being put Whether the Witnesses shall be now called in It was resolved in the Affirmative There being a Paper made mention of in the House which was said to be a Copy of what the Earl of Shaftsbury said in the King's Bench but not permitted to be read Robert Blaney was called in and sworn as a Witness who being asked whether he was present in the Court of King's Bench when the Earl of Shaftsbury moved for his Habeas Corpus And whether he heard all that the Earl of Shaftsbury said there He answered to this effect That he was present in the King's Bench when the Earl of Shaftsbury was there and he heard the most part what his Lordship said but he cannot tell now what he said but he took some Notes and that afternoon compared Notes with Mr. Rushworth who also had taken Notes and thereupon they perfected a Copy which he gave to the Lord Treasurer He also says That he cannot for a thousand worlds say that he heard all that is in the Paper nor he cannot now say what it was that he took and what it was that he had from Mr. Rushworth it being so long since by reason of the many Interlineations made in the Paper by comparing Notes with Mr. Rushworth Then the said Robert Blaney withdrew After this the House agreed what acknowledgment the Earl of Shaftsbury should make at the Bar for his Offences which if his Lordship should make the House would then Declare their Satisfaction in his Submission and Acknowledgment The Submission is as followeth I Do acknowledge that my endeavouring to maintain that the Parliament is Dissolved was an ill advised Action for which I humbly beg the pardon of the Kings Majesty and of this most Honourable House And I do also acknowledge that my bringing of an Habeas Corpus in the Kings Bench during this Session was a high Violation of Your Lordships priviledges and a great Aggravation of my former Offence for all which I likewise most humbly beg the pardon of this most Honourable House The Earl of Shaftsbury was brought again to the Bar and the Lord Chancellor told him the Lords had prepared a particular Acknowledgment which the House expected he should make and read the same to him And the Earl of Shaftsbury made the said Acknowledgment in these words viz. I Do acknowledge That my endeavouring to maintain that the Parliament is Dissolved was an ill advised Action for which I humbly beg the pardon of the Kings Majesty and of this most Honourable House And I do also acknowledge that my bringing of an Habeas Corpus in the Kings Bench during this Session was a high Violation of Your Lordships priviledges and a great Aggravation of my former Offence for all which I likewise most humbly beg the pardon of this most Honourable House His Lordship being again with-drawn IT is Ordered That the Lords with the white Staves now present wait on His Majesty to give his Majesty an Accompt that this House hath received Satisfaction from the Earl of Shaftsbury in the matter of the Habeas Corpus and the other Contempt for which he stood imprisoned and are humble Suitors to His Majesty That he would be pleased to discharge him from his Imprisonment And that their Lordships do acquaint the House to Morrow what they have done in this matter Ordered that the Earl of Shaftsbury be in the mean time Remitted to the Tower Die Martis 26 Feb. 1677. The Lord Treasurer Reported to the House That the Lords with the white Staves according to the Order of this House have astended His Majesty to give His Majesty an Accompt that this House hath received Satisfaction from the Earl of Shaftsbury in the matter of the Habeas Corpus and the other Contempt for which he stood Imprisoned and are humble suitors to His Mrjesty That he will be pleased to Discharge him from his Imprisonment To which His Majesty was pleased to give this Answer That He will give Order for the Earl of Shaftsbury's Discharge NOw that you have perused the manner of the Earl of Shaftsbury's Deliverance out of the Tower I shall for Illustration of the Great Clemency of His Majesty and of the most Noble House of Peers pursue my purpose signified in the beginning upon the enumerated Particulars that the Government of this Monarchy may not lose the benefit which may be improved out of an Accident of State so memorable and so necessary to be remembred for Prevention of the like in future 1. I shall give an Account of the peaceful condition of this Kingdom a little before the Earl of Shaftsbury began to offend His Majesty before that time had enjoyed as calm and quiet a Reign as could possibly be imagined to have been had in the midst of a Nation so divided into various Opinions A Reverence was paid to his Government by the Parliament Nemine contradicente And it was a much more comfortable Season for all His Great Officers and others intrusted with the Management of Affairs under him The Publick Purse was frankly open'd to Him upon all occasions without grumbling or delay and the hearts of men were in the best sence Simple Open and Chearful in their Sentiments about all his Royal Purposes and Proceedings Fears and Jealousies were confined in the breasts of those only who never loved him nor his Government and those Fears never shifted their Quarters among the Factions to take up new ones in the Old Royal Party The House of Peers was as the Temple of Old Not an Ax nor a Hammer no Noise was heard there Nor were the Waters of the Sanctuary there troubled nor any of the Vesses of it exposed to Scorn nor any of its Utensils nor Offices in danger of profanation But all things went smoothly there Next As for the House of Commons I may say much to the same purpose in the like strain of its wondrous Quiet and Calmness for Twelve Years together before the time of the said Earls Offences its admirable harmony and consent among themselves as well as its unparallel'd Loyalty Liberality and Duty to the King the great assurance of mind they shewed all along about his Majesties Royal Intentions towards the Securing of Us against Popery and in the Enjoyment and Confirmation of our Legal Rights and Liberties What a mutual confidence was there betwixt King and Commons So those secret Snakes that were crept into the Common Hedge durst not so much as peep forth a head to shew either their Factious Fork Venom or hissing against the Wisdom and Conduct of him or his Ministers And who I pray you was more Triumphantly transported to behold those happy days than this Penitent Earl When being exalted in the bright Orb of Chancellor he most worthily proclaimed before both Houses Anno 1672. A publick Praise and Blessing to the Almighty that he hath given us such a King That while War and Misery rages in our Neighbour's Countries our Garners are full and no
Earl of Shaftsbury's endeavouring to free himself from his Commitment by this House by a Habeas Corpus in the Court of King's Bench. And for the better knowledge of the mattere of Fact the Records of the King's Bench were produced by which it did appear That two Rules of that Court were obtained upon the motion of the Earl of Shaftsbury's Counsel Trim Term 1677 and the Returns thereupon were read by which it did appear That the Earl of Shaftsbury was committed the 16th of Feb. 1676. by this House for a Contempt And then the Remittitur of the Earl of Shaftsbury to the Tower was also read After this a Petition of the Earl of Shaftsbury was presented to this House and read wherein his Lordship took notice of an Order of this House of the 20th instant for bringing the Records of the Court of King's Bench into this House concerning the matter of the Habeas Corpus brought by him that he takes himself to be greatly concerned and to have a right to be present and heard when any debate of any new matter against him be entred upon That he cannot pretend but that he may have erred for want of a Precedent to guide him and being deprived of the benefit of Counsel by reason of his close Confinement and being resolved not to do any thing willingly which might in the least offend His Majesty or their Lordships He humbly takes this opportunity to give further evidence thereof by casting himself at their Lordships feet And as he hath humbly begg'd the pardon of His Majesty so he begs also the pardon of this House for having offended them in any thing whatsoever After a long debate thereof the House made these Resolutions following Resolved and declared That it is a breach of the Priviledge of this House for any Lord Committed by the House to bring a Habeas Corpus in any inferior Court to free himself from that Imprisonment during the Session of Parliament Resolved That the Earl of Shaftsbury shall have liberty to make his defence notwithstanding the Resolution and Declartion aforesaid Die Venerls 22 Feb. 1677. The House taking into Consideration when the Earl of Shaftsbury shall come to this House and in what manner and what shall be said unto him It is ordered That he shall be brought to the Bar on Monday next by the Constable of the Tower or his Deputy and then the Lord Chancellor shall say unto him to the same effect as his Lordship was directed this day by the House Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That the Constable of His Majesties Tower of London be and is hereby required to bring Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury now a Prisoner in the said Tower for his high Contempt committed against this House to the Bar on Monday the 25th day of this instant February at 10 in the forenoon And this shall be a sufficient Warrant on that behalf To the Constable of His Majesties Tower of London his Deputy and Deputies and every of them Die Lunae 25 Feb. 1677. Then the Earl of Northampton Constable of the Tower of London acquainted the House That in obedience to their Lordships Order he hath brought the Earl of Shaftsbury who is without ready to receive their Lordships Commands Upon this the Lord Chancellor desired to know the pleasure of the House what he shall say to the Earl of Shaftsbury when he comes to the Bar which words were written down and being read were approved of Then it was moved That the Earl of Shaftsbury might answer as an Aggravation of his Offence for some words which he spoke in the Court of King's Bench when he appear'd upon his Habeas Corpus which was conceived to be contrary to the Priviledge of this House and that Witnesses might be heard to prove the same before the Earl of Shaftsbury be called to the Bar but this was left to be as it is until the Earl of Shaftsbury had been called to the Bar and his Answer received to what he stands already charged with The Earl of Shaftsbury being brought to the Bar and having kneeled the Lord Chancellor said to him as was afore-directed by the House viz. My Lord of Shaftsbury The Lords have received a Petition from your Lordship taking notice of the Contempt for which you are Committed by this House together with the Submission to the Judgment of this House And while the Lords were taking into Consideration that Petition there were brought before this House some Records of the King's Bench whereby it appears That your Lordship endeavoured by Habeas Corpus to free your self by the Judgment of that inferiour Court from the Censure of this I am to acquaint your Lordship that this House has resolved and declared That for any Lord committed by this House to bring an Habeas Corpus in any inferiour Court to free himself from that Commitment during the Session of Parliament is a breach of the Priviledge of this House But withal their Lordships have likewise resolved That it shall be permitted to your Lordship to make your full Defence notwithstanding the Resolution and Declaration aforesaid And therefore I am commanded to ask your Lordship what you are pleased to say for your self upon the whole matter Whereupon the Earl of Shaftsbury answered to this effect My Lords I Have presumed to offer two Petitions to this Honourable House the first your Lordship mentions I do again here personally renew humbly desiring that I may be admitted to make that Submission and Acknowledgment your Lordships were pleased to order And that after a twelve months close Imprisonment to a man of my Age and Infirmities your Lordships would pardon the folly or unadvisedness of any of my Words or Actions And as to my second Petition I most humbly thank your Lordships for acquainting me with the Resolution and Declaration in that point And though Liberty be in it self very desirable and as my Physician a very learned man thought absolutely necessary to the preservation of my Life yet I do profess to your Lordships upon my Honour That I would have perish'd rather than have brought my Habeas Corpus had I then apprehended or been inform'd that it had been a breach of the Priviledge of this Honourable House It is my Duty it is my Interest to support your Priviledges I shall never oppose them My Lords I do fully acquiesce in the Resolution and Declaration of this Honourable House I go not about to justifie my self but cast my self at your Lordships feet acknowledge my Error and humbly beg your pardon not only for having brought my Habeas Corpus but for all other my Words and Actions that were in pursuance thereof and proceeding from the same Error and Mistake Then his Lordship withdrew and after some debate the Question was proposed Whether Witnesses shall be now called in The Question being put Whether this Question shall be now put It was resolved in the Affirmative Then the Question
to serve it self by new Elections doubted not but so plausible a Plea as a New Parliament would easily take place and afford every one the advantages they hoped for by a Change His Majesty and His Conncil and the Parliament soon smelt out the desperate meaning of this Privy Conspiracy under cover of so publick a Plea and the Faction was soon made to understand that their Plot was understood and that Crafty Tricks with Loud Popular Clamors and Long Speeches of their Correspondents in Parliament with other Machinations under the Sacred shelter and Claim of Free speaking and Priviledge was no honest English way to bring on New Parliaments the Law having left it wholly to the Judgment and Power of the King who hath at all times had a willingness to call one as soon as the Publick work lying before this Parliament can be finished and the Heats high Cants and Traiterous designs of Factions to make an uproar can be evaporated The working of all these Evils was plainly seen so soon as in this April-Session of 75. to be the wretched effect of those Principles and Doctrines of State which by the care of the Conspirators had been most industriously spread in Prints and otherwise for Poysoning the Opinion of City and Countrey about the King and His Parliament and the Government all exposed for a subversion Some Noble Lords at that Season reflecting on their own Allegiance and Obligation to prevent this brought into the House of Peers a Bill in which was that Oath so much clamour'd at called the Oath of Test or Tryal conceiving it would be a good security to Church and State if men thereby renewed their Allegiance It seems the Plot after the Rate of 1641. was so forward that the Masters of it were touched to the quick and feared this Oath would touch too home also upon their Proselytes who by it were to swear down the Principles and Doctrines of 41. which were now again to be made use of such as allowed of taking Arms against the King upon Parliamentary pretences and by His Authority against His Person and of making Alterations without Him in Church and State If the Book called A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Countrey published this year 75. be of any Credit it hath these words in page 9. That the Earl of Shaftsbury was the man in the House that opened at large the Mischievous and ill Designs as he calls it and Consequences of the Bill and convinced many other Lords into a humour of Protesting against the Bill Now the design was bare-faced And because the Church was to have been alter'd as well as State therefore he who will believe that Book may if he please when as in 20. and 21. and 22 pages it saith That his Lordship spake things in disgrace of those old repositories of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England the 39 Articles the Liturgy the Catechism the Homilies and the Canons And I am sure the same Book which condemned these and vilified the Bishops too bestows very high commendations of his Lordships Parts Pains and Labour about these matters which to the praise of his and some other mens Lungs took up the House of Lords with a debate of Sixteen or Seventeen whole days together the House sitting many times till Eight or Nine a clock at night and sometimes till midnight However they could not save the Book which makes report of this Noble Prize from being by Order of the Peers burnt by the hand of the Hangman And indeed it well deserved so because it charged the main stress of the Debate upon the shoulders of his Lordship though the Author wrote as if he had been his Friend by reason of the immoderate Praises that he loads him with in divers places 'T is an unhappy thing and looks ill that his Lordship should have such dangerous Friends as deserve Execution by the Hangman for what praise soever the fore-going Author may have fallen short in another Author endeavours to make up who seems a Friend too of his Lordship by an excess of praising him for the opposing of that Oath as may be seen in pages 17 58 59 69. and 61 62 of that Author whom a little before we named the Record-Keeper or Recorder of the Faction that is more plainly the Author of that most Villainous Book Entitulep An Account c. in the 61 page whereof are these very words It might be injurious where all of them did so excillently well to attribute more to any one of those Lords than to another unless because the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shaftsbury have been the more reproached for this brave Action it being requisite by a double proportion of praise to set them two on equal terms with the best of their Companions in Honour And in page 62. He glorieth in these words concernâ—ng the Issue of these doings That by this means the Test Dyed and the Matter in conclusion was so Husbanded betwixt this business and the business of Dr. Shirly and Sir John Fagg that any longer converse between the two Houses grew impracticable so that His Majesty was necessitated to Prorogue them till the 13th of October 1675. following Let the World judge then to what height of Crime such mens behaviour doth tend when it must puzzle the most exquisite Politician to distinguish in point of Treason betwixt a Frustrator and a Subverter of the Meetings of Parliament And so you have seen what Friends his Lordship hath and if their Prints are to be believed you see what he did and how he did and how he bestirred himself during that April-Session of the year 1675 Now we pass on to October-Session of the same year and in this it will appear how the work of publick Disturbance and of Frustrating this Meeting of Parliament likewise proceeded for it also came to nothing but by whose means let the Reader judge by what followeth in short The Parliament being met the first Artifice of some was to set on Foot again the late Quarrel betwixt both Houses about their Priviledges In which Master-piece if we may credit a Speech Printed in the name of the Earl of Shaftsbury his Lordship acted a principal part and it was improved from being a private Cause between Shirly and Fagg to become a cause of too much concern to the King the whole Parliament and Kingdom Therefore divers Lords argued in their House to lay aside for a while that Cause as a matter that would revive their Contest with the Commons and thereby hinder the Kingdoms business of preparing a Navy and other pressing Affairs and Occasions and so most of the Lords spake for adjourning that Cause for six weeks But saith the printed Speech in my Lord Shaftsbury's name Take heed what you do and argued these Particulars following That then the Money-Bill for the King to build Ships would be passed Oh take heed of that for though in a
another part of the Speech an Out-cry be made of the Crown of the French King yet no Money ought to be had to prepare by Sea or Land against him This way of arguing suits well That to lay Shirly aside would be to alter the Constitution of the Government Well argued again That no Prince ever govern'd without a Nobility or any Army If he will not have one he must have t'other Well done to insiunate as if the King meant an Army Government That the King is King by Law and by the same Law that a poor man enjoys his Cottage I thought he had been King by Inheritance that is according to Law and the fundamental Law of the Kingdom supposes that no Law is able to alter it Else the Heir of the Crown may hap to be without either Palace or Cottage by I know not what Law That a King governing by an Army without His Parliament is a Government that his Lordship owns not is not obliged to nor was born under This is to set up a King of Straw and place him in the head of an Imaginary Army and then rout him with an infinuating Slander That he cannot find that ever the Jesuits or Popish Clergy only some of our Episcopal Clergy owned Monarchy to be of Divine Right Then the Episcopal are the best Subjects The English Presbyterian may suit with the other being the same by Principle a sort of Protestant Jesuits That to say this Family are our Kings and this Partioular Frame of Government is our lawful Constitution and obligeth us is owing only to the particular Laws of our Countrey Well urged in Print here is scope enough left both for Family and Framealterations by particular Laws All our wise men have doted till now they dream't that the General Fundamental Law of the Kingdom had held both Family and Frame so together that they are unalterable by any particular Law whatsoever What think ye now hath not that man a notable skrew in his Brains that could draw all these brave Points out of the Case of Dr. Shirly Nevertheless a shift was made with Shirly's business to make long Speeches and so inflame the Reckoning betwixt both Houses that no publick business being to be done this Session also was made as unserviceable as divers foregoing Sessions had been and the time was drull'd but till the 20th of November 1675. And then the main Intendment for the Destruction otherwise called a Dissolution of this Parliament came to light back't with such Reasons in writing afterwards Printed with the Earl of Shaftsbury s and some other Names to them which no Lord could have so readily and luckily penn'd as one that formerly had an Acquaintaince with the Levellers the Arguments being all of a piece with theirs in the former times of Reformation insomuch that His Majesty finding no good to be done was forced for meer shame of our Nation and to hide it to put an end to this Session also the 22th of November 1675. And that men might have time enough to discover their own Errors He prorogued them to the 15th of February 1676. In the mean time no Money having been raised as the King earnestly had desired of them for building of Ships and other Preparations for War but set the Saddle upon the right Horse or lay the Brat at the right door and rail not at them for not doing what was contrived and made impossible for them to do by with holding Money from them that should have done it which lamed them and the whole Nation in such manner that they could not make one step towards it And this is the true Reason why we lost so much time and are so behind hand and backward at this day Nevertheless the much long'd for 15th of Feb. 1676. being come the King as if He had forgotten all Faults and Injuries of the former Session such is His marvailous Clemency and Patience opened this with a Speech of a most obliging Nature such a one as was a wonder Considering what Provocations had been put upon Him and His Government in the interval of the Session by the many most pernicious Books and Pamphlets which had been spread by the Faction into all parts to inflame and prepare the People for new Commotions if it might be to disturb Him this Session also and Dissolve the Parliament in which work of Dissolution the Earl of Shaftsbury at the Houses sitting you know was prime man in appearing to the utmost of his endeavour As for the King He in His Speech to both Houses in hope to reconcile all differences breath'd forth nothing but sweetness Kindness and high Reason He told them That after a long Proregation He had given them the Opportunity to â—â—paâ—â— the Misfortunts of the former Session That if they fell into the like Differences now again which some men had so unhappily managed and improved betweenn them it would be enough to leave them without all excuse That His Majesty Himself was resolved it should not be his fault if they were nit made happy by their Consultations in Parliament That he came prepared to satisfie them in all things for securing our Protestant Church and Religion that may be reasonably asked or can consist with Christian Prudence That he was ready to do all things that might gratifie them in the further securing of Liberty and Property That then he leaves all the World to judge who is most for Arbitrary Government they that foment such Differences as tend to dissolve all Parliaments or he that would preserve This and all Parliaments from being made useless by such Discentions That if the good ends of Government and the necessaries of it happen to be further disappointed he called God and men to witness that day that the misfortunes of that disappointment shall not lie at his Door To all which excellent particulars my Lord Chancellor in his Speech added many more too large to repeat here only one I must remember That it would be somewhat strange and without all example in story that a Nation should be twice ruined twice undone by the self-same way and means the same Fears and Jealousies But all this was but Surdo canere what was to be done was before-hand resolved on The Actors entred in the House of Peers and the Tragy Comaedy began thus as the Recorder of the account of the growth of Popery c. pages 71 72. presents it which Book being now in the hands of the House of Peers deserves their most severe Inquisition For he saith The Duke of B. one who usually says what he thinks argued with great strength of reason that this Prorogation was null and this Parliament consequently Dissolved But other Lords moved That for this the Duke ought to be called to the Bar. So that saith he the Earl of Shaftsbury had opportunity to appear with such extraordinary vigour in what concerned both the Duke of B' s Person and Proposal that as the Duke of B. might have stood single in any rational Contest so the Earl of Shaftsbury was more properly another Principal rather than his Second What a virulent Scribe is this Recorder that an ill Contest cannot arise in Parliament but he still brings in my Lord Shaftsbury as a main man a Beginner or a Promoter of it If he was so â—he greater then ought to be his Lordships Repentance all the days of his Life otherwise though he hath done it at the Lords Bar there is yet a Superiour Bar hereafter which he must one day give an Account to In the mean while both he and the Duke being Penitents profess'd it sounds not well that this Recorder should now be the Trumpet of their Praises For we would fain believe they are real and mean to give him no more the like occasion by Parliament-pelting nor to count him in the number of their Friends hereafter Whoever he was that published the Debates and Arguments that had been delivered in the House of Peers formerly for Dissolving the Parliament will find it confessed in that print that it was a partiâ—l Design it having been boasted by the Designers That they had a Party of Members in the Commons House whose business it was to second the Disputing Lords by carrying the Differences in both Houses to the greatest height that by this means they might be rid of this Parliament by Dissolution which is a new way of Blowing up a Parliament that calls aloud for Repentance and God grant that in our days neither the same nor the like Tricks of State may be brought upon the Stage any more When this would not do then for my Lord of Shaftsbury and the rest that joyn'd with him in Argument to argue from the Fifteen Months Prorogation of the Parliament that it was consequentially Dissolv'd and Null was such a Jigg to be brought in among wise men as never was seen in any Age nor could have been seen in any but in this Age of Wonders and wondrous boldness with Kings The vanity of it was sufficiently refuted by many Noble Lords in the House and afterwards in Print by a private hand where the whole Design and Drift of it was explained to the People But that which is worth all is his Lordships own Repentance for â— knew him to be of so clear a Wit that when the angry Clouds of Faction and Hearts of Dispute should be over his piercing Judgment would quickly espy that he had been out of the way and that seeing the Tower agreed not with his Constitution as was acknowledged in his Petition to the House it was his best way to return to the Bar and there to submit and beg Mercy-of His Majesty and the Right Honourable House and from that most Noble Theatre Preach Repentance to all that had been perverted by his Doctrine and Example Which he having done what remains but that he may spend the rest of his days with the Blessing of a Convert the Comfort of a good Conscience and in contemplating also the many Pardons which from time to time our most Gracious King hath bestowed upon him FINIS
HONESTY's best POLICY OR Penitence the sum of Prudence Being a brief Discourse in honour of the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury's humble Acknowledgment and Submission for his Offences upon his knees at the Bar of the House of Lords on the 25th of Febr. 1677. Together with the several Proceedings of the said Right Honourable House in order to his Lordship's late Discharge from Imprisonment Published for prevention of false Copies in so weighty a matter and for the undeceiving of the People MIne eye was on divers particulars when first I resolved on the publication of these Papers viz. 1. To give a brief account of the Condition of this Kingdom as it stood a little before the E. of S. began to offend 2. Of what nature his Lordship's Offences were when they began and the dangerous Consequences of them 3. The high Wisdom and Justice of His Majesty and the House of Peers in doing right to Themselves and to the whole Body of Parliament by preventing the Dangers then threatning Them and the whole Government in point of Safety 4. The necessity of setting forth some Discourse of this nature together with the Proceedings of the House that the winds of such of His Majesties Subjects as have been intoxicated and perverted through the Offences aforesaid and are not yet recovered may be rectified from Principles and Doctrines both then and as yet destrustive to this most Noble Monarchy 5. The Vanity and Fate at all times of Popularity and Faction in great Lords and Gentry and of the Peoples being drawn in to a siding and driving of Parties among each other to second the pretences of Male-contented Great Ones or the itchy humour of the lesser Frie of Government-Tinkers And that in this juncture of Affairs it is the utmost of all Treasons to be Factious when three Kingdoms are at stake in a Foreign War 6. I considered also that it can be no dishonour to E. of S. but his glory as it is of all true Penitents to have his Repentance published since it is his happiness to survive in publick by the King 's admirable Clemency and remain a living Lecture to turn multitudes of Transgressors from the Error of their ways 'T is said in Holy Writ He that turns many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever How happy then is his Lordship that hath so fair an occasion thus to improve his Penitence 7. I observed also There are a sort of People that not long ago were as busie as Bees to publish and disperse at large whatsoever they thought might be for the Honour and Advantage of his Lordship only now they envy him the glory of the publication of this Ungrateful Wretches as they are that a Noble Lord after so much sufferance of Imprisonment for a Cause they profess'd to own should be so ill requited as to have his Repentance smother'd as much as in them lies for want of Air Insomuch that either no Copy of it is to be obtained from them or but a clipt or counterfeit one Therefore to do Right to his Lordship and that the deluded sort of well-meaning People may not be deprived of the benefit of learning Repentance from his Lordship with a sight of their Errors I reckon'd it a charitable publick-good work to give them a sight of these Papers Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense Ill betide him that evil thinks for I mean well in doing the business The Papers following being Transcripts of the Proceedings of the House of Peers about this matter from the 14th of Feb. 1677. to the 26th of Feb. 1677. Die Jovis 14 Feb. 1677. A Petition was presented to the House from the Earl of Shaftsburry wherein he humbly submits himself to their Lordships pleasure and is ready to make Acknowledgment and Submission according to their Directions But in regard it did not appear to this House that his Lordship hath made his Acknowledgment to His Majesty after debate the Question being put Whether this Petition shall now be rejected It was Resolved in the Affirmative Die Mercurii 20 Feb. 1677. A Petition from the Earl of Shaftsbury was presented to the House and read as followe To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled The humble Petition of Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury Sheweth THat your Petitioner on the 16th of Feb. 1676. was committed Prisoner to the Tower of London by your Lordships because he did not obey your Lordships Order where he hath continued under close Confinement to the great decay of his Health and danger of his Life as well as prejudice of his Estate and Family In all humble Obedience therefore unto your Lordships he doth acknowledge that his endeavouring to maintain that this Parliament is Dissolved was an ill-advised Action for which he humble begs the Pardon of the King's Majesty and of this most Honourable House and doth in all humble Duty and Observance to your Lordships beseech you to believe that he would not do any thing willingly to incur you Displeasure Wherefore your Petitioner in all humble Duty and Obedience both unto His Majesty and your Lordships hath made his humble Submission and Acknowledgment in his most humble Petition unto the King 's most Sacred Majesty and is ready to make his further Submission and Acknowledgment to His Majesty and to this Honourable House according to the direction thereof And he doth most humbly implore your Lordships That you will be pleased to restore him unto your Favour and discharge him from his Imprisonment And your Petitioner as in Duty bound shall c. Shaftsbury This being read the Lord Chancellor did let the House know That His Majesty hath receiv'd a third Petition from the Earl of Shaftsbury more submissive in form than the two first But His Majesty understanding that the Earl of Shaftsbury hath endeavoured to free himself from the Censure of this House by appealing to the King's Bench to have their Judgment thereupon during the late Adjournment doth not think fit as yet to signifie his pleasure as to his Discharge until this House hath taken that matter into Consideration After a long debate hereof the Question was proposed Whether an Address shall be now made to His Majesty to discharge the Earl of Shaftsbury from his Imprisonment upon his Petitions to His Majesty and to this House Then the Question being put Whether this Question shall be put It was resolved in the Negative After this the House considered the matter of the Earl of Shaftsbury's appealing from this House to the King's Bench to be released by Habeas Corpus And after debate It is ordered That the further debate of this business is adjourned till tomorrow morning at which time the Records of the Court of King's Bench touching the Earl of Shaftsbury's business there shall be brought into this House the Judges are also to attend this House Die Jovis 21 Feb. 1677. This day the House resumed the debate concerning the
may see to the Confusion of all their Slanders against the King and his Ministers and his Counsels about the several particulars aforementioned how fairly and prudently things were carried at Whitehall concerning them Only one Point more is to be cleared that is the Black-heath Army a thing much babbled about as a Grand Bugbear by the same Generation and a black Business to this day My Lord will do this for us too Those few Forces which some will needs call an Army during the Dutch War were if I forget not to have been made about 6000 to have been sent to make a descent upon some part of Holland and were rendezvou'd at Black-heath for that design O but there was more in it the Commander in chief was Monsieur Schomberg a French man What then But he war a Protestant also and judged fit for that Work In answer to this let me mind you what the King himself said in his Speech spoken the same day before the Earl of Shaftsbury began his His Majesties words were There is one Jealousie more that is malitiously spread abroad and yet so weak and friâ—â—lous that I once thought it not of moment enough to mention but it may have gotten some ground with some well-minded People And that is that the Forces I have raised in this War were designed to control Law and Property I wish I had raised more Forces the last Summer the want of them then convinces me I must raise more But I conclude with this Assurance to you That I will preserve the true Reformed Protestant Religion and the Church as it is now established in this Kingdom and that no mans property or Liberty shall be invaded You see the Jealousies raised about those Forces the King slights as a frivolous piece of Malice hardly worth mention But however gives all Assurance for Religion Liberty and Property And as for my Lord he in page 13th of his Speech calls it a Jealousie foolishly spread abroad of the Frees the King had raised in that War And he saith It was so great an Error in the King not to have raised more Forces at that time that nothing but the true Reason want of Mony could have justified the defect in the number of those Forces And then as to the blame of their not doing the work that they had been raised for his Lordship answers that the preceeding Summer was a miracle of Storms and Tempests such as thereby secured their East India Ships and protected their Sea coasts from the descent designed by those Forces And if you will not believe so Noble a Patriot as his Lordship about these matters then go on to report and scatter your Scandals till your throats grow hoarse and sore with reporting and become as incurable as your Faction Nevertheless with men not madly obstinate these Evidences ought to pass that there were no such great Offences in Whitehall nor in his Lordship neither in the years before 1673. Now for the other part of my Observations in and after 1673 Divers great Offences grew up from time to time to put the World much out of Order And verily these should not be repeated were it not of so high importance for Publick Service to prevent falling into the like again and to restore the minds of such as are fallen Never was more work done to put a Nation out of Order in so little time as two or three years considering the good and happy condition it was in by his Lordships own Confession for from 73. to 1576 was no long space and by that time his Lordship had taken up Lodgings in the Tower It seems as if he bestirred himself to purpose and began betimes to offend because notice was taken presently after a Court of his Lordships behaviour insomuch that it is said he was forbidden coming to Court But to be even with them for this and for other purposes he took heart and hied as fast as he could into the City with Resolution to become a Citizen and trod the Exchange as a Merchant and as constantly as any being then to drive a great Trade in small Wares of Popularity how it came about you may guess but as to a Common place for all People there flockt the Factors of every Faction Soon after this Clubs and Committees of good Fellowship and Sedition were erected and there all and more than all the Infirmities of Court and Errors of State were Arraigned and Condemned The old Sore also want of Trade was rubbed and the only Remedy resolved on viz. The removing of Evil Counsellers and a crying down France Ministers of State and French Pensioners Arbitrariness and Property yea all that was not at Court was to be brought on the Stage and the Bishops too and to be stript of their Lawn-sleeves Oracles likewise were given out to be delivered in Common Council at Guildhall by Mr. Jenks and his fellow Wiâ—secres and Orders issued out for a general Muster of Grievances against the Session of Parliament besides many a costly Dinner and deep Potations for the putting as many Members as they could out of their Senses There the Contrivances were first set on Foot to Institute Offices of Intelligence to coyn News for the Coffee-houses and an Academy for inventing Seditious and Treasonable Pamphlets with Directions how to Print and Spread them to edifie both City and Kingdom into an Oblivion of their Allegiance and a belief of meere Inventions that so they might be rendred tractable towards any design of their Factious Leaders and for the quickning of a diligent Correspondence of their Countrey-Agents with the supream Council of the Directors at London These were the blessed fruits of the Years 1674. and 76. I am far from charging his Lordship with any of them but I may only observe that all these beginnings of Disorder follow'd his Lordships laying aside at Court and were the unhappy Consequents in time of his Courtship in the City After a while ill humours like ill Weeds grew so fast that now they began to think themselves both powerful and skilful enough to play a Prize in Parliament and therefore seeing the Memorable Session of 13th of April 1675. was at hand they provided their pranks so to play that the Parliament should not be in Condition to do any work but both Houses only embroil one another with hard Speeches and Disputes about Priviledges c. and thereby being in no capacity to make dispatch of Publick Business be rendred altogether impracticable and unuseful to the King and Kingdoms pressing Occasions This device was driven high and with heat for an artifical blowing up of this Parliament because the But-end of it was to induce upon the King a necessity of calling a new One in this Point entred all the Crafts-Masters of every Male-contented Party as the grand Medium wherein they could agree against the present Establishment of the Court and â—overnment both of Church and State because each Party having prepared men