affirm that ours is perfect in comparison of any other Government in the World for if we consider those Nations that have Parliaments that Assembly is of little or no use to the People but to pass into Laws the Edicts of their King But God be praised our Parliament is of far greater use and advantage to us for there it is that our Grievances are redressed and Laws that by process of time are become useless or burthensome are repealed and new and profitable Laws and Statutes are made and in a word Barliaments to our Neighbours are their Burden but our great Happiness Secondly All manner of Taxes and Impositions are laid upon the People at the Will and Pleasure of the King But we can have no Tax imposed upon us but by our Consent in Parliament and there is this peculiar to us from the rest of the World That no English-man can be taxed for his Hand-labour whereas in other Countries and especially France every man pays for what he gets by his Labour In France every Labourer pays two parts of three to the King as if he get Six pence in a day Four pence is paid immediately to the King's Officer Thirdly In other Countries War and Peace is made by the King without consulting the People and they are chargeable to that War tho' made without their Consent or against their Interest So it is with us our King has the sole power of making War and Peace but the Sinews of War is in the People I mean Money and that they cannot part with but with our own Consent And although the Matter of War and Peace is an Arcanum Imperii and that no man as some say may pry into it save they to whom the King is pleased to communicate it Yet I conceive in this our Government where the People are so essential a part of it that they ought to be satisfied with the Ground and Reason of the War before they make themselves chargeable to it and the People are not bound to support every War that the King may engage in for methinks it 's all the reason in the World that a Man should be satisfied with the Cause before he part with his Money and I think that Man is very unworthy of the Honour to serve his Country in Parliament who shall give away the Peoples Money for any other thing but what shall be effectually for the good and advantage of the People and Nation Fourthly The Estates and Goods are taken from the People without assigning a Reason of it but only that it is the Mind of the King to have it so But here no Man can be deprived of his Estate or Goods but by due course of Law for Possession is that the Law is very tender of But although some say That the King's Commission may not be resisted in any case whatsoever I shall not argue that point because this is not a proper time for it and I hope we shall never have occasion to try it if it ever should happen I 'll lay the Blame at the door of his Ministers for our King is a merciful Prince and loves not such things Yet this I am sure cannot be denied That every Man's House is his Castle and may defend himself and his Goods against those that shall assault or molest him and I cannot believe that Man can be really a Friend either to his King or Country but rather does it out of some sinister end or to curry Favour with the Court that shall extol the King's Prerogative above the Laws because this Doctrine if true quite destroys the Fundamentals of our Government for if ever you set the King above Laws then it must necessarily follow that the King derives his Title to the Crown of England not from the Laws of England but from something else but I am sure that man does the King no great Service who puts the King to seek his Title to the Crown of England any where else than from the Laws of England To set the King above all Law but that of his own Will does so directly tax the Justice of God Almighty that I cannot believe him to be a good Christian that is of that Opinion Fifthly In other Countries the Subjects are Imprisoned and Hanged at the Command of the King without any other Reason given But none of us can be deprived of Life Limb or Liberty but for some Offence first committed against some known Law Sixthly Our Neighbours are pressed and forced to serve in foreign Countries against their Wills and are hanged for refusing Our King may press any of us for the defence of the Nation but I never heard that the King could press any English-man to serve beyond the Seas Seventhly In other Countries though the King or his Officers commit never so many or great Outrages and Cruelties upon the People yet have the People no Remedy against either the King or his Officers But with us though our Law says That the King can do no Wrong yet his Officers and Ministers may and if any Man shall do an unlawful thing though by the King's Command that man is accountable to the People for it and it is the Right of every English-man to call him to account for if neither the King nor his Officers are answerable for a breach of the Laws then our Laws signifie nothing and are but a dead Letter and we no better than Slaves These Particulars I have now mentioned I suppose may be sufficient to convince any reasonable man of the Excellency of our Government I shall not proceed further into Particulars or discourse how and with what Caution all our Laws are made and how Justice is administred in all Cases for I should not only weary you but want time to finish so great a Work therefore I shall say this in part That in no Government in the World the People live with such Liberty and Security of what we enjoy when the Laws are duly observed and followed as we do no Prince more safe and happy than ours when he holds to the Laws and it is the mutual Interest of both King and People to maintain the Laws It is the Interest of the People to support the King in his Legal Prerogative and it is the Interest of the King to preserve the People in their due Rights and Liberties for the Happiness of one is bound up in the Welfare of the other There is a certain ballance betwixt the King's Prerogative and the Peoples Properties and he that endeavours to turn the Scales to either side does in effect endeavour the destruction of both for the Interest of the King and People are so interwoven that we cannot separate or distinguish one from the other In a word our Government is both the Envy and Admiration of our Neighbours But Gentlemen notwithstanding our excellent frame of Government yet I find that many are impatient under it and thirst extreamly after that which is called a Common
throws off all thought for the Publick the very Heathens could say how pleasant and delightful is it to dye for their Countrey It is by reason of this concern for the Publick that we render such honour to the King who if the Common-wealth did not receive great Advantage by his Care and due administration of Justice would be regarded no more than another man There never yet was any good Man who had not an ardent zeal for his Countrey And to all men of true honour and worth it is a more pleasant reflection to think how useful they have been in their Generation than how wealthy they are grown Though we are bound to do all the good we can yet you ought not to be over-forward in taking upon you any publick Imployment save with these two Cautions First that you be in some good measure qualified for it Secondly that you undertake it for the sake of Gods Glory and the good of your Country and not to gratifie your Ambition For as by reason of Insufficiency you will certainly come off with shame so by desiring it for a wrong end God will not prosper it Perhaps the activeness of your temper may push you on to business in that case you have no more to do but to make your self fit for it and then a man of your quality and condition need not hunt after imployment for it will seek him out Now as good esteem and popular applause are the general returns to good service done for the publick so such as deserve it seldom fail of it And you will find that this Nation is more steady in the first and the more valuable I mean their good esteem and affection than in the latter for that is bestowed upon every occasion and so being become common is of less value If then you have done your Countrey good service be not disturbed when you may think the merits of your service is forgotten and drowned in the applauses that are given to some popular action For you will often see that though a Man has been the greatest Villain to his Country yet upon doing any one popular thing he shall for the present be cryed up as the best and bravest man alive but as this has no foundation so it will prove but a nine days wonder and when that time is expired they will return to their Wits and remember those to whom they are obliged When you are got into imployment be it never so agreeable to you let not the fear of being turned out prevail with you to do the least Injustice or to act irregularly neither for the serving of a turn nor for any other Consideration For upright behaviour in regular times is the surest way to keep you in your Seat And in times of disorder you must resolve to do every ill thing that is put upon you if by such means you will keep your place for the doing of one will not secure you Now though you lose your Place by refusing to do what you think is not just yet you retain your Honour and Conscience and all the odium your Enemies would cast upon you will then prove only malitious aspersions and turn with shame upon the head of your Accusers And by your Integrity you will give your Family so great a Reputation as sooner or later will turn more to the advantage of it than the holding of your Place longer could have been When you are in a very high Station be sure to behave your self with the like familiarity to all sorts of Persons as you did before your promotion For by this you will not only gain the esteem of every body But if you are displaced you will lose nothing of the respect that was paid you Besides this be sure to be easie of access to every one that has business with you and give them all the dispatch you can For as in common charity you are bound to do it that no man may be tyred out in attending his just concerns so it is an honest policy to keep friends in store against an evil time whereas they who practice the contrary not only procure themselves hatred whilest they are in Place but when turned out for such don't stand long none are so much despised and contemned as they But an Imployment at Court I mean such as is purely within the Court abstracted from the Publick is seriously to be thought on before you ingage in it For nothing but the pure profit can incline a man of a generous and noble Spirit to accept of it For though Princes should be examples of Piety as well as administers of Justice yet there is so much looseness and disorder in their Families that a man who lives there must be very well fortified with Religion and Morality or he will be in great danger of losing his Integrity For how often will he be necessitated to neglect his Devotion both in publick and private and at best hand postpone the worshipping of God to the attendance on his Prince and serve God only in the second place And then it is no strange thing if the mist occasion'd by the arbitrary vapours of the Court do so far mislead him as to fall down and worship him who is but his fellow-creature yet great respect is due to him because placed in some degrees above him for his good and advantage Consider besides the servile compliances to which he must submit even to pretend to love the man he hates and crouch and bend to the man that he does despise And as Courts are always in Factions and Parties so he cannot avoid falling in with some side and whatever they drive at he must implicitely pursue it though to the destruction of some Person who never injured him or any other thing as base as that Add to this how unsetled he must be always in a hurry and shifting from place to place at an hours warning and pay such slavish attendance as we don't expect from the meanest of our Servants And in the mean while his Estate in the Country is left to the honesty of Servants in which as he cannot fail to be a loser so must he also in the interest and affection of his Neighbours Whereas he that lives at his own house has daily opportunities of doing good and is still gaining upon the good will and esteem of his Countrey so that when any of them see him they do not fail to pay him respect and at the same time wish him well from their heart Though this is not intended as a discourse upon the Politicks but as some directions in your passage through this World yet I conceive it not improper to say something of Government in general and therein of a King since the want of a right notion herein has been the occasion that many a one of honest intentions has gone out of the World with the character of an ill Man Government then in general is necessary as well because
dependance by the hand he 'll quickly find himself alone with them For all Men of worth and honour will of their own accord be as forward to quit their Imployments as he is willing to put them out because the tenderness that they have for their reputations will not allow them to mingle with worser men than themselves and the rather because it would give countenance to the irregular and disobliging Methods which may be advised to by the other sort of men And for this they will not be the worse thought on by their Country but like Gold ten times purified they return home with all the advantage that can be and those who honoured them before will then fall down and worship them no Man ever has lost the esteem he had got with the People for being turn'd out at Court it being a great mistake that any Man will be lessen'd in the Opinion of the Nation by being turn'd out of his Imployment either because he gave bold Advice or would not comply against his Judgment or else by quitting of his place rather than by staying to give a countenance to other Mens proceedings for in such Cases the King suffers more in the good Opinion of the People than the Person whom he dismiss'd from his Service and in what a miserable condition is that King who has lost the hearts of his People for nothing on Earth can repair it or be an equivalent and how shall he recover their affections when honest Men are fled from him and none are left near him but such as whose interest it is to keep him at a distance from his People And though he may return to a right mind and pretend and promise never so fair yet the Nation and every honest and wise Man will be Jealous that every advance he makes is only a Masque or Disguise that he puts on and not that his heart is right in the matter Now when ill Men are imploy'd and advanced as well as others The pretence is either because of their great abilities or usefulness or else that in point of Policy it is convenient to make use of all men without distinction for this indulgence will allay heats and put an end to differences and unite all into the same interest whereas if any are left out they are thereby cut off from the Common Interest and only those sort of Men can be depended on who are thus favoured and imploy'd This will not bear so much weight as at first sight it seems to carry Ability or fitness is the first step to preferment and that is a happy Government that considers it in Persons before they are imploy'd but let Men be never so able yet if they are defective in integrity the unum necessarium is wanting for a Man of Ability without Honesty is like a Ship without ballast he cannot move steddily every little wind of advantage carries him to and fro backwards and forwards and he never sticks at any point longer than he can serve himself by it If there can ever be a necessity of making use of an ill Man it must be because his knowledge transcends the rest of Mankind or else because another wise Man cannot be found but England was never yet so barren of able men that there was a necessity of imploying Knaves or Men obnoxious when ever the Nation falls under such Circumstances it is then visited with a sore Judgment To make use of Knaves is ever a remedy worse than the Disease seldom any good but frequently a great deal of mischief ensues upon it and the Ability of any Person if he be a Knave is rather an Argument to avoid than imploy him because by how much the more able he is by so much is he capable of doing the greater mischief To allay heats and animosities to put an end to future differences and to unite all Parties is an excellent design and a great happyness if it could be effected But withall care is to be taken that whilest one storm is laying a greater is not thereby raised and whilest in the conjuring down of one Devil it does not raise two and in the making up of Divisions worser are created thereby and by gaining one Enemy Twenty Friends are lost and nothing seems to lead so directly to it as equally and without distinction to imploy men of all sorts and Opinions and there is another Method that will give less cause of discontent to any Party For it will be agreed That to pardon a Criminal is as great an act of goodness as to reward the good Service of another Person If all have equal Right and speedy Justice impartially be done to every Man this must be confessed to be a Righteous Government and if it be not too extream to mark what is done amiss nor too strickt to measure every Offender a Peck out of his own Sack nor too rigidly to judge every Man according to his own Law this must be allow'd to be a merciful Government and if at the same time the King bestows his favours and imployments only on such as best deserve them where is the injustice or partiality of this proceeding or who can justly take offence at any part of it And therefore when a King does equally and without distinction bestow his Favours and Imployments on all Interests and Parties there ought to be three things in the case First That all Parties are equal Secondly That he cannot depend upon one more than another Thirdly That his Obligations to all Parties are equal Every one of which is very strange when it is so but much more wonderful will it be when they all happen together For as to the first It is not easie to imagine that all Parties will ever be so equal so as that no one will be bigger than any of the rest no more than it can be supposed that all Men will ever have an equal measure of understanding uninterrupted experience proves that it never was so and there is nothing to induce us to believe that it ever will be so For so long as there are either Fools or Knaves there will be difference in the size and strength of Parties and there will be Fools and Knaves till Christs Kingdom comes â—â—s to the second it may be said That it will be a very extraordinary juncture whenever it happens that the King cannot depend upon one Party more than upon another since the reason of it will be this because the Principles of every party will be equally dangerous or advantagious to the King or equally different or agreeable to his this is a remote supposition and cannot be expected on this side the Grave and therefore it will follow that he cannot have a like confidence of all Parties but must depend upon some more than upon others and this dependance will naturally fix it self either on them whose Principle it is to support the common good or else on such as are more disposed to comply with
dangerous time to put the Laws in Execution against the Papists because there are Examples where Magistrates some have been murdered others attempted to be assassinated for putting the Laws in Execution against the Papists and because we appear'd to be zealous in it therefore this care is taken off us I suppose that might be the chief reason why I was put out because I have help't to convict above Five Thousand Papists in Lancashire And furthermore it was necessary to know how we stand in the thoughts of our Country-men whether they have a good opinion of us now we are turn'd out of Office because it look't like a design'd disgrace For my part it has gain'd me ground and I believe every Gentleman else finds his Countreymen not to esteem the worse of him I rather think better therefore seeing our Countreys believe us to be honest Men there 's no great question but we shall be in great esteem at Whitehall now they have had this Tryal of us For White-hall is very apt to incline to the opinion of the Country And that Cart is not well upon the Wheels when it is otherwise Therefore for my part I am very thankful that I am put out I 'le assure you I find my Purse the fuller for it and I find my Countrey to pay me altogether as much respect if not more than formerly There is but one thing that I grudged to part with and that was the Office of Custos Rotulorum which had been in my Family for several Generations and for that I hop'd a particular reason might have been assign'd why they took it from me but from that day to this I cannot learn what was the cause It 's gone and farewel it And that 's all the loss I had by being put out of the Commission of the Peace I have done with our selves and now give me leave to speak a little concerning other Gentlemen who are put out and no reason given for it When any Gentleman is made a Justice of Peace it is out of respect to him and for the good of the Country because he is supposed to be honest and able and without dispute no Man ought to be put out but either that he is unfaithful unwilling to do his part or else he does not understand it And it 's a great injustice to any Gentleman to put him out without hearing him for to judge a Man unheard is not allowed by the Law And what is it but to judge a Mans Reputation a thing most dear to every honest Man For in any Age but this it would be a great reflection upon a Gentleman to be turn'd out of the Commission of the Peace But God be thank't the Nation sees very plainly who and what sort of Persons rule the Rost By all the inquiry I can make I do not find that any Man is put out but such as were very active against the Papists such as are against Arbitrary Power and such as approved of the Bill against the Duke I wish they would give the reason why one Gentleman was put out in my County for besides my self there are but two put out the one was newly put in and had not acted the other is an Ancient Justice of Peace and a Man that cannot be reprehended in relation to the discharge of his trust without reflection or diminution to any Man I think he knows the work of a Justice of Peace as well as any Man in England I except no Man And for his Integrity he may set all Men at defiance to accuse him of the least partiality in the discharge of his trust And I do know that no Man made it more his business than he did that he might ease and serve the Country For as his Ability was not Inferiour to that of any other Man so did he most duly put the Laws in execution especially those against the Papists And therefore Sir on the behalf of my Country I must complain and demand to know the reason why he was put out we are greatly hurt we are deprived of a great assistance and relief and we cannot be quiet till we are satisfied in that particular And my Lord Chancellor or the Privy Council whichsoever of them it is that put him out will they not tell us why Are they asham'd to own the cause What will it not bear water I hate this as I do Arbitrary Power and Popery Brave World that we must be debarrâ—d of the benefit of our Laws for if they are not executed they signifie nothing It is that which gives Life to our Laws And they that do execute them are put out of Office this is a fair step to Arbitrary Power to deprive us of the benefit of the Law It is the same thing not to have Laws as to have Laws and not executed I say no more least I may seem to speak in my own case for I do not desire to have any thing done as to my own particular but as to the Gentleman whose Character I have given you and his Name I will acquaint you with it is Sir Thomas Manwaring you must give me leave to be importunate and press it again and again that he may be again put into the Commission of the Peace A SPEECH For Banishing the PAPISTS I Would be as backward to commit oppression as I will be to do any thing that God has forbidden me For in all our Actions betwixt Man and Man both Publick and Private if we observe that Golden Rule to do as we would be done by we cannot err And if my Conscience should tell me that I transgress'd that Law when I give my Vote to banish the Papists I'll assure you I would not violate either that Rule or my Conscience I would now be silent and give my Vote the other way But that Rule does not so strictly tye us up as that we must forget our selves our Posterity our Laws or our Religion it does not oblige any Man to hurt himself to save another neither does it require that a whole Kingdom shall be lost to save particular Men For Charity begins at home but when the Papists are considered in their Principles and Practices then let any Man deny if he can that the Papists themselves are not the cause of whatever happens to them I will mention but one or two of their Principles because I doubt not but every Gentleman here is very well informed of them The first that I will speak to is this That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks And this Liberty extends to every thing both as to Religion and Worldly Affairs It 's the same thing to them whether they speak Truth or no when they have to do with a Heretick as they esteem every Man that is not of their Faith so that you cannot tell when to believe them nay though they swear it for to Equivocate is a great part of their Religion The next is this That it is