before him but by his Copartner Licinius in War and the Christians if they had been all of one piece were not sufficient to support the Empire against the far more numerous Gentiles and Jews Add hereto that in the Rage of the late Persecution under Dioclesian Maximinian Maximin and Maxentius the Christians were so sore persecuted that excepting their Faith and Piety for Christianity they were unfit for any Civil or Military Imployment but so far were the Christians from being of one Piece that they were rent into the Sects and Factions of Marcionists Montanists Novatians Donatists and Sabellians and in the 10th Year of Constantine Arius broacht his blasphemous Opinion of our Saviour's not being God from all Eternity being the Year of Christ 316. We do not read that the Romans before the Empire became Christian ever made War upon any Nation upon the Account of Religion and though there were many Sects among them of different Opinions concerning their Gods and their Attributes and of God's Prescience Fate and the Liberty and Necessity of Human Actions yet the different Sects never went farther than Brawls and endless Contentions with one another they never upon that Account made any Schism or Separation from the publick Worship and Service of their Gods prescribed by the Laws of the Empire And as among the Gentiles so among the Jews tho the Opinions of the Pharisees Sadduces and Esseans were as wild and extravagant as those of the Heathens yet these were never esteemed by them to be Acts of Jewish Religion nor upon that Account did they dispense or separate themselves from the publick Worship and Service of God prescribed by Law Whereas the different Sects of the Christians not only baptized their fond and wicked Opinions many of which were the same with those of the Gentiles by the Name of Religion but took occasion from thence to separate and disjoin themselves from the Communion or publick Worship and Service of God prescribed by publick Authority So as Constantine had a very difficult Task to govern the Empire in this distracted State not only of the Gentiles but of the Christians But since Religion is the highest Act of Piety Devotion and Gratitude which Man can return to God for his having preferred Man in his Creation and Generation above all other Creatures in giving him not only Dominion over them but much more by enduing Man with an intellectual and reasonable Soul capable of eternal Happiness and since Religion is not only mistaken in the Name and Exercise but made at this time as much a Stalking-horse to cover Mens Pride and fantastical Opinions as it was in Constantine's time and since to the Scandal of Christianity I hope the Reader will not lose his Time in understanding the difference between Christian Faith and Christian Religion and herein what is to be ascribed to God and what is the Duty of Man Christian Faith is a firm Belief and Reliance upon God's Promise revealed in the Old and New Testament to the end that Man by his Faith and Obedience to the Precepts which God requires of him herein may be made capable of Eternal Happiness from which he was faln by the Disobedience of our first Parents so as Christian Faith is the Effect of God's meer Grace and Favour to Man wherein Man is only passive in believing in God thus revealing himself and submitting to the Precepts which God requires in the Scriptures Christian Faith does not absolve Man from any of the Moral Duties which God requires of him by the Law of Nature but more strictly obliges Man to them not only in his Speech and Actions but forbids all Immoral Thoughts and Intentions so that Christian Faith is so far from being incompatiable with humane Peace and Society in this World that Man is more obliged hereto by it than by the Law of Nature Christian Religion is a conjoining of two or more in honouring and praising God for the publick Blessings they enjoy by God's Favour both as being by his Grace and Goodness received into the Communion of Christ's Congregation as also being protected in their Lives and Fortunes in their several Societies and Governments So that Christian Religion is the Act of the Will of Man in conformity to Christian Faith and Christian Faith and Religion differ as Man's Understanding and Reason God made Man without any Act of Man's Will an intellectual Creature to inform all his future Intentions Speech and Actions and it is the Will of Man to intend speak and act reasonably or conformable to his Understanding So that tho Christian Faith be the same in all Countries and Places yet Christian Religion must necessarily be different in different Countries and Places as God in his Providence is pleased to govern the World in them Thus the Children of Israel were obliged to join together in celebrating God's Honour and Praises for his Deliverance of them out of their Egyptian Bondage and for his immediate Government of them and prescribing them Laws for the Support of this Government and for God's revealing himself to them in the Old Testament which other Nations to whom God had not thus revealed himself and thus governed could not do So all Christian Countries and Kingdoms are as well obliged to join together in honouring and praising God for the publick Benefits they receive in being protected in every Government in their Lives and Fortunes in this World as well as in being received by God's special Grace and Favour into the Communion of Christ's Congregation But God's Providence in governing the World being after different manners in divers Places so must the Religion or the manner of celebrating God's Praises be differing in them In England we are obliged to honour and praise God that we enjoy God's Blessings by Laws peculiar to this Nation and by being delivered from the Popish Conspiracy in 1605 c. but other Nations which do not partake with us herein cannot join herein with us nor we with them Religion or the conjoining of Men in honouring and praising God for the publick Benefits they equally receive from God is the highest Duty incumbent upon Man for tho God by a peculiar Providence foresees and provides for all Men in several manners it may be not for two alike in all the World and also for these in daily Varieties yet Men are secured in these particular Blessings by the publick Laws and Governments of the different Places wherein they inhabit Christian Religion being a conjoining of many in celebrating God's Praises and in Prayers for God's continuing his Mercies and Blessings these Praises and Prayers are supposed to be uniform and foreknown that all who meet may join with one Voice and Mind in them and therefore S. Paul 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 3 4 5. exhorts Timothy that first of all as for the highest Duty of Christians Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all Men especially for Kings and all in Authority under
them tho at this time not only the Roman Emperours but all Kings and those in Authority were Heathen and Idolaters that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the Sight of God our Saviour who will have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledg of the Truth for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus If therefore by Divine Precept or Command from God Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgiving be to be made for Heathen Kings and Magistrates much more are Christians obliged to make all these for Christian Kings and Magistrates All Kingdoms consist in the mutual Office of Commanding and Obeying so that it is as well the Duty of Kings and those who are in Authority to command as it is of the Subjects to obey and no Obedience can be where there is no Command to which it is due for where there is no Law there is no Transgression or Omission Tho these Offices be distinct in their Relations to the Governors and Governed yet the Rules of these Offices are the same and common to both so as that they ought to be foreknown as well to those in Authority to command as those who are subject to them these Rules are the Laws and Constitutions of every Kingdom and Country which unite them into one Incorporeal or Intelligible Body and under these is Mankind in different Places in divers manners maintained in Society and Concord The Offices of Commanding and Obeying are not only restrained to Moral Speech and Actions but extend to Religious for the Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom as well in all publick as private Actions So that all Civil Nations to whom God had not revealed himself however they misplaced their Deities in Osyris Isis Jupiter c. worshipped their Gods in publick manner and had those Rites and Ceremonies which were performed by separate Persons ordained thereto As God governs the World and all Creatures in it so does he govern the Kingdoms in the World and has-set fatal Periods to them as well as to the Life of Man and all other Creatures yet as he has not in vain given Laws to Man to govern his Intentions Speech and Actions by and made him to subsist in the Labour of his Body and Cares of his Mind or both so has he not in vain commanded all Kingdoms and Nations to honour and serve him and to live justly and peaceably with one another and under these only can Kingdoms and Nations hope for Peace and God's Blessing upon them So that it is not the extent of the Territories of Kingdoms and Nations which is the Strength of them but the number of People in them nor is it their well-peopling only but their Unity in Religion and Civil Government for by these small Dominions increase upon others which are in Distraction and Dissension and where Kingdoms or Nations become distracted or divided either in Religion or Civil Government they become how great soever they be so much more enfeebled and tending to outward and intestine Dissolution as these shall be more These Discords in Religion and Justice have their Beginnings oft-times from Kings and those in Authority and often from the Subjects It was Solomon's Wives 1 Kings 11. that turn'd away his Heart from the Religion which God commanded which was the Cause ver 11. that God rent his Kingdom of Israel from him and gave it to his Servant Jeroboam and it was Jeroboam's Idolatry which distracted the Israelites into Factions which in time brought the Babylonish Captivity upon them from which they never returned And as Discords in Religion often arise from Kings and those in Authority which enfeeble the Strength of Kingdoms and Nations so does the Oppression and Injustice of Kings and Magistrates when they are not God's Ministers for their Subjects good make Kings Instruments of their vile Ends to the damage of their Subjects Thus Rehoboam to humour his Favourites bred up with him preferred them before his Subjects and threatned to oppress them more than his Father did whereby he lost the Dominion of ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel not only from himself but from his Father's House for ever and became so poor and feeble that the King of Egypt took Jerusalem and made Spoil of all the wonderful Riches which his Father had left him It was Ahab's Covetousness and Injustice in the Murder of Naboth and seizing his Vineyard that God not only disinherited his Posterity but rooted them out from the Face of the Earth 1 Kings 21. 21. And as this Discord in Religion and Justice may begin with the King and those in Authority so it may from those subject to them It was the People contrary to God's immediate Command forsook the Religion and Worship which was commanded them and set up the Molten Calf to be adored and worshipped Exod. 32. and it was the People which twice conspired to depose Moses from ruling over them Numbers 16. which brought so great a Destruction upon them I do not question but it was the intolerable Tyranny and Oppression of Dioclesian Maximinian Maximin and Maxentius as well as their horrible Persecution of the Christians so livelily described by Lactantius which gave so great a Reputation to the Christians and made Constantine's Passage to the Roman Empire more desirable not only by the Christians but even by the Gentiles Nor was the Roman Empire at any time of a greater extent unless under Trajan than when Constantine became sole Emperor Whereas this Roman Empire in the Body of it was never in so distracted and feeble a State for tho Constantine in regard of the Excellency of his natural Disposition was universally acknowledged Emperor yet above all things endeavouring the Propagation of Christian Faith and Religion and by his own Authority without the Concurrence of the Senate he granted an universal Toleration of Religion to all Sects of Christians as well as Jews and Gentiles and not only discharged the Christian Clergy which by the Constitutions of the Empire when they were not otherwise persecuted were subject to give their Attendance upon defraying the Lustral Sacrifices and watch and ward for Security of the Pagan Temples but made the Christians capable of receiving Legacies and of all publick Imployments so as the Christians were not only in an equal but better Estate than the Gentiles and upon all occasions had the Preference of Constantine's Favour But however this displeased the Gentiles it did not content all sorts of Christian Hereticks and Schismaticks who were so obstinate in their Opinions that all the Endeavours Constantine could use would not reconcile them For besides the Nicene Council he called four more viz. at Gaul Ancyra Neo Caesarea and Laodicea But when the Hereticks and Schismaticks would not submit to these Constantine restrained them from the Privileges he before granted them and left them in the same
Before a Year goes about you shall see Buckingham set the King at odds with the Parliament and yet engage him in a War against Spain and before another goes about engage the King in another against France to satiate his Spight and Revenge against Richlieu for crossing him in his Lust and after 13 Years Laud shall be the Fire-brand to set all the three Nations in the Flame of a Civil War as King James had foretold But it 's time to come to Particulars The first Enterprise which the Duke engaged the King in was not for the Recovery of the Palatinate as he pretended when he would have engaged King James in a War against the King of Spain but to express his Hatred against Olivares and therefore a Fleet must be rigged up to make War in Spain even when King James's Corps lay unburied and at so unseasonable a time when the Charges of King James's Funeral were so fast approaching and when the Charges of the King's Ambassadors the Earls of Carlisle and Holland ran so high at Paris to outvy the French Splendor for solemnizing the Marriage between the King and the Queen and these so much more augmented by the Duke's Preparations to fetch the Queen over which when the Duke shall come to Paris must outshine not only the Bravery of the English Ambassadors but all that Cardinal Richlieu could do From the Unseasonableness of this Expedition let 's see by what Counsels Buckingham managed this designed Expedition and herein take Light from a Letter which my Lord Cromwel wrote to the Duke and which you may read in Rushworth's Collections fol. 199. after the Fleet had lain so long that the Season of the Year was past and most dangerous for Ships to put to Sea The Letter is Verbatim THey offer to lay Wagers the Fleet goes not this Year and that of necessity shortly a Parliament must be which when it comes sure it will much discontent you It 's wonder'd at that since the King did give such great Gifts to the Dutchess of Chevereux and those that went how now a small Sum in the Parliament should be called for at such a time and let the Parliament sit when it will begin they will where they ended They say the Lords of the Council knew nothing of Mansfield's Journey or this Fleet which discontents even the best sort if not all They say it is a very great Burden your Grace takes upon you since none know any thing but you It 's conceived that not letting others bear part of the Burden you now bear it may ruin you which Heavens forbid Much Discourse there is of your Lordship here and there as I passed home and back and nothing is more wonder'd at than that one grave Man is not known to have your ear except my Good and Noble Lord Conway All Men say if you go not with the Fleet you will suffer in it because if it prosper it will be thought no Act of yours and if it succeed ill it might have been better if you had not guided the King They say your Vndertakings in this Kingdom will much prejudice your Grace and if God bless you not with Goodness to accept kindly what in Duty and Love I offer questionless my Freedom of letting you know the Discourse of the World may prejudice me But if I must lose your Favour I had rather lose it for striving to do you good in letting you know the Talk of the wicked World than for any thing else so much I heartily desire your Prosperity and to see you trample the ignorant Multitude under foot All I have said is the Discourse of this World and when I am able to judg of Actions I will freely tell your Lordship my Mind which when it shall not always incline to serve you may all my noble Thoughts forsake me The Success of this Expedition you will hear soon Thus was the King of Spain required for all the noble Favours he had shewn the King when he was in Spain This was the Return of Buckingham's Protestation to the King of Spain when they parted at the Escurial That he would be an everlasting Servant to the King of Spain the Queen and the Infanta and would do the best Offices he could for concluding the Business the Match between the Prince and Infanta and strengthen the Amity between the two Kingdoms to have War made upon him without any Declaration of it by King Charles so soon as it came in his Power to do it After Buckingham became Lord Admiral the English Navy lay at Road unarmed and fit for Ruin as you may see in Rushworth fol. 3. This was before the Treaty of the Spanish Match and after the breaking of the Spanish Match the Duke not only neglected the guarding of the Seas whereby the Trade of the Nation not only decayed but the Seas became ignominiously infested by Pyrates and Enemies to the Loss of very many of the Merchants and Subjects of England as you may read in the Fourth Article of the Charge of the Commons against him in Rushworth fol. 312. Objection But this was but an Accusation and therefore it does not amount to a Proof It ought not to be presumed the Commons would have charged this upon him without Proof and I say it is strong Proof upon the Duke since the King dissolved the Parliament rather than the Duke should come to a Trial upon it However the Navy lay thus neglected and Seas unguarded and tho the French had broken the Treaty of Marriage with France by not suffering Mansfield to land his Army at Calais yet the supplying the French with a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers must be performed And to this end even whilst King James lay unburied great Consultation between the Duke and the Marquiss of Efsiat was had how this might be done The King had no Men of War ready but the Vaunt-Guard and the French Necessities were urgent for all this while Sobiez rode triumphant at Sea the French not being able to encounter him and thereby Rochel upon all Occasions was relieved by Sea However the French must be gratified or this hopeful Marriage with France might be disturbed The Duke therefore by his Power of Lord Admiral besides the Vaunt-Guard pressed 7 Ships of the Merchants of England into the King's Service viz. The Great Neptune whereof Sir Ferdinando Gorge was Captain the Industry of 450 Tuns whereof James Moyer was Captain the Pearl of 540 Tuns whereof Anthony Tench was Captain the Marigold of 300 Tuns whereof Thomas Davis was Captain the Loyalty of 300 Tuns Jasper Dare Captain the Peter and John of 300 Tuns John Davis Captain and 7thly the Gift of God Henry Lewen Captain The Duke tho the Navy were unprovided with Stores and Ammunition could find Stores and Ammunition sufficient for furnishing this Fleet and upon the 8th of May caused a Warrant under the Great Seal to be issued to call the Companies aboard which had been raised
may be drawn into the Body of a Remonstrance and therein humbly exprest with a Prayer to his Majesty for the Safety of himself and for the Safety of the Kingdom and for the Safety of Religion that he would be pleased to give the House time to make perfect Inquisitions thereof or to take it into his own Wisdom and there give them such timely Reformation as the necessity of the Cause and his Justice does import Sir Edward Coke seconded Sir John Elliot 's Motion and propounded that a humble Remonstrance be presented to the King touching the Dangers and Means of the Safety of the King and Kingdom which was agreed to by the House and thereupon the House turned themselves into a grand Committee and the Committee for the Bill of Subsidies was ordered to expedite the said Remonstrance But this King rather than hear of what he had done did not care what he did and therefore the Speaker brought a Message from the King That his Majesty having upon the Petition exhibited by both Houses given an Answer so full of Justice and Grace for which we and our Posterity have just cause to bless his Majesty it is now time to draw to a Conclusion of the Session and therefore his Majesty thinks fit to let them know That he does resolve to abide by that Answer without further Change or Alteration and so he will Royally and Really perform unto them what he had thereby promised And further That he resolves to end this Session upon Wednesday the 11th of this Month and that this House should seriously attend those Businesses which may bring the Session to a happy Conclusion without entertaining new Matters and so to husband the time that his Majesty may with more Comfort bring them speedily together again at which time if there be any further Grievances not contained or expressed in the Petition they may be more maturely considered than the time will now permit But this did not disturb the Commons but they proceeded in their Declaration against Dr Manwaring and the same day presented it to the Lords at a Conference which was managed by Mr. Pym. The Commons impeached the Doctor upon these three Points in his Sermons of Allegiance and Religion 1. That he affirmed that the King is not bound to keep and observe the good Laws and Customs of this Realm concerning the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and that his Royal Will and Command in imposing Loans Taxes and other Aids upon his People without common Consent in Parliament does so far bind the Consciences of the Subjects of this Kingdom that they cannot refuse the same without peril of Eternal Damnation 2. That those of his Majesty's Subjects that refused the Loan did therein offend against the Law of God and against his Majesty's Supream Authority and by so doing became guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion and Disobedience and liable to many other Taxes and Censures which he in the several Parts of his Book does most falsly and maliciously lay upon them 3. That the Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies that the slow Proceedings of such Assemblies are not fit to supply the urgent Necessities of State but rather apt to produce sundry Impediments to the just Design of Princes and to give them occasion of Displeasure and Discontent Whereupon the Commons demanded Judgment against the Doctor not accounting his Submission with Tears and Grief a Satisfaction for the Offence charged upon him and the Lords gave this Sentence 1. That he should be imprisoned during the Pleasure of the House 2. That he should be fined 1000 l. to the King 3. That he should make such Submission and Acknowledgment of his Offences as shall be set down by a Committee in Writing both at this Bar and the House of Commons 4. That he shall be suspended for the Term of three Years from the Exercise of the Ministry and in the mean time a sufficient preaching Minister shall be provided to serve the Cure out of his Livings this Suspension and Provision to be done by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 5. That he shall be disabled hereafter to have any Ecclesiastical Dignity or Secular Office 6. That he shall be disabled hereafter ever to preach at Court 7. That his Book is worthy to be burnt and that for the better effecting of this his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be burnt accordingly in London both the Vniversities and for the inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great Penalty This Censure immediately succeeding Sir Elliot's Representation of Grievances startled Laud as much as Sir John's Representation did the Duke of Buckingham and the King that he might not hear of any more Business of this kind upon the 5th of June commanded the Speaker to let the House know that he will certainly hold to the day fixed for ending the Session viz. the 11th and therefore requires them that they enter not into nor proceed in any new Business which may spend greater time or which may lay any Scandal or Aspersion upon the State-Government or the Ministers thereof This put the House into a fearful Consternation whereupon the House declared That every Member of the House is free from any undutiful Speech from the beginning of the Parliament to that day and ordered the House to be turned into a Committee to consider what was to be done for the Safety of the Kingdom and that no Man go out of the House upon pain of being committed to the Tower But before the Speaker left the Chair he desired leave to go forth which the House granted Then Sir Edward Coke spake freely We have dealt with that Duty and Moderation that never was the like Rebus sic stantibus after such a Violation upon the Liberties of the Subjects let us take this to Heart In 30 Edw. 3. were they then in any doubt to name Men that mislead the King They accused John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevilâ—or â—or misadvising the King and they went to the Tower for it now when there is such a downfal of the State shall we hold our Tongues How shall we answer our Duty to God and Men 7 Hen. 4. Parl. Rot. 31 32. 11 Hen. 4. Numb 13. there the Council are complained of and removed from the King they mewed up the King and disswaded him from the common Good and why are we turned from that way we were in Why may not we name those that are the Cause of all our Evils In the 4 H. 3. 21 E. 3. 13 R. 2. the Parliament moderated the King's Prerogative and nothing grows to Abuse but this House hath Power to treat thereof What shall we do Let us palliate no longer if we do God will not prosper us I think the Duke of Bucks is the Cause of all our Miseries and till the King be informed thereof we shall neither go out with
writing and out of these and Leo ab Aitzma a most faithful Collector of the Treaties of Peace and War and Commerce between the Princes and States of his time and sometimes before Dr. Stubbe hath I believe faithfully set out this Treaty of Peace between the English and Dutch and therefore tho but in Epitâ—me I shall take him for my Guide herein The Rump did not refuse to treat of a Peace upon just and honourable Terms but not in Holland or any Neutral Place nor would they condescend to any Treaty before Holland made the first Overtures in Writing Whereupon the States of Holland upon the 18th of March by their Secretary Herbert Van Beaumont sent the Rump a canting and equivocal Letter wherein I cannot find one Categorical Proposition and wherein the sacred Name of God is more rent and torn than I can find in any of our Enthusiasts of their Zeal for the Reformed Religion much endanger'd by this War and the Joys the Enemies of it conceived thereby and of their Desire of preventing the further Effusion of Christian Blood and carried on by a pious Zeal and in no wise constrained by any other Consideration That Consideration may be had what may be done for the Honour and Glory of God and the good of each State whereupon without doubt the good God for his Name sake and by the Inspiration of proper and fit Expedients will give his Blessing c. Which Letter you may read at large in Stubbe's Vindication p. 78 79. and in Leo ab Aitzma p. 816 817. The Rump having got this Letter and to make a further Distraction in the States General sent an Answer the first of April 1653 to the States of Holland and a Letter to the States General that to the States of Holland was That the Inconveniences to Religion in general and to the Trade and Liberties of each Nation were such as any man might have foreseen and that none could be ignorant how requisite it was for both Nations to preserve a good Correspondence and Amity together that the English had not omitted any thing on their parts but the Dutch had assaulted them in the midst of a Treaty for a strict Vnion and their Ambassadors had used such Tergiversation as made them justly imagine that their sense of things was different from what they now professed That the good Endeavours of the Parliament were answered with unusual Preparations Acts of Hostility and other extraordinary Proceedings thereupon That they had this Comfort and Satisfaction in their own Minds amidst the Troubles and Calamities of War that they had with all Sincerity done what lay in their Power to obviate all the Evils specified That they did look upon the Overtures of Holland if approved by the States General to be an effectual means for composing this unwelcom War however the Parliament having discharged their Duty would with Patience acquiesce in the Issue of Providence whereof they had so gracious Experience That to the States General was That there could be no doubt of the sincere Affection and good Will which the English did bear to the United Provinces so that it might be well imagined that they were really inclined by just and honourable means to extinguish the Fire of War stop the Effussion of Christian Blood and restore Amity between the two Nations That as they had not been wanting in the Beginning to prevent the ensuing Calamities so they were not altered with Successes from their former good Intentions That they were ready upon the Grounds expressed in the Letter from the Provincial States of Holland and Friezland friendly to compose Differences c. This Letter had the desired Effect of the Rump for the rest of the Provinces complained that Holland had broke the Union which that State would have salved by a manifest Lie in denying they ever wrote such a Letter However the rest of the Provinces fearing the Calamity would be common to them all if the War continued did consent to a Treaty of Peace with the Rump However the Rump in their Letter to the States refused to give them any other Title than the States General notwithstanding the Title of High and Mighty obtained at the Treaty of Munster not five Years before nor did they assume this Title when they returned their Answer to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England To these Letters the States General returned this Answer to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England That they always endeavoured with a good and sincere Intention not only to keep but to augment more and more all manner of Friendship and Correspondence with the said Parliament and would now do any thing that might contribute to so pious and Christian an Vnion desiring a Neutral Place and Plenipotentiaries might be appointed forthwith on both sides But before this Answer was returned a new face of things happen'd in England for Oliver had turn'd out the Rump and set up for himself How this came about and what Steps Cromwel took to do this is now fit to be enquired into Herein I take the Confidence to say that as the Covenanters subduing the Royalists was the Cause of the Ruin of the Covenanting Parliament so was Cromwel's Victory over the King at Worcester the Ruin of the Rump for Cromwel after that Fight having nothing to do set his whole Thoughts how he might tho not under the Title of King usurp the Dominion of these Kingdoms already subdued by the Rump and the Rump improvidently enabled him to do it when upon the 16th of June 1650 they constituted Cromwel Captain-General and Commander in chief within Ireland as well as England which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs pag. 511. a. You have heard how Cromwel felt the Pulse of the Lawyers and Soldiers for the Establishment of the Nation and how the Lawyers were of Opinion that no Settlement could be made without some mixture of Monarchy and that it was â—it that the Duke of Glocester should be intrusted with something of a mixt Monarchy and that Cromwel's Opinion was really that a Settlement with somewhat of a mixt Monarchy would be very effectual but this somewhat of a Settlement of mixt Monarchy he reserved for himself but herein he found three Rubs and Rump the Duke of Glocester and Monk in Scotland who I verily believe had a great Awe upon Cromwel whereupon to remove these two latter in February 1652 he got the Duke of Glocester to be sent beyond Sea and about the same time or a little before sent for Monk into England and found him pliable to Cromwel's Design of setting up himself but to cover this he made Monk one of the three Admirals at Sea with Blake and Dean tho Monk was wholly ignorant of Sea Affairs These two Rubs thus removed only the Rump stood in Oliver's way to set up himself but before he discover'd this openly he enter'd into a long Dialogue with Commissioner Whitlock which you may read at large in
the next Step was to satisfy the Nation the Earl murdered himself and to this Purpose the Coroner's Inquest must necessarily sit and give their Verdict but so the Business was ordered that before the Jury was impannelled the Earl's Body was taken out of the Closet where 't was pretended he murdered himself and stript of his Clothes which were carried away and the Closet washt and when one of the Jury insisted upon seeing my Lord's Clothes in which he died the Coroner was sent for into another Room and upon his Return told the Jury it was my Lord's Body not his Clothes they were to sit upon and when it was moved that the Jury should adjourn and give my Lord's Relations Notice Thaâ— if they had any thing to say on my Lord's Behalf it was answered The King had sent for the Inquisition and would not rise from the Council-Board till it was brought I do not find that when the like Practices were used and wheâ—â— the Coroner's Inquest found Sir Thomas Overbury died a Natural Death in the Tower that two Years after when Reves the Apothecary's Servant made the first Discovery of Sir Thomas his being poisoned that Reves was prosecuted for flying in the Face of the Government and questioning the Justice of the Nation as Mr. Speke and Mr. Braddon were for endeavouring to discover the Murder of my Lord of Essex I 'm sure their Inducement for the Proofs of it were manifoldly more than Reves's were of Sir Overbury's and I wish I understood what their Crimes were more than Reves's but that being for the King and Justice of the Nation they ought to have been encouraged if there had been no foul dealing in the Earl's Death After the Death of these Noble Persons the rest of the Game was plaid without scarce any Rub Colonel Sidney Bateman Walcot Hone and Rouse followed for Treason all and all of different Complexions and where Treason could have no Colour actually to take away the Lives of the Opponents of Popery and Arbitrary Power Misdemeanours are set on foot to take away their Means of living Fines from 10000 to 100000 l. for words against the Duke though by Magna Charta a Salvo Contenemento is reserved for Misdemeanors against the King Graham and Burton would find Juries for all and the Sheriffs would return them to do the Work But the Rage and Tyranny against the Opponents of Popery and Arbitrary Power was not more illegal than the Indulgence to the Lords impeached by Parliament for the King resolving to have no more Parliaments upon the present Constitution made Judges to take Bail for them to appear next Parliament Hereby as much invading the Rights and Jurisdiction of Parliament as the Judgments against Fitz-Harris Colledge my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney c. were illegal which though at Common Law they might have been Treason yet by the Statute of the 25th of Edward the Third the Judges in Westminster-Hall were prohibited to take Cognisance of them and by the Act of 13 Car. 2. c. 51. wherein the Prosecution ought to be within Six Months after the Fact and the Indictment within three Months after Though the City of London and many other Cities in England those their Sheriffs yet the Sheriffs of all the other Shires and Counties of England were named by the King so that the King 's next care was how to subvert the Constitution of Parliament and like Oliver Cromwel have a House of Commons of his own making For the House of Commons is compunded of five hundred and thirteen Members whereof but ninety two are Knights of Shires so that near 5 6 are Burgresses Citizens and Barons of the Cinque Ports The Generality of the Corporations which send these Members are poor decayed places and so not able as the City of London to contest their Charters or if they could they had little hope to keep them now London could not hold theirs Yet this would cost the Court a great deal of time to bring Quo Warranto's against above two hundred Corporations and now all Hands are set at work to prevail upon these poor Inhabitants and mighty Rewards are promised to those who should surrender them but because Money was scarce Bargains were made with Multitudes of them to have Grants of Fairs for surrender of their Charters and those which refused had Quo Warranto's brought against them To humour the Court and in perfect hope that in time the Mountains would bring forth a Multitude of Corporations or rather some loose vain Men who assumed the Names of the Corporations by heaps surrendred their Charters and at excessive Rates I cannot say renewed but took new ones whereby the King reserved to himself the Power of disposing of all Places of Profit and Power which at present was intrusted in their Hands who had betrayed their former Trust nor did these Men care for the expence of purchasing their new Charter tho it were to the starving the Poor of their Corporations who should have been fed with the Monies expended in the Purchase But a Multitude of lewd Fellows who in meaner Corporations were all as willing to betray their Charters as the Richer yet had not Money to purchase new ones and without it nothing could be had and never was King furnished with such a Lord Keeper for by this time North who had drawn the King's Declaration against petitioning for a Parliament and for which he was impeached in Parliament and had so highly merited in Colledge's Trial was made Lord Keeper and Attorney General for taking Money with both Hands though by their Oaths they ought to have to the best of their Skill informed the King of the Justice and Lawfulness of all those things which were to pass the Seals and this put some stop to the hurry of the surrender of Charters But in these Corporations there were some Members who made a Conscience of their Oaths and betraying their Trusts and according to the Obligation to both performed their Duties but these were prosecuted as Rioters and Tumultuous Persons and fined extravagantly even to their undoing and imprisoned till payment and bound to their good Behaviour These things were not carried on with that Security but some Umbrages of fear there were that some Disturbances might arise before they could be brought to Perfection to quell them if they should happen The Duke had secured Scotland and had 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse and a Year's Pay to be assisting upon all Occasions a greater liberty was given to the Irish than ever and to crown the Work Tangier is demolished and the Garison which was a Nursery of Popish Officers and Souldiers is brought over and placed in the most considerable Parts of England Whilst the King is framing this goodly Structure the French King against his Faith at the Treaty of Nimeguen by foul and base Treachery seizes upon Strasburg on the Rhine the most considerable City of Germany and by plain Force took Courtray and the City