are Divine there are Obligations also upon the Father and Master to the Son and Servant Such a Paternal absolute Divine Right it is that the Kings of England have claimed and exercised over their Subjects as that in all times Lâ—x cucurrit the Laws have generally run in course for preservation of all the Rights and Liberties of the People as well as those of the Crown Now you see the Fox unâ—ased the word Divine Right of Monarchy is no such Bugbear as we are told here in Print And doubtless the Lords and the Commons of England all people both great and small will well consider that as this kind of Discourse was haled into the Lords House upon no occasion to serve some ends so it was most improperly timed to bring it forth in the Reign of such a King whose tenderness towards the Laws and Liberties of the people hath been most remarkable in all his Actions And if any thing that hath a Face of Power or Force extraordinary or unusual in the times of his Predecessors hath appeared about him 't is no more than what these Fifteen years past hath been continued and never found fault with by his then Lordâ—hip but judged absolutely necessary for his Guard and Defence against his now Lordships new Friends of Presbytery the Irreconcileable Enemies not only of this but any King because the very Constitutioâ— and Natural Temper of that Faction renders them incompatible with the Nature of his Crown and Dignity Yet none shall more kiss him and in kissing none more diminish him Nor can there be imagined greater Enemies to all the rest of his people not only because their design is spurred on with a Religious Zeal of Domination over their Fellow-subjects but because also their Machinations being restless and perpetual to grasp the Power they necessitate the King for defending his own Station and his other peoples to become the more heavy in his demands of Supply to sustain the Government against such Domestick Adversaries And if ever the Excellent Form of it happen to be spoiled which God forbid we must owe it to that sort of Men who have always made it their business to create Parties and tell Noses in both Houses and start such Hares as can never be run down so that there might be neither time nor room to handle or make an end of the important Affairs of the Kingdom and what is this but to destroy the Exercise Use and publick End of Parliaments in England But the Print hath not done yet Shirley's Cause hath drawn hither also the whole Business of France and Holland We owe it saith the two last years Peace by that it means the Peace we have with the Dutch to the two Houses differing from the sence and opinion of White-Hall And it saith his Lordship said 't is a thing to be prayed for that there may be no general Peace made with France and that he himself would advise against it Quantum mutatus ab illo See how consistent his Lordship is with himself Even as he was wont to be Time was when he was an Adviser at White-Hall and he could be of their sence then and took pains also to bring the Houses to it As for example When it was the sence of White-Hall that a War ought to be made with the Dutch as glad as his Lordship now is of the Peace with them he was at first as high as any Man against them as appears by his Speech when he was Lord Chancellor at the opening of the Session of Parliament 5 Febr. 1672. wherein he said all he could to Inflame the Houses against the Dutch he reckon'd up their Personal Indignities to the King by Pictures and Medals and other Publick Affronts from the States themselves their Breach of Treaties â—oth in the Surinam and the East-India Business their Height of Insolence in denying the Honour and Right of the Flag and disputing the Kings Title to it in all the Courts of Christendom and that they made great Offers to the French King if He would stand by Them against Us but the Most Christian King too well remembred how dangerous a Neighbour they were to all Crowned Heads That they were the Common Enemies to all Monarchies especially to Ours And thereupon as angry as he is now at our Kings fair carriage with the French he then concluded it was well done to joyn Interests with the French King And he told the House then also That at any rate Carthago est Delenda the Hollanders were not onely to be brought down but destroy'd And further to engage the Parliament to liberal Supplies against them he told the Houses thus 'T is your War the King took his Measures from You and they were Just and Right Ones And if after this You suffâ—r them to get up let this be remembred The States of Holland are England's eternal Enemy both by Interest and Inclination You see his Lordships Opinion then was that the Parliament ought to bow to the Scene of Whitehall but in a little time after the Scene was altered for no sooner went his Lordship out of Office but his Business was to bow the Houses as much the other way and with the same eagerness for a Peace with the Dutch against the Sence of Whitehall Quo te teneam nodo mutantem Protea And in like manner he hath laboured to put the People out of humour with Whitehall and set them against our being any way concerned with the French telling the Lords in this Print what a mighty dangerous Neighbour that King is grown to be But the good People of England ought withal to consider That King did not in a Nights time grow up to this Magnitude He was but little less at the time of his Lordships Greatness yet all was well enough as long as his Lordship was great too for then there was no clamour of his about it either in or out of Parliament therefore mistake not his present Peek and Indignation at the Court for a zeal towards the Publick So I have done with that Speech to the Lords Printed with the Name and Title of my Lord of Shaftsbury and now ye Men of Shaftsbury what do ye think of him Have ye not reason to be proud of so able a Speech-Maker He 's a brave Man indeed that can blow up a Parliament with a Breath and a Kingdom into a Flame but what wise Men are they that do not yet understand him And what a Knave is he that thinks I mean the Earl of Shaftsbury to be the Man Now though I have done with the Speech yet I cannot have done with the rest of the Print for I see Printed in the end of it another Business in the Name of my good Lord Shaftsbury It is Intituled The Protestation with Reasons of several Lords for the Dissolution of this Parliament Entred in the Lords Journal Novemb. 22. 1675. the day the Parliament was Prorogued So that it seems his Lordship
Readers of his printed Speech apprehend but that he means and would seem to fear all this in England to what purpose else can so wise a Lord be thought to make so serious and eager a Protestation against it or to what purpose else was it so carefully made publick in print but that it was the ready way to get the World to understand it so and that seems the sole drift of the zeal of these impertinent excursions But yet he goes on 3. That â—e cannot find that the Jesuites or Popish Clergy ever owned Monarchy to be of Divine Right but onely some Episâ—opal clergy of our Britiâ—h Isles Then the Episcopal Clergy are it seems the better Subjects in a Monarchy As for the two sorts of Jesuites the Popiâ—h One and the Presbyterian the former will not allow it to the Monarch because he would leave a gap open for the Popes Claim over Him the latter also is of the same mind because he would subject Him to his Presbytery There needs no reasoning to evince these things seeing there are few men in our age who have not seen the truth in facto so that 't is the clear interest of the Crown That if it will have a Church National to Govern by it must be Protestant-Episcopal otherwise its self cannot be secure from the Invasions and Insolencies of the Pope on the one side or of the Many-headed Presbyter on the other 4. That to say this Family are our Kings and this particular Frame of Government is our Lawful Constitution and obligeth us is owing onely to the particular Laws of our Countrey Well urged in print my Lord here is a fair Gap laid open for another Family and another sort of Government And Why The reason is plain because 't is possible we may have other laws Let but the Game go on the Men of Shaftsbury if they get it will soon shew us that the Laws also may be changed and then what may become of the Frame of Government And what may become of the Family if it shall not give way to the alteration of the old Laws and Government He that makes a Crown to have no other Foundation but particular Laws ought first in a Monarchy to shew me whence those particular Laws could come but from the Crown and him that first wore it Law and popular Consent came in afterward not to constitute but to confirm and corroborate it on his head I find after long Observation and Experience of these matters 't is among all our State-Hereticks and Spurious Politicians an Errour in Fundamento which leads them to dispute with Crowned Heads and that boldness prepares them to rebel that they will needs suppose in the Original of Monarchy a Priority of Laws to make it such As to Fact the Histories of Nations in general do consute that vain Hypothesis upon which all their Arguments are built and do shew that for the most part Laws about Monarchy came in after its Institution to second it by the peoples Confirmative Consent Not that this gave it any Authority but their Assent to the Laws about it was onely a Signal of their submission and obedience to it And as it was thus in the beginning of Monarchies so as to the Reason of the Point it holds much the more strongly against them in Monarchies already Constituted for there no Law can be supposed Prior to the Monarch because they all slow from him and cannot have being without him Therefore that Mans Allegiance stands upon very slippery and uncertain Terms who concludes the King and his Family and their Rights as meer Creatures of some particular Laws of the Countrey and prints this Doctrine to the whole Kingdom to beget in them mean thoughts of that Royal Right to the Crown Imperial of this Realm which is naturally inherent in his very Bloud and Person and Family and cannot in a true English Political Sence be otherwise consider'd So that if ever his Lordships Notion be started again among the Peers 't is like it may in that House meet with an Animadversion much more severe than mine 5. Nevertheless the Print goes on very roundly in the Name of his Lordship and saith Page 11. If the Doctrine of the Divine Right of Monarchy be true then our Mâ—gna Charta is of no use our Laws are but Rules during the Kings Pleasure Monarchy if of Divine Right cannot be bounded or limited by Humane Laws nay what 's more cannot bind it self All our Claims of Right the Rights of the Peers House and of the Commons House and of all People must give way to the Interest and will and pleasure of the Crown and the best Men must Vote to deliver up all we have not onely when Reason of State and the separate Interest of the Crown require it but when 't is known the will and pleasure of the King would have it so For that must be to a Man of that Principle the only Rule and Measure of Right and Justice Excellent State-Logick this and were it my Aim to pervert the people I would thus chop Allegiance into a thousand Niceties as the School-men do Divinity for making such like Inferences to intoxicate the peoples minds for the Scripture makes Witchcraft near of kin to Rebellion they seldom part company and the Vilany intended by such Arguments is usually masqued and hid in ambiguous phrases What ado is here made with the word Divine Right It may be remembred the same was made use of to purpose by the Presbyterians to inflame people into the former Rebellion We would fain forget all their past Intrigues but it seems there is fresh use of them or else these thinâ—s had not been thus boldly conjured up again into the House of Peers a place too sacred for such discourses In all Debates about the high Points of Polity every Expression ought not only to be season'd by the Speaker cum grano Salis but to be understood so also by the Hearers If among Men of honest and fair intentions towards the King it be said the King holds his Monarchy by a Divine Right none but a Mad-man or a Man of design a Man whose Business 't is to catch at words and cramp them with Commentaries to his own purpose a Man that can blow up Molâ—hills to Mountains who carries a Microsâ—ope in his Pocket upon occasâ—on to see all in great who when he plâ—ases strains at Gâ—ats in State while he is out of Government but can swallow Camels when he is in it none but such a Man would presently conclude that such a Divine Right was meant as excludes all bounding or limitation by Humane Laws such a One as leaves no Obligation from the Prince to the People A Father hath a Divine Right to Rule his Son and a Master his Servant else the Scripture had never made Divine Injunctions investing them with Rights of absolute Power over them and yet the same Scripture also signifies that notwithstanding those Rights
the last Sessions of Parliaments non-effect or to enable them to ghess who it was that spoiled several foregoing Sessions by spinning the like long Speeches to start and cherish Controversies instead of doing Business And from thence they may do well to consider if the like shall be done again what kind of Man that is who shall endeavour to render a Parliament of no Effect And what a difference can be made betwixt a Subverter and a Continual Frustrater of the Parliamentary Constitution In the first place that Speech tells the Lords that the All of their Lordships was at Stake in that Business of Shirley as if the House of Peers could not stand unless they resolved to hear him that Minute and yet many Lords if Prints belie them not did seem to believe it But those Lords I suppose cannot but by this time observe this one Passage of the Print Page the 5th which represents my Lord Shaftsbury being in fâ—ar that a Vote might pass there for medling with no private Business for six weeks O my Lords said he if this be your Business see where you are if we are to Postpone our Judicature fâ—r the fear of Offending the House of Commons for six Weeks they in the Interim may pass the MONEY and other acceptable Bills which His Majesty thinks of Importance Sure the Print hath belyâ—d so Loyal a Heart as my Lord Shaftsbury to make him speak thus which in plain English amounts to this My Lords take â—eed what you do the King longs to have the Bill about Money and the other acceptable Bills of Importance dispatched and brought to him and the House of Commons would 〈◊〉 have Shirley 's Business laid aside for six Weeks that the Work may not be hindred but the King satisfied As if it had been a matter of Danger to satisfie the King which is a Reflection upon Majesty not to be darted out by any Subject in so great an Assembly And by it you have the purpose of the great Design pointed out in most Legible Characters his Lordship openly perswading the Peers if he can to thwart the King and render the Parliament unfit to do the Kings Business So that if the Print be a true Copy of his Speech then here 's the Trouble-House Ex ore tuo condemnaberis What need we any more witness who it is that troubles the King and Kingdom But the Print goes on and saith his Lordship said further That to lâ—y sweet Shirley aside Page the 6th would be to alter the Constitution of the Government and there is no Reason of State can be an Argument to your Lordships to turn your selves out of that Interest you have in the Constitution of the Government Nothing may more make us suspect this Speech than that it presents his Lordship as a Man afraid of altering the Constitution of Government I must confess I never knew him like an alteration in any Government as long as himself could be one in it therefore seeing he is none now 't is wisely done of him to insinuate the Crime upon others for so the Print doth very slily upon those Noble Lords whose Judgment and Conscience led them to lay aside Disputes about Judicature that they might do the King and Kingdoms Business before Shirley's And for this they were told Page 6th that they were ready to give away their Peâ—rage with its Rights and Priviledges and â—umbling down their own House to become Creatures as mean and low notwithstanding they have Titles as they are in absolute Monarchies And that there is no Priâ—â—e that evâ—r Govern'd without a Nobility or an Army if you will not have one you must have tâ— other And thus he concludes I therefore declare that I will serve my Prince as a Peer but will not destroy the Peâ—rage to serve him And now let us consider what occasion or need his Lordship had of this high Bravade unless it were craftily to possess mens Minds with a secret Opinion as if the King and those Noble Lords which sâ—uck close to His Majesties Concerns and the Kingdoms in this Debate had an end to Overthrow the House of Peers make the Monarchy absolute and Rule by an Army A thing the most impertinently and senslesly insinuated that can be from such Premises as have been mentioned And it rather argues that the Arguer hath some strange design or other upon the Government if he cannot by hook or by crook get himself in again to the Helm of it But his Reasons and the Design being well enough apprehended this and some other little Delusions of late years practised under Publick good Pretences cannot but be understood by the Lords and Commons as meer Tricks to turn the Frame of Government off its Wheels again and to shatter it into a Presbyterian Aristocratick or a Popular Tyranny for that is the inevitable consequence of unhinging this Well-order'd-Monarchy But the Print saith his Lordship went yet farther being resolved to search the Monarchy to the bottom page 10. and 11. and by the way he digs down as low as the Grave of Archbishop Laud. His Lordships Friends of Presbytery tumbled him in and Why should not he make bold to rake him out again The new Canons also made in that Archbishops time are brought forth and Arraigned with the Bishops for asserting Monarchy to be of Divine Right It seems then the Work is going on again they mean to bait the Bishops and undress the Monarchy once more and then stuff it with Presbyterian Hay or Stubble It may amaze any man to think of his Lordships wild way of discourse how it was possible from so slender a Topick as the Case of Shirley to improve it unto the introducing and determining of so many great and weighty Points and how he had the Art to hale them in thus by head and shoulders but the itch of much Speech-making is a disease that makes men sometimes delirious For the Print boldly infers these following Particulars 1. That the King is King by Law and by the same Law that the poor man enjoys his Cottage What need this have been said at a time when there was no occasion for it unless his Lordship had a mind to maintain That the King hath no Right more Divine than a Cottager For Dolus latet in Generalibus and these things do not portend any good meaning 2. That a King Governing by an Aymy without his Parliament is a Government saith he that I own not am not obliged to nor was born under 'T is a pleasant thing to have thus entertained the House of Peers First with setting up Men of Straw and then to defeat them start Chimâ—raes and run them down again by force of imagination to six a King as Governing in the head of an imaginary Army and then â—out him and the Scene of all this must be supposed to be England because his Lordship was not born nor is obliged to Government any where else Nor can the common