Parliament to revenge his Death upon the Papists 'T is true the King would not be prevailed upon by any Importunities though frequently made by the D. at the Board on Wednesday last to order a Councel-Table Declaration in favour of Yorks right to Succeed in case His Majesty should dye before him yet the business would appear to be so far gone and all things so disposed already in prospect of what they in end that they cannot without hazarding their whole concernements recall thâ—mselves from the purpose of murdering him Yea the Kings not gratifying the Dake in his so often repeated suit will now serve only to possess them with apprehensions of jealousie and make them accelerate rather than delay the wickedness 'T is possible they may foresee that it will be accompanied with greater hazards than it would have been could they have compassed that Business But they are gone past reteat and must either perish by the Sword of Iustice or seek to protect themselves by destroying the King And though this failure give them greater apprehensions that they must seek their safety by recourse to force than there would have been cause for had the Duke obtained such a Declaration yet men in their circumstances and where there is no Medium will choose rather to venture the being slain in the field than hang'd on a Gibbet or to have their Heads cut off upon a Block Ninethly As I know not who dare proclaim the D. of Y. should the K depart this life before him seeing the House of Commons in a Bill twice read and past have made it not only Capital but Treasonable to do it So if my Information do not greatly deceive me The D. of M. before he was taken rom his Mother in Holland and carried to Paris went for and was acknowledged as Prince of Wales And consequently to undermine this Title if in the issue he should prove so is not less than Trea on by the Statute And your Honour knows that though the King 's Affirmative might be of some significancy towards the Declaration of his Legittimacy and corroberation of his Right to the Imperial Crown yet his Negative imports just nothing when confronted with positive Evidence to the contrary Lastly Whereas the Partisans and Parasites of the D. of Y. would have it judged too great a reproach upon the King that ever he should be thought to have married a person of so low a quality as Madam Walters they do but in that discover at once their small acquaintance with History and either their want of memory or ingenuity in what concerns his R H. Your Lordship doth very well know that Edw. 4. though actually in the Throne and withal a Magnanimous and Victorious Prince yet he Married an ordinary Gentlewoman and she not only one of his own Subjects but the Relict of a former Husband and the Widow of an Enemy to his Crown and Family Whereas the King when supposed to have married the D. of M's Mother was actually in Exile the utmost of his Possessions lying in some saint hopes which his Right to the English Throne administred unto him And as it is not improbable but that he found it necessary to marry rather than by taking another course to alienate the minds of those further from him whose love it was his Interest to recover So the deplorableness of his condition at that time gave him small incouragement to demand in Marriage any that was the Daughter of a neighbouring King or Monarch Nor is it difficult to conceive how far the Wit Beauty and Air of such a Lady as Madam Walters was might prevail upon and entangle a young Prince both naturally Amorous and always an admirer of such Qualifications Nay My Lord though the D of Y. hath been twice Married and when in much better circumstances than the King then was yet he hath no great cause of beating himself upon the Antiquity or Greatness of the Families into which he hath Matched For I 'm sure neither of his Dutchesses derived their Descent from so eminent a Pedigree or of that Figure in Heraldry as the D. of M's Mother proceeded from They are great Strangers in England who do not know that her Father was a Gentleman of an old Brittish Linage and stood possessed of a much airer Estate than the late Lord Chancellor Hide was ever born unto And though I will cast no Reflection upon his Acquisitions yet this may be affirmed with modesty That he was more indebted to the favour of his Prince for them than any extraordinary meirit in himself or recommendation by the Dignity and Services of his Ancestors And one would think the returns he made unto his Majesty in more than a thousand Instances should not render the King very fond of transmitting the Crown to his Off-sâ—pring My Lord having endeavoured to obey you in one of your Commands I shall in the next place apply my self to the consideration of your second And to ease your Lordship of all unnecessary and superfluous trouble I shall not entertain with any long Character of Sir Gilbert Gerrard as presuming that that Gentleman is fully known unto you All I shall therefore say concerning him is That he is still the same and of the same Principles he was when he suffered so much for the King in the late Times That is He is a Loyal Subject a good Protestant and a true English man one who will Obey his Prince as far as Conscience Law and Honour will allow him but will sacrifice none of these neither upon Mercinary terms nâ—r to avoid impendent dangers And as it were happy for the King were all his Subjects of that Figure so it would greatly redound to the Honour of the Church of England to have all her Members of that Complexion and Temper Nor ought his being put out of the Commission of the Peace be construed as any Reflection upon him seeing he hath so many worthy and deserving Persons in all the Counties of England sharers with him in the same Fortune What the occasion of that treatment was your Lordship fully understands tho you were no way interested in the Affair and it is to be hoped that the King may in Time discover the pernitiousness of those Counsels which both prevented his hearkening to the humble Entreaties of many of his People and have influenced him to disoblige a great number of his best Subjects â—'m sure both his Majesty and the Kingdom do already sensibly suffer by it while the Gentlemen themselves are only discharged from a burthen There may possibly be some mean souls who covet being in the Commission to obtain a respect in their Country or to make a gain by their Office and Employment but Sir Gâ—lbert with those other Gentlemen who are in the same predicament with him are persons who in their greatest privacies can command a deference from all about them and whom God hath blessed both with Estates and Minds which exalt them above
A Letter to a Person of Honour concerning the BLACK BOX My Lord YOu are pleased to command me to give you some account of the Foundation of that Report which hath arrived with you concerning a Black Box and withall to let you know how Sir Gilbert Gerard acquitted himself at his appearance before the King and Councel in reference to that affair As to the first I must crave leave to distinguish betwixt what is material in that business and what is meerly circumstantial and serveth only by way of purad Your Lordship whose conversation hath given you great advantages of knowing the reports of the World in relation to the Kings Marriage with the Duke of Monmouths Mother can easily recollect that there was never so much as a suggestion given out till of late of any such thing as a Black Box nor of a Writing importing a Contract consigned by the late Lord of Durham to the Custody of Sir Gilbert Gerard. And had there been any thing of that consequence committed to and entrusted with him he is both a person of that Honour and Courage as to have dar'd to have own'd and justified it and a Gentleman of that discretion and wisdom that he would ere this have acquainted the Parliament with it to whom both the Cognisance and Decision of a matter of so grand importance do properly belong But in truth the whole referring to the Black Box is a meer Romance purposely invented to sham and ridicule the business of the Marriage which indeed hath no relation to it For they who judg'd it conducible to their present Interest to have the D. of M's Title to the Crown not only discredited but exposed thought it necessary instead of nakedly enquiring whether he be the Kings Legitimate or only Natural Son to bring upon the Stage a circumstance no way annexed with it supposing that this being found a Fable the Marriage it self of the K. with the said Ds. Mother would have undergone the same Censure But by what I do perceive they were mistaken in their measures seeing most men know how to separate what they endeavoured so artificially to have interwoven And all that I can apprehend they are like to get by it is the raising a Devil they will not easily lay For My Lord it is in the first place apparent that the starting of this business is to be wholly ascribed to the Duke of York and those under whose Conduct he regulates himself and his concerns Had any others been the first movers in it you may be sure they would never have ventured it before the Councel as it is now influenced and moulded but they would have waited till the sitting of the Parliament where they might expect nothing but Impartiality and Justice In the second Place The very intimation that any besides the D. of Y. doth so much as pretend a Title to the Crown will operate with many to a belief that it is not without reason that he doth so For the only way to undeceive men in a matter of vain and groundless credulity is to neglect and despise them whereas all endeavours to convince them do but contribute to the strengthening them in their faith What will the People say But that if the D. of M. were not Legitimate Heir would the Papists by whose Inspirations the D. of Y. governs himself so effectually bestir themselves as to desire that an affair of so vast importance and wherein the whole Kingdom is conerned should be judged of by twenty or thirty persons who have neither Legislative nor Iudicial power And in the third Place Should they compass all that they can propose to themselves from the Board yet it would no way advantage the D. of Y. nor give the least prejudice to the D. of M. providing his Claim be just and can be evidenced o be so before the great Representative of the Nation For beyond all peradventure these things howsoever resolved upon and determined at the Councel will be called over again by the Parliament Nor will the Opinion of the Table ballance that great and wise Body to judge otherwise than as their Consciences upon a hearing of the whole matter shall oblige them And of what little significancy the Resolves of the Councel though stamped and enforced with the Authority of a King are to the imposing a Supream Ruler upon the Nation when a Legal Claim lyes in Opposition we are sufficiently instructed by the Instance of Jane Gray though a Lady of those Endowments which few of either sex ever parallel'd and recommended at that time to the Nation by many Enducements and Motives In the fourth Place The method of mannaging this Affair gives us more surprize than all the rest and seems wholly Calculated to Intricate matters rather than clear them For your Lordship and all others who are Masters of that sense which you possess would be ready to conceive that the main if not the only thing inquired into should be Whether the King was really Married unto Madam Walters and whether the D. of M. was Born in lawful Wedlock But in stead of this all the mighty Inquisition hath been Whether this or that person hard of a Black Box or of a Contract referring to the Kings Marriage with that Lady committed to the keeping of Sir Gilbert Gerard. Now what is all this to the reality of the Marriage seeing it might be transacted as most other Marriages are In verbis de presenti and of which no other Proof can be expected besides the Testimony of such as were personally present Fifthly The persons whom they have in this whole matter summoned before them and examined adds to the suspition and encreaseth the astonishment For People who think congruously to the subject before them had conceived That the main Scrutiny would have been either in reference to the Assurances given to the Countess of Weems concerning the Legitimacy of the D. of M. before she disposed her Daughter in Marriage to him or else that all the Examinations relating to this business would have been principally confined to those who were beyond Sea with the King when this Marriage is supposed to have happen'd But all this seems to have been industriously waved and in the room of these a few persons have been brought before and Interrogated by the Counsel who could never be supposed to have heard otherwise of it than by way of vulgar tattle And as I dare boldly affirm that there is no one person who is accustomed to the fellowship of the Town who hath not heard of such a Marriage so it is uncontroulably known That there was in Olivers time a Letter intercepted from the King to the said Lady then in the Tower superscribed to his Wife Nor is it unknown with what homage the Kings party in England at that time paid their Devotion and testified their Obedience to her For as they addressed her upon the Knee so by that and many other Symbols they declared that they
esteemed her for no less than the lawful Wife of their King and Master Sixthly 'T is of no great concernment who is the immediate apparent Heir in the Regal Line if we do but consider that the Parliament of England hath often provided a Successor to the Government when the Interest of the Publick hath required it without the least regard to such Punctilio's They who preferred William Rufus and Henry the 1st to Robert though Eldest Son of William the Conquerour what can they not do when weighty Reasons and Causes influence them unto it And they who advanced Stephen before Maud and John before his Eldest Brothers Son can they not when the Safety of the Kingdom requireth it put the Scepter into whose hands they please Nor hath Bastardy it self been an Obstruction to the confering of the Crown upon a person provided all things else have corresponded with the desires and Humours of the People For not only Athelstan the Great Saxon King was such but Q. Mary or Q. Elizabeth must be so Blazon'd and yet all three were Exalted to the Regal Throne And two of them not only approved themselves worthy of the Trust reposed in them but have consigned down that stock of Fame and Credit which few attaining unto hath left a Reproach upon most Princes who have succeeded them Even Henry the 7th from whom our King derives his Title and Right of Succession sprung from a Bastard who had nothing to render him capable to conveigh a Claim to his Posterity but that he was made Legitimate by Parliament Seventhly The Councel had done a thing grateful to the Nation and consonant to their Oathes and Duty if in stead of attempting to establish the Duke of York as Heir apparent they had examined Whether notwithstanding his Affinity to the King he hath not by manifold Treasons against the Person of his Majesty as well as against the Government forfeited his Life to Iustice and made himself obnoxious to a Scaffold while he is pretending to a Thorne He is yet a Subject and accountable for the Breach of the Laws and why his Crimes should find shelter in his Greatness I know not 'T is in vain to pretend to the Right of Succession when his Treasons were a Self Deposition were he actually Regnant Whosoever Conspires against any one part of the Constitution forfeits all he can Claim by any other branch of it To be accessory to a Plot for the destruction of the People is to abdicate himself from all Legal pretences of Reigning over them Now the being seduced and seducing so many of his Majesties Subjects from the established Religion to that of Popery is Treason by two Statutes viz. Eliz 22 1. Jam. 3. 4. And for which say the words of the Stat. They shall forfit as in cases of High Treason As the late Proclamation by King and Council hath also fiignifieantly declared The countenancing the Burning of London the endeavouring to alter the limited Monarchy into a Despotick Rule and the combining with the Papists in all the parts of the Late Plot make him lyable to the Ax while he is aspiring to a Scepter Eightly A more unaccountable thing yet than all the former is to see the King so far concern himself in having the Succession declared and determined For it is not usual to find a Prince appear in favour of a Brother when so many are in the Belief that he hath a Legitimate Son of his own Many Kings have endeavoured the advancement of their Bastard Children to the exclusion of their nearest Relations of the right Blood Only Charles the 2d will be the first on the File of History that when nothing but his bare Word was needful to the setling his Dominions on his Son as Legitimately born He alone and in the face of strong suspitions to the contrary would insinuate him to be only his Natural Son and for no other reason but that he would gratify his greatest Enemies I 'm sure we read of few Kings that ever gave any great Countenance to their Brethren when they were their presumptive Heirs though in the mean time they would not deprive them of their Legal Rights providing they came to out-live them Yea there are not many Ages past since the Heir apparent's being only attended by a greater Train than the King then reigning over these Kingdoms used to be accompanied with is theught to have given that jealousy to the Father as cost the young Gentleman his Life Surely considering the present posture of affairs and the obnoxiousness of the Papists to the Law for their many and continued Conspiracies against his Majesties Person the Lives of the People the Protestant Religion and the Peace and Safety of the Government it were the King and Kingdoms Interest to have the D. of Y ' s. Title as to his Succeeding to the Crown to be left undetermined and doubtful Nor can any thing so effectually conduce both to the Kings own Security and that of his Protestant Subjects as to leave the D. of Ys. under a Belief that should the King be taken away there is one still behind that can dispute the Crown with him Nor can the D. of Y. pursuing the having the Right of Succession at this time setled intimate less to considering persons but that the Papists entertain new Designs against his Majesties Life and that only they want such a Declaration for the hastening of the Execution of them Your Lordship knows that Q. Elizabeth would never positively name her Succesâ—our though often importtned by Parliaments so to do for she very well understood that if this had been once done she should afterwards Reign only by his courtesie and owe the remain of her Life and the Peace of the Government to his Grace and Favour whom she had published for presumptive Heir And truly the Kings falling so immediaâ—ely ill after the D. of Y. had so errnestly solicited for a formal Declaration of his being next Heir to the Crown occasioned some mens grounds of Fear that his dispatch is not only resolved but the Springs and Causes of it disposed before and that all things being ripe this was meerly contrived to facilitate the Dukes Enterance upon the Government In brief matters are arrived at that pass that the Papists cannot suffer the King to continue and the Duke and they long escape the demerit of their actions For as his Majesty cannot subsist nor preserve the Reputation of his Crown and Government many months longer without a Parliament no more can they through the number quality and palpableness of their Crimes bear one So that the necessity of their Affaires as well as their Inclinations seconded by their Principles oblige them by one means or another to remove him Wherein if they succeed as I see no rational foundation of Judging but that they will there is nothing remains towards the preserving our Religion Lives and Liberties but to endeavour according to the Vote and Resolve of the last