to convict a Man upon a Tryal for God forbid that any Man should be condemned but upon a fair Tryal and clear Evidence But I take notice of these things as they do render Persons justly suspected to be privy to or approving of the late Design against this Nation which as every honest Man ought to abhor so it is his duty to keep a watchful eye over them because I am far from being of an Opinion that they have given this Design over as a lost Game by reason that it was laid so broad and deep and so many are concerned in it that the success of it is of the last consequence to them their only safety being placed in it And besides because of the encouragement they do receive from the unfortunate Divisions that are amongst us And there is yet another thing which I apprehend is no small cause of encouragement to them and that is the little haste made by the Government to call them to account Of all the Ills of the two last Reigns in my opinion nothing was so treacherous and devillish as that of making Parties amongst us that we might become our own dostroyers for as it was the surest method to effect our destruction so if any thing should interpose to prevent our ruin yet nothing is more difficult than to make up such a breach and therefore the best that could be hoped for from it was to entail upon this Nation heart-burnings and all the fatal consequences of it I have the charity to hope that many who helped to carry on that ruinous design did it more out of ignorance than out of any ill intention I believe the Arbitrary Sermons being delivered as the Oracles of God might draw in a great many unwary people others might comply out of hopes of Preferment or fear of being harrassed by some powerful Neighbours But as new light is sprung up so I wish from my heart that men would walk accordingly If any man was misled in the late times it is not his shame but duty as a wise and honest man to repent of his Errour and forsake it for he that shall be convinced of it and yet will persist in it will find very few to whom his obstinacy will recommend him If any do think they were in the Right when they serv'd as Bauds to the Arbitrary Lusts of the two Late Kings I heartily pity them for their case is desperate yet I am perswaded that none of them would of choice have had such a power exercised upon themselves and if so they must grant that what they would not have done to themselves is not lawful for them to do or bring upon others If they adhere to what they did either out of hopes of Preferment or fear of being crushed by those in power they must believe that this King and Queen are resolved to go by the fame Methods that were taken in the two Late Reigns or else that nothing else will make this King and Queen safe and glorious Were the rest of mankind of this Opinion this World would be a miserable place surely mankind was born for some nobler End than so or else one would suppose that God had made man not after his own Image but rather that of an Ass or something else that is beneath a Rational Creature For is it not ridiculous that any thing should be more excellent and knowing than that which is to govern it Is an insatiable desire of Power preferable to that Reason with which man was indued at his Creation Must a man give up that to which he has a clear right both by the Laws of God and his Countrey because another who is at that time guided by his passion desires to lay hold of it What Justice can any man promise to himself when Passion is above the Law What signifies Law if the King's Will must be the measure of our Obedience To what purpose are Parliaments and all those other Provisions which our Forefathers made to preserve our Liberties if Prerogative were in truth that Omnipotent thing which it boasted it self to be in the late Reigns That man is surely out of his way that is beside his Reason Had men been guided by it and nothing else there had been no misunderstandings about Government Reason will not mislead us but other things will be resolved to follow that and you will be sure to approve your selves in the sight of God and man Having said this I will now proceed to the Particulars of your Enquiry The first of which is High Treasons of which there are several sorts and Species both at Common-Law and by Statute-Law but those only that are made such by some Statutes are those that fall within your Enquiry To compass or imagine the Death of the King or Queen and that declared by some Overt and plain Act is High-Treason by the 25 Edw. III. but such Acts must be direct and clear void of all Implication or other Construction or else it will not make it Treason within this Statute for this Statute was made to take away constructive Treasons and thereby relieved the Subjects against an unspeakable evil under which they had laboured for many years for till then the Judges took an extravagant Liberty in stamping Treason upon almost any Offence that came before them which cost many an innocent man his Life contrary to all Reason and Justice so that this Statute was a very beneficial Law for the Subject To levy War against the King or Queen in their Realm or to adhere to their Enemies in the Realm or to give them comfort here or elsewhere is High-Treason by the same Statute But a Conspiracy to levy War is not Treason unless the War be actually levied though the contrary Opinion prevailed in the late Times whereby several worthy men were murthered It was a very far-fetched Opinion and could never have obtained but in that or some other corrupt Age when all Law and Justice was given up to the Will and Pleasure of the King For my Lord Coke is express in it That unless the War is actually levied it is not Treason and I remember in the Debate in the House of Lords upon the Bill for reversing my Lord Russel's Attainder the Lords were unanimously of opinion that it was not Treason and upon that ground chiefly they passed the Bill To counterfeit the Great Seal is High-Treason by 25 Edw. 3. and very good reason it should be so because of the great Authority it carries along with it it would be often attempted to be done and thereby innumerable mischiefs would follow and breed a great deal of confusion To counterfeit the King's Money or to bring

from Oppressing than to have an Absolute Regal Power And says another The Way of Governing must be both Right and Clear as well as is the End and how this can be expected when a King is guided by no other Rule than that of his unbounded Will and Pleasure I do not see any more than a man can depend upon the Weather Do not all examples of it that ever were prove that Absolute Power and Oppression are inseparable and as naturally proceed the one from the other as the Effect doth from the Cause 'T is a Riddle to me how that Prince can be called God's Ordinance who assumes a Power above what the Law hath invested him with and useth it to the Grieving and Oppressing of his Subjects May not the Plague Famine or Sword as well be called God's Ordinance since one no less than the other is sent by him for the Punishment of that People whom he so visits We may reasonably suppose that Order and Peace are much rather the end of Government than Oppression and Violence because God is a God of order and when he sent the greatest Blessing upon Earth it was Peace and though God was often very wroth with the Kings of Israel and Judah for their Idolatries yet the Innocent Blood they shed and the Violence and Oppression which they committed provoked him more highly and with his severest Judgments he always testified his Displeasure against it I could run out into a large Discourse upon this Subject but I will stop here because I am perswaded that what I have already said is sufficient to convince any one who is unprejudiced That an Absolute Power is so far from being the Right of the King of England that the exercise of such a Power is Unlawful in any King I know very well that in the late Reigns this Doctrine would not have been endured to have said less than this would have cost a man his Head For whoever would not then comply with Arbitrary Power was called a Factious man and an Opposer of the Government but is it not nonsense or very near a-kin to it to call that Seditious that is for bringing things into Order and for maintaining the Laws and supporting the Government Arbitrary desires never did any King good but have ruined many It shook King Charles the Second's Throne and tumbled down his next Successor and though such Kings are left without excuse when Ruined yet I may say they are not only in the fault for their overthrow is in a great measure occasioned by those who Preach up and advise the King to Arbitrary Power Did not other People cocker up and cherish Arbitrary Notions in Kings minds though such Conceptions might sometimes get into their heads yet they would never fructifie nor come to perfection if they were not cultivated by Parasites who make their Court that way in hopes to raise themselves tho with the hazard of their Master's Crown As it befel the late King James whose Male-Administration rendered him unmeet to sway the Scepter And I am very well satisfied that the Judgment upon him was just for unless a People are decreed to be miserable which God Almighty will never do except thereto very highly provoked by their Sins certainly he will never so tye up their hands that they shall not be allowed to use them when they have no other way to help themselves Several Artifices were made use of in the Two late Reigns for the introducing Arbitrary Power and Popery one of which was to insinuate into the minds of the People that the Succession of the Crown was the Chief Pillar of the Government and that the breaking into it upon any pretence whatsoever was no less than a Dissolution of the whole Constitution and nothing but Disorder and Confusion could ensue This Doctrine was boldly then Preached up and prevailed with many and obtained no less than if the Crown had been setled in that Family by an Ordinance or Decree dropt down from Heaven and that every one of that Line or Race had been distinguished from the rest of Mankind by more than ordinary virtues and endowments of Mind and Body But we know not of any such Divine Revelation and happy had it been for this Nation if that Family had been so signal for its Justice and its Piety we might then have prayed That there might not want one of them to fit upon this Throne to all Ages How much this Nation is obliged to that Family we very well remember for the Wounds they gave us are not yet healed Election was certainly the Original of Succession for as the living more safely and with the freer Enjoyment of their Goods was the Original Cause that people associated themselves into a Nation or Kingdom so for the better attaining that End they did set over themselves the best and wisest of their brethren to be their Rulers and Governours and this Administration was trusted in one or more hands according to the Temper and Disposition of the People in which Authority they continued either for their lives or for one year or for some other stated Period of time Where the Government was under a King he usually held it for life and then upon his Decease the people proceeded to a New Election till at last it fell into the hands of some very excellent Person who having more than ordinarily deserved of his Countrey the people as well in Gratitude to him as believing they could not expect a better Choice than in the Branches that would grow out of so excellent a Stock entailed that Dignity upon him and his Posterity And this seems to be the most Natural and Lawful Rise of Succession I do not deny but some Successions have arisen from Force but that was never lasting for it could not subsist or seem Lawful any longer than there was a Force to support it Now when Princes come to the Crown by the first way of Succession I mean by the Consent and Approbation of the People does not that plainly imply That they ought to use that Power for the Good and Advantage of their Subjects and not to their hurt and enjoy the Crown only upon that condition No man would ever suffer a Monster to inherit his Estate and Kings are no more exempted from the Accidents of Human Nature than their meanest Subjects and it is every days practice in private Families to exclude those that will waste their Estates and ruin the Family and if the reason will there hold good then it is so much the stronger in the Descent of the Crown by how much the good of the whole Kingdom is to be preserted to that of one Family Nor is Succession so very Ancient in England as some people may apprehend Till the time of William the First commonly though falsly called the Conqueror it was look'd upon as a very precarious Title the next in Succession could make but little reckoning on the Crown further than his