to rehearse them The Kings of Spain have been Earls of Holland and acknowledged no superiors now being freed from Spain there is none appearing that pretend any right to Holland Neverthelesse he was bound to the laws by an oath So that King of England was Earle of Essexshire Sussex Yorkshire and of all the rest compendiously called King of England Scotland Ireland but bound to the Lawes They of Holland perceiving their King had infringed the Laws thereupon they opposed him and fought themselves free Bene feliciter saith the King of Spains Embassador Count Pigneranda pro libertate pugnastis ea vobis debetur The English in like manner perceived their King had trespassed against the laws and falsified his oath whereupon they opposed him til they fought themselves into the same condition of Freedom I could say somewhat more here That the King of England out-did Spain He of Spain had sworn to the Roman Religion and conceived himself bound to protect it according to his Oath but the King of England being sworn to the Protestant Religion is charged to have acted against it innovated it and had he gotten the mastery would have changed it That this Assertion owned as well by the Scots as the English is most true appeares by the Covenant first made by the Scots and afterwards embraced also by the English Look upon Chapt. 14. of the Kings Book see what he saith there himselfe of the Covenant Again the Covenant very expresly shewed that the King had an intent to alter Religion and Laws The Answerer himselfe was a Covenanter and Parliamenteer and blew as fiercely and zealously as any against the Kings designe of Innovation as they termed it The second and third Article of the Covenant speaks very plain And there have been a thousand books written both by the Scots English Presbyterians on that subject Nay the Scots themselves have even since the late Kings death excommunicated all that had and did adhere to the King calling them Engagers and declared them Given over to the Devill And for this cause they put poore Montrosse to death and refused him Absolution And what afterwards the King himself and Hamilton Middleton Lauderdale others of this party have suffered is notorious to all the world Also how this King was fain to do penance and to confess the bloud guiltiness of his Father's House How ever all the difference betwixt the Kings of England and Spain was only this that He of England did more and He of Spain less against the Religion that each of them was sworn to It is well known that the Scots were the first that made a Covenant and thereupon took up arms even as the Nobility heretofore in the Netherlands made a League or Union and took up arms to defend it The Scots having cleared their own Land of all the Royall designs and adherents were not content therewith but proceeded to assist the English who were as eager to be rid of the same incumbrances Which being effected and the King brought to this pass that he saw no remedy left him then he betook himself to the Scots at last his own Country men as confiding more in them Why did not the Scots then take him home along with them They said it was not expedient the King might easily put Scotland into new broils as the English found afterwards among themselves for then broke first out those differences betwixt Presbyterians and Independents the former would have a new Hierarchy introduced like that of the Scots the later would have the Reformed Religion maintained as it now stands among them only they would bear with tender consciences and some others as wee doe likewise here The King of Spain hath given up his Right and acknowledged this a Free State had the King of England done the like or would this King content himself yet with the Scottish Crown as his Fore-fathers did the war would soon be at an end And herein Philip shewed himself more reasonable and righteous then Charls whom nevertheless hee styles that Blessed Martyr so highly wronged and persecuted not remembring at least concealing that they were the Scots who began this violent dealing with him But none of this concerns us not can we help it If the Scots vvill begin troubles and war and the Neighbour Kings and Potentates will wink at it vvhat is that to us What is farther said by the Answerer about the Kings death concerns not us of Holland at all If a King wageth war with his subjects he must needs resolve to run the hazard Kings and Princes are flesh and bloud and mortal as well as others As much might have been done in a Charge by the Sword of a private soldier as was afterwards by the hand of the Executioner The Quality or Majesty of a King or Prince is of no consideration to the steel or lead of the meanest soldier nostro sequitur de vulnere sanguis Majestate nihil contemtius nec infirmius si sint qui contemnant A living Dog is better then a dead Lion A Pesant owner of some Land is better then a King vvithout Land He that vvill not submit himself to the Discretion of a Conquerour should not runne the hazard of being conquered The Conquering party saw no other Expedient no farther trust given even during the Kings restraint there was faction upon faction division upon division insurrection upon insurrection raised The meanest creature the poorest worm seeks for self-preservation How much more a Man If there had been any means left under Heaven whereby a firm confidence could have been recovered it is very probable the Prevailing party would have yeilded to it But to put all their Fortunes Reputation Freedom Life and Being upon a new hazard again no Reason could advise them Now as to the matter of deposing and destroying of Kings it is so common both in England and Scotland that I admire why the Answerer makes it so strange and prodigious But all these things are so largely set forth in printed Boooks and Pamphlets that the Answerer hath little reason to make a wonder of it Omnia jam vulgata To make an alliance with England were unnecessary if our Commerce and Liberties were not in danger We are bound to look to their preservation The Depredations are unsupportable We do not afflict the afflicted but those whom he calls the afflicted afflict us As for the affliction of Joseph we know not what it means unless he make Joseph a Cavalier and under that notion the Scots themselves were the first that persecuted him And that party in Scotland which the Answerer himself doth esteem the honester viz. the kirk party they abhor the Royalists calling them Malignants The English Ambassadors have declared here in their first Proposition they came not out of necessity but to shew they were willing to choose this State for their best friends They have not desired to ingage us against the Scots But it is well known
its self fat beyond its wonted wealth and interest forasmuch as for these many hundred years it hath continued labouring and strugling under the yoak of a Tyrant so that it could not possibly arive to such a height and measure of happinesse as it may now attain in a condition of Liberty But why should Englands happinesse be counted an eye-fore to the Netherlands as our Scot would have it Surely the world is wide enough for them both and questionlesse if England shall thrive as the enemies of it feare in this new form the Dutch will then see it much more concerned them both in honor and interest to have settled with us in the relation of a friend then remain in a state of neutrality 'T is but a crude supposition that they shall lose any thing by our Amity but very probable they may lose much without it Yet in another place he alledges to the States that their Lordships having no enemy at present will by uniting with us involve themselves in a labyrinth But their Lordships may be pleased rather to consider it were a strange Wild-goose-chace to be led about by the way of Scotland to settle an interest for themselves in England upon the uncertain favour of a subtile Tyrant and his followers who in times past at Court here were wont to dart the name of Rebell as freely at them as they doe now against us being men of opposite principles to Freedom such as hated the very name of the Vnited Provinces And if the States please to remember the carriage of King James they will find that he himself was of the same humor and opinion and the first that set an edge upon the tongues of the Courtiers In vain therefore doth this Resident tell them that their Lordships have no Enemy at present For however our English Fugitives and Desperado's for present ends may seem to court them yet if they had a while since regained possession in England and should the young Prince of Orange have lived to see it it would have appeared to purpose that they are the very worst of all their enemies How much more secure then had it been for their Lordships to have embraced the late offer of England in its present establishment as a sure friend then to depend upon the good will of a deceitful Enemy And whereas it is insinuated that a League with us would draw enmities upon them elswhere they having no enemy at present it will concern them to remember what a friend they have of the French who onely gives faire words but hates them mortally in heart as appeares by the continuall depredations made upon them at Sea by those of the French Nation Also it were worthy consideration upon what ticklish termes they stand with Denmark and Sweden and in manifest discontent especially with Portugall Not any of these will or can be more a friend or enemy for the sake of the King of Scotland they are all swayed by their own interest and accordingly measure both their love and hate not out of respect to any single Person or Family Therefore it wil concern the States more rationally to weigh what advantages they might have reap't by an union with England which had it been concluded upon such terms as were offered would have rendred them so considerable in the eyes of the world that not any of all the Friendly Pretenders round about but would have been the more inclined to continue their Pretences and the lesse apt to break them Most absurd therefore is that affirmation of the Scotish Resident in saying The States may promise themselves more profit repute and security in Commerce England abiding a Kingdom then being transform'd into a Republick For as a Kingdom the actions both of James and Charls will tell them Kings were no cordiall friends nor indeed can they be whereas being in the form of a Republick the Provinces had they embraced our offers might have been admitted into a neerer union and complication of interests then ever they can hope for from a Monarchy He tells us farther there is a wide difference betwixt the Hollanders and us in the manner of acquiring our Freedom The Hollanders saith he were a free people time out of mind but we in England have been under Soveraign Kings for a thousand years and were bound to them by oaths Besides he saith the K. of Spain after a tedious warre of 80. years hath declared the Provinces free c. But the case is otherwise with us in England To this we say If the Hollanders have of old been a free people so have we been in England and both they and we in the same manner They were of old under Earls or Princes but such as were limited by the laws Auctoritas Principum er at plurimis pro libertate legibus repetitis definita saith the Author de Statu Belgii 1650. So were we in England under Princes called Kings but such only as were limited by lawes It was a Politicall Kingship not Despotick or Tyrannick as may be seen in all our Law-books Let one or two old instances serve for all Bracton l. 2. c. 16. Fletal 1 c. 17. say that the King of England hath the Law and the Parliament for his superiors and therfore if the King have the reins loose and be without a Bridle they ought to bridle him For as Bracton saith again l. 3. c. 9. The King can do nothing but what the Law permits him Thus only and with this limitation implied wee we sworn to our Kings as the Hollanders were first to their Earls and afterwards to the King of Spain but finding the Spaniard to oppresse them contrary to Law and Liberty therefore they conceived themselves acquitted of their former Oaths Et Philippi simul omnium Principum Imperium ejuravere and as our former Author saith bound themselves by a new Oath to abjure the Government not onely of Philip but of all Princes for ever which cours exactly parallels our case here in England all the difference now then is onely in a circumstance of Time We have not had 80 years Warre to make good our Freedom but alas this alters not the verity of the thing For as the Freedom of the provinces being really free from the very first moment wherein they drave out Philip did not depend upon the Spaniards acknowledgement so neither doth ours upon the acknowledgement and declaration of Charls or any future Pretender of the Family Yet notwithstanding this the Resident saith our case in reference to the recovery of our Freedom is no more like to the Hollanders then Milk is like Ink. But for illustration take this farther were they oppressed in matter of Religion So were we tied up to strange forms and innovations Were they crucified with an Inquisition So were we with a High Commission Were they squeezed with Impositions So were we such as Ship-money Privy-seals Coat and Conduct Monopolies and a thousand other devices Besides the Priests
Romans whom they did acknowledge onely Civilli as Tacitus saith nor to any Directors Counts and Governors which were constituted by themselves The English have more then a thousand years been governed by Kings all sprung from the same Royal Stock to whom they have successively sworn Obedience and Loyalty The King of Spain after a war of almost eighty years hath in two solemne Treaties the one before the twelve yeares Truce and the other in the late concluded peace acknowledged the Vnited Provinces to be a Free State and that privative Whereupon his Catholique Majesty for himselfe and his Successors hath disclaimed all Pretences of Soveraignty here Whereas Charls the first that blessed Martyr whose innocent blood like that of Abels cries loud to the highest Heaven for vengeance against those who now sit upon his Throne not onely was but was ever by them acknowledged for their lawfull Soveraigne instead of disclaiming his Royalty over them as must be if the resemblance stand compleat was both devested of his power deprived of his life and his Princely Successor so far as in them lieth kept back and disenabled from the exercise of his undeniable power over them whereof let them find an absolute parallell from the Creation untill now In Israel King Ahab did tyrannize and as a man sold unto sin above others provoked Gods wrath against him In Rome there was Nero more like a Monster then a Man Amongst the Christans Christiernus in Denmark Wencelaus in Bohemia who was likewise Emperour behaved themselves so wickedly that it was said of them that they had east off humane nature Not much unlike to them was Richard the third called the Tyrant of England yet none of all these was ever condemned to die by the sentence of their subjects Insomuch that it is observed that the Israelites after they had deserted their King Rehoboam although an oppressor never enjoyed a happy hour but were infested with continual wars both civil and forraign til at last they were utterly destroyed and carried captives into Babylon Of Nero it was said primum damnati Principis exemplum I adde postremum non mactati tamen as in this case The Confederate Provinces were first forced in their Religion their persons and goods seized and 100000. of them killed The prevailing party in England after those insolent and high affronts done to his Majesty ere his constrained removal from his Court at White-hall took up Arms gave out Commissions levied men according to his Majesties last true and undeniable words and seized upon the Regalia before He once put himselfe into a posture of defence In the Low Countries their liberty was More Majorum fully restored to them without prejudice to any man In England Religion and Liberty are shamefully trampled under foot and the House of Commons so dismembred and its priviledges violated that the eighth part of ten were beyond all parallel cast out as the Declaration and Protestation of the secluded members Feb. 13. 1648. doth testifie The proceedings of the High and Mighty States are approved and justified by all the World on the contrary those of the English condemned and abhorred and by themselves confessed as irregular and unwarranntable a most pregnant proof and probatio probata of their wrong as is contained in the said Declaration of the Ministers The which premises the High and Mighty States being pleased to take into serious consideration according to their accustomed wisdome and justice and calling to mind those divers Treaties betwixt the Kings Royall Predecessors and their Lordships in his Majesties person yet firmly standing And seeing likewise divers of their Lordships resolved for a punctuall observation of a neutrality since the yeare 1642. betwixt the late King his Majesties Father of blessed memory and his Parliament the which by the partial confederacy with the one party now laboured for wil in all appearance be violated and infringed Therefore their Lordships are earnestly intreated not to hearken to the said Propositions as being prejudiciall to the King my gracious Masters interests and dangerous to this State likewise that the acknowledging them for a free Republick which possibly the condition of the times and benefit of Trade hath occasioned be not drawn into a further consequence much lesse an occasion given therby forgeâ—ting Iosephs sufferings that the afflicted be yet more afflicted their Liberty retarded and their calamity lengthened His Majesties affairs God be praised are yet in a very good and hopefull condition farre better then some of his Royall Predecessors who have notwithstanding run through all difficulties and became considerable to their friends as formidable to their enemies King Robert the Bruce about three hundred years agoe being likewise by the Rebellion of his subjects and the disloyaltie of the Baliol and Cumming and their adherents fiercely assailed by King Edward of England who at once was possessed of most of the Towns and strengths in Scotland kept a Parliament in Saint Andrews took his Queen prisoner killed four of his brethren amongst whom were those duo fulmina belli defaced or removed all the Monuments and Registers of that Kingdom was constrained with one or two servants to hide himself among the Hills yet notwithstanding all this in a short time after recovered his whole Kingdom was Crowned with Honor and Glory and forced his insolent Enemie in confusion to fly from Sterling to Dumbarr and thence in a Fisher-boat Xerxes like escaped narrowly with his life I say Sterling Invictum fatale Scotorum propugnaculum Of which 't is said Hìc latium remorata est Scotia cursum His Majesties Royal Grand Father Henry the fourth King of France and Navarre yet of fresh memory was in a lower condition and had less power to resist those of the League and the powerfull King of Spain yet at last became victorious in the overthrow of his enemies to the great advantage and very considerable succour of the Netherlands The distressed condition of the Predecessors of the High and Mighty States General whom after so many changes the Almighty God hath to the admiration of the whole World brought into a safe Haven however Sirius a Spanish Writer jesting with those of Holland and their confederates did say What can the Hollanders do against the King of Spain as now some scoffingly aske how can the Scots stand against the powerfull English Is an eminent and visible example that it is all one with the Lord to help with few or with many and that when all strength and humane hopes do fail he will arise Gloriously for the deliverance of the righteous crowning them in the end with honor and good success I. Shal we then look upon the present successes and prosperity of that party as alone unchangeable for the which such strange grounds are by them pretended as are no where found being so Diametrically opposite according to the Declaration of the said Divines in and about London TO I. Gods holy word II. The instinct of nature III.
shine forth under the Kingly Government How comes this Answerer to praise the Kings Religion when as himself as well as the rest of his Scots Countreymen have not onely made the first insurrection against the Kings Religion but entred into a Covenant and raised war and at last sold the King for money according to the Kings own published profession Principally against the Kings Religion or against the innovation thereof at least And what the King said further of the Scots Religion and consequently of the Answerers Religion you may read at large in the 14 and 16 Chapters of his printed Book It is well known what harsh and bitter Sermons and Books were made but lately at Breda and the Hague against the Reformed Religon whom they still hatefully termed Calvinists Are there in England divers Sects there are here also not a few God mend it and even as the Governors here would gladly see it otherwise so likewise those in England in the mean time we are assured that in England divers books are forbidden and were burnt by the Hangman which here passe up and downe yet every where The Ambassadors have in the Name and behalf of the whole English Government declared the Conformity of their Religion with ours They tolerate some others and so do we onely we allow more and greater toleration then they Neither we nor they approve of a Spanish Inquisition They do not allow the Church an absolute power of Excommunication no more do we and the Scottish Kirk also was fain to remit it now themselves So that the Presbyterians rage and roaring against Sects and Sectaries is groundless for between themselves and the Independents so named there is not difference in the main of Religion or profession besides Discipline but it should seem the Presbyterian Boutefeus aim at a Papall Power to administer the Jus Clavium at pleasure as the Scots have But their young King hath already taught them another Lesson disapproving thereby also the English Presbyterians It were much to be wished indeed that all men were of one minde that there were but one Religion Our Answerer I believe knows as little how to advise or compass it as others Nay he himself refusing to go to the same Church where the King went during his abode here and the Queen of Bohemia and the Princess Royal and all the Royalists doth thereby sufficiently evidence that there are sects and divisions as well between his party and the Kings as there is between the English and the Presbyterians That which he mentioneth of the good life of his Royal Christians I profess I understand not If by a good life he means a merry joviall life dum vixit vixit bene I yeild that at Court they live more merrie and frollick then elsewhere and thence it is that at London they have put down all the Play-Houses and such like places and practises of profane and scandalous recreation That otherwise the life and fruitfull Conversation of the Royalists should be more holy and exemplary then that of the English Independents as they call them I never heard of before Were they not the Kings evil Councellors his flatterers and seducers whom I return to the Answerer for his Albii Cassii Nigri that made as well the Presbyterians as the rest complaine so much against him from time to time And I pray were not the Presbyterians the first and the onely men that took the King to task The Answerer himself was one of them and of those Covenanters that supplanted the King for his maintaining the Episcopal Hierarchie And when the Presbyterians afterwards went about to introduce the Presbyterian Hierarchie changing onely the Name and maintaining the Substance then said the others whom he calls Independents Soft my Masters we have freed our selves from the Bishops Yoke shall we put our necks under the Presbyterians The Answerer alledgeth some other books which make for him How many other blew books might easily be produced against the same and to his prejudice The King himself complains in his book ch 15. and 21. how much hurt these books did him so that I know not why the Answerer so highly esteems these blew books and that publickly in print too now as well as in the Generall Assembly odiously checking the Soveraign Government here for having begun to treat with the English and presumptuously spreading the same abroad among the Commons as though the Magistrates were regardless of their Office and as if he intended to incense and raise the Commons against the Governors contemning the publick Oâ—dinances in this behalf As for the Successes the Answerer knows well enough that several other Kings Republicks Princes and Potentates had beforehand acknowledged the Republick of England and honored the same with their Ambassies and Credentials And England also sent first unto this State before this State sent to England We have not looked upon the successes but upon the Example of others The Answerer saith that the English thâ—mselves do disavow the great Turk Again the Gentleman throwes it beyond my reach or he knows not what he avers himself I never heard of any such Disavowing but this I know well on the contrary that all Christian Potentates acknowledge the Turk for what He is and accordingly honor him with their Ambassies The Answerer's King himself scrupled not to send to the Turk no more doth the English Republick Men Laws Governments must every where be taken and used as they are As long as the Answerer and his King are forced to let the Government remain as it is so they must give us leave to do the same The Answerer saith that there is as much difference between the English Government and Liberty and that of ours as there is between Milk and Ink according to the saying of one Salmasius calling him a great Personage Sure the Answerer knows well that Salmasius his Book where he had this crotchet is publickly declared a Libell and scandalous here Do great Personages use to write Libells Furthermore He saith That the Batavians or Hollanders have been a Free Nation from all ages and under the subjection of none Certainly he is a dreaming or else he hath the art to make white black and black white at pleasure or Milk and Ink is all one to him What hath not Holland been under Earls above eight hundred years And lastly under the House of Burgundy Austria and Spain Indeed the Earls were tied to Laws and so were the Kings of England if he say an Earl is no King I answer England is divided in more then fifty Counties or Earldomes so France is divided into many principalities and Counties He that gets the command over them soon gets a Title King Prince Earl or Lord it comes all to one if they have no Superiours But all of them are bound to their Oaths and the Laws Neither in France nor in Spain nor anywhere else are Kings allowed an unlimited power The Examples in France are too fresh
both to them and us what practices and mighty indeavours the Royal party hath used these many years to ingage this State against the Parliament now the Common-wealth of England What partial proceedings were there a foot All that came from the King had audience at pleasure the Parliament none The States-men of war were though mostly besides the States knowledge imployed in the service of the King and his Party as if they had been his own What would have been the issue think you if they had ingaged us to make war against the Parliament but to sacrifice our Power our Treasure our Freedome for the inslaving both the Parliament and our Selves Is it forgotten already what past here among us last Summer Had Amsterdam and the Bank of Amsterdam been but surprised once nay had but one man continued alive we should have been in a case sad and bad enough After that this danger was over and we had called the Grand Assembly together for the settlement of our Freedom they acknowledged the Common-wealth of England and resolved to send an Ambassador to them the Parliament shewed themselves so honourable and civil that they prevented us concurring with our own desires of settling both these Republicks in a posture against all that should at any time attempt ought against them They considered who was their present Enemy and how near the King of Scots was allied to him that by his late practises disclosed so much of his Designs against Holland Amsterdam and the whole State Also what special correspondence there past between these two to reduce both Republicks to a plenary Subjection Afterwards when the English had gotten the start of their Adversary by the great Victory at Dunbar Then it is to be observed that they came out of a cordially zeal and affection to deliver us likewise and to further the settlement of our State and by an union with them render us secure at home and feared abroad How and by whom the effect thereof hath been protracted hitherto is well known namely by those who still are Preaching to us that we should submit our selves under the young Prince of Orange that is to say under the sister of the King of Scotland the Guardianess of him whom they would fain force upon us for our Head and Guardian The following both Scripture and prophane Allegations and Histories registred by the Answerer are to no purpose being a thousand times refuted Gods holy Word the instinct of Nature right reason the Laws the Judgements of the Casuists the Oaths Covenants and all these are things the Parliament alledge for themselves with more reason and advantage then the Royalists Those sayings Rex non moritur Rex nulli facit injuriam are known to be rank flatteries and neither in England nor in any other Kingdome allowed of I wonder how this man durst avert such things in the face of this Republick As also that he durst call that a Sophisâ—â—e which the States of Holland had made use of to induce the rest of the Provinces to the Acknowledgment of the English Republick viz to give unto Cesar that is the present Possessor or Incumbent that which is Cesars Why did he not first make known this subtle solution of that Sophism to Spain Portugal Venice Florence Genua France would fain come on too Did they understand the Date Caesari thus we had more reason for it As for those other allegations taken out of several Sermons I shall direct him to infinite other Sermons that were and are daily made in the behalf of the Parliament The Answerers and others wresting of the Scriptures like a Nose of wax to serve their turns is a kind of Prophanation The Memorandums he calls Monstrous things A bold expression They contain the very words set down in the Treaty of Anno 1495. and consequently the States own words delivered unto the English Ambassadors May 2 last which are not monstrous but grounded on very weighty Reason For we do plainly find that for divers years now all along the English and Scots Malignants do not only seek to imbroil us in war but labour likewise daily here to reduce us again under the subjection or Guardianship of the young Prince of Orange that needs a Guardian himself So that it seems Lex Julia de ambitu lies asleep Otherwise this State ought to rid themselves of those strangers that seek to obtrude a new Domination upon us And the English deserve our thanks for having reacht forth their helping hand thus unto us In the Rear now our Answerer falls upon the thirty six Articles and says That the same do prejudice or hinder his Kings Right to the Crown of England All the Kings and Potentates which acknowledge England a Republick do in effect the same thing But indeed neither any of those Kings and Potentates nor we our selves but the Kings owâ— evill Councellors or Proceedings are the cause of all this When the Anserer the rest of his partners the Scots and Covenanters have hurried their Waggon into precipices of ruine it is past our redress To enter into alliance against those that go about to ruine our Commerce and bereave us of our Freedom as much as in them lies is both necessary and commendable If some will needs live under a King let them as for our parts we are resolved by Gods help to maintain our Freedom A League with England will not bring us into a Labyrinth nor make us subjects of Depradation and Slavery but free and secure us from both The Resolutions of Neutrality which he mentioneth are limited with conditions in case the Scots Irish and other Pirats perform Neutrality to us also All the former alliances are between the Nations so their Lord ships the States understand it so also do all the Kings and Potentates understand it that Treat here with the States upon the ancient Treaties as made in those times under the name of the Duke of Burgundy and Austria The Answerer himself implies as much above where he takes the Treaty vvith Duke Philip Anno 1495. as made with their Lordships the States and so likewise the renued Treaty with Scotland in Anno 1594. which Queen Mary had made as Governess in the Netherlands and the King of Scotland notwithstanding renued it with their Lordships Non populi propter Regem sed Rex propter populuÌ„ Kings Princes enter into Treaties as Representers of the People for the peoples sake This Kings forefathers were contented with the Crown of Scotland It grieves the Scots to see themselvs involved in war about a quarrel that doth not concern them but only for the Kings sake who by Pr. Rupert and by other Pyratical ships and other ways plaguing and provoking the English did force them at last to fall with an Army into Scotland for to prevent that Kings falling into England Even so did the great Gustave of Sweden he came with an Army into Prussia and forced the King of Poland his Cousen to
in this acknowledging possession a sufficient ground for us to send as for themselves to receive our Ambassadors The acknowledgements given us likewise by the Ambassadors and Agents of Spain Portugal Venice Florence and Genoa do declare the same How then comes it to passe that the name of a King of Great Britain hath been so rife among the Provinces when they know the young Scot is so farre from having a Foot in the Noblest part of Britain England that he is in a manner outed too in Scotland What face too but that a Scot can face any thing had this Scot to deny our Embassadours the name of English Embassadours and dubbe himself with a Title including a Right to England where his Master is never like to take the Air again if he have his due unlesse it be upon a Scaffold But well may hee own the Title when some of the Dutch have been so forward to give it yea and under that name doe more then give him Audience in their great Assembly Though they have many Bodies of Supremacy in the Netherlands yet we can acknowledge but one Supream in England which is the Parliament who being seated with full Power in the Peoples Right can admit of no Competitor nor permit any other Nation to impose one upon them or dispute their Title but have reason to expect the same acknowledgements that ever have been given to all Supream Powers in possession according to the Custom of Nations which if any Nation shall deny or take occasion to prevaricate in this point they may in time understand that England established in this new Form stands fully possest not only by Right of Warre but also according to the Right of Nature and the ancient Laws and Customes of the Nation being eminently adorned with all the Rights and Priviledges of the People And that she may now have as great abilities as ever to assert her own Independency upon other Powers and make her self as considerable either in enmity or friendship as the proudest of her enemies CHAP. III. That Contracts and Alliances made betwixt States and Princes doe not relate singly and personally to themselves but are made Jure Populi in the behalf and for the benefit of the People VVHere as it hath been alledged by the Resident of the King of Scots that the ancient and successive Contracts and Friendships betwixt England and the Vnited Provinces were made between them and the successive Kings of England and not with England otherwise considered wherby he seems to affirm that the validity of such Contracts depends upon and expires with the persons of the Kings of England or with the Kingly Government excluding the interest of the People from being Principal in them therfore it cannot be inexpedient in that point to manifest the ignorance of this Scot with the absurdity of his Pretence which so highly reflects upon the Majesty and main Concernments of the People For without question it is to be understood that as all the acts of Government ought to tend so Governours themselves by what names on titles soever they be called are erected and intended only for the behalf and benefit of the people Even Kings themselves notwithstanding all their flourishes can arrogate nothing to their Persons or Families separate from the Peoples Interest For a King is no more but a Creature of the People by them created for their good He is their servant for which they give him a Salary or Revenue adorning him with splendid Titles of Majesty and with all the Immunities Priviledges and Prerogatives of Government which are no way inherent in his own Person or Family but Ornaments bestowed upon him as the Peoples Livery in reward of his service The truth of this very evidently appears in the Coronation-solemnities of Kings which all the world over are the same in substance and here in England the custome was thus First the agreement was made between the people and him that was to be entertained as their King he was made acquainted with the work and service of the Commonwealth which was to regulate himselfe and his Charge according to such Lawes that is such Rules and Direction as were or should be appointed by the people and for the true performance of this an Oath was given him Then the peoples consent being asked and had which in old time here was wont to be demanded thrice he was immediatly taken into the service and his Livery given him viz. The Royall Robes the Sword the Ring the Scepter and the Crown This hath been the manner of admission in England most solemnly performed in receiving all the Kings and Queens from the days of Edward the Confessor and long before So that you see the relation wherein a King stands to the Commonwealth or Kingdom is the same with that of a Servant to his Master onely here is the difference betwixt Kings and privat Servants That those publick honorary Servants having great honour confer'd upon them by the service are necessitated to maintain a large retinue and hold many in pension and imployment for which purpose they are allowed an extraordinary proportion of wages for their pains and expence in the performance of their duty with a surplusage of Subsidies or Supplies many times upon emergent occasions of necessity This will further appeare if we consider that Kings hold not the possession of a Kingdom by the same right as privat men doe their patrimonies But yet it is not meant as if Kings might not have possessions as other men have for that is allowable and hath been known here in England as may be seen in the time of Henry the fourth who from the Title of Duke of Lancaster arriving to that of a King enjoyed still an inheritance in his own rights as Duke of Lancaster distinct from that of the Crown and fearing the return of Lex talionis upon himself and Family that as he had dispossessed others of the Kingdom so his heirs might in time be dispossessed again therefore out of a prudent forecast he so ordered the matter as to keep the Revenues of his Dutchie entire and setled them in such a way as might preserve them distinct from those of the Crown that in case any new Turn should happen his posterity might if they lost the Kingship know where to lay claim unto their ancient Patrimony So then we doe not deny but Kings may have possessions of their own as well as other men by inheritance or purchase but those which they hold in the right of the Kingdom or Kingship are none of their own The Patrimony of the Publick Exchequer is one thing that of the Prince another Henry the fourth held the Dutchy of Lancaster as he was Henry but the revenues of the Crown as he was the King or publick servant of the Kingdom not out of any peculiar propriety that he had in them Nor can it in reason be imagined that Kings should have any thing of Propriâ—ty in what
proclaimed at Court in their Sermons that All was the Kings no man had any propriety in what he possessed so that the lesse credit is to be given to the Declaration of those pious Ministers as they are called against the Parliament whose partiall testimony is so much applauded by the Resident of Scotland Did Philip of Spain endeavour through his Agent D'Alva to settle his Tyrannies over the Provinces by force of Arms so did the late Tyrant Charls in England first plot a war and then set up his Standard and put the Parliament upon the Defensive as appears by the whole Series of his Councels and Actions whereto more credit is to be given than to his Posthume Book of Meditations which the Resident hath quoted with more affection than discretion Lastly are our Proceedings in England distasted by some of our neighbours through the malice and mis-representation of our English Fugitives So were those of the Hollanders through the malicious subtilty of the Spanish Agents and Ministers who laboured to incense all Christendom and draw the world about their ears till Forain Princes came to have a right understanding of the business So that you see Master Resident might have spared his Milk and Ink too for nec Ovum ovo similius one Egge cannot more exactly resemble another than the case of England in all particulars doth that of Holland in the manner of acquiring our Liberties and Freedoms Now he rails at our judging and beheading the late King and banishing his Family calling it abominable violence and such as the like was never heard of since the beginning of the world Therfore to rectifie the ignorance and malice of himself and his deluded party in this particular some few Instances and Examples shall be here inserted to shew it is no new thing that Kings have been and may be deprived or punished with death for their crimes in Government We read of Amon King of Judah that was slain by a part of the people because he walked not in the way of the Lord and though another part of the people were angry at it and avenged his death upon those that did it yet without question the execution was just according to the Law of God which was without respect of persons that the Idolater should die the death and no doubt the punishment had been inflicted by a Judicial Process had not so great a party of the people been addicted to his ways opposed it which opposition of their is usually the cause in all cases of this nature why Kings are not to be attached as well as other Mâ—â—efactors by an ordinary course of Justice Consider Ahab likewise who though he were taken off himself by divine Justice in the battel at Ramoth-Gilead and so escaped punishment by man for his idolatry and cruelty yet it was executed afterward to the full by John upon his Queen and the whole Family who were utterly rooted out and a blessing annexed to him and his heirs that performed the execution But some may say this fact was extraordinary being done by immediate command from God and so not fit for ordinary imitation Yet for Answer it is sufficient I say that it had a Legal ground viz. the ground of Gods ordinary judgement which commanded that all offendors of the same nature should die the death Gods extraordinary command being superadded to his ordinary Law doth as to us rather confirm then weaken the equity and justice of such a proceeding In like manner we read that the whole people took Amaziah King of Judah and slew him for his idolatry whether they did it by a way of Judicial process or not is not material but done it was and if it were done without process then much more are they to he justified that have the courage to imitate such noble acts of Justice by a solemn and serious proceeding The like had been executed upon Joas the father of Amaziah by a part of the people for his Murther and Apostacy Profane stories both ancient and modern are full likewise to the purpose Romultes the first King of Rome was for his tyranny cut in pieces by the Senate and Tarquin their last King was with his whole family cashiered the form of Government changed by the same power and upon the same occasion Many years after Nero the Roman Emperour was sentenced to death by the Senate which was not primum damnati Principis exemplum as the Resident alledges out of Suetonius The Senate being afterward in time cowed down by Heliogabalus their Emperour so that they could not take the ordinary course with him used means by corrupting the soldiery upon whose strength he depended to put him to death The two famous changes made in the Royal line of France depend upon two such noble pieces of Justice executed upon their Kings the first upon Childerick the third King of France who being judicially deposed by the Nobility and Clergy in Parliament the succession was then cut off from the family of Pharamond and confirmed to the race of Pepin till Charls of Lorrain the last of Pepin's race was in the like manner chastised by Parliament and the Crown translated to the successors of Hugh Capet who hold the same to this day though two of them likewise viz. Lewis the third and Charles le Gross have been judicially proceeded against in Parliament And though the people were so tender towards them as not to put them to death yet they were buried alive being mued up within the melancholy walls of some Monastery or else closely confined within the Castle of Orleans In Spain too we read of Suintila Don Alonson the eleventh and Don Pedro judicially proceeded against the first by the fourth National Councel of Toleao the second by publick Act of the Estates of the Realm in the Town of Validolid the third by the Estates of Castile all for their Tyrannical Government The like proceeding also was had against Don Sancho the second of Portugal also against Henry of Poland that was King of France Henry of Swethland Christiern of Denmark and Wenceslaus of Bohemia as also Edward the second and Richard the second of England These last are mentioned by the Resident himself but that which he mainly insists upon is that neither Christiern Wenceslaus Edward nor Richard were beheaded upon a Scaffold as was the late Tyrant Charls However it is sufficient they were judged more worthy of a Scaffold than the Throne and therefore it must needs be more honourable after the late Heroick Example of England that the Judgements of God should be executed in publick before all the world than that they should be stiffled in a Dungeon or the Majesty of them be less'ned by paltry private Assassinations or poisonings acted upon Royall Tyrants and Offenders Even the practise of Scotland it self will furnish us with Examples enough of this nature where no less than fifty of their Kings have been punished with death and the greatest part of
Christ and the tenor fo his Gospel which teacheth us to gather Believers into Congregations by the power of the Word and not force men promiscuously into a pretended Church-relation by the power of the sword or commands and constitutions of any worldly Power This together with a prudent Toleration of different opinions is the present state of Religion in England so that whosoever takes a view of the practises of both Nations will easily grant a conformity of profession betwixt us and our neighbours of the Vnited Provinces He alledges farther It would be more safe and profitable for the States that England should continue a Monarchy than become a Republick for that the increase of England in a free State would be the decrease of the other See here O ye people of England what a Confession here is out of the mouth of the Common Enemy of the possibility of that increase both in wealth and honour which our Nation may expect in the settled Form of a Free State or Commonwealth And if so then by consequence it follows that all this stir for a Royal Family and Monarchy is not out of any respect to the increase of the publick weal but only to satisfie the ambition of a single Tyrant and his Followers And rather than not be so satisfied he here by the mouth of his Orator Mac-Donnel offers up the future interest and glory of England as a prey unto the Dutch in hope to allure them unto his party for the restoring of him into a Tyranny so that you see clearly it is a thirst of Dominion and Revenge not the people's benefit that transports him in all his undertakings It is here acknowledged by himself that his own restitution will be a means to keep England from growing richer and greater the fear whereof he useth as an argument to provoke the jealousie and emulation of Holland The inference therefore is natural and easie out of his own mouth that the interest of himself and family is inconsistent with the increase and interest of the English Nation In the next place he indeavors to darken the glory of God in our many wondrous successes saying they are no good argument to justifie a cause because the Turk hath had as great successes as any But what ever this Babler saith we cannot be so ignorant of the good hand of God upon us as to let those glorious works of Providence whereby he hath pleaded the Cause of this Parliament and Commonwealth pass under the common title of Fortune de la guerre The Lord having caried on this marvellous work for time and place with a concurrence of such remarkable circumstances that the very enemies have at length acknowledged it to be digitus Dei as did D. Hamilton before his death and others who saw the stretched out arm of God in the late defeat at Worcester We justifie not our cause by successes but only behold them as the effects of Gods mercy and goodness owning us in a just ingagement against the enemies of himself and people The Turks design was to propagate Tyranny in Christendom ours to pul it down His only to increase his own Dominion ours to exalt the Dominion of Jesus Christ What he did was by main strength multitudes and help of human policy What we have done hath been by a despised remnant inconsiderable both for knowledg number against all the wise and mighty men of this generation who to their power wisdom have had so many great advantages from time to time that the decision of every success in our behalf hath been so manifestly written with the finger of God that all must confess it could be no other hand but his that did it witness the great advantage the Enemy had of us at Naisby the miraculous sally at Dublin with the many glorious defeats that followed in Ireland the great deliverances wrought in 1648 when by a small army divided into two handfuls we with one part quieted South-Wales and vanquisht Hamiltons galiant army and with the other part suppressed the many numerous Insurrections in Kent Essex c. Witness also that glorious deliverance beyond all reason given last year at Dunbar when by a poor handful of sick men wearied out with watchings hunger and incessant marches in tedious weather at length impounded within a narrow neck of Land surrounded by the sea they did notwithstanding in the strength of God defeat the numerous Scottish Army it being accommodated with all necessaries and advantages and one of the best accomplisht armies that ever appeared in Scotland Add to-these omitting many other the late memorable defeat at Worcester attended with a series of many other wondrous successes and it is so much the more observable in regard of that miraculous power of God upon the heasts of the people fastning them to the Government in a most notable time of trial to the shameful confutation of this shameless Resident who had the impudence to affirm that not the hundreth part or as he saith a little after not the thousandth part of the people but do cordially adhere to the Royal Interest and passionatly groan to be delivered from the prevailing party in England as he is pleased to call the Parliament whereas all the time of the Scot's King being among us which was about 28 days courting and wooding the people with all manner of insinuations intreaties and pretences he was not owned by any considerable number of his old friends or his new-reconciled Enemies of the Presbyterian party From all which particulars what ever other men may deem we cannot but see the hand of God reached out unto us for the upholding of this Government in a peculiar manner contrary to all the expectations and reasonings os worldly wisdom Since the drying up of the red sea with the wonders that were wrought in Aegypt and in the Wilderness never have there been more glorious appearances of Gods presence than among his people in England And therefore none but a profane heart will presume so much to detract from the glory of these dispensations as to rank them among the ordinary passages of a permissive or Turkish Providence The last that we shall take notice of is one of the principall arguments that he useth to hold the Dutch to his young Master's party hinting unto them by way of insinuation that no Nation is so subject to change as England that the Earl of Warwick in 11 days Edw. 4. in 20 and Hen. 7. in 1 day successively subdued the English Nation T is true England hath received many a sudden change but never such a change as now Heretofore the poor people toiled themselvs in shifting one Tyrant out of the saddle to set up another but now they have driven out not only the Tyrant but Tyranny it self and cashiered not only a single King but all Kings for ever It is an easie matter for particulars to supplant one another in Government because the interest stands deposited in a single hand but when the whole frame of Government is altered from what it was and the interest of State lies diffused in the hands of the people it is almost impossible to alter it again without such a tract of time as may produce new dispositions and opportunities for the effecting a new alteration Besides it is very rarely observed in the whole course of History that ever Kingly Government was suddenly restored in any Country after it had been once cashiered by the people As for Robert Bruce his recovery of all Scotland 300 years ago out of the hands of the English you know it could not be effected as long as Edw. 1. lived but advantages being taken the infirmities debaucheries and civil broils of Edw. 2. the Scots made a shift to shake off the yoak wherein they were more beholding to that Prince's vanity than the valour and vertue of their own Nation And whereas he calls Sterlin the unconquered and fatall Bulwark of Scotland and tells us that there they stopt the current of the Roman Victories yet their own Historian Buchanan confesseth that both Edw. 1. and 2. were possest of Sterlin by force of arms and both their and our Historians will be able to relate in time to come how that the Commonwealth of England hath done more than Rome and made another Conquest not only of Sterlin but far beyond it which I dare be bold to second with this Omen That as Scotland's happiness will be promoted by a subjection to England so now it is the design of God for the better carrying on of his great work and the good of that people to bring them into an universal submission to the Laws and Government of the English Nation Nec sit Terris Vltima Thule FINIS