that I could ever meet withall untill the Parliament had ordered Sir John Stawell to be tryed by a High Court of Justice and had required me to attend the said Court as a Witness against him And I do believe that Sir John Stawell did frame and contrive those false and scandalous fictions after the death of the late King hoping thereby to save his reputation and to excuse his wilfull perversness thereby endeavouring to make the world believe that it was not his own madness and folly that had brought him to ruine but the treachery of a friend upon whom he relyed And this is one reason as I verily believe that those fictions were printed and published 6. And lastly That in case I should at any time hinder Sir Iohn Stawel's Composition nay if I had not endeavoured to the utmost of my power to perswade him to the same I might deservedly be censured to be guilty of as much madness and folly as he now lyeth under for not Compounded For that the Parliament had Ordered Sir Iohn Stawels Composition-money with the Compositions of Mr. Coventry and Sir Edward Moseley to be paid unto me for the discharge of several disbursments and engagements which I had paid and entred into together with Col. Alexander Popham Col. Nathaniel Fines Col. Hollis and other Gentlemen of the County of Somerset for the service of the Parliament and paying of their Forces and by the said Order I was to receive some satisfaction out of the said Compositions towards my great loss and damage sustained by the late War but Sir John Stawell not compounding those debts disbursments and engagements are not all satisfied and paid nor have I received any satisfaction towards my said loss and damages by which means I and the other Gentlemen above mentioned have and will suffer very much in case the Parliament do not discharge those obligations still in force And I in particular do lose at least five thousand pound for that Sir John Stawell did not make his Composition for that his Composition amounted unto seven or eight thousand pound or thereabouts These and many other particulars are set forth plainly manifested and clearly proved in the Treatise which I did then write as is above mentioned but in regard the Book proves to be of so large a volume that it will require much time in the Printing thereof and if Printed those Honorable Persons to whom Sir John Stawell hath directed his Remonstrance will want time as I conceive to read the same I have therefore for these and the other reasons first given and in the beginning of this Treatise expressed contracted the matter and only printed something for the present in answer to what is contained in the pages 28 and 30 of Sir John Stawels Pamphlet Entituled his Humble Remonstrance and is as followeth READER In the first Page of the said humble Remonstrance of Sir Iohn Stawell he doth engage the Faith of a Christian and honour of a Gentleman to declare and Remonstrate his Case in all humility and truth In answer to which I may with confidence affirm and do presume that the ensuing discourse will clearly prove the same that if his actings in Somersetshire and his dealings with the people of Taunton be as truly declared and related as those passages set down in Page 23. 24. 28. 30. concerning his discourses proceeding with my self that then there is not scarce one line of truth in the whole narrative for I do say and affirm that the whole relation contained in Pages 23. 24. 28. and 30. is a false and scandalous aspersion and a fiction invented and contrived by Sir Iohn Stawell since the death of the late King for the ends and reasons before mentioned and because the matters contained in pages 28. and 30. do seem most to reflect upon my reputation and are more notoriously scandalous then the rest I am resolved at this time to give an Answer only to those and the rather because the passages contained in pages 23. and 24. relating to Sir Iohn Stawell's appearance at Goldsmiths Hall his miscarriages there and the report thereof made to the Parliament will be examined and at large declared before the Committee now appointed to examine the same Reader if thou shalt seriously peruse what is set forth by Sir Iohn Stawell in page 28. thou maiest easily perceive that his design is to insinuate these particulars First that Sir Iohn Stawell being put into a little dark corner where he was kept from nine of the clock in the morning till three in the afternoon and no man suffered to come to him but Mr. Ashe and that then Mr. Ashe resorted to him four or five times during his abode in that little dark corner Secondly that whilst Sir Iohn Stawell was in the said dark Corner Mr. Ashe did treat with him about the purchase of his Farme at Abery and did offer to give four thousand pound for the same Thirdly that some few dayes before Sir Iohn Stawell was put into the said dark corner Mr. Ashe had discourse with him about the sale of his Fee-simple lands to pay his composition Fourthly that Mr. Ashe having discovered his desire to buy the Farm of Abery he was sharply reproved for the same by Sir Iohn Stawell These four particulars are plainly set down and with convenient boldness affirmed in this Paragraph Unto all which I shall in the first place make this generall Answer and for the proof of it I have more then one hundred witnesses Sir Iohn Stawell being brought before the High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall and I being then present as a witness by order of Parliament Mr. Atturny General was pleased to acquaint the Court that Sir Iohn Stawell at his first appearance there when Mr. Ashe was absent had cast out some words of reflection against him and had likewise filled the Town with reports of the great matters he had to charge Mr. Ashe with all if ever he appeared in that Court Whereupon the said Atturny General did pray the Court that since Mr. Ashe was there present Sir Iohn Stawell might openly declare what he had to charge Mr. Ashe withall which motion the Court approved of and thereupon willed Sir Iohn Stawell to speak what he had to say Sir Iohn Stawell willingly condesended to what the Court had approved of upon Mr. Atturnies motion and then related several headless stories fictions of his own brain and when he had said all Mr. Attorny told the Court that he did believe Sir Iohn Stawell had much more to say for that which he had then spoken did not any way reflect upon Mr. Ashe nor answer the reports he had spread about the Town wherefore the Attorny General pressed Sir Iohn Stawell again and again to speak all that he had to say and Sir Iohn Stawell then said he had spoken all Then the Lord President of that Court spake unto Sir Iohn Stawell to this effect Sir the Court
AN ANSWER TO DIVERS SCANDALS Mentioned in a certain Pamphlet Entituled THE Humble Remonstrance OF Sr. IOHN STAWELL WRITTEN By JOHN ASHE Esquire 1654. LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb dwelling in Thamestreet over against Baynards Castle Anno Domini 1654. AN ANSWER TO Divers Scandals mentioned in a certain PAMPHLET Entituled THE Humble Remonstrance OF Sir John Stawell IT is not my purpose at this time to write an exact Narrative of all proceedings and passages which have been in the Case of Sir John Stawel from the 18 of July 1646. which was the time of his first coming to London from Exceter unto the year 1652. at which time he was Arraigned before the High Court of Justice I having done that formerly even upon the first sight of that Scandalous Pamphlet Entituled The Humble Remonstrance of Sir John Stawell but did not at that time expose it to publique view for these Reasons 1. First Because an Answer had been given by me to all those Particulars which may any way seem to reflect on me before the High-Court of Justice to the general satisfaction of the whole Court and all that were present and to the shame and confusion of the said Sir John Stawel who was then a Prisoner at the Barr of the said Court 2. Secondly Because the Scandals mentioned in the said Pamphlet were so apparently false and improbable that any one who hath been in the least manner acquainted with those transactions might easily perceive even in the said Paper a manifest confutation of those falshoods which are therein malitiously suggested and vainly charged on me 3. Thirdly Because that in regard of my respects to his Family I was willing to be silent lest in giving an Answer to those scandals wherewith he endeavoureth in the said Pamphlet to asperse me by saying that I did clandestinely obstruct his composition I should do what I conceive my self at this time obliged unto viz. clearly prove by undeniable arguments and circumstances that he never intended to compound at all but resolved on the contrary flattering himself with hopes of seeing the late King restored to his Power and greatness from whom he might receive not only his whole Estate which was unjustly taken from him as he constantly affirmed but also a great reward for his many sufferings in owning and defending the Cause of the said King beyond any of his Party But since the Honourable Parliament hath been pleased to refer the Petition of the said Sir John Stawell unto a Committee where the matter of Fact may be throughly examined to the end that my testimony on the behalf of the Commonwealth may not seem to be any way impeached in regard of those feigned Scandals mentioned in his said Pamphlet and lest my carriage in the business of his Composition might be misrepresented to those who were strangers to my actions therein I have judged it necessary to publish these ensuing lines premising a few Particulars which were fully cleared in that discourse which I did then write which are as followeth First That although Sir John Stawell did appear at the Committee of Gold-Smiths Hall about four daies before the time limited by the Articles of Exceter for Compositions were expired yet he never intended to make any Composition there according to the Order of Parliament and the Rules prescribed for Composition upon the said Articles but did oftentimes declare his resolution to the contrary And when the Lady Stawell his wife and Sir Edward Stawell his son then in France did earnestly solicite him that they or either of them might Petition the Parliament to be admitted to compound for the said Estate since he refused it Sir John Stawell did deny to give his consent thereunto and did threaten his said son that in case he did attempt any such thing he would disinherit him and was much incensed against the said Sir Edward Stawell for that he had written Letters unto Mr. Ashe for his admission to Composition since his Father refused it some of which Letters Sir John Stawell intercepted 2 That Sir Iohn Stawel did wholly depend upon the late Kings restoring to his power and authority that from him he might receive not only his whole estate then unjustly taken from him by the Parliament as he said but also a great reward for his many sufferings in owning and justifying the late Kings Cause beyond any other of his party and did send to the said King when he was last at Hampton Court desiring him to take notice of the great suffering he had undergone for his Majesties Cause and did let him know the hopes he had of his Majesties great favor and reward when he should be restored And upon this confidence did Sir Iohn Stawell neglect his composition and refused the benefit of Exceter Articles 3. That Sir Iohn Stawell during the life of the late King and after his first appearance at Goldsmiths Hall did never tender any Petition for his admittance to composition or to claim the benefit of Exceter Articles either unto the Parliament or Committee of Parliament or any other Court whatsoever And when in the life time of the late King he was arraigned for Treason at the Upper Bench Bar he did not then claim the benefit of Exceter Articles nor made any mention of them for his exemption from that tryal but on the contrary he not onely refused to own the Judge that sat there by Commission from the Parliament but uttered an expression to the Court to this or the like effect viz. My offence is not Treason for which I am here arraigned but because I would not permit the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall to pick my purse and give my consent to pay a sum of money for the redemption of my Estate which is unjustly taken from me by which expression he sufficiently declared his resolution against compounding 4. That I did with all reallity and faithfulness use my utmost endeavours to perswade Sir Iohn Stawell to submit unto the Parliament and to make his Composition that so himself and his posterity might be preserved from ruine and that Sir Iohn Stawell did refuse to follow that my councel and advice and did declare that his resolution was not to Compound but to depend upon the said Kings favour And when I did press him to follow the examples of all the other Gentlemen of the Kings Party who submitted to Composition he did seem to jeer and deride them for their follies intimating that his Estate would be restored him by the King with sufficient damages from those that had possessed the same during the Sequestration and for that reason would not permit either his Lady or any other friend for her to take any of his Estate at a Rent from the Sequestrators Fifthly That those scandalous aspersions cast upon me by Sir John Stawell in his Pamphlet Entituled his Humble Remonstrance and mentioned in page 23 24 28 and 30. are meer fictions and never heard of by me or any other person
with much patience hath heard you tell a long story though nothing at all to your business that is before us the substance of which you have now said is only this That Mr. Ashe did advise you to sell your Farm at Abery and with that money to pay your composition did he or any for him treat with you to buy the same or did he discover any desire he had to buy the Farm at Abery of you Sir Iohn Stawell answered no my Lord he did not how then said the Lord President can this story of yours reflect upon Mr. Ashe Yes said Sir Iohn Stawell for I do think or believe that Mr. Ashe did intend to buy the Farm because he did advise me to sell it This being the truth of all that Sir Iohn Stawell had then to accuse me of as to the purchase of the Farm of Abery the Reader may plainly perceive that then he had not fully contrived the fiction and Scandal now printed in his Remonstrance But let us now farther examine the particulars Sir Iohn Stawell in that part of the Paragraph from whence the first particulars above mentioned is taken hath so pen'd the same as if the Reader should conceive that the Serjeant at Arms attending the Parliament had by direction from me placed Sir Iohn Stawell in that little dark place that so I might with the more privacy treat about the pretended purchase when as I did not know where the Serjeant had put him or did know that little dark Corner as the Serjeant can and will testifie That Sir Iohn Stawell was kept in that little dark Corner from nine of the Clock in the morning till three of the Clock in the afternoon and no man permitted to speak with him but my self is that which I can give no answer unto but I do believe that the Serjeant at Arms who put Sir Iohn Stawell into that place can and will testifie the contrary But that I did resort unto Sir Iohn Stawell whilst he was in that dark place four or five times is a notorious untruth and a contrivance to compleat the remainder viz. the grand fiction for besides the testimony of the Serjeant at Arms who knows the contrary Sir Iohn Stawell towards the end of this Paragraph faith that after as he pretends I was soundly reproved for attempting to purchase the Farm of Abery I then left him which was about a quarter of an hour before he was called to the Bar of the Parliament Sir Iohn Stawell doth not say that I came unto him again whilst he was in that dark Corner nor can the ingenious Reader believe that after Mr. Ashe had received such an angry reprehension from Sir Iohn Stawell for attempting that purchase he would resort unto him any more upon that errand therefore it must be understood that Mr. Ashe resorted unto Sir Iohn Stawell into that dark Corner 4 or 5 times between the hours of 10 and 11 for I do affirm and believe that the Serjeant at Arms besides many other persons do yet well remember That it was 10 of the Clock when the Serjeant first gave notice to the Speaker that he had caused Sir Iohn Stawell to be brought and that he was at the door to attend the pleasure of the House and that at or before 11 of the Clock Sir Iohn Stawell was called into the House and from thence ordered to Newgate To the second part of this Paragraph where Sir Iohn Stawell saith that some few dayes before he was brought to the Parliament and put into that dark Corner Mr. Ashe had some discourse with him about the sale of his Fee-simple lands to pay his composition I do give this answer that the same in every particle is an absolute untruth for that neither a few daies before or at any time in all my life had I any such discourse with Sir Iohn Stawell And therefore I do now advise Sir Iohn Stawell that in case he shall print another Remonstrance to imploy his invention to find out the place where and the time when the aforesaid discourse was between us and certainly he must then contrive it as if it had been in some unknown place in Eutopia for it was never spoken in England But Sir Iohn Stawell hath saved us the labour to enquire further after the time when the said discourse should be between us for he tells us in the very same page that this discourse was when Deans and Chapters Lands were set to sale for 10 years purchase which was in the year 1649. and in the year 1646 when this discourse is pretended to be both Houses of Parliament had then setled the Deans and Chapters Lands for the encrease of the Ministers Maintenance and the Schollers in the Universities and those Lands were never put to sale untill the year 1649. wherefore Sir John Stawell must here be put in mind of the old Proverb which in civil English signifies thus much That A good Memory is needfull to those who shall frame feigned discourses As for those two other particulars drawn from this Paragraph viz. That Mr. Ashe should Treat with Sir Iohn Stawell about the Purchase of his Farm of Aubery and offered for the same 4000 l. And that Sir Iohn Stawell should sharply reprehend him for this Treaty and Offer which is the grand fiction and principal ground work upon which all his other Stories are raised I can give no other answer thereunto than what I have given to the former Accusations Which is That I never had any such Treaty with Sir Iohn Stawell or did offer him the said Sum of 4000 l. and I have no less number of Witnesses to make good this my Affirmation then all those Honorable Judges who sate at the High-Court of Justice and those Gentlemen who were at the same time present when Sir Iohn Stawell did there relate this story as is aforsaid at large recited And now to the end the ingenious Reader may rightly understand and be truely informed upon what unjust grounds Sir Iohn Stawell hath made this great noise and cast these false aspersions upon me and that the world may behold the slender twigg which this prudent yet wilfull and obstinate Gentleman hath catched at to save himself his estate and lost reputation from an absolute sinking is one end of this present Writing I shall in the next place set down and give the Reader a true faithfull and exact Narative of all that was said and done by me at the time when Sir Iohn Stawell was brought to the Parliament-House and put into that little dark corner as he is pleased to call it Which is as followeth Upon the 18 of August 1646. about nine of the clock in the morning prayers being ended and the Parliament sate Mr. Iohn Stevens took the first oportunity to acquaint the Speaker that he was ordered by the Committee at Gold-Smiths Hall to report to the House the insolent behaviour and miscarriage of one Sir Iohn Stawell
place to be declared and is as followeth being my answer unto the second particular contained in the 30 and 31 pages of the said Remonstrance When I came to Newgate and the Lady Stawell had directed me to her Husbands Lodging I found sir John Stawell sitting in a Chaire taking a Pipe of Tobacco who said to me You are welcome this is done like a friend indeed to visit me in Prison so late in the night and then called his man to give me a stool to sit down by him and requested me to accompany him in taking a Pipe of Tobacco I told him that I understood by his Lady that he had a business of importance to impart unto me and therefore had sent for me I desired him in regard it was very late That he would let me know his business because I had engaged to my Brother in Fanchurch street to return home unto him speedily Sir John Stawell still pressed me first to take some Tobacco saying It was not then much past ten of the Clock and his custom was not to go to Bed before one or two in the morning The Lady Stawell then standing by said I pray Mr. Stawell impart unto Mr. Ashe what you have to say unto him for which you caused me to bring him hither For I have engaged to Mr. Edward Ashe that his Brother shall not be detained here by you above half an hour at the most Sir John Stawell hereupon caused the servants then present to depart the Room and there was only left with me himself and his Lady Then said Sir John Stawell Mr. Ash you know very well in what houses and in what manner I have lived all my life time and now see into what a noisom and little ugly Chamber I am put into There said he pointing to one side of the Chamber is a Trunk through which passeth the filth of the upper Prison and under my Chamber is the Vault into which all the filth of the Prison is emptied by means whereof I am annoyed with such a noisom stink the weather being hot that it is impossible for me to endure it for any time without the danger of my life Wherefore you being my only faithfull friend upon whom I can relie did think fit to send to you for my relief and therefore do now entreat you That either by a Motion or upon a short Petition you would procure leave from the Parliament that I may be removed to another Prison where I may enjoy the benefit of the open air and some wholsome walk and if upon your Motion or the delivery of my Petition you nominate the Tower of London though it be a very chargeable place I am contented rather to be placed there then to lose my life in this stinking Goal I gave Sir John Stawell then this answer Sir as I am most ready and willing to deliver to the Parliament any Petition for you that may tend to your good so am I very unwilling to deliver that which may be for your hurt For said I the Parliament will make this construction of your Petition That you stand still resolved in you contempt of their power and Authority and for that end do only desire health and strength to carry you through the encounter and therefore my advice is and as a faithfull friend I give you my Councel That since you have a mind to preferr a Petition unto the Parliament let it be such a one as may doe you good and quite free you from this and all other prisons What Petition said Sir John Stâ—well do you mean A Petition said I wherein you should acknowledge all your miscarriages both at Goldsmiths Hall and at the Parliament and crave pardon for the same and let the Prayer of your Petition be to be remitted to Goldsmiths Hall to make your Composition and receive the benefit of Exceter Articles To this advice of mine Sir John Stawell gave this Answer Sir you know my resolution as to Compounding and you know as I have often told you That if I had a mind to Compound yet have I no money to pay the Composition and therefore Sir let me entreat you to deliver this short Petition to the Parliament for my removal out of this Prison and therein you will do the part of a faithfull friend since it is for the saving of my life You have said he told me the danger of this Petition so that if I suffer by it it is my own fault and none of yours I did at last consent when I could not perswade him to doe otherwise and did promise him to deliver this Petition unto the Parliament so as he would draw it up in such humble Language as I might not receive a reproof upon the delivery thereof Sir Iohn Stawell then promised to send me a foul draught of that Petition the next day that in case I did mislike his expressions I should correct it and I bad him good night and left him Reader thou hast here a faithfull and an exact Narrative of what was said and done by Sir Iohn Stawell and my self at that time when I visited him at Newgate which if compared with what is set down by Sir John Stawell in his Remonstrance page the 30 and 31. is quite another thing and thou maist clearly understand that the Petition which he often mentioneth and which I promised to deliver to the Parliament was not the Petition which he hath there Printed nor a Petition for his re-admission to Composition at Goldsmiths Hall as he told the High-Court of Justice was it but a Petition onely for his removal from Newgate to a better Prison as will more plainly appear by what followeth Upon the next day after I was at Newgate Sir John Stawell performed his promise and I had a sight of the foul draught of the Petition which he intended for me but the Preamble was penned in such high and unseemly language that I was enforced with my own Pen to correct the greatest part of it and so returned the same unto him again with my amendments which he not liking did the next day send me another Petition of his own drawing but I disliked that also because the language was such as did not become a Delinquent in his condition to tender unto the Parliament but at last after several amendments when I could not prevail to have it drawn as well as I desired I took it as it was and promised sir John Stawell to take the first opportunity to present it to the Parliament which promise I did faithfully perform and did for about sixteen dayes together for so long and no longer had I that Petition in my custody wait early and late to get a time to deliver the same unto the Parliament but Michaelmas then drawing on and my particular occasions calling me home into the Countrey for the ordering my affairs and setling my Estate there having been above four years absent from thence by reason of
Sir John Stawell did prevail with the Committee to suspend that their Order for a time and also obtained for him this favor That three or four daies time for consideration was given him in which time he might amend his Petition and therewith bring a particular of his Estate under his hand upon which the Committee might proceed to perfect his Composition This favour I say again was procured from the Committee only by my mediation much against the mind of Sir Anthony Irby who pressed the Report forthwith to be made And Sir Iohn Stawell at his second appearance before the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall carrying himself with the like insolency and giving the same language if not worse than he did at the first Sir Anthony Irby principally taking offence thereat did with the rest of the Committee then present order Mr. Iohn Stephens then Chairman to report the same to the Parliament All which in effect I did affirm unto Sir Anthony Irby upon Thursday the 23 of November last before the Committee of Parliament sitting in the Starr Chamber by whom Sir Anthony Irby had been examined as a Witness for Sir Iohn Stawell and his Examinations are in effect the same as is contained in this Letter Which Examinations being there read in the presence of the said Sir Anthony Irby I did move the Committee to ask him two or three questions which being granted were as followeth First Whether he was present at the Committee at Goldsmiths Hall the first and second time when Sir Iohn Stawell appeared there He answered He was then present Secondly Whether the Committee at Goldsmiths Hall taking offence at Sir Iohn Stawels language and misbehaviour there did order Mr. John Stephens to Report the same to the Parliament He answered Yes that Order was then made by the Committee Thirdly Whether to the making of the said Order for Mr. Stephens to Report as aforesaid he Sir Anthony Irby did give his consent and his Vote in the affirmative for the same He answered Yes he did for there was no Member of the said Committee that gave a Nagative to the said Order But in the Answer to this third Question Sir Anthony Irby made some pause and it stuck some time with him because he knew it did contradict what he had said before in the justification of Sir John Stawels good language and fair deportment In the next place Sir Anthony Irby in his Letter saith That the Committee was bound up by an Order of the House to put Sir John Stawell to take the Covenant and Negative Oath before he was admitted to Composition but that Order the House did suspend when they approved of the Articles of Exceter Here Sir Anthony Irby might have written the whole truth and evidenced the same if he had been so pleased for he knew that by an Ordinance of both Houses of Parliament the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall were bound up not to admit any Delinquent to his Composition before he had taken the Covenant and Negative Oath and that by the said Ordinance they mere impowered to commit the Delinquent so refusing to Prison untill he should do the same And Sir Anthony Irby doth know that the House of Lords had not then approved of the said Articles but refused the same and therefore the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall were still bound by the said Ordinance to do as aforesaid and that the same Ordinance was not suspended as Sir Anthony Irby pretends But Sir Anthony Irby in his said Letter doth yet proceed further viz. But since I must confess I have heard from some of the then Members of Parliament that one of our Society would have bought a Manor of Sir John Stawell that lay near him but I knew nothing of it then but took notice of some tartness in the party which being neighbours and Countreymen I something wondred at thinking that Sir John Stawell might have exasperated him by some action in the time of Warr. Reader I pray observe here that Sir Anthony Irby doth not name the person who would have bought this Manor of Sir Iohn Stawell nor doth he name those Members of Parliament that told him this story nor the time when this was told him But in his examination lately taken before the Committee of Parliament he doth there set forth that the time when he heard this story was about two years since when Sir Iohn Stawel was brought before the High Court of Justice and that the Member that told it him was Sir Edward Baynton as they two sate together in Sir Abraham Williams his House and that I my self was the person of our society that would have bought the said Manor Where note that when Sir John Stawell at the High Court of Justice had published this scandalous fiction which coming to the knowledge of Sir Edward Baynton he tels it to Sir Anthony Irby and now Sir Anthony Irby doth make use of this story in this his Letter thereby to induce the Reader the better to believe what he hath written in the justification of Sir John Stawell Which scandalous fiction was never heard of or told by Sir Anthony Irby till about seven years after that Sir John Stawell had been at the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall And observe likewise that Sir Anthony Irby saith it was a Manor that I would have bought of Sir John Stawell and that it lay near me when as Sir John Stawell tels you it was a Farm and it lay at Aubery which is above sixteen miles from my dwelling and I have no Land near the place But Sir Anthony Irby's memory must be blamed that hath here failed him according to the common lot of those which contrive and invent such like fictions As for the Certificate signed by Sir David Watkins wherein he saith That Sir Iohn Stawell came to the Committee at Goldsmiths Hall with a fair and civil respect and presented his Petition within the time limited by the Articles of Exceter c. Where observe That Sir Anthony Irby and Sir David Watkins do give the self-same evidence as to Sir Iohn Stawels fair and civil deportment at the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall but Sir David Watkins as well as Sir Anthony Irby did give his vote in the affirmative that Mr. Stephens should report to the Parliament the insolent language and ill behaviour of Sir Iohn Stawell before the said Committee for saith Sir Anthony Irby every Member then at the said Committee consented to the said Order that Sir Iohn Stawells miscarriage there should be reported to the House I shall not trouble my self nor the Reader with any more of this old Gentlemans Certificate for the time when Sir Iohn Stawell came to Goldsmiths Hall was in the heat of Summer and it is very likely that the good old man was then nodding and so could not mind what the Committee and himself did or it may be his memory through age doth fail him for it is now about eight years since that these
transactions were at Goldsmiths Hall It might be expected that I should give some answer to that aspertion which Sir Iohn Stawell hath cast upon me and Mr. Stephens in the first Paragraph of p. 26. of his Remonstrance where he seems to insinuate and would make the Reader believe that the Report which Mr. Stephens made to the Parliament of his insolent behaviour before the Committee of Goldsmiths Hall was no other but what Mr. Stephens had received from me and that I had instructed him what to say and why Mark Sir Iohn Stawells reason for this insinuation Because saith he The Report which Mr. Stephens made to the Parliament is the same with Mr. Ashe his Testimony given at the High Court of Justice and therefore Mr. Stephens took his Report from Mr. Ashe This is a notorious untruth and an idle aspertion cast both upon Mr. Stephens and my self for Mr. Stephens did report no other thing to the Parliament touching sir Iohn Stawels ill behaviour but what he heard come forth of his own mouth which was so much as gave Mr. Stephens occasion to say in the close of his Report to the House That if the Parliament did not make Sir John Stawell a Traitor Sir John Stawell had made them Traitors And thus Reader after a long forbearance and not without some unwillingness have I given thee a rude yet a most true and faithfull Account of all that passed between Sir Iohn Stawell and my self in relation to those scandals which in the Pamphlet Entituled his Humble Remonstrance are most malitiously insinuated I could have added much more if I was not unwilling either to tire thy patience or to recriminate or to aggravate his ingratitude towards me but by what I have written thou maist clearly perceive how injuriously he hath charged me with the sin of Coveting the Goods of my neighbour and consequently with the breach of all the Commandments And I could wish that I had not just cause were I minded so to do * Quere who it was that coveted Mrs Bassets Lands and got it by a Cheat. to retort the same crime in a high nature on himself and to desire him seriously to lay it to heart and consider whether even that offence of his be not one cause why it hath pleased God so to harden his heart that he should contemn the Parliaments mercy in refusing to submit unto a Composition according to the Articles of Exceter by which means he hath been most justly deprived of his whole Estate To the Honourable the Referrees of his Highness most Honourable Councel in the Cause between Sir Iohn Stawell and the Purchasers The Petition of William Lawrence of Edenburgh Esq Humbly sheweth THat whereas your Petitioner is imployed in his Highness service in Scotland which requires his personal attendance there and he being one of the said Purchasers as he is informed the said Sir John Stawell in his absence without summons or other legal notice hath and doth endeavour by surprize to pursue your Petitioner and work divers things against him prejudicial to his right And whereas your Petitioners purchase was before he left England confirmed by Act of Parliament and in confidence thereof your Petitioner suspending nothing left no provision nor order against any suits not doubting the same And your Petitionr in the present condition he is in is now deprived of all Councel intelligence Agents writings evidences proofs and other things necessary to maintain a Title and of all fit means to make use of them Your Petitioner therefore humbly prayeth that no proceedings be suffered against him otherwise then is by Law allowable against a person not summoned and out of the Nation and who hath besides the warrant of an Act of Parliament which if permitted to be questioned there can be no end of controversie And that for the farther security of your Petitioner the present Petitiin and Reasons annexed may be read or inspected and rest the with papers of other Purchasers before your honors misinformation from the said Sir John Stawell And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. Reasons that the Petitioners purchase ought not to be questioned by Sir John Stawell I. Your Petitioner saith that such members of the Committee of Articles as have acted for the said Sir Iohn Stawell against Purchasers are parties and not Judges and their orders and certificates ought to have no credit or authority And your Petitioner saith they have mistated the Case transgressed the duty of an inferiour jurisdiction and presumed on Acts of Soveraign power they have wrongfully indebted the Commonwealth in vast sums of mony to the said Sir Iohn Stawell they have occasioned false scandal on it of infringing his Articles and have not been indifferent or equal in their proceedings either as to publike or private rights all which your Petitioner will be ready to prove II. Your Petitioner saith that divers Purchasers some through fear and others by conspiracy with the said Sir Iohn Stawell have and do put in divers feigned and feeble Petitions and pleas part of which the said S. Iohn Stawell to delude the vulgar hath put in print and the same purchasers have and do endeavour to betray the Cause of the Commonwealth and their companions your Petitioner therefore desireth that no proceeding be made against him in gross but his cause heard patiently and particularly III. Your Petitioner saith that hath been already decided and adjudged by Parliament that the said Sir Iohn Stawell hath forfeited his Articles And thereupon the Act of sale of his Estate was made and that judgement being given by Parliament to whose proceedings Purchasers neither could nor ought to be privy and so much time since past That though the evidence and proofs were then never so clear yet the memory may be now lost the Members Witnesses proofs dead removed unknown or taken off It would be unreasonable to put Purchasers now to prove over again what hath been adjudged and would not only question Sir Iohn Stawells but most part of all the lands the Parliament ever sold or shall sell IV. Your Petitioner saith notwithstanding that if he shall be inforced he will prove that the said Sir Iohn Stawel never submitted to Composition according to Articles and that he hath both omitted and committed divers Acts then and since which have clearly forfeited them V. There is sufficient publickly and vulgarly known of the said Sir Iohn Stawell as none needs admire at the judgment passed against him for he offered nothing but insolencies and affronts to the Parliament it self when brought before them he reviled the Committe for compounding charging them to be Delinquents themselves He charged the Judges at the Upper Bench that they sate by a counterfeit Sale and that they were mock Judges and the Jury a pack of Knaves he openly denied and defied the Supream authority and charged the Court and Attorney-General with high Treason for acting by it publickly and to their faces He declared for
the Scots in Arms against this Commonwealth and till all was lost he made only a shew and pretence to desire to compound but really resolved and declared against it and derided and scorned all those who submitted to it All which was besides many others 1. No fit language or behaviour to demand a Composition with 2. A breach of the Peace within the Parliaments quarters 3. An incensing of the People to rebel and adhere to the enemy 4. The highest prejudice to the Parliaments quarters a prisoner could do though he knew by his Articles he was not to prejudice the same and had given security to that end 5. Divers of the same Acts have been made treasonable by Ordinance of Parliament 6. If any innocent person had presumed on half so much it had been his ruine VI. The said Sir Iohn Stawell refused to acknowledge himself a Delinquent and thereby willfully refused his Composition 1. It was the command of the Parliament and the Commissioners for compounding could not justifie composition on any other terms 2. The House of Lords being part of the Parliament had not then confirmed his Articles 3 The Parliament had considerately designed that all Delinquency should rema in of Record that both in the disposing of Offices of trust and power and other future Acts relating to the Commonwealth they might the more readily guide themselves 4. A dishonour might have been aspersed upon them that it had been Latrocinium and not Bellum a robbery and no just War if together with the penalties a confession or tryal of the offence had not likewise appeared 5. Both Commissioners and Sequestrators might have been otherwise liable to future actions and suits from the said Sir John Stawell and his heirs 6. The Parliament had appointed other Courts as namely the Commissioners of Appeals and those of the Common-Law for relief of persons sequestred being not Delinquents which were open unto him for trial if he would stand on that point but by standing on it with the Commissioners for compounding 't is clear heousted them of jurisdiction to meddle with him 7. His refusal was not out of error or mistake but advisedly and obstinately and after he was told of it 8. Both before and at time of making his Articles it was known that by the usual course of submitting to composition the first point was acknowledgement of Delinquency and therefore if the said Sir John Stawell had not liked it he might have chosen whether he would have taken Articles without an express dispensation of that very point VII Your Petitioner saith that the interest of the land in question doth not totally belong to the said Sir John Stawell but there are divers charges upon it and divers transactions have been made touching the same to other persons making no pretence to Articles who never made claim and therefore bound by the sale which your Petitioner ought to have liberty to examin as well by the Oath of the said Sir John Stawell as other persons and to have a Production of the Deeds Titles and Evidences of the said land in Court if there be cause VIII Your Petitioner saith that Purchasers were commanded to pay in their second moyeties by Act of Councel at White-Hall and their Estates were thereupon confirmed by Act of Parliament called by his Highness which is the deepest fundamental of property can be laid and the highest assurance the Law can give and ought not to be questioned IX His Highness hath been pleased likewise by his Oath in the Iwstrument Government to confirm the securing property and to Govern therein according to the Laws and Statutes the benefit whereof your Petitioner doth claim X. Your Petitioner acknowledgeth Laws may be repeal'd Judgements reversed and Authorities countermanded but humbly saith That buying and selling binds Supream Power it self And that in the particular sale the full price both of money and blood hath been received And therefore neither God nor man can revoke their onwn bargain and sales and the whole Christian Religion it self hath no other foundation but a bargain and sale XI Your Petitioner saith his Purchase being a reversion he was necessitated to drown and extinguish his old Lease for which old Lease the said Sir John Stawell received of this Petitioners father far more then the whole Inheritance was worth And your Petitioners occasions have likewise since his Purchase compell'd him to commit acts of forfeiture of his said old Lease by Feoffments and otherwise and to charge the mixt interest of old and new Purchase part with a joynture part in tail to an infant part with debts part orphans money part others And upon such transacting and charging the same hath bound himself in many penal Covenats and Bonds to warranty so that if Justice be not done to your Petitioner in maintenance of his Right your Petitioner is utterly destroyed and made incapable of other Indempnity or Reparation XII Your Petitioner was totally ignorant of the Articles of Exceter or any pretence of the said Sir Iohn Stawell to the same and the same Sir Iohn Stawell might and ought to have given him notice of the same and was earnestly requested and solicited to give your Petitioner notice and directions of his desires touching his intended purchase And the said Sir Iohn Stawell did notwithstanding purposely and fraudulently conceà l the same from your Petitioner which point though your Petitioner had nothing else to say is unanswerable both in the laws of peace and war XIII Your Petitioner saith that the said Sir Iohn Stawell might and ought further to have given notice to the Trustees for sale the Committee of obstructions the Terretenants of the land who had preemption as it is the course and other persons have done though inacted to be sold and their claims taken away as the said Sir John Stawel's was but he did not and therefore by his own wilfull defaults he lost the benefit of stopping sales which others in the like condition obtained Your Petitioner saith that the said Sir John Stawell is a subject and the Land in question English Land and the said Sir Iohn Stawell neither doth nor can claim by his Articles to be in better condition then the residue of the Subjects of England And they if their Estates happen to be sold by mistake in Parliament or erroneus Judgement at Common-Law or their claims have been unjustly refused or there be a trust or title of Equity in Chancery on the Land whereof Purchasers have no notice must take in lieu thereof that expedient which the Law allows namely reparation in value as far as is proper And for the residue damage by way of Action which legal expedient is made good by the said Articles and without them he can have no benefit of the same By the Act for settlement of Ireland the Parliament declared in a far stronger case and though no sale were made to necessitate it that persons there might be transplanted from their own Estates of
Common-Law or if they have a Title to a Trust or Equity in Chancery whereof Purchasers have no notice they must lose it and be content with such recompence in value as the Law allows what an abomination would it be if two measures of justice should be kept a greater for the Enemy and a smaller for the Subject 16. The Case in point is resolved and practised to the subjects of Ireland yet have they as good Articles as those of Exceter as appears by the Act for setling Ireland dated 12 August 1652. in the tenth Article and last Proviso for it is expresly enacted That they may be transplanted from their own Estates to remote Estate of like value notwithstanding they have been adjudged comprised within Articles 17. Purchasers for the most part are undone and incapable of Indemnity Tenants having drowned and forfeited their Estates Widows Wives Orphants and Fatherless having yeilded up their portions and the estate passed from hand to hand to so many manner of conveyances uses trusts and crose Covenants as is impossible to reconcile or accommodate with any value whereas the estate of the Delinquent is only the interest of a single person who can alledge no reason why to avoid all these inconveniencies he should not accept an estate equal or better then his own in value But only that he scorns to take land on the Title either of Parliament or Army 18. Touching Honour it will reflect deeply on the Honour of the Parliament to retract their own Sales on the Honor of the Protector himself being so eminently named and made a party to the Act of Sale on the Honour of the army the people esteeming publick Sales to be the military Market and planting of the Sphear where by the Laws of Nations all ought to have security and protection in dealing and the rights of buying and selling to be observed inviolable And the Honour of God not to justifie Delinquents to destroy Innocents By all which it is hoped it will appear to all just and intelligent persons that to reverse publick Sales of Delinquents Lands made by Act of Parliament upon Articles or any cause preceding whereof Purchasers had no notice is contrary to wisdom Justice Honour and the Laws of God and man Reasons why the Purchasers of Sir John Stawels Estate desire the late Vote concerning the confirmation of the Purchases may be enacted 1. A Great noise of terrour is spread amongst the People by the proceeding of the Committee of Articles and men still remain fearful to bring in their money to the State unless satisfied with an Act. 2. The presumption of the Committee of Articles in those proceedings against the Resolution of the late Parliament was grounded meerly on this That the same was a Vote and not an Act. 3. In the Intervals of Parliaments on the same grounds men of impudent spirits will sleight a Vote not enacted 4. It is usual and equal for Sellers to do Acts of further assurance 5. The Purchasers are menaced and threatned they shall not hold quiet long what they have purchased 6. They shall not be able to sell off their Purchases to others but with great loss 7. An Act leaves Purchasers in no other condition as against the State then they were before but onely is to secure them against Sir Iohn Stawel 8. Many Acts of Parliament have been confirmed again by Parliament though sufficiently valid before and particularly Magna Charta though unquestionable in it self hath been confirmed above thirty several times Thursday the thirteenth of October 1653. An Act for confirmation of the Sale of the Lands and Estate of Sir John Stawell Knight of the Bath BE it Enacted and declared by Authority of Parliament That all Sales made of any Estate Lands Tenements Hereditaments Goods or Chattels of Sir Iohn Stawell Knight of the Bath by vertue or appointment of any Act or Acts of Parliament are hereby confirmed and established And accordingly all purchasers and buyers of the same shall and may have hold and quietly enjoy the same to them their Heirs and Assignes according to their respective interest and estates purchased or bought and according to the Rules Conditions and Limitations prescribed in the said Acts any Law or Judgement to the contrary notwithstanding Hen. Scobell Clerk Parl. FINIS