impossible to escape the many and great accusation laid to his Charge Others and that the greater number too are of oppinion that he will be in no hazard of his Life and that it will not be possible to bring him into the compass of Treason quod tam misere cupio ut non credam his adverse party is so great and so far interested both in point of safety and Honour against him that Flectere si nequeunt superos c. Nothing will be left unassayed that may accelerate his Ruin He hath all this time carried himself couragiously to the admiration and with all so moderately that it is to the great satisfaction of his very Enemies so that he seems neither dejected with fear nor to affect boldness with confidence but to carry himself with that constancy and resolution which his Innocency and brave parts do promise The Irish Commissioners here have hitherto abstained from giving in any Remonstrance against the Lieutenant and do still plead to have an immediate dependance from the King and not from the Parliament of England There was a Report that the Parliament of Ireland had sent a Protestation against the Act made the last year for the Kings Supply in his Expedition against the Scots as a thing which was violently in part and in part surreptitiously obtained from them but I have learned this to be an untruth I had almost forgotten one passage of Mr. Pym who in the aggravation of the Lieutenants faults had this Expression That he was like the Whore in the Proverbs He wiped his mouth and with a brazen face said he had done no evil To this the Noble Lord replied That he wished his Innocence might not be taken for Impudence That he hoped shortly to clear himself of all those foul Aspersions which his malicious Enemies had cast upon him and he was very confident that he should give the Honourable Houses full satisfaction concerning his Life hitherto and thought of nothing more hereafter than to retire himself from all publick Employments Mr. Pym gave at this a great shout and desired the House to take notice what an injury he had done to the Honourable House of Commons in calling them his Malicious Enemies Whereupon the Lieutenant falling down upon his Knees humbly besought them that they would not mistake him and withal gave a large Panegyrick of their most just and moderate proceedings protesting that if he himself had been one of the House of Commons as he had the Honour once to be he would not have advised them to have done otherwise against his dearest Friend but withal told them that he might justly say he had his own un-friends which he hoped in time to make known nor did he all this time speak one bitter word against Mr. Pim though justly incensed which hath infinitely advanced his Reputation I have been a daily hearer of these Proceedings against this great Personage now upon the Stage therefore do presume I can give a reasonable account thereof The Book of his Charge is extant in Print so it shall be needful for me only to name the Articles as they were canvassed and those designed by the House of Commons to be his Accusers which were these that follow The Names of his Accusers Pym Glin Maynard Whitlock Lord Digby St. Johns Palmers Sr. Walter Earles Stroud Seilden Hamden c One of these began the Speech the rest after their Colleague hath done follow in their turn so that he hath all of them to wrestle against and yet sufficiently able for them all though by his agitation his Spirits are much exhausted Mr. Glyn after a large Flourish on Wednesday told the Lords That the Lord Strafford was impeached not with simple but accumulative Treason For though in each particular Article such a monstrous Crime could not be deprehended yet when all was conceived in the Mass and under one view he should be undoubtedly found the most wicked and exorbitant Traytor that ever was Arraigned at that Barr. He added That his Charge was for intending to subvert and change the Fundamental Laws Liberties and Priviledges of both the Kingdoms and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Form of Government This he said could not appear but by the Fruits which were either in Expression or Action The Expressions were four First That before several Witnesses he had said at York That the King 's little Finger should beheavier to them than the Loyns of the Law To this the Lieutenant replied That having spoken sufficiently before to his Justification in general he would moreover add these few Words by their Favours That it strike him to the heart to be attached of such a wicked Crime by such Honourable Persons yea that it wounded him deeper in regard that such Persons who were the companions of his youth and with whom he had spent the best of his dayes should now rise up in judgment against him yet he thanked God for it it was not Guilt but Grief that so much troubled him He added That it was a wonder how he had gotten strength sufficient in such Infirmity of Body and such Anguish of Mind to collect his Thoughts and say any thing at all for himself But the Almighty God who knows him to be innocent had furnished him with some abilities to give Testimony to the Truth and to a good Conscience He therefore intreated that iâ— either in Judgment or in Memory he should at any time fail it might be imputed to his great Weakness And although the Gentlemen his Accusers should seem more ready in their Accusations than himself in his defence yet that might not prejudice his Cause who in very unequal terms had to do with learned and eloquent Lawyers bred up a long time and inured to such judiciary pleadings and whose Rhetorick he doubted not might present many things to their view in a Mutiplying Glass He told them farther that for these many years he had been weary of publick service and that now it was his resolution after he had vindicated his Honour to retire himself and enjoy his much longed for privacy And yet he could not but tell them so much that it had been his hearty wish and desire rather voluntarily to have resigned his places of Honour like a ripe Fruit fallen from the Tree than to be violently pulled from thence as a fruitless and unprofitable withered Branch To the Charge of Treason he said that under favour he conceived that although all the Articles contained in his impeachment were verified against him yet they would not all amount to Treason neither simple not accumulative For said he I do not understand by what Interpretation of Law the diversion of Justice can be called a Subversion of the same or the exceeding of a Commission the usurpation of a new Power To the particular he replyed that his words were cleerly inverted for that his expression was That the little finger of the Law if not supported by the Regal
was the height of his Tyranny not only to dominier over the Bodies but also over the Consciences of Men to which purpose he had enjoyned an Oath to the Scots in Ireland and because some out of tenderness of Conscience did refuse to take the â—ame he had fined them in great Sums of Money Banished a great number from that Kingdom called all that Nation Traytors and Rebels and said if ever he returned home from England he would root them out both Stock and Branch For Proof of this First Sir Jammy Mountgomery was produced who declared at large how that Oath was contrived Secondly Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchiardon who spake to the same purpose Thirdly Sir Jo. Clotworthy who declared that a great number had fled the Kingdom for fear of that Oath Fourthly One Mr. Samuel who deposed that upon the tenth of October 1638. He heard the Dâ—puty say these words that if he returned he would root them out Stock and Branch They Concluded That this was a point of the most Tyrannical and Arbitrary Government that before this time was ever heard of not only to Lord it over the Fortunes but also over the Souls of Men. And that it rested only in the Parliament which hath the Legislative Power to enjoyne Oaths And that therefore this was one of the chief points he had done against the Priviledges and Liberty of the Subject The Lieutenant Replied That every new Article acquainted him with a new Treason that if he had done any thing in all his life acceptable to the King and Countrey he conceived it to be this To these Particulars First He desired the Lord would call to mind the condition of those times no than pointing to my Lord Steward knows better than your Lordship who had then the chiefest place in his Majesties Service I would be very sorry to rub said he old Sores especially seeing I hope things are in a fair way to a firm Peace and I wish that I may not be deceived that is that it may be so only thus much I may say we had then greater fears and apprehensions in Ireland left the Scots in the Kingdom who were above one hundred thousand Souls might have joyned with their Countrey-Men at home for the disturbance of our Peace mean time we detected a Treason of Betraying of the Castle of Knockfergus to a great Man in that Kingdom whose name I now spare by one Freeman who upon the discovery was executed The Councel-Board therefore in Ireland resolved to prescribe the Scots an Oath whereby they might declare their discontent at their Countrey-mens proceedings and obliege themselves to the Kings Service but while we were about this they of their own accord come to Dublin to Petition for it and took it with a wonderful alacrity and heartiness so that it is a marvelous falshood for any man to say it was invented or violently enjoyned by me Secondly about the same time the same Oath verbum verbo was by the Councel of England prescribed to the Scots at London and else where which was no small encouragement to us in Ireland Thirdly I had said he which I never shewed because I had no need before this time a special Warrant from the King all Written with his own hand to that effect and when the King commands a matter not contrary to Law truly I said he do conceive it both contrary to Law and Conscience not to yield him all due obedience For the Proof brought against him there was nothing seemed to be of any moment but the words For the first words That he had called all the Nation Rebels and Traytors He said there was no proof at all nor indeed could there be any for if I had said it quoth he I had been perfectly out of my Witts And he thanked God such irrational-speeches used not to escape him He honoured that Kingdom very much because it was the native soil of our dread Soveraign his gracious Master and because he knew a part yea he hoped the greatest part of them had been and ever will be as loyal and dutiful to the King as any other of his Subjects and of those too who had subscribed that unhappy combination he knew a great many had done it against their hearts and wills and would be ever ready upon occasion to remonstrate the same by adhering to the Kings service So that this accusation was nothing but a wrestling and perverting hâ—s words and meaning of purpose to make him odious and irritate a whole Nation against him For the other words they were proved only by one Witness which could make no sufficient faith and that Witness too he would evince if not of perjury yet of a notable mistake For he had sworn positively that he had spoken these words the tenth of October whereas he was come out of Ireland into England the twelfth of September before and was at London the one and twentieth For thâ—se that had fled the Kingdom because of that Oath he knew none such and if they did they fled into Scotland which might sufficiently argue their Intentions and Resolutions For his part if they were not willing to give that Testimony of their Loyalty to their Prince although he had known of their Departure he would have been very loath to have kept them against their wills but should have been gladly rid of them and have made them a Bridge to be gone rather than stay Upon Monday Master Whitlock Proceeded to the 20 Article and told him that because the matter was intervenient consimilis nature they had resolved to joyne the five next Articles together because all of them tended to one point or period that is to shew what bad Design he had to have subdued the Kingdoms both of Scotland and England by force of Arms and to reduce them to that arbitrary Government he had lately introduced into Ireland The Lieutenant intreated that they would proceed according to the order prescribed by the House which was Article by Article He said five Articles were many the matter weighty his Memory Treacherous his Jugment weak It was bitterly replied my Master Glin that it did not become the Prisâ—ner at the Bar to prescribe them in what way they should give in their Evidences The Lieutenant modestly answered that if he stood in his place he would perhaps crave the like favour unless his abilities did furnish him with more strength than he could find in himself for his part he was contented they should proceed any way always provided they would grant him a competent time for Replying Then Whitlock went on and told the Lords that something in those Articles concerned the Scottish something the English Nation that which concerned the Scottish he reduced to five heads First That the Deputy had said at the Councel-Board that the Scots demands contained sufficient 〈◊〉 to perswade to an offensive War Secondly Thus the same demands did strike at the Root and Life of
Souldiers although the same be reputed Treason in any other To the Statute of Henry the Sixth he Replied that a slender Answer might serve He hoped that no man would think him so inconsiderate to war against the King of Britain and Ireland by the sessing of five Souldiers that he had been charged by many for taking Arms for the King but to that time never for taking Arms against him and that he heartily wished that no man in all his Majesties Dominions had more practises with Rebels and Rebellious Designs against the King than himself So much for Thursday ' At the Close he desired the intermission of a day that he might recollect his Spirits and ' Strength against the next Quarrel and with some difficulty obtained rest till Saturday Upon Saturday Mr. Palmea proceeded to the sixteenth Article and Charged thus That the Lord Strafford having established a Tyrannical and Independent Authority by giving Summary Decrees and Sentences had deprived the Subject of all just Remedy for in that Kingdom there was none supream to himself to whom they might appeal and lest their just grievances might be made known to His Majesty he had obtained a Restraint That no complaint should be made of Injustice or Oppression done there till the first Address had been made to himself and that no person should come out of that Kingdom but upon Licence obtained from himself For Proof of this First the Instructions were read whereby that Restraint was permitted Seconly the Proclamation That all Noblemen Gentlemen Undertakers Officers or other Subjects that should resort into that Kingdom should not come from thence without a Licence from him Thirdly That he had restrained the Earl of Desmond because of a Suit in Law depending between the Earl and himself till Publication of the same was passed Fourthly That the Lord Roch being informed against before the Star-Chamber he would not Licence him to come into this Kingdom till the Sentence was passed against him Fifthly Than one Marchatee having pretended a mind to travel was denied a Licence Sixthly That the whole Committee for the Parliament was restrained this last year by Deputy Waniford which they said might be interpreted to be his Fact both because they had such intelligence the one from the other as also by the Proclamation issued by him before Seventhly That one Parry Servant to Chancellor Loftis was fined five hundred pounds at his return for departing Ireland without Licence Eightly That the Irish Remonstrance complained of this as the greatest Innovation and Thraldom put upon them since the time of the Conquest They concluded the Charge That by this meanes having taken of that Intelligence which should be between the King and his People and having deprived them of that Remedy which in Reason they might expect from so Just and so gracious a Prince he had taken upon him a Royal and Independent Power and had faulted highly both against King and State The Lievtenants Reply was That he hoped to make it clear that he had done nothing in that particular but what was usual necessary and just and that he should be very well able by the Grace of God not only of that but of all other his publick Actions to give a reasonable Accompt though not be free from much weakness yet certainly from oll Malice and Treason To the Particulars First For Instructions laid upon him he was not so much Chargeable as those of the Council of England whereof there was a great many present who could witness their Commands but lest any thing should seem unjustly enjoyned by them or embraced by him he desired that the Reasons of their Instructions might be read which were That it were Injustice to complain of Injuries of Oppression done in that Kingdom till first the Deputies Judgment was informed and Trial made of his Integrity That it would much discourage the Ministers of State there and expend the Monies of that Kingdom if upon every trifling business Complaints should be admitted in England And that if Justice were there denied by the Deputy it should be lawfull for any man to come over Secondly For the Proclamation That the same was builded upon the Statute of that Kingdom the 25 of Hen. 6. which contained the same Restraint verbatim Thirdly That Anno 1628. the Agents for the Irish Nation had Petitioned for the same from the King Fourthly That the Deputy Faulkland had set forth the same Proclamation Fifthly That he had the Kings express Warrant for it Anno 1634. which was read Sixthly That he had received the Warrant in January yet the Proclamation issued not out till September after Seventhly That the whole Council-Board of Ireland had not only condescended but also pressed him to it Eightly The Necessity of the Kingdom required the same for if the Gentlemen had the Ports open to go to Spain and their Scholars to Doway Rhemes or St. Omers it were likely that at their return they would put fire both in Church and State and produce very sad Events by practising to distemper both Ninthly He conceived that the King as great Master of the Family might restrain whom he pleased from departing his Kingdom without his privity and here it was not lawful for any to go from England without Licence how much more necessary was this from Ireland To the Proofs he answered First For Desmond he granted he was Restrained indeed but not for any Suit of Law betwixt them but because at that time he stood Charged with Treason before the Councel in Ireland for practising against the Life of one Sir Valentine Cooke Secondly For the Lord Roch he had often-times marvailed with what reason the man at that time could seek a Licence seeing he was a Prisoner for Debt in the Castle of Dublin and if he had granted a Licence to him then it had been a far more just Charge of Treason than now Thirdly For Marcattee he was afraid of his going to Spain and if he had intended to go for England and complain of himself he would not have refused him Liberty as he never did to any Fourthly That the Committy of Irish was not restrained by him and therefore did not concern him at all Fifthly That for Parry he was fined indeed but that it is expresly said in his Sentence that it was not for coming over without Licence as is suggested but for sundry contempts against the Councel-Board in Ireland Sixthly That he had Replied in the last Article a Remonstrance was no proof at all He concluded that he hoped the least Suspition of Treason could not accrue to him from the Article For Oppression or Misdemeanour when it was laid to his Charge he made no doubt but he should be able to answer it The same day a new man was hurried out against him Mr. Whitlock who havâ—ng past over the 17 and 18 Articles resteth on the nineteenth about the Oath administred to the Scots in Ireland and Charged thus That it
about the two first particulars but did hear of none and that it was no small disadvantage to him to be charged with a great many odious Crimes by a Book Printed and flying from hand to hand through the whole Kingdom yet when they came to prove there should be no such thing laid against him Secondly About the Speeches He ingeniously confessed that some such thing might perhaps have escaped the dore of his lips when he saw their backwardness to his Majesties Service and as the times were then conditioned he did not think it much amiss to call that faction by the name of Rebels but yet he thought he had abundantly satisfied for that oversight if it was any at York For having understood there that the City of London were willing to make a Loan of Money he there before the great councel of the Peers expressed himself to this sence that the Londoners had sufficiently made up all their delays hitherto by their Act that the King was oblieged to their forwardness and that he himself should be as ready to serve them as any poor Gentleman in England About the other words he said that being in conference with some of the Londoners there came at that time to his hands a Letter from the Earl of Leicester then at Paris wherein were the Gazets inclosed reporting that the Cardinal had given some such order as to leavy Money by forces this he said he only told the Lord Cottington standing by without the last application or intention concerning the English Affairs Cottington being examined upon this declared the same in the same manner Thirdly to Sir Ralph Freeman he said that his Testimony did not concern the Charge at all nor did he think any thing amiss in it though he had said it if the Servants of the Mint refused 〈◊〉 work according to directions they did deserve the House of Correction nor was it Treasonable to say the King might use that House for the Correction of his Servants as well as any Man in the Citty for theirs Fourthly He said that there was no great likelyhood that he had committed real Acts of Treason when his adverse party was content to trifle away so much time about words neither was there any Treason in them though they had been fully verified and therefore in that as in all other Articles he reserved a power for his Councel to dispute in matter of Law They went to the Twenty seventh Article and Charged thus That immediately after his Appointment to be Lord Lieutenant to the Army here in England he shewed what Principles of Arbitrary Government lurked within his bosom for by his own immediate Authority without and against Law he had laid Impost of Money upon the Kings Subjects where they mention three Particulars First That he had imposed 8 d. per diem upon the County of York for entertaining the Trayned Bands there one whole Month. Secondly That they had sent out Warrants for collecting the same and threatned to imprison such as should refuse to pay Thirdly That he said that it was a Crime nigh to the Crime of high Treason not to pay the saâ— Fourthly They added that in his general Replies he had brought two things for his defence first that this mony was freely and voluntarily offered by those in York-shire secondly that the great Councel of the Peers had notice of the same To the first they answered that a Petition was indeed preferred by the York shire men and a Month pay offered but that the Lord Srafford had refused to present the same upon this exception only because in the same they had petitioned for a Parliament whereby he evidently declared what little â—nclination he had to that way To the Second They appeal'd to all the Lords present whether any such Order did pass before the Council of the Peers at York The Proofs were First A Warrant issued by Colonel Pennyman for this Money and another by Sir Edward Osborne Secondly Mr John Burrowes who declared that he was Clerk to the great Council but did remember of no Order and withal added that it might have passed at that time when he attended at Rippon Thirdly Mr. Dunston who declared that he had known that Money levied by some Musqueteers Fourthly By Sir William Ingram who declared that he had heard the Lieutenant say that to refuse the same came nigh to the Crime of High Treason The concluded the Charge That by these Particulars it was more than evident what unhappyâ— Purposes and Trayterous Designes he had to subdue this Kingdom and subvert the Fundamental Laws and Priviledges First To the Petition That it was a true Petition drawn up by the York-shire Gentlemen and as true that he had refused to present the same because of that clause about the Parliament but the matter was thus At his Majesties coming to York it was thought necessary for the defence of that County to keep the Trayned Band on foot because the Enemy was upon the Borders and therefore the King directed him to write to all the Free-holders in York-shire to see what they would do for their own defence The Time and Place were designed by the King but the night before the Meeting a small Number convented and in a private and factious way did draw up that Petition upon the morrow at their appointed Diet in presence of the whole Number the Petition was presented to him where he did advise them to leave out that Clause and that because he knew the King out of his own Gracious Disposition had intended to call a Parliament which he desired should rather be freely done than upon the constraint and importunity of Petitions moreover it would seem a Mercenary thing in them at one and the same time to offer a Benevolence and withal to Petition for his Favour upon this Remonstrance they were all willing to recall the Petition and directed him by word of Mouth to offer unto the King the Months pay in their Names which he did accordingly in the presence of Forty of them to their no small advantage This he proved by Sir William Pennyman Sir Paul Neale Sir George Wentworth Sir William Savil Sir Thomas Danby who all of them declared as much in ample terms and withal added That nothing was done upon better grounds of Necessity and Obedience than the Offer of â—hat Money and that they never had heard any man grudge against it to this time For the Second about the Council of Peers he alledged that he never made mention of any Order of theirs but he remembred very well it was twice propounded before them that the King had approved it at that time a just and necessary Act and none of the Council had contradicted it which he conceived as a tacit approbation and an Order in Equivalence But though that had not been yet there was nothing done in the Business but at the special desires of the Gentlemen themselves and for their necessary
Words but if the Demands were read perhaps they would imply nothing less and if so how otherwise to be answered but by the Sword all other Means being first assayed which is ever to be supposed For Sir Henry Vane's and Northumberland's Testimony about perswading of an Offensive War he said he remembred it very well and thought it as free for him to give his Opinion or an Offensive as they for a Defensive War Opinions said he if they be attended with Obstimacy or Pertinacy may make an Heretick but that they ever made a Traytor he never heard it till now nor under favour should I be an Heretick either said he for as I was then so am I now most willing to acknowledge my Weakness and correct my Errors whereof no man hath more or is more sensible of them than I my self yet if that Opinion of mine had been followed it might perhaps have spared us some Money said he and some Reputation too of which we have been prodigal enough For the last about the Ships it proves nothing but he would willingly confess that some Ships were there detained and that by himself and his own Direction as Vice Admiral of Connaugh but it was at the Command of the Lord Admiral the Earl of Northumberland and produced his Letter to that purpose To the English Proof He marvelled much how Sir George Ratcliff's Words could be put upon him Sir George though alledged to be his Bosom Friend yet had thoughts of his own and might have some other thoughts in his Bosom and be to some other Expressions than Sir George Ratcliffe No man said he can commit Treason by his Attorney and should I by my Friend Sir George as by a Proxy For his Brother He never knew him before so rash but that was nothing to him except they could prove a nearer Identity than Nature had instituted and that his Brother's Words and his were â—ll one yet withal he conceived that his Brother's Words might be very well understood of the Scots conquering England but not at all of the Irish and so he wished with all his heart that he had not spoken something which is like a Prophesie To the Primate's Testimony with all Reverence to his Integrity be it spoken he is but one Witness and in Law can prove nothing Add to this said he that it was a private Discourse between him and me and perhaps spoken by me Tentandi gratia and how far this should be laid to a mans Charge let your Lordships judge Yea this seems to me against Humanity it self and will make the Society of men so dangerous and loathsom to us that our Dwelling Houses will be turned to Cells and our Towns to Defarts That which God and Nature our Tongues have bestowed upon us for the greater comfort of venting our own Conceptions or craving the Advice of Wiser and Learnecer men should become Snares and Burdens to us by a curious and needless Fear yet if my Words be taken said he with all that went before and followed after I see no danger in it To the Lord Conway I may reply the same with this Addition That it is a very Natural Motion for a man to preserve himself every Greature hath this Priviledge and shall we deny it to Monarchy provided this be done in a lawful though in an extraordinary way This grain of Salt must be added to season all my Discourse To that of Sir Henry Vane of offering my Service to the King I thank him for the Testimony and think he hath done me much honour thereby but if he or any body else do suspect that his Majesty will employ me in unlawful Enterprizes I shall think them more liable to the Charge of Treason than my self To the subsequent Testimonies I shall not need to wrestle about them much only the last of Sir Henry Vanes pinches and lies sore upon me but to that which the Earl of Clare and I thank him for it hath said already give me leave to add this that the Testimony of one man is not a sufficient Witness nor can a man be Accused much less Condemned of Treason upon this and for that read the Stat. of Hen. 7.12 and of Edw 6.5 Now my Lords said he to give you further satisfaction I shall desire all the Lords of the Councel which were then present only to the number of eight may be examined whether they heard these words or not for the Archbishop and Sir Francis Windebank they cannot be had Sir Henry Vane gives the Testimony I deny it four only remain First The Earl of Northumberlands Testimony which was read had declared expresly that he had never heard those words nor any like them from the Lord Strafford but he spake with great Honour and regard to the Kingdom of England Secondly the Marquess Hamilton who declared upon his Oath that he had never heard such words but that he had heard the Lieutenant often say that the King was to rule his Royal Power Candidè Castè that it would never be well for this Kingdom till the Prerogative of the Crown and the Priviledge of the Subject went in one pace together and that Parliaments were the happiest way to keep a correspondency between the King and People The very same was delivered by the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Cottington Now my Lords you may mervail how these words rested only on the ears of Sir Henry Vane but my Lords said he that I may remove all scruple from you I will make it evident that there was not the least intention that the Irish Army should set a foot in England and then I hope you will conceive that I had no meaning to reduce this Kingdom This he made clear by the Testimony of Northumberland the Oaths of Marquiss Hâ—milton Lord Cottington Lord Treasurer Sir Thomas Lucas who only were private to that matter For other of my words my Lords said he I desire you would not take them by halves if so who should be free from Treason Certainly if such a precident take sooting Westminster-hall shall be more troubled with Treason then with Common-Law look therefore to the Antecedents and Consequents of my Speeches and you shall find the state of the question clearly altered the Antecedents were upon an absolute or inevitable necessity upon a present Invasion when the remedy of a Parliament cannot be expected the Consequents for the defence of the Kingdom which acompts afterward to the Parliament The qualifications too in a lawful convenient and ordinary way so far as the present necessity can permit Add but these and which of you are not of my mind Is the King endowed with no power from the Lord Is he not publicus inspector Regni Stands it not him in hand to do something on present necessities And that these were his words he often proved over and over again by the Marquess by the Lord Treasurer Cottington Sir Tho. Jermine My Lords what I have kept to the
years of my public Employments and shall God willing to my Grave God His Majesty and my own Conscience yea and all those who have been most Accessory to my inward thoughts and opinions can bear me witness that I ever did inculcate this That the happiness of a Kingdom consists in a just poize of the King's Prerogative and the Subjects Liberty And that things would never go well 'till they went hand in hand together I thank God for it by my Master's favour and the providence of my Ancestors I have an Estate which so interesseth me in the Common-wealth that I have no great mind to be a Slave but a Subject nor could I wish the Cards to be shuffled over again upon hopes to fall upon a better Set Nor did I ever nourish such base mercenary thoughts as to become a Pander to the Tyranny and Ambition of the greatest man living No I have and ever shall aim at a fair but a bounded Liberty remembring always that I am a Free-man yet a Subject that I have a Right but under a Monarch But it hath been my misfortune now when I am gray-headed to be Charged by the Mistakers of the times who are now so highly bent that all appears to them to be in the extream for Monarchy which is not for themselves Hence it is that Designs Words yea Intentions are brought out for real Demonstrations for my misdemeanors such a multiplying Glass is a prejudicate Opinion The Articles contain Expressions and Actions My Expressions either in Ireland or England my Actions either before or after these late stirs in this Order he went through the whole Charge from the first Article to the last in an excellent Method and repeated all the Sums and Heads of what was spoken by him before only added in the twenty eighth Article if that one Article had been proved against him it contained more weighty matter than all the Charge besides And it had not only been Treason in him but also Villany to have betrayed the trust of His Majesty's Army Yet because the Gentlemen had been sparing by reason of the times to insist upon that Article though it might concern him much he resolved to keep the same Method and not utter the least expression that might seem to disturb the happy agreement intended though he wished the same might deceive his expectation Only thus much he admired how himself being an Incendiary against the Scots in the twenty third Article is now become their Confederate in the twenty eighth Article or how he could be Charged for betraying New-Castle and for fighting with the Scots at Newbourn too seeing fighting with them was no possible means for betraying the Town but to hinder their passage thither That he never advised War farther than in his poor judgment concerned the very life of the King's Authority and the safety and honour of his Kingdoms Nor saw he what advantage could be made by a War in Scotland where nothing could be gained but many hard blows For his part he honoured the Nation but he wished they might be ever under their own Climate and had no desire they should be too well acquainted with the better Soyl of England But he thought that Article had been added in jest or as a supernumerary and he very little suspected to be reckoned a Confederate with the Scots and wished as he hoped it was that every English-man were as free from that imputation as himself closing his Defence with this Speech My Lords You see what may be alleaged for this Constructive rather Destructive Treason For my part I have not the judgment to conceive that such a Treason is agreeable either with the fundamental grounds of Reason or Law not of Reason for how can that be Treason in the lump or mass which is not so in any of the parts Or how can that make a thing Treasonable which in it self is not so Not of Law since neither Statute Common-Law nor Practice hath from the beginning of this Government ever mentioned such a thing and where my Lords hath this Fire without the least appearance of any Smoak lien hid so many hundred years and now breaks forth into a violent Flame to destroy me and my Posterity from the Earth My Lords do we not live by Laws and must we be punished by Laws before they be made Far better were it to live by no Laws at all but to be governed by those Characters of Discretion and Virtue that Nature hath stamped in us than to put this necessity of Divination upon a man and to accuse him of the breach of Law before it be a Law at all If a Water-man upon the Thames split his Boat by grating upon an Anchor and the same have a Buoy appending to it he is to charge his own Inobservance but if it hath none the owner of the Anchor is to pay the loss Mr Lords if this Crime which they call Arbitrary Treason had been marked by any discerner of the Law the ignorance thereof should be no excuse for me but if it be no Law at all how can it in rigour or strictness it self condemn me Beware you do not awake these sleeping Lyons by the searching out some neglected Moth-eaten Records they may one day tare you and your Posterity in pieces It was your Ancestors care to chain them up within the Barracadoes of Statutes be not you ambitious to be more skilful and curious than your fore-Fathers in the Art of killing My Lords it is my present misfortune for ever yours and it is not the smallest part of my Grief that not the Crime of Treason but my other Sins which are exceeding many have presented me before this Bar and except your Lordships wisdoms provide for it it may be the shedding of my Blood may make way for the tracing of yours you your Estates your Posterities lie at the staâ—e If such Learned Gentlemen as these whose Tongues are well acquainted with such Proceedings shall be started out against you if your Friends your Councel denied access unto you if your professed Enemies admitted to witness against you if every Word Intention or Circumstance of yours be sifted and alleaged as Treasonable nâ— because of a Statute but because of a Consequence or Construction of Lawyers pieced up in an high Rhetorical strain and a number of supposed probabilities I leave it to your Lordships consideration to fore-see what may be the issue of such dangerous and Recent Precedences These Gentlemen tell me they speak in defence of the Common-wealth against my Arbitrary Laws give me leave to say it I speak in defence of the Common-wealth against their arbitrary Treason for if this latitude be admitted what prejudice shall follow to King and Country if you and your Posterity be by the same disenabled from the greatest Affairs of the Kingdom for my poor self were it not for your Lordships interest and the interest of a Saint in Heaven who hath left me here two