being 12 a Clock at Night it could not then be reduced to Writing but he promised it should next Morning when the King gave them a Paper quite contrary whereupon the Treaty broke off See Whitlock's Memoirs f. 65. a. b. For in the next Treaty at Vxbridg which was in December 1644 the Parliament not only insisted that the King's Nephews Rupert and Maurice though Princes Foreign born and so no Subjects to the King of England but many of the principal Lords and Gentry who assisted the King in this War and who by the 11 Hen. 7. 18. were protected for assisting the King should be excepted out of Pardon by an Act of Indempnity which if they had had no Law to have protected them yet the King could not in Conscience have offered them up a Sacrifice for assisting him But another Difficulty arose in this Treaty which the Parliament would have imposed upon the King contrary to the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation viz. To extirpate Episcopacy and to impose the Scots Covenant and Directory upon the Nation though the Bishops were excluded their Sitting in the House of Lords by an Act in 1641 and none in Orders to exercise any Civil Office So that the Houses not content with what had been already granted but grasping at more they lost all for in the first Parliament Car. 2. they were restored to their Seats in Parliament again Objection But if Episcopacy were Jure Divino as the King was informed by his English Bishops and therefore the King could not in Conscience submit to the abolishing of it then it is Jure Divino in Scotland as well as England and if the King of his own Accord could go out of England to abolish it in Scotland Why should the King against the Advice of both Nations not do the same in England Answer He that shall answer for all the Actions of this Prince shall have a great Task Nor can I give any other Answer to it than that because a Man has done an ill Act it shall be a Precedent to him to do it again But if the King should have consented to abolish Episcopacy in England and set up Presbytery I do not see any Benefit the King could have reaped by it according to the Covenanters Practice and Principles For if the Scots after the King had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland and set up Presbytery there and that the Scots had thereupon promised all Obedience to the King in time to come and declared by Act of Parliament That it was detestable and damnable Treason in the highest Degree for any of the Scots Nation either conjunctly or singly to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any Pretence whatsoever without the King's Command could raise Arms unprovoked by the King and against his express Command and invade England why should the English Covenanters after the King should have abolished Episcopacy in England be more obliged to perform any Agreement they made with the King in England then the Scots Covenanters were in Scotland When the King desired the Scots Parliament upon the breaking out of the Irish Massacre and Rebellion to assist him against the Irish they refused because Ireland was not subject to Scotland and tho England be not subject to Scotland yet the Scots against the King's Command can assist by Arms the Parliament against him So that if the Covenant could entitle the Scots to be so false perfidious and treacherous to the King after he had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland Why should not this be a Precedent for the English Covenanters to be so in England after the King should abolish Episcopacy in it and establish Presbytery The Overtures for a Treaty at Oxford in November 1644 preceded that at Vxbridg whence upon the King's Desire it was adjourned and Passes reciprocally of safe Conduct were granted to Commissioners on both sides to meet the 29th of January wherein the Commissioners from Scotland were included The Scots Commissioners being included in this Treaty you need not doubt but their principal Care shall be to establish their Solemn League and Covenant and the Presbyterian Government as firm in England as in Scotland and to this end the three first days were set apart for Religion three other Days for the Militia and three other days for the Settlement of Ireland How humble soever the Scots were if you 'll take their Word yet the first Debate arose between the English and Scots Commissioners concerning Precedence which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs f. 122. a. b. But when the Business concerning Religion came to be debated nothing less than that Presbytery was Jure Divino would down with the Scots nor was Episcopacy less Jure Divino by the English Commissioners for Religion But both these Assertions are false and blasphemous for Jus Divinum is so inseparably inherent in God as cannot be communicated to any Creature and though God by Divine Law or Institution did impower Bishops and Priests with Episcopal and Priestly Power to perform their Offices designed by God for the planting and continuing the Gospel yet the Jus Divinum from whence these Institutions were derived remains the same in God as before As God by the Law of Nature gives Parents a Dominion over their Children and Husbands over their Wives yet the Divine Right which gives these Powers is the same as before and Parents and Husbands have no Divine Right hereby but a Temporal Right by Nature or the Law of Nature so Bishops and Priests have no Divine Right to exercise their Ghostly Powers but a Spiritual Right given them by God's Law or Institution supernaturally or extraordinarily given If Bishops and Priests had a Divine Right they might create Divine Laws which in Terminis I believe none of them will affirm However you may see how the Theologues as they call themselves impose by this Cant upon the World and what endless Discords Factions and Wars have been raised hereby no Man conversant in History can be ignorant of The Principal whereof was Dr. Steward and Mr. Henderson and Marshall for Presbytery but the Zeal on both Parts being so obstinate as well as contradictory would have taken up more than all their Time in these Broils if a Stop had not been put to them upon the Motion of the Marquess of Hartford on the King's Part and the Earl of Pembrook Mr. Hollis and other Commissioners on the Parliament's that they might proceed upon the other Points of the Militia and Ireland In both these there was as little Agreement as in that of Religion not any one Point being agreed to by the King's Commissioners so the Treaty ended and nothing concluded The other Treaties at New-Castle Hampton-Court and the Isle of Wight we have taken notice of before So that the King was as unsuccessful in his Treaties as in his Arms. The Catastrophe of this Tragedy resolves into the King himself for this Juncto after called the Rump-Parliament having thus purged the House
honoured and beloved was set upon by Col. John's elder Brother and routed the 29th of August where the Lord Widdrington Sir Thomas Tiddersly Col. Boynton Sir Francis Gamul Major Troâ—lop Sir William Throgmorton Col. Leg Col. Ratliff and Col. Gerard with some others were taken Prisoners but the Earl tho wounded escaped to the King at Worcester but it was his hard Fortune to be afterwards taken and tried by a Court Martial upon the 6th of October which consisted of 20 Officers and Captains five Colonels Maj. General Milton and Col. Mackworth President at Chester and upon the 22d was beheaded When Cromwel came into England he left Monk to command in Scotland who besieges and takes Sterlin-Castle by Surrender with all the Guns Ammunition and Arms Money Jewels and the Registers transferred from Edinburgh thither and quite defaced the lofty Inscription Nobis haec invicta dedere Centum sex Proavi About this time old General Lesley was raising an Army in Perth-shire Monk sends Morgan and Alured to prevent it who surprized them and take Lesley the Earls of Crawford and Lindsey the Lord Ogilby and many other Prisoners and after take Dunfrise At this time Monk besieges and takes Dundee by Storm with as terrible an Execution as Cromwel the Year before had done at Tredah Here it was and at Sterlin-Castle the Scots had lodged all their Plunder and Money they had got in England which was so plentiful that the English common Souldiers shared Money by Hatfuls The Terror of this Success frighted Aberdeen and all the other Towns in Scotland into Obedience nor did it stay here but all the Isles of Orcades and Shetland submitted which neither Roman nor English Force could ever accomplish Now the Kirk-Party are all in Yelling and Woes Heresy and Schism had overspread the beauteous Discipline of Reformation Now they cannot persecute other Men they exclaim and cry out they are persecuted themselves Their Nobles except Argile which are not killed are committed to Prison that they might share in the Tribulations as well as Triumphs of their Brethren in England But the Tribulations of the Covenanting Party did not end in Imprisonment only but extended to Life for upon the 22d of August Love and Gibbons two most zealous Covenanters were executed by a Judgment of a High Court of Justice as 't was called for holding Intelligence with their Brethren in Scotland so that this High-Justice or Summum Jus reached the Covenanters as well as the Royalists Now the Rump change the Fabrick of the Scotish Government and make Itinerant Judges part Scots part English and make a Council of State of that medly yet allow them 30 Commissioners to sit and vote in their Parliament at Westminster so that tho the Crown of Scotland were independent upon the Crown of England yet Scotland as well as Ireland and England must depend upon the Rump And that the Scots may be the more tamely ridden they are denied Arms and even Horses unless on necessary Occasions The Victory at Worcester swelled the Sails of Cromwel's Ambition brim full so that he began to entertain Thoughts of Setting up himself yet being a ticklish Point wherein he was sure to be opposed by the Factions as well as Royalists upon the 10th of December he called a Meeting of divers Members of the House and some of the Principal Officers of the Army and proposed to them That now the old King being dead and his Son defeated he held it necessary to come to a Settlement of the Nation and that he requested this Meeting that they might consider and advise what was fit to be done and to present it to the Parliament So much easier is it to destroy a Government than to erect another And now Cromwel and his Adherents had overturned the Government of Three Kingdoms they are to advise and consider how to erect another This was the good Fight which these Men fought to destroy and then knew not what to do However we 'll give the Account of these Mens Opinions verbatim as I find it in Whitlock's Memoirs f. 492. a. b. Lenthal My Lord who made him so This Company were very ready to attend your Excellency and the Business you were pleased to propound to us is very necessary to be considered God hath given marvellous Success to our Forces under your Command and if we do not improve these Mercies Blood Rapine and Murder to some Settlement such as may be to God's Honour and the Good of the Common-wealth we shall be very much blame-worthy Harrison I think that which my Lord General hath propounded as to a Settlement both of our Civil and Spiritual Liberties and so that the Mercies which the Lord hath given in to us may not be cast away how this may be done is the great Question Whitlock It is a great Question indeed and not suddenly to be resolved yet it were pity that a Meeting of so many able and worthy Persons as I see here should be fruitless and I would humbly offer in the first Place whether it be not requisite to be understood in what way this Settlement is desired whether by an Absolute Republick or with any Mixture of Monarchy Cromwel My Lord Commissioner Whitlock hath put us upon the right Point and indeed it is my meaning that we should consider whether a Republick or a mixt Monarchical Government will be best settled and if any thing Monarchical then in whom that Power shall be placed Sir Tho. Widdrington I think a mix'd Monarchical Government will be most sutable to the Laws and People of this Nation and if any Monarchical I suppose we shall hold it most just to place that Power in one of the Sons of the late King Fleetwood I think that Question whether an absolute Republick or a mix'd Monarchy be best to be settled in this Nation will not very easily be determined L. C. J. St. John It will be found that the Government of this Nation without something of Monarchical Power will be very difficult to be so settled as not to shake the Foundation of our Laws and the Liberties of the People Lenthal It will breed a strange Confusion to settle a Government of this Nation without something of Monarchy Desborough I beseech you my Lord why may not this as well as other Nations be governed by a Republick Whitlock The Laws of England are so interwoven with the Power and Practice of Monarchy that to settle a Government without something of Monarchy in it would breed so great an Alteration in the Proceedings of our Law that you will scarce find time to rectify nor can we well foresee the Inconveniencies which will arise thereby Whaley I do not understand Matters of Law but it seems to me the best way not to have any thing of Monarchical Power in the Settlement of our Government and if we should resolve upon any whom should we pitch upon The King 's eldest Son hath been in Arms against us and his second
which he confided in for Robinson a Captain of Dragoons having received his Pay and the Soldiers Back Breast and Pot ran away with his whole Troop to New-Castle and most of Twisleton's Regiment refused Monk's Service However Monk by Dr. Troutbeck received secret Assurance from my Lord Fairfax to be assisting to him Now with insincere Affections both sides agree to a Treaty of Accommodation to be at London and Monk named Wilks Knight and Cloberry his Commissioners these had publick Instructions from the General Council and private from the General to which the Committee of Safety named three whose Names I do not find to treat with them These agreed that a Committee of 19 should be appointed five for England not Members of the Army viz. Whitlock Vane Ludlow Salway and Berry five for Scotland viz. St. John Warreston Harrington Scot and Thompson the rest for England Scotland and Ireland to be Members of the Army they to determine the Qualifications of the Members of Parliament That two Field-Officers of every Regiment and one Commission-Officer of every Garison and 10 Officers of the Fleet shall meet at a General Council to advise touching the Form of Government Monk as astonished at this Agreement and contrary to his wonted Reservedness told the Messenger That if the Honesty of some certainly the Prudence of them all was to be suspected and committed Wilks to Prison for transgressing his Commission and 't was observed he never was so much out of Humour as upon his Commissioners assenting to this Agreement for by this Agreement the Committee would consist of threefold more for England and Ireland than for Scotland and the General Council fourfold more so that Monk and all the Scots Officers would be at their disposing Dr. Gumble pag. 152 153. says While Monk was in this melancholy Mood not speaking or permitting any to speak to him one of Monk ' s Acquaintance who was of a pleasant and free Conversation came where Monk was who asked this Gentleman What he had to say to this Agreement Truly Sir says he I am come to make a little Request to you What 's that I wonder says Monk Even that says he you will sign me a Pass to go for Holland yonder is a Ship at Leith that is ready to sail What says Monk will you leave me He answers I know not how you may shift for your self by your Greatness but be confident they will never be at rest till they have torn you from your Command and what they will do with you then it concerns you to consider but for my self tho I am a poor Man I will never put my self into their Power for I know it will not be for my Safety What replies Monk hastily will you lay the Blame upon me If the Army will stick to me I will stick by them The Officers gave him Assurance they would for the Danger was common to them all And such a Joy among them hereupon succeeded that some expressed it with Tears ' T was said That Fleetwood was as fearful of Lambert upon this Agreement as Lambert was of Monk in case he would not agree to it Monk therefore wrote to Fleetwood That the News of a Pacification was very agreeable to him but that he found some things doubtful in the Conditions and other Matters not rightly transacted by his Commissioners that therefore that the Agreement might be more solid he desires the Number of the Commissioners might be encreased and Newcastle as a more proper place for the Meeting Fleetwood tho disswaded from it by Whitlock and others agrees to this and so does Lambert whereby he did not shew himself a great Statesman Monk now resolved not to submit to this present Committee of Safety in England sent Circular Letters to every Shire in Scotland to send to Edinburgh two Commissioners and to every Burrough to send one who met at Edinburgh where they granted Monk 30000 l. Sterling above the Assessments and proffered to assist him with 20000 Men if he pleased Monk accepts of the first and demurs upon the second but only desired of them to take Care in his Absence that no Disturbances should be and that they abjure King Charles and his Interest I know Dr. Gumble denies this latter yet I cannot believe the Scotish Writers about this time viz. two or three Years after should so positively affirm this which all Scotland must know to be a Lie if it were not so Monk having obtained this Aid in Scotland which was Treason to impose in England by this time Lambert being come to Newcastle sent three Regiments of Horse and one of Dragoons into Northumberland to seize on my Lord Grey of Werk's Rents but Monk prevented the Design having before done the Work and carried the Money into Scotland which Dr. Gumble says was after restored Hereupon Monk seizes Colonel Zanchy who was sent from Newcastle with Letters to proceed in an additional Treaty for Breach of certain preliminary Articles one whereof was That no Forces on either side should advance forward during the Time of the Treaty And now Monk advances to Coldstream a poor Place upon the Tweed and there pitches his Tents where he received Intelligence that the Forces in Ireland had declared for Monk and such as opposed his Designs were all secured This was managed by the Earls of Orrory and Montrath Sir Theophilus Jones the Warrens and Captain Fitz-Patrick who after did the King excellent Service in securing Dublin for him and others And sure it 's observable that as our Civil Wars began first from Scotland then from Ireland so first from Scotland then from Ireland should arise that Peace which after succeeded in England Rubicon thus passed all Terms of Accommodation ceased Monk's Army consisted of four Regiments of Horse and those pitiful ones commanded by Morgan Johnston Knight and Cloberry and six of Foot commanded by Major-General Morgan whom Lambert had sent to treat with Monk Fairfax Rede Lidcot and Hubblethorn Monk had this Advantage of Lambert That his Horses were well fed and his Souldiers lay in Tents whereas Lambert's Horse had nothing but what they plunder'd and his Foot were dispers'd into Quarters where they could get them And at this rate Lambert came to Newcastle Whilst these things were doing all was in a Hurlyburly in London The Apprentices rise and are suppressed by Hewson however the Citizens take the Rump's Vote for not paying Taxes without Consent of Parliament for good Law and therefore will pay none and the Country follow their Example The Souldiers too tho they would be glad of their Pay when they could get it yet agreed among themselves That their Officers might fight with one another if they pleased but the Souldiers would fight for none of them My Lord Fairfax and the York-shire Gentry rise against Lambert behind and Monk marches on before Portsmouth headed by Haslerig Walton and Morley declares for the Rump and Lawson Admiral of the Fleet stopt the Mouth of
Charles II. is my most Religious and Gracious King If he be so how came you to know it And if you do not know it how came you so unfeignedly to assent and consent that he is so But tho to get your Living you tell the Congregation so when you do not know it I think it 's dreadful for you to tell God Almighty he is so if you be not very well assured he is so But you 'll soon see what Care this King took of the Church of England which took such Care for him Was God well pleased with these things You shall soon see unjust Wars and dishonourable Peace Such Judgments of Plague Fire and Invasion into our Ports as never before were heard of And tho God's Judgments were in the Land the People did not learn Righteousness but continued a divided and factious Nation and a People laden with Iniquity The Honour of the Nation not only lost abroad but a joining with a neighbouring Faithless Boundless and Ambitious Prince to the endangering the Subversion of the Religion Constitutions and Liberties of the English Nation Now let 's see what is doing in Scotland If a Man reads Buchanan's and Drummond's History of Scotland they will better judg of General Monk's prudent Government and Conduct in it for eight Years together For from the Contest between Bruce and Baliol for the Succession to the Crown of Scotland about the Year 1280 till James VI. came to the Crown of England I scarce find five Years Peace together in any of the Reigns between And if for some time the Scots were freed from open War yet scarce at any time were they freed from Feuds among the Nobility or the Nobility at Discord and Variance with their Kings After the Reformation of Religion in Scotland which began in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth by her assisting the Nobility with an Army by Land and a Fleet by Sea whereby the French sent by Henry the Second of France Father of Francis the Dauphin who had married Mary the Scotish Queen to subdue Scotland to a Conformity to the Romish Church were outed the Kirk of Scotland set up a Jurisdiction as independent from the Civil as the Romish was and held it up during the Reign of Mary and after they had expelled her and chosen her Son James King about fourteen Months old in the Regency of Murrey they got their Church-Discipline established by Act of Parliament This was in the Year 1567. The Kirk being possest of this Power during the Minority of King James and several of the Nobility having got a great share of the Crown-Lands of Scotland the King upon his Majority was so poor that he was not in a Condition to keep up the State of a King much less to curb the Insolence of the Kirk the Nobility who had got the Crown-Lands joining with them Tho Queen Elizabeth did not love the Kirk-Party yet was she content to have Scotland in this State for thereby she preserv'd the English Borders free from the Depredations which the Scots usually made upon them and therefore secretly countenanced both the King and Nobility who had got the Crown-Lands However ever she allowed the King a Pension yearly whereby she kept the King as well as Kirk and Nobility depending upon her In this State England and Scotland stood till the Death of Queen Elizabeth but it was ill timed of King Charles I. to grant Commissions to enquire into the Crown-Lands usurped in his Father's Minority and soon after to endeavour to set up Laud's Injunctions and High-Commission in Scotland which made the Nobility as well as Kirk so fierce in opposing them King Charles offended at the Proceedings of the Parliament of England in 1641 goes into Scotland and establishes the Kirk in all their Pretensions and disclaims all Title to the Crown-Lands usurped in his Father's Minority which no ways mollified either But next Year the Scots sent an Army under Lesley made an Earl by the King against him in Aid of the English Parliament But tho the Kirk and Nobility were thus insolent against their Kings they patiently submitted to Monk during his Government in Scotland except some few Disturbances made by General Middleton For neither Cromwel nor the Rump before him trusted to the Scotish Oaths or Solemn League and Covenant but after they had subdued them bridled them with Forts built upon the principal Passages of Scotland and disarm'd all the Nobility and Gentry and thereby kept them in Peace which King Charles by all the Condescensions he submitted to could not procure And hereto that the common sort of Scots lived in more Freedom under Monk than under their Lords and Lairds so that neither the Kirk or Nobility could form the Body of an Army against the English Before the King was restor'd the Army which would have kept him out was dissipated the Year before by Monk and after his Restoration was disbanded and so the English Nation was restored to its former Government But it was not so in Scotland for not only the Forts which bridled them but the Army which conquer'd them was still kept up Nor had the Scots any hopes of being freed from these Fetters but by an intire Submission to the King Upon the King's Restoration many Debates were in the Council in England about the calling a Parliament in Scotland and the demolishing the Forts for keeping the Scots in Subjection but neither were so easily determined for in all Scotland after Montross was butcher'd I do not find there was one of the Nobility except his Son which were not Popish or Presbyterian and the Presbyterian Party had been so rigid against the King when he was in Scotland and intolerable to his Father that above a Year past before any Resolution was taken in either Lauderdale as before said was taken Prisoner after the Fight at Worcester and from that time kept Prisoner in Windsor-Castle from whence he was set free upon the King's Restoration but became so poor that it 's said he could not meet the King for want 〈◊〉 Money to pay for a Pair of Boots This Imprisonment was doubly happy to him for during the Restraint of his Body he enlarged the Faculties of his Mind and being a Man of Parts improved them by Contemplation and Study wherein he met with more Helps than it may be he could have found in Scotland whereby he became of greater Abilitie◠to serve the King than could be found in any other of his Countrymen and being in England found better Opportunities to have them known to the King than any of his absent Country-men could In the late Wars between the King and Parliament he with Sir John Cheesley were ordered Commissioners by the Kirk-Faction to the Parliament in England for propagating the Presbyterian Government But this being most detestable at Court Lauderdale to raise himself set himself with all his Skill to oppose it and by it at first got to be made Principal Secretary
of State of Scotland and as Runnagadoes from Christianity become the greatest Persecutors of Christians so was Lauderdale of the Kirk and Presbyterian Government However Lauderdale seemed zealous for calling a Parliament in Scotland and demolishing the Forts thaâ— bridled the Scots which Monk opposed and hereby Lauderdale became popular in Scotland so that all Applications to the King from thence was by Lauderdale In this state it was not easily determined who should be Commissioner in Scotland in case a Parliament should be called for Affairs were not yet ripe enough to make a Popish one nor would the Court trust a Presbyterian one and Lauderdale would not forsake his Post at Court where he govern'd all but continue it that all the Motions in Parliament might receive their Life from him At last it was agreed That Middleton who first served the Kirk against King Charles I. and after changing Sides made some Bustle in Scotland after the King left it should be created an Earl and made Commissioner and a Parliament should be called in Scotland The Nobility and Gentry of Scotland clearly saw there was no other way to redeem Scotland from being a conquered Nation and a Province to England but by an entire Submission to the King Lauderdale knew this as well as they and therefore resolved to make them pay dear for their Deliverance and now you shall see the Nobility and Gentry which with the Kirk united against King Charles I. divide under his Son and sacrifice the Kirk and all their Discipline to make an Atonement for themselves The first Act which was shewed herein was upon this Occasion The firy Zeal of the Kirk-men burnt up all Rules of Prudence or the Consideration of the present State of Scotland so that even in this state Crowns and Scepters must submit to the Kirk And that the King might know his Duty a Company of them met together and drew up a Supplication as they said but in nature of a Remonstrance to the King setting forth the Calamities they groaned under in the Time of the Usurpers by their impious Incroachments upon the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the Liberties thereof which of themselves they were not able to suppress and overcome and the Danger of the Popish and Prelatical Party now beginning again to lift up their Head they press him to mind his â—aths and Covenant with God c. The Committee of Estates well knowing how ungrateful this would be to the King upon the 23d of August 1660. sent a Party and apprehended these Men whereof one Mr. James Guthry was the chief of whom you 'll hear more hereafter and committed them Prisoners to Edinburgh-Castle and from thence Guthry was sent Prisoner to Dundee for treasonable and seditious reflecting on his Majesty and on the Government of England and the Constitution of the Committee of State and tending to raise new Tumults and kindling a new Civil War among his Majesty's good Subjects This was the first Spark which soon burnt into such a Flame as totally consumed the whole Kirk-Party in Scotland and left them in a much worse plight than before when they suffered under the Usurpation as they called it of the English For during the late Usurpations the Kirk enjoyed a Liberty of Conscience but it 's the Nature of some Men that unless they may persecute other Men they 'll exclaim they are persecuted themselves and therefore since they were not able to do it themselves they minded the King of his Covenant with God to extirpate Heresy Schism and Profaneness and to remove the stumbling which the King had given them in admitting Prelacy Ceremonies and Service-Book in the King's Chappel and other Places of his Dominions But these Men were mistaken in their Measures for after the King was expelled from Scotland by Cromwel he little I may say never observed the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechisms in his Family according to the National and Solemn League and Covenant as he repeated in his Coronation-Oath and less the establishing Presbyterian Government in England and Ireland and least of all in Scotland For one of the first Acts of the first Sessions was an Anniversary Thanksgiving to be observed on every May 29 with this Proem The States of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland taking into their Consideration the sad Condition Slavery and Bondage this antient Kingdom has groaned under these twenty three Years the time when the Troubles arose in K. Charles the First 's Reign in which under very specious Pretences of Reformation a publick Rebellion has been by the Treachery of some and Misperswasion of others violently carried on against sacred Authority to the Ruin and Destruction so far as was possible of Religion this King's Majesty and his Royal Government the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and all the publick and private Interests of the Kingdom so that Religion it self hath been prostituted for the Warrant of all these treasonable Invasions made upon the Royal Authority and disloyal Limitations upon the Allegiance of the Subjects Therefore upon the 29th of May be set apart for an Holy Day c. Yet soon after the King's Restoration he wrote to the Presbytery of Edinburgh promising to countenance the Church as by Law established But Lauderdale knew his Mind better Here it 's observable That in 1638 when the Kirk were so zealous with lifted-up Hands in the Presence of the Eternal God to swear to establish their National Covenant there was not one of the Nobility but the Popish except the Marquess of Hamilton and the Earl of Traquair but joined with the Kirk expresly against the King's Command Traquair the Kirk-Party proceeded against as an Incendiary and after Hamilton secretly joined with the Covenanters for which King Charles I. made him Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle from whence he was discharged when Fairfax had it surrender'd And not one of the Nobility except Argile and Cassels but declare this and all the Kirk-Proceedings since Treasonable Rebellion against the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and Prostitution of Religion and this Declaration was celebrated with a double Sacrifice the Marquess of Argile being executed as a Traitor for holding Correspondence with Cromwel and his Head set where Montross's stood on the Monday before and Mr. Guthry on Saturday after for refusing to own the Jurisdiction of the Judges in Ecclesiastical Affairs had his Head set upon one of the Ports of Edinburgh This was a sad Presage to the Kirk of what followed For as they without the King would impose their Solemn League and Covenant upon England now by the King and Parliament an Oath of Allegiance in the very Nature if not the Words of the Oath of Supremacy in England is imposed upon them wherein they are to swear That the King is the supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes c. and That they will maintain defend and assist his Majesty's Jurisdiction aforesaid against all
deadly Enemies and shall never decline his Majesty's Power and Jurisdiction as they shall answer it to God And all Persons who refuse to take this Oath to be uncapable of any publick Trust and to be look'd upon as Persons disaffected to his Majesty's Authority and Government And the 11th Act of the first Session says That it is the inherent Privilege of the Crown and undoubted Prerogative of the Kings of Scotland to have the sole Power of chusing Officers of State c. and of holding and dissolving Parliaments c. and That it is High Treason in any of the Subjects to make Leagues with Foreigners or among themselves without his Majesty's Authority first had c. And therefore the League and Covenant and all Treaties thereon are not obligatory and that none presume to require or renew the swearing the said League and Covenant The next Act I cannot say of Parliament for it was purely arbitrary was the total rooting out the Presbyterian Government in Scotland and upon this Occasion Mr. James Sharp Mr. Hamilton Mr. Farwel Mr. Leighton but whether sent for by the King or sent by the Kirk-Party I do not find came in 1661 to London and were ordained Deacons and Presbyters and after consecrated Bishops by the Bishop of Winchester and two other Bishops The Acceptance of which was a Renunciation of their Presbyterian Ordination nay it was a Declaration of the Invalidity of their former Ordination and thereupon the King on the 6th of September 1661 issued out a Proclamation declaring his Royal Pleasure to be for the restoring the Government of the Church of Scotland to be by Arch-bishops and Bishops as it was exercised in the Year 1637 and that he had nominated and presented Arch-bishops and Bishops to their several Bishopricks and to have the same Authority they had in the Reign of his Grand-father Thus you see the Presbyterian Government which was set up by such odd swearing without the King is by his sole Authority utterly subverted In Obedience to this Proclamation the Privy-Council the 9th of January following did discharge all Ecclesiastical Meetings in Synods Presbyteries and Sessions until they be authorized by the Arch-bishops and Bishops upon their Entry into the Government of their respective Sees which was to be done speedily Tho this Proclamation and Intimation of the Privy-Council had prevented the Parliament yet to make sure Work of both the Parliament in their second Sessions Redintegrated the Bishops to the Exercise of their Episcopal Function and to all their Privileges Dignities Jurisdictions and Possessions due and formerly belonging thereunto And another Act did ordain all Ministers to repair unto their Diocesan Assembly and concur in all Acts of Church-Discipline as they should be thereunto required by the Arch-bishops or Bishops of the Diocess under pain of being suspended from their Office and Benefice till the next Diocesan Meeting for their first Fault and if they amended not to be deprived and the Church to be declared vacant In the Year 1649 when there was no King in Israel the Parliament at the Instance of the Kirk by the 39th Act Discharge all Patrons and the King not excepted from Presentations to Church-Benefices for that the Estates of Parliament were sensible of the great Obligations that lie upon them by the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant and by many Deliverances and Mercies from God and by the late solemn Engagement unto Duties to preserve the Doctrine and vindicate the Liberties of the Kirk of Scotland and advance the Work of Reformation therein to the utmost of their Power And considering that Patronage and Presentation of Kirks is an Evil and Bondage under which the Lord's People and Ministers of the Land have long groaned and that it hath no Warrant in God's Word but founded on the Common Law and is a Custom Popish and brought into the Kirk in time of Ignorance and Superstition and that the same is contrary to the 2d Book of Discipline in which upon solid and good Grounds it is reckoned among the Abuses that are to be reformed and unto several Acts of the General Assembly and that it 's prejudicial to the Liberties of the People and planting of Kirks and unto the free calling and entring of Ministers unto their Charge This Act did not hold long for next Year Cromwel enter'd Scotland and overturned all the Tables of Presbytery nor was this much mended after the King's Restoration for in the second Session of the first Parliament 1662 the Parliament did ordain All Ministers who had enter'd to the Cure of any Parish within Burgh or Land in or since the Year of God 1649 to have no Right unto or up-lift the Rents of their respective Benefices modified Stipends Marsh or Glebe for this instant Year 1662 nor for the Year following unless they should obtain a Presentation from the lawful Patron and have Collation from the Bishop of the Diocess where he liveth before the 20th of September next Tho the High Commission which Laud so zealously endeavour'd to erect in Scotland was put down by Act of Parliament 1641. in England yet the King by the inherent Right of his Crown and by the Virtue of his Prerogative Royal and supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical erected one in Scotland The Commissioners were partly Ecclesiasticks and partly Lay-men who or five of them whereof one to be a Bishop had a more arbitrary Power over the Clergy than was practised in England under Laud and more than Laud could have expected for a High Commission for Scotland in the King's Father's Reign Thus you see the Kirk which would be a distinct Table and independent upon the Crown of Scotland are by the Prerogative of it committed to the arbitrary Mercy of the Prelates whom for above 24 Years they had been railing against and by many Oaths sware to extirpate But the Tribulations of the Kirk for the time to come do not end here for the Parliament resolve to stigmatize them for their Actions past and therefore upon the 5th of September 1662 they form a Declaration to be subscribed by all who shall have any publick Charge Office and Trust within the Kingdom in these Words I do sincerely affirm and declare That I judg it unlawful for Subjects upon Pretence of Reformation or any other Pretence whatsoever to enter into Leagues and Covenants or to take up Arms against the King or those Commissionated by him and that all these Gatherings Convocations Petitions Protestations and erecting and keeping Counsel-Tables that were used in the beginning and for carrying on the late Troubles were unlawful and seditious and particularly That those Oaths whereof the one is called the National Covenant as it was sworn and explained in the Year 1638 and thereafter and the other entitled A Solemn League and Covenant were and are in themselves unlawful Oaths and were taken by and imposed upon the Subjects of this Kingdom against the Laws and Liberties of the same
sent a Squadron under Sir John Lawson to that end And the Dutch sent another commanded by De Ruiter seemingly but not designedly for to join Sir John against the Algerines For De Ruiter after he had entred the Straits abandoned Sir John Lawson and sailed to Cape Verd and dispossessed the English of their Factories nor did he stay there but sailing thence he attempted Barbadoes but was beaten off with loss But with better Success he sailed to Long-Island where he made great Depradations This Double-dealing of the Dutch alarm'd the Parliament so as they petitioned the King to make War upon the Dutch and the King was well disposed to it having before designed it as many thought and so took this Occasion for it nor were the City of London less forward than the Parliament for promoting this War and upon that Account furnished the King with several Sums of Money for which both Houses gave the City Thanks upon the Twenty Fifth of November 1665. The King the Day before made this Speech to the Commons Mr. Speaker and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons I know not whether it be worth my Pains to endeavour to remove a vile Jealousy which some ill Men scatter abroad and which I am sure will never sink into the Breast of any Man who is worthy to sit upon your Benches that when you have given me a Noble and Proportionable Supply for the Support of a War I may be induced by some evil Counsellors for they will be thought to think very respectfully of my Person to make a sudden Peace and get all the Money for my own Private Occasions But let me tell you and you may be confident of it That when I am compelled to enter into a War for the Protection Honour and Benefit of my Subjects I will God willing not make a Peace but upon the obtaining and securing those Ends for which the War is entred into and when that can be done no good Man will be sorry for the Determination of it But the War was not declared till the 22d of February following But here I observe that neither my Lord Chancellor Hide nor my Lord Treasurer Southampton were present in Council at it It may seem strange to any Man conversant in our Government that the King in less than four Years and a half after his Restoration should be in such a Necessity of borrowing such Sums of Money of the City for the disbanding of the Army was paid by the Convention and Parliament and the Parliament had settled the Excise on him which was cessed at 500000 l. per Annum and the Customs at 600000 l. and Chimney-Money worth 150000 l. per Annum and 12 Car. 2. c. 26. granted the King the Arrears of twelve Months Assessment commencing the 25th of December 1659 and C. 29. gave the King 70000 l. and C. 34. also the Post-Office worth 50000 l. per Annum and in the 13 Car. 2. cap. 3. vested in the King the Arrears of the Excise and new Imposts and in the second Session Cap. 3. the Parliament gave the King 1270000 l. and Cap. 5. a voluntary Contribution and C. 8. gave the poor Cavaliers 60000 l. that the King might never hear more of them and C. 9. granted a further Relief for the poor and maimed Officers which had served the King's Father and also Cap. 15. four intire Subsidies by the Laity and four by the Clergy besides all the forfeited Estates both in England and Ireland So that the Excise Customs Chimney-Money Post-Office and forfeited Estates at a moderate Computation may be computed at 1600000 l. per Annum a new Addition to the Crown which Queen Elizabeth had not only the Court of Wards was exchanged for part of the Hereditary Excise And if you compute but six Months Arrear of the twelve Months Assessment at 70000 l. per Mensem beginning at Christmass 1659 this will amount to 420000 l. and the Arrears of the Excise and new Impost at 300000 l. and 70000 l. granted the King 12 Car. I. 29. and the 1270000 l. 13 Car. II. 3. and the voluntary Contribution at 300000 l. and the four Subsidies granted by the Clergy and Laity at 400000 l. besides the new added Revenue of 1600000 l. per Annum to the Crown the King in less than four Years and a half received 2860000 l. or two Millions eight hundred and sixty thousand Pounds Yet the King paid no Debts of his Father's nor do I find he built any new Men of War nor made any War except that last Year against the Algerines It 's true he married his Sister but had twice her Portion of the French King for the Sale of Dunkirk and also 400000 l. Portion with the Queen Now let 's see how things stood in Scotland During the Earl of Middleton's Commission the Parliament of Scotland granted the King so great a Revenue that the King signified his Pleasure not to raise any more but tho Middleton in the general Opinion had done more in Scotland than could have been expected yet Lauderdale thought he had not done enough and therefore got the Parliament to be dissolved and a new one to be called in 1663 and the Earl of Rothes the Ring-leader of the Presbyterians in the Reign of Charles the First and was the first that subscribed the Letter to Lewis the XIII th for his Aid by the Appellation of Au Roy to be made Commissioner The King's Supremacy in all Ecclesiastial and Civil Matters and so great a Revenue as the King could ask being settled by Middleton one would have thought no more could be done yet another Law must be passed intituled the Humble Tender Whereby the Kingdom of Scotland is obliged to raise the King twenty thousand Foot and two thousand Horse sufficiently armed and furnished with forty days Provision to be in a readiness at his Majesty's Call And also that all Scots-Men from sixteen to sixty if the King should have further use of them should hazard their Lives and Fortunes as they shall he called by his Majesty for the Safety and Preservation of his Sacred Person Authority and Government to march into any part of Scotland England or Ireland for the suppressing any Foreign Invasion or Intestine Troubles or any other Service wherein his Majesty's Honour c. was concerned And this Law it may be was the Equivalent for which the Forts were demolished Tho Rothes was Commissioner when the Act passed yet Lauderdale assumed to himself the Glory of it and it 's observable this Act passed the same Year and about the same time the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence to the Dissenters in England Thus you see as the Parliament of Scotland outrun the Parliament of England in Loyalty to the King so at least they went hand in hand with them in grauting the King more Aids than he would ask of the Subjects of his antient Kingdom Never had Kings of England or Scotland their Debts so easily
and Tests against Dissenters was any ways intended in favour of the Protestants for notwithstanding the Slaughter Jeffries had made of them in the West the rest all over England were imprisoned and forced to give Security for their good Behaviour Nay my Lord D. of Albermarle who had done the K. so signal Service in keeping the Devonshire Men from joining with the D. of Monmouth must be sent out of England to Jamaica and the Earl of Pembroke and others who had been so active in suppressing Monmouth were scarce thanked and but coldly entertained at Court If things were acted with this indeed bare-fac'd dissimulation in England they were not less in Ireland for the King having revoked the Duke of Ormond from his Lieutenancy and given Talbot an independent Commission to make such a reform of the Army there as is aforesaid made my Lord Clarendon Deputy-Lieutenant and Sir Charles Porter Chancellour who arrived there the 10th of January 1685-86 with a Charge to declare that the King would preserve the Acts of Settlement and Explanation inviolable and to assure all his Subjects he would preserve these Acts as the Magna Charta of Ireland but this Declaration compared with Talbot's reforming the Army in Ireland seemed as strange as that the King 's dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests was in favour of the Protestant Dissenters in England In Scotland the King had so settled Affairs there when he was Commissioner that after the cutting off the Earl of Argyle he did not doubt to carry on his Designs more bare-fac'd there than in England or Ireland and therefore tho he did not call a Parliament till April 1686 yet in his Letter to them of the 12th he takes no Notice of the Protestant Dissenters but recommends to them his innocent Roman Catholick Subjects Who had with their Lives and Fortunes been always assistant to the Crown in the worst of Rebellions and Vsurpations tho they lay under Discouragements hardly to be named These he heartily recommended to their Care to the end that as they have given good Experience of their true Loyalty and peaceable Behaviour so by their Assistance they may have the Protection of his Laws and that Security under his Government which others of his Subjects had not suffering them to lie under Obligations which their Religion cannot admit of by doing whereof they will give a Demonstration of the Duty and Affection they had to him and do him most acceptable Service This Love he expected they would shew to their Brethren as they saw he was an indulgent Father to them all The King having settled his Prerogative in Westminster-Hall by dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests in the Beginning of the Year 1686 granted a Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs but it was not opened to act till the 3d of August following why it lay so long dormant I do not find but only guess that the King might the better settle his Dispensing Power in the Country by such Judges as he had made as well as in Westminster-Hall and that he might be more at leisure to carry on the Design for surrender of Charters wherein one Robert Brent a Roman Catholick was a prime Agent and great Care was taken that the beggarly Corporations might surrender their Charters and take new ones without paying Fees and if any should be so honest as to insist upon their Oaths and Trust reposed in them for Preservation of their Charters to be prosecuted as riotous and seditious Persons But in regard the Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs was not printed that I can find nor is in the State Tracts I thought fit to insert it here as I had it in Manuscript from a learned Hand JAMES the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To the most Reverend Father in God our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Counsellor William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Counsellor George Lord Jeffries Lord Chancellour of England and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Lawrence Earl of Rochester Lord High Treasurer of England and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Robert Earl of Sunderland President of Our Council and Our Principal Secretary of State and to the Right Reverend Father in God and Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Nathaniel Lord Bishop of Duresme and to the Right Reverend Father in God Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Thomas Lord Bishop of Rochester and to our Right Trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Herbert Knight Chief Justice of the Pleas before us to be holden assigned Greeting We for divers good weighty and necessary Causes and Considerations Us hereunto especially moving of our meer Motion and certain Knowledg by force and virtue of Our Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal do assign name and authorize by these our Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England you the said Arch Bp of Canterbury Lord Chancellor of England Lord High Treasurer of England Lord President of Our Council Lord Bishop of Duresme Lord Bishop of Rochester and our Chief Justice aforesaid or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one from time to time and at all times during our Pleasure to exercise use occupy and execute under us all manner of Jurisdiction Privileges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions within this our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all such Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm can or may be lawfully reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the Pleasure of Almighty God and encrease of Vertue and the Conservation of the Peace and Unity of this Realm And we do hereby give and grant unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one thus by Us named assigned authorized and appointed by force of Our Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal full Power and Authority from time to time and at all times during Our Pleasure under us to exercise use and execute all the Premises according to the Tenour and Effect of these our Letters Patents any Matter or Cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And We do by these Presents give full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the Lord Chancellor to be one by all lawful Ways or Means from time to time hereafter during Our Pleasure to enquire of all Offences Contempts Transgressions and Misdemeanours done and commited contrary to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Our Realm in any County City Borough or other Place or Places exempt or not exempt within this our Realm of England
unanswerable Reasons of a National Interest and the manifold Inconveniences the incorporating those Trades in a Company brought to the Navigation of the Nation both in the Foreign Vent of our Manufactures and in their Returns to the Ruin of infinite Artificers Sea-men and Shipwrights and to the Diminution of the King's Revenue Whereupon these Trades were declared free and have ever since continued so to the inestimable Benefit of this Nation But tho the Reasons in this Act extend to all other Beneficial Trades as to Turkey the East-Country and Hamburgh Trades and to Africa and the East-Indies yet all these Trades are monopolized into Companies exclusive to other Men as much to the Prejudice of the Nation as the making the Spanish Trade free was beneficial to it About this time the Clergy at least a Faction which stiled themselves the Clergy made an Attempt to try how far their Doctrine of Absolute Power in the King had taken root in him they had gained their Point so far as the King had declared his Command to the Commons as Absolute King and now they 'll see whether the King would assert it and the Case was this Arch-bishop Whitgift a Prelate of singular Piety and Humility died the last day of February in the first Year of the King and Doctor Richard Bancroft a Man of a rough Temper a stout Foot-ball-player as zealous an Assertor of the Rights of the Church of England or rather a Faction of Church-men who arrogated to themselves the Title as Julius the 2d was of the Papacy exhibited to the King and Council 25 Articles in the Name of all the Clergy of England called Articuli Cleri which were desired to be reformed in granting Prohibitions tho there were a Parliament and Convocation then sitting which I do not find had any hand in it This Exhibition as it ascribed an Absolute Power to the King so it struck directly at the Constitution of Parliaments the principal End of which is to redress Grievances and Abuses in the Nation and if the King's Council during the sitting of a Parliament shall ascribe to themselves this Power then the great End of Parliaments redressing Grievances and Abuses is in vain However Bancroft herein not only makes the King's Council to have a concurring Power with the Parliament but paramount to it by exhibiting these Articles in the sitting of a Parliament and Convocation but the Judges gave so clear and distinct an Answer to them all that the King did not think fit to meddle in them yet did not Bancroft rest here as you will hear hereafter The Articles and the Judges Answer to them you may read at large in Sir Coke's second Institute tit Articuli Cleri Whilst Bancroft was thus ascribing to the King this Absolute Power and exalting a Faction of Church-men above the true State of the Clergy which is one of the three States of the Nation and above the Nobility and Commonalty which are the other two The Popish Faction were plotting a Design not only to destroy the Church of England but the very Person of the King with the Nobility and Commons convened in Parliament which was to have been executed upon the fifth of November following the day on which the Parliament were to meet The Popish Party hoped and it may be not unreasonably that the King in regard of his Mother's Religion was not averse to theirs so that if he became not of their Church which in his Speech at the opening the Parliament he owns our Mother-Church at least hoped to have their Religion tolerated whereas finding the King in his Speech after he had declaimed against the Heresies and Abuses crept into their Church and the Pope's having arrogated an Imperial Civil Power over Kings and Emperors by dethroning and decrowning them with his Foot and disposing of their Kingdoms and the Jesuits Practice of assassinating and murdering Kings if they be cursed by the Pope That so long as they maintained these they were not sufferable in the Kingdom From this time forward and it may be before a Popish Crew contrived how to bring in their Catholick Religion they cared not which way so it might be done At last it was agreed upon the opening of the Session of Parliament upon the 5th of November one part of the Conspirators should blow up the Lords House while the King Prince with the Nobility and Commons were in it having prepared all things in a readiness whilst another part should seize upon the Lady Elizabeth after Queen of Bohemia and proclaim her Queen But the Plot being discovered the Conspirators were defeated of both their Designs The Horror and Terror of this Conspiracy the Discovery whereof was industriously divulged and believed to be by the King 's great Wisdom and Care reconciled for a time all Differences between him and his Parliament and the Parliament to gratify the King the Clergy gave him four Subsidies at four Shillings in the Pound and the Temporality three Subsidies and â—ix Fifteenths which was threefold more than any Parliament in one Session gave Queen Elizabeth before that of the 35 Eliz. notwithstanding the Payment of her Father's Brother's and Sister's Debts her expelling the French out of Scotland the building and repairing the Navy Royal the Support of the Reformed in France the subduing the Rebellion in the North the Support of the Dutch in the Netherlands the Irish War and the Overthrow of the Spanish Armada in 88. The Parliament enacted the Oath of Allegiance which Bellarmine under the Name of Tortus wrote against and Andrews Bishop of Winton under the Name of Tortura Torti defended it The Parliament too ordained the Anniversary of the Fifth of November to be celebrated for a perpetual Thanksgiving-Day for the King and Kingdom 's Delivery from this Conspiracy All Heats about Prerogative and Privilege were now laid aside the Pulpits and our Universities rang with Declamations against the Heresies and Usurpations of the Church of Rome and now the King gave himself wholly to Hunting Plays Masques Balls and writing against Bellarmine and the Pope's Supremacy in arrogating a Power over Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms and thus the Case stood for four Years after wherein I scarce find any thing worth mentioning This and the next Year was almost wholly spent in Debates concerning the Uniting of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland which the King eanestly solicited and which ended only in Contests and Arguments for the House of Parliament refused to join with the King in it however the King obtained a Judgment in Westminster-Hall in a Case called Calvin's Case that the Post Nati in Scotland after the King's Assumption to the Crown of England were free to purchase and inherit in England But whilst the King was thus wallowing in Pleasure he wholly gave himself up to be governed by Favourites to whom he was above any other King of England except Henry the 8th excessively prodigal not only in Honours and Offices but of
the Revenues of the Crown and Aids given in Parliament and these being of both Nations Scotch as well as English made them to be the more intolerable All things being at Peace Abroad Publick Affairs were neglected or scarce thought of whilst the Dutch still grew more powerful at Sea and without any Aid from the King were Matches for the King of Spain by Land and Henry the 4th of France was accumulating incredible Treasure at Home and laying the Foundation of vast Designs Abroad whereof the King took no notice his Genius lying another way In these Debates at Home and Lethargy of State of Foreign Affairs the Prerogative-Clergy swelled the High Commission to such an height that it was complained of as a Grievance in Parliament as you may read in Wilson's History of Great Britain â—ol 46. Nay Bancroft this Year notwithstanding the Judges Answer to the Articles exhibited to the King against granting Prohibitions and that the Parliament was still sitting repeated his Exhibitions But however the King inclined to favour Bancroft he had not Courage enough to over-rule the Judges Answer to them it may be for fear the Parliament should interpose or indispose them to grant him more Money whereof already he stood in great need But the Parliament however they gratified the King for their Deliverance from the Popish Conspiracy did not think fit to pour it forth so plentifully now in times of Peace to be profusely thrown upon Favourites and Minions who were no more Friends to them than they to the established Church of England To supply the King's Necessities as he made them one Doctor Cowell no doubt set upon by Bancroft and those called the Church the next Year after published his Interpreter wherein he premises these three Principles First That the King was Solutus a Legibus not bound by his Coronation-Oath Secondly That it was not ex Necessitate that the King should call a Parliament to make Laws but might do it by his Absolute Power Thirdly It was a Favour to admit the Consent of the Subjects in giving Subsidies Cowell's Interpeter approved by the King as the Civil Law was highly extolled by the King See Wilson fol. 46. was not only printed but publickly sold without Impunity and this gave Encouragement to the publishing many others to the same purpose among which one Blackwood published one which concluded that we were all Slaves by reason of the Conquest The Commons tho they took no notice of Bancroft and his Articles against Prohibitions took Fire at these and intended to have proceeded severely against him but the King interposed and promised to call in these Books by Proclamation as he did but they were out and the Proclamation could not call them in but only served to make them more taken notice of But this had not the desired Effect of getting more Money than one Subâ—dy and one Tenth whereupon the King by Proclamation dissolved them the 31st of December 1609 after they had sat near seven Years wherein the King set forth that he had proposed many things far differing and surpassing the Graces and Favours of former times both in Nature and Value 〈◊〉 â—â—pectation of a good Conclusion of some weighty Cause which had been there in Deliberation not only for the Supply of the Necessities of his Majesty's Estate but for the Ease and Freedom of his Subjects but these being the two last Sessions little taken notice of and that the Members by reason of the length of the Parliament were debarred from the Hospitality they kept in the Country and that divers Shires Cities and Boroughs had been burdened with Expence of maintaining their Members for these Reasons he dissolved them so that they should not need to meet at the Day set by their Prorogation CHAP. II. A Continuation of this Reign to the Dissolution of the Second Parliament 1614. BUT how precarious soever the King was to get Money of the Parliament he had not Courage enough to demand the 100000 l. per Annum by the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Dutch States in 1598 whereby Eleven hundred thousand Pounds was due to him much less to demand the principal Debt viz. two Millions and also two Millions and two hundred thousand Pounds due for eleven Years Interest at 10 l. per Cent. Now by the Mediation of several Princes but especially by King James this Year a Truce or Peace for twelve Years was concluded between the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes Albert and Isabel and the Dutch wherein the Dutch were declared Free States and independent upon the Crown of Spain or Arch-Dukes But tho the King had not Courage enough to demand the Monies due to him from the Dutch by the Treaty with Queen Elizabeth he had so much as to enter into a Treaty with the Dutch for a Tribute to be paid to him for License to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland but the Dutch observed this no better than that with the Queen and the King got less by it Long Parliaments beget long Intervals in which Grievances become so multiplied and fixed that they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Intervals are And since the King could not get Money of the Parliament and was afraid to demand any of the Dutch let 's see what Courses he took to get Money during the Interval from this Parliament to the meeting of the next which was five Years and how the Case stood with them In the opening of the first Parliament the King tells them that he was so far from encreasing their Burden with Rehoboam as that he had so much as either Time Occasion or Law could permit lightned them and at that time had been careful to revise and consider deeply upon the Laws made against them that some Overture may be proposed in Parliament for clearing those Laws by Reason which is the Soul of the Law in case they have been in times past further or more rigorously executed by Judges than the meaning of the Law was or might tend to the Hurt as well of the innocent as guilty Persons At the Dissolution of the Parliament the King 's principal Favourites were Henry Howard Brother to the Duke of Norfolk whom Queen Elizabeth beheaded tho a Papist yet Lord Privy-Seal Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Treasurer Philip Earl of Mountgomery for a certain Reason Thomas Lord Walden Son of the Duke of Norfolk after created Earl of Suffolk and Sir Henry Rich after Earl of Holland English the Earl of Dunbar Sir Alexander Hay and Sir Robert Carr who in a short time shall overtop them all Scotish There was a Story current in those Times which I have heard from some credible Persons which did live in that time That King James having given Sir Robert Carr a Boon of 20000 l. my Lord Treasurer Salisbury that he might make the King sensible of what he had done invited the King to an Entertainment and so
concerned in it yet what Parliamentary Advice did the King take the last nine Months If the Nation and the King's Friends be in such imminent Ruin the King should have declared who those Friends were and who they were which threatned this Ruin When his Father died he was at Peace with all the World and it was his own Wilfulness that without any other Counsel but that of Buckingham he made War upon France and Spain and let any Man read the Passages of the short time of his Reign and judg if the imminent Ruin of the Nation were not from himself within as well as without and if the granting him further Supplies would not more endanger the Nation in carrying on his Designs in both Here note Tho the King had made no Conscience of what he had done yet he now tells the Parliament If they shall not do their Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs he must in Discharge of his Conscience use those other Means which God hath put into his hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may other ways hazard to lose The King should have explained what other ways God put into his hands to govern his Subjects than by Justice Judgment and Righteousness for all other ways are unjust and wicked And how any Man how great soever can plead Conscience to perpetrate Injustice and Wickedness must be unfolded by Laud Neal Sibthorp Manwaring Mountague Wren Heylin c. The King proceeds and says Take not this for a Threatning for I scorn to threaten any but my Equals but an Admonition from him that both out of Nature and Duty has most Care of your Preservations and Prosperities This is Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam What a Monster does the King here make a Parliament the Head so incomprehensively big and the Body so scornful and little But if it ill becomes any Man to glory in his own Actions it worse becomes him to glory in that which he himself had not done So that admit the King had been so superlatively great as to scorn all the World besides yet it would better have become any other to have said it than the King A Parliament is a Political Body whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons the Body and What is the Head without the Body Are not all the Members of every Body of Use for the Head And does not the Head stand in need of every Member of the Body But if the Head be overgrown and too big and the Body too scornful and lean is not this not only monstrous but a Symptom of the Imperfection of the whole and that it is in a declining and dangerous State Yet the King tells them The End of calling this Parliament was for Supply And did ever King or other Man before him tell those from whom he expected Supply or any other Benefit that he scorn'd them and if they do not their Duties he would use other Means which God had put in his hands without telling what those other Means were and call them Fools and particular Men if they do not their Duties to save what they may otherwise hazard to lose whereas heretofore the Kings of England ever thank'd the Parliament upon a Bill for Aids But after all this the Parliament must not take it for a Threatning but an Admonition An Admonition may be taken in a double Sense either to instruct another in his Duty or to menace or threaten another if he continues obstinate in some Fault or Crime committed by that other But this Admonition of the King 's in the Parliament must not be taken for a Threatning of them therefore it must be for their Instruction ignorant of their Duties A Parliament was called by the Saxons Wittenage-Mote or the Conventus Sapientum the Meeting of Wise Men who met together to deliberate of the arduous and urgent Businesses of the Kingdom and concerning the State and Defence of the Kingdom and Church of England and is called the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Council of the Kingdom and the Council of the Kingdom See 4th Institute 2. And tho the Writ of Summons of Parliaments be Ad Tractandum Deliberandum de certis arduis Regni negotiis pro statu defensiâ—e Regni Ecclesiae Angliae concernentibus yet the Parliaments of England unlike the Convention of the State of Scotland are not tied up to those things only which the King propounds but are free to treat and deliberate of all things which other ways concern the Kingdom and Church of England So that the great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is to advise the King And all our Saxon Norman and British Kings had ever Parliaments in so high an Esteem that we do not read any where before these two Kings of the Scotish Race came to reign over us that ever any King and Parliament parted in Disgust whereas since King James came to be King five or six parted in Disgust and God knows what would have become of the other if King James had not died before the Parliament met again Did ever any King of England before tho he scorn'd to threaten the Parliament yet admonish them of their Duties or otherwise he would use those other means than by Parliament which God had put into his hands But Quorsum haec or where will the Designs of this young King stop However you may see by this Speech of the King 's that those who govern'd him were as little Politicians as Orators But good Laws often arise from corrupt Times and bad Manners for Magna Charta did arise from the Usurpations of K. John and Henry III. above the Laws and Liberties of this Nation so did the Petition of Right the Magna Charta of this Age from the Usurpations of this King since the Dissolution of the last Parliament to the Meeting of this little more than nine Months And as the old Magna Charta was no new Law but a Declaration of the old restored by Henry II. King John's Father called the Avitae Leges so neither was the Petition of Right which enumerates the Breaches the King had made of Magna Charta and manifold other Laws before it prays Relief against them But these Charta's were obtained after different manners the old by cruel Wars The Doctrines of Passive Obedience and submitting to the Absolute Will and Pleasure of the King were Strangers to those Days and the Bishops were so far from those Doctrines that they were the chief Promoters of Magna Charta and stigmatized the Infringers of it the King himself not excepted with a dreadful Anathema Whereas neither Rome nor Athens could ever glory in such an Assembly as the Commons of this Parliament were for their Vertue and Learning nor any Age produce such a number of Men of the like Integrity to their Country and humble Obedience to
Provision made for him The 6th is That if a Corporation maintain a Lecturer that he be not permitted to preach till he take care of Souls within the Corporation How this can be I don't understand unless the Lectuâ—er have a concurring or distinct Power from the Incumbent The 7th is That none but Noble-men and Men qualified by law may keep Chaplains Yet in your Religious Care you take no care how otherways they may subsist The 8th is That Emanuel and Sydney Colleges in Cambridg which are the Nurseries of Puritanism may be from time to time furnished with Grave and Orthodox Men for their Governors viz. Such as shall do the Arminian Work without any regard to the Statutes of the College All these Considerations must be taken for Acts of the Church of England and a Neglect or Breach of them sufficient for an Information in the High Commission where he is assured he shall shortly judg and therefore his Majesty in the 9th Consideration 〈◊〉 to countenance the High Commission by the Presence of some of the Privy-Council at least so often as any Cause of Moment is to be settled The 10th Consideration is That Course may be taken that the Judges may not send so many Prohibitions Which if they do from any of his Censures in the High Commission he will proceed against them by Excommunication Thus you see this Icarus is not only content to take a Flight out of his Diocess but over the whole Provinces of York and Canterbury in Ecclesiastical Affairs and extends it as he pleases over the Civil These were the Seeds which this Bishop planted while he was Bishop of London you may be sure he 'll reap a good Crop now he 's become Metropolitan of all England During the time of his being Bishop of London he was look'd upon as the Rising Sun which the flattering Students in both Universities worshipped but after he became Arch-Bishop the Learning of both Universities were Brawls about Arminian Tenents in the Schools and Sermons The Arminians treating their Opponents with all taunting and reproaching Terms and if their Opponents retorted they were had up into the High Commission where the Arch-Bishop presided assisted by his Ecclesiastical Judges and Ministers of the Prerogative Court and some of his Majesty's Privy-Council but I do not read of one cited for maintaining Arminian Tenents It 's scarce credible how the Business of this Court the Star-Chamber and Council-Table swelled and what cruel and unheard of Censures were made especially in the Star-Chamber against all sorts of People who did offend either against the King's Prerogative Royal or the Arch-bishop's Injunctions which must be obeyed as Articles of the Church of England The Thunder of them was not restrained within the Bounds of England but terrified almost all Scotland who were bitter Enemies to Arminianism At this time of day the Court-Bishops disclaimed all Jurisdiction from the King in Bastwick's Censure who was to pay 1000 l. Fine to be excommunicated debarr'd of his Practice of Physick his Books to be burnt and his Person imprisoned till he made a Reclamation and all this for maintaining the King's Prerogative against the Papacy See Whitlock's Memoirs The Bounds of England were too narrow to restrain this Man's Ambition and therefore before he had been two Months Arch-bishop viz. the 8th of October 1633. he advised the King 〈◊〉 make a Reformation in the Church of Scotland not by Confeâ—â— in Parliament but by his Prerogative Royal the Beginning 〈◊〉 this Reformation must begin at the King's Chappel Royal wheâ— the English Service the Surplice and the receiving the Sacramentâ— is enjoined and that the Lords of the Privy Council the Lord of the Sessions and the Advocate Clerks Writers to the Privâ— Signet and Members of the College of Justice be commandeâ— to receive the Sacrament once every Year in the said Chappeâ— and the Dean to report to the King who does or who does 〈◊〉 obey and the Arch-bishop had a Warrant from the King to 〈◊〉 Correspondence with the Bishop of Dunblane and to communicate to him his Majesty's farther Pleasure herein And so we leave the Affairs of the Church here for a while and see how Affairs stood in the State since the Dissolution of the last Parliament In the last Parliament among many famous Members Sir Thomas Wentworth and Mr. Noy excelled Sir Thomas for his admired Parts and natural and easy Elocution Noy as a most profound Lawyer both zealous Patriots for the Rights and Liberties of the Subject And upon the 12th of February 1628. when the Debates for granting Tunnage and Poundage to the King was in the House of Commons Mr. Noy argued We cannot safely give unless we be in Possession and the Proceedings in the Exchequer be nullified as also the Information in the Star-Chamber and the Annexion to the Petition of Right for it will not be a Gift but a Confirmation neither will I give without the Removal of these Interruptions and a Declaration in the Bill that the King has no Right but by our free Gift if it will not be accepted as it is fit for us to give we cannot help it if it be the King 's already we do not give it So that these two must be reckoned among those Vipers which the King declared at the Dissolution of the Parliament and must look for their Reward of Punishment The Reward of Punishment which these two Vipers had was that Sir Thomas Wentworth was made Lord President of the North and Mr. Noy Attorney General Sir Thomas strained the Jurisdiction so high that it proved the Ruin of the Court and the Rise of the Fame of Mr. Edward Hâ—de after Chancellour of England for the Speech he made in 1641 against the Abuses committed in it whilst Sir Thomas was President and Noy now he is become Attorney is become the most intimate Confident of the Arch-bishop and as forward in Informations in the Star-Chamber High Commission and Council-Table as Sir Robert Heath was who is made Chief Justice in the Common Pleas to make room for Noy to be Attorney General But while the King was erecting this new Principality over his Subjects which none of his Ancestors or Predecessors before his Father and himself ever pretended to in England it 's fit to look a little abroad and see how the Case stood there The Dutch the next Year after that his Father had given up the Cautionary Towns which Queen Elizabeth kept and delivered up to him by her Death well knowing the Poverty of King James and the ill Terms between the King and his Subjects took the Boldness to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland with their Busses and other Vessels guarded by Men of War in Defiance of him and now Grotius no doubt set on work by some of his Country-men perceiving how intent King Charles was in erecting his new Dominion over his Subjects that he became careless of all his Foreign Affairs took the Impudence to
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
King James and all the Houshold and afterward King Charles in 1633 being crowned at Edinburgh where the Form ordained by the King was observed and the King swore to observe the Reformation as it then stood But some Alterations were made by King James in 1610 and by the five Articles of Perth in favour of the Bishops and more conformable to the Church of England King James who loved the Presbyterians in Scotland no better than the Puritans in England Anno 1610 called a General Assembly at Glascow wherein these Conclusions were enacted 1. That the Indictions of General Assemblies belong to the King by the Prerogative of his Crown 2. That Synods be kept twice in the Year to be moderated by the Arch-bishop and Bishop of the Diocess 3. That no Excommunication or Absolution be pronounced without the Knowledg and Approbation of the Bishop of the Diocess 4. That the Presentation of Benefices for the time to come by Death or Lapses be directed to the Arch-bishop or Bishop of the Diocess 5. That in Deposition of the Ministers the Bishop do associate himself with some of the Ministers within the Diocess 6. That every Minister at his Admission do swear Obedience to his Majesty and his Ordinary 7. That the Visitation of the Diocess be made by the Bishop himself but if the Diocess be too great by such a worthy Minister of the Diocess as the Bishop shall appoint 8. That no Convention of Ministers be moderated by the Bishop or a Minister named by him No Minister to speak against any of these Conclusions This Year also King James not well pleased with Presbyterian Ordination caused the Arch-bishop of Glascow the Bishops of Brichen and Galloway to be re-ordained in England by the Bishops of London Ely and Bath and also erected a High Commission in Scotland for ordering Ecclesiastical Affairs which you may read in Spotswood's History of the Church and all these were ratified by the Parliament holden at Edinburgh 1612. But King James did not stay here but propounded to have these five Articles to be passed the General Assembly in Scotland 1. That the Sacrament be received Kneeling 2. That the Sacrament be not denied Dying Persons desiring the same 3. That Baptism be not deferred longer than till next Sunday after Birth unless there be reasonable Cause to the contrary 4. That apposite Sermons be made upon the days of Christ's Birth Passion Resurrection Ascension and sending the Holy Ghost 5. That the Minister in every Parish catechize Children so as to be qualified to be confirmed by the Bishop in his Visitation These five Articles with some Difficulties passed the General Assembly at Perth 1618 which were agreed to by a Parliament convened at Edinburg 1621. Thus the Church stood in Scotland when the Arch-bishop Laud would make it conformable in all Points to that he was now establishing in England The first Step he moved herein was by preferring the Bishops in Scotland in almost all Preferments before the Nobility so that of thirteen nine were Privy-Counsellors and Spotswood Arch-bishop of St. Andrews was Chancellor and others were of the Exchequer and Maxwell Bishop of Ross contended with the Earl of Traquair to be Lord-Treasurer and were Sticklers to have Tithes and Impropriations and the Abbots Lands to be restored to the Church and the Weekly Meetings of the Ministers are termed Conventicles by the Bishops Tho the Doctrine of the Church of Scotland were Calvinism yet all Countenance and Encouragement by the Bishops were given to the Professors of the Arminian Tenets So that the Brawls and Contentions about them were as high in the University of St. Andrews as in Cambridg and Oxford There had not been one General Assembly since that of Perth 1618 when in 1637 the Common-Prayer Canons and High-Commission were imposed by the King 's and Bishop's Authority and besides the High-Commission the Bishops had Warrants from the King to grant Commissions in their several Diocesses to name Assessors Ministers and Gentlemen which might punish Offenders And tho the Common-Prayer mutatis mutandis was the same with the English yet in the Administration of the Sacrament the Form was the same in the Mass without the Exhortations in the English Common-Prayer The first Trial how passable they would be was upon Easter-day the Service was read at Edinburgh when no Tumult followed but when it was next read the 23d of July following all the City was in an Uproar and the next day the Lords of the Council issued out a Proclamation to discharge the Tumults of the People upon pain of Death yet divers Ministers at Edinburgh opposed the reading of the Common-Prayer and petitioned the Council against it Harvest coming on all things seemed quiet but at the end of it Edinburgh swelled with all sorts of People the Council fearing whereto this Concourse would tend by three Proclamations commanded all sorts of People not Inhabitants or not having Business to depart upon Penalty of Horning and Rebellion Instead of Obedience the Women and Children petition the Council against the Common-Prayer-Book and soon after the Noblemen Barons Ministers Burgesses and Commons which were sent to the King who commanded the Privy-Council to signify his Majesty's Aversness to Popery and Superstition In this Confusion the Earl of Traquair Treasurer and Roxborough Privy-Seal go to the King for Instructions how to proceed their Instructions were to remove the Session or Term to Sterling and by Proclamation to forbid all Persons coming to Sterling unless they declare the cause to the Council and procure a Warrant for the same upon Penalty of High-Treason This Proclamation was encountred by a Protestation of Noblemen Barons Ministers and Burgers at Edinburgh against the Roman Idolatry and Superstition the Common-Prayer-Book Canons and High-Commission And they enter into a solemn Covenant to maintain the Confession of Faith subscribed by the King's Father and his Houshold 1580 and after by all Ranks of People 1581 to which they swear a mutual Defence of one another against all Opposers and to this purpose they erected Tables or Persons to take Subscriptions of all sorts of People Traquair could not stem the Tide and so acquainted the King herewith who sends the Marquess Hamilton his Commissioner with Instructions one way or other to compose these Disorders When he came into Scotland he first demanded of the Covenanters what they required of the King for accommodating their Grievances Secondly What might be expected from them for returning to their former Obedience especially renouncing their Covenant But nothing would content them but a General Assembly and free Parliament they forbid him the use of the Common-Prayer in the King's Chappel and admonish him and the Council to subscribe their Covenant These Proceedings running so high the Marquess durst not pursue his Instructions being sure they would be affronted The Marquess gives the King an account of these things and desires further Instructions which were to gain time till the King could get a
Protestation wherein they Promise Vow and Protest in the Presence of God to maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Power and Privilege of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union and Peace between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but herein was the Difference between the Scots and English the Scots would improve their Covenant and establish it in England but the English scarce ever after care for their Protestation However the Commons prevail with the Lords to take it and then impose it upon the Nation upon the Penalty of being deemed Malignants and Disaffected The King little pleased with what he had done and less with what the Houses had done without him follows the Scots into Scotland and there cajoles the Covenanters with all Courtship imaginable makes Lesley the Scots General Earl of Leven and confers other Honours upon the Covenanters calls a Parliament and consents to the Extirpation of the Hierarchy and establishes Presbytery as fully as the Kirk of Scotland could desire The Scots at present promise all Duty and Obedience to him but how well the King found it in a short time will appear Whilst the King was thus busied in Scotland a horrible and hellish Massacre was perpetrated in Ireland by the Irish upon the English wherein it 's computed above 200000 Protestants Men Women and Children were butcher'd after which followed an universal Rebellion excepting in Dublin Londonderry and Inniskillen which was headed by the Pope's Nuncio a most proper Head for such a Body Yet so intent were the Factions in England and Scotland in establishing their Designs that little care was had of the miserable Relicks of the Protestants in Ireland It appears evident to me that Richlieu's Scarlet was deep dy'd in the Blood of the poor English in this Massacre for these Reasons 1. That the Scots who at this time were Pensioners to France were not medled with in their Lives and Fortunes as you may see in Sir Richard Baker f. 315. a b. 2. The King being in Scotland when he heard of the Massacre of the English and Rebellion of the Irish he moved the Parliament of Scotland then sitting for a speedy Relief to the English which they refus'd And it 's strangely observable That tho the Massacre and Rebellion in Ireland brake out the 23d of October yet the King did not proclaim them Rebels till the first of January and then by Proclamation gave a strict Command that no more than forty of them should be printed and that none of them should be published till his Majesty's Pleasure was further signified Upon the King's going into Scotland the Parliament prorogued themselves to a certain Day But the Commons appointed a Committee to prepare Business against their next Meeting yet send Spies to observe all the King's Actions and after the King 's Return to London which was upon the 25th of November 1641 the House of Commons upon the 5th of December make a Remonstrance of all the King's Miscarriages abroad and of the Grievances and Illegalities of his Ministers at home from the beginning of his Reign and that the King might be sure to see it as well as hear of it they print and publish it The King not being used to such Language was stung to the quick by the Commons Declaration and to retaliate it in Act upon the third of January enters the House of Commons and demands five of their Members to be tried for High Treason for holding Correspondence with the Scots Than which he could not have done a more imprudent Act for by it he unravelled all that he had done in Scotland by involving the Scots in the same Crime But the Members had their Agents in the King 's most secret Councils and had notice of the King 's coming before and so the five Members were withdrawn This Act of the King did not only set the House in a Flame and put the City into Tumults but brought Petitions from Buckingham-shire where Mr. Hambden one of the Five Members was Knight that the Privileges of Parliament might be secured and Delinquents brought to condign Punishment All this while poor Ireland lay bleeding The King as unstable in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions retracts all he had done and promises not to do so again But to no purpose for the Members resolve not to trust his Royal Word Prerogative and absolute Will and Pleasure and therefore will tear the Power of the Militia from him Rather than suffer this tho upon the Pretence of Tumults the King resolves to leave London But before the King left London my Lord Mayor Sir Richard Gurney Sir George Whitmore Sir Henry Garoway and other principal Citizens waited upon the King and engaged if he would stay they would guard him with 10000 Men if occasion were and told him If he went he would leave the City open for the Members to do as they pleased and that they were sure to be first undone the King told them he was resolved Then Sir Henry Garoway said Sir I shall never see you again However his Eldest Son Mr. William Garoway a worthy Gentleman who yet lives went with the King and followed him in all his Wars The worthy Citizens proved true Prophets for soon after the King left London the Members imprisoned my Lord Mayor Sir Henry Garoway Sir George Whitmore and all others whom they suspected would be faithful to the King and then in London began to assume the Power of the Militia After the King left London he went to York and from thence went towards Hull but is shut out of the Town by Sir John Hotham whom the King proclaims Traitor and now before it came to Sword and Pistol Men began a War with their Pens And herein it is observable that the Writers for the King chiefly maintained his Cause out of Sir Coke's Pleas of the Crown which by Order of the King's Council was upon Sir Edward's Death-Bed seized as dangerous and seditious and I do not find any who wrote for the Parliament ever used any one Topick out of it to justify their Cause tho it and Sir Edward's other Books of the Comment upon Magna Charta and Jurisdiction of Courts were printed by Order of the House of Commons and by them petitioned that the King would deliver the Originals to Sir Robert Coke Sir Edward's Heir Whilst things were in this Hurly-burly in England Portugal and Catalonia revolt from the Spaniard which as it was a mighty Blow to Spain so it much conduced to the Advancing the Designs of Cardinal Richlieu in France In England things could not hold long at this Stay but upon the 22d of August the King comes to Nottingham and hastily sets up his Standard there and invites all his loving Subjects to come to his Assistance against the Rebels
Never was Nation shuffled into such unhappy Circumstances for to join the King was to return to his Prerogative Royal and Absolute Will and Pleasure and I have oft heard several of those who followed the King in the War say They as much dreaded the King's overcoming the Parliament-Party as they feared to be overcome by them And the Houses had broken the Fundamental Constitution of the Nation so as no Man could tell where they would stay Now are things brought to that pass Richlieu design'd them viz. England and Ireland in Civil Wars and Scotland Pensioners to France so as he might now securely carry on his Designs of advancing the Grandeur of France without any Fear of Disturbance from hence And now you may see the miserable Condition the King's Minions and Favourites had brought upon the King and all his Kingdoms Yet it is observable how great the Loyalty of the Nobility and Gentry was to the King that from so low Beginnings in all Appearance they would have subdued the Parliament-party if the Scots next Year had not come to their Assistance whereas in the Reigns of Edward the 2d and Richard the 2d though the Grievances of the Nation were more in one Year of this King's Reign than in both their Reigns yet both were expelled and lost their Lives their Subjects not drawing a Sword in their Defence An Apology BEfore we enter upon the War between the King and Parliament it will not be amiss to enquire into the Causes of it and who first began it and whether the King or Parliament or both designed it And I am the rather induced hereto because I am told that I have unjustly charged the Parliament with beginning the War and that the contrary appears by a Treatise written by Tho. May Esq of the Causes and Beginning of the Civil Wars in England So that the Question between us is not who first designed the War but who began it But because Designations and Intentions precede Action I will begin so far as appears to me Whether the King or Parliament first designed this War or whether it were not intended by both And give me leave to shew a little of Mr. May's Partiality in the Business I say Mr. May is partial where page 13 he says after the Pacification made with the Scots 1639 that when the King came to London his Heart was again estranged from the Scots and Thoughts of Peace he commanded by Proclamation that Paper which the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of the Pacification to be disavowed and burnt by the Hands of the common Hangman So that he makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Case without mentioning the Articles of the Pacification or what the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of it We will therefore set forth the Articles of the Pacification and let another Judg whether the Scots observed them or had any Thoughts of Peace The Articles were 1. The Forces of Scotland to be disbanded within 24 Hours after the Agreement 2. The King's Castles Ammunition c. to be delivered up 3. His Ships to depart after the Delivery of the Castles 4. All Persons Ships and Goods detained by the King to be restored 5. No Meetings Treaties or Consultations to be by the Scots but such as shall be warranted by Act of Parliament 6. All Fortifications to desist and be remitted to the King's Pleasure 7. To restore to every Man their Liberties Lands Houses Goods and Means The Articles were signed by the Scots Commissioners and a present Performance of them on their Parts promised and expected The King justly performed the Articles on his part but the Scots kept part of their Forces in being and all their Officers in pay and the Covenanters kept up their Fortification at Leith and their Meetings and Councils and inforce Subscriptions to the late Assembly at Glasgow contrary to the King's Declaration they brand those who had taken Arms for the King as Incendiaries and Traitors and null all the Acts of the College of Justice as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs f. 29. So that tho the King performed all the Articles of Pacification on his Part the Scots performed not one on their Part. Nor did the Scots stay here but published a Paper very seditious against the Treaty which is that which Mr. May speaks of I do not find the Copy of it but even Mr. Whitlock no great Friend to the King's Cause calls it so Nor did the Scots stay here but levied Taxes at ten Marks per Cent. and made Provision for Arms as you may read in Sir Baker's History f. 408. and more at large in the second part of Rushworth's Collections and all this before the King commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the Common Hangman And therefore the King justly commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the common Hangman And Mr. May says The honest People of both Nations began to fear another War But why does Mr. May say the honest People began to fear another War Was it honest in the Scots to break all the Articles of the Pacification to keep their Forces in a Body and their Officers in Pay contrary to the Pacification to raise Taxes and make Provision of Arms and after all these honest Men to begin to fear another War Mr. May goes on and says The King in December told the Council he intended to call a Parliament in England in April following But rational Men did not like it that it was deferred so long and that the Preparations for a War in Scotland went on in the mean time The last part is gratis dictum by Mr. May nor does he mention any Preparation for a War in any one particular nor do I find this said by any other But admit the King had made Preparation for a War with Scotland yet by all Laws of God and Man the King might justly have done it after the Scots had broken all the Articles of Pacification kept an Army on foot against it levied Taxes by their own Authority and made Provision of Arms without the King's Authority which besides the Perfidiousness of the Scots is Treason in the highest degree And I would be glad to be informed by what other means the King could vindicate his Honour or relieve his oppressed Subjects otherwise than by a War Mr. May goes on and says They these rational Men were likewise troubled that the Earl of Strafford Deputy of Ireland a Man of deep Policy but suspected Honesty one whom the King then used as a bosom Counsellor was first to go into Ireland and call a Parliament in that Kingdom And what then Why might not the King call a Parliament in Ireland as well as in England or Scotland And if these rational Men did not like it as he says that a Parliament should be deferred so long in England why should these rational Men be so troubled that the King
Northumberland side by force of them passed the Tine and killed and took 300 English Prisoners and after took New-Castle and seized four great Ships of the English laden with Corn and imposed a Tax of 350 l. a day upon the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. a day upon the County of Northumberland upon pain of Plundering and the Scots committed many Injuries and Insolencies upon the English where the Scots quartered as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 34 35. Thus was the state of things altered Mr. May says pag. 34. it should be pag. 18. And that War which was intended for an Enslavement of both the Nations truly said but untruly intended became the Bond of Concord between them God defend the Nation for time to come of such Concord or such Causes of it The Parliament Mr. May says began with Matters of Religion divers Ministers who had been of good Lives and Conversations conscientious in their ways and diligent in their Preaching and had by the Bishops and those in Authority been motested and imprisoned for not conforming to some Ceremonies which were imposed on them were now by the Parliament relieved and recompensed for their Suffering and others who had been scandalous either for loose wicked living or else Offenders in way of Superstition both which to discountenance the Puritans had been frequently preferred were censured and removed Here Mr. May is right but yet partial in that he does not tell how that the Orthodox Clergy as the Bishops of Lincoln Williams Dr. Hall of Norwich Dr. Prideaux of Worcester Dr. Brownrig of Exeter Dr. Morton of Durham c. and all the Orthodox Anti-Arminian Heads of both Universities and also Dr. Saunderson Dr. Featly and many others underwent the same Fate with those Ministers which Mr. May speaks of Pag. 38. which should have been 24. Mr. May says That the Parliament ordered that the Scots should be recompensed for all their Charges and Loss by that mischievous War which the King had raised against them Here Mr. May is not only partial and unsincere but the contrary hereof is true for the Scots in the former War took up Arms and seized the Regalia at Sterlin took Towns in Scotland and other ways committed Acts of Hostility before the King raised Arms to suppress them as is before and so they did in this latter raise Arms in Scotland before they invaded England before the King raised any Army See Whitlock's Mem. fol. 276. Where Mr. May had this unless framed by himself I cannot tell but Sir Richard Baker recites the Demand at large and the Commons Answer to them And this Mr. May speaks of is the sixth Demand Wherein they desire from the Justice and Kindness of the Kingdom of England Reparations concerning the Losses which the Kingdom of Scotland hath sustained and the vast Charges they have been put unto by occasion of the late Troubles To which the Commons answer That the House thinks fit that a Friendly Assistance and Relief shall be given towards the Supply of the Loss of the Scots and that the Parliament did declare that they did conceive that the Sum of 300000 l. is a fit Proportion for their Friendly Assistance and Relief formerly thought fit to be given towards the Supply of the Loss and Necessities of their Brethren of Scotland and that the Houses would in due time take into Consideration the Manner how and when the same shall be raised Now let any Man shew out of Mr. May where that mischievous War which the King had raised against them is to be found If Mr. May had been a faithful Historian he should have made Truth and not the Distempers of a distracted Time nor the Clamours of his prejudic'd Brain to have been the Measures of his Story He should have set forth how like Pedlars they treated the English in their Particulars in their 8th Demand of 514128 l. 9 s. besides the Loss of their Nation to 440000 l. Yet they did not give in that Account with an Intent to demand a total Reparation of all their Charges and Losses but were content good Men in some measure to bear a Remnant Mr. May should have set forth how perfidiously the Scots dealt with the English Nation when in their Remonstrance at their first coming in they professed that they would take nothing of the English but for Money or Security whereas they plundered and taxed Northumberland New-Castle and the Bishoprick of Durham so that those Places could not recover their Losses in 20 Years as Sir Benjamin Rudyard in open Parliament charged them and that the English formerly established the Scots Reformation at their own bare Charges whereas the Scots presumed to require a greater Sum than was ever given the King Which you may read more at large in Sir Rich. Baker fol. 417. These are the Parliament's Brethren for whose Brotherly Assistance they voted 300000 l. towards a Supply of the Losses and Necessities note that of our Brethren of Scotland and that the Parliament would in due time take into Consideration the Manner of raising and Days of Payment and in the mean time leave New-Castle Northumberland and Durham a Prey to these devouring Scots But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake this Fraternity and that by no visible Power at present but what shall arise from among themselves I could add many more Particulars of Mr. May's Partiality and Insincerity but this already said is sufficient And now it 's time to enquire whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War and who first designed it tho the Distemper of the Times was so distracted and variable that it 's hard to judg of Intentions by Actions The Royalists excuse the King from any Intention of a Civil War in England in that he protected no Man from the Justice of the Parliament and that he had put away all those which the Parliament called Evil Counsellors both in Church and State having made Mr. St. John his Attorney and Mr. Holborn his Solicitor both which were his Antagonists in imposing Ship-Money and upon his going into Scotland made the Earl of Essex Chamberlain and General of his Forces on this side Trent and in the Church reversed all the Proceedings in the Star-Chamber against the Bishop of Lincoln and preferred Dr. Hall from Exeter to the Bishoprick of Norwich and made Dr. Brownrig Bishop of Exeter and Dr. Prideaux Bishop of Worcester who were the most Learned of the Church of England and most opposite to the Arminian Tenets and of most exemplary Life and Piety and before his going into Scotland passed all Bills presented to him by the Houses even that of not dissolving the Parliament without their Consent which he would never have done if he had had any Intention of raising a War against them or a Civil War in England Mr. May p. 43. it should be p. 25. tells us of a twofold Treason against the Parliament if you 'll take his word and that the
King was knowing of both one was to have delivered the Earl of Strafford out of the Tower but Sir William Balfour the Lieutenant would not consent to it Here note The King made Balfour a Scot Lieutenant of the Tower one of the greatest Places of Trust in England without any Complaint of the Parliament whenas the Parliament of Scotland in their second Demand made to the King would have no Stranger to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's without their Consent The other part of this Treason chief of all the rest But why all when but two Mr. May says was a Design to bring up the English Army which was in the North and not yet disbanded this Army they had dealt with to engage against the Parliament's sitting and as they alledg to maintain the King's Prerogative Episcopacy and other things against the Parliament it self This Charge is so false as well as partial as no Man who had any regard to Truth Honesty or Fairness would have so expos'd himself for if the King's Prerogative be not maintain'd he can neither govern his Subjects nor protect them from Foreign Enemies and Episcopacy is one of the Constitutions of the Nation and how the maintaining these can be against the Parliament had need of a wiser Head than Mr. May's to shew But these two are not all Mr. May says but there were other things against the Parliament if there had been other things I do not think Mr. May would in Modesty have conceal'd them but since Mr. May has not given the Causes of this chief Treason I will do it and not follow Sir Richard Baker nor Franklin lest they should be deemed to be partial to the King's Cause but Mr. Whitlock whom no Man believes to be so who fol. 44. b. says June 19th It was voted that the Scots should receive 100000 l. of the 300000 l. the Scots by a Paper pretended Necessity for 125000 l. in present the Parliament took off 10000 l. of 50000 l. which they had appointed for the English Army and order'd it for the Scots The Lord Piercy Commissary Wilmot and Ashburnham Members of Parliament sitting together and murmuring at it Wilmo◠stept up and said That if such Papers of the Scots could procure Monies he doubted not but the Officers of the English Army would soon do the like and this caused the English Army to say The Parliament had disobliged them The Officers put themselves into a Juncto of sworn Secrecy and drew up some Heads by way of Petition to the King and Parliament for Money for the Army and not to disband before the Scots to preserve the Bishops Votes and Functions and to settle the King's Revenue The Army tainted from hence met and drew up a Letter or Petition which was shewed to the King approv'd and signed by him with C. R. and a Direction to Captain Leg that none should see it but Sir Jacob Ashley it should have been Astly the main drift was That the Army might be call'd up to attend the Safety of the King's Person and Parliament's Security or that both Armies might be disbanded Where is this chief Treason lodg'd unless in Mr. May's Brain Or where is the King's Prerogative mention'd But as the Times then went Mr. May took liberty to say what he list to humour them the Scots must be obey'd in whatsoever they demand and it must be chief Treason in the English to petition Mr. May p. 32 33. will have the King 's going into Scotland to be a Design to raise War against the Parliament of England and to that end tells a Story of a Scots Writer that published that it was to engage the Scots against the Parliament of England with large Promises of Spoil and offering Jewels of great Value for Performance of it but he names not the Scot and leaves it uncertain for the Reader to judg by what fell out afterward But if he the King did it was a matter of great Falshood Mr. May says having as yet declar'd no Enmity against the English Parliament From the same Author he says it was to make sure of those Noblemen of that Kingdom he doubted of as not willing to serve his turn against England and true it is that about September Letters came to the standing Committee at Westminster that a Treasonable Plot was discovered there against the greatest Peers of the Kingdom but says not which Kingdom upon which the standing Committee fearing some Mischief from the same Spring placed strong Guards in divers Places of the City of London But in all this the Fox is the Finder and Mr. May as partial and false as in all he said before The truth was Jealousies and Fears were fomented by the Parliamentarians and even by the Members themselves against the King and Royalists But Mr. Whitlock tho of like Affection with Mr. May yet a much more impartial Representer of the Actions of those Times fol. 49. a. represents it thus The Marquesses of Hamilton and Argyle withdrew from the Parliament in Scotland upon Jealousy of some Design against their Persons but upon Examination of that matter by the Parliament there it was found to be a Misinformation yet the same took fire in our Parliament upon the Surmises of some whereupon the Parliament here appointed Guards for London and Westminster and some spake 〈◊〉 without Reflection upon the King The Royalists charge the Parliament at least the Commons with a Design to raise War against the King and to make him odious to the People after he had granted all the Parliament desired of him and given up those whom they call'd evil Counsellors to their Justice for their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom after the King's return out of Scotland which because of the Extraordinariness of it we will recite it verbatim as is said by Mr. Whitlock f. 49. b. The House of Commons prepared a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom wherein they mentioned All the Mistakes Misfortunes Illegalities and Defaults in Government since the King 's coming to the Crown the evil Counsels and Counsellors and a malignant Party that they have no hopes of settling the Distractions of this Kingdom for want of a Concurrence with the Lords This Remonstrance was somewhat roughly penn'd both for the Matter and Expressions in it and met with great Opposition in the House insomuch as the Debate of it lasted from three a Clock in the Afternoon till ten next Morning and the sitting up all Night caused many of the Members through Weakness or Weariness to leave the House and Sir B. R. I think he means Sir Benj. Rudyard to compare it to the Verdict of a starv'd Jury When the Vote was carried tho not by many to pass the Remonstrance Mr. Palmer and two or three more made their Protestation against this Remonstrance for which they were sent to the Tower This Remonstrance was presently printed and published by the Parliament contrary to the King's Desire
Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King when is was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done I am told that the last Part of this Paragraph is an unjust Charge upon the Parliament in that they acted defensively in this War and that the King first raised Arms and this by the Authority of Mr. May. If I be mistaken I have the Authority of him who could best know I mean the King at his Death who declared That he never did begin the War with the two Houses of Parliament as all the World knows that they began with him it was the Militia they began upon they confest that to be his but they thought fit to have it from him and to be short if any body will look into the Dates of those Commissions theirs and his and likewise to the Declarations they will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not he See Whit. Mem. f. 369. a. and all the Writers of those times If this be not Authority sufficient to shew the Parliament began the War the first Scuffle between the King and Parliament was about the Business of Hull where the Parliament had committed the Charge of the Town and Magazine to Sir John Hotham one of the Members of the Commons who was sent down thither to remove the Magazine to London but the Country of York petitioned it might still remain at Hull for securing the Northern Parts especially the King residing there Hereupon the King taking a Guard of his Servants and some Neighbouring Gentry upon the 23d of April went to Hull but contrary to Expectation found the Gates shut and the Bridges drawn up by Sir John and his Entrance denied though but with 20 Horse which so moved the King that he proclaimed Hotham a Traitor and sends to the Parliament for Justice against him To this the Parliament return no Answer but justify Sir John Hotham and order that the Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace do suppress all Forces which shall be raised or gathered together against Hull or to disturb the Peace nor did they stay here but put the Power of the Militia in Persons nominated by them excluding the King in ordering any thing together with them and authorized Hotham by his Warrants to raise the trained Bands in Yorkshire to march with their Arms into Hull where he disarmed them and turned them home again See Whit. Mem. f. 55 56. So I submit this to Judgment whether this was not raising Arms against the King being done by Subjects and contrary to the King's Command and if the King did encrease his Guards yet this was subsequent to the excluding the King from having Power in the Militia and Hotham's Raising Arms and Disarming the Trained Bands of Yorkshire Mr. May says p. 55. the Parliament being then intent upon settling the Militia by Land took care also to seize the Navy into their Hands and ordered the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral to put this in Execution but the King had chosen Sir John Pennington to that place instead of the Earl of Northumberland and sent a Command to the Earl of Warwick to resign the Place to him Pennington But the Earl chose rather to obey the Ordinance of Parliament and with great Courage and Policy got the Fleet into his Hands tho many of the Captains stood out against him but the Earl deprived them of their Commands and possest himself of the Ships taking shortly after another Ship called the Lyon of great Import coming out of Holland and laden with Gun-power which proved a great Addition to his Strength So here was a double Beginning of the War by the Parliament both in seizing the Fleet and taking the Lyon and this before the King committed any Act of Hostility And for the carrying on this War which Mr. May calls the Cause the Parliament upon the 10th of June made an Order for bringing in Money and Plate to raise Arms for the Cause and the Publick Faith for Repayment to them which brought it in So here the Parliament raised Money as well as Forces for carrying on the War before the King levied any And so I leave it to Judgment who first began the War Objection The Parliament raised Arms for their own Defence and Security of the Nation Answer This is said but of no kin to Truth or Reason for Men defend what they are possest of and the King was possest of the Militia and Fleet when the Parliament ravish'd both from him nor did the King use either against the Parliament when they invaded them Besides the King at least as he declared endeavoured to defend the established Religion and Laws of the Land whereas the Parliament contended to abolish the Established Religion and to exalt themselves above the Laws of the Land Objection 2. That the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and governed so Arbitrarily that the Parliament could have no Security for the future to prevent his so doing again so long as the King was possest of the Militia Answer The Case was not the same then when the King resolved to have no more Parliaments as now when the King had made this Parliament perpetual and had passed the Triennial Bill for Parliaments to meet whether he would or no And tho Favourites and Flatterers instill'd those things into the King when they were without any Fear or Apprehension of being questioned by a Parliament yet now the Parliament had so severely prosecuted and punished such Men and being perpetual or at least to meet Three Years after every Dissolution none would presume to advise the King in things derogatory to his Honour and the Interest of the Nation And now we proceed to the ensuing War The Parliament before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham Aug. 22 Voted That an Army should be raised for the Defence of the King and Parliament that the Earl of Essex should be Captain General of the Army and the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse The War began first between the Marquess of Hartford for the King in the West and the Earl of Bedford for the Parliament the Earl being worsted by the Marquess at Sherborn-Castle Goring got into Portsmouth and held it for the King but could not hold it long for the Country joining with Sir John Meyrick forced him to surrender who thereupon went into Holland and my Lord Say St. Johns and Weemen with Colonel Whitlock enter Oxford and keep it for the Parliament But the Face of Affairs soon changed for the King having made the Earl of Lindsey his General and the Parliament the Earl of Essex upon the 23d of October the Armies met and fought at Edghil with uncertain Victory which both sides claimed the Earl of Lindsey was mortally wounded and taken Prisoner the Right Wing of the King's Horse commanded by Prince Rupert brake the Left
Wing of Horse of the Parliament's which Prince Rupert pursued too far tho with great Slaughter but the King 's left Wing of Horse was broken by Sir William Balfour Sir Philip Stapleton and the Lord Fielding However the Victory was uncertain the Success was not so for the King took Banbury Town and Castle and Oxford and Prince Rupert took my Lord Say's House at Brought and made Excursions near London whereupon the Parliament recalled Essex to defend themselves And it was time for the King was marching towards London having taken Reading and Henley and at Brentford both Armies fought Essex being assisted by the Trained Bands and Apprentices of London and the King was forced to retreat and if Essex had followed in all Appearance the King would have lost his Army not having Bullet enough to have maintained one quarter of an Hour's Fight and towards the latter end of the Year Prince Rupert storms Cirencester and puts many of my Lord Stamford's Regiment to the Sword and took 1100 Prisoners which were used with great Barbarity and Colonel Nathaniel Fines in the West was routed by Prince Rupert and in the North Sir John Hotham was beaten by the Forces commanded by the Earl of Cumberland Sir Fran. Worsley Sir Marm. Langdale and Sir Thomas Glenham This Year there was a Treaty of Peace at Oxford the Parliament's Propositions were That the King should disband his Army return to the Parliament leave Delinquents to Trial and Papists to be disbanded That a Bill be brought in for abolishing Episcopacy c. and such other Bills as should be presented for Reformation Recusants to abjure Papacy to remove malignant Counsellors to settle the Militia as the Parliament desired to prefer to Offices such as the Parliament should name and to take in all that were put out of Commissions of the Peace A Bill to vindicate the Lord Kimbolton and five Members to enter into Alliances for the Palatinate and to grant a general Pardon excepting to the Earl of New-Castle Digby and others To restore Parliament-Members to their Offices and to restore their Losses The King proposed That his Revenue Magazines Ships and Forts be restored That what had been done contrary to Law and the King 's Right may be recalled That all illegal Power claimed or acted by Order of Parliament be disclaimed And as the King will consent to the Execution of all Laws concerning Popery and Reformation so he desires a Bill for preserving the Common-Prayer against Sectaries that all Persons excepted against by this Treaty may be tried per Pares with a Cessation of Arms and a free Trade This Treaty began March 4. 1642 and broke off April 15. following viz. 1643. But this is observable in this fickle King that four Days before the Treaty broke off the King said he was fully satisfied and promised to give the Parliament-Commissioners his Answer in Writing according to their Desires but because it was past Midnight he would have it drawn up in Writing and give it them in the Morning but instead thereof the King gave them a Paper quite contrary to what was concluded the Night before Whitlock's Mem. fol. 65. a. The Treaty of Peace thus broke off both sides proceed in War The Queen this Year about the beginning of May landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire from Holland having avoided a Squadron of Men of War designed by the Parliament to intercept her and brought abundance of Arms and about 3000 Soldiers and was proclaimed Traitor by the Parliament and after joined with the King and his Army at Edg-Hill in Warwickshire And if the Parliament prospered so ill last Year they succeeded worse this for the Earl of Northampton enters Litchfield and drives the Parliament's Forces into the Close and after that defeats Sir John Gell and Sir W. Brereton but the Earl was slain at the Head of his Forces and the Earl of New-Castle in the North overthrew the Parliament's Forces commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax at Bradforth and Sir William Waller is defeated in the West Prince Rupert takes Bristol and Prince Maurice Exeter Biddiford Barnstable Appleford and Dartmouth The great Hambden is routed and mortally wounded at Chalgrave Field by Prince Rupert And now the King had two conquering Armies in the North and West and the Parliament none considerable to oppose either so that if either the King or the Marquess of New-Castle had marched to London in all Appearance either Army would have found little Opposition but instead hereof the King sits down and besieges Glocester and the Marquess of New-Castle comes before Hull This gave the Parliament an Opportunity to recruit Essex's Army and to enter into a Treaty to procure the Scots to bring an Army into England again for to assist the Parliament In this Treaty a double Consideration is remarkable first The Instability of humane Actions which are founded in Passion and Prejudice for there was but one Year between this Treaty and the National Protestation by the Parliament to Maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England which Passage Mr. Whitlock in his Memoirs fol. 43. has left out and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and this to be taken by all English-men but now the Scots would not stir one Step unless the Parliament of England would join with them in their Covenant which ill agreed with their Protestation which the Parliament submitted to The other was a Discovery of a Spark which soon after broke out into such a Flame as consumed the Covenant Presbytery the Parliament King and Church and State of England for tho during the Prosperity of the King's Affairs this Fire was covered yet when young Sir Henry Vane who was one of the Parliament's Commissioners and one who loved the Presbyterian Government no better than the Episcopal saw that the Parliament would submit to the Scotish Covenant and Discipline he stifly opposed it singly and at last carry'd it that the Nations should join in a Solemn League and the Scots would have Church-Government to be according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches but Sir Henry Vane insisted to have it according to the Word of God only and carried both points Afterwards one of Sir Henry's Fellows expostulated with him why he should put them to so much Trouble about such needless Trifles Sir Henry answer'd He was mistaken and did not see far enough into the matter for a League shewed it was between two Nations and might be broken upon just Reasons but not a Covenant and that Church-Government according to the Word of God by the Difference of Divines and Expositors would be long enough before it were determined for the learnedst held it clearly for Episcopacy so that when all agreed we may take in the Scots Presbytery
ratifie and perform the same of that which shall be granted by you and under our Hand and Seal the Confederate Catholicks having by their Supplies testified their Zeal to Our Service And this shall be in each Particular to you a sufficient Warrant Given at Our Courtat Oxford the Twentieth Day of May 20 Car. Glamorgan had brought his Business to some Issue when State-Reasons enforced Ormond and Digby and the Council to imprison him but this gave Distaste to the Irish who thereupon suspected double Dealings and so neither sent over the promised 10000 Men nor any Aid to Westchester tho Glamorgan was quickly released upon the Bail of six or eight Irish Peers The Parliament hereupon was so incensed that they refused either to treat with the King or to admit him to come to London see Baker f. 473. or this Business to end here but rendred all the King 's subsequent Treaties with the Parliament suspected and the end of attaining the King's Propositions more difficult And here you may see how this King would prostitute his Honour and Christianity contrary to what he so often professed not only to the Parliament but also to the Duke of Ormond his own Party Now things every where go to wreck on the King's side Dartmouth was surrendred to Fairfax by Sir Hugh Pollard the Governor Sir William Vaughan with such Forces as he could get together marching to relieve Chester was utterly routed by the Parliament's Forces and Chester surrendred to Sir Will. Brereton Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire the Seat of the Earls of Rutland was surrendred to General Pointz by Sir Gervais Lucas the Governour my Lord Hopton is beaten by Fairfax in Devonshire whereupon Hopton accepted of Terms from Fairfax and disbanded his Army and went into France After which all the Garisons in Cornwal surrendred to Fairfax except Pendennis Castle and St. Michael's Mount Latham-House which the Countess of Derby bravely defended two Years against the Parliament was surrendred in December and Basing-House was taken by Storm And that which compleated the Ruin of all the King's Affairs in England was the Surprize and Defeat of my Lord Astley at Donnington near Stow on the Wold where he was taken Prisoner the 21st of March and when he was a Prisoner he told some of the Parliament Officers You have done your Work and may go play unless you fall out among you selves Anno Reg. 22. An. Dom. 1646. In this desperate State of the King's Affairs in England the King's Expectations in Scotland were much fallen too For after the Defeat of my Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale the Scots had little to do in the North so as General Lesley had leisure to march to Newark with his Foot to join M. G. Pointz who had block'd it up and David Lesley with the Horse to march into Scotland where Montross his Men after he had beaten Gen. Bailey at Philipshaugh being full of Plunder and being a Voluntier Army and not under regular Discipline disbanded in great Numbers and returned home when David Lesley set upon the Remainder and routed them and gave Quarter to the rest whom yet he murdered in cold Blood Here you may see the different Tempers of the English and Scots Nation for you find no such Acts done in England in the Heats of all the War In all the War in Scotland the Marquess of Huntley obstinately refused to join with Montross and after the Defeat of Montross's Foot Montross went in Person to entreat Huntley to join in their common Interest against the Kirk which Huntley not only refused but would not deign to see Montross yet this did Huntley no good for after Montross his Army was disbanded the Kirk-Party cut off his Head so as Montross was forced to retreat into the Highlands and act defensively Exeter upon the 13th of April surrenders to Fairfax which was followed by Barnstable Town and Fort St. Michael's Mount Dunstan Castle Woodstock and other Places of less Note Sir Thomas Glenham having honourably defended York and Carlisle the King thought no other so fit to be Governour of Oxford as he which being block'd up by the Parliament Forces the King thought himself in no Security in it for the Parliament refused to admit him to come to London unless he signed their Propositions Now the French Ambassador in the Scots Quarters advised the King to throw himself into the Scots Power herein you may observe that tho Richlieu were dead yet Mazarine continued the Correspondence between France and Scotland which yet were Pensioners to France This being Hobson's Choice the King only accompanied by one Hudson a Minister and Mr. John Ashburnham throws himself into the Power of the Scots then besieging Newark this was the fifth of May. Thus this poor Prince to avoid his present Condition seeks Protection from those which brought him into it which tho he got nothing by it yet the Scots instead of protecting him shall only make a Bargain and Sale of him for having him in their Power they resolve to make a double Market of him viz. To have him to order Montross to disband his Army and then to retire out of Scotland and then to sell him to the Parliament for so much as they could get that of Montross it was no sooner asked than granted but soon after he was gone the Covenanters seize Huntley and cut off his Head the Parliament too desire the King to give Order for the English Garisons to surrender which he granted so here we end the Wars in England and Scotland between the King and Parliament at present And now you 'll see how the ending of these Wars was the beginning of the Ruin of the Parliament and Scots Covenanters for the Scots having got their Ends by Montross his disbanding his Army yet the Bargain for the Sale of the King being a mighty Matter to the Scots required a longer time and the Scots would not lose one Scotish Pound they could get for him and therefore tho the King put himself into the Power of the Scots the 5th of May 1646 yet the Bargain was not concluded till January following and then the Scots flush of Money return home finding all things in Peace now Montross is gone and the Parliament having bought the King confine him to Holdenby-House a House of the King 's in Northamptonshire under the Guard of a select Company of Covenanters whereof Sir John Cooke Secretary Cooke's Son was one Thus this Prince who before had shifted the worthy Members of Parliament from one Prison to another that they might have no Benefit of their Corpus's and the Constables of Hertfordshire from one Messenger to another is himself shifted from one Place a Prisoner to another without any hope of an Habeas Corpus He that before by his absolute Will and Pleasure would without any Law seize his Subjects Goods and commit them to Prison cannot now enjoy his own Estate in his own House He that before arbitrarily raised Ship-Money
7. would have justified all his Subjects who fought for him But the Members would not submit to this being to divest themselves of the Power they thought they had in their hands nor the Scots because their Solemn League and Covenant was enacted by no Law in England nor least of all would it please the Army who nourished Designs against the King Members and Scots To such a deplorable state is this poor King and Kingdom fall'n past all humane Relief yet it 's admirable to consider how Divine Justice pursued the Causers of it even in the Series by which they were promoted The King who would not have the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation to be the Rules of his Subjects Obedience but his Prerogative and Absolute Will and Pleasure cannot now by it command one Servant He who before against Law committed so many of his best Subjects close Prisoners whereof several died in Prison for asserting his Subjects Rights without any Benefit of Law is now by his Subjects made close Prisoner against Law and without any Benefit of it He who before dissolved four Parliaments because they in all dutiful Ways would have addressed unto him to be reconciled to his Subjects is now denied under Penalty of High Treason to have any Address made to him by any of his Subjects He who before had so many Forests for his Pleasure yet not contented with what the Law and his Ancestors had left but would break the Bounds of them that his Subjects Inheritance might become a Prey to wild Beasts has not now a Horse Hound or Beast to take Pleasure in But these things will not stay here for it is the unhappy Fate of Princes rarely in their declining state to stay till they fall to the bottom And here we end the Year 1647 and hereafter shall observe the Divine Justice overtaking the other Promoters of the Miseries both in England Scotland and Ireland And if I shall ill perform it yet it may be a Ground-work for another to do it better In this Confusion the Nation began to forget the times under the King's Government now they saw no end of these And tho the Essex-Men who had the Bounds of their Forests broke down and were the first who petition'd the Parliament to redress Grievances and bring Delinquents to condign Punishment yet they are now the first who petition the Commons for a Personal Treaty with the King and then the Surrey-Men but were differently received and some of the Surrey-Men kill'd This was in May 1648. The Scots too offended that they and their Solemn League and Covenant were not taken notice of in the Preliminary Treaty with the King call a Parliament and order the Raising an Army to deliver the King out of Prison The rude Entertainment of the Essex and Surrey-Men was so far from quelling them that they rise in Arms in Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Wales and the North and declare for the King and People Sir William Batton too who was Vice-Admiral of the English Fleet goes over to Prince Charles with 17 Men of War and declare for the King having set Rainsborough made Admiral by the Army on Shore This was in May and June and soon after viz. in June the Surrey-Men rise being headed by the Duke of Buckingham and his Brother the Lord Francis with the Earl of Holland But it was decreed that this Prince who for 15 Years had violated the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation and without any Law or just Reason had so often imprisoned his best Subjects for endeavouring to reconcile him to his Subjects should now himself being made a Prisoner against Law find no Relief by Law or Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects For Cromwel sends Horton into Wales against Major-General Laughorn and Colonel Poyer who headed the Welch and had seized Pembrook and Tenby-Castles Fairfax marches into Kent and Rainsborough into the North where the Northern-Men had seized Pontfract-Castle and the Members restore the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral and fit out a Fleet under him to suppress that which joined the Prince of Wales Horton beats the Welch and took Laughorn and Poyer Prisoners and besieges and takes Pembrook and Tenby but whilst he besieged these Hamilton who the Year before was released from being a Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle by the King for holding Correspondence with the Covenanters while he was Commissioner now comes into England to discharge the King from his Imprisonment with a numerous Army of Scots which Sir Marmaduke Langdale Major-General Massey and many English join against these Cromwel after the Surrender of Pembrook and Tenby marches and utterly routs them and takes Hamilton Prisoner Nor were the Fate of the Kentish Essex and Suffolk Men better for Fairfax fights and beats the Kentish Men at Maidstone the Remainder under my Lord Goring whom the King had made Earl of Norwich cross the Thames at Greenwich and join the Essex Men headed by Sir Charles Lucas and march to Colchester where my Lord Capel and many Suffolk Men joined them Fairfax pursues them and after a stubborn Siege of 11 Weeks forces it to surrender being reduced to extream Famine and after caused Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle to be shot to Death Equal to this was the Success of the Surrey-Men for they were routed by Sir Michael Lewesly and my Lord Francis killed near Kingston But the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland with those which were escaped fled over Kingston-bridg and were pursued by Colonel Scroop and overtaken at St. Neots where Major-General Dolbier is killed the Earl of Holland taken Prisoner but the Duke of Buckingham escaped But the Northern-Men besieged in Pontfract Castle are not so easily subdued on the contrary a Party of about 30 Horse break through the Besiegers and surprize Rainsborough in his Bed at Doncaster about 12 Miles from Pontfract and kill him because he refused to be carried off a Prisoner but Pure Famine at last forced the Besieged to surrender The revolted Fleet now commanded by the Princes Rupert and Maurice partly cajol'd by the Earl of Warwick their former Admiral and unwilling to forsake their Country Wives and Children in great part return to the Parliament the rest were after pursued by Blake and Popham to Ireland from thence to Portugal from whence they were forced by Blake to Carthagena where Blake run the Princes Ships on shore yet the Princes having then but three Ships left and having no Port in Europe to protect them seek for one in the West-Indies where Prince Maurice is lost in a Hurricane and Prince Rupert after got into France and sold the Remainder of this miserable Fleet being two tatter'd Ships to Mazarine to fit out himself for other Adventures Whilst the Army was thus busied abroad the Members having got possession of the Fleet and the City of London being well affected to them they join with the Scotish Commissioners and rescind the Votes of Non-Addresses to the King
and in September appoint a Conference with the King at Newport in the Isle of Wight to continue for 40 Days and to that purpose take the King out of Prison and allow him the Liberty of the Island and the King upon the Matter with Reluctancy enough grants the Scots and Members their own Demands But neither the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation nor the Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects nor the joint Desires of the Scots and Members who had brought the King to this Condition could protect this unhappy Prince from his approaching Ruin for the Army every where victorious over the Scots and Royalists draw together and make a Remonstrance against all Peace with the King that Justice may be done upon him that the Crown and Church-Lands be sold to pay their Army and that the present Parliament be dissolved and another called which they present to the Members the Twentieth of November And herein Cromwel and his Son-in-law Ireton were the principal Promoters But the Members were intent upon the King's Answer to their Propositions and laid aside the Army's Remostrance which they take as a slighting of them and then seized the King in the Isle of Wight and make him Prisoner in Hurst-Castle an unhealthy Place and march to London puâ—â—â—â— Garisons into Whitehall Noble-Mens Houses and posted themselves about the Palace Yard Notwithstanding the Memberâ—nâ—â— upon the first of December and vote the King's Concessions to be a sufficient Ground for a Peace and then adjourn for a Week But when the Members were to meet again they found all the Avenues to the House beset with Soldiers who exclude all which were not of their Faction from entring the House which were not one fourth part and make the Residue Prisoners So that if the Mayor Sir John Gage and the Aldermen his Brethren were guilty of High Treason for committing a Force upon the Parliament viz. for continuing the Militia of London in the City the Year before how much more was it High-Treason in Cromwel and his Agents to keep back by Force three Fourths of the Members from entring the House and making them Prisoners that the Rumps of the rest might do his Journey-work So farewel Presbytery and all the Scotish Trumpery in England nor shall these secluded Members ever meet more but to dissolve themselves and make room for another Parliament which shall legally persecute them and their Solemn League and Covenant as much as they by it persecuted the King and their fellow Subjects against Law Nor was Presbytery much longer liv'd in Scotland where they shall never see it restored by this now Race of Kings which shall plague them with the Exercise of Archbishops and Bishops which by their Covenant they are sworn to abolish and cut off the Head of the principal of their Faction allowing them as little place for the Exercise of Presbytery as they now do the Episcopal Party Having tho but in Epitome seen the various Accidents in War whereby the King came to be in this Distress before we declare his End and the manner of it it 's fit in short to take notice of the several Treaties of Peace between the King and Parliament and the Improbability of the good Success in any of them The first Propositions for Peace which the Parliament sent to the King was June the 2d when the King was at York before the War broke out which were Nineteen which you may read at larger in Sir Richard Baker f. 518. a. b. In these Propositions no mention is made either of the Scots Covenant or abolishing Episcopacy yet some of them were so inconsistent with Monarchy and Arbitrary in the Parliament as the King in Honour and Conscience could not condescend to them I say the King could not in Honour or Conscience condescend to the 9th Proposition 15 and 16 Propositions to settle the Militia as the Parliament have ordered without the King That all Forts and Castles of the Kingdom be disposed of by the Parliament viz. The Houses and that the King discharge all his Guards and Forces and not to raise any but in case of actual Rebellion But how could this be done by the King when the Militia and Forts of the Kingdom were in the Power of the Houses So here the King who by Virtue of his Office is obliged to preserve the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and to suppress all Disturbers of them at home and to defend the Nation from all Foreign Invasion has no means to do any of them Objection But the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation by being armed with these Powers that the Nation could be in no Safety if they were continued in him Answer It 's true the Nation was in a very calamitous Estate herein But if the Members had only made it their Business how to have restrained the King herein and to have preserved the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation it would have had another Face than now when the Members are setting up themselves to do the same thing which they feared the King should act I say the King could not in Honour or Conscience agree to the 13th Proposition That the Justice of Parliament viz. the Members should pass upon all Delinquents and they to appear and abide by their Censure For Delinquent is a Word unknown to our Laws and so equivocal that it may signify whatever the Members pleased So that if the King had agreed to these Propositions he would have been a King that could neither have executed Justice nor shewed Mercy and the Houses have an unlimited Arbitrary Power to do whatever they pleased To the Propositions the King returns a sharp Answer That the Houses contrary to Law had pressed their Ordinances upon the People wrested from him the Command of the Militia countenanced the Treason of Hotham and had directed to the People Invectives against his Government and asperst him with favouring Papists and therefore protested that if he were utterly vanquished and a Prisoner in a worse Condition than any of his most unfortunate Predecessors had ever been reduced to he would never stoop so low as to grant these Demands and to make himself of a King of England a Duke of Venice But when the Covenanters in Scotland sent their Proposition to his Majesty he returned Answer he would rather die than submit to them and from a King of England make himself a Duke of Venice Yet the next Year of his own Accord went into Scotland and by Act of Parliament granted the Covenanters all they desired which yet perplext all the subsequent Treaties of Peace in England and more as the Case now stood The next Treaty was at Oxford in the beginning of 1643 which broke off the 15th of April and nothing agreed to upon this Score The Parliament Commissioners gave such Reasons for the King to assent to one of the most material Points of the Treaty that the King assented to it but
had not cheated both Mazarine and him thereby to be Arbitrator over the French as well as Spaniard when he pleased 6. Cromwel out-vied the best of our Kings in rendring our Laws to the Subject in the English Tongue for tho Edward the Third the most Excellent of our Kings permitted Pleading in the English Tongue yet he went no further whereas Cromwel rendred not only the Pleadings but Practice and Laws themselves into the English Tongue and herein he imitated our Saviour common Justice and the Practice of the most Learned and Civilized Nations I say he imitated our Saviour who after his Ascension wrought his first Miracle by inspiring his Apostles to speak all Languages to teach the Gospel to all Nations in their Native Tongue and by the same reason all Nations ought to be instructed in their Laws in their own Tongue I say this is conformable to common Justice for all Laws ought to be a Priori for where there is no Law there is no Transgression and if Laws be rendred in a Tongue not understood it 's all one to those who understand not the Language as if there had not been Laws The Romans and Grecians who were the most Learned and Civiliz'd of all Nations would never endure a Foreign Word in any of their Laws lest the Subject through Ignorance of it might be unjustly punished when 't was not his fault When Caesar was murder'd in the Senate and the Senators were ready to cut one another's Throats Cicero cried out Let there be an Amnestia and for the future the Power to reside in the Senate And you may read in his second Philippicks the long Apology he makes for suddenly using this Foreign Word in the Senate And Tiberius asked leave of the Senate to use Monopolion because 't was foreign to the Latin And the Romans as well as Grecians not only instructed Youth in their Laws but in all Arts and Sciences in their Mother-Tongue and thereby became the most Learned of all Nations But these good Deeds of Cromwel you 'll soon see will not long out-live him CHAP. III. A Continuation of this Treatise from the Death of Cromwel to the Restoration of King Charles the Second AFter the Death of Cromwel there was some Grumble between the Republican Officers of the Army and Protectorian who should succeed Those said that Cromwel when he was well promised his Son-in-law Fleetwood that he should succeed but these said That tho Cromwel was sick yet he declared his Son Richard his Successor and that this was his last Will And besides Cromwel's Council which by the Instrument of Government had the Power had elected Richard and so Richard was proclaimed Protector in all the publick Places of England Scotland and Ireland Richard thus seated not only the Protectorian but the Officers of the Republican Faction congratulate him and under their Hand-writing promise to be true to him and what Cromwel so industriously obtained from the Mercenary Officers of the Army in England and Scotland to congratulate him in his assuming the Protectorian Dignity and to assist him in it with their Lives and Fortunes is now voluntarily done by numerous Companies of Sycophants from all Parts of the Nation to the number of ninety Congratulatory Addresses which Richard had as little good of as King James II. had from those above thirty Years after When they flatter'd that Prince in those things which tended to the Subversion of the English Constitution both in Church and State But Richard's wandring Joys faded in the Bud For after his Father's Funeral the Pomp whereof undid him the Republican Officers cabal and conspire to depose Richard and exalt Fleetwood and in two respects they say Fleetwood ought to be Protector one that he was truly Godly and an expert Leader and had been tried to be so in many Difficulties The other Cromwel had by his last Will when he was Compos Mentis design'd him his Successor whereas Richard was substituted in a surreptitious manner by the Craft of some of the Council when Cromwel had lost his Senses Lambert after he had been discarded by Cromwel betook himself to Wimbleton-House where he turned Florist and had the fairest Tulips and Gelliâ—â—owers that could be got for Love or Money yet in these outward Pleasures he nourished the Ambition he entertain'd before he was cashier'd by Cromwel And in these Dissensions as Tortoises do upon the approach of the Spring he comes abroad and becomes a prime Ring-leader in the Cabal and in due time shall be the Ruin of them all The first thing they agree upon was to restore the common Souldiers to their former Pay which Cromwel had retrench'd two Pence a day And herein they shew their good Will as Dego did but how to pay the Souldiers they could no more tell than how Dego's Executors should pay his Legacies In this Kindness to the common Souldiers the Officers did not forget themselves and charge the Memory of Cromwel that he ruled over them with a Tyrannical and Despotical Power turning out and putting in Officers by his own Will therefore they petition Richard That for the future no Souldier be turned out of his place without a Council of War nor any Action brought but by Martial Law That no Souldier be tried in any Criminal Case but in a Court-Martial and that the Souldiers have Power to chuse their own General Richard was Head of no Faction as his Brother Fleetwood was nor was his gentle and easy Nature a â—it Match to encounter the intriguing Designs of Lambert or resist the rude Attacks of his Clownish Uncle Desborough and so foresees no Help to be had for his Security but from a Parliament Therefore Richard summons a Parliament to meet at Westminster upon the 27th of January 1658 of the Composition made by his Father of this and t'other House this to consist of 400 English 30 Scots and as many Irish This and t'other House met accordingly when this House fell at Variance with t'other House by what Right they sat there Nor did this House agree better with the Scots and Irish sitting there having no Right to sit and vote with the free-born English they being conquer'd Slaves and Creatures of the Protector Nor did the Republican and Protectorian Factions agree better However all agreed to recognize Richard Protector of England Scotland and Ireland yet would not agree to Cromwel's Instrument of Government but inveighed bitterly against it as being extorted from a lame Parliament that was neither â—ull nor free But they recalled Overton who was imprisoned in Jersey by the Arbitrary Will of Cromwel and made an Ordinance against the meeting of the Officers of the Army to hold Consultations till the Parliament should determine Affairs This Ordinance stung the Caballing Officers to the quick so that they resolved to be rid of Richard and his Parliament too but how to do this or where to begin admitted of great Debate For to begin at Richard now the Parliament
Fitzharris's Trial fol. 5. says That the Commons resolving to examine Hubert upon the Matter next Day Hubert was hanged before the House sat and so could tell no further Tales Those who excused the firing of London to have been by Design or that Hubert had any hand in it said Hubert was mad and knew not what he did or said And why then would they let him be tried upon it For it is not only contrary to our Laws but to the Law of Nature and Humanity to try and convict a Mad-man of any supposed Crime when he is incapacitated to make any Defence as a Mad-man is And tho the Statute of 33 Hen. 8. in High-Treason ordains That if a Man fall mad after he had committed High-Treason yet he should be tried for it and executed yet this extends only to High-Treason upon which Hubert was not tried but even this Law being deemed inhumane and cruel was soon after repealed But this Case of Hubert's only led the Van you 'll hear of others of like nature which followed I remember very well that when it was blazed about that Hubert was mad and the City in Ruin Hubert was carried to shew where he fired the City and tho it was in its Ruin Hubert shewed those who brought him where it began I confess I was not present then but such was the Fame of it which I never heard to be contradicted This Year the Parliament that they might not less contribute to the French Grandeur by Sea than the Rump had done by the Act of Navigation made a Law 18 Car. 2. cap. 2. against Importation of Irish Cattel which in regard it is the only Law since the Creation which was ever made by any Prince or State to make things necessary for Preservation and Convenience of Humane Subsistence scarce and dear we will more particularly make these Observations upon it The Reason given for this Law was That the Importation of Irish Cattel had fallen the Rents and Value of the Lands of England and were like to fall more Observation I. It 's true the Rents and Value of the Lands of England were fallen at this time considerably but not from the Importation of Irish Cattel for Lands are valuable as Trade is more or less and Money more plentiful And we have shewed That the Severity used by the Bishops in 1636 had sent many of our Woollen Manufacturers into Holland as much to their Enriching as to our Impoverishment That by the Treaty of Munster in 1648 the Dutch became Partakers with us in the Spanish Trade whereby above all others we were enriched That by reason of the Act of Navigation we have upon the matter lost the most beneficial Trades to Hamburgh and into the Sound with our Woollen Manufactures And besides the eternal fixing the Fishing-Trade upon the Coasts of England and Scotland to the Dutch by this War we have totally lost the Greenland Fishery and the Dutch partake with us in the Iseland and Westmony Fishing Trades and the French to the Newfound-Land That by Oliver's breaking with the Spaniard and joining with the French the Dutch got all the Riches of the Spanish Trade whilst we were bound to be Losers by the French I will add two more Reasons of the Fall of the Lands of England One The advantageous Treaty of Commerce made by Oliver with the French was not established by the King but a much worse if any submitted to And after the French set such high Imposts upon our Commodities that Sir John Trevor in his Appeal takes notice that we did not vend one fourth of the Commodities we before exported into France whilst we consumed French Wines Brandies and other French Wares more than before So that about this time or soon after the Lords Commissioners for a Treaty of Commerce with France appointed a Committee to inspect the Difference of the Ballance which besides those of Gloves Lace Ribbon and other Toys did amount yearly to 965128 l. 17 s. 4 d. imported from France more than exported out of England The other is That the most gainful Trade the English have is that to Spain which has no other Means to maintain it but by the Returns of their Fleet which since we took Jamaica the Buccaneers so interrupted the Spaniard in the West-Indies that as the Spanish Loss and Returns were more difficult so much was our Trade to Spain damnified Observation II. The Importation of Irish Cattel might fall the Rents of Lands yet not make them the less valuable for if Landlords would content themselves with the Product of their Tenants Labours so that if they could buy their Commodities half or one third c. cheaper their Lands would be as valuable as if they had half or one third c. more Rent and they pay so much more for their Commodities besides many thousands of People might subsist by their Labours where Provisions are cheaper which could not if dearer and the Charge of maintaining the Poor are so much more as Provisions are dearer and so much less must the foreign Vent of our Manufactures be as Provisions are dearer whereon Workmen subsist But admit the Importation of Irish Cattel had caused such Plenty of Provision as the Nation could not have expended yet if Commodities be Riches the Nation would have been so much more enriched by the Importation of the Irish Cattel and by this means might have established a foreign Trade upon that Account and only by foreign Trade the Nation is enrich'd Observation III. The Returns which the English made for Irish Cattel were Clothes Hats Caps Stockings Hops and other Manufactures which upon the Act ceasing the People who subsisted by working these necessarily fell into Decay and Poverty so as the Value of the Lands of England were lessen'd both ways for as these People who by their Labours were enabled to buy Provisions to the Improvement of the Value of the Lands of England so by their Poverty they became a Charge and Burden to them Observation IV. If it be Injustice and Wickedness to take away another's Lands or Goods without a just Cause it 's equally or more wicked and unjust to take away the means of living from industrious Men in their just Employments and make no Retribution both which this Law did to the People employed in the Manufactures returned for Irish Cattel Nor did this Law make any Provision for the Mariners employed in bringing over Irish Cattel nor pay the Owners of the Vessels employ'd in it for their Vessels now they had lost their Employment Nor did the Parliament give the King any Satisfaction for 30000 l. per An. Duties paid the King for importing Irish Cattel Observation V. By this Law the English lost the Manufactures of the Hides Tallow and Horns of the Cattel which might have been wrought in England and gave them to other Nations if the Irish should not work them to the Loss of the Employment of the English and thereby lessening the
of his Majesty's Subjects who are Dissenters in Matters of Religion from the Church of England And a Bill passed the House accordingly but was stopt in the House of Lords Causa patet the dead Weight joining with the Caballing Party But whatever the Commons thought of the King 's Dispensing Power in England Lauderdale the fifth in the Cabal in England was of another Opinion in Scotland for in the second Parliament c. 1. held by him he gets an Act declaring That by Virtue of the King's Supremacy the ordering the Government of the Church does properly belong to his Majesty and Successors as an inherent Right of the Crown and that he may enact and emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Church-Administrations Persons Meetings and Matters as he in his Royal Wisdom shall think fit c. any Law Act or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding And that he might not be less active in Scotland than his Brother Clifford was in England and Buckingham and Arlington were in Holland being armed with these other Powers he made all sorts of People depose upon Oath their Knowledg of the Persons of Dissenters not Popish Meetings in the Exercise of their Worship upon Penalty of Fining Imprisonment Banishment and Transportation to be sold for Slaves imprisoning all outed Ministers who shall preach out of their Families till they give Security of 5000 Marks Scot not to do the same again every Hearer being a Tenant to pay 25l Scot and Cotter 12 toties quoties they shall offend and that it shall be Death for any to preach in Fields or Houses where any are without doors and 500 Marks Reward for any to secure such dead or alive and gave Orders That every Man for himself and all under him should give Bond not to go to Field-Meetings and to inform against pursue and deliver up all outed Ministers to Judgment The Execution of these Orders was not by legal Officers but by an Army of Highland Robbers who quartered upon the Country so that it may be a Question whether the French King did not take his Measures in his Dragoon-Reformation by the ground-work laid by Lauderdale But his Grace which it seems did work irresistibly did not stay here for his Highland Army which consisted of eight or nine thousand Men not only lived upon Free Quarter upon all sorts of the King 's peaceable Subjects but in most places levied great Sums of Money under the Notion of Dry Quarters they had only regard to the Duke 's private Animosities for the most part of the Places where they quartered and destroyed had not been guilty of Field-Conventicles The King's Subjects were denounced Rebels and Captions issued out for seizing their Persons for not entring into Bond That neither they nor any under them shall go to Field-Conventicles and the Nobility and Gentry were disarmed who had ever been faithful to the King and assisted in suppressing Field-Conventicles Indictments were delivered in by the King's Advocate in the Evening to be answered next Morning upon Oath otherwise they were to be reputed guilty These and many more of this kind in the Matters relating to Lauderdale's Administration of Affairs in Scotland were represented to the King and that by his Command and are in Lauderdale's and his Lady's Impeachment which are all in Print Notwithstanding all this it was this Lauderdale who had procured an Act of Parliament to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse to march into England to serve the King upon all Occasions And tho the Duke to prevent the Fame of his Actions arriving in England had by a Proclamation forbid all Subjects to depart the Kingdom without Licence yet the Noise of his Actions flew every where in England not less than the Censures of the Star-Chamber and High Commission in Laud's Regency did in Scotland and in due time the Duke shall hear of them Can any Man now believe That the King by his Declaration of Indulgence intended any Benefit to the Dissenters in England whilst Lauderdale without doubt by his Order was acting these things in Scotland The House of Commons could not at first step forget all the Loyalty they before profest to the King nor yet would they own the Dutch War and therefore they voted the King 1238750 l. to supply the King 's extraordinary Occasions but before they would let this Bill slip through their Fingers they tack'd a Bill to it by which no Papist should have any publick Employment This Bill catch'd my Lord Treasurer Clifford the first in the Cabal who was forced to resign his Treasurer's Place or renounce Popery which he would not do his Pensioners not being against it hoping thereby to get the Places which the Popish Party held and even my Lord Chancellor Ashley from Delenda Carthago now sets up for the Country Party against the Designs of the Cabal so moultry are all Designs which are not cemented in Justice and Honour The King having got the Bill for the Money the further Sitting of the Parliament became uneasy to him whereupon the Parliament was adjourned till the 20th and after to the 27th of October viz. 1673. During this Recess there were three Sea-Fights between the English French and Dutch Prince Rupert Admiral in all which the French stood aloof looking on whilst the English and Dutch battered one another only Monsieur de Martell for engaging was recalled checked and dismissed As the English thrived no better by Sea so neither did the French by Land for first the Elector of Brandenburg then the Emperour and at last the King or Queen Regent of Spain apprehensive of the Danger common to them all of the French subduing the Dutch Provinces entred into a mutual League for their Defence and by their Conjunction the Prince of Orange recovered many of the Vpland Towns in almost as little Time as the French had taken them In this state the Swede now broke loose from the Triple League whereby he opened the Gap to let in this Confusion and became a Pensioner to France and proposes a Treaty of Peace to be held at Cologn and thither the King the Emperor the French King and the King of Spain send their Plenipotentiaries to treat of it The French King's Propositions were so insolent that if granted our King could have nothing yet the King pudet haec insisted That tho he was contented with such Propositions as he required so as accepted in ten Days yet if granted by the States they should be of no force nor will he enter into any Treaty of Peace unless his most Christian Majesty shall receive Satisfaction from the States in his Particular After the French King should have all the King's Demands were a Regulation of the Trade to the East-Indies a Settlement of the Freedom of Navigation in Europe the Arrears for the Fishing-Trade upon the English Coast to assert a settled Revenue to the Crown for every Buss or Dogger-boat for the future and to make Satisfaction for the Damages
the Covenant and burnt several Acts of Parliament made against it and for establishing Prelacy since the Year 1660 and would have affixed their Declaration at Glascow but were prevented by the King's Forces for that time This Rebellion of the Covenanters initiated by so horrid a Fact did not extend so far as the Covenanters in their Frenâ—â— and Zeal imagined yet upon Sunday the 1st of June they rendezvouz'd about fifteen hundred Men upon Louden-Hill onâ—â— Wier commanded the Foot and the Horse was under Robert Hamilton one Patron with Balfour and Hackston which two 〈◊〉 assassinated the Arch-bishop With this Force they took the City of Glasgow and to sheâ— how all Crowns and Scepters must vail to them they published two Proclamations The first of which was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Burgh of Glasgow to furnish us with 24 Carts and 60 Horses for removing our Provisions from this Place to 〈◊〉 Camp where-ever we shall set down the same and to abide with us for that End during our Pleasure under pain of being reputed our Enemies and proceeded against accordingly The other was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command the Magistrates of Glasgow to extend and banish forth thereof all Arch-bishops Bishops and Curates their Wives Berns Servants and Families and Persons concerned in the King's Army within 48 Hours after publishing hereof under highest Pains And then they published a long Declaration of their taking up Arms for a free General Assembly and free and unlimited Parliament to redress the manifold Grievances there enumerated and humbly to request his Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms that was to the Dominion the Rump-Parliament in England had over them which you may read at large in the aforesaid Author from pag. 67 to 74. To these Declarations the said Author p. 17. adds they barbarously treated the dead Body of one Graham whom they had killed at a Conventicle They committed insufferable Insolencies in the Houses of the regular Ministers and Loyal Gentlemen as they marched along to Glasgow stabbing and gashing his Majesty's Picture where-ever they found it They behaved themselves barbarously in the House of the Arch-bishop of Glasgow where they burnt his Books cut in pieces his best Furniture and Hangings and almost kill'd a Gentlewoman with Blows who was left to keep the House for saying Gentlemen I hope you 'll remember you are in an Arch-bishop's House They sacrilegiously entred the Cathedral of Glasgow and finding a Tombstone over two of the Children of the Bishop of Argile with an Inscription of a Modern Date they digged up their Bodies run them through with their Swords and left them lying above Ground In the mean time the Council of Scotland were not idle but raised an Army and quartered it at a place called Blackborn to prevent the Covenanters Approach to Edinburgh and gave the King an Account of these things and expected his Majesty's further Orders And now I 'll tell a wonder which will scarce be believed in future Generations The King sent the Duke of Monmouth from London upon the 20th of June and the Duke rode above three hundred Miles upon that day and the two next days and upon the 23d ordered and disposed the King's Army raised by the Council that he fought the Covenanters and routed them killing about seven hundred of them and took above eleven hundred of them Prisoners and now it may be you will hear of a Wonder in Consequence after this Fight as great as the Fight and the Duke's Journey before it I do not question but the Design of the Court in sending the Duke of Monmouth into Scotland to suppress the Covenanters was by it to make him odious to the Presbyterians and other Dissenters from the Church of England in case he suppressed the Covenanters which tho the Duke did yet the End designed by the Court in it did not succeed For the dreadful Apprehension of the Duke's Succession to the Crown of England had taken a deep Impression in another sort of Men besides Dissenters and where Men are fearful of Danger they will seek all means how to prevent the Danger especially where the Power of doing ill is greater and therefore another sort of Men no Whigs might have their Eyes upon the Duke of Monmouth as the only means to prevent the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown his Title to the Crown of England if he could get an Act of Parliament for it being as good as that of John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Elizabeth Moore from whom the King and the Duke of York were both descended and in whose Right they claimed the Crown of Scotland if not those of England and Ireland However this gave the Lie to the Tories that all those were Commonwealths-Men who would not submit to the Illegal and Arbitrary Will of the King and their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and that Kings Jure Divino may do what they list tho God has set Laws and Bounds to all the created Bodies of Heaven and Earth and all other Creatures in them But how mischievous these Doctrines have proved to these three Kings of the Scotish Nation has been already said and I say it has been such flattering Doctrines as those that ruined all these Kings and Kingdoms except the Gibeonites Joshua 9. the State of Venice and that of Geneva for Du Salez was a just and vertuous Prince from which Commonwealths arose Who ever before King James and King Charles the First 's Reign in England heard of talking of Common-wealths in England and the several sorts of Governments viz. Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy which two latter tho they have the same Names yet no two of either in their Constitutions were like one the other And as these Commonwealths took their Rise from the Tyrannies of Kings and Princes so the exploded Government of the Rump if it were a Democracy or Common-wealth gave Life to all those Confusions Perjuries Breach of Leagues and devilish Practices of this Reign which would have been intolerable in any other and would have been opposed if not by rising in Arms against them yet at least in not so profusely pouring out Money for not continuing and carrying of them on The Popish Faction were more jealous of the Duke of Monmouth than the Tories were of a Commonwealth and the rather because there was a Pamphlet printed that the King was married to the Duke's Mother and rumoured abroad that Sir Gilbert Gerrard had a Black Box in which the Marriage of the King with the Duke's Mother was fully proved and made out and the fear of the Duke of York's Succession was so fix'd in Mens Minds that the Story of the Black Box was generally divulged and for ought I know believed by those who were fearful of the Duke of York's Succession If this could be
Man be asked his Opinion of any Law or Point in Law and he gives it according to the best of his skill shall this be taken for Treason and depraving of the Law and a Man be in danger of his Life for it This was the Earl's Case he was called upon by the Duke to take the Test with his Explanation before he did it and whereas Mackenzy says there was no Force upon the Earl I 'm sure if my Author says true the Earl refused to give in the Paper whereof he is indicted and proffered to lay down his Offices upon it till the Duke peremptorily commanded him to do it if this were not Force I would know what is I 'm sure there was no Force but Corruption and Bribery upon the Advocate to enter into this villanous Conspiracy against this Noble Earl to murder him under the Pretext of Justice which is to be esteemed sacred And let any Man read his whole Harangue and see if there be any thing in it but forced and strained Inferences or any one Proof against the Earl within the Act 60 Parl. 6. Mary or the 9 Act. Par. 20. Jac. 6. which makes it Treason to make false Construction of Laws to others with a Design to raise Sedition and Dissension among the King's Subjects so that some Overt Act or Speech to others with a Design to raise Sedition c. must be proved and not what is said in the Council or any Court of Judicature However as was the Advocate such were the Assizers whereof the Marquess of Montross the Earl's Father's most bitter Enemy was the Fore-Man and the rest of the Pack of the same Stamp who with one Voice found the Earl guilty of Treason Leasing-making and Leasing-telling but like conscientious Men having made the Earl to have forfeited his Life Honour and Estate by a Majority they find the Earl innocent of Perjury which they could get nothing by So that the Noble Lord Lorn is become the Forlorn late Earl of Argyle yet the Earl not to be wanting to himself in this deplorable State next day but one viz. December the 15th by a Friend humbly intreated to speak with the Duke who returned Answer It was not ordinary to speak with Criminals except with Rogues on some Plot where Discoveries might be expected By this you may see what Spirit governed this Prince and what might be expected from him if he became King The next Day after the Earl's Sentence viz. December the 14th the Council gave the King notice of it and expected his further Pleasure now the Work is done to his Hand but it seems his Highness was very impatient till he had the Earl's Blood for he said If the Express from the King came not timously he would take upon himself what was to be done by which you may see what an Ascendency the Duke had over the King However the Earl upon the sixteenth petitioned the Duke that he might send a Petition to the King which was refused Things brought to this Extremity and the Earl hearing that some Troops and a Regiment of Foot were to be brought down from the Castle to the Common Goal from which Criminals were usually brought to Execution he resolved to try to make his Escape and the rather because about seven at Night he had notice that new Orders were given for further securing him and that the Castle Guards were to be doubled and that none were suffered to go out without shewing their Faces and therefore a Friend advised him not to attempt it No said the Earl now is the Time and so he attempted it and it pleased God he escaped Hereupon the Lords of Assize upon the twenty third of December pronounced the Earl guilty of the Crimes of Treason Leasing-making and Leasing-telling for which being detained in the Castle of Edinburgh out of which since the Verdict having made his Escape therefore they adjudged the said Earl to be executed to Death and his Name Memory and Honours to be extinct and his Arms to be riven forth and delete out of the Book of Arms swa that his Posterity may never have Place nor be able hereafter to bruick or joyse any Honour Offices Titles or Dignities within this Realm iâ— time coming and to have forefaulted all his Lands and Tenements c. But tho the Earl be escaped out of Prison whereto shall he flee For Terras I 'am sure Britannicas Astraea reliquit he had some thoughts of casting himself at the King's Feet but those soon vanished for the same Counsel which governed in Scotland raged all England over and so privately he passed into Holland where for some time we leave him and see what 's doing in England Mr. Hawles in his Remarks upon Fitz-Harris's Trial F. 18. out of Tully's Offices lays this down for a Rule That nothing is profitable but what is honest for which Tully gives many Reasons but nothing so convincing as the Examples he brings in publick and private matters and tho the Empire was vast and he bore a great Figure in it and was very knowing in the Greek and Roman Histories yet was he not able to bring a hundredth Part of Examples to prove his Position as had been in this little Island in the space of eight Years And in his Preface gives six Reasons for the Disaffection to the late Government viz. Exorbitant Fines cruel and illegal Prosecutions outragious Damages dispensing with the Test and penal Laws and undue Prosecutions in criminal but more especially in capital Matters But these I take to be the Effects of those Councils which governed in England ever after the King's Restoration tho they did not so manifestly appear till the Duke was sent into Scotland and after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford and for these first six Years after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford the Tories in England as well as in Scotland were the Tools which the Popish Faction made use of for carrying on their Designs then they were laid by and the Whigs set up as they thought to finish the Work The Tories were so far from being suppressed by the Proceedings of the Commons against them last Westminster Parliament that they only so much more irritated them against the Whigs after the Dissolutions of the last Westminster and Oxford Parliaments and this was what the Popish Party desired The King's Declaration signed Francis Gwyn was not only obeyed by the Tories but entertained with unexpressible Joy and celebrated with manifold Returns of Thanks to his Majesty and now nothing but Halcyon Days were expected and an absolute Dominion over the Whigs and the King to gratify the Tories in their Jollity and after the Bill for repealing the Act of 35 Eliz. was taken out of the House of Lords before it was passed which little sorted with the King's Declarations of Indulgence has this Law now put in Force against the Dissenters and prosecuted with that Violence that many thousands of Families
have a Commission but by Law is utterly disabled and disarmed Will you exchange your Birth-right of English Laws and Liberties for Martial and Club-Law and help to destroy all others only to be eaten up at last your selves If I know you well as you are English Men you hate and scorn these things And therefore be not unequally yoked with idolatrous and bloody Papists Be valiant for the Truth and shew your selves Men. The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all English Seamen who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since 88. The first Lightning which the dormant Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs produced fell upon the Bishop of London a Person of Exemplary Vertue and Loyalty and who besides the Nobility of his Birth had his Father slain in the late Civil Wars in defence of the King's Father's Cause and had himself and all his Brothers freely and valiantly exposed their Lives in defence of it The Crime alledged against him was that by the King's Letter he did not suspend Doctor Sharp then Dean of Norwich now Archbishop of York for preaching a Sermon against the Frauds and Corruptions of the Church of Rome by a Power as Arbitrary as that by which the Commissioners acted and for this these Commissioners suspended the Bishop tho every one understood the true Cause was the Bishop's Motion in the House of Lords to have debated the King's Speech Tantum Religio potuit swadere malorum I 'm perswaded King Charles the II. to make a Roman Hierarchy in Scotland made the Bishops out of the most obnoxious of the Clergy who besides their profligate Lives run the King's Prerogative there to a higher pitch than Laud in the King's Father's time did in England And that towards the latter end of his Reign he laid the same design here for the Bishopricks of Oxford York St. David's and Chester becoming void about the latter end of his Reign or beginning of King James's I 'll not name the Bishoprick of Litchfield and Coventry for the Petticoat governed in that Election Dr. Samuel Parker whom Mr. Marvel in his Rehearsal transposed calls Bays a Man of a virulent Disposition and who by railing against the Church got into Preferment and when he was in became a zealous Railer against them without was made Bishop of Oxford Dr. Cartright as high for the Prerogative as Parker was made Bishop of Chester and the Succession to these two Bishopricks was the more observable because Parker succeeded Dr. Fell and Cartright Dr. Peirson Men of Piety and Learning equal to any in their time and one Watson an obscure Man was made Bishop of St. David's but the Archbishoprick of York was reserved for a Person of another Temper whom these Bishops were making way for The Presidentship of Magdalen College in Oxford becoming void and the Fellows fearing a Mandamus would be imposed upon them for some Person not qualified by the Statutes and whom by their Oaths they could not submit to chose Dr. Hough for President a Person qualified by their Statutes for that Place As the Fellows feared so it came to pass for the King sent them a peremptory Mandamus to chuse the Bishop of Oxford Bays their President but he being a Person not qualified by the Statutes of their College which the Fellows were sworn to observe they in a humble Answer excused themselves as being otherways obliged as well by their Oath as Statutes I will not repeat the Anger the King express'd hereupon 't is in Print but sure such Language was never used by any Prince before But if the King 's harsh Language will not work the Fellows to his Will he will send the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs among them to turn them out of their Fellowships wherein they had as much Property as any other had to any real or personal Estate nor shall these Commissioners stay here but by a new strain of Tyranny never practised but by Absolute Tyrants they make the Fellows uncapable of any other Ecclesiastical Preferments The Fellows thus expelled the Statutes of the College are thrown out of Doors to make room for a Seminary of Jesuits and Popish Priests as much tending to the Subversion of the established Church of England as the Statutes of the College But see how God in his Providence blasted these things for the Bishop of Oxford had scarce taken possession of his thus new-acquired Presidentship when he died and you 'll soon see the Fellows restored again in spite of these Commissioners and Dr. Hough made Bishop of Oxford as well as President of Magdalen College If the King were zealous in advancing his Prerogative Royal both in the Church and State of England he will not be less in Scotland whereupon the 12th of February 1686-87 he issues out his Proclamation for Toleration of Religion which you may read in the State Tracts wherein he asserts his Absolute Power which he says his Subjects ought to obey without reserve But the Toleration which the King allows his Roman Catholick Subjects in Scotland he 'll scarce permit to his Protestant Subjects in Ireland for Tyrconnel for so has Talbot merited for his Service in Reforming the Army is not only made an Earl but Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the room of my Lord Clarendon and one Fitton made Sir Alexander an infamous Person detected for Forgery not only at Westminster but at Chester and fined in the House of Lords was brought out of the King's Bench in England to be Chancellor and Keeper of the King's Conscience in Ireland in place of Sir Charles Porter The first Proclamation which Tyrconnel issued out was dated Feb. 21. 1687. wherein he promised to defend the Laws Liberties and established Religion but leaves out the preservation of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation But tho at first he only left out the Acts of Settlement and Explanation being resolved first to out the Protestants and let the Irish into their forfeited Estates yet did he not stay here and Bishop King in his Treatise of the State of the Protestants in Ireland gives so particular and methodical an Account how he proceeded in the destroying the Church and State of Ireland as by Law established that I refer the Reader to it not intending to lessen it by taking parts of it When the Judges had been above a Year propagating the King's Power in Westminster-Hall and in their Circuits of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests against Dissenters from the Church upon the 25th of April 1687 out comes the King's Declaration to all his Subjects for Liberty of Conscience wherein the King declares That it had been a long time his constant Sense and Opinion that Conscience ought not to be restrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion and that it was contrary to his Inclination as he thought it to be the disinterest of the Government by spoiling Trade and depopulating Countries c. Sure no Prince ever acted
been bound Apprentices in them whilst these Free-men by the Prerogative of their Freedom impose what Rates they please upon the poor Artificers and set their own Prizes upon the Nobility Gentry and others who buy of them He that begins any Work labours under manifold more Difficulties and is more subject to Error than another who builds upon his Foundation This is my Case and therefore am more excusable for the Frailties and Errors I may have committed in this Design but upon the Discovery of any I promise to recant it I am sure my Intention is honest herein being for the Good of my Country and those Labours are best which are spent in the Benefit of it FINIS ERRATA PAge 20. line 16. r. as fierce P. 52. l. 16. del this l. 17. r. this House P. 57. l. 16. del the Parentheses P. 100. l. 5. del Comma after not P. 118. l. 28. after drawn add P. 119. l. 41. del the last that P. 132. l. 15. r. Spanish Secretary P. 135. l. 24. r. then went P. 167. l. 30. r. then P. 374. l. 15. del Comma after God P. 378. l. 10. and 379. l. 20. for former r. first P. 398. l. ult after confirmed put Comma P. 530. l. 10. r. they will P. 540. l. 37. r. 20 l. P. 646. l. 1. â— and not to do it and give An Alphabetical TABLE OF THE Principal Matters contain'd in this BOOK A. ABbot Arch-bishop zealous for the Elector Palatine 93. His plain Letter to the King 111 112. Refuses to license Sibthorp's Sermon 197. Is basely dealt with on that account ib. 268. His Character and Death 238. Abhorrers of Petitions for Parliament prosecuted by the Commons 555 556. Act of 35 Eliz. repeal'd by Parliament 557. but not by the King 559. Act of Vniformity 439. Adjutators in the Army 318. Albeville Marquess his Memorial at the Hague 649. Algerines at War with the English and Dutch 452. Alliance with Spain the Commons Votes concerning it 558. Amboyna the Dutch Cruelty there 121. Ancre a French-man his lamentable End 86. Ann K. James's Queen her Character 75. Is averse to Villiers and foretels what he would be ib. 76 124. Her Death 88. Apprentices 663 665 678. Arbitrary Notions see Cowel Archy K. James's Fool 112. Argyle Marquess executed 444. His Character and Story 568 569. Earl his Character c. 568 570 575 578. His Explanation of the Test for which he 's tried and condemned but escapes 578 586. Aristotle's Logick censur'd 22. Arlington Lord rudely treats the Prince of Orange but fails in his Design 508. Arminians severe against their Opponents 242. See Mountague c. Army declares for the King 319. yet draw up a Remonstrance against him march to London and exclude most of the Members 328. Articuli Cleri see Bancroft Ashley Cooper made Lord Chancellor 478. Joins with the Country Party and is turn'd out 492. His Life most unjustly aim'd at 596 598. Is clear'd by the Grand Jury 599. Remarks on his Case ib. Askew Sir George his Success at Sea 353 354. Avaux the French Ambassador discovers his Master's and K. James's Designs 649 650. Audley Palace what it cost 77. Author Story of his Father Brother and Himself in Cromwel's time 392 396. B. BAcon Sir Francis censur'd for Bribery 97. Bancroft ABp for Absolute Power in the King 57 59. Barebone's Parliament 373. Their Thoughts of the Dutch 374 375. Their Articles with them 376. Their Acts resign their Power to Cromwel 377. Barnvelt Head of a Dutch Faction 33 121. Takes Advantage of the ill Posture of K. James's Affairs 80. Loses his Head for opposing the Prince of Orange 121. Batton Sir William joins Prince Charles at Sea 326. Bedlow discovers Godfrey's Murder 534. Bill of Exclusion rejected by the Lords 557. Billeting of Souldiers voted a Grievance 207 217. Bishop of London his Motion to debate the King's Speech 629. Is suspended by the High Commission 639. Bishops in Scotland re-ordained 122 262. In England voted out of Parliament 276. Oppose several good Bills 490 629. Several of 'em both in England and Scotland most profligate Persons 639 640. Seven refuse to read K. James's Declaration are tried and clear'd 644 645. Remarks thereon and on their Prayers for the King 645 647 650. Blake Governour of Taunton 312. Commands at Sea 327 351 353 355. Bohemia History of that Kingdom 89 93 101 102. Chuse Frederick Count Palatine their King 93. Booth Sir George overthrown by Lambert 409. Bridgman Lord Keeper his Speech on K. Charles's Treaties 475. Is turn'd out 478. Bristol see Digby Britain its Situation Bounds c. 12. Justly claims the Soveraignty of the Seas 659 660. See Grotius Buckingham see Villiers C. CAbal in 1671. who they were 478. Their pretended Causes of the Dutch War 479. Another in 1673. 495. Care Henry sentenc'd for writing his Weekly Packet 546. Carr Sir Rob. has an extravagant Boon order'd by K. James 61. Made Viscount Rochester and courted by the Countess of Essex 63. Procures the Ruin of Overbury 64 68 70. Created Earl of Somerset and married in extravagant Splendor 70 71. His Fall 74. His Pardon refus'd to be sign'd 76. His vast Estate 77. which is seiz'd by the King 79. Tried for Overbury's Murder ib. Castlemain sent Ambassador to the Pope 642. Cavaliers slighted by Charles II. 424 426. Cecil Lord Treasurer saves K. James 15000 l. and how 61. Charles I. while Prince his breach of Faith in Spain breaks off his Match 116 117 128. Is proposed to the French King's Daughter 119 125 140. yet her Portion not a tenth of the Infanta's 142. The extravagant Articles of her Marriage 142 143. Berule's Deputation for a Dispensation for it 143 145. First 15 Years of his Reign perfectly French 153. His great Wilfulness and Levity 156 187. Makes War on Spain at Buckingham's Instigation 157. Commands Pennington to deliver up his Ships to the French 162. His Warrant in favour of Papists dispenses with the Laws 165 168. His first Breach with his Parliament 166. His many Mistakes the first five Months 171 172. His ill Success in the War with Spain 172 173. Breaks his Word with the Keeper 179. His peremptory Message to the Commons with their Answer and his threatning Reply 183 184. Reproves his Parliament 184 185. His Reasons for blasting Bristol's Articles against Buckingham 187. The Lords Reasons against his 188 189. His Arbitrary Declarations after dissolving the Parliament in favour of Buckingham descanted on 190 192. Is accountable only to God 190 210 219 236 268. Demands Money of his People out of Parliament 196 228 252. Imprisons the Gentry for refusing to pay and keeps up a Standing Army on free Quarter 199 228 236. His dissembling and threatning Speech at the opening of Parliament with large Remarks upon it 202 206. His Message to the Commons to hasten Supplies 210 211. His Answer to the Petition of Right 213. which he resolves to abide by 214. Passes the Petition 216. His unaccountable
A DETECTION OF THE Court and State OF ENGLAND DURING The Four Last REIGNS And the INTER-REGNUM Consisting of Private Memoirs c. With Observations and Reflections AND AN APPENDIX discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many SECRETS never before made publick As also a more impartial Account of the CIVIL WARS in England than has yet been given In Two Volumes By ROGER COKE Esquire The Third Edition very much corrected With an Alphabetical Table London Printed for Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhill MDCXCVII AN APOLOGY TO THE READER THAT Man has lived long enough who has out-lived the Love and Piety he owes to his Native Country by my Native Country I do not mean the fertile and pleasant Soil of Britain nor the sweet and temperate Climate of it nor the manifold Varieties which it naturally abounds with for the use and conveniencies of humane Life nor yet the pleasant and excelling Rivers which water it nor the noble Havens and abundance of most open Ports from which it supplies other Parts of this our habitable Globe with the super-abundance of those Commodities wherein it excels and whereof the Inhabitants of those Parts stand in need and where the Waters flow as well as ebb as if they invited the World to trade with us as well as we with them But by my Native Country I mean the Constitutions and Laws of the English Monarchy which have continued for near Nine hundred Years viz. since King Egbert made a Decree that laying aside the Names of Britains and Saxons the whole Nation of that part of Britain under his Dominion should be called England Vnder these Constitutions and Laws have all English Men ever since without any Act of their own Will been born in Subjection and by them have been protected in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to govern by these Constitutions and Laws have been the Claims of our Hereditary Monarchs who have ever since governed England and though the Succession of the Kings of England have been often changed in the Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings yet these Laws and Constitutions have been ever since preserved notwithstanding the Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and I may say of the Scotish Race too to have subverted them which I believe is more than can be said of any other Monarchy in the World out of Britain So that in our English Government the Constitution and Laws of it are as well the Rules of the King's Dominion as of the Subject's Allegiance to the King and when the Majesty of the King is arrayed in Judgment Justice and Mercy then for his Subjects to resist him is High Treason in this World and Damnation in that to come and I think I may truly say no People in the World are more Honourers of their Kings yet more jealous of preserving their Constitutions and Laws than the English whereby they have preserved their Government now France and Spain whose Government was like ours have lost theirs But when the Kings of England will not make the Laws and Constitutions of England to be their Will but their Will differing from these to be the Laws and Constitutions of it then a divided Dominion will necessarily follow and it will be impossible for the Subject to obey both The King hereby puts himself out of God's Protection whose Vice-Gerent he is in governing by the Laws and misplaces his Majesty which is founded in the Honour Love and Obedience of his Subjects upon Minions and Favorites whose Servant he makes himself and these shall be the first who shall forsake him when any Adversity shall come upon him Our Chronicles give Instances hereof in the Reigns of King John Hen. 3. Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. And the design of this Treatise is to shew the Consequences that have been produced hereby in the Reigns of the Kings of the Scotish Race In this regular Monarchy the Kings of England do not abrogate old Laws or impose new or raise Monies from the Subject above the Revenues of the Crown without Consent in Parliament and hereby the Kings of England reign in the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and are freed from the Imputation of Tyranny in Sanguinary Laws and from Oppression in the Taxes granted in Parliament which no absolute Monarch is and are more absolutely obeyed in both than any absolute Monarch who makes his Will the Law of his Subjects The Division of the Will of a King of England does not only distract the Allegiance of his Subjects so that the divided Will of the King must necessarily prevail over the Laws and Constitutions of it or these prevail against the divided Will for both are incompatible and cannot subsist together But this Distraction gives Life and Motion to the ambitious Humour of Male-contents who are impatient as well of Regal Government as of submitting to the Laws and Constitutions of it And I submit my self to the Judgment of any Impartial Reader if this Divided Will in the Prince did not give that Life and Motion to the Ambition of the Factions in England Scotland and Ireland which not only raised Civil Wars in all of them but brought destruction upon K. Charles the First as well as the Laws and Constitutions of them However I will take Notice of the Loyalty of the English Nation both to K. James the first and K. Charles the first that tho these Kings were foreign born to our Laws and Constitutions yet it patiently submitted to their Vsurpations for above 35 Years whereas when King Charles the first thought he had wholly subdued this Kingdom to his Will and endeavoured to have done the same in Scotland his Native Country the Scots would not endure it so many Weeks as the English had done Years but rose against it first in Tumults after in open Arms and the discontented Parties in England joining with them however disjoined from one another brought on those Civil Wars in all the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which procur'd Destruction to the King as well as the Kingdoms In writing this History I cannot say with the noble Baptista Nani I have any Command from my Prince or any other to do it neither will I pretend to such great Advantages as he had gratis by a free access to the Records and most secret Counsels of my Country tho I must not say I have been wholly destitute of some for else such an Vndertaking would render me guilty of the highest Arrogance but what those have been I judg not pertinent here to relate they will best appear by the Work it self Yet I can say with Nani that I have not suffered my self to be defiled with Partiality which hath so prevailed in all the Writers of the late and present Times that I have seen but passing by the Privilege of venerable Antiquity which to a face of Truth hath another close adjoining that of Falshood I have chosen to expose my self
to Trial and perhaps to Reproof and that I might render a Testimony of Authority to Posterity to write the Story of the present Age to the Age it self And I am not only induced hereto by the Authority of so noble an Historian but by the Reason of History For many Accidents and Circumstances which are no part of the Records of Time and which soon die and are forgotten are so interwoven in History as to make it entire and of one piece and which not only enliven it and create pleasure in reading of it but without them History becomes disjointed and is made up of broken pieces And I can in part say with the noble Nani and in his own words That to compose Histories is sacred and not to be undertaken but with an upright Mind and undefiled Hands and for that Cause the Memory of them was consigned to the Temple under the faithful Custody of the Chief Priests as the Witness or Trust of those that went before and the Treasure of those that should come after not to be handled but as a Religious Thing and with great Caution In sum the Historian taking to himself an absolute Dictatorship nay an Authority more than Human over Times Persons and Actions governs Fame measures Deserts penetrates Intentions discloses Secrets is with an undistinguished Arbitriment over Kings and People the Judg of Ages past and Master of those to come Absolves or Punishes Deceives or Instructs Whence not without Reason the Pen of Writers may be compared to the Lightning which striking out but one Letter from the Name Caesar Augustus made him a God because Praise is a thing so tender that one Dash makes Illustrious and a little Blot Infamous and the Censure of the World thereupon is so severe that it either consecrates to Eternity or proscribes to Infamy For my self I know not what else to wish but that every one would take upon him to read this Work with the same disinterested and innocent Mind with which I have wrote it confining my Confidence in this one thing that the present Age will not be so unjust to me nor so ungrateful to Posterity as to deny me the Opinion of Sincerity It was Nani's Felicity to write the Stories of the Times when the Prudence of the Venetian Senate not only preserved their State from the Tumults of War wherein Christendom was engaged but in a great measure was Arbitrator of it So that the Wars which Nani writes of were like Thunder afar off yet herein Nani expatiates his Story in a short time scarce 30 Years into a large Volume whereas without looking after any thing abroad but what relates to my Story I am contracted to the unhappy Story of my Native Country to shew from what Causes such a Train of Consequences have followed that England which before was the Ballance which turned the Scale of the Affairs of Christendom to that side it inclined not only fell from this envied Height and became the most despisable of all other States but sunk into the most miserable State of Abject and Pity I am the rather induced to write the Story of these Times because the Hackney-Writers of them at least those I have seen have not only taken things in the midst without assigning the Causes but being interested Parties their Writings have been either fulsom Flatteries or Invectives against one another tending to the fixing of the Distempers of the Parties without regard to the Publick or assigning the Cause of the Distempers But herein I except the Collections of Mr. John Rushworth who tho interested in the Factions of the late Times hath so faithfully delivered them over to Posterity and I could have wished tho I know not from whence he had it that he had not mentioned in that part of King James his Speech to the Parliament 18 Jac. that the Parliament is made up of the three States the King the Lords and Commons and this is the main part of his Collections which Franklin and Nalson so carp at yet both these differ not only from one the other in reciting it but from the Record of Parliament for I have perused them with it according to the Copy which Mr. Petit has taken For my part I can truly say that as I never complied with any of the Factions in the late or present Times so my Ancestors stood firm to the Laws and Liberties of the Nation and were Sufferers both before and in the late Troubles and Civil Wars and in these Circumstances I am less disposed to favour or fâ—atter any Party than another who is interested in any one of them I expect it will be objected against me that in writing this History I have sometimes been transported into an Heat unbecoming an Historian I answer that it may happen a Man may be angry and not sin especially when the Offence relates to the Dishonour of God the King or the publick Destruction or Distraction of the Country where Men are protected in their Lives Liberties and Fortunes but if I have erred herein I shall but be in the number of Lactantius who wrote the Relation of the Death of the persecuting Emperors of the Christians and of Suetonius and Tacitus It was the unhappy Fate of Europe that the Miseries and Calamities which succeeded the Divided Will of the four Kings of the Scotish Race from the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation were not terminated within the Limits of the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but were the occasion of the first Rise and growing Grandure of France through the boundless Ambition of Cardinal Richlieu and the present French King both by Sea and Land as well to the Terror of Christendom as of these Nations and this Story will in some measure trace the Steps of them This Treatise I suppose will displease two sorts of Men whom I will never take care to please One who exalt the Divided Will of the Prince above his Royal Capacity in governing by the Constitutions and Laws of the Kingdom The other those which are impatient under Regal Government and the Constitutions of this Kingdom I have been more particular herein because notwithstanding the Calamities which this Divided Will of the King had brought upon the Nation in the late Civil Wars and after yet after the Restoration of King Charles the 2d the Nation was more fiercely rent into Divisions under the Names of Whig and Tory than it was before the Wars and these last having the Dominion of the Press and Favour of the Court made it their business to irritate and provoke all others not of their Faction and if any opposed them by Writing when they could not answer to persecute them for printing without a Licence tho not unlawful in it self yet unlawfully printed ADVERTISEMENTS THE General History of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William Taken from the most Antient Records
Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and State With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyrrel Esq Fol. A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion c. 8o. All sold by Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhil INTRODUCTION WHEN King James became King of England the Kingdom of France was bounded on the North with the British Sea from la Bresle on the East where this River which parts Normandy from Boloignois discharges it self into the Sea and in the Latitude of 50 Deg. North and 5 Min. from whence West and by South it extends it self to Portsal in Bretaign about 340 Miles distance and in the Latitude of 48 Degrees and North and by East from la Bresle to Calais which lies in the Latitude of 50 Degrees 40 Minutes From Portsal to the South inclining into the East upon the Bay of Biscay France extended it self to St. Jean de Luz which is the Frontier to Spain in the Latitude of 44 Degrees and from St. Jean de Luz East and by South it extended it self along the Pyrenean Hills to Perpignian in the Country of Rosillion in the Latitude of 42 Deg. 30 Min. From Perpignian on the South to Piedmont on the East towards the North it was bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and from Calais on the North the Eastern parts of France to the South were bounded by the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Alsace the State of Geneva Savoy and Piedmont The Continent was near threefold more than England including Wales Before the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Year 1474. Spain was divided into six Kingdoms whereof four were Christian viz. the Kingdoms of Castile and Leons Arragon Navarre and Portugal and two Mahometan viz. Granada and Murcia But when K. James came to be King of England all these Kingdoms were united under Philip the 3d King of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella having conquered the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia after Isabella's death Ferdinand conquered Navarre and Philip the 2d claimed and conquered Portugal in 1584. after the Death of Don Sebastian who was overthrown and slain by the King of Fez and Morocco in 1580. All these Kingdoms thus united were greater than France by about â…“ Spain thus united is a Peninsula having on the North-East and South-East the Pyrenean Hills on the North-East is Fontarabia and on the South-East Cape de Creux the rest of Spain is environed by the Bay of Biscay on the North by the Atlantick Ocean on the West and South to Gibralter and to the North-East by the Mediterranean Sea from Gibralter to Cape de Creux The North of Spain viz. the North of Biscay and Galicia is in the Latitude of 44 Degrees North and the South parts of Andaluzia and Granada in the Latitude of 36 Degrees 30 Minutes but the extent of Spain about the middle Region of it from East to West is more than from North to South being near 14 Degrees 20 Minutes in Longitude The Isle of Britain is the greatest of Europe it may be of the World for ought is certainly known at least none comparable to it except Madagascar or St. Laurence and Japan if it be an Island The North of it is in the Latitude of 58 Degrees North the South-East in 51 Degrees and towards the West inclines into the Latitude of 50 Degrees It 's bounded on the South by the Channel or British Sea on the East by the German Ocean on the North by the Deucaledonian Ocean and on the West by the Verguvian Britain is divided into two Kingdoms England and Scotland England including Wales above â…“ greater but incomparably a better and more fertile Soil and a more temperate Climate in a Northern Climate lying South of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland hath several Islands depending upon it on the North and West on the North is a Knot of Islands or Rocks called The Orcades I cannot tell whether they be distinguished by Names but on the North of these in the Latitude from 60 Degrees to 61 Degrees lies Shetland or Shotland which the Romans called Vltima Thule and on the West are the Hebrides the most considerable of them are the Isles of Mul Sky and Lewis Besides Ireland and the Isles of our Western Plantations the Isle of Man which lies between Lancashire and Ireland the Isle of Anglesey which lies between Wales and Ireland the Isles of Wight Garnsey and Jersey which lie in the British Sea between England and France and the Sorlings or Isles of Silly a Knot of Islands about a Degree West of the Lands-end of Cornwal are in the Dominion of the Kingdom of England Ireland is a Kingdom and Island depending upon the Kingdom of England greater than Scotland and near as big as England excluding Wales and is near of an Oblong Figure unless the Province of Munster inclines towards the West near a Degree into the South The North of Ireland lies in the Latitude of 55 Degrees 30 Minutes North and the South-East in the Latitude of 52 Degrees 30 Minutes and the South-West in the Latitude of 51 Degrees 40 Minutes the breadth from East to West is near 4 Degrees 20 Minutes Longitude Ireland on the North is bounded by the Deucaledonian Ocean on the East by St. George's Channel on the South by the Atlantick Ocean and on the West by the Verguvian Ocean It will much conduce to open the Design of the ensuing Treatise if we look back to the Dissolution of the Roman Western Empire and see what Kind of Government succeeded in the Kingdoms of Spain France and England and so take a view of the Causes of the Ruin of the Western Empire and herein I shall follow Helvicus his Christian Vulgar Aera As Britain was the first Country which received the Christian Faith so Constantine the Great the first of all the Christian Roman Emperors was born a Britain and became Emperor in the year of Christ 306. A Prince who as he excelled in Christian Piety so was he adorned with all Moral Vertues requisite in so great a Prince and being zealously addicted to propagate the Christian Faith and Religion he chiefly intended these above all other things but herein he met with great Opposition nor could he attain these Ends without shaking the Strength and Foundation of the Constitutions of the Empire For in propagating the Christian Faith and Religion Constantine was not only opposed by Dioclesian Maxentius and Maximin who were Emperours
who have rent themselves from the Nation and are more Enemies to it than any other But over and above these unhappy Accidents which so highly contributed to the weakning of the Spanish Monarchy we may add another that proved no less fatal and destructive and that was Queen Elizabeth's destroying their invincible Armada in the Year 1588. and her sacking and Burning of Cales in 1595. wherein was destroyed such an incredible Mass of Wealth that the Spaniards never after were formidable either by Sea or Land and this was so much the more by how much Philip the 3d proved to be a weak effeminate Prince wholly governed by Favourites Having taken a View of England and Spain and compared the State of them we 'll see how they stand in reference to France which lies between them and so becomes a neighbouring Nation to them both France tho it be not threefold greater than England yet it is manifoldly more peopled in that Proportion and more abounding with great rich and populous Towns and tho it be not an Island yet it has the British Sea on the North the Atlantick Ocean on the West and the Mediterranean Sea on the South so that in its Situation it 's better placed for Trade than if it had been an Island having Spain the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Germany Savoy and Italy to trade to by Land Henry the 4th of France after he had subdued the Popish League and made a Peace with the Spaniard at Vervins in 1597 secured the Murmurs of the Reformed by the famous Edict of Nants and being a Prince not less prudent in Counsel than victorious in War as well to divert the French from their mutinous and quarrelling Humour as to increase the Riches of France gave all imaginable Incouragement to the Inhabitants in Manufactures the Principles whereof abound more in France than any other Country except England yet added to them the breeding Silk-worms and by the lively Ingenuity of the French improved Silk-Manufactures above any other Country Here take notice of the Benefit which arises to any Nation by the Imployment of People in Manufactures above other Countries where the Inhabitants are not employed For suppose a Million of People in France were thus employed and those yearly earned 20 l. per Ann. the Employment of these People are twenty Millions Benefit yearly to France and this Money generally distributed among the Workmen and whatever of these Manufactures are vended in foreign Trade these will be so much an enriching to it whereas if these had not been employed they would have been at least five Millions a Year burden to it and France would have been in so much a worse State to have supported them whereas if the People be not employed as in Spain the Distribution of the Treasure out of the Indies is not only unequally distributed but the Charge of maintaining the Religious and idle Persons most miserable and intolerable Let 's now see the State of England by the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excluding the English Natives not Free-men from working in Market-Towns and Corporations we 'll take a very modest Estimate herein and suppose but 10000 yearly scarce one in a Parish be excluded so that hereby the Nation loses their Imployment this at 20 l. per Ann. will be 200000 pounds a Year loss to the Nation besides the Charge of maintaining them if they do not fly out of the Kingdom for want of Subsistence in it and I pray what does the wholesale and Retail Trades of Shop-keepers in them contribute to the Support of this or of what Benefit are they otherwise to the Nation Henry the 4th having thus imployed the Natives of France and having few Plantations to exhaust it tho France drove no foreign Trade by Sea yet by permitting the English Dutch Swedes Danes and Hamburghers to trade into France by Sea and the Germans by Land it 's scarce credible after the long Civil Wars in France in the Space of but 13 Years for it was no longer between the Peace at Vervins in 1597 and his Death what incredible Treasure he amassed if so great an Author as Messeray did not affirm it whereupon he nourished a Design of new modelling all the Western Parts of Christendom except Britain and Ireland which he knew would not hinder him in it and Messeray did not doubt but he had means enough to have accomplish'd it if he had lived but when his Foot was in the Stirrup to have accomplished this Ravillac put a full Stop to his Career Yet France had in it no Mines of Gold or Silver no more than England hath and the Treasure which England acquires is by the Vent of our Woollen Manufactures and our Lead and Tin and so much more as the Natives are less employed in these and these are less in foreign Trade by restraining the Vent to English Men and more to English Companies so much less Treasure will the Nation acquire and the Natives be less employed As France thus abounds in People more than either England or Spain whereby they acquire such vast Wealth above them by permitting Foreigners to trade with them so are the French Nobility which include the Gentry of a warlike and aspiring Temper and if this had not usually excited them into intestine Broils and Tumults as Secretary Trevor observes all their Neighbour Nations could not have set bounds to their ambitious Humour But the Prosperity of France no ways daunted Queen Elizabeth so that Henry the 4th designing to build some great Men of War at Brest she forbid the King 's making any further Progress in it or she would fire all the Ships in his Harbours whereupon this great Hero desisted nor would she permit the Dutch to build any great Ships but she would have an account of them and so having the Brill Ramakins and Flushing the Keys of the Rivers of the Maes and Scheld in her Hands she died with an uncontrouled Dominion of the Seas and Arbitress of Christendom and in this State King James took Possession of the Crown of England with all its Dependences to which he added that of Scotland whose Reign is now ripe to be exposed A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King JAMES I. c. BOOK I. CHAP. I. A Better View may appear of this Reign if we look back to the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and compare it with that of this King's Reign when he came to join the Crowns of England and Ireland to that of Scotland and thereby became the greatest Monarch that governed England since King John except it was in the Reign of Henry the Fifth and some time of the Reign of Henry the Sixth when Normandy and so great a part of France was subdued to the Dominion of the Crown of England This Kingdom was never in so low an Ebb of Reputation and so dangerous a State both at home and abroad as when Queen Elizabeth came to
the Crown her Father Brother and Sister in debt and the Navy Royal neglected and out of Repair yet the Revenues of the Crown besides the Court of Wards and the Dutchy of Lancaster I say the Profits of the Kingdom were but 188179 l. 4 s. See Sir Robert Cotton ' s Means of the Kings of England p. 3. the Kingdom imbroiled in intestine Heats in Religion and Philip the second of Spain aspiring to an unlimited Dominion in and out of Europe Calais notwithstanding the united Interest of England with Spain but some Months before lost to the French and Francis the Dauphin of France in right of his Wife Mary Queen of Scotland laying claim to the Crown of England Whereas when King James came to be King of England the Kingdom was in intire Peace within and in a Martial State and full of Honour and Reputation abroad the Royal Navy not only Superior to any other in the World in Strength but in good Repair few Debts left charged upon the Crown yet if the Exchequer were not replenished with Money the King received Three entire Subsidies and six fifteens of the 4 Subsidies and eight Fifteens granted to the Queen for suppressing the Irish Rebellion and carrying on the War against Spain some Months before though both the Rebellion and War with Spain ceased that Year he became King the Customs for supporting the Navy more than fivefold they were in the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and above two Millions and four hundred Thousand Pounds due from the States of Holland or the Vnited Netherlands but how the States became discharged of it it 's fit to premise it there and how it became due to Queen Elizabeth and so to the Crown of England Queen Elizabeth though she refused to accept of the Sovereignty of the Vnited Provinces when she took them into Protection after the Expulsion of the Duke of Anjou and the Death of the Prince of Orange yet she entred into a Treaty with the States Anno 1585. wherein it was agreed That the Dutch should repay her all the Monies which she should expend for their Preservation with Interest at 10 per Cent. when the War was ended with Spain and that two English whom the Queen should name should be admitted into their Council of State and for Security whereof the Dutch should deliver up to her Flushing Rammekins and the Brill which were the Keys of their Country Upon this Agreement the Queen for the Dutch's further Encouragement gave them Licence to fish upon the Coast of England which she denied them when they continued in their subjection to King Philip and removed the Staple of the English Woollen Manufactures from Antwerp in the Power of the King of Spain to Delf in the Dutch Power and it is scarce credible how in so short a time after viz. scarce thirteen Years the Dutch entertaining all sorts of People who were persecuted upon the Account of not submitting to the Papal Usurpations called Religion swelled their Trade and Navigation not only in Europe but in the East and West-Indies The Queen considering this Encrease of the Dutch Trade and Navigation was as much to the lessening of the English and being provoked by the Ingratitude of the Lovestein Faction whereof one Olden Barnevelt was the Head a Fellow as factious and turbulent as ungrateful by whose Counsel another Assembly was erected at Amsterdam called The Convention of the States General wherein they managed all the secret and important Affairs of their State and out of which they excluded the English The Queen I say highly incensed at the Ingratitude of this Faction which now governed all in Holland and yet continuing to support them at the Charge of 120000 l. per Ann. as Camden observes in his Eliz. Reg. Ann. 1598 signified to the States her Intention of making Peace with the King of Spain which if she did it would be impossible for them to continue their War with Spain and recover their Cautionary-Towns from the Queen Hereupon the States sent my Lord Warmond as they called him as their humble Supplicant to the Queen and in the lowest Posture of Humility acknowledged themselves obliged to her for infinite Benefits and that as her Majesty excelled the Glory of her Ancestors in Power so she excelled them in Acts of Piety and Mercy but pleaded Poverty for not repayment of the Money the Queen had expended for their Preservation they might have said their Exaltation The Queen in Answer to them said she had been often deceived by their deceitful Supplications and ungrateful Actions and Pretence of Poverty when their Power and Riches confuted them and that she hoped God would not suffer her to be a Pattern to other Princes to help such a People who bear no Reverence to Superiors nor take care for the Advantage Reputation or Safety of any but themselves The Dutch were confounded at the Queen's Answer submitted themselves to such Terms as the Queen should lay upon them and the Queen wisely considering if she should cast them off Henry the 4th of France who the last Year viz. 1597 had concluded a Peace with Spain at Vervins by the Interposition of the Pope's Nuncio and sought to be Protector of the States whereby the Queen would not only be in danger to lose their Dependance but the Monies she had expended in their Support they the Queen and States came to this Agreeement 1. That upon an Account stated there was eight Millions of Crowns or two Millions Sterling due to the Queen for which they were to pay Ten per Cent. so long as the War lasted 2. That during the War they should pay the Queen one hundred thousand Pounds yearly and the Remainder when Peace with Spain was concluded and then to have their Cautionary Towns surrendred back to them 3. That till this Agreement was performed the States were to pay Fifteen hundred English in Garison in them We leave this Agreement here till we hear more of it hereafter There were but thirteen Months between this King's Birth and Reign his Mother being deposed to make Room for his coming to be King and by this Title he reigned twenty Years in his Mother's Life and during that time he never made use of her Name in the Coin of Scotland nor in any Proclamation or Law and after her Death continued his Reign by this Title to his dying Day which was inconsistent with the Flatteries which his Favourites buz'd continually in his Ears That he was King by inherent Birth-right and that he held his Crown from God alone and so pleasing was this Doctrine to him that above all other things he set himself upon it not only in magnifying himself herein in his Speeches in Parliament but in his Writings against Bellarmine and Peron against the Pope's deposing Kings In his Infancy and Minority the Regents and Nobility made Havock of the Crown and Church Revenues so as when he came to Age he had but little left
to support his Crown and Dignity but by how much he became lessened hereby the Nobility became so much greater and to support themselves held a Correspondence with Queen Elizabeth who tho she countenanced the Nobility yet she allowed the King a yearly Pension of 4000 l. per Ann. I have heard and believe it in his Minority and 10000 l. per An. after he came to age and hereby kept both the King and Nobility depending on her As the Nobility in his Minority made him so poor so the Kirk-party justled him in his Throne by making themselves a distinct Table from the Secular or Temporal Power not only in Matters purely Spiritual but in holding General Assemblies and all Matters which related to what they pleased to call The Kingdom of Christ and were so zealous I will not say Rude herein that they made it a Duty incumbent upon the Temporal Power to pass the Acts of their General Assemblies into Laws And in truth they expressed but little Civility to the King in whatsoever they applied themselves to him as if it were his Duty to do whatsoever they would have him and without his Consent and even to cross him would ordain Fasting-days and sometimes upon Sundays And hating Episcopal Government it was very troublesome to the Regents in his Minority as well as to the King to retain the Name of a Bishop after they assumed to themselves the Power Queen Elizabeth was no better Friend to this Kirk-party than the King though she winkt at it and was the more provoked against it by Knocks his Book which he wrote against Gynarchy and from hence it was King James took the easier Impression of Flatterers and was so zealous a Defender of Bishops that in a Conference at Hampton-Court in the first Year of his Reign he held it for a Maxim No Bishop no King The Tears which all true English shed for the Death of Queen Elizabeth who died the 24th of March 1602. were soon wiped off by the Accession of King James to this Crown the antient Feuds between the Nations of England and Scotland were reconciled and John Stow in his Annals of the first of this King gives a particular Account of his most magnificent and joyful Reception day by day from Berwick to London yet with this Blot in his Scutcheon that when he came to Newark he first discovered his Disposition to Arbitrary Government for being told that one had cut a Purse at Newark the King without any Legal Process or the Defence of the Party signed a Warrant to the Sheriff of Lincolnshire to hang him which was executed accordingly This put no Check to the Jollity of the People but the nearer he came to London the greater was the Concourse and Acclamations of the People tho by his Proclamation of which never any Prince was so prodigal and wherein he continued to his dying Day he had forbid it because it raised so much Dust as proved troublesome in his Passage and upon the 11th of May he came to London where being a Prince above all others addicted to Hunting as his first care upon the 16th of May issued out another Proclamation forbidding all manner of Persons killing Deer and all kinds of Wild-fowl used for Hunting and Hawking upon Pain of the several Laws and Penalties to be executed upon them The gazing World abroad were astonished at this King 's peaceable and joyful Settlement in England and were as forward to Congratulate him in it as his Subjects were to receive him and herein the Dutch being Merchants were the first that addressed themselves to make their Market of him and sent over the youngest Son of William Prince of Orange one Fulk and Barnevelt who in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth lay covered in his Faction at Amsterdam as Tortoises do under Ground in the Winter now the Dutch designing to make their Harvest in this King's Reign came abroad as Tortoises do in the Spring to dispose him to it but the Dutch needed not have been so forward herein for the King was environed with those which should do their Work better than Barnevelt could have done it The Spaniards after the Loss of their Armada in 1588 and the Loss sustained in the Sacking of Cadiz in 1595 declined as fast in Power and Reputation as the Dutch grew greater both in Europe and the West-Indies But Philip the 2d dying about three Years before Queen Elizabeth the former Feuds between her and Philip became much abated and Philip the 3d. succeeding a young Prince Nani says of singular Piety he means devoted to the Romish Superstition but wholly unacquainted with Government and contenting himself with the Royal Dignity left the Power to his Favourites and Ministers and of whom Nani in his fourth Book Anno 1621 makes this notable Remark as to his Death That it remained a Doubt whether in an Age proclaimed by the Wrath of Heaven to the Mockery of Favourites the King would not have taken upon himself the Government when Death in the 43d Year of his Age takes him away from the Troubles which Empire carries with it His Years surely would have been more memorable if he had been born a private Man rather than a King because being better adorned with Ornaments of Life than endowed with Skill to command as Goodness Piety and Continence placed him in an higher degree than ordinary Subjects so his Disapplication to Government rendred him lower than was fit or necessary By publick Defects private Vertues being corrupted and in particular keeping his Mind in Idleness it was believed that he reserved nothing to himself to do but to consent to all that his Favourites had a mind to Thus the Government of the World recommended to Princes as the true Shepherds falls into Mercenary Hands making themselves not understood but by the sound of the Voice of Interest and the Authority of Ambitition the People suffer Ruin and Calamity and the Princes themselves render an Account to God of that Talent which they have suffered their Ministers to make Merchandise of It is certain Philip in the Agony of his Death was not so much comforted with calling to mind his innocent Life as he was troubled with the Sting of Conscience for his Omissions in Government This Character how parallel soever it was with King Charles the First tho I do not find he had any Sting of Conscience for his Omissions and Transgressions in Government which brought upon himself and the Nation all the Miseries and Calamities of the late Civil Wars and wherein he persisted to the last bears no Proportion to the voluptuous and dissolute Life of King James accompanied with his profane Swearing in Passion and even in his usual Conversation whereby he became not only contemptible but by his Example the generality of the English Nation became debauch'd in their Manners and Conversation to the Scandal and Contempt of it in other Nations The Death of Philip the 2d made the Passage to a
the Royal Line of the Plantagenets were left to be Competitors with him yet his Succession could not be Hereditary for his Grand-mother under whom his Father claim'd out-lived her Son and so Henry the Eighth could not claim from her Yet this is observable That as his Father Henry the Seventh entailed the Succession of the Crown of England upon the Heirs of his Body so by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. Henry the Eighth might dispose of the Succession of the Crown by his Will for want of Issue of his Body so little was the inheritable Succession of the Crown of England regarded by these Kings of the British Race It seems the Council in Edward the Sixth's Reign had as little an Opinion of the Hereditary Succession of the Crown as the Parliament had in the Reign of Henry the Eighth for by the Advice of Edward's Council he by his Will disposed of the Succession to his Cousen the Lady Jane Gray Grand-daughter to Edward's Aunt Mary Queen of France contrary to the Will of his Father Henry the Eighth which ordained his Daughter Mary to succeed Edward in case he died without Issue I say that by the Law of Inheritance in England Queen Mary could not inherit the Crown from Edward she being but of half-Blood to him and by the same Reason Queen Elizabeth could not inherit to Queen Mary but Mary the Daughter of James the fifth of Scotland being of the whole Blood to Edward and descended from the elder Daughter of Henry the Seventh could For the Opinion of the Judges after King James came in that the Succession of the Crown of England differs from that of the Inheritance of Subjects in regard of an Alien born and those of half Blood may inherit the Crown it 's Gratis dictum and said to please the King for there never was any such usage in England nor any such Act of Parliament to warrant their Opinion But admit the Crown of England were inheritable from Henry the Seventh and Half-Blood no Bar to the Succession yet Mary and Elizabeth could not both succeed for one of them was Illegitimate Elizabeth being born in the Life of Katherine Queen Mary's Mother If the Parliament in the Reign of Henry the 8th had little or no Opinion of the Inheritable Succession of the Crown of England and therefore impowered the King to dispose of it by Will The Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had less and therefore often petitioned her and that with Importunity to declare her Successor without Consent in Parliament and declared it 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. to be High Treason to affirm that the Crown of England might not be disposed of by Act of Parliament in her Life and a Premunire after her Death Here I make these Remarks upon the Race of the Plantagenets and the Succession of the British Line that as the Plantagenets inherited the Name from Jeffery Duke of Anjou who was never King of England so Henry the 7th if he had any Title derived it from John of Gaunt by an Illegitimate Succession who never was King of England From England we step into Scotland and see how the Hereditary Succession was observed there after the Reign of Alexander the 3d in whom the direct Line of the Race of their Kings failed which was so near as I can compute about the Year 1278 and leave the Succession of their 93 Kings before to the Scrutiny of the Scotish Antiquaries and Heraulds The Scots if they be not clearer in the Genealogy of their 93 Kings before Alexander the 3d than my Author is of retrieving it after the Death of Margaret Daughter of Alexander the 3d do make but a blind Genealogy of their 93 Kings before however we 'll take it as we find it David Brother of William King of Scotland but whether William was Father Brother or Uncle to Alexander the 2d my Author says not and Earl of Huntingdon had Issue by Maud Daughter to the Earl of Chester three Daughters Margaret married to Allen of Galloway the second not named was married to Robert Bruce the third to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Allen of Galloway had a Grand-daughter named Dornagil married to John Baliol. Bruce was Great Grand-child to the second Daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon but being a Male pretended he was to be King before Dornagil a Female though a Degree nearer and descended from the elder Sister Henry Earl of Huntingdon made no claim So the Right between Baliol and Bruce was referred to the Determination of Edward the first King of England who adjudged the Right to be in Baliol and soon after Baliol by Dornagil had a Son named Edward so that Bruce's Pretension of Title as being Son vanished by the Birth of Edward Baliol being descended from the eldest Sister But The Scots or a prevailing Party not liking Baliol's Reign in the Year 1306 crowned Robert Bruce King In the Year 1310 Bruce by Acts of Parliament had the Crown of Scotland entailed upon him and his Heir-male and for want of Issue to his Brother Edward This Robert had Issue a Son named David and a Daughter married to Robert Stuart and by Act of Parliament settled the Crown upon his Son David and for want of Issue by him to Robert Stuart his Grand-child by his Daughter So here is the Succession of the Crown of Scotland twice differently settled by Parliament to the disinheriting of Edward Baliol. But in the Year 1332 Edward Baliol the right Heir was received and crowned King of Scotland After that David Bruce recovered the Kingdom of Scotland and afterwards was taken Prisoner by the Queen of England in the Absence of her Husband Edward the 3d in France and being released he died Ann. 1370. Robert Stuart Grand-son of Robert Bruce by his Daughter succeeded David who married Euphemia Daughter of the Earl of Ross but before he was King had Issue by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine two Sons John and Robert and by the Queen he had Issue Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern yet by Act of Parliament the King disinherited his Legitimate Issue and settled the Crown upon his Issue by Elizabeth Moor from which Issue all the Kings of Scotland have since descended This was the most unaccountable Accident if we consider the Cause and Consequence I think that is recorded in any History That a King and Parliament by the Importunity of a Slut should disinherit his Legitimate Offspring from the Succession to the Crown of Scotland to advance her spurious Issue It 's true for some Reasons of State the right Heir is set aside as Edward Son of Ethelred after the Confessor being young and not a fit Match to oppose the Danes Edmund Ironside tho Illegitimate for his Strength and Courage was said to be chosen King as most likely to withstand the Danish Invasions so Edward the Confessor observing the heavy and slow Nature of Edgar the Grandson of Edmund Ironside not to be a fit
Match to oppose the turbulent aspiring Faction of Harold and his Family named William Duke of Normandy his Successor but none of these were Reasons for the Deposing the Earls of Athol and Strathern being for ought I find much better qualified to reign than either John or Robert the Issue of Elizabeth Moor for John was of a heavy and unactive Disposition not fit to govern which made the King his Father to constitute his younger Brother Robert Vice-Roy a Man of a violent and inveterate Disposition So that these three Dynasties viz. the Norman Bâ—itish and Scotish were all derived from spurious Originals and as Henry the 7th was descended from John of Gaunt who was never King by Catherine Swinford so is the Race of Scotland from Robert Stuart the first of that Name before he was King by Elizabeth Moor. But though the Parliament erected this Dynasty of the Kings of Scotland yet this did not cease their Power of altering the Succession of it in a right Line For James the 2d had two Sons James the 3d who succeeded him and Alexander Duke of Albany Alexander married two Wives the first was a Daughter of the Earl of Orkney by whom he had a Son named Alexander and after married a Daughter of the Earl of Bulloign by whom he had a Son named John yet in James the 5th his Reign John was by Parliament declared the second Person of the Kingdom and next Heir to James the Fifth notwithstanding the Claim and Protestation made by John's elder Brother against it And the Scots out of Parliament assumed a Power not only of altering the Succession of their Kings but of deposing them For in the Year 1567 they deposed Queen Mary the Daughter of K. James the 5th and set up King James the 6th after King James the 1st of England an Infant scarce 14 Months old in her stead and by this Title he reigned in Scotland twenty Years in his Mother's Life and to his dying Day owned this Title Yet this King and his Son and two Grandsons after him gloried in declaring their Titles to be by inherent Birth-right and that they were accountable only to God for all their Actions Here how truly let the Reader judg the Scene was laid upon which they played their designed Game which did not end so I do not account the Dynasty of the Kings of England in the Scotish Race since Queen Elizabeth to be new in the Succession of the Persons of the four last Kings I mean King James the 1st King Charles the 1st King Charles the 2d and King James the second yet I say it was new in the Exercise of it and such as none of the Saxon Danish or Norman Race since Henry the 3d or of the British Race ever pretended to claim But in regard it has put the Nation into such a Ferment for above 80 Years and which if God pleases not to put an end to may prove as fatal to these Nations as the Feuds between the Guelphs and Gibelines did for above 300 Years overwhelm Germany and Italy in most horrible Blood-shed and Devastation we are more particular in taking a View of the Original of it From the time of the King 's coming to London May the 7th to the 11th of January little more than eight Months Stow takes notice of twelve Proclamations and upon the 11th of January out comes another for calling a Parliament which though new for the manner yet more new for the Substance and such as never before was heard of in England And that we may the better take a view of the success of the Parliaments of England in this King's Reign from this we will stay a little and consider the Constitution of a Parliament and the principal Ends of its meeting The King is the Head Principle and End of the Parliament the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons which are made up of Knights of the Counties of England and Wales Citizens sent from Cities Burgesses sent from Corporations and Barons sent from the Cinque Ports which do not differ from Burgesses but only in Name are the Body the Temporal Nobility sit in Parliament in their personal Capacities but the Spiritual Nobility do not so but in right of their Bishopricks which they hold of the King by Barony and the Commons are said to be the Representative-Body of all the Commons in England not Noble by Birth or in their Politick Capacities as the Bishops are and in this Assembly resides the Supreme Authority of the Nation which as they make Laws for the publick Benefit for are they loose from them and are not obliged to them As the King is freed from the imputation of Tyranny in sanguinary Laws and of Oppression in taxing the Subjects for how can the Subjects complain of either when their Representatives in Parliament promote them So does a Parliament discharge the great Objection against Hereditary Monarchies that tho Princes see only with their own Eyes and hear with their own Ears as other Men do yet so as it is impossible without a true Representation of the State of their Subjects they can see or hear of the true State of them whereas Minions and Flatterers whose Interest is different from that of the Kingdom not only conceal the true State of the Nation but make false Representations of it to raise themselves tho out of the publick ruine but the Parliament is the Eye of the Nation which sees the Abuses which Flatterers by abusing the King's Name and making it subservient to their Interest impose upon it The great Ends of the Meetings of Parliament are first to redress the Grievances of the Nation if any be by representing them to the King Secondly to punish Men which are out of the reach of the ordinary Rules of Justice which either abuse the King's Name to attain their Ends or may prove dangerous to the Government Thirdly to make Laws against growing Evils and to repeal Laws which have been found inconvenient to the Nation And fourthly to supply the King upon extraordinary Occasions for Support of the Nation as Times and Accidents may happen Heretofore the Meetings of Parliament were so frequent that Sir John Thompson in his Preface to the Earl of Anglesey's Memoirs takes notice that from the first of Edward the 3d to the 14th of Henry the 4th which was but 85 Years there are 72 Original Writs for the Summons of Parliament so that if you allow forty Days from the Tests of the Writs to the Returns and but one Month for the Sittings of Parliament there will not be a Year's Interval between the Dissolution of one Parliament and the Summoning another and Mr. Johnson proves that they were annual and fixt to meet on the first or the Kalends of May which continued down to Edward the 1st how or whether discontinued by Edw. the 2d I cannot tell however there are two Laws yet in force for the annual Meeting of the King in Parliament
accordingly The Parliament met on Monday March the 19th and a Debate hapning in the House of Commons about the Return of the Election of Sir Francis Goodwin and Sir John Fortescue for Knight of the Shire for the County of Bucks the Commons Friday the 23d upon a full hearing determined Sir Francis to be lawfully elected and returned An. Reg. 2. An. Dom. 1604. Tuesday March the 26th The Lords by Sir Edward Coke and Dr. Hone sent a Message to the Commons that the former Committees may in a second Conference to be had have Authority to treat touching the Case of Sir Francis Goodwin the Knight of Bucks first of all before any other Matters were proceeded in The Commons returned Answer that they do conceive that it did not stand with the Honour of this House to give an Account of their Proceedings and Doings but if their Lordships have any Purpose to confer for the Reâ—due that then they will be ready at such time and place and such number as their Lordships shall think meet Sir Edward Coke c. delivered from the Lords that their Lordships taking notice in particular of the Return of the Sheriff of Bucks and acquainting his Majesty with it his Highness conceived himself engaged and touched in Honour that there might this be some Conference of it between the two Houses and to that end signified his Pleasure unto them and by them to House The Commons by their Speaker give their Reasons to the King why they cannot confer with the Lords The King in return charges the Commons to admit a Conference with the Judges the Commons give Reason and answer Objections why they cannot confer with the Judges and the 3d of April deliver them at the Council-Chamber by Sir Francis Bacon desiring that their Lordships would be Mediators in behalf of the House for his Majesty's satisfaction the King in return commanded as an Absolute King that there might be a Conference between the House and Judges The House upon return hereof resolved to confer with the King in presence of the King and Council and named a select Committee for the Conference but the Success being doubtful Sir Francis Goodwin fearing this might cause a Rupture between the King and the House and to remove all Impediments to the worthy and weighty Causes which might by this time have been in a good furtherance desired another Writ of Election for a Member in his stead Hereupon and other Accidents succeeding wherein the Commons supposing themselves aggrieved the Commons upon the 16th of June in an humble Apology to his Majesty represent their Privileges and wherein they conceive themselves aggrieved The Stubborness of the Commons for so the King would have it so dissonant from the Flatteries he had constantly sounding in his Ears and of being an Absolute King by Inherent Birth-right put the King so out of Conceit with Parliaments that in all his Life till the last Parliament of his Reign when necessity brought him to it he was never reconciled to them But that we may more clearly see what followed we will look back into the Reign of Queen Elizabeth There were three things which the Queen was impatient of being debated in Parliament the Succession of the Crown after her Death her Marriage and the making any Alterations in the Church as it was established in the first Year of her Reign But the Commons having a fearful Eye of a Relapse into Popery after the Nation had been freed from it and the Queen of Scots being zealously addicted to the Romish Religion and having not only assumed the Arms of England as next Heir to Queen Elizabeth but upon her Return from France into Scotland by many Embassies solicited Queen Elizabeth that she might be declared her Successor in case Queen Elizabeth died without Heirs of her Body To prevent this the Commons in manifold Addresses to the Queen petitioned her to marry and declare her Successor and after the Duke of Norfolk's Conspiracy and the Rebellion in the North under the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland wherein it appeared the Queen of Scots was privy and consenting in all the Parliaments I think from the 9th of Elizabeth to the Queen of Scotland's Death the Commons were importunate with the Queen to cut her off which you may read at large in the Journals of the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth set forth by Sir Simon D' Ewes The Queen fixed in these Resolutions did often forbid the Parliament upon their Allegiance to enter into Debates upon them yet some zealous Members the principal of which was one Mr. Peter Wentworth as well in the case of the Queen of Scots as for some Reformation in the Church did several times endeavour to have them debated upon which the Queen committed them to the Tower tho soon after they were discharged This the Commons in their Apology to the King take notice of and pray that this be no Precedent for the future but that their Debates in Parliament may be free but they shall find that this King 's little Finger and his Son 's after him shall be heavier upon them than Queen Elizabeth's Loins However this Apology of the Commons tended to a Rupture between the King and them within yet the King was resolved to have Peace without the Kingdom how inconsistible soever the Terms were and to that end upon the 18th of August following being the second Year of his Reign he concluded a firm Peace with Philip the 3d of Spain and Albert and Isabel Arch-Dukes of Austria c. and also a Treaty of Commerce which as it was the most beneficial to the English Nation so it was difficult if not impossible to observe the Peace the King as he had managed it made the Treaty of Commerce to be but little beneficial to the Nation For the Year before the King had renewed the Treaty of Alliance which Queen Elizabeth had made with the Dutch States where tho the King was not obliged to maintain such a number of Men for the Dutch Support against the Spaniards to be repaid at the end of the War whereby the Treaty with the Queen Anno 1598. the Dutch were not only to pay but to repay the Queen yearly 100000 l. till a Peace was made with Spain when they were to pay her two Millions of Money with the Interest of 10 per Cent. deducting the 100000 l. per Annum they were to pay yet by the fourth Article of the said Treaty it was agreed That neither the Kings of England nor Spain shall themselves give or shall consent to be given by any of their Vassals Subjects or Inhabitants Aid Favour or Counsel directly or indirectly on Sea Land or fresh Waters nor shall supply or minister or consent to be supplied or ministred by their said Vassals Inhabitants or Subjects unto the Enemies or Rebels of either Part of what Nature or Condition soever they be whether they shall invade the Countries and Dominions of either of them
not been his Friend After the Sale of the Towns was agreed on the next Debate was What should become of the Souldiers in Garison But let them look to that for the King being Rex Pacificus had no need of them they might go where they pleased all the Care the Favourites had was how to share the Money among themselves The dishonourable Delivery of the Dutch Towns made no Allay in his Affections to his new Favourite tho wholly unacquainted with State-Affairs who was as much given up to the Pleasures of Venus as the King was to those of Bacchus neither the Sale of the Dutch Towns nor the seizing Somerset's Estate would answer the Expence of his Pleasures and Bounty the disposing of all Places and Offices Ecclesiastical and Civil all waved as he nodded and herein his Venality was as profuse as his Venery One of the first that felt the Effects of his Power herein was Sir Edward Coke who at this time sat very loose and uneasy he had highly disgusted the Court and high-Church-Party in opposing Arch-bishop Bancroft's Articles against granting Prohibitions at Common-Law He opposed my Lord Chancellor Egerton taking notice of a Cause in the King's-Bench after Judgment given contrary to the Act 4 Hen. 4. 23. and refused to give any Opinion in the Case of Commendums being a Judg before it came judicially before him And however my Lord Chancellor Egerton upon the swearing Sir Henry Mountague when he succeeded Sir Edward Coke in the Office of Chief Justice declared Sir Edward's deposing was for being so popular yet I have it from one of Sir Edward's Sons that the Cause of his Removal was That Sir Nicholas Tufton being very aged and having a Patent for Life of the Green-wax-Office in the King's-Bench the Viscount Villiers by his Agents dealt with Sir Nicholas that if he would surrender his Patent the King would make him Earl of Thanet and in the mean time Sir Francis Bacon treated with Sir Edward to know whether in case Sir Nicholas surrendred his Patent the Viscount should prefer another to the Office Sir Edward would give Sir Francis no other Answer than this That he was old and could not wrestle with my Lord. However after Sir Nicholas had surrendred Sir Edward refused to admit of a Clerk by Villiers's Nomination but stood upon his Right and that the Judges of the King's-Bench served the King to their Loss and therefore he would so dispose of the Office that the other Judges of the King's-Bench's Salaries should be advanced and that hereupon he was turned out of his Place and Sir Henry Mountague put in who disposed the Office as the Favourite pleased But tho the Favourite's Displeasure began here with Sir Edward it did not end so nor the Titles of our new Favourite for upon the 5th of January following he was created Earl of Buckingham however Sir Edward might have been restored again to the place of Chief Justice if he would have given a Bribe but he answered A Judg ought not to take a Bribe nor give a Bribe See the second Part of the Bishop of Lincoln's Life fol. 120. Tit. 116. We begin this Year 1617 after the King had created the Earl Marquess of Buckingham on the first of January with the Story of Sir Raleigh's Voyage to Guiana which was the Cause of his Death tho upon another score being condemned in the first Year of the King for High-Treason in Cobham's Conspiracy for endeavouring to have hindered the King's coming to the Crown But before we proceed we 'll stay a little and take a view of him Sir Walter was of an antient Family but a younger Brother and as he was a Person of admirable Parts excellently adorned with Learning not Pedantick but of a nobler Strain so he had a Mind far above his Fortune and accounted Poverty the greatest of Misfortunes and to advance his Fortune he became a Courtier to Queen Elizabeth who was as great a Discerner of Men and their Qualities as any Prince in her time or perhaps before or since and as such and not as imposed by Favourites she esteemed and preferred them and upon this account she entertained and favoured Sir Walter The Queen made him Captain of her Guards Lieutenant-General of Cornwall and Lord Warden of the Stanneries but these were rather Honorary Titles than much profitable and being at Enmity with the Earl of Essex the Queen's greatest Favourite and the whole Family of the Cecils who governed all in State-Affairs these put a full stop to Sir Walter 's further Rise at Court Sir Walter thus balk'd at Court seeks Adventures abroad to raise his Fortunes thence and the Wars continuing between the Queen and the King of Spain in the Year 1595 he mans out a Ship to Guiana in the West-Indies and by the Intelligence which he had with some of the Indians and some Spanish Prisoners he had taken believed he had made a Discovery of several rich Mines and had certain Marks whereby to discover them again if occasion should happen But if he got nothing else by his Voyage he got this Advantage by it that adding Experience to his excellent Theory in Navigation he justly merited the Applause of the best Director of Sea-Affairs of his time After Queen Elizabeth's Death he was kept 12 Years a Prisoner in the Tower where he compiled his History of the World a Design so vast that no other Man of less Parts both of Body and Mind could have accomplished And while he was thus confined he was the first which made publick the Growth by Sea of the Dutch and the Riches they derived by their fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and the Consequences which would necessarily follow not only to the loss of the King's Soveraignty of the British Seas but to the Trade and Navigation of England otherwise After that one Tobias Gentleman set forth another Treatise of this Nature and how this Fishery might be carried on from the Ports of England and dedicated it to the King but the King wholly giving himself up to Pleasure neither minded the one nor regarded the other Sir Walter had been discharged out of the Tower about two Years and an half before but by what means I do not find and then Poverty stared him in the Face for Somerset had begg'd his Estate which to him was more intolerable than his Imprisonment and how to extricate himself out of it was all his Business There was a new face of Court to what was in Queen Elizabeth ' days and Sir Walter unknown to any of them His being freed out of Prison was such a Favour as any further was not to be hoped for Happy had Sir Walter been if he had been still confined where in the restraint of his Person he enlarged the Faculties of his Mind to nobler Pleasures than can be found in Sensuality or any Temporal Greatness where by his Freedom pursuing these besides other concomitant Calamities he brought
Destruction upon himself having first seen his Son Walter slain in the Design he intended to raise his Fortunes by Tho the King was never poorer than at this time yet the Nation was far richer than in all the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth by reason of the English Trade with Spain made free by that celebrated Law of the 3d of the King cap. 6. and at this time and many Years before the King of Spain made Count Gundamor his Legier Ambassador in England the Count would ape the King iâ— all his Humours but his Cups and hereby became so intimate with the King that he discover'd all his Designs and the Secretâ— if ther were any of the Court In this Posture of Affairs Sir Walter informs the King that 〈◊〉 he would grant him a Commission he would bring Mountains of Gold into the King's Exchequer from Guiana the King who had stopt his Ears to Sir Walter 's Advice concerning the Dutch Fisheâ— upon the Coasts of England and Scotland opens them both to Sir Walter 's Project and grants him a Commission directed Dilecto fideli meo Waltero Raleigh Militi But this Commission ill agreed with the Treaty made between the King and the most renowned King of Spain his dear and loving Brother in the second Year of his Reign wherein in the first Article it was agreed That they should use one another with all kind and friendly Offices and by this Treaty the English were restrain'd to their Trades in Europe For the King of Spain was as jealous of his West-Indies as the Apple of his Eye or the Pope 〈◊〉 of his Triple-Crown or the King of his Prerogative The Fame of Sir Walter and the Expectation of the Mountaiâ—â— of Gold to be poured into the Exchequer by this Expedition bâ—â—zed it all abroad so as Gundamor gave the King of Spain aâ— account of it and this became so much the more publick by how much the King could not contribute any thing but his Commission towards it and tho Sir Walter 's Fame induced many Nobles and Gentlemen to join with him in it yet this being distracted and divided into so many Interests it went on more heavily and became every day more known so that tho Sir Walter intended to have proceeded on his Voyage this Year in the beginning of April it was upward in August before he set out In his Passage a terrible Fever overtook Sir Walter now in the 76th Year of his Age which yet the Strength of his Constitution overcame to bring him to his End by a worse Fate When he arrived at Guiana he found all the Marks which he and Sir Nicholas Kemish had made either worn out by Time being twenty Years before or alter'd by the Spaniards who had so long before had notice of his Design so that Kemish and Sir Walter fell at such odds about it that Kemish killed himself besides the Spaniards to prevent Raleigh's Design had built many new Fortifications unknown to Raleigh or Kemish Hereupon Sir Walter stormed the Town of St. Thomas wherein he lost his Son Walter but took the Town and sack'd it and here the Souldiers took great Spoil but with little Profit to Sir Walter or any of the Adventurers with him For the Souldiers and Sea-men being Reformades and being under no severe Discipline kept what they had got Now was Sir Walter in a most desperate State he had no Friends at Court and which made the matter worse he had disgusted all the Nobles and Gentlemen who had engag'd with him in this Expedition he need not consult the Augurs what should be his Fate upon his Return to prevent which he endeavoured to have got into France and carry his Ship with him but the Sea-men who now had his Fortune in Contempt would not forsake their Wives and Children to partake with him in his Misfortunes and so brought him back again into England It was resolved that Sir Walter 's Misfortunes should lose him his Head but how to do it with a face of Justice was the Question for his Commission protected him from any Prosecution for the sacking of St. Thomas and it would seem strange to execute him upon the Conviction in Cobham's Conspiracy sixteen Years before especially since the King had discharged his Imprisoment upon it and had granted him a Commission wherein he called Sir Walter his beloved and faithful Sir Walter However this was the best Face could be put upon it and upon the 28th of October next Year 1618 Sir Walter was brought from the Tower to the King's-Bench to shew Cause why Sentence of Death should not pass upon him Mountague being Chief Justice upon his former Conviction to which Sir Walter pleaded his Commission which pardoned his Crime For he could not be a Traitor and the King 's beloved and faithful Servant at one and the same time but this was over-ruled by the Court which answered That Treason could not be pardoned by Implication but by express words And next day he had his Head cut off in the Palace-Yard at Westminster In granting Sir Walter Raleigh this Commission you may see by what an undistinguished Power Covetousness governs the Actions of Princes as well as meaner Men against their Honour and Interest for at the same time when the King granted this Commission he was by Sir John Digby after Earl of Bristol treating a Marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain upon the Terms of a Portion of two Millions of Money with her but if this Act of Raleigh's and the difficulty of raising such a Portion put no stop to the Progress of it you 'll soon see an Accident which shall make it utterly impracticable with the Maxims and Policy of Spain yet so far was the King blinded with the Covetousness of getting the Portion that he shall put his only Son into the Power of the Spaniards to obtain it Tho young Villiers and the King's Favourites governed the King without any Controul by the English Conchino Conchini an Italian Marquess d' Ancre and Marshal of France and his Wife succeeded not so well in France for after the Death of Henry the Fourth of France these two governed Henry's Relict and Regent as absolutely as our young Favourite did the King which put the Princes of the Blood and Nobility into such a Ferment that they several times rose in Tumults and Arms against them Yet such was their Power with the Queen that they continued as insolent after the King was declared of Majority as before whereupon the Feuds of the Princes of the Blood and Nobility grew higher hereupon Luynes the King's Favourite prompted the King to take off Ancre any way which was so ordered that Ancre coming into the Louvre and reading a Letter Vitry Captain of the King's Guard arrested him Me said Ancre Yes you by the Death of God answered Vitry who cried out Kill him whereupon he was killed by three Pistol Shots the King owning the Fact But
affected have done before them And to make choice of meet Collectors of the Monies and to return a Schedule of the Names of such as shall contribute and the Sums that are offered by them that his Majesty may take notice of the good Inclinations of the Subjects to a Cause of such Importance as likewise of such others if any such be as out of Obstinacy or Disaffection shall refuse to contribute These were the Ways which this pacifick King took in and out of Parliament which I believe except in the Reign of Edward the 4th were never practised by any of our English Kings and all this under the specious Pretence of recovering his Son-in-law's Patrimony prodigally to squander it among his Favourites especially Buckingham whose Avarice could not be supported otherwise by the Revenues of the Crown and Venality of all Places Sacred and Civil These were the Noble Atchievements which this pacifick King obtained over his Parliament which presumed to advise him for his own Honour and the Nation 's Safety this was the Return he made for inverting the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament to pleasure him by granting Subsidies before Grievances were redrest A Prince foreign born to our English Laws and Constitutions A Prince as the noble Nani Anno 1619. fol. 137 138. observes in whom Decorum and want of Power were commonly Opposites he being Scotish by Birth and come to the Crown by Inheritance was the first that governed the two Nations by Natural Antipathy and antient Emulation of Enemies and designing to reclaim the Fierceness of those People with Ease and Idleness had set up his Rest in Peace and avoiding as much as possible the calling of Parliaments without which not having the Power to impose Contributions nor levy Money he contented himself rather to struggle with many Straits and Difficulties than to see them meet with a Jealousy of them or being met be obliged to separate them with the disgust of the People or with the satisfaction of Prejudice to the Superior in Power A Prince so poor before he came to the Crown of England that if he had not been supported by the Pension which Queen Elizabeth allowed him could not have maintained the Garb of many of our English Gentry and being come to the Crown of England not only the Sacred Patrimony of it was squandered and embarassed upon debauched and profane Favourites but the People otherwise oppressed with almost infinite Monopolies and Projects which the Nation never before heard of and as they were new so were they all illegal and all these to make his Favourites rich while he continued the poorest King that ever governed England Justled in his Throne by the Presbytery in Scotland yet nothing less than Sacred would down with him from the Clergy in England tho his dissolute Life and profane Conversation were diametrically contrary These by a twenty Years Habit were so fixed in the King a Prince of all others the most regardless of his Honour and Word that they became natural So that after the Parliament had given him two Subsidies and intended another for carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate and after he had by such means as before said by such Terror raised Benevolences all England over upon pretence of it yet by the Advice of Buckingham and Gundamor he placed the Anchor of his Hope to do it by the Match of his Son with the Infanta of Spain when an unlooked-for Accident reported by Nani in his 5th Book fol. 186. had like to have spoiled all For the King of Bohemia weary of being amused and deluded with the Hopes of his Father-in-law's Treaties which he now saw were mocked by the Spaniards themselves in a Disguise with two Persons only from Holland passes into France by Sea and from thence through Lorrain and through the midst of his Enemies Troops arrives at Landau where Count Mansfield who then made War in the Palatinate in his Right had a Garison where he discovered himself and from thence went to Germersheim where he was received with the general Applause of the whole Army This Escape of the King's Son-in-law confounded all the King's Measures which he had taken for him by the Marriage of the Infanta with his Son so that he was more alarm'd at it than at the Commons Remonstrance and Protestation tho he bore the Affliction with a much better Temper So all Wits were set at work how to get the Elector out of the Hands of Mansfield back again into Holland for now the Proceedings at Brussels upon the Peace were put to a full stop the Spaniards alledging they could not proceed in the Treaty so long as the King's Son-in-law was in the Hands of Mansfield their most inveterate and bitter Enemy It fell out luckily for the King's Designs tho unluckily for his Son-in-law's that Mansfield being worsted by the Spanish Arms in the Palatinate and the Elector Palatine fearing that Mansfield in the Adversity of his Affairs would make him a Sacrifice in giving him up to the Spaniard to make his own Terms the better was the more easily enveagled by the King's Agents to return again into Holland where the first News he heard was that Tilly had taken Heidelburg the Capital Seat of his Ancestors by Storm and Frankendal his next City reduced to Extremity by Cordua so that as Nani says fol. 188. King James who had published that his Son-in-law held that Country under his Protection was laugh'd at by all the World and forced to consent to a Truce for fifteen Months during which Frankendal and the rest of the lower Palatinate should be deposited into the Spaniards Hands to restore them to the King James if within that time there were not a Peace concluded King James having thus deposited his Son-in-law's Patrimony in the Hands of the Spaniards in the Low Countries now by the Direction of Buckingham not only the Dictator over the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but over the King himself and 't was feared more over the Prince upon pretence that the Earl of Bristol was too remiss in prosecuting the Prince's Suit at Madrid resolves to deposite the Prince in the Power of the Court of Spain there to remain as an Hostage till he can procure the Infanta to be his Spouse This was such an Adventure as Don Quixot never dream'd of in any of his that because the King the Prince his Father was poor at home and despised abroad therefore by making his only Son an Hostage in another King's Court where the Maxims both of Religion and State were directly contrary he should think to perswade the King of Spain to overturn all and also get such a Portion as was fourfold more than any Prince before had to enrich himself and to make War against the King of Spain or Emperor which the Spaniard esteemed all as one and also that the King of Spain should restore the Palatinate because the King knew not which way else
the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Principality of Wales and of the Dominions and Islands of the same of the Town of Calais and of the Marches of the same and of Normandy Gascoign and Guienne General Governor of the Seas and Ships of the Kingdom Master of the Horse to the King Lord Warden Chancellor and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and of the Members of the same Constable of Dover-Castle Justice in Eyre of all the Forests and Chases on this side of Trent Constable of the Castle of Windsor Gentleman of his Majesty's Bed-Chamber one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council in his Realms of England Scotland and Ireland and Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter But tho all others worshipped this prodigious Favourite yet Arch-bishop Abbot a Prelate of Primitive Sanctity and Integrity would not flatter neither the King nor his Favourite in their Courses so dangerous to the Church and State and dishonourable to the King and tho in Disgrace he wrote this following Letter to the King which you may read in Rushworth fol. 85. May it please your Majesty M I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my Silence I have neglected the Duty of the Place it has pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in But now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my Duty to your Majesty and therefore freely to give me leave to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you to take into your Consideration what that Act is what the Consequence may be By your Act you labour to set up the most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How hateful will it be to God and grievous to your Subjects the Professors of the Gospel that your Majesty who hath so often and learnedly disputed and written against those Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those wicked Doctrines which your Pen hath to the World and your Conscience tells your self are superstitious idolatrous and detestable and hereto I add what you have done by sending the Prince into Spain without the Consent of your Council the Privity or Approbation of your People and altho you have a Charge and Interest in the Prince as the Son of your Flesh yet the People have a greater as Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty are their Eyes fixed and their Welfare depends and so tenderly is his going apprehended as I believe however his Return may be safe yet the Drawers of him into this Action so dangerous to himself so desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestion'd and unpunished Besides the Toleration which you endeavour to set up by your Proclamation cannot be without a Parliament unless your Majesty will let your Subjects see that you will take to your self the Ability to throw down the Laws of the Land at your Pleasure What dread Consequence these things may draw afterwards I beseech your Majesty to consider and above all lest by this Toleration and discountenancing the true Profession of the Gospel wherewith God hath blest us and this Kingdom hath so long flourished under it your Majesty doth not draw upon this Kingdom in general and your self in particular God's Wrath and Indignation I have heard my Father say that King James kept a Fool called Archy if he were not more Knave whom the Courtiers when the King was at any time thoughtful or serious would bring in with his antick Gestures and Sayings to put him out of it In one of these Modes of the King in comes Archy and tells the King he must change Caps with him Why says the King Why who replies Archy sent the Prince into Spain But what said the King wilt thou say if the Prince comes back again Why then said Archy I will take my Cap from thy Head and send it to the King of Spain which was said troubled the King sore But if we look back into Spain we shall see things of another Complection than when Buckingham came into it For now he is disgusted he put the Prince quite out of the Match as that tho all things were agreed upon the coming of the Dispensation from Rome so as King James said all the Devils in Hell could not break the Match yet his Disciple and Scholar could tho the Duke had certified the King the Match was brought to a happy Conclusion and the Match publickly declar'd in Spain and the Prince permitted Access to the Infanta in the Presence of the King and the Infanta was generally stiled the Princess of England and in England a Chappel was building for her at St. James's and the King had prepared a Fleet to fetch her into England which only proved to bring back his Son How things especially actuated by Love should stay here may seem strange yet such an Ascendant had Buckingham over the Prince that the Affront put upon him Buckingham must quite deface the Prince's vowed Love and Affection to the Infanta but how to prevail with King James to comply might have an appearance of some Difficulty since the King had set his Rest upon it and had quarelled with the Parliament and dissolv'd them in great Anger and Fury for but mentioning it After the Duke had gained the Prince to break or at least not to observe the Conditions of the Treaty of the Marriage with the Infanta so solemnly sworn to by both the Kings and the Prince let 's now see how he behaved himself to King James afterwards but this will be better understood if we look back and see how things stood before the Prince's and Duke's Arrival in Spain The Prince's going into Spain was not only kept secret from King James ' s Council but from my Lord Keeper Williams tho the King confided in his Abilities above all the other of his Council but when it had taken vent the King asked the Keeper what he thought Whether the Knight Errant's Pilgrimage meaning the Prince's would prove lucky to win the Spanish Lady and to convey her shortly into England Sir answered my Lord Keeper If my Lord Marquess will give Honour to Conde Duke Olivares and remember he is the Favourite of Spain or if Olivares will shew honourable Civility to my Lord Marquess remembring he is a Favourite of England the Wooing may be prosperous but if my Lord Marquess should forget where he is and not stoop to Olivares or if Olivares forgetting what Guest he hath received with the Prince bear himself haughtily and like a Castilian to my Lord Marquess the Provocation may be dangerous to cross your Majesty's good Intentions and I pray God that either one or both do not run into that Error The Answer of the Keeper took such Impression upon the King that he asked the Keeper if he had wrote to his Son and the
horrible manner massacred many English and seized upon the English Factories there to the Value of four hundred thousand Pounds and made the rest of the English Slaves and sent them into other Islands which the Dutch had possessed themselves of This was in the Year 1622. Nor did the Dutch stay here but seized upon the English Factories in Seran Nero Waire Rosingen Latro Cambello Hitto Larica Lantare and Poloroone possessing themselves of their Goods and Factories there and took 1800 English which they sent into other Islands and Plantations which they had forced from the Indians Let 's see now how highly King James resented these things he only sent to the Dutch Ambassador and told him He never heard nor read a more cruel and impious Act than that of Amboyna But I do forgive them and I hope God will but my Son's Son shall revenge this Blood and punish this horrid Massacre nor never further vindicated his own Honour or his Subjects Blood and loss of their Goods and Trade herein Whereas about a Year before when he heard of the Commons horrid Invasion upon his Prerogative by asserting their Rights and Privileges in a Fury he dissolves the Parliament and sick as he was or seemed to be to the indangering of his Health he came in a hurry from Theobalds called his Council and Judges about him and propria Manu cut the Commons Protestation out of their Journal-Book and committed many of their Members close Prisoners without Bail or Main-prize and banished others That we may take a better View of the latter end of this Reign and the following one of King Charles it will be convenient to look into Holland and herein observe That Barnevelt and the Dutch States after they had retrieved their Cautionary Towns from King James Barnevelt assisted by Hugo Grotius nourished a Faction in Holland called the Arminian from Arminius who maintained 5 Heads contrary to what Calvin had taught in his Institutions which was the Doctrine of the Church set up in Holland and the other Vnited Provinces By this Faction thus countenanced by Barnevelt and Grotius they endeavoured to have deposed Maurice Prince of Orange State-holder tho he and his Father and Uncles were the principal Instruments whereby the Dutch became States But Maurice proved too hard for them and cut off Barnevelt's Head and had hanged Grotius if his Wife had not conveyed him away in a great Chest pretending it contained Arminian Books This was in the Year 1620. Tho Barnevelt and Grotius propagated the Arminian Tenets to have deposed the Prince of Orange and advanced their Democratical Government yet the Church-men of England who preached the King's absolute Power and exalted his divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation above his Royal Will in Governing by them promoted these Tenets and those that opposed them were stiled Puritans The principal Stickler herein was Dr. William Laud a Man of a most turbulent and aspiring Disposition and one of the first Acts for which he was taken notice of was to marry the Earl of Devonshire to the Lady Rich Mother to Robert Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Holland when her Husband was alive but this was so far from advancing him that the King was highly incensed against him for it Yet Laud's aspiring Humour could not contain him in a private State but follow the Court he would yet could never arrive higher than to be one of the King's Chaplains by means whereof he sometimes got the King's Ear. The King hated the Presbyterian Government and had got the Bishops in Scotland to be re-ordained by three of the English Bishops as a distinct Order which the Kirk in Scotland took for an abominable Usurpation over them and also in the Year 1618 got the five Articles commonly called The five Articles of Perth to be settled as more agreeable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England but this was to the further Indignation of the Kirk-party and herein King James set up his rest as having gained an high Point but tho the King hated the Presbyterian Government yet he opposed the Arminian Tenets Arch-bishop Abbot observed of him when he was at Court he was Buckingham's only inward Counsellor sitting sometimes with him privately whole hours and feeding his Humour with Malice and Spite and when he was at Oxford his Business was to pick Quarrels in the Lectures of publick Readers and to advertise them to the Bishop of Durham Neal the great Countenancer of the Arminian Tenets and Promoter of the King's Prerogative that he might fill the Ears of King James with Discontents against the honest Men that took pains in their Places and settled the Truth which he called Puritanism in their Auditors As you may read in Rush fol. 444. Nor could Laud forbear when he could get the King's Ear but he urged him more than once to promote the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in Scotland after the obtaining the passing of the five Articles at Perth this frighted King James who better knew the Temper of his Country-men and how difficultly he had got the Articles of Perth to pass that Laud ignorant of the Temper of the Scotish Nation should be so audacious to put the King upon this which might as it after did embroil all Scotland in Tumults and Wars and now becomes more averse to Laua's Promotion than before But this was no Consideration to Buckingham whether the King would or nor Laud should rise And soon after Williams was made Lord Keeper the Bishoprick of St. Davids fell and Buckingham resolved Laud should have it and the Keeper must be the Man to propound it to the King and receive no Denial But it 's fit to observe here in what an humbling manner this Promotion was accomplish'd on the part of Laud and take it as it was sent me by a Gentleman with the Attestation of Col. L. and R. L. Esq who often heard Mr. Francis Osburn speak of it as a certain Truth and who had taken notice of it in some of his Works not made publick As soon as Laud had Information that the foresaid Bishoprick was vacant he hastens to wait upon the Duke of Buckingham for that Preferment but found the Duke was not stirring but being impatient of Delay prevails upon one of the Duke's Gentlemen to acquaint him he had earnest Business with his Grace and begged immediate Admittance which being granted the Doctor enters his Grace's Chamber and finds him a-bed with a Whore the Duke asks his Business Laud told him the Bishop of St. Davids was dead and that he came to beg his Grace to recommend him to the King for the vacant See The Duke told him that he had been represented to him as the proudest Man alive and therefore he could not in Honour recommend him to the King Laud assures his Grace that what had been said of him upon that Head was utterly false and the effect of
Peron of the Papal Power of King-Killing and King-Deposing were only Brawls and Contentions and 〈◊〉 Learning on one side or the other A Power disclaimed by our Saviour when the Devil would have given him it and denied any such Power in this World even when the Jews were ready to crucify him John 18. 36. And as there were no Reasons for these Brawls so was the End of them Arrogance on the Popish Part to impose a foreign Power or Jurisdiction upon the King and Kingdom and as foolish on the King's Part it being exploded by the Nation and under the severest Penalty the asserting such a Power prohibited and how could the King by his Writings further secure himself and the Nation against it But it seems the King was in this more zealous for himself and the Preservation of his Inherent Birth-right to the Crown of England than for the Honour of God and our Saviour against the Pope's Usurpations other ways for in his Speech at the Opening the first Parliament of his Reign he calls the Church of Rome a 〈◊〉 Church and our Mother-Church and if they would lay aside their King-killing and King-deposing Doctrine and some Niceties but names them not he was content to meet them mid-way Does not the Pope exalt himself above God and is Antichrist i◠forbidding the Laity the Cup in the partaking the Sacrament a Christ's last Supper If any Man makes a Question of it I 'll demonstrate it by a better Syllogism than can be made up of Aristotle's Analyticks For whosoever shall forbid what another commands exalts himself above that other But the Pope forbids the Drinking of the Cup at the Sacrament to the Laity who are Christ's Members as well as the Priests And our Saviour commands the Cup with an Emphasis Drink ye All of it Therefore the Pope exalts himself above our Saviour and is Antichrist which was to be demonstrated and this Mutilation makes this the Pope's and not a Sacrament of our Saviour's Institution COROLLARY By the same Reason I say the Pope exalts himself above God in forbidding Marriage to the Priests For Marriage is an Institution of God in Paradise Gen. 2. and commanded by God Gen. 9. 1. and the Pope forbids the Marriage of Priests which St. Paul says is the Doctrine of Devils and it 's worthy Observation that the Pope makes Marriage to be a Sacrament yet denies it to Priests and our Saviour commands the Cup in the Sacrament of his last Supper to be drunk by all yet this is denied the Laity and only allowed to Priests I say Pope Julius the 2d in dispensing with Henry the 8th to marry his Brother Arthur's Wife exalted himself above God For whosoever shall dispense with or allow what another forbids exalts himself above that other But Julius dispensed with Henry's Marriage of his Brother's Wife And God forbids the Marriage of a Man's Brother's Wife Lev. 18. 16. Therefore Julius exalted himself above God which was to be demonstrated It 's true I do not find the Marriage of a Man's Sister's Daughter particularly forbidden by the Levitical Law yet by the 17th verse it is by inference forbidden and is abhorrent to Nature So that when Cambyses asked the Magi if it were not lawful to marry his Sister's Daughter they told him it was not yet like Flatterers they told him he might do what he pleased and Platina I think it is in the Life of Pope Boniface the 5th or Honorius exclaims against the Emperor Heraclius his marrying his Sister's Daughter as an Impiety scarce ever heard of yet three Popes successively dispensed with Philip the 2d Philip the 3d and Philip the 4th Kings of Spain marrying with their own Nieces viz. their Sisters Daughters It were endless to enumerate the Doctrines of the Church of Rome how dishonourable they are to God and his sacred Laws I 'll give Instances only in two 1. Their Invocation of Saints after Death many of which are of their own making thereby attributing to them a concurring Power with God in his Omniscience which is a robbing God of his Honour and if Saints after Death be not Omniscient it were in vain to pray to them The other is dispensing with Mens Promises and their own tho they have bound themselves to the Performance of them by an Oath whereby the Popes render themselves Enemies of Mankind and Humane Society for these are founded in Truth and Mens mutual Performance of their Promises That this for several hundreds of Years hath been practised by the Popes upon those Princes and Subjects whom they please to call Hereticks when the Popes are greater is well known to those conversant in their Histories I 'll give but one Instance of the Liberty the Popes take to themselves herein Upon the Death of Pope Marcellus 2d Ann. 1555. the Cardinals in the Conclave before they proceed to the Election of another Pope mutually swore That whosoever should be chosen should call a Synod in six Years and not make more than 4 Cardinals in two Years after the Election and Paul the 4th was chosed See the Council of Trent Anno 1555. Some small time after this Election Paul entred the Conclave to declare his Intentions of a Promotion of Cardinals and the Cardinal of St. James's pressed to him and put him in mind of his Oath before his Election but the Pope thrust the Cardinal back and told him This was to bind the Pope's Authority that it is an Article of Faith that the Pope cannot be bound much less bind himself that to say otherwise was manifest Heresy from which he did absolve those who spake it because he thought they did not speak obstinately but if any should say the same again he would give Order the Inquisition should proceed And this being spoken in the Conclave was in Cathedra and infallible and never since retracted by him or any other Pope These are the Heresies in the Church of Rome for which Men must be slaughtered and burnt and for not believing them against the Evidence of a Man's Senses to the contrary and against the Nature of a Sacrament That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after Consecration is Christ's organical Body and Blood This is that true and Mother-Church which the King would meet mid-way if it would let him and his Inherent Birth-right alone This is that Prince who to prosecute these Brawls and to wallow in sensual Pleasures neglected the foreign and domestick Affairs of his Kingdom only Great in making himself little and not beloved at home and contemptible and dishonoured abroad A Prince who squandred away the sacred Patrimony of the Crown amongst Flatterers and Favourites thereby becoming not able to maintain the Honour of the Nation abroad and neglecting the Encrease and Repair of his Navy-Royal not only rendred the Nation in an unsettled and dangerous Peace at home but notwithstanding the Treaty with the Dutch for Licence to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland suffered
them with Men of War to guard their Fisheries and to do it whether he would or not A Prince that by his dissolute Life and prophane Conversation debauched and effeminated the Genius of the English Nation whereby it became more scandalized for Swearing and Drinking than in any Age before A Prince that broke all the Measures by which Hen. 8. and Queen Elizabeth were the Arbitrators of Christendom A Prince fearful of all his Enemies abroad while he was only great by exercising a Tyrannical Arbitrary Power over his Parliaments and Subjects who could only have made him great abroad and honoured at home whereby he became little beloved at home and suffered the Dutch to redeem their Cautionary Towns upon their own Terms and to dispossess the English at Amboyna and their other Factories in the East-Indies and Africa He only stood still looking on while the French upon the Matter supprest the Reformed in France and suffered Ferdinand the 2d to over-run and near subdue the Protestant Princes in Germany as well as his own Son-in-law And tho he were the 6th of that Name King of Scotland from John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Robert Stuart by his Paramour Elizabeth Moor yet if Sir James Melvil says true that Cardinal Bethoun poisoned James the 5th he was the first of that Name who died a natural Death if he did so for James the first was murdered by his Uncle the Earl of Athol his Grand-father's legitimate Son in his Queen's Arms with eight and twenty Wounds the Queen receiving two to defend him This was in the Year 1436. James the II. was killed by the breaking of a Piece of Cannon while he besieged the Castle of Roxburgh the 3d of Aug. 1460. James the III. having his Army routed by an Army headed by his Son James was killed at Bannoch-Burn by the Lord Gray and Robert Sterling of Ker after Sir Andrew Brothick a Priest had shriven him This was in 1488. James the IV. was killed the 9th of December 1514 at Flowdenfield by the English commanded by the Earl of Surrey and his Body never found and if James the 5th was poisoned then none of these Jameses died a natural Death neither did King James his Mother being put to death Ann. 1587 for conspiring the Death of Queen Elizabeth After the Dissolution of the Spanish Match the King as greedily prosecuted the French and tho he lived not to see it settled yet he saw the Army raised under Count Mansfield for the Recovery of the Palatinate ruined by trusting to the French Faith in this very Treaty When he died he not only left an empty Exchequer but a vast Debt upon the Crown yet was engaged in a foreingn War and the Monies given by the Parliament for carrying it on were squandred away in carrying on the French Treaty and the Nation imbroiled in intestine Feuds and Disorders At his Death he left a Son and Heir and one Daughter Before he died he saw his Son over-ruled by his Favourite against his determinate Will and Pleasure and the Prince's own Honour and Interest which was a great Mortification to him and which he often complained of but had not Courage to redress and so strongly was 〈◊〉 Favourite possessed of his Power over his Son in the King's Life that the Prince little regarded his Father's Precepts or the Counsels of any else after his Death whereby he encreased the Internal Feuds Jealousies and Discords of the Nation which ended in a sad Catastrophe both of the Favourite and the King At the King's Death his Daughter with her Husband and her many Children were driven into Exile and Poverty in the Dominion of the Dutch States where they were more relieved by the States the Prince of Orange and some Bishops and Noblemen of England than by either of the Kings Father or Son A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King CHARLES I. c. BOOK II. CHAP. I. This Reign detected to the Dissolution of the Parliament Tertio Car. 'T WAS a strange Reign this As this King's Father's Reign was introduced with a horrible Plague so was this King's with a greater and such as no Records of any Times before mention the like The first 15 Years of his Reign were perfectly French and such as never before were seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King whenas it was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done Baptista Nani in the sixth Book of the History of Venice An. 1625 f. 221 observes That after the Marriage of King Charles with the Daughter of France the Interest of State or rather the Passion of Favourites converted the Bonds of Affection into Causes of Hatred Europe in those times reckoned it amidst its unhappy Destiny that the Government of it fell upon three young Kings yet in the Flower of their Age Princes of great Power desirous of Glory and in Interest contrary but in this alone by Genius agreeing that they committed the Burden of Affairs to the Will of their Ministers for with equal Independency France was governed by Richlieu Spain by Olivares and Great-Britain by Buckingham confounding Affections with Interest as well publick as private Betwixt the Cardinal and Buckingham open Animosities discovered themselves for Causes so much more unadvised as they were more hard to be known When King James died the Nation was rent into four Parties viz. The Prerogative which exalted the King's divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions above his Royal and Legal Will The Country or Legal Party which stood for the Legal Establishment of Church and State and the Puritan and Popish Parties After the Treaties of Marriage between the Prince and the Daughters of Spain and France the Popish and Prerogative Parties joined for carrying on the Court-Designs and were opposed by the Country and Puritan Parties and as the Prerogative and Popish Factions grew more insolent so the Puritan Party gathered Strength and Reputation among the Vulgar or ordinary People insomuch that in Number they became more than all the other three We shall take a better View of this Reign if we look a little back into the former After the Treaty of the Match with Spain was broken off King James was perplext what to do he had neither Money nor Courage to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate and the Wounds which he had given the last Parliament by Imprisoning their Members for advising him to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate were yet fresh and bleeding and yet Buckingham whom he durst not offend not content to satisfy his Spite against Olivares by breaking off the Match was notwithstanding all Difficulties nay Impossibility of Success still pushing on the King to declare War against the King of Spain The King
to fish without Licence they punished them with Loss of Life and Limb and were obliged to repair to Berghen and pay their Duties into the King's Exchequer there as appears by the Danish Records and other Monuments preserved in England and this avowed to have been practised consantly time out of mind Ann. 1432. Afterwards upon the Marriage of James 3. of Scotland with Margaret the Daughter of Christian 1. of Norway the Rights of the Fishery upon Schetland was transferred to the King of Scotland and his Heirs Anno 1470. and William Walwed a Scots Lawyer c. 3. de Dominio Maris says That in the past Age after a most bloody Quarrel between the Scots and Hollanders about the Fishery the Matter was at last composed in this manner That in time to come the Hollander should keep at least eighty Miles from the Coasts of Scotland And if by Accident they were driven nearer by the Violence of the Weather they paid a Tribute at the Port of Aberdeen before their Return where there was a Castle built and fortified for this and other Occasions Dr. Stubbe says that Gerard Malinus a most inquisitive Person informed him That after the Agreement between the King of Scotland and the Hollanders that the Dutch should not fish within eighty Miles of the Scots Coast lest the Shoals of Herrings should be interrupted King James before his coming to the Crown of England did let the Fishing upon the Coast of Scotland to the Hollanders for 15 Years And if this happen'd in the Year 1594 when Prince Henry was born then in the Year 1609 the Term expired when King James by his Proclamation enjoined the Dutch which fished upon the Coast of Scotland to take Licences But certain it is that the Dutch to caress King James the more at the Christning of Prince Henry were his Godfathers and presented the Prince with 400 Ounces of fine Gold and a Deed sealed whereby the Prince was yearly to receive 5000 Florins out of Camp-vere Mr. Stubbe says pag. 131 I believe from Authors truly cited by him The King of Denmark receives at his Ward-House in the Sound one Dollar for a Licence and for the Seal or Rose a Noble of every Ship and for every Last of Herrings being 12 Barrels one Dollar In Russia many Leagues from the Main or Land the Fishermen pay great Taxes to the King and in most places none but the Natives are permitted to fish but where the Hollanders are permitted to fish they pay the tenth Fish to the Emperor The King of Sweden amongst the Regalities of that Crown hath that of the tenth Fish caught in his Seas or if not that a Composition for the Fishery he has also several Districts Channels or Veins Royal in his Seas which are appropriated to his particular Use Nor is there any Fishing permitted in the open Seas there but by Leave and Direction of the Governour of the neighbouring Ports And Page 132 he says the same is practised by the King of Portugal in the Kingdom of Algarsues and the Natives pay a certain Tribute for their Liberty to fish And in Spain the Duke de Medina Sidonia does rent out of the Maritime Jurisdiction what he hath in reference to Fishing for 80000 Ducats of yearly Revenue Has not Grotius a fruitful Brain to find out those Usages by Princes and States in all Ages to be Usurpation against natural Right which lib. 1. sect 10. tit 5. de jure Belli Pacis is immutable by God himself and which never any Man before presumed to question But before we enquire into the Causes from which Grotius assumes to himself a Power which he denies to be in God Almighty let 's see how the Case stood with the Dutch when Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum both at home and abroad Tho the Seas were free Jure naturali as Grotius says yet I have seen a Dutch Placart printed the Year before Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum viz. 1632 and which Grotius might have seen as well as I wherein the States prescribe when and where the Dutch shall begin and proceed in their Fisheries and wherein they forbid the Use of French Salt in all their Fisheries and that Salts used in all of them shall be three times revised in three several Offices upon Penalty of Forfeiture of Fish and Salt which by Grotius's Doctrine is an Usurpation of the Natural Right which every Man has in the Sea and immutable by God himself Dr. Stubbe Page 132 says That the Fishermen in one Year paid the States 300000 l. for the Herrings and Codfish taken upon the Coasts of England and Scotland besides the tenth Fish and Cask paid for Waftage which comes at least to as much more which are Duties proper to the Kings of England and Scotland So that if what the Kings of England ever claimed by immemorial Prescription be an Usurpation against natural Right by Grotius's Doctrine I would be willingly informed by any of Grotius's Disciples by what Right then do these new States impose these things upon the Dutch who fish in these Seas If the Sea be free Jure naturali let any Man shew a Reason how the Dutch erect their East-India and West-India Companies only to trade in the East-Indies Africk and the West-Indies exclusive to the rest of the Dutch without a Violation of the natural Right of the other Dutch which Grotius says is immutable by God As Grotius's Title Mare Liberum is absurd and contrary to the Practice of his Country-men so his Manifesto of it is not less arrogant and intolerable viz. To the Princes and free People of the Christian World without so much as the Addition of sending greeting An Arrogance which no Pope ever assumed yet done by Grotius an exotick and proscribed Traitor for raising Arms and endeavouring to subvert the establish'd Church and State of his native Country The Topick whereon he founds his Manifesto is general and such as no Thief or Rogue ever pleaded to save their Lives viz. It is an Error not less old than pestilent which many Mortals but those especially who most abound in Wealth perswade themselves that Just and Vnjust is not distinguished by its own Nature but by an empty Opinion and Custom of Men and that all Right is to be measured by the Will and the Will by Profit But who these are who maintain these Opinions Grotius names none if they were his Acquaintance which I believe none of the Kings or Free People were except his Country-men were he should have convinced them to their Faces and not sneakingly have cavill'd at them behind their Backs I say I find this by no Nation or People so much practised as by the Tripolins Tunis Algier and Sally-men and his Country-men as will appear And if this will not oblige all Christian Princes and Free People to abandon all their Rights of Dominion to the Seas whereof they have been possessed by immemorial Prescription and leave all free for the
so grave an Author as the Bishop of Litchfield had not reported it in the Bishop of Lincoln's Life See the second Part fol. 138. The Writs for Ship-Money are now issued out the Proceedings against the Officers for not collecting the Assessments as Constables Bayliffs and other Officers were to bind them over to answer at the Council-board and Commitment if any refused to give Bond but if Sheriffs neglect to collect all such Assessments in their Year they shall stand charged with the Arrears Thus things at present stood but the breaking the Bounds of the Forests was but in Embrio yet in a hopeful Production Thus things stood in the State about the end of the Year 1634. In the Church the Arch-Bishop had the sole Supremacy not only in England but in Scotland having got a Warrant from the King to hold Correspondence with the Bishops and also in Ireland being chosen Chancellor of the University of Dublin and having got Sir Thomas Wentworth to be Lieutenant of Ireland who was now as much his intimate Confident as Noy was before In England the Arch-bishop's Injunctions for wearing the Surplice receiving the Sacrament kneeling and placing the Communion-Table Altar-ways and railing it about c. were vehemently prosecuted with the opprobrious Names of Puritan and Schismatick fixed upon Nonconformists with Deprivations and Censures upon Lecturers and Chaplains who refused to come up to them if they did they must forsake their Patrons Patronesses and Flocks who provided them Bread so that they contended pro Aris Focis and otherways no Provision was made for them On the contrary they retorted on the Bishops and promoted Clergy with bitter Terms of Popishly affected and Rags of Superstition and Idolatry so that the Contentions all over the Kingdom were as fierce as in the Universities But it had been happy for this Nation if the Effects of these Contentions had been terminated in the Bounds of it For the Arch-bishop in his Metropolitan Visitation this Year 1634 summoned the Ministers of the Dutch and French Churches to appear before his Vicar-General where all the Natives viz. born in England were enjoined to repair to their several Parish-Churches to hear Divine Service and Sermons and perform all Duties and Payments required in that behalf The Descendants of those Walloons persecuted by Alva and of the French by Henry II. of France had for near ninety Years been allowed their several Congregations by Queen Elizabeth King James I and had the Royal Word of King Charles for enjoying of them But now at once they must be turn'd out of them When these Injunctions were to be put in Execution at Norwich the Dutch and French Congregations petitioned Dr. Matthew Wren that these Injunctions might not be imposed upon them but finding no Relief appealed to the Arch-bishop who return'd a sharp Answer that unless they would submit he would proceed against them according to the Laws and Canons Ecclesiastical Here take notice that as the Spanish Trade was the most enriching Trade to this Nation so the Trade to Hamburg and the Countries and Kingdoms within the Sound with our Woollen Mafactures was the best the English had for Employment of People Shipping and Navigation The Company which traded into the Sound was called the East-Country Company and Queen Elizabeth and after her King James to honour them called it the Royal Company This Trade the English enjoyed time out of mind and the Cloths which supplied it were principally made in Suffolk and Yorkshire And Ipswich as it was the finest Town in England and had the Noblest Harbour on the East and most convenient for the Trade of the Northern and Eastern Parts of the World so till this time it was in as flourishing a State as any other in England The Bishop of Norwich straining these Injunctions to the utmost frighted thousands of Families out of Norfolk and Suffolk into New-England and about 140 Families of the Workers of those Woollen Manufactures wherewith Hamburg and the Countries within the Sound were supplied went into Holland where the Dutch as wise as Queen Elizabeth was in entertaining the Walloons persecuted by the Duke of Alva established these English Excise-free and House-Rent free for seven Years and from these the Dutch became instructed in working these Manufactures which before they knew not The Consequence whereof shall be shewn hereafter But the Care of the Arch-bishop for Reformation of the Church of Scotland was not less than for that of England and to that end got the King to sign a Common-Prayer Book for the Use of the Church of Scotland and gave order to the Bishops there to compile certain Canons for the Government of the Church and there to be imposed by Regal and Episcopal Authority and to this end Laud held Correspondence with the Arch-bishop of Saint Andrews and other Bishops of Scotland Whilst these things were brewing in England and Scotland you need not fear Ireland now Sir Thomas Wentworth was Lieutenant there a most dreadful War overspread Germany and Philip the 4th a weak lascivious Prince reigned in Spain so as Richlieu had a fair Opportunity to subdue Monsieur the King's Brother and overthrow the Forces raised by the Duke of Momerancy to assist Monsieur wherein the Duke was unhappily taken Prisoner and had his Head cut off being a young Prince of greatest Hope the most antient of the French Nobility and the last of his Line But the Cardinal did not rest here but built more and better Men of War than had been before in France and Spain shall first find the Force of them in return of their Kindness in joining their Fleet with the French in relieving St. Martins in the Isle of Rhee besieged by the English And this Year 1634 Richlieu trickt Charles Duke of Lorain out of his Dutchy and the next the King of France proclaims open War against Spain by Sea and Land and in 1638 ten Years after the Spaniards joining with the French against the English the French besieged Fontaraby by Land which the Spaniards intending to relieve by Sea the Spanish Fleet is encountred by the French and beaten the French took eleven great Ships whereof six of them were richly laden for the Indies and burnt two Gallions upon the Stocks and six others entirely finished In the Ships taken besides their Equippage and other Ammunition of War the French took an incredible Number of Cannons 100 whereof were Brass with the Arms of the House of Austria upon them Afterward the French and Spanish Fleet fight in the Mediterranean Sea where the Spaniard is again beaten by the French and by Land the French take from the Spaniard Landrecy Beaumont and de la Valette in the Spanish Netherlands Perpignan the Key of Spain on the Foot of the Pyrenean Hills in the Country of Rousillion and Barcelona a good Port and the capital City of Catalonia In England this Year 1635 there was great Contrivance between the Arch-bishop Laud and Bishops of Scotland
how to erect a High Commission Court in Scotland by the King's Authority without Consent in Parliament for proceeding against such as would not submit to the Common-Prayer Book and Canons enjoined by the King and Bishops of Scotland and upon the 28th of February the Arch-bishop consecrated Dr. Manwaring Bishop of St. Davids a worthy Successor to so Saint-like and pious a Predecessor for this Bishoprick was Laud's first Preferment You have seen his Grace of Canterbury's Temper towards the King's Subjects now see how it was towards the King His Grace being as high as England could admit viz. Metropolitan and first Peer thereof would visit both Universities by his Metropolitan Right and not by Commission from the King and signified so much to both to which both answered That to admit it without a Warrant from the King was a Wrong to the Vniversities his Grace was Chancellour of Oxford and the Earl of Holland of Cambridg The Cause came to a hearing before the King and Council the 21st of June 1634 where the Attorney General Banks was for his Grace against the King Mr. Gardener the Recorder of London â—or Cambridg and Serjeant Thyn for Oxford the Cause was shortly this Both sides agreed in this that both Universities were of the King's Foundation and so might be visited as they had often been by Commission from the King But this would not do with his Grace he would to use his own Words visit by his own Right Serjeant Thyn urged against this the King's Foundation of the University of Oxford and that never any Arch-bishop so visited But the Recorder could not say so of Cambridg which happened upon this Occasion In the Reign of Richard the Wickliff's Doctrine prevailed much in both Universities and Arundel then Arch-bishop of Canterbury as zealous to suppress the Wicklevites as Laud was the Puritans to suppress them did visit Jure Metropolitano but Oxford opposed him forti Manu Upon this Arundel appeals to the King who being a weak Prince and as zealous for the then Church as King Charles was for Laud's declares the Right to be in the Bishop so did Henry the 4th the Current running against Wickliff which was after confirmed in Parliament but Cambridg was not in it Yet never before did any Arch-bishop visit Oxford nor Cambridg since the Year 1404 Jure Metropolitano as his Grace would do and so the Cause went for the Arch-bishop Plum'd thus in his own Feathers all black and white without one borrowed from Caesar whereby the more he assumes to himself the less he leaves the King he now soars higher the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury in their own Names enjoin the Removal of the Communion Table in the Parish-Churches and Universities from the Body of the Church or Chancel to the East of the Chancel and cause Rails to be set about the Table and refuse to administer the Sacrament to such as shall not come up to the Rails and receive it kneeling that the Book of Sports on Sundays be read in Churches and enjoin Adoration I do not find that Adoration was ever enjoined before nor any of the fore-named Injunctions in any Canon of the Church sure I am they were never publickly put in Execution so that whether these were any of the Canons of the Church or not was not understood by one of 10000 and the Lecturers Chaplains and School-masters who had no Maintenance from the Church being principally struck at by these Injunctions make all the sinister and worst Constructions they could invent against them so that though those Injunctions had been founded in the Canons of the Church yet the contrary was believed and so had the same Effect as if they had not been founded in the Church-Canons Here I cannot omit one Passage That several were deprived by the Bishop's Authority for refusing to read the Book of Sports on Sunday Whereas King James the 2d allowed the seven Bishops a legal Trial for refusing to enjoin the Clergy to read his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops were acquitted That the Legality of these Proceedings might be manifest a Proclamation was issued out that it was the Opinion of the Judges that the Act of the 1 Edw. 6. 2. which ordains that Bishops should hold their Ecclesiastical Courts in the King's Name or by Commission from him was repealed by the 1st of Queen Mary though this Act was repealed by the 1 Jac. 25. and so the Act 1 Edw. 6. 2. was revived and so resolved upon a full Debate in Parliament 7 Jacobi The Thunder of those Canons the terrible and unheard of Execution of them in the Star-Chamber against all Opposers by Speech or Writing so terrified the Puritans which would not submit that incredible Numbers of them left the Kingdom to inhabit in foreign Plantations especially in New-England where these Ecclesiastical Canons could not well play upon them But to restrain the further Evasion of them the King by Proclamation the 30th of April 1638 stops all the Ports of England to keep them in it The Reason was no doubt that they might be better instructed in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England here than elsewhere But Ship-Money notwithstanding my Lord Keeper Coventry's Charge to the Judges last Year that in their Circuits they should give Charge how justly the King required Ship-Money for the common Defence and with what Alacrity and Chearfulness they the Subjects are bound in Duty to contribute yet this did not pass-for true Doctrine with all for Mr. Hambden upon Advice with Holborn St. John and Whitlock denied the Payment whereupon several other Gentlemen refused also Hereupon the King was advised by the Lord Chief Justice Finch to require the Opinion of his Judges which he did in a Letter to them and after much Solicitation by the Chief Justice promising Preferment to some and highly threatning others whom he found doubting he got from them in Answer to the King's Letter and Case their Opinion in these Words We are of Opinion that when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger you may by your Writ under the Great Seal of England command all your Subjects of this your Kingdom at their Charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from Peril and Danger And that your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion that in such Case your Majesty is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided This Opinion was signed by Davenport Denham Hutton Croke Trevor Bramston Finch Vernon Berkly Crawley and Weston See Whitlock ' s Memoirs f. 24. The King having previously extorted the Judges Opinions exparte gave order for the Proceedings against Mr. Hambden in the
Fleet and an Army in readiness to compel the Covenanters to Obedience but not to consent to the calling of a Parliament or General Assembly till the Covenant be given up that now his Crown and Reputation for ever lies at stake that he had rather suffer the first which time would help than the last which is irreparable that the Explanation of the damnable Covenant makes him to have no more Power than a Duke of Venice which he will rather die than submit to Yet without dying he did submit to the Revocation of the Service-Book Canons High-Commission and the Articles of Perth forsakes the Bishops and by a Proclamation Sept. 22 1638 commands the Covenant to be subscribed by the Privy-Council and all his Scotish Subjects but this would not content the Covenanters because it came not from a General Assembly and because the Band of mutual Defence was not in the Proclamation Having gone thus far there was no going back and the King's Army and Navy was not yet ready the King therefore indicts a General Assembly to be held the 21st of November 1638 at Glasgow and a Parliament to meet at Edinburgh the 15th of May following The General Assembly met accordingly but the Marquess and the Assembly were at Variance about the Elections and Votes of the Lay-Elders and the Bishops sitting in the Assembly and the Votes of the King's Assessors in it But what the Marquess would have the Covenanters would not whereupon the Marquess on the 28th dissolves the Assembly upon Penalty of High-Treason The Covenanters and General Assembly protest against this Dissolution and sit notwithstanding yet profess all Duty and Obedience to the King in its due Line and Course which in plain English is They 'll do what they will and if the King will do what they would have him they will be obedient Subjects And in this Session they depose and excommunicate all the Bishops of Scotland To this State within less than two Years has his Grace of Canterbury brought the Church of Scotland and a terrible Cloud hangs over that of England whereby his Grace will have the Glory of becoming a Martyr in it Weston Earl of Portland died in the Year 1634 and Dr. Juxton Bishop of London was made Lord-Treasurer by whose prudent Management it 's said that in less than five Years he had lodged 900000 l. in the Exchequer and now the King had raised an Army of about 20000 Horse and Foot made the Earl of Arundel General Lord Viscount Wentworth Lieutenant-General and Earl of Holland General of the Horse and had fitted up a Navy with 5000 Land-Men commanded by Marquess Hamilton to compel the Scots to their Obedience and marches at the Head of this Army himself It was time for the Scots were up in Arms too had seized the Regalia at Dalkeith and brought them to Edinburgh taken Dumbarton and routed the Scots who took the King's part at Aberdeen which they likewise took This King 's good Nature never more appeared than in his Necessities so that when he came to York by Proclamation he recall'd 31 Monopolies and Patents formerly granted by him he not before understanding how grievous they were to his Subjects The Scots that the English might have no Jealousy of an Invasion had resolved not to come within ten Miles of the Borders with their Army When the King came to Berwick the Earl of Holland made two vain and inconsiderate Incursions into Scotland and upon the Approach of the Scots retreated and these were the only Actions of this War by the English Upon the Retreat of the Earl the English Army was contemned by the Scots who advanced to the Borders and pitched their Tents in sight of the English before any notice was given of their Motion this raised a Murmur all over the English Army where Provisions were not only scant but their Bread and Biscake mouldy nor was there any prospect of a further Supply However the Scots propose a Treaty of Accommodation which the King's Necessities compell'd him to submit to which being made the Terms you may read in Rushworth's and Franklin's Collections the King disbands his Army and withdraws his Navy this was all the Scots cared for for the Treaty being upon equivocal Terms the Scots were resolved to make their own Interpretation and stand by it and to that purpose hold Correspondence with the French King and stile him Au Roy and also with the discontented in England and buy Arms and Ammunition at Bremen and Hamburg To forment these Jealousies and propagate the Popish Interest Cardinal Richlieu employs one Chamboy or Chamberlain in Scotland and Con or Cunaeus his own Chaplain in England whose chief Confidents were the Earl of Arundel General of the King's Army and his Countess Sir Francis Windebank Principal Secretary of State Sir Toby Mathews Endymion Porter English and one Read and Maxwel Scots See this at large in Rushworth's Collections fol. 1318 1319 1320 1321 to 1326. This Year my Lord-Keeper Coventry died and Sir John Finch Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Lord-keeper of the Great Seal no doubt for promoting the Legality of Ship-money and enlarging the Bounds of the Forests The Cloud rising so thick in the North presaged a Storm which to dissipate the King summons a Parliament to meet the 23d of April 1640. the Arch-bishop and the Earl of Strafford giving out according to the Advice which Sir Robert Cotton gave the Duke of Buckingham that they were the first Movers of it At the opening of this Parliament the King lays before them his Necessities for Money in the first place as he had done in all the three Parliaments before and that Delay was all one with a Denial and communicates to them the Covenanters Letter to the French King imploring his Assistance But the House of Commons having found the Effects of giving Money before Grievances were redrest both in the 18th of his Father's Reign and in the first of his began at Grievances now multiplied by the Additions of Ship-Money breaking the Bounds of the Forests and Monopolies multiplied without end the Arbitrary Power of the Star-Chamber and High-Commission against those who opposed the Proceedings of the Innovations brought into the Church and the Imprisonment and unheard-of Censures of their Members for their Proceedings in the House last Parliament so that instead of enjoying any Benefit by the Petition of Right the Church and State was in a manifold worse State than before they had now found by Experience that no Laws or Judgments in Parliament could bind the King's Prerogative but that he would act quite contrary as in the Cases of Mountague and Manwaring c. and how could the Parliament rely upon his Royal Word which he would upon all occasions give when they found no Assurance in any Law nor so many Declarations of his observing them However the Commons upon the 2d of May resolved to take care of supplying the King upon the 4th when Sir Henry Vane
should call a Parliament in Ireland Nor does Mr. May give any Reason why they should be so troubled Besides Mr. May says The King at that time had broken up the Parliament in Scotland which the Scots complained of the Business of State depending as a great Breach of their Liberties and against the Laws of that Kingdom So here again Mr. May makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Cause and is not ingenuous in thus charging the King at random and not shewing what Business of State was then depending It 's fit therefore to shew what Business of State was then depending before Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled at the King 's breaking up the Parliament The Scots having as before said violated all the Articles of Pacification on their part and persecuted the Loyal Scots expresly contrary to the Pacification as Incendiaries and Traitors levied Taxes provided Ammunition of War and kept an Army on foot The Parliament over and above these formed these Demands to be made to the King 1. That Coin be not medled with but by Advice in Parliament 2. That no Stranger be to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's but by their Advice 3. That no Honour be granted to any Stranger but such as have a competency of Land-Rent in Scotland 4. No Commissioner or Lieutenancy but for a limited time And next they protest against the Precedency of the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal as not warranted by any positive Law See Baker 408. These were the Businesses of State which Mr. May speaks of which added to what the Scots usurped before I would know what Regality would be left for the King and a Reason why Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled for the King 's dissolving the Parliament Mr. May drives on and says Upon which they sent some Lords into England to intreat the King for a Redress of such Injuries as they had received since the Pacification which were that the Parliament was broken up before any Business done If they made it their Business to divest the King as they did of his Rightful Regalities the King had reason therefore to break them up That Edinburgh Castle was garison'd with far more Soldiers than was needful So here the Scots are Parties and Judges in their own Cause and you need not doubt but that so many Soldiers as shall be able to defend the Castle shall be judged by the Scots to be more than is needful That Dunbritton Castle was garison'd by English Soldiers And why might not the King do it for the English as well as Scots were his Subjects But I dare say if these had been the honest rational English-men May speaks of neither he nor the Scots would ever have complain'd of it That the Scots which traded to England and Ireland sure they mean Pedlars prohibited by Law were enforced to take new Oaths contrary to their Covenant and altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification Whereas their Covenant is a new Oath contrary to their Allegiance And if there were any such new Oaths why do neither the Scots nor Mr. May name them or if any such were imposed that was so far from being altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification that I say they were not contrary to any one Article of the Pacification unless the Scots or Mr. May could make new Articles of Pacification and other than those before mentioned The King Mr. May says imprisoned those Lords sending one of them the Earl of Lowden to the Tower and commanded a Charge of High Treason to be drawn against him concerning a Letter which the Scotish Covenanters had written to the King of France French King had been as well for his Assistance and Lowden had subscribed it But the Accusation was frivolous easily answered and came to nothing because these Letters were not sent at all and besides it was before the Pacification upon which an Oblivion of all things were agreed So here are two impertinent and frivolous Answers to excuse a most treasonable and rebellious Conspiracy to bring in a foreign Power into Scotland for it was subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesley Marre Montgomery Lowden and Forrester under the Title of Au Roy or our King to Lewis 13. The first is That those Letters were not sent at all because they were intercepted by the Earl of Traquair the King's Commissioner in Scotland If Mr. May had not been a Christian yet the very Heathen by the Light of Humane Nature could have informed him that Scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum Facti Crimen habet And if Conspiracies of Rebellion and Treason against Princes shall be esteemed frivolous unless they evade into Actions Princes and States too would be in a very unsecure state and all Counsel and Endeavours to prevent them would be vain and frivolous and I say here was a double Overt-Act in this Conspiracy one the Conspirators Meeting the other the Subscribing the Paper The other Answer That the Pacification was after the Subscription and so there was an Oblivion upon it But the Pacification was reciprocal between the King and Scots and if the Scots first broke the Pacification as they did let them take all that followed and therefore the King had no Reason to perform his Part nor the Scots to complain if the King had hanged and quartered Lowden The War Mr. May says p. 16. went on the Earl of Strafford commanding in Chief the Earl of Northumberland not being in Health who was appointed General But if Mr. May had been ingenuous and impartial he should have told on which Side the War began which he does not but only says the Scots had not been backward for having been debarred of their Trade and lost their Ships by Seizure they entred England with an Army expressing their Intentions in writing to the English and bringing with them a Petition to the King Admit all this to be true the Scots should first have represented this to the King and what was their Loss by being debarred of their Trade and the Value of their Ships so seized and upon Denial to have granted Letters of Reprizal till they had recovered Satisfaction but of this Mr. May says not one Word nor do I find or believe the Scots ever did demand Satisfaction before they entred England in open Hostility and in Defiance of the King and English Nation and for the Manner of bringing their Petition to the King it was without Precedent or such as never was done by any other People for they entred England and maintained their Army by Plunder and Rapine upon the English and when Lesley came to Newborn upon Tine he craves leave of my Lord Conway ordered by the King to guard the Pass there to pass with his Petition to the King which my Lord Conway granted with a considerable Number but not with his Army Hereupon Lesley who had the Night before planted nine Pieces of Cannon on
See the Life of General Monk p. 23 24. written by his Chaplain Dr. Gumble The Parliament having recruited the Earl of Essex's Army he forced his Passage and relieved Glocester the King's Army retreat to Newbury where it was charged by Essex and worsted and in the Fight the Ornament of the Age the learned and most ingenious Lord Falkland tho weary of his Life and presaging his own Destiny was slain as were the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarven If the King's Army had such bad Success before Glocester my Lord of New-Castle had worse before Hull for lying in a moorish unhealthy place in a sickly season of the Year viz. September and October the whole Army fell into Fluxes and other Distempers so as they were forced to raise the Siege having done nothing considerable in it besides at this time Lyn-Regis in Norfolk a Place near as considerable as Hull was seized by the Gentry of Norfolk and might have been relieved if New-Castle had not been engaged in besieging Hull Tho the English and Scotish Parliament agreed in their Solemn League and Covenant yet so did not Sir John Hotham and his Son with the Preferment of Sir Thomas Fairfax and others in the North so that Sir John Hotham refused to serve under Fairfax Hereupon the Parliament intended to have displaced Hotham which when he heard of both he and his Son treated with the Marquess of New-Castle to deliver Hull to the King and the Parliament suspecting the Design sent Sir Matthew Bromton Sir John's Brother-in-law to seize both Father and Son which Sir John little suspecting till it was too late fled to Beverly where he was seized by his own Soldiers and carried to Hull from whence Sir Matthew sent both Father and Son to London where soon after both lost their Heads When the Parliament sent Commissioners to invite the Scots to come to their Assistance the King sent Letters to disswade them from it urging the manifold Grants he had given to them when he was in Scotland last which compleated all they could ask and their solemn Protestations to be for ever his Majesty's most obedient Subjects See the Act cited by Sir Rich. Baker fol. 514. That it should be detestable Treason in the highest degree for any of the Scots Nation conjunctly or singly to raise Arms or any military Force upon any Cause whatever without the King's Commission But now unprovoked by the King and against his express Command they in open Hostility enter England a second time against him so little Faith or Honour was to be trusted to from these Covenanters for the Scots having made their Market with the King resolve to improve it with the Parliament and besides their Pay or Wages of Iniquity will have the Covenant and Kirk-Government imposed upon the English as well as Scots Nation and tho the King's Letters were signed by 19 Lords the Scots ordered them to be burnt by the common Hangman and in order hereunto General Lesley now Earl of Leven upon the 16th of January enters into England again with an Army of above 20000 Scots The King to add Reputation to his Arms summoned the Members of Parliament which followed him to meet at Oxford upon the 22d of January where they voted the coming of the Scots to be Treason and Rebellion but because they would not come up to the King's Desire in Voting the Members at Westminster to be no Parliament the King in great Displeasure with them and in his Letters to the Queen calls them his mungrel Parliament such was the Kindness the King shewed those Noble Lords and Gentry for sacrificing their Lives and Fortunes for his Service And to oppose the Scots the King makes a Cessation of Arms with the Irish and draws back into England the English which he sent to oppose the Irish but these were every where beaten 1500 of them cast away by Sea and the greatest Body of them commanded by Sir Michael Ernley Major General Gibson Sir Francis Boteler and Colonel Monk who shall unravel all the Parliament and Scots were now weaving were totally routed and dispersed by Sir Thomas Fairfax joining with Sir William Brereton near Nantwich and all these with Colonel Gibs Harmon Sir Ralph Dawns with 14 Captains 26 Ensigns and other inferiour Officers and 1500 common Soldiers taken Prisoners with the loss of their Cannon and Baggage So that as Serjeant Whitlock observes f. 79. a. these Irish never did the King any considerable Service But to sweeten this Prince Rupert at the close of this Year beat Sir John Meldrum a Scot who besieged Newark and his Army surrendred up their Arms Upon which the Parliament-Garisons in Gainsborow Lincoln and Sleford quitted these Places to the King's Forces And here we will end the Year 1643. and take notice how Mr. Serjeant Whitlock f. 64. b. errs in point of Time where he says the Scots passed the Tyne in 1642 under General Lesley to assist the Parliament and f. 67. a. he says the Queen was brought to Bed at Exeter of the Princess Henrietta Maria which for ought appears was before the Queen landed from Holland for she was born the 20th of June 1644. See Sir Baker's Hist f. 434. a. Anno Reg. 20. Dom. 1644. The Wonders which succeeded these two Years in England will better appear if a View be taken of the present Posture of Affairs as they stood in the beginning of this Year England and Scotland are united in one Solemn League and Covenant in January last Lesley or Leven enter'd England with an Army of 18000 Foot and 3500 Horse and Dragoons and soon after the Earl of Calendar enter'd England with an Army of 10000 Scots more these commanded by old and experienced Officers and the English Parliament's Armies were commanded by as brave and resolute Commanders as were to be found in Europe The Fleet wholly at the Parliament's Devotion and so was the City of London So that if you look upon the Superstructure nothing could appear more strong and lasting And all this time you hear little of Oliver Cromwel more than that he was a Captain of Horse and being of a bold and active Spirit secured the Town of Cambridg for the Parliament and was very diligent in obstructing several Levies for the King in Cambridgshire Essex Suffolk and Norfolk For these Services he had a Commission to be a Colonel of Horse and having an insinuating and canting way of preaching and seeming very Godly raised such a Regiment of Horse as was no where to be found the Riders spirited with Zeal to the Cause yet not of the Scots mode and to secure them without Oliver took care to provide them able Horses and to be well arm'd and accoutred so as every one of them beside Sword and Pistol had Pot Back and Breast Musquet-proof He was Nephew to Sir Oliver Cromwel who had a very great Estate but his Father being a younger Brother had not above 300 l. per Annum as was said Their
Success of this Fight he was not less in the Discovery of his secret Counsels with the Queen which were so contrary to those he declared to the Kingdom for in his Letter to the Queen he declared his Intention to make Peace with the Irish and to have 40000 of them over into England to prosecute the War here And in others he complained he could not prevail with his Mungrel Parliament at Oxford to Vote that the Parliament of Westminster were not a Lawful Parliament So little Thanks had these Noble Lords and Gentlemen for their exposing their Lives and Fortunes in Defence of the King in his Adversity What then might they expect if he should prevail by Conquest That he would not make a Peace with the Rebels the Parliament without her Approbation nor go one jot from the Paper she sent him That in the Treaty at Uxbridg he did not positively own the Parliament it being otherwise to be construed tho they were so simple as not to find it out and that it was recorded in the Notes of the King's Council that he did not acknowledg them a Parliament See Whitlock ' s Memoirs fol. 147. a. The Members having got these Papers not only printed and published them but order'd them to be kept upon Record and also made a publick Declaration of them wherein they shew what the Nobility and Gentry which follow'd the King might trust to The King's Army being overthrown the Parliament had two Armies and the King none but that which was commanded by General Goring which at that time besieg'd Taunton and sore distrest it but it being governed by Blake after the famous Admiral for the Rump and Cromwel by Sea it made indeed a wonderful Resistance And now you 'll see the King's Garisons surrender by heaps For two Days after the Fight at Naseby viz. June 14. Fairfax sat down before Leicester where my Lord Loughborough was Governour and made a large Breach towards Newark whereupon the Governour surrendred it After the Surrender of York the Year before the King made that noble Gentleman Sir Thomas Glenham Governour of Carlisle which he defended till the Garison were forced to eat Horse-flesh And the Town being besieged by the English and Scots Sir Thomas to throw a Bone of Dissension between them deliver'd it up to the Scots about a Week after the Surrender of Leicester From Leicester Fairfax marches to the Relief of Taunton whereupon Goring drew off and retreated to Langport where Fairfax routed Goring kill'd 200 of his Men took 1400 Prisoners and pursued the rest to Bridgwater which Fairfax besieg'd and had it surrender'd upon the 23d of July And about that time Pontfract Castle in Yorkshire surrender'd to M. G. Pointz and upon the 25th of July Sir Hugh Cholmly surrender'd Scarborough Castle to Sir Matthew Boynton and upon the 11th of September Fairfax storm'd Bristol and Prince Rupert surrender'd the Castle upon Terms Tho the City of Hereford bravely defended it self against General Lesley and his Scots from the 13th of July to the 1st of September and then forced Lesley to raise the Siege upon pretence of relieving his own Country then over-run by the Marquess of Montross yet it was soon after surprised by Colonel Birch and Colonel Morgan Nor were the King's Forces in the Field more fortunate than those in Garison for the King having got together a Body of about 5000 Men most Welch marched towards the Relief of Chester then besieged by Sir William Brereton and Colonel Jones but in his March he was fought by General Pointz at Routon-Moor within two Miles of Chester where the King was worsted and the Lord Bernard Stewart Brother to the Duke of Richmond kill'd The King's Affairs being thus desperate in England all the Hopes now were of Scotland where Montross had conquer'd it from one End to the other and had no visible Army to oppose him and the King to make Scotland secure commanded my Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale to join Montross with their Horse in pursuance whereof they marched to Sherborn in Yorkshire where they surprised 700 of the Parliament's Foot with their Arms and Baggage but staying for Carriages Col. Copley Lilbourn and Alured fell upon them and routed them killing and taking 100 Officers 300 Soldiers and 600 Horse with their Furniture and my Lord Digby's Coach And my Lord Digby marching on with the rest of his Forces was set upon at Carlisle Sands and utterly defeated from whence my Lord and Langdale escaped to the Isle of Man and after into Ireland From Routon-Moor the King got to Newark where Maâ—or-General Gerrard charged the Lord Digby lately defeated at Sherborn with Treason Prince Rupert and Maurice the Lord Hawley and Sir Richard Willis the Governour sided with Gerrard and the Lord Bellasis and many others with Digby and so did the King who displaced Willis and made the Lord Bellasis Governour This caused great Dissension not only in the Garison but in the Officers of the Army which the King brought with him so that the Princes Rupert and Maurice General Gerrard my Lord Hawley and Willis forsook the King and sent to the Parliament for Passes to go beyond Sea In this forlorn state the King left Newark and with 300 Horse got safe to Oxford where the Princes Rupert and Maurice not knowing whither else to go came and were seemingly reconciled to him but upon the Return of the King's Horse Pointz meets and routs them Here the King again sent to the Parliament for a Treaty of Peace which was rejected upon this Occasion Letters were taken in my Lord Digby's Coach after his Rout at Sherborn and also in the Pockets of the Arch-bishop of Tuam who was slain in an Overthrow of the Irish at Sligo in Ireland wherein the King offered the Irish a Toleration of their Religion themselves to choose a Governour of their own and to be entrusted with several Castles and Forts for their Caution upon Condition that they send 10000 Men into England to assist him against his Enemies And with these they found the Copy of the King's Commission to the Earl of Glamorgan impowering him to treat with the Rebels viz. CHARLES by the Grace of God c. To our Trusty and Well-beloved Cousin Edward Earl of Glamorgan We reposing great and especial Trust and Confidence in your approved Wisdom and Fidelity do by these Presents as firmly as under our Great Seal to all Intents and Purposes authorize and give you Power to treat and conclude with the Confederate Roman Catholicks in our Kingdom of Ireland If upon necessity any thing be condescended to wherein our Lieutenant cannot so well be seen as not fit for us for the present publickly to own therefore We charge you to proceed according to this our Warrant with all possible Secrecy and whatever you shall engage your self upon such valuable Considerations as you in your Judgment shall deem fit we promise in the Word of a King and Christian to
he was over parsimonious ill becoming so great a Prince He laid the Foundation of an unhappy Reign before he became King not only in his Dissimulation in the Treaty of Marriage with the King and Infanta of Spain to the Displeasure of his Father but much more in the French Treaty not only in submitting to grant a Toleration of the Popish Religion and that his Children should be brought up under their Mother till they were twelve Years old but by engaging to assist the French King with a Fleet against the Reformed in France which he did tho the French broke their Faith in denying Mansfield to land the Army at Calais raised for the Recovery of the Palatinate Unlike his Predecesâ—or Henry the Fifth who so soon as he became King banished all his Flatterers and loose Companions and betaking himself to grave and wise Counsel he became the most Renowned and Victorious of all our English Kings Charles became more wilful and gave himself to be more governed by Favourites after he became King than before So that the insite Piety and Affection which is due to Parents and usually exprest in some mournful Demeanour upon their Death took no Impression in him after his Father's Death but contrary Passions against his Father's Counsel and Will prevailed upon him For next day after his Father's Death only the King and Buckingham present the Keeper Williams coming to wait upon him the King asked him whether the Parliament were dissolved upon his Father's Death Which when the Keeper told him it was the King commanded him to issue out new Summons for calling another and not to stay a day for Subsidies must be had for carrying on a War against Spain and when the Keeper advised him to consider a little hereof and that before Writs were issued out Interest should be made about Elections the King in Displeasure turn'd from him Which you may read in the second Book and second Folio of the Keeper's Life And these two things were observable in this Prince That when any advised him against his Will he would never ask it after or be Friends with him and that in all his Reign as well in Prosperity as in Adversity he would never own any one of his Irregularities to be so but justified them all to his Death As Henry was the most self-denying of all his glorious Actions ascribing them only to God so Charles upon all occasions in all his irregular Actions gloried he was accountable to none but God for them After he was married he became the most uxorious Husband of all our English Kings except Henry the Sixth and being intangled by the Articles of Marriage which the Queen fostered and the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation contrary to them which his Parliaments stedfastly asserted he became both ways uneasy and to reconcile them was impossible But to me it seems how uxorious soever the King was yet during Buckingham's Regency for so it may be truly called he had an Ascendency over the Queen as appears by the French War in the second Year of the King notwithstanding all the Power of the Queen against it He was unaffable in his Conversation and Approaches to him very difficult and those with such strained Submissions as were never required by any of his Predecessors As his Actions were without Counsel sudden and inconsiderate so were his Resolutions as variable and uncertain so that oftentimes he would change them the same day And as his Actions were without Counsel so were his Designs without Secrecy which blasted them as well at Home as Abroad He was so superstitiously addicted to the Arminian Clergy which flatter'd him that I do not find except Juxton Bishop of London that he preferr'd any others in the Church till he fell into Adversity In his adverse Fortune he would betake himself to contrary Extreams yet be as inconstant in them as in his Actions in Prosperity He was only constant in his Affections to the Queen after he had given up his Favourites in his prosperous Fortune to the Parliament and her Counsels fixed stedfast in him tho in his Declarations to the Kingdom and Parliament he profess'd otherwise and herein he was as unhappy as he was before in his Designs in his Prosperity for they whether by Fate or his own Imprudence became known to his Enemies who blaz'd them abroad not only to the Nation but all the World so that the sincerity of his Promises and Declarations became suspected as well by his Friends as Enemies and all Accommodation with them more difficult whereby it came to pass that his Armies being subdued by them and thereby falling into the Hands of his Enemies he became a Sacrifice to them in the 49th Year of his Age having reigned 23 Years ten Months and three Days leaving six Children three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange and Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter So that as King John and his Son Henry the Third lost all Normandy and the greatest part of Aquitain to the French by endeavouring a more than Legal Jurisdiction over their Subjects whereby they lost their Love and Obedience so these two Princes Father and Son by raising and Arbitrary Power over their Subjects not only lost their Honour Abroad but with their own Subjects and for want of whose Assistance this King lost his Life and suffered the French to grow so great as to endanger the Safety of their own Subjects in the Realms of England Scotland and Ireland I 'll conclude this Story with one which a learned Gentleman who liv'd in those Times affirmed When the Duke of Buckingham was stabb'd by Felton 1628 the Earl of Portland was then newly made Lord Treasurer and the King to manifest his Affection to the Duke order'd the Treasurer to issue out of the Exchequer 30000 l. I think for a solemn Funeral for the Duke but the Treasurer unwilling the King should be at so hateful an Expence at a time when the King was at War with France and Spain told the King that the Sum laid out in erecting a stately Tomb for the Duke would be a more lasting Monument of his Favour to the Duke than a Funeral-Expence which would be but the Work of a Day and soon forgot The King assented and several Patterns were brought and what the King lik'd the Treasurer dislik'd till at last the King pitch'd upon one which he said he would have but then the Treasurer said Sir what will the World say that you should be at such an Expence for a Favourite when your Father has not a Stone to cover him which struck the King so as he proceeded no farther in it I remember I think it was in 1669. that the Commons voted 50000 l. for the Charge of taking up this King's Body and the solemn Funeral
and sure never was there such a Generation who so impudently out-braved Truth and all that may be call'd Sacred If you could force a Belief into them they first told you they fought for King and Parliament then they declared for the King and People against the Parliament and now they have taken off the King if you will have any Benefit of their Protection you must engage to their Government without King or House of Lords and be content with a piece of the Commons call'd the Rump Not content with the Death of the King the Rump proceeds to abolish Monarchy and place the original Power of Government in the People whose Representatives they are if you 'll take their Word and voted it High Treason to restore Monarchy or to assist or pray for Charles Stuart or any of that Line overthrow the King's Statue with an Exit tyrannus Regum ultimus Nor are they satiated with the Blood of the King but erect another High Court of Injustice whereof one Lisle an ignorant Fellow was President who condemns the Marquess Hamilton Earl of Holland and Lord Capel for raising Arms against the Parliament which themselves had destroy'd But tho the Rump and Army were establish'd upon these strange Principles yet being the Instruments of Divine Vengeance like a Torrent broke loose from raging Seas in less than five Years time they overwhelm not only England but Ireland and Scotland almost pull'd the Dutch States up by the Roots and made France and Spain tremble But that we may observe what follow'd let 's see what went before The Scots were the first who invaded England against the King to impose their Solemn League and Covenant which was more against the English Laws and Constitutions than Laud's Service-Books Canons and High-Commission were against the Scotish In July last the Scots invaded England commanded by the Marquess Hamilton in August Cromwel routs and utterly overthrows this Army and takes Hamilton Prisoner So the Scots who began these Wars first are the first chastised by this English Army But this is but the Earnest of what shall follow The secluded Members who first join'd the Scots beginning first with an equivocal Protestation but after downright joined with the Scots in their Covenant are now not only turned out of the House by the Rump but kept in nasty Prisons till they became as little dangerous as The House of Lords The horrid Irish Massacre and Rebellion succeeded in the third place And now the Rump having established themselves by subduing of the Scots under Hamilton and deposing the secluded Members are laying Rods in Piss to scourge these abominable Irish But before we proceed let 's see how things stood in Ireland In October 1641. the Irish Massacre was which succeeded in a Rebellion in which Richlieu's Scarlet was as deep dyed as in the Scotish and English Commotions The Head of this accursed Crew was John Baptista Pennuncio the Pope's Nuncio who in his Passage through France threatned he would suffer no Man to live in Ireland that wished well to the King or to the English Affairs Thus you see how all the Factions conspired against the King the Laws and Constitutions of England But for these last seven Years viz. so long as the Distractions were continued in England the War was pursued but by halves in Ireland King Charles in his Life-time had made the Marquess of Ormond Lieutenant of Ireland who in 1643 made a Truce with the Irish that the King might make use of the English in England But the Irish kept their Faith no better in it than the Scots had before with the King in the Peace in 1639. For on a sudden they rise against the Marquess now the English are sent into England and had surprized him if he had not been informed before and escaped into Dublin and being in no Condition to defend it but obliged to deliver it up either to the English sent by the Parliament or to the Irish he gave it up to the English who make Colonel Jones Governour and so Ormond leaves Ireland After the Marquess was withdrawn the Nuncio behaved himself like a Church-Man with such a Despotical Tyranny that he became intolerable even to the Irish themselves who being press'd by Jones Coot and Monk combine in a Body and send to the Queen and to the Prince of Wales for then the King was close Prisoner in the Isle of Wight to return the Marquess of Ormond and they would submit to his Authority and join to expel the Scots and Parliament's Forces The Nuncio taking this for an Affront to his Authority being that of the Apostolick See which is infallible threatens Excommunication to them who should not obey him but neither he nor his Excommunication were obey'd but was forced to Capitulate with the Irish themselves to procure his Departure which was as shameful as his Entrance was proud and insolent Upon the Marquess's Return he enter'd into most dishonourable Articles with the Irish which yet would not please Owen Ro Oneal who join'd with the Parliament's Forces and reliev'd Londonderry then besieg'd by the Lord Ardes After this Pacification with the Irish such as it was Ormond raises a numerous Army and by my Lord Inchiqueen routs a Party of Jones's going to Drogheda who takes the Town and Dundalk Green-Castle Newry and Trim and returns Victorious to the Marquess Hereupon the Marquess besieges Dublin but unfortunately sends my Lord Inchiqueen into Munster with if not the greatest the best part of the Army Jones falls upon the Remainder and utterly routs them This was in August 1649. And the same Month Cromwel lands at Dublin with an Army of 15000 old Soldiers Upon this Disaster the Irish no more to be reconciled to the English than the Scots Covenanters to Episcopacy quarrel with the Marquess which was never after composed So the Marquess left Ireland again leaving the Earl of Clanrickard Deputy Cromwel after his landing first storms Drogheda or Tredah with a most terrible Execution and after in less than one Year all Ireland upon the matter is reduced to the Obedience of the Rump who take dreadful Vengeance upon all the Irish who could be found to have had any hand in the Massacre of the English The King Charles II. having lost England and Ireland with all their Dependencies except the Isles of Guernsey Jersey Man and Scilly and the Plantations in America which shall soon follow set up for Scotland and makes the Marquess of Montross his Commissioner who having got together about 400 Swedes Danes Poles and Germans lands them at the Wick of Cathness in April 1650 and takes Dumbeath But Lesley having sent Major-General Straughan with 300 choice Horse he set upon this ill composed Body of Montross and utterly routs them Montross fled but was betrayed by the Laird of Aston who had formerly served him The Covenanters to shew their Clemency and Humility bind the Marquess in a Chair planted backwards on a Cart that all
Men might see him the Hangman with his Hat on riding before and upon the 28th of May 1650 by a Sentence pronounced the Day before by the Lord Lowden was hanged upon a Gibbet 30 Foot high at the Cross of Edinburg for three Hours after which he was quarter'd and his Head set upon the Talbooth and his Legs and Arms over the Gates of Sterlin Glasgow Dundee and Aberdeen But see the Piety and Commiseration of these humble People They order in the Sentence that if he repented so that his Excommunication should be taken off the Trunk of his Body should be buried in the Grey-Friars otherwise in the Burrough-Moor the Common Burial of Malefactors But Vengeance shall soon overtake these cruel Proceedings For the Kirk sore afflicted for their deposed Brethren in England now in nasty Prisons whereby Heresy Schism and Profaneness raged and the Throne of Presbytery was defaced but being unable of themselves to restore their Brethren before Montross's Death had agreed to have the King proclaimed King of Scotland England France and Ireland yet so as to take the Solemn League and Covenant to give Signs of Sorrow and Repentance for his Father and Mother's Sins and banish and turn out of his Court all who had not taken the Covenant or taken up Arms for his Father But the Kirk could not have found a Plant so unlikely to produce the Fruit of Repentance or to establish the Throne of Presbytery as this King However they 'll try what 's to be done and to this end send Commissioners to treat with the King at Jersey not yet reduced by the Rump and a Treaty is agreed to to be at Breda in Holland The King was perplex'd what to do for to be a King in Fact he desired above all things but to forsake his Mother and Father's Friends was grievous to him and to come to the Stool of Repentance was full sore against his Will Yet to be a King as a Man does for a Wife he forsakes Father Mother and his dearly beloved Friends and comes to Breda There the News comes of Montross's tragical Defeat and Execution which had like to have spoil'd all but over Shooes over Boots on he goes having submitted to all the rigid Terms the Kirk-men imposed upon him And in June 1650 arrives in Scotland to be anew instructed in the Discipline of the Kirk The Rump in the mean while were not idle you must think for having spued up Presbytery in England they scorn'd to chew the Cud of it from Scotland and therefore Fairfax having refused to command an Army against the Scots they send for Cromwel out of Ireland by this time is good as reduced by him and declared him General of all the Forces of England Scotland and Ireland who about the latter end of June 1650 enters Scotland with a well-disciplin'd rather than a numerous Army and having taken many Places of small moment and often beat the Scots in Skirmishes upon the 3d of September utterly overthrows the much more numerous Kirk-Army at Dumbar commanded by their old General Lesley 3000 Scots killed 9000 taken Prisoners all their Baggage and Ammunition and above 200 Colours which as Trophies were hung up in Westminster-Hall where the English and Scots had before taken such Pains and Care to unite both Nations in their Solemn League and Covenant Whilst these things were doing the Kirk at Edinburg were close at their Devotion hourly expecting the Feet of those which should bring the glad Tidings which were at hand when Lesley the same Day brings Tidings of their utter Overthrow Now was all their Joy turned to Lamentation and Wo and the Songs of Sion are like to be sung in a strange Land To augment these Miseries the King who could not submit to the rigid Discipline of the Kirk runs from Schole to the House of the Lord Dippon intending for the Highlands where he might go to School with more Liberty Now all is in a Hurlyburley After the King runs Montgomery from the Kirk promising the King if he would return the Kirk would remit part of their Discipline upon which the King returned to St. Johnstons The King thus returned did not please the Kirk-men for being beaten by the English they rail against those that called the King in too hastily before he had given Marks of his Repentance and Conversion to God and that it was not lawful for any who were truly Godly to take up Arms for him and for the Advancement of the Kirk made Kerr and Straughan Generals of the Kirk-Forces But Straughan runs to Cromwel and Kerr is utterly defeated wounded and taken by Lambert Whilst these things were thus doing in Scotland let 's see what was doing in England In January this Year the Rump erected a High Court of Justice whereof one Keeble an ignorant Petty-fogging Lawyer was President in Norfolk upon pretence of an intended Insurrection for bringing in of the King where 24 were condemned and 20 executed whereof one Mr. Hobbard Brother or near Kinsman to Sir John Hobbard who after married Cromwel's Niece and Widow of Col. Hammond was one And in March following the Rump erected another High Court of Justice which condemned Sir Henry Hide for taking the King's Commission to be his Ambassador at Constantinople The Kirk-Party now lose their Reputation they had nothing left but to preach and pray and rail and now the Parliament and General Assembly take in all who will take the Covenant but all to no purpose For Cromwel having taken Edinburgh Town and Castle Jedworth Reslan and Tantallon Castle sends Overton and Lambert in Boats over the Frith who rout Sir John Brown and Major General Holborn kill 2000 of their Men and take 1200 Prisoners and Brown himself with 42 Colours Now though Scotland were a cold Climate 't was too hot to hold the King and his Army and therefore with them he slips into England by the Way of Carlisle leaving the Kirk in Lamentations and Woes that Heresy and Schism had overspread the Beauty of Holiness now Profaneness and Superstition had left it Harrison and Lambert followed the King and Cromwel soon after who at Worcester that Day Twelve Month after he had routed the Scots at Dunbar utterly again routs the Scots and English kills 3550 with Duke Hamilton and General Forbes and takes 5000 Prisoners with the Earls of Rothes Kanwarth Kelly the Lord Sinclare and Montgomery General of the Ordnance and soon after David Lesley who fought not or but little in the Battel is routed by Lilburn and taken Prisoner with Lauderdale who held Correspondence in England with the Covenanting Scots and the Lords Kenmore and Middleton Yet the King by a Miracle escaped to be restored King Charles II. But the same Fate did not attend the Noble Earl of Derby who coming out of the Isle of Man with about 250 Foot and 60 Horse to have assisted the King which he joined with about 1200 raised Men in Lancashire where he was highly
Son is our Enemy Widdrington But the late King's third Son the Duke of Glocester is still among us and too young to have been in Arms against us or infected with the Principles of our Enemies Whitlock There may be a day given for the King 's eldest Son or for the Duke of York his Brother to come in to the Parliament and upon such Terms as shall be thought fit and agreeable both to our Civil and Spiritual Liberties and a Settlement may be made upon them Cromwel This will be a Business of more than ordinary Difficulty but really a Word much used by him I think if it may be done with Safety and Preservation of our Rights both as Englishmen and as Christians that a Settlement of somewhat of Monarchical Power would be very effectual So that the Soldiers were for a Republick except Fleetwood who knew not what to say the Lawyers for a mix'd Monarchy and many for the Duke of Glocester to be King but then Cromwel designing for himself still put off the Debate to some other Point so the Company part without any Result at all yet Cromwel discovered by this Meeting the Inclinations of the Persons which spake for which he fished and made use of what he thus discerned But this Point was too tender to be further pressed at this time and so we leave it till Cromwel shall give a further Occasion In October this Year Haines reduced Jersey to the Rump and in January the Isle of Barbadoes was surrender'd to Askew sent thither by the Rump and in this Month an English Man of War meeting with some Dutch Fishermen demanded the tenth Herring as a Duty for their Fishing in these Seas which the Dutch denying the English sunk one of their Ships and all the Men were lost see Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 487. b. and here began the first Quarrel between the Rump and Dutch The Rump thus every where Victorious at home yet it may be fearing they had disgusted all Christian Princes by the Death of the King and already the Czar of Muscovy had revoked all the Privileges of Trade which had been granted to the English in the Reigns of Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth and continued in the Reigns of King James and King Charles and banished the English out of his Dominions for putting the King to Death upon the 11th of March sent the Chief Justice St. John and Mr. Strickland to treat of a Coalition with the Dutch whose Title and Government were the same or not unlike to the Rump's and if this could be obtained both Republicks being incomparably superiour to all the Kings in the World by Sea they need not fear any Enemies abroad But the Dutch fearing this Coalition with England where the Harbours for Shipping are more and much better than those in Holland would rob them of the Trades they were possessed of and that their rich Merchants in case of a Coalition would be tempted to lay out their Monies upon real Securities in England rather than to venture them in the contingent Accidents of Trade not only refused to enter into a Coalition but rudely treated St. John whose haughty Spirit ill brooking such Affronts made a Report of his Embassy little to the Dutch Advantage Hereupon the Rump made the Act of Navigation designing thereby to have in a great measure lessened the Dutch Trade and encreased the English tho both succeeded quite contrary as hereafter we shall make it appear Yet the English by virtue of this Law took Occasion to search the Dutch Vessels and often to make Prize of them whereupon the Dutch sent over four Ambassadors Catz Van de Peere Sharp and Newport to pacify the Rump which they were so far from effecting that the Rump upon their first Audience upon the 15th of April demand the Arrears for the Dutch Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland that the Survivors of the Dutch assisting in the Massacre of the English at Amboyna should be given up to Justice and a free Trade up the Scheld The Dutch Ambassadors were surprized at these Demands having no Instructions thereupon or if they had could not have given any reasonable Answer against them Yet still they continued to make great Protestations of their Love and Affection to the Commonwealth of England and their most ardent Desire of propagating and encreasing the true Reformed Religion yet privately gave the State an Account how little was to be expected from the Rump by a Treaty Hereupon the Dutch prepare for a War nor was the Rump herein behind hand with them The Dutch in May set out a Fleet of Men of War commanded by Van Trump pretending for the Security of Trade but with Instructions not to strike Sail to the English Flag and upon the 17th of May came into Dover Road with 45 Sail of Men of War where Trump rode at Anchor as if he defied what the English could do to him Blake the English Admiral had but 15 Men of War yet resolved to have an Account of Trump what he had to do in Dover Road and sailed directly to him hereupon Trump stood to the East-ward and by that means being become Head-most of the English Fleet bore directly upon them and being come within Musquet-shot of the English Blake gave Order to fire at Trump's Flag which was done thrice but instead of striking it Trump poured in a Broad-side upon Blake and Major Bourn at this time coming to Blake's Assistance with 8 Men of War both Fleets engaged from four in the Afternoon till Night wherein there were not less than 2000 Shot exchanged upon one and the other side and the Dutch had one Man of War taken and another sunk and 150 Men slain but the English had not one Ship lost or disabled and very few Men killed This Fight was the 19th of May. Van Trump in the Night drew his Ships on the Back of the Goodwin Sands and next Morning sailed back to Zealand instead of securing the Dutch Trade Hereupon the Rump set a Guard upon the Dutch Ambassadors at Chelsey but tho the English Fleet in this Fight received little Damage yet that of the Dutch was so batter'd as made it unfit to fight About this time Virginia submitted to the Rump but not New-England nor ever after did that I can find The Dutch thus balk'd in their Expectation of great things to be done by Van Trump and finding the contrary Success sent a Paper to their Ambassadors in England which was presented to the Council of State the 20th of June therein taking God the Searcher of all Hearts to witness that the most unhappy Fight of the Ships of both Commonwealths did happen against the Knowledg and Will of the Lords States-General of the Vnited Netherlands and that with Grief and Astonishment they received the fatal News of that unhappy rash Action A likely matter as if Van Trump should dare to do such an Action without their Order and they not punish him for
had gained him before and he discovered all to Cromwel and that he had no Concern for them nor Obligation to them as you may see in Dr. Gumble's History of Monk ' s Life pag. 73. So that Monk was not now of the same Mind as he was afterward when Lambert turn'd the Rump out of doors All other Obstacles thus removed and Cromwel heightned in his frantick Resolutions by the Expectation of Mountains of Gold from the Dutch upon the 20th of April with a Party of Soldiers with him marched to the House and led a File of Musqueteers in with him and the rest he placed at the Door of the House in the Lobby and entring the House in furious manner bid the Speaker leave the Chair and told the House That they had sat long enough unless they had done more Good I could have told him they had done two good Deeds for him one in taking away the King's Life to let him into his Throne the other that they had made him General to enable him to turn them out of doors That some of them were Whore-masters looking towards Henry Martin and Sir Peter Wentworth That others of them were Drunkards and some corrupt and unjust Men and scandalous to the Profession of the Gospel and that it was not fit they should sit any longer as a Parliament and desired them to go away But the Speaker not stirring from his Seat Col. Harrison took him by the Arm to remove him from his Seat which when the Speaker saw he left the Chair Some of the Members rose up to answer Cromwel but he would suffer none to speak but himself He bid one of the Soldiers Take away that Fool 's Bawble the Mace and stay'd himself till all the Members were out and then caused the Doors to be shut up We will look upon this Act in a threefold Consideration viz. In the Doers to whom done and in the Manner of it 1. The Doers were the Rump ' s Servants raised by the Rump and no ways provoked by the Rump So little do Benefits received by ill Men create any Obligation of Gratitude in those who receive them 2. The Rump were a Parliament which were impowered to make War or Peace or were not if they were not then Cromwel and his Assistants Commission from the Rump to judg the King to Death and all the Acts of Hostility which they did during these Wars were Murder or Rapine but if they were a Parliament who might grant Commissions in War and make Laws then Cromwel and his Assistants were greater Rebels and Violators of the Liberties of the Nation than either the Irish or Scots were against the King or the Royalists against the Parliament for the Irish and Scots pretended Grievances and Oppressions against the present Powers whereas Cromwel and his Assistants pretended not one categorical Complaint against the Rump and the Royalists foâ—ght to preserve the Establish'd Laws and Constitutions of the Nation which Cromwel and his Assistants did not Besides herein Cromwel and his Assistants assumed a Power above Regal in deposing the Rump if it were a Rightful Parliament which the King could not do without their Consent 3. For the Manner of Cromwel's Deposing the Rump it was so barbarous and rude as I do not think you will find the like among the most Savage People unless it were when Cromwel and his Agents deposed the Secluded Members Yet sure there was a Divine Justice in both for as the Covenanting Members expelled the Royalists for not taking the Covenant or joining with them in the Innovations which the Covenanters brought into the Church and State so Cromwel and the Rump expelled them for their Covenanting and set up themselves instead of them and now Cromwel does the like by the Rump to exalt himself Thus by their own mercenary Servants and not a Sword drawn in their Defence fell the Haughty and Victorious Rump whose mighty Actions will scarcely find Belief in future Generations and to say the Truth they were a Race of Men most indefatigably industrious in Business always seeking for Men fit for it and never preferring any for Favour nor by Importunity You scarce ever heard of any revolting from them in England Scotland or Ireland during their time except by the Levellers 1649. See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 385 386 387. No Murmur or Complaint of Sea-men or Soldiers employ'd by them either by Sea or Land for want of Pay In all the Ports of England during the Dutch War Money or Credit was found to pay off the Sea-men whenever their Ships were designed to be laid up Nor do I find they ever press'd either Soldiers or Seamen in all their Wars And as they excelled thus in their Management of Civil Affairs so it must be owned they exercised in Matters Ecclesiastick no such Severities as either the Covenanters or others before them did upon such as dissented from them And as the Rump were thus industrious and victorious in War so were they not negligent in reforming the Abuses in the Practice of the Common Laws and to that end in October 1650 order'd that all the Books of the Laws be put into English and that all Writs Process and Returns thereof and all Patents Commissions Indictments Judgments Records and all Proceedings in Courts of Justice shall be in the English Tongue and not in the Latin or French or any other Language See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 459. a. The Rump further ordered a Committee for regulating the Law and the Committee reported the Draughts of several Laws viz. 1. The taking away Fines upon Bills Declarations and Original Writs 2. Against Customary Oaths of Fealty and Homage to the Lords of Mannors 3. For taking away common Recoveries and unnecessary Charge of Fines and to pass and charge Land intailed as Lands in Fee Simple 4. For more speedy Recovery of Rents 5. Touching Pleaders and their Fees 6. For more speedy regulating and easy Discovery of Debts and Damages not exceeding 4 l. and under See Whitlock ' s Mem. fol. 504. a. Whether the Rump passed these into Laws I do not find but if they did not they might have done if Cromwel had let them alone and they sat not four Years and three Months But how industrious and victorious soever the Rump was in War they were not so wise in Counsel by making the Act of Navigation and tho we have before demonstrated the manifold Mischiefs and Inconveniences which this Law has brought upon this Nation and shall more particularly hereafter if God pleases in Answer to those Reasons which Sir Josiah Child and Sir Francis Brewsier pretend in Defence of it yet it 's fit that we here shew how that the Rump was mistaken as well in the End as Causes of this Law If we look upon Britain it is an Island and divided into two Kingdoms England and Scotland and both these Kingdoms before they were united under one King viz. James I. by immâ—morial Prescriptions were possessed of
the Sovereignty of the Sea adjoining their Coasts wherein no Nation before King James I. presumed to fish without Agreement or Leave first obtained from those Kings The first who presumed to fish in these Seas without such Licence or Agreement were the Dutch yet never disputed their Right to it before Grotius and he only that I can find disputed it The Dutch Fishery upon the Coasts of England and Scotland is the Foundation of all the Dutch Greatness at Sea and wherein they employ more Shipping and Mariners than the English do in all their foreign Trades with this further Advantage to the Dutch that they have all their Mariners at home or near home so that they are always ready upon all Occasions to serve the States and there being but little Difference of Climate are healthful and strong whereas the English in their long Voyages especially to the East and West-Indies are far from assisting the Nation in time of need and by the Diversities of Climates and eating over-salted Meats and drinking sowr Drinks causes such Sickness and Mortality amongst them that it 's a Question whether we lose more Sea-men or make more Mariners in them and those which survive are so feeble that a healthy Mariner will beat two of them The Rump therefore should have considered from what Cause the Dutch were enabled to carry on this Fishery in Foreign Trades exclusive to the English And first negatively That the Dutch were not enabled to do this from any Principals of their own for they had neither Timber to build Ships nor Pitch Tar Hemp or Flax or Iron for fitting them up nor Salt to cure their Fish their Ports from which they fished not half so good or a quarter so many as the English and the Coasts upon which they caught these Fish more convenient for the English than the Dutch and an Englishman of a stronger Constitution than a Dutch-man and tenfold more so that herein the English had all natural Advantages above the Dutch Now let 's see how the Dutch could do this The English tho there were tenfold more Men in England than in Holland could not employ one Man to ten which the Dutch employed in their Fisheries upon the Coasts of England and Scotland for these Reasons First the Dutch employed and gave Encouragement to all sorts of People in these Fisheries as well Foreigners as Natives whereas Foreigners fishing from the English Ports is denied by a Law in England nor are Foreigners only excluded herein but all the Ports of England being Corporations the Freemen in them make the rest of the Nation Foreigners to them so that the Fisheries upon the Coasts of England and Scotland between the English and Dutch are of a general Freedom in the Dutch Netherlands and the Freemen of the Ports of England who being few and generally Beggars have few Men and less Means to be Competitors with the Dutch in these Fisheries But the Rump not considering these Causes but restraining this Fishery only to English-men at least three Fourths English have made the English in no Capacity to be Competitors with the Dutch in the Foreign Trades of the Fish caught upon the Coasts of England and Scotland besides the Dutch had their Agents Factors and Correspondents in France Spain Portugal Italy and other Places for a Market for the Fish they caught whereas the Poverty of our Corporation-Men denied the English this Benefit The Rump in making the Act of Navigation did not consider that the Fish caught on the Coasts of England and Scotland cost nothing but the catching so that they who can catch them cheapest and cure them best are sure of a Foreign Market against them whose Charges are more and they ignorant in the Curing of them The Rump therefore restraining the English to fish in Ships 40 per Cent. dearer than the Dutch and 40 per Cent. dearer sailed and who knew not how to cure Herring and Cod-fish so well as the Dutch has eternally fixed the Fisheries in the Dutch exclusive to the English so long as the Act stands in force and how this has made good the Title of their Act For Encouragement of encreasing Shipping and Navigation let any Man not in the Temper the Rump was when they made this Act judg The Rump should have encountred the Dutch with their own Weapons and made all the Ports of England not only free to all English in these Fisheries but to Foreigners and made them free to import all sorts of Timber for building Vessels for these Fisheries as also for rough Hemp Flax Pitch and Tar for fitting up Vessels for these Fisheries so as we might have had the Materials as cheap as the Dutch and also have given Rewards and other Encouragements to Foreigners to instruct us how to build Vessels as cheap and convenient for the Fisheries as the Dutch and how to cure them and denied the Dutch the Benefit of drying their Nets in the Fisheries or to take in fresh Water or Provisions in their Fisheries as the Dutch do to the English in their Plantations in the East-Indies and have taken off the Imposts in England which the Dutch pay in Holland and then the Rump might have beaten the Dutch out of these Fisheries without fighting with them and made our Maritime Towns as great and flourishing as those in Holland But the Temper the Rump was then in would not admit of any of these Considerations and it 's admirable to me that all the Parliaments since have been of the Rump's Temper herein and never taken these things into Consideration tho the Coast-Towns of England are not only ruined by the Act of Navigation hereby and the Fisheries not only on the Coasts of England and Scotland but those to Iseland and Greenland ruin'd only by this Law without possibility of retrieving them so long as it stands in Force If the restraining the English in their Fisheries to English-built Ships and sail'd by three Fourths English be so pernicious to the English in our Fisheries the Reasons are the same in the Foreign Vent of our Native Commodities for obliging the English to vend the Manufactures of the Nation in these near double as dear built Ships and sailed by near double Men and permitting the Dutch to buy our Manufactures the Dutch by their Cheapness and more convenient building of Ships has outed this Nation of their Navigation to Muscovy and all the Kingdoms and Countries within the Sound with them as much to the Encrease of the Dutch Navigation as the lessening of the English And as this Law is so injurious to the English in our Fisheries and Foreign Vent of our Manufactures so it is not less in the Importation of Foreign Commodities by restraining the Import of them to English-built Ships and sailed by three fourths English and the Natives of those Places from whence they shall be imported whether they have Ships or not I 'll give but two Instances herein viz. in our Trades to
the Lords during their Absence and soon after the King passed a Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament so little Success had the Clergy in their Convocation-Oath As the Clergy without Consent in Parliament imposed the Convocation-Oath upon the rest of the Clergy So the Parliament I mean the Lords and Commons without the Consent of the King imposed upon the Subjects a Vow and Protestation to maintain and defend so far as lawfully may be the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to the Duty of the Allegiance to his Majesty's Royal Person Honour and Estate to defend the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject and by all just and honourable Ways endeavour to preserve the Union and Peace of the Three Kingdoms and neither for fear nor other respect relinquish the Promise Vow and Protestation See Baker's History fol. 508. b. But the Lords and Commons were not constant to their Vow for within less than two Years after they impose their Solemn League and Covenant being basely imposed upon them by the Scots upon the rest of their Fellow-Subjects with all the Scotish Cant and c. too and this is observable that the Presbyterians who so bitterly inveighed against the c. in the Convocation-Oath without any scruple swallowed the c. in their Solemn League and Covenant It 's scarce credible by what Severity this Covenant was after the Scots Temper imposed upon all other sorts of Men as well Dissenters from the Church of England as those of the Church This Temper was too hot to last long for about three Years after the Independents outed the Presbyterians and set up the Engagement to be true to the Rump without King or House of Lords nor did this Engagement last five Years but was outed when Cromwel set up himself and imposed the Recognition for establishing himself Now let any shew how in any Nation since the Creation in less than 13 Years time Men so often swear and forswear Governments which were so often changed and he shall be my great Apoâ—â—â— The Secluded Members and the Rump if you 'll take their Words were the Representatives of the People but without a Head and could not be dissolved by the King without their Consent yet O. Cromwel and his Myrmidons without their Consent dissolved them both And as these were Bodies without a Head so Cromwel and his Army like that of the Egyptian Mamalukes were a Monstrous Head without any Body of the Nation yet with this Difference the Mamalukes chose their Sultan but Cromwel exalted himself without the Army's Choice The first Manifesto that Cromwel made known to the Nation was this I Oliver Cromwel Captain General and Commander in Chief of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth c. So here Cromwel by his own Authority makes the Army perpetual having deposed the Parliament which were made perpetual by Act of Parliament I have often admired upon what Bottom Cromwel stood when he presumed to do these things for the Sectaries and Monarchy-Men who were the Creatures whom he at first most relied upon when they perceived his Ambition then became his utter Enemies the Presbyterians and Independents hated him for the Violences he put upon them and the Royalists both dreaded and hated him All Kings of England in their Coronation-Oath before sware to govern by the received Laws and Constitutions of the Nation but Cromwel having subverted these neither says nor swears by what Laws or Rules he 'll govern and tho both in the Saxon and Nâ—rman Dynasties the Hereditary Succession of the Kings was often changed yet none succeeded which was not of the Royal Blood which cannot be said of the Caroline and Capusian Lines of France nor in the Succession of the Race of the Kings of Spain yet Cromwel without Law or being of the Royal Blood made himself more absolute than any of our Kings before him Now Terras I am sure Britannias Astraea reliquit Justice Truth and Plain-dealing is fled the Land and Dissimulation Hypocrisy Intriguing and Designs rove all England over and Cromwel to support his ill-establish'd Greatness sets all his Agents and Sycophants on work to congratulate and approve his Actions and to stand by and assist him One of the first of these was from the Officers of the English Army in Scotland no doubt but excited by Monk in the State he stood then with Cromwel So that as from Scotland our Civil Wars first began and from thence their solemn League and Covenant was so rigidly imposed in England so from thence now come Congratulatory Addresses to Cromwel for overturning all they had done and a time shall come when a Storm shall come from Scotland which shall disperse and unravel all that the Covenanters Rump and Cromwel had done thus you 'll see how lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake them all Having seen how Cromwel established himself we 'll proceed to see the Success The Dutch above all things dreading the Rump animated Cromwel to dissolve them promising greater things to him than they had done to the Rump in case he would do it which being done the Dutch not unreasonably hoped by the Disorders which would arise in England by it they should be better able to deal with Cromwel than the Rump and notwithstanding their calling God to witness of their sincere Love and Affection to the English Nation and desire of propagating the true Reformed Protestant Religion with all imaginable Diligence set out a greater Fleet to Sea than they had done before and Trump gave out he would fire the English Ships in their Harbours and the Downs before the English Fleet should get out But the Rump who well understood what Faith or Credit was to be given to the Dutch Protestations were not behind-hand with the Dutch in their Naval Preparations which Cromwel found ready to fight with the Dutch and sooner than the Dutch look'd for the English Fleet commanded by Monk and Dean Penn Vice-Admiral and Lawson Rear-Admiral upon the second of June engaged the Dutch and at the beginning Dean was kill'd by a Cannon-Ball but the Dutch sore pressed upon by the English bore away and made a running Fight having a Ship of 42 Guns sunk by Lawson and 140 Men in her but the Winds blowing cross the English could not that day do much more Execution Next day Monk engaged the Dutch Fleet again and sunk six of their best Ships two were blown up and eleven taken one Vice-Admiral and two Rear-Admirals with two of their Hoys and thirteen hundred and fifty Prisoners and of the English not one Ship was lost or disabled and besides Admiral Dean but one Captain killed The Dutch thus balk'd of their Expectation of firing the English Ships in their Harbours and in the Downs send Beverning Newport Vande Parro and Jonstal to Cromwel and the new Council of State for Cromwel had discharged
Presence of God That I will not violate or infringe the Matters and Things therein contained but to my Power observe the same and cause them to be observed and shall in all other things to the best of my Vnderstanding govern these Nations according to the Laws Statutes and Customs seeking their Peace and causing Justice and Law to be equally administred In the former Impression I followed Cromwel's Instrument of Government as it is set forth by Dr. Bates but finding this differ from Mr. Whitlock not only in the Number of the Articles but in the Substance of several of them I shall now follow Mr. Whitlock as being of better Authority tho not particularly recite them all being long but make Remarks upon several of them to shew how inconsistent this Instrument was with Cromwel's Oath and how he observ'd it in his future Actions Cromwel ' s Council was Philip Lord Viscount Lisle now Earl of Leicester Charles Fleetwood his Son-in-law John Lambert Sir Gilbert Pickering Sir Charles Woolsley Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper after Earl of Shaftsbury Edward Mountague after Earl of Sandwich John Desborow his Brother-in-law Walter Strickland Henry Lawrence William Sydenham Philip Jones Richard Major Francis Rouse and Philip Skipton Esquires The 5th Article is That the Protector with the Consent of the major part of the Council have Power of War and Peace How well he observed this in his Peace with the Dutch and French and War with Spain will appear afterward The 6th Article is That the Laws shall not be altered suspended or repealed nor any new Law made nor any Tax Charge or Imposition laid upon the People but by common Assent in Parliaments save only as is expressed in the 30th Article How does this Article agree with the 27th That a constant Revenue shall be raised for the maintaining 10000 Horse and 20000 Foot in England Scotland and Ireland and 200000 l. per Annum to himself beside the Crown-Lands or with the 38th Article To repeal all Laws Statutes and Ordinances contrary to the Liberty Cromwel grants to all tender Consciences as he calls them in the next preceding Articles where he excludes Popery and Prelacy Or how did Cromwel observe this Article when he imprisoned the Royalists which would not give Security for their Good Behaviour to him and whether they did or not took from them the tenth part of their Estates and put them to Death by his High Court of Justice as he call'd it The 8th Article is That Parliament after the first Day of their Meeting shall sit five Months and not in that time be Adjourned Prorogued or Dissolved without their Consent Yet he dissolved the next Parliament as he called them within five Months after their first sitting with their Consent and if they refus'd had his Janizaries in Westminster-hall and in the Court of Requests to have forced them as he did by the Rump this is true of my own Knowledg and declared what should be Treason See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 563. b. The 34th Article is That the Chancellor Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal the Treasurer Admiral Chief Governours of Scotland and Ireland and the Chief Justices of both the Benches shall be chosen by the Approbation of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Approbation of the major part of the Council to be afterwards approved by Parliament I deny any of these Officers were ever chosen or approved by Parliament if any were it lies upon another to prove them to be so chosen or approved by Parliament Thus by manifold Perjuries deepest Dissimulation Hypocrisy and foul Ingratitude Cromwel waded through a Sea of Blood in England Scotland and Ireland and then deposed them who had raised him for which he had murdered thousands for but attempting to do what he had done He aspired to the Dominion of Britain and Ireland which the Rump had conquered to his hand and by Monk's Victories over the Dutch Holland lies at his Mercy so that as Cromwel was the most absolute Tyrant that ever raged in England so was he not less terrible to his neighbouring Nations And now he had it in his Power to do what he will let 's see how like a Beast he did what he did Of all our neighbouring Nations the Dutch and French were the most formidable to the English the Dutch being not only Competitors with the English in Trade but Contenders with them in the Dominion of the Seas and the French the most formidable and faithless by Land and of all Nations the English Trade to France was the worst being as much to the enriching France as the impoverishing England Spain neither a neighbouring Nation to England except some part of Flanders nor any ways formidable to England by Sea or Land yet of all others the English Trade with Spain was the most beneficial and enriching to the English Now let 's see how diametrically contrary to the English Interest Cromwel acted in every one of these After Cromwel had assumed the Protectorate Mr. Whitlock says he observed new and great State and all Ceremonies and Respects were paid to him by all sorts of Men as to their Prince and Stubbe says upon the 20th Notice was given to the Dutch Plenipotentiaries by Cromwel's Master of the Ceremonies of his being Protector and how ready he was to treat with them and how kind he would be to them but they must pay him the same Honour and Respect which was heretofore exhibited to the English Kings and in their Writings and Discourses give him the Title of Highness which was in Use before that of Majesty that they not being in the Quality of Ambassadors but Lords Deputies Plenipotentiaries must be uncovered in his Presence In this state Cromwel takes the Treaty of Peace out of the Council's Hands tho it ill agreed with his Oath to the Instrument of his Government and upon the 26th of December but ten Days after his assuming the Protectorate by his Secretary Thurloâ— brought the Dutch Plenipotentiaries a Writing wherein the Satisfaction of the 3d Article demanded by the Council was wholly omitted but the Claims of the East-India Merchants and others were to be compounded The 15th Article was changed so as that neither the Dominion of the Seas was mentioned nor their Ships to be searched but they were to strike the Flag and lower their Top-sail to any English Man of War within the British Seas with several other Concessions Now the Dutch Artifice after having made so many Protestations of agreeing with Cromwel upon better Terms than they would if he would dissolve the Rump and Barebone's Parliament appeared for notwithstanding Cromwel had omitted the Satisfaction demanded by the third Article and qualified the fifteenth yet looking upon Cromwel's state uncertain and that he stood in as much need of them as they of him without giving any Answer upon the 28th of December desired a Passport to depart Now Cromwel perceived how the Plenipotentiaries had deluded him
haughty Spirit could not bend to submit to the Cardinal but served the King of Spain in Flanders when in the Year I think 1653 he destroy'd and took half the French Army which besieged Valenciennes In these Commotions tho the French in the Year 1646 took Dunkirk and Graveling from the Spaniard yet in the Year 1652 the Spaniard retook them both from the French and the Spaniard was enabled to do this by the English for tho the Rump could not or would not assist the Prince of Conde in Bourdeaux yet having a Squadron of Men of War in the Downs when a great French Fleet under a Convoy of Men of War were going to relieve Dunkirk besieged by the Spaniards these were set upon by the English and the whole French Fleet destroy'd or scatter'd and so Dunkirk soon after surrendred as did Mardike and Graveling Nor were the Spaniards less successful in Catalonia for having expell'd the French out of it in the Year 1652 they reduced Barcelona the Metropolis of that Province and one of the best Ports in all Spain but these Successes will not long continue and if the Spaniards were beholden to the Rump for reducing Dunkirk and Graveling they may ascribe the loss of them and of many more Towns and Dominions to Cromwel In our Trades to Spain we were as much Gainers by them as Losers by the French so as we could better sustain the Losses wherein we debauched our selves by drinking Spanish Wines whereas in this War with Spain and Peace with France we doubly debauched our selves in drinking French Wines which became so much more as Spanish could not be had King James and Charles the First except in the business of Rochel were only Lookers on whilst this French King's Father rooted out the Power of the Reformed in France expell'd the Duke of Lorain out of his Country supported Portugal and Catalonia in their Rebellion against Spain tam'd the Duke of Savoy and took Pignerol the Key of his Country and other Places from him as also Brisac from the Empire and Landreshy and other Places from the Spaniard Whereas Cromwel actually joined with the French in an offensive War against the Spaniard whereby he first made the French so formidable that it 's a Question whether it be in the Power of Christendom to restrain his boundless Ambition by Land for besides the routing of the Spanish Army near Dunkirk by the English and French or rather by the English without the French they took from the Spaniard Winixburgh Furnes Bourbock Dunkirk Mardike Graveling Montmeily Ipre and other Places But the Land could put no Bounds to the French Ambition and therefore Mazarine made use of this Conjuncture to enlarge the French Dominion by Sea without which all the French Grandure by Land could not protect France from the Insults and Invasions which the English and Dutch might make upon it by Sea And herein Mazarine wisely considered that the Dominion of the Sea could not be attained but by Navigation nor could Navigation be had but by Trade to support it Of all Trades the Fishing-Trade most increases Navigation both my Mariners and Ships For in other Trades by Navigation as to Turkey Miscovy the East and West-Indies it may be we imploy a thousand Men in making Cloths c. to ten Mariners in the Foreign Vent of them whereas in the Fishing Trade every Man becomes a Mariner Add hereunto in the Fishing Trade the Mariners are always at hand for the Publick Service of their Country and lusty active and strong whereas in the long Sea Voyages especially to the East-Indies the Mariners are long absent and in the Diversities of Climates and by salt Meats and sowr Drinks become subject to infinite Distempers so that it may be a Question Whether in these Voyages we do not lose more Men than make Mariners And of those which survive one Fisherman shall by his Health and Strength beat three of them Besides in our Foreign Trades by Navigation we employ only Men in them whereas in the Fishing Trade we employ all sorts of People Men Women and Children in curing and drying Fish and in making Cordage Nets and Sails for the Fishing-Trade The Fishing-Trade upon the Coast of England and Scotland the French could not hope to drive the Dutch out of but the New-found-land Fishery was too remote from the Dutch and the French should only have the English to contest with in it Here let 's see how the Case stood between the English and French in this Contest The New-found-land Fishery was carried on by the Inhabitants of the Port-Towns of Cornwal Devon and Dorsetshire these Ports were all Corporations which excluded all other Men from carrying on this Trade and these Corporation-Men being few and Beggars could not enlarge their Fishing-Trade beyound their Men and Stock Whereas Havre de Grace St. Malo's Morlaix Brest Blavet Rochford Bayon and other Western Ports of France are not only manifoldly bigger and better peopled than the Ports of the Western and Southern Parts of England but the French King contributed three hundred thousand Pistols for carrying on the New-found-land Fishery and for further Encouragement gave half Pay to lusty young Men above their Wages for two or three Voyages for the increase of Mariners and in all the Ports of France erected Schools for instructing Youth in Mathematical Learning gratis The Fish caught in the New-found-land Fishery cost nothing but the catching and curing so that they who can catch and cure them cheapest are sure of a Foreign Market in their vending And this creates another Navigation and Employment of Mariners And here let 's see if the Act of Navigation be not as much a Cause of enabling the French in carrying on this Fishery as it is eternally of fixing the Fishing-Trade upon the Coast of England and Scotland and the Green-land Trade upon the Dutch and Hamburghers The French have upon the Coast of France I dare say near twenty-fold more Timber to build Vessels for the New-found-land Fishery than can be had at like distance from the Ports of Cornwal Devon and Dorset and I believe as cheap as the English pay for the Carriage of theirs to the Ports and when it comes there the French Timber is wrought much easier than the English and Vessels made of French Timber draw less Water and are sailed with fewer Hands Besides the French encourage all Foreigners to build their Vessels more conveniently for this Trade than the English understand And as the French have much more manifoldly the Advantage above the English in building Ships so have they more in Plenty of Hemp and Flax for fitting up Ships for this Trade wherein I suppose they do not restrain the French from curing Flax and Hemp in standing Waters and in Proportion as much cheaper than the English can fetch Foreign Hemp and Flax in English-built Ships and sailed by three fourths English So that to the Poverty of these beggarly Corporations this wise Law of
Ringleaders of these were Bidle Cops Fry Erbury Saltmarsh c. But more blasphemous than these was one James Naylor I saw him when he stood in the Pillory before Westminster-hall who personated our Saviour and was like his Picture in his Words and Gestures and so mad was he and many of his Crew that getting upon a Horse-Colt an Ass would have becom'd him better he came riding to Bristol his Sect strewing his way with Leaves and Boughs of Trees crying Hosanna Blessed is he who cometh in the Name of the Lord. Nor did he stay here but imitated our Saviour in affecting his Divinity as that he could Raise the Dead Heal the Sick and Fast 40 Days In these Distractions without to prevent which Cromwel took little Care Cromwel had little Peace within He was obey'd by none for Love had no Title to his Greatness but by Barebone's Parliament of his own making his own Will and the Flattery of some of the Officers of his Army yet the Body of the Army and a greater part of the Officers look'd upon him as a Tyrant and Usurper and with these the Generality of the Commonwealth Party agreed The Presbyterian Party hated him and he knew the Royalists would never obey him if ever they could find an Opportunity to get rid of him The Crown-Lands and the established Revenues he reserved by his Instrument of Government would not near maintain the Charges of his Intelligence and Army which in a manner lived upon Free Quarter and the Decimation of the Royalists bore no Proportion to support them His Expendition to Hispaniola from which he expected Mountains of Gold proved not only dishonourable but thereby he contracted so great a Debt as he could never live to overgrow In these Disquietudes of Mind his Looks were intent upon new and unusual Spectacles He took particular notice of the Carriage Manners Habit and Language of all Strangers especially if they seemed joyful He never stirr'd abroad without strong Guards wearing Armour under his Clothes and offensive Arms too never came back the common Road or the same Way he went and always passing with great speed had many Locks and Keys for the Door of his Houses seldom slept above three Nights in one Chamber nor in any which had not two or three Back-doors and Guards at all of them To these Dr. Bates in the second Part of his Elenchus adds this That Cromwel being much troubled with the Stone used sometimes to swill down several sorts of Liquors and then stir his Body by some violent kind of Motion as riding hard on Horseback jolting in a Coach c. that by such Agitation he might disburden his Bladder Wherefore one Day he took with him his Secretary Thurlow that they two might privately use this Exercise in a Coach in Hide-Park When they came thither Cromwel got into the Coach-box drawn by six brave Horses lately presented to him by Count Ollenburg and so soon as Cromwel began to snap his Whip the Horses ran away and the Postilion was thrown off the Fore-horse the Horses fretting and growing unruly tost Cromwel from his Seat upon the Pole and falling from thence upon the Ground was intangled in his Coat and dragged up and down till he received many Bruises a Pocket-Pistol in the mean time going off â—â—d his Coat rent but a Guard of Horse which waited at the â—ate seeing the Disaster hasting toward his Assistance disâ—â—tanâ—ed him out of the Danger However Cromwel to establish his ill-acquired Greatness in his Family makes his Son Henry Lieutenant of Ireland and fain would have made his Son Richard Governour of Scotland but Monk would not budg there which it may be was as great an Affliction to Cromwel as all those he laboured under before Now was Cromwel driven to a Forc'd-put if a Parliament could not help him he had lost his Game So he in September 1656 sets up a new Bawble call'd a Parliament Cromwel set his Wits upon Tenterhooks to have those chosen for England to be for his Turn he cared not so much for those sent from Scotland and Ireland being sure of them To this purpose his Major-Generals used all their Endeavours equally to hinder the Elections of Royalists and Republicans for neither would sute with Cromwel's Designs However Cromwel would not suffer any to enter the House before he subscribed to the Authority of the Protector These Men chose Sir Thomas Widdrington Speaker who June 1657 begirt Cromwel in Protectorean Robes for King he would not be and told him That the Robe of Purple is the Emblem of Magistracy which imports Righteousness and Justice the Robe of Mixt Colour Justice and Mercy and a great deal more of such Stuff which Cromwel regarded no more than he did Barebone's Parliament and his Instrument of Government To ease Cromwel of the Trouble this Parliament put down the Major-Generals who were become troublesome to Cromwel himself as well as the Nation in general and made it Treason to conspire Cromwel's Death and that the Royal Family should be renounced These gave Cromwel the Customs and a Triennial Tax upon all Houses built upon New Foundations in London and within ten Miles round that every one of them should pay Cromwel a Year's Rent And to endear him the more this Parliament gave Cromwel Leave to name his succeeding Protector which he kindly accepted By this you may see the Nature of the Beast for when Cromwel's former Parliament disputed the Authority of his Instrument of Government he told them It was the Foundation of Government upon which they must build and not destroy and therefore it was unalterable by Act of Parliament and by the Instrument his Council was to chuse a Successor But now 't is for his Turn the Parliament may alter his Instrument and give him Power to name his Successor This Alteration of naming a Successor had another Effect too for Lambert who expected to succeed Cromwel and therefore told Cromwel's former Parliament That unless they would confirm it they the Officers of the Army would call another and a third and fourth till the Instrument of Government was confirmed Now his Hopes of Succession were balk'd he tack'd about and seem'd to join with the Republican Party Hereupon Cromwel took away Lambert's Commission and made his Son-in-law Fleet-wood Lieutenant-General in his place So that tho Cromwel got a Power after his Death he distracted his Power whilst he was alive And as Pedlars which have not Gold yet will shew something which may glister like it so Cromwel that his Parliament may seem like a Parliament will have a House of Lords too but these are not Lords with Titles but Lords of the Lord knows what If you 'll take the Measures of the rest I 'll give you a List of some of them There was Pride the Brewer Huson the Shooe-maker Barkstead the Thimble-seller Cooper an Haberdasher of small Wares Whaley a Broken Clothier c. Yet these Lords must not be
was sitting might be dangerous since the Parliament had so lately recognized him and so many thousands of the People had congratulated his Assumption into the Protectorate And to begin at the Parliament might be as dangerous for this they thought would disgust the Nation in general neither did they know whether the Parliament would be disbanded by them they therefore resolve they 'll make Richard dissolve them and take the Odium upon himself and when that 's done they 'll do well enough with Richard To this end the Officers urge Richard to make good their Proposals but the Protectorian Officers advised him to seize the Heads of the Republican which tho Richard durst not come to yet he spake high and threatned the Officers to cashier them This had a double Effect for the Protectorian Officers the Lord Falconbridg Captain Philip Howard Colonel Ingoldsby Whaley Goff and others seeing the meanness of Richard's Spirit in neglecting their Advice leave him and the Republicans were not to be quelled with Words but exasperated by them so that upon the 22d of April they beset White-hall and sent Desborough and Fleetwood to beseech him to dissolve the Parliament and if 't were not speedily done they would set fire to the House and kill all who should resist which so frightned Richard that he forthwith signs a Proclamation for dissolving the Parliament The Parliament thus dissolved Richard's Turn was next to be deposed not one of the manifold thousands of the ninety Congratulatory Addresses who promised to stand by Richard with their Lives and Fortunes speaking one word in his behalf and so shall such another Turn about thirty Years after be served on King James the Second Tho Richard and his Parliament were out yet something else must be in yet before they would put in any thing else the Republican Officers send Ingoldsby Goff Whaley my Lord Falconbridg and Howard after Earl of Carlisle after Richard and his Parliament and take in Lambert Harrison Rich Parker Okey and others whom Cromwel turn'd out But before they would set up any thing instead of Protector they make Fleetwood General by Sea and Land and Lambert Lieut. General To prepare the way for what was to be set up the Officers prepare a Remonstrance inveighing bitterly against the Malignants for so they call'â— the Royalists that they had printed Lists and marked for Destruction the Godly especially the King's Judges and therefore they would revive the Good Old Cause and restore the Rump Parliament but William Pryn according to his rude way of writing answered them That their Cause was neither Good nor Old and bitterly charges them with Treachery and Ingratitude But all to no purpose for since no better was to be had these Officers awake the Rump out of their Lethargy wherein they had been above five Years asleep and now were become so miserably lean that none but the Officers could abide the sight of them they could get but forty two together and these looked so wretchedly that they had much ado to get Lenthal to be Head again to it But how nasty soever the Rump was the first secluded Members would have sat with them but the Rump would none of that but set Guards at the Door of the House to keep them out Thus got together they again depose Richard and send Ludlow to do the same by Henry in Ireland and thus you see what Security can be had by relying upon a Mercenary Army one part of it exalted the Father and another part of the same Army deposed both the Sons But in Scotland they let Monk alone who promised to be true to them Yet these were not the Halâ—yon Days the Republican Officers expected by restoring the Rump for the Rump tho it had been long asleep yet remembred they were before tuned out by the Officers of the Army and that they shall do so no more they make Lenthal General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland by Sea and Land The Rump being contemptible to all the Nation and the Officers of the Army being thus divided and subdued and like Virginal-Jacks when one was up the other was down raised the Expectation of the Royalists That a sudden Change would be which could end in nothing but restoring the King And the Presbyterians exasperated by the Rump's Repulse again resolve not to sit quiet under it and therefore a Correspondence is held between them and the Royalists to depose the Rump whatever came of it To this end Sir George Booth rises in Cheshire with whom Sir Thomas Middleton joined but was ill seconded by the Royalists This alarm'd the Rump for they expected no better from the Presbyterians than the Royalists And now the Rump not well knowing the Man had so little Wit as to send Lambert against Sir George and you 'll soon see Lambert shall do that by the Rump which the Presbyterians and Royalists both together could not do For Lambert having overthrown Booth and taken him Prisoner tho the Rump were mightily joy'd at it and voted Lambert a Gratuity of a Thousand Pounds yet this no ways alter'd the Designs of Lambert which ever since the Death of Cromwel he had been hatching For Lambert after the Defeat of the Cheshire-men in his return for London at Derby the 16th of September procured a Petition from the Officers to the Rump that Fleetwood might be General of the Army and himself Lieutenant-General He was content to give Fleetwood the first Place as Cromwel had given Fairfax for he knew himself to be too hard for Fleetwood and a much better Souldier and so would do what he list And the greater part of the Officers in London join with Lambert in his Petition The Rump was more alarm'd at this Petition than at Sir Booth's Insurrection so as all Prosecution against him and the Cheshire-Men was at a stand nor were the Rump of one piece among themselves for Sir Arthur Haslerig a hot-headed Man was violently against the Army and said they made the Parliament a precarious thing and that Lambert trod Cromwel's Steps and his seeming Modesty in preferring Fleetwood was but a Decoy But young Sir Henry now become old Sir Henry Vane with much more cunning endeavour'd to carry on the Designs of Lambert and his Faction However the Majority of the Members rather than be deposed depose Lambert Desborough Berry Kelsey Ashfield Cobbet Creed Parker and Barrow and make a Council of War without naming a General of Fleetwood Monk Haslerig Ludlow Morley and Overton And to starve Lambert and his Officers the Rump vote That no Money shall be raised without Consent in Parliament and he that shall do it shall be guilty of High-Treason against the Commonwealth And the Nation to whom the Rump and Army were alike hateful took this for a very good Law However before this Infant Council of War should be warm in their Seats Lambert resolves to beat up their Quarters and marches directly to London but the
Rump who had Intelligence of Lambert's Motion would not tamely be turn'd out but appoint Moss and Morley's Regiments to guard the House yet Lambert upon the 13th of October with a stronger Guard hastens to the Old-Palace-Yard and before the Members came set Guards upon all the Avenues to the House not permitting any Member to enter and sends the Speaker back into the City Now is the Rump's Lethargy from which they were recover'd but five Months and some few Days turned into a Convulsion and the next Fit you 'll see will carry it quite off Instead of the Rump the Officers set up a new thing which they call The Committee of Safety which consisted of 22 whereof Vane Fleetwood and Ludlow were prime Directors Lambert having thus turned out the Rump his Turn shall be next But before we proceed it 's fit to see how things stood in Scotland where at this time all things contrary to the Scotish Temper were in perfect Peace and Quiet and to keep the Scots so the Rump and Cromwel had built four Citadels upon the four principal Passes in Scotland viz. at Leith Aire St. Johnstons and Inverness which bridled the Scots from holding Communication within Land and which cost above 30000 l. being three Regular Fortifications on the North Sea and one upon the West for to relieve the English in case of Land-Sieges or other Accidents After Monk had perfectly subdued Scotland he took Care for constant Supplies out of England for the Payment of his Soldiers whereby he kept them in such regular and severe Discipline that Disorders rarely happen'd among them and hereby Scotland did never before abound in so much Wealth and Trade and to these Monk duly observed all Articles made with the Scots whereby the common sort of Scots enjoyed more Liberty and Wealth than ever before they had under their Lords and Lairds and now no Man durst oppress his poor Tenants and Neighbours He likewise supprest all those Scotish Feuds which before so often raged in Scotland and compelled the Clergy to mind their own Function without meddling with Temporal Affairs So as the Scots never lived so free and happy under their Kings Nobles and Lairds as in that short time they did under Monk's Regency In this State Monk hired the Countess of Bucklough's House about five Miles from Edinburgh which had fine Gardens Orchards and a stately Park walled about belonging to it and here he fell into the Acquaintance of the principal Nobility and Gentry of Scotland and by his Familiarity and Affability with them he gained their Love and Friendship And in this State Cromwel would have found it a hard Task to remove him After Cromwel's Death and that his Son Richard became Protector he caress'd Monk by frequent Letters and great Protestations of Kindness intreating also his Advice and Assistance letting him know that his Father did recommend to him as an especial Command to be chiefly ruled by his Prudence Monk in return answered That he was very remote and could not well tell what to write at such a distance but advised him to call a Parliament which was the Wisdom of the Nation by whom he might be best instructed which Richard did and if he had stood by them it 's thought Monk would have stood by him but Richard spoil'd all by dissolving the Parliament and when the English Army had deposed his Brother Henry by frequent Messages and Letters he invited Monk to appear to give a Check to the mutinous and seditious English Army which now courted Monk as well as he and so did the Rump after they were restored So that in all the Troubles and Alterations in England both England and Ireland too courted Monk who sat still and was quiet in Scotland Lambert's firy Ambition burnt out that Prudence which Cromwel observed in making sure of Monk before he attempted to turn out the Rump which Lambert did not nor so much as made his Design known to Monk The turning out the Rump and erecting a Committee of Safety to govern being Sectaries Republicans and Enemies to Monk which he called Fanaticks he knew no Good was intended him by this Change and therefore resolved not to submit to it But herein Monk proceeded with as much Caution and Prudence as Lambert did in Haste and Folly Here you may see how Ambition and Interest change Mens Actions for herein what Monk allowed in Cromwel he disclaims in Lambert For upon the 18th of October Monk marched with his own Guards from Dalkeith to Edinburgh where his own Regiment of Foot quartered and seized all such Officers as he suspected would not be true to him in his Design and secur'd them and drew his Forces into the Field and gave them an Account of his Resolution To adhere to a Civil Authority and not to follow the English Army in their mad Counsels and Fanatick Courses which was entertained by the Soldiers and generally by the Scots At his Return out of the Field he received an Express from the Governour of Berwick That he feared he should not be able to secure the Town for him almost all the Officers in the Town being Anabaptists Whereupon Monk gave Order for a Troop of Horse to march to Berwick to fetch away the ill-affected Officers and sent also a blank Commission to the Governour to put in what Officers he pleased but it was difficult to get a Troop to march being about 40 Miles from Edinburgh the Days short and Ways deep and bad yet Captain Johnson undertook the Journey and arrived at Berwick but the Night before Colonel Cobbet entered Berwick sent from Lambert whom Johnson seized and sent Cobbet and the suspected Officers Prisoners to Edinburgh 'T was well Monk succeeded so well at Berwick for otherwise he had had a hard Game to play the English Army in Scotland being far off in the more remote Northern and Western Parts of it and Lambert upon his March from London with it may be the bravest Body of Horse in Europe against him and could augment his Foot in his March But if Monk was fortunate in reducing Berwick he was not less unfortunate in endeavouring to reduce Carlisle for having sent Captain Dean upon that Account his whole Troop deserted him and joined with the Garison Besides Monk having sent Letters to many of the Officers in Ireland whom he thought he might confide in and to the Officers in the English Fleet then riding in the Downs they all refused to join with him Hereupon the Sectaries in the English Army grew insolent and drew off from Monk in Discontent whereupon Monk kept back their Pay and bid them seek their Arrears of them to whom they were going which they could not have done in a worse time now the Rump had voted it Treason to raise any Money to pay them these Officers were above 140 and their Arrears Monk kept the better to pay the Officers he could confide in However this could not secure Monk of those Soldiers
do but said He would consider some time of it The next Day after Monk attended by Robison and Scot went to the House where the Speaker caress'd him in a florid Speech congratulating his coming to Town and in the Name of the House thank'd him for the great Service he had done them To which Monk in a plain Soldier-like Answer said That amongst the many Mercies of God to these poor Nations their Restitution was not the least that it was his Work alone and to him belongs the Glory of it that he esteemed it an Effect of God's Goodness that he was some ways instrumental in it wherein he did no more than his Duty which did not deserve the high Mark of Favour they put upon it That he would trouble them with no large Narratives yet desired leave to acquaint them That in his March from Scotland he observed the People in most Countries earnestly desired a Settlement for a full and free Parliament and that they would determine their Sitting a Gospel Ministry Encouragement for Learning in the Vniversities and that the Secluded Members before 1648 might be admitted without previous Oaths That he had answered They the Rump were a free Parliament and if there were any Force upon them he would remove it that you would fill up your House and then would be a full Parliament and that you had already determined your Sitting And for the Ministry and their Maintenance the Laws and Vniversities you had declared largely concerning them in your last Declaration That for the Gentlemen secluded before 1648 you had already given your Judgment and that they ought to acquiesce therein but to admit Members to sit without a previous Oath was never done in England yet begg'd leave to say That the less Oaths and Engagements were imposed your Settlement would be sooner attained yet that neither the Cavalier nor Fanatick Party have any share in the Civil or Military Power Then he recommended to them the State of Scotland and Ireland which you may read at large in the third Part of Dr. Bates ' s Elenchus The Rump were as little pleased with Monk's Speech as the Council of State with his Refusal to take the Oath of Abjuring the King and Royal Family therefore seeing he would not Swear as the Rump would have him they 'll try if he will Do as they will have him The Common-Council in London had passed an Order That unless they had a full and free Parliament they would pay no more Taxes This so startled the Rump that the next day after Monk had been at the House they sent to him to send 12 of the forwardest Citizens to the Tower and to pull up the City-Posts Chains and Portcullices In Obedience to the Rump's Order Monk marches into the Old Exchange and secur'd as many of the Citizens the Rump ordered as he found there but when he issued out his Orders to pull down the Posts Chains Gates and Portcullices the Officers withdrew and consulted what to do and resolved They could not obey these Orders and offered to lay down their Commissions Monk endeavour'd to pacify them and told them The Orders of the Council were to be obeyed but they persisted so as he was forced to set his lesser Officers to do the Work but did not pull down the Gates and Portcullices thinking he had done enough to satisfy the Rump but was mistaken for the Rump sent more peremptory Orders to pull down the Gates and Portcullices which piece of Drudgery Monk perform'd Col. Herb. Morley a Non-Abjurer of the King at this time was Lieutenant of the Tower and took this Occasion to come to Monk and assured him for the Tower himself and Sir J. Fagg his Brother-in-law whose two Regiments were in London and were resolved to agree with him in any Matters that should be for the publick Peace and Settlement This was a Preparative to what followed and that Night Monk returned to White-hall And the next Day or a Day after Praise-God Barebone with a multitude of Water-men and others who it may be could neither write nor read presented a Petition to the Rump for the excluding the King and Royal Family and that those who refused should not be capable of any Imployment for which the Rump thank'd them but the Success shall be no better than Richard's 90 Congratulatory Addresses This struck directly at the Authority of Monk whereupon he called a private Council of his Confidents to advise what to do where it was resolved to take a General Muster of his Army in Finsbury-fields the 11th of Febr. From whence Monk wrote to the Rump That the Services he had done them were slighted whilst the late Traitors no less Enemies to them than the Commonwealth had more Esteem than he From whence else was their Kindness to Lambert and Vane and new Offences against him and their Respect to that leering Heretick Barebone and all his Rabble And therefore demanded that the filling up their Members be within a Week and their Sitting determined and to give place to a new Parliament From Finsbury Monk sent to the Mayor That he would dine with him at the Bull-head in Cheapside where he desired the Mayor in the Evening to call a Court of Aldermen at Guild-hall This was blown about the City and thousands came to Guild-hall and I amongst the rest to see what the Meaning of it should be About six Monk came and all the way as he came and quite through the Hall the Cry was A Free Parliament I saw him when he lighted out of his Coach and went leaning on Col. Cloberry's Shoulder into the Mayor's Court but not one word he said and when he came into the Mayor's Court he read a Letter he sent that Morning to the Rump and then returned the Cry was the same A Free Parliament Monk said nothing Cloberry said You shall have a Free Parliament And it 's not to be imagin'd how far this spread in so little time for I believe in less than 2 Hours all the Bells of London were ringing and in all the Streets to the number 't was said of above 6000 Bonfires were made and Rumps of all sorts roasting But that Night Monk did not return to White-hall but lay at the Glass-house in Broadstreet If the Rump were nettled at Monk's Speech they were now ready to die for fear but since they could not shew their Teeth they would shew their Back-sides and voted a Committee of Five to order the Affairs of the Army whereof Monk to be one But Monk who but 4 Days before was so terrible to the City is now become their Darling they let him have 30000 l. to pay his Army in the City whereas that without was like a Herd of Goats upon the Mountains having no body to look after them nor a Penny to help themselves And Monk now having his Army entirely at his Devotion scorn'd for all the Rump's Vote to suffer any other of their Committee to
partake with him in any part of his Authority over it And now Monk with a better Authority and more Applause than Cromwel had might have set up himself for Protector or what he pleas'd but he saw the Genius of the Nation lay another way and that 't was more secure to follow it than to set up himself against it He held therefore private Intelligence with the Heads of the Secluded Members about their Restoration on certain Conditions The Secluded Members were zealously disposed to out the Rump upon any Terms whatever came of it they had more to say against the Rump than the Rump had against the Officers of the Army who had twice deposed them and the Rump began the Game with the Secluded Members before the Officers began with them So upon Feb. 21. Monk gave the Command of the Guard to Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper after Earl of Shaftsbury to permit the Secluded Members to enter the House the first whereof was W. Prynn tied to a great Basket-hilted Sword yet the Rumpers were not excluded nor did the Secluded Members care for it being four to one And so the Rumpers left the House and fell into a Relapse of their Convulsion out of which they never recovered nor did Barebone's Rabble afford them any Relief Thus you see the Rump and Secluded Members were like Virginal-Jacks too when one was up the other was down for the Secluded Members who before would not have the Nation or themselves safe unless they were an Undissolvable Parliament now to be revenged on the Rump are content to meet only to do Monk some Journey-work and then dissolve themselves The Secluded Members after they were in repeal their own Exclusion then vote Monk General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland Mountague Admiral of the Fleet set Sir George Booth and those in Prison upon that account at liberty and soon after sent Lambert in his room and grant a Tax for Payment of the Army which now no Man disputed But Monk ' s Cares did not end here the Army without were more than fivefold to his within the City he therefore sent Letters to all the other Regiments of the Armies in England and Ireland To certify the Reason of the re-admission of the Secluded Members that without it there was no way to satisfy the Nation or raise Money to pay the Army and with large Assurances of their Constancy in their old Profession and Principles The Souldiers in general were glad to be out of their starving and wandring state and therefore in shoals submitted to Monk who yet would not receive them unless they would swear to be true to this Parliament as 't was called which he could but little trust to they having so often forswore themselves before yet these at present serv'd his turn and those who refus'd he cashier'd Now had horrible Dread overwhelm'd the Rumpers especially the Regicides they saw themselves hated by almost all the Nation yet at irreconcilable Variance one with another the Body of the Army which had raised them turned now against them they knew the Secluded Members had but a limited time to sit and then to dissolve themselves to make room for another which would certainly bring in the King to their utter Destruction In this Consternation Lambert escap'd out of the Tower and Col. Rich refused to submit Lambert posts to Warwick where he met Axtel Okey Cobbet Creed and some other disbanded Officers to whom many disbanded Soldiers joined which made up a little Army Colonel Streater a Confident of Monk's from Northampton gives Monk an Account of this whereupon the Council of State settled by the Secluded Members proclaim Lambert and all his Adherents Traitors and Monk sent Col. Rich. Ingoldsby a Gentleman of more true Courage than 20 of these sniveling Fellows who was before cashier'd for adhering to Ric. Cromwel when the Officers depos'd him with a strong Squadron of Horse to join Streater's Foot against them When these were joined upon Easter-day near Daventry both Armies came within sight of one another when Lambert made an Overture to Ingoldsby to restore Ric. Cromwel but Ingoldsby knew this Game was lost and that Lambert did not mean sincerely and so they fought Ingoldsby charged home and Lambert's Men could not sustain the Shock but fled and Ingoldsby it 's said took Lambert Prisoner with his own hands Lambert crying Quarter good my Lord for Ingoldsby was one of Oliver's Lords of the other House spare my Life With Lambert Cobbet and Creed were taken Prisoners Okey and Axtel escaped now but could not escape a greater Punishment than befel Lambert Cobbet or Creed for they were hang'd and quarter'd for having been K. Charles's Judges Nor was Rich's Fate much better than Lambert's for Col. Ingoldsby at Bury in Suffolk cashier'd him it 's said at the Head of his Regiment and disbanded it This was the End of that Invincible Army subdu'd by not one 6th part of it self for Monk when he came from Scotland had but 4 Regiments of Horse and 6 of Foot and I believe not 10 Men killed in their Defence and not one in the Reduction of the invincible Armado And now 't is time to see what followed the Secluded Members with much ado having dissolved themselves upon Mar. 17. issued out Writs for another to meet yet in the Name of the Keepers of the Liberties of the Commonwealth of England upon Apr. 25. the Elections to be as they were before the Year 1640. The gazing World eagerly expected the Success of this wondrous Revolution If we look abroad we shall see Mazarine after Cromwel's Death not foreseeing wherein the Confusions and Disorders in England would end unless in the Restoring the King which by Monsieur Bourdeaux the French Ambassador in England he diligently used his utmost Endeavours to prevent now sets up a Treaty of Peace with Spain and to forward it propounds a Marriage between the French King and the eldest Infanta of Spain the younger was after married to the now Emperor Leopold and the now King of Spain not born This Treaty was called The Pyrenaean Treaty But as this Treaty was made in deepest Dissimulation and Treachery so were the Preparations to it for at the same time the War continuing between Spain and Portugal the French King made an offensive League with Portugal for 10 Years not to treat with Spain unless the Portuguese were entirely satisfied in all their exorbitant Demands of Spain in which 't was agreed That all the Harbours the Portuguese should take in Spain either upon the one or other side of the Sea shall be put into the Power of France which you may read in the most excellent Treatise of the truly honourable and learned Statesman the Baron d' Isola Of the Buckler of State and Justice Chap. 1. And in regard there is so great a Connexion of the Pyrenaean Treaty with that of the Life of King Charles II. we 'll be more particular in it before we
are commissionated by him So help me God So that from swearing Negatively to Belief in the first part of this Oath we come to swear Affirmatively in this part of it But this part not being Promissory of Time to come is an Assertory Oath too if any besides the taking God's Name in vain or worse An Assertory Oath is of what a Man knows to be certainly true and what was immediately the Object of Sense Here a Man swears not that he knows but abhors and what does he abhor That Traiterous Position of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person or those commissionated by him Is Traiterous Position the Object of Sense and immediate so as the Swearer knows what the meaning of Traiterous Position is Which I believe not one of twenty does Or is not some Inference deduced from some Law or Usage which cannot be the Object of Sense and so not to be sworn to The End of an Assertory Oath is to inform the Judg and Jury so that Justice may be determined by it but here is neither Judg nor Jury to inform What can be the end of this Swearing Why 't is because otherwise the Swearer cannot be a Member of the Corporation but if I cannot take his Word I 'll not take his Oath And he that swears most to get Places is least worthy of them And I dare say he so much less understands his Duty in any Place by how much the more he is ready to swear to get into it And you will see that those Men who are so ready to swear by this Oath which they did not understand to get to be Members of Corporations shall be more ready to forswear themselves in giving up their Charters which they had sworn to maintain and keep and which they understood they ought to do Religion Piety Judgment Justice and Righteousness are the ways by which God is honoured and Peace and Happiness established in Nations and Kingdoms And will God instead of these suffer his Sacred Name to be prostituted by vain Swearing so as to pass unpunished Did not the Prophet Hosea Ch. 4. v. 3. of old complain That the Land mourned because of Oaths And hath not our Land mourned ever since the Convocation after the Dissolution of the Short Parliament 1640 did enjoin the Oath I A. B. swear that I approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation and will not consent to alter the Government in the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. to be taken by all the Clergy Was God well pleased that his Sacred Name should be affixed to such Stuff Or did this establish this Hierarchy Did not the Parliament about a Year after expel the Bishops out of the Lords House and imprisoned their Persons and made them and all Deans and Arch-Deacons uncapable of Temporal Jurisdiction And did not England and Scotland about two Years after join in a Covenant and swear to extirpate Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons Did not the Engagement expel the Covenant and the Recognition to Oliver out the Engagement till Men neither regarded what they had sworn nor cared what they swore to Monk before he came out of Scotland caused the Scots to abjure the King and his Interest So in his coming to London he did by the Officers of the Irish Brigade and the Rump died abjuring the King and Royal Family yet in less than four Months after the King was restor'd Before the Scots would admit the King to land in Scotland the 23d of June 1650 they made him with his Hands lifted up swear in the Presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all Hearts his Allowance and Approbation of the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant and Directories of Worship and not only to give his Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament enjoining the same in all his Dominions but to observe them in his private Family And upon his Coronation on the 11th of January 1651 repeated the same Oath Yet how little did this avail him or the Covenanters for in less than eight Months Cromwel drove him and his Covenanters quite out of Scotland And I dare say the King never after made use of them in his private Family nor ever after give his Assent to any Act of Parliament enjoining the Covenants tho he were restored to all his Dominions From swearing the Corporation-Oath the Parliament proceeds That all Members of Corporations declare against the Solemn League and Covenant in these words I A. B. do declare That I hold there lies no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom This Declaration is as vain and more wild than the Corporation-Oath for 't is but matter of Belief or Opinion and so no Issue can be taken upon it but if there could in him who declares yet none can be taken upon that part which declares there lies no Obligation upon another and I 'll put it upon this Issue that such a Declaration was never before enjoin'd by any Law And if the Covenant be an unlawful Oath in it self because imposed by no lawful Authority yet I say that no Authority under Heaven can make the taking God's Name in vain lawful much less to take a vain or superfluous Oath From new invented swearing and declaring to keep the King in the Kingdom the Church makes many new invented Prayers for him especially that for the Parliament wherein they tell God that the King is their most Religious and Gracious King as if he were so and God did not know it and if he were not so to perswade God he was so De Jove quid sentis Will God be mock'd Is not he Omniscient and knows the Secrets of every Man's Heart Has he any need to be informed what Man is Or did this King's manner of Life induce the Church to inform God that he was most Gracious or full of Grace Or his devout Behaviour at his seldom Presence in Divine Service declare him to be most Religious This King's Father and Grand-father's Flatterers went no higher than to flatter them that they were bound by no Laws and accountable to none but God for all their Actions and that their Subjects were bound to obey them in all under Penalty of Damnation They never went about to perswade God they were most Religious and Gracious in so doing The Parliament chimed in with the Church and by the Act of Vniformity enjoin That every one who holds an Ecclesiastical Promotion shall publickly declare before his Congregation his unfeigned Assent and Consent to every thing contained and prescribed in the Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. Put these together I. A. B. do declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent That the King
and that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any of the Subjects from the said Oaths or either of them to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of the Kingdom Thus you see the Parliament throw this upon the Son which his Father so zealously contended for even to the Loss of his Life and when they had done all they could the Son little cared for what they had done For the Year after viz. 1663 the King granted a Toleration and Indulgence to Dissenters from the Church Thinking Men thought this strange that the King should the Year before pass the Act of Vniformity as the best Means to secure the Church against Popery and Fanaticism and in this grant a Toleration It could not be in Favour of them termed Fanaticks who kept him from his Crown and last Year Venner with his Party would have expell'd him again And this Year Swarms of Pamphlets were spread abroad to defame his Person and Government For printing some of which Twyn the Printer was hanged Thinking Men considered too the time when this Indulgence was granted for as the King in the Sale of Dunkirk chose to do it in the Interval of the Sitting of the Parliament so he did grant this Indulgence I think in November when the Parliament was prorogued to February But tho the Parliament would take no notice of the Sale of Dunkirk they did of this and therefore the Commons upon their Meeting entred into a serious Debate about it and made an Address to the King humbly representing How it would reflect upon the Wisdom of the Parliament to have such an Alteration made so soon and that for ought they could foresee would end in Popery And sure the Commons were true Prophets herein However whether the King fearing the Continuance of the Indulgence might retard the Commons in giving him Money or that time was not yet ripe enough to insist upon it at present he recalled his Declaration So that tho the King did establish a High Commission in Scotland by his Prerogative Inherent in his Crown which the Parliament agreed to in Scotland yet this Indulgence had not the like Effect in England This Indulgence may seem more strange if we look into Ireland where the Irish this very Year were contriving a Massacre of the Protestants and holding Intelligence with the French King which you may read at large in Plunket's Trial and this proved by Popish Witnesses I do not find the Irish had any Countenance herein by the King nor do I believe the French King acquainted his Brother of England with it Yet the Insincerity of the King's Intentions of any Benefit the Protestant Dissenters should have by this Indulgence will appear by this that when the Parliament seeing the Danger which the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters might bring upon the Nation had prepared Bills for the Ease of Protestant Dissenters the King would not pass them However the Memory of the Rage and Tyranny of the late Times took deeper Impression in the Parliament than the Fear of Popery intended by the King's Toleration and Indulgence and therefore the Parliament from new invented Swearing and new invented Declaring proceed to new invented Laws against Dissenters and Conventicles and the Act of the 16 Car. 2. c. 4. does declare the 35 of Eliz. c. 1. to stand in full Force and ought to be put in Execution and did also enact That if any Number above Five more than the Family shall meet in any Assembly or Conventicle upon Colour or Pretence of Religion in any other manner than is allowed by the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England he shall be committed Prisoner for the first Offence there to remain for a Term not exceeding three Months unless such Offender shall pay a Sum of Money not exceeding Five Pounds for the second Offence to be committed to Prison for a Term not exceeding Six Months or pay a Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds and for the third Offence to be transported beyond the Seas for the Space of seven Years unless he pay one hundred Pounds I will not dispute the Justice of these Laws but I say no Human Laws can divest Men of Human Nature but that Man as well as all other Creatures will endeavour by such Means as they are endued with to preserve their Being and Subsistence in this World And herein I again observe the unhappy State of this Nation in the Education of Youth in the Grammar-Schools and our Academical Learning as 't is called For tho a great Part of the Youth of England have Means to maintain them after they have lost their time of Youth under this unprofitable Breeding whereby they are no way instructed how to live and converse in this World yet double if not treble Numbers of Youth are thus bred who have little or no Means to maintain them after they become Men and more than can be maintained by the Revenues of the Church as they are established I say therefore this kind of Breeding Youth shall eternally create Feuds and a kind of Civil War between those who are in Church-Preferments and those excluded from them and these for their necessary Subsistence shall become Patrons of Factions opposite to the Church within the Kingdom and to the promoting the Popish Interest without In the late Times when the Presbyterians bare the Sway were there not enow of that Party to supply the Vacancies of the Sequestred Clergy besides such Swarms of the Patrons of Independency as were more numerous than they and who turned them out Yet was there a large Relick for to promote the Popish Faction Upon the Restoration of the King when the Sequestred Clergy were restored were there not Multitudes of such Clergy as would have conformed yet could not get any Preferment in the Church Thus excluded what other means had they to subsist but to become Nurseries of Factions which were opposite to the Church and tho these Laws were intended against Protestant Dissenters who had no other means of living but dissenting yet you shall soon hear of another Sort of Dissenters and these secretly countenanced by this most Religious and Gracious King which shall be much more dangerous to this Church and State than those against whom these Laws were made And I say the Vnreasonableness of Separation from the Communion of the Church of England will no more prevent this than Origines Sacrae by not only confounding but inverting all Rules and Methods of Reasoning prove a Deity or the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures thereby making them the Creatures of a Creature and the Production of a Fantastick Brain CHAP. II. A further Account of this Reign to the End of the Second Dutch War THe King being thus established in England and Scotland tho he was not so in Ireland this Year shews the Effects of his Power by making a War upon the Dutch and even this War
't was believed was carried on by French Counsels For so long as the English and Dutch stood united it would be very difficult if not impossible for the French King to encrease his Grandeur either by Sea or Land if the English and Dutch should oppose it However the outward Appearance seemed otherwise on the French Part for in the Favour of the Dutch he made War upon the English tho to no Benefit of the Dutch other than by the influence of his Party upon the English Counsels But to return his Courtesy the Dutch during this War built him six great Men of War and the Dane joining with the Dutch and French against the English built the French as many more so that whilst the English and Dutch were fighting with one another to destroy their Men of War the French King looked on and without fighting encreased his The English and Dutch had been above Eighty Years Competitors in the East-India African and American Trades so that if either had a mind to quarrel it would not be hard to find an Occasion for it Queen Elizabeth kept so severe a Hand over the Dutch that they durst not presume to give the English any Cause of Offence during her Reign nor do I find the English gave them any in King James's Reign Yet the Dutch gave the English a most abominable one in the Business of Amboyna The World taking notice of the Vast Power at Sea and Wealth which the Dutch acquired by the Fishery upon the Coasts of England and Scotland King Charles I. required a Tribute or Acknowledgment from them about the Year 1630 as a Right belonging to his Crowns of England and Scotland The Dutch were resolv'd not to part with their Fishery and unwilling to pay the King any Acknowledgment for it and instead of Payment set Hugo Grotius to work with his Pen to discharge it Which he did in a little Treatise called Mare Liberum The King to vindicate his Soveraignty set Mr. Selden then at ill Terms with him for I think he was a Prisoner in the Tower for not submitting the Debates in Parliament to the Cognizance of the Council-Table and Court of King's Bench to write Mare Clausum in Answer to Grotius's Mare Liberum Yet this is observable how much the Dutch Interest governed their Reason for soon after I will not say the certain time in all their Manifesto's in the East-Indies the Dutch stiled themselves Soveraigns of the Southern Seas And as such you 'll hear how they exercised their Soveraignty over the English But King Charles though he raised Ship-Money upon Pretence of suppressing Pirates and for Safety of the Nation in May 1636 issued out a Proclamation forbidding the Dutch and all Foreign Nations Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland which the Dutch little regarding set out for this Fishery notwithstanding Whereupon the King commanded the Earl of Northumberland with a Fleet of sixty Men of War to take an Account of their Disobedience The Earl with this Fleet fell in upon the Dutch and dispersed them and cut their Nets so as the Dutch were forced to seek for Shelter in the King's Harbours where they were detained till they made a Composition to pay the King Thirty Thousand Pounds sterling yearly for Licence to fish And this was all the Action done by raising Ship-Money for the Safety of the Nation whereof the King was sole Judg and for Suppressing Pirates The Dutch in return next Year or the Year after upon Pretence of taking in fresh Water seize upon New-York in Long-Island in America and change the Name into New-Amsterdam But at this time things were in highest Ferment both in England and Scotland about establishing Laud's Injunctions in England and erecting a High Commission in Scotland by the King 's Supreme Ecclesiastical Power which the King was so intent upon that he neglected to call the Dutch to an Account for the Surprisal of New-York In the Year 1643 the Dutch by Virtue of their Soveraignty in the Southern Seas by one Geland in a Hostile Manner between Goa and Maccao in the Straits of Malacca made Prey of the Bona Esperanza and spoiled her of all her Tackle Apparel Furniture and all the Goods and Lading in her in her Return of a very hopeful Voyage from China and carried them to Batavia where without due Process of Law they were confiscated and the same Year the Ship called the Henry Bonadventura being come on Ground near the Island Mauritius was seized with all her Goods and Lading by the Dutch East-India Company and kept from the Owners And these Actions both in the East and West-Indies were done in time of Peace between England and Holland These Ships were set out by the Earl of Shrewsbury Sir William Courten Sir Paul Pindar and others by Virtue of a New Charter granted by King Charles the First in the Year 1635 and had laid the Foundation of a much more advantageous Trade for the English than that of the English East-India Company For the Northern and middle Parts of China are cold or temperate and so our Woollen Manufactures would have been very acceptable to them whereas they are of little Use in the Southern Parts of India and all the Islands in the Indian Ocean which lie in the Torrid Zone The Earl of Shrewsbury Sir Paul Pindar and Sir William Courten being Royalists took no Care for Satisfaction in the late times Nor do I find the Rump made any of these the Causes of the War between the Dutch and them nor did Oliver in the Peace he made with the Dutch take any Notice of these Violences used by the Dutch against the English or the Honour of the Nation yet he would not by his Peace discharge the Dutch from the Business of Amboyna but this was referred 't was said to the Cantons of Switzerland to be determined by them but was never after regarded But King Charles II. being at better Terms with his Parliament and Subjects than his Father the next Year after his Restoration viz. 1661 sent Sir Robert Holmes with a Squadron of Men of War and some Soldiers to America with which he reduced New York and all that which the Dutch had taken from the English in Long-Island And from thence Sir Robert Holmes sailed to Africa and took Cape Verd and some other Places where the English had Factories And about the same time the Earl of Shrewsbury with William Courten Grandson of Sir William and the Executors and Creditors of Sir Paul Pindar represented their Case to the King who by Letters under the King's Signet Manual demanded Reparations of the States for these Depredations by Sir George Downing the King's Envoy without any Satisfaction Thus things stood when the Algerines being at War with the English and Dutch the Dutch by their Ambassadour desired the King in 1663 to join a Squadron of Ships with the Dutch to reduce the Algerines to better Terms which the King did and
third of June following the English Fleet commanded by the Duke of York Prince Rupert Admiral of the White and the Earl of Sandwich of the Blue fought the Dutch off the Coast of Harwich where the Dutch were put to flight Opdam their Admiral was blown up and Cartinere Stillingwolf and Stamp Flag-Officers killed and eighteen of the Dutch Fleet sunk and taken and if it had not been for fear of disturbing the Duke in his next Night's Sleep it 's believed the whole Dutch Fleet might have been destroy'd But in this Fight the English lost the renowned Earl of Marlborough who tho Admiral in King Charles the First 's Reign died a private Captain in this Fight Rear-Admiral Sanson was killed in it and Vice-Admiral Lawson soon after died of his Wounds The Duke of York was of too estimable a Value to be ventur'd any more in this War for in his Person the Hopes of this War and Declaration of Indulgence resolved So the Earl of Sandwich was made Admiral Sir Thomas Allen of the White and Sir Thomas Tiddiman of the Blue Squadrons The Dutch were so damaged in the first Fight that they were not in a Condition to set out another Fleet this Year But the Dutch having lodged their East-India and other Fleets in Bergen in Norway the English Fleet sailed thither to attack them in it But Sir Thomas Tiddiman who was ordered to do it did not sail into the Harbour as he might have done upon his first Approach but sent to the Governour of the Castle to treat without the Dutch within alarm'd at the Danger set all hands on work that Night so that by the Morning they had so fortified the Castle that it was impossible for the English to force a Passage and the Weather growing boisterous it being towards the latter end of September the English Fleet was forc'd to return nor could the Dutch Fleet stay in Bergen and in their Return home two of their richest East-India Ships and about 80 Sail of their other Ships fell to the English share but tho they were deep laden when the English took them they became much lighter before they came into the English Harbour It seems God was not pleased with these things for this Year he sent a horrible Plague which raged over almost all the Parts of England The greatest Plague which happened since Edward the Third's time in England was in the first Year of this King's Grandfather yet a greater in the first Year of his Father's Reign and now a greater than either in the sixth Year of his actual Reign And as the Plague drove the Parliament to Oxford in his Father's Reign so did it now in his But neither the Mourning of the Land because of Oaths the Plague this Dutch War nor the King's Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters could abate the Parliament's Zeal in prosecuting Protestant Nonconformist Ministers but they made a Law called the Five-Mile-Act whereby they were banished five Miles from any Corporation or Market Town and had this Oath imposed upon them I A. B. do declare That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and that I do abhor that traiterous Position of taking up Arms by his Authority against his Person or any that are commissionated by him in pursuance of such Commission And I do swear that I will not at any time to come endeavour the Alteration of the Government either in Church or State So help me God The poor Non-conforming Ministers did quietly submit to this in England but the Presbyterians did not so to the High Commission erected in Scotland for about this time they rose in Arms at Pentland against the Persecution of the Prelates who disturbed them in the Execution of their Ministry but were soon broken and a terrible Execution follow'd upon them as Traitors and Rebels In England the Parliament at Oxford granted the King 1250000 l. for carrying on the War against the Dutch and in the Spring 1666 the Plague ceasing the King set forth a Fleet under the Command of Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle Sir Thomas Allen Admiral of the White and Sir William Berkley of the Blue But the Dutch and French now try to do that by Craft which they could not do by Force and Plain-dealing And to this purpose it was given out that the French had fitted up a strong Fleet to join the Dutch and this so prevailed upon the King and Council that upon the 29th of May a remarkable Day when the English Fleet was riding in the Downs Prince Rupert in all haste was ordered with the White Squadron to sail to the West to fight the French Fleet coming to join with the Dutch I desire to be particular in some part of what followed because I had it from Sir John Harman himself who was Vice-Admiral of the Blue At the same time Prince Rupert sailed from the Fleet the Dutch put out to Sea the Wind at North-east a fresh Gale this brought the Dutch Fleet on the Coast of Dunkirk and carried the Prince to St. Helens on the Isle of Wight but the Wind suddenly turning into the South-west blew a strong Gale which brought the Dutch and Duke to an Anchor when Captain Bacon of the Bristol by firing of his Guns gave notice to the Duke of the Approach of the Dutch Hereupon the Duke summoned all the Captains on board him not to consult whether to fight the Dutch but to order them to weigh Anchor and fight the Dutch This was the 1st of June the Wind at South-west blowing a stiff Gale so that the Dutch were forced to cut their Cables not having time to weigh Anchor and tho the English had the Weathergage of the Dutch yet the Wind so bowed the English Ships that they could not use their lowest Tire when they came up to fight the Dutch Sir Berkley's Squadron led the Van but the Duke when he came on the Coast of Dunkirk to avoid running on a Sand made a sudden Tack which brought his Top-mast to the Board whereupon he was forced to lie by 4 or 5 Hours till another was set up but the Blue Squadron knowing nothing of this sailed on fighting through the Dutch Fleet which were 5 to 1 of the Blue Here Sir William was killed and his Ship the Swiftsure a second Rate and all her Guns Brass taken so was the Essex a Frigat of the third Rate and Sir John Harman in the Henry got among 9 Ships of the Zeal and Squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Everts and these so disabled the Henry that Everts offered Sir John Quarter if he would yield but Sir John told him 't was not come to that yet and gave him a Broadside and killed Everts Hereupon this Zealand Squadron sailed to assist their Fellows behind and only left Sir John to the Mercy of 3 Fireships one of which grappled the Henry on her Starboard Quarter The Dutch
sit out a greater Fleet of Men of War than ever any French King did before Nor were the Dutch behind-hand but made proportionable Advances not doubting but the King would make good his Proportion according to the League so lately made between the King and them in case the French King made any Attempt upon them Upon the 24th of October 1670 the Parliament met again and notwithstanding all the Aids granted the King in April before my Lord-Keeper Bridgman told the Parliament the great Care his Majesty had of them and the Kingdom since their last Recess and that besides the triple Alliance he had made many advantagious Alliances both for Security and Profit of Trade with the Swede Dane Spaniard and Duke of Savoy But since the Dutch and French made such vast Naval Preparations it was necessary for the Safety and Honour of the Nation that the King should at least keep equal Pace with them which could not be done without great Supplies which must be speedily granted for the King intended to put an End of this Session before Christmas but the Success of this Speech so ill agreeing with the Premises it was not permitted to be printed yet you may read it at large in Mr. Marvel's Growth of Popery But whatever Treaties of Commerce were made with other Princes the Keeper finds none with France where neither the advantagious Treaty made by Oliver was observed nor any new one made but the French King did use the English with all imaginable Oppressions without any Redress from the King However this Speech wrought so pathetically with the Parliament that they gave the King one Shilling in the Pound of the real Value of all the Lands of England for one Year and an Additional Excise upon Beer and Ale for six Years and the Law-Bill for nine Years which three Bills were computed at two Millions and a half And now this dark Design founded in such deep Dissimulation Hypocrisy and Perfidiousness as Oliver Cromwel would have been ashamed of and blush'd at begins to receive Light For the Parliament having granted the King the Aids were in Consequence prorogued and did not meet to act till the fourth of February 167 1 2. But in regard that not only the extirpating the Protestant Religion but the Subversion of the Western Parts of Europe was now designed which extended as far as the Baltick Sea and the Bounds of the Turkish and Tartar Empires we will be a little particular in it But what is most amazing is that the King in appearance a Protestant and a free independent King so used by the French King in his Exile and since his Restoration should be so forward in joining with a Faithless and Boundless Ambitious Neighbouring Prince which if his Design had succeeded had involved the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland in the same Condition with the rest of Christendom The Vizard-Mask under which the Popish Party covered their Hypocrisy in propagating their Catholick Cause for plain-dealing must never be expected in it in King Charles the First 's time was Arminianism which then had the Ascendant in Laud's Regency but since the King's Restoration the Protestant Dissenters being so fiercely prosecuted by the Parliament it was judged that the dispensing with Penal Laws against Dissenters from the Church of England would conjoin the Protestant Dissenters Interest with the Popish and this not only appeared by Practice but by Design in Coleman's Letters to Father Ferier and La Chaise the French King's Confessors As before the first Dutch War the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws in Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Interval of the sitting of the Parliament so did he before the second War It seems to me that the Designers of this War got some secret Oath or Promise from the King that he should not do the like again for the King told the House of Commons he would stand by his Declaration of Indulgence and sure nothing but Queen Money would have got him off However these Conspirators were more zealous than politick for before the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence in England upon the 26th of February 1671 he issued out his Proclamation in Ireland wherein he granted general Licence to all Papists to live in Corporations exercise Trades there and enjoy the same Privileges as other Subjects ought to do which was a greater Privilege than his Protestant Subjects had for by their Charter all who were not free of the Corporations could not have the Benefit of their Privileges But that the Catholick Design might take deeper Root and Continuance the Duke of York's Sons being dead and the Princesses his Daughters being bred up in the Protestant Religion Care must be taken to establish the Popish for the time to come for which it was expedient the Duke should marry some Popish Princess and to this end the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck was propounded and a Treaty entred into upon it But tho the Princess's Religion pleased the French King yet the Interest this Marriage would bring with it did not So that tho the Treaty were far advanced yet the French King who ruled all the Roast propounded the Princess of Modena the Daughter of a little Italian Prince and a Dependant of the French King's yet had a great Interest in the Court of Rome and this against all Endeavours of the Parliament and to the Dishonour of the Treaty with the Arch-Dutchess prevailed the French King having adopted her a Daughter of France and given her a Portion But while these Designs are laid in the dark here in England the French King bare-faced by his Ambassador at Vienna in a solemn Speech declared that his Master had undertaken the War against Holland for propagating the Catholick Cause and that all good Christians were bound to join with him to extirpate Heresy and that he would restore all his Conquests to re-establish the true Worship banish'd out of the Holland's meaning the Vnited Netherlands Territories which you may read more at large in Mr. Secretary Trevor's Appeal c. Now let 's see how agreeable these Mens Morals were to their Religious Pretences in laying the Scene for this designed Dutch War The Treasury since the Death of my Lord Treasurer Southampton was managed by Commissioners and if the Aids granted by the Parliament were not sufficient for carrying on the King's Designs the French King is to supply him further but things were not ripe enough yet for these Monies to be returned into the Exchequer lest they might give cause of Suspicion and therefore between six and seven hundred thousand Pounds were received by Mr. Chiffins he to have two Pence in the Pound to be disposed of as the King shall order If you doubt this you may examine Mr. Chiffins's Accounts when he was advised to pass them and take his Quietus out of the Exchequer Tho by the Defensive League between the King and States when the Triple League
other Person to be thought so fit for it and therefore the King with many kind Expressions gave order to Sir William to prepare for his Journey and the Secretary to draw up his Instructions But how forward soever the Juncto were for Peace the Dutch out-run them or at least kept equal Pace with them for tho the Prince of Orange were victorious in Holland and with admired Prudence and Conduct like another Scipio carried the War out of his Country and thereby saved it for in the dead of the Year he joined Montecuculi the Emperor 's General and besieged and took Bon the Residence of the Elector of Cologn and thereby cut off the Communication between France and Holland whereby the French were forced not only to quit their conquer'd Towns by heaps but he opened a Passage for the Imperial Forces to join the Dutch and Spanish yet the Dutch having but newly recovered their drowned Country and lost their Trade the Charges of maintaining their Land Army became so great that it was impossible this Year to set out a Fleet by Sea The Dutch States therefore gave the Marquess of Frezno the Spanish Ambassador in England Power to treat and conclude a Peace with the King which came in three Days after the Juncto had sent to Sir William and this by Sir William's Advice stayed his Journey into Holland it being more honourable for the King to be sought to than seek a Peace and that the King's Interest might be better pursued at London than at the Hague The King and Juncto agreed to it and withal added That tho Sir William did not treat the Peace at the Hague he should at London And when Sir William had received his Instructions he at three Meetings with the Marquess concluded the whole Treaty with the Satisfaction of the King Sir William says the Articles being publick need no Place here but the two Points of greatest Difficulty were the Flag and recalling the English Troops out of the French Service But that this last was composed by private Engagements to suffer those to wear out without any Recruits or not to permit new ones to go over yet at the same time to give Leave to the Dutch to raise such Levies as they should think fit in his Majesty's Dominions But this is an odd Equivocation to recal the French Troops which was to let them wear out without Recruits which was not observed neither for Men were not only encouraged but pressed to this Service and to these in the French Service does Sir William and the Germans too ascribe the Glory of all the French Actions who not only in Turenne's Life but at his Death saved the whole French Army But if this be as Sir William says yet the King hereby instead of being the Protector becomes a Murderer of his Subjects in permitting them to kill one another on both sides for it is impossible the War should be just on both sides Nor do I believe the like Precedent can be shewed unless by the King's Grandfather James I. I confess I have not seen the Articles of the Treaty at large but by so much as I have seen I do not find that the Arrears for the Dutch Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland agreed upon in King Charles the First 's Time which was 30000 l. per Annum and a settled Revenue for that Fishery for the Time to come insisted upon at the Treaty of Cologn nor the Damages to the Executors of Sir Paul Pindar and Sir William Courten were so much as mention'd in it It may be the 800000 Patacoons to be paid by the Dutch to the King by this Treaty were intended in Satisfaction of the Executors Demands of which they denied they ever received one Penny This hasty Peace thus huddled up in less than 4 Days viz. between the 5th or 6th and 9th of February would not admit of the Establishment of a Marine Treaty and Regulation of the East-India Trade between the English and Dutch and Treaty at Cologn And therefore it was agreed That Commissioners on both sides were to meet at London to treat of these and determine them in three Months after such Meeting and in case any Differences should not be adjusted these to be referred to the Queen Regent of Spain who should name 11 Commissioners the greater part of whom should determine the Differences in 6 Months after and these to meet in 3 Months after the Queen Regent shall have taken the foresaid Arbitriment upon her self But the States as wise in this Treaty as the English were improvident and hasty got the 7th Article agreed to viz. That the Treaty made at Breda 1667 as also other Treaties renewed by it be confirmed and remain in full Force and Vigour as far as they shall not be contrary to this present Treaty The Marine Treaty was agreed by the Commissioners but the first and fifth Articles ill observed by the Dutch as I have seen made publick but nothing was agreed for the Regulation of the East-India Trade nor any thing concerning it referred to the Queen Regent of Spain This is that honourable Peace to his Majesty's Satisfaction which succeeded this glorious War to the Expence of such vast Treasure and Charge to England and involving Christendom into a War wherein we taught the French to fight by Sea while they encouraged the Dutch and us to destroy one another whereby we got nothing but dry Blows except the 800000 Patacoons for the Flag was ever given by the Dutch to Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles I. and by the Treaty to Oliver in 1654 and to the King in 1666 and 1667 nor ever desired by the States But the Dutch got confirmed the Islands of Amboyna and Polloroon which they had ravished from the English whereby they not only supply Europe but India and Persia with Spice and Surinam and also got discharged again from the Piracy or Robbery perpetrated upon the Bona Esperanza and Henry Bonadventura in Time of Peace and all the Arrears of 30000 l. per Annum for fishing upon our Coasts since 1636. So little Regard was had in this Treaty either of the King's Honour or of the Good or Interest of the Nation However 't was the Interest of Spain to promote this separate Peace with the Dutch for this Year the French King having brib'd the Swiss to a Compliance took the Franche County from Spain the Swiss keeping Garisons in Dole and Besanzon And this Year Messina revolted from Spain and submitted to the French King CHAP. III. A further Detection of this Reign till the breaking out of the Popish Plot. TO mollify his most Christian Majesty highly exasperated you must think by this Peace the King 't was said and I believe it sent his Ship-Carpenters to instruct the French how to build his Men of War and I say Sir Anthony Dean told me that by Order of the King he built the Model of a Man of War as I
Bedlow Prance Dangerfield Bolron and Mowbray many of which had never seen one the other before they gave their Testimonies Objection These were Witnesses of suspected Fame therefore no Credit ought to be given to them But admit this were true which is not for except Dangerfield and while Prance was frighted with Terror there was no Objection against Oates Bedlow Mowbray and Bolron it will admit of a twofold Answer 1. Truth is one and consists in entire parts whereas Error and Falshood is infinite and therefore it had been impossible that Mowbray and Bolron who had never seen Oates or Bedlow before they gave their Testimonies and Bedlow who had never known Mowbray Bolron nor Oates should concur not only in the Design of killing the King but in the Manner Place and Circumstances of it 2. Admit these Mens Evidence might not have been credited in other Cases yet it 's fit to consider Witnesses in civil or criminal Cases in civil Cases Men may make Elections of what Witnesses they please and it is their Fault if they make not use of Men of know Integrity and Repute that more Credit may be given to their Evidence and the End of civil Actions and Contracts is that they may be known but immoral and wicked Actions are Deeds of Darkness and contrived so as that they may not be known so that the Knowledg of them comes to pass either by Accident or from the Conspirators themselves as if only one Man sees a Murderer or a Thief kill or rob another if his Testimony shall not be taken because otherwise an ill Man Multitudes of Murders and Thefts might pass unpunished So if Cicero when Fulvia first discovered Catiline's Conspiracy to him had told her she was a Whore and no Credit could be given to any thing she said Rome might have been in a Flame as London was and all the Senators Throats might have been cut But admit no Credit could be given to any or all these Mens Testimonies who were all Roman Catholicks I would know what Objection could be against Mr. Jenison a Gentleman of Birth and Quality who gave no Evidence at Ireland's Wakeman's Piâ—kering's or Grove's Trials and changed his Religion when he heard that Ireland who was his Father Confessor at his Death denied that he was in Town but in Staffordshire when Oates and Grove's Maid said he was in London in August 1678 and printed it and the Reasons of it and also at my Lord Stafford's Trial in open Parliament deposed That Ireland told him there was but one that stood in the way and that it was an easy thing to poison the King and that Sir George Wakeman might easily and opportunely do it and that in August 1678 when Ireland at his Death declared he was in Staffordshire Ireland told Mr. Jenison in London when he was newly returned from Windsor how easily the King might be taken off and asked Mr. Jenison if he would be one of them who should go to Windsor and assist at the taking off the King and proffered Mr. Jenison to remit 200 l. which he owed Ireland if he would Then Ireland asked if he knew any stout Irish-men who answer'd he knew Captain Levallian Mr. Kerney Brohal and Wilson Ireland told him he knew Levallian and Wilson and then Ireland asked him if he would go with them and assist them in taking off the King after this Ireland told Mr. Jenison he was going to the Club where Mr. Coleman Mr. Lavallian and Kerney would be and he wanted 80 l. which he desired Mr. Jenison to return him Mr. Jenison further deposed That his Brother Mr. Thomas Jenison a Jesuit said If C. R. will not be R. C. which he interpreted to be Si Carolus diuâ—â—ret â—â—ret Rex Carolus and that it was no great Sin to take him off Mr. Jenison desiring a new Commission in the new rais'd Army his Brother told him he would procure him one from the Duke of York and that there was another Army to be raised but this was not to be till the King was taken off and this I say that about this time there was a general Rumour of a Page being kill'd upon a Couch in the Night at Windsor where the King was laid but a little before and that the King upon the Fright of it came next Morning to London and that it was Prince Rupert who with much Importunity got the King having been drinking hard before from the Couch and put him to Bed and that the Page who was killed asleep upon the Couch was wrap'd up in the Cloak the King was in The Commons likewise resolved Nemine contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Hopes of his coming as such to the Crown have given the greatest Countenance and Encouragement to the present Conspirators and the Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion But the Designs of the King was how to get Money for providing a Fleet for our common Security now in time of such a Peace as the French King had granted Christendom after the King had taken his Money to join in it and after he had taken the Parliament's Money to enter into an actual War against France and after the Parliament had twice given Money for disbanding this Army which not succeeding the Commons dreading how Monies given at this time of Day might be employed took no more Care in it than the King did in the Discovery of the Popish Plot so he prorogued the Parliament upon the Twenty seventh of May to the Fourteenth of August and upon the Twelfth of July dissolved them We shall better take a View of what followed the Prorogation of the Parliament in England if we take a Step into Scotland and see what 's doing there Upon the 3d of this Month of May John Balfour of Kinlock David Hackston of Rathilelet George Balfour of Gilston James Russel in King's Kittle Robert Dingwall a Farmer 's Son in Caddam Andrew Guillon a Weaver in Balmerinoch Alexander Henderson and Andrew Henderson Sons of John Henderson of Rillbrachment and George Flemming Son to George Flemming of Balbuthy murdered Doctor Sharp Arch-bishop of St. Andrews who before the King's Restoration had held an exalted Place in the Scotish Presbytery and was in high Esteem among them in as vindictive a manner as was that of the Marquess of Montross about twenty one Years before as being a perjured Apostate Prelate a Villain a Persecutor of the Godly a Betrayer of Jesus Christ and his Church and which augmented the Horror of the Fact if my Author of the second Address to the Free-men of England pag. 58. says true Thâ—â— they several times beat down the Arch-bishop's Daughter upon her Knees begging her Father's Life and trampled upon heâ— and wounded her This barbarous Act was a Prelude to what followed for upon the 29th of this Month a Party of about 80 of the Covenanters met at Ragland in Scotland well mounted and well armed and proclaimed
to preserve Fire and Water mingled together and was not the Monarchy of Scotland preserved though his Grandfather reigned twenty Years in Scotland while his Mother was alive without her and so continued after her Death That no Expedient would be entertained but a total Exclusion nor could be nor did the King ever propound any how otherwise the established Religion might be preserved That the Business of Fitz-Harris was carried to that Extremity that there were no hopes of a Reconciliation c. and put the Houses out of a Capacity of transacting Business it was upon Friday the twenty sixth of March the Commons sent up the Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and there were but Saturday and Sunday between this and the Dissolution of the Parliament and the Houses sat not on Sunday so that the King 's no Hopes or indeed Fears of a Reconciliation were very sudden Why might not the Lords if they had been permitted to have sat upon Conferences with the Commons and hearing their Reason have altered their Resolutions which is usual and it seems this Resolution of the Lords was very sudden and admitted of no great Debate to receive the Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and the same Day to throw it out which caused him to put an end to that Parliament However the King says that notwithstanding the Malice of ill Men who laboured to perswade the People that he intended to lay aside the Use of Parliaments he declared that no Irregularity in Parliament should make him out of love with them and that he was resolved to have frequent Parliaments yet lived near four Years after and never called another and in the Intervals would use his utmost endeavours to extirpate Popery and redress the Grievances of his Subjects the truth of this will best appear hereafter This Declaration which carries the Title of his Majesty's Declaration to all his loving Subjects was ordered to be read in all the Churches of England but if the Matter of it were so surprizing and amazing to the Nation the Manner of it was not less For never any King of England before as King no not this King's Father or Grandfather ever spake to his Subjects but either personally in Parliament or under the Broad Seal of England Whereas this Declaration is only Signed Francis Gwyn it might have been as well Edward Coleman and the Subjects as much obliged to have taken notice of the one as of the other And the Reason is twofold one That the Chancellor or Keeper is responsible if he puts the Seal to any Declaration or Proclamation not warranted by Law and therefore my Lord Chancellor Finch's Sagacity in not putting the Seal to this Declaration was as apparent as his Veracity which he would not expose in seconding the King's Speech at the opening the last Westminster Parliament And the other is to avoid all Impostures and Cheats which might otherwise be imposed upon the Nation under the Name of the King That we may take a better View of the rest of this King's Reign if it be worthy to be called so it 's fit we look into Scotland and see what 's doing there for the Discovery of the Popish Plot but it 's fit to look a little back and take notice that the King in his Speech at the opening of the Second Westminster Parliament told them that to take away all room for any Jealousy of his not prosecuting the Discovery of the Popish Plot he had sent his Brother beyond Sea but having by the Duke of Monmouth wholly suppressed the Kirk Party in Scotland he fairly sends for the Duke of York back again and from an Exile made him Vice-Roy or Regent of Scotland where all things lay open for him to prosecute his Designs as he pleased When the Duke came into Scotland the Earl of Argyle was one of the first that waited upon him The Earl's Story will better appear if first you take his Character He was Son of the Earl of Argyle after made Marquess by King Charles the First who so preferred him to take him off from heading the Kirk Party and thereby to oblige him to become of the King's side which had no Effect for the Marquess above any other of the Scotish Nobility was a most zealous Assertor of the Kirk's Power and was the Head of them when Montross took up Arms against them but though the Marquess was most unfortunate in it yet it no ways abated his Zeal to the Kirk nor was he less esteemed by them When Cromwel had overthrown Duke Hamilton and taken him Prisoner who came into England not to establish the National League and Covenant but to deliver King Charles out of Prison The zealous Kirk Party were highly offended at it and the Marquess of Argyle was the principal Agent to call Cromwel into Scotland to suppress the Hamiltonian Faction and to establish the Kirk which Cromwel then did though he undid it soon after and for this the Marquess was the first Year after the King's Restoration condemned and executed for High Treason upon which he lost all his Honours as well as his Estate But in all the Marquess's Actions his Son the Lord Lorn run counter to him and when this King Charles was in Scotland he was of all others the most obsequious to him and afterward when Middleton made some Incursions into Scotland for the King Lorn was most assisting in them Hereupon after the Marquess was attainted and executed King Charles restored his Son to all his Father's Estate and Honours except that of Marquess Afterward the Earl of Argyle continued constant in his Integrity to the King in all his Civil Affairs and was most zealous and forward in suppressing Tumults and Field-Conventicles so that before the Duke came into Scotland the King had so entire a Confidence in the Earl that he gloried that in thirty Years which must be computed from the King 's going into Scotland in 1650 he never received one Frown from the King how he should become such a prejured Traitor after the Duke's coming into Scotland is now to be enquired into The Earl of Argyle was one of the Lords of the Articles and by the Duke made one of the Committee for the Articles of Religion which by the Custom of Scotland and by the King's Instruction was to be the first thing treated of In this Committee an Act was prepared for securing the Protestant Religion which approved the Confession of Faith and also the Act containing the Coronation Oath to be taken by all the Kings and Regents of Scotland before their entry to exercise their Government This Act as drawn was less binding to the Successor of the Crown as to his own Profession yet did oblige as strongly the Maintenance of the Protestant Religion in the publick Profession by all others as before and added a Test to be taken by all in publick Emploiments to exclude the Popish Party out of them and because in case of a Popish Successor all Fines and
Forfeitures by Papists would be insignificant viz. remitted this intended Act did ordain that such Fines and Forfeitures one half should be to the Informers the other to charitable Uses But this Act being so contrary to the Duke's Design the Committee of Religion was discharged from meeting again and another short Act was brought into Parliament ratifying all former Acts for securing the Protestant Religion so that in this first Act the Duke pursued not his Instructions but went contrary to them and to the Custom of Scotland At the passing this Act the Earl of Argyle proposed that all Acts against Popery might be added which was opposed by the King's Advocate and some of the Clergy yet seconded by Sir George Lockhart and the President of the Sessions it passed without a Vote but such was the Jealousy of the Parliament that this did not secure the established Religion that several of the Members desired other Additions and Acts which the Duke in open Parliament promised when Time and Opportunity offered should pass but when at any time this was proposed the Test was obtruded If the Parliament were so zealous to secure the established Religion the Duke was not less to secure the Succession of the Crown of Scotland shrewdly struck at in England in the very Person of the Duke and to that end a Bill was brought in and passed wherein it was declared High Treason to affirm that the Succession of the Crown of Scotland can be altered from the next of Proximity of Blood but how agreeable this was to the Title of the Bruces and Stuarts who had no Title to the Succession of the Crown of Scotland but by Act of Parliament has already been shewed and how disagreeable this Act was to the Duke's Grandfather's Succession to the Crown of Scotland without any Act of Parliament let any Man judg This Act was not only thus contrary to the Laws and Usages of Scotland but the Act is equivocal if not contradictory to the Duke's Design for there is a difference between the next Heir and the next in Proximity of Blood as if a Man had several Sons and the eldest has a Son or Daughter his Father living and after his Father dies his eldest Son's Son is Heir and his other Sons and Daughters are next in Proximity of Blood the Heir being a degree in Blood further removed from the common Ancestor than his Uncles or Aunts and this was the case of Richard II. of England Son of the Black Prince Edward the Third's Eldest Son who succeeded to the Crown of England though his Uncles the Dukes of Clarence Lancaster York and Cambridg were nearer of Blood to Edward the Third This Act for the Succession of the Crown of Scotland was succeeded by another called the Test as contradictory to it self as contrary to the Act of Succession to be taken by all Persons in publick Trust in Scotland wherein they solemnly Swear in the Presence of the Eternal God whom they invoke as Judg and Witness of their sincere Intention of this their Oath That they own and profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of King James the Sixth and believe the same to be founded on and agreeable to the Written Word of God That they will adhere thereto and endeavour to educate their Children therein and never consent to any Change or Alteration contrary thereto and renounce all Popish and Fanatical Doctrines inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith And by this their solemn Oath they Swear That King Charles the Second is the only Supream Governour of this Realm over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and renounce all Foreign Jurisdiction of the Pope or any other Person and promise to bear true Faith and Allegiance to the King his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to their Power to defend all their Rights and Prerogatives And by this their solemn Oath they Swear They judg it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any Pretence whatsoever to enter into any Covenants or Leagues or to convene c. in any Council to treat of any Matter of State Ecclesiastical or Civil without his Majesty's special Command or express Licence or to take up Arms against the King or those commissionated by him That they will never rise in Arms or enter into such Covenants or Assemblies That there lies no Obligation upon them by the National Covenant or the solemn League or Covenant or any other way to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either of Church or State as by Law established and promise and swear to the utmost of their Power to maintain the King's Jurisdiction against all deadly and as they shall answer it before God and that they took this Oath in the true and genuine Sense and Meaning of the Words without any Equivocation Mental Reservation or Evasion and never to accept of any Dispensation from any Creature So God help them By these two Acts you may observe the Scotish Temper whether it were natural or in contradiction to the Kirk-Party I will not say nor how much higher it flew than the Tory in England but because of the extraordinariness of these two Acts it 's fit to make some Reflections upon them Such another Law as that of the Succession was made the twenty first of Richard the Second in the Case of Roger Mortimer which lasted not longer than the next Year after when the Law was not only repealed but Henry the Fourth succeeded contrary to it whereas this Law continued for above eight Years after when it not only lost its Force but another Face appeared in Scotland and so continues in spight of this Law Now from this treasonable Law let us make some Remarks upon this ranting swearing Law called the Test We have said elsewhere that all Oaths are assertory of the Truth of Things Speech and Actions in time past or promissory to do or forbear to do some Act in time to come and now let 's consider what is Truth and the End of an assertory Oath Truth is proper to intellectual and reasonable Creatures and is either the apprehension of intelligible Beings as God a Law the Soul Time c. which can never be the Objects of Sense and of the Causes and Consequences of Intentions Speech and Action for Sense is not of Futurity but of present Things and Actions the Consequence or Inference will be whether good or bad just or unjust c. However all intelligible Beings and the Causes of Things and Actions are ever assumed not sworn to and if another does not nor will assent to them swearing to the Truth of them will be to no purpose So it is of the Consequence of Speech and Actions if another be not convinced from the Reason of such Consequence or Inference swearing it to be so will never do it But though sensible Things Speech and Actions
so in Extreams yet his Actions so diametrically opposite to his Profession Here you see a Jesuited Prince pleading for Liberty of Conscience to the breaking down the â—aws which before he had so often professed to maintain and for such a sort of Men whom but little before he had slaughter'd banished and imprisoned as if he had designed to extirpate the whole Race of them If to reconcile these to Truth or Reality be not as great a Miracle as is in any of the Popish Legends I 'll believe them all and be reconciled to the Roman Catholick Church how inconsistible soever the Terms be The generality of the Protestant Dissenters having for near seven years together been so severely treated by the Tories were as forward to congratulate the King for his Indulgence in manifold Addresses as the Tories were in King Charles his time in their Addresses of Abhorrence to petition the King to call a Parliament to settle the Grievances of the Nation However this Declaration was so drawn in the sight of every Bird that of my knowledg many of the sober thinking Men of the Dissenters did both dread and detest it That this Declaration might be more passable Popish Judges were made in Westminster-Hall and Popish Justices of the Peace and Deputy-Lieutenants all England over the Privy Council was replenished with Popish Privy Counsellors the Savoy was laid open to instruct Youth in the Romish Religion and Popish Principles and Schools for that purpose were encouraged in London and all other Places in England Four Foreign Popish Bishops as Vicars Apostolical were allowed in Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction all England and Wales over From instructing the St. Omers Boys how to behave themselves in their Evidence to prove Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 my Lord Castlemain is sent Ambassador to the Pope to render the King's Obedience to the Holy and Apostolical See with great hopes of extirpating the Northern pestilent Heresy In return whereof the Pope sent his Nuncio to give the King his Holy Benediction yet I do not find that he beforehand sent for Leave to enter the Kingdom as was observed by Queen Mary Henry VIII and before The Judges in their Circuits had their private Instructions to know how Men were affected with the King 's Dispensing Power and those who were disaffected to it were turned out from the Lieutenancy and Commission of the Peace Justice Judgment and Righteousness support the Thrones of Princes but these were Strangers to this King's ways other Means must be found out to support and carry them through a standing Army is judged the best Expedient and as the King told the Parliament at their second Meeting he had encreased his Army to double what it was before so he made his Word good that he would employ Men in it not qualified by the late Tests and to this end Tyrconnel having disbanded the English Army in Ireland qualified by the Tests sends over an Army of Irish not qualified by the Tests to encrease the Army in England This Army thus raised against Law committed all manner of lawless Insolences though the King by several Orders would have had their Quarters restrained to Victualling-Houses Houses of publick Entertainments and such as had Licences to sell Wine and other Liquors the Officers too when they pleased would be exempt from the Civil Power And though the King had no other Wars but against the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation yet he would have the Act of the 1 2 Edw. 6. 2. which makes it Felony without Benefit of the Clergy for any Souldier taking Pay in the King's Service in his Wars beyond Sea or upon Sea or in Scotland to desert from his Officer to extend to this Army thus raised by the King And because the Recorder of London Sir J. H. would not expound this Law to the King's Design he was put out of his Place and so was Sir Edward Herbert from being Chief Justice of the King's Bench to make room for Sir Robert Wright to hang a poor Souldier upon this Statute and afterward this Statute did the Work without any further dispute Thus this Prince did not only assume a Power to controul the Laws of the Nation at his pleasure in Civil Affairs but when he pleased made them bend to his Will to establish an illegal Army and countenance the Effusion of Christian Blood but you 'll soon see God will blast these ungodly Ways and that not the Arm of Flesh but Judgment Justice and Righteousness establish the Thrones of Princes Thus Affairs stood in England Scotland and Ireland in the year 1687. wherein I suppose no History mentions so great and violent Alterations in so little time as in this King's Reign all tending to introduce a Foreign Power and to enslave the Nation yet so patiently endured by it but the Dangers of these Designs were not circumscribed within the bounds of this Nation but extended into France where for above twenty years a Conspiracy was carried on for promoting these Designs thus far advanced so that the Year 1688 had a much more terrible Aspect upon England than the Year 1588 had when Philip the II. designed the Conquest of it for then the Nation was firm and intire for its own Interest whereas this Year it was not only torn in pieces by internal Discords but had an Army and Fleet designed to join with the French King in propagating his boundless Ambition not only upon England but upon the Empire of Germany Spain Holland the Duke of Savoy and other Princes of Italy About the beginning of the year 1688 a Gentleman of High Jesuited Principles told me The States of Holland were Rebels against the King of Spain and that I should soon see the King of France would call them to an Account for it and humble them and that the French King would assist our King with Men of War I took more heed to this because I knew that he was frequently visited by several Jesuits in whose Counsels I believe the French King's Designs this Year were locked up for my Lord of Sunderland in his Letter recited in the History of the Desertion fol. 32. protests he knew nothing of a League between the King yet you will see it come out another way But my Lord of Sunderland says that French Ships were offered to join with our Fleet which was refused however this shews there was a Design contriving by these Princes yet at present the Affairs of France seemed to look another way and a French Fleet and Souldiers in them are sent to Canada the Design and Success you will soon hear of The King having thus as he thought laid a Foundation tho it proved a very Sandy one of his Designs and to shew how Absolute he would be in them upon the 4th of May passed an Order in Council that his Declaration of Indulgence should be read in all Churches and Chappels in England and Wales in time of Divine
Service and that all the Bishops in their respective Diocesses should take care to have this done accordingly The Bishops who knew the Declaration of Indulgence was designed to conjoin the Protestant Dissenters with the Popish to ruin the Established Church easily foresaw that the Order to them was to pick a Quarrel with them for the King might have ordered it to be read without as well as by them And besides the Injustice of it it was deemed an undecent thing that the Fathers of the Church in time of Divine Setvice should be the Instruments to give a Liberty to all whether they should come to Divine Service or not Besides the Bishop of London who stood suspended thes Bishops viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Bath and Wells Ely Peterborough Chichester St. Asaph and Bristol were in or about the Town and this Order of Reading the Declaration in Churches was served upon them The Bishops in a humble Petition to the King gave their Reasons in Writing but so cautiously that after it was drawn up they would let no other Man see it before they presented it why they could not comply with the Order of Council The Chancellor tho he thought his Commission big enough to suspend the Bishop of London and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridg and expel the Master and Fellows of Magalen College in Oxford yet it seems did not think it sufficient to suspend these Bishops and therefore advised the King 't was said to try them upon an Information of High Misdemeanour in the King's Bench and in order to it they were committed Prisoners to the Tower Accordingly the Bishops were tried in the King's Bench in Trinty Term following upon an Information of High Misdemeanour for their Petition to the King but how secure soever the King and Chancellor thought themselves of the Judges and tho Sir Robert Wright who was Chief Justice and Sir Richard Allibone a known Papist were two of them yet they were not all of a Piece for Mr. Justice Powel both learnedly and stoutly defended the Bishops Cause If we look down to the Bar we shall see as strange a mixture as in the Bench for the late Attorney-General Sawyer and Solicitor Finch who were so zealous to find my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney and Mr. Cornish c. guilty of High Treason and for Surrender of Charters now they are turned out are as zealous for the acquittal of the Bishops and the then Solicitor-General of a most zealous Prosecutor of Abhorrers and Searcher into the bottom of the Popish Plot as zealous for finding their Misdemeanour However the Jury acquitted the Bishops Unless it were when Monk came into the City the 12th of February 1659-60 and Colonel Cloberry told the Citizens at Guild-Hall they should have a free Parliament or when King Charles came into London the 29th of May following never were such loud Acclamations of Joy exprest as upon the Acquittal of the Bishops nor did the Bounds of the City terminate this Joy but it flew like Lightning to Hounslow Heath where the King would be present to see the Army exercised wherein he trusted more than in Justice and Righteousness to accomplish his Design It seems the King was treated that Day by my Lord of Feversham General of the Army in his Tent when the News of the Bishops Acquittal arrived at the Army which entertained it with a general Shout the King 't was said was startled at it and sent the Earl to enquire the Cause the Earl in return told the King 't was nothing but the Souldiers Joy for the Acquittal of the Bishops And call you that nothing replied the King who was much discomposed upon it and well he might for now he saw how little Confidence was to be imposed in the Army he so much relied upon It 's a Duty incumbent upon Mankind to honour and worship God and give him Thanks for the Benefits received from him and to petition and pray to him for continuance of them Next after God it 's the Duty of all Subjects to honour the King for the Benefits they receive by his Justice and Protection and to petition and pray Relief from him for Oppressions and Injuries which cannot be redressed by the ordinary Course of Law or where the Ministers of the Law either cannot or refuse to do Justice It 's therefore the Wisdom of our Constitution that Parliaments frequently meet not only to receive Petitions against Oppressions or Injuries received which were not or could not be redressed by the King's Ministers of the Law but also to correct and punish the King's Ministers themselves if they transgressed or neglected their Duty But tho frequent Parliaments are the most proper Expedients for the Subjects herein yet oftentimes Accidents may be which will not stay for relief by Parliament as in Case of the Bishops In May they are ordered to have the King's Declaration of Indulgence read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses and to do it and to give no Reasons why they could not do it would have been a manifest Contempt of the King's Authority they could not do it either in Honour or Conscience and by an humble Petition and Address represent this to the King and for ought appeared then the King never intended to call another Parliament till he had modelled them as much to his Will as Cromwel did Barebone's Parliament This Petition is made a High Misdemeanour and the Bishops committed upon it and Father Petre the Club of Jesuits the Attorney and Solicitor-General Graham Burton c. are all plotting how to make it so So as now the Kingdom is without all hopes of a free Parliament and yet it is a High Misdemeanour to address to or petition the King And that this Order upon the Bishops to enjoin the Reading of the King's Declaration for Indulgence was a Design upon their Persons as well as upon the Church is apparent for after their Acquittal Orders from the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs were sent into all parts of England to return an Account to the Lord Chancellor of those that refused to read the Declaration of Indulgence that they might be proceeded against for their Contempt but the Reign and Rage of these Commissioners was too hot to last long and now let 's see what return of Praises and Thanksgivings the Bishops can make to God for their Deliverance God requires Truth in the inward Parts and that it should govern all the Intentions Speech and Actions of every Man in his Conversation with Man yet more in his Prayers and Petitions to God and if it be an High Crime of Hypocrisy to speak or act contrary to a Man's Knowledg or Belief for the end designed thereby is to deceive another though God cannot be deceived it 's a greater Crime to approach his Omniscience with Prayers and Petitions contrary to a Man's certain Knowledg or firm Belief I take it for granted that the Bishops understood the King's Declaration
of Indulgence was an unlawful Act and that if they had submitted to the King's Will to have enjoined it to have been read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses it had been an unlawful Act which was one Reason they could not comply with the King's Will and that this Declaration was not intended a Favour to the Protestant Dissenters but a Design to ruin the established Religion and Church of England and the enjoining the Bishops to have read was a Design upon their Persons as well as the Declaration was upon the Church and that the King professed himself to be of the Popish Religion which they believed and declared to be Idolatry in the worshipping Images and derogatory to God's Honour by Invocation of Saints whereby they grant to Creatures an Omniscience which is inseparable from God and only to be ascribed to him and that the King had owned the Papal Power which not only claims a Dominion over all Kings and Kingdoms to be at the Pope's disposal and who had declared the Church of England to be Heretical Schismatical and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept but had assumed a Power equal or superiour to God himself in dispensing with God's Laws and setting its own above them by sending his Ambassador to the Pope and receiving his Nuncio With what Conscience then could the Bishops approach God's Altars in their highest Acts of Devotion and in the Prayer for the Parliament declare to God that he is their most religious King and in the Litany to pray to God to keep and strengthen the King in the Worship of God or Religion which the King profest And how could they delare to God he is their most gracious Sovereign when he had imprisoned them for not submitting to his unlawful Will and had owned a Power which had declared them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons who were by all ways and means to be extirpated from the Face of the Earth Yet the Bishops by their Canonical Obedience were as much obliged hereto and to enjoin the Clergy in their respective Diocesses to offer these Praises to God as they were not to obey the King's Will by enjoining the King's Declaration of Indulgence to be read by all the Clergy in their Diocesses To this Dilemma had the flattering Church and State in King Charles the II's Reign tho intending it against the Presbyterians by their Act of Vniformity brought the Church and State too in the Reign of King James But lest this establishing of Popery should have no longer support than in the King's Life a new Miracle is to be added to the Legend for the next day after the Bishops were committed to the Tower the Queen was brought to Bed of a Prince of Wales so that now they had got a Prince of Wales and the Queen received the Consecrated Clouts and the Pope by his Nuncio is become God-father a Foundation so infallible is laid for exalting the Papal Chair and extirpating the Pestilent Northern Heresy that it's Heresy to doubt it But Man purposes and God disposes and in truth without God's special Assistance not only these Dominions of England Scotland and Ireland but all the Western Parts of Europe were not to be retrieved out of I may say even a desperate State for in England the King had a standing Army of above 20000 Men and the Whigs were but too forward to congratulate the King in his Designs and in humouring him in giving him up their Charters as the Tories in King Charles his Reign in their Abhorrences of the King 's calling a Parliament and as forward then as the Whigs now in surrendring their Charters The Protestant Army in Ireland not only disbanded by Tyrconnel and a Popish Army set up but the Protestants disarmed and Scotland so perfectly subdued that there the King 's Absolute Will without reserve must pass for Law The King of Spain so weak as not able to defend himself much less relieve others the Empire engaged in a War against the Turks in the East so as the Western Parts were in no Condition to repel the Impression the French should make upon it The Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark remote and at such natural Enmity with one another that if one should side with France or England the other would engage against it and tho Holland were considerable elsewhere at Sea yet their Strength at Sea was inferiour to the English but much more in Conjunction of the French with the English However something must be done for Modesty in this State had been the highest Crime and of all Foreign Princes the Prince of Orange was most immediately concerned not only in the Oppression of the French King upon his Principality of Orange and the Dangers which threatned the Vnited Provinces by the swelling Grandeur of the French but by the King 's Arbitrary Proceedings in England for the Princess was the Presumptive Heir to the Crown of England and Scotland And since it is the Laws and Constitutions which erect these Nations into Kingdoms whereof the King is the Head then if the King destroys the Laws and Constitutions he is neither King nor the Princess of Orange Presumptive Heir to them besides since the King had assumed a Power of Dispensing with the Laws he might as well in Dispensing with the Succession and the Prince was well assured neither those about the King nor the Pope would much favour his or his Lady's Title to the Crown nor was the introducing the Prince of Wales into the World intended to have either the Prince or Princess come to the Crown of England The Prince of Orange thus injured by both these Kings and being denied the Benefit of any Humane Laws for redress has recourse to God and his Sword for relief and opposes the Justice of his Cause against the Potency of his Adversaries Nor does he take up his Sword to vindicate his own Rights only but for restoring the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to their antient Rights Laws and Privileges invaded by King James and to put a stop to the French King 's boundless Ambition and Tyranny in Murdering Ravaging and Destroying rather than making a War upon all his neighbouring Princes not dispossest and ruined by him A Design so great by so little a Prince as no less than a Divine Power could inspire him to such an Undertaking The Prince these two last years had several Conferences with the Electors of Brandenburg Saxony and the Princes of the House of Lunenburg and other Princes of Germany it 's believed in concerting Measures how to behave themselves against the Designs of these two Kings but the Results were so secret that I find no mention of them But how secret soever these Results were yet the Preparations to put them in Execution could be no Secret especially the Naval Preparations by Sea though the Dutch Ambassador assured the King they were not intended against him yet refused to communicate
the Design At this time there was not only a high Ferment in all the Nation against the King's Proceedings but in the Army against its mixture with Irish Officers and Soldiers which put the King into a great Agony which was increased by the Dutch Preparation Whereupon the Marquess d' Albeville the King's Envoy at the Hague upon the 2d of Sept. N. S. 23d of Aug. O. S. put in this Memorial to the States General High and Mighty Lords THE great and surprizing Preparations for War made by your Lordships by Sea and Land in a Season when all Action especially by Sea is laid aside giving just Cause of Surprize and Alarm to all Europe obliges the King my Master who has had nothing so much in his Mind since his Accession to the Crown as a Continuation of the Peace and Correspondence with this State to order the Marquess d' Albeville his Envoy Extraordinary to know your Highnesses Intentions thereby His Majesty as your antient Ally and Confederate believes it just to demand this Knowledg which he hoped with good Reason to have heard from your Ambassador but as he sees this Duty of Alliance and Confederation neglected and that such Power is raising without communicating the Intent in the least to him he finds himself obliged to reinforce his Fleet and to put himself in a Condition to maintain the Peace of Christendom The States paused upon an Answer to this Memorial when upon the 9th of September N. S. or the 30th of Aug. O. S. Monsieur d' Avaux the French Ambassador put in a Memorial to the States wherein he foolishly discovers the Contrivances which had been so long hatching between his Master and King James for after a long Story of his Master's Desire of maintaining the Peace of Europe now he had actually broke it he impertinently tells the States All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore His Majesty hath commanded me to declare to the States on his Part that the Bonds of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him the French King not only to assist him the King of Great Britain but also to look on the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops and your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown Though the Dutch made no Answer to this Memorial yet they made no Bones to make this Answer to the Marquess d' Albeville's That they had armed in Imitation of his Britannick Majesty and other Princes and that they had thereby given no just Cause of Offence by arming when all other Princes were in Motion and that they were long since convinced of the Alliance which the King his Master had treated with France and what had been mentioned to them by Monsieur le Count d' Avaux in his Memorial This Answer King James took all one as if the Dutch had declared War against him and all the Eyes of England are now turned toward Holland as if from thence they expected Deliverance from the Designs of King James and his Popish Crew and the Fathers and Sons too of the Church of England are at as much Variance in their private and publick Prayers to God as Whig and Tory were in their Humours for in their private Prayers they pray for Prosperity to the Prince of Orange and in the Liturgy they pray that God would be King James's Defender and Keeper giving him Victory over all his Enemies God was pleased to prefer the private Prayers of the Church-men before those of the Church and to have granted both had been impossible and to put a hook into the French King's Nose who turned those Forces which he had raised not for the Peace and Tranquillity of Europe as d' Avaux said in his Memorial to the Dutch States upon the Empire where without any Declaration of War or Cause alledged he first fell upon Philipsburg which he took and after Heydelberg and Mainheim and while he was thus engaged he left the Prince of Orange free to vindicate his Cause against King James whereas if the French King had turned those Forces which he employed against the Empire upon the Spanish Netherlands and he might as justly have done this as that the Prince of Orange would have had little Force and less Leasure to have made any Attempt upon King James Thus God is pleased often to turn the Wisdom of the Crafty I will not say Wise into Folly and Destruction You have heard before how the French King in the beginning of the Year had sent out a Fleet to Canada whereupon the Company of Hudsons-Bay represented to the King their Apprehensions it was a Design upon their Factories and Plantations and so it succeeded for the French seized upon a Fort and Plantation of theirs called Fort Charles Towards the latter end of the Summer the King without the Knowledg of Hudsons-Bay Company entred into a Treaty of Commerce with his Brother of France in reference to the Trade of Canada wherein it was concluded that the Forts and Factories should be reciprocally enjoyed in the same state they were at the Conclusion of this Treaty the French having taken the Fort and Factory of Charles about three Months before So little did this King regard the Safety and Welfare of his Subjects wherein his Majesty and Honour was founded for to pleasure and endear his Brother of France from whom he expected mighty things for the Advancement of his Prerogative without reserve in England Scotland and Ireland Thus have I brought down the History of this King's Reign to the History of the Desertion where at large and particularly you may read how by a Wonder equal to King Charles his Coming in King James went out And if no human Prospect could have foreseen where the Tyranny of King Charles the I's Reign would have ended if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a full Stop to it so no uninterested Person was so purblind as not to see if the Heroick Magnanimity of this King in his Queen's his own and the Nation 's Right and for the common Safety of Christendom had not put a Stop to King James his Designs but the Popish Superstition and French Tyranny would have been imposed upon these Kingdoms and have overspread Christendom We admit these four Kings of the Scotish Race had an Hereditary Title to have governed England by the Laws and Constitutions of it yet no Hereditary King hath any higher Title nor any Man a Right to do Wrong and for an Hereditary King to govern otherways is a greater Tyranny than if an Usurper does by how much he adds Perfidiousness and Breach of his Trust to it Yet so it was that these four last Kings of the Scotish Race which should have been the Guardians of England in preserving the
Laws and Constitutions of it and to have maintained the Honour of it abroad made it their Business to have subverted them and being thereby always at Variance and Contentions with their Subjects lost their own and the Nation 's Honour abroad and by taking no Care of the foreign Concerns of the Nation became contemptible to other Nations Nay the last three Kings instead of restraining the French Ambition and Tyranny joined with them in advancing of them as if they designed to make the French King an Universal Monarch as well as to destroy the Constitutions of England And I would know a Reason why now his Majesty King William has by God's Blessing redeemed this Nation from the imminent Danger which the French King in conjunction with King James designed upon the Western Parts of Christendom as well as these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland any Christian should endeavour or desire the Restitution of King James any more than the Primitive Christians did Dioclesian Maximi◠and Maxentius after God had freed them from their Rage and Persecution by Constantine APPENDIX MY Lord Bacon compares Times to Ways some more plain and easy to pass others more rugged and more hard to pass the former is better for him who lives in them the latter is better for the Reader not only in the Pleasure of reading the Variety of Accidents in them but because in their Contests fine Notions arise which otherwise might have been concealed and which may be beneficial to the Readers in succeeding Times and also in shewing the Causes of these Distempers succeeding Generations may be admonished hereby to prevent them in time to come In these Treatises we have given an Account of the manifold Varieties of Accidents which have hapned for above 80 Years in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland France Spain and the States of the Vnited Netherlands and though the Roman and Grecian Histories may give Instances of the like by Land yet none of them can shew the like of the French Grandeur by Sea in little more than forty Years but more especially in that this was acquired in the Face of two neighbouring Nations either of which could have prescribed Laws to all the World besides herein the one claiming the Dominion of the British Seas the other of the Indian and Southern Ocean On the other Side Spain which in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was both the Envy and Dread of these Western parts of Christendom is now fallen into that abject State as it is scarce in the Power of Christendom to uphold it from falling under the Dominion of the French and this History in some Measure hath shewn the Causes both of the Grandeur of France and the Cadency of Spain To the natural Advantages which the French had above other Nations after the Death of Queen Elizabeth was added that James the first and Charles the first of England whose Interest it was to have restrained the ambitious and aspiring Humour of the French were degenerous Princes wholly given up to be governed by Flatterers and Favourites and made it their Business to usurp another Jurisdiction over the Nation than they could claim by their Inherent Birth-right so that if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a Stop to Charles his Career no mortal Creature could have foreseen where it would have ended King James not to disturb his licentious and voluptuous Pleasures stood only still and looking on whilst Lewis the 13th had near broke the Interest of the Reformed in France but Charles in the first Act of his Reign lent the French a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers at that time superior to Lewis by Sea and as inconsiderately in the second Year of his Reign made War with France having in the first Year made War against the Spaniard whereby both Spain and France joining against the English brought that Loss and Dishonour upon the English in the Expedition of the Isle of Rhee and Charles being as loose in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions after the Death of the Duke of Buckingham who had engaged him in both these Wars made a secret Peace with the French and left the Reformed out of it though he engaged them to join with him in the War whereby the whole Interest of the Reformed was rooted out So that the Original of the French Grandeur by Sea and Land may be truly ascribed to these two Hereditary Princes James and Charles After the Tyranny of Charles his Reign had degenerated into the Usurpations of the Rump they thinking to prejudice the Dutch made the Act of Navigation which crampt up all the foreign Trades of England and the fishing Trade which above all others is the Nursery of Seamen and encrease of Navigation to English-built Ships and sail'd with ¾ English whether there be Ships or Mariners or not and without any Consideration of Times whether of War or Peace Though we have in this History and in The Reasons of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also in the View of the Act of Navigation in reference to the Laws which yet stand unrepealed to the Trades for Masts Rafters Boards foreign Oak Timber Pitch and Tar and to the Trades for rough Hemp and Flax and to the fishing Trades and also to the Safety of the Nation against Foreign Powers at large demonstrated the Iniquity of this Law and the dangerous Consequences of it yet it is fit even here to take some Notice of it and of the Navigation of the Nation before the Act and how the Case stands now by reason of it Before the Rump contrived the Act of Navigation the English as the Traders told me alone fished upon the Coasts of Iseland and Westmony for Ling and the Cod-fish called Haberdin and at that time the Town of Alborough in Suffolk as I was informed fished yearly to those Seas with 35 Sail of Vessels called Iselands-Barks and the Town of Sould or Southold with 15 and Great Yarmouth with manifold more the Number I cannot tell but this I can tell That besides London and other parts of Norfolk and Suffolk which they supplied with this sort of Fish as also the Navy Royal and other Ships with this sort of Provision the Town of Yarmouth yearly exported to Calice St. Valery Diep Havre de Grace St. Maloes Brest and other parts of France 150000 Haberdin and Ling and by their Trades with these returned Sails and Nets for their Navigation and Fisheries Wells and Lyn in Norfolk too drove Trades into these Seas but I am not informed in how many Vessels but I have heard the Inhabitants of Wells complain that they have almost lost their Trades and I belive Lyn wholly Before the Act of Navigation the English from the Western Ports drove threefold a greater Trade in the Newfound-Land Fishery than the French whereas the French now drive above twenty-fold more the Trade to Newfound-Land Fishery than the English do And I have
heard Sir William Booth say he had seen in one Year above 100 Sail of great French Vessels of 20 and 30 Guns sail into the Straits from their Newfound-Land Fishery besides supplying France with them and also their Trades to Spain and Portugal Before the Act of Navigation the English from London and Yarmouth drove considerable Trades to Greenland for Whales which Trades as they are wholly lost to the English so are they driven by the Dutch and Hamburghers and in a great measure carried on by the French I remember that the next Year after this Revolution the English took 14 of these French Vessels in their Return from the Whale Fishery and as this Fishery is wholly lost to the English which will never be retrieved by making it a Monopoly so is that of the Town of Great Yarmouth into France upon the account of the Iseland and Westmony Fishery and the rest of the Trades of the English in that Fishery not one tenth of what it was before the Act of Navigation nor from the Western Ports to the Newfound-Land Fishery one fifth of what it was before the Act of Navigation and I wish the Parliament at their next sitting would enquire into the Truth hereof to prove me a Liar I say That the Fishing Trades above all others encrease Navigation and Mariners and if the Causes of the Cadency of our Fisheries and Navigation be not removed the Loss of both will be inevitable the Consequences whereof will be so dreadful to the Nation that I tremble to think of them for as we decline both French and Dutch will raise themselves out of our Ruin Every Ship is made of her Hull Masts and Rigging which are her Sails and Cables Timber for the Hull or Hulk of a Ship we have in England but I have shewed elsewhere how improper our English Timber is in all our Navigations except the New-Castle Trade and so dear in the Carriage and Working that the Dutch build the Hulks of Ships of like Dimensions for less than the English can and by their great Experience in Building build Ships for all sorts of Trades more conveniently so that a Ship of like Dimensions Dutch built shall carry near one sixth more Fraight than an English Pitch Tar and Masts we have not of our own but trade generally to Norway for them and as we order the curing of our Hemp in England it 's not only dearer here than it may be had from Liefland and Prussia but so spalt as they call it that Cables made of it will not endure the Stress of Weather when Ships ride at Anchor as foreign Hemp will Before the Act of Navigation the English traded to Norway in Dutch Vessels or Bottoms and then imported Masts Raff Pitch Tar and this the English might do by the Act of 1 Eliz. cap. 13. and then the English imported them so cheap that the Norwegians could build but six small Vessels to trade into England but after the Act of Navigation when the Norway Trade was restrained to the Norwegians and English in their inconvenient dear-built Ships in little more than two Years the Norwegians encreased their Ships from six to above sixty and those of double Dimensions than the former were but after Oliver dispensed with the Act of Navigation the English Norway Merchants imported Goods so cheap that the Norwegians were forced to sell their Vessels for want of Employment This Mr. Lee and Mr. Smith Norway Merchants were ready to have testified before a Committee of the Commons when Endeavours were used in 1667 for the free Importation of Timber Board and Raff after the burning of the City of London Tho these be dead yet I am assured Sir William Warren and Mr. John Hammond Norway Merchants know this to be true But the Inhabitants of Liefland and Prussia trade not with us and the Dutch by the Cheapness of their Navigation and full Fraight of their Vessels import rough Hemp and Flax from Liefland and Prussia one third cheaper than the English can and when these are converted into Manufacture of the Cordage and Sails it 's free for the Dutch to import them into England by the Act of Navigation whereby we do not only lose the Employment of manifold thousands of poor People and depend upon the Dutch but pay one fourth more for these than if rough Hemp and Flax were freely imported From hence it was and I speak this of my own Knowledg that in the Year 1651 I was part Owner of a Vessel built at Walderswick before the Act of Navigation and of another built by the same Builder in 1655 and this latter cost near one sixth in proportion more than the former and the Reason the Builder gave was the Dearness of Masts Cordage and Sails and I have no Reason to believe the Case is now any better the Reasons being the same and our Timber much dearer and Carriage farther so that I do believe the Carriage of our Timber to the Rivers where Ships are built costs more than the Dutch pay for their Timber where they build Ships Add hereto That our Fishing and other Vessels in Navigation require one third more Hands to navigate them than the Dutch and for ought I know than the French of like Dimensions Now consider the Fish in all Fisheries costs nothing but the Catching and Curing and that Nation which can catch them cheap and cure them best are sure of a foreign Trade for them against any other and the English by the Act being obliged to fish in double dearer Vessels and more inconveniently built and sail'd by one third more hands than the Dutch or French either for ought I know have eternally fixed the Fishing Trade upon the Coast of England and Scotland to the Dutch lost the Greenland Trade and retain not one fifth of the Trades we had to Iseland and Newfound-Land before the Act of Navigation After the Dissolution of the Rump Oliver ruled and tho for about two Years before his Death he gave the English some Benefit in building Vessels by dispensing with the Act of Navigation in reference to the Norway Trade yet he took no care to relieve them by dispensing with it for the free Importation of rough Hemp and Flax from Liefland and Prussia for fitting up our Vessels and Employment of our poor People Men Women and Children and tho he did well in so far dispensing with the Navigation I 'm sure he did ill by his frantick breaking with Spain and joining with the French against it to the irreparable Loss of the English and not only to the endangering the Safety of England but of Christendom It is not foreign to this Design if Notice be taken that after King James I. became King of England to the Restoration of King Charles II. only Philip III. and Philip IV. were Kings of Spain and both zealous bigotted Princes to the Romish Superstition and both weak and effeminate Princes wholly govern'd by Favourites and Philip IV. a
luxurious and vicious Prince and that Ferdinand II. after the Victory at Prague endeavoured to subject the Freedom of Germany by force which brought the Swedes into Germany and the French siding with the Swedes took Philipsburg and Brisac upon the Rhine which opened the two Passages into the Empire by which this present King has been enabled to make those Wars and Ravages in the Empire which have since succeeded After the Restoration of King Charles II. the whole Series of his Reign was employed in assisting the French in all their ambitious Designs so did the Dutch and Dane when he had engaged them in a War with England and the Oxford Parliament first made the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel whereby they disjoin'd the Interest and Dependency of Ireland upon England and fixt it upon France and other Countries which traded with them and enabled the French and Dutch to victual Ships cheaper in their Fisheries and other Trades than the English could as much to their Benefit as Prejudice to the English How King James II's Conjunction with the French had brought these Nations and Christendom to the Brink of Destruction was said in his Reign In this state these Kingdoms stood when God was pleased to give them Deliverance by the Interpoâ—tion of his present Majesty and now all the neighbouring Nations upon France I mean Spain the Empire Savoy and the Dutch as well as England were alarmed at their common Danger by the French Ambition and Grandure and all their Eyes were upon England as if from thence they expected Safety and now was the King of England again become the Arbitrator of Christendom after the four former Kings were so contemptible and neglected by it But in two things the French King's Ambition or rather Madness put some Check to his aspiring Designs viz. his Contests with the Pope about his Franchizes at Rome and the Regalia's of France and by the Extream on the other side in his revoking the Edicts of Nants and his Dragooning and Reforming the Protestants of France whereby he lost innumerable of his Subjects to the weakning of his own Power and that in double Proportion for his Enemies as he made them became so much the more numerous and stronger for those which became Exiles being an industrious sort of People had contributed highly to the Encrease of the Wealth of France so that now the Charge of the War must have been supported by those he left yet in this state France alone for above six Years made an offensive and victorious War by Land against Germany Spain Holland the Spanish Netherlands and the Duke of Savoy tho all these were assisted by the Power of England and Scotland Tho England embraced their Deliverance by the King Ireland did not nor was it their Interest for why should the Irish join with the English who would have no Trade with them against the French upon whom the Irish depended by their Trade and Commerce And it 's observable That tho the French assisted the Irish above three Years in their Wars against the English yet it may be a Question Whether the French did not gain more by their Trade with Ireland for Wools Tallow Raw Hides and Provisions for their Fleet than their Expence for carrying on the War against the English did amount to whereas the English in the War were at a foreign Expence and being a Naval War were forced to victual their Fleets at one third greater Expence than the French could do from Ireland Another Advantage the French had over the English in this Naval War was that Brest lying South of Ireland every Wind not North in one Course carries their Fleet to Ireland whereas Chatham from whence the English sent their Fleet to oppose them lies fivefold more remote from Ireland than Brest does nor can the Ships from Chatham be carried to Ireland but by different Winds and steering different Courses almost from all the Points of the Compass for it must be after the Ships are come within the Buoy of the Nore a South or South-west Wind to carry them to the Buoy of the Gunfleet before they turn into the Deep Waters then a quite contrary Wind brings them into the Downs and Channel and when they have sailed above a hundred Leagues another Wind carries them to Ireland From hence it was principally that the French for above three Years together so long as the War lasted sent out their Fleets upon the Coast of Ireland did their Business and returned to Brest before we could get out our Fleets to oppose them Yet Falmouth and Milford-Haven are much better Ports and lie better and more conveniently than Brest Milford much more to have relieved Ireland and oppose the French Designs at Brest yet from neither did we send one Ship to do it I suppose if the Reason hereof be asked it will be answered That there were no Docks Shipwrights or Naval Stores in either to have supplied our Men of War in those Ports But from whence comes this to pass There were two Reasons hereof from within and from without from within Foy and Haverford-West and the Port Towns generally of England are Corporations and the Inhabitants poor yet proud of their Prerogatives in excluding the rest of the Nation and so have so much less means for building Ships Docks or carrying on the Fishing or any foreign Trades as the Inhabitants are fewer and poorer and generally they are all Beggars The other Reason from without is the Act of Navigation against Foreigners partaking equal Benent in Trade with the Natives of England so that tho God and Nature have endowed this Nation with more excellent and noble Ports than any Nation in the World of like Bigness except Ireland for the Benefit and Convenience of the Nation yet by the Iniquity and Folly of our Laws we have made them vain and of no use to our selves nor any other Nation whereas I am confident the French King would give any of his new conquered Provinces in the Spanish Netherlands to have one such Port as either Falmouth or Milford Haven upon the Coast of Normandy or Bretaign within the Channel Notwithstanding these Obstacles the Kingdom of Ireland is again reduced to the Dominion of the Kingdom of England But I say tho we should destroy the French Fleet of War yet if we do not redress the Oppressions which the English in their Trades and Navigation lie under the Nation will be no ways secured from the growing Greatness of either French or Dutch for the same Causes will have the same Effects EXPEDIENTS by which the English Nation may be secured against the growing Greatness of the French and Dutch APOLOGY WE have epitomized the Causes of the declining of the Wealth Strength and Trade of England in this Epilogue that they may be more obvious to the Reader than if he should look for them as they lie dispersed in the Body of the History and I am conscious to
my self of the Difficulties I labour under in these Expedients For a Reformation of State Affairs cannot be made but to the Hinderance of many particular Men whose Education it may be has placed them in their Stations these are known and by these I am sure to meet with all possible Opposition whereas in contending for the Benefit and Security of the Nation every body's Business is no body's Business and not one in ten thousand will concern themselves in it however Truth is sacred and a divine Air attends it and what is neglected in the present time may prevail in succeeding Generations And I will beg but one thing of my Opponents viz. That they will not answer me by Clamour but by Reason and not Reason in Extremes for thereby we shall differ and wrangle in the Means without end and let this stand for a Maxim That the Publick in all Business of this Concern is to be preferred before the Private and the Safety of the Nation before any Man 's particular Interest The Security of every Country depends upon the Strength of one Country against another in case of War between them and herein Countries are to be considered as they are placed in reference to each other The Bounds of Inland and Mediterranean Countries are Rivers Lines and Forts which are esteemed sacred and a Violence done to them is esteemed a just Cause of War and so long as these are preserved the Countries within are secured from foreign Wars Britain is an Island which knows no Bounds but the Ocean and the Kings of it are Soveraigns of those Seas which beat upon the British Shores and in preserving this Soveraignty Britain is more secure from foreign Invasion than any other Kingdom in the World how great soever which is on the Terrene Continent But this Dominion hath been of late disputed by the Dutch and is at present by the French nor shall the King of Britain be secure of the Soveraignty longer than he is able to defend it against the French and Dutch whereas at present the French contend for this Soveraignty against the English in Conjunction with the Dutch But suppose by an Accident of the Times in these Circumstances the French had joined the Dutch as they did in the first Dutch War in King Charles II's Time not 30 Years since what a Condition had these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland been in And I say the King of England shall never be able to maintain the Dominion of the British Seas and thereby secure the Safety of the Nation unless he be able to defend it against the French in Conjunction with the Dutch I 'm a Lover of Mathematical Learning because it premises its Principles before Men begin to learn or reason from them whereas otherwise where Men begin Disputing they proceed and end in Contention and Wrangling and I say that Trade is a Principle to Navigation but above all the Fishing Trades and therefore as you encrease your Trades so you may infinitely encrease your Navigation and as Trade is a Principle to Navigation so is Navigation a Principle to maintain the Dominion of the Seas and therefore so much as the Trades of England be lessened so much will the King be less able to maintain the Dominion of the Seas upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and this will be in a double proportion for so much as we lose in either the French and Dutch will gain as well to the Loss of England as to the endangering the Safety of it against foreign Enemies How therefore we may preserve the Trades which we now enjoy and encrease them by our selves and where we cannot do by our selves by the help of others is the main Design of these Expedients Expedient I. That the King establish his Throne in Religion Justice and Mercy and that herein the Subjects Fear God and honour and obey the King for if either stray from hence they will fall either into Confusion or Tyranny whereby the Nation will become divided in it self to the endangering the Safety of it from within and without and never be happy till it be restored to what it was before Expedient II. 1. That for the Conservation of the Trades we now enjoy and for the Employment of our English Natives Foreigners continue to be excluded from our American Plantations and herein neither French nor Dutch have any Reason to complain for the Dutch do the same in their Spice Trade and so do both French and Dutch in their African and American Plantations but herein it 's not fit for the English to be restrained to English-built Ships as well for the Inconveniences which have been shewed before as for that we may want English Timber for this and our other navigating Trades and the King for building and repairing his Navy Royal wherein our English Men of War built of English Timber excel all other being more tough and less liable to splinter whereby the English Men of War built of English Timber will endure a Battery which Ships built of foreign Timber will not 2. That the home-vent of our Newcastle and Sunderland Trades in times of Peace be driven by the Natives of England exclusive to Foreigners as also our other Trades from Port to Port in England and also to Ireland tho these be impoverishing Trades to the Nation for the Pitch Tar Masts Cordage and Sails generally used in these Trades are foreign Commodities to the Nation and for acquiring which we return very little of our Manufactures and the digging the Coals out of the Pits and burning them in London and other Places no ways enriches the Nation to supply the foreign Expence for Pitch Tar c. used in them nor are either old Men Women or Children employed in these Trades but only young and lusty Men and that but half the Year so that Ipswich and other Coast-Towns which depended upon these Trades are almost quite unpeopled by reason the rest of the Inhabitants find no Employment in them However I 'm confident that this Newcastle and Home-Trade and that to our American Plantations employ above four fifths of all the Ships in all the Trades we drive by Navigation and therefore we 'll take care to keep these by excluding Foreigners out of them in times of Peace and unless Foreigners beat us out of these Trades they cannot get them from us For ought I know the Newcastle and Sunderland Trades are better carried on in English-built Ships than foreign because Coals being a bulky Commodity and lying loose in the Hold of the Ships in stormy Weather and rolling Seas batter the sides of the Ships and the English Timber being tougher than the foreign it better endures this than those foreign built but it were Arrogance for any to say because of one Convenience no other Ships shall be employed in this Trade for hereby the King may want English Timber to build and repair his Men of War besides all Arts and Sciences are
than England for the Trades of France Spain Portugal Italy and Turkey and the Ports equally good or better than those of England I 'm sure much better than from London The Irish shall have no need to carry the Wools of Leinster and Munster to Vlster by a Land-Carriage and when they are wrought there to bring the Cloths to Dublin by another where none must buy them but the Free-men at their own Rates and these bound to vend them in double as dear-built Ships and sailed with near double the Hands of other Nations but if Foreigners be permitted to trade they may have the Cloths from the next Ports where they are wrought and where the Artificers can live much cheaper than in England The same Reason will be to the prejudice of our Leather made of Hides Calves and Sheep-skins in our Foreign Vent and if the Irish want Artificers you need not fear the Dutch will furnish them and at this rate how long shall we enjoy the Foreign Trade and the Navigation to Spain Portugal Italy and Turkey with our Woollen Manufactures or Leather c. Expedient X. That the English may import rough Hemp and Flax Pitch Tar Masts Deal Boards and Timber in any Vessels Object This will ruin our building Ships in England and the Navigation of it Answ I expect such a large general Objection but if we never built any Ship for these Trades then our building Ships will not be prejudiced thereby and if we imploy about 300 Mariners in the Norway Trade about three Months in the year and 150 for six Months in the year to Liefland and Prussia is this Imployment to be preferred to the free Importation of the Products of these Countries and thereby save 1 4 of the Foreign Expence and imploy it may be 50000 People or more Men Women and Children all the year round in making Sails and Cordage for our Navigation and Nets for our Fisheries and hereby be able to fit up Vessels for our Navigation and Fishing Trades as cheap as the Dutch and cheaper than the French can Expedient XI That the English Merchants be permitted to buy Vessels for carrying on the Fishing Trades upon the Coasts of England and Scotland I do not mean those mean Fisheries to supply London and some places in England by imposing double Strangers Duties upon Fish imported by the Dutch by the Act of Navigation but such a Fishery whereby the English may in some measure partake with the Dutch in their Foreign Trades of Cod-fish and white Herrings and also buy Vessels for the New-found-land Fishery Object This would ruin our Natives in building Ships Answ This is at large again for if the Natives never built I 'm sure since the Act of Navigation one Ship for this Trade of Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland what does this hinder them in building Ships for our other Trades nor does this hinder the Imployment of Mariners in them for we have imployed none in it these 30 Years So that this Trade is like a great Man that is Lord of a great Lake out of which his Neighbours grow rich and powerful by the Fish they take out of his Lake but this Man is so in love with his Family that he will not permit any of them to fish but by such Means or Instruments as others of his Family will supply them with but these are so dear and inconvenient for their Purpose that they can only supply their Master's Family whilst others supply his Neighbours better and cheaper and in this State it will be in the Power of these others to beat him and his Servants quite out of the Fishery and take the whole Benefit to themselves In the New-found-land Fishery the English do and always did build Vessels for it but these are such that the French have almost ruined their Fisheries I am sure in the foreign Vent of them and therefore the buying Vessels for this Trade is as necessary as for that of the Fisheries upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and tho the English heretofore built Vessels for the Green-land Iseland and Westmony Fisheries yet they were such as the Dutch and Hamburghers have wholly worm'd us out of the Green-land Fishery and left us very little of the Fisheries to Iseland and Westmony It were to be wished that an Experiment might be made of building Vessels for our Fisheries especially for that of the New-found-land in New-England where Timber Masts Pitch and Tar are cheaper and may be better had than the Dutch can import these or bring them into Holland down the Rhine and Maes but the Attempt of this must be done for some Years upon a publick Account Expedient XII That the English be permitted to buy Ships in the foreign Vent of our Manufactures and the Product of our Plantations It 's a strange thing to me that in the Navigation of England being so necessary for the Safety and enriching of it others not conversant in it as the Rump were not should restrain it to one sort of Shipping for such a Restraint cramps all Learning and Reasoning in every Art or Science without any possible Progression or Improvement beyond it and I say this Restraint was as absurd as impolitick I say it was absurd for it sets the Cart before the Horse for Trade is a Principle to Navigation and Navigation a Mean in carrying on Trade so that as you encrease your Trades you may your Navigation if your Hands be not bound up from it but if you begin at Navigation and tie your selves only to one sort of Ships it will be impossible to encrease your Trades beyond it whereby all those Peoples Labours which are restrained to this Navigation will be lost and these a Burden to the Nation I say this Restraint is as impolitick as absurd and unjust for hereby you sacrifice not only the Navigation upon which the Employment of People depended to your Neigbours it may be your Enemies but intitle their People to those Trades which you so foolishly give them to your Loss and it may be Undoing To these is added another dreadful Consequence upon the Nation by the Act of Navigation which the Rump in their haste and spite against the Dutch did not foresee at least not consider for the restraining the Navigation of England to English built Ships hath so wasted the Timber of England that in convenient Distances for building the King will not find Timber in England to build and repair his Navy Royal if this Restraint be continued and then in what a Condition will the Nation be I will give some particular Instances hereof which I know of my own Knowledg Having observed the Scarcity of Timber upon the Coast of Suffolk which I take to be the best of England for building Men of War caused by the Act of Navigation about 20 Years since when I was at Bristol one Captain Baily was building the Oxford Frigat out of Curiosity I went to see it
all other imaginable Advantages they would not be of further use to the Nation than they had Hands to carry them on The Commons in the third Westminster Parliament upon the 31st of December in 1680 Gave leave to bring in a Bill for a General Naturalization of Alien Protestants and allowing them Liberty to exercise their Trades in all Corporations But why was this leave to be given only to Protestant Foreigners Let 's see how the Case stands and what Benefit the Nation can reap from it now the French King has expelled the Reformed out of France As the Case stands Holland France and Flanders are the Places from whence we can expect any Benefit by this Liberty In Holland Protestant Artificers are as free and easy as in England but in Flanders though they be an industrious and honest Sort of People yet are they all Popish and I am confident if they thought they might freely exercise their Religion in England Multitudes of them would seek an Asilum in England to be freed from the Insults and Tyranny they are always subject to from the French and it may be reasonably expected that Multitudes of People in the French Conquests would flee the French Tyranny in them if they might be free in their Religion in England and it is not unlike but upon Advantages given the French we might procure many of them to fish from our Western Ports if they were free in their Religion Object But this Permission would disturb the Peace and endanger the Safety of the Church of England Answ Good Men are scarce and so these Men had need of taking care for themselves and these Men are as careful of the Church as the Free-men are of their Privileges and rather suffer the Nation to sink than they any ways endangered Is not the Church of England in the Kingdom of England and protected by it so that if the Kingdom falls the Church cannot stand Did not our Saviour send his Apostles to propagate the Gospel in this World though they suffered Persecution and Martyrdom for it Yet these good Men are fearful of themselves and the Church of England if others come to support the Kingdom and enrich them When any Foreigners are planted here have not the Church-men if they will make it their Business an Opportunity of winning them to the Church of England and have Reason and the Authority of the Kingdom to do it and if these will not prevail the Fault is others not theirs For my part I detest the Roman Superstition and Idolatry as much as any Man and am as fearful of the Tyranny which the Pope claims as well over Princes as Mens Consciences yet I apprehend no Danger of either by this Liberty granted to Popish Artificers for it is one thing for Jesuits and Popish Priests to make it their Business to pervert Men to their Sentiments and another thing for poor Popish People to make it their Business how to subsist which will take up their whole time especially where they are in a strange Place and Strangers to the People unless by accident in their Dealings for their Support and also to the Language of the People where they live I would know what Inconvenience has followed for permitting Brewer and his Followers which were all Papists to instruct our Natives in making and dying fine Woollen Cloths and in all the Disturbances and Tumults of the late Times after 1640 let any Man shew me one Instance wherein the Walloons and their Descendants planted in London Norwich Colchester or Canterbury contributed to any of them however they had been sufficiently provoked thereto both by Arch-Bishop Laud and Bishop Wren Expedient XX. That it be free for all Foreigners to purchase Lands and Tenements in England The Reason hereof is because where Men purchase Lands and Tenements they design a Habitation whereby the Nation will be so much more peopled as Purchasers are more and the Kingdom so much strengthned and the King's Revenues so much increased as these Purchasers and their Families consume more excizable Goods or foreign which pay Customs and so much more as the Purchase-Money shall be more so much more will the Nation be enriched for the Lands and Houses we retain still and the Purchase-Money is an Addition to the Treasure of the Nation and this is so much an Advantage to the Nation because no Man in it runs any Hazard or Venture of Loss by it whereas in all the Wealth which Merchants acquire by Foreign Trades they run not only the Hazard of Loss but of being undone Expedient XXI That a publick Encouragement be given to all Foreigners which shall carry on the Fishing Trade from the Ports of England in the New-found-land Fishery and to Greenland Iseland Westmony and upon the Coasts of England and Scotland for the taking and curing White-Herring and Cod-fish The Reasons hereof are manifold for above all other Trades the Fishing-Trade encreases Mariners and Navigation for every Man in the Fishing-Trade becomes a Mariner whereas in the East-India and other Trades it may be a thousand Artificers do not employ one Mariner and in the East-India Trade it may be a Question whether we do not lose more Sea-men or make more Mariners and those which survive by reason of the Diversities of the Climates and their feeding upon salted Meats and drinking sour Drinks are so feeble that a Fisherman is able to fight and beat two of them Add hereto the Fishermen are always at home and so at hand upon all Occasions to serve the Nation whereas in the East-India Trade you scarce hear of one in two Years and not in a Year from those to Turkey and our American Plantations Besides these Fishing-Trades above all others employ all sorts of poor People at home in making Ropes Sails and Nets for it If ever these Fisheries be retrieved it will be with great Difficulty and a Work of Time considering the Poverty of the Coast-Towns of England and the Potency of the Dutch and French in opposing us who are possessed of them and it is more difficult to retrieve a lost Game than not to be able to play it before it be lost yet this Benefit we have by it that we have discovered how we lost our Game and how the Dutch and French won theirs In the Fisheries upon the Coast of England and Scotland besides the King 's indubitable Right whatever Grotius in his Mare Liberum says to the contrary the English may take in fresh Water and Provisions and dry their Nets upon the Shore which the King may forbid Foreigners to do in their Fisheries which may be of great Advantage to the English for the Dutch begin their Fisheries of White Herring upon the Coast of Schotland or Schetland upon the Rising Grounds as they call them and follow that Fishery four Months in the Year before the Herrings come to the Coast of Norfolk and Suffolk where we begin ours which Fishery we enjoy no longer than
Person made Chancellor of Ireland 641. Fitz-harris his Plot against the Dissenters 562 564. Is committed to Newgate but his Discovery prevented 564 588. Is tried and hang'd against the express Votes of the Commons 591. Five-mile-Act against Dissenters 458. Design'd to be reviv'd by the Lords with Remarks thereon 501 502. Flanders overrun by the French 470. Fleetwood made General 408. Is advis'd to bring in the King 415. Foreigners to be naturaliz'd and otherwise encourag'd 556 607 608 674 675. but kept out of our American Trades 660. France how bounded 11 28. It s Grandure owing to the Stuarts 160 480 496 498 651 652. It s Success against Spain 256. Franche County invaded 473. Frederick the Palsgrave marries the Princess Elizabeth 67. Has no Relief from his Father-in-law 93 94 95. Enters Prague with an Army 93. Totally routed and retires into Holland 95. Goes to his Army in Disguise 107. which is routed 108. Takes the Covenant and has a Pension from our Parliament 309. Free Ports 679 680. French routed at Sea by the English 354 378. Look'd on while the English and Dutch fought 492. Beat Spaniards and Dutch at Messina 503. Endeavour a separate Peace with the Dutch 509 511. Their Imperiousness 521. Wheedle the English and Dutch 522 529. French King breaks the Pyrenean Treaty 427 428 471. Expels the English out of S. Christophers 460. Pretends to join the Dutch 461. Breaks his Word with the Irish 472 533. Procures the Triple League to be broke 474 484. Sets out a Fleet against the Dutch 475. Declares War to propagate the Catholick Cause 477. His Perfidiousness c. 484 498 604. His Success and Ravages on the Rhine Netherlands c. 485 487 505 513 524 530. Makes Prize of English Ships 498. Endeavours to break the Confederacy 509. His Promise to the States reflected on 523. Falls upon the Empire without declaring War 650. and the English Factories at Canada 644 650. Impolitick in his Persecution 657 662. G. GLemham Sir Tho. for the King 313 316. Godfrey Sir Edmundbury murder'd 533 534. Goodman Bp of Glocester suspended at Mountague's Instigat 273. Grievances increas'd by Intervals of Parliament 49 61. Grotius for the Arminians 121. His Mare â—iberum answer'd at large 244 252. Gundamor Spanish Ambassador here his Character 98. Guthry Mr. James imprison'd and beheaded 443 444. H. HAmbden refuses to pay Ship-Money 258. Is prosecuted 259. Is routed 298. Hamilton Marquess sent to quiet the Covenanters 264. Marches into England on behalf of the King and is routed 326. Is executed 342. Harman Sir John his great Danger in the Dutch Fight 459 460. Beats the French Fleet in America and reduces Surinam 468. Haslerig Sir Arthur against the Army 409. Hatton Lady refuses to part with Hatton-House 274 275. Hayton Capt. his noble Act against the French at Sea 378. Hemp and Flax 677. Henry IV. of France his Character 28 29 67. His great Design prevented by his Death 29 66 67. Henry Pr. of Wales his memorable Sayings and noble Character 65 66. Suspected to be poison'd and why 66 79. Herbert Sir Edw. sent Ambassador to France is misrepresented but boldly offers to clear himself 96. Hewet Dr. put to Death by Cromwel 403. Hide Lord Chancellor vindicated concerning the Sale of Dunkirk and the Match with Portugal 429 430. His Fall and Character 470. High Court of Justice see Rump Holland privately seeks a Peace with the Rump with their canting Letter to 'em 356 357. Agree to exclude the Pr. of Orange 382. Holmes Sir Rob. falls upon the Smirna-Fleet 478. Colonel his suffering in the West a remarkable Story 621. Hotham Sir John conven'd before the Council 267. Keeps Hull for the Parliament 279 294. but after endeavours to deliver it up to the King 299. for which he and his Son lose their Heads 300. Hubert hang'd for firing the City to prevent a Discovery 462. Hungary commended its Story 89 90. Huntley Marquess loses his Head 316. I. JAmes I. his Arbitrary Act at Newark 35. Prodigal of Proclamations 35 48. Caress'd by all especially the Dutch ib. Glories in his Birth-right c. 34 38 51. Historical Remarks thereon 38 47. His profane Swearing and Drinking 36 71 151. Hates the Puritans and is highly flatter'd by the Bishops 37. His Arbitrary Proclamation at calling his first Parliament 50. Quarrels with the Commons about deciding an Election 52. Le ts the K. of Spain raise Forces in his Dominions 54. Monopolizes the Trade to Spain and Italy 56. Is excessive prodigal to his Favourites 59 62 77. Afraid to demand what 's due from the Dutch 60 71 121. His Ways of raising Money out of Parliament 62 106. Invades the Privileges of Parliament 72. His loathsom way of kissing his Favourites 78. Much impos'd on by the Dutch 80 81. Treats of a Marriage for his Son with the Infanta 86 98 100. Commits all to Villiers 87 98. Is contemn'd by the Dutch 87. by France and Germany 97. by the Spaniards with Lampoons 109. Hates Parliaments 88. Huffs his Parliament in a Letter to the Speaker 99. His long Invective against them 100 102. Annuls the Commons Protestation and dissolves them by an Arbitrary Proclamation 104. Imprisons several Members and the Earl of Southampton 104 105. His Arbitrary Charge to the Judges 105. His fickle and perplex'd State at breaking off his Son's Match 114 115 156. Resolves to fall in with Parliaments 115 125. Pretends no favour for Papists 126 145. His Speech on behalf of Buckingham and doting on him 136 137. His weak Letter to the French King on account of his Son's Match 140 141. His Speech to the Lords of the French Council 145. His Death which seem'd suspicious 147. His Character 106 107 148 152. Could meet Popery half way 148. Charg'd his Son to call Parliaments often 156. James II. while Duke of York engages the Dutch 457 480 481. His two Sons die 468 476. Is propos'd to the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck but married to the Princess of Modena 476 477. His Designs against England in conjunction with France 500 502. The Commons Votes against him 541 557. Is sent Commissioner into Scotland 545 568. His Actions there 570. His Designs against the Earl of Argyle 575 c. His rude Answer to him 585. Has 22000 Scots ready to assist him 604. His Declaration to the Privy-Council on his being King 609 610. which he often broke 610 613 617 620 624. Takes the Customs and Excise before given him 610 614. His unparallel'd Cruelty 613 620 623 638. His vast Revenue 615 617 618. His ridiculous Pardon 622. His Proceedings in Ireland 624 625 632 641. His Favour to the Papists 625 626 632. Gets Judges to declare for his Dispensing Power with Reflections thereon 630 632 642. Grants a Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs 633 c. Toleration in Scotland 641. and Liberty of Conscience in England which is descanted on ib. Keeps a standing Army in time of Peace 642 643. Orders his Declaration of
488. His Success against the French 492 495. Fights the French at Mount Cassel 505 513. Comes into England 507 515. Opposes a separate Peace 507 508 511. Advises concerning the Lady Mary 509. His brave Resolution against the King's Answer at which he 's much disgusted 515. Is married 516. Treats of a Peace with France 516 517. Is suspected by the Confederates and why 518 520. but afterwards clear'd 525. Routs the French before Mons 528. His generous Design to save these Nations from Ruin 648. Orleans Dutchess see Dover Ormond Marquess makes Peace with the Irish 343. His Design for the Prince defeated 402. Ossery Lord his Friendship with the Prince of Orange 508. Overbury Sir Tho. his Story is destroy'd by the King's Favourites 62 64 68 70. His Advice to Rochester 64. His Murder discover'd and how 77 79. Overton Col. conspires against Monk 396. Oxford Parliament see Parliament Treaty there broke off and why 314. P. PApists to be tolerated 674 675. see Popish Parliaments their Constitution Ends c. 48. Ought to be Annual 49. Vsed to redress Grievances before they gave Money 49 97 616. Never dissolved in Anger till the Stuarts 205 267. Endeavour'd to be overthrown by Char. II. 614 630. Parliament in 1640 redress the Nation 's Grievances 276. Enter into a Protestation 277. Charg'd with beginning the War 280 286 296. Take the Militia from the King 293 294. Seize the Fleet 295. Raise an Army 296. Their ill Success the two first Years 296 298. Treat with the Scots for Assistance 298 Take their Covenant 299. Place no Trust in the King 315. Send an Army into Ireland 317. Their Affairs inverted by the Army 319 320. Order the King to London 321. Send Propositions to him 322. Their warm Votes concerning no further Treaty with him 324. See Commons Parliament of Char. II. their first Acts 430 431 439. Address against the King's Indulgence 447. Their Severity to Dissenters 448 458. Prohibit the Importation of Irish Cattle 462. Grant a Tax for the War against Holland 467. for the Triple League 473. for a War against France 475. Pass a Bill against Papists enjoying Places 491. See Commons at Oxford Lords petition against its meeting there 559 560. Sits but 7 days their Proceedings 564 566. K. James's pack'd one 615 616. Scarce deserv'd the Name 616 617 619. Their Acts 617 618. The Commons Address concerning Popish Recusants 628. Remarks upon it 628 629. Passive Obedience unknown to our Fathers 206. It s Inconsistence 531. Peers Jurisdictions in Appeals question'd by the Commons 502 504. Penruddock Col. beheaded after Articles granted him 386. Pensioners in Parliament 490 500. Pentland Scots rise there but are terribly routed 458. Petition of Right oppos'd by Buckingham c. defended by Williams c. 207. The Lords Saving to it oppos'd by the Commons 208 209. Is passed 210 216. but broken by the King 218 227 228 236. Is printed by the King with his Answer to it 228. Philip III. of Spain his Character 36. Philips Sir Rob. against the Court 174 180 229. Plague a great one in 1 Jac. I. 37. A greater in 1 Car. I. 153. A yet greater in II's Reign 458. Pontfract Castle surrendred to the Parliament 327. Popery some of its Antichristian Doctrines 149 150. Is promoted by K. James 642. Pope's Nuncio heads a Rebellion in Ireland 277 343. His Despotick Tyranny there 343. One arrives in England 642. Popish Party conceive great hopes of England from the Match with Moderna 499 500. Have Commissions for raising Souldiers 535. Are favour'd by K. James see James II. Plot the Parliament's Votes concerning it 535 557 587. The Evidence in it justified 539 540. Some Account of it 540 541. It s Discovery supprest and how 546 547. Ports excellent ones in England 658. Portsmouth surrendred to the Parliament 296. Dutchess who she was 474. Prague see Frederick Presbyterians join with the Royalists 409. Printers petition against Laud 231. Privileges of Parliament discust 552 554. Proclamations against talking of State-Affairs 96 97. Prorogations of Parliament not used till Hen. 8. Account of one in Char. 2d's time 520 521 533. Protestants in France suffer by James I. 96. and by Charles I. see Char. I. and Rochel Puritans increase 154. Oppos'd by Laud c. 122 157 227. Persecuted by him 258. Pyrenean Treaty 421 422. Broke by the French K. 427 428 471. Q. QVeen proclaim'd Traitor by the Parliament 298. Arrives in England on some dark Designs 428. Quo Warranto see Charter R. RAcking Men declar'd to be against Law 227. Raleigh Sir Walter his Story 82 85. Is beheaded the he had been pardoned 85. Rents whence their Fall 463. Republicans conspire against Cromwel 386 399. Restore the Rump 408. Revenue of Q. Elizabeth 32. of James II. which see Richlieu some Account of him 141 142 176. Is parallel'd with Laud 239 240. Promotes the Contentions in England and Scotland 265 272 279. Engag'd in the Irish Massacre 277 343. Rochel Fleet subdued by the French English and Dutch 174. Not reliev'd by the English as promis'd 225. Miserably reduc'd 226. Roman Empire the Causes of its Ruin 17 24. Rothes Earl Commissioner in Scotland 454. Rump Parliament their Votes concerning the King with Remarks 332 333. Erect High Courts of Justice one of which takes off the King 333 346 347. Abolish Monarchy 342. Their prodigious Acts ib. Their Success in Ireland 343 344. in Scotland c. 345 347 350. against the Dutch 351 353 356. Propose a Coalition with them 350. Their Demands of them ib. 353. Their Answer to the Dutch Excuses 352 353. Their Letter to the States of Holland 357. to the States General 358. Are turn'd out by Cromwel 362. Their Character c. 363 364. Are restored by the Republicans 408. Turn out Lambert c. and constitute a Council of War 409. Are turn'd out again 410. and put in again by Fleetwood 416. Send to Monk ib. Rupert Prince lost several Battels by his Rashness 297 307 311. Forc'd into France 327. Saves the King's Life at Windsor 541. Rushworth commended 8. Russel Lord murder'd 601. S. SAndwich Earl affronted by the Duke of York is slain 480 481. Scotland Account of its Church-state 260 263 440 441. It s Alteration endeavour'd see Laud. Great Persecution there see Lauderdale Scots oppose Common-Prayer c. and enter into a solemn Covenant against it 263. Vp in Arms propose an Accommodation 265. Declare against Episcopacy 270. Declar'd Traitors enter England 271. Keep not the Articles of Pacification 280 281. Began the War 280 286. Break their Word with the King and join the Parliament 300 331. Murder in cold Blood 316. Sell the King 317. Their Government not lik'd in England ib. Are routed by Cromwel which see Their Government chang'd by the Rump 347. Have four Citadels built to curb them 410. Their happy State under Monk ib. Parliament appoint May 29. an Anniversary Thanksgiving 443 444. Their other Acts abolish Presbytery 444 447. Grant
the King a great Revenue and pass the humble Tender 454. Scroggs Chief Justice illegally discharges the Grand Inquest 547. Is impeach'd of High-Treason 556. Sea its Dominion maintain'd by Navigation 660. Sea-men refuse to fight against Rochel 159 162. Are increas'd by the Fishing Trade 390 654. Secluded Members restor'd summon a Free Parliament 419 421. Selden Mr. for the Petition of Right 209. His Speech concerning Grievances 216. Self-denying Ordinance 309 310. Seymour Mr. invades the Commons Privilege 507. Is impeach'd by 'em 555. Shaftsbury see Ashley Cooper Sham-plots of the Court for which good Men are murder'd 601 602. Sharp ABp of St. Andrews murder'd 541 542. Sheriffs instrumental to save honest Mens Lives 590 600. Illegally chosen in London 600 611. Siâ—thorp for the King 's absolute Will 197. Slingsby Sir Henry beheaded 403. Sobiez his Success at Sea on behalf of the Reformed 146. Somerset see Carr. Southampton Lord Treasurer his Death and Character 470. Spain how bounded 1 Jac. I. 11 25. It s Barrenness in People and its Causes 25. Never recover'd its great Loss in 1588 c. 28. It s low State 428 471 472 652. Spaniards their Success against France 389. Spanish Trade tho beneficial forbid by Charles I. 174. Standing Army a Grievance 539. Kept up by K. James 642 643. States of England Three not King Lords and Commons 8. but Nobles Commonalty and Clergy 57. Strasburgh treacherously seiz'd by the French 604. Succession to the Crown in England 38 47 550. Surinam taken by the Dutch 467. but regain'd 468. Surrey-Men rise for the King but are routed 326 327. Sweeds join with the French at War against Brandenburg 499 511. T. TAlbot his Barbarity and Falshood in Ireland 624 625. Is made Lord Lieutenant 641. Tangier the Commons Votes concerning it 539 557. Temple Sir William employ'd in the Treaty at Nimeguen 472 478. in the Peace with the Dutch 495. His Conference with the King 498. Treats of a Peace with the French and Confederates 499. Is highly complimented by the French 509 510. His Thoughts of the Protestation against a separate Peace 512. Is admitted to the Debates with the King concerning the Peace 516 517. His going to France prevented 518. Test in England reflected on 501. In Scotl. with Remarks 570 575. Tiddiman Sir Tho. his Neglect at Bergen 457. Tories charge the Whigs with a Design to kill the King 532. Promote the Popish Designs 544 586. Their Impudence 562. Tour De la Count his Heroick Speech to the Bohemians 91 92. Trade in Market-Towns 27. To Spain gainful 165 387 389 463. to France prejudicial 166 389 463 672. In Wool how we lost it 338 339 662. To Greenland Newfoundland Norway c. 653 656. To America Newcastle 661. To Ireland 656 666. In Timber 669. In Companies and to East-India c. 670. Ought to be free 663 670 674 679. Traquair Lord Treasurer in Scotland 264 266. Prorogues the Parliament there which is protested against 267. Treason made a Stalking Horse 322. Treaty at Munster 339 340. Treaties Account of all between the K. and Parliament 328 332. Treâ—or Secretary his Queries concerning Buckingh c. 489. Triple League 472. Trump Van Admiral for the Dutch see Dutch Tunnage and Poundage see Charles I. and Commons V. VAne Sir Henry opposes the Scots Covenant 299. Promotes Lambert's Interest 409. Villiers his Descent comes into favour 73. Advanc'd by Somerset's Fall 74. His affable Carriage at first 76. Is promoted 77 86 111. Marries the greatest Fortune in England 88. His great Titles 111. Disswades the Prince from his Match with the Infanta 113. Sets up to be popular 115 118 125. His base Dissimulation in Spain 116 117 158. Charg'd with being a Papist and endeavouring to seduce the Prince 118. His Narrative of Proceedings in Spain with Remarks 127 129. Loses the King's Favour by means of the Spanish Ambassador 132 133. Restor'd to it again by the Keeper's fine Contrivance 133 134. Eager for a War with Spain 155. His base dealing with the Rochellers and the Merchants whose Ships he hired 159 163. His Behaviour at Paris 157 163. Is impeach'd by the Commons 189 190. Procures a War with France 193 196 198. His false Steps therein 198. Is routed 198 199. Is stabb'd 225. Vsurer a Story of one 555. Utrecht surrendred to the French 487. W. WAgstaff Sir Jos seizes the Judges at Salisbury 386 Wales its pretended Prince 647. Waller Sir William for the Parliament 298 306. See Fitz-harris Walloons persecuted by Laud 254 255. Settle in Holland 255. Come again into England and encourag'd by Char. II. 472 473 607. Walter Sir Joh. dissents from the Judges and is discharged 236. War with Holland projected by the French 450 473 478 484. War and Peace-making claim'd by the King 506. Warwick Earl Admiral for the Parliament 295. Wenthworth Sir Tho. a true Patriot 209 212. but made President of the North to his Ruin 243. and Lieutenant of Ireland 254 260. Weston Sir Rich. made Lord Treasurer tho a Papist 226. Whigs and Tories 531 532. Compar'd with the Prerogative-men and Puritans in Laud's time 560 561. Whitlock Serjeant his Thoughts of Cromwel c. 304 305 348 349 359 361. Advises to bring in the King 415. Wilkinson Capt. his Story his noble Constancy 596 598. Williams Lord-Keeper his Thoughts of the Spanish Match 113. His Ruin intended by Laud c. 124 179 253. Stops the King's Prohibition to the Judges and Bishops 126. His curious Contrivance on Buckingham's behalf 133 c. Is commended by the King for it 135. Ill requited by Buckingham 136 155. His Reasons against a War with Spain 155. His Advices to the King 168 170 302. to Buckingham 169. His Character 176 177. His Requests to the King c. 177 178. Is fin'd and imprisoned by Laud 239. Willis Sir Cromwel's Spy 393 402. Windebank Sir Fr. seizes Sir Coke's Papers favours Popery 253. Woollen Manufactures the Inconveniences they labour under 666. Worcester Fight 346. Workhouses 665 677. FINIS BOOKS sold by Andrew Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhil THE General History of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William Taken from the most Antient Records Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and State With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyrrel Esq Fol. A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion wherein all the Arguments for Persecution and against Toleration are examin'd and refuted With the most proper Method of destroying all Schisms Heresies c. A Detection of the Court and State of England during the four last Reigns and the Interregnum Consisting of Private Memoirs c. with Observations and Reflections And an Appendix discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many Secrets never before made publick as also a more impartial Account of the Civil Wars in England than has yet been given By Rog. Coke Esq The third Edition much corrected with an Alphabetical Table Scotland's Soveraignty asserted Being a Dispute concerning Homage against those who maintain that Scotland is a Fee Liege of England and that the K. of Scots owes Homage to the K. of England By Sir Tho. Craig Translated from the Latin Manuscript with a Preface containing a Confutation of that Homage said to be performed by Malcom III. to Edward the Confessor and published by Mr. Rymer By Geo. Ridpath Ridpath his Shorthand yet shorter or the Art of Short-writing advanc'd in a more swift easy regular and natural Method than hitherto The second Edition A Discourse on the late Funds of the Million Act Lottery-Act and Bank of England Shewing that they are injurious to the Nobility and Gentry and ruinous to the Trade of the Kingdom By J. Briscoe The third Edition Mr. John Asgil his Plagiarism detected c. Emblems by Fra. Quarles with the Hieroglyphicks All the Cuts being newly illustrated The History of Genesis illustrated with 40 Copper Plates Advice to the Young or the Reasonableness and Advantages of an Early Conversion In three Sermons on Eccles 12. 1. By Joseph Stennett The Groans of a Saint under the Burden of a Mortal Body A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. John Belcher late Minister of the Gospel from 2 Cor. 5. 4. By the same Author Several Practical Pieces of Mr. Daniel Burgess viz. Rules for hearing the Word of God The Sure Way to Wealth The most difficult Duty made easy Foolish Talking and Jesting describ'd and condemn'd The Christian Decalogue or the Gospel's ten Commandments The Church's Triumph over Death a Funeral Sermon on Mr. Robert Fleming A Funeral Sermon from Job 14. 14. on Mrs. Sarah Bull. Holy Union and Holy Contention describ'd and press'd In single Tracts or bound up together Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture Rutherford's Letters An Exposition with Practical Observations on the Book of Ecclesiastes By Alexander Nisbet A Directory of Prayer being a Commentary on the 20th Psalm By R. Campbel Chamberlen's Midwifery the third Edition Artamenes or the Grandâ—Cyrus In 10 Vol. A Birchen Rod for Dr. Birch being an Answer to his Sermon before the Commons Jan. 30. A Defence of the Arch-bishop's Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen and of the Sermons of the late ABp Bp of Lichfield and Coventry Bp of Ely Bp of Salisbury Dr. Sherlock c. on that and other Solemn Occasions against the Aspersions of two Jacobite Pamphlets A Tragedy called the Popish Plot reviv'd Wherein are several Letters c. of Dr. Oates to the Late Kings and other Great Men. The Rye-house Travestie The History of the Late Jacobite Plot in a Letter to the Bp of Rochester by T. Percival * Aesar in the Tuscan Tongue is a God See Suet. c. 97. in the Life of Augustus