away the very Sence They presse those words of His Declaration which they conceive expresly makes against it wherein the King does assure the World that He hath no more thought of making Warre against the Parliament then against His own Children and that he hath not nor shall not have any thought of using of any Force unlesse he shall be driven to it for the security of his Person and for the defence of the Religion which words truly doe condemne the King to my thinking just as Pilate did Christ namely by washing of his hands For can any thing be plainer then that as those tearms of Ampliation We have not nor shall not have any thought of using of any Force doe comprehend in them a formall profession that the King will not wage Warre against the Parliament so those words of Limitation and exception unlesse we shall be driven to it for the security of our Person doe contain in them a virtuall profession also that He will And therefore when M. Browne will condemne the King for making Warre against the Parliament as doing contrary to His expresse Declaration and will take no notice of that Case of Reservation annexed thereto which as expresly justifies all that the King hath done He saies no more in truth against the King then the Welch-man did against the Iudge who cryed out upon him for putting him to death for stealing a Rope but left out the Mare Concerning the second His Alteration of Religion they produce these words out of another of the Kings Declarations God so deale with Mee and Mine as My thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion and those words in His Declaration concerning His going into Ireland That His Majesty will never consent upon what pretence soever to a Toleration of the Popish profession there or the Abolition of the Lawes now in force against Recusants in that Kingdomes And then concerning the third that is His Alteration of the Lawes the words of another Declaration are remembred and cast in His teeth wherein He professes That He is resolved not only duly to observe the Lawes Himselfe but to maintain them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of his being And now how false the King hath been to both these solemne Professions by His secret practises let His Letters and M. Browne declare Mr Browne Concerning Ireland you have heard the Propositions made to the Queene for sending into this Kingdome diverse Irish Rebells under the command of two professed Papists six Thousand of them were to be under the command of the Lord Glamorgan the Earle of Worcesters eldest Son the other of ten Thousand under the command of Colonell Fits Williams The tearmes that they were to come upon were read to you in the Propositions which themselves sent to the Queene You will not thinke that these came to maintain the Lawes but to destroy them not to maintaine the Protestant Religion but to overthrow it These Propositions being sent to the Queene and allowed by Her and Shee sent them to the King For the Letters concerning Ireland they were written by the King to the Earle of Ormond who is now Governor there in some of them Letters the King gives way to the suspending of Poynings Law which was an Act of Parliament in the tenth yeare of Henry the seaventh It was called Poynings Law because Sir Edward Poynings was Governor of Ireland when that Law was made That Law made all Statutes that were before made in England of force in Ireland and the King may as well suspend all the Lawes there as that Law By that Law of Poynings all Lawes that were after to be presented at the Parliament in Ireland must be first sent hither for approbation before they could be presented to the Parliament there and no Parliament must be called there before the causes of calling the Parliament and the Acts to be passed in that Parliament are first sent hither and approved But that Law now must be suspended Further in the Letters to the Lord of Ormond you see the King doth not count it a hard Bargaine for to make a Law in Ireland to suspend or to take away the Penall Lawes against Papists there so that they will help Him here against His Protestant Subjects When this promise was made the Declaration was not remembred wherein the King doth declare that upon no pretence whatsoever he will Tolerate the Popish profession in Ireland or Abolish the Lawes against Popish Recusants now in force there He farther saith in another Letter to my Lord of Ormond that rather then He will faile of making a Peace or a Cessation with the Rebells He would have him engage himselfe to joyne with the Rebells against the Scots and the Lord Jnchequin which is the maine visible Protestant Forces that are in Ireland all this is enjoyned to be kept secret from all but two or three of the chiefest Rebells in Ireland whom you heard named in the Letters You may farther observe that a Peace was Treated of with the Rebells about the same time that the King did Treat with the Parliament here concerning Ireland and the King wished a quick dispatch of the Peace there least if He should make a Peace here first He could not shew such Favour to the Irish as He intended They are the words of His Letter You may see by all the Letters to my Lord of Ormond that the King did little stick at any thing to grant to the Rebells for a Peace with them but how little He granted to the Parliament of England at the last Treaty I hope all the World will soon know Animadversions Here are two principall things offered by way of proofe out of the Kings owne Papers concerning the Transaction of Affaires in Ireland to convince the King of Falshood and breach of Faith in two former Professions The first is where he promiseth my Lord of Ormond that He will suspend Poynings Law which they say crosses and contradicts his Solemne Protestation of maintaining the Lawes against what opposition soever though with the hazard of his being And the second is that he proposeth unto him The taking away of all Penall Lawes made against Recusants in Ireland which they say is poynt-blanke against his owne Declaration which he Printed when he had a resolution to goe over into Ireland wherein he does assure all his Subjects That He will never Consent upon what pretence soever to a Toleration of the Popish Profession there or the Abolition of the Lawes now in force against Popish Recusants in that Kingdome And truly the maine Engine of their detraction and Calumny moves upon these two Hinges These two particular Impeachments help and further all the rest to the Reputation of Crimes as one or two good peices of Wine they say will put off a whole range in the Merchants Sellar at the same rate and value with themselves Concerning the suspension of Poynings Law
and Territories granted to us to maintaine a Warre against them now because we maintaine that Warre we are Rebels and Traitors and the Irish Rebels because that they stand against you They shall be freed from all Penall Lawes They shall have any thing that They desire nothing is too deare for them any Lawes may be altered for their sakes But when the Protestants come to desire an Alteration of Law for the advancement of the Protestant Religion and for the settlement of the Protestants nothing can be granted to them by a Protestant King but every thing to the Irish I shall say but a word more and pray consider of it The Condition why all this is granted to the Irish and denied to you it is onely this That the Irish may come over into England to cut your Throats as they cut the throats of all the Irish Protestants in Ireland This is the cause for which they are encouraged to come hither If there be such a reward for Treachery if there be such a fruit of the Protestations of the King what can we expect Animadversions Truly the Kingdome of Ireland bleeding were a very sad spectacle did not the Kingdome of England bleeding call for both our Eyes A Kingdome before this Parliament began so growne aged in continuall Happinesse that as they use to say of the spiced and persum'd Ayre in which the Sabeans Agatharo live Summus quidem odor sed volupt as minor The very Excesse seem'd to abate the pleasure and the Repetition of nothing but the same Blessings which were still as constant as their Dayes did not so much affect the Sence of the Nation as dull it When on the suddaine an Anabaptisticall Party rising up layes hold upon all the Kings Forts and Ships seizes all His Lands rifles all the Goods of most of the Protestants in England and not content with that hath opened more then one hundred Thousand Veynes of as good Protestant bloud and made of as good milke as ever the Church of England gave since She lay in of her first Reformation Now these Rebels of England that have dispoyled their owne lawfull Soveraigne of all his Royall Interests and just Rights and that have thus inhumanely murthered so many thousands of their owne Protestant Brethren here is the sadnesse avow themselves the loyall and most obedient Subjects of the King and those Subjects who venture their Lives and Fortunes in the Cause of God and of the King Those they traduce for Malignants Traytors and Rebels God forbid that the King or any good Protestant should justifie that Rebellion in Ireland halfe so much as these English Rebels themselves doe that exclaime most against it For assuredly no man justifies a sinne more then he that does commit it When the Rebellion brake out first in Ireland all the world knowes there was no man in England more forward in expressing the sense of his Indignation against it then the King Both Houses of Parliament could not suggest any probable Expedient for the quenching of that Flame but the King straight way ratified and approved it Nay His Industry was so like His Interest farre transcending theirs that whilest they were only hovering about Advice He was upon the wings of Action and would have interposed his own Sacred Person in the Quarrell if they would have allowed it and thought it fit But now that a greater Flame is kindled in the Bowells of this Kingdome and that those very Buckets which there should have cast on water to have quenched it are here cast on themselves to augment and raise the fire he that will blame the Kings affections for being corrupted because they are a little coold He that will accuse Him for being false to the Principles of Law which bindes Him to defend His Subjects against the Rebells in Ireland because He is true to the Principles of Nature which binds him to defend himselfe against the Rebells here in England Certainly that man will approve his Humor for Discretion who when the fatall Axe hung over him took greater care for his Haire then for his Head And therefore M. Tate addes little to the credit of his Cause when he heapes up these exaggerations upon the King That the Irish Rebells can be freed from all the penall Lawes that they may have any thing which they desire and that Nothing is to deare for them c. for the more dishonourable and deare the conditions are on which the King purchases the settlement of Irelands Peace The more infamous and odious is this Treason and Rebellion here in England which alone hath rais'd the Market For if England would not Pipe so as it does Ireland would have but little mind to Dance And whereas Mr Tate is of opinion that all this is granted to the Irish that they may come over into England and cut Throats Truly I am of opinion that if they doe not make more hast then I can yet perceive they doe they will loose their Labour for the Scots will have done their Worke before they come Whose encouragements no doubt are the better of the twaine For what they loose in gay promises they find in good Pay What they have not in Repealing of Lawes they have in Reaping the profit of good Lands What they want in three or foure Complements They have in five Counties And a Scott that will not cut Throates upon these Tearmes let him live by cutting of Purses or which is more Merchant-like by selling of Pinnes Mr Tate All I have to say is you see you must stand to your Armes and defend your selves For there is no hopes for you unlesse you can submitt your necks to the Queene and be transformed into Irish Rebels and Papists I know not how you can obtaine any favour at Court especially having such a Mediator as you have a Parliament that is so hated by the King As long as that mediates for you you shall have nothing but if you can have a Popish Catholique Queene to sollicite in your behalfe you shall have any thing I know you are too much Englishmen and Protestants to submit to such base conditions Therefore lay aside all division and unite your selves in this Cause that you may be Masters of the Popish Party that otherwise will kill you all Animadversions Are you come to say all that you have to say already I protest a very moderate Gentleman and one that is not like to be a Lecturer long for though he knows not what to speak yet he knowes when to hold his Tongue I will undertake after this rate he might have talkt till mid-night But sir doe you thinke your Aldermen are awake or rather doe not you think that you have talkt all this while in your sleep For my part I confesse I am so farre a Citizen of the Common Hall that I doe not understand you and I take it for a great blessing upon mine Innocence that I doe not reach your meaning The truth
contrary reasons and enducements for feare either of Contradiction or Injustice And first it is out of question that all Penall Lawes are but Obligations of some persons to some punishments with relation to some Actions or Omissions which either have in themselves an intrinsecall pravity by reason of the immutable nature of the thing or else an extrinsecall obliquity by reason of some contrary Command Now if Refusall of Communion with the Church of England should be confessed an Omission of the former sort that is an Omission which in the very nature of the Thing were intrinsecally vicious or evill and such an Omission it may be to refuse to worship God but to refuse to worship him after this or that manner will hardly rise unto it yet would it not straight way follow That because it is Just that offendours in that kind should be punished therefore the Supreme Magistrate is unjust that inflicts no punishment upon them Because we are to know that Injustice does not alwayes follow upon the not doing of what is Just For as it does not follow that because a Prince is liberall if he give a Pension of a thousand pounds per annum to one that is a well deserving Servant at his hands Therefore he is sordid and illiberall if he give him not a penny So neither is it perpetually true That that thing which is very Justly done cannot be but uniustly let alone as we see in the case of Blasphemy which the King might iustly punish with death if he should make a Law against it as the people of Israel did and yet we doe not say He is uniust because He does not doe it But if Refusall of Communion with the Church of England prove but an Omission of the second sort that is an Omission of a thing which hath nothing of Evill in it further then Externall denomination as being the Result of some positive Law or other that does command it Then certainly the same power that enacted may abolish it Perpetuity not being any whit essentiall to any positive Law to continue it unto the end but Power that it may be severely kept and may reach those Eudes for which it is continued And therefore the very Philosophers by the light of reason could observe that nothing Sopat Epist ad Demet. was more easily dispensable then Penall Lawes It being the priviledge of all Authority whether Divine Civill Paternall or Despoticall upon emergent occasions in things which are Indifferent to make Lawes and so by consequent sinnes without adding the least entity to the things themselves which continue still the same whether they be commanded one while or another while forbidden And that Communion with the Church of England in the manner of Gods worship is but a Thing in its owne Nature and before the Law commanding it Indifferent will easily be made appeare by this that as some Persons are punishable by Law that doe refuse it as in our present case of such men who are Recusants So are other persons punishable by Law that use it as in the case of persons excommunicate which could never certainly be done if the Thing it selfe were in its owne nature Evill For the State might as well command a man to forsweare himselfe three or foure dayes together or to commit Adultery three or foure nights together by way of punishment for some preceding Sinne as to command him not to Communicate with the Church of England in her publique worship if this not communicating had that Intrinsecall pravity rooted in the very nature of the Thing which that Forswearing and committing of Adultery are acknowledged to have in them But those Lawes which in themselves are mutable and subject to abolition without the least Injustice whether we speak of that which is unjust in nature or of that which is in Law may notwithstanding become Immutable these two severall wayes either by Oath or Promise For every Oath is a signe of Immutability brought upon that thing to which an Oath is added The Apostle is plaine for it who telleth us that God willing to shew the Immutability of his Councell in the 6. Heb. 17. confirm'd it by an Oath That by two Immutable things c. And a promise does give such a right and interest to the Party promised that without Injustice it can not be taken from him Now because although it be in the free Power of the Magistrate to make such a Promise yet it is not in his Power to break that which He hath freely made therefore we reckon that a promise not to abrogate a Law does adde and imprint an Immutability in that very Law and superinduces a legall Impossibility upon it ever to be abrogated or changed In the second place therefore let us see what that Promise and Profession was which the King did make against this Abolition and how farre the said Abolition becomes unjust by vertue of that Promise When the Rebellion first brake out in Ireland and those severall expedients which were suggested by the Parliament of England for the suppression thereof proved not so dextrous and happy when they came to Action as they seemed when they were but in Designe The Kings Majesty to the perpetuall honour of His Innocence who was asâ—ersed as having some kind of secret Influence upon the Revolt of that whole Kingdom made this offer to His two Houses that He would expose himselfe to the danger of an expedition thither in his own sacred Person if they would think it fit and make a Tryall if He could reduce it And because the guiltinesse of their own intentions prompted them to a base suspition of His as if He might use some meanes of Reduction more prejudiciall to the Crowne then the Revolt by permitting a toleration of the Roman Profession to the Catholick party there who notwithstanding had been used to a gentle connivence from the supreme Magistrate in the poynt of Conscience ever since the first Reformation of this Church His Majesty for the cleare satisfaction of His two Houses and of all His Subjects in their unworthy misinterpretations and murmures and for the justification of the Piety and Honour of His Resolutions and designes in this present expedition and adventure Opens Himselfe in a Declaration to all the World and amongst other particular expressions of a sincere Heart and cordiall affection to Gods cause and His Owne He gives them this Assurance that if He does goe over in Person as He does intend He will never consent upon what pretence soever to a Toleration of the Popish Profession there or the Abolition of the Lawes now in force against Popish Recusants in that Kingdome Insomuch that Mr Browne does well to rejoyne unto those words of the Kings Declaration these of his What could His Majesty have said more to satisfy His people For by this promise of not abolishing those Lawes he hath invested his People with such a Right in those Lawes that he cannot easily nay he
his defence as to use the Other That which is there added concerning the Duke of Lorrain's estimation and power in the Court of Rome and concerning his complying with the Jesuites is meere froth and fume For does not all the World know that the Rebels themselves care not out of what quarter of the Compasse the wind blow so it doe but hoyse the Sayles up of their seditious Designes Alas there needs no breaking up of Cabinets or forcing private Letters to come by this Intelligence which all the World knowes namely that at this very instant the Rebels have their Factors and Agents with the King of Spaine and the King of Spaine questionlesse is a Prince full of as great esteeme at Rome as the Duke of Lorraine can be And that he complies faitely with the Jesuites too there is more then a suspition or a saying For it is notoriously knowne that the Rebels of Westminster who have so often exclaym'd and inveigh'd against the King for suspending the execution of Law against Recusants as if he savoured of Popery have themselves notwithstanding at the sollicitation and instigation of some Agents for the King of Spaine pardoned two Jesuites of late out of their pure zeale unto the Protestant Religion Mr Lisle The next thing that I shall observe to you are Endeavours to overthrow the Law of the Land by Power to repeale the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme by Force and Armes Endeavours by Force and Armes to repeale all the Statutes of this Kingdome against Papists I shall read a passage to you which you have already heard out of one of the Kings Letters to the Queene The Letter was dated the fifth of March 1644. I give thee Power in my Name to promise that I will take away all the Penall Statutes in England against the Roman Catholicks assoone as God shall enable me to doe it so as by their meanes or in their Favours I may have so powerfull assistance as may deserve so great a Favour When we Consider that the Statutes of this Kingdowe against Papists must be taken away by Force when we consider that the Lawes of this Kingdome are to be Repealed by Power who cannot but when he calls to mind the Declarations that have been made to put the Lawes in execution against Papists of the Protestations that have been made and have been often made to maintaine the Lawes of this Kingdome who can chuse but greive to thinke of it Animadversions I remember a report that goes of Socrates who being instigated once in a dreame to make some Verses was very much afflicted the next day when he awak't how he should doe it For accounting Poesy nothing but Colour and Fiction and having been himselfe all his life long a profest Votary to Truth He found that he wanted the faculty of making probable Lyes and therefore he went and took Aesops Fables which he knew to be nothing else but Fictions ready framed to his hands and put them into Verse that he might in some manner satisfie the will and pleasure of his Inspiration You see Socrates was much troubled here to make Verses because he could not lye But if you doe but sever and divide these Complicated aspersions which are here cast upon the King you will easily see that Mr Lisle is not much troubled how to lye because he makes not Verses for in all that hath been said here there is not so much as one tittle of considerable Truth that colours for a Crime The principall Ingredients to this Oleo of malice are three First that the King endeavours to overthrow the Law of the Land Secondly that he endeavours to overthrow that Law by Force and Armes and thirdly That he endeavours to doe both notwithstanding all his Declarations and Protestations which have been made unto the contrary For the first of these If by Overthrowing the Law of the Land be meant a totall eradication and extirpation of all the Ancient Lawes which are of the Foundation of this Kingdoms Government as if the King purposed to new mould the Common-wealth and to let nothing passe for Law but what he likes Then that which is here said is very considerable indeed and to the purpose but it is not true For I hope no man of understanding will suffer himselfe to be convinced by this Argument The King will take away all the Penall Lawes in England which have been made against Recusants Therefore the King will take away all the Lawes of England that ever have been made And if by Overthrowing the Law of the Land be meant onely the Suspension or the Annihilation of so much of the Law of the Land as concernes Recusants and was made but since the beginning of the last Queenes Raigne Then that which is here said is indeed very true but it is no whitt considerable or to the purpose For against what Law is it to have a purpose or a resolution to Repeale any Law Certainly the Lawes made here in England are not like the Lawes of the Medes and Persians that never must be changed They may be sometimes abrogated by consent they may be sometimes abrogated by dissuetude and disuse They may be sometimes abrogated by continuall contrary Practises and Vsage And those Lawes which seem to have the best and strongest Constitution are notwithstanding subject to this just Fatality that they never live longer then their Reasons And then doubtlesse if there be no sinne in the Repeale it selfe of any Lawe there can be no very great offence in the Resolution of Repealing I take not upon me now to meddle with the Religion of those Lawes which were then made against Recusants or how farre it may be or may not be Lawfull to use outward violence in matters that concerne inward perswasion although I professe I am apt enough to think that that is not Religion which doth force men to Religion and that those men who by the sence or expectation of any thing which is evill to the nature of man as fining imprisoning or the like doe endeavour to compell the Will of man to an assent of those conclusions whereof he is not in the least measure convicted in his understanding doe but only let him see that they want better arguments I look only now upon the Reason why those Lawes were made And certainly those Lawes were not made to determine the Truth of those poynts in controversie which then were and still are between the Church of England and Rome for if so then doe we our selves strike against a worse rock then that which hath already shipwrackt them for whereas they only make their Church we make our State Infallible The State may make Lawes against Recusants and yet that which those Recusants doe believe and teach may be True and the State may repeale Lawes made against Recusants and yet that which those Recusants doe believe and teach may be still false And it is no better argument to say the King will
I must needs say that if it were True that is True in that latitude of understanding and vast Comprehension of Sence which the Rebels would have the simple People swallow The King were to be condemned indeed not only as a man false to his Conditions but as a King false unto his Crowne For amongst all those Flowers that at severall times have been transplanted out of other Soyles into the English Crowne there is scarce any one that illustrates the beauty of her Majesty with more vigorous and fresher Colours then this very Law Because that by this and by no one thing so much as This is the Subordination and Dependance which Ireland hath upon this Kingdome established and the blush of her first Conquest revived For first This Law transported whole Colonies of other Lawes So that all the Statutes which were then made in England like Trees with their ground about the rootes were removed into that Kingdom where they prospered thriv'd though in another ayre as if there they had been first set and planted And the King were much too blame indeed if he thought of suspending this part of that Law For this were even to lay the reynes upon the Horses neck for feare least he should slip the bit out of his mouth This were to set open the Prison dore for feare the Prisoner should make some escape out at a window This were to breake that whole Chaine of dependance which unites that Kingdome in her subordination to this to prevent some men from loosning of a linke Secondly By this Law there could no Law be presented to the Parliament in Ireland to be confirmed and ratified as a Law unlesse it were first sent hither into England for the Kings Approbation before ever it was proposed And this part of that Law was not intended so much for an Abasement of the Subjects Liberty as for an Allay unto the Superiour's Power to put the Deputies in mind still that their Authority was not Absolute And truly if the King had promised to suspend this part of that Law although it was somewhat unlikely that those of Ireland would put any thing which concern'd the Superiours Advantage into the Subjects Scale The King had not done well for as in making the picture of a Crowne there is more Art use to paint it in Colours so that it shall look like Gold then to paint it in pure Gold indeed So in making Lievtenants which are but Counterfeits of Kings there is more Policy to embellish them with the shadowes and semblances of Royalty then with the Reall species But the King promises neither this nor that as the words of Letter XVI his Letter plainly doe declare and the truth of the whole matter is but briefly this A Peace in Ireland was now in agitation when the King wrote these Letters to my Lord of Ormond and the necessities of the Kings Affaires called for all quick dispatch therein That dispatch the King apprehended as it was indeed altogether Impossible if every particular Bill upon every particular emergent occasion which might facilitate and expedite that work must first be sent hither and then sent back again with the King's Approbation to it before ever it could passe in Parliament as the letter of that Law requires the passage being so obstructed as it was and the wayes so dangerous And therefore the King in favour of those affaires the quick transaction whereof so neerely concerned the good of both his Kingdomes promised my Lord Ormond to take no advantage against him by Poynings Law if he passed such Bills as might promote this businesse without sending them over unto him provided he passed nothing that might be prejudiciall to the safety of His Protestant Subjects and the preservation of His owne Royall Authority And this particular suspension of this particular Branch of Poynings Law limited to this particular Time and to be no farther extended doe the Rebels aggravate and heighten to a Suspension of all Poynings his Law yea and of all the Lawes that were ever there made besides as if the King purpos'd to destroy them all at one blow and without any more adoe without any the least regard had to His Solemne Declaration and Promise for the maintaining thereof But is this a Crossing and Contradicting of the Kings owne words in his Declaration where he promises to maintaine the Lawes against what opposition soever though with the hazard of his being I cannot think it For I aske but this Of what kind of Lawes will a reasonable man conceive that His Majesty there speakes questionlesse not of those which concerne His owne Royall State Person or Dignity notwithstanding those are as true and as necessary Lawes as any other because it is not imaginable that the People should suspect that He would not maintaine them But of those Lawes which concerne the Subjects Interest Right and Property as being most lyable to their suspition that the King by His Prerogative or by some violent and unnaturall Course or other might entrench too much upon them Now what colour of Contradiction or Falshood is there in this Inference The King by a second Promise undertaketh to dispence with a rigorous circumstance of one Law which only diminishes and minorates a little the Grandour and Honour of his owne Royall Person and Dignity therefore the King breaks his first Promise of maintaining the Lawes against what opposition soever which only concerne His Subjects Interest their Liberties and their Property There is nothing plainer then that both these promises may well consist together without clashing But if the Lyon say that the Foxes eares are hornes The Foxe hath more wit then to gainesay it And if the Rebels at Westminster say that the signe of St Laurences paralell'd gridiron is the signe of St Peters Crosse Keyes the Citizens of London have so little wit as not to disbeleive it But any man of common sence may now easily distinguish between the Pastboard and the Vizard and make him mirth with that in his owne hands which affrighted him but a little before upon anothers Face In that other Impeachment of Abolishing the Lawes made against Recusants in Ireland notwithstanding His former Professions that He would never doe it I confesse there is something which hath the colour and complexion of a Crime at the first blush and at a distance and therefore I shall desire leave to come a little nearer to it and to look better upon it in the disquisition of these ensuing particulars and pieces which certainly cannot but discover it if there be any thing truly Criminall within it First we will consider whether the Abolition of these Lawes made against Recusants be in it selfe a thing that is unjust Secondly we shall consider how farre it may become so by the Kings Promise and Protestation to the contrary And lastly we shall consider how farre that Promise does bind and tye up all other contrary Promises which may be made upon
cannot without Injury ever take it from them unlesse they themselves will And there is no question in the World but if the King had at that time gone over into Ireland and had assented either to a Toleration of the Catholique Religion or had given way to the Abolition of those Lawes then in force against Recusants upon any Tearmes whatsoever which the witt of man could imagine be most Honourable or Advantageous either to him or to his Kingdome he had done not only that which is unjust but that which is impossible as the Lawyers use to speake because eadem est impossibilitas Juris Naturae F. Conâ—â—us That wich is impossible by Law is as farre from being done that is Lawfully done as that which is impossible by Nature For standing the condition of this promise which is the substance of it and standing the circumstances of Times Persons Places and such like which are subservient unto it The King could never doe it And therefore in the third place it is high time we should looke whether this Promise of not abolishing those Lawes now to them doe not bind and tye up that other Promise to abolish them which he since made unto my Lord of Ormond as being impossible to be performed by him without contradiction and the breach of his former Promise which is as impossible to Justice Now that the influence of this first promise upon the second promise is not such as renders that second promise either impossible or which is as bad unjust it may be these two severall waies demonstrated First by way of Annihilation and voiding of the first promise and secondly by Application of that first promise made in Generall to such severall particulars which could never reasonably be presum'd to be comprehended and contained therein Concerning the first of these the Civilians tell us that there are two waies how a man may H. Grotius not keep his promise and yet not be unjust The one is by defect of a Condition without which the party promising contracts no obligation and hither also they referre that case If the other party first doe not keep his word For the severall branches of one and the same Contract in the severall parties are but by the way of a Condition as if it had been formally thus expressed This I promise to doe if he will doe that And so this Promise of the Kings that he never would consent to the Abolition of the Lawes made in Ireland against Recusants either it had no Condition at all and then the King contracts no obligation thereby nor is bound to keep it or it was made on this Condition that His two Houses would first consent to this His present Expedition for Ireland and put the Mannaging and Trust of those affaires into His hands In which Condition they breaking first on their parts have left Him unobliged on His. The other way is by compensation and then they tell us that that which we have promised we may Lawfully not performe and yet not be reckoned unjust when that which we promise and performe not is but of equall worth if put into the Scales with some other thing of Ours which unjustly is detained from us and restor'd not And so if the King should breake this one promise which he made to them yet were he not unjust because he would still be behind hand with them for those iterated promises and repeated Oathes of Fidelity and Obedience of Subjection and Allegiance which they have made and made againe to Him and yet have broke them All. The second way to demonstrate that there is no Injustice or Contradiction in these two promises is by Application of that first promise made in generall to such severall particulars which could never reasonably be presum'd to be comprehended and contained therein when the promise was made And to this purpose observeable is that maxime in the Civill Law Promissio Generalis non trahitur ad ea ad quae verisimiliter promittens L. obligatione ff de pign Capit. si in specie interrogatus fuisset minime se obligasset that is to say No Generall promise is to be drawne and extended unto those things to which the party promising in all likelyhood if He had been then question'd in particular concerning them would never have been obliged and we apply it thus The King having a desire to passe over into Ireland and to suppresse the Rebellion there while it was young and being willing also to satisfy both His Houses that in the pursuance thereof He would use no dishonourable and unworthy meanes makes this solemne Profession that however the Rebells in Ireland might pretend that they rose only for Religion and that if they might be but permitted their Liberty of Conscience they would all be quiet yet He would never consent upon what pretence soever to a Toleration of the Popish profession there or the Abolishing of the Lawes now in force against Popish Recusants in that Kingdom This is the Generall Promise and to many particulars it may be drawne and applyed and to many it may not To those onely particulars saith the Law may it be drawne to which the King if He had been interrogated particularly concerning them would in all probability have oblig'd himselfe when He made that Promise as for example When the King made this generall Promise that He would never consent to abrogate those Lawes If the Lords and Commons had come to these particulars and said Your Majesty promises never to Consent to the Abolition of the Lawes against Recusants upon any pretence whatsoever but will you not consent to abolish them if you think you have good Reason Your Majesty promises never to Consent to it while you are Here But will you remember to performe that promise when you come There Your Majesty promises never to give Consent that is to doe it Willingly But will you not suffer your selfe so to come within the Rebels power that you must be forc't to doe out of Necessity To these particulars and many more like these because it is very probable the King would have oblig'd Himselfe knowing the clean Intentions of His Heart when He made this generall Promise Therefore this generall Promise saith the Law reacheth those Particulars and is applyable to them But then if the Lords and Commons hearing this generall Promise of the Kings that upon no pretence whatsoever He would abolish those Lawes had come to these particulars and said Your Majesty promises never to Consent to an Abolition of those Penall Lawes because you are confident we will assist you in reducing those Irish Rebels by Force if Faire meanes will not doe But if we should Rebell against you as well as They will you be obliged by this Promise then If we should drive you to those streights that unlesse the Catholiques of Ireland help you the Schismaticks and Brownists of England will dispoyle you of your Revenues and your Royalties