he goes into Ireland you will find his Temper and Spirit not a whit Allayed but now being further from His Majestie 's Person he is higher in his Power and in his Will It is true that Kingdom was annexed to this many years ago but they that now possess the greatest part of it are Subjects of this Kingdom descended from them that went from hence thither Yet he tells them in a solemn Speech not suddenly but solemnly That Ireland is a Conquered Nation and the King might do with them what he would and that their Charters were nothing worth and bind the King no longer than he pleases Surely My Lords We might see what he would do if he had Power But God be blessed we find not the disposition any where resented by His Majesty and we hope that such Councels shall never have Access to so good and gracious an Ear. 4. The next thing he stays not in words but will be as good as his word if he can and he begins high For that we presents next is a Peer of the Kingdom thrust out of his Possession by my Lord of Strafford 's Order and when he Sues at Law for recovery of his Right my Lord Threatens him Truly Threatnings are not good in such a case where a man Sues for Justice And from him that ought to Administer Justice and further him in it yet he Threatens him Imprisonment to which Peers are not ordinarily liable First my Lord tells him He will not have Law nor Lawyers question his Orders he might debar the Lawyers in some Cases but why a man should have a Spleen at the Law that his Orders should not be examined by that I know not And he goes higher for when there was an occasion to speak of an Act of State he tells him That he will make him and all Ireland know that as long as he had the Government there any Act of State made or to be made should be as binding as an Act of Parliament My Lords He cannot go higher in Speeches than this That an Act of State of his own making and his own Power should be as binding as an Act of Parliament Nay he tells them in Parliament That they were a Conquered Nation and must expect Laws as from a Conquerour 5. Next we shall shew divers Instances wherein he exercises Power over the Lives Lands and all that is the Subjects deduced into several Articles viz. the 5th the 6th the 7th and the 8th In particular one I shall be bold to open That is the Case of my Lord Mountnorris another Peer of that Kingdom and a great Officer there Some words fell from that Lord speaking of one that had trodden on my Lord of Strafford 's Toe That he hoped the Party did it not in Revenge for he had a Brother that would not have sought such a Revenge For these words spoke at a private Table half a year yea seven months before my Lord of Strafford calls a Council of War and judges his Lordship to death My Lords It is no wonder that he would make the King 's little Finger so heavy that could make his own Toe heavy enough to tread the Life of a Peer under his Feet And he did not only give Sentence in that Case but caused Execution to be done in another Case upon one D. who was condemned by Martial Law and hanged at Dublin where there was no War at all Other particulars will follow when I fall upon proof 9. Then he comes to make Laws and that is in the 9th Article By the Laws of England and Ireland too the Ecclesiastical Power is distinct from the other it not extending to the Imprisonment of the Person but is to attend the King's Courts and to receive directions from thence yet he makes a Warrant to the Bishop of Downe and he made it to others too That if any of the poorer sort did not appear upon the Bishop's Citation or not obey when they did appear they should be Attached and Imprisoned Here he makes a Law of himself and subjects the Liberties of the Subjects to his own Pleasure but this was for the poorer sort of People though Justice sees no difference in matters of Estate betwixt Poor or Rich But when he hath brought it on the Poor he will afterwards bring it on the Rich. 10. The next is a Power of laying Impositions on the Subjects First he is a Farmer of the Customs he puts excessive Rates upon the Commodities that which is worth but 5 s. as the Hydes he will have valued at 20 s. and the Wool which is worth 5 s. he will have it valued at 13 s. 4 d. and by this he takes away in effect whatsoever the Commodity is worth for the Customs come very near the Value Another particular in this I shall be bold to open and I hope his Lordship will provide to give an Answer He hath advanced by this the King's Customs and a Rent of 1350 l. is encreased to the Crown But it will appear to your Lordships that the Crown hath lost and he only hath gained And whereas my Lord of Strafford says there was no other Defalcations in his Patent than in the former that will fall out to be otherwise for this is the State of the bargain There was a former Rent of 9700 l. which the Duke of Buckingham paid out of this Farm On the Earl of Strafford 's Patent that Rent is reserved and as much as came to 1350 l. more but in lieu of 1350 l. advanced to the King my Lord of Strafford hath in his Grant the Surplusage of Wines which were not in the Duke's Patent worth 3400 l. a year besides a Rent paid for the Term of the Wine of 1400 l. And whereas there was no defalcation of the Customs of London-Derry and Colerane in the Duke's Lease which amounted to 1500 l. a year my Lord of Strafford must have a defalcation for them And then the Seizures which were 500 l. a year and for Knockvergus and Straniford 2500 l. a year so here is above 5000 l. a year less to the Crown in lieu of the advance of 1350 l. a year besides the increased Customs amounting to 12000 l. a year And yet he again hath far exceeded this proportion We say further he doth not only impose on the Subjects but takes away that which is the Subjects utterly and entirely as in the case of the Flax. It is true the Employment of it belongs to Women but it is the greatest Commodity one of them of that Kingdom and of greatest profit the Revenue of the Custom of it being 800 l. a year and this he hath gotten into his own hands and possession This he got from the Natives and took it to himself He doth for that purpose issue out a Proclamation That they shall use it in such a way wherein the Natives were unskill'd and if it were not so done it should be seized and it was seized
me would be content to have every word that falls in discourse betwixt man and man to be so severely interpreted I leave to every man's Breast what he finds in the closet of his own Heart and desire to be judged according to that My Lord went further and says I should say that the King was not to be mastered by the frowardness or disaffection of some particular men and conceives it be meant of the Parliament My Lords I say under favour these words are not within the Charge and therefore I am not to be accountable for them besides it is a single Testimony and by the proviso of that Statute cannot be made use of to the end and purpose for which they bring them My Lords the next Testimony offered for proving this Charge is the Testimony of my Lord of Newburg and he sayes That at the Council-Board or in the Gallery I did say that seeing the Parliament had not supplied the King His Majesty might take other courses for the defence of the Kingdom Truly My Lords under favour who doubts but he might for my part I see not where the offence is for another man to have said thus for if another man will not help me may not I therefore help my self under favour I conceive there is no great weight nor crime in these words but in these likewise he stands a single Testimony there is no man that joyns with him in it and there is this in the whole Cause concerning the words that I think there is not any one thing wherein two concurr The next Testimony is that of the Earl of Holland and he sayes That at the Council-Board I said The Parliament having denyed the King he had advantage to supply himself other wayes Truly My Lords I say still other wayes being lawful wayes and just wayes and such wayes as the goodness of the King can only walk in and in no other can he walk And therefore I conceive they be far from bringing it to sigh high a guilt as Treason and this likewise his Lordship expresses as the rest do singly on his own word as he conceives them and not on the particular word of any other person which is I say the case of every one that speaks in the business and therefore there being so great a difference in the Report and Conceiving of things it is very hard my words should be taken to my destruction when no Man agrees what they were My Lord of Northumberland is the next and he sayes I should say at a Committee for the Scotish affairs That in case of necessity and for Defence and Safety of the Kingdom every thing must be done for the Preservation of the King and his People And this is the Testimony of my Lord in that point if I take any thing short it is against my Will I give you my Notes as far as I have them and further I cannot remember them But my Lords I say this brings it to that which is indeed the great part of my Defence in this case There is another agreed in this too and it is Mr. Treasurer who sayes that in Argument for Offensive or Defensive War I should say That having tryed all ways and being refused the King might in extream necessity provide for the safety of himself and his People I say this brings it to that which is principally for my Defence that must qualifie if not absolutely free me from any blame and that is that which did proceed and follow after My Lords under favour I have heard some discourse of great weight and of great Authority and that is certain the Arguments that were used in the case of Ship-Money by those that Argued against the King in that Case say as much and will undertake if any man read those Arguments he shall find as much said there as I said at Council-Board for there you shall hear that there be certain Times and Seasons when Propriety ceases as in the case of Burning where a Man pulls down the next House to preserve the whole street from being set on fire In the case of building Forts on any man's Land where it is for the publique defence of the Kingdom in both these Cases Propriety doth cease nay he says that in War Inter Arma silent Leges Now my Lords these are as highly said as any thing you have heard by me and yet certainly is no subverting of the Fundamental Laws for all that and therefore if a man must be judged he must not be judged by pieces but by all together My Lords Whatsoever I said at Council-Board was led in by this Case what a King should do in case of a Forreign Invasion of an Enemy when the ordinary wayes and means of levying Money would not come in seasonably to prevent mischief for what a King may do in case of absolute necessity certainly in these cases the ordinary Rules do not take place as this was the Case that let in the Discourse so I most humbly beseech your Lordships for it is fully proved to remember what was the conclusion of that Discourse which was That after the present occasion provided for the King was obliged in Honour and Justice to vindicate and free the Liberty of the Subject from all prejudice and harm it might sustain in that extraordinary occasion and that this was to be done by a Parliament and no other way but a Parliament and the King and his People could never be happy till the Prerogative of the Crown and the Liberty of the Subject were so bounded and known that they might go hand in hand together mutually to the assistance of one another My Lords give me that which precedes and that which follows both being proved to be the Case in these words in the Charge I think considering these two I should be far from having committed any great crime or offence in saying these words But I say as I said before I shall be more wary for the time hereafter if it please God to give me that Grace and Life which I submit to him and shall readily and willingly resign to his good Will and pleasure I conceive therefore that as these words are accompanied they be not words that do amount to Treason and are so qualifiyed and so weakly proved that I trust they shall not stick with your Lordships The next words that I am charged withal in England be on the 25th Article and that is that I should say that the Aldermen that would not give in the names of the able men of the City deserved to be put to Fine and Ransome and that no good would be done with them till an example were made of them and they were laid by the heels and some of the Aldermen hanged up In the first part of the Article there is something concerning my advice for raising the Money but it is not proved that I did any thing therein but as others did and as in former years
other way The means of it are first to preserve Religion sound and entire within his own Kingdom at home next to unite the Homogeneal parts of it pieces of the same together by Alliances by Confederations abroad The good effects of this German Match was lost by the ill Counsels of those times It will be an honour to us to repair it by better The restoring of the Prince Elector to his Territory and Dignity will restore Religion there will strengthen it may increase it further in Germany which consideration is of a great and vast consequence proportionable to the greatness and vastness of that Country it will likewise refresh and comfort the sorrowful heart of that most Noble Virtuous and Magnanimously suffering Queen of Bohemia his Majesty's Sister his Highness's Mother who is ever to be highly and tenderly regarded by this Kingdom This is a fit Conjuncture of time to begin it in whilst the King of Spain hath so much to do of his own as he is not able to afford his usual aids to the Emperor which probably may induce the Emperor to abate of his former Resolutions That which is now propounded is only a Manifest to express and declare our zeal and heartiness to the Cause and thereby to give it Countenance and Reputation in the present Dyet at Ratisbone Reputation in matters of State doth many times prevail as much as Substance His Majesty's Father of blessed memory and himself have for many years mediated and treated with the Successive Emperors by all fair and amicable ways they have been deluded they have been neglected It becomes us Mr. Speaker to be Englishly sensible of the injustice of the Indignity Wherefore my humble Motion is That the House will be pleased presently to name a select Committee to compose a Declaration suitable to the importance of the Cause But the further consideration of this matter was deferred till Wednesday at Nine of the Clock A Message was also delivered from the King by Sir Benjamin Rudyard concerning the Queen-Mother Message about the Queen-Mother who was very desirous to depart the Kingdom only Mony was wanting to defray her charges which would amount to no less than 10000 l. And it seems the Commons were no less desirous to have her gone Artic. brought in by Sir Tho. Widdrington against the Bishop of Ely Vide the Articles infra July 20th for they presently consented that there should be so much paid out of the Poll-mony for that Service Sir Thomas Widdrington brought in 25 Articles against Matthew Wren Lord Bishop of Ely which being read and singly voted were ordered to be Engrossed and then the House came to this Vote upon it Resolved c. That Matthew Wren Bishop of Ely is in the opinion of this House unfit and unworthy to hold or continue any Spiritual Promotion or Office in the Church or Common-wealth and that the Lords be desired to joyn with this House to move his Majesty to remove the said Bishop from his Person and Service And upon this Sir William Parkins took an occasion to speak as followeth for the work of Reformation Master Speaker I Stand not up in my own particular behalf Sir William Parkins's Speech July 5. 1641. but in the Vniversal and General name of the whole Kingdom Alas Master Speaker they depend all upon our exemplary Justice which if we do fully execute will not only give great and plenary satisfaction to our Nation but will likewise cause the Land to smile hereafter with the blessed Beams of prosperous Felicity But if the least Errour and smallest Deliberation be overseen by us Oh! It strikes my trembling mind with horror to think on it how will all things precipitate themselves into Ruine most Irrevocable but I speak not this as if any here would omit or extenuate the Supremacy of Justice in the least thought To admonish you of that point were to bid the Moon keep her Monthly Course the Spheres to reduce themselves in their Circumference or the Sun to shine upon the Earth But I speak this only to add a Spur unto you lest we should at any time languish in our Heaven-proceeding Journey The Cries of the People have come up to me the Voice of the whole Nation tingles in my Ears and methinks I hear each Subject wish that we would briefly establish the Church-Government with all Expedition Let us first begin to confirm our Religion and God will bless our other Proceedings the better That was always my Opinion and I am sure the expectation of the whole Kingdom How long have we sate here and how little have we effected How much time have we consumed and what little have we performed herein How long have we laboured in this our daily Travel and as yet have brought forth but an Embryo in what we did intend 'T is true I confess we have tormented our selves with daily troubles and vexations and been very solicitous for the welfare of the Common-wealth but what have we performed what have we perfected I will once more relate what my former Opinion was Let us I say begin in the real Establishment of our Religion and as I said all our other determinations will succeed with a better Omen for indeed most of our Delinquents are linkt to this Chain they depend most on this point therefore we should do well to enter speedily upon the Work Master Speaker Excuse my Zeal in this Case for my mouth cannot Imprison what my mind intends to let out neither can my tongue conceal that which my heart desires to promulge Behold the Arch-Bishop that great Incendiary of this Kingdom lyes now like a Fire-brand raked up in the Embers but if he ever chance to blaze again I am afraid what heretofore he had but in a Spark he will fully burn down to the ground in a full Flame Wherefore Master Speaker Let us begin for the Kingdom is pregnant with expectation in this point I confess there are many more Delinquents for the Judges and other Knights walk in Quirpo but they are but Thunderbolts forged in Canterbury 's fire Look upon them all but as polluted Rivers flowing from that corrupt Fountain Well is it so then that all depend on Religion Why are we then so backward in not Roforming the Church Why do we stick in this point and not rather proceed in it with all expedition For indeed according to the Laws of this Kingdom as it hath the Dignity of Preeminence so let us give it the Priority in our Determinations Master Speaker Think with your self I pray in what Faction the Church is now in what Schism in what Confusion of distracted Sectaries it is promiscuously shaken Behold the Papists will have their way the Brownists will have their way the Anabaptists their way the Puritan as some call them their way the Jesuitical Priests their way and in these various ways they make such a Labyrinth of Religion that few or none scarce can find out
the Question Whether Corn was such Victuals as was intended to have the price rated within the said Statute In Answer to which Demand the said Sir Robert Berkley then being one of his Majesties Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench in furtherance of the said unlawful Charge endeavoured to be imposed as aforesaid the Thirtieth day of November in the Eighth Year of his now Majesties Reign did deliver his Opinion That Corn was such Victual as was intended to have the Price rated within the said Statute Which said Opinion was contrary to Law and to the plain Sense and Meaning of the said Statute and contrary to his own Knowledg and was given and delivered by him with a purpose and intention that the said unlawful charge might be imposed upon the Subject 3. That an Information being preferred in the Court of Star-Chamber by the said William Noy his Majesties then Attorney-General against John Overman and Fifteen other Soap-makers Defendants charging them with several pretended Offences contrary to divers Letters Patents and Proclamations touching the Making and Uttering Soap and using the Trade of Soap-makers and other Offences in the said Information mentioned Whereunto the Defendants did plead and Demur as to part and answer to other part of the said Information And the said Plea and Demurrer being over-ruled for that the Particulars therein insisted upon would appear more fully after answer and proof therefore the Defendants were ordered to Answer without Prejudice and were to be admitted to such Exceptions to the said information and Advantages of the matter of the Plea and Demurrer upon the hearing as shall be material and accordingly the Defendants did put in their Answers and set forth several Acts of Parliament Letter-Patents Charters Customs and Act of Common-Councel of the City of London and other Matters materially conducing to their Defence and in Conclusion pleaded Not Guilty The said Sir Robert Berkley then being one of the Justices of Court of Kings-Bench upon the 30th day of March in the Eighth Year of his Majesties now Reign upon an Order of Reference to him and others by the said Court of Star-Chamber to consider of the Impertinency of the said Answers did Certifie the said Court of Star-Chamber That the whole Answers excepting the four words and ten last Lines should be expunged leaving thereby no more substance of the said Answers than the Plea of Not Guilty And after upon a Reference to him and others by Order of the said Court of the impertinency of the Interrogatories and Depositions of Witnesses taken on the Defendants part in the same Case the said Sir Robert Berkley upon the second day of May in the Eighth Year of his now Majesties Reign Certified that Nine and thirty of the said Interrogatories and the Depositions upon them taken should be suppressed which Answers except as aforesaid and Depositions although the same did contain the said Defendants most material Defence Yet were expunged and suppressed according to the said Certificates both which said Certificates were contrary to Law and Justice and contrary to his the said Sir Robert Berkley's own knowledg and contrary to the said former Order whereby the Advantages were saved to the Defendants as aforesaid And by reason thereof the said John Overman and the said other fifteen Defendants were sentenced in the said Court of Star-Chamber to be committed Prisoners to the Fleet and disabled from using their Trade of Soap-makers And one of them fined in a Thousand Five hundred Pounds Two of them in a Thousand Pound apiece Four of them in a Thousand Mark apiece which Fines were estreated into the Exchequer without any mitigation And the said Defendants according to the said Sentence were imprisoned and deprived of their Trade and Livelihood tending to the utter ruine of the said Defendants and to the overthrow of free Trade and contrary to the Liberty of Subjects 4. That he the said Sir Robert Berkley then being one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench and having taken an Oath for the due administration of Justice according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm to His Majesties Liege People on or about the last of December subscribed an Opinion in haec verba I am of Opinion that as where the Benefit doth more particularly redound to the good of the Ports of Maritime Parts as in case of Piracy or Dep redations upon the Seas there the charge hath been and may be lawfully imposed upon them according to Presidents of former Times so where the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger of which His Majesty is the only Judge there the charge of the Defence ought to be borne by all the Realm in general This I hold agreeable both to Law and Reason 5. That he the said Sir Robert Berkley then being one of the Justices of our Court of Kings-Bench and duly sworn as aforesaid In February 1636. subscribed an extrajudicial Opinion in Answer to Questions in a Letter from His Majesty in haec verba Charles R. WHen the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is Concerned and the whole Kingdom in Danger Whether may not the King by Writ under the Great Seal of England Command all the Subjects of this Kingdom at their Charge to provide and furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Munition and for such time as he shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Danger and Peril And by Law compel the doing thereof in case of refusal or refractoriness And whether in such case is not the King the Sole Judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided May it please your Most Excellent Majesty We have according to your Majesties Command severally every Man by himself and all of us together taken into serious consideration the Case and Question signed by your Majesty and inclosed in your Royal Letter And we are of Opinion that when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger your Majesty may by Writ under the Great Seal of England command all your Subjects of this your Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victual and Munition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Danger and Peril And that by Law your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of Refusal or refractoriness And we are also of Opinion that in such Case your Majesty is the sole Judge both of the danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoyded John Brampston John Finch Humphrey Davenport John Denham Richard Hutton William Joanes George Crook Thomas Trevor George Vernon Robert Barkley Francis Crawley Richard Weston 6. That he the said Sir Robert Berkley then being one of the Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench and duly sworn as
Counties in this Kingdom but they conceive that their Names will be unacceptable and their Persons unwelcome and being thus Impeached to become Judges of Mens Lives and Estates will be a thing of great offence and distraction Therefore the House of Commons desired that all the Commissions granted to the Peccant Judges may be superseded and that their Names may be no more Vsed in Commissions and when the great Affairs now in agitation be dispatched they desired their Lordships to take their Impeachments into Consideration and proceed therein according to Justice Ordered That this House Consents to both these Requests of the House of Commons touching the aforesaid Judges This day the Lord Bruce was introducted with the usual Ceremonies his Patent bearing Date Aug. 2. 1641. Lord Bruce introducted The Earl of March reported to this House The Kings Answer about the Irish Acts. That His Majesty is pleased to like well of the Advice of this House concerning the staying of the Acts of Grace and Favour which were to be passed for the Kingdom of Ireland and will give order it shall be done accordingly until this House hath considered of the Letter sent to the Lord Keeper from the Speaker of the Lords House in Ireland Propositions of the Scots Commissioners and Answers of the English Lords Commissioners August 5. 1641. Propositions for the concluding the Peace with the Scots The Earl of Bristol reported the Propositions and Articles given in by the Scots Commissioners after the Lord Lowdon's return from the Parliament of Scotland which were read as followeth That the Treaty of Peace may be brought to a speedy and happy Close we do offer to your Lordships Consideration the following Particulars I. That as soon as the Scottish Army shall remove out of England to Scotland the English Garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle may remove simul semel II. Lest Malefactors who have committed Murder and the like Crimes crave the Benefit of the Act of Pacification and Oblivion for whom it is no ways intended there would be an Exception from the said Acts of all Legal pursuits intended or to be intended within the space of one year after the Date of the Treaty against Thieves * A Scotch word for Excommunicate Persons Horners Out-lawers Fugitives Murderers Broken men or their Receptaries for whatsoever Thefts Rifes Hardships Oppressions Depredations or Murders done or committed by them and all Lawful Decrets given or to be given by the Parliament or any Commissioners to be appointed by them for that effect who shall have power to Dignosce and take Cognition whether the same falls within the said Act of Pacification or Oblivion or not III. It is desired that the demand concerning the not making or denouncing War with Forreigners without consent of both Parliaments may be condescended unto by the King and the Parliament of England which is Ordained and Universally observed in all mutual Leagues which are both Offensive and Defensive and because the Wars denounced by one of the Kingdoms with Forreigners although made without consent of the other Kingdom will Engage them by necessary Consequence Or if the Consideration of this Proposition shall require longer time then the present Condition of the Important Affairs of the Parliament may permit and lest the speedy Close of the Treaty be thereby impeded it is desired that this Demand with the other Two Articles of the same Nature the one concerning Leagues and Confederations and the other concerning mutual Supply in case of Forreign Invasion may all three be remitted to Commissioners to be chosen by both Parliaments who shall have Power to Advise and Treat thereupon for the good of both Kingdoms and Report to the Parliament Respectively IV. It is desired That the Articles concerning Trade and Commerce Naturalization mutual Priviledge and Capacity and others of that nature already demanded may be condescended unto by the King and Parliament of England and namely that demand anent the Pressing of Men and Ships by Sea or Land Or if shortness of time may not permit the present determination of these Demands it is desired that the same except so many of them as are already agreed unto by the Commissioners for Trade may be remitted to Commissioners to be chosen by both Parliaments who shall have Power to Treat and Advise thereof for the good of both Kingdoms and to make Reports to the Parliament respectively and that the Charters or Warrants of the Scottish Nation for freedom of Shipping in England or Ireland from all Customs Imports Duties and Fees more then are paid by the Natives of England or Ireland granted by King James under the Great Seal of England upon the 11th day of April in the 13th year of his Reign and Confirmed by King Charles upon the 19th of April in the 8th year of his Reign may be Enacted and Ratified in this Parliament V. That the Extracts of Bonds and Decrets upon Record and Registers in Scotland may have the like Faith and Execution as the French Tabellons have in England and Ireland seeing they are of a like Nature and deserves more Credit and if this cannot be done at this time that it be remitted to the former Commission from both Parliaments VI. The manner of Safe Conduct for Transporting the Monys from England or Scotland by Sea or Land would be condescended unto in such way as the Charges be not Exorbitant and may be presently known VII The Tenor of the Commission for Conserving of Peace would be condescended unto together with the Times and Places of meeting and whole frame thereof the draught whereof when it is drawn up in England is to be represented to the Parliament of Scotland that they may make the like Commission and name their Commissioners for that effect VIII The Parliament of Scotland do join their earnest and hearty desires and craves the Parliament of England's Concurrence that none be placed about the Prince's Highness but such as are of the Reformed Religion IX That an Act of Parliament of Publick Faith for payment of the 220000 l. which is Arrear of the Brotherly assistance may be presently framed and expedited according to the Terms agreed upon X. It is desired that the Quorum to whom the Scots should Address themselves for payment of the 220000 l. be condescended upon XI That the Order for recalling all Proclamations made against His Majesties Subjects of Scotland be drawn up and intimate in due Form and Time with the Public Thanksgiving at all the Parish Churches of His Majesties Dominions XII It is desired That the Articles concerning the Castle of Edinburgh and other Strengths of that Kingdom may be understood to be that the same shall be disposed of for the Weal of the Kingdom as the King and Parliament shall think Expedient The English Lords Commissioners Answers THat upon the disbanding the Scottish Army the Garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle shall be removed according to the Articles of the Treaty in that
and the Statute of 20 E. 3. 3. To the Third they say That it is part of their said Oath as Judges that they shall not Counsel or assent to any thing that may turn to the damage or disherison of our Soveraign Lord the Kings most Excellent Majesty by any manner of way or colour And that they give no Advice or Counsel to any man great or small in no Case wherein the King is a Party And that they shall do and procure the Profit of the King and his Crown in all Things where they may reasonably do the same And that in the Explanation of their said Oaths by the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 1. It is declared That they shall give no Counsel to great Men nor small in case where the King is Party or which doth or may touch the King in any point And as your Lordships have been honourably pleased by an Order of this Honourable House bearing date the first of March Anno Domini 1640. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli 16. to give way That they should not be Compelled to Answer any part of the said Questions which did concern his Majesties Prerogative or were against their Oaths so they humbly represent unto your Lordships That they conceive that the Answering of the Particulars of this Question doth concern both for that the King 's Privy Council as the Questions terms it or Council Board is a Court of his Majesties high Prerogative where all Proceedings are before him and his Council or before his Governor who immediately to many Purposes represent his Majesties Person and the Council And where the great Affairs of State concerning his Majesties Honor Government Profit and of great Persons and Causes concerning the Common-Wealth which may not be conveniently remedied by the ordinary Rules of the Common-Law and many other Cases have been Treated of and managed And as his Majesty is the Fountain of all Justice within this Kingdom and may grant Cognizances of Pleas unto his Subjects and Corporations and may by his Commissions Authorize whom he shall think fit to Execute many Branches of his Authority so We humbly conceive That it doth not stand with our Oathes or Duties of our Places who are but Judges of the ordinary Courts of Justice before his Majesties Pleasure signified in that behalf to seek into the Commissions or Instructions of the Chief Governor and Council or to give any Opinion concerning the Limits Jurisdictions Orders Decrees Proceedings or Members of that High Court And that the King hath a Prerogative for hearing some of the Matters in this Question specified before his Chief Governor We beseech your Lordships to cast your Eyes on the Statute of 28 H. 6. c. 2. in this Kingdom where after Matters are directed to be sent to the Ordinary Courts yet the King's Prerogative is expresly saved notwithstanding all which his Gracious Majesty for whom it is most proper hath of late been pleased to Limit the Proceedings of that Board by his Instructions in Print 4. To the fourth they Answer as to the Third 5. To the fifth they say That generally all Grants of Monopolies whereby Trading Manufacture or Commerce is restrained and the Profit which should go to many is hindred and brought into a few Hands are against Law and the Liberty of the Subject and the Good of the Commonwealth tho they carry never so fair a pretence of Reforming Abuses And that the pretended Transgressors against such Grants are not at all punishable by any Rule of Law that they know of And yet they say That they conceive That his Majesty that is the Head and Father of the Commonwealth may restrain the Use and Importation and Exportation of certain Commodities or restrain the same into a few Hands for a time where there may be a likelyhood of his Majesties Profit which is the profit of the Commonwealth and no apparent prejudice to the Commonwealth doth appear And that when time shall discover such Prejudice then such Restraint ought to Cease So if a man by his own Invention at home or Travel Observation or Charge abroad doth introduce a new profitable or useful Trade or Profession into the Commonwealth in such Cases his Majesty may lawfully Grant and License the only making of such Commodity or teaching or using of such Trade for a certain time and the Transgressors against such Warrantable Grants may be punished by paying of Damages unto the Patentee in an ordinary Course of Justice or otherwise as the nature of the Offence and Matter doth deserve and as the Consequence and Importance of the matter may be to the King State or Commonwealth And they say That the Matter Manner Restrictions Limitations Reservations and other Clauses contained in such Grants or Licenses and the Commissions or Proclamations thereupon and undue Execution thereof and several Circumstances may make the same Lawful or Unlawful whereof they are not able to give any Certain Resolution before some Particular comes in Judgment before them neither are they otherwise able to answer the Generals in the Particulars of the said Question Of what in what Cases how where and by whom or which of them wherein whosoever desires further satisfaction he may please to have Recourse to the known Cases of Monopolies in printed Authorities and written Records and unto the Statute of 21 Jac. in Engl. concerning Monopolies and their several Exceptions and Limitations therein 6. To the Sixth they say They can no otherwise answer then they have already in their Answer to the Third Question for the Reasons therein set forth 7. To the Seventh they say That a Proclamation or Act of State cannot alter the Common Law and that Proclamations are Acts of his Majesties Prerogative and are and always have been of great use and that the Contemners of such of them as are not against the Law are and by the constant Practise of the Star-Chamber in England have been punished according to the Nature of the Contempt and Course of the said Court And although Acts of State are not of Force to bind the Goods Possessions and Inheritance of the Subject yet they have been of great use for setling of the Estates of very many Subjects in this Kingdom as may appear in the Report of the Case of Irish Gavil-Kind in Print And further to that Question they cannot Answer for the Reasons in their Answer unto the third Question set forth 8. To the Eighth they say That they know no ordinary Rule of Law by the which the Subjects of this Kingdom are made Subject to Martial Law in time of Peace and that they find the use thereof in the time of Peace in England complained of in the Petition of Right exhibited unto his Majesty in the third year of his Reign and that they conceive That the Granting of Authority and Commission for execution thereof is derived out of his Majesties Regal and Prerogative Power for suppressing of sudden and great Insolencies Insurrections among
Majesty's said Letters or the said Act of State and not otherwise The Commons not being satisfied with these Sober and Calm Resolutions of the Judges fell to Voting their own Sense and to make Declarations of the Law upon their former Queries as followeth Questions propounded in Parliament And Declarations of the Law thereupon in Parliament Quest 1. The Declaration of the Commons in Ireland upon the Queries propounded to the Judges WHether the Subjects of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be Governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom Declarat The Subjects of this his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland are a free People and to be Governed only according the Common Law of England and Statutes made and established by Parliament in this Kingdom of Ireland and according to the Lawful Customs used in the same 2. Quest Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Seal or Privy Seal Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases And whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit or Judgment or Execution thereupon what Punishment do they incur for their deviation and transgression therein Declarat That Judges in Ireland ought to take the Oath of the Justices or Judges declared and established in several Parliaments of Force in this Kingdom and the said Judges or any of them by Color or under Pretext of any Act of State or Proclamation or under Color or Protext of any Writ Letter or Direction under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Privy Signet from the King 's Most Excellent Majesty or by Color or Pretext of any Letter or Commandment from the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom ought not to hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon and if any Letters Writs or Commands come from his Majesty or from any other or for any other Cause to the Justices or to the other deputed to do the Law and right according to the Usage of the Realm in disturbance of the Law or of the Execution of the same or of Right to the Party the Justices and others aforesaid ought to proceed and hold their Courts and Processes where the Pleas and Matters be depending before them as if no such Letters Writs or Commandments were come to them And in case any Judge or Judges Justice or Justices be found in default therein he or they so found in default ought to incur and undergo due Punishment according to the Law and former Declarations and Provisions in Parliament in that Case made and of Force in this Kingdom or as shall be Ordered Adjudged or Declared in Parliament And the Barons of the Exchequer Justices of the Assize and Goal-delivery if they be found in default as aforesaid It is hereby declared That they ought to undergo the Punishment aforesaid 3. Quest Whether the Kings Majesties Privy Council either with the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom or without him or them be a Place of Judicature by the Commons Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accompts Possessions or Title of Lands or any of them or which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law And of what Force is their Order or Decree in such Cases or any of them Declarat The Council Table of this Realm either with the Chief Governor or Governors or without the Chief Governor or Governors is no Judicatory wherein any Action Real Personal Popular or Mixt or any Suit in the Nature of the said Actions or any of them can or ought to be Commenced Heard or Determined and all Proceedings at the Council Table in any Suit in the nature of any of the said Actions are void especially Causes particularly provided for by express Acts of Parliament of Force in this Kingdom only excepted 4. Quest The Like of the Chief Governor alone Declarat The Proceedings before the Chief Governor or Governors alone in any Action Real Personal Popular or Mixt or in any Suit in the Nature of any of the said Actions are Coram non Judice and void 5. Quest Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by the Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended Transgressors against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine Mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and Forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them Declarat All Grants of Monopolies are contrary to the Laws of this Realm and therefore void and no Subject of the said Realm ought to be Fined Imprisoned or otherwise Punished for exercising or using the Lawful Liberty of a Subject contrary to such Grants 6. Quest In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom and Council may punish by Fine Imprisonment Mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise And whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what punishment do they incur that Vote for the same Declarat The Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors and Council of this Realm or any of them ought not to imprison any of his Majesties Subjects but only in Cases where the Common Laws or Statutes of the Realm do inable and warrant them so to do and they ought not to Fine or to Consure any Subject in mutilation of Member standing on the Pillory or other shameful Punishment in any Case at the Council Table and no Subject ought to be Imprisoned Fined or otherwise Punished for Infringing any Commands or Proclamation for the support or Countenance of Monopolies and if in any Case any Person or Persons shall be committed by the Command or Warrant of the Chief Governor or Governors and Privy Council of this Realm or any of them That in every such Case every Person or Persons so Committed restrained of his or their Liberty or suffering Imprisonment upon Demand or Motion made by his or their Counsel or other imployed by him or them for that purpose unto the Judges of the Court of Kings-Bench or Common-Pleas in open Court shall without delay upon any Pretence whatsoever for the ordinary Fees usually paid for the same have forthwith granted unto him or them a Writ or Writs of Habeas Corpus to be directed generally unto all and every Sheriff Goaler Minister Officer or other Person in whose Custody the Party or Parties so Committed or Restrained shall be shall at the Return of the said Writ or Writs and
or Provisional Clause to be added to the said Bill by way of Limitation or Restriction and did also at the same time express his displeasure against some Person or Persons which had moved some Doubt or Question concerning the bound of Prerogative which the House of Commons declare to be a breach of the Fundamental Priviledges of Parliament The House of Commons do therefore desire their Lordships would joyn with them in an humble Petition to his Majesty to take notice that the Priviledge of Parliament is broken herein and to desire him that it may not be done so any more hereafter After this matter had been debated by the Lords it was Ordered That their House will joyn with the House of Commons in a Petition to His Majesty herein And the Lord Arch-Bishop of York Earl of Pembroke Earl of Bristol Earl of Holland Viscount Say and Seal Episcopus Durham Episcopus Winton Episcopus Roffen were appointed a Select Committee to meet with a proportionable number of the House of Commons to consider of the Breach of Priviledge of Parliament and and to prepare some things incident hereunto and present the same to the House This Committee to meet with the Commons on Wednesday the 15th of this Instant December at Nine of the Clock in the Morning in the Painted-Chamber The Committee appointed by the Commons to meet with the Lords were Mr. Pym Serjeant Wild Mr. Glyn Mr. Martin Mr. Strode Sir Hugh Cholmley Mr. Hollis Mr. Hampden Mr. Sam. Brown Sir Thomas Barrington Sir Edward Rodney Sir Thomas Bowyer Sir William Armyn Sir Francis Barnham Sir Walter Earl Sir Edward Aiscough Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Anthony Irby Sir William Lewes Mr. Strangeways Sir Robert Cooke Sir Edward Montforte Sir William Litton and Sir Henry Ludlow The Lord Keeper also Reported the Effect of two other Conferences had this day with the Commons The first Conference consisted of two particulars First Whereas a Proposition was made by the French Ambassador to the King for saving Seven Romish Priests which were Convicted and the House of Commons presented their Opinions to this House that five of those seven Priests may be Executed according to the Laws Now the House of Commons desire their Lordships to joyn with them in an humble Petition to His Majesty that the Execution of the Laws may be done upon all the seven Priests and that both Houses would become Suitors to the King to take off the Reprieve Next a Letter was read sent from one Parthington in Ireland written to Sir John Clotworthy Knight shewing the great and barbarous Cruelties acted upon the Protestants in Ireland by the Rebels as hanging of them and pulling their Flesh from their Bones cutting off their Heads Hands and Feet ripping up of Women great with Child and killing of Children with divers other inhumane Acts. The second Conference was touching the Declaratory part of the Bill for Pressing of Soldiers That the House of Commons consents now to the Words or Compelled that they should be inserted into the Preamble of the said Bill upon condition that these Words may be added except it be in Case of Necessity of the sudden coming of an Enemy into the Kingdom And lastly That the House of Commons doth not intend to give any Reasons for the fortifying of the Declaratory Cause in the Preamble of the Bill for pressing of Soldiers it being a thing unusual for them so to do It seems the House of Lords was in great disorder about the King's Speech Lord Pierpoint to the Black Rod for some Words offensive to the Lords for the Lord Pierpoint in his Speech having said That it was not Honourable for this House to be in such Noise and Tumult the House conceived these words to be a great Offence to so Great and High a Court as this is and being charged with the Words he was Commanded by the House to withdraw but before he withdrew he desired to explain himself which he was permitted to do and he professed he did not speak the Words to give any Offence to the House His Lordship being withdrawn the House took the Offence done into Consideration and Ordered That the Lord Pierpoint shall be committed to the Custody of the Gentleman-Vsher attending the House for the present After which the House took into consideration the Proposition of the Commons concerning the seven Priests and it was upon the Question after much Debate Resolved by the major part to joyn with the Commons in an humble Petition to his Majesty That Execution of the Laws may be done upon all the 7 Priests that are Condemned and that he will be pleased to take off his Reprieve Memorandum The Lords the Bishops withdrew themselves before the voting of this Question it being in Agitatione causae sanguinis The Lord Steward and the Lord Chamberlain were Ordered to attend the King from both Houses concerning the 7 Priests to be Executed as aforesaid and that his Majesty will take off his Reprieve Most part of this day was spent by the Commons about the Debates of the King's Speech the Result of which the Reader hath already in the Conferences with the Lords but still the Faction could spare little time to remember their Petitioning Friends of Black-Heath who had run their Heads into the Noose of the Law and a Commission was gone out against them for an Inquisition upon which Occasion as before they had warned the Under-Sheriff of Surrey so this day produced an Order of the Commons to the Justices of the Peace of Surrey not to proceed in any Inquisition concerning any Persons that met to subscribe a Petition to be preferred to this House till they should recive further Orders therein from the House This day the Lord Arch-Bishop of York Wednesday Decemb. 15. reported from the select Committee of both Houses concerning the Privileges of Parliament three Particulars which the Committees think fit to be voted in both Houses as a Breach of the Privileges of Parliament And also that a Declaratory Protestation be entred into by both Houses for the claim of those Liberties and this to be drawn up by the Committees Likewise the Committees think fit that a Petitionary Remonstrance be presented to His Majesty from both Houses declaring the Right of Parliament to those Privileges and the Particulars wherein they have been broken with an humble Desire that the like may not be done hereafter and that his Majesty will be pleased to discover the Parties by whose Misinformation and evil Council his Majesty was induced to this Breach of Privilege that so they may receive condign Punishment for the same and that his Majesty be further desired to take no notice of of any Mans particular Speeches or Carriage concerning any Matter Debated and Treated in Parliament a Form whereof is to be drawn and presented to the Committee to Morrow Morning at Nine of the Clock And that the Committees have appointed the Lord Arch-Bishop of York the Lord Roberts Sir
particulars we shall make a fit and proper Answer to them But in the mean time we are sure whatsoever was the reason it was not Justice nor love of Truth that was the reason 6. He saith in the Sixth place He had no other Commission but what his Predecessors had And that he hath Executed that Commission with all Moderation For the Commission it was no Virtue of his if it were a good Commission I shall say nothing of that But for the second part his Moderation when you find so many Imprisoned of the Nobility so many men some adjudged to Death some Executed without Law when you find so many publick Rapines on the State Soldiers sent to make good his Decrees so many Whippings in defence of Monopolies so many Gentlemen that were Jurors because they would not apply themselves to give Verdicts on his side to be Fined in the Star-Chamber Men of Quality to be disgraced set on the Pillory and wearing Papers and such things as it will appear through our Evidence can you think there was any Moderation And yet truly My Lords I can believe That if you compare his Courses with other Parts of the World ungoverned he will be found beyond all in Tyranny and Harshness but if you compare them with his Mind and Disposition perhaps there was Moderation Habits we say are more perfect than Acts because they be nearest the principle of Actions The Habit of Cruelty in himself no doubt is more perfect than any Act of Cruelty he hath Committed but if this be his Moderation I think all men will pray to be delivered from it And I may truly say that is verified in him The Mercies of the Wicked are Cruel 7. I come to the Seventh and that is concerning the King's Revenue That he hath improved it from 57000 l. to 10000 l. and that he hath done it by Honourable and Just ways That he hath made the Kingdom able to Support it self That he hath improved the King's Revenue by many rich and great Purchases That he hath saved the Charge of the Navy by bearing 7000 l. a Year in Ireland which was born here before And then he saye for a Conclusion That he never took Money out of the King's Exchequer My Lords I must run over all these For the Enlargement or Increase of the Revenue of that Kingdom I think there is a little fault in his Arithmetick but I will not charge him with that now But for his Honourable wayes of Increasing it if Monopolies if Vexation of the Subject be Honourable ways we shall leave that to your Lordships to judge But most of his increases are made upon Monopolies It is true there is another way of bargaining but it hath been mixed with Rigour and Rapine and Injustice Men have been driven out of their Estates Offices have been found by force Men have been driven to resign their Estates And is this a Just way of improving a King's Revenue that I shall submit to your Lordships Then he says He hath made the Kingdom able to Support it self My Lords He that hath no Harvest of his own must Glean after another man's Reapers Truly this was none of his work The Kingdom was able to subsist of it self before he came thither For that we shall Appeal to the Records of the Exchequer betwixt the Year 1622 and the time of his Government which was Nine years at least during which nothing went out of this Kingdom to the support of that Island The 7000 l. for the Navy was born in Ireland before his time a year or two so he comes near the truth of that yet misses a year of the truth But if it were true hath it been only by the ordinary Revenue that it hath supported it self He hath had Six Subsidies a year or two of Contribution which the Irish gave towards the supporting of the Charge of Ireland It was not his Husbanding nor his Managing of the Revenue And truly if the Kingdom were able to support it self as it was before he came thither by the Revenue of the Kingdom and by the help of that Contribution it would be very fit since there may be many Increases since to know what is become of 300000 l. for six Subsidies and of the Contribution Money and indeed there is a great suspition that that went another way But that you may the better observe his Husbandry I shall speak of his last Years Accompt the 20th of March now something more than a Year since the Vnder-Treasurer delivered an Account on which there was 101000 l. remaining in the King's Coffers Since that time there hath been received 112000 l. for the King I speak of round Sums My Lords I leave out pounds and pence and such things This is 213000 l. He hath received out of the Exchequer in England 50000 l. There are Debts in Ireland 60000 l. and what other Debts we know not Here is above 320000 l. consumed in a Year which is almost as much as Queen Elizabeth consumed in any Year when Tyrone was in Rebellion and an Army of Spaniards was there My Lords He saith he never took Money out of the Exchequer if he rests in that Affirmation it will be very near truth yet serves but to shadow a falshood which is worse to cover and to glaze under such a Colour of Truth as that is a notable Falshood My Lords It is true he hath taken no Money out of the Exchequer but he could be content to take from the Vnder-Treasurer of the Exchequer 24000 l. about two years since and to keep it for his own occasions when the King's Army was in want And he paid it in but lately And before I pass from this matter of the Revenue give me leave to speak something of the Increase that comes in by the Customs It is true there is a great increase but if your Lordships look to the beginning of that bargain you shall find the notablest Cozenage that ever was offered to a Prince in one that was a sworn Servant and intrusted with so great a Charge It will be more fully opened in the Article that concerns the Customs but I shall speak of it a little He made a bargain and under pretence of getting of 1350 l. gain to the King he gave cause of Allowances and Defalcations whereby he took forth of the King's Purse 6000 l. a year or very near which the King had before He laid new Additions of charge on the Customs which came to 12000 l. So that on a bargain of giving 1350 l. more than was reserved on the former Lease he was sure that when he made the bargain of gaining 18 or 20000 l. 8. But I shall pass from the Revenue of the Crown to the Revenue of the Church which is in the 8th place He saith he hath been a great Husband for the Church and truly hath brought in many Lands to the Church but he hath brought them in by wayes without Law without
the ordinary Course and Courts of Justice declined 3. The proceedings in Civil Causes at Council-Board contrary to the Law and great Charter not limited to any certain time or season 4. That the Subject is in all the material parts thereof denied the benefit of the Princely Graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 21 of Jac. granted by his Majesty in the Fourth Year of His Reign upon great Advice of the Councils of England and Ireland and for great Consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all Persons do take notice That contrary to His Majesties Pious Intentions His Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the benefit of His Majesties Princely Promise thereby made 5. The extrajudicial avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of His Majesties Subjects under the Great Seal the Publick Faith of the King dom by private Opinions delivered at the Council-Board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to Law and without President or Example of any former Age. 6. The Proclamation for the sole emption and uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low Rates and uttered at high and excessive Rates by means whereof thousands of Families within this Kingdom and of His Majesties Subjects in several Islands and other parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coin of this Kingdom is ingrossed into particular Hands insomuch that your Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and ingrossed thereby doth surmount His Majesties Revenue certain or casual within this Kingdom and yet his Majesty receiveth but very little profit by the same 7. The universal and unlawful encreasing of Monopolies to the advantage of a few the disprofit of His Majesty and impoverishment of His people 8. And the extream cruel Vsage of certain late Commissioners and other Stewards of the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Ulster to the great weakning of the Kingdom in this time of danger the said Plantation being the Principal Strength of those parts 9. The late Erection of the Court of High Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in these necessitous Times the Proceedings of the said Court in many Causes without legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the encroaching of the same upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom 10. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship 11. The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesties Service and Profit are much more impaired than advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much encreased His Majesties Revenue by the buying of Grants and otherwise And that all His Majesties Debts then due in this Kingdom were satisfied out of the said Subsidies and yet his Majesty is of late as the Petitioners have been informed in the House of Commons become indebted in this Kingdom in great Sums And they do therefore humbly beseech That an exact Account may be sent to His Majesty how and in what manner His Treasure is issued 12. The Petitioners do humbly conceive just and great fears at a Proclamation published in this Kingdom in Anno Domini 1635. prohibiting men of Quality or Estates to depart this Kingdom into England without the Lord-Deputie's Licence whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom are hindred and interrupted from free access to address to His Sacred Majesty and Privy-Council of England to declare their just Grievances or to obtain Remedies for them in such sort as their Ancestors have done in all Ages since the Reign of King Henry the Second and great Fees exacted for every of the said Licences 13. That of late His Majesties Attorney-General hath exhibited Informations against many ancient Burroughs of this Kingdom into His Majesties Court of Exchequer to shew cause by what Warrant the said Burgesses who heretofore sent Burgesses to Parliament should send the Burgesses to the Parliament and thereupon for want of an Answer the said Priviledges of sending Burgesses was seized by the said Court which Proceedings were altogether Coram non Judice and contrary to the Laws and Priviledges of the House of Parliament and if way should be given thereunto would tend to the Subversion of Parliaments and by Consequence to the Ruin and Destruction of the Common-wealth And that the House of Commons hath hitherto in this present Parliament been deprived of the Advice and Counsel of many profitable and good Members by means thereof 14. By the Powerfulness of some Ministers of State in this Kingdom the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not its natural Freedom 15. And lastly That the Gentry and Merchants and other His Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom are of late by the Grievances and Pressures before said and other the like brought very near to Ruin and Destruction And the Farmers of Customs Customers Waiters Searchers Clerks of Vnwarrantable Proceedings Pursevants and Goalers and sundry others very much enriched whereby and by the slow Redress of the Petitioners Grievances His Majesties most Faithful and Dutiful People of this Kingdom do conceive great fears that their readiness approved upon all occasions hath not been of late rightly represented to his Sacred Majesty For Remedy whereof the said Petitioners do humbly and of right beseech your Lordships That the said Grievances and Pressures may be speedily Redressed and if your Lordship shall not think fit to afford present Relief that your Lordship might admit a Select Committee of this House of Persons uninteressed in the benefit arising of the aforesaid Grievances to be licensed by your Lordship to repair to His Sacred Majesty in England for to pursue the same and to obtain fitting remedy for their aforesaid and other just Grievances and Oppressions and upon all just and Honourable Occasions they will without respect of particular Interest or Profit to be raised thereby most humbly and readily in Parliament extend their utmost endeavour to serve His Majesty and comply with His Royal and Princely Occasions and shall pray c. To this the Earl replyed that their Lordships might observe that it bore Date Feb. 22 1640. which was since his Impeachment and that it is followed by Faction and Confederacy and a strong Conspiracy against him as if he had time and opportunity he could make it appear And indeed the Complaints of the Irish Nation against him who had in all things endeavoured to promote and
ready to assist His Majesty in any other way Sir Robert King deposed to Sir George Ratcliff's words about 30000 men and 400000 l and that the King could not want Money Sir Rob. King he had an Army The Lord Ranulagh deposed to the same Effect concerning Sir George Radcliff Lord Ranulagh Sir Tho. Barrington deposed Sir Thomas Barrington That on private discourse about the Parliament Sir George Wentworth said The Commonwealth was sick of Peace and will not be well till it be Conquered again Sir Robert King further said That the Lord Ranulagh was displeased at Sir George Ratcliff 's words conceiving it was an intention to raise Money forcibly in England and that they must turn their Swords upon them from whom they were descended and cut their Throats for their own Safety which the Earl confirmed by offering to sell the said Lord his Estate in Ireland though he thought they would be quieter there than in England From whence the Managers inferred his Design was against England To prove this Design Sir Tho. Jermin deposed Sir Thomas Jermin That he heard my Lord Strafford say something of the Parliaments forsaking the King The Earl of Bristol deposed The Earl of Bristol That discoursing of the Distractions of the Times the Mutiny of the Soldiers and Danger of a War with Scotland he proposed the Summoning a new Parliament as the best way to prevent those Desperate Vndertakings which discourse and his Reasons my Lord Strafford seemed not to dislike but said He thought it not counselable at that time in regard of the slow Proceedings of Parliaments and the real and pressing Dangers and that the Parliament had refused Supplies and therefore the King was to provide for the Safety of the Kingdom Salus Reipublicae being Suprema Lex and that the King must not suffer himself to be mastered by the stubborness and undutifulness of his people or rather Stubberness and disaffection of some particular men meaning some Members of Parliament as he conceives being discoursing of the Parliament The Lord Newborough deposed That he heard words to this Effect Lord Newborough That seeing the Parliament had not supplyed the King His Majesty might take other courses for Defence of the Kingdom But thô he cannot swear the Earl spake these words Earl of Holland he verily believes he heard him speak something to that purpose The Earl of Holland deposed much to the same Purport Then they proceeded to the 23. Article and the Examination of the Earl of Northumberland was read That in case of Necessity for Defence of the Kingdom if the People refuse to Supply the King the King is absolved from Rules of Government and that every thing is to be done for the Preservation of the King and his People and that by some discourses to His Majesty he believes if the King was not supplyed by Parliament some Course was intended to raise Money by Extraordinary wayes but that the Irish Army was to land in the West of Scotland and he hath not heard that these Forces were to be imployed in England to compel or awe the Subjects to pay Taxes imposed Sir Henry Vane deposed Sir Hen. Vane That upon debate of the Question Whether Offensive or Defensive War the Earl said Your Majesty having tryed all wayes and being refused in case of Extream Necessity for the Safety of the Kingdom you are loose and absolved from all Rules of Government you are acquitted before God and Man You have an Army in Ireland you may imploy it to reduce this Kingdom But he will not interpret whether my Lord meant England or Scotland but afterwards he said positively to reduce this Kingdom applying it to England Mr. Whitlock summed up the Evidence That it was clear my Lord of Strafford had a strong Design and Endeavour to Subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of England and to bring in an Army upon us to force this Kingdom to submit to an Arbitrary Power That he would not aggravate these words which were to allay them having in them more Bitterness and Horror than he is able to Express After some little pause The Earl's Defence the Earl made his Defence And first to the Earl of Traquair's Deposition the said Earl sayes That it was the Resolution of the Council-Board and that he gave his Vote among the other Lords That if the Commissioners of Scotland gave not Satisfaction the King might put himself into a posture of War So that his Opinion was the same with the rest and he thinks himself in great Safety having the Concomitant Opinion of so many wiser Persons than himself And for the Earl of Moreton 's Deposition he hopes when the Council of England had resolved it it was no great Crime for him to say That the unreasonable Demands of Subjects in Parliament was a good ground for the King to put himself into a posture of Defence and for his saying it was not Religion but the Root of Government they strook at that he thinks he and every man that thought so had reason to say as he did As to Sir H. Vane the War being resolved and whether Offensive or Defensive the Question he hopes it is not Treasonable for a Privy Councellor to give his Opinion according to his Conscience to do so being their Duty and according to their Oaths and that he was as free to give his Reasons one way as any other person another As to the seizing the Ships Barnwell 's Testimony is only by hearsay but he will inform their Lordships by proof that the Scots Ships were stayed by the Lord Admiral 's Warrant which Mr. Slingsby attested so that the Earl said it might appear he was no such Stirrer or Incendiary between the King and his Subjects as he was represented To the 21 Article and the Lord Primate's Examination about the King 's using his Prerogative it is but singularis testis and only in way of Argument but that the words fairly construed and clearly understood have no ill sence for the King may use his Prerogative as he pleases because the King's Pleasure is always just and to think the King will use his Prerogative otherwise were a high Offence or to think he will use his Prerogative otherwise then as befits a Christian and Pious King To my Lord Conway 's Testimony That the King might help himself though it were against their Will He answered That to help a man's self is Natural for Self is the last Creature that leaves any person and what is natural to every man is so to the King who is accountable not only for Himself but his People To Mr. Secretary Vane 's Testimony That if the Parliament should not succeed he would be ready to assist His Majesty any other way He sees not where the heynousness or venom of the words is to endanger his Life and Honor and he conceives Mr. Treasurer said as much and the Wayes the King could command
People being but the Imployment of two or three Soldiers to procure obedience to His Majestie 's Government because as I conceive likewise I had Commission to make War as I saw Cause for punishing the Rebels and securing the Publick Peace and therefore How can I be charged with that I have power to do The worst that can be made of it is an absurd execution of a Power but to make it Treason when I had Commission and Liberty so to do methinks that is very hard And it was no absurd execution of a Power under favour neither when I had the Precedent of all the former Deputies and Lieutenants in the Case My Lords it was never Complained of all the while I was there for ought appears to your Lordships so that it seems there was no great Innovation nor Inconvenience for if there were I should have heard of it But the Statute 11. E. 1. ca. 7. sets a penalty upon any Subject that shall Assess without the Deputies Authority Now I do most humbly beseech your Lordships that you would be pleased to remember that and let me know how it should be but Penal in a Common person to do it and yet Treason in a Deputy My Lords I shall likewise humbly mind your Lordships of the Statute or rather two Statutes as I take it whereby I conceive this Statute that made a Treason in Ireland was repealed But howsoever the practice in all time hath gone quite contrary to that Statute and the best Interpretation of Law is the Practice of Law and therefore the Practice having been otherwise it is an Argument very strong and prevalent that the Deputy as Chief Governour was never intended to be Concluded within that Act nor never to be brought in by General Words onely And that this should be a Levying of War against the King within the Statute of 25 E. 3. in England surely I conceive it cannot be for the Burning of Towns the Taking of Forts Killing and Slaying that I conceive to be Levying of War but this is a strange Levying of War with two or three Soldiers to rest in Peace and Quietness eating on Contemners only and not Killing and Slaying and all to procure Obedience to the King not in Disobedience to his Command If to lie upon them and eat be High-Treason in this Case What shall become of a great Company of good Fellows that at this time eat at the Charge of the Country No My Lords This in the Case of a private Man had been but a Forcible Entry or a Ryot at the most if a man had done the same thing Mr. Savil did of his own Authority without the Deputy it had been but a Force and Ryot and How shall this be in my Case High-Treason The next Charge in that Case is concerning a Warrant to one Piggot another Serjeant at Arms and the great and crying Miscarriages and Misimployments of such a Warrant if there had been any it was when I as your Lordships may please to remember was out of Ireland and that was the Case of Bern a very Foule Misdemeanor as it proved But My Lords I being out of the Kingdom and no such Warrant shown I conceive I am absolutely dismissed as unto that and have nothing to answer for it there was nothing done while I was in the Kingdom there is no Warrant of mine shown therefore I conceive I stand clear of that likewise But admit there was such a Warrant the Answer goes to that as to the test and certainly I hope will fully acquit me of this Fifteenth Article as Treason And so I must in humility submit to your Lordships wiser and better Judgments The next Statute-Treason is an Intendment or Design or what you will have it for bringing over the Irish Army into this Kingdom to reduce it or to do I know not what nor I think no body else for there is no such thing But My Lords for proof in this Case you have two offered there and no more under favour at all the first proof is the Fears and Doubts of my Lord Ranulagh that tells you he Fears such a thing and Doubts such a thing My Lords if Fears and doubts may be sufficient to Condemn me for Treason By my Faith I fear and Doubt very much these Fears and Doubts might Accuse me and Condemn me of Treason more then once a Year But my Lords his Fears and Doubts he may keep to himself I hope they shall not be brought any way to the prejudice of me I am I thank God both confident and knowing there is no such thing The next is the Testimony of Mr. Treasurer Vane and the Words Mr. Treasurer doth Witness against me in that particular are as I conceive these that I should say to His Majesty in an Argument concerning an Offensive or Defensive War with Scotland Your Majesty hath tryed all wayes and are refused and in this extream necessity for the safety of the Kingdom and Your People You may imploy the Irish Army to reduce this Kingdom My Lords To this I say that under favour Mr. Treasurer was in this methoughts a little Dubious he was something doubtful for at the first he told your Lordships he would deal plainly and clearly with you that he knew before whom he spoke and then my Lords it was but to the best of his Remembrance that these and these words were spoken At the last my Lords being put to it more he was pleased to say that these were positively the words or something to that effect So my Lords here is but a dubious and uncertain Witness under favour and these professions of his speaking clearly and plainly and of his Consideration before whom he was which are something unusual Clauses to Men that come to Swear upon Oath make me conceive him something Dubious in this point Secondly My Lords he is a single Witness and not only so but under favour disavowed by all the rest that were present at the Council My Lord of Northumberland remembred no such thing My Lord Marquess of Hamilton remembred no such thing My Lord Treasurer remembred no such thing my Lord Cottington is very well assured he said no such thing for if he had he should have taken offence at it himself which he never did My Lords in the Third place He is pleased to mention That it was in a Debate Whether an offensive or Defensive War and that then I should say The King had an Army in Ireland c. My Lords it falls out in time to be as I conceive about the 5th of May last not many dayes sooner or later the Army of Ireland was not raised till June following So it seems I should tell the King a great untruth that he had an Army in Ireland which he might imploy for His Service before that Army was raised for it is a notorious thing and any of that Country knows that the Army was not raised till the Fifteenth of June as
who am this day to Answer before you For if you take away the Power of the Deputy you shall not have that Kingdom long depend upon this Crown for it rests under God and His Majesty and must principally rest upon the care of him that is intrusted with that Charge And therefore give me leave on the behalf of the Crown of England to beseech you to be wary of lessening the Deputie's Power too much for if you do I fear you will find it a great Disservice to the Crown My Lords the next thing I am Charged with is the 9th Article That is a Warrant of Assistance to the Bishop of Down and Connor and for that your Lordships see there was but one of them and have heard it proved that before my time such Warrants were frequent indeed no man was denyed them But my Lords it must likewise be remembred that of my own accord I did recall it before I was ever questioned for it and it is very hard if he that mends his Faults should be afterward punished for it for it is a degree of Repentance and it is hard that a man should be finally Condemned after Repentance and therefore my Lords I trust seeing there was but one of them seeing I did my self recall it so willingly as soon as I found the Inconvenience I hope that will be easier remitted to me The next is the 10th Article that concerns the Customes and that is rather to be looked on as a Fraud then as a Treason as I conceive it there is no Treason in the Business sure But I have proved the Bargain was honestly made That there was more offered for it by me then any other That I had it upon no other Terms then it was formerly let to others That I was constrain'd to it whether I would or no And then My Lords if the Bargain by the Increase of that Kingdom prove a good and profitable Bargain it is a very hard Case that if it be increased through the King's Wisdom and Goodness and the Kingdoms Growth Trade and Traffick that this should be turned upon me as an Argument to make me Guilty of Treason I never found a good Bargain should be so charged so long as it was honest and fair But whereas they press That I have gained Three Hundred Thousand Pounds Estate by it it is a very strange mistake For the King has out of it his Rent of 15 or 16 Thousand Pounds a year and Five entire parts of Eight clear to Himself and therefore it was a strange Calculation and much mistaken by them that that gave the Information of it to the Gentlemen For the book of Rates it was none of mine but was agreed on before my time I had nothing to do with it and therefore have nothing to Answer for it And when it shall come to be proved it will appear that the Rates were set fairly and justly and equal betwixt King and People according to the Law whatsoever hath been said to the contrary The next is the 11th Article concerning Pipe-Staves and that is by them waved and well they may for the plain truth is if it had been proceeded in it would have appeared that there is come Fifteen hundred pounds gain to the King and Four hundred pounds loss to my self and preserving of Woods and that is all that would be made from that Article The next is the business of the Tobacco which is not applyable to Treason in any kind but because I would be clear in every Man's Judgment that hears me I beseech your Lordships to call to mind it was the Petition of the Commons-House of Ireland That the Grant of Impost on the Tobacco should be taken in and converted to the King's use so that whatsoever was done was pursuing their intention and desire That there was no way but this to make benefit and profit of it is most manifestly shewed that there was a Proclamation in England of the like nature and a Command of the King to proceed in it accordingly and an Act of Parliament Transmitted here for passing it to the Crown according to the intention of the Commons-House and for the greatness of the Bargain no Proof hath been offered to your Lordships but only the Estimate of a Merchant and how far your Lordships would be guided by the Estimate of a Merchant I know not but I have had Trial of some of them and their Estimates never hold for they have alwayes told me I shall gain much and when I came to the point I gained nothing and if Sir George Ratcliff should be sworn to the Point he should say confidently that we are Fourscore and six thousand out of Pursâ— and when he came out of Ireland but Fourscore thousand pounds received and this is the Profit Estimated by the great Merchants at a Hundred and Forty Thousand Pounds a year But at the worst it is but a Monopoly and a Monopoly of the best condition because it was begun by a Parliament I have seen many Monopolies question'd in Parliament and many overthrown in Parliament but I never heard a Monopoly charged for a Treason My Lords The next is the 13th Article and that is concerning the Flax business For that my Lords if I had thought it any way concerning me I could have cleared it in a very great measure But I had no private Interest in the business much less of private profit but only an endeavour and desire to bring in the Trade of Linnen-Cloth to that Kingdom which would be much advantage to both Kingdoms and no prejudice to this Kingdom which a Woollen Trade would have been if set up there And the Proclamation when it was found not so well liking to the People was called in of our own accord before it was question'd and so laid aside given over For any matter of private Benefit you have no Witness but Crokay a Fellow brought out of Prison Here is but a single Witness and a sorry one a Fellow who by mis-behaving and mis-using the trust committed to him was turned out and upon the turning of him out the Proclamation was absolutely called in and now he comes to be a Witness being himself the only offender in the Cause But I beseech your Lordships to think I have not lived with so mean a heart in the World that I should look to gain Four Nobles more or less upon a Cart Load of Flax It is very well known my thoughts have carried me free enough from gaining so poor and petty a matter as that is I know nothing in the World of it no more than the man in the Moon but when it comes to be heard your Lordships will find me extreme pure in that for I thank God I have clear hands I assure you The 14th is waved by them concerning an unlawful Oath given to Masters and Officers or Ships and it might very well be waved for I conceive it to be Warranted by the Law
looking upon your Notes and observing his recollection that he hath used the repetition of Evidence on both sides in such manner as you know who used Scripture that is to cite as much as makes for his purpose and leave out the rest And likewise that in repetition of the Evidence he hath mis-recited plainly very much of the proofs on both sides and likewise hath pretended some proofs to be for his Defence which indeed were not and he hath taken this farther advantage when it makes for his Defence he hath disjoynted the Proofs and Testimonies and severed them asunder that it might appear to your Lordships like Rain falling in drops which considered in distinct drops bring no horror or seeming inconvenience with them but when they are gathered together into an entire body they make an Inundation and cover the Face of the Earth He would not have your Lordships look on those Testimonies together but distinctly and asunder which being put together look horrid as will appear to your Lordships when you duly confider of them These be the general observations which in my Answer I doubt not but to make good But before I shall enter into observations of what he hath spoken I shall answer in general to some things which he hath in general alledged In the first place he hath made a flourish this day and several other days in the way of his Defence That if he could have had longer time he could have made things appear clearer and have produced more proofs Give me leave to inform your Lordships that he is no way streightned of time for he hath been charged above threemon ths since he knew what was laid to his Charge nd therefore his pretence of want of time and of his Disabilities to make better proofs are but Flourishes And it appears plainly whatsoever he hath had occasion to make use of even the least paper though he fetched it from Ireland there is not one wanting he hath Copies of Papers from the Council-Table from the Parliament of Ireland and all that may any way tend to his justification and yet he stands upon that stourish that if he had had time he could have made it more clear My Lords He hath mentioned often this day and oftner the days before That many of the Articles laid to his Charge are proved but by one Witness and thereupon he takes the advantage of the Statute of E. 6. that sayes A man ought not to be condemned for High-Treason without two Witnesses My Lords This is a fallacy known to his own breast I doubt not and not taught him by any of his Counsel or others Learned The Treason laid to his charge is The subverting of the Laws the Evidence is the Article proved and though some one Article appears to be proved but by one yet put the Evidence together you shall never find it to be within the words or meaning of the Statute for the Charge is proved by a hundred Witnesses and because one part of the Evidence is proved only by one Witness since when you put them together you will find a hundred Witnesses it is not within the words not meaning of the Statute neither will his Counsel direct him to say so I am confident My Lords another observation I shall be bold to make is that he was pleased to cast an aspersion as we must apprehend upon them that are trusted by the House of Commons this day That we that stand here alledged and affirmed things to be proved that are not proved He might have pleased to have spared that language we stand here to justifie our selves that we do not use to express any language but what our hearts and consciences tell us is true and howsoever he is pleased to cast it upon us I am consident I shall invert it upon himself and make it appear that he hath been this day guilty in the highest degree of what he most unjustly layeth to our charge And now my Lords to enter upon the particulars he hath been pleased to make it his general Theme to day though he hath not spoke much to day but what he hath spoken formerly that these particulars considered by themselves make not a Treason and therefore put together he wonders how they should make a Treason Several misdemeanors can never make a murther and several Murthers can never make a Treason and he wonders it should be otherwise in this Case My Lords He did instance it if my memory fails not in a Case of Felony That if a bloody knife should be produced in the hand of the party suspected to have slain the man if the party had been there seen before the death it were a strange Evidence but there must be death in the case the fact must be committed else there can be no murther but he himself might answer himself for there is a great difference There cannot be murther but there must be death but he knows very well there may be Treason and yet no death it is too late to forbear questioning Treason for killing the King till the King be killed God forbid we should stay in that Case for the very intention is the Treason and it is the the intention of the death of the Law that is in question and it had been too late to call him to question to answer with his life for the death of the Law if the Law had been killed for there had been no Law then and how should the Law then have adjudged it Treason when the same was subverted and destroyed and therefore he is much mistaken The greatest Traytor in the memory of any that sits here to hear me this day had a better a fairer excuse in this particular than my Lord of Strafford and that is Guido Faux for he might have objected that the taking of the Cellar the laying of the Powder under the Parliament-House the kindling of the Match and putting it near are not so much as a misdemeanor if you look no further for it was no offence in him to lay Barrels under the Parliament-House and to kindle the Match and to lay it near but collect all together that it was eâ intentione to blow up the King and the State there is the Treason but God be blessed it was not effected so that the rule is the same Nay my Lord of Strafford hath not so much to say when he is charged with a purpose and intention to subvert the Law for to that purpose gave he traiterous Counsels and executed actions thereby discovering his intentions to destroy the Kingdom and to destroy the King's claim by Law and discent It is true they were not put in execution but they declared his intentions therefore this gives an answer to his first flourist which is not so great an Argument as the greatest Traytor might use for himself and yet it proved Treason in him My Lords he hath been pleased to divide his Treasons into two parts and his
and yet these are the Guildings and Paintings that are put upon such Counsels These are for your Honour for your Service whereas in truth they are contrary to both But if I shall take off this varnish I hope they shall then appear in their own Native deformity and therefore I desire to consider them by these Rules It cannot be for the Honour of the King that His Sacred Authority should be used in the practice of Injustice and Oppression That his name should be applyed to patronize such horrid crimes as have been represented in Evidence against the Earl of Strafford and yet how frequently how presumptuously his Commands his Letters have been vouched throughout the course of this Defence Your Lordships have heard when the Judges do Justice it is the King's Justice and this is for his Honour because He is the fountain of Justice But when they do Injustice the offence is their own but those Officers and Ministers of the King who are most officious in the exercise of this Arbitrary Power they do it commonly for their advantages and when they are questioned for it then they fly to the King's Interest to his Direction And truly my Lords this is a very unequal distribution for the King that the dishonour of evil courses should be cast upon him and they to have the advantage The prejudice which it brings to him in regard of his profit is no less apparent it deprives him of the most beneficial and most certain Revenue of his Crown that is The voluntary Aids and Supplies of His People His other Revenues consisting of goodly Demeans and great Mannors have by grants been alienated from the Crown and are now exceedingly diminished and impaired But this Revenue it cannot be sold it cannot be burdened with any Pensions or Annuities but comes intirely to the Crown It is now almost Fifteen years since His Majesty had any Assistance from His People and these illegal wayes of supplying the King were never prest with more Violence and Art then they have been in this time and yet I may upon very good grounds affirm That in the last Fifteen years of Queen Elizabeth She received more by the Bounty and Affection of her Subjects then hath come to his Majesties Coffers by all the inordinate and rigorous courses which have been taken And as those Supplies were more beneficial in the Receipt of them so were they likewise in the use and imployment of them Another way of prejudice to His Majesties profit is this Such Arbitrary Courses exhaust the People and disable them when there shall be occasion to give such plentiful Supplies as otherwise they would do I shall need no other proof of this then the Irish Government under my Lord of Strafford where the Wealth of the Kingdom is so consumed by those horrible Exactions and Burdens that it is thought the Subsidies lately granted will amount to little more then half the proportion of the last Subsidies The two former wayes are hurtful to the King's profit in that respect which they call Lucrum Cessans by diminishing his Receipts But there is a third fuller of mischief and it is in that respect which they call Damnum emergens by encreasing his Disbursements such irregular and exorbitant attempts upon the Liberties of the People are apt to produce such miserable Distractions and Distempers as will put the King and Kingdoms to such vast Expenses and Losses in a short time as will not be recovered in many years We need not go far to seek a proof of this these two last years will be a sufficient Evidence within which time I assure my self it may be proved that more Treasure hath been wasted more loss sustained by His Majesty and His Subjects then was spent by Queen Elizabeth in all the War of Tyron and in those many brave Attempts against the King of Spain and the Royal Assistance which she gave to France and the Low-Countries during all Her Reign As for greatness this Arbitrary Power is apt to hinder and impair it not only at home but abroad A Kingdom is a Society of men conjoyned under one Government for the Common good The World is a Society of Kingdomes and States The King's Greatness consists not only in His Dominion over his Subjects at home but in the Influence which he hath upon States abroad That he should be great even among Kings and by his Wisdom and Authority so to incline and dispose the Affairs of other States and Nations and those great events which fall out in the World as shall be for the good of Mankind and for the Peculiar advantage of His own People This is the most glorious and magnificent greatness to be able to relieve distressed Princes to support his own Friends and Allies to prevent the Ambitious Designs of other Kings and how much this Kingdom hath been impaired in this kind by the late mischievous Counsels your Lordships best know who at a near distance and with a more clear sight do apprehend these publick and great affairs then I can do Yet thus much I dare boldly say that if his Majesty had not with great Wisdom and Goodness forsaken that way wherein the Earl of Strafford had put him we should within a short time have been brought into that miserable condition as to have been useless to our Friends contemptible to our Enemies and uncapable of undertaking any great Design either at home or abroad A Fourth Consideration is That this Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power which the Earl of Strafford did exercise in his own Person and to which he did advise His Majesty is inconsistent with the Peace the Wealth the Prosperity of a Nation It is destructive to Justice the Mother of Peace to Industry the spring of Wealth to Valour which is the active Virtue whereby the prosperity of a Nation can only be procured confirmed and enlarged It is not only apt to take away Peace and so entangle the Nation with Wars but doth corrupt Peace and puts such a malignity into it as produceth the effects of War We need seek no other proof of this but the Earl of Strafford's Government where the Irish both Nobility and others had as little security of their Persons or Estates in this peaceable time as if the Kingdom had been under the rage and fury of War And as for Industry and Valour who will take pains for that which when he hath gotten is not his own or who fight for that wherein he hath no other Interest but such as is subject to the Will of another The ancient encouragement to men that were to defend their Countreys was this That they were to hazard their Person pro Aris focis for their Religion and for their Houses But by this Arbitrary way which was practised in Ireland and counselled here no man had any certainty either of Religion or of his House or any thing else to be his own But besides this such Arbitrary courses have an ill
operation upon the courage of a Nation by embasing the hearts of the People A servile condition does for the most part beget in men a slavish temper and disposition Those that live so much under the Whip and the Pillory and such servile Engines as were frequently used by the Earl of Strafford they may have the dregs of Valour Sullenness and Stubborness which may make them prone to mutinies and discontents But those Noble and Gallant affections which put men to brave designs and attempts for the preservation or enlargement of a Kingdom they are hardly capable of Shall it be Treason to embase the King's Coin though but a piece of Twelve-pence or Six-pence and must it not needs be the effect of a greater Treason to embase the Spirits of his Subjects and to set a Stamp and character of Servitude upon them whereby they shall be disabled to do any thing for the Service of the King and Commonwealth The Fifth Consideration is this that the exercise of this Arbitrary Government in times of suddain danger by the invasion of an enemy will disable His Majesty to preserve himself and His Subjects from that danger This is the only pretence by which the Earl of Strafford and such other mischievous Counsellors would induce his Majesty to make use of it and if it be unfit for such an occasion I know nothing that can be alledged in maintainance of it When War threatens a Kingdom by the coming of a Forraign Enemy it is no time then to discontent the people to make them weary of the present Government and more inclinable to a change The supplies which are to come in this way will be unready uncertain there can be no assurance of them no dependance upon them either for time or proportion And if some Money be gotten in such a way the distractions divisions distempers which this course is apt to produce will be more prejudicial to the publique safety than the Supply can be advantagious to it and of this we have had sufficient experience the last Summer The Sixth That this crime of Subverting the Laws and introducing an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government is contrary to the Pact and Covenant betwixt the King and his People that which was spoken of before was the legal union of Allegiance and Protection this is a personal union by mutual agreement and stipulation confirmed by Oath on both sides The King and his People are obliged to one another in the nearest relations he is a Father and a Child is called in Law pars patris He is the Husband of the Commonwealth they have the same interests they are inseparable in their condition be it good or evil he is the Head they are the Body there is such an incorporation as cannot be dissolved without the destruction of both When Justice Thorp in Edward the III. time was by the Parliament condemned to death for bribery the reason of that Judgment is given because he had broke the King's Oath not that he had broke his own Oath but he had broken the King's Oath that solemn and great Obligation which is the security of the whole Kingdom If for a Judge to take a small summ in a private Cause was adjudged capital how much greater was this offence whereby the Earl of Strafford hath broken the King's Oath in the whole course of his Government in Ireland to the prejudice of so many of his Majesties Subjects in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to the danger of all the rest The Doctrine of the Papists Fides non est servanda cum Haereticis is an abominable Doctrine yet that other Tenet more peculiar to the Jesuits is more pernicious whereby Subjects are discharged from their Oath of Allegiance to their Prince whensoever the Pope pleaseth This may be added to make the third no less mischievous and destructive to humane Society than either of the rest That the King is not bound by that Oath which he hath taken to observe the Laws of the Kingdom but may when he sees cause lay Taxes and Burthens upon them without their consent contrary to the Laws and Liberties if the Kingdom This hath been Preached and published by divers And this is that which bath been practised in Ireland by the Earl of Strafford in his Government there and endeavoured to be brought into England by his Counsel here The Seventh is this It is an offence that is contrary to the end of Government The end of Government was to prevent oppressions to limit and restrain the excessive power and violence of great men to open the passages of Justice with indifferency towards all This Arbitrary Power is apt to induce and encourage all kind of insolencies Another end of the Government is to preserve men in their Estates to secure them in their Lives and Liberties but if this design had taken effect and could have been setled in England as it was practised in Ireland no man would have had more certainty in his own then Power would have allowed him but these two have been spoken of before there are two behind more important which have not yet been touched It is the end of Government that Vertue should be cherish'd Vice supprest but where this Arbitrary and unlimited Power is set up a way is open not only for the security but for the advancement and encouragement of evil such men as are apt for the execution and maintenance of this Power are only capable of preferment and others who will not be instruments of any unjust commands who make a conscience to do nothing against the Laws of the Kingdom and Liberties of the Subject are not only not passable for employment but subject to much jealousie and danger It is the end of Government that all Accidents and Events all Counfels and Designs should be improved to the publique good But this Arbitrary Power is apt to dispose all to the maintainance of it self The wisdom of the Council-Table The authority of the Courts of Justice The industry of all the Officers of the Crown have been most carefully exercised in this the Learning of our Divines the Jurisdiction of our Bishops have been moulded and disposed to the same effect which though it were begun before the Earl of Strafford's imployment yet it hath been exceedingly furthered and advanced by him Under this colour and pretence of maintaining the King's Power and Prerogative many dangerous practises against the peace and safety of the Kingdom have been undertaken and promoted The increase of Popery and the favours and encouragement of papists have been and still are a great grievance and danger to the Kingdom The innovation in matters of Religion the Usurpations of the Clergy the manifold burthens and taxations upon the people have been a great cause of our present distempers and disorders and yet those who have been chief furtherers and actors of such mischiefs have had their Credit and Authority from this that they were forward to maintain this
the 18th year of Hen. 6th that both Person and thing are within the Statute That the Statute remains in force to this day that the parliament here hath cognizance of it and that even in the ordinary way of Judicature that if there be a Treason and a Traitor that the want of Jurisdiction in the judicial way may justly be supplied by Bill 5. That his endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Realms of England and Ireland and instead thereof to introduce a Tyrannical Government against Law is Treason by the Common-Law That Treasons at the Common-Law are not taken away by the Statute of 25th Edw. 3 1 Hen. 4th c. nor any of them 6. That as this case stands it 's just and necessary to resort to the Supream Power in Parliament in case all the rest should fail Of these six five of them are Treason within the compass of the Laws already established Three within the Statute of 25th Edw. 3. and one within the Irish Statute the other by the Common-Law of England If but any one of these Six Considerations hold the Commons conceive that upon the whole matter they had good cause to pass the Bill My Lords For the first of Levying War I shall make bold to read the case to your Lordships before I speak to it It 's thus The Earl did by Warrant under his Hand and Seal give Authority to Robert Savil a Sergeant at Arms and his Deputies to Sess such numbers of Soldiers Horse and Foot of the Army in Ireland together with an Officer as the Sergeant should think fit upon His Majesties Subjects of Ireland against their Will this Warrant was granted by the Earl to the end to compel the Subjects of Ireland to submit to the unlawful Summons and Orders made by the Earl upon Paper Petitions exhibited to him in case of private interest between party and party this Warrant was executed by Savil and his Deputies by Sessing of Soldiers both Horse and Foot upon divers of the Subjects of Ireland against their Wills in Warlike manner and at divers times the Soldiers continued upon the parties upon whom they were sefsed and wasted their Goods until such time as they had submitted themselves unto those Summons and Orders My Lords This is a Levying War within the Statute of 25th Edw. 3. The words of the Statute are If any man do Levy War against our Lord the King in His Realm this is declared Treason I shall endeavour in this to make clear to your Lordships 1. What shall be Levying of War in respect of the motive or cause of it 2. What shall be said a Levying of War in respect of the action or thing done 3. And in the third place I shall apply them to the present case It will be granted in this Levying of War that Forces may be raised and likewise used in Warlike manner and yet no Levying of War within the Statute that is when the Forces are raised and employed upon private ends either of revenge or interest Before the Statute in Edw. the 1 time the Title of a Castle was in difference between the Earls of Hereford and Gloucester for the maintaining of the possession on the one side and gaining of it on the other Forces were raised on either side of many hundred Men they marched with Banners displayed one against another In the Parliament in the 20th of Edward 1. this was adjudged only Trespass and either of the Earls Fined 1000 Marks apiece After the Statute in Hillary Term in the 15th year of Edw. the 3. in the King's-Bench Rot. 3. Nicholas Huntercome in Warlike manner with 40 men armed amongst other weapons with Guns so ancient as appears by that Record they were did much spoil in the Mannor of the Abby of Dorchester in the County of Oxford this was accounted no Treason and so it hath been held by the Judges That if one or more Town-ship upon pretence of saving their Commons do in a forcible and Warlike manner throw in inclosers this is only a Riot no Treason The words of the Statute 25 Edw. 3. clear this point that if any man ride Armed openly or secretly with men at Arms against any other to kill and rob or to detain him until he hath made Fine and Ransome for his deliverance this is declared not to be Treason but Felony or Trespass as the Case shall require all the printed Statutes which have it covertly or secret are misprinted for the words in the Parliament Roll as appears in the 17th are Discovertment ou Secretement Open or Secretly Object So that my Lords in this of Levying War the Act is not so much to be considered but as in all other Treasons and Felonies quo animo with what intent and purpose My Lords If the end be considerable in Levying War it may be said that it cannot be a War unless against the King for the words of the Statute are If any man Levy War against the King Answ That these words extend further than to the person of the King appears by the words of the Statute which in the beginning declares it to be Treason to compass and imagine the death of the King and after other Treasons this is to be declared to be Treason to Levy War against the King If Levying of War extend no further than to the person of the King these words of the Statute are to no purpose for then the first Treason of compassing the King's death had fully included it before because that he which Levies War against the Person of the King doth necessarily compass his death It 's a War against the King when intended for alteration of the Laws or Government in any part of them or to destroy any of the great Officers of the Kingdom This is a Levying War against the King 1. Because the King doth protect and maintain the Laws in every part of them and the great Officers to whose care he hath in his own stead delegated the execution of them 2. Because they are the King's Laws he is the Fountain from whence in their several Channels they are derived to the Subject all our Indictments run thus Trespasses laid to be done Contra pacem Domini Regis the King's Peace for exorbitant offences though not intended against the King's Person against the King His Crown and Dignity My Lords this construction is made good by divers Authorities of great weight ever since the Statute of 25th of Edw. 3. downwards In Richard the 2d time Sir Thomas Talbot conspired the death of the Dukes of Gloucester and Lancaster and some other of the Peers for the effecting of it he had caused several People in the County of Chester to be Armed in Warlike manner in Assemblies in the Parliament held in the 17th year of R. 2. No 20. Sir Thomas Talbot being Accused of High-Treason for this It 's there declared insomuch as one of them was Lord High Steward of England
and the other High Constable that this was done in destruction of the Estates of the Realm and of the Laws of the Kingdom and therefore adjudged Treason and the Judgment sent down into the King's Bench as appears Easter Term in the 17th year of R. 2. in the King's-Bench Rot. 16th These two Lords had appeared in the 11th of R. 2. in maintainance of the Act of Parliament made in the year before one of them was of the Commissioners appointed by Parliament and one of the Appealors of those who would have overthrown it The Duke of Lancaster likewise was one of the Lords that was to have been Indicted of Treason for endeavouring the maintenance of it and therefore conspiring of their deaths is said to be in destruction of their Laws This there is declared to be Treason that concerned the Person of the King and Common-wealth In that great insurrection of the Villains and meaner People in Richard the II. time they took an Oath Quod Regi Communibus fidelitatem servarent to be true to the King and Commons and that they would take nothing but what they paid for punished all theft with death here 's no Intendment against the Person of the King The intent was to establish the Laws of Villanage and Servitude to burn all the Records to kill the Judges This in the Parliament of the 5th year of R. 2. No 31 32. the First Part is declared to be Treason against the King and against the Law In the 11th year of R. 2. in Parliament the raising of Forces against the Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament the year before adjudged Treason by the Judges The Statute Jmo Mary Cap. 12. Enacts That if 12 or more shall endeavour by force to alter any of the Laws or Statutes of the Kingdom he shall from such a time there limited be adjudged only as a Felon This Act was to continue but to the next Parliament it is expired it shews by the words only that the offence was higher before the making it My Lords In Queen Elizabeths time Grant and divers Apprentices of London to the number of 200. rose and assembled at Tower-hill carried a Cloak upon a Pole instead of a Banner their intent was to deliver divers Apprentices out of Prison that had been committed upon a Sentence in the Star-Chamber for Riots to kill the Lord Major of London and for setting prizes on Victuals In Trinity Term 37 Eliz. divers of the Judges were consulted withal and resolved That this was a Levying of War against the Queen being intended against the Government and Officers of the Queen and therefore Grant and others were executed as Traytors Afterwards in that Queens time divers of the County of Oxford consulted to go together from House to House in that County and thence to London and other parts to excite them to take up Arms for the throwing in of all inclosures throughout England Nothing was done nor no assembly Yet the Statute of 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. during the Queens Life made it Treason to intend or advise to Levy War against the Queen In Easter Term 39 of Eliz. all the Judges of England met about the Case it was resolved by them that this was a War intended against the Queen they agreed That if it had been of one Township or more upon private interest and claim of right of Common it had not been Treason but this was to throw in all Inclosures through the Kingdom whereunto these parties should pretend no claim That it was against the Law in regard that the Statute of Merton gave power of Inclosures in many Cases upon this resolution Bradsaw and Burton were executed at Aynestowhill in Oxfordshire the place where they intended the first Rendezvous So that my Lords if the end of it be to overthrow any of the Statutes any part of the Law and setled Government or any of the great Officers intrusted with the execution of them This is a War against the King My Lords It will be further considerable what shall be accounted a Levying of War in respect of the Actions and things done there 's a design to alter some part of the Laws and present Government for the effecting thereof People be provided of Arms gathered together into Troops but afterwards march not with Banners displayed nor do Bellum percutere whether the Army themselves and gathering together upon this design be a War or such prosecution of the Design with force as makes it Treason within the Statute First If this be not a War in respect that it necessarily occasions hostile preparations on the other side Secondly From the words of the Statute shall Levy War and be thereof probably Attainted of open Deed by People of their condition although the bare conspiring be not an open Deed yet whether the Arming and drawing of men together be not an open Declaration of War In Sir Thomas Talbot's Case before cited in the Seventeenth year of R. II. the Acts of Force are expressed in the Parliament Roll That he caused divers of the People of the County of Chester to be Armed in a Warlike manner in Assemblies here is no Marching no Banners displayed In the Eighth year of Hen. VIII William Bell and Thomas Lacy in Com. Kanc. conspired with Thomas Cheyney called the Hermet of the Queen of Faries to overthrow the Law and Customs of the Realm and for the effecting of it they with Two hundred more met together and concluded upon a course of raising greater Forces in the County of Kent and the adjacent Shires This adjudged Treason these were open Acts. My Lords For the application of both these to the case in question First In respect of the end of it here was a War against the King it was to subvert the Laws this being the design for the effecting of it he assumed to his own Person an Arbitrary Power over the Lives Liberties and Estates of His Majesties Subjects and determined Causes upon Paper-Petitions at his own Will and Pleasure Obedience must be forced by the Army this is declared by the Warrant My Lords If it be said that the Warrant expresseth not any intent of subverting the Laws It expresseth fully one of the principal means whereby this was to be done that is obedience to his Arbitrary Orders upon Paper-Petitions This was done in reference to the main design In the cases of the Town of Cambridge and Sir William Cogan they have formerly been cited to your Lordships upon other occasions the things in themselves were not Treason they were not a Levying of War In that of Cambridge the Town met together and in a forcible manner broke up the University-Treasury and took of it the Records and Evidences of the Liberties of the University over the Town In the other they of Bridgewater marched to the Hospital and compelled the Master of the Hospital to deliver unto them certain Evidences that concerned the Town and forced him to enter into a Bond of
counterfeit Coin was Treason and Justice Stamford fol. 331. 44. is of opinion that this or the conspiring to counterfeit the Great Seal is Treason The Statute is If any shall counterfeit the Great Seal conspiring to do it by the Book is Treason if a man take the Broad Seal from one Patent and put it to another here is no counterfeiting it 's tantamount and therefore Treason as is adjudged in 2 Hen. 4. fol. 25. and by the opinion of Stamford If Machination or Plotting a War be not within that clause of the Statute of Levying of War yet is within the first of compassing the death of the King as that which necessarily tends to the destruction both of King and People upon whose safety and protection he is to engage himself That this is Treason hath been adjudged both after the Statutes of 1 Hen. 4. Cap. 10. and 1 Queen Mary so much insisted upon on the other side In the Third year of King Henry 4th one Balshal coming from London found one Bernard at Plough in the Parish of Osley in the County of Hertford Bernard asked Balshal what news he told him that the news was That Richard the Second was alive in Scotland which was false for he was dead and that by Midsummer next he would come into England Bernard asked him What were best to be done Balshal answered Get Men and go to King Richard In Michaelmas Term in the Third year of Hen. 4th in the Kings-Bench Rot. 4. This advice of War adjudged Treason In Queen Mary's time Sir Nicholas Throckmorton conspired with Sir Thomas Wyat to Levy War within this Realm for alteration in Religion he joyned not with him in the execution This conspiracy alone declared to be Treason by all the Judges this was after the Statute of Queen Mary so much insisted upon That Parliament ended in October this opinion was delivered the Easter Term following and is reported by Justice Dyer fol 98. It 's true Sir Thomas Wyat afterwards did Levy War Sir Nicholas Throckmorton he only conspired This adjudged Treason One Story in Queen Elizabeths time practised with Foreigners to Levy War within this Kingdom nothing done in pursuance of the practice The intent without any adhering to enemies of the Queen or other cause adjudged Treason and he executed thereupon It 's true my Lords that year 13 Eliz. by Act of Parliament it 's made Treason to intend the levying of War this Case was adjudged before the Parliament The Case was adjudged in Hillary Term the Parliament begun not till the April following This my Lords is a Case judged in point that the practising to Levy War though nothing be done in execution of it is Treason Object It may be objected That in these Cases Object the Conspiring being against the whole Kingdom included the Queen and was a Compassing Her destruction as well as of the Kingdoms here the advice was to the King Answ The Answer is first That the Warrant was unknown to His Majesty Answ that was a Machination of War against the People and Laws wherein His Majesties Person was engaged for protection Secondly That the advice was to his Majesty aggravates the Offence it was an Attempt which was the Offence it was an Attempt not only upon the Kingdom but upon the Sacred Person and His Office too himself was hostis patriae he would have made the Father of it so to Nothing more unnatural nor more dangerous than to offer the King Poyson to drink telling him that it is a Cordial is a passing of his death the Poyson was repelled there was an Antidote within the Malice of the giver beyond expression The perswading of Foreigners to invade the Kingdom hold no proportion with this Machination of War against the Law or Kingdom is against the King they cannot be severed My Lords If no actual War within the Statute if the Counselling of War if neither of these single Acts be Treason within the Statute The Commons in the next place have taken it into consideration what the addition of his other Words Counsels and Actions do operate in the Case and have conceived that with this Addition all being put together that he is brought within the Statute of 25 E. 3. The words of the Statute are If any Man shall Compass or Imagine the death of the King the words are not If any Man shall Plot or Counsel the Death of the King No my Lords they go further than to such things as are intended immediately directly and determinatively against the Life and Person of the King they are of a larger extent to compass is to do by Circuit to Consult or Practise another thing directly which being done may necessarily produce this effect However it be in the other Treasons within this Statute yet in this by the very words there is room left for constructions for necessary inferences and consequences What hath been the Judgment and Practice of former times concerning these words of compassing the Kings Death will appear to your Lordships by some Cases of Attainders upon these words One Owen Owen's Case of Sandwich in Kent in King James His time in the 13th year of His Reign at Sandwich in Kent spake these words That King James being Excommunicated by the Pope may be killed by any Man which killing is no Murther Being asked by those he spake to how he durst maintain so Bloody an Assertion Answered That the matter was not so heinous as was supposed for the King who is the Lesser is concluded by the Pope who is the Greater and as a Malefactor being Condemned before a Temporal Judge may be delivered over to be Executed So the King standing Convicted by the Popes Sentence of Excommunication may justly be slaughtered without fault for the Killing of the King is the Execution of the Popes Supream Sentence as the other is the Execution of the Law For this Judgment of High Treason was given against him and Execution done My Lords there is no clear intent appearing that Owen desired the thing should be done only Arguments that it might be done this is a Compassing there is a clear Endeavour to corrupt the Judgment to take off the Bonds of Conscience the greatest security of the Kings Life God forbid saith one of better Judgment then he that I should stretch out my hand against the Lords Anointed No saith he the Lord doth not forbid it you may for these Reasons lawfully kill the King He that denies the Title to the Crown and plots the means of setting it upon anothers head may do this without any direct or immediate desiring the death of Him that wears it yet this is Treason as was adjudged in the 10 of Hen. 7 in these of Burton and in the Duke of Norfolk's Case 13 Eliz. This is a compassing of His Death for there can no more be two Kings in one Kingdom then two Suns in the Firmament he that conceives a Title counts it worth venturing
for though it cost him his life he that is in possession thinks it as well worth the keeping John Sparhank in King Henry the Fourth's time meeting two men upon the way amongst other talk said That the King was no rightful King but the Earl of March and that the Pope would grant Indulgencies to all that could assist the Earl's Title and that within half a year there would be no Liveries nor Cognizances of the King that the King had not kept promise with the People but had laid Taxes upon them In Easter-Term in the third year of Henry the Fourth in the Kings Bench Rot. 12. this adjudged Treason this denying the Title with Motives though not implyedly of Action against it adjudged Treason this is a compassing the Kings death How this was a compassing of the Kings Death is declared in the Reasons of the Judgment that the words were spoken with an intent to withdraw the affections of the people from the King and to excite them against him that in the end they might rise up against him in mortem destructionem of the King My Lords in this Judgment and others which I shall cite to your Lordships it appears that it is a compassing the Kings death by Words to endeavour to draw the Peoples hearts from the King to set discord between the King and them whereby the People should leave the King should rise up against him to the death and destruction of the King The Cases that I shall cite prove not only that it is Treason but what is sufficient Evidence to make this good Upon a Commission held the 18th year of Ed. 4. in Kent before the Marquess of Dorset and others an Indictment was preferred against John Awater of High-Treason in the Form before-mentioned for Words which are entred in the Indictment Sub hac forma That he had been servant to the Earl of Warwick that though he were dead the Earl of Oxford was alive and should have the Government of part of that Country That Edward whom you call King of England was a false Man and had by Art and Subtilty slain the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clare his Brother without any cause who before had been both of them attainted of High-Treason My Lords This Indictment was Returned into the Kings-Bench in Trinity Term in the Eighteenth year of Edward the Fourth and in Easter-Term the Two and twentieth of Edward the Fourth he was outlawed by the stay of the outlawry so long as it seems the Judges had well advised before whether it were Treason or not At the same Session Thomas Heber was Indicted of Treason for these words That the last Parliament was the most simple and insufficient Parliament that ever had been in England That the King was gone to live in Kent because that for the present he had not the love of the Citizens of London nor should he have it for the future That if the Bishop of Bath and Wells were dead the Archbishop of Canterbury being Cardinal of England would immediately lose his head This Indictment was returned into the Kings-Bench in Trinity-Term in the 18th year of Edward the 4th afterwards there came a Privy-Seal to the Judge to respit the Proceedings which as it should seem was to the intent the Judges might advise of the Case for afterwards he is outlawed of High-Treason upon this Indictment These words are thought sufficient evidence to prove these several Indictments that they were spoken to withdraw the Peoples Affections from the King to excite them against him to cause Risings against him by the People in mortem destructionem of the King Your Lordships are pleased to consider That in all these Cases the Treason was for words only words by private Persons and in a more private manner but once spoken and no more only amongst the People to excite them against the King My Lords here are Words Counsels more then Words and Actions too not only to disaffect the people to the King but the King likewise towards the People not once but often not in private but in places most Publick not by a private person but by a Counsellor of State a Lord-Lieutenant a Lord-President a Lord-Deputy of Ireland 1. To His Majesty that the Parliament had denyed to supply Him a Slander upon all the Commons of England in their Affections to the King and Kingdom in refusing to yield timely supply for the necessities of the King and Kingdom 2. From thence that the King was loose and absolved from Rules of Government and was to do every thing that Power would admit My Lords more cannot be said they cannot be aggravated whatever I should say would be in Diminution 3. Thence you have an Army in Ireland you may employ to reduce this Kingdom To Counsel a King not to Love His People is very Unnatural it goes higher to hate them to Malice them in his heart the highest expressions of Malice to destroy them by War These Coals they were cast upon his Majesty they were blown they could not kindle in that Breast Thence my Lords having done the utmost to the King he goes to the people At York the Country being met together for Justice at the Open Assises upon the Bench he tells them speaking of the Justices of the Peace that they were all for Law nothing but Law but they should find that the Kings Little Finger should be heavier then the Loyns of the Law as they shall find My Lords Who speaks this to the People a Privy-Counsellor this must be either to traduce His Majesty to the People as spoken from him or from himself who was Lord-Lieutenant of the County and President intrusted with the Forces and Justice of those parts that he would Employ both this way Add my Lords to his Words there the Exercising of an Arbitrary and Vast Jurisdiction before he had so much as Instructions or Colour of Warrant Thence we carry him into Ireland there he Represented by his place the Sacred Person of his Majesty First There at Dublin the Principal City of that Kingdom whither the Subjects of that Country came for Justice in an Assembly of Peers and others of greatest Rank upon occasion of a Speech of the Recorder of that City touching their Franchises and Regal Rights he tells them That Ireland was a Conquered Nation and that the King might do with them what he pleased Secondly Not long after in the Parliament 10 Car. in the Chair of State in full Parliament again That they were a Conquer'd Nation and that they were to expect Laws as from a Conqueror before the King might do with them what he would now they were to expect it that he would put this Power of a Conqueror in Execution The Circumstances are very Considerable in full Parliament from himself in Cathedra to the Representative Body of the whole Kingdom The Occasion adds much when they desir'd the Benefit of the Laws and that their Causes and Suits
Affection to My People as I desire My People should shew to Me and not only so but likewise in Eschewing all Occasions of Dispute and in seeking to remove Jealousies And for this particular Bill you cannot but know that I do Freely and Frankly give over that Right which My Predecessors have ever Esteemed their own though I confess disputed yet so as it was never Yielded by any of them Therefore you must understand this as a mark of My Confidence in you thus to put My Self wholly upon the Love and Affections of My People for My Subsistence and therefore I hope in the perfecting of this you have begun you will go on the more Cheerfully And as for those Rumors which have bred Suspitions concerning the Army though I have heard some loose Discourses touching it which I never understood otherwise than as having Relation to the Scottish Army or preventing Insurrections yet they were so slight of themselves that they vanished by their own lightness within few dayes after they were born And therefore having shewed you my Clearness in this I will leave you with the Assurance That I never had other Design but to win the Affections of my People by the Justice of my Government With this flattering Eloquence did they endeavour to impose upon the gracious Inclinations of his Majesty who did in all things apply himself to oblige them representing themselves as most tenderly concerned for the Support of his Royal Crown and Dignity by this small Supply which was in reality nothing more than raising mony by his Royal Authority towards defraying a Debt which they had drawn upon the Nation by the burdensome maintenance of the Army of their Brethren of Scotland Dr. Leighton another such Turbulent Presbyterian as Prin Wednesday June 23. Dr. Leighton inlarged from his Imprisonment in the Fleet. A Bill for punishing Scandalous Ministers read the first time Burton and Bastwick who for his affronting the Government was committed Prisoner to the Fleet was this day by order of the House of Commons inlarged from his Imprisonment A Bill was this Day read the first time for the punishing of Scandalous Ministers By which as it afterwards appeared they intended the Loyal and Orthodox Clergy for indeed to stand up for the Established Government of the Church to defend the Liturgy to maintain the Royal Prerogative or to speak any thing against the violent proceedings of the Parliament for Extirpation of Episcopacy were the greatest Crimes and Scandals in the World against which neither Learning nor Priety were the least Defence A Bill for taking away the Court of Requests read the first time A Bill was also read the first time for suppressing and abolishing the Court called the Court of Requests The King had now upon the pressing importunities of the Scottish Commissioners and in hopes by his presence there at the Parliament to Compose the Affairs of that Kingdom resolved upon a journey into Scotland This sudden turn put the Faction in England to a strange perplexity They were very jealous and fearful lest the King coming to a perfect accommodation with his Subjects of Scotland they might be defeated of the hopes of that Brotherly assistance which they expected from them and which they had purchased at so dear a Rate and that the want of their help might prove a mighty obstacle to the intended progress of their Reformation of the Church and State in England But Mr. Pym who never wanted a Letter of dangerous Consequence though of his own Contrivance to help them out at a dead lift Thursday June 24. Clerk of the Markets Bill passed the Commons Bill for punishment of Scandalous Ministers read a second time Bill to prevent vexatious sults for Knighthood read a second time produced one in the House which being read he moved that a Conference should be desired with the Lords concerning the King's going into Scotland The Bill for the regulating the Clerks of the Markets being read a third time was also this day passed the House of Commons Also the Bill for punishing Scandalous Ministers was read a second time A Bill for the preventing vexatious Suits for Knighthood had also this day a second Reading Then several heads for a Conference with the Lords and several Propositions to the King before he go into Scotland were read The Cessation was also prolonged for a fortnight longer if the Treaty shall so long continue It was Ordered Cessation prolonged Father Philips the Queens Confessor sent for about a Letter intercepted going to Mr. Montague in France That Father Phillips should be sent for to attend the Committee in the Asternoon about a Letter from one Father Philips to Mr. Mountague in France The Messenger coming to White-hall and finding him acquainted him therewith Philips told him He would only go in again and eat something and go along with him But he immediately went and acquainted the Queen with his sending for by the Commons after some stay he returned and told the Messenger That he had been with the Queen who had commanded him not to go till she had spoken with the King and that he would obey her Command before that of the House of Commons Which Message being related to the House it was Ordered That a Warrant should be sent to apprehend him and bring him before the House as a Delinquent A Warrant was also directed to the Serjeant at Arms to bring the Pope's Nuncio before the House but he was not to be found The Bishop of Lincoln Reports the Conference about the Ten Propositions had this morning with the House of Commons The 10 Propositions of the Commons to be presented to the King before he goes into Scotland June 24 1641 which was delivered by Mr. Pym who spake as followeth He told your Lordships that he was Commanded by the House of Commons to present unto your Lordships their continued Care and Endeavour for the good of the Kingdom that as your affections are Vnited with them in one great End to serve God the King and the Commonwealth so your Counsels might likewise jointly Co-operate thereunto There is but one End and one Foundation of all these Affections and Counsels howbeit they spread themselves to many and several Branches for they are so Vnited and Interweaved Duties which we owe to our God our King and our Common-wealth that we cannot duely and truely serve God but thereby we serve our King nor serve God and our King as we ought without our Service to the Common-wealth And as a way to this Common and General End he was to make unto your Lordships several Propositions Because they had lately found out very Malignant and Pestiferous Designs set on foot or plotted to trouble the Peace of the Kingdom The which though they were prevented yet were still pursued which is the Reason why the House of Commons do present your Lordships with these several Propositions in Ten several Heads which have their Branches
Court 2. That if they come without License they may be punished severely and the Laws be put in Execution 3. That if any English woman that is a Papist be about the Court she may not reside 4. That no Pension be paid to any lying beyond the Seas which are of dangerous Condition And further That English Ladies Papists be removed from the Court and his Majesty moved for his Assent That the Persons of the most Active Papists be so restrained as shall be necessary for the Safety of the Kingdom even Lords as well as others The Seventh Head concerning the Nuncio's Seventh Head That it may be declared by an Act of Parliament That if any man shall presume to come to this Kingdom with Instructions from the Pope or Court of Rome that he shall be in Case of High Treason and out of the Protection of the King and Laws The Eighth Head concerning the Security and Peace of the Kingdom Eighth Head consisted of Four Branches 1. That men of Honour and Trust be placed Lord Lieutenants in every County and that direction be given to the Lieutenants to be Careful in the Choice of their Deputies 2. That the Trained Bands be furnished with Arms Powder and Bullet and that they be Exercised and made ready for Service also that an Oath be prepared to pass both the Houses of Parliament or else where Oaths cannot be Enjoyned to be taken by the Lord Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants and other Officers of Trained-Bands and to secure their Fidelity in these Dangerous Times 3. That the Cinque-Ports and other Parts of the Kingdom may be put into good Hands and a List of those who Govern them may be presented to the Parliament and that those Persons may be altered upon Reason and that Especial Care be taken for Reparation and Provision of the Forts 4. That my Lord Admiral that Noble Lord of whose Honour the House of Commons stand secure be desired to inform the Parliament in what Case the Navy is that if there be any defect it may be provided for out of the Money which is to come upon the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage And that if any suspected person have any Command in any of his Majesties Ships that he may be removed The Ninth Head was Ninth Head That his Majestie will be pleased to give Directions to his Learned Counsel to draw a General Pardon in such a Large and Beneficial manner as may be for the Security of his Subjects The Tenth Head was Tenth Head That a Select Committee of the Lords may joyn with a proportionable Number of the House of Commons from time to time to confer about the particular Courses as may be most Effectual for the Reducing these Propositions to Effect for the Publique Good See here the Sketch or rough Draught of the Ensuing Rebellion and Revolution which had been so long hatching by these Popular and Pretended Patriots For that they might either totally Abrogate or at least Reduce the Imperial Monarchy of these Nations to a Venetian Dukedom or as afterwards to an Oligarchical State it was necessary they should possess themselves of the Power of the Militia the Forts Garrisons and Strength of the Nation and to put out all those who were the King 's most Loyal Subjects and true to Monarchy and Parliaments upon the Old Foundation of the Three Estates out of all Power and Trust as Evil Counsellors and to put into their places such persons as the Parliament might confide in which were those of the Puritanical Faction And because the King would not subject himself to the Tyranny and Arbitrary Government of these his Subjects they therefore endeavoured to persuade the People that the King by the Suggestion of his Evil Counsellors intended to do so Himself and set up Arbitrary Power over them upon this point of the Militia it was that the matter came to the Fatal Umpirage and Decision of the Sword And lest the King should to prevent this Imposition upon his Royal Prerogative have gotten into the Affections both of the English and Scottish Army whose Mercenary Temper from Experience they very well knew they were now so sollicitous for the present Disbanding which if it could not be accomplished so soon as they desired yet the setting a Guard upon the Queen was to have a Pawn which they knew was very dear to his Majesty to secure themselves against all Events However it was a high point of Wisdom in them to procure a Full and General Pardon for what they had already done and attempted which was only to be Beneficial to themselves and their own Party all the Incendiaries and Malignants and such as they had put the Brand of Impeachment or Accusation upon being to be Excepted as was afterwards Urged in the House upon Mr. Selden's pressing it in Favour of Sir John Suckling Commissary Wilmot and some others A Message was brought to the House from his Majesty Friday June 25. Message from his Majesty about Disbanding to let them know That his Majesty gives Consent to the Disbanding of the Army and wishes it may be done with Honour and Safety to the Nation His Majesty also acquainted them That the Pope 's Nuncio should be presently sent away out of the Kingdom This Day in the Lords House The 1 2 3. of the 10 Propositions Agreed to by the Lords the First Second and Third Heads of the Ten Propositions delivered by Mr. Pym at a late Conference were publickly read and for the Freer Debate of the same the House was adjourned into a Committee during Pleasure and after a long Consideration of them they were agreed to After which the House was reassumed Order concerning the Northern Counties to take their Accounts and it was moved That the Inhabitants of the Counties of Northumberland Bishoprick of Durham and Town of Newcastle do desire That a Commission may Issue to certain Gentlemen of the said Counties joyned with such Scottish Gentlemen as shall be named by the Scottish Commissioners at Newcastle whereby they may be authorized where there are differences of Account between the Scots and the said Inhabitants 1. To Examine Witnesses upon Oath what Moneys have been paid by the said Inhabitants or any of them for or towards the Relief of the Scottish Army since the 28. of August last 2. To Examine upon Oath what Hay Corn or other Goods have since the said time been taken from the Inhabitants or any of them by any Officer or Officers or other person of the said Scottish Army and for which no Payment or Satisfaction hath been made to the said Inhabitants 3. To Examine upon Oath what Sum or Sums of Money are justly due and in arrear by the said Army to the said Counties or any Inhabitants thereof for Billetting any Horse or Foot of the said Army Ordered That the Clerk of the Crown do issue out a Commission accordingly A Message was brought from the House of Commons by
abound with Soldiers and such others as will be apt to be provoked to Tumults and Seditions especially in the time of the King's absence in Scotland III. That the House of Commons have received Information of great quantities of Treasure and Jewels Plate and Ready-mony packt up to be conveyed away with the Queen not only in such a proportion as the present occasions with due respect to Her Majesties honour may seem to require but a far greater quantity and that divers Papists and others under the pretence of Her Majesties Goods are like to convey great Sums of Mony and other Treasure beyond the Seas which will not only impoverish the State but may be employed to the somenting some mischievous attempts to the trouble of the publick Peace IV. hat as it will be a great dishonour to the State A pretty odd contradiction to the third Reason if her Majesty should not be Attended and Furnished suitably to her Quality so it will be a very heavy burden in this time of great Necessity and occasion of other publick Charges if she shall be provided in so Royal a manner as shall be fit for Her Majesty and the Honour of the King and Kingdom V. That because we understand by Sir Theodore Mayern that the chief cause of her Majesties Sickness and Distempers proceed from some discontent of her mind the House of Commons have thought good to declare That if any thing within the power of Parliament can give Her Majesty contentment they are so tender of her health both in due respect to His most Excellent Majesty and Her Self that they will be ready to further her satisfaction in all things so far as may stand with that Publick to which they are obliged VI. That the House of Commons conceive it will be some dishonour to this Nation if Her Majesty should at this unseasonable time go out of the Kingdom upon any Grief or Discontent received here and therefore they shall labour by all good means to take away and prevent all just occasion of Her Majesties trouble in such manner as may further Her Content and therein Her Health which will be a very great Joy and Comfort both to them and the rest of His Majesties loving Subjects to see All which they humbly recommend to Your Majesties Princely Wisdom beseeching Your Majesty that by Your allowance they may represent their humble desires at such time and with such number of both Houses as Her Majesty shall please to appoint Friday July 16. Six Lords and Twelve Commoners appointed to attend Her Majesty at Three of the Clock this Afternoon Mr. Hollis Reports the Conference with the Lords about what was to be offered to the Queen to put off her Journey which was as follows THe Lords and Commons taking notice of Your Majesties Intention to pass the Seas by reason of Your indisposition The Message spoken to the Queen about her Journey whereby the Kingdom will be deprived of Your Majesties presence and divers other great Inconveniences to the State may thereupon ensue which yesterday both Houses of Parliament did most humbly represent unto the King and withal Petitioned for this Access unto Your Majesty that so they might express unto Your Self their hearty sorrow for Your Majesties Sickness and most earnest desires to perform any Duty whereby they may be serviceable for the Recovery of Your Majesties Health And because they have been informed by Sir Theodore Mayern that this indisposition proceeds from some inward discontent of Mind the Lords and Commons have thought good to declare that if any thing within the Power of Parliament may give your Majesty contentment they are so tender of your Majesties Health both in due respect to His Majesty and Your Self that they will be ready to further your Majesties Satisfaction in all things so far as may stand with the Publick Trust to which they are obliged And besides they humbly conceive that it may be some dishonor to this Nation if your Majesty should in this unseasonable Time go out of the Kingdom upon any Grief or Discontent received here and therefore they shall labor by all good Means to take away and prevent all such just Occasions of your Majesties trouble in such manner as may farther your Majesties Contentment and therein your Health which will be a very great Comfort and Joy to themselves and the rest of His Majesties loving Subjects It was this day Ordered That Mr. Pym being sued for Tithe Wood Saturday July 17. Ordered to stop a Suit against Mr. Pym. shall have the Priviledge of Parliament and that Lewis Lushford and others the Solicitor and Attorney on the other side be hereby enjoyned to forbear to Prosecute or further to proceed in that Suit or any other that concerns the said Mr. Pym. Mr. Hollis Reports the Queen's Answer in haec verba I Give many Thanks to both Houses of Parliament The Queens Answer to the Lords and Commons for their great Care of my Health and their Affections to Me hoping I shall see the Effects of it Truely nothing but my Health could have made Me to resolve of this Journey and if I thought I could serve the King and this Kingdom with the hazzard of my Life I would do it and I hope you believe I have so much Interest in the Good of this Kingdom that I shall never wish any thing to the prejudice of it You will Pardon the imperfectness of my English I had rather have spoken in an other Language but I thought this would be most acceptable It was this Day in the House of Lords Ordered The Persons that pulled down the Railes in St. Saviors Church released That those Persons that were sentenced by the House for Violently breaking down the Railes in the Parish Church of St. Saviors Southwark shall upon their Petition to this House desiring their Lordships Favor and humbly acknowledging the Sentence of this House to be Just upon them their Misdemeanors in that Business be released out of their present Imprisonment for the same And in regard they are of that Poverty that they are not able to set up the Railes again at their own Charges this House doth remit that part of the Sentence A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Sir John Holland who presented three Bills which had passed that House 3 Bills brought up by Sir John Holland 1 for securing Protestant Religion c. 1 An Act for the Security of the true Religion which they desired Expedition of 2 An Act concerning the Limiting and bounding of Forrests 3 An Act for John Eggars Free-School at Acton in the County of Southampton And to desire a Conference by a Committee of both Houses at such time as their Lordships shall please touching the transmission of the Charge against Bishop Wren and concerning Inego Jones for pulling down St. Gregories Church Mr. Pym reports from the Committee for the 10 Propositions a Paper being a Message
That there should be some publick Notice given of the Day appointed for publick Thanksgiving for the Pacification being the seventh of September and a Declaration for this purpose being framed and read was carried up to the Lords for their Concurrence which they readily gave the Order was as follows An Ordinance of Parliament for a Day of Publick Thansgiving for the Peace Concluded between England and Scotland WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God to give a happy close to the Treaty of Peace The Ordinance of Parliament for the Thanksgiving for the Pacification Aug. 27 1641. between the two Nations of England and Scotland by his wise Providence defeating the evil hopes of the subtil Adversaries of both Kingdoms For which great Mercy it was by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Enacted That there should be a publick Thanksgiving in all the Parish Churches of his Majesties Dominions It is now ordained and declared by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that the time for the Celebration of that Publick Thanks to Almighty God for so great and publick a Blessing shall be on Tuesday the seventh of September next by Prayers Reading and Preaching of the Word in all Churches and Chappels of this Realm whereof We require a Careful and due Observance That we may joyn in giving Thanks as we partake of the Blessing with Our Brethren in Scotland who have designed the same Day for that Duty Die Veneris 27. die Augusti 1641. Ordered by the Lords in Parliament that the abovesaid Ordinance be Printed God save the KING There was also a Conference with the Lords about the adjournment or Recess of the Parliament for some time Conference about the Recess of the Parliament the Lords liked the time of the Adjournment which was to be the ninth of September but desired the Adjournment might be till the first of November but the Commons who had before voted in their House that it should continue only till the 20th of October were resolute as indeed generally they were to yield little to the Lords not to depart from their former Vote and therefore returning from the Conference upon the Debate it was Resolved upon the Question That this House shall insist upon the former Day of Return to be the 20 of October And the Reasons which were presented to the Lords were 1 The Nature of the Causes which are depending in both Houses some whereof being for High Treasons and the Impeachment of the Judges the Inception of which Businesses they desire may be before the next Term. 2 The time of Payments of Monies promised to the City of York falls out to be before the first of November therefore they desire their Lordships would joyn with them to have the Recess only till the 20th of October next To which the Lords condescended provided there fall out no emergent Occasion between this and Wednesday come seven Night Ordered That the Lords be kept together until the Recess A Petition having been presented to the Lords by Sir George Radcliff A Petition of Sir George Radcliff and a Letter to the Lords Chief Justices in Ireland upon it Aug. 27. 1641. complaining that he being seized in Fee of some Lands in Ireland is dispossessed of the same in respect of the Impeachment of Treason against him here by means whereof he hath not received any thing out of his Estate in Ireland for about six Months last and so had wanted Bread if he had not been supplied by the Charity of some Friends He therefore humbly prays that he may be restored to his said Estate and be Enabled by Order of this House to demand his Rents there due unto him whereby he may be able to sustain himself and his Family from want Hereupon the Lord Privy Seal the Lord Bishop of Lincoln and the Lord Wharton were Ordered to draw up a Letter to be sent to the two Chief Justices in Ireland to desire them to prevent by what Legal way they can the Estate of the said Sir George Radcliff from Ruine whereby he may have Maintenance to sustain him The Tenor of which was this AFter my very heartiest Commendations c. unto your Lordships I am to give your Lordships to understand from the Right Honorable the Peers Assembled in Parliament That their Lordships having taken the Petition of Sir George Radcliff into their Mature Consideration a Copy whereof your Lordships shall receive herewith inclosed they do not as yet apprehend any Reason why the Petitioners Estate upon an Impeachment only should be so sequestred and the Lands and Leases so entred upon and invaded as that he should have no Means left him for his Maintenance and other Necessaries during the time of his Imprisonment But because your Lordships to whom his Most Excellent Majesty hath committed the Justice and Government of the Kingdom may know more of these Particulars by reason of your being upon the Place where these Debts Goods and Estates have had their Existence My good Lords the Peers of this House do recommend the Care of this Business unto your Lordships to aid the Petitioners Agents in this kind by all the Ways of Justice and Equity to recover such Debts Rents and other Profits as by Law and Justice remain due to Sir George Radcliff for his Maintenance and Necessary Vses until some further Act or Acts of Law and Justice shall otherwise direct and dispose of the said Premises And so I bid your Lordships heartily Farewell Your loving Friend E. Littleton C. S. To the Right Honorable my very good Lords Sir W. Parsous and Sir J. Borlase his Majesties High Justices for the Kingdom of Ireland The Request of the Spanish and French Ambassadors to have Liberty to entertain such of the disbanded Troops both in England and Ireland as they can agree with was this day Debated in the House of Commons upon which Occasion Sir Benjamin Rudyard made this following Speech Mr. Speaker THis is a business of great Consequence Sir Benjamin Rudyard's Speech against suffering the Spaniards or French to have the disbanded Soldiers Aug. 28. 1641. and therefore requires a well advised Resolution I will put France and Spain together take them both before me because the Reasons will serve the one and the other as they stand in Relation to us We are Mr Speaker so bounded by the nature of our Situation as we are not so proper to extend our selves upon the firm Land of our Neighbours Our Aptitude is rather to Ballance which being rightly used may make the King the great Arbiter of all the Affairs of Christendom by assisting withholding or opposing Henry the Eighth is an example of this King Henry gave upon this account this Motto Cui adhaereo praeest He was sometimes of the side of the Emperor other times of the French Party according as he saw either sides of the Scales to weigh heavier or higher some might think this to be
inconstancy in him but it was certainly out of a true and peculiar understanding his power The present State of Christendom is apparent That the House of Austria begins to diminish as in Spain so consequently in Germany That the French do swell and enlarge themselves if they grow and hold they will be to us but Spain nearer hand Alliances do serve well to make up a present Breach or mutually to strengthen those States who have the same ends but politick Bodies have no Natural affections they are guided by particular interest and beyond that are not to be trusted Although it may be good Policy to breed a Militia at the charge of other States abroad for our own use and occasions at home yet that ought rather to be done amongst Friends of the same way and so the Low-Countries have been an Academy to us His Majesty hath now an Ambassador Treating with the Emperor about the Palatinate If we send away our Men it will so damp and discountenance the affairs of the Prince Elector as the World will believe we never had nor ever shall have any intentions to assist him at all I have observed for divers years That England is not so well Peopled but we do want Work-folks to bring in Harvest our Disbanded Soldiers will least dislike that kind of Work and if they be speedily Dissolved that employment will entertain them for the present and inure them to labour for hereafter Upon these considerations Mr. Speaker I cannot give my advice to add more strength to France by weakning both our selves and our Friends As for sending the Irish into Spain truly Sir I have been long of Opinion that it was never fit to suffer the Irish to be promiscuously made Soldiers abroad because it may make them abler to trouble the State when they come Home Their intelligence and practice with the Princes whom they shall serve may prove dangerous to that Kingdom They may more profitably be employed upon Husbandry whereof that Kingdom hath great need Besides it will be exceeding prejudicial to us and to our Religion if the Spaniard should prevail against the Portuguez It were better for us he should be broken into lesser Pieces his Power shivered If the King of Portugal had desired these Irish I should rather have given my Vote for him then for the King of Spain because it will keep the Ballance more even Spain hath had too much of our Assistance and Connivence heretofore I am sure it lost us the Palatinate Now that it is come to our turn to advise I hope we shall not do over other mens faults again If the present Government of Ireland be not able to restrain their disordered People there is a Noble Lord already designed to that Charge who by his knowledge in Martial Affairs and other his great Abilities will be no doubt abundantly capable to reduce them to a due obedience Wherefore Mr. Speaker upon the whole matter My Opinion is that we should not be forward to spend our Men but rather to preserve and husband them for our own use and employments for our Friends for our Religion Whether the Close of this Speech did not cast an Ominous Aspect upon the succeeding Actions of this Parliament what ever the Speaker meant let the Reader judge However there is no doubt but this Prohibiting the Irish Army to pass into the Service of the King of Spain had a most direful Influence upon all the following Miseries which befell these Kingdoms After which the House came to these Votes Resolved upon the Question That this House holds it not fit nor gives Assent that there should be any levies of Men in Ireland for the service of the King of Spain Resolved c. That this House thinks it not fit nor gives Assent that there should be any levies of Men in any of his Majesties Dominions for the French King's Service Upon this a Conference was desired with the Lords which was to this Effect Conference about Soldiers for Forreign Ambassadors That the Spanish Ambassador formerly did move the King that he might have leave to Levy and Transport four Regiments of Soldiers in Ireland for the Service of the King of Spain his Majesty was pleased to declare that he would do nothing herein without the Advice of both Houses of Parliament and since they understand his Majesty hath been informed that the Parliament did Assent to the Levying and Transporting of the said Soldiers to the end that it may appear that the House of Commons are far from giving their Assent therein they have resolved and declared that they hold it not fit nor give Assent that there be any Levies of Men in Ireland for the Service of the King of Spain and hold it fit that there be a suddain stop made of the Ships contracted for by the Spanish Ambassador for the Transporting of the Soldiers out of Ireland And further they hold it not fit nor give Assent that there should be any Levies of Men for the French King's Service within any of his Majesties Dominions for that they know not what Vse this Kingdom may have of Men. Upon which the Lords having debated the Matter passed the same Votes with the Commons and further Ordered Sir John Pennington should stay all the Ships in the Downes which were hired by the Spanish Ambassador to transport these Men as also to stop such Ships as were riding in the River of Thames till the further pleasure of the House be known An Order was also sent to the Lord Newport Constable of the Tower to tender the Protestation to all such Persons as he takes into the Tower for the Guard and Defence of it and if any of them refuse not to admit them to be of the Guard A further Order was this Day pass'd both Houses Monday August 30. concerning the Thanksgiving for the Pacification the Scots it seems being not content after having invaded England in a Hostile manner put the Nation to above a Million of Mony through the Interest they had in the Presbyterian Faction to purchase a Peace even upon their own Conditions unless they might be publickly declared Loyal and Faithful Subjects to such hard Terms did the Obstinate Faction drive his Majesty even while they made him all the Protestations of Humility Duty Loyalty and Allegiance which certainly to a great Monarch who by Proclamation had justly stiled them Rebels and had lead an Army against them was a severe Request not to call it an Imposition and which none but Presbyterians or their Off-Spring would have attempted but such was the Fury and Violence of the Current that there was no stopping or stemming of it and his Majesty found himself under such hard Circumstances and Difficulties that he was even compelled to yield to this most extravagant Request See here the Order WHereas according to the Act of this present Parliament for Confirmation of the Treaty of Pacification An Order to declare the Scots
shut up and they returned back to the place from whence they fled 6. That the Decree 40 Eliz. Imprinted inter alia for the relief of the Poor who are driven to live by Begging or to be relieved by Alms and have been taken into new erected Tenements and divided Houses be taken into consideration during the time of Infection and the Landlords of such Tenements to be rated according to the said Decree with the Parishioners where such Buildings and Divisions are as if they were dwelling in the said Parish for that otherwise the said Buildings will be an insupportable charge to the Parish and the poor people turned out into the streets in this time of Infection 7. That the pavements in the streets be made sufficient and so continued the Kennels kept sweet and clean the Soil of the said Streets to be carried away and all annoyances to be removed and such Inhabitants as shall refuse to pay the reasonable Rates Assessed on them for payment of the Scavengers which shall cleanse and carry away the Soile be distrained by their Goods for the payment thereof 8. That if any person shall turn out of their Houses any Servant or Lodgers being sick power to be given to the Magistrate or Officer to put them in their said House again or otherwise the said persons to provide sufficient maintenance for them and upon refusing so to do being able persons to distrain the Goods of such persons for the discharge that shall so turn them out of doors 9. If by order of the Magistrate any persons visited and removed out of their House or Lodging to the Pest-House or other place when they be recovered and in perfect health the said Magistrate to have Power and full Authority to return and settle the said persons in their Houses or Lodgings from whence they were so taken out without contradiction of their Landlords or any others 10. That all such Magistrates or other persons that shall be trusted with this Service may be enabled to do all other things necessary and pursuing the Execution of these Orders as occasion shall require and be out of the danger of misconstruction seeing they hazzard their particular safeties to provide for the Publick The Lord Privy Seal reported the Conference with the House of Commons concerning Raising and Transporting Forces out of His Majesties Dominions where this Paper was read Intituled The Conference between the Lords and Commons concerning Levies for forreign Princes Sept. 9 1641. Instructions agreed by the Lords and Commons in Parliament upon the Ninth day of September 1641. To be sent to the Committees of both Houses now attending His Majesty at Edinburgh WHereas we have received Information from you as likewise from Mr. Secretary Vane concerning the Complaint of the Spanish Ambassador about the stay of 4000 Men to be raised in His Majesties Dominions and Ships for Transporting the same You shall in the Name of both Houses of Parliament humbly present the true state of proceeding in Parliament concerning that business in this manner When His Majesty was pleased to acquaint both Houses with the desire of the French and Spanish Ambassadors to Transport Forces out of England and Ireland His Majesty did withal graciously express his Resolution not to consent to these desires without the consent of his Parliament Both Houses have search't their Journals and find by them that not only they never made any expression of such a Consent as they can make no such but by Order but that both Houses have by Vote declared their Opinions to the contrary and have inclosed the Copy of those Votes That the Parliament cannot but wonder that any person should presume to inform His Majesty that they had made any such Expression having made no such Vote which they conceived to be destructive to the Proceedings and contrary to the Priviledge of Parliament And this being the state of the matter of Fact the Parliament doth no less wonder and conceives it an high injury to them that the Spanish Ambassador should offer a Complaint of them to His Majesty for doing of that which His Majesty having referred the consideration of the Ambassadors desires to the Parliament they could not but do without manifest breach of their Duties as Councellors in this His Majesties great Council of Parliament for the Reasons following 1. That the want in which Forreign States stand of Men is such that great use may be made of them by His Majesty and very advantageous Conditions had for them in the making and strengthening of Alliances abroad as his Affairs and Reason of State may require which will be lost as to so many and we fear as to more which under colour of these may be Transported if these Men should be thus parted with 2. That the breeding of Irish Papists in a Forreign War may beget Damage to that Kingdom and Trouble to this especially serving under the King of Spain there being already in his Dominions and in his Armies Fugitives of that Nation and that in great Commands over the Militia of the same 3. That His Majesty having sent an Extraordinary Ambassador to Ratisbone to demand that in this present Dyet that Justice be done to the Electoral House by the House of Austria and likewise published a Manifest by advice of his Parliament declaring that if this be not done by them with whom how the Interests of Spain are involved and interwoven is evident to all Men His Majesty will employ all such Power wherewith God hath enabled him both by his own Arms and the assistance of all his Allies to vindicate his Honour the Parliament conceives That before Answer be made to this so just demand it is neither Safe nor Honourable for His Majesty to furnish that Prince with Forces which may be a disheart'ning to the Protestant Party abroad a weakning to His Majesty and a strength to his Enemies in case Justice be not done to the Electoral House which they conceive themselves to have the more Cause to doubt by reason of the Publication in Print of the late general Amnesty to the Exclusion of the Prince Palatine Whereupon it was Resolved upon the Question Nemine Contradicente That this House joynes with the House of Commons herein After which an Ordinance was agreed upon not to permit any Forces to be transported for the Service of Forreign Princes which was as followeth Die Jovis 9. Sept. 1641. Thursday Septem 9. An Ordinance was made and agreed upon by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament The Ordinance against transporting Forces into the Service of any Forreign Prince concerning the Raising and Transporting of Forces of Horse or Foot out of his Majesties Dominions of England and Ireland FOr the Safety and Defence of this Kingdom and for the better enabling of his Majesty to aid and assist his Allies abroad It is Ordered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament That none of his Majesties Subjects shall Treat or Contract
better consideration they were returned to submit to the Pleasure of the House I thought it my Duty to make some Privy Councellor acquainted therewith whereupon I went to my Lord Wilmott with them who undertook they should attend the Committee the next Sitting which they did accordingly and in pursuance of the Order and Warrant of the House for the apprehending of them they were both attached by the Sergeant's Deputy so the House may be pleased to send for them and to do therein as they see Cause For the Letters last received out of Scotland from the Committee they speak of something intended to be done there upon the Persons of divers Lords of Scotland and in regard some of the Parties suspected to have a hand in that Design are suspected to be Papists the Committee did conceive it might have Correspondence with the like Party here and therefore Commanded me Yesterday to write to my Lord Mayor of London to place convenient Guards in several places of the City till he received further Directions from the Parliament and the like to the Justices of the Peace for Middlesex Westminster and Southwark and to observe such further Directions as they should receive from the Earl of Essex who in his Majesties Absence is appointed General on this side Trent I forgot to Report one thing That upon Tuesday last was Seven-night the Committee here agreed and so Ordered That the Committee of Scotland should unless they see cause to the contrary return home and lest our Letter might miscarry Commanded me to send an Express Messenger to them and I did so and writ also by the Weekly Post of our Order as also of the Lords Order for their Commissioners to come home The Party I sent who was commended to me for a very honest man should have been there on the Monday following which he Easily might have done if he had been well but on Friday last he was not come to Edinburgh neither could he be heard of in all the Road so that we may justly fear some misfortune is befallen him that he is knocked on the head and his Letters taken from him After this Sir John Berkley was by Order of the House committed Prisoner to the Tower Sir John Berkley and Mr. Daniel Oneal committed and Sergeant-Major Oneal to the Gate-House Then Mr. Pym reports Heads for a Conference with the Lords the Letter from the Committee in Scotland of the 14th of October to be read That there was a design of the like nature in this Kingdom Heads of a Conference about the Conspiracy in Scotland to seduce the King's Army to interrupt the Parliament here and the like design at the same time in Scotland the principal Party in Scotland suspected to be Popishly affected and therefore may have Correspondence with the like Party here That it hath been lately published here that some things were to be done in Scotland before it broke out there and therefore we may suspect some Correspondency here Vpon these Grounds to propose to the Lords that strong Guards be kept in the Cities of Westminster and London Secondly That care may be taken for the future for the defence of the Kingdom The next great step these Men had before them was the Power of the Sword the Command of the Militia of the Kingdom which under the notion of putting the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence they thought by Artifice to have gained from the King and to put out of all Places of Power and Trust those whom they knew to be their Enemies or suspected might oppose their Anti-Monarchical Designs and to fill the Vacancies with those of their own Party for if they could gain this point they assured themselves of Impunity for the future and the easie accomplishment of their great Affairs and therefore they not only laid hold of all occasions which might Countenance this Attempt but found out many Dangers and Imaginary Fears and Jealousies which had no other Foundation but their own Politick Fancies Before we proceed any further in regard Mr. Pym's report of what was done during the Recess is very concise I will give the Reader an account of some passages which I meet with in the Prints which then went abroad by which he may see what effect this Declaration of the House of Commons had upon the Affairs of the Church and how quietly and without Tumultuous disturbances the Godly Party did according to the last Clause of the Declaration attend the intended Reformation For at St. Giles's Cripple-Gate the Sectaries and the Orthodox were got almost to Daggers drawing the one about Executing the Order of the House of Commons the other for preserving their Church in its ancient condition with the Rails about the Communion Table But in the End it seems the Church was for that time secured and the Church-Wardens and Parishioners presented a Petition to the Committee that the Rails about the Communion Table might not be taken away setting forth among other Reasons An Innovation of 80 years standing for that they have been placed so near upon Fourscore years and the necessary Use Decency and Convenience of them in the Administration of the Holy Sacrament But notwithstanding this Prescription to their quiet Possession they were by the Committee condemned as an Innovation and the Petitioners were referred to the Order of the whole House upon it and dismissed with a menace to submit unto it or to answer their contempt at their Peril Upon Tuesday the 5th of October a complaint was made against a Church-Warden and some others of the Parish of St. George's in Southwark for some resistance made by them about the Rails taking down which were about the Communion Table and they were ordered to attend the Committee on Friday following for where the Zealous Reformers were not strong enough to execute the Order by Force and Violence Rudeness and Tumult they had ever recourse to the Trade of Informing But where they had strength there they carved out their own satisfaction breaking down the Carved work of the Houses of God with Axes and Hammers and in St. Mary Wool-Church London not content to pull down the Rails they fell upon the East Window which was fairly beautified with Painting of several Histories of the Bible and in the height of their Zeal against Innovations made bold to exceed the Limits of the Commons Declaration utterly defacing and beating it in pieces as they did several other Monuments of Antiquity in that Church Complaint was made again Dr. Heywood of St. Giles's Church for not suffering the Order to be read in his Church upon which he was Ordered to attend upon the Committee upon Saturday following There was likewise a Petition delivered against Mr. Booth Minister of St. Botolphs Aldersgate for not permitting the Rabble of Sectaries to pull down the Rails c. Another Petition was preferred against Dr. Fuller Dean of Ely for opposing the Order about Lecturers the Zealots being desirous to
Councel for his necessary Defence in Point of Law which may happen upon the Matter of High Treason of which he is impeached and in Point of Law and Fact upon the Matters of Misdemeanors of which he is Impeached That for the few Daies until the time of his Tryal he may remain in the Custody of the Sheriff of London where he hath remained a true Prisoner for almost three Quarters of a Year in whose House all his Collections and Papers are for his Defence And that he may have your Lordships License to go with a Keeper to Serjeants Inn to look out some Papers which he hath there and shall have Occasion to produce at his Tryal as also there to Confer and Advise with such Councel as your Lordships shall please to admit or Assign unto him And your Petitioner according to his bounden Duty shall allways pray for the continuance of your Lordships Honor and Happiness c. The Names of such Councel as your Petitioner most humbly desires are The Princes Attorney Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Herne Mr. Thorp Mr. Fountain Mr. Bierley Mr. Lightfoot Mr. Brome Subscribed Robert Berkley Before the House resolved of any Answer herein The Bishops withdraw being a mixt Charge the House was Adjourned into a Committee to consider whether the Bishops should not withdraw during the Agitation of this Business it being a mixt Charge of Treason as well as Misdemeanor after a long Debate the House was resumed and it was agreed That the Matter of Treason should be first Ordered at which the Bishops are to withdraw and when the Matter of Misdemanor come into Agitation they are to come into this House again to their Places Hereupon the Bishops withdrew themselves and after a long Debate it was Ordered That Mr. Justice Berkley shall have a Warrant for to bring such Witnesses as he shall have Occasion for to testifie for him at his Trial in Matters of Misdemeanors but not in Matters of Treason Then the Lords the Bishops were called in and the Lord Keeper declaring unto them the Sense of this Order they gave their Consents thereunto And further it was Ordered That the Princes Attorney Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Herne Mr. Bierly Mr. Thorp shall be assigned of Council for Mr. Justice Berkley in Point of Law which may happen upon the Matter of Treason and in Point of Law and Fact upon the Matters of Misdemeanor at his Trial the second of November next And that the said Justice Berkley shall still remain in the Custody of George Clerk Esquire one of the Sheriffs of the City of London where he is now and that he have Liberty to go to Serjeants Inn in Fleet Street one Day when he shall think good with his Keeper to look out some Papers which he hath there and shall have Occasion to use at his Tryal Then Mr. Justice Berkley was called in and the Lord Keeper pronounced the aforesaid Order to him for which he gave their Lordships most humble Thanks Mr. Warwick Reports Five Conge de Estires for new Bishops to be petitioned to be stayed That there were Directions given from his Majesty for the drawing up of Five Conge d' Eslires for the making of Five New Bishops viz. Dr. Prideaux Dr. Brownrick Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Winniff and Doctor King Upon which Mr. Strode moves the House to send up a Message to the Lords to desire them to joyn in Petitioning his Majesty for the staying the making of these new Bishops till the Charge against the other Bishops was dispatched This day Information was given into the House of Lords that since the Act for bounding the Forrest many Riots were committed upon the occasion of killing of Deer pretending they were not within the Bounds of the Forrest and that in Oxfordshire in one of those Fraies a Keeper was killed It was also moved that the Bill for disabling Persons in Holy Orders from exercising Temporal Jurisdiction might not be read at present it having been voted against as to the Substance in a former Bill this Sessions but it was Ordered to be read a second time to morrow Morning peremptorily Mr. Pym Reports the Reasons for Excluding the Thirteen Bishops Wednesday October 27 in Order to the delivering them at a Conference with the Lords and desires that Mr Solicitor may have the mannaging of the Business On the other Side Mr. Solicitor excused himself and desired that Mr. Pym might manage it whereupon it was to end the Contest Ordered That Mr. Pym and Mr. Solicitor should have the mannaging of the whole Business concerning the Bishops and accordingly they did so at a Conference with the Lords upon this Subject The Lord Privy Seal Reported the Conference yesterday with the House of Commons concerning Bishops viz. Mr. Mr. Pym's Speech at the Conference about Excluding the Bishops from Voting in the Case of the 13 Bishops impeached Oct. 27. 1641. Pym declared from the House of Commons That there is nothing of greater importance to the safety and good of the Kingdom then that this High Court of Parliament which is the Fountain of Justice and Government should be kept pure and uncorrupted from Corruption free from Partiality and by-respects this will not only add Lustre and Reputation but Strength and Authority to all our Actions Herein he said your Lordships are specially interessed as you are a Third Estate by Inheritance and Birth-right so the Commons are publickly interessed by Representation of the whole Body of the Commons of this Kingdom whose Lives Fortunes and Liberties are deposited under the Custody and Trust of the Parliament He said The Commons have commanded him and his Colleague Mr. Solicitor General to present to your Lordships two Propositions which they thought very necessary to be observed and put in Execution at this time 1. That the 13 Bishops which stand accused before your Lordships for making the late pretended Canons and Constitutions may be Excluded from their Votes in Parliament 2. That all the Bishops may be suspended from their Votes upon that Bill intituled An Act to disable all Persons in Holy Orders to exercise any Jurisdiction or Authority Temporal The first of these is committed to his Charge and he said he was commanded to support it with three Reasons First That the 13 Bishops have broken that Trust to which every Member of Parliament is obliged which Trust is to maintain 1. The Prerogative of the King 2. The Priviledge of Parliaments 3. The Propriety of the Subject 4. The Peace of the Kingdom And this Trust they have broken not by one Transient Act but by setting up Canons in Nature of Laws to bind the Kingdom for ever That the Canons are of this Nature appears by the Votes of both Houses and that they were all Parties to the making thereof appears by the Acts of that Synod The Book it self the Commons cannot tender to your Lordships because they sent for it but he that hath the Book in Custody
He brings several undeniable Presidents and Instances In the 21 of R. 2. a Repeal of a former Sentence against the Spencers being Petitioned for in Parliament Rot. 55.56.21 R. 2. these Errors were assigned Because the Prelats Who are Peers of the Realm did not Assent to the Judgment and because it was made only by the Earls and Barons Peers of the Realm c. And because it was made against the Great Charter of England in which it is contained that no man shall be exiled or destroyed but by the Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land By which it appears that the Judgment of that Parliament was That it was a Breach of the Magna Charta for the Temporal Lords to condemn a Peer without the Assent of the Bishops who are expresly declared to be Peers of the Realm Rot. 55. To be Peers in Parliament Rot. 56. and to be Peers of the Realm in Parliament Rot. 61. And all this too in the Case of Treason which is as a full Declaration of their Peerage as it is possible to make To the Second Position That they have a Right to Sit and Vote in Parliament in all Causes whatsoever even in Causa Sanguinis in Capital Cases which he proves by Reason and Presidents That by the Magna Charta a Law of the Highest value Confirmed by Thirty Acts of Parliament and with the most Solemn and dreadful Imprecations upon whosever of them or their Posterity should go about to violate it in any particular the Bishops have an equal Right with the Temporal Lords That they Sit in Parliament by the virtue of the same Writs of Summons that the other Barons do they are Summoned to Advise and Debate about the great and difficult Affairs of the Kingdom cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Angliae colloquium habere tractatum Of all things indefinitely that shall be brought before them in that High and Honourable Court the Supream Judicature of the Nation and that there cannot be any Instance produced of a Writ of Summons with a Limitation or Restriction upon the Bishops excluding them from any matter of Debate Consultation Vote or Judicature belonging to the House of Lords The Temporal Barons also are Summoned indefinitely to Debate Handle and Consult with the Prelats in all things there to be done which would be impossible if in some of the most Important matters in point of Judicature the Lords the Bishops must be Totally Excluded That though the Constitution of Clarenden be urged as designed for a Limitation of the Bishops exercising Jurisdiction in the Case of Life or Mutilation of Members yet it is evident both from the Words and the occasion of that Law that they ought to be present for that this Constitution of Clarendon was made perfectly to oblige the Bishops to serve the King in the Capacity of their Temporal Baronies sicut caeteri Barones the Tenure being the same Et sicut Barones caeteri debent interesse Judiciis Curiae Regis cum Baronibus usque perveniatur in Judicio ad diminutionem Membrorum vel ad mortem the plain Sense of which words is that they ought to be present not only till such Causes of Life or Limb came before the rest of the Lords but at all preliminary Debates usque perveniatur not ad Judicium but in Judicio which supposes a Trial preceding till the Sentence came to be pronounced Now the occasion of this was the Papacy was then erecting their fifth Monarchy and indeavouring to set up an Independent Jurisdiction of the Church in all Kingdoms which the Kings very well perceiving were resolved to oppose and therefore to oblige them to this Service by vertue of the Tenures of their Temporal Baronies And this giving them a Concession to withdraw when the Sentence â—â—as pronounced was a particular favour of the King Thomas Becket a great Saint and Martyr in the Roman Calendar stoutly opposed this as an inchroachment upon the Liberties of the Church and indeed the Bishops who had all along the Saxon Government sate in the great Councils by virtue of their Spiritual Capacity there being then no Temporal Baronies they thought the Conquerors imposing this Tenure upon their Estates a very hard Servitude and Badge of Slavery to the Secular Power but that notwithstanding their Reluctancy this Salvo seemed a little to qualify the matter so that they did Vote in such Cases till the Sentence came to be pronounced appears from Petrus Blesensis who taxes them of Collusion for submitting to this Constitution of Clarendon Principes sacerdotum saith he Seniores Populi Pet. Blesen de Inst Epic. p. 454. licet non dictent Judicia Sanguinis eadem tamen tractant disputando disceptando de illis seque ideo imnunes à Culpa reputant quod Mortis aut truncation is membrorum judicium decernentes á pronuntiatione duntaxat Executione Penalis Sententiae se abstinent Although saith he they do not give Judgment in Cases of Blood yet do they handle treat and debate about them and think themselves innocent because in the determinations of Cases of Life and Limb they absent themselves at the pronouncing or execution of the Penal Sentence This Statute of Clarendon was made in February and in the October following the King Summons a Parliament to Northampton Fitz. Steph. vit Tho. Becket de Concil apud Clarendon Mss in Bibliotheca Cottoniana in which Becket in which Becket was for opposing this Constitution wasting the Kings Treasure and other Crimes accused of Treason in the Debate whereof the Bishops Sate with the other Barons and because the matter did not come to a Sentence of Death after great Debate between the other Lords the Bishops about pronouncing the Sentence the Bishop of Winchester did it But Becket making an Appeal to the Pope the Bishops being afraid of him they endeavoured to persuade the King to desist his further prosecution till that matter was determined But the King being resolute pressed them to their Duty notwithstanding Beckets Prohibition to them to the contrary from the obligation of the Statute of Clarendon to which they had Sworn Asserens quod non teneat haec ejus simplex Prohibitio contra hoc quod Clarendoniae factum initum fuerat affirming that this single Prohibition of Beckets could not bind them against what was done and agreed to at Clarendon From all which it is plain that in fact the Bishops did Debate and Vote in a Capital Case and were obliged by this Statute so to do and it was a Favour indulged them to be absent at the giving of the final Judgment or Sentence of Death or loss of Limbs In the 5. H. 4. The Earl of Northumberland was in Parliament Impeached of Treason Rot. Par. n. 17.5 H. 4. and after Examination of the whole matter he clearly acquitted himself of the charge upon which it is said in the Record Et
grants and otherwise And that all His Majesties debts then due in this Kingdom were satisfied out of the said Subsidies and yet His Majesty is of late as the Petitioners have been informed in the House of Commons become indebted in this Kingdom in great Sums And they do therefore humbly beseech that an exact accompt may be sent to His Majesty how and in what manner his Treasure issued 12. The Petitioners do humbly conceive just and great fears at a Proclamation published in this Kingdom in Anno Domini 1635. Prohibiting Men of Quality or Estates to depart this Kingdom into England without the Lord Deputies License wherein the Subjects of this Kingdom are hindred and interrupted from free access to Address to His Sacred Majesty and Privy Council of England to declare their just Grievances or to obtain Remedies for them in such sort as their Ancestors have done in all Ages since the Reign of King Henry the Second and great Fees exacted for every of the said Licenses 13. That of late His Majesties late Attorney General hath exhibited Informations against many Boroughs of this Kingdom into His Majesty's Court of Exchequer to shew cause by what Warrant the said Burgesses who heretofore sent Burgesses to the Parliament should send the Burgesses to the Parliament and thereupon for want of an Answer the said Priviledges of sending Burgesses was seised by the said Court which proceedings were altogether Coram non Judice and contrary to the Laws and Priviledges of the House of Parliament and if way should be given thereunto would tend to the Subversion of Parliaments and by consequence to the ruine and destruction of the Common-wealth And that the House of Commons hath hitherto in this present Parliament been deprived of the Advice and Counsel of many profitable and good Members by means thereof 14. By the powerfulness of some Ministers of State in this Kingdom the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not his natural Freedom 15. And lastly That the Gentry and Merchants and other His Majesty's Subjects of this Kingdom are of late by the Grievances and Pressures beforesaid and other the like brought very near to Ruine and Destruction And Farmers of Customs Customers Waiters Searchers Clerks of unwarrantable proceedings Pursivants and Goalers and sundry others very much enriched whereby and by the slow Redress of the Petitioners His Majesties most Faithful and Dutiful People of this Kingdom do conceive great fears that their readiness approved upon all occasions hath not been of late presented to his Sacred Majesty For remedy whereof the said Petitioners do humbly and of right beseech your Lordship that the said Grievances and Pressures may be speedily redressed and if your Lordship shall not think fit to afford present relief that your Lordship might admit a select Committee of this House of Persons uninteressed in the benefit arising of the aforesaid Grievances to be licensed by your Lordship to repair to his Sacred Majesty in England for to pursue the same and to obtain fitting remedy for their aforesaid and other just Grievances and Oppressions and upon all just and honourable occasions they will without respect of particular interest or profit to be raised thereby most humbly and readily in Parliament extend their uttermost endeavour to serve His Majesty and comply with his Royal and Princely occasions And shall pray c. Not long after the Lord Deputy Wendesford died Lord Deputy Wendesford dies viz. the Third of December following whereupon Robert Lord Dillon of Kilkenny-west and Sir William Parsons Knight and Baronet Master of the Court of Wards L. Dillon and Sir William Parsons made Lords Justices were Constituted Lords Justices of Ireland and were accordingly Sworn the 30th of December 1640. But the Lord Dillon whose Son had married the Earl of Strafford's Sister and who being a Person of great Parts and Abilities and passionately devoted to the Earl's Interests both by Alliance and Inclination was no way grateful to the Faction it was not long therefore before the King who in all things endeavoured to sweeten them by gratifying them in whatever they desired was prevailed with L. Dillon displaced and Sir John Borlase substituted in his room at the Importunities of the Irish Committees then at the Court to displace the Lord Dillon and appoint the aforesaid Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase to be Lords Justices of the Kingdom of Ireland These Gentlemen by His Majesties Command applied themselves to give such satisfaction to His Majesties Subjects of Ireland as in reason they could desire and among other things His Majesty was pleased to reduce the Subsidies from 40000 l. a Subsidy to 12000 a piece and all things seemed to be in a most quiet and peaceable Posture and Condition of Settlement But yet even then which seems much to confirm the Lord Macguire's Confession this Rebellion was upon the Anvil for about the latter end of the year 1640 the King received some advertisements of a Design then on Foot to raise some Commotions in Ireland whereupon the King whose care for the Security of his Kingdom and Protestant Subjects of Ireland was always awake caused Sir Henry Vane his Principal Secretary of Estate to advertise the Lords Justices Parsons and Borlase of it and to Command them to take care therein The Letter which I find in Dr. Borlase's History was delivered to the Lord Parsons and found after his Death in his Study by Sir James Barry Lord Baron of Santry and presented to His present Majesty and was in these Terms Right Honourable HIS Majesty hath Commanded me to acquaint your Lordships with an Advice given him from abroad Sir H. Vane's Letter to the Lords Justices concerning some Informations of danger in Ireland and confirm'd by his Ministers in Spain and elsewhere which in this Distemper'd Time and Conjuncture of Affairs deserves to be seriously consider'd and an especial care and watchfulness to be had therein which is That of late there have passed from Spain and the like may well have been from other Parts an unspeakable number of Irish Church-men for England and Ireland and some good old Soldiers under pretext of asking leave to raise Men for the King of Spain whereas it is observed among the Irish Friars there a whisper runs as if they expected a Rebellion in Ireland and particularly in Connaght Wherefore His Majesty thought fit to give your Lordships this notice that in your Wisdoms you might manage the same with that Dexterity and Secresie as to Discover and Prevent so pernicious a Design if any such there should be and to have a watchful Eye on the Proceedings and Actions of those who come thither from abroad on what pretext soever and so herewith I rest Your Lordships most Humble Servant Henry Vane White-Hall March the 16 th 1640. The preservation of this Letter appears very uncommon and looks as if Providence interessed in the Vindication of Oppressed Innocence had reserved it to clear the
Parliament Assembled not for any Doubt or Ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concerning the Premisses nor of the ensuing Questions But for the manifestation and declaration of the Clear Truth and of the said Laws and Statutes already planted and for many Ages past settled in this Kingdom the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do therefore pray That the House of the Lords may be pleased to Command the Judges of this Kingdom forthwith to declare in Writing their Resolutions of and unto the ensuing Questions and subscribe to the same Quest 1. WHether the Subjects of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be Governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom 2. Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Governor or Governors of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases And whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit Judgment or Execution thereupon what Punishment did they incur for their deviation or transgression therein 3. Whether the Kings Majesties Privy Council either with the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom or without him or them be a Place of Judicature by the Common Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accompts Possessions or Title of Lands or any of them And which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law And of what Force is their Order or Decree in such Cases or any of them 4. The Like of the Chief Governor alone 5. Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by the Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended Transgressors against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine Mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and Forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them 6. In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom and Council may punish by Fine Imprisonment Mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise And whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what punishment do they incur that Vote for them 7. Of what Force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberties Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by Infringing any such Act of State or Proclamation or both And what punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy Councellors incur that Vote for such Act and Execution thereof 8. Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to the Martial Law And whether any man in time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be Sentenced to death If so by whom and in what Cases If not What Punishments do they incur that in time of Peace execute Martial Law 9. Whether Voluntary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for Affirmance or Disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore 10. Why and by what Law or by what Rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to Reducement of Fines or other Penalties in the Castle-Chamber or Council Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is Censured when as Revera he might be innocent thereof tho suborned Proofs or Circumstances might induce the Censure 11. Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judge of Gaol-Delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny Copies of Indictment of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to Law 12. What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the Respite of Homage arbitrarily to what Rate they please to what Value they may raise it by what Law they may distinguish between the Respit of Homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are apportionable by Parliament 13. Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries or other Lawful Occasions If so why and in what Condition of Persons and by what Law 14. Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de Mero jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so Why and by what Law And whether the Confirmation of a Dean de Facto of the Bishops Grant be good or valid in Law or no If not by what Law 15. Whether the issuing of Quo Warranto's out of the Kings-Bench or Exchequer against Boroughs that antiently and recently sent Burgesses to the Parliament to shew Cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament be Legal If not what punishment ought to be inflicted upon those that are or have been the Occasioners Procurers and Judges of and in such Quo Warranto's 16. By what Law are Jurors that give Verdict according to their Conscience and are the sole Judges of the Fact Censured in the Castle-Chamber in great Fines and sometime Pillored with loss of Ears and bored through the Tongue and marked sometimes in the Forehead with an Hot Iron and other like Infamous Punishments 17. By what Law are men Censurable in the Castle-Chamber with the Mutilation of Members or any other Brand of Infamy and in what Cases and what punishment in each Case there is due without Respect to the quality of the Person or Persons 18. Whether in the Censure in the Castle-Chamber Regard be to be had to the words of the Great Charter viz. Salvo Contenemento c. 19. Whether if one that steals a Sheep or commits any other Felony and after flyeth the Course of Justice or lyeth in Woods or Mountains upon his keeping be a Traytor If not whether a Proclamation can make him so 20. Whether the Testimony or Evidence of Rebels Traytors Protected Thieves or other infamous Persons be good Evidence in Law to be pressed upon the Tryals of Men for their Lives or whether the Judge or Jurors ought to be Judge of the matter in Fact 21. By what Law are Fairs and Markets to be held in Capite when no other express Tenure is mentioned in his Majesties Letters Patents or Grants of the same Fairs and Markets Altho the Rent or Yearly Sum be reserved thereout 22. Whether it stands with the Integrity of the
in England shall be dissolved Concerning the sending of the Capuchins out of the Kingdom The Votes of the Lords upon these Eight Propositions this House will suspend giving any Resolution therein until a List of the Queens Priests and Servants is brought in Resolved upon the Question That the Ambassadors be desired from the Parliament to dismiss out of their Houses such Priests as are the Kings Native born Subjects and in case they shall hereafter be found abroad they shall not have any protection but be proceeded in according to the Laws of this Kingdom Resolved c. That the Lord Chamberlain of the Queen shall bring in a List of the Queens Priests and Servants and the Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold shall bring in a List of the Names of the Servants belonging to the King Prince and the rest of the King's Children 4. To the Fourth It is Ordered That this House agrees to this Resolution but do refer the manner of issuing out the Proclamation until the Commission given to the Lords of the Councel for issuing out Proclamations be perused 6. Concerning the sequestring of the Isle of Wight into another Hand this House thought fit to return this Answer to the House of Commons That in regard they have offered no Reasons for the same their Lordships know not how to give an Answer But when they shall shew their Lordships Reasons for so doing they will take the business into Consideration 7. Concerning the securing the persons of Recusants It is Ordered To be debated on Monday Morning next 8. Concerning the Earl of Essex 's having Power over the Trained Bands this House defers their Resolutions concerning it until the Commission of the Earl of Essex for Captain General of the South be brought into this House and perused which is to be done on Munday next In the Commons House It was Ordered Connelly Ordered to have 500 l. paid presently That whereas Owen O Connelly who discovered the Treason in Ireland had 500 l. appointed him in part of Recompence that Sir Robert Pye and Mr. Wheeler the Treasurers for the Poll-money of Westminster do forthwith pay unto the said Connelly the said 500 l. The greatest part of the Morning was spent in preparing the Heads for the fore-mentioned Conference with the Lords But among all these great Affairs which were before them the Faction in the House was still at Leisure to fall upon the Loyal and Orthodox Clergy against whom they had a most irreconcileable Animosity For upon a Complaint and Information given in to the House by some of the Zealots without Doors who made it a great part of their Religion to Inform and Article against the Loyal and Orthodox Clergy It was this day Ordered That Dr. Fuller Dr. Fuller Dean of Ely sent for as a Delinquent for his Sermons Dean of Ely shall be sent for as a Delinquent for divers dangerous and scandalous matters delivered by him in several Sermons Thus did these persons who would not permit the Clergy to intermeddle in Secular Affairs boldly thrust their Sickle into the harvest of Spiritual Matters though by the Confession of One of their own Members in a Speech he saith he intended to have spoken as this day to arraign the Order of the 8th of September they were not Idonei Competentes Judices This day it seems was fixed for the Debating the Validity of that Order but by the intervening of other business it was put off and so lay sine die however I think it is not fit to let the Speech sleep so too which it may be was the best that Unfortunate Gentleman ever made or intended to speak in that place where swimming down the rapid Torrent of General Accusations of Fears and Jealousies he so far lost himself that when he would have done something to the stopping the Breaches in the Banks of the Government which he had helped to cut he found it as many others did out of his power to Effect and was himself in danger of being presently drowned in the Deluge which he had helped to raise with the Wind of Popular breath The Speech as I find it in his own Collections pag. 37. was in these Words Master Speaker ME thinks A Speech of Sir Edward Deering's about the Order of the Commons of Sept. 8. 1641. I am now going to Walk upon the Ridge of a House a dangerous Praecipice on either Hand On the one side I must take heed that I speak neither more nor less than the inward Dictate of my own Conscience on the other Hand I shall be afraid to presume above your better Judgments My Path is narrow I must look to my Footing Dixi custodiam vias meas c. I said I will look to my Waies that I Offend not in my Tongue Thus I preface because I foreknow that I shall speak to the dislike of some Worthy Members of this Honorable House Sir Two Questions are before us First in General how far an Order of this House is binding de foris not upon our own Members here but upon the People the King's Subjects abroad Secondly the Validity and Invalidity of your particular Order of the Eighth and Declaration of the ninth of September last For the First I am clear in this Opinion That we may enforce any thing that is undoubtedly grounded upon the Law of the Land Shew me that Foundation and I will concur with you in any Resolution We may also declare against any Thing that is introduced contrary to our Laws Farther than this I know no Way unless it be by Bill and then I know no Limitation no bound Thus in brief for the General I come now to your particular Order Master Speaker I shall be afraid to arraign your Orders I have already been Controlled not for doing so but as if I had done so yet Sir I have often heard it in this House that We are Masters of our own Orders and then I think we may in this Place arraign them that is Question them Try them Approve Alter Reject or Condemn them Was not our Protestation more sacred than an Order yet that was revised and to stop some Objections new Senced by us And I take it lawful in this Place to arraign if that be the Word even an Act of Parliament and then a fortiori an Order of this House Surely Sir I shall speak reverently of all your Orders when I am abroad I have done so of this I am resolved that my Obedience shall therein be found good although my particular Reason be rebellant to your Conclusions This is my Duty abroad but here in this House within these Walls freedome is my Inheritance and give me lieve I pray at this time to use a part of my Birth-right The Seasonableness and the Equity of your Order both are controverted You all know that this is a dangerous time to make any determinations in Matter of Religion whether it be in the
may be just causes of those fears 1. They therefore desire their Lordships Expedition of the Ordinance concerning the Earls of Essex and Holland 2. An Answer concerning the securing the Persons of Recusants 3. Concerning the Government of the Isle of Wight and the fortifying the Forts of the Kingdom 4. That the Magazines in the County of Montgomery may be Sequestred into other hands for better security they being now in the hands of a Servant of a great Recusant 5. That Milford Haven may be fortified 6. That Sir Simon Harcourt may have a Commission to levy Soldiers for the Service of Ireland and that Thursday next may be the longest time of his stay here To these particulars the Lords gave these Resolutions 1. The Lords Answers To the first The House will Debate the Ordinance about the Earls of Essex and Holland to Morrow Morning 2. To the securing of the Persons of Recusants agreed 3. Touching the sequestring of the Isle of Wight into another hand their Lordships will take the same into confideration when the House of Commons present their Reasons why it should be taken out of the hand where it is now To the Forts they have formerly given in an account of the state of them and of the Charge which will be requisite to repair them and that the Money must proceed from them 4. To the fourth Agreed to 5. To the Fifth This House thinks it fit that Milford Haven be secured by appointing some Ships to ride in the Haven 6. To the Sixth The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is to bring the Commission to Morrow Morning which he is to give to Sir Simon Harcourt for levying Men for the Service of Ireland This being done the Lord Keeper was appointed to acquaint the Commons who stayed in the Painted Chamber with the aforesaid Answers to their Propositions Mr. Maxwell the Gentleman-Usher gave this House an account Mr. Maxwell upon search finds no Priests That according to their Lordships Order he had searched diligently the Earl of Worcester 's House for Priests and Jesuits but can find none In the Commons House they were taken up with this new Plot and preparing Heads for the forementioned Conference And which is omitted in the Lords Journal it was desired That the Information which Beal hath given may be published It was also Ordered That St. German the French-man St. German committed to the Gate-house be committed to the Prison of the Gate-house and that no Man be suffered to speak with him but in the presence and hearing of a Keeper They were still busie in Hammering and Filing of the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom as appears by this Memorandum Memorandum That an Addition be made to the Declaration to this purpose to declare That this House intends to vindicate themselves from the Imputations laid upon them of discouraging of Learning and that they will advance Learning and the maintenance of Preaching Ministers They were very tender it seems of their Reputation but notwithstanding their Declaration it will remain an Eternal Riddle to Posterity how it can be possible to incourage Learning by taking away the Rewards of Industry And for their maintaining of Preaching Ministers they were as good as their Word indeed by suffering all that would to Preach and maintaining them in their Sacrilegious Usurpations upon the Sacred Function Report was made this day by the Lords Committees for the Irish Affairs That the Committees of both Houses for that business Wednesday Novemb. 17. have considered of these particulars That Power be given to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Irish Affairs for rewarding of secret services as is fit That convenient Posts be speedily set up between Beaumaris and Holy-Head And that the State of Scotland be moved to have the like care for Posts between Carlisle and Port-Patrick That Directions be sent by both Houses of Parliament to the Lords Justices of Ireland concerning the Prisoners Mac-Guire and Mac-Mahon to be Conveyed into England for their better security That the Protestation taken by both Houses be taken by all Officers and Commanders before they be employed in the service of Ireland which Propositions being read were Assented to It was Ordered Message to the Foreign Ambassadors concerning Jones and Andrews That the Right Honourable the Earl of Bristol the Earl of Holland and the Lord Brook shall forthwith Repair unto the several Ambassadors in and about the Cities of London and Westminster and desire them from the Parliament to dismiss out of their Houses such Priests as are the Kings Native Subjects and in case they shall be hereafter found abroad they shall not have any Protection but be Proceeded against according to the Laws of the Kingdom and to let them know That if the Persons of Father Jones and Father Andrews who were Accused for Treasâ—â— be received into their Houses the Parliament desires they may be presently delivered up Lord Lieutenant scruples the Validity of the Ordinance to Levy Men without the Great Seal Upon some Question made this day by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Ordinance of Parliament for the granting him Power to give Commissions to Levy men for the Service of Ireland be of sufficient Validity without a Confirmation from His Majesty Thereupon the House did undertake to be Suitors to his Majesty to consirm the Autherity given to his Lordship by the King and the Parliament under the Great Seal of England And do Promise That they will be always ready to avow his Proceedings upon their Lordships aforesaid Orders in the mean time The Lord Lieutenant delivered a Copy of a Commission to be given to Commanders for the Levying of Men for Ireland which was Read and Approved of the Contents were as follow Robert Earl of Leicester Copy of a Commission to Raise Men for Ireland Viscount Lisle Baron of Penhurst c. One of His Majestie 's Most Honourable Privy-Council Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Ireland and General of His Majestie 's Army there To Collonel WHereas the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland have advertised our Soveraign Lord King Charles and his High Court of Parliament now here Assembled of a suddain Insurrection aâ—d Rebellion in Ireland and have Humbly besought His Majesty to send some Succours unto his good Subjects there And his Majesty being now Absent in his Kingdom of Scotland hath recommended the Care of the said Kingdom of Ireland unto his Parliament of England and that in pursuit of his Majestie 's Pleasure so signified for as much as in this time of His Majestie 's Absence his Royal Commission according to the usual form cannot be so soon obtained as the necessity of the Kingdom doth require The Lords and Commons of the said Parliament now Assembled have by their Ordinance of the 6th of this present Month of November Authorized me by Warrant under my Hand and Seal to give one or more Commissions to such Captains Commanders or other
preparing of Articles against him but they shall be ready in convenient time to give him a Charge And in regard they hear he is not well they are contented he shall be removed to * Now Somerset-House Denmark House he putting in Caution not to go to Court and to appear when he shall be required Hereupon it was Ordered That Phillips shall upon these Cautions finding Sureties be released from his imprisonment in the Tower It was also Ordered That the Lords the Bishops that are Impeached shall be heard by their Council on Friday next at the Bar what they can say why this Motion should not be granted But the Faction of the Commons were resolved Tumults as before they had done in the Case of the Earl of Strafford to obtain that by the Force of Tumults that they could not obtain by Law or Reason The Lords however were so sensible of this affront put upon the Freedom of the Parliament that it was Ordered That all the Judges do consult among themselves what Course is fit to be taken to prevent Riots Routs and unlawful Assemblies and having considered of the Laws and Statutes in this Case to present their opinions to the House to morrow Morning and in the mean time to have a Conference with the Commons concerning the Tumults In the Commons House Serjeant Wild Reports the Conference That the Lord Keeper told the Committee That their Lordships had received Information of great numbers of People gathered together in a Tumultuous Vnusual and Disorderly manner about the Houses of Parliament and therefore desired the Commons House to joyn with them in a Declaration to remove them and that for these Two Reasons First If these disorders should continue they might render the good Acts and Provisions of this Parliament of suspicion to Posterity by the interpretation of ill Ministers Secondly Because it did not stand with the Dignity of Parliament to suffer such Tumults to be so near the Houses of Parliament The House being informed That Phillips had a Trunk brought to him to the Tower by Two Capuchins it was Ordered That the Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir William Parkhurst shall search his Trunk and if there be any Papers that concern the State to secure them till the pleasure of this House be known The Committee formerly named to wait upon the King with the Petition and Declaration were Ordered to go forthwith to present them to the King Sir Edward Deering to read it to His Majesty and in his absence Sir Ralph Hopton to read it If he be absent the Committee to appoint the Person that shall read it Accordingly the Committee went this day and attended His Majesty with the said Petition and Remonstrance which as I find it Printed in Husband's Collections was in these words The Petition of the House of Commons which Accompanied the Declaration of the State of the Kingdom Most Gracious Soveraign YOur Majesties Most Humble and Faithful Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled The Petition and Declaration of the State of the Kingdom delivered by the Commons to the King at Hampton-Court Dec. 1. 1641. do with much thankfulness and joy acknowledge the great Mercy and Favour of God in giving your Majesty a safe and peaceable return out of Scotland into your Kingdom of England where the pressing dangers and distempers of the State have caused us with much earnestness to desire the comfort of your Gracious Presence and likewise the Unity and Justice of your Royal Authority to give more Life and Power to the Dutiful and Loyal Counsels and endeavours of your Parliament for the prevention of that imminent ruine and destruction wherewith your Kingdoms of England and Scotland are threatned The Duty which we ow to your Majesty and our Country cannot but make us very sensible and apprehensive that the multiplicity sharpness and malignity of those Evils under which we have now many years suffered are fomented and cherished by a corrupt and ill-affected Party who amongst other their mischievous devices for the alteration of Religion and Government have sought by many false scandals and imputations cunningly insinuated and dispersed amongst the People to blemish and disgrace our Proceedings in this Parliament and to get themselves a Party and Faction amongst your Subjects for the better strengthening of themselves in their wicked courses and hindring those Provisions and Remedies which might by the wisdom of your Majesty and Council of your Parliament be opposed against them For preventing whereof and the better Information of your Majesty your Peers and all other your Loyal Subjects we have been necessitated to make a Declaration of the State of the Kingdom both before and since the Assembly of this Parliament unto this time which we do humbly present to your Majesty without the least intention to lay any blemish upon your Royal Person but only to represent how your Royal Authority and Trust have been abused to the great prejudice and danger of your Majesty and of all your good Subjects And because we have reason to believe that those Malignant Parties whose Proceedings evidently appear to be mainly for the advantage and encrease of Popery is composed set up and acted by the subtile practice of the Jesuits and other Engineers and Factors for Rome and to the great danger of this Kingdom and most grievous affliction of your Loyal Subjects have so far prevailed as to corrupt divers of your Bishops and others in prime places of the Church and also to bring divers of these Instruments to be of your Privy-Council and other employments of trust and nearness about your Majesty the Prince and the rest of your Royal Children And by this means hath had such an Operation in your Council and the most Important Affairs and Proceedings of your Government that a most dangerous division and chargeable Preparation for War betwixt your Kingdoms of England and Scotland the encrease of jealousies betwixt your Majesty and your most Obedient Subjects the violent distraction and interruption of this Parliament the Insurrection of the Papists in your Kingdom of Ireland and bloody Massacre of your people have been not only endeavoured and attempted but in a great measure compassed and effected For preventing the final accomplishment whereof your poor Subjects are enforced to engage their Persons and Estates to the maintaining of a very expenceful and dangerous War notwithstanding they have already since the beginning of this Parliamenâ— undergone the Charge of 150000 Pounds Sterling or thereabouts For the necessary support and supply of your Majesty in these present and perillous Designs And because all our most faithful endeavours and engagements will be ineffectual for the Peace Safety and Preservation of your Majesty and your People if some present real and effectual course be not taken for suppressing this wicked and malignant Party We Your Most Humble and Obedient Subjects do with all faithfulness and humility beseech your Majesty 1. THat you will be
have been taken by them and do still remain in miserable slavery The enlargement of Forrests contrary to Charta de Foresta and the composition thereupon The exactions of Coat and Conduct Money and divers other Military Charges The taking away the Arms of the Trained-Bands of divers Counties The desperate Design of engrossing all the Gun-Powder into one hand keeping it in the Tower of London and setting so high a Rate upon it that the Poorer sort were not able to buy it nor could any have it without Licence thereby to leave the several parts of the Kingdom destitute of their necessary defence and by selling so dear that which was sold to make an unlawful advantage of it to the great Charge and detriment of the Subject the general destruction of the Kings Timber especially that in the Forrest of Dean sold to Papists which was the best Store-house of this Kingdom for the maintenance of our Shipping the taking away of mens right under colour of the Kings Title to Land between high and low Water-Marks The Monopolies of Soap Salt Wine Leather Sea-Cole and in a manner of all things of most common and necessary use The restraint of the Liberties of the Subjects in their habitation Trades and other Interest Their vexation and oppression by Purveyors Clerks of the Market and Salt-Peter-men The sale of pretended Nusances as Buildings in and about London conversion of Arable into Pasture continuance of Pasture under the name of depopulation have drawn many Millions out of the Subjects Purses without any considerable profit to his Majesty Large quantities of Common and several Grounds have been taken from the Subject by colour of the Statute of Improvement and by abuse of the Commission of Sewers without their consent and against it And not only private Interest but also publick faith hath been broken in seizing of the Money and Bullion in the Mint and the whole Kingdom like to be robb'd at once in that abominable project of Brass-Money Great numbers of his Majesties Subjects for refusing those unlawful charges have been vext with long and expensive Suits some fined and censured others committed to long and hard imprisonments and confinements to the loss of health of many of life in some and others have had their houses broken up their goods Seized some have been restrained from their lawful Callings Ships have been interrupted in their Voyages surprized at Sea in an Hostile manner by Projectors as by a common Enemy Merchants prohibited to unlade their Goods in such Ports as were for their own advantage and forced to bring them to those places which were most for the advantages of the Monopolizers and Projectors The Court of Star-Chamber hath abounded in extravagant censures not only for the maintenance and improvement of Monopolies and other unlawful Taxes but for divers other Causes where there hath been no offence or very small whereby his Majesties Subjects have been oppressed by grievous Fines Imprisonments Stigmatizings Mutilations Whippings Pillories Gags Confinements Banishments after so rigid a manner as hath not only deprived Men of the Society of their friends exercise of their professions comfort of Books use of Paper or Ink but even violated that near Union which God hath Establisht betwixt Men and their Wives by forced and constrained separation whereby they have been bereaved of the comfort and conversation one of another for many years together without hope of relief if God had not by his over-ruling Providence given some interruption to the prevailing Power and Council of those who were the Authors and Promoters of such peremptory and heady courses Judges have been put out of their places for refusing to do against their Oaths and Consciences others have been so awed that they durst not do their duties and the better to hold a Rod over them the Clause quam diu se bene gesserit was left out of their Patents and a new Clause Durante bene placito inserted Lawyers have been checkt for being faithful to their Clients Solicitors and Attorneys have been threatned and some punished for following lawful Suits And by this means all the approaches to Justice were interrupted and forecluded New Oaths have been forced upon the Subject against Law new Judicatories Erected without Law The Council-Table have by their Orders offered to bind the Subjects in their Free-holds Estates Suits and Actions The pretended Court of the Earl-Marshal was Arbitrary and Illegal in its being and Proceedings The Chancery Exchequer-Chamber Court of Wards and other English Courts have been grievous exceeding in their Jurisdiction The Estate of many Families weakned and some ruined by excessive Fines exacted from them for compositions of Wardships All Leases of above a hundred years made to draw on Wardship contrary to Law Undue proceedings used in the finding of Offices to make the Jury find for the King the Common-Law Courts seeing all men more enclined to seek Justice there where it may be fitted to their own desire are known frequently to forsake the Rules of the Common-Law and straining beyond their bounds under pretence of equity to do Injustice Titles of Honour Judicial places Serjeantships at Law and other Offices have been sold for great Sums of Money whereby the common Justice of the Kingdom hath been much endangered not only by opening a way of employment in places of great trust and advantage to Men of weak parts but also by giving occasion to Bribery Extortion Partiality It seldom hapning that places ill-gotten are well used Commissions have been granted for Examining the excess of Fees and when great exactions have been discovered Compositions have been made with Delinquents not only for the time past but likewise for immunity and security in offending for the time to come which under colour of remedy hath but confirmed and encreased the Grievance to the Subject The usual course of pricking Sheriffs not observed but many times Sheriffs made in an extraordinary way some times as a punishment and charge unto them sometimes such were pricked out as would be Instruments to execute whatsoever they would have to be done The Bishops and the rest of the Clergy did triumph in the suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations of divers Painful Learned and Pious Ministers in the vexation and grievous oppression of great numbers of his Majesties good Subjects The High Commission grew to such excess of sharpness and severity as was not much less then the Romish Inquisition and yet in many Cases by the Archbishops power was made much more heavy being assisted and strengthned by Authority of the Council-Table The Bishops and their Courts were as eager in the Country and although their Jurisdiction could not reach so high in rigour and extremity of punishment yet were they no less grievous in respect of the generality and multiplicity of vexations which lightning upon the meaner sort of Trades-men and Artificers did impoverish many thousands and so afflict and trouble others that great numbers to avoid their miseries departed
so impudent as to tell his Majesty that we have done nothing for him As to the Second Branch of this slander we acknowledge with much thankfulness that his Majesty hath passed more good Bills to the advantage of the Subjects then have been in many ages but withal we cannot forget that these venemous Councils did manifest themselves in some endeavours to hinder these good Acts and for both Houses of Parliament we may with truth and modesty say thus much That we have ever been careful not to desire any thing that should weaken the Crown either in just profit or useful power The Triennial Parliament for the matter of it doth not extend to so much as by Law we ought to have required there being two Statutes still in force for a Parliament to be once a year and for the manner of it it is in the Kings Power that it shall never take effect if he by a timely Summons shall prevent any other way of assembling In the Bill for continuance of this present Parliament there seems to be some restraint of the Royal Power in dissolving of Parliaments not to take it out of the Crown but to suspend the execution of it for this time and occasion only which was so necessary for the Kings own security and the publick Peace that without it we could not have undertaken any of these great charges but must have left both the Armies to disorder and confusion and the whole Kingdom to Blood and Rapine The Star-Chamber was much more fruitful in Oppression then in profit the great Fines being for the most part given away and the rest stalled at long times The Fines of the High Commission were in themselves unjust and seldome or never came into the Kings Purse These four Bills are particularly and more specially instanced in the rest there will not be found so much as a shadow of prejudice to the Crown They have sought to diminish our reputation with the people and to bring them out of love with Parliaments the aspersions which they have attempted this way have been such as these that we have spent much time and done little especially in those Grievances which concern Religion That the Parliament is a burthen to the Kingdom by the abundance of Protections which hinder Justice and Trade and by many Subsidies granted much more heavy then any they formerly endured to which there is a ready Answer if the time spent in this Parliament be considered in relation backward to the long growth and deep root of those Grievances which we have removed to the powerful supports of those Delinquents which we have persued to the great necessities and other charges of the Commonwealth for which we have provided or if it be considered in relation forward to many advantages which not only the present but future Ages are like to reap by the good Laws and other Proceedings in this Parliament we doubt not but it will be thought by all indifferent judgments that our time hath been much better imployed then in a far greater proportion of time in many former Parliaments put together and the charges which have been laid upon the Subject and the other inconveniencies which they have born will seem very light in respect of the benefit they have had and may receive And for the matter of Protections the Parliament is so sensible of it that therein they intend to give them whatsoever ease may stand with Honour and Justice and are in a way of passing a Bill to give them satisfaction They have sought by many subtile practices to cause Jealousies and divisions betwixt us and our Brethren of Scotland by slandering their proceedings and intentions towards us and by secret endeavours to instigate and incense them and us one against another They have had such a Party of Bishops and Popish Lords in the House of Peers as hath caused much opposition and delay in the Prosecution of Delinquents and hindred the Proceedings of divers good Bills passed in the Commons House concerning the reformation of sundry great abuses and corruptions both in Church and State They have laboured to seduce and corrupt some of the Commons House to draw them into Conspiracies and Combinations against the Liberty of the Parliament And by their instruments and Agents they have attempted to disaffect and discontent his Majesties Army and to engage it for the maintenance of their wicked and Traiterous Designs the keeping up of Bishops in Votes and Functions and by force to compel the Parliament to order limit and dispose their proceedings in such manner as might best concur with the intentions of this dangerous and potent Faction And when one mischievous Design and Attempt of theirs to bring on the Army against the Parliament and the City of London had been discovered and prevented they presently undertook another of the same damnable Nature with this Addition to it to endeavour to make the Scottish Army neutral whil'st the English Army which they had laboured to corrupt and invenome against us by their false and slanderous suggestions should execute their Malice to the subversion of our Religion and the dissolution of our Government Thus they have been continually practising to disturb the Peace and Plotting the Destruction even of all the Kings Dominions and have employed their Emissaries and Agents in them all for the promoting of their Devilish Designs which the vigilancy of those who were well affected hath still discovered and defeated before they were ripe for Execution in England and Scotland only in Ireland which was farther off they have had time and opportunity to mould and prepare their work and had brought it to that perfection that they had possessed themselves of that whole Kingdom totally subverted the Government of it rooted out Religion and destroyed all the Protestants whom the conscience of their duty to God their King and Country would not have permitted to joyn with them if by Gods wonderful providence their main enterprize upon the City and Castle of Dublin had not been detected and prevented upon the very Eve before it should have been executed Notwithstanding they have in other parts of that Kingdom broken out into open Rebellion surprized Towns and Castles Committed Murders Rapes and other Villanies and shaken off all bonds of obedience to his Majesty and the Laws of the Realm and in general have kindled such a fire as nothing but God's Infinite Blessing upon the wisdom and endeavours of this State will be able to quench it and certainly had not God in his great Mercy unto this Land discovered and confounded their former Designs we had been the Prologue to this Tragedy in Ireland and had by this time been made the lamentable spectacle of Misery and Confusion And now what hope have we but in God when as the only means of our subsistence and Power of Reformation is under him in the Parliament but what can we the Commons without the conjunction of the House of Lords and what
part Succesless our dangers grown upon us by iterated Plots Priests and other Delinquents unpunished to the Encouragement of others Ireland lost by protracted Councels while thousands are there Butchered by many Cruelties and to cut off all hopes of future Reformation the very being of our Parliaments endangered by desperate and unexampled breach of Priviledges which by our Protestation lately taken we are bound with our Lives and Estates to maintain And in respect of that late attempt upon the Honourable House of Commons we are now come to offer our service to that end and resolved in their just defence to live and die And therefore humbly Pray that this most Honourable House will Cooperate with the House of Commons in most Speedy perfecting the most necessary work of Reformation bringing to condign and Exemplary Punishment both wicked Councellors and evil Plotters and Delinquents that Ireland may have speedy relief the Priviledges of Parliament fortified against all future Attempts and the whole Kingdom put into sure and present Posture of Defence that we may live both Safe from all Practices of the Malignant Party at home and the endeavours of any ill affected States abroad And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. The Petitioners were called in again and told That this House takes well their coming hither with their Petition and their Care of the Priviledges of Parliament and the Kingdom of Ireland for which this House gives them thanks and their Lordships will take their Petition into consideration The Lord Keeper acquainted the House that he had received a Command from his Majesty to attend him at Windsor he received the permission of the House to do it and was ordered to acquaint his Majesty with the Order concerning Hull and likewise to move his Majesty from both Houses for his Royal Assent to three Bills which have passed both Houses one for Pressing of Marriners another concerning Redeeming of Captives at Algiers and the third concerning the Power of both Houses to Adjourn the Parliament The Lord Kymbolton moved Lord Kymbolton moves to be Tryed That if the House thought the Proceedings against him Legal that Mr. Attorney might be Commanded to Prosecute the Accusation against him for that if Mr. Attorney be ready to make good the Charge against him he is ready to answer it and that he desired no further time His own Innocency making him thus Confident as he said though it is shrewdly to be suspected he had other Motives and Reasons drawn from the Power and Prevalency of the Faction which gave him this assurance However Mr. Attorney was sent for who informed the House That what he had done was by the Express Command of the King his Master and not done by his Advice that he had attended the King to receive his Majesties further directions therein who told him when he went out of Town he would leave something with the Lord Keeper to acquaint this House further with concerning this Business And that he had attended the Lord Keeper to know whether the King had left any directions with him who told him he had received none from his Majesty but that he was Commanded to attend his Majesty Speedily Hereupon the Lord Kymbolton desired the House That some speedy Course may be taken that his Life Estate and Honour may be Secured A Message was brought from the House of Commons Message concerning the Tower to remove Sir John Byron by Sir Henry Vane Junior to let their Lordships know That in regard of the great Jealousies and Distractions of the City of London by Sir John Byron 's being Lieutenant of the Tower of London as appears by the Citizens shutting up their Shops and giving over Trade and in regard of the good Affections Expressed this day to the Parliament the House of Commons desires their Lordships to joyn with them to Petition the King that Sir John Byron may be forthwith removed from being Lieutenant of the Tower and that Sir John Conyers may be recommended to his Majesty for that Place After much Debate of this Message it was put to the Question Lords Dissent and it was Resolved c. That this House thinks it not fit to joyn with the House of Commons in an humble Petition to his Majesty for removing of Sir John Byron Knt. from being Lieutenant of the Tower and placing of Sir John Conyers there The Bishops were also ordered to put in their Answers to the Commons Impeachment of High Treason Bishops to put in Answer on Friday next The Lord Chamberlain then acquainted the House That the King hath sent Command to his Lordship and the Earl of Holland to attend his Majesty at Hampton-Court but before they went they desired to know the pleasure of this House being bound by their Writs to attend the business of the Kingdom Whereupon the House Commanded the Lord Chamberlain Lords sent for by the King not permitted to go by the House and the Earl of Holland to attend this House and would not dispense with their Absence in regard of the many great and urgent Businesses depending in this House It was the strangest fortune in the World certainly that these Men of the Faction had that when ever they stood in need of a Plot to countenance their designs and to stir up the People to Sedition some kind Person or other was sure to furnish them with one or more as there was occasion for this day in the very Critical Juncture of time a Letter was produced in the House of Commons and there read and immediately Communicated to the House of Lords The Letter were as follows To the Worshipful and my much honour'd Friend Orlando Bridgman Esq a Burgess of the Parliament at his Chamber in the Inner Temple these present SIR WE are your Friends Two Letters of a strange Plot strangely discovereâ— to the Commons these are to advise you to look to your self and to advise others of my Lord of Strafford 's Friends to take heed lest they be included in the common Calamity Our advice is to be gone to pretend business till the great hubbub be past withdraw lest you suffer with the Puritans We intreat you to send away the inclosed Letter to Mr. Anderton inclosed to some Trusty Friend that it may be carried safely without suspicion for it concerns the common safety So desire your Friends in Covent-Garden January 4th The inclosed was directed To the Worshipful and my much Honour'd Friend Mr. Anderton these SIR ALthough many Designs have been defeated yet that of Ireland holds well and now our last Plot works as happily as that of Ireland We must bear with something in the main His Will is strong enough as long as he is fed with Hopes the Woman is true to us and real her Council about her is very good I doubt not but to send you by the next very joyful News For the present our Arch-Enemies Pym Hampden Strode Hollis and Haslerigg are blemished
Whether he doth know or have heard who did Frame Contrive or advise the same or any of them To this he answered That he would deal clearly freely and Ingeniously and that he should say the same which he had before delivered to the Lords and should need no long time to answer this for that he had done none of these three that is neither Framed Advised these Articles or any of them and would be contented to die if he hid Secondly Being demanded whether he knew the truth of these Articles or any of them of his own knowledge or had it by Information To this he Answered He did know nothing of his own knowledge of the truth of these Artitles or any part of them nor hath heard it by Information All that ever he hath heard concerning this was from his Master Thirdly Being asked whether he will make good these Articles when he shall be thereunto called in due course of Law To this he Answered He cannot do it nor will not do it otherwise then as his Master shall Command him and shall Enable him no more then he that never heard of them can do it Fourthly Being asked from whom he received these Articles and by whose direction and advice he did Exhibit them He answered He did Exhibit them by his Masters Command and from his hands he did receive them Fifthly Being asked whether he had any Testimony or Proof of the Articles before the Exhibiting of them He gave this Answer That he received the Command of his Majesty but whether he had any proof then offered or intimation of Testimony to make good those Articles he desired time to consider of it he was pressed again to make answer to this but desired time to consider of it saying there was a secret trust between a Master and Servant much more in this Case The great Design of this Examination was to have got out who were the Witnesses of this Accusation that so they might have fallen upon them and worried them to death and though nothing was more justifiable then this Plea of Secrecy to which Mr. Attorney was obliged by his Oath from which they could have no power to Absolve him Yet it did so Exasperate the Faction that it was Ordered That some way be thought of for Charging Mr. Attorney by this House as Criminous for Exhibiting those Articles in the Lords House against Members of this House without any Information or proof that appears and that this House and the Gentlemen Charged by him may have Reparation from him and that he may put in good Security to stand to the Judgement of Parliament And it was Resolved Votes against the Attorney General c. That this Act of Mr. Attorney 's in this Impeachment against Members of this House is Illegal and a High Crime Resolved c. That the Lords shall be desired That Mr. Attorney may put in good Security to stand to the Judgement of Parliament And Mr. Whitlock Serjeant Wild Mr. Hill Mr. Glyn Mr. Brown Mr. Rigby and Mr. Buller were appointed a Committee they or any three of them to withdraw presently and prepare a Charge against Mr. Attorney upon the Votes of the House And that Posterity may see how Zealous these People after all their pretensions were for the Relief of Ireland Collonel Hill and Lieutenant Bowles Delinquents for raising Volunteers for Ireland It was Resolved c. and Ordered That Collonel Hill and Robert Bowles his Lieutenant shall be forthwith sent for as Delinquents by the Serjeant at Arms attending on this House for beating up Drums and raising of Men contrary to the Ordinance of Parliament And that all Constables and other Officers be assisting to the Serjeant in the Execution of his Warrant And that Mr. Whistler Mr. Pury Mr. Smith and Mr. Hill shall search in such Offices as they shall think fit to see if any Commissions or other Warrants have been granted to any Person or Persons for Levying of Men. A Paper was delivered by Mr. Hambden from the Scotch Commissioners which was read in these words OUr Treaty concerning the Irish Affairs being so oft interrupted by the Emergent Distractions A Paper of the Scotch Commissioners offering their Mediation to the King c. gives us occasion to desire your Lordships and those Noble Gentlemen of the House of Commons for to present to the Honourable Houses of Parliament that we having taken to our Consideration the manifold Obligations of the Kingdom of Scotland to our Native and Gracious Soveraign his Person and Government confirmed and multiplyed by the great and Recent Favours bestowed by his Majesty on that Kingdom at his last being there and settling the troubles thereof and considering the mutual Interest of the Kingdoms in Welfare and Prosperity of others acknowledged and Established in the late Treaty And finding our selves warranted and obliged by all means to labour to keep a right Understanding betwixt the Kings Majesty and his People to confirm that Brotherly affection begun between the two Nations to advance their Unity by all such ways as may tend to the Glory of God and Peace of the Church and State of both Kingdoms to render thanks to the Parliament of England for their assistance given to the Kingdom of Scotland in settling the late Troubles thereof wherein next to the Providence of God and the Kings Majesties Justice and Goodness they do acknowledge themselves most beholding to the Mediation and Brotherly kindness of the Kingdom of England and likewise to proffer our selves for removing all Jealousies and mistakings which may arise betwixt the Kings Majesty and this Kingdom and our best indeavours for the better Establishment of the Affairs and quiet of the same We do therefore in the name of the Parliament and Kingdom of Scotland acknowledge our selves next to the Providence of God and his Majesties Justice and Goodness most beholding to the Mediation and Brotherly kindness of the Kingdom of England in many respects especially in condescending to the Kings Majesties coming to Scotland in the midst of their great Affairs whereof we have tasted the sweet and comfortable Fruits and do heartily wish the like happiness to this Kingdom And as we are heartily sorry to find our Hopes thereof deferred by the present distractions growing daily here to a greater height and out of the sense thereof have taken the Boldness to send our humble and faithful advice to the Kings most Excellent Majesty for remedying of the same to the just satisfaction of his People so out of our duty to his Majesty and to testifie our Brotherly Affection to this Kingdom and acquit our selves of the Trust Imposed upon us We do most Earnestly beseech the most Honourable Houses in the deep of their Wisdoms to think timously upon the Fairest and Fittest Ways of Composing all present differences to the Glory of God the good of the Church and State of both Kingdoms and to his Majesties Honour and Contentment Wherein if our
Faithful endeavours may be any way useful we shall be most ready at all occasions to contribute the same 15th of Jan. 1641. Ja. Primrose The very same Paper Verbatim was 〈◊〉 their request presented to the Lords by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland After the reading of this Paper Sir Philip Stapleton Mr. Long and Mr. Arthur Goodwin were Ordered to return thanks from the House of Commons to the Scotch Commissioners for their good Affections Exprest to this State and Parliament and likewise to desire to know of them what it is that they have sent unto his Majesty by way of Advice To which Sir Philip Stapelton brought this answer That most of the Commissioners were gone from the place of Meeting not expecting any Message from this House besides they have not as yet sent the Paper to the King by reason they could not get Post-Horses and till such time as his Majesty hath first received the same they conceive it not so fit it should be made known But upon Monday morning they make no doubt to give this House full satisfaction I know no reason I have to make the Reader stay till Monday whose Expectation may be as willing to be gratified with a sight of this Paper as the House of Commons were and therefore I present him with it as followeth To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble desires of the Commissioners of his Majesties Kingdom of SCOTLAND WE your Majesties humble and faithful Subjects The Petition and advice of the Commissioners of Scotland to the King by way of Mediation considering that the Mutual Relation betwixt your Majesties Kingdoms of Scotland and England is such as they must stand or fall together and the disturbance of the one must needs disquiet and distemper the Peace of the other as has been often acknowledged by them both and especially in the late Treaty which is ratified in Parliament and confirmed by the publick Faith of the Estates of your Majesties ancient and Native Kingdom of Scotland so that they are bound to maintain the Peace and Liberties of one another being highly concerned therein as the assured means of the safety and preservation of their own And finding our selves Warranted and obliged by all means to labour to keep a right Vnderstanding betwixt your Majesty and your People to confirm that Brotherly Affection betwixt the two Nations to advance their Vnity by all such ways as may tend to the Glory of God and Peace of the Church and State of both Kingdoms and aykways to proffer our service for removing all Jealousies and mistakes which may arise betwixt your Majesty and this Kingdom and our best endeavours for the better Establishment of the Affairs and quiet of the same that both your Majesties Kingdoms of Scotland and England may be Vnited in the enjoying of their Liberties in Peace under your Majesties Scepter which is the most assured Foundation of your Majesties Honour and Greatness and of the security of your Royal Person Crown and Dignity We have taken the Boldness to shew your Majesty that we are heartily sorry and grieved to behold these Distractions which increase daily betwixt your Majesty and your People and which we conceive are entertained by the wicked Plots and Practices of Papists Prelates and their Adherents whose aim in all these Troubles has not been only to prevent all further Reformation but also to subvert the Purity and Truth of Religion within all your Majesties Kingdoms for which end their constant Endeavours have been to stir up Divisions betwixt your Majesty and your People by their Questioning the Authority of Parliaments the lawful Liberties of the Subjects and real Weakning your Majesties Power and Authority nay all upon pretence of Extending the same whereof by Gods Providence being disappointed in your Majesties Kingdom of Scotland these have now converted thir Mischievous Councels Conspiracies and Attempts to produce these distempers in your Majesties Kingdoms of England and Ireland And therefore according to our Duty to your Majesty to testifie our Brotherly Affection to this Kingdom and acquit our selves of the trust Imposed in us We do make offer of our humble Endeavours for composing of these differences And to that purpose do beseech your Majesty in these Extremities to have Recourse to the sound and faithful advice of the Honourable Houses of Parliament and to repose thereupon as the only assured and happy means to Establish the Prosperity and quiet of this Kingdom And in the depth of your Royal Wisdom to consider and prevent these Apprehensions of Fear which may possess the Hearts of your Majesties Subjects in your other Kingdoms if they shall conceive the Authority of Parliament and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject to be here called in Question And we are confident that if your Majesty shall be graciously pleased to take in good part and give Eare to these our humble and faithful Desires that the success of your Majesties Affairs howsoever perplexed shall be happy to your Majesty and joyful to all your People over whom that your Majesty may long and prosperously Reign is the Fervent and Constant Prayer of us your Majesties Faithful Subjects and Servants It was likely to come to a hopeful issue for his Majesty and all his Loyal Friends when those who had by Rebellion wrested from him so great a share of his Sovereignity and Regal Authority undertook to be Umpires and Mediators in a difference to which they were Principal Parties and to compose those differences which the Faction following their Example were resolved should be determined by no other terms of Accommodation then his Majesties parting with the Sword which Guarded his Septer and which they were resolved either to have or to force it from him by the down-right strength of a most deep rooted and formidable Rebellion But what thanks soever they had for this officious diligence from the King they received many thanks from both Houses for the affection expressed to the Kingdom in the advice which they gave the King in this Paper which was mightily to the Grace of the Faction and Tuned to the humor of the Times which charged all the Miseries and Distractions upon the King 's refusing the sound advice of his great Council the Parliament This day an Order was made in the Lords House Munday January 17. The Lo. Nettervile's Son ordered to be brought before the Lords for the bringing up to the Lords in Parliament Mr. Thomas Netterville Son to the Lord Neterville who was stayed in Chester by the Mayor of the place upon Suspicion and the Lord Admiral was Ordered to write to the Mayor thanks from the House of Lords for his care in staying the said Mr. Netterville Then the Lord Duke of Richmond Reported the King's Answer to the Message delivered to him Jan. 15th The King's Answer to the Bill for adjournment Hull c. 1. Concerning his Majesties Assent to be given to the Bill for the Adjourning of the Parliament
out of the hands of the King And to effect this all those Plots and Contrivances which the Reader will meet with in the ensuing Collections some of which are manifestly detected to be False Forged and Ridiculous were with the utmost Industry improved and magnified to run the People headlong into Tumults Mutinies and Rebellion There was the Plot of the Army against the Parliament the Plot against Pym by sending him an infected Plaister in a Letter the Plot in Scotland against Hamilton and Arguile which was to beget another of the same Nature in England Beal the Taylor 's Plot of 104 Men who for 40 s. apiece for the Commons and 10 l. for Lords were to kill just so many of the Lords and Commons to a Man there was the Plot discovered in a Letter to Mr. Bridgman information of French Spanish and Danish Plots besides the great Plot of the Papists and Bishops to bring in Popery and the King and his Evil Councellors to destroy Priviledges and Parliaments and to fire the City and cut the Throats of the Citizens Now all these Plots Centred in this one Point that the Kingdom being in such extreme Danger not only from Foreign Enemies but Domestique the People could have no manner of Security for their Lives Liberties Estates or Religion unless the King would trust the Parliament with the Power of the Sword the Militia of the Kingdom the Navy Forts Garrisons Castles Magazines and Stores and more especially the Tower of London and the Towns of Portsmouth and Kingston upon Hull that so by their Order and Appointment such Persons as His Majesty thought fit to bestow those Trusts upon might be displaced and such as the Parliament could confide in the Creatures of the Faction might have those important Trusts and Charges conferred upon them Whilst the People continually amused and alarm'd with these apprehensions of Danger which the Faction perswaded them threatned them from every quarter of the Heavens were blown up into an Universal Ferment of desperate Fears and incurable Jealousies the Horrid Rebellion in Ireland broke out which gave such Countenance and Colour to all the former though never so fictitious Rumors of Plots and Conspiracies that the Nation was all in a Flame and under the most dreadful Apprehensions that the very same Design was laid for the Ruin and Destruction of England which gave the Faction all the Confidence and opportunity they could have wished or desired to seize upon the Militia by force which they could not by perswasions obtain from the King who now evidently saw where all their fine Pretensions to Loyalty and Duty would most certainly Terminate And so resolutely were they bent upon this Usurpation that they permitted the Rebellion in Ireland for want of timely Supplies of Men and Money to suppress it to grow to that formidable height as to put England to the vast Expence of Blood and Treasure which it did afterwards by the neglecting to extinguish this fire upon its first Eruption Nor was this the only Use which the Faction in the Two Houses in England made of this Rebellion in Ireland For when afterwards they came to break out into a Rebellion themselves certainly not less horrible and detestable since they pretended to be acted by a Religion which hitherto had decried Popery upon the very score of allowing Principles of Rebellion deposing and murthering Lawful Princes the Parliament in their Papers Answers and Declarations secretly reflected upon the King and by their impudent Agents and Emissaries and the allowed Scriblers and News-Printers the very Pests of the Age openly published that the Rebellion in Ireland began by his knowledge and connivance and by that means they laid all those Massacres and Murthers which were there most barbarously committed at His Majesties door and by heightning the Infamous actions of the Rebells there with the most aggravating Circumstances of Inhumanity and Cruelty whilst they secretly insinuated the King to be concerned in them they certainly robbed him of the Hearts and Hands the Allegiance and Affections of his Subjects I cannot therefore but esteem it a Duty which common humanity challenges from all mankind to indeavour the vindication of the injured and oppressed but I look upon my self as under the severest Obligations of Christianity Conscience Truth and Justice to clear the Reputation of this Royal Sufferer from the horrible Detractions Slanders and Calumnies with which those brutish Rebels did not only blemish his Life and Actions but have most barbarously persecuted his Innocent Memory indeavouring therefore to make him appear Criminal that their hands which were died in his Sacred Blood might appear less Guilty And I shall esteem it a very singular Honor and the greatest Glory of my life that Providence has given me the opportunity to be in some measure Instrumental toward the fulfilling of that prophetick Passage in his incomparable Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 15. where he hath these words concerning the Jealousies raised and Scandals cast upon him by his Enemies For Mine Honour I am well assured that as Mine Innocency is clear before God in point of any Calumnies they Object so My Reputation shall like the Sun after Owles and Bats have had their freedom in the Night and darker times rise and recover it self to such a Degree of Splendor as those Ferab Birds shall be grieved to behold and unable to bear for never were any Princes more Glorious then those whom God hath suffered to be tried in the Fornace of Afflictions by their injurious Subjects I am very sensible that in pursuing the Historical Account of the Irish Rebellion I shall have the management of a very difficult Province there being a sort of People who think there can be no Hyperbolies in aggravating the blackness of the Irish Rebellion though at the same time they think every little reflection too hard and sharp that touches upon the English Rebellion And if a Writer cannot devest himself not only of the Humanity of a just and generous Heathen but of the Charity of a good Christian he shall be pursued with the odious Reproaches of a Favourer of Popery and therefore I must avow my Resolution to be honestly to follow the Conduct of Truth without the least declining on any hand to the best of my Understanding and Information and in order to that Procedure though I think and upon all occasions shall indeavour to make it appear that the Rebellion of the Irish was a most Horrid and Treasonable Defection from their Duty and Loyalty and carried on with most barbarous and unexampled Cruelty yet I shall not exactly follow the steps of some other Pens who have undertaken to give an account of the Transaction of the Affairs of that time since to me it is evident that they have not dealt fairly neither with the King nor Loyal Party nor indeed with Truth her self but have concealed some things and palliated others which in Justice they ought not to have done and
Strafford The House of Commons in their own Name and in the Name of the whole Commons of England have this day accused your Lordship to the Lords of the Higher House of Parliament of High Treason the Articles they will in a few dayes produce in the mean time they have Resolved That your Lordship shall be Committed into Safe Custody to the Gentleman Vsher and be Sequestred from the House till your Lordship shall clear your self of the Accusations that shall be laid against you Whereupon he was immediately taken into Custody by James Maxwell Usher of the Black Rod. And that the Commons might Disable him of the Testimony and Assistance of Sir George Radcliff his great Friend and Confident it was resolved to make him a Party and accuse him of High Treason and Confederacy with the Earl which was accordingly done as is more at large related before to which the Reader is referred only a Debate worth the Observation arose upon his being a Member of the Parliament in Ireland Whether he could without Breach of Priviledge be sent for Upon which it was Resolved as a thing out of all Doubt That in case of High Treason Priviledg of Parliament neither here nor there doth reach to Protect him Notwithstanding which when afterwards his Majestie accused the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members of High Treason and Exhibited Articles against them they did not only protect them but arraigned that proceeding as the Highest Violation of the Priviledges of Parliament making it one of the main Foundations upon which they built the Justice of the succeeding Rebellion and their taking up Arms against his Majesty It was Ordered Wednesday Novemb. 18. That no Member of the House of Commons shall visit the Earl of Strafford during his restraint without Licence first obtained from the House And the same Order was taken in the House of Peers and all the time of his Imprisonment the Lieutenant of the Tower brought in a Weekly account of the Names of those persons who visited him and by whose Order Upon Munday Munday Nov. 23. Novemb. 23. Mr. Pym presented a draught of Articles to the House which being referred to the Committee who were to prepare a Charge against the Earl were by them reported and agreed to by the House and Mr. Pym ordered to go up with them to the Lords which upon Wednesday following he did accordingly Wednesday Nov. 25. and before their Lordships laid out his Talent of Speech-making upon that subject as follows The Articles being first tendred and Read which were these I. THat he the said Thomas Earl of Strafford Articles of Impeachment against the Earl of Strafford Nov. 25. hath Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Realms of England and Ireland and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which he hath declared by Trayterous Words Counsels and Actions and by giving his Majesty advice by force of Armes to compel his Loyal Subjects to submit thereunto 2. That he hath Trayterously assumed to himself Regal power over the Lives Liberties Persons Lands and Goods of his Majesties Subjects in England and Ireland and hath exercised the same Tyrannically to the subversion and undoing of many both of Peers and others of his Majesties Liege people 3. That the better to enrich and enable himself to go thorow with his Trayterous Designs he hath detained a great part of his Majesties Revenue without giving legal account and hath taken great Summes out of the Exchequer converting them to his own use when his Majesty was necessitated for his own urgent occasions and his Army had been a long time unpaid 4. That he hath Trayterously abused the power and authority of his Government to the encreasing countenancing and encouraging of Papists that so he might settle a mutual dependance and confidence betwixt himself and that Party and by their help prosecute and accomplish his malicious and tyrannical designs 5. That he hath maliciously endeavoured to stir up enmity and hostility between his Majesties Subjects of England and those of Scotland 6. That he hath Trayterously broken the great Trust reposed in him by his Majesty of Lieutenant General of his Army by wilfully betraying divers of his Majesties Subjects to death his Army to a dishonourable defeat by the Scots at Newborn and the Town of New-Castle into their hands to the end that by the effusion of blood by dishonour and so great a loss of New-Castle his Majesties Realm of England might be engaged in a National and Irreconciliable quarrel with the Scots 7. That to preserve himself from being questioned for those and other his Trayterous Courses he laboured to subvert the Right of Parliaments and the ancient course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by false and malicious slanders to incense his Majesty against Parliaments By which Words Counsels and Actions he hath Trayterously and contrary to his allegiance laboured to alienate the hearts of the Kings Liege people from his Majesty to set a division between them and to ruin and destroy his Majesties Kingdoms for which they impeach him of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity 8. And he the said Earl of Strafford was Lord Deputy of Ireland and Lieutenant General of the Army there viz. His most excellent Majesty for his Kingdoms both of England and Ireland and the Lord President of the North during the time that all and every the Crimes and Offences before set forth were done and committed and he the said Earl was Lieutenant General of all his Majesties Army in the North parts of England during the time that the Crimes and Offences in the fifth and sixth Articles set forth were done and committed 9. And the said Commons by protestations saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Earl and also of replying to the Answers that he the said Earl shall make unto the said Articles or to any of them and of offering proofes also of the premisses or any of them or any other impeachment or accusation that shall be exhibited by them as the cause shall according to the course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Earl may be put to answer for all and every the premisses that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every of them had and used as it is agreeable to Law and Justice My Lords THese Articles have exprest the Character of a great and dangerous Treason Mr. Pym's Speech after the Reading the Articles against the Earl of Strafford Nov. 25. such a one as is advanced to the highest degree of Malice and of Mischief It is enlarged beyond the limits of any description or definition it is so hainous in it self as that it is capable of no aggravation a Treason against God betraying his Truth and Worship against the King obscuring the Glory and weakning the foundation
of his Throne against the Common-wealth by destroying the principles of Safety and Prosperity Other Treasons are against the Rule of the Law this is against the being of the Law It is the Law that unites the King and his People and the Author of this Treason hath endeavoured to dissolve that Vnion even to break the mutual irreversal indissoluble band of Protection and Allegiance whereby they are and I hope ever will be bound together If this Treason had taken effect our Souls had been inthralled to the Spiritual Tyranny of Sathan our Consciences to the Ecclesiastical Tyranny of the Pope our Lives our Persons and Estates to the Civil Tyranny of an Arbitrary unlimited confused Government Treason in the least degree is an odious and a horrid Crime other Treasons are particular if a Fort be betrayed or an Army or any other Treasonable fact committed the Kingdom may out-live any of these this Treason would have dissolved the frame and being of the Common-wealth it is an Vniversal a Catholick Treason the venom and malignity of all other Treasons are abstracted digested sublimated into this The Law of this Kingdom makes the King to be the Fountain of Justice of Peace of Protection therefore we say the Kings Courts the Kings Judges the Kings Laws The Royal Power and Majesty shines upon us in every publick blessing and benefit we enjoy but the Author of this Treason would make him the Fountain of Injustice of Confusion of publick misery and calamity The Gentiles by the light of Nature had some obscure apprehensions of the Deity of which they made this expression that he was Deus optimus maximus and infinite goodness and an insinite greatness All Soveraign Princes have some Characters of Divinity imprinted on them they are set up in their Dominions to be Optimi Maximi that they should exercise a goodness proportionable to their greatness That Law term Laesa Majestas whereby they express that which we call Treason was never more thorowly fulfilled then now there cannot be a greater laesion or diminution of Majestie then to bereave a King of the glory of his goodness It is goodness My Lords that can produce not onely to his People but likewise to himself Honour and Happiness There are Principalities Thrones and Dominions amongst the Devils greatness enough but being uncapable of Goodness they are made uncapable both of Honour and Happiness The Lawes of this Kingdom have invested the Royal Crown with Power sufficient for the manifestation of his Goodness and of his Greatness if more be required it is like to have no other Effects but Poverty Weakness and Misery whereof of late we have had very woful Experience It is far from the Commons to desire any abridgment of those great Prerogatives which belong to the King they know that their own Liberty and Peace are preserved and secured by his Prerogative and they will alwayes be ready to Support and Supply his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes for the maintenance of his Just and Lawful Power This My Lords is in all our Thoughts in our Prayers and I hope will be so manifested in our Endeavours that if the Proceedings of this Parliament be not interrupted as others have been the King may within a few Moneths be put into a clear way of as much Greatness Plenty and Glory as any of his Royal Ancestors have enjoyed A King and his People make one Body the Inferiour Parts confer Nourishment and Strength the Superiour Sense and Motion If there be an interruption of this necessary intercourse of blood and spirits the whole Body must needs be subject to decay and distemper therefore Obstructions are first to be removed before Restoratives can be applyed This My Lord is the end of this Accusation whereby the Commons seek to remove this Person whom they conceive to have been a great cause of the Obstructions betwixt his Majesty and his People for the Effecting whereof they have Commanded me to desire your Lordships that their Proceedings against him may be put into as speedy a way of dispatch as the Courses of Parliament will allow First That he may be called to answer and they may have liberty to Reply That there may be a quick and secret examination of Witnesses and they may from time to time be acquainted with the Depositions that so when the Cause shall be ripe for Judgment they may collect the several Examinations and represent to your Lordships in one entire Body the state of the Proofs as now by me they have presented to your the state of the Charge Of which Mr. Pym having given an account to the House had the Thanks of the House returned for his well delivery of the Charge against the Earl of Strafford After this Impeachment was Read Earl of Strafford sent to the Tower the Earl was sent for to the House of Lords and acquainted with the Order of their Lordships for his Commitment to the Tower upon which occasion he made a most Moving and Eloquent Speech but I have not been able to retrieve it the Journal where it is Entred being according to an Act of Parliament after the Restauration of King Charles the Second wholly obliterated The Earl being thus Committed Friday Nov. 27. he Petitioned the Lords to have Counsel assigned him which was allowed and Mr. Richard Lane the Prince's Attorney Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Jo. Lightfoot Mr. Hugh Windham Serjeant Rolles Mr. Platt and Mr. Geo. Love were appointed to be his Counsel Upon the 30 of November a Conference was between a Committee of the Two Houses concerning the Examination of Witnesses and other things preparatory to the Trial of the Earl Monday Novemb. 30. where the Lords agreed That such Members of the House of Commons as they shall appoint shall be present at the Examination of Witnesses and the Lords who were appointed to take the Examination of the Witnesses were Earl of Bath Earl of Bedford Earl of Hartford Earl of Essex Lord Wharton Lord Kimbolton Lord Brook Lord Roberts Lord Savile Thursday Dec. 3. Committee to Examine Evidence an Oath of Secrecy administred Lord Viscount Say and Seal who were impowered to give an Oath to the Attendants Witnesses and the Commons who were to be present of Secresie till the publication of the Evidence The Commoners chosen by their House to be present at this Examination were Mr. Selden Mr. Dutton Mr. Crew Sir Peter Hayman Mr. Grimston Commons to be present at the Examination their Protestation Sir Henry Anderson Sir Nevil Pool Sir Tho. Barrington who were all required to declare That by their Duty they owe to this House they are obliged to keep all those Examinations secret who accordingly did every one make an open protestation that they would The Earl also Petitioned to be heard at the time of the preparatory Examinations but was denied Among the Rest of the Witnesses Examined against the Earl Sir David Fowles was one who at the same
then a Peer of the said Realm to Imprison him unless he would surcease his suit and said That he would have neither Law nor Lawyers dispute or question any of his orders And the 20. day of March in the said 11. year the said Earl of Strafford speaking of an order of the said Councel Table of that Realm in the time of King James which concerned a Lease which the said Earl of Cork claimed in certain Rectories or Tithes which the said Earl of Cork alledged to be of no force said That he would make the said Earl and all Ireland know so long as he had the Government there any Act of State there made or to be made should be as binding to the Subjects of that Kingdome as an Act of Parliament And did question the said Earl of Corke in the Castle Chamber upon pretence of the breach of the said order of Councel Table and did sundry other times and upon sundry other occasions by his words and speeches arrogate to himself a power above the fundamental Laws and Established Government of that Kingdom and scorned the said Laws and established Government 5 That according to such his Declarations and Speeches the said Earl of Strafford did use and exercise a power above and against and to the Subversion of the said fundamental Laws and established Government of the said Realm of Ireland extending such his power to the Goods Free-holds Inheritances Liberties and Lives of his Majesties Subjects in the said Realm viz. The said Earl of Strafford the twtefth day of December Anno Domini 1635. in the time of full peace did in the said Realm of Ireland give and procure to be given against the Lord Mount Norris then and yet a Peer of Ireland and then Vice-Treasurer and receiver general of the Realm of Ireland and one of the principal Secretaries of State and Keeper of the Privy Signet of the said Kingdom a Sentence of death by a Councel of War called together by the said Earl of Strafford without any Warrant or Authority of Law or offence deserving any such punishment And he the said Earl did also at Dublin within the said Realm of Ireland in the Month of March in the fourteenth year of his Majesties Reign without any legal or due proceedings or Tryal give or cause to be given a Sentence of death against one other of his Majesties Subjects whose name is yet unknown and caused him to be put to death in execution of the said Sentence 6 That the said Earl of Strafford without any legal proceedings and upon a paper Petition of Richard Rolstone did cause the said Lord Mount-Norris to be disseized and put out of possession of his free-hold and inheritance of his Mannor and Tymore in the Countrey of Armagh in the Kingdom of Ireland the said Lord Mount-Norris having been two years before in quiet possession thereof 7. That the said Earl of Strafford in the Term of holy Trinity in the thirteenth year of his now Majesties Reign did cause a case commonly called the case of Tenures upon defective Titles to be made and drawn up without any Jury or Trial or other legal process and without the consent of parties and did then procure the Judges of the said Realm of Ireland to deliver their opinions and resolutions to that case and by colour of such opinion did without any legal proceeding cause Thomas Lord Dillon a Peer of the said Realm of Ireland to be put out of possession of divers Lands and Tenements being his Free-hold in the Countrey of Mago and Rosecomen in the said Kingdome and divers other of his Majesties Subjects to be also put out of Possession and Disseised of their Freehold by colour of the same resolution without legal proceedings whereby many hundreds of his Majesties Subjects were undone and their Families utterly ruinated 8. That the said Earl of Strafford upon a Petition of Sir John Gifford Knight the first day of February in the said Thirteenth Year of his Majesties Reign without any legal Process made a Decree or Order against Adam Viscount Loftus of Ely a Peer of the said Realm of Ireland and Lord Chancellor of Ireland and did cause the said Viscount to be Imprisoned and kept close Prisoner on pretence of Disobedience to the said Decree or Order And the said Earl without any Authority and contrary to his Commission required and commanded the said Lord Viscount to yield unto him the Great Seal of the Realm of Ireland which was then in his custody by his Majesties Command and Imprisoned the said Chancellour for not obeying such his Command And without any Legal Proceedings did in the same Thirteenth Year Imprison George Earl of Kildare a Peer of Ireland against Law thereby to enforce him to submit his Title to the Mannor and Lordship of Castle Leigh in the Queens County being of great yearly value to the said Earl of Strafford's Will and Pleasure and kept him a year prisoner for the said cause two moneths whereof he kept him close Prisoner and refused to enlarge him notwithstanding his Majesties Letters for his enlargement to the said Earl of Strafford directed And upon a Petition exhibited in October 1635. by Thomas Hibbots against Dame Mary Hibbots Widow to him the said Earl of Strafford the said Earl of Strafford recommended the said Petition to the Councel Table of Ireland where the most part of the Councel gave their Vote and Opinion for the said Lady but the said Earl finding fault herewith caused an Order to be entred against the said Lady and threatned her that if she refused to submit thereunto he would Imprison her and Fine her five hundred pounds that if she continued obstinate he would continue her Imprisonment and double her Fine every Moneth by means whereof she was enforced to relinquish her Estate in the Lands questioned in the said Petition which shortly was conveyed to Sir Robert Meredith to the use of the said Earl of Strafford And the said Earl in like manner did Imprison divers others of his Majesties Subjects upon pretence of Disobedience to his Orders and Decrees and other illegal Commands by him made for pretended Debts Titles of Lands and other Causes in an Arbitrary and Extrajudicial course upon Paper Petitions to him preferred and no other cause legally depending 9. That the said Earl of Strafford the Sixteenth day of February in the Twelfth Year of his now Majesties Reign assuming to himself a power above and against Law took upon him by a general Warrant under his hand to give power to the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor his Chancellor or Chancellors to their several Officers thereto to be appointed to attach and arrest the Bodies of all such of the meaner and poorer sort who after Citation should either refuse to appear before them or appearing should omit or deny to perform or undergoe all lawful Decrees Sentences and orders issued imposed or given out against them and them to commit and keep in the next
breach of and contrary to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realm in that behalf established 19. That the said Earl having Taxed and Levied the said Impositions and raised the said Monopolies and committed the said Oppressions in his Majesties Name and as by his Majesties Royal Command he the said Earl in May the 15th Year of his Majesties Reign did of his own authority contrive and frame a new and unusual Oath by the purport whereof among many other things the party taking the said Oath was to swear that he should not protest against any of his Majesties Royal Commands but submit themselves in all Obedience thereunto Which Oath he so contrived to enforce the same on the Subjects of the Scottish Nation inhabiting in Ireland and out of a hatred to the said Nation and to put them to a Discontent with his Majesty and his Government there and compelled divers of his Majesties said Subjects there to take the said Oath some he grievously Fined and Imprisoned and others he destroyed and Exiled and namely the 10th of October Anno Dom. 1639. he fined Henry Steward and his Wife who refused to take the said Oath 5000 pounds apiece and their two Daughters and James Gray 3000 pounds apiece and Imprisoned them for not paying the said Fines The said Henry Steward's Wife and Daughters and James Gray being the Kings Liege People of the Scottish Nation and divers others he used in like manner And the said Earl upon that occasion did declare That the said Oath did not onely oblige them in point of Allegiance to his Majesty and acknowledgment of his Supremacy only but to the Ceremonies and Government of the Church established or to be established by his Majesties Royal Authority and said That the refusers to obey he would prosecute to the blood 20. That the said Earl in the 15 and 16 Years of his Majesties Reign and divers years past laboured and endeavoured to beget in his Majesty an ill Opinion of his Subjects namely those of the Scottish Nation and divers and sundry times and especially since the Pacification made by his Majesty with his said Subjects of Scotland in Summer in the 15th Year of his Majesties Reign he the said Earl did labour and endeavour to perswade incite and provoke his Majesty to an Offensive War against his said Subjects of the Scottish Nation And the said Earl by his Counsel Actions and Endeavours hath been and is a principal and chief Incendiary of the War and Discord between his Majesty and his Subjects of England and the said Subjects of Scotland and hath declared and advised his Majesty That the Demand made by the Scots in this Parliament were a sufficient cause of War against them The said Earl having formerly expressed the height and rancor of his mind towards his Subjects of the Scottish Nation viz. the tenth day of October in the 15 year of his Majesties Reign he said that the Nation of the Scots were Rebels and Traytors and he being then about to come to England he then further said That if it pleased his Master meaning his Majesty to send him back again he would root out of the said Kingdome meaning the Kingdom of Ireland the Scottish Nation both root and branch Some Lords and others who had taken the said Oath in the Precedent Article onely excepted and the said Earl hath caused divers of the said Ships and Goods of the Scots to be stayed seized and molested to the intent to set on the said War 21. That the said Earl of Strafford shortly after his Speeches mentioned in the last precedent Article to wit in the fifteenth year of his Majesties Reign came into this Realm of England and was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and continued his Government of that Kingdom by a Deputy At his arrival here finding that his Majesty with much wisedom and goodness had composed the troubles in the North and had made a Pacification with his Subjects of Scotland he laboured by all means to procure his Majesty to break that Pacification incensing his Majesty against his Subjects of that Kingdome and the proceedings of the Parliament there And having incensed his Majesty to an offensive War against his said Subjects of Scotland by Sea and by Land and by pretext thereof to raise Forces for the maintenance of that War he counselled his Majesty to call a Parliament in England yet the said Earl intended if the said proceedings of that Parliament should not be such as would stand with the said Earl of Strafford's mischievous designs he would then procure his Majesty to break the same and by ways of Force and Power to raise Monies upon the said Subjects of this Kingdom And for the incouragement of his Majesty to hearken to his advice he did before his Majesty and his Privy-Councel then sitting in Councel make a large Declaration that he would serve his Majesty in any other way in case the Parliament should not supply him 22. That in the month of March before the beginning of the last Parliament the said Earl of Strafford went into Ireland and procured the Parliament of that Kingdome to declare their assistance in a War against the Scots And gave directions for the raising of an Army consisting of 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse being for the most part Papists as aforesaid And confederating with one Sir George Radcliffe did together with him the said Sir George Trayterously conspire to employ the said Army for the ruine and destruction of the Kingdome of England and of his Majesties Subjects and of altering and subverting of the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdome And shortly after the said Earl of Strafford returned into England and to sundry persons declared his opinion to be That his Majesty should first try the Parliament here and if that did not supply him according to his occasions he might use then his Prerogative as he pleased to levy what he needed and that he should be acquitted both of God and man if he took some other courses to supply himself though it were against the will of his Subjects 23. That upon the thirteenth day of April last the Parliament of England met and the Commons house then being the representative Body of all the Commons in the Kingdome did according to the trust reposed in them enter into debate and consideration of the great grievances of this Kingdome both in respect of Religion and the publick liberty of the Kingdome and his Majesty referring chiefly to the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury the ordering and disposing of all matters concerning the Parliament He the said Earl of Strafford with the assistance of the said Archbishop did procure his Majesty by sundry Speeches and Messages to urge the said Commons house to enter into some resolution for his Majesties Supply for maintenance of his War against his Subjects of Scotland before any course was taken for the relief of the great and pressing Grievances wherewith this Kingdom was then
afflicted Whereupon a demand was then made from his Majesty of 12 Subsidies for the release of Ship-money only and while the said Commons then assembled with expressions of great affection to his Majesty and his service were in debate and consideration of some supply before resolution by them made he the said Earl of Strafford with the help and assistance of the said Archbishop did procure his Majesty to dissolve the last Parliament upon the 5 day of May last and upon the same day the said Earl of Strafford did Treacherously Falsely and Maliciously endeavour to incense his Majesty against his loving and faithful Subjects who had been Members of the said House of Commons by telling his Majesty they had denied to supply him And afterward upon the same did Treacherously and Wickely Counsel and Advise his Majesty to this effect viz. That having tried the affections of his People he was loose and absolved from all rules of Government and was to do every thing that power would admit and that his Majesty had tried all ways and was refused and should be acquitted both of God and man and that he had an Army in Ireland meaning the Army above mentioned consisting of Papists his dependants as is aforesaid which he might imploy to reduce this Kingdom to obedience 24. That in the same month of May he the said Earl of Strafford Falsely Treacherously and Maliciously published and declared before others of his Majesties Privy-Councel that the Parliament of England had for saken the King and that in denying to supply the King they had given him the advantage to supply himself by other ways and divers other times he did Maliciously Wickedly and Falsely publish and declare that seeing the Parliament had refused to supply his Majesty in the ordinary and usual way the King might provide for the Kingdome in such ways as he should hold fit and that he was not to suffer himself to be mastered by the frowardness of the People And having so maliciously slandered the said House of Commons he did with the help and advice of the said Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Finch late Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England cause to be printed and published in his Majesties name a false and scandalous book entituled his Majesties Declaration of the causes that moved him to dissolve the last Parliament full of bitter and malicious invectives and false and scandalous aspersions against the said House of Commons 25. That not long after the dissolution of the said last Parliament viz. In the months of May and June He the Earl of Strafford did advise the King to go on rigorously in levying the Ship-money and did procure the Sheriffs of several Countries to be sent for for not levying the Ship-money divers of which were threatned by him to be sued in the Star-Chamber for not levying the same and divers of his Majesties loving Subjects were sent for and imprisoned by his advice about that and other illegal payments And a great loan of a hundred thousand pounds was demanded of the City of London and the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen and the Sheriffs of the said City were often sent for by his advice to the Councel Table to give an account of their proceedings in raising of Ship-money and furthering of that loan and were required to certifie the names of such Inhabitants of the said City as were fit to lend which they with much humility refusing to do he the said Earl of Strafford did use these or the like Speeches viz. That they deserved to be put to Fine and Ransome and that no good would be done with them till an example were made of them and they were laid by the heels and some of the Aldermen hanged up 26. That the said Earl of Strafford by his wicked Counsel having brought his Majesty into excessive charges without any just cause he did in the month of July last for the support of the said great charges counsel and approve two dangerous and wicked Projects viz. To seize upon the Bullion and the money in the Mint And to imbase his Majesties Coyn with the mixtures of Brass And accordingly he procured One hundred and thirty thousand pounds which was then in the Mint and belonging to divers Merchants Strangers and others to be seized on and stayed to his Majesties use And when divers Merchants of London owners of the said Bullion came to his house to let him understand the great mischief that course would produce here and in other parts what prejudice it would be to the Kingdome by discrediting the Mint and hindring the importation of Bullion he the said Earl told them That the City of London dealt undutifully and unthankfully with his Majesty and that they were more ready to help the Rebel than to help his Majesty and that if any hurt came to them they may thank themselves and that it was the course of other Princes to make use of such Moneys to serve their Occasions And when in the same Month of July the Officers of his Majesties Mint came to him and gave him divers reasons against the imbasing the said money he told them that the French King did use to send Commissaries of Horse with Commission to search into mens Estates and to peruse their accounts so that they may know what to levy of them by force which they did accordingly leavy and turning to the Lord Cottington then present said That this was a point worthy his Lordships consideration 27. That in or about the Month of August last he was made Lieutenant General of all his Majesties Forces in the Northern parts against the Scots and being at York did in the Month of September by his own authority and without any lawful warrant impose a Tax on his Majesties Subjects in the County of York of eight pence per diem for maintenance of every Soldier of the Trained bands of that County which Sums of Money he caused to be levied by force And to the end to compel his Majesties Subjects out of fear and Terrour to yield to the payment of the same He did declare that he would commit them that refused the payment thereof and the Soldiers should be satisfied out of their Estates and they that refused it were in very little better condition than of High-Treason 28. That in the Month of September and October last he the said Earl of Strafford being certified of the Scottish Army coming into the Kingdome and he the said Earl of Strafford being Lieutenant General of his Majesties Army did not provide to the defence of the Town of New-Castle as he ought to have done but suffered the same to be lost that so he might the more incense the English against the Scots And for the same wicked purpose and out of a malicious desire to ingage the Kings Kingdoms of England and Scotland in a National and Bloody War he did write to the Lord Conway the General of the Horse and under the
said Earls command that he should Fight with the Scottish Army at the passage over the Tyne whatsoever should follow notwithstanding that the said Lord Conway had formerly by Letters informed him the said Earl that his Majesties Army then under his command was not of force sufficient to encounter the Scots by which advice of his he did contrary to the duty of his place betray his Majesties Army then under his command to apparent danger and loss All and every which Words Counsels and Actions of the said Earl of Strafford Traiterously and contrary to his Allegiance to our Soveraign Lord the King and with an intention and endeavour to alienate and withdraw the hearts and affections of the Kings Liege People of all his Realms from his Majesty and to set a division between them and to ruine and destroy his Majesties said Kingdoms For which they do farther impeach him the said Thomas Earl of Strafford of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity To which the Earl according to the Order of the House of Lords prefixing the 23 of February for that purpose being brought to their House gave in his Answer in two hundred Sheets of Paper an abstract whereof as I find it in Mr. Rushworth's Trial of Thomas Earl of Strafford is here subjoined TO the First Article The Answer of Tho. Earl of Strafford to the 28 Articles of the Commons Feb. 23. he saith He conceives that the Commission and Instruction differ not from those formerly granted but refers to them and that such Alterations and Additions as were made were for ought he knoweth rather for the explanation than for the enlarging of the Jurisdiction the Care whereof was left to the Secretary of that Council and to the King 's Learned Council to be passed for the good of the King's Service and the Publick Welfare of that Province for Legality of the Proceedings divers eminent Lawyers were joyned with the President who for the Legal parts was by them to be directed He did not advise or procure the enlargement of the Commission and Instructions and he believeth nothing hath been practiced since that was not in former Times contained in former Commissions under general words He believeth Sir Conyers Darcy was lawfully Fined for Misdemeanors as a Justice of Peace and hath heard he being in Ireland that Sir John Boucher was Fined for some great Abuse at the Kings being at York going into Scotland to be Crowned to the Proceedings he refers himself He denies that he hath done any thing by that Commission or Instruction other than he conceived he might by virtue thereof lawfully do To the Second Article The little Finger of the Law He denieth the speaking of those words but saith That 30 40 l. or more being returned as Issues out of the Exchequer against some that had compounded for Knighthood for 10 l. or 20 l. so as the Issues far exceeded the Composition and yet would next time have been increased The said Earl upon this occasion said That now they might see that the little Finger of the Law was heavier than the King's Loins which he spake to nourish good Affections in them towards His Majesty and not to threaten or terrifie any as the Article is supposed To the Third Article Ireland a Conquered Nation he saith Ireland is not Governed by the same Laws that this Kingdom is unless it be meant by the Common Laws their Customs Statutes Execution of Martial Laws Proceedings at Council-Board very much differ they spake not the words in the Article to any such intent He saith It might be fit enough for him to remember them of the great Obligation they had to the King and His Progenitors that suffered them being a Conquer'd Nation to enjoy Freedom and Laws as their own people of this Kingdom and it might be that upon some such occasion he said to those of Dublin That some of their Charters were void and nothing worth and did not bind His Majesty farther than He pleased which he believes to be true having been formerly so informed by His Majesties Learned Council upon sundry occasions To the Fourth Lawyers not to dispute the Orders of the Council-Board in the Earl of Cork's Case he saith That the legal and ordinary Proceeding at Council-Table are and time out of mind have been by Petition Answers examination of Witnesses as in other Courts of Justice concerning British Plantations the Church and Cases hence recommended by the King for the time being and in Appeals from other Courts there and the Council-Board have always punished Contempts to Orders there made to Proclamations and Acts of State by Fine and Imprisonment He saith That it might be he told the Earl of Cork that he would Imprison him if he disobeyed the Orders of the Council-Table and that he would not have Lawyers dispute or question those Orders and that they should bind but remembreth not the Comparison of Acts of Parliament and he hath been so far from scorning the Laws that he hath endeavoured to maintain them the Suit against the Earl in the Castle-Chamber was concerning the Possessions of the Colledge of Youghall worth 6 or 700 l. which he had endeavoured to get by causing of unlawful Oaths to be taken and very undue means the matter proceeded to Examination and Publication of Witnesses and after upon the Earl of Cork's humble Suit and payment of 15000 l. to His Majesty and his acknowledgment of his Misdemeanors obtained a Pardon and the Bill and Proceedings were taken off the Files and he remembers not any Suit for breach of any Order made at Council Table To the Fifth he saith Lord Mountnorris sentenced to suffer death by Martial Law The Deputies and Generals of the Army have always executed Martial Law which is necessary there and the Army and the Members thereof have been long time Governed by printed Orders according to which divers by Sentence of the Council of War have formerly been put to death as well in the time of Peace as War The Lord Mountnorris being a Captain of a Company in the Army for mutinous words against the said Earl General of that Army and upon two of those ancient Orders was proceeded against by a Council of War being the Principal Officers of the Army about twenty in number and by them upon clear Evidence Sentenced to Death wherein the said Earl was no Judge but laboured so effectually with His Majesty that he obtained the Lord Mountnorris's Pardon who by that Sentence suffered no personal hurt or damage save about two days Imprisonment And as to the other Persons he can make no Answer thereunto no particulars being described To the Sixth he saith The Suit had depended many years in Chancery The Lord Mountnorris put out of Possession and the Plaintiff Complaining of that delay the said Earl upon a Petition as in such Cases hath been usual calling to him the then Master of the Rolls
the now Lord Chancellor and the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas upon the Proofs in the Chancery decreed for the Plaintiff to which he refers himself and it may be the Lord Mountnorris was thereupon put out of his Possession To the Seventh he saith His Majesty being Intituled to divers Lands Lord Dillon his Patent questioned upon an Inquisition found Proclamation was made That such as Claimed by Patent should come in by a day and have their Patents allowed as if they had been found in the Inquisition and accordingly divers were allowed The Lord Dillon produced His Patent which being questionable he consented and desired that a Case might be drawn which was drawn by Counsel and argued and the Judges delivered their Opinions but the Lord Dillon nor any other were bound thereby or put out of Possession but might have traversed the Office or otherwise legally have proceeded that Case or Opinion notwithstanding To the Eighth he saith That upon Sir John Gifford's Petition to the King The Lord Loftus close Prisoner not delivering the Great Seal His Majesty referred it to the Deputy and Council of Ireland where the matter proceeding legally to a Decree against the Lord Loftus and upon his Appeal that Decree by his Majesty and his Council of England was confirmed to which Decree and Order he refers himself believing the Lord Loftus was committed for disobeying that Decree and for continuance in contempt committed close Prisoner He saith That the Lord Loftus having committed divers Contempts the Council by Warrant required him to appear at the Board and to bring the Great Seal with him which Order he disobeyed and was shortly after Committed and the Great Seal was delivered up by his Majesties express Command and not otherwise And an Information was exhibited in the Star-Chamber for grievous Oppressions done by the Lord Loftus as Chancellor whereof he was so far from justifying as that he submitted desiring to be an Object of his Majesties Mercy and not of his Justice The Earl of Kildare for not performing of an Award made by King James The Earl of Kildare Committed and of an Award made in pursuance thereof by the said Earl of Strafford upon a Reference from His Majesty was by the Deputy and Council Committed and a Letter being unduly obtained he did not thereupon enlarge him but upon another Letter and submission to the Orders as by the King was directed he was enlarged The Lady Hibbots and one Hoy her Son having upon a Petition Answer Examination of Witnesses and other Proceedings at Council-Board been found to have committed foul abuses by Fraud and Circumvention to have made a Bargain with the Petitioner Hibbots for Lands of a great value for a small sum of Money was Ordered to deliver up the Writing no Assurances being perfected or Money paid and it 's like he threatned her with Commitment if she obeyed not that Order but denieth that the Lands were after sold to Sir Robert Meredith to his use or that by any Order by himself made any one hath been Imprisoned concerning Freeholds but for debts and personal things as some have been used by all his Predecessors in like Causes To the Ninth he saith Warrants to such Effects have been usually granted to the Bishops in Ireland in the times of all former Deputies but the Earl not satisfied with the conveniency thereof refused to give any such Warrants in general to the Bishops as had been formerly done but being informed that divers in the Diocess of Down gave not fitting Obedience he granted a Warrant to that Bishop whereto he referreth which was the only Warrant he granted of that Nature and hearing of some Complaints of the Execution thereof he recalled it To the Tenth he saith The Lord Treasurer Portland offered the Farm of the Customs for 13000 l. per annum in some particular Species but the Earl of Strafford advanced the same Customs to 15500 l. per annum and 8000 l. Fine and by His Majesties Command became a Farmer at those Rates proposed without addition to those Rates as by the printed Books 7 Car. Regis may appear he disswaded the advance of Rates lately proposed by Sir Abraham Dawes so as it was declined the Rates of Hydes and Wooll are moderate consideration being had of their true value and of the Places whereto they are to be transported and of the Statute made in the time of Queen Elizabeth and there in force prohibiting the Exportation of Wooll unless they pay to the Crown 5 s. the Stone the Trade and Shipping of that Kingdom are exceedingly increased To the Eleventh he saith Pipe-staves were prohibited in King James's Time and not Exported but by Licence from the Lord Treasurer of England or Lord-Deputy of Ireland who had 6 s. 8 d. a 1000 and his Secretary 3 s. 4 d. for the Licence but to restrain that destruction of Timber by Command of His Majesty and Advice of His Council for His Revenue in Ireland first 30 s. then 3 l. the money was paid to His Majesty who hath thereby about 1500 l. per annum and his Lordship lost about 4 or 500 l. per annum which his Predecessors had for such Licences This is paid by the Transporter not by the Natives whose Commodity nevertheless appears by the Article to be very much increased To the Twelfth he saith The Subsidies there are an Inheritance in the Crown by Act of Parliament 6 d. was paid for Subsidy and 1 s. 6. d. for Impost upon every pound of Tobacco and Farmed 10 or 20 l. per annum the Commons in Parliament 10 Car. Regis finding the Revenue to be short of the Expence of that Kingdom 24000 l. per annum Petitioned those Grants might be applied to increase His Majesties Revenue without calling upon the Subject but upon urgent Occasions Hereupon upon the Advice of the Committee of the Revenue and in consideration of a Proclamation made in England several Proclamations were made and this settled in a way till it could be confirmed by Parliament for which purpose a Bill is transmitted according to the desire of the Commons and the Impost of Tobacco is Let to Contractors for eleven years at 5000 l. per annum for the first five years and 10000 l. per annum for the other six years and the Earl hath lent money to forward the business and by His Majesties Allowance is a Partner but hath not as yet in two years last past had any Accompts thereof or made benefit thereby He knoweth of no whipping or other punishment the Farmes of the Customs are better than formerly 2000 l. per annum five 8 parts whereof is yearly paid unto His Majesty the prices of Tobacco exceed not 2 s. or 2 s. 4 d. the pound the settling of that Revenue according to the Petition of the Commons he hath not raised or countenanced any Monopolies but opposed the same To the Thirteenth he saith He endeavoured to advance the Manufacture of
Behaviour and Eloquence between the Extremes of Baseness and Dejection and the vanity of Disdain or Ostentation as raised an admiration of him even in his very Enemies The first Witness that was produced was Sir Pierce Crosby Witnesses Sir Pierce Crosby set aside for the present against whom the Earl excepted as having been sentenced in the Star-Chamber in Ireland for Conspiring to take away his Life for breaking Prison and making his Escape from which Circumstances it was probable he might be Transported by the desire of private revenge beyond the bounds of Truth and Publick Justice so that for the present he was set aside Then Sir John Clotworthy was sworn Sir John Clotworthy all that he deposed was that Sir George Radcliff being a teller of the No's in a Vote of Parliament to which he had given his Negative contrary to the Mind of the Earl who had a desire the Bill should pass Sir George asked him if he had not a Lease in such a place to which he answering yes Sir George replyed remember that That as to Sir Pierce Crosby's imprisonment he did apprehend it was for giving his Vote contrary to the Lord Lieutenant's mind for that he heard Sir George say to him after he had Voted this is not Privy Counsellor like or to that Effect The Lord Ranulagh deposed that Sir Pierce Crosby was by the Opinion of the Board sequestred from the Privy-Council for Voting against a Bill transmitted by the Lord Deputy and Council to the Parliament Lord Ranulagh The Lord Mountnorris deposed to the same Effect Lord Mountnorris and that he was Sequestred from the Council by the Voices of the Board among which the Earl gave his Mr Nicholas Barnwell deposed that for his differing in Opinion in the Parliament from Sir George Radcliff Nic. Barnwell Sir George asked him if his House would hold 500 Men to which he smiling answered you know how many my house will hold whereupon Sir George replyed it was no laughing matter and that he should have 500 men laid upon him but this upon the Earl's Question he said was spoken when the Earl was out of the Kingdom upon which Mr. Pym made this prity Observation That the Spirit of my Lord Strafford could move in Sir George Radcliff wheresoever it was spoken as if a man could commit Treason had it been such by his Proxie The next thing was about oppressing the Subjects of Ireland Mr. Egor a Witness and particularly the City of Dublin by quartering Soldiers upon them to which Mr. Egor was sworn deposed that the City of Dublin is put to 55 l. per mensem for billetting of Horse which the Earl avoided by the Practice of his Predecessors in the like Case which the Witness confessed as to Foot Guards The Managers then desired the Remonstrance from Ireland might be read which the Earl opposed as being New matter and not in the Charge but come over since his Impeachment to which they replyed that the Subverting of Laws and Corruption of Government was in general laid and they produce this to prove his answer Untrue as to his Integrity in the Administration whereupon the Lord Baltinglass and Lord Digby of Ireland vouching the Truth of the Copy it was read in haec Verba To the Right Honourable the Lord-Deputy The Humble and just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Parliament Assembled Shewing THat in all Ages since the happy Subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England The Irish Remonstrance it was and is a Principal Study and Princely Care of his Majesty and His Noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood that their Loyal and Dutiful people of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from British Ancestors should be Governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England that the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other Laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared That by the means thereof and of the most Prudent and Benign Government of His Majesty and His Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a Flourishing Estate whereby the said people were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural desires to comply with His Majesties Princely and Royal Occasions by their free Gift of 150 Thousand Pounds Sterling and likewise by another free Gift of 120 Thousand Pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the Gift of 40 Thousand Pounds and their free and chearful Gift of Six entire Subsidies in the 10th Year of His Majesties Reign which to comply with His Majesties then Occasions signified to the then House of Commons They did allow should amount in the Collections unto 250 Thousand Pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have amounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the four intire Subsidies granted in this present Parliament So it is May it please Your Lordship by the occasion of the insuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to His Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that extream and universal Poverty that the same is less able to pay Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before recited great Payments And His Majesties most Faithful people of the Land do conceive great fears that the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Presidents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great Hopes and strong Beliefs they are perswaded is contrary to His Royal and Princely intention towards His said people some of which said Grievances are as followeth 1. The general apparent decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities Exported and Imported by reason whereof and of extream Vsage and Censures Merchants are beggered and both disinabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the honourable Persons who gain thereby are often Judges and Parties and that in the conclusion His Majesties Profit thereby is not considerably advanced 2. The Arbitrary decision of all civil Causes and Controversies by Paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and the Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon reference from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain time cause season or thing whatsoever And the consequences of such proceedings by receiving immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clerks Pursevants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of Proceedings His Majesty loseth a considerable part of his Revenue upon Original Writs and otherwise and the Subject loseth the benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversal Vouchers and other Legal and just Advantages and
and old Entayles would be set on Foot and by that means the later Purchaser avoided by which means there was a great loss and prejudice to the King in his Wards which by these Laws are setled and the Laws of Ireland brought much nearer the Laws of England than before And in this point I conceive I am not absolutely gainsayed but only conditionally that is that notwithstanding this I have set up another Government Arbitrary and Tyrannical To which I shall not now trouble your Lordships with an Answer that being in the particulars of my Charge And thus I think the first to be fairly and clearly Answered Then that there were more Parliaments in the time of my Government than in 50 years before There were two in my time and if I might call Witnesses it would appear that there were not so many within that time before but being not material to my Defence or Condemnation I will not trouble your Lordships with proof unless you will require it I having them here that I think can make it good And whereas in my Answer I deny that I ever had hand in any Project or Monopoly and that I did prevent divers that otherwise would have passed I said that under favour with all duty and confidence I must still affirm it That I never had hand or share in any manner of Monopoly or Project whatsoever unless the Tobacco-business were a Monopoly which under favour I shall clear not to be but that being part of my Charge I think it impertinent now to give Answer unto it but will satisfie your Lordships in that behalf in proper time and place But more then that of Tobacco I say absolutely and directly I never had my hand or share in any Monopoly or Project nay I did as much as I could Oppose all of them particularly the Monopoly of Iron-Pots for which I reserve my self to Answer as part of my Charge And a new Book of Rates whereby it was proposed That the Rates of the King's Customs might be encreased And this I did Oppose and Disavow albeit I was a sharer in the Farm and consequently should have had the Benefit and Advantage of it for my proportion and by the King 's Gracious Goodness when His Majesty came to be more fully and clearly informed of it it was stopped and never went on And this I will make appear in that point of the Articles that concern the Customs The Fourth is That I have not had any greater Power or larger Commission than my Predecessors in that Government have had which I conceive under favour is not controverted but granted and therefore stands good to me or if it wer econtroverted I am able to make it appear that I have brought in nothing more than was formerly accustomed in the point of the Deputies Commission The next thing in my Answer is That the Revenue of Ireland was never able to Support it self before my coming thither and that I say still with all Humility and Duty is most true And I trust to make it apparently true presently if Your Lordships will give me leave to call for and examine my Witnesses It being the Proofs Your Lordships will look to and not to what was only alledged by that Worthy Gentleman And further than Your Lordships shall find proved I desire not to be believed The proof offered against me is by Sir Edward Warder and Sir Robert Pye who testified That from the Year 1621. nothing went out of the King's Exchequer to supply the Irish Affairs saving only for the Maritime occasions And this I believe to be true for they be Gentlemen of Credit that speak it and I will believe them on their Words much more on their Oaths But under favour there was for Eight Years together before my coming a Contribution of 20000 l. a Year paid by the Country which was no part of the King's Revenue nor as I conceive ever came into Accompt nor was paid into the Exchequer as will appear on the Fifteenth Article but was a Gift of the Country and applyed to the King's Occasions and that determined the Revenue fell short 20000 l. of the Charge Besides when I came into Ireland the Crown was extreamly indebted above as I think not to stand on particular Sums and Pence 100000 l. Sterling And by the Gentleman 's own saying when I came out of Ireland I left 100000 l. in the King's Coffers And if any ask where the Accompt for the Subsidies is There is 100000 l. Debt paid 100000 l. left in the King's Coffers For it appears by Sir Adam Loftus that there was 100000 l. in the Exchequer when I came from thence There was 15000 l. employed for buying Land that yields the King 2000 l. a Year And so much of my Lord of Ormond as yields 2500 l. a Year So that the Accompts will shew the bestowing of the Subsidies with as much Advantage as might be for the King's Service That the Revenue was short I could make appear clearly The occasion that no Money came out of the Exchequer was accidental by a Contribution of the Country no Revenue of the Kings And if that had not been supplyed there had been no possibility of defraying the Ordinary Charges of the Crown out of the Revenue and that is the Point wherein I differ from the Gentleman his meaning being That the ordinary Revenue of the Kingdom could not bear the ordinary Charge of the Kingdom And I desire that Sir Adam Loftus and Sir Robert Dillom may be examined upon such questions as shall be propounded in this point And whereas it is said I was short in the Shipping I affirm that under favour I was not It is true that in the time of the late Justices my Lord of Corke and my Lord Loftus the last years Charge of the Shipping was paid forth of Ireland But it is as true that when the Kingdom underwent the Charge they lessened the Charge of the King's Army by striking 500 off from the Army and transferred the Charge of their pay to the easing of the King's Revenue on the Navy But that Charge being now increased again and brought to the former certainty I conceive I might truly say There was in my time an ease to the Crown of England all things considered which formerly it had not It being not with the prejudice of the King's Service elsewhere or lessening the standing Army which in all times hath been the strongest support of the King's Justice and Ministers there and which it deeply concerns the Crown of England to keep in such a Condition that they may be responsible to the King for the Services he shall Command So that though the Shipping Charge was paid the last year yet so paid that the King's Army was weakened 500 Foot whereas now it is paid and the King's Army raised to a certainty again and a Change is made to the better for instead of 500 Foot there is 600 Horse And that I say
single Testimony that on the matter confesses the thing in a great part For the increase of Shipping the Gentleman question'd it not Increase of Shipping and really there is now 100 Tun for one that was there before my coming And if I had time to send into Ireland for the Certificates of the Officer of the Ports the Surveyor I think who views the Ports once a Year it should appear to Your Lordships that I have not abused you nor the Honourable Gentlemen that hear me And whether that be an Argument that the Trade and Wealth of the Kingdom is improved I appeal to all that hear me when the Shipping doth so much increase And the Customs which were not above 13000 l. a year are come to 40000 l. and that on the same Book of Rates Concerning the Sentencing of Jurors Jurors Sentence in the Star-Chamber and the questioning of them in the Star-Chamber It is true divers of their Sentences were past And to those Sentences I refer my self till something be proved against the Truth and Justice of them And I think it will stand with Your Lordships Goodness to judge the best of the Court of Castle-Chamber wherein the Deputy hath but one Voice They being the King's Ministers and standing upon their Oathes to do their Duties But I think in my Conscience there was the greatest reason in the World to sentence those Persons And when it comes to be examined it will prove so And unless a strict hand be in that kind held upon the Natives the Priests shall carry them against all things that can be For either they do not or will not understand their Evidence so that it begets one of the most crying Sins in Ireland And if some Examples have been made they are upon strict Grounds and Reasons of State For if Jurors going directly and manifestly contrary to their Evidence be not punished that high and ancient Trial by Jury will fall And is it not ordinary in England to have Juries Sentenced for not finding according to the Evidence But if any one hath not been Just upon instancing of the particulars I will Answer for his Vote as well as I can For it must stand or fall according to the Merit of the Cause But one thing which I observe the Gentleman to say is very Considerable for he tells what was spent there this last Year This I have little to Answer for For when I came out of Ireland there was 100000 l. in the exchequer and how it hath been issued I know not but it hath not been done by my Warrant or Direction yet I doubt not but it will appear when examined that it hath been faithfully and justly disposed But I am not to Answer for it only I can say That when I came out of that Kingdom the Kingdom was so far from being 60000 l. in Debt as some such thing was spoken that there was 100000 l. in the King's Coffers And for the 50000 l. received by me in England Mr. Vice-Treasurer in Ireland is Accomptable for it though Mr. Vice-Treasurer never touched the money and my self as little And Mr. Vice-Treasurer discharges himself of it by Warrants issued from me and charged it upon other Accomptants who when they come to Account I doubt not but a good Account will be given Though under favour of the Gentleman of the 50000 l. 14000 l. is yet unpaid only there is an Assignment But it lies on him and his Credit for discharge of the Kings Service And it must lye on him or on some other person if himself have nothing left him And whereas it is said the money I had as borrowed was taken out when the King's Army was in want I desire Your Lordships to observe It was two Years ago when I had this money and then there was 100000 l. in Surplusage And though the King gave me Liberty of His Goodness to use it three Years it was not wanting to the Army when it stood in need of it The next thing urged was my Cozenage in the Custom-house and that I had there Cozened the King notably 5 or 6000 l. a year deep To Answer this I reserve my self till I come to the particular Article but desire leave with all Modesty to say That it shall appear I have not Cozened nor deceitfully abused His Majesty for a Farthing Token neither in that nor in any thing else And that there is no other Allowance nor Defalcation by the Grant wherein I am Interessed for 15600 l. a year and 8000 l. Fine then was allowed to the former Farmers that had it at the Rent of 13000 l. a year And that I have made the King a much more profitable bargain than he had or could have without it The next was for the Revenues of the Church That they were got without Rules of Justice And were an Offering of Rapine And that I had an Eye to my own Preferment in the Person of my Lord of Canterbury To that I have already Answered And thus having run over all the Preamble I humbly begg leave to make some Observations upon the Testimonies produced viz. That the Examinations of Sir John Clotworthy and my Lord Ranulagh I conceive do not concern me Mr. Barnewells was for things spoken when I was out of the Kingdom and were concerning Sir George Rateliffe and not me For the Remonstrances shewed wherein they disclaim the Preamble to the Act for four Subsidies I beseech Your Lordships to consider how unlikely it is that I should do any thing in that kinde fraudulently or surreptitiously For by the Custom of that Kingdom the Laws must be transmitted hither under the Hand of the Deputy and Council and so pass the Seal and be returned to Ireland when that Law was transmitted I was here in England as I take it And absolutely and directly I protest I never knew any thing in the World of that Preamble never saw it nor heard of it I think till I saw it in the Copy of the Remonstrance I never heard it was excepted against it having pass'd the Vote and three times reading in both Houses And I would have consented to have it struck out as in truth I will now being far from any thing of vanity and not thinking my self better or worse by being put in or out And if it were charged upon me as a Crime or were material for me to prove it I think I could by Witness in Town prove That it was the general Vote of the Commons House and passed with as much Applause and Chearfulness as any thing And if my Lord Dillon and Sir Adam Loftus and some other of the Irish Commissioners were examined upon Oath I believe they would Swear they never heard any Exceptions against it till the time I was Impeached with High Treason For the Particular concerning Sir Pierce Crosby it concerned not me but the reason of his being put from the Board was this All Laws must first be transmitted
accordingly yea their Houses broke open and their Goods taken away and brought to my Lord of Strafford 's House where they were employed in his works The like we shall instance in Tobacco 15. Next we shall shew to Your Lordships how he hath levied War upon the King's Subjects We opened in the beginning what an Arbitrary Jurisdiction he set up here we shall shew how he used it by a meer course of Enmity and Hostility For My Lords this was the course If a Decree or Order were made by him and not obeyed he issues a Warrant to the Serjeant at Arms to go to the next Garrison and take Soldiers with an Officer and carry them to the House of the party in question it is no matter where it was but to the House of them that were pretended to be disobedient they were to go If the Decree had been to raise so much money or to put parties in possession In plain terms the Soldiers were to lye like Free-booters and Enemies on the King's People to eat them up They have killed their Sheep their Oxen and they have lain not on the parties only but on their Tenants till the party comes in and renders himself They have burnt their Houses taken their Wives and Friends and carried them away till Obedience was rendered and this is a levying of War upon the King For the King and the People are both so united in Affection and Right of Law that there cannot be Violence offered to the King but it redounds to the People nor can any Oppress the People in this sort but it redounds to His Majesty Besides it is contrary to a Law of that Kingdom whereby it is Enacted That if any person shall assess Horse or Foot on any of the King's People without their consent it is High Treason The next thing we shall go to is the Favour he shewed to the Papists in their Compositions and Exemptions from all penalties of Law for they were expresly not to be proceeded against nor to be Convicted and so that which hath influence into Religion and Reformation is quite taken away and nothing but matter of Profit is left The next Article is that that concerns the Kingdom of Scotland First he begins with them in Ireland contrives an Oath which is set forth in the Articles That they shall obey the King's Royal Commands without exception This he enforceth by Fining and Imprisoning them that disobeyed him And so in all the other particulars when his Proclamations were broken his course was by Fine and Imprisonment to enforce an Obedience My Lords He doth not only press them in their Estates but strives to infuse into His Majesty an ill Opinion of them he provokes and incites Him by all his Arguments to lay down his Mercy and Goodness and Justice and to fall into an offensive War against that Kingdom He gives out that the Nation of them not this or that man are Rebels and Traytors And if it please the King to bring him back to the Sword indeed he is fit for that it is a violent weapon he will root out the Scottish Nation Branch and Root some few excepted of those that had taken the Oath When he comes into England he finds that His Majesty with great Wisdom had pacified those Storms and Troubles that threatned us there Yet he doth incense the King still to follow this to an Offensive War and prevails He plots to call a Parliament but with an intention if it furnished not his design it should be broken and he would set up other ways of force to raise Moneys of the Kingdom and this fell out unhappily For thus far his project took the Parliament was broken and broken at the very time when the Subject was in debate and consideration how to have yielded Supply to His Majesty But that he might break it he falsly informs the King That the Parliament had denied to Supply him there is his Counsel that the Parliament had forsaken the King and now the King having tryed his People might use all other ways for the procuring and raising of moneys and the same day wherein that Parliament was unhappily Dissolved he gives his further Counsel to His Majesty which because no man can put such a Spirit of Malice into the words besides himself I shall take the boldness to read That having tryed the Affections of his People he was loose and absolved from all Rules of Government and he was to do every thing that Power would admit And that His Majesty had tryed all ways and was refused and should be acquitted both of God and Man And that His Majesty had an Army in Ireland which he might employ to reduce this Kingdom It is added in the printed Book to reduce them to Obedience I know not who Printed it but the Charge is only to reduce this Kingdom And My Lords you may please to consider what a sad time this man took to reflect upon these bad Councels when our Hearts were swoln with Sorrow for that unhappy breach of the last Parliament And what doth he advise the King what positions offers he That he was absolved from all Rules of Government If there be no Rule of Government My Lords where is the Rule of Obedience for how shall the People know to obey when there is no Rule to direct them what to obey He tells the King he was refused which was untrue for he was not refused to the last breath we had in Parliament but we spake in that point how to supply the King and to prefer it at that time before the Complaints of our just Grievances But what doth he fall into that which in another Article we charge him with a Plot and Conspiracy betwixt him and Sir George Ratcliffe to bring in the Irish Army for our Confusion to root out our Laws and Government a pernicious Counsel He says not you shall do it but he that perswades it doth as much as if in express terms he had counselled the acting of it Doth he mean that we should be to his Irish Pattern for speaking of the Irish Army consisting of Papists and his Adherents he said that he would make it a Pattern for all the Kingdoms did he mean to reduce us to the Pattern that he hath placed in Ireland Surely he meant to reduce us to a Chaos and Confusion He would have us without all Rules of Government and these be the means wicked and cruel Councels and the Cruelty of an Army inspired with his Spirit and consisting of Papists Enemies of our Religion And what Mercy could we of this Religion expect from Popish Enemies with Swords in their hands That cannot but strike all English Hearts with Horrour and Dread that an Irish Army should be brought into England to reduce the Subjects of England I hope we never were so far gone in any thing as that we should need an Army to reduce us I cannot but say here is the Counsel of
things as may advance the King's Service and that from them it passes to the Lord Keeper or Chancellor That he gave no Directions about it nor was any proof offered that he did as to the Execution he never did Act nor stay a minute as President after that Commission granted which appears by the Date which was 21 March 8 Car. and he went towards Ireland July following and being neither privy to the taking out the Commission nor Execution he appealed to their Lordships and the Gentlemen of the House of Commons Whether he could be Criminal That if there be an Error in a Judge so that he gives a Sentence otherwise than a man of better Vnderstanding conceives Reason for there is no cause it should be heightned to a Treason to take from him his Life and Honor merely because he was no wiser That what Mr. John Gore speaks to is not in his Charge That to what Musgrave deposeth he can say nothing but by way of Divination that he is but a single Witness speaks not to the Charge that what he sayes will hardly convince a man of a Trespass it being Grounded on a Rule in our Law Boni Judicis est ampliare Jurisdictionem as far as in Reason and Justice they may As to Thorp's Testimony which he speaks to was before the Commission 8 13 Car. and so is not within the Charge This he proved Witnesses for the Earl Slingsby Railton and Little that from July 8. 1633. he was out of England and returned not till 1639. by Mr. Slingsby his Secretary Mr. Railton and Mr. Tho. Little but not upon Oath To this the Managers rejoyned That whereas he said the Charge is not Treason if the Fact appear satisfaction will in good time be given That though this particular is not Treason yet all the parts of it amount to the subversion of the Laws of the Kingdom that is prest as Treason and this as an Evidence Then they fell upon that Expression in the charge Art 2. that at a Publick Assizes he should say That some of the Justices were all for Law and nothing would please them but Law but they should find that the King 's little finger should be heavier than the Loins of the Law This they indeavoured to prove Witnesses William Long Sir Thomas Leyton Marmaduke Potter Mr. William Long deposed That he heard him say the words Sir Thomas Leyton deposed the same and the deposition of Marmaduke Potter deceased since his Examination was read being to the same words To this he answered He could not possibly be guilty of the words as laid in the Charge which sayes it was August after the 21 March 8 Car. at what time he was in Ireland but he would not stand upon Niceties that truth might appear that the words he spoke were That the little finger of the Law was heavier then the King's Loins which agrees with the eccasion for Sir Thomas Leyton Sherriff Levying with great rigor some Knighthood-Money which was paid before but by some Error above sent down again upon which he desired Sir Thomas to return the Money and he would see him discharged in the Exchequer it being so great an Injustice to the Persons and to satisfie the Country he told them the Commission was of Grace and Favour applying those words before recited that none of the Witnesses took notice of the Occasion Dr. Duncomb being demanded what he knew deposed for the Earl Witnesses Dr. Duncomb for the Earl Sir William Pennyman That Sir Edward Stanhope told him in the presence of divers that my Lord had said That speaking of the Prerogative as easier then the Common Law he heard him use the words before recited But Sir William Pennyman positively averred it to be as my Lord had declared at which the managers took great Exception saying He did his duty well being a Member not to inform the House before The Earl desired he might not be prejudiced for his Testimony professing he would put himself upon God's Mercy and not make use of any member of either House though his principal Witnesses were of them rather than be guilty of the Injustice of overthrowing another to save himself Then Sir David Fowles was offered as a Witness but my Lord excepted against him being then a Prisoner in the Fleet at my Lord's Suit But he was over-ruled the Evidence being for the King He deposed positively That he heard the words but the occasion he did not remember but being interrogated as to the occasion a little after he answered That before my Lord went to Ireland he made a Speech to the Countrey and desired them to go on in their Service and to break out in these words which as it contradicted the former Evidence as to the Occasion so he contradicted himself saying but just before he could not well remember the Occasion Sir William Ingram deposed the words but could not remember the Occasion To this the Earl replied That admitting the words spoken Sir William Ingram yet they were not Treason and referred that as a point of Law in due time to be argued by his Councel and the Managers adding they had proved the Fact the Court adjourned This day they proceeded to the Third Article Thursday March 26. The Fourth Day That the Earl should say That Ireland was a Conquered Kingdom and the King might do with them what he pleased That the Charters of Dublin were nothing worth and did bind the King no further than he pleased The Earl moved that he might add something material to what was spoken yesterday the Manager opposed it as contrary to Order The Earl said it was a Court of Honour and a Rule to it self alledging the disadvantage of suddain Answers but it was denied him Then he moved the Witnesses might not stand with the Committee but apart as in other Courts which was also denied Robert Kennyday was produced Robert Kennyday but the Earl objected against him as a person Sentenced for Misdemeanors in his Office of Remembrancer saying It was his great Misfortune that all that have suffered under the King's Justice in his Ministry are ready to be Witnesses against him But the Manager replied If he was guilty of Extortion yet not of Perjury So he was sworn and deposed positively that he heard the words Sept. 30. 1633 spoken at the Presenting a New Mayor of Dublin The Earl of Cork was sworn against whom the Earl Excepted Richard Earl of Cork in regard of an Information against him which under his hand and Seal he had confessed and acknowledged himself in the King's Mercy for which he might be supposed to be displeased at him for something done in that Cause To this it was said the reflection was unfit the Earl of Cork being a Privy-Councellor so he was admitted He said he came over with a Resolution not to complain and left his Papers behind him that he might have no temptation to it but
because he had not sued out his Pardon and there continued till March 1637. The Lord Dillon deposed much to the same effect Lord Dillon Lord Ranulagh Earl of Cork only he said my Lord gave no Vote in the Sentence The Lord Ranulagh also deposed to the same effect and that during the Debate the Lord-Deputy spake not a word or gave them interruption The Earl of Cork deposed That when the Sentence was read in the Star-Chamber my Lord-Deputy said he would not lose his share in the honour of it Lord Dillon testified the same and that my Lord said it was a Noble and Just Sentence Then the Managers proceeded to the proving his Execution of Martial-Law upon another person and William Castigatt deposed Will. Castigat That one Thomas Denewit was hanged upon the bough of a Tree as was said for a quarter of Beef but knows not whether by a Jury and he takes it my Lord Strafford was present Lord Dillon testified the same and that it was for stealing Beef and running from his Colours The Earl Ranulagh deposed the same and that the Lord Conway offered Reasons why he should not die for the Fact his running away being occasioned by his Lieutenant's bidding him desiring to be discharged go and be hanged which he did leaving his Musket with the Corporal The Lord Conway said he remembred some such thing but imperfectly The Earl answered The Earl of Strafford's Defence That the Lord Deputies have ever Exercised Martial Law upon the March of the Armies as well in time of Peace as War That the Lord Mountnorris was condemned for Breach of two of those Articles Lord Wilmot wherein he was not Judge he produced the Lord Willmot who affirmed That he himself being General the Lords Faulkland Grandison and Chichester used it That in 3 or 4 Parliaments it was never complained of That to govern an Army without it is impossible occasions rise on a saddain in an Army and for Example sake must be suddainly redressed That there were Provost Martials in every Province From whence the Earl inferred Lord Dillon he had done nothing de Novo The Lord Dillon affirmed That Martial Law had been practised and men hanged by it in times of Peace as to Mountnorris his Sentence he offered a Letter to Secretary Cook Sir Robert Farrer to show that he was a Suitor to the King for him but it was not permitted to be read Sir Robert Farrer testified that my Lord Strafford said he would give no Judgment concerning the Lord Mountnorris and that he sate bare in token that he was no Judge That he desired the Court not to look upon him but go to the Cause Sir George Wentworth averred the same and that my Lord would not permit him to give his Vote in regard he was his Kinsman That what was done was by the Council of War and that before they met he did not acquaint them with the business That his design was only to discipline the Lord Mountnorris and teach him to govern his Speech with more modesty To Denwitt he confessed and justified it from necessity the Army being then upon march to Carlisle and if not punished it would have been of dangerous Example that the Facts were proved That he had before been burnt in the hand that the Law justifies him in it producing several Statutes of Ireland 20 H. 6. c 19. 7 H. 7. c 1.10 H. 7. which make running from the Colours Felony and are in force in Ireland The Managers Urged That the Statutes were against him for that Felony is to be Tryed at Common-Law and so intended by those Statutes Then the Earl of Ely was sworn who deposed That Martial Law was in use in the Kingdom of Ireland and was two-fold Summary and Plenary the first for Rebels and Kerns that kept the Wood the other in the time of War in the Field which ended when the Army was dissolved that the use of it was rare in regard of the damage to the King the party condemned losing only life not Goods and Estate To my Lord 's saying the Nobility lost their blood in the Conquest of Ireland They said This way their own blood may be spent in the Peace of Ireland and of England too Upon Monday they proceed to the 6th Article of putting the Lord Mountnorris out of Possession of 200 l. per annum Monday March 29. 7th Day Article 6. Lord Mount-Norris Mr. Anslow upon a paper Petition of one Rolstone The Decree was read and Lord Mountnorris deposed That he was put out by my Lord's Warrant August 29. 1637. Mr. Anslow deposed the same To this the Earl Answered That his greatest grief was that the Arrow came out of the Quiver of the House of Commons that in his grey hairs he should be misunderstood by the Companions of his Youth The Earls Defence if the Decree were just he hoped it would go far in the Case Justice knowing no priviledge of Peers above common persons that it was warranted by the Statute of H. 6. which saves the King's Prerogative as also by his Commission which authorized him to proceed secundùm consuetudinem terrae which was read That it was agreeable to the practise of former Deputies who Exercised it in the nature of a Court of Requests This he proved by Robert Dillon in the Lords Cork Ely Faulkland Robert Dillon Grandison and Chichester's times of Government Lord Dillon by Orders he had seen under their hands The Lord Dillon confirming it and that he had seen several Petitions under the Lord-Deputies hands alone That he never knew my Lord Strafford meddle with matters of Law with Equity he hath which the Earl confessed He further shewed the necessity of the procedure by Petitions the Irish being Poor the person that came against the Lord Mountnorris was in forma pauperis he produced several Warrants and Orders of former Deputies to that purpose one from the Lord of Cork and particularly in the Lord Mountnorris his Case as appeared by the Decree read it was for the relief of a poor man whom my Lord Mountnorris had oppressed and violently possest himself of Lands to the value of 200 l. per annum that the Lord Mountnorris was kept in prison for contempt at the King's Suit in Star-Chamber and not for refusing to sue out his Pardon which he proved by Mr. Slingsby and Sir Adam Loftus and had he not had so short warning said he could produce the Orders of the Castle Chamber to make it Evident which the Lord Dillon also testified concluding That having authority from the King follewing the Rules and Practice of former Governors relieving the Poor who cannot follow a legal Process not intrenching upon the other Courts he hoped could never rise up in Judgment against him as Treason either in it self or by application To this Mr. Glyn Replied Manager replies That he would not acknowledg a cumulative Treason but must have
Subjects of the Scotish Nation inhabiting in Ireland for the Covenant sworn by some of their Countrey-men in Scotland without His Majesties Authority and Consent Their dislike thereof and the consideration that their causes of that action may be understood to reflect on the Petitioners though innocent They crave leave to vindicate themselves from so great a Contagion and desire his Lordship to prescribe a way by Oath or otherwise to free themselves from these proceedings to declare their acknowledgment of the King 's Regal Power and their dislike of that Covenant and of all other Covenants entred into c. without His Majesties Regal Authority which they are desirous to manifest by offering their Lives and Fortunes to vindicate the Honor c. of their Sovereign which they are ready to do in equal manner and measure with other His Majesties Subjects c. and divers names were to the said Petition subscribed In consideration of which Petition we cannot but commend the Wisdom of the Petitioners which we will not fail humbly to represent to His Majesty and for that we know many of this Kingdom have expressed good Affection to His Majesty and His Service and dislike those Disorders We hold it fit c. to free them the better from the Crimes and Scandals which their Countrey-men have gone into as also to free them from all prejudice and to approve to the King and to the whole World their Allegiance to him and his Regal Power and the dislike of that unlawful Oath and Covenant We do therefore Ordain That all and every Person of the Scotch Nation that inhabit or have Estates or any Houses Lands Tenements or Hereditaments within Ireland shall take the Oath herein expressed on the Holy Evangelists on pain of His Majesties High Displeasure The tenor of which Oath follows c. To several select persons c. Authorizing them to call before them and administer the Oath to every person of the Scotch Nation c. At such time and place c. And such Instructions as shall be in that behalf given by the Deputy and Council c. And to certifie the Names of all that take the Oath and if any refuse to certifie their Names Quality and Residences to the Lord Deputy c. And there is a Command That all of the Scotch Nation do appear before the said Commissioners at times by them to be appointed and to take the said Oath before them and that all persons may have due notice we think fit this be published Dated May 1639. To prove the Design of betraying Knockfergus Slingsby Mr. Slingsby Examined attested That it was Advertized that when the King was at Berwick one Trueman had writ a Letter for betraying the Castle there he was sent to Dublin and Examined remanded back Tryed found Guilty Condemned and Executed for the Fact My Lord added further That at the same time there was the like Oath and proceedings in England That what he did was for securing the Peace of Ireland and had it been done by himself solely as Deputy he humbly conceives it no Treason but he had the King's Letter of his own hand-writing which he produced as followeth WENTWORTH COnsidering the great number of Scots that are in Ireland The King's Letter to the Lord-Deputy about the Oath and the dangerous consequences may follow if they should joyn with the Covenanters in Scotland I hold it necessary you should use your best Endeavour to try them by an Oath not only to disclaim their Countreymens Proceedings but likewise never to joyn with any in Covenant or otherwise against Me To which purpose I Command you to frame and administer such an Oath to the abovesaid intent to my Scotish Subjects of that Kingdom that I may know the well from the ill-affected of that Nation of which fail not as you love my Service And so I rest Your assured Friend Ch. R. Dated 16 Jan. 1638. Whitehall That therefore having his Majesties Warrant he conceives doth justifie him and that he had rather suffer by his Obedience then dispute his Majestie 's Command As to the Fining of Stuart c. it was the Act of the whole Court of Castle-Chamber where he had but one Vote the greatness of the Fine was to shew the greatness of the Crime and that little of it was paid that to refuse the Oath of Allegiance is Praemunire in comparison of which this was a moderate Fine That there is nothing of Ecclesiastical concern but temporal Allegiance in the Oath To the words about the Scottish Nation he absolutely denied he ever spake them or thought them he owes more Honour to His Majestie 's Native Countrey and from his Soul wisheth it all Prosperity that he must be out of his Witts to call a whole Nation Traytors knowing many of them to be faithful Loyal Subjects whatever he spake was concerning the Faction in it as to the multitudes going away Sir John Clotworthy names not one of that multitude and if they did go rather then give that Pledg of their Allegiance who could help it As to the Schoolmaster 's Testimony he is positive that my Lord spoke the rancorous Words against the Scottish Nation Octob. 10. 1639. but he proved by Mr. Little and Mr. Ralton that he came from Ireland Sept. 12. 1639. a month before and was in London Sept. 21. 1639. and therefore being a single Witness and Evidently swearing false in the first part he hopes their Lordships will credit him accordingly As to the last he having not yet learned his Lesson perfectly that Loftus makes it another thing swearing the Earl said He hoped to root c. such as would not submit to the Ecclesiastical Orders whereas there are few of the Scottish Nation that do not submit He then produced Sir Philip Manwaring who attested Sir Philip Manwaring That he heard the whole Speech and that my Lord spoke only against a Faction of the Scottish Nation whom he would endeavour to bring to Obedience and that he Explained himself to speak of those of Ireland not of Scotland whose Laws and Customs he did not understand and that he heard not one word of Root and Branch or Stock and Branch but that he heard Mr. Wainsford Master of the Rolls commend my Lord for his Caution that he had reflected on the Faction not on the Nation Then my Lord concluded That he hoped nothing was proved against him of Treason for if Obeying Commands in this Case be so he confessed being not better informed if it were to do again he should be that Traitor over again Mr. Whitlock presently laid hold of this and said Managers Reply This justifying his Offence against Law in that Great Presence was a great aggravation of his Crime That it is well known a new Oath cannot be imposed without Assent in Parliament it is Legislativa Potestas That he obtained the King's Letter upon Mis-information As to Steward 's Sentence his fault is the
greater for drawing others to joyn with him in it That the Oath injoyned in England seems to have followed the Precedent of Ireland that though Salmon mistakes the time he does not mistake the substance and that though my Lord Strafford 's Witnesses do not remember the Words about the Scots it is no impeachment of the Witnesses against him that do Concluding That this administring an Oath was assuming a Power above Regal for this is not penes Potestatem Ministri Mr. Maynard added That though the King injoyned him to administer an Oath yet not to punish the Refusers Upon Monday April 5. the Commons proceeded to the 20 21 22 Munday April 5. Artic. 20 21 22 23 24. 23 and 24 Articles but before they began the Lord High Steward informed them That upon my Lord's Petition the Earl of Northumberland had been Examined but being late could not be Cross Examined by the Commons Mr. Whitlock desired he might be reserved and some other Witnesses My Lord opposed Supplemental Evidence and desired he might Cross Examine my Lord of Canterbury They answered My Lord of Canterbury was Impeached but they did not intend to make use of his Evidence and the other Witnesses were such as were to speak vivâ voce instancing in Serjeant Glanvil Mr. Whitlock then begun to open the foresaid Articles in gross which the Earl desired the Lords might not be acquainting them his Memory could not serve him to make replyes if they inverted the Method That any other person in his Circumstances would think as long time as he had been favoured with to recollect and put his Notes in Order no more than necessary though a far abler man than himself Mr. Glyn said he never knew a Prisoner prescribe a Method especially in case of High Treason My Lord then desired he might have time till to morrow for his Answer which being offered with all humility for his Defence he hoped their Lordships might grant without Offence But he was over-ruled and they proceeded Mr. Whitlock proceeded in the Charge That he advised the King that the Scots Demands were a sufficient ground of War that they struck at the Root of Monarchy and were not only matters of Religion That he seized their Ships in Ireland procured the Parliament in Ireland to give assistance and supply for a War against Scotland That his design was the same against England That Sir George Ratcliff told Sir Robert King The King had 30000 men and 400000 l. in his Purse and his Sword by side and if he wants money who will pity him he may make peace when he will though that be the worst of Evils that if the Parliament did not supply him he might use his Prerogative and would be acquitted before God and Man if he took other Courses to supply himself and he would be ready to serve him in any other way that he advised the Dissolving of the Parliament and said that they having denied the King Supplies he might provide for the Kingdom by such wayes as he thought fit and not suffer himself to be mastered by the wilfulness or frowardness of his People That having tried all wayes he was to do all that Power would admit being absolved from all Rules of Government and acquitted before God and Man that he had an Army in Ireland which he might Employ to reduce his Kingdoms For proof Earl of Traquair the Earl of Traquair deposed That the Earl said that the Vnreasonable demands of Subjects in Parliament was a ground for the King to put himself into a posture of War and that at the Council-Board the Earl with the rest concluded That if the Commissioners from Scotland to whom the King had given leave to come up to represent their demands did not give good satisfaction touching them the Council would be assistant to his Majesty to put him into a posture of War to reduce them to their Obedience but who spoke first at the Board he remembers not After some debate about reading the Examinations of Witnesses not present Earl of Morton the Lord High Steward ruling it the Examination of the Earl of Morton was read he being sick That the Earl had said as before for the Ground of War and that the Examinate told his Majesty he had given the Scots leave to Petition in Parliament for Redress and without hearing their Reasons there was not sufficient Ground for War to which his Majesty said he spoke reason howbeit the Lord Strafford said there was ground enough for War Whence Mr. Whitlock observed That though he knew not the Reasons nor was versed in Republica aliena yet he repeats his advice That these Demands c. That the Scots Commissioners by his Majestie 's leave being on their way to give Reasons yet the Earl of Strafford said the demands were not matters of Religion but strook at the Root of Government and such as he thought were fit for his Majesty to punnish Sir Henry Vane deposes Sir Hen. Vane That after the breaking up of the Parliament some thing was proposed and he himself proposed a Defensive War the Earl of Strafford an Offensive The Earl of Northumberland's Examination read Earl of Northumberland was to the same Effect The Bishop of London Lord Treasurer of England Bishop of London deposed That among others my Lord Strafford gave advice That his Majesty should prepare himself to reduce them by Force his Majesty having acquainted them upon the Earl of Traquair 's Relation That some of their Demands were prejudicial to the Crown and which he could not grant That the War being at ancther meeting resolved upon whether Offensive or Defensive there were divers opinions but believes my Lord Strafford inclined to an Offensive War Nicholas Barnwell deposed Mr. Nicholas Barnwell That Sir Robert Loftus seized several Scotch Ships and Boats and that others hearing fled away and that Sir George Ratcliff was displeased with Sir Robert for making it publick by which means they Escaped Then the Lord Primate of Ireland's Examination was read Archbishop of Armagh That discoursing about levying of money the Earl of Strafford declared that he agreed with those of England who thought in Case of imminent necessity the King might make use of his Prerogative to Levy what he pleased adding That His Majesty was first to try his Parliament and if they supplied him not then he might make use of his Prerogative as he pleased himself The Lord Conway deposed Lord Conway That in private discourse about the 12 Subsidies the Lord Strafford said words to this Effect That the King had need and if the Parliament would not supply the King though he hoped they would the cause being just and lawful the King was justified before God and man if he sought means to help himself though it were against their Wills Sir Henry Vane deposed that the Lord Strafford said Sir Hen. Vane In case the Parliament did not succeed he would be
or he serve him in he took to be lawful wayes and that in all Debates he concluded That the safest and surest Expedient was a Parliament to make both the King and People Happy As to his procuring the Parliament of Ireland to declare their Assistance in a War against the Scots he desired the Remonstrance of the Parliament before the 4. Subsidies might be read which was THat whereas they have with one Consent cleerly given to His Majesty Part of the Remonstrance of Parliament in Ireland about War with the Scots Four entire Subsidies towards His present Preparations to reduce His Disaffected Subjects the Covenanters in Scotland to their due Obedience They still hope that His Majesties great Wisdom and unexampled Clemency may yet prevail with the worse affected of those His Subjects to bring them to that conformity and submission which by the Laws of God and Nature they owe to him But if His Majesty shall be enforced to use His Power to vindicate His just Authority This House for Themselves and the Commons of this Kingdom do profess That their Zeal and Duty shall not stay here at these Four Subsidies but humbly promise That they will be ready with their Persons and Estates to their uttermost ability for His Majesties future Supply in Parliament as His great Occasions by the continuance of His Forces against that distemper shall require This they pray that it may be represented to His Majesty by the Lord Lieutenant and Recorded as an Ordinance of Parliament and published in Print as a Testimony to all the World and succeeding Ages That as this Kingdom hath the happiness to be Governed by the best of Kings so they desire to give cause That he shall account this People among the best of His Subjects If he had procured this Declaration it had been no Crime but he had no part in it but it was their own voluntary free and chearful Action For the Confederacy charged between him and Sir George Radcliff to bring over the Irish Army to destroy England if it be made appear that he had so much as a thought of it he would give Judgment against himself as unworthy to live who would enslave himself and his Posterity That he hath a Heart that loves Freedom as well as another man and values it as highly and in a modest and dutiful way will go as far to defend it it is an Opinion he learnt in the Honourable House of Commons That to stand for Property and Liberty renders a man the best Subject That this Opinion hath gone along with him ever since and he hopes he shall carry it to his Grave That what is deposed by Sir Robert King and Lord Ranulagh as to Sir George Ratcliff cannot affect him since the meanest Subject in the Kingdom cannot commit Treason by Letter of Attorney And it is a priviledg which though he hath the honour to be a Peer he never desires to do it by Proxy and that the Army was never intended to set foot on English Ground Earl of Northumberland he desires my Lord Northumberland 's Examination may witness for him by which it appeared they were designed for the West of Scotland nor did he ever hear of any Design of reducing the Subjects of England by that Army Marquess Hamilton Sir Tho. Lucas Mr. Slingsby The Lord Marquess Hamilton also attested the same Sir Tho. Lucas Serjeant Major General of the King's Horse attested the same Mr. Slingsby who was of the Councel of War affirmed the design was to land them at Ayre in Scotland and that he had order to provide a Magazine Shipping and Flat-Bottom Boats for that Design and that he had a Coast Map drawn of that Place for that purpose Sir William Pennyman also attested Sir William Pennyman That some of the Lords Petitioning the Irish Army might not land in England my Lord Strafford told him He wondred at it for there never was any such intention As to the Testimony of his Brother deposed by Sir Tho. Barrington That England would never be well till it was conquered again he observed That his Brother his Friends his Table his House his Bed every place is searched to convince him of that which he thanked God he was never guilty of That what his Brother sayes is nothing to him and he desired he might be Examined but Mr. Maynard opposed it as tending to clear himself and so he was not heard The discourse between my Lord Bristol and himself he confesses but that what he said was in case of Extream Necessity as Invasion when there is not time to call a Parliament he conceives the King being accountable to God Almighty for Himself and People he may Use his Power And for the other words That the King is not to be Mastered by the frowardness c. he does not remember it but relyes so on the Honour of my Lord Bristol that he affirming it he will not deny it but reserves to himself in this case the Benefit of the Law that it is but a single Testimony He owns what my Lord Newborough deposed and thinks the King is not secluded more then another person from doing the best for himself in a fair and just and honourable way The same he sayes to my Lord of Holland 's Deposition That it is grounded upon Salus Populi Suprema Lex and speaking it as he did with these Limitations doth quite alter the Case besides that these discourses were private and rather argumentative and problematical then positive and to make these Treason were to debar men the joy and comfort of human society But all this while these were but words which by Act of Parliament though much higher are not Treason citing a Clause of 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. Be it Enacted by c. if any Person or Persons do compass and imagine by open Preaching Express words or Saying to depose or deprive the King his Heirs or Successors from his or their Royal Estate or Title or openly publish or say by Express words or saying That any other Person or Persons other then the King his Heirs or Successors of Right ought to be c. yet the first and second offences are not made Treason but only the third That it was the wisdom of their Lordships Noble Ancestors to chain up this Lion by concluding what is Treason and not to suffer him to tear us all in pieces by Arbitrary Treason which would make actions of Treason more common than Actions of Trespass To the words charged in the 23d Article spoken at Council Board or Committee of Scotch affairs of the King 's being absolved from all Rules of Government c. Mr. Treasurer who deposed them hath reversed his Testimony saying first Your Majesty hath an Army in Ireland which you may employ there Afterwards upon being Ordered to repeat his Testimony he said which you may employ in England and whereas he calls in aid of my Lord of Northumberland his Lordship
in his Examination denies absolutely his hearing any such words he sayes indeed he conceives there was intended some Extraordinary wayes of raising money which my Lord Strafford sayes was meant of borrowing 3 or 400000 l. my Lord Marquess Hamilton remembers no such words Then he desired the Lord Treasurer might be examined who averred he never heard my Lord Strafford speak any such words The Lord Cottington averred the same only he heard my Lord Strafford say The Parliament had not provided for the King or had left the King without money which was no more then truth And to the extraordinary wayes That my Lord said the King ought to seek all due and legal wayes and use his Prerogative Castè Candidè and so my Lord concluded That Mr. Secretarie's at most was but a single Testimony of Words which by the before recited Statute requires two sufficient Lawful Witnesses or the voluntary confession of the Party He desired that the Antecedents and Consequents of his words might be taken together and that being spoken of a Case of extreme necessity and the King 's using his Power candidè caste and they would not with those restrictions and limitations with which he spake them he hoped appear so criminal And forthis purpose he desired the Earl of Northumberland's Examination might be read which was That he heard the Earl of Strafford often say That that Power was to be used Candidè Castè and an account thereof should be given to the Parliament that they might see it was only so used That further the Earl of Strafford said That the Kingdom could not be happy but by good agreement between the King and his People in Parliament The Marquess of Hamilton also being Examined attested the same and that heard him speak those words both before and after the Parliament and that it was upon the Occasion of his informing the King that the Scottish Army would certainly invade England Lord Goring and Sir Thomas German attested to the same Effect Lord Treasurer said he remembered the words but not the particular occasion He then added That as this was his meaning so it was cleared to be so by the subsequent Actions for nothing had been done upon it against the Laws and Customs of the Realm that these words were spoken in full Council where he was upon Oath to speak his Conscience and had he not done so he must have been perjured and if he must be either perjured to God or a Traytor to man he had learnt to fear him who can destroy both Soul and Body and not Man who can only kill the Body That it was but his Opinion if held pertinaciously may make a man a Heretick not a Traytor yet he was not pertinacious he pressed it no further nor was any thing done upon it He further desired their Lordships to consider the great Trusts and Thoughts they were born and bred to for the weighty imployments of the Kingdom but this would disable and discourage men from that service if a Councellor delivering his Opinion shall upon mistaking or not knowing the Law be brought into Question for his Life and Honour and Posterity and that few Wise and Noble Persons would upon such unsafe terms adventure to be Counsellors to the King humbly beseeching their Lordships to think of him so as not to bring an inconvenience upon themselves and Posterity To this Mr. Whitlock replyed That whereas my Lord Excuses his words as being only concurrent with the Vote of Council it is evident some were of another Opinion Managers reply That whereas he sayes he therefore gave advice conceiving the Scots Demands strook at the Root of Government it is plain they did not being since by Royal Assent made Acts of Parliament in Scotland it was his Resolution his Advice there should be an Offensive War For staying the Ships they will not insist upon it For his saying The King 's helping himself was a Natural Motion to do it against the Will of the Subjects was a Violent Motion and his Lordships Design and for helping the King in other wayes if the Parliament were Dissolved he was willing it should be so by proposing Supplies before Redress of Grievances and before a Resolution Whether they would give to inform against the Parliament by mis-information and for the Parliament of Irelands Resolution and Declaration it was by his procurement being Chief Governor there And for Vsing the Army against England admitting the primary Intention were to land them in Scotland but when the Army was landed his Intentions might change and it seems it was by his labouring to perswade the King to make Vse of it to reduce this Kingdom That no Answer was given by my Lord to those words That the King was not to be Mastered by the frowardness of his People c. That notwithstanding the Stat. of Ed. 6. it is High Treason to advise the Destruction of the King and though the words in themselves are not Treason yet as they declare an Intention of Subverting the Laws and Government of the Kingdom they are That Mr. Treasurer swears the words affirmatively and that others did not hear disproves not his Testimony but comparing all together it appears his Intention was to bring in that Army to reduce this Kingdom That His Majesty must not be mastered implyes he must master them and that by the force of others and to compel the Subjects to submit to an Arbitrary Power That nothing was done upon those Councels is no Excuse to him it is an Obligation to the Subjects to Love and Honour the King for rejecting them but yet some things were done which my Lord will never be able to justifie concluding That this was not only Crimen laesae Majestatis but also Reipublicae Mr. Maynard seconded Mr. Whitlock observing That my Lord had taken such a course to weaken the Testimonies that allowing it nothing will be so strong but he will take off the strength of it and that is by taking them in pieces and then saying they are but single Evidence whereas it is Evident that upon all occasions he spoke such words if his Adverbs Candidè Castè must be applyed to what is lawful they were needless and truly he may say it was done Cautè thô not Castè The Case comes to this There was a Parliament Sitting a little before he casts out words about raising Money which must be made good by Adverbs Money must be raised in an Extraordinary way the Parliament is broken a Necessity made and Soldiers must be brought in to make good these wayes take these asunder and my Lord will make it a good Action but taken together they make good the Charge and that though Treason is not in his words but in his wicked Counsels Mr. Glyn took up the Bucklers and added That he had ascended the Throne and by ill Counsels endeavoured to infuse his Venom into the King's Person and to Corrupt the Fountain but
and read it in English That the French King had appointed Officers to view mens books and accompts to know what the King might demand of them and force them to pay and something to this purpose That it was an Example or might be an Example to do the like in England Lord Cottington Henry Gogan Sir William Parkhurst and Mr. Gogan being Present Mr. Gogan sworn deposed to the same Effect and that he said to my Lord Cottington My Lord this is worthy your Consideration or hearing or to that purpose Sir William Parkhurst sworn deposed That they were discoursed about the Copper money made for Ireland in Queen Elizabeth 's time Sir William Parkhurst and shewed them such a Letter and read the contents in English as before expressed but further he heard him not say nor any thing as expressed to the Lord Cottington or that if the King should do so he should follow the Example of other Princes Sir Ralph Freeman sworn deposed Sir Ralph Freeman That in a Debate about Copper-money he saying the workmen would not work if paid in that money my Lord replyed You know what course to take with them you may send them to the House of Correction The Examination of Mr. Thomas Skinner was read he being not present and my Lord having a Liberty reserved to Cross-Examine him he in his Examination about the seisure of the Bullion applying with others to my Lord he told them he knew not of it till that morning and that it was no news in other Countries where Princes made use of such wayes to serve their Occasions and in Effect about the Cities ingratitude c. as the other Witnesses To this he answered after some Recollection The Earl's Answer That for that part which would have been the principal part of the Charge concerning his Approving Counselling or Devising these Projects there was no proof offered and that the Testimony of the Witnesses acquits him for the undutifulness of the City the proofs are full and fuller then any thing of the Charge since his Tryal began that at that time he thought so but since he is of another Opinion and expressed himself so at the Council of Peers at York upon the Cities lending the King 200000 l. and that he would serve them with his Life For the French Letter and what was said to the Lord Cottington Mr. Gogan is singular in his Testimony this Letter he received from the Lord of Leicester which mentioned how the Cardinal had given directions to go into the Houses of diverse Merchants in Paris c. and having read it said You see what is done in other places but God be thanked you have so Pious and Gracious a King that he thinks on none of these things My Lord Cottington being interrogated said he knew nothing of the Letter nor ever heard of it but because he would recall it he spake with Sir William Parkhurst and Mr. Palmer they told him that while my Lord was reading the Letter he was in another Room writing From whence my Lord concluded That having told their Lordships the truth clearly under Favour of these Gentlemen he thought nothing can incline one way or other to be an Accusation of High Treason Mr. Maynard replyed Managers Reply That his words concerning the Great City of the Kingdom was no such slight thing Mr. Stroud added That whereas my Lord sayes Words only are laid to his Charge words may be Treason and more dangerous than some Actions such were his Counselling the King and Provoking him to Tyrannical Actions to his Subjects but my Lord stayes not here for Four Aldermen were Committed that day he gave the Counsel concluding That his words and Actions agree in this Kingdom and the miseries of this Kingdom do agree with his words and Actions Mr. Maynard proceeded to the 27th Article Artic. 27. of the Earl's Levying Money in Yorkshire and threatning the Refusers to take satisfaction out of their Goods and that to refuse was little short of High Treason First the Petition of the Gentlemen of the County of Tork was read in these words WHereas Your Majesty imparted to us the danger The Petition of the Yorkshire Gentlemen by the incursions of the Scots and the necessity of continuing the Trained-Bands of this County in entertainment for two Months raising Money so long and did Royally assure us That the Wardships of such as dyed in this Imployment should be freed and one third part of the Trained-Bands should be abated for which we acknowledge our bounden thankfulness in ready obedience of Your Majesties Command we have represented to Your Majesty our present Condition and in the entrance of the business we found a great impediment and discouragement by certain Warrants produced for levying Money towards this new service wherein in the first place we cannot omit to let your Majesty know the great grief we have in that the County is there charged with disaffection and backwardness therein which as we are confident we never were guilty of so we were in good hope your Majesty had received no such Impression of us And in the next place we find our selves much grieved that the execution of such Warrants which we conceive illegal should be concluded and urged on peril of life notwithstanding the strictness of which Warrants we find divers parts of the County have not been able to pay the Money demanded and from thence and the attestation of divers Gentlemen we are assured the scarcity of Money is such that it is disabled from satisfying your expectation therein And that Your Majesty may know it is no pretence but a real poverty we are bold to represent the Charges viz of Ship-Money Vast expences the last year in Military affairs The Billeting and Insolency of Soldiers this Summer part of the time on the credit of the County Decay of Trade Stop of Markets Charge of Carriages especially in Harvest by which means not only the common people but most of the Gentry by the failing of Rents are much impoverished And therefore we petition Your Majesty You will accept our endeavour to prevail with the Country to raise so much Money as will pay the County one whole month from their first rising within which time as is generally reported Your Majesty hath Commanded the attendance of the Peers to consult for the safety of the Kingdom and pray the Trained-Bands may be continued in the Villages where they are Quartered except Your occasions otherwise require it and in the interim for the redress of these Grievances and security of Your Kingdom Your Majesty will please to Declare Your Pleasure for summoning the High Court of Parliament c. This Petition Sir Philip Stapleton deposed upon Oath Sir Philip Stapletan Sir Hugh Cholmley to be the true Petition Then Sir Hugh Cholmley deposed That according to the desire of the Gentlemen this Petition was by the Lord Wharton delivered to the Earl who
be an endeavourer to Subvert the Fundamental Lawes of the Land in this kind I beseech your Lordships call to mind what hath been proved that at all Publick Debates at Council and Privately apart I have humbly represented to His Majesty from time to time That Parliaments are the Only Way to Settle Himself in Quietness in the Kingdom and to acquire Prosperity and Happiness to Himself and His People And when you shall hear them press upon me that I have endeavoured to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land I beseech your Lordships to call to mind how frequently and fervently I have advised the King to call for Parliaments which under God is the great Protection and Defence of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom To the 25th I have Answered already and to the 26th likewise The next is the 27th and for that I can say no more then that your Lordships have heard the Proofs for the Levying of Money it hath been cleared to your Lordships that nothing was done by me but by Consent of the Country with their Unanimous good liking and for their benefit and advantage Being done so and for so good ends as I trust that shall not be enforced against me and it is very strange to me why it should be expected that if two Armies be in the Field one against the other as there was at York that they should be Govern'd with as much quietness as an Atturney walking with his Writs at his Girdle betwixt the King's Bench and the Common-pleas For Armies cannot be Govern'd without some Latitude in this kind Inter arma Silent Leges rightly applyed there is truth in that But I did nothing in the Business I did nothing by Compulsion but by the voluntary liking of the Parties themselves and therefore I conceive that shall not be Charged upon me as Treason There remains now the 28th Article and that is the onely Bloody Article if it had been or could be made good that is in the whole Charge for there I am Charged out of ill and wicked purposes and indeed What can be worse than Treason to have Betrayed Newcastle into the power of the Scotch Army and likewise to have betrayed the King's Army at Newburn to a dishonourable Retreat My Lords if either of these had been true I should have saved your Lordships the labour I would have given Judgment against my self that had been certain But my Lords never was any Man more Innocent therefore they may very well wave it Have I been all this while Charged as an Incendiary and Am I now come in the Conclusion to be charged as a Confederate it is wonderful strange certainly your Articles fight one against another in this for How can I be an Incendiary in one part and a Conspirator with them that Charged me to be an Incendiary in the other part In good Faith I have not been very kindly dealt withal by my Confederates if they be Confederates to Charge me as an Incendiary that did them that Service and Help as to deliver into their hands a Town of such Consequence as that is No my Lords I wish all happiness to the Nation but I can never wish so to it as that they should take one of the King's Towns in England if I could have helped it My Lords it was lost before I had the Charge of the Army I had nothing to do in the business nor am I to give any Accompt of it nor is any thing proved And as to the Defeat at Newburn you yet fight one Article with another methinks in that too for I am charged to be the Man that delivered up Newcastle and yet all the World knows that nothing could save it from being lost but taking away from the Scots the Passages at that time So that I should use all means to prevent Men from doing that which I meant to do for them is verye all strange to me Here is no Probability and certainly little truth in the whole business as concerning my Confederating with the Scots either for the one or the other And so my Lords I am come to the end of these 28 Articles that were for my further Impeachment I have gone over them all and out of these now there remains that other Second Treason that I should be guilty of endeavouring to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land in the first of those Seven Articles My Lords That those should now be Treason together that are not Treason in any one part and Accumulatively to come upon me in that kind and where one will not do it of it self yet woven up with others it shall do it Under favour my Lords I do not conceive that there is either Statute-Law or Common-Law that hath declared this endeavouring to Subvert the Fundamental Laws to be High Treason I say neither Statute-Law nor Common-Law Written that I could hear of and I have been as diligent to enquire of it as I could be And your Lordships will believe I had reason so to do And sure it is a very hard thing I should here be question'd for my Life and Honor upon a Law that is not Extant that Cannot be Shewed There is a Rule that I have read out of my Lord Cook Non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est Ratio Jesu My Lords Where hath this Fire lay'n all this while so many hundred years together that no Smoak should appear till it burst out now to consume me and my Children Hard it is and extream hard in my Opinion that a Punishment should Precede the Promulgation of a Law that I should be Punished by a Law Subsequent to the Act done I most humbly beseech your Lordships take that into Consideration for certainly it were better a great deal to live under no Law but the Will of Man and Conform our selves in Humane Wisdom as well as we could and to Comply with that Will then to live under the Protection of a Law as we think and then a Law should be made to punish us for a Crime precedent to the Law then I conceive no Man living could be safe if that should be admitted My Lords it is hard in another respect that there should be no Token set upon this Offence by which we may know it no manner of Token given no Admonition by which we might be aware of it If I pass down the Thames in a Boat and run and Split my self upon an Anchor if there be not a Buoy to give me warning the Party shall give me Damages but if it be Marked out then it is at my own peril Now my Lords Where is the Mark set upon this Crime Where is the Token by which I should discover if it be not Marked if it lie under-Water and not above there is no Humane Providence can prevent the Destruction of a Man Presently and Instantly Let us then lay aside all that is Humane Wisdom let us rely onely upon Divine Revelation for
afterwards is very high but no thanks to him that the Sentence of Death was not executed it was the Grace and Goodness of His Majesty that would not suffer my Lord Mountnorris a Person of that Eminence to be put to death against Law But the other was hanged and as appears against Law and though my Lord pretends the party was burnt in the hand yet that was not proved nor material and for him to do this in time of Peace when the Courts of Justice were open it argues a desire in his Breast to arrogate a Power above Law And in truth I may not omit some observations that my Lord made this day He hopes His Majesty would be pleased to grant him a Pardon I perceive he harboured in his thoughts that he might hang the King's Subjects when he would and then get a Pardon of course for it The Lord bless me from his Jurisdiction My Lords give me leave to go back again here is Power over the Lives and Liberties of the Subject but he exercised likewise a Tyrannical Power over his Estate Your Lordships may be pleased to remember the fourth Article where he judges my Lord of Cork's Estate in neither Church-land nor Plantation-land and therefore had no pretence of a Jurisdiction for it is a Lay Fee devolved by Act of Parliament to the Crown yet he deprives him of his possession which he had continued for Twenty nine years upon a Paper-Petition without Rules of Law And whereas my Lord of Cork went about to redeem himself the Law being every man's Inheritance and that which he ought to enjoy he tells him He will lay him by the heels if he withdraw not his Process and so when he hath judged him against an express Act of Parliament and Instructions and bound up a great Peer of the Realm he will not suffer him to redeem that wrong without a threat of laying him by the heels and he will not have Law nor Lawyers question his Orders and would have them all know an Act of State should be equal to an Act of Parliament which are words of that nature that higher cannot be spoken to declare an intention to proceed in an Arbitrary way The next was my Lord Mountnorris his Case and Rolstone And here I must touch my Lord with misrepetition Rolstone preferred a Petition to my Lord-Deputy my Lord-Deputy himself Judges his Estate and deprived him of his possession though he cannot produce so much as one example or precedent though if he had it would not have warranted an illegal action but he cannot produce a precedent that ever any Deputy did determine concerning a man's private Estate and if he hath affirmed it he proved it not some Petitions have been preferred to him but what they be non constat But though never any knew the Deputy alone to determine matters of Land yet he did it To the Seventh Article was produce no Evidence but my Lord of Strafford cannot be content with that but he must take upon him to make defence for that which is not insisted upon as a charge but since he will do so I refer it to the Book in Print where he determines the Inheritance of a Nobleman in that Kingdom that is my Lord Dillon by a Case falsly drawn and contrary to his consent and though he deprives him not of his possession yet he causes the Land to be measured out and it is a danger that hangs over his head to this day And had we not known that we had matter enough against my Lord of Strafford this should have risen in judgment against him but I had not mentioned it now if he had not mentioned it himself The Eighth Article contains several charges as that of my Lord Chancellor How he imprisoned him upon a Judgment before himself and the Council how he inforced the Seal from him when he had no Authority nay though it were excepted by his Patent that he should no way dispose of it but he looked not to Authority further than might make way to his Will Another concerns the prime Earl of that Kingdom my Lord of Kildare whom he imprisoned and kept close prisoner contrary to the King 's express command for his deliverance and in his answer my Lord acknowledges it but sayes That that Command was obtained from the King upon a mis-information These things I would not have mentioned if he had passed them over but since he gives them in give me leave to mention and say we had a ground to put them into Charge and could have proved them if there had been need punctually and expresly and I believe little to my Lord's advantage But your Lordships I think do remember my Lady Hibbots Case where the Lady Hibbots contracts with Thomas Hibbots for his Inheritance for 2500 l. executes the Contract by a Deed and Fine levied deposits part of the Money and when a Petition was exhibited to the Lord-Deputy and Council for the very Estate your Lordships remember how this came in Judgment before my Lord-Deputy there was but a Petition delivered there was an answer made and all the suggestions of the Petition denyed yet my Lord spake to Hibbots himself that was willing to accept the Money not to decline the way that he was in by Petition Five hundred pound more will do him no hurt to carry into England with him and yet without examination of a Witness a Decree was made to deprive this Lady of her Estate and the purchasing of this Land by my Lord of Strafford was proved by two Witnesses though not absolutely yet by confession of Sir Robert Meredith and others whose names were used in Trust for my Lord of Strafford and that it proved according to my Lord of Strafford's Prophecy for the man had five hundred pounds gain above the Contract with my Lady Hibbots But after the Lands were sold for Seven Thousand Pounds so that the Lady Hibbots offence was her making of a bargain whereby to gain Five hundred pounds but there was no offence in my Lord to make a bargain for Three thousand pounds and to gain Four thousand pounds presently this you see proved by Hibbots the party and by Mr. Hoy the Son of the Lady Hibbots So that here is a determination of a Cause before the Council-Table touching Land which was neither Plantation nor Church-Land without colour of the Instructions contrary to Law to Statute to Practice and if this be not an exercising of an unlawful jurisdiction over the Land and Estates of the Subject I know not what is In his answer to this Case he did open it yet whether he mistook or no I know not that he had a Letter from the King but he produces none in evidence and that is another misrecital I am sorry he should mis-recite and fix it upon the Person of His Soveraign in a case of this nature Now he falls more immediately upon the Liberty of the Subject and that is by the Warrant
mentioned in the Ninth Article to be issued to the Bishop of Down and Conner whereby he gives power to him and his Officers to apprehend any of the King's Subjects that appeared not upon Process out of his Ecclesiastical Courts expresly contrary to Law and your Lordships have heard how miserably the King's Subjects were used by this Warrant as hath been proved by a Gentleman of Quality Sir James Montgomery and howsoever he pretends it was called in it was three whole years in execution before it was called in and though he pretends his Predecessors did ordinarily grant Warrants of that nature yet he proves no such thing My Lord Primate was examined and he sayes that Bishop Montgomery did tell him there was such a Warrant and one Witness more speaks of one Warrant and that is all the Witnesses produced and that but to be a Copy too Your Lordships have heard how he exercises his jurisdiction and power over particulars and that in a numerous manner now your Lordships shall find it universal and spread over the face of that Kingdom that was under his jurisdiction and that is in the tenth Article which concerns the Customs where he doth impose upon the King's Subjects a Rate and Tax against Law and enforces them to pay it or else punishes them for it which is expresly an arrogating to himself of a jurisdiction above the Law My Lords in his answer he pretends that this is rather a matter of Fraud than otherwise in truth and so it is and that a great one too But as it is a fraud a dis-service and deceit to his Majesty so it is likewise an exercise of a Tyrannical Jurisdiction over his Subjects That it is a fraud to his Majesty it plainly appears for the King lost exceedingly by it whereas before the Rent afforded the King was 11050 l. there was improved by the new Lease that my Lord of Strafford took but 1350 l. and I beseech your Lordships observe how much the King lost by it for my Lord had comprehended in his new Lease the Impost of Wine for which the King before that time received 1400 l. a year and likewise the Custom of London-derry Colerane and Knockfergus for which the King haâ— reserved 1700 l a year besides the moity of the seisures so here is 5000 l. that the King lost of the old Rent expresly and if your Lordships please observe the gain and benefit my Lord of Strafford made by it in one year he and his sharers received 39000 l. and in the last year 51000 l. and that expresly proved upon two accounts and if this be his dealings where is his service to the King in his pretence to advance the Customs It is true he says The King has five eighth parts but it was but within these two years the King had it not before And I would very gladly have heard whether the King received his part of an account of 55000 l. if he had received it I believe we should have heard of it My Lords There is something more here is a new imposition on the King's People without Law and yet I will do my Lord of Strafford no injury but I tell you how the proof stands It was a Book of Rates framed before he came to the farm for the Book of Rates was in March and the date of his Assignment was in April following and therefore my Lord saith It could not be for his benefit But my Lords all this while my Lord of Strafford was in England and in agitation for the procuring of it and they come one upon the heels of another and I beseech you observe cui bono the Book of Rates was procured within a month of the Patent but God knows whether it were not within the compass of his intentions to take the Patent and therefore whether he were not the Instrument of raising Rates it rests in your Lordships Judgment and all that hear me I am sure the benefit redounded to himself and so here is an Arbitrary Government in imposing and forcing to pay for that I desire your Lordships to take with you and he might as well have raised Nineteen shillings on a pound as nine pence or three pence by the same rule of Law The next Article in number was the Eleventh and I would be glad my Lord had not mentioned it it concerns the Pipe-staves wherein he pretends he did the King great Service and that he says was the reason of our passing over it but that was not the reason it had been a foul business if we had opened it but having enough besides we made not use of it for the substance of the proofs by multiplicity of Witnesses had been that the parties themselves that bought the Pipe-staves for Four pound odd money were fain to sell them to his Instruments for Six pounds and after to buy them again for Ten pounds else there must be no Licence to Export them but that I would not have mentioned if he had let it slip over I come to the Twelfth Article and that is concerning the Tobacco wherein he pretends the King's Service and if my memory fail me not the desire of the Parliament that he should take this into his hands for the King My Lords Therein under his favour he hath mis-recited the Evidence and spoken that he cannot justifie for he can shew no such desire of the Parliament It is true there was a desire of the Parliament that the King would be pleased to take his Customs into his hands for the advancement of his Revenue that it might go to maintain himself and he might not be abused and others live by it but to take the Tobacco into his hands he never did nor can produce a Witness to prove such their desire and therefore under favour he fixes a wrong upon the Parliament and injures your Lordships by his reciting that he neither did nor can make good for there was no such thing But if you observe the course he takes he makes Proclamation to hinder the importing of Tobacco into Ireland that if it be imported it must be sold to him at his own rate and by these means he first hinders the liberty of the Subject from doing what the Law allows him and so takes on him an Arbitrary Power And Secondly he ingrosses this commodity to himself deceiving His Majesty to whom he professeth so much fidelity for whereas there is 5000 l. Rent to the King he by the computation of Merchants receives near 14000 l. a year And because their computations are not alwayes true I do not care if I allow him 40000 l. mistaken and then he will gain near 100000 l. so that if he intends the King's benefit it is wonder he told not his Majesty of the great profit that might thereby have risen and let him partake of it as in Justice he should have done according to the Trust reposed in him but you have heard of no such matter And
force if they could not be otherwise yet no breach appears no War was denounced there was no intention of a War but see what harboured in his Breast all the while The Fourth of December following my Lord Traquaire made his relation to the Council of the Scots proceedings and all this while there was no Demands brought by the Scots themselves nor reason of their Demands brought by others though they were not prepared yet you have heard his advice was for an offensive War and that the Demands were a just cause of the War And though he pretends he said no more than what the rest of the Lords of the Council concurred with him in I will joyn in issue with him in that and if some of your Lordships be not satisfied you have many Noble Lords among you from whom you may be satisfied that it is not so I am sure he proves it not It is true in the proposition of the Demands some of the Lords of the Council did say That these Demands hypothetically if the Scots did not give satisfaction by their Reasons were a just cause of War but not any Lord of the Council was of that opinion That the very Demands positively without hearing of the Reasons were a just cause of War but himself and I believe the Noble Lords of the Council their Consciences can tell them and I believe will deliver it to the rest of the Peers that I speak truth For the Offensive War he pretends a concurrence of the rest but it was disapproved many were for it upon these terms If they did not give Reasons and shew just cause for their Demands and many were against an Offensive War upon any terms and therefore herein he fixes that upon the Lords of the Council which he cannot make good All this while his intentions are discovered by a matter precedent but after the breach he discovers his anger further towards the Scottish Nation and makes it his design to incense the King to this War My Lords he is not at end yet for he confesses himself that he advised the King to call a Parliament and now I come to his work of merit but it was to his destruction and serves to prove this Article directly for to what purpose was this Parliament called Exitus acta probat it was no sooner set but within three Weeks a proposition is made for supply towards a War against the Scots who was the cause of calling the Parliament himself and therefore who was the cause of this Proposition but himself and so the calling of the Parliament is a concurring evidence of his being an Incendiary to put on the War and it shall appear anon absolutely that he was the occasion of it though he thinks there be no proof of it Did not he go over into Ireland and by his sollicitation there Subsidies were granted by the Parliament only to maintain this War and to shew their ingagement in it and who was the occasion of drawing them on I refer to your Lordships judgments by the circumstances precedent Your Lordships heard his good opinion of the Scots when he began to discourse with the Citizens touching Money and their affording of the King supply and seizing the Mint by giving them no better expositions than Rebels for saith he you are more forward to help the Rebels here than to pay the King his own I know not who he meant but certainly the Scots were in his thoughts so that from the beginning he incensed the War against them First he exclaimed against them during time of Peace He alledges in his Answer That things were found in such distraction that it was fit the Scots should be reduced by force he gave advice precipitately without hearing the reasons and not concurrent to the Council for an offensive War and putting all together I refer it to your Lordships judgment who is the Incendiary for how can it be proved more clearly unless it should appear under his Hand and Seal proved by two or three Witnesses Now My Lords how comes this to be his design here the Mystery comes to be unfolded Having thus incensed to the War and ingaged the King to the uttermost and having a Parliament now dissolved without supply he sets up an Idol of his own creation as a means to draw on his design and that was necessity necessity is it that must enforce the King what to do to levy Money to use his Prerogative to raise supplies upon His Subjects without their consent against their Will necessity must be his Argument and this War must be the occasion of that necessity and without that he cannot suggest to the King's ear or advise this necessity till this be brought to pass And now he hath brought it to pass he began in the One and twentieth Two and twentieth and Three and twentieth Article to perswade the King that Necessity hath surprized him by the Parliaments deserting of him that the Parliament had for saken the King in denying Supply and having tryed the affections of His People he was loose and absolved from all Rules of Government and had an Army in Ireland which he might employ to reduce this Kingdom That he spake these words to the King part is proved by two concurrent Witnesses that is that having tryed the affections of his People he was now loose and absolved from all Rules of Government which words are proved by two Witnesses of eminent quality that is my Lord of Northumberland and Sir Henry Vane and truly howsoever my Lord in his Speech pretends that the most material words are proved but by one Witness it seeming that he held it not a material charge that he counselled the King that he was absolved from all Rules of Government for my part if your Lordships be satisfied those words were proved I could willingly satisfy my own Conscience in it and make no great matter to quit the rest for I know not how he could express it in higher terms than that the King was absolved from all Rules of Government for then he might do what he would It is true the latter words touching the Irish Army are expresly proved but by one Witness Mr. Secretary Vane but are fortified again with such circumstances as make up more than one yea more than two other witnesses if your Lordships will have the Patience to have it represented as it is proved For howsoever it be slighted by him if your Lordships will call to mind the words of Sir George Ratcliffe his bosome Friend to whom he had contributed without question his advice in all causes the said Sir George Ratcliffe expressed it before and told some of his Friends supposing that he never should be called in question and that the power of my Lord of Strafford had been enough to protect any thing he had done and out of the abundance of the heart his mouth spake the King must now want no Money if he did no body would pity him
now he had his Sword in his hand Sir Robert King proves it so My Lord Ranalagh discovered the smoke of the fire that he had just cause to suspect and on good grounds I am sure and if the Commons of England had not just cause to suspect him as I believe he is convinced they had good cause what is the reason this suspition should be entertained at that time my Lord of Strafford being not then questioned for it and yet my Lord Ranalagh should say Shall we turn our Swords upon our own bowels Shall we bring this Army to turn the points of our blades upon that Nation from whence we were all derived and that was before any conference with Mr. Secretary Vane Sir William Pennyman himself his own Witness and Friend says at York before my Lord of Strafford was questioned that there was a common fame of bringing the Army into England and there is something in that surely and after all this to produce one Witness that expresly proves the very words spoken in terminis as they be charged if your Lordships put the whole together see whether there be not more than one Witness And under favour my Lord Cottington if you call to mind his Testimony I must justify he did declare That he heard my Lord of Strafford tell the King That some reparation was to be made to the Subjects Property which must infer he had advised an Invasion upon the Property else by no good coherence should a reparation be made And that he testifies this I must affirm and most here will affirm it and I think your Lordships well remember it and that is an addition to it for if your Lordships cast your eye upon the Interrogatory administred to my Lord Admiral and my Lord Cottington that very question is asked so that his own Conscience told him he had advised something to invade upon the People when he advised to a restitution after things should be setled and so I refer it to your Lordships consideration whether here be not more than one witness by far It is true he makes Objections to lessen this testimony First That this Army was to be landed at Ayre in Scotland and not here and this was declared to Sir Thomas Lucas Mr. Slingsby Sir William Pennyman and others Secondly That others that were present when the words are supposed to be spoken did not hear any such words For the first Perhaps the Army might be originally intended for Scotland and yet this is no contradiction but he might intend it afterwards for England surely this is no Logick that because it was intended for one place it could never be intended for another place so his allegation may be true and the charge stand true likewise Beside that it was intended originally for Scotland what proof makes he He told several persons of the design but I will be tryed by himself he told some it was for Scotland he told others it was for England and why you should believe his telling on one side more than on the other side I know not though he pretends a reason of his several allegations that the world should not know his design but if you will not believe him one way why should-he be believed the other way and if not the other way why the first way For the Second Several persons were present when the words were spoken touching the Irish Army and they were examined and remember not the words but one man may hear though twenty do not hear and this is no contradiction at all for those persons whom he examined the Lord Treasurer Marquis Hamilton my Lord Cottington did not hear the words that are proved by two Witnesses concerning the Kings being loose and absolved from Rules of Government and if they did not hear those words no marvel they did not hear the other and therefore that which he himself pretends to be a convincing testimony is nothing at all so that his objections are clearly taken away and the single testimony fortified with testimonies that make above one witness and so the words are fully proved But to fortify the whole I shall handle all these Articles together This design to subvert the Law and to exercise an Arbitrary Power above the Law in this Kingdom will upon the proofs putting them all together and not taking them in pieces as my Lord of Strafford hath done appear to have been harboured in his thoughts and setled in his heart long before it was executed You see what his Counsels were That the King having tryed the affections of his People was loose and absolved from all Rules of Government and might do every thing that power would admit and His Majesty had tryed all ways and was refused and should be acquitted of God and Man and had an Army in Ireland wherewith if he pleased he might reduce this Kingdom so there must be a trial of his People for Supply that is denyed which must be interpreted a Defection by refusal and this refusal must give advantage of necessity and this necessity must be an advantage to use his Prerogative against the Rule of the Law and consent of the People this is his advice which shews that this very thing that happened did harbour in his thoughts long before the breach of the Parliament and the occasion of the Army Your Lordships have heard it confessed by himself That before this last advice he had advised the calling of a Parliament To the Parliament a proposition of Twelve Subsidies was made for supply and which may be spoken with great assurance before they had consulted or given any resolution to that proposition the Parliament was dissolved upon a Supposal that the Supply was denied Now that this was pre-designed by my Lord of Strafford himself I beseech you observe these things following that is The words in the Two and Twentieth Article That His Majesty was first to try the Parliament and if that did not supply him then he would serve the King any other way His words are proved by Mr. Treasurer That if the Parliament supplyed him not he would serve him any other way and this is before the Parliament set now if your Lordships hear the proofs of my Lord Primate which my Lord of Strafford slights taking it singly my Lord Primate before the Parliament was called when my Lord of Strafford was in Ireland and not yet come into this Kingdom testifies my Lords saying That if the Parliament will not supply His Majesty the King was acquitted before God and Man if he took some other course to supply himself though against the will of the Subjects I beseech your Lordships observe how he prophesies these things must come to pass and advised them accordingly My Lord Conway testifies that before the Parliament sate my Lord of Strafford said that if the Parliament would not supply His Majesty the King was acquitted before God and Man if he took another course to supply himself though it were
were the King 's right and due and a great profit was thereby advanced and he trusted to advance it The King must loose of his former Rents in the case of Custom and received a small Rent in the case of Tobacco my Lord himself in the mean time imbursing such vast summs of Money where is then the discharge of his Trust where is his care to advance the King's Rents to increase his Revenue Compare that part of his Answer with this and see what credit is to be given to his affirmation My Lords throughout the passages of his discourse he insinuates and never more than this day with the Peers of the Realm magnifying them almost to Idolatry and yet my Lords when he was in his Kingdom in Ireland and had power over them what respect shewed he then to the Peers of the Kingdom when he judged some to death trampled upon others in misery committed them to prison and seized on their Estates where then was the Peerage he now magnifies And to shew it was an insinuation for his own advantage you may remember when there was an unlawful Act to be committed that is the levying of Money in the North What regard had he then to the Peers of the Kingdom when he comes to justifie and boulster up High-Treason it self under the name and authority of the great Council where most of the Peers of the Realm then were and so by this time I know what credit your Lordships give to his words spoken when he lies under your Mercy and Power but what do I speak of the Peers of the Kingdom and his using of them My Lords he spared not his Soveraign His Majesty in His whole Defence for being charged with offences of a high nature he justifies those offences under the pretence and under the authority of His Majesty our Gracious King and Soveraign even Murther it self in the Case of Denwitt and my Lord Mountnorris Treason it self in the Fifteenth Article by a Command in Ireland and in the Seven and twentieth by a pretended authority from His Majesty in the face of His people he justifies my Lord Mountnorris his sentence by a Letter from his Majesty Denwit's Sentence by a Commission from his Majesty and he read three or four clauses to that purpose My Lords my Lord of Strafford doth very well know and if he doth not know it I have a Witness to produceagainst him which I will not examine but refer it to his own Conscience that is The Petition of Right that the King's Servants are to serve him according to Law and no otherwise he very well knew if an unlawful act be committed especially to a degree of Treason and Murder the King's Authority and Warrant produced is no justification at all So then my Lords to mention the King's name to justifie an unlawful act in that way can do him no good and his own understanding knows it may do the King harm if we had not so Gracious a King that no such thing can do harm unto But my Lords to produce the King's Warrant to justifie his actions under his Patent and Command what is it else but so far as in him lies in the face of his people to raise a cloud and exhale a vapour To interpose betwixt the King and his Subjects whereby the splendor of his Glory and Justice cannot be discovered to his people My Lords what is it else when the people make complaint against the Ministers that should execute Justice of their oppression and slavery and bondage For the Minister when he is questioned to justifie this under the King's Authority what is it I say but as much as in that Minister lies to six this offence to fasten this oppression upon the King himself to make it to be believed that the occasion of these their groans proceeded from his Sacred Majesty yet God be thanked the strength of that Sun is powerful enough to dispel these vapours and to disperse the cloud that he would have raised but in the mean time my Lord is nothing to be excused My Lords he may pretend zeal to the King's Service and affection to His Honour but give me leave not to believe it since when he is questioned by all the King's people and in the face of his people and offences laid to his charge which himself now confesses to be against Law he should justifie it under the King's authority that savours not of a good servant I will say no more My Lords he is charged with exercising a tyrannical power over the King's people and in his Defence your Lordships have often heard and I may not omit it that he shelters himself under the protection of the King's Prerogative though he be charged with Tyranny of the highest nature that may be see then how foul and malignant an aspect this hath My Lords what is it else but to endeavour as much as in him lies to infuse into the King's heart an apprehension that his Prerogative is so bottomless a Gulf so unlimited a Power as is not to be comprehended within the Rules of Law or within the bounds of Government for else why should he mention the Prerogative when he is charged to exceed the Law What is it else but as far as in him lies to make the people believe for I may not forget the words he hath used by his magnifying of the Prerogative that it hath a special stamp of Divinity on it and that the other part of the Government that God pleases to put into the King's hands had not that stamp upon it as if any thing done by one was to be justified by authority derived from Heaven but the other not These expressions your Lordships remember and I may not omit to put your Lordships in mind of them and I can expound them no otherwise than as much as in him lies to make the Subject believe and apprehend that which is the buckler and defence of his protection to be the two-edged sword of his destruction according to the Doctrine he Preached and that that which is the Sanctuary of their Liberty is the Snare and Engine of their Slavery And thus he hath cast a bone of contention as much as in him lay betwixt King and People to make the Subjects loath that glorious Flower of his Crown by fixing a jealousie in them that it may be a means of their Bondage and Slavery But there is so much Piety and Goodness in the King's Heart that I hope upon fair understanding there will be no such occasion but no thanks to the party that so much advanced the Prerogative in the case and condition he stands in to justify that which is laid to his Charge of High Treason My Lords I beseech you give me leave there is no greater safety to King and People than to have the Throne incircled with good Counsellors and no greater danger to both than to have it encompassed with wicked and dangerous ones and yet I
time of this Noble Lord's Defences he did not so much as crave any of our Opinions or acquaint us with any thing that tended that way and for the matter of Law Those Statutes cited by himself and offered to your Lordships Consideration were none of our stock but taken up at his own adventure I do not speak this to derogate from the pertinency of those Statutes for they shall be the subject of my Discourse but that the Noble Lord may not be disappointed of your Lordships right Conception and his own due praise My Lords It is your Pleasure we meddle not with matter of Fact and indeed we need not meddle at all with it because we hope it is already done and that sufficiently to our hands yet the matter of Law doth so naturally arise out of the matter of Fact that of necessity by your Lordships Favour we must sometimes touch on this if we speak to that Nor do we conceive it possible for us to speak advantagiously enough for the Lord Strafford 's just Defence unless the whole matter of Fact be determined as either proved or not proved or at least some states of Questions agreed upon where we may fix and settle our Arguments And so it is my Lords that I have chosen not at all to touch the Matter of law untill your Lordships shall be pleased to chalk me out a Way unless it be to clear your Judgments in one Statute only viz. 25 Ed. 3. because when the same was alledged by the Lord Strafford for his own Defence that not being convict by the letter thereof he could not be convict of Treason I remember the Salvo of that Statute was much insisted upon by those from the House of Commons as much conducing to their Ends. My Lords I will first speak of the Statute it self and then of its Salvo or Provision the Statute is That if any man shall intend the Death of the King the Queen or their Children kill the Chancellor or a Judge upon the Bench imbase the Kings Coyn or counterfeit the Broad Seal c. he shall be convicted and punished as a Traytor That the Lord Strafford comes within the letter of this Statute is not so much as once alledged nor indeed can it be with any Reason All that can be said is that by relation or argument à minore ad majus he may be drawn thither And that this cannot be I humbly offer these Considerations 1. This is a Declarative Law and such are not to be taken by any way of Consequence Equity or Construction but by the letter only otherwise they should imply a contradiction to themselves and be no more Declarative Laws but Laws of Construction Secondly This is a Penal Law and such if our Ground hitherto unquestion'd holds good can admit of no Inductions or Inferences for Penalties are to perswade the keeping of known Laws not of Laws conjectural ambiguous and by Consequence which perhaps the most Learned may not in their disputes question much less the Subject who is not to interpret the Statute doubt of in the point of Obedience nay rather without doubt he is to obey the letter of the Statute and conceive and that truly that he is not liable to the Penalty Thirdly We have a notable Statute 13 Eliz. c. 2. whereby it is declared That the bringing of Bulls from Rome to stir up the Subjects to Mutiny and Rebellion shall be punished as Treason Now if by interpretation or by consequence this sense might have been thrust upon preceding Statutes the making this had been superfluous and the persons then charged with that Crime might have been impeached of Treason even before the making of this Act. Fourthly Anno 21 Ed. 3. we have a Statute declaring That for a Servant to kill his Master is an Act of Treason and in the 27th Year of the same King a Process was framed against a man of Treason for Killing his Father grounded upon the same Argument à Majori ad Minus but it was found and the Sentence is yet in the Records that although in the 21 of Ed. 3. that Argument might have been admitted yet in the 27 it could not by reason of the Declarative Law intervening in the 25th Year And this Case comes very home to the point in hand My Lords I will not demand what kind of Offence it may be for a man to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of a Kingdom the Crime doubtless is unnatural and monstrous and the punishment must keep the same proportion only I must presume to offer these few things to your consideration 1. That one or more Acts of Injustice whether malitiously or ignorantly done can in no sense of Law be called the Subversion of the Fundamental Laws otherwise as many Judges perhaps so many Traytors It is very incident to Man's Nature to Err nor doth the Lord Strafford plead his Innocence in Oversights but in Treason 2. I do remember the Case of John de la Pool Duke of Suffolk this man in the 26 H. 6. was charged by the House of Commons with Eight Articles of Treason and those too very like to these against the Lord Strafford 1. That he had given the King bad Advices 2. That he had embased his Coyn. 3. That he had Sessed Men of War 4. That he had given out Summary Decrees 5. That he had imposed Taxes 6. That he had Corrupted the Fountain of Justice 7. That he had perswaded the King to unnecessary War 8. To the giving up Anjou in France Ovum Ovo And for all these though he was charged with High Treason for wronging the Right of the Subject and Subverting the Fundamental Lawes of the Kingdom yet after long agitation the matter was found by the Lords in Parliament not to imply Treason but only Felony Add to this another Case in the 23 H. 8. where one was charged for Subverting the English Laws and yet no Treason charged upon him Add to both these the Case of Richard Larkes pleaded at the Common-Pleas who was charged with Treason for subverting the Law but convicted only of Felony By which you may see my Lords what to this time hath been the Judgment of subverting the Lawes Thirdly It is very considerable That the Lord Strafford is not charged to have Subverted the Laws but only to have Intended to subvert the Fundamental Laws and this I conceive if there were no more might keep him free from that Statute of 25 Ed. 3. for although as touching the Life of the King the Queen and Children Intention is a Treasonable Act yet in all other things there mentioned there must be Action besides Intention For it is not said That if a Man doth intend to kill a Chancellor it shall be Treason but only if he doth kill him and if he doth Actually counterfeit the Broad Seal And although a man should prepare a Furnace make ready his Stamp and melt his Bullion yet if he gives not the King's Impress
the Evidence with me concerning the Army of Ireland nor yet that all the rest of the Junto upon their Oaths remember nothing of it But this Sir which I shall tell you is that which works with me under favour to an utter overthrow of his Evidence as unto that of the Army of Ireland before whilst I was a Prosecutor and under tye of Secrecy I might not discover any weakness of the Cause which now as a Judge I must Mr. Secretary was examined thrice upon Oath at the preparatory Committee The first time he was questioned to all the Iterrogatories and to that part of the Seventh which concerns the Army of Ireland He said positively in these words I cannot Charge him with that But for the rest he desires time to recollect himself which was granted him Some days after he was Examined a second time and then deposes these words concerning the King's being Absolved from Rules of Government and so forth very clearly But being prest to that part concerning the Irish Army He said again I can say nothing to that Here we thought we had done with him till divers weeks after my Lord of Northumberland and all others of the Junto denying to have heard any thing concerning those words Of reducing England by the Irish Army It was thought fit to Examine the Secretary once more and then he deposes these words to have been said by the Earl of Strafford to His Majesty You have an Army in Ireland which you may employ here to reduce or some word to that sence this Kingdom Mr. Speaker these are the Circumstances which I confess with my Conscience thrust quite out of doors that Grand Article of our Charge concerning his desperate Advice to the King of employing the Irish Army here Let not this I beseech you be driven to an Aspersion upon Mr. Secretary as if he should have Sworn otherwise than he knew or believed he is too worthy to do that only let thus much be inferred from it that he who twice upon Oath with time of Recollection could not remember any thing of such a business might well a third time mis-remember somewhat in this business the difference of one Letter here fer there or that for this quite alters the Case the latter also being more probable since it is confest of all hands that the Debate then was concerning a War with Scotland and you may remember that at the Bar he once said To employ there And thus Mr. Speaker I have faithfully given you an account what it is that hath blunted the edge of the Hatchet or Bill with me towards my Lord of Strafford This was that whereupon I Accused him with a free heart Prosecuted him with earnestness and had it to my understanding been proved should have condemned him with Innocence Whereas now I cannot satisfie my Conscience to do it I profess I can have no notion of any bodies intent to subvert the Laws Treasonably or by force and this design of Force not appearing all his other wicked practises cannot amount so high with me I can find a more easie and more natural Spring from whence to derive all his other Crimes than from an intent to bring in Tyranny and to make his own Posterity as well as Vs Slaves as from Revenge from Pride from Avarice from Passion and Insolence of Nature But had this of the Irish Army been proved it would have diffused a Complexion of Treason over all it would have been a Withe indeed to bind all those other scattered and lesser branches as it were into a Faggot of Treason I do not say but the rest may represent him a man as worthy to dye but perhaps worthier than many a Traytor I do not say but they may justly direct Vs to Enact That they shall be Treason for the future But God keep me from giving Judgment of Death on any man and of Ruine to his innocent Posterity upon a Law made a Posteriori Let the Mark be set on the door where the Plague is and then let him that wilenter dye I know Mr. Speaker there is in Parliament a double Power of Life and Death by Bill a Judicial Power and a Legislative the measure of the one is what 's legally just of the other what is Prudentially and Politickly fit for the good and preservation of the whole But these two under favour are not to be confounded in Judgment We must not piece up want of legality with matter of convenience not the defailance of prudential fitness with a pretence of legal Justice To Condemn my Lord of Strafford Judicially as for Treason my Conscience is not assured that the matter will bear it And I do it by the Legislative Power my reason consultively cannot agree to that since I am perswaded neither the Lords nor the King will pass the Bill and consequently that Our passing it will be a Cause of great divisions and Combustions in the State And therefore my humble advice is That laying aside this Bill of Attainder We may think of another saving only Life such as may secure the State from my Lord of Strafford without endangering it as much by Division concerning his Punishment as he hath endangered it by his practices If this may not be hearkened unto Let me conclude in saying that unto you all which I have throughly inculcated to mine own Conscience upon this occasion Let every man lay his hand upon his Heart and sadly consider what We are going to do with a Breath either Justice or Murther Justice on the one side or Murther heightned and aggravated to its supreamest extent For as the Casuists say That he who lies with his Sister commits Incest but he that marries his Sister sins higher by applying God's Ordinance to his Crime So doubtless he that commits Murther with the Sword of Justice heightens that Crime to the utmost The danger being so great and the Case so doubtful that I see the best Lawyers in diametral opposition concerning it Let every man wipe his Heart as he does his Eyes when he would Judge of a nice and subtile Object The Eye if it be pretincted with any colour is vitiated in its discerning Let us take heed of a blood-shotten Eye in Judgment Let every man purge his Heart clear of all passions I know this great and wise Body-politick can have none but I speak to individuals from the weakness which I find in my self away with personal Animosiites away with all flatteries to the people in being the sharper against him because he is odious to them away with all fears lest by the sparing his blood they may be incens'd away with all such Considerations as that it is not fit for a Parliament that one Accused by it of Treason should escape with Life Let not former Vehemence of any against him nor fear from thence that he cannot be safe while that man lives be an ingredient in the Sentence of any one of Vs Of all these
him and in that which is most Sacred amongst Men the Publick Justice of the Kingdom The King is to be accounted unto for the loss of the meanest Member much more of one so near the Head The Commons are concerned in their Account for what is done your Lordships in that which is to be done The business therefore of the present Conference is to acquaint your Lordships with those things that satisfy'd the Commons in Passing of this Bill such of them as have come within my capacity and that I can remember I am Commanded from the Commons at this time to present unto your Lordships My Lords in Judgment of greatest Moment there are but two wayes for satisfying those that are to give them either the Lex lata the Law already established or else the use of the same Power for making new Laws whereby the old at first received life In the first consideration of the setled Laws in the degrees of Punishment the Positive Law received by General Consent and for the Common Good is sufficient to satisfie the Conscience of the Judge in giving Judgment according to them In several Countries there is not the same measure of Punishment for one and the same Offence Wilful Murder in Ireland it is Treason and so is the wilful Burning of a House or a Stack of Corn In the Isle of Man it is Felony to Steal a Hen but not to Steal a Horse and yet the Judge in Ireland hath as just a Ground to give Judgment of High-Treason in those Cases there as here to give Judgment only of Felony and in the Isle of Man of Felony for the Hen as here for Petty-Larceny My Lords in the other Consideration of using the Supream Power the same Law gives Power to the Parliament to make new Laws that enables the inferiour Court to Judge according to the old The Rules that guides the Conscience of the inferiour Court is from without the Prescripts of the Parliament and of the Common-Law in the other the Rule is from within that Salus Populi be concerned that there be no wilful oppression of any of the Fellow-Members that no more Blood be taken than what is necessary for the Cure the Laws and Customes of the Realm as well enable the Exercise of this as of the Ordinary and Judicial Power My Lords What hath been said is because that this proceeding of the Commons by way of Bill implies the use of the meer Legislative Power in respect new Laws are for the most part past by Bill This My Lords though just and legal and therefore not wholly excluded yet it was not the only ground that put the Commons upon the Bill they did not intend to make a new Treason and to condemn my Lord of Strafford for it they had in it other considerations likewise which were to this effect First The Commons knew that in all former Ages if doubts of Law arose of great and general concernments the Parliament was usually consulted withal for resolution which is the reason that many Acts of Parliament are only Declarative of the Old Law not Introductive of a New as the great Charter of our Liberties The Statute of Five and Twentieth year of Edward the Third of Treasons The Statute of the Prerogative and of late the Petition of Right if the Law were doubtful in this Case they perceived the Parliament where the old way is altered and new Laws made the fittest Judge to clear this Doubt Secondly My Lords they proceeded this way to obviate those Scruples and Delayes which through disuse of proceedings of this nature might have risen in the manner and way of proceedings since the Statute of the First of Hen. 4. Cap. 17. and more fully in the Roll number 144. The proceedings of Parliament have usually been upon an Indictment first found though in Cases of Treason particularly mentioned in the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. which had not been done in this case doubts likewise might rise for Treasons not particularly mentioned in the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. whether the Declaratory Power of Parliament be taken away in what manner they were to be made and by whom they find not any Attainders of Treason in Parliament for near this 200 years but by this way of Bill and again they know that whatsoever could be done any other way it might be done by this Thirdly In respect of the Proofs and Depositions that have been made against him for First although they knew not but that the whole Evidence which hath been given at the Bar in every part of it is sufficiently comprehended within the Charge yet if therein they should be mistaken if it should prove otherwise use may justly be made of such Evidence in this way of Bill wherein so as Evidence be given in it 's no way requisite that there should have been any Articles or Charge at all and so in the case of double Testimony upon the Statute of the 1 Edw. 6. whether one direct Witness with others to circumstances had been single or double Testimony And although single Testimony might be sufficient to satisfie private Consciences yet how far it would have been satisfactory in a judicial way where forms of Law are more to be stood upon was not so clear whereas in their way of Bill private satisfaction to each man's Conscience is sufficient although no Evidence had been given in at all My Lords The proceeding by way of Bill it was not to decline your Lordships Justice in the judicial way in these exigends of the State and Kingdom it was to Husband time by silencing those doubts they conceived it the speediest and surest way My Lords these are in effect the things the Commons took into their Consideration in respect of the manner and way of Proceeding against the Earl In the next place I am to declare unto your Lordships the things they took into their Considerations in respect of the Matter and Merits of the Cause and they are comprehended within these six heads 1. That there is a Treason within the Statute of 25 of Edw. III. by Levying of War upon the Matter of the 15th Article 2. If not by actual levying of War yet by advising and declaring his intention of War and that by Savil's Warrant and advice of bringing over the Irish Army upon the Matter in the 23d Article then intending of a War if not within the clause of levying of a War in the Statute of 25th Edw. 3. yet within the first Treason of compassing the death of the King 3. If either of these two single Acts is within the Statute of 25th Edw. 3. yet upon putting all together which hath been proved against him that there is a Treason within the first Clause of Compassing the death of the King Et si non Prosunt singula juncta juvant 4. That he hath Sessed and laid Soldiers upon the Subjects of Ireland against their Will and at their Charge within the Irish Statute of
200 l. These if done upon these private ends alone had not been a Treason as appears by the very words of the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. before mentioned of marching openly or secretly But my Lords these of Cambridge and Bridgewater they were of the conspiracy with the Villains as appears in the Parliament Roll of the First year of Richard the 2d Number 311. and 32. where the Towns of Cambridge and Bridgwater are expresly excepted out of the general Pardon made to the Villains this being done in reference to that design of the Villains of altering the Laws this was that which made it Treason If the design went no further than the enforcing Obedience to these Paper-Orders made by himself it was sufficient it was to subvert one fundamental part of the Law nay in effect the whole Law what use of Law if he might order and determine of Mens Estates at his own pleasure This was against the Law notoriously declared in Ireland In the close Roll in the Tower in the 25th year of Edward the 1. a Writ went to the Justices in Ireland that Kingdom at that time was governed by Justices declaring That upon Petitions they were not to determine any Titles between party and party upon any pretence of profit whatsoever to the King In the Eight and twentieth year of Hen. the 6th Chap. 2. Suits in Equity not before the Deputy but in Chancery Suits at Common-Law not before him but in cases of Life in the Kings-Bench for Title of Lands or Goods in the proper Courts of the Kings-Bench or Common-Pleas This declared in the Instructions for Ireland in the latter end of King James His time and by the Proclamation in His Majesties time my Lord took notice of them called the Commissioners narrow-hearted Commissioners The Law said He should not thus proceed in the subversion of it he saith he will and will enforce Obedience by the Army this is as much in respect of the end as to endeavour the overthrow of the Statutes of Labourers of Victuals or of Merton for Inclosures here is a Warrant against the King in respect of the end Secondly In respect of the Actions whether there be either a Levying of War or an open Deed or both My Lords There was an Army in Ireland at that time of Two thousand Horse and Foot by this Warrant there is a full designation of this whole Army and an Assignment of it over to Savil for this purpose The Warrant gives him power from time to time to take as many Soldiers Horse and Foot with an Officer throughout the whole Army as himself shall please here is the terror and awe of the whole Army to enforce Obedience My Lords If the Earl had Armed two thousand men Horse and Foot and formed them into Companies to this end your Lordships would have conceived that this had been a War It 's as much as in the Case of Sir Thomas Talbot who armed them in Assemblies This is the same with a breach of Trust added to it That Army which was first raised and afterwards committed to his Trust for the Defence of the People is now destined by him to their destruction This assignation of the Army by his Warrant under his Hand and Seal is an open Act. My Lords Here 's not only an open Act done but a Levying of War Soldiers both Horse and Foot with an Officer in Warlike manner assessed upon the Subject which killed their Cattel consumed and wasted their Goods Your Lordships observe a great difference where six men go upon a design alone and when sent from an Army of six hundred all engaged in the same service so many were sent as were sufficient to execute the Command if upon a poor man fewer more upon a rich if the six had not been able the whole Army must make it good The reason that the Sheriff directed alone or but with one Bayliff to do execution is because he hath the Command of the Law the King 's Writ and the Posse Comitatus in case of resistance Here 's the Warrant of a General of an Army Here 's the Posse Exercitus the Power of the Army under the awe of the whole Army six may force more then sixty without it and although never above six in one place yet in several parts of the Kingdom at the same time might be above sixty for sessing of Soldiers was frequent it was the ordinary course for execution of his Orders The Lord-Lieutenant of a County in England hath a design to alter the Laws and Government nay admit the design goes not so high he only declares thus much he will order the Freeholders and Estates of the Inhabitants of the County at his own will and Pleasure and doth accordingly proceed upon Paper-Petitions foreseeing there will be disobedience he grants out Warrants under his Hand and Seal to the Deputy-Lieutenants and Captains of the Trained-bands that upon refusal they will take such number of the Trained-bands through the County with Officers as they shall think good and lay them upon the Lands and Houses of the refusers Soldiers in a Warlike manner are frequently sessed upon them accordingly your Lordships do conceive that this is a Levying of War within the Statute The Case in question goes further in these two Respects That it is more against the declared Law in Ireland not only against the Common-Law but likewise against the Statute of 28 Hen. 6th against the Acts of the Commissioners against Proclamations in persuance of the Law against that himself took notice of narrow-hearted Commissioners In this that here was an Army the Soldiers by profession Acts of Hostility from them of greater terror than from Freeholders of the same County My Lords I have now done with the First of Levying of War The Second is the Machination the advising of a War The Case in this rests upon a Warrant to Savile and the advice in the 23 Article The Warrant shews a resolution of imploying the old Army of Ireland to the oppression of his Majesties Subjects and the Laws In the 23d Article having told his Majesty that he was loosed and absolved from Rules of Government and might do every thing which Power might admit he proceeded further in Speech to his Majesty in these words You have an Army in Ireland you may employ to reduce this Kingdom My Lords Both being put together there 's a Machination a practise and advice to Levy War and by force to oppress and destroy his Majesties Subjects It hath been said the Statute of the 25 Edw. 3. is a penal Law and cannot be taken by equity and construction there must be an actual War the Statute makes it Treason to counterfeit the King's Coin the conspiring the raising of Furnaces is no Treason unless he doth Nummum percutere actually Coin My Lords This is only said not proved the Law is otherwise the 19th Hen. 6. fol. 49. there adjudged That the conspiring and aiding to
Treasons are commited in Ireland therefore not tryable here Answ My Lords Sir John Parrot his Predecessor 24 Ed. was tryed in the Kings-Bench for Treason done in Ireland when he was Deputy and Oruche in the 33 year of Queen Elizabeth adjudged here for Treason done in Ireland Object But it will be said these Tryals were after the Statute of the 34th year of Henry the 8th which Enacts that Treasons beyond Sea may be tryed in England Answ My Lords his Predecessor my Lord Gray was tryed and adjudged here in the Kings-Bench that was in Trinity-Term in the 33 year of Henry the 8th this was before the making of that Statute Object To this again will we say That it was for Treason by the Laws and Statutes of England that this is not for any thing that 's Treason by the Law of England but an Irish Statute So that the question is only Whether your Lordships here in Parliament have cognizance of an offence made Treason by an Irish Statute in the ordinary way of Judicature without Bill for so is the present question For the clearing of this I shall propound two things to your Lordships consideration Whether the Rule for expounding the Irish Statute and Customs be one and the same in England as in Ireland That being admitted whether the Parliament in England have cognizance or jurisdiction of things there done in respect of the place because the Kings Writ runs not there For the first in respect of the place the Parliament here hath cognizance there And Secondly If the Rules for expounding the Irish Statutes and Customs be the same here as there this exception as I humbly conceive must fall away In England there is the Common Law the Statutes the Acts of Parliament and Customs peculiar to certain places differing from the Common-Law If any question arise concerning either a Custom or an Act of Parliament the Common-Law of England the First the Primitive and the General Law that 's the Rule and Expositor of them and of their several extents it is so here it is so in Ireland the Common-Law of England is the Common-Law of Ireland likewise the same here and there in all the parts of it It was introduced into Ireland by King John and afterwards by King Henry 3. by Act of Parliament held in England as appears by the Patent Rolls of the 30 year of King Henry 3. the first Membrana the Words are Quia pro Communi Vtilitate terrae Hiberniae unitate terrarum Regis Rex vult de Communi Concilio Regis Provisum est quod omnes Leges Consuetudines quae in Regno Angliae tenentur in Hibernia teneantur eadem terra eisdem legibus subjaceat per easdem Regatur sicut Dominus Johannes Rex cum ultimò esset in Hibernia statuit fieri mandavit quia c. Rex vult quòd omnia brevia de Communi Jure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub novo sigillo Regis mundatum est Archiepiscopis c. quod pro pace tranquilitate ejusdem terrae per easdem leges eos regi deduci permittant eas in omnibus sequantur in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Woodstock Decimo nono die Septembris Here is an union of both Kingdoms and that by Act of Parliament and the same Laws to be used here as there in omnibus My Lords That nothing might be left here for an exception that is That in Treasons Felonies and other capital offences concerning Life the Irish Laws are not the same as here therefore it is enacted by a Parliament held in England in the 14th year of Edw. 2. it is not in print neither but in the Parliament Book that the Laws concerning Life and Member shall be the same in Ireland as in England And that no exception might yet remain in a Parliament held in England The 5th year of Edw. 3. it is Enacted Quod una eadem Lex fiat tam Hibernicis quam Anglicis This Act is enrolled in the Patent Rolls of the 5th year of Edw. 3. Parl. membr 25. The Irish therefore receiving their Laws from hence they send their Students at Law to the Inns of Courts in England where they receive their Degree and of them and of the Common Lawyers of this Kingdom are the Judges made The Petitions have been many from Ireland to send from hence some Judges more learned in the Laws than those they had there It hath been frequent in cases of difficulty there to send sometimes to the Parliament sometimes to the King by advice from the Judges here to send them resolutions of their doubts Amongst many I 'll cite your Lordships only one because it is in a case of Treason upon an Irish Statute and therefore full to this point By a Statute there made the fifth year of Edw. 4. there is a provision made for such us upon suggestions are committed to prison for Treason that the party committed if he can procure 24 Compurgators shall be bailed and let out of prison Two Citizens of Dublin were by a Grand-Jury presented to have committed Treason they desired benefit of this Statute that they might be let out of prison upon tender of their Compurgators The words of the Statute of the 5th year of Edward 4th in Ireland being obscure the Judges there being not satisfied what to do sent the case over to the Queen desired the opinion of the Judges here which was done accordingly The Judges here sent over their opinion which I have out of the Book of Justice Anderson one of the Judges consulted withal The Judges delivered their opinion upon an Irish Statute in Case of Treason If it be objected That in this Case the Judges here did not judge upon the party their opinions were only ad informandam Conscientiam of the Judges in Ireland that the Judgment belonged to the Judges there My Lords with submission this and the other Authorities prove that for which they were cited that is that no absurdity no failure of Justice would ensue if this great Judicatory should judge of Treason so made by an Irish Statute The Common-Law rules of Judging upon an Irish Statute the Pleas of the Crown for things of Life and Death are the same here and there this is all that yet hath been offered For the Second point That England hath no power of Judicature for things done in Ireland My Lords the constant practice of all ages proves the contrary Writs of Error in Pleas of the Crown as well as in Civil Causes have in all Kings Reigns been brought here even in the inferior Courts of Westminster-Hall upon Judgment given in the Courts of Ireland the practice is so frequent and so well known as that I shall cite none of them to your Lordships no president will I believe be produced to your Lordships that ever the Case was remanded back again into Ireland because the question arose upon an
refer still to offences made Treason by Act of Parliament they restrain not to the Treasons only particularly mentioned in the Statute in the 25th Edw. 3. but leave that Statute entire to the Common-Law-Treason as appears by the words immediately foregoing By the Second Part for the pains and forfeitures of Treasons if it intend only the punishment of Treason or if it intend both Treason and Punishment yet all is referred to the Provision and Ordinance of 25 Edw. 3. any Act of Parliament or other Declaration or thing notwithstanding It saith not other then such Penalties of Treasons as are expressed and declared in the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. that might perhaps have restrained it to those that are particularly mentioned no it refers all Treasons to the general Ordination and Provision of that Statute wherein the Comon-Law-Treasons are expresly kept on Foot If it be Asked What good this Statute doth if it take not away the Common-Law Treasons 1. It takes away all the Treasons made by Act of Parliament not only since the first of Hen. 4. which were many but all before 1 Hen. 4. even until the 25 E. 3. by express words 2. By express words it takes away all declared Treasons if any such had been in Parliament Those for the future are likewise taken away so that whereas it might have been doubted whether the Statute of the 1 H. 4. took away any Treasons but those of the 22d and 23d years of R. 2. This clears it both for Treasons made by Parliament or declared in Parliament even to the time of making the Statute This is of great use of great security to the Subject so that as to what shall be Treason and what not the Statute of 25 E. 3. remains entire and so by consequence the Treasons at the Common-Law Only my lords it may be doubted whether the manner of the Parliamentary proceedings be not altered by the Statute of 1 H. 4. Chap. 17. and more fully in the Parliament Roll Number 144 that is whether since that Statute the Parliamentary Power of Declaration of Treasons whereby the inferior Courts Receive Jurisdiction be not taken away and restrained only to Bill that so it might operate no further then to that particular contained in the Bill that so the Parliamentary Declarations for after-times should be kept within the Parliament it self and be extended no further Since 1 H. 4. we have not found any such Declarations made but all Attainders of Treason have been by Bill If this be so yet the Common-Law Treasons still remaining there is one and the same ground of reason and equity since the 1 H. 4. for passing a Bill of Treason as was before for declaring of it without Bill Herein the Legislative power is not used against my Lord of Strafford in the Bill it s only the Jurisdiction of the Parliament But my Lords because that either through my mistaking of the true grounds and reasons of the Commons or my not pressing them with apt agreements and presidents of former times or that perchance your Lordships from some other Reasons and Authorities more swaying with your Lordships Judgments then these from them may possibly be of a contrary or dubious opinion concerning these Treasons either upon the Statutes of 25 E. 3. 18 H. 6. or at the Common-Law My Lords If all these five should fail they have therefore given me further in Command to declare to your Lordships some of their Reasons why they conceive that in this Case the meer Legislative Power may be exercised Their Reasons are taken from these three grounds 1. From the nature and quality of the Offence 2. From the Frame and Constitution of the Parliament wherein this Law is made 3. From Practices and Usages of former times The horridness of the Offence in endeavouring the overthrowing the Laws and present Government hath been fully opened to your Lordships heretofore The Parliament is the Representation of the whole Kingdom wherein the King as Head your Lordships as the most Noble and the Commons the other Members are knit together into one Body Politick This dissolves the Arteries and Ligaments that hold the Body together the Laws He that takes away the Laws takes not away the Allegiance of one Subject alone but of the whole Kingdom It was made Treason by the Statute of 13 Eliz. for Her time to affirm that the Laws of the Realm do not bind the Descent of the Crown no Law no Descent at all No Laws no Peerage no Ranks or Degrees of men the same condition to all It 's Treason to kill a Judge upon the Bench this kills not Judicem sed Judicium He that borrowed Apelles and gave Bond to return again Apelles the Painter sent him home after he had cut off his Right Hand his Bond was broken Apelles was sent but not the Painter There are Twelve Men but no Law there 's never a Judge amongst them It 's Felony to Imbezle any one of the Judicial Records of the Kingdom this at once Sweeps them all away and from all It 's Treason to Counterfeit a Twenty shillings piece here 's a Counterfeiting of the Law we can call neither the Counterfeit nor true Coin our own It 's Treason to Counterfeit the Great-Seal for an Acre of Land no property hereby is left to any Land at all nothing Treason now either against King or Kingdom no Law to punish it My Lords If the Question were Asked at Westminster-Hall Whether this were a Crime punishable in Star-Chamber or in the Kings-Bench by Fine or Imprisonment they would say it went higher If whether Felony they would say that 's for an Offence only against the Life or Goods of some one or few persons It would I believe be answered by the Judges as it was by the Chief Justice Thurning in 21 R. 2. that though he could not Judge the Case Treason there before him yet if he were a Peer in Parliament he would so Adjudge it My Lords if it be too big for those Courts we hope it 's in the right way here 2. The second Consideration is from the Frame and Constitution of the Parliament the Parliament is the great Body Politick it comprehends all from the King to the Beggar if so My Lords as the Natural so this Body it hath power over it self and every one of the Members for the preservation of the whole It 's both the Physitian and the Patient If the Body be distempered it hath power to open a Vein to let out the corrupt blood for curing it self if one Member be Poysoned or Gangred it hath power to cut it off for the preservation of the rest But my Lords it hath often been inculcated that Law-makers should imitate the Supreme Law-giver who commonly warnes before he strikes The Law was promulged before the Judgment of death for gathering the Sticks No Law no Transgression My Lords To this rule of Law is Frustra legis auxilium invocat qui in legem
of the same Quiver For Mr. Pym as a Prologue to those Designs acquainted the House That there were Informations of Desperate Designs at home and abroad to bring up the Army against the Parliament to surprize the Tower that the Earl of Strafford might Escape that Portsmouth was to be betrayed the French were drawing down their Army in all hast to the Sea side And to the same Effect was the Petition of the Rabble States men which follows THat whereas your Petitioners did yesterday Petition for the Redress of many Grievances Petition of the Rabble and for the Execution of Justice upon the Earl of Strafford and other Incendiaries and to be secured from some dangerous Plots and Designs on Foot to which your Lordships have this day given Answer that you have the same under Consideration for which your Petitioners do render humble thanks but forasmuch as your Petitioners understand that the Tower of London is presently to receive a Garrison of men not of the Hamblets as usually they were wont to do but consisting of other Persons under the command of a Captain a great Confident of the Earl of Strafford which doth encrease their fears of the suddain Destruction of King and Kingdom wherein your Lordships and Posterity are deeply interested and this is done to make way for the Escape of the Earl of Strafford the Grand Incendiary They therefore pray that instant Course may be taken for the discovery thereof and that speedy Execution of Justice be done upon the Earl of Strafford Hereupon the Lords sent six Peers to the Tower who Examining the Lieutenant he informed them he had a Command from the King to receive a hundred men under Captain Billingsley into the Tower thereby throwing an Odious Reflexion upon the King as if he were of confederacy for the Earl his Escape which his Majesty understanding did himself the Justice to let the Lords know by a Message That upon a Complaint of Sir William Balfour the Lieutenant of the Tower of the great Resort of People thither he Ordered the said Captain and his Company to guard the Munition there but if that occasion Jealousies his Majesty is willing to receive their Lordships advice And for the other fine story of the Earl's Escape is was discovered by the miracle of three good Wives of Wappings peeping in at the Key-hole out of Curiosity to see the Earl and they heard him discourse with his Secretary Mr. Slingsby about his Escape but Mr. Slingsby upon Examination absolutely denyed it as did also the Master of the Ship which was said to be laid for him only Balfour being Examined confessed the Earl had moved some such thing and offered him the King's Warrant for his Indemnity but whoever considers that he was a Scot a Confident of the Party and that all things were managed by Scottish Counsels Measures and Examples of Tumults and withal how unjustly he had traduced the King just before in the matter of Captain Billingsley will not at all admire he should make a little bold with his Conscience to keep his place to oblige his Friends and Countenance a Report which was so advantageous to the Designs that were then caarying on by Tumults and all the Artifices imaginable But that which puts it out of all doubt is the Letter which this noble Lord writ that very day to the King to pass the Bill of Attainder against him a Generosity as it was very uncommon so very inconsistent with the design of this pretended Escape which seemed rather Levelled at his Majesties Reputation among the People then to have any reality in it The Letter was this May it please Your Sacred Majesty IT hath been my greatest grief in all these Troubles The Earl of Strafford's Letter to the King May 4. to be taken as a person which should endeavour to represent and set things amiss between Your Majesty and Your People and to give Counsels tending to the disquiet of the Three Kingdoms Most true it is that this mine own private Condition considered it had been a great madness since through Your Gracious Favour I was so provided as not to expect in any kind to mend my fortune or please my mind more than by resting where Your bounteous Hands had placed me Nay it is most mightily mistaken for unto your Majesty it is well known my poor and humble Advices concluded still in this That Your Majesty and Your People could never be happy till there were a right understanding betwixt You and them and that no other means were left to effect and settle this happiness but by the Counsel and Assent of Your Parliament or to prevent the growing Evils of this State but by intirely putting Your Self in this last resort upon the Loyalty and good Affections of Your English Subjects Yet such is my misfortune that this Truth findeth little credit yea the contrary seemeth generally to be believed and my self reputed as one who endeavoured to make a separation between You and Your People under a heavier censure than this I am perswaded no Gentleman can suffer Now I understand the minds of Men are more and more incensed against me notwithstanding Your Majesty hath declared That in Your Princely opinion I am not Guilty of Treason and that You are not satisfied in Your Conscience to pass the Bill This bringeth me in a very great streight there is before me the ruine of my Children and Family hitherto untouch'd in all the Branches of it with any foul crime Here are before me the many ills which may befal Your Sacred Person and the whole Kingdom should Your Self and Parliament part less satisfied one with the other than is necessary for the preservation both of King and People Here are before me the things most valued most feared by mortal men Life or Death To say Sir that there hath not been a strife in me were to make me less man than God knoweth my Infirmities make me and to call a destruction upon my self and young Children where the intentions of my heart at least have been innocent of this great offence may be believed will find no easy consent from Flesh and Blood But with much sadness I am come to a Resolution of that which I take to be best becoming me and to look upon it as that which is most principal in it self which doubtless is the prosperity of Your Sacred Person and the Common wealth things infinitely before any private mans interest And therefore in few words as I put my self wholly upon the Honor and justice of my Peers so clearly as to wish Your Majesty might please to have spared that Declaration of Yours on Saturday last and intirely to have left me to their Lordships So now to set Your Majesties Conscience at liberty I do most humbly beseech Your Majesty for prevention of evils which may happen by Your refusal to pass this Bill and by this means to remove praised be God I cannot say this accursed
rather what was safe than what seemed just preferring the outward peace of my Kingdoms with men before that inward exactness of Conscience before God And indeed I am so far from excusing or denying that complyance on my part for plenary consent it was not to his destruction whom in my judgment I thought not by any clear Law guilty of death that I never did bear any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of my repentance I have often with sorrow confessed both to God and Men as an Act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a fear of man than of God whose Name and Place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid inconveniencies of State by Acts of so high injustice as no publick convenience can expiate or compensate I see it a bad exchange to wound a mans own Conscience thereby to salve State sores to calm the storms of popular discontents by stirring up a Tempest in a mans own bosom Nor hath Gods Justice failed in the event and sad consequences to shew the World the fallacy of that Maxim Better one man perish though unjustly than the people be displeased or destroyed For in all likelihood I could never have suffered with my people greater calamities yet with greater comfort had I vindicated Strafford's innocency at least by denying to Sign that destructive Bill according to that Justice which my Conscience suggested to me then I have done since I gratified some mens unthankful importunities with so cruel a favour and I have observed that those who counsell'd me to Sign that Bill have been so far from receiving the rewards of such ingratiatings with the People that no men have been harassed and crushed more than they he only hath been least vexed by them who counselled me not to consent against the Vote of my own Conscience I hope God hath forgiven me and them the sinful rashness of that business To which being in my Soul so fully Conscious those Judgments God hath pleased to send upon me are so much the more welcome as a means I hope which his mercy hath sanctified so to me as to make me repent of that unjust Act for so it was to me and for the future to teach me that the best rule of policy is to prefer the doing of Justice before all enjoyments and the peace of my Conscience before the preservation of my Kingdoms Nor hath any thing more fortified my resolutions against all those violent importunities which since have sought to gain a like consent from me to Acts wherein my Conscience is unsatisfied than the sharp touches I have had for what passed me in my Lord of Straffords business Not that I resolved to have employed him in my affairs against the advice of my Parliament but I would not have had any hand in his death of whose guiltiness I was better assured than any man living could be Nor were the crimes objected against him so clear as after a long and fair hearing to give convincing satisfaction to the major part of both Houses especially that of the Lords of whom scarce a third part were present when the Bill passed that House And for the House of Commons many Gentlemen disposed enough to diminish my Lord of Strafford 's Greatness and Power yet unsatisfied of his Guilt in Law durst not condemn him to dye who for their integrity in their Votes were by posting their Names exposed to the popular Calumny Hatred and Fury which grew then so exorbitant in their clamors for Justice That is to have both my self and the Two Houses Vote and do as they would have us that many 't is thought were rather terrified to concur with the condemning party than satisfied that of right they ought so to do And that after Act vacating the Authority of the precedent for future imitation sufficiently tells the world that some remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard measure and such as they would be very loath should be repeated to themselves This tenderness and regret I find in my Soul for having had any hand and that very unwillingly God knows in the shedding one mans Blood unjustly though under the colour of the Formalities of Justice and pretences of avoiding publick Mischiefs which may I hope be some Evidence before God and Man to all Posterity that I am far from bearing justly the vast load and guilt of all that blood which hath been shed in this unhappy War which some men will needs charge upon me to ease their own Souls who am and ever shall be more afraid to take away any mans life unjustly than to lose my own Nor was this all for besides what he said at his own Death he acquainted Doctor Shelden afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury with his Resolution if ever he was in a Condition to perform his Vows of which this was one To do publick Pennance for the injustice he had suffered to be done to the Earl of Strafford as may be large be seen in his Life written by Dr. Perinchief fol. 119. Nothing was sounded in the Kings Ears but Fears Terrors and Threatnings of Worse and Worse Tumults and Rebellions from every quarter of the City and every corner of the Kingdom and indeed the King who had seen the effects of them both in Scotland and England could not but have very terrible apprehensions of them At last having wrastled him breathless he was vanquished by Importunity and necessity and yielded to the Passing of these two Fatal Bills by Commission the one for the Earl's and the other as it proved in the Event for his own Execution Upon Monday May the 10th Monday May 10. Bill of Attainder passed by Commission Mr. Maxwell Gentleman-Usher to the Lords came to acquaint the Commons with the good news that His Majesties Assent to the two Bills was to be given by Commission and that their Lordships did expect Mr. Speaker and the House of Commons to come up It seems the Gentleman was something transported as sure all the world was out of their wits for he came without the Black Rod and entred without being called in at which there was Exceptions taken but the News he brought was so agreeable that the transport of it did him the favour to take off the Resentments of the House who at another time would not have pocketted up such an affront with silence The Commission was granted under the Great-Seal of England directed unto the Lord Privy-Seal Lord Great Chamberlain Lord Steward The manner of passing Bills by Commission or any two of them for passing the Royal Assent to two Bills the one intituled An Act of Attainder of Thomas Earl of Strafford of High-Treason the other An Act to prevent the Inconveniencies which may happen by the untimely Adjourning Proroguing or Dissolving of this present Parliament The Lords being all in their Robes and the Commissioners sate upon a Form standing across the House
between the Chair of State and the Lord Keeper's Woolsack and the House of Commons with their Speaker being come up the Clerk of the Parliament delivered the Commission whereunto the Bills were annexed upon his knee Then the Lord Privy-Seal declared to both Houses that his Majesty had an intent to have come himself this Day to have given his Royal Assent to these two Bills but some important Occasions had prevented him and so his Majesty had granted a Commission for giving the Royal Assent which was delivered to the Clerk of the Parliament who carried it to his Table and read it this being done the Clerk of the Crown read the Titles of the Bills and the Clerk of the Parliament pronounced the Royal Assent to them both severally The Bill of Attainder was as follows WHereas the Knights Citizens The Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford passed May the 10th and Burgesses of the House of Commons in this present Parliament assembled have in the name of themselves and of all the Commons of England impeached Thomas Earl of Strafford of High-Treason for endeavouring to subvert the ancient and Fundamental Laws and Government of his Majesties Realms of England and Ireland and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law in the said Kingdoms and for exercising a Tyrannous and exorbitant power over and against the Laws of the said Kingdoms over the Liberties Estates and Lives of his Majesties Subjects and likewise for having by his own Authority commanded the laying and asseising of Soldiers upon his Majesties Subjects in Ireland against their consents to compel them to obey his unlawful Commands and Orders made upon Paper-Petitions in causes between Party and Party which accordingly was executed upon divers of his Majesties Subjects in a Warlike manner within the said Realm of Ireland and in so doing did levy War against the Kings Majesty and his liege people in that Kingdom And also for that he upon the unhappy Dissolution of the last Parliament did slander the House of Commons to his Majesty and did counsel and advise his Majesty that he was loose and absolved from the rules of Government and that he had an Army in Ireland by which he might reduce this Kingdom for which he deserves to undergo the pains and forfeitures of High-Treason And the said Earl hath been also an incendiary of the Wars between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland all which offences have been sufficiently proved against the said Earl upon his impeachment Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty and by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by authority of the same That the said Earl of Strafford for the haynous crimes and offences aforesaid stand and be adjudged and attainted of High-Treason and shall suffer such pain of Death and incur the forfeitures of his Goods and Chattels Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of any estate of Free-hold or Inheritance in the said Kingdoms of England and Ireland which the said Earl or any other to his use or in trust for him have or had the day of the first sitting of this present Parliament or at any time since Provided that no Judge or Judges Justice or Justices whatsoever shall adjudge or interpret any Act or thing to be Treason nor in any other manner than he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been had or made Saving alwayes unto all and singular persons and bodies politick and corporal their Heirs and Successors others than the said Earl and his Heirs and such as claim by from or under him all such right title and interest of in and to all and singular such of the said Lands Tenements and Hereditaments as he they or any of them had before the first day of this present Parliament any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided that the passing of this present Act and his Majesties Assent thereunto shall not be any determination of this present Sessions of Parliament but that this present Sessions of Parliament and all Bills and matter whatsoever depending in Parliament and not fully enacted or determined And all Statutes and Acts of Parliament which have their continuance until the end of this present Session of Parliament shall remain continue and be in full force as if this Act had not been The Earl understanding that the Bill was passed did humbly Petition the House as follows SEeing it is the good Will and Pleasure of God The Earl of Strafford's Petition to the House of Peers that your Petitioner is now shortly to pay that Duty which we all owe to our frail Nature he shall in all Christian Patience and Charity conform and submit himself to your Justice in a comfortable assurance of the great hope laid up for us in the Mercy and Merits of our Saviour blessed for ever only he humbly craves to return your Lordships most humble thanks for your Noble Compassion towards those innocent Children whom now with his last blessing he must commit to the protection of Almighty God beseeching your Lordships to finish his Pious intention towards them and desiring that the Reward thereof may be fulfilled in you by him that is able to give above all that we are able ask or think wherein I trust the Honourable House of Commons will afford their Christian Assistance And so beseeching your Lordships charitably to forgive all his Omissions and infirmities he doth very heartily and truely recommend your Lordships to the Mercies of our Heavenly Father and that for his goodness he may perfect you in every good work Amen The next day being Tuesday May 11. Tuesday May 11. the King sent this Passionate Letter to the Lords in behalf of the Earl My Lords I Did yesterday satisfie the Justice of the Kingdom The Kings Letter to the Lords concerning the E. of Strafford by passing the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford but Mercy being as inherent and inseperable to a King as Justice I desire at this time in some measure to shew that likewise by suffering that unfortunate Man to fulfil the Natural Course of his Life in a Close Imprisonment Yet so if ever he make the least offer to escape or offer directly or indirectly to meddle in any sort of publick business especially with me either by Message or Letter it shall cost him his Life without further Process This if it may be done without the Discontentment of my People will be an unspeakable contentment to me to which end as in the first place I by this Letter do earnestly desire your Approbation and to endear it more have chosen him to carry it that of all your House is most dear to me So I desire that by a Conference you will endeavour to give the House of Commons Contentment assuring you that the Exercise of Mercy is no more pleasing to me than to see
Protestation I hope Gentlemen you do think that neither the fear of Loss nor love of Reputation will suffer me to belye God and mine own Conscience at this time I am now in the very door going out and my next step must be from time to Eternity either of Peace or Pain To clear my self before you all I do here solemnly call God to witness I am not Guilty so far as I can understand of the great Crime laid to my Charge nor have ever had the least inclination or Intention to damnifie or prejudice the King the State the Laws or the Religion of this Kingdom but with my best endeavours to serve all and to support all So may God be merciful to my Soul Then rising up he said He desired to speak something to the People but was affraid he should be heard by few in regard of the Noise but having first fitted himself to the Block and rising again he thus addressed himself to the Spectators MY Lord Primate of Ireland and my Lords The Earl of Strafford's Speech upon the Scaffold May 12. and the rest of these Noble Gentlemen It is a great Comfort to me to have your Lordships by me this day because I have been known to you a long time and I now desire to be heard a few words I come here my Lords to pay my last Debt to Sin which is Death And through the Mercies of God to rise again to Eternal Glory My Lords If I may use a few words I shall take it as a great Courtesie from you I come here to submit to the Judgment that is passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented Mind I do freely forgive all the World a forgiveness not from the Teeth outward as they say but from my heart I speak in the presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not a displeasing thought that ariseth in me against any Man I thank God I say truly my Conscience bears me Witness that in all the Honour I had to serve His Majesty I had not any Intention in my heart but what did aim at the Joynt and Individual prosperity of the King and His People although it be my ill hap to be misconstrued I am not the first Man that hath suffered in this kind It is a Common Portion that befals men in this Life Righteous Judgment shall be hereafter here we are subject to Error and Misjudging one another One thing I desire to be heard in and do hope that for Christian Charities sake I shall be believed I was so far from being against Parliaments that I did always think Parliaments in England to be the happy Constitution of the Kingdom and Nation and the best means under God to make the King and his People happy As for my death I do here acquit all the World and beseech God to forgive them In particular I am very glad His Majesty conceives me not meriting so severe and heavy a punishment as the utmost Execution of this Sentence I do infinitely rejoyce in it and in that Mercy of His and do beseech God to Return Him the same that he may find Mercy when he hath most need of it I wish this Kingdom all prosperity and happiness in the World I did it Living and now Dying it is my Wish I profess heartily my apprehension and do humbly recommend it to you and wish that every Man would lay his hand on his heart and consider seriously Whether the beginning of the Peoples happiness should be written in Letters of Blood I fear they are in a Wrong Way I desire Almighty God that no one drop of my Blood rise up in Judgment against them I have but one word more and that is for my Religion My Lord of Armagh I do profess my self seriously faithfully and truly to be an obedient Son of the Church of England In that Church I was born and bred in that Religion I have lived and now in that I dye Prosperity and Happiness be ever to it It hath been said I was inclined to Popery if it be an Objection worth the answering let me say truly from my heart That since I was Twenty one years of age unto this day going on 49 years I never had thought or doubt of the truth of this Religion nor had ever any the boldness to suggest to me the contrary to my best remembrance And so being reconciled to the Mercies of Jesus Christ my Saviour into whose bosom I hope shortly to be gathered to enjoy Eternal Happiness which shall never have an end I desire heartily to be forgiven of every Man if any rash or unadvised Words or Deeds have passed from me and desire all your Prayers and so my Lord Farewel and farewel all things in this World The Lord strengthen my Faith and give me Confidence and Assurance in the Merits of Christ Jesus I trust in God we shall all meet to live Eternally in Heaven and receive the accomplishment of all Happiness where every Tear shall be wiped from our Eyes and sad thoughts from our Hearts and so God bless this Kingdom and Jesus have Mercy on my Soul Then turning himself about he saluted all the Noblemen and took a solemn leave of all considerable persons on the Scaffold giving them his Hand And after that he said Gentlemen I would say my Prayers and I intreat you all to pray with me and for me Then his Chaplain laid the Book of Common-Prayer upon the Chair before him as he kneeled down on which he prayed almost a quarter of an hour then he prayed as long or longer without a Book and ended with the Lords Prayer then standing up he spyed his Brother Sir George Wentworth and call'd him to him and said Brother We must part remember me to my Sister and to my Wife and carry my Blessing to my Eldest Son and charge him from me That he fear God and continue an Obedient Son of the Church of England and that he approve himself a Faithful Subject to the King and tell him That he should not have any private Grudge or Revenge towards any concerning Me and bid him beware to meddle not with Church Livings for that will prove a Moth and Canker to him in his Estate and wish him to content himself to be a Servant to his Countrey as a Justice of Peace in his County not aiming at higher Preferments Carry my Blessing also to my Daughter Ann and Arrabella charge them to fear and serve God and he will bless them not forgetting my little Infant that knows neither good nor evil and cannot speak for it self God speak for it and bless it Then said he I have nigh done One stroke will make my Wife Husbandless my dear Children Fatherless and my poor Servants Masterless and seperate me from my dear Brother and all my Friends but let God be to you and them all in all After that going to take off his Doublet and to make
hand and therefore in his own words take the following account of that Affair WHen the King had Dissolved the Parliament in April An account of Sir Henry Vanes Notes so fatal to the Earl of Strafford 1640. He committed the management of his greatest concernments to certain Lords of his Council who were called the Juncto At this Table Sir Henry Vane as Secretary of State was present and had taken some rude and imperfect Notes of such Speeches as those Lords had severally delivered to the King by way of Debate whether he Transcribed those Notes is uncertain yet his great care in keeping them makes it more then probable he designed to have something in readiness if an occasion should be offered that might turn to the Earl of Strafford's prejudice against whom he had a private hatred the Earl having obtained from the King the Title of Raby for his Barony which was the hereditary possession of Sir Henry Vane though by Gift from the King But this Grudge lay concealed lest the intended Revenge against the Earl should not take Effect in the proper season for if Sir Henry Vane's Malice had been professed the Earl of Strafford's Power would easily have disordered and disappointed all his opposite Attempts These Notes were therefore laid up in his Cabinet till he found the differences betwixt the King and his Subjects of Scotland to be in a fair way of composure and then he thought it the fittest time to discover those private Councils and engage the Lords and Commons when ever they met in Parliament to an irreconcilable hatred against him But his fears were great in owning himself as an Informer or Accuser lest he should lose the Place and Favour which he held in Court and be looked upon by the King as a Perjur'd Councellor a false and unworthy Servant Yet he thought it might prove unsafe and unsuccessful to imploy a Stranger in a business of so great Concernment to him he therefore resolves to improve his Malice and Subtilty by one whom nature had made his living Copy and he takes such a Course as might cast the blemish upon his Son yet gain the means of that Revenge which he designed He was then in a Treaty of Marriage for his Son with the Daughter of Sir Christopher Wray and being called upon to produce the chief Writings of his Estate he being then at his Country House in Kent gave his Son the Keys of his Cabinet at Whitehall and directed him to such a Drawer were he should find those Writings which were desired but no sooner had his Son opened the Cabinet and the Drawer according to his Fathers directions but he found a Paper with this Indorsment Notes taken at the Juncto This Paper either from his own Curiosity or his Fathers Direction he opens and reads and having a particular Acquaintance with Mr. Pym he repairs to him with great Expressions of a troubled Mind not knowing what way to steer himself betwixt the Discharge of his Duty to the Common-wealth and his faithfulness to his Father Mr. Pym endeavoured to answer his Scruples and having perused the Paper he found many Expressions of dangerous consequence he therefore took a Copy of those Notes for his own use but when the Parliament met he resolved to make use of them for the Service of the Publique and assured Mr. Vane that all tender care should be had of his Reputation and of his Fathers security and that his name should not be made use of as the Author of this Information unless it should appear to him to be of absolute necessity to avow the Discovery of it For these reasons the close Committee was desired preparatory Examinations were contrived that the truth of these Counsels and Advices delivered to the King by the Earl of Strafford might have been gained from the Confession of those Lords which were present at the Debates Upon this desire of the House of Commons the Lords declared that no Examination ought to be taken before the particular Charge against the Earl of Strafford were given in and that they understood the desire of the House of Commons in no other sence and therefore they Ordered That for that time and in that case all the Peers should be Examined upon Oath as Witnesses and that the Assistants should likewise be Examined upon Oath if it were required and that they would endeavour with their best care to have the business kept secret and that such of the House of Commons as should be made choice of might be present at the taking such Preparatory Examinations as should be desired by them for perfecting of the Charge against the Earl of Strafford Sir Henry Vane's Papers the 5th of May 1640. L. L. Ireland Sir Henry Vane's Notes taken at the Juncto No danger in undertaking the War whether the Scots are to be reduced or not To reduce them by force as the State of this Kingdom stands If his Majesty had not declared himself so soon he would have declared himself for no War with Scotland They would have given him plentifully The City to be called immediately and quickned to lend One Hundred Thousand Pounds The Shipping Money to be put vigorously upon Collection those two ways will furnish his Majesty plentifully to go on with Arms and War against Scotland The manner of the War Stopping of the Trade of Scotland no prejudice to the Trade free with England for Cattel A Defensive War totally against it Offensive War into the Kingdom His Opinion few Months will make an end of the War do you invade them L. Arch. Lord Archbishop If no more Money then proposed how then to make an Offensive War a dissiculty Whether to do nothing and let them alone or to go on with a vigorous War L. L. Ireland Go vigorously on or let them alone no Defensive War loss of Honour or Reputation the quiet of England will hold out long you will languish as between Saul and David Go on with an Offensive War as you first designed loosed and absolved from all Rules of Government Being reduced to extreme necessity every thing is to be done as power will admit and that you are to do They refused you are acquitted toward God and Man You have an Army in Ireland you may imploy here to reduce this Kingdom Confident as any thing under Heaven Scotland will not hold out Five Months one Summer well imployed will do it venture all I had I would carry it or lose it Whether a Defensive War as impossible as an Offensive War or whether to let them alone L. Arch. Tryed all ways and refused all ways By the law of God you should have subsistence and ought to have and lawful to take it L. Cott. Lord. Cott. Leagues abroad they make and will and therefore the defence of this Kingdom The Lower House are weary both of King and Church month May 1641. It always hath been just to raise Moneys by this unavoidable
Necessity therefore to be used being lawful L. L. Ireland Commission of Array to be put in Execution They are to bring them to the Borders In reason of State you have power when they are there to use them at the King's Pay if any of the Lords can shew a better let them do it Town full of Nobility who will talk of it Obser he will make them smart for it Thus did Ambition and private Revenge disguise themselves under the popular pretence of publique Justice and tenderness for the safety of the Common-wealth The truth is Power and Greatness do always render the Great Ministers of State Criminals to Malice and Envy and of this I will give two remarkable Instances out of the above mentioned Memoirs of the Earl of Manchester When saith he The reason why the Marquess Hamilton and the Lord Cottington escaped the fury of the Faction strickt Scrutiny was made into the Councils and Actions of those who were in greatest Power and Credit with the King divers of the Privy-Council most of the Judges came under the Debate of a Capital or Criminal Impeachment and the very Order of Episcopacy with all its Hierarchy incurred the Odium of Superstitious Pride and Oppression But they who were looked upon as the principal Instruments of those Mischiefs which threatned the Ruine of the Three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland were the Archbishop of Canterbury the Earl of Strafford the Marquiss Hamilton and the Lord Cottington these were of the Juncto where all things of consequence and privacy had been consulted and resolved and these were designed first to be questioned But the Marquiss Hamilton seeing a dark Cloud gathering over his head thought it necessary to seek a timely Shelter and upon consultation with his Friends about the most probable way for preventing of the Clamour of the Commons which might prove a fatal Vote against him he was advised to improve his Interest in the Commissioners of Scotland for he had personally obliged some of them and the rest could not but acknowledge that he had Expressed a great care of his Nations happiness in all those imployments wherein he had been trusted by his Majesty for though he often shewed a great Aversion and activeness against them in their Cause and Quarrel yet in all their Extremities they found him a Friend intending their good He therefore pressed them to intercede for him which they did with earnest solicitations They likewise gave such Engagements for his future Compliance with the Parliaments Designs as he was not only Exempt from all fear of Accusation but he became a Confident in all their private Designs against others and employed his Credit with the King for the obtaining many and great concessions The Lord Cottington could not hope for so powerful an intercession neither durst he rely on his Innocency as Parliament-proof therefore he had recourse to that prudent if not subtle way by stripping himself of his Skin to save his life He knew the Mastership of the Wards was a place of that value and power as probably it might stop the Mouths of his greedy Enemies or else open the hearts of some towards him in a way of Protection and Friendship He therefore declared to the King his condition and propounded the making the Lord Viscount Say and Seal to be his Successor This proved a very successful policy for as soon as this was made known to those who were concerned in their hopes of his place all Criminal Aspersions were laid aside and he gained the advantage of a retired and quiet being Thus far the said Earl in his Memoirs who was no Stranger to the most private transactions of those persons and times The Fall of this lofty Cedar gave not only a general consternation to all the Kings Friends but the greatest encouragement imaginable to the whole Faction who could not dissemble their satisfaction at their having gained so important a point but that it boyled over at the Mouths of the less cautious and more warm of the Party insomuch that I have heard one who was inwardly acquainted among them affirm that one of them as I think Mr. Pym was heard to boast of their success in words to this effect Have we saith he speaking of the Kings passing the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford got him to part with Strafford then he can deny us nothing And certainly nothing could be of greater disadvantage to his Majesties Affairs then this sacrificing a Great Court Favourite to their Wills rather then to Law or Justice For the whole Nation knew how dear this Great Man was to his Master and the great struglings which the King made if possible to save him and the reluctancy with which he seemed to resign him rather to necessity then reason as it made the victory appear greater so it taught all others of the Kings Friends the greatness of their danger and the impossibility of stemming so strong a Torrent as had wrackt so brave a person as the Earl of Strafford Nor did they think it any disparagement when they saw the King himself stoop to such compliances for them also to bend their Necks And doubtless as nothing can more encourage the Servants and Ministers of any Prince in circumstances and difficulties of this nature than the courage and resolution of the Prince himself so nothing can depress their Spirits comparably to the fear of seeing themselves deserted and left to the Fury and Rage of their Enemies for adhering faithfully to and vigorously prosecuting the Interests of their Master And had his Majesty made use of his Royal Prerogative and refused to Pass the Fatal Bill it could not have happened worse to him then afterwards it did but it might have proved better because they were not then in a condition to Levy a Formal War against him as afterwards they did his Majesty having a very good Army in the North to have Opposed them and had the Earl saved his a Noble and Valiant General to have been at the head of them But to return to the Parliamentary Affairs the Tumults were grown so insolent that his Majesty being sensible of the danger of them sent a Message to the Lords about them Upon which the Lords desired a Conference with the Commons the heads of which the Lord Privy-Seal delivered as follows THat he was commanded from the King to declare to both Houses at a Conference Conference about the Tumults that the People do assemble in such unusual numbers that his Majesty fears the Council and the Peace of the Kingdom may be interrupted and therefore as a King that loves Peace takes care that all Proceedings in the Parliament may be in a fair temperate and peaceable manner It being now time of Parliament his Majesty will not of himself prescribe the way but expects that both Houses upon mutual Conference will advise such a course which may best preserve the quietness of the Kingdom That their
inhumanely put out lived not long after in torment and grief Some say he died by a more horrible Kind of Cruelty as his Belly was opened Will. Caxton and one end of his Bowels fastned to a Stake his Body pricked with sharp Ponyards till all his Entrails were extracted in which most Savage Torture he ended his innocent Life These Bishops little regarded Ecclesiastical Vocation or Function but Worldly Pomp and Courtly Rule They cannot be at Assemblies of States and Parliaments but their neglected Flock must be starved These feed not their hungry Sheep but hunger to feed on them and this Care of the World volves them in a world of Cares What hath been spoken of those Bishops I wish had not been delivered of other Latter Prelats wherein I crave Leave to speak what others write That they are grown to that Height of Idleness the Mother of Ignorance and Luxury within themselves and by reason thereof in contempt and base estimation with the People that it is thought high time that blood should be drawn from their swelling Veins I will not though perhaps I might say with them that the Commonwealth hath little use of such I mean of our Lordly Bishops but for that they are so far degenerated from the Primitive institution I wish there were reformation I speak not of demolishing but of Amendment and Restitution and until it appear that the whole is unsound I shall not assent to utter extirpation or eradication Thus much I have made bold to deliver though not in due place nor in any purpose to plead against those or any of them that have declared themselves to be of contrary Opinion I am not ignorant of my disability to enter the Lists with any or to contend with such Worthies in this or other Argument but I hope there will not be denyed to me Leave and Liberty to declare the Cause and Reason of my Vote in this House in which I have the honour to sit as a Member And if I have erred I have been mis-led not only by Learned Fathers and Divines by Synods and General Councils but by great Lords and Barons yea by the whole Peerage of these Kingdoms of England and France Peter Lord Primandy and Barree who writ the French Academy and dedicated the same to Henry the Third King of France and Poland in that Book and Chapter of the Causes that bred Change saith That Bishops and Prelates neglecting their Charge to bestow their times in worldly Affairs grew to Misliking and Contempt have procured great Offences and marvellous Trouble which may more easily be lamented then taken away or reformed being such Abuses as have taken deep Root And what he affirmeth did the Peers of France unitely deliver That Bishops should follow St. Peter 's steps to win Souls and not to meddle with Wars and Murder of Mens Bodies But to come neer and to speak of England Let us hear what the English Lords did declare We read that they did Decree in the time and Reign of King John That Bishops should not intermeddle in Civil Affairs or Rule as Princes over their Vassals and the reason is rendred for Peter say they received no power but only in matters pertaining to the Church and further inlarging themselves use these words It appertains not to Bishops to deal in Secular Affairs since Peter only received of our Saviour a power in matters Ecclesiastical what say they hath the Prelates to intermeddle with Wars such are Constantine's Successors not Peter's whom as they represent not in good Actions so neither do they in Authority fie on such Rascal Ribaulds the words in Paris are Marcidi Ribaldi how unlike are they to Peter that usurp Peter's place But this point of intermedling in Secular Affairs though I have often digressed and intermingled with the former parts is proved in its proper place to be unlawful viz. in that part that treateth thereof Craving pardon for this Deviation I will pursue the present Argument the obnoxiousness of their Sitting in Parliament and to come to the points I intended to insist on viz. The entrance of Bishops into the Parliament House and by what means they came there and continued That they have sate there from the first Parliament to this is not denyed But as we are not now to consider an fuerunt but an profuerunt so are we not to debate and discuss an factum but an fieri debuit for it was the Argument of a Pagan viz. Symmachus to the Emperor Theodosius recorded by St. Ambrose servanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt Majores nostri qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos Our Religion which hath continued so many years is still to be retained and our Ancestors are to be followed by us who happily traced the steps of their Fore-fathers but with Tertullian nullam velo consuetudinem defendas if good no matter how short since if bad the longer the worse Antiquity without truth as saith Cyprian is but ancient Error The first Parliament as I read began 1116 or thereabouts and in the Sixteenth or Seventeenth year of King Henry the First who being an Usurper brought in by the Bishops to the disherison of Robert his elder Brother admitted the said Bishops to be Members of the said High Court partly in gratefulness but rather for that he durst not do otherwise for was not Ralph the then Archbishop of Canterbury so proud and insolent a Prelate that we read of him that when Roger Bishop of Salisbury was to Celebrate the Kings Coronation by reason of the Palsie of the Archbishop this cholerick outdaring Prelate could hardly be intreated by the Lords to with-hold his hands from striking the Crown from the Kings Head Eadmerus of such Spirits were those spiritual Prelates and the Jealousie to lose their pompous preheminence of Honours Math. Paris Anno 1119. yet had he no other reason for this his sauciness and bold Attempt but for that Roger did not this by his appointment At the same time Thurstan was Archbishop of York who though a disloyal and perjured Man by breach of his Oath to the King Polichron l. 7. c. 18. yet was he highly favoured and countenanced by the Pope and put into that See by him in despite of the said King And as he so the rest of the Bishops not less guilty nor much less potent were likewise admitted Members of that high Court and to speak plainly how could he spare their being in that House who were to justifie his Title to the Crown Now pass we to King Stephen King Stephen another Usurper Nephew to the former King Henry him though he had an Elder Brother and before them both the Title of Anjou by his Wife Maud the Empress as also of his Son Henry to precede the Bishops did advance to the Royal Throne no less perfidiously then trayterously having formerly sworn to Maud the Empress We are also to understand
Disloyalties I will omit and passing by as well particular Bishops and Prelates as Stephen Arch-Deacon of Norwich and others as also of them in general I will only relate one villanous passage of Trayterous Disloyalty whereof as good Authors deliver the Archbishops and Prelates were principal Abettors and Conspirers The King being at Oxford the Bishops and Barons came thither with armed Multitudes without number and forced him to yield that the Government should be swayed by 25 Selected Peers Paris Thus one of the greatest Soveraigns was but the Six and twentieth petty King in his own Dominions c. To him Succeeded his Son K. H. 3. who being at Clerkenwel in the House of the Prior of Saint John's was told by him no less sawcily than disloyally if I may not say traiterously That he should be no longer King than he did Right to the Prelates Whereto he answered What do you mean to deprive me of my Kingdom and afterward Murther me as you did my Father And indeed they performed little less as shall hereafter appear But now to take the particular passages in order In this King's Reign Stephen then Archbishop of Canterbury as we read was the Ring-Leader of Disorders both in Church and State and no better was Peter Bishop of Winchester But not to speak of them in particular but of them all in general and that in Parliament at Oxford saith Matth. Paris and Matth. Westm came the Seditious Earls and Barons with whom the Bishops Pontifices ne dicam Pharisei those were his words had taken Counsel against the King the Lord 's Anointed who sternly propounded to the King sundry traiteterous Articles to which they required his Assent but not to reckon all the Points you shall hear what the same Authors deliver of their Intent I will repeat the words as I find them These turbulent Nobles saith M. West had yet a further Plot than all this which was first hatched by the Disloyal Bishops which was That four and twenty Persons should there be Chosen to have the whole Administration of the King and State and yearly appointment of all great Officers reserving only to the King the highest Place at Meetings Primus Accubitus in Coenis and Salutations of Honour in Publick Places To which they forced him and his Son Prince Edward to Swear for fear as mine Author saith of Perpetual Imprisonment if not worse for the Traiterous Lords had by an Edict threatned Death to all that resisted And the Perfidious and wicked Archbishop and Bishops Cursing all that should rebel against it Which impudent and Traiterous Disloyalty saith Matth. Paris and Matth. Westm the Monks did detest asking With what fore-heads the Priests durst thus impair the Kingly Majesty expresly against their sworn Fidelity to him Here we see the Monks more Loyal and Honest than the Lord Bishops we have Cashiered the poor Monks and are we afraid of the Bishops Lordliness that they must continue and sit in Parliament to the Prejudice of the King and People And so we may observe That this * This which he accounts Treason in the Bishops was no more than this Man and his fellow-Members would have imposed upon the King in the 19 Propositions Traiterous Bishop did make this King as the former had done his Father meerly Titular From him I pass to his Son Edward the First In his Reign Boniface was Archbishop of Canterbury and Brother to the Queen what he and the rest of the Prelates did in prejudice to the Regal Authority and Weal Publick I will pass over the rather for that they declare themselves in his Son's Reign so wicked and disloyal that no Age can Parallel of which thus in brief Doth not Thomas de la More call the Bishop of Hereford Arch-Plotter of Treason Omnis mali Architectum and not to speak of his contriving the Death of the late Chancellor and other particular Villanies he is Branded together with Winchester then Chancellor and Norwich Lord Treasurer to occasion the dethroning of this Prince Nay after long Imprisonment his very Life taken away by Bishop Thorlton's Aenigmatical Verse though he after denied it Edwardum Occidere nolite timere bonum est But this Adam de Orleton alias Torleton and his fellow Bishops in this King's Reign I may not slightly pass over Therefore I desire we may take a further view of them First of this Adam Bishop of Hereford we find that he was stript of all his Temporalties for supporting the Mortimers in the Barons Quarrel He being saith Thomas de la More a Man of most subtil Wit and in all wordly Policies profound daring to do great Things and Factious withal who made against King Edward the Second a great secret Party To which Henry Burwash Bishop of Lincoln for like Causes deprived of his Temporalties joyned himself as also Ely and others Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter a Turn-Coat left the Queen and came to England to inform the King of his Queens too great familiarity with Mortimer which afterward cost him his Head Perhaps some now as Thomas de la More will say he was therein a good Man yet I will take leave to think not do I fear to speak it This was no part of Episcopal Function But I will pass him by not concluding him either good or bad every Man may think as he pleaseth I will declare the Traiterous and Disloyal Actions of the other Bishop formerly mentioned This Bishop of Hereford whom I find called the Queens bosom Councellor Preaching at Oxford took for the Text My Head my Head aketh 2 Kings 4.19 concluding more like a Butcher than a Divine that an Aking and Sick Head of a Kingdom was of necessity to be taken off and not to be tampered with by any other Physick whereby it is probable that he was the Author of that Aenigmatical Verse formerly recited Edwardum occidere c. And well may we believe it for we find that he caused Roger Baldock Bishop of Norwich the late Lord Chancellor to die miserably in Newgate Not much better were Ely Lincoln Winchester and other Bishops that adhered to the Queen Mortimer and others of her part Nor can I commend those Bishops that were for the King and the Spencers The Archbishop of Canterbury and his Suffragans decreeing the Revocation of those Pestilent Peers the Judgment given against them judged as Erronious Thus these Lord Bishops as all in a manner both before and after instead of Feeding the Flock of Christ only Plotted dismal Wars Death and Destruction of Christians I might tell you how in this King's Reign as in others * Certainly this was made a President for such were the Pretences and Practises of this Man and his Associates they perswaded the Lords and Peers of the Realm that they had Power and Right not only to reform the King's House and Council and to place and displace all great Officers at their Pleasure but even a joynt Interest in
the Regiment of the Kingdom together with the King And now will any say No Bishop No King yet one word more before I part with these Bishops what Ground-work they laid and what means they used for the Ruine of King and Kingdom was it not their working upon the Impotence of a Womans will insinuating what indignity it was that a She-Daughter of France being promised to be a Queen was become no better than a waiting-woman living upon a Pension and so nourishing in her great Discontents perswaded her going to France which was the Matter and Embrion and as I may say the chief Cause of Common Destruction which after ensued God keep all good Princes from heark'ning or consenting to the pernicious Counsels of such pestilent Priests and prating Parasites To declare all their Disloyalties in Parliament and out would fill a large Volume But now Brevis esse laboro therefore I only say That as it was not for their Goodness but Greatness that they sate in Parliament so their sitting there did I think I may say almost evert Monarchy yea Regality with what face can they inculcate that Aspersion No Bishop no King Certainly by what I have already delivered and shall now declare in the Reigns of Succeeding Princes it will â—ppear quite contrary that where Lordly Bishops domineer and bear Rule and Sway neither Kings nor Kingdoms themselves or Subjects are secure Now to the Reign of King Edward the Third did not John Archbishop of Canterbury perswade and incite this King and the Parliament to a most dangerous War with France whereby the Death of Millions hath been occasioned To such Mischief do they use their Learning and Eloquent Orations in Parliament What Epiphanius delivered of Philosophers that they were In Re stultâ Sapientes so may we say of such Bishops that they are In malo publico facundi But to pass by particular Men and Actions I shall only deliver unto you some Notable Passages in Parliament Anno 1371. The Parliament did Petition the King to have them deprived of all Lay-Offices and Government they being commonly the Plotters and Contrivers of all Treasons Conspiracies and Rebellions the very Incendiaries Pests and Grievances both of the Church and State the chiefest Instruments to advance the Peoples usurped Authority though with Prejudice of the Kings which they never cordially affected and the Arch-Enemies of the Common-wealth through their private Oppression Covetousness Rebellion and Tyranny when they have been in Office as may appear by Antiquitates Ecclesioe Britannicae in the Lives of Anselm Becket Arundel c. Here we see that they never affected the Authority of Kings but rather were Scourges to their Sides and Thorns in their Eyes Now we come to R. 2. his Grandchild who Succeeded him R. 2. we read that when in Parliament in London the Layety had granted a Fifteenth on Condition that the Clergy would likewise give a Tenth and Half William le Courtney then Archbishop did stiffly oppose it alledging they ought to be free nor in any wise to be taxed by the Layety which Answer so offended the Lords and Commons Tho. Walsingham that with extream fury they besought the King to deprive them of their Temporalties alledging That it was an Alms-Deed and an Act of Charity thereby to humble them that was then delivered for an Alms-Deed and an Act of Charity which is now accounted Sacrilege and Cruelty The next that Succeeded him was H. 4. but an Usurper also H. 4. for at that time there were living of the House of York whose Right by the Title of Clarence was before his as Mortimer c. In opposition to his Claim and Right the Bishop of Carlisle made a most Eloquent Oration but to what purpose Hayward to perswade his dethroning now vested in the Regal Government and thereby to ingage the Kingdom in a Civil War which when his Oratory could not effect he laboured and so far prevailed that by his subtil insinuations and perswasions many Princes of the Blood Royal Joh. Stow ex Anonymo Hal. Cron. and other great Lords were drawn to a Conspiracy himself laying the Plot together with the Abbot of Westminster the Chief Wheels of all the Practice as moving the rest for the King's Death whereby he brought to the Block those Noble Peers and as his Pestilent Council had infected their Minds so was the Blood of them John Stow Annals Hall ex Walsingh and theirs tainted by this foul Treason but as I discommend his disloyal Actions so I no better approve the other flattering and Time-serving Bishops who did Plead the Right of the Title of the said King more Eloquently than Honestly more Rhetorically than Divinely for which their Expressions they were employed as Ambassadors to Foreign Parts to declare and justifie his Title and Right to the Scepter the Bishop of Hereford to Rome the Bishop of Durham to France the Bishop of Bangor to Germany and the Bishop of St. Asaph to Spain which Bishop of Asaph sate as Judge in that Parliament and pronounced the Sentence of Deposition against King Richard The Form as near as I remember was We John Bishop of St. Asaph John Abbot of Glastenbury Commissioners named by the House of Parliament Sitting in Place of Judgment c. Here you may note that the Bishop did pass Judgment of a great Inheritance no less than Two or Three Kingdoms and though not between two Brothers but Cozins yet did adjudge most wrongfully as was most apparent I note withal That the Title of Lord is not assumed by this King-deposing Bishop nor any other that I read of Now what he had judged in Parliament his Holy Brother of Canterbury must make good in Pulpit Fabian 1. Concor Hall ex Fab. delivering what unhappiness it was to a Kingdom to have it governed by such a Man Certainly a most dangerous Position to an Hereditary Monarchy I also note that this Arch-Bishop was Brother to the Earl of Arundel and at the same time the Arch-Bishop of York a near Kinsman to the Earl of Wiltshire and who durst then plead against the Right of the Bishops Sitting in Parliament In the same King's Reign Richard le Scroop the Arch-Bishop of York did in Parliament enter into Conspiracy with Thomas Mowbray Earl Marshal against the said King for which they were both beheaded And now in the said King's Reign in the Parliament of Coventry let me also tell you That in the said Parliament as in other both before and after a Bill was exhibited against the Temporalties of the Clergy who called that Parliament Parliamentum Indoctorum saying That the Commons were fit to enter Common with their Cattle having no more Reason then bruit Beasts This is Speed's delivery but I take it that he repeateth it as the Prelates Censure of the House of Commons But to him succeeded Henry the Fifth H. 5 in his time did not Henry Chichley in an Eloquent Oration in Parliament revive
25th of the same King upon the Clergies own submissive Petition And the Bishops themselves in the Prosecution of this Act 1603. in the beginning of King James his Reign did decree the same and pronounce Excommunication ipso facto upon all or any that should Ordain or Execute the same without Royal Assent Now you have seen their Demeanour in Parliament for Three or Four Hundred years or thereabouts The delivery hereof hath taken up much time and perhaps thereby most are satisfied that they have been hurtful and therefore that it is not convenient they should longer continue Members of that Honorable House where they have done such Mischief to King and Common-wealth yet in regard of my Promise and Undertaking to declare them Prejudicial from the First Parliament to this present by Testimony of Credible Authors in each King's Reign as also to meet with an Objection which I conceive will be offered to make all that hath been proved as Extravagant so invalid That those Actions Practises Plots Conspiracies or Treasons were done and perpetrated in time of Popery and that it was done by Papal Command I will deliver their Actions no less detestable nay rather more heinous after the Reformation than before In the several Reigns of King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth King James of Blessed Memory and our present Sovereign whom God long Preserve But I desire I may be rightly understood that when I charge these Reverend Bishops that were very good Men Chief Pillars of the Church great Lights of Learning and Charge them to have those things as Bishops which I believe they would not have done as Private Ministers If I say I declare that they to hold their Bishopricks and in expectance of great Preferment and to please great Lords and Princes Kings and Emperors have not only yielded to but perswaded to introduce Idolatry to disinherit the Right Heirs of Kingdoms and force good Princes to do Acts Unnatural and Unjust Let me not be thought to speak in Depravation or Detraction I do not intend their Infamy and so desire to be understood their Memory ought to be dear to us all and it ever hath been and is precious in my Esteem but I thereby insinuate that Corrupt Lordly Episcopacy hath an Infection in it tainting the purest and godliest Ministers I pray you misconceive me not I am not against Episcopacy truly understood or a Church-Government rightly used but I conceive and therefore under Correction say That it hath with Theseus Ship received so many new Pieces and Additions to the first Building that it doth justly occasion a Dispute whether it be the same little or nothing of the first Substance and Materials remaining So that we have Episcopal Government in Name but want the Substance Vox proeterea nihil with Ixion we embrace but a Cloud instead of Juno or at best but a Blear-eyed Leah instead of a Beautiful Rachel This Tree I say is almost rotten this Salt somewhat unsavory this Light very dim this Building scarce sound or sure which if propping will help I would not have demolished till a Model of a better be agreed upon In King Edward's Reign did not the Reverend Bishop O Grief to hear faith my Author perswade Ed. 6. Fox Acts and Mon. and subscribe to the disinheriting of the two Daughters of H. 8. the Sisters of his King contrary to the Statute of 35 H. 8. as also in prejudice of the Right of Scotland Margaret being eldest Sister to Mary Grandmother to Jane on whose Head they would settle the Crown which Plot I think I may say wicked and disloyal if it had taken effect in all likelyhood the blessed Union of both Kingdoms had not ensued which as I said before was hindred by Betton Bishop of St. Andrews in H. 8th's time I have not yet spoke any thing as to the Point of Idolatry the most wicked and highest degree of Treasons being against the King of Kings did not the Arch-Bishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley perswade John Spede nay earnestly press King Edw. 6. that the Lady Mary might have Mass said in her House and that to be done without all prejudice of Law the Greatness of her Person being the immediate Successor and the Might of Charles the Emperor moved those Bishops too forward and so far urged this to the King and from Divines becoming Politicians alledged the Danger in breach of Amity with the Emperor and when he convincing by Scripture and told them he would rather hazard his Life than grant that which was not agreeable to Truth They alledge the Bonds of Nature At last tell him they would not be said nay This they offered and thus far they pressed althô they could not prevail with this Pious Prince These were not the Baits that Peter angled with to catch Souls or the Weapons that St. Paul fought with when he professed they were not Carnal but mighty through God to cast down Holds they propose not Honor and Security to Christ's Disciples but Hazard and Baseness A most godly Speech of a good Christian Prince the like whereto I read that King James uttered in his Protestation made to Watson as he after confessed to the Earl of Northampton upon some occasion offered All the Crowns and Kingdoms in this World saith he shall not induce me to change one jot of my Profession which is the pasture of my Soul and earnest of my Eternal Inheritance A Pious Speech of a Magnanimous King whose Memory shall ever be justly Blessed and I doubt not but our Gracious Sovereign as he holdeth his Kingdoms so possesseth the like Religious Courage and Constancy But to return to our former Bishops viz. Cranmer Ridley c. did they repent them of this upon better Consideration and upon the Death of this good King advance the Title of the Right Heir Nothing so Queen Maries Letter to the Bishops and L. from Keningall 9 July 1553. for when Queen Mary hearing that Jane her Cousin was to be Proclaimed Queen Writ her Letter to the Lords declaring her own Right and marvelling that they so unjustly attempted to put her from it contrary to their Loyalty Allegiance and the Statute which had formerly setled the Crown upon her They I mean the Bishops as well as the Lords for I find Canterbury and Ely to have Subscribed told her That she had no Right thereto but Jane must be Queen and she must submit her self to her as her Soveraign And what they Writ did Ridley Bishop of London Preach And thô this was not done or spoken in Parliament yet no man doubteth but if it had been effected they would have Pleaded in Justification thereof and confirmed it as Rightful in the next Parliament that should have been Called Now I have declared them disloyal Traitors and most unjust and ungodly in these Passages To pass from this Queen to the next I find that in the First year of good Queen Elizabeth there was a
further Reformation desired and what was then earnestly pressed by good Divines Jo. Stow Pag. 1084. as Dr. Scorie Cox Mr. Jewel Grindal Whitehead Horn Gest was thus far granted by that Godly Princess that there should be a Conference at Westminster where being come they were opposed by the Bishop of Winchester Lincoln Litchfield Carlisle and Chester together with some others These Bishops saith mine Author Stow abruptly broke off this Conference Pleading a mistaking of their Directions and in the next Sitting utterly refused either to Write their own or to Read the others Reasons whereby all was undone that was intended whereof part was Imprinted by Richard Jugge and John Cawood as is to be seen and this was in time of Parliament Much more I might declare of Bishops Actions in this Queens time as that the Bishops in Queen Elizabeths Inauguration did refuse to Anoint or Consecrate her viz. York Canterbury dying a little before Also these Chief Bishops denied the same as London Duresm Winchester Ely Lincoln Exeter Bath and Wells Coventry and Litchfield Chichester and Peterborough But I hasten to Conclusion And as this virtuous Queen did yield that a Dispute should be had for Reformation so did the gracious Prince King James grant the like at Hampton-Court where were Doctor Reynolds and Doctor Sparkes of Oxford and Knewstabs and Chaderton of Cambridge Now who resisted the Reformation Sure none other but the Bishop of Canterbury Duresme London Winchester Chichester Worcester Carlisle and St. Davids and the Deans of Westminster Windsor Pauls Chester Worcester and Christ-Church alledging that there was no need of Reformation But God and good Men did know the contrary but I will not trouble you with their Actions in this King's Reign their Introduction of Schisms Heresies and Idolatry of Popery and Arminianism and what not Of Irreligion to the Deity Mischief and Danger to the King and prejudice to the People and Kingdom few or none within these Walls but know them and felt the harmful fruits thereof As for their Actions in His Majestie 's Reign which I think do poise down and over-ballance all formerly done since beginning of Parliaments put together in the other Scale I will refer them to the Reports of the Committees for the Pope of Lambeth and his Cardinals Wren and others and briefly conclude That whereas from their first Sitting in Parliament to this time they have as well in Parliament as out been so prejudicial and appeared to have during their sitting there Plotted and Contrived Treasons and Conspiracies Rebellion and War Domestick and Foreign been Incendiaries and Grievances to State and Church and Arch-Enemies to King and Common-wealth introducing Salique Law making this Kingdom Elective and our Princes only Kings durant bene gerend or rather bene placit in worse Case and less hold than a Duke of Venice I hope His Majesty will Lâ—ge Talionis make their Episcopacy to be only Titular which is as much as is due to them whether Arch-Bishops or Bishops for they are to have Priority or Precedency Quoad-Ordinem not Quoad Ministerium wherein the poorest Curate is his equal and his fellow-Minister And as I am not for equality and Parity so I would not have too great a distance the Danger whereof to any Estate be pleased to hear as I received it from an Author formerly mentioned in these words rendred Too much Increase and unproportionable Growth is a Cause that procureth the Change and Ruin of Common-weals For as the Body is made and compounded of Parts and ought to grow by Proportion that it may keep a just Measure so every Common-weal being compounded of Orders and Estates as it were of Parts they must be maintained in Concord one with another as it were with equal and due proportion observed between each of them For if one Estate be advanced too much above another Dissention ariseth Equality being the Nursing Mother of Peace and Contrariwise Inequality the beginning of all Enmity Factions Hatred and Part-taking But seeing it is meet that in every well-establish'd Policy there should be a difference of Rights and Privileges betwixt every Estate Equality may continue if provision be made that one Estate grow not too much before the other But more of this elsewhere in its more proper place And as for these Reasons I yielded my Vote for the Unlawfulness and Inconvenience of their Sitting there Therefore I wish they may be no longer Members of that most Honorable House I humbly crave leave to add a word or two to what I formerly spoke I am not ignorant that the foresaid Assertion No Bishop No King is received as the delivery of King James but thô it might be admitted in the Sense he meant and intended to wit that those that dislike a Church Government will hardly admit Regal Rule yet we can no way allow thereof as it is commonly offered and pressed that the Regal Power cannot subsist without the present Episcopacy Now when that Wise Learned and Religious King did conceive of the Rules and Tenents of Bishops and Prelates how Consonant to the Majesty of Temporal Princes or whether he thought them rather to tend to the Trampling thereof under foot and laying their Honour in the Dust may appear by his Quotations in the latter end of his Apology for the Oath of Allegiance which I thought fitter to annex hereunto than to have delivered them in their proper place when I spake of Bishops in the Reign of Ed. 2d being then desirous to continue the Historical Narration of their Sitting and Actions in Parliament having too much transgressed by my often enterweaving other passages therewith I overpassed the same King James's Collection out of Cardinal Bishop Bellarmine are as followeth 1. 1. De Laicis c. 7. That Kings are rather Slaves than Lords 2. 2. De Pont. Rom. L. 1. c. 7. That they are not only Subject to Popes to Bishops to Priests but even to Deacons 3. 3. Ibid. That an Emperor must content himself to Drink not only after a Bishop but after a Bishop's Chaplain 4 4. Ibid. de Cler. c. 20. That Kings have not their Authority nor Office immediately from God nor his Law but only from the Law of Nations 5. 5. De Pontif. Lib. 3. c. 16. That the Popes have degraded Emperors but never Emperor degraded the Pope Nay even * Lib. 5. c. 8. Bishops that are but the Pope's Vassals may Depose Kings and Abrogate the Laws 6. 6. De Laicis c. 8. That Church-men are as far above Kings as the Soul is above the Body 7. 7. De Pontif. Lib. 5. c. 8. That Kings may be Deposed by their People for divers Respects 8. 8. De Pontif. Lib. 2. c. 26. But Popes can be Deposed by no means for no Flesh hath Power to Judge of them 9. 9. De Pontif. Lib. 4. c. 15. That Obedience due to the Pope is for Conscience sake 10. 10. De Clericis c. 28.
and Deputy-Lieutenants how affected to the Religion and to present their Names to the House and that where there is want that Arms and Ammunition may be supplyed By this Means they got a true account of all those who were their Friends and who their Enemies who were therefore to be displaced as disaffected to Religion and Popishly inclined as all those who were for Episcopacy were vogued to be and besides hereby they gave a General Alarm and Amazement to the Whole Nation to believe that those Fears and Jealousies with which they bewitched the People into Rebellion were grounded upon the foundations of Truth and real Danger which was the Occasion of this Inquiry into the state of the Militia Upon this a Message was sent to the Lords to acquaint them with a dangerous Conspiracy to seduce the Army against the Parliament and to increase the Fears and Jealousies among the People Message to the Lords about the Conspiracy to seduce the Army an Order was sent from the Commons to the Lord Mayor of London to take care of the City Guards The Message to the Lords was in haec verba Mr. Hollis who carried up the Message read it in these words Message about the Conspiracy of the Army That the House of Commons hath received such Information as doth give them just cause to suspect that there have been and still are secret practices to discontent the Army with the proceedings of Parliament and to ingage them in some Design of dangerous Consequence to the State and by some other mischievous ways to prevent the happy success and conclusion of this Parliament And because the timely discovery and prevention of these dangerous Plots doth so nearly concern the safety both of * Yet afterwards they did all that was possible to persuade the People that the King was in this Conspiracy King and Kingdom they desire your Lordships would be pleased to appoint a select Commitee to take the Examinations upon Oath of such persons and Interrogatories as shall be presented unto them by the Directions of the House of Commons and in the presence of such Members of that House as shall be thereunto appointed with Injunction of such Secrecy as a business of this nature doth require They have Ordered That such Members of their House as shall be thought fit shall upon notice be ready to be Examined and they desire your Lordships would be pleased to order the like for the Members and Assistants of your own House And further it is desired That your Lordships will forthwith send to his Majesty to beseech him in the Name of the Parliament upon this great and weighty occasion that no Servants of his Majesties of the Queen or Prince may depart the Kingdom or otherwise absent himself without leave from his Majesty with the humble advice of the Parliament until these Examinations be perfected Whereupon it was Ordered That this House will joyn with the House of Commons in all that they desire and these Lords following were Deputed to take the Examinations Earl of Bath Earl of Essex Earl of Warwick Earl of March Viscount Say and Seal Lord Wharton Lord Paget and Mr. Serjeant Glanvile and Mr. Attorney General to write and set down the Examinations There being never a Bishop in the Committee A Salvo for the Bishops a Memorandum was entered in the Journals MEmorandum Whereas none of the Lords the Bishops are joyned with the aforesaid deputed Lords it was declared by the House that it should be no prejudice to the Lords the Bishops This being done the Lord Great Chamberlain the Lord Steward the Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Dorset and the Earl of Newcastle were appointed to wait on his Majesty with the aforesaid request of the Parliament to which they brought this Answer THat his Majesty hath willingly granted it The Kings Answer concerning his Servants and gave a present Command to the Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Newcastle and the Earl of Dorset to give notice hereof to all under their Charge that none do depart the Kingdom without the King's License but to be forth-coming upon demand which accordingly they have already done After which the Oath of Secrecy was given to Serjeant Glanvile and Mr. Attorney in these words YOV shall Swear The Oath of Secrecy given by the Lords to Serjeant Glanvile and Mr. Attorney assistant to the Committee of Lords to Examine the Conspiracy The Persons accused That in your writing and setting down of the Examination of the Witnesses to be produced before the Lords deputed to take Examinations upon Interrogatories to be produced by the House of Commons concerning the English Army in the North and in all things concerning the same You shall well truly and faithfully behave your selves and not discover the same before the end of this Parliament or Publication granted or leave of this House first obtained The Persons Accused of this Design of seducing the Army against the Parliament were Sir John Suckling Mr. Henry Percy Brother to the Earl of Northumberland Mr. Henry Jermyn Colonel Goring Mr. William Davenant Captain Palmer Captain Billingsley and Sir Edward Wardourn and Warrants were issued out against them to bring them under the Examination of the House of Commons This day there passed little of Moment Thursday May 6. the Commons being taken up with Reading several Bills one for the security of the True Religion the Safety and Honour of his Majesties Person the just Rights of the Subject and the better discovering and punishment of Popish Recusants as also another Bill for Subsidies With which guilded baits they not only Angled for Popular Favour but also endeavoured to hide their Antimonarchical Designs against his Majesty by these specious pretences of endeavouring to study his Safety and Honour The House was this day informed That the Persons against whom the Warrants were Issued upon the Accusation of their endeavouring to seduce the Army were not to be found whereupon at a Conference it was desired that all the Ports might be stopped upon which the Lords made this Order Ordered The Order of the Lords for stopping the Ports That all the Ports of England shall be forthwith stopped until the pleasure of this House be further known and none to depart the Kingdom except Sir Thomas Roe and such as he will be answerable for who is to give in their names to this House And in particular stay is to be made of Henry Percy Esq Henry Jermyn Esq Sir John Suckling Knight William Davenant and Captain Billingsly that they depart not out of this Kingdom but are to be apprehended and safely conducted with all speed unto this House Directed To the Right Honourable Algernon Earl of Northumberland L. High Admiral of England To James Earl of March Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports To Jerom Earl of Portland Captain and Governour of the Isle of Wight To George Goring Esq Governour of Portsmouth After which Sir Philip Carteret Lieutenant
House of Commons was printed and dispersed all over England which when complained of though disclaimed by the House within doors yet was it never Counter-manded no Penalty inflicted upon the Printer Publishers or Spreaders of this Counterfeit Order nay they were not so much as once questioned for it By the Encouragement of this Order and the Countenance this Petitioning and Articling against the Clergy found from the Committee for Religion there were above 2000 Petitions Exhibited in a short time against them in which they were charged with the most horrid Crimes of Adultery Prophaneness Swearing Drunkenness and indeed what not Every accusation was not only received but Credited insomuch that few or none of the Loyal Clergy Escaped the lash Honesty and Learning being then as Mr. Selden said Sins enough in a Clergy-man And when ever the Reader shall hereafter meet with any of these Votes against the Clergy he is to look upon them rather as Marks of Honesty and honourable Scars of their Wounded Reputation then brands of ignominy or real Crimes for all their Sufferings proceeded only from their being guilty of Loyalty to their Sovereign Lord and King and Obedience to their Superiors and the Laws of the Church and of the State too as then it was Established But to pass forward this New Plot of seducing the Army with which not only London but the whole Nation rung again was of Extraordinary Service to them and from the Rumors which were spread of a French and Irish Army to be landed to joyn with the English Army the Phanatical Party took Occasion to provide themselves with Arms and Ammunition of which afterwards they made sufficient advantage when the Contest between the King and the Two Houses grew so high as to come to the fatal decision of the Sword A Letter was this day Ordered to be sent to the Army in order to the discovery of this Conspiracy against the Parliament and Mr. Speaker was ordered to send Copies of it under his hand to Sir John Conyers and Sir Jacob Ashley The Letter was thus penned SIR WHereas there have been just Causes of Jealousies that there have been some secret Attempts and Practices to infuse into the Army a mislike of this Parliament The Speaker's Letter to the Army to some dangerous intent and purpose against the State and that now the matter is grown unto a strong presumption upon further discoveries and by reason that some of those which were suspected to have been Active therein are fled upon the first stirring thereof before ever they were once named It hath pleased this House to declare That notwithstanding they intend to search into the bottom of this Conspiracy yet purposing to proceed Especially against the Principal Actors therein this House hath resolved whereunto the House of Peers hath likewise consented That for such of the Army as the Conspirators have endeavoured to work upon if they shall testifie their Fidelity to the State by a timely discovery of what they know and can testifie therein they shall not only be free from all punishment but also shall be Esteemed to have done that which is for the Service of the State in discovery of so dangerous a Plot against it And for such of the Army as are and shall be found no wayes tainted with this dangerous Design or knowing any thing thereof shall make such discovery as aforesaid as this House shall no wayes doubt of their Loyalty and Fidelity so it will have an Especial Care not only to satisfie all such Arrears as this House hath formerly promised to discharge but also give a fair Testimony of the Sense they have of their present and past Want And it is Ordered by this House That immediately after the receipt hereof you should communicate this their Declaration unto all the Officers and Members of the Army under your Command Your very Loving Friend c. It was this day also Agreed to a further Cessation of Arms for a Month longer Cessation prolonged for a Month from May 16. to begin from the 16. of May if the Treaty shall so long continue A Bill was read the first and second time for better levying and raising Mariners and Saylors and others Monday May the 10th for the defence of the Kingdom An Information was also given in Search for Arms at Lambeth or at least so pretended to render the Archbishop more Odious to the Populace and to Exasperate them against Him and the Rest of the Bishops that there were great Stores of Arms and Ammunition laid up at Lambeth in Order as was buzzed about among the Faction to promote some ill Designs against the Parliament whereupon Sir John Evelyn and Mr. Broxam were Ordered to go over to Lambeth to view what Arms were there and some others were appointed to search about the Parliament House lest any Plot should be secretly hid there or rather in truth to amuse the People by these strange Fears and Jealousies and keep them up in that Heat in which they were against the Government This Day were passed Money to be borrowed of the City upon Passing the Bill of Attainder and Bill for Parliament as before was observed the Fatal Bills for the Attainder of the Earl of Strafford and for the continuance of this Parliament upon which the Citizens and Burgesses for London were ordered to represent to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen and Common Councel what past this day concerning the Bill of Attainder and the Bill for the Sitting of this present Parliament and to move for a present Answer to be given for the Sixscore thousand pounds promised to be lent by the City for the great Occasions of the Kingdom There goes a Story which I have heard confirmed for truth That a certain Witty Nobleman the next morning after the passing this Bill for the Continuance of this Parliament during their Pleasure coming to the King 's uprising Saluted him in this Familiar manner Good morrow fellow Subject Which though at present it did only a little surprize his Majesty yet afterwards he found that no less was by that ACT intended by the Faction who treated him as a Co-ordinate third Estate Mr. Message from the King concerning the Lord Cottington c. Treasurer Vane brings a Message from the King to the House to acquaint them That his Majesty had already given Directions to prepare a Patent to make my Lord of Salisbury Lord Lieutenant of Dorsetshire the Lord Cottington having offered to surrender his Patent and that the House may hereby see how ready his Majesty is to satisfie all their Just Requests being resolved to repose himself intirely upon the Affections of his People To which Message Mr. The Commons Answer Treasurer was Ordered barely to return the Thanks of the House whereas formerly upon far less Occasions more Dutiful Commons were ever wont to return their Answer with the Stile of His Majesties Gracious Message and these Men
of the three Bills for Abbreviation of Michaelmas Term for pressing Marriners and for the Remainder of the six Subsidies May 13. 1641. THE great security of the Kingdom rests in the happy concurrence of the King and People in the Vnity of their hearts These joyned Safety and Plenty attends the Scepter but divided Distraction and Confusion as Bryers and Thorns overspread and make the Land barren No Peace to the King No Prosperity to the People The Duties and Affections of Your Subjects are most Transparent most Clear in the chearful and most liberal Contributions given to knit fast this Vnion with the bond of Peace The Treasures of the privy Purse are but the supplies of Princes warranted by a common Interest But the publick Tribute given by common Assent supports Royal Dignity is sheltered under the Wings of Prerogative and by that Power covered from the Eyes from the Touch of Deceivers In these we render Caesar what is due to Caesar and Tribute to whom Tribute belongeth The proper Inscription of the Crown is born here and Censures those Malignant Spirits that dare whisper into the Ears of Sacred Majesty that our selves only not Your Sacred Person not Your Royal Posterity are the Supreme Objects of the Givers The preservation of the publick Vnion the supply of Your Armies the distresses miserable distresses of the Northern parts the common Calamities of the times begat the consideration of this Bill the Remainder of the six entire Subsidies happily presented to Your Sacred Majesty by this unworthy hand the first Vote advanced a credit to us to issue them for the use of Your Sacred Majesty The full perfection adds growth to that Credit and enables us to return to Your Sacred Majesty as to the Ocean the Tribute due to Justice and Soveraignty These are the vast earnests of our desires which take their rise from the due regard from the safety of Your Throne of Your Posterity Your Royal Assent stamps Your Image here and makes this Yours and Yours only which I by the Commands of the Commons humbly beseech of Your Sacred Majesty to give After which the Clerk of the Crown reading the Titles severally the Clerk of the Parliament pronounced the King's Assent This being done his Majesty delivered a Paper to the House concerning the Draining of the Fens recommending it to their consideration as a business much concerning the good of the Kingdom The Act for restraining Bishops and others in Holy Orders from intermedling with Secular Affairs read a second time This day one Mr. John Smith a Minister in Custody of the Serjeant Attending the House was brought to the Bar and Committed to the Gate-house for words spoken against the Parliament For though all sorts of people spake freely enough against the Actions of the Judges Mr. Smith a Minister committed to the Gatehouse Ministers of State Privy-Councellors nay and of the King himself without the least controll or danger of either punishment or animadversion yet to speak against any thing done or said by the Commons was now become the most dangerous offence and which through the diligence of the well affected Party for so the Dissenters from the Church called themselves who were most notable Informers was certainly complained of to the Commons and by them most severely punished if not by Prisons yet by the great Charges of being kept long in the Custody of the Serjeant at Armes The Explanation of the Protestation formerly mentioned Friday May 14. was this day Ordered to be Printed and Published that so the Presbyterian Party might receive encouragement and assurance of their intention to pull down the Government of the Church by way of a Glorious and thorow Reformation This day Doctor Cozens and some others that are Delinquents in the Impeachment brought up from the House of Commons Dr. Cozens and others at the Bar of the Lords House were called in who kneeled at the Bar and then stood and heard the Impeachment read after it was read Doctor Cozens made his humble request in behalf of himself and the rest that this Cause may be heard publickly before the whole House This day Two Clergy-men who had been informed against in the House of Lords were Released by the following Orders WHereas Andrew Sandeland Clerk Sandeland and Waferer two Clergy Men Released hath been long in Custody for words alledged to have been spoken by him for which this House had just cause to have inflicted punishment upon him if they had been proved but after a long time no Prosecution appearing against him it is Ordered That the said Andrew Sandeland be forthwith discharged and set at liberty of and from his present Restraint or Imprisonment and that any Bond or other Security entered into by the said Andrew Sandeland for his attendance upon this House shall be forthwith Cancelled and delivered up to him Ordered That Michael Waferer Clerk having been long in Custody be forthwith discharged of his Restraint and that his Bonds and other Security given for his Attendance upon this House be delivered up to him to be Cancelled and his Cause dismissed this House because no Prosecutors have this long time appeared The Faction found better Encouragement from the Commons House to prosecute honest men by their false Informations at the Committee for Scandalous Ministers And indeed the Lords House was not at all for their purpose yet while the Bishops and so many of the Loyal Nobility sate there whose Honour and Justice would soon have discovered the Malice of these Accusations This day the Lord St. John's of Bletsoe was Introducted in his Robes Lord St. John of Bletsoe Introduced into the House of Lords between the Lord Hunsden and the Lord Grey of Wark he delivered his Writ upon his knee to the Speaker which being delivered to the Clerk it was read then the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Moubray in the place of the Earl Marshal his Father and the King at Arms going before him brought him and placed him next below the Lord Hunsden After which he and the Lord Chief Baron took the Protestation The Commons having received an Information against Mr. Saturday May 15. Mr. Davenant and Mr. Walley sent for by the Serjeant as Delinquents Informations against Mr. Percy William Davenant the Poet and Mr. Elias Walley concerning the Business of the Army they were by Order of the House sent for as Delinquents by the Serjeant Also several Informations against Mr. Percy the Earl of Northumberland's Brother which were taken at Chichester were read upon which John Lamb and Robert Merryweather were sent for from Chichester to be Examined upon it and a Conference with the Lords was desired upon it The Earl of Bath reports the Conference Conference about Percy Merryweather and Lamb. That the House of Commons have received certain Information that on Wednesday Night last past was Sevennight Mr. Percy came to Petworth and sent for one Robert Merryweather and borrowed of him
them down like Stars from Heaven to Earth and they did grow once to be advanced above their Brethren I do appeal to all who have been versed in the Antient Ecclesiastical Stories or Modern Histories Whether they have not been the Common Incendiaries of the Christian World never ceasing from Contention one with another about the Precedency of their Sees and Churches Excommunicating one another drawing Princes to be Parties with them and thereby Casting them into Bloody Wars Their Ambition and Intermedling with Secular Affairs and State-Business hath been the Cause of sheding more Christian Blood then any thing else in the Christian World and this no man can deny that is versed in History But we need not go out of our own Kingdom for Examples of their Insolency and Cruelty when they had a Dependancy upon the Pope and any footing thereby out of the Land there were never any that carried themselves with so much Scorn and Insolency towards the Princes of this Kingdom as they have done Lincoln Two of them the Bishop that last spake hath named but Instances of many more may be given whereof there would be no End Although the Pope be Cast off yet now there is another Inconvenience no less prejudicial to the Kingdom by their Sitting in this House and that is they have such an absolute dependancy upon the King that they Sit not here as Freemen That which is requisite to freedome is to be void of Hopes and Fears He that can lay down these is a Freeman and will be so in this House But for the Bishops as the Case stands with them it is not likely they will lay aside their Hopes greater Bishopricks being still in Expectancy and for their Fears they cannot lay them down since their Places and Seats in Parliament are not invested in them by Blood and so hereditary but by annexation of a Barony to their Office and depending upon that Office and thereby of their Places at the King's Pleasure they do not so much as Sit here Dum benè se gesserint as the Judges now by your Lordships Petition to the King have their Places granted them but at Will and Pleasure and therefore as they were all Excluded by Edw. 1. as long as he pleased and Laws made Excluso Clero so may they be by any King at his Pleasure in like manner they must needs therefore be in an absolute dependency upon the Crown and thereby at Devotion for their Votes which how prejudicial it hath been and will be to this House I need not say I have now shewed your Lordships how hurtful to themselves and others these things which the Bill would take away have been I will answer some Objections which I have met withall and then crave your Pardon for troubling you so long Object 1. It will be said that they have been very antient 2. That they are Established by Law 3. That it may be an Infringement to the Priviledges of the House of Peers for the House of Commons to send up a Bill to take away some of their Members To these 3. Objections the Answer will be Easy 1. To the First Antiquity is no good Plea for that which is by Experience found to be Hurtful the Longer it hath done hurt the more need there is now to remove it that it may do no more besides other Irregularities are as antient which have been thought sit to be redressed and this is not so antient but that it may truly be said Non fuit sic ab initio 2. For being Established by Law the Law-Makers have the same Power and the same Charge to alter Old Laws inconvenient as to make New that are necessary 3. For Privilege of the House it can be no breach of it for either Estate may propose to other by way of Bill what they conceive to be for public good and they have power respectively of accepting or refusing There are Two other Objections which may seem to have more force but they will receive satisfactory Answers The One is That if they may remove Bishops they may as well next time remove Barons and Earls For Answer 1. The Reason is not the same the one Sitting by an Honor invested in their Blood and hereditary which tho it be in the King to grant alone yet being once granted he cannot take away The other Sitting by a Barony depending upon an Office which may be taken away for if they be deprived of their Office they Sit not 2. Their Sitting is not so Essential for Laws have been and may be made they being all Excluded but it can never be shewed that ever there were Laws made by the King and them the Lords and Earls Excluded Object The other Objection is this That this Bill alters the Foundation of this House and Innovations which shake Foundations are Dangerous Answ I Answer first That if there should be an Error in the Foundation when it shall be found and the Master-Builders be met together they may nay they ought rather to amend it than to suffer it to run on still to the prejudice and danger of the whole Structure 2. Secondly I say this is not Fundamental to this House for it hath stood without them and done all that appertains to the Power thereof without them yea they being wholly Excluded and that which hath been done for a time at the King's Pleasure may be done with as little danger for a longer time and when it appears to be fit and for public good not only may but ought to be done altogether by the Supreme Power If this Speech be well considered setting aside the flourish his Lordship makes with perverted Scripture there is little in it that might deserve any Answer for the whole is built upon these two false Foundations First That the Bishops are not one of the Three Estates in Parliament an Opinion deservedly Exploded both by Common and Statute-Law and by all Persons of Sense and Honor Except such as would therefore have the King to be the Third Estate that so by bringing in a Co-ordinacy of Power they may the better accomplish their Anti-Monarchical Designs or at least reduce the Ancient and Imperial Crown of these Realms to the Condition of a Venetian Seigniory The Second of his Lordships unsound Foundations is That it is absolutely Vnlawful for Ecclesiastical Persons to intermeddle at all in Secular or Civil Concerns But his Lordship either did not consider or did forget that even St. Paul by his own Confession being a Tent-maker wrought with his hands which is a Secular Employ notwithstanding his Command to the Ministers to be instant in season c. and the Woe to them that do not preach the Gospel upon which his Lordship builds all his Speech And it is obvious that not only this hard labour must be a greater hinderance to his discharging his duty than what is here alledged against the Bishops but that Secular Employes are not absolutely Unlawful even
released from their Imprisonment in the Tower but nothing was done upon it The Earl of Northumberland sent a Message to the Commons to let them know he had received a Letter from his Brother Mr. Henry Percy and that if they would send some of their House they should have an account of it Whereupon Mr. Hollis and some others were sent to his Lordship The Letter was in these words WHat with my own innocency Mr. Henry Percy 's Letter to the Earl of Northumberlan concernin the business of the Army and the violence I hear is against me I find my self much distracted I will not ask your Counsel because it may bring prejudice upon you but I will with all faithfulness and truth tell you what my part hath been that at least it may be cleared by you whatsoever becomes of me When there was 50000 l. designed by the Parliament for the English Army there was as I take it a sudden demand by the Scots at the same time of 25000 Pounds of which there was 15000 l. ready this they pressed with much necessity as the Parliament after an order made did think it fit for them to reduct 10000 l. out of the 50000 l. formerly granted upon which the Souldiers in our House were much Scandalized amongst which I was one and sitting by Wilmot and Ashburnham Wilmot stood up and told them if that the Scots would procure Money he doubted not but the Officers of the English Army might easily do the like but the first order was reversed notwithstanding and 10000 l. given to the Scots this was the cause of many discourses of dislike amongst us and came to this purpose that they were disobliged by the Parliament and not by the King this being said often to one another we did resolve that Wilmot Ashburnham Pollard Oneale and my self to make some expressions of serving the King in all things he would command us that were Honourable for him and us being likewise agreeing to the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom that so far we would Live and Die with him this was agreed upon with us not having any Communication with others that I am coupled now withal and further by their joynt consent I was to tell his Majesty thus much from them but withal I was to order the matter so as the King might apprehend this as a great Service done unto him at this time when his Affairs were in so ill a condition they were most confident That they would engage the whole Army thus far but farther they would undertake nothing because they would neither infringe the Liberties of the Subjects nor destroy the Laws to which I and every one consented and having their Sense I drew the Heads up in a Paper to the which they all approved when I read it and then we did by an Oath promise one another to be constant and secret in all this and did all of us take that Oath together then I said Well Sirs I must now be informed what your particular desires are that so I may be the better able to serve you which they were pleased to do and so I did very faithfully serve them therein as far as I could this is the truth and all the truth upon my Soul In particular discourses after that we did fall upon the Petitioning to the King and Parliament for Moneys there being so great Arrears due to us and so much delays made in the procuring of them but that was never done 1. Concerning the Bishops Functions and Votes 2. The not Disbanding of the Irish Army until the Scots were Disbanded too 3. The endeavouring to settle his Majesties Revenue to that proportion as formerly And it was resolved by us all if the King should require our assistance in those things that as far as we could we might contribute thereunto without breaking the Laws of the Kingdom And in case the King should be denyed those things being put to them we would not fly from him all these persons did act and concur in this as well as I this being all imparted to the King by me from them I perceived he had been treated with by others concerning some things of our Army which agreed not with what was purposed by me but inclined a way more sharp and high not having limits either of Honour or Law I told the King he might be pleased to consider with himself which way it was fit for him to hearken unto for us we were resolved not to depart from our grounds we should not be displeased whosoever they were but the particular of the designs or the persons we desired not to know though it was no hard matter to guess at them In the end I believe the danger of the one the justice of the other made the King tell me he would leave all thoughts of other propositions but ours as things not practiceable but desired notwithstanding that Goring and Jermin who were acquainted with the other proceedings should be admitted amongst us I told him I thought the other Gentry would never consent to it but I would propose it which I did and we were all much against it but the King did press it so much as at the last it was consented unto and Goring and Jermin came to my Chamber there I was appointed to tell them after they had sworn to secrecy what we had proposed which I did But before I go into the debate of the way I must tell you Jermin and Goring were very earnest Suckling should be admitted which we did all decline and were desired by all our men to be resolute in it which I was and gave many reasons Whereupon Master Goring made answer he was engaged with Suckling his being employed in the Army but for his meeting with us they were contented to pass it by Then we took up again the ways which were proposed which took great debate and theirs differed from ours in violence and height which we all protested against and parted disagreeing totally yet remitted it to be spoken of by me and Jermin to the King which we both did And the King constant to his former resolutions told him these ways were all vain and foolish and would think of them no more I omit one thing of Mr. Goring he desired to know how the Chief Commanders were to be disposed of for if he had not a condition worthy of him he would not go along with us we made answer that no body thought of that we intended if we were sent down to go all in the same capacity we were in he did not like that by any means and by that did work so with Master Chidley that there was a Letter sent by some of the Commanders to make him Lieutenant General and when he had ordered this matter at London and Master Chidley had his instructions then did he go to Portsmouth pretending to be absent when this was aworking we all desired my Lords of Essex and Holland that if
there were a General at New-Castle they were pleased to give report that I should be General of the Horse but I protest neither to the King nor any else did I ever so much as think of it my Lord of Holland was made General and so all things were laid aside And this is the truth and all the truth I knew of these proceedings and this I will and do protest unto you upon my Faith and Wilmot Ashburnham and Oneale have at several times confessed and Sworn I never said any thing in the business they did not every one agree unto and justify This Relation I sent you rather to inform you of the truth of the matter that you may the better know how to do me good but I should think my self very unhappy to be made a betrayer of any Body What concerned the Tower or any thing else I never medled withal nor ever spake with Goring but that night before them all and said nothing but what was consented unto by any Party I never spake one word with Suckling Carnarvan Davenant or any other Creature Me thinks if my Friends and Kindred knew the truth and justice of the matter it were no hard matter to serve me in some measure Upon the reading the Transcript of this Letter of Mr. Percy 's to the Earl of Northumberland in the House of Commons Commissary Wilmot Capt. Munday June 14. Commissary wilmot Col. Ashburnham Col. Pollard imprisoned upon suspition of H. Treason Ashburnham and Capt. Pollard being found to be concerned in this matter of the Army were sent Prisoners Wilmot to the Tower Ashburnham to the Kings-Bench and Pollard to the Gatehouse for suspition of High-Treason †Sir John Berkley Mr. Dan. Oneal sent for as Delinquents upon the same account Sir John Berkley and Mr. Daniel Oneal were ordered to be sent for as Delinquents upon the same account * Sir will Widdrington and Sir Herbert Price discharged from the Tower Sir William Widdrington and Mr. Herbert Price were this day Discharged from their Imprisonment in the Tower and restored to their Siting as Members in Parliament a Afternoon-Sermons Voted to be in Cathedrals A Vote passed this Day That in all Cathedral Churches there should be Sermons in the Afternoons b Report of the Conference about Disbanding the Armies The Earl of Bath Reports the Conference Yesterday with the House of Commons delivered by Sir John Hotham to this Effect That the House of Commons had taken into Consideration the Vast Charge that the Kingdom lyes under by maintaining the Two Armies that they have used their utmost Endeavours in providing Mony for Disbanding them That Necessity Enforceth them to Disband the King's Army by Parts as they shall be able to provide Money and the Scottish Army wholly and altogether That in Disbanding the Army they will first disband those that lye in the most Southern Parts That they intend to Disband Five Regiments whereof they intend that the Regiment of Hull shall be the first then the Earl of Nidesdale 's Company which is put under the Regiment of Sir Charles Vavasor and so other Regiments shall march first to give way for the rest to march and that they shall not march above 300 in a Company The Earl of Bristol Reported Heads which the Lords Committees drew up in the Morning to be propounded at a Conference touching the Disbanding of the Armies viz. That a Total Disbanding be propounded as that which is thought necessary in the first place to be desired if for doing this they are not provided for the present this House will be ready to give them all possible Assistance for perfecting this great Work And that if the Commons shall make an Estimate of what will be wanting to the Total Disbanding the House of Peers will joyn with them most readily for untill a full Disarming and Disbanding of the Armies be Resolved and Declared it is much to be doubted that there will be greater difficulty in raising Money or getting Credit and therefore it is desired to imploy all our Just Endeavours for a Total Disbanding of both Armies If there be not a possibility presently to Disband all the Five Regiments being to be disbanded it is held fit that it be propounded to the Scots That they at the same time retire at least from the River Tees homeward and Ship their Field Ordnance at Newcastle and that the English likewise retire their Ordnance and Train of Artillery Tuesday June 15. Mr. Blany to be brought before the Parliament for Preaching against the Protestation Mr. Allen Blany Curate of Newington in Surrey was this Day ordered to be Summoned to attend the House for Preaching against the Protestation Affirming That the Parliament is able to Confirm a Law but not to Make a Law to bind him against his Conscience and for offering a Protestation of his own to make good the 39th Article to which he subscribed his hand and left it with the Church-wardens The Debate concerning Deans and Chapiters was also Revived upon which occasion Mr. Pury an Alderman of Glocester made this following Speech the House being in a Grand Committee of the whole House Mr. Hide I Rise not up to answer the Argument of the Learned Gentleman of the Long-Robe that spake last the which were to prove some Incoherence of the Preamble Mr. Pury Alderman of Glocester his Speech agaiâ—st Deans and Chapters June 15. 1641. with the body of the Bill concerning the Abolishing of Deans and Chapiters in respect of their Government in the Church of England who have none at all as hath been argued but there are some Reasons stick with me whereby I do conceive that the Deans and Chapiters have been and are part of the Government of the Church of England and that the Preamble and body of this Bill therein may very well stand together for if you take the Deans and Chapiters in their Original who as it was said by a Learned Serjeant over against me were first founded in Superstition alike to your Regular and Secular Monks or if you consider them as an Institution to be Consilium Epis to assist Bishops in their Government and Discipline or if you look upon those Deans and Chapiters of the last Foundation by Henry the Eighth yet certainly they are in all these capacities a part of the Government of the Church of England and as well the Rural as the Cathedral Deans are numbred by our own Writers among Church-Governors and they are in and among themselves a part of the Church-Government and by the Book of Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws they are to govern them according to their Statutes of Foundation and to keep them pure and entire so far as they are not repugnant to the Word of God and our Constitutions of Religion And for the better satisfaction of this Committee and my self here is a Copy of the Statutes Grant and Foundation of the Dean and Chapter of the
Clergy-man no Dignitary whose Books have cost him a Thousand Pounds which when he dies may be worth to his Wife and Children about Two Hundred It will be a shameful reproach to so flourishing a Kingdom as this to have a poor beggarly Clergy For my part I think nothing too much nothing too good for a good Minister a good Clergy-man They ought least to want who best know how to abound Burning and shining Lights do well deserve to be set in good Candlesticks Mr. Hide I am as much for Reformation for purging and maintaining Religion as any man whatsoever but I profess I am not for Innovation Demolition nor Abolition Possibly the Reader will now be desirous to see this Bill which gave so much business to the Parliament and therefore I here present him with a Copy of it as I find it in the Paper-Office An Act for the Abolishing and taking away of all Arch-Bishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deacons and Chanters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries and Canons and all other their Under-Officers of the Church of England WHereas the Government of the Church of England by Arch-Bishops and Bishops The Bill against Episcopal Government and the Hierarchy of the Church their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Arch-Deacons and others their Cathedral Officers have been found by lang experience to be a great Impediment to the perfect Reformation and Growth of Religion prejudicial to the Civâ—l Government of this Kingdom Be it therefore Enacted by the King 's most excellent Majesty the Lords and Commons Assembled in this present Parliament by the Authority of the same That from henceforth there shall be no Arch-Bishops Chancellors or Commissaries of any Bishopricks Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries Chanters Canons or Pety-Canons or any other of their Officers within this Church or Kingdom And every Parson that shall hereafter use or exercise any Power Iurisdiction Office or Authority Ecclesiastical or Civil by Collection of any such Name Title Dignity or Office or Iurisdiction to incur the Penalty and a Forfeiture contained in the Act of Premunires made in the 16 R. 2. That all which hereafter done by any Arch-Bishopricks their Chancellors Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prevendaries Canons Petty-Canons or any other Office by Collection of any of their Dignities or Officers aforesaid shall be meérly void in Law any Statute or Ordinance heretofore made to the contrary any wise notwithstanding And that all Mannors Lands Territories Impropriations Houses Rents Services and other Hereditaments whatsoever of the said Arch-Bishopricks Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries Canons Petty-Canons which they or any of them have in Right of the said Churches or Dignities shall be disposed and ordered of in such manner sort and form as the King 's most excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled shall appoint And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction fit to be exercised within this Church and Kingdom of England shall be committed to such a number of Persons and in such manner as by this present Parliament appointed Divers Papers were upon this occasion presented to the Consideration of the House of Commons and many even of the Presbyterians who were for altering some things yet were not for Extirpation of Root and Branch among the rest I find these two in the Paper-Office THe Agitation of change of Government in the Church A Proposition concerning Bishops and Ecclesiastical Affairs and Church Government in the House of Commons is a Business of so high a Consequence that it is necessary to prevent any Resolution by Voting their judgment alone lest that being brought up with prejudice to the Lords who are and ought to be equally interessed may also prejudice the Cause It is a doubtful Case in the heat of this dispute how farr the Commons may go in the Declaration of their Opinions in which if the Lords shall not concur it may prove a great Rock of offence between the two Houses Therefore 't is very requisite that the Lords of the Higher House do timely interest themselves in the discussion and before any Resolution in either House To this purpose the Lords may be pleased to make a Committee in their House for the Reformation of Church Affairs and Government and thereupon demand a Conference with the Committee of the House of Commons that the business may be handled by Consultation on both sides pari passu and gradu At this Conference the Lords may be pleased to propose these grounds 1. That neither by Example nor Reason in any Age or State Matters Ecclesiastical or Mutations in Church Affairs were ever alone determined by Lay-men 2. In the Primitive Church and most Ancient times matters of this nature were always debated in General Councils or National Synods in the blessed Reformation the business was agitated by a Choice number of Divines who communicated their proceeding with Reformed Divines abroad and admitted some Strangers into their Consultations for the satisfaction of their Brethren and Peace of the Church 3. The publick Enemy of our Religion will take infinite advantage at every Alteration and especially at any that shall be resolved above by Lay-men 4. It must of necessity produce a dangerous Schism in the Church if without all Respect of Edification and satisfaction to the Parties different in judgment any conclusion should be imposed upon both without their consent 5. It is impossible that any Resolution taken in Heat and Passion can be so permanent but that time will discover a Necessity of fresh alterations to the shame of the whole Reformation 6. It is necessary to proceed in such a way as may not be Scandalous to the Churches abroad and may give satisfaction to both Parties opposite and contending at Home and may be Honourable Durable Obliging and Fortified with the consent and agreement of the Ecclesiastick and the Authority of the Parliament To effect which it is most agreeable to true Wisdom and Policy that both Houses of Parliament determine and declare for the present that the Laws Established for Church Government shall be obeyed And because all things in the first Reformation could not be fore-seen or some things were necessarily for other respects overseen which Time and great Liberty and Light have discovered and which may now be more fitly taken into consideration That therefore both Houses may be pleased to move His Majesty for the calling of a National Synod I mean of a Select number of Divines of all three Nations subject to His Majesty equally and impartially chosen of Moderate and Learned Men of both sides in which may be discussed and resolved a setled and uniform Model of Government to be presented unto the Parliament of all the Kingdoms there to receive Strength and Approbation In which Assembly Godly Men and lovers of Peace assisted by the Spirit of God may doubtlessly be induced to receive satisfaction from one another in
and Subdivisions made under them The first Head concerning the Disbanding of the Army First Head that is in the Forefront because it is first to be done and to make way for all the rest And of this four several Branches 1. The House of Commons desires the five Regiments to be first Disbanded according to the former Order agreed upon by both Houses 2. The Commissioners for the Scots to be desired to retire some of their Troops from the Teeze 3. That their Lordships would joyn with the House of Commons in an humble motion to his Majesty to declare these Five Regiments to be Disbanded and the rest of the Army as soon as Mony may be provided and for the punishment of those that shall refuse to Disband if any such should be 4. That the Lord General should be intreated forthwith to repair to the Army upon Saturday at the furthest at which time the Mony will be there And that the Lord Newport Master of the Ordnance may likewise be there to take care of the Ordnance and all things under his Charge The Second Head was Second Head That his Majesty will be pleased to allow a convenient time before his journey into Scotland that so the Army may first be Disbanded and that some of the important Affairs now depending in Parliament some in both Houses and other some in the House of Commons may be dispatched before his Majesties Journey This Proposition he backs with these Four Reasons 1. The Safety of his Majesties Person 2. The Removing of the Jealousies of his good Subjects 3. The Cutting off the hopes of those which are ill affected and have any Design of disturbing the Kingdom by means of the Armies 4. The great advantage in his Majesties own Affairs and contentment of his People if before his going the Royal Assent may pass to divers Bills concerning the Reformation of the Church and State whereof some are already sent up and others in Preparation as the Bill intended for further Grant of Tonnage and Poundage and other Customs That some time may be employed to Regulate the King's Estate and Revenue to free them of unnecessary Burthens and to employ them for the good of the Commonwealth All which require his presence in Parliament The Third Head was about his Majesties Councels Third Head 1. That his Majesty may be humbly Petitioned to remove such evil Counsellors against whom there shall be any just Exceptions And for the Committing of his own Business and the Affairs of the King to such Counsellors and Officers as the Parliament may have cause to conside in The Reasons Because all those ill effects we feel were produced by those ill Counsels in all the three Fundamentals before spoken of 1. In matters of Religion 2. In the King 's private Estate 3. In the good of the whole Kingdom All these Three have decayed but those of another Kind and Allay have much prospered of late amongst us as matters of Monopolies matters of Projects and new Inventions Here he told your Lordships a Tale of a Gardner who being demanded why the Weeds grew so fast and the Flowers so thin in his Ground-Plot answered That the Weeds were the true Children but the Flowers were but so many Slips and Bastards So saith he it is written That Kings should be our Nursing-Fathers and Queens our Nursing-Mothers but we have found here of late by reason of bad Counsellors no Nurses but Hirelings of the Publick State these therefore are especially to be removed for the reducing of the Kingdom to a better Condition and Posture Howbeit this Request is by the Commons recommended but in general for the present without pointing out or designing of particulars in hope the King will find them out himself Otherwise it will cause the House of Commons to reduce this Petition to Names of Particulars and therefore they desire your Lordships so to commend it to his Majesty that he would put the Affairs of his own and the Kingdom into such hands as his Majesty and the Parliament may confide in The Fourth Head concerns the Queens Majesty Fourth Head and consists of several Branches 1. That his Majesty will be graciouslyy pleased by Advice of his Parliament to persuade the Queen to take some of the Nobility and others of Trust into her Service in such Places as are now of her disposing Reason She shewed her self ready to do any thing for the Common good of the Kingdom and this is of that kind 2. That no Jesuit be entertained into Her Majesties Service nor any Priests Natives of his Majesties Dominions The Reasons of this First Because Banished in all other Courts of Catholique Princes Secondly Against the Laws of our Nation that Native Priests should be here 3. That the Colledg of Capuchins at Denmark House may be dissolved and the Persons sent away out of the Kingdom for these Four Reasons 1. Their being here is a Scandal to our Religion and a Danger to our Peace 2. Disaffection to the State manifested in Two Letters dated May 6. whereby many Slanders are cast upon the Parliament and the good Subjects under the Name of Puritans as disaffected and injurious to the Queens Person and thereupon the Cardinal excited to some Design against England 3. The Letter of Nathanael Phillips wherein by way of Reproach unto the Parliament he writes That the Protestation taken in both Houses is like the Scottish Covenant but somewhat worse 4ly That divers Informations are given of great quantity of Gold Transported by these Priests 4. The Fourth Branch concerning the Queen is upon the special Occasion of his Majesties absence That your Lordships would joyn with the House of Commons to Advise the King That some of the Nobility and others of Quality with a competent Guard may be appointed to attend the Queen for the Security of her Royal Person against all Designs of the Papists and others ill-affected to the Peace of the Kingdom The Reasons for this First To secure Her from Popish Attempts Secondly By the Watchfulness of those Worthy Persons Priests and Jesuits may be kept from the Court. He protested That herein they intended nothing of Disrespect he said it was a blessed thing to be kept from Temptation and to be rid of those Flies would gain the Queen the Love of the People in his Majesties Absence The Fifth Head concerning the Prince Fifth Head and the rest of the Royal Issue That some Person of Publique Trust and well-affected in Religion may by Advice of the Parliament be placed about the Prince and may take Care of his Education Especially in matters of Religion and the like Care to be taken of the rest of his Majesties Children The Sixth Head concerning Papists coming to Court Sixth Head consisted of Four Branches 1. Humbly desired by the Commons who desire your Lordships to Joyn with them in that Petition That his Majesty would be sparing in Licensing Papists to come to
the Heirs their Livery in prejudicium impregnaturae This was conceived negotium novum difficile and the King having commanded the Chancellour and Judges to deliver their Opinions in writing they returned Quod non audebant dictum negotium definire nec Domino Regi consulere sine assensu magnatum propter raritatem difficultatem Whereupon day was given to the Parties ad proximum Parliamentum And your Lordships well know the special care that is taken by the Statute of 14 Ed. 3. cap. 5. that such matters as for the difficulty are not fit for the Judges or through eminent delay are not dispatched by the Judges shall be determined in Parliament Not such matters as the parties concerned had rather venture upon your Lordships judgments then upon the Rules and Proceedings of the Law God knows what mischief and confusion may fall out upon that admission there must be such difficulty such delay before that Statute meant your Lordships Justice should be concerned in the resolution I wish these Gentlemen had thought this business a matter of that difficulty as had been fit for such a delay My Lords We come next to the Charge concerning Knighthood Mr. Maleverer appears upon the Process of that Court pleads and submits to his Fine ponit se in gratiam Curiae The Barons refuse to impose any Fine they had no power to do that he must treat with certain Commissioners appointed for that purpose and compound with them Your Lordships have not met in the same Men such contradictions of Crimes who would suspect the same Men in one Charge to have the mettle to Usurp the Power and Exercise the Jurisdiction of the highest Court the Court of Parliament and presently to want the Spirit to do that which was so restrained and peculiar to their places to have done as that none else could do it They had no power to Fine as if the sole business of Sworn Judges in a Court of Law were to summon and call Men thither and then to send them on Errands to other Commissioners for Justice 'T is true the Commissioners of 1 Edw. 1. to Tiptoffe and Berk and since to others were and have been to compound with those who desired to compound not otherwise they had no power to compel any to fine any that trust by the Law was and is only in the Judges so that if this duty were aright to his Majesty and the Persons lyable refuse to compound for ought these Judges can do the King must lose this Duty they can impose no Fine only they have found a Trick which they call the Course of the Court to make his Majesty a saver appear while you will plead what you will submit to the mercy of the Court Issues shall go on still as if you did neither till you have done somewhat that Court will not order you to do nor is bound to take notice of when you have done your Lordships will help us out of this Circle And that you may see how incapable they are of any excuse in this point the very Mittimus out of Chancery gives them express Command amongst other things Vt fines omnium illorum qui juxta proclamationem predict ' ordinem ante predict ' diem suscepisse debuerunt capiatis c. 'T is only worth your Lordships observation this misfortune commonly attends and may it ever those absolute disused Rights that be the thing in it self in a degree lawful the Advisers and Ministers of it so fail in the Execution that as it usually proves as grievous to the Subject so by some Circumstances it proves as penal to the Instruments as if it were in the very nature of the thing against all the Laws of Government I have wearied your Lordships You see in what a dress of injustice subtilty and oppression I am very unwillingly compelled to present these Judges to you if they appear to your Lordships under any other Character of known and confessed learning in the whole course of their lives how far that will aggravate their fault your Lordships must only judge If under the excuse of Ignorance or not much Knowledge in the duty of their places your Lordships will easily conclude what infinite mischief of which your Lordships have no particular Information the Subjects of this Kingdom have suffered in their Lives in their Fortunes under such Ignorance and such Presumption If under the Reputation of Prudence and Integrity in all Cases except these presented to your Lordships your Lordships will be at least of the same opinion that he of Lacedemon was of the Athenians if they carried themselves well when time was and now ill they deserve a double punishment because they are not good as they were and because they are evil as they were not My Lords If the excellent envied Constitution of this Kingdom hath been of late distempered your Lordships see the Causes if the sweet harmony between the King's Protection and the Subjects Obedience hath unluckily suffered interruption if the Royal Justice and Honour of the best of Kings have been mistaken by his People if the Duty and Affection of the most Faithful and Loyal Nation have been suspected by their gracious Sovereign If by these misrepresentations and these misunderstandings the King and People have been Robbed of the delight and comfort of each other and the blessed Peace of this Island been shaken and frighted into Tumults and Commotions into the Poverty though not into the rage of War as a People prepared for Destruction and Desolation These the are Men Actively or Passively by doing or not doing have brought this upon us Misera servitus falsò pax vocatur ubi Judicia deficiunt incipit Bellum My Lords I am Commanded by the House of Commons to desire Your Lordships that these Three Judges may be speedily required to make their Answers to these Impeachments and that such further Proceedings may be had against them as the Course and Justice of Parliament will admit The ARTICLES were as followeth Articles of the House of Commons in the Name of themselves Articles of Impeachment against Judge Davenport July 6 1641. and of all the Commons of England against Sir Humphrey Davenport Knight Lord Chief Baron of His Majesties Court of Exchequer Impeaching him as followeth THat whereas in the Month of October in the fourth Year of His Majesties Reign the Farmers and Officers of the Custom-House having seized great Quantities of Currants being the Goods of Samuel Vassal Merchant and having conveyed them into certain Store-Houses at the Custom-House and detained them because the said Samuel Vassal refused to pay an Imposition of five Shillings six Pence upon every hundred weight of the said Currants pretended to be due upon and demanded by the said Farmers and Officers on his Majesties behalf for the said Currants whereas no such Imposition was due or payable for the same but the said Imposition was and is against the Laws of this Realm And whereas also in
Court refuse to impose any Fine whatsoever upon the said James Maleverer and told him that the said Court had no Power to Fine him and that he must compound with certain Commissioners for that purpose appointed And did farther order and direct several other Writs of Distringas to issue forth of His Majesties said Court of Exchequer under the Seal of the said Court directed to the several High Sheriffs of the said County of York whereby the said Sheriffs were commanded further to distrain the said James Maleverer to appear as aforesaid upon which said Writs of Distringas several great and excessive Issues were returned upon the Lands of the said James Maleverer amounting to the Summ of two Thousand Pounds or thereabouts a great part whereof the said James Maleverer was inforced to pay and in like manner the said Sir Humphrey Davenport together with the rest of the then Barons of the said Court of Exchequer did order and direct such and the like unjust and undue Proceedings and the said Proceedings were had and made accordingly against Thomas Moyser Esquire and against several other Persons His Majesties Subjects in several Parts of this Realm to the utter undoing of many of them 2. That a Sentence of Degradation being given by the High Commissioners of the Province of York against Peter Smart Clerk one of the Prebends of the Church of Durham for a Sermon by him formerly Preached against some Innovations in the Church of Durham a Tryal was afterwards had viz. in August in the seventh Year of his said Majesties Reign before the said Sir Humphrey Davenport Knight then one of the Judges of Assizes and Nisi prius for the County Palatine of Durham concerning the Corps of the Prebend of the said Master Smart which was then pretended to be void by the said Sentence of Degradation the said Sir Humphrey Davenport contrary to his Oath and contrary to the Laws of this Realm and to the destruction of the said Master Smart upon reading the Writ de haeretico comburendo did publickly on the Bench in the presence of divers His Majesties Subjects then attending declare his Opinion to be That the said Prebends Place was void and gave directions to the Jury then at Bar to find accordingly and being then informed that although the said Master Smart had been dead or deprived yet the Profits of his Prebend had been due to his Executors till the Michaelmas following the said Sir Humphrey Davenport then answered That though the said Master Smart was not dead Yet if he had his desert he had been dead long ago for he deserved to have been hanged for the said Sermon and that he was as wicked a Man as any lived in the World call him no more Master Smart but plain Smart And when the said Jury had found against the said Master Smart the said Sir Humphrey Davenport in scandal of His Majesties Government and Justice and of the Proceedings of His Majesties Judges did publickly as aforesaid speak Words to this effect That the said Jury had well done and that the said Smart had no remedy save by appeal to the King and there he should find but cold Comfort for the King would not go against his own Prerogative upon which the Judges and High Commissioners did depend and therefore would not contradict one anothers Acts. That the said Sir Humphrey Davenport about the Month of November Anno Dom. 1635. then being Lord Chief Baron of his Majesties Court of Exchequer and having taken an Oath for the due Administration of Justice to His Majesties Liege People according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm subscribed his Name to an Opinion in haec verba I am of Opinion That as where the benefit doth more particularly redound to the good of the Ports or Maritime Parts as in Case of Piracy or Depredations upon the Seas there the charge hath been and may be lawfully imposed upon them according to Presidents of former Times so where the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger of which His Majesty is the only Judg there the Charge of the Defence ought to be borne by all the Realm in general this I hold agreeable both to Law and Reason That in or about the Month of February Anno Dom. 1636. the said Sir Humphrey Davenport then being Lord Chief Baron of the said Court of Exchequer subscribed an extrajudicial Opinion in Answer to Questions in a Letter from His Majesty ut supra in the Articles against Judge Bramston and Judge Berkley That whereas an Action of Battery was brought by one Richard Legge against Robert Hoblins to which the said Hoblins pleaded Justification de son assault de mesme and the said Cause came to Tryal at the Assizes holden for the County of Gloucester in Summer An. 1636. before the said Sir Humphrey Davenport then one of the Justices of Assize and Nisi prius for that County At the said Tryal the said Robert Hoblins did begin to make proof of his said Justification and produced one Robert Tilly a Witness in the Cause who proved upon Oath that the said Richard Legge did make the first Assault upon the said Robert Hoblins and that the occasion thereof was that the said Richard Legge and others came upon the Lands then in Possession of the said Hoblins and did take and drive away eighteen Cows of the said Hoblins pretending they had a Warrant from the Sheriff to distrain the same for forty Shillings assessed upon the said Hoblins for Ship-Money And when the said Hoblins being present endeavoured to hinder the said Legge and others from taking away his said Cattel the said Legge strook the said Hoblins with a Staff who after defended himself That upon the opening of the Matter the said Sir Humphrey Davenport would not suffer the said Hoblins to produce any more Witnesses on his behalf though the said Hoblins desired that other of his Witnesses then present and sworn might be heard nor his Councel to speak for him but being informed that the said Hoblins when Ship-Money was demanded of him answered that he would not pay the same because it was not granted by Parliament the said Sir Humphrey Davenport did then openly in the hearing of a great number of His Majesties Liege People then assembled and attending the Court in great Passion reprove the said Hoblins and told him that the King was not to call a Parliament to give him satisfaction and did then and there also falsly and of purpose to prevent His Majesties loving Subjects from the due and ordinary course of Law and contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm Publish Declare and affirm that it was adjudged by all the Judges of England that Ship-money was due to the King and directed the Jury Sworn in that cause to find a Verdict for the said Richard Legge And the said Jury did accordingly and gave him twenty Pound damages And the said
cùm stabis ad aras In tua quod fundi cornua possit erit He hath cropt and infring'd the priviledges of a banish'd Parliament but now it is returned he may find it has power enough to make a sacrifice of him to the better establishment of our Laws And in truth what other satisfaction can he make his injur'd Country then to confirm by his example those Rights and Liberties which he had ruined by his opinion For the proofs My Lords they are so manifest that they will give you little trouble in the disquisition his Crimes are already upon Record the Delinquent and Witness are the same having from several sorts of Judicature proclaimed himself an Enemy to our Laws and Nation Ex ore suo judicabitur To which purpose I am Commanded by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons to desire your Lordships that as speedy a proceeding may be had against Mr. Justice Crawley as the Course of Parliament will permit The Articles against Mr. Justice Crawley were these Articles of the House of Commons in the Name of themselves and of all the Commons of England against Sir Francis Crawley Knight one of the Justices of His Majesties Court of Common-Pleas impeaching him as followeth 1. The Articles of Impeachment against Judge Crawley THat he about the Month of November Anno 1635. then being one of the Justices of the Court of Common-Pleas and having taken an Oath for the due Administartion of Justice to His Majesties Liege People according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm subscribed an Opinion in haec verba I am of Opinion That as where the benefit doth more peculiarly redound to the good of the Ports or Maritime Parts as in Case of Piracy or Depredations upon the Seas there the Charge hath been and may be lawfully imposed upon them according to Presidents of former Times so where the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger of which His Majesty is the only Judge there the charge of the Defence ought to be born by all the Realm in general This I hold agreeable both to Law and Reason 2. That he in or about the Month of February Anno 1636. Then being one of the Justices of the said Court of Common-Pleas subscribed an extrajudicial Opinion in answer to Questions in a Letter from His Majesty in haec verba ut supra in the Articles against Judge Berkley 3. That he then being one of the Justices of the said Court of Common-Pleas delivered an Opinion in the Exchequer Chamber against John Hampden Esquire in case of Ship-Money that he the said John Hampden upon the matter and substance of the case was chargable with the Money then in Question a Copy of which Proceedings and Judgment the Commons of this present Parliament have already delivered to your Lordships 4. That he then being one of the Justices of the said Court of Common-Pleas declared and published in the Exchequer Chamber in Westminster and the Circuit where he went Judge That the Kings Right to Ship-Money was so inherent a Right in the Crown as an Act of Parliament could not take it away And with divers malicious Speeches inveighed against threatned and discountenanced such as refused to pay Ship-Money All which Opinions and Judgments contained in the first second and third Articles are destructive to the Fundamental Laws of this Realm the Subjects right of Property and contrary to former Resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right which said Resolutions and Petitions of Right were well known to him And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves only the Liberties of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir Francis Crawley and also of replying to the Answer that he the said Sir Francis Crawley shall make unto the said Articles or any of them or of offering Proof of the Premisses or of any of their Impeachments or Accusations that shall be exhibited by them as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliaments require Do pray that the said Sir Francis Crawley one of the Justices of the said Court of Common-Pleas may be put to answer to all and every the Premisses and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every one of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice The Articles of Impeachment against Sir John Bramston Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench were as follow Articles of the House of Commons The Articles of Impeachment against Sir John Brampston Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. in the name of themselves and all the Commons of England against Sir John Brampston Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings Bench Impeaching him as followeth 1. THat the said Sir John Brampston then being Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings Bench and having taken an Oath for the due Administration of Justice to His Majesties Liege People according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm did on or about the last of November 1635. Subscribe his Name to an Opinion in haec verba I am of Opinion that as where the benefit doth more peculiarly redound to the good of the Ports or Maritime parts as in case of Pyracy or Depredations upon the Seas there the Charge hath been and may be lawfully Imposed upon them according to Presidents of former times so where the good and safety of the Kingdom in General is coned and the whole Kingdom in danger of which His Majesty is the only Judg there the Charge of the defence ought to be born by all the Realm in General This I hold agreeable both to Law nnd Reason 2. That he the said Sir John Brampston then being Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings Bench about the Month of February 1635. did Subscribe an extrajudicial Opinion in answer to questions in a Letter from His Majesty ut supra in the Articles against Sir Robert Berkley Which said Opinions contained in the first and second Articles are destructive to the Fundamental Laws of this Realm the Subjects right of Propriety and contrary to former resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right 3. That he the said Sir John Brampston then Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings Bench about Trinity Term 1637. refused to Bail or Discharge Alexander Jenings Prisoner in the Fleet brought by Habeas Corpus to the Barr before him the return of this Commitment being two several Warrants from the Lords of the Council Dated the fifth of November 1635. the first expressing no cause the other for not paying Messengers Fees and until he should bring Certificate that he had paid his Assesment for Ship-money in the County of Bucks And the said Sir John Brampston the first Warrant being only read then said The cause of his Commitment did not appear and that it was not fit for every Goaler to
Brothers and the Head of his House the Spanish King Adopts Ferdinand of Gratz for his Son so to prepare a way to make him the Successor of his Scepter Crown and Purple Then were the Sacred Dyets of the Empire the Ancient means to reconcile Differences and prevent Jealousies as often dissolved abortively as called insincerely Rumours were spread of Practices and Designs against the Protestant Princes and Cities And that those Rumours might not vanish in Smoak the Liberties of the Great and Ancient City of Strasburg were opprest The Protestant Princes seeing Materials and Engines on every side prepar'd for their Ruine were necessitated to meet at Heilburn and there to conclude an union amongst themselves This gave the Jesuits an assured hope of making Germany speedily miserable by a Calamitous War for not only the Pontifician Princes took the opportunity to settle a Catholique League as they call'd it amongst themselves But also the Elector of Saxony like a true Pseudo-Lutheran neither Protestant nor Papist shews as good an Affection to the Catholic League as the Evangelick Union The old Emperor Matthias begins now to act his part and the Jesuits spur on their ready Scholar Ferdinand of Gratz to ascend the bloody Theatre they had so long designed him Through the old Emperor's intercession abusing the Bohemian Protestants Credulity with sugared Flatteries and large Promises he is admitted to the Crown of that rich Kingdom which soon after made way for him unto the Crown of Hungary also The Jesuits and the Spaniards did now only want a fair occasion to begin a War in Germany The Emperour Matthias labours with the Protestant Princes to dissolve their Union which not taking effect the Bishop of Spiers is encouraged underhand to pick a Quarrel with the Prince Elector Palatine and to build a strong Fortress upon his neighbours Territories pretending he had right to that Plot of Ground upon which the said Fortress was raised But an higher Providence did not suffer this Spark to set Germany on Fire though it had been kindled at the Prince Elector's own door to affront and provoke him for he by an incredible celerity did cause the said Fortress to be demolished before the Enemy could fit and furnish it for his intended use which made him sit still and study for a new occasion which that it might not be long wanting the Liberties and Priviledges of the Protestants in Bohemia contrary to their new King Ferdinand's Oath were temerated and by that means in the year 1619 the greater part of the Estates of that Kingdom were necessitated after mature deliberation to abdicate him and to Elect Frederick Prince Elector Palatine for their King And thus are we arrived at that sad period of time upon which so many fatalities have ensued in which we may see evidently That the Prince Elector Palatine was not causally guilty of any part of that Ocean of Blood that hath been since spilt in Germany as the Pontifician side pretend he was The Scene was long before prepared by the Enemies of the Truth and the Kingdom of Bohemia was filled with Arms and Hostilities divers Months before his accepting of that Crown when himself laboured by an earnest mediation to have given a peaceable Issue to those bloody beginnings It was the Honour and Greatness of that Matchless Princess that he gained here and the considerable Succours they expected from hence that especially drew the Bohemians to that Choice It therefore concerns us now at length to provide that the Prince Elector himself and the other Princely Branches of that great Family being the second without question if not the first and most Ancient of the Empire extracted by their last match from the Royal Line of Great Britain should not under colour of their Father's accepting that Crown to which they now pretend no Title be for ever despoyled of their Ancient Inheritance and Electoral Dignity To which Calamity they had never been reduced had not the French King at that time forgotten the old Maxime of his Predecessors which was To keep even the Ballance of Germany to which also did most fatally concur the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition betraying his own Blood and the Duke of Saxony's taking Arms against the Evangelical Party By this means and the advancing of Spinola with the Spanish Army out of the Netherlands was not only the Kingdom of Bohemia lost in a few months but the Palatinate also excepting some few Places of strength invested by the Enemy and that poor people left to slaughter calamity and desolation The Correspondence of some ill Ministers of this State abroad with those of Forreign States here assisted by some fatal Instruments at home furthered all this mischief at the instant putting this State in hope of a match when Supplies should rather have been sent from hence to have preserved at least the Electoral Territories from an Invading Power It is true that the Spanish Match had been generally treated of some 5 or 6 years before this fatal Fire kindled in Germany being first set on foot by the Duke of Lerma under Philip of Austria late King of Spain But now it was effectually advanced and fortified with a conjoyned Treaty of accommodating the Palatine Cause without effusion of Blood This and much more appears in the Original Journal-Books of the Two Houses of Parliament in Anno 21 Jacobi Regis which I have so far perused as so short a time would give leave and though that matters are there set down at large especially in the Records out of the House of Peers yet I have abstracted it into so narrow a compass as may well sort with the little spare time of this House to hear it The Relation was first made at White-hall during that Parliament in the presence of the greater part of both the said Houses on Tuesday February 24. And it was afterwards reported upon Friday the 27th day of the same Month next ensuing in the Lords House by the then Lord Keeper and in the House of Commons by Sir Richard Weston at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer It is there at large set forth That His Majesty's Royal Father having had several fair promises from the Emperour Ferdinand the Second and the King of Spain of a peaceable Restitution of the Palatinate caused not only such considerable Forces as were then remaining in Germany under the Prince Elector's Ensignes to disband but procured also some Places of strength in the Palatinate it self to be Surrendred and Consigned over to the late Infanta of Spain But in the year 1622. our late Royal Sovereign King James upon his Ambassadors return from Bruxels having discovered the Emperors intentions to be full of insincerity and deceit wrote his Princely Letters bearing Date at Hampton-Court October 3. 1622. to the then and still Earl of Bristol His Majesty's Extraordinary Ambassadour in Spain to let him know That he now perceived little sincerity in all the Spanish King's promises for the peaceable Restitution
of the Palatinate by whose only means he had suffered the same to be lost to the Emperor and that therefore he should presently press that King either to give a full and direct Answer under his Hand and Seal for the Restitution thereof or else to joyn his Armes with his Majesty against the Emperor for the Recovery of the same But this matter as it further appears by the Original Journal-Books of the Lords House being either not throughly pressed or notably dissembled so many delays ensued one upon the neck of another as in the Issue it drew his Royal Majesty then Prince of Wales to undertake that dangerous and remote Journey unto that Nation which hath been the long and hereditary Enemy of England This Journey was chiefly undertaken by so great a Prince to add an end one way or other to that unfortunate Treaty and his stay in Spain did causally proceed from his earnest desire to have effected a peaceable Restitution of the Palatinate and therefore I doubt not but he shall now live to verifie that Excellent and Heroick Expression which he made to the Conde de Oilvarez a little before his coming out of that Kingdom Look for neither Marriage nor Friendship without the Restitution of the Palatinate And I assure my self That the Force and Power of Great Britain which was lately by subtil and wicked Instruments divided against it self being now united in One again will be able to Effect such Great and Considerable Actions as shall render his Majesties Name and Reign Glorious to all Posterity The Two Houses of Parliament at that time received the before-mentioned Declaration with so much resentment as having rendred Glory to God that had so seasonably discovered the Spanish Frauds and next their humble acknowledgments to their then Gracious Soveraign for requiring their Counsels in a business of so great Importance they did unanimously advise him to break off the said two Treaties touching the Marriage and the Restitution of the Palatinate ingaging no Less than their Persons and Purses for the Recovery of the then Prince Elector's Ancient and Hereditary Dominions It appears also in the Original Journal-Book of this House De Anno 1. Caroli That this great Business was again taken into Consideration but was finally intombed with other Matters of great Moment by the fatal and abortive Dissolution of that Parliament If therefore this Great Council of the Kingdom did in those two former Parliaments account the Restitution of this Illustrious and Princely Family to be of such great necessity for the preserving of True Religion abroad and securing our selves at home as to ingage themselves for an Assistance therein Certainly we may upon much better grounds undertake the same now when I assure my self we may go as far with a Thousand pounds for the present as we could have done with Ten thousand at that time for let us but take a short View of the Estate of Christendom what it was then and what it is now and we shall easily perceive a great Alteration in the ballance thereof In France where Monsieur de Luynes did then rule all being himself acted by the Pope's Legate that King Contrary to the Examples of Francis the First Henry the Second and of Henry the Great his own Father and Contrary to the Maximes and Interest of that State and his own Safety advanced the Formidable Power and Spreading Greatness of the House of Austria but now the same French King's Eyes have been so opened that shaking off that former unhappy Slumber he was in he hath by his Arms and Power to his immortal Honour and Glory for divers years last past endeavoured to restore again that Liberty to the German Empire in the Ruin of which himself had so fatally before Concurred The Swedes were then involved in several Wars or Jealousies with the Pole and inforced to keep at home to defend their own but now have a strong Army and possess divers Pieces of Important Consequence within the very Bowels of the Empire The Episcopal Electors with the other Pontifician Princes and Prelates the sworn Enemies of the Protestant Religion were then Rich and Potent but since most of their Countries and Territories have tasted of the same Calamities of War which they had formerly brought upon their Neighbours so as now they are most of them scarce able to defend their own much less to offend any other The Pseudo-Lutheran Elector of Saxony that is Causally guilty more than any other single person Living of all those Calamities and Slaughters which have for so many Years wasted Germany and was then so Liberal of his Treasure and so forward with his Arms to ancillate to the Emperor's Designs to the almost utter Subversion of the True Religion in Germany is now after the reiterated temeration of his Faith and Promises the Fatal Survivor of the several Devastations of his own Country and Dominions so as all those vast difficulties and great dangers which might well have retarded the forwardness of those two former Parliaments the first being held in the 22d Year of his Majesty's Royal Father and the Later in his Own first Year being now removed we have greater Encouragements than ever to Concur with our Sacred Soveraign in the Asserting of this his most Just and Princely Manifesto For mine own part I expect no good Issue of the present Treaty at Ratisbonne I know the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition too well ever to imagine that he will part with those Large Revenues and much less with the Septem-Viral Dignity and Suffrage he hath obtained by the Prince Elector's Calamity and Misfortune unless it be Extorted from him by force of Arms. My humble Advice therefore is That we send up to the Lords to desire a speedy Conference with them in which we may acquaint their Lordships how far we have proceeded in our Approbation of his Majesties most Royal Manifesto and to move them to Concur with us therein After a long Debate the House came to this Resolution Resolved c. That this House doth Approve of his Majesties Pious Intention in the behalf of his Royal Sister the Queen of Bohemia Vote about the Manifesto and his Nephew the Prince Elector Palatine and the rest of the Princes of that Family and of the Publishing the Manifesto to that purpose and this House will be ready to give his Majesty such Advice and Assistance therein by Parliament as shall stand with the Honour of His Majesty and the Interest and Affection of this Kingdom if the present Treaty shall not succeed But these were only Words and they were so far from giving his Majesty or the Electoral Family any Assistances that having Encouraged the King of England to put out this Manifesto and then failing him of all Assistances to make it good they rendred Themselves the English Nation and the King himself Cheap in the Esteem of Forreign Nations however Mr. Pym was Ordered to go up to the Lords to desire a
bind us to it Wherefore Master Whitlock my humble Motion is That we may draw up a short and round Manifesto to wait upon and affirm the Kings Declaration to be still managed by Advice of Parliament which will be safe for our selves more powerful and effectual for the Prince Elector I cannot tell what the present Age thought of it and account it one of the greatest blessings of Heaven that I was not then capable of thinking but certainly Posterity will see by this Speech a most notorious and manifest Collusion in these People who notwithstanding all the glorious pretences and zeal for this deplorable Family in which the Honour and Interest of the King and Nation were by their own Confession so deeply concerned yet never intended any more assistance to this distressed Protestant Prince then a few good and great words which was a cheap way and still reserving to themselves a starting hole to assist the King in this Affair only so long as he would follow their advice Mr. Hide Reports the Results upon the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy whereupon it was Resolved Votes concerning the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy c. That all the Lands Possessions and Rights of the Deans Deans and Chapters shall be committed to the hands of Feoffees to be nominated by this Bill Resolved c. That the Lands and Possessions of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England and Wales except Impropriations and Advousons shall by this Bill be given to the King Resolved c. That the Impropriations and Advousons belonging to the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England and Wales shall be committed to the hands of Feoffees in the same manner as the Lands of Deans and Chapters are appointed to be And because the Prelates and Papists were to be coupled together in the Opinions of these People both in Guilt and Sufferings it was by Vote Reselved Vote against Papists c. That the Committe of 48 propound to the Select Committee of the Lords that no Papist hereafter may have the keeping of any Castle Fort Chase Forrest Park or Walk within England or Wales and that such as are in possession of such Castles c. As aforesaid may be outed thereof according to Law Post Meridiem It was Ordered by the Commons Order about Mr. Randal a Minister formerly ordered to Bedlam That one Mr. Randal a Ministerâ— now in the Goal at Ailesbury in the County of Bucks for words spoken against the Honour of this House who was by a former Order appointed to be removed from thence to Bedlam it is now Ordered that the said Mr. Randal shall be discharged and set at liberty presently upon the sight hereof The further Debate upon Mr. Saturday July 10. Further Votes about the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy Hide 's Report about the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy was this day reassumed whereupon it was Resolved c. That a competent Maintenance shall be allowed out of the Lands and Possessions of the Cathedral Churches for the support of a fit number of Preaching Ministers for the Service of every such Church and a proportionable allowance for the Reparation of the said Churches Resolved c. That such Ecclesiastical Power as shall be Exercised for the Government of the Church shall be transferred by this Act unto the hands of Commissioners to be named by this Act. The further consideration of this matter to be referred till Monday 9 of the Clock Bill for Tonnage and Poundage being passed Mr. Solicitor was ordered to carry it up to the Lords and to move their Lordships that the Royal Assent may be had with as much speed as may be and to move the Lords to expedite the Bill against Pluralities and for disarming Recusants This day Thomas Pain the Attorney Breach of Priviledge giving the Lye to a Peer that gave the ill Language to the Earl of Thannet who charged the said Pain with some Words which were reported to be spoken by him he told the said Earl That it was False and a Lye divers times together which being proved upon Oath it was Ordered That the said Pain be committed to the Custody of the Gentleman-Vsher for the present and this House will take the misdemeanor into further consideration Report of the Conference about the Ten Heads The Earl of Bristol reported the effect of the last meeting with the Select Committee of both Houses concerning the 10 Heads and delivered some Queries and Propositions which the House of Commons made viz. Whether the Colledge of Capuchins at Somerset-House should be sent away out of this Kingdom for they are conceived to be busie Men in giving Intelligence to Forreign States and the House of Commons are induced to believe so because they understand That the Letters of the Capuchins which were Imported and Exported in one Week came to 3 l. 10 s. the Carriage Next they conceive That there are some things contained in the Articles of Treaty of Marriage with France which are contrary to Law Concerning the Education of the Prince they said they would consult further of it Concerning Licenses granted to Recusants They desire His Majesty may be moved that none may be granted hereafter Concerning the removing of the Popish Recusant Ladies from the Court they say they mentioned no particulars but spoke in the General Concerning Pensions They desire that the King may be moved That no Papist beyond the Seas may have any Pension Touching that which concerns the Queen they conceive they have had no full answer yet Concerning their Explanation who are Active Papists they mean those Recusants that are Rich and have most Power in the Countries where they Live as well Peers as others which they desire may be disarmed according to Law Concerning the Popes Nuncio they say the House of Commons are preparing a Bill Concerning the Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants considering the State of this Kingdom as it now stands the House of Commons desires they may be such Persons as both Houses approve of and that they may be enabled the more for the defence of this Kingdom there will be a Course taken for Supplying them with Monies out of the Subsidies and the House of Commons desires that the King may be moved to let them have such Powder out of His Majesties Stores as may be spared and they will pay after the Rate of ten Pence per Pound for it as soon as they can get money and further to move His Majesty that the Arms which have been taken from the several Counties may be restored to them and if His Majesty can spare any Arms out of His Store they will buy them to furnish these Southern parts The new Bill for Tonnage and Poundage being read the Third time in the Lords House and being put to the Question Another Bill for Tonnage and Poundag passed the Lords House An Order of the Lords for Relief of a Feme-Covert and her Children against a Husband refusing to
Our Ambassador to the Emperor and other Princes in the said Diet Assembled And to that purpose have given him full Power and Instructions to contribute all Our Authority to the Procurement and Setttlement of a good and blessed Peace by the reestablishment and restitution of the Possessions and Dignities of our said dear Sister Nephews and Electoral Family without which no Peace can either be honest or secure Hereby Exhorting and Desiring all other Kings Princes and States our Friends Allies and Confederates who shall either be present at the said Diet or shall have their Ambassadors or Deputies there that they will be assisting to the Justice of so good a Cause and to so great a Blessing as the restoring of Peace to the almost desolate Estate of Germany But because We may have just Cause to doubt by many Experiences of Our former Endeavours that the Issue and Fruit of this meeting may not be answerable to Our just Expectation but rather that it may produce contrary Effects to the prejudice of the Justice and Rights of Our said Nephews and their Family which God forbid we are hereby forced to protest against all Acts Sentences Conclusions or Determinations whatsoever which shall or may be had made or declared either in Confirmation of the Oppressions and Usurpations past or any Additions thereunto for the future as invalid and of no power or effect In which Case being contrary to Our desire and expectation We also further protest and declare that We will not abandon neither Our own nor the Publick Interest nor the Cause Rights and just Pretences of Our dear Sister and Nephews and other Princes and States involved within their Oppressions But that We will use and employ all such force and power wherewith God hath enabled Us both by Our own Arms and the help and assistance of all Our Allies and Friends to vindicate Our own Honour the Publick peace and redress of the Injuries Usurpations and Oppressions of Our said dearest Sister and Nephews and their Illustrious Family And hereby as we do profess to use all our endeavour and Power to promove a happy and desired Peace for the Consolation of the distressed Empire so We do appeal to Almighty God the Inspector of the Hearts of all Princes and to the World the Spectator of all Our just Actions that We will be innocent before God and the World of all the Evils that may ensue if these Our last Hopes shall be delayed or abused HIs Sacred Majesty of Great Britain being resolved in Case this his last Endeavor by his Extraordinary Ambassador sent to the Diet at Ratisbone for a friendly Accommodation of his Nephew the Prince Elector Palatines Affairs should prove fruitless to have his said Embassy without further loss of Time seconded by more powerful and effectual means went to His Parliament on the Fifth day of July last and there after the dispatch of some other Affairs presented the above written Manifesto with these Words I Take this occasion to present to both Houses That whereby I hope all the World shall see that there is a good Understanding between Me and My People It is concerning My Nephew the Prince Elector Palatine who having desired Me by the Advice of the King of Denmark to assist him in a Treaty for his Restauration at the Diet now held at Ratisbone by the Emperour I could not but send My Ambassador for that purpose though I much doubt that I shall not have so good an Issue of it as I wish The which My Nephew foreseeing hath desired Me for the better Countenancing of his Just Demands to make a Manifesto in My Name which is a thing of that Consequence that if I should do it alone without the Advice of My Parliament it would be of much less force Therefore I do here propose it unto you That by your Advice I may do it for that way I think it most fit to be published in My Name THe said Manifesto concerning the Restitution of the Electoral Palatine Family having been Seriously Considered by both Houses They togethe reame to his Majesty in the Banquetting-House on the Twelfth of July last where the Speaker delivered the said Houses their Opinion and Resolution in this manner YOur Majesty in your Royal Person was pleased to recommend this Manifesto touching the Palatine Cause to be read in full Parliament and to be advised of by both Houses Both the Houses have seriously considered of it and have commanded Me to present these their Humble Advices unto your Sacred Majesty which are expressed in this Declaration which hath passed the Votes of both the Houses and which I am commanded to read unto your Majesty Dei Mercurii 7 Julii 1641. Resolved upon the Question That this House doth approve of His Majesties Pious Intentions in the behalf of His Royal Sister and His Nephew the Prince Elector Palatine and the rest of the Princes of that Family and of the publishing this Manifesto to that purpose and that this House will be ready to give His Majesty such advice and assistance therein by Parliament as shall stand with the Honour of His Majesty and the interest and affections of this Kingdom if the present Treaty shall not succeed Die Sabbathi 10 Julii 1641. Resolved in like manner upon the Question by the House of Peers That they do concur in this Vote with the House of Commons I am likewise Commanded to present the humble desires of both the Houses of Parliament That Your Majesty will be pleased to recommend this Manifesto to the Parliament of Scotland to have the Concurrence of that Kingdom THus much was delivered by the Speaker of the House of Peers both Houses then attending His Majesty in the Banquetting-House at White-Hall To which His Majesty was graciously pleased to make them this Answer WE take very thankfully the Concurrent Advices of both the Houses of Parliament in so great and pious a Work declared in these Votes and Resolutions which you have read unto Us. We will also take care to recommend this Manifesto unto the Parliament in Scotland to have the Concurrence of that Kingdom which We doubt not but they will perform Mr. Treasurer reports in a Paper His Majesty's Answer to the Third of the Ten Heads presented in the Painted Chamber in haec verba MY Answer is That I know of none The Kings Answer to the 3d of the 10 Propositions about ill Counsellors the which Methinks should both satisfie and be believed I having granted all hitherto demanded by Parliament Nor do I expect that any should be so unadvised as by slander or otherwise to deter any that I trust to in my Publick Affairs from giving me Counsel especially since freedom of Speech is always demanded and never refused to Parliaments This Gracious Prince was so unwilling to disoblige even by any Casual Word that might bear a hard Construction that His Majesty immediately sent a Second Paper in these Words Which was delivered at
flock over the Sea but went not himself Like Nimrod he hath invaded the Laws and Liberties of the Subject he hath been as great a Rober as ever was presented to your Lordships He hath Robbed the King of his Subjects the greatest glory of Kings the Kingdom of Trade of Tradesmen the Supporters of it He that deprives the King of one Subject you know his punishment and what shall be the punishment of him who hath Robbed the King of so many Subjects In the time of King Henry the Third 16 H. 3. F. wast 128. we find a Tenant in Dower punished in Action of Waste because she had destroyed two rich Villains and made them Beggers I appeal to your Lordships what is his offence who hath commmitted so much wilful Waste and Spoil Beggered Hundreds not Villains but Free-born Subjects He Robbed the Souls of that sweet Mannah which is pabulum animarum the Word of God My Lords I have not yet recounted all his Robberies he hath Robbed God of part of his Day makes part of that a Day of sports he hath Robbed his Subjects of their indubitable Birth-right the Laws of the Kingdom The Citizens of Norwich must pay Tithes for their Rents of Houses there 's no Law in England nor Custom in Norwich for it Nay that they may be sure to be Robbed of Justice too the suit for these Tithes must be in his own Consistory from whence there must be no Appeal no Prohibition The true Patrons of Churches they are Robbed of their Presentations others who had none or small pretence of right are admitted upon this unhallowed Maxim That if he should Institute those who had right the pretender was without remedy by this he inverted a Fundimental Law of this Nation to invest remediless Rights with unjust Possessions My Lords I cannot tell you all but you can measure a Lyon by the Paw I am commanded to lay this great Malefactor at your Doors one who hath been a great oppugner of the Life and Liberty of Religion and who set a Brand of Infamy to use his own words upon Ipswich Education In Summ one who is a compleat mirror of Innovation Superstition and Oppression he is now in the Snare of those Articles which were the works of his own Hands The Rod of Moses at a distance was a Serpent it was a Rod again when it was taken into his Hands this Bishop was a Serpent a devouring Serpent in the Diocess of Norwich your Lordships peradventure will by handling of him make him a Rod again or if not I doubt not but your Lordships will chastise him with such Rods as his Crimes shall deserve My Lords I am commanded by the House of Commons to desire your Lordships that this Bishop may be required to make answer to these Articles and that there may be such proceedings against him as the course and justice of Parliament doth admit Articles of Impeachment against Mathew Wren Doctor in Divinity late Bishop of Norwich and now Bishop of Ely THat the said Matthew Wren being Popishly and Superstitiously affected The Articles against the Bishop of Ely did at his first coming to be Bishop of Norwich which was in the year 1635. endeavour by sundry ways and means to suppress the powerful and painful Preaching of the Word of God did introduce divers Orders and Injunctions tending to Superstition and Idolatry did disturb and disquiet the orderly and setled Estate of the Ministers and People and Churches of that Diocess to the great prejudice of His Majesty the great grief and disquiet and hazard of the Estates Consciences and Lives of many of His Majesties Loyal Subjects there to the Manifest bringing in and encreasing of Prophaneness Ignorance and disobedience in the common People as by the particulars ensuing may appear I. Whereas many Chancells of Churches during all the time of Queen Elizabeth King James and of His Majesty that now is had laid and been continued even and flat without any steps ascending towards the East end of the same and are by the Rubrick in the Book of Common-Prayer ordered to continue as they were and so ought to have continued He of His own mind and will without any Lawful Warrant or Authority in the year 1636 being then Bishop of Norwich ordered and enjoyned that the same should be raised towards the East-end some two some three some four steps that so the Communion-Table there placed Altar-wise might be the better seen of the People II. He in the same year 1636. Ordered that the Communion-Table which is appointed by the same Rubrick at the time of the Celebration of the Holy Communion to be placed in the Body of the Church or Chancel where Divine Prayers are usually read and where the People might best hear should be set up close under the Wall at the East-end of the Chancel Altar-wise and not to be removed from thence whereby the Minister who is by the Law to Officiate at the North-side of the Table must either stand and Officiate at the North-end of the Table so standing Altar-wise or else after the Popish and Idolatrous manner stand and Officiate at the West-side of the Table with his Back towards the People III. He in the same year 1636. enjoyned that there should be a Rail set on the top of the new raised steps before the Communion-Table so set Altar-wise as aforesaid which Rail should reach from the South-side of the Chancel to the North within which the Minister only should enter as a place too Holy for the People and some of the People were punished for stepping into it as namely Daniel Whayman and others IV. The more to advance blind Superstition he in the same year 1636. Ordered that all the Pews in the Churches should be so altered that the People might kneel with their Faces Eastward towards the Communion-Table so set Altar-wise as aforesaid And that there should be no Seats in the Chancel above or on either side even up with the said Table V. He in the same year 1636. enjoyned that every Minister after he had finished the reading of some part of Morning Prayer at the Desk should go out from the same to the Holy Table set Altar-wise as to a more Holy place and there when no Communion was to be Administred Read at the said Table a part of the Communion Service now commonly called the second Service whereby the consciences both of the Minister and People have been not only very much offended and grieved but also the Service it self was made very unprofitable to the People who could not hear what was said or prayed in that place VI. That both he in his own Person his Chaplains and others of the Clergy as namely Mr. John Novell Mr. William Guest Mr. John Dunckon and others following his example did ever after the Table was so set Altar-wise use and perform such so many and so frequent bowings and adorations before and towards the said Table as have been
the honour and safety of the Kingdom This day the Bill Entituled An Act for the securing the True Religion The Bill for securing the true Religion c. rejected the Safety and Honour of His Majesties Person the just Rights of the Subject and the better discovery and punishment of Popish Recusants was read a Second time and after a long Debate of the House it was Resolved by the major part That this Bill be Rejected The Reader is to understand that under the glorious Title with which this Bill was guilded the main matter of it was the taking away the Peerage of the Bishops in Parliament which since they could not effect by the former Bill they thought to slide in under these specious pretences of preserving Religion c. but the House of Lords had too many Wise and Noble Just and Honourable Persons in it yet for the Faction to effect their Design After this the Lord Mayor of London and the Aldermen c. were called in to give an Answer to the Proposition for lending 40000 l. and the Lord Mayor signified That he hath already prepared 34500 l. part of the 40000 l. and the full Sum will be made up this night and further he acquainted the House that he hath received 18000 l. of the Poll-mony For which service and readiness in this business the Speaker gave the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and the rest thanks from this House The Earl of Bath reported the effect of the Conference about disbanding that the Commons delivered these four Resolutions Earl of Bath reports the Conference about disbanding 1. That the Ninth day of August next shall be the day appointed for the marching away of the Scots Army 2. That the mony due for relief of the Northern Counties is ready and that if they shall desire any reasonable assistance for the conveying of it they will be ready to assist them in the best manner they can 3. The House of Commons desires that the English Lords Commissioners may move the Scots Commissioners to put off the time for the payment of the 80000 l. part of the Brotherly Assistance till the first day of September next and that notwithstanding they will pay it sooner if they can 4. That after the Scots have declared their Assent of disbanding that then our Army shall be disbanded with all possible speed and the Horse to be first disbanded Upon which it was Ordered That this House doth agree with the House of Commons in all the aforesaid Resolutions and do further Order That the Lords Commissioners do resume the Treaty with the Scots Commissioners and prepare it for a Conclusion After the Conference with the Lords about the Disbanding the Commons fell into Debate concerning the Kings Journey into Scotland and it was Thursday July 29. Votes to desire a Vice-Roy during the King's absence in Scotland Resolved c. That the Lords be desired by this House in a Conference to joyn with this House in a Petition to His Majesty to appoint a Custos Regni or Locum tenens during his Absence out of this Kingdom and amongst other things in special to give him Power to give the Royal Assent in Parliament and to do such things as the King might do if he were present Resolved c. That His Majesty be likewise Petitioned That an Act of Parliament may pass to this Effect That such Commission shall not be repealed until His Majesties return from Scotland to the City of London or Westminster or be present in full Parliament Which two Resolves were communicated to the Lords at a Conference Upon Information this Day unto this House That Sir George Radcliff being now a Prisoner in the Gate-House Sir George Ratcliff has liberty to take the Air. was indisposed in his Health by reason of the closeness of the Place where he remaineth and that he was an humble Suitor to their Lordships that he might receive the Favor to go into the Fields with such Keepers as their Lordships should think fit It was Ordered That the said Sir George Radcliff shall have the Liberty by Virtue of this Order to go into Chelsey Fields or any other Fields near thereabout to take the Air for his Health at such times as he shall desire it The Earl of Bristol Reports the Scots Answer about the disbanding their Army which was read in haec verba Scots Commissioners Answer about disbanding the Army Whereas the Removal of the Scottish Army is desired against the 9th of August upon the Receipt of a Paper from your Lordships of the 22 of July we did immediately represent the same to the Lord General and Committees from whom we expect very satisfactory Answers by the Earl of Dumserling and Lord Lowdon and for hastning the disbanding we did in our Answer of the 21st of July desire that the Arrears might be then delivered and sent to New-Castle that we might finish our Accounts and pay our Debts in those Countries and be better prepared for our Disbanding but we conceive that the not timous delivery of the Arrears shall prove the greatest Impediment in our removal therefore We do remit to the Parliaments consideration to take some speedy course for sending of the whole Arrears As for the delay of the Payment of the 80000 l. we have also represented the same unto the General and Committees according to the days mentioned in our Paper of the 22 of July whereof we do expect an Answer by the Earl of Dumserling and the Lord Lowdon The Bill against Ship-Money being read a third Time this Day Act against Ship-Money passed the Lords Lord Majors Cause heard and referred and put to the Question it was resolved to pass for a Law After which the Lord Major and Aldermen and Commons of London were called in and asked Whether they had composed the Differences between themselves concerning the Election of the Sheriff But it being Answered That they had a meeting about it yet could not agree This House took the Cause into Consideration having heard the Objections on both Sides and at last appointed these Lords Committees viz. Lord Privy Seal Lord Chamberlain Earl of Bath Earl of Bedford Earl of Bristol to try if they could accommodate the difference between them and settle Peace amongst them if not to report the same to this House And their Lordships or any five or more to meet at 5 of the Clock this Afternoon in the Painted Chamber and the Lord Major and Aldermen and some of the Commons to be present Mr. Bagshaw Reports the Articles against the Bishop of Bath and Wells which were all read but are not entred in the Journal Friday July 30. But that the Reader may see they were of the same Leven with those against the Bishop of Ely and that indeed the Crime was being a Bishop I will subjoyn some Articles which an Informer one Mr. James a Minister in his Diocess exhibited against him whereby it will appear
behalf The Second Article is condescended unto according to the Proposition added to the Act of Pacification The Third Demand concerning making of War with Forreigners with the other Two Articles concerning Leagues and Confederations and concerning mutual Supply and Assistance against forreign Invasion is agreed to be referred to Commissioners to be chosen by His Majesty and the Parliaments As likewise the Fourth Fifth and Sixth Articles concerning Trade Commerce Naturalization mutual Priviledges and Capacity and other of that Nature and the demands concerning the Extract of Bonds and Decrets and the manner of safe Conduct for Transporting the Monys from England to Scotland are all referred to be taken into Consideration by the Commissioners to be appointed by both Parliaments who shall have power to Advise and Treat thereupon and report to the Parliaments respectively It is just that the Tenor of the Commission for Conserving of Peace should be agreed on by mutual Consent but the closing of the Treaty not to stay hereupon but to be left to the Commissioners to be named To that desire concerning such as should be placed about the Prince the King hath already given a clear satisfactory Answer That there be an Act of Parliament of Publick Faith for securing the payment of 220000 l. which is Arrear of the Brotherly Assistance is just and order is given for it accordingly and it shall be Communicated with the Scottish Commissioners that it may be a perfect Security The Tenth for appointing a Quorum for attending the payment of the Mony is already moved to the Parliament and will be done as is desired The Eleventh Article is very just and order shall be given accordingly for recalling all Proclamations and for Publick Thanksgiving The Twelfth Article for the Castle of Edinburgh and other Strengths of Scotland is to be settled betwixt His Majesty and the Commissioners of Scotland or by His Majesty and the Parliament of Scotland Which being read this House approved both of the Propositions and the Answers and Ordered That they should be Communicated to the House of Commons â—o morrow morning Mr. Thursday August 5. Report of the Conference about the Custos Regni Pym Reports the Conference with the Lords concerning the Custos Regni Lord Privy Seal told them That the occasion of this Conference was the matter of a former Conference desired by this House wherein two Propositions were delivered concerning a Custos Regni Commissioners to be appointed in the Kings absence to Pass these Bills 1. The Act of Treaty 2. Any Bill for raising Mony as there shall be occasion 3. For raising of Forces for Service at Sea and Land to resist forreign Invasions or Seditions at home with all things necessarily incident thereunto 4. Any Bill for Tonnage and Poundage or other Duties upon the Exportation or Importation of Commodities 5. The Bill for the preservation of the Mines for Salt-Petre and making Gun-Powder for the defence of the Kingdom 6. A Power to Pass the Bill concerning the 8 Subsidies given by the Clergy A short Act to be drawn Authorizing the Passing of Bills to be conceived upon these Heads Lord Say said That the Lords intended not to conclude this House but that they might add what they should think necessary to be Expedited in the King's absence and that some Course might be taken that the Parliament might Sit till an Act might pass to Enable and Confirm this Commission The House was then acquainted That the Bishoprick of Durham County of Northumberland and Town of Newcastle are willing to take the Parliaments Security for Billet Whereupon it was agreed That the House is contented to pay with all speed unto the Scots Commissioners the residue of the 80000 l. which they have provided accordingly and desire that the Scots Commissioners give speedy notice thereof unto their General whereby he may apply himself to put the Army into a readiness to march away according to their promises immediately upon the receipt of the said Monys And this House desireth they will receive so much of the said Mony here as conveniently they can dispose of and the House is ready to send the Residue to Newcastle if they shall desire it This day one Mr. Smith Rector of Long-Ditton in Kent Mr. Smith a Minister sent to the Gate-house who was sent for as a Delinquent upon an Information given in against him by some of the Godly and Well Affected Party that he should say The House of Commons had undeservedly Imprisoned an honester Man than any of themselves in the Tower meaning the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury For which he was committed to the Gate-House Bill against Knighthood passed by the Lords Message from the Commons about disbanding This day the Bill to prevent vexatious proceedings touching the Order of Knighthood being read a Third time and put to the Question it was Resolved to pass as a Law A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Sir Philip Stapleton to let their Lordships know That they have considered of the disbanding of both Armies and are provided of Mony to effect it and that they have resolved to take the Publick Faith of the Scots for their disbanding Further That the House of Commons had made an Order That the Horse of the King's Army be first disbanded therefore do desire this House to joyn with them That the Horse of the King's Army be first disbanded and that forthwith To which after some Consideration the Lords agreed The Petition of the Creditors of Sir Thomas Dawes was read shewing A Ne exeat regnum awarded a gainst Sir Tho. Dawes That they stand bound with the said Sir Thomas for great Sums of Mony and they have Reason to fear that he will depart this Kingdom Hereupon it was Ordered That there shall be a Ne Exeat Regnum issued out against the said Sir Thomas Dawes The House of Commons being upon the Consideration of the King's Journey Friday August 6. Commons resolved to insist upon a Locum Tenens in the Kings absence it was Resolved c. That this House shall at a Conference with the Lords insist upon the King 's appointing a Locum Tenens during his absence The Bishop of Lincoln reports the Conference with the Commons about a Locum Tenens in the King's absence in these words That formerly the House of Commons had brought up a Proposition concerning a Custos Regni in the King's absence Conference about a locum tenens in the Kings absence of which they have received no Answer which makes them now renew it again as formerly and they do offer some more Reasons 1. Because that in the King's absence many Emergent Occasions may happen in Parliament or otherwise where necessary use may be of the King's Authority especially in these time when things are not yet so fully setled 2. That by all Presidents it doth appear That when a Parliament was Sitting in the King's absence there was a Custos
Regni or Locum Tenens 3. For to have a Limited Commission to pass particular Bills in certain matters wherein the Bills are not yet framed is without any President that they can find and may be subject to Dispute and Question and of dangerous Consequence Though the success did not Answer their Expectation yet it was fairly pusht by the Faction and had they gained this point they would by his Authority which they had not yet learnt to separate from his Person as afterwards they did have left him little besides the name of a King before his return out of Scotland But His Majesty began now though something with the latest to be assured of what before he had feared nor had he reason to repose such a Trust in any of their Favourites as his Royal Ancestors had done in their near Relations which were the Presidents they shewed during the Wars of our Kings with France when the Nation was Unanimous the Commons Peaceable and Obedient and the Parliaments Zealous of the Prerogative and Greatness of their Kings and the Glory of their Nation and not Fly-blown with Fears and Jealousies of Arbitrary Government even when they saw their Sovereigns at the Head of their Victorious Troops and had the King consented the Earl of Essex then their Darling had been the Man and how far Ambition and Revenge Armed with such Power and Supported with such a prevailing Faction might have transported him his future Actions do most evidently Demonstrate The Bill for assuring a Messuage called Duresm-House part of the Possession of the Bishop of Durham lying in the Parish of St. Martin's to Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery and his Heirs Earl of Pembrokes Bill for Durham House passed the Lords Report of the Conference about the Treaty paying a yearly Rent of 200 l. to the said Bishop and his Successors in lieu thereof c. being read a third time and put to the Question it was Resolved by the major part to pass as a Law After which Sir John Culpeper reports the Conference with the Lords about the Treaty My Lord of Bristol began the discourse and said My Lord Lowdon was returned out of Scotland and had brought certain Explanations of the Treaty That the English Commissioners had looked them over and had presented them to the Lords who have approved thereof together with the Answers and had commanded him to present them to us My Lord Wharton read the Propositions and the other the Answers when these Papers were read he said The Lords desired they should be read in this House for form sake and agreed upon here and sent up with all speed to the Lords whereby it may be put into an Act of Parliament His Lordship went further and said he had something more to deliver concerning the Treaty at Rippon of the Reasons that moved those Commissioners to agree unto it and though it might not be accounted so full of Glory and Honour to the Nation as it had been in former times yet considering the strait that some persons have put this Kingdom into it is a happy Conclusion both for the King and Kingdom The Scots coming into this Kingdom cost the Nation 1100000 l. besides damages That it had cost the Kingdom 1100000. l besides Damages and that he thought it convenient that some Writing be drawn concerning this Treaty for satisfaction to Posterity of the Carriage of this Business My Lord Privy Seal then spoke concerning the Spanish Ambassador and said That the 12000 Men which the Spanish Ambassador did desire was an Army and that the King was now content he should accept of three or four thousand if the Parliament did advise him to which the Lords have assented and desired the advice of this House My Lord of Bristol said further That when the Spanish Ambassadour disbursed this Money it was an acceptable work to this Kingdom and therefore it was a great consideration to move their House unto it and considering how many thousand Pounds he hath disbursed about the same The House after the reading of them assented to the Articles proposed by the Scots at the Lord Lowdon's return I could heartily wish there had been such a writing drawn as my Lord of Bristol desired and thought fit for the satisfaction of Posterity and that I could have obliged them with a view of it But I fear our Grand-Children will blush to see the blood of their Ancestors so palled in their Veins as without a blow struck in a manner or any generous resistance made at the expence of 1100000 l. besides Damages to purchase an inglorious Peace from an invading Enemy Yet possibly something may be pleaded in mitigation when it shall appear that it ought not wholly to be attributed to the Body of the English Nation but to the Arts of the discontented Presbyterian Faction who first Invited then Courted and Caressed these friendly Enemies giving them the soft Title of their Brethren of Scotland and sweetning that heavy Imposition of mony which the whole Nation was to hear with the Title of the Brotherly Assistance that so by their help if the King should not comply with their desires they might obtain that from him by Force and Arms which they could not by all their Arts of Flattery and Dissimulation in which certainly they were the most accomplished Persons in the World Now that it may appear that there was a Foundation for this Invitation of the Scottish Army to invade England besides what I have seen in several Prints that Mr. Hambden and others principal Men of the Faction made frequent Journeys into Scotland and had many Meetings and Consultations how to carry on their Combination and joynt Concern I will give the Reader a short Account out of the Memoirs of the late Earl of Manchester then Lord Mandeville an Actor in this Affair which take in his own Words and as I have good Assurance written with his own Hand as follows WHen saith he the Commissioners were come to Rippon An Act out of the Lord Manchesters Memoires of the Invitation of the Scots to invade England all due Ceremonies and Civilities were performed each to other which ended the first Days meeting And here give me leave to make a necessary Digression for the Vindication of those Lords whom the * This Lords Savil was an Illegitimate slip of the Honorable Family of the Savils which makes it the less to be admired that he should do so base degenerate an Action Lord Savile had made Parties to the design of bringing in the Scotch Army When the Scotch Commissioners had passed the Ceremonies and General Civilities at the first meeting with the English Commissioners the Lord Lowdon and Sir Archibald Johnston applied themselves particularly to the Lord Mandeville desiring him to give them a private meeting that they might impart to him something of near concernment to himself and others of the Lords then present this was readily granted and they
recommend to the Parliament the Care of the Disbanding the Horse that the Soldiers may be repaid the Money which hath been taken from them for their Arms that so Armed Men may not disperse themselves to the disturbance of the Kingdom and that the Arms may be restored to the Magazins for the Defence of the King and Kingdom A Proclamation was accordingly issued out as follows By the King A Proclamation for the Peaceable and Quiet Passage of the Troops of Horse to be Disbanded in the North Parts WHereas His Majesty by the Advice of His Parliament His Majesties Proclamation about disbanding the Horse Aug. 8. 1641. hath given Order for the speedy Disbanding of the Troops of Horse that are or lately were part of His Majesties Army in the Northern Parts of the Kingdom His Majesty in his Princely Care of the Quiet and Safety of His Subjects doth by this His Proclamation strictly Charge and Command that none of those Troops or Souldiers after they are Disbanded do Travel together or gather or continue together above six in a Company under the Penalty of being proceeded with as Disturbers of the Publick Peace And doth hereby likewise straitly Charge and Command all Sheriffs and Iustices of Peace of the Counties thorow which they shall pass or whither they shall come that they fail not to take Care that the General peace and quiet of His Majesties Subjects be not disturbed by any of the said Troops or Souldiers And that none of the said Troops or Souldiers do stay or abide above one Night in a place unless it be in Case of Sickness or other great Necessity during the Time of their Travel Given at the Court at White-Hall the Eighth Day of August in the seventeenth Year of the Reign of Our Soveraign Lord CHARLES by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. God save the KING The Lord Privy Seal Reported the Opinion of the Judges concerning the Custos Regni The Judges Opinion about a Custos Regni and the Commission to pass Bills in the King's absence 1. Concerning the Custos Regni they know not how to deliver any Opinion it being of so high a Consequence 2. Concerning the Commission they hold it good if it be fortified and backed with an Act of Parliament Whereupon it was Ordered to be communicated to the House of Commons at a Conference The ACT for the Confirmation of the Treaty of Pacification between the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland The Act of Pacification passed the Lords House was read a third time and being put to the Question it was Resolved to pass as a Law And sent down to the Commons by Justice Forster and Justice Heath MEmorandum Thanks given to the Lord Commissioners and particularly the E. of Bristol for the Treaty Bill for taking away purveyance read the first Time This House this day gave Thanks to the Lords Commissioners for their great Pains and Care bestowed in the Treaty between Vs and the Scots and particular Thanks was given to the Earl of Bristol for his Service done to this Kingdom therein The Bill for taking away of all manner of Purveyance was read the first time The Commons then sent to desire a present Conference with the Lords about the King 's putting off his intended Journey into Scotland for 14 dayes longer At which Mr. Hollis delivered the Reasons of the Commons Desire in that particular in this manner My Lords I Am Commanded to put you in mind what hath passed upon this occasion before Reasons for the Kings deferring his Journey for 14 days at a Conference August 7. 1641. concerning the Kings Journey to Scotland That both Houses did Petition his Majesty not to begin his Journey till the Tenth of August and to acquaint the Scots Commissioners therewith who afterwards desired this House to express their Resolutions in the affirmative upon which the House of Commons passed a Resolution That then if his Majesty pleased to go they would submit unto it I am Commanded to declare unto your Lordships That the House of Commons is desirous to submit unto his Majesties good Pleasure in all things but such is the present condition of this business as it now standeth that they are enforced to present some further Considerations to your Lordships First That when they gave this Assent they were in hope both Armies would have been Disbanded by that time but though there hath been all possible means used to that end yet it could not be effected so the same Inconvenience doth still continue Secondly The Treaty cannot in so short a time be finished being returned from Scotland but three dayes since but since it is ready to be finished and Moneys are provided the Armies will be Disbanded by that time we desire his Majesty to take his Journey Thirdly The Distempers and Joalousies of the Kingdome are such that they cannot be composed by passing some Acts unless his Majesty stay the desired time Fourthly No course is yet taken for the Government of the Kingdom in his Majesties absence there being so many Weighty Things to be taken into Consideration Upon these Reasons the House of Commons have thought fit to move your Lordships to joyn with Us in a Petition to his Majesty to stay his Journey for 14 dayes longer and we make no doubt but our Brethren in Scotland will consider the Streight we are in and for our Safety condescend to our Desires And if his Majesty yield thereunto then we shall desire your Lordships to joyn with us by some express Messenger to the Parliament in Scotland for the King's stay for that time which we hope will give them Satisfaction After which Mr. Hollis reported the Conference from the Lords That the Lord Say told them They had taken into Consideration the Desires of this House and that the Lords would joyn with this House to Petition his Majesty to be pleased to stay yet 14 days if it may stand with the Ingagement he has made to that Kingdom however that he may stay till Tuesday Night 6. of the Clock which they are sure will stand with his Ingagement but they conclude nothing in this matter till they had first heard from this House This was not at all Satisfactory to the Commons who thereupon put it to the Vote it was Resolved c. That this House shall insist upon the former Desire for his Majesties stay for 14 dayes But while they were in this Debate and Messages went to and fro between the Two Houses the King came to the House of Lords and the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod was sent to give the Commons notice of the King 's being there in order to the passing several Bills The Publique Bills were Bills passed by the King 1. An Act against divers Incroachments and Oppressions in the Stannery Court 2. An Act for securing Money to the Northern Counties c. 3. An
Scottish Commissioners in a free and friendly manner to declare to them whether they have lately received any Instructions from the Parliament of Scotland to press His Majesty's present Repair thither in Person at the Parliament the 17th day of this present August Hereupon the Earl of Warwick Viscount Say and Seal Lord Wharton Lord Kimbolton and Lord Savile were appointed presently to go to the Scots Commissioners and desire from both Houses their Answer hereunto in writing The Lord Keeper reported That he had delivered the Reasons to the King in the name of both Houses concerning the staying of His Majesties Journey into Scotland for 14 days and his Majesty returns this Answer That the importance of your desires would require some time of deliberation The Kings Answer to the 4 Reasons for staying his Journey if the urgent Necessity of the business did not press the contrary and His Majesty said the same Necessity teacheth him to Answer the Necessity is two fold 1. The first and chiefest his Publick Faith given to his Kingdom to be present at the Parliament and His Majesty said That never any Prince was more strictly bound in Honour to perform any thing then he was to do this 2. The Vrgency of His Majesties Affairs there which indeed he said were very great To comply with both which he can stay no longer then Tuesday and so long he thought fit to stay that the Gentlemen of the House of Commons may so hasten the Scottish Treaty that he may give his Royal Assent thereunto some time to morrow for otherwise His Majesty shall be forced to pass it by that Commission which he leaves behind him but the earnest desire his Majesty hath of passing this Important Bill personally makes him stay thus long which he knows will be inconvenient unto him To conclude His Majesty desires your Lordships to remember That upon yoâ—r desires he hath already stayed one Month and that you by Publick Promises are engaged not to urge his stay longer then to morrow therefore remembring all engagements His Majesty expects that you press him no more in this for His Majesty said indeed he must go and for the Government of the Kingdom he hopes he shall leave behind him such Commissions as will serve especially since the Parliament is Sitting The Lord Brook was sent to find out the Scottish Commissioners and to desire them to expedite their Answer who presently returning brought it in writing which was read in these words AS we are very sensible of the great Care the Houses of Parliament have to keep a good Correspondency betwixt the two Nations Scottish Commishoners Answer to the 4 Reasons for the Rings stay and the Sense they have of the manifold Inconveniences which Scotland doth sustain by their frequent Meeting and Adjourning of the Parliament so we know nothing can more conduce for conserving that Correspondency and for removing these manifold prejudices we sustain through the frequent Prorogation of our Parliament then that the Treaty of Peace which by the blessing of God and His Majesties and the Parliaments Wisdom is now brought to a close may as a Sovereign Remedy of the great Evils which troubles both Kingdoms without further delay be Enacted here for the Peace and safety of both Kingdoms that the same may with all speed be Ratified in the Parliament of Scotland His Majesty hath by several Letters promised to hold the Parliament of Scotland in his own Royal Person and hath intimated the same by Publick Proclamation to all his Subjects there and although His Majesty by his Royal Letter of the 18th of May was obliged to have holden the Parliament of Scotland upon the 15th of July last in his own Royal Person or if any unexpected Occasion should happen to detain him that he would appoint a Commissioner for holding thereof at the day aforesaid to do every thing which might conduce to the Establishing of the True Religion Laws and Liberties of their Kingdom Yet such is the Affection and Respect of the Parliament of Scotland to the Parliament of England as notwithstanding their many pressing Difficulties they have condescended that his Majesty stay his Journey into Scotland until the 10th of August in respect that the Parliament of England did Assent to His Majesties going at that time which the Parliament of Scotland doth expect without any surther delay What may be the Condition or Importment of Affairs here or what Reason the Parliament hath which moveth them to Petition His Majesties stay is not proper for us we will therefore forbear to shew our selves beyond our Line but do remit the Consideration of this to the King and the Parliaments Wisdom And finally where it is desired by the Houses that we would in a friendly and free manner declare unto them whether we have lately received any Instructions from the Parliament of Scotland to press His Majesties repair thither in Person we do conceive that His Majesties former Promises of going thither in his own Person upon the 10th of August and the Assent of both Houses to his Journey and the Resolution of the Parliament of Scotland to prepare their business till the 17th of August and after that time that they will conclude and pass such Acts as they conceive necessary for the good of the Kingdom a sufficient Instruction for us both to press and expect His Majesties going against that time and the pressing necessity of the Affairs of that Kingdom as such cannot without danger of irreparable loss suffer longer delay This being read it was Communicated at a Conference to the House of Commons After a long Tugg the Commons finding the King resolute to pursue his Journey and the Lords unwilling to press His Majesty any further in the Matter they resolved to expedite matters so as if possible to settle them before His Majesty goes But lest this Sitting upon the Lords Day which the Presbyterians idolized even to down-right Judaism many of them thinking it unlawful even to dress Provision for their Families on that day should scandalize them the Commons were resolved to do something in Vindication of this so unusual a Sitting and to give the Nation the Reasons for it which Mr. Pym did in haec verba WHereas both Houses of Parliament found it fit to Sit in Parliament upon the 8th of August being the Lords Day The Reasons of the Sitting of the Parliament on the Lords Day for many urgent and unexpected Occasions concerning the Safety of the Kingdom and being so straitned in time by reason of his Majesties Resolution to begin his Journey towards Scotland on Monday following early in the morning it was not possible so to settle and order the Affairs of the Kingdom either for the Government thereof in the King's Absence or for the present Safety as was requisite upon these pressing Necessities though the Houses thought it necessary to Sit yet the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament think it meet to declare
That they would not have done this but upon inevitable Necessity the Peace and Safety of both the Church and State being so deeply concerned which they do however declare to the End that neither any other Inferior Court or Councel or any other Persons may draw this into Example or make use of it for their Encouragement in neglecting the due observance of the Lords Day Which being read Sir Jo. Culpeper Ordered to carry up this to the Lords for their Concurrence was assented to Nullo Contradicente Ordered That Sir John Culpeper carry up this Order to the Lords and to acquaint their Lordships how it past Nullo contradicente and that if it pass so in their House to desire it may be so entred that it may appear to Posterity with what Vnanimous Consent both Houses of Parliament are solicitous for the due Observation of the Lords Day and likewise to desire of their Lordships That it may be printed as the Declaration of both Houses To which the Lords also assented Nullo contradicente Which being done it was ordered to be entred in the Journals and printed for Satisfaction to Posterity A Proposition from the French Ambassador This day the Earl of Warwick reported that the French Ambassadour was with him and desired his Lordship That he would acquaint this House That he desired leave for the Raising and Transporting of a Regiment of English Souldiers for the Service of the French King and in particular the Earl of Carnarvan 's Troop of Horse and he said if occasion requires hereafter to imploy them in the Service of the Palatinate the French King would add Ten Thousand Foot to them in that design Hereupon the House thought fit that the French Ambassadour set down his Proposition in Writing Duke of Lenox made Duke of Richmond and Introducted Monday August 9. and then present it to this House This Day the Lord James Duke of Richmond was with the Usual Solemnity Introducted his Writ bearing Date 8th Aug. 1641. Ordered That the Gracious Answer from his Majesty be entered in the Journal of the House His Majesty sent this following Message to the House That his Majesty forgot to tell the Houses yesterday one Thing That his Businesses are so well prepared in Scotland that he shall make no long stay there and intends to be back before Michaelmas A Message from his Majesty and it may be by the midst of September Concerning the Army which he is sorry is not already disbanded but upon the Word of a Prince he will do his best and hopes not without good effects for the speedy Disbanding thereof That besides the Bill for the Scots Treaty another Bill will come down from the Lords for securing the Government in his Majesties absence And his Majesties Command at this time is to signify his desire to the House that they pass both these Bills some time this Day that so his Majesty may give his Assent unto them His Majesty desires the speedy passing of this last Bill conceiving that the passing thereof may assist his Majesty in the desired disbanding of the Armies And that when his Majesty upon Saturday bid the Lords severally Farewel his Intent then was to both Houses which if they did not so understand it his Majesty now commanded to signifie it as his Intention therein A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Message from the Commons to have E. Pembroke made L. Steward and E. Salisbury L. Treasurer Hollis to let their Lordships know That they understand that the Lord Steward is to go beyond the Seas with the Queen and so is to resign his Staff The House of Commons desires their Lordships to joyn with them to move his Majesty that he may resign his Staff to the Earl of Pembroke who is a very fit Person for that Place And further he was commanded by the House of Commons to signifie That they have taken into Consideration the setling of the King's Revenue and because it will be requisite to have a Lord Treasurer that is a Person of Honor and Abilities they have Voted Nemine contradicente the Earl of Salisbury to be a very fit Person for that Place therefore the House of Commons desires that their Lordships would joyn with them to recommend him to his Majesty for that Place The Bill for the Commission from his Majesty to give the Royal Assent to certain Bills c. was passed the Lords and carried down to the Commons A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Sir Arthur Haslerig Bill for publick Faith for Brotherly Assistance passed the Lords who delivered from the House of Commons the Bill of Publick Faith for securing by publick Faith the Remainder of the friendly Assistance and Relief promised to our Brethren of Scotland which was read immediately three times successively and being put to the Question and it was Consented to pass as a Law Nemine contradicente The Bill for Regulating and better Ordering the Clerks of the Market being read a third time passed the Lords House Tuesday August 10. Clerk of the Markets Bill passed the Lords House Conference about the Commission to pass Bills in the Kings Absence A Conference having been desired by the Commons concerning the Bill to strengthen the Kings Commission for passing Acts in his Absence it was thus reported by the Lord Keeper That the House of Commons had returned the Commission and the Act to enable the Commission with some Amendments and desired that some Additions might be made both to the Commission and to the Act for the Commons conceive that they are both too Particular and not General enough which may be very prejudicial For 1 They find no President that a Parliament was ever Sitting without a General Power 2 It might be a dangerous President to accept of a Limited Commission by an Act of Parliament 3 There may happen Emergent Occasions for the Safety of the Kingdom which cannot be foreseen therefore 't is dangerous to accept of such a Limited Commission by an Act of Parliament His Majesty being come to the House The King passes Bills in the Lords House for Pacification c. and the Commons with their Speaker being come up according to the usual manner these following Bills were passed 1 An Act for the Confirmation of the Treaty of Pacification between the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland 2 An Act for securing by Publick Faith the Remainder of the Friendly Assistance and Relief promised to our Brethren of Scotland 3 An Act for the free bringing in of Gun-Powder and Sal-Petre from Forreign Parts and for the free making of Gun-Powder in this Realm Memorandum His Majesty said he hoped that the Parliament would consider of a Bill for making of good Gun-Powder and for preserving the Sal-Petre Works for the Defence of this Kingdom and if they did not He professeth Himself to be clear of the Inconveniences which else will follow 4 An
Act for prevention of vexatious Proceedings touching the Order of Knighthood 5 An Act for the better Ordering and Regulating of the Office of the Clerk of the Market allowed and confirmed by this Statute and for the Reformation of false Weights and Measures The Private Bill was An Act for the assuring a Messuage called Duresme House aliàs Durham House and certain Stables part of the Possessions of the Bishop of Duresme situate in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields in the County of Middlesex unto the Right Honorable Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery and his Heirs and of a yearly Rent of 200 l. per Annum to the said Bishop of Duresme and his Successors in lieu thereof Then his Majesty took his leave of the Parliament telling them He hoped to give good Expedition in disbanding both Armies and that he would make what haste he could if possible to return before Michaelmas Declared and Voted by this House Nemine contradicente Declaration of the Lords abount the choice of their Speaker That the certain and undoubted Right of this House to chuse their Speaker and that the Speaker is not to depart when this House sits without the leave of this House and that this Order be added to the standing Orders of this House The Lords Commissioners reported Propositions of the Scottish Commissioners about Difficulties of their Army marching away Aug. 10. 1641. That the Scottish Commissioners desire them to represent to the King's Majesty and the Parliament That in respect of the great Rain which hath fallen in the North whereby the Cannon cannot be carried through Kynsidmire nor can the Scottish Army cross the River Tweed his Majesty may be graciously pleased with consent of the Parliament to permit the Scottish Army to March through Berwick since there is no other Passage But for all they were our dear Brethren of Scotland neither the Lords nor Commons were without Jealousy of them as appears by these following Particulars The House of Lords taking this desire into Consideration did appoint the Lords Commissioners to speak with the Scots Commissioners and propose unto them the making of a Passage for their Army over the Tweed with a Bridge which the Lord General shall have Order to make The Old Proverb is Make a Retreating Enemy a Bridge of Gold they had made the Scots a Bridge of Silver which Cost England above a Million of Money and now they were very willing to see them gone To which purpose at a Conference this Day the Commons acquainted the Lords That whereas formerly it was intimated at a Conference Report of the Conference about the Scottish Army That the Scottish Commissioners declared that their Army would draw themselves into a Camp and begin to March away out of this Kingdom within 48 Hours after they had received the Monies of Arrears at New-Castle and the 80000 l. in part of the Brotherly Assistance and had Security for the Payment of the rest the House of Commons having now paid them all their Arrears at New-Castle and 80000 l. in London and have performed all that was agreed to be performed by them they desire that the Lords Commissioners may move the Scots Commissioners in the Name of both Houses of Parliament that their Army may march away according to their Promise And further that the House of Commons desires this House would joyn with them to write Letters to the Lord General of the Kings Army to disband the Horse and Foot presently that so Peace may be setled and all Jealousies removed Whereupon it was Ordered by the Lords Order of the Lords for Exemplifying the Acts for Pacification and Brotherly Assistance that this House will joyn with the Commons in the Desires of this whole Conference It was also this day Ordered That the two Acts of Parliament the one for the Brotherly Assistance the other for the Confirmation of the Treaty between the Two Kingdoms shall be transmitted into the Chancery by Writs of Certiorari directed to the Clerk of the Parliament and shall be Exemplified by the Clerks of the Petty Bagg in a Secretary Hand and this to be the Warrant in that behalf The House after their return from the Lords House Commissioners to be sent into Scotland fell into Debate about sending some Commissioners from either House into Scotland and accordingly it was Resolved c. That some Commissioners shall be sent into Scotland for these Purposes authorized by both Houses to see and take Care that the Acts that concern this Kingdom be perfected in the Parliament of Scotland and from time to time to give his Majesty a true understanding of the Proceedings of the Parliament here the Lords to be moved to joyn in Petition to move the King for it The Bill for Tonnage and Poundage passed and Mr. Solicitor was sent up with it to the Lords to desire That this Bill may pass by special Commission and that it may be so contrived that the Bill may pass before the King is gone out of the Kingdom And it was immediately read three times successively in the Lords House and passed as a Law Nemine contradicente This Day the King set forward in the Afternoon upon his Journey to Scotland accompanied with the Prince Elector the Duke of Lenox The King sets forward his Journey to Scotland Wednesday August 11. now created Duke of Richmond and the Marquiss Hamilton A Letter was this day read in the House of Commons to be sent to the Earl of Holland to give Order for the speedy disbanding of the rest of the Army both Horse and Foot Message to the Lords about the Bishops that were impeached A Message was sent to the Lords to desire That the Bishops may be put to a present Answer in the Presence of the Commons as was formerly desired the House of Commons being ready to make good their Accusation and Sir Arthur Haslerig to go up with this Message and to desire a Conference about it Mr. Glyn reports the Conference with the Lords about the Bishops That the Lord Privy Seal told them The Lords Answer about the Impeachment of the Bishops That some Daies since they had received an Impeachment against the Bishops delivered at the Bar by Word of Mouth accusing them of many great Crimes and Misdemeanors and that this House did desire that the Bishops may be put to a present Answer at the time when the Impeachment was delivered They were Matters of great Consequence and coming from the House of Commons they were very curious not to proceed but in a Parliamentary Way upon good Consideration whereas the Charges were in general only He said further There were two Ways of proceeding there by transmission from this House or by a Charge by Word of Mouth in this latter the Course is to appoint some of the Kings Council to draw up particular Charges out of the General that they would proceed no wayes till they had
Vote in favour of Mr. Small a Minister in Lincoln Shire The House then took into Consideration the Case of one Small a Minister in Lincolnshire sometime ago deprived of his Living by the Sentence of the High-Commission Court Conference about the Tower c. upon which it was Resolved c. That the deprivation of Edmond Small from his Living of Holm in Com. Lincoln by Sentence of the High Commission Court was Illegal and he shall be restored to his Living There was a Conference with the Lords about putting the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence as also about the Tower of London the Lieutenant Sir William Belfour being gone with the King into Scotland about some private Affairs of his own so that it was necessary that the Earl of Newport the Lord Constable of the Tower should take Care of it himself It was also there moved That Care might be taken of the Isles of Jersey Wight and Guernsey Which was agreed by the Lords and 50 men of the Hamlets to guard by Day and 50 by Night and 40 or 50 more to be added upon Emergent Occasion The Bill for Tonnage and Poundage for two Months longer was this day passed by Commission in the usual form and manner Monday August 16. Bill for Tonnage and Poundage for two Months passed by Commission * Incendiaries to be prosecuted and who those were After this the Interrogatories were delivered in to the Lords and read upon which the Scots Commissioners desire Witnesses may be Examined concerning the Earl of Traquayr Sir John Hayes Clerk Register in Scotland Sir Robert Spotswood and Dr. Walter Balcanquell and Mr. John Maxwell sometime Bishop of Ross who are pursued as Incendiaries The Interrogatories being approved of It was Ordered That the Lord Privy Seal E. Warwick E. Dover Viscount Say and Seal L. Wharton are appointed by this House to be Committees for the taking of the Examination of Witnesses in this Business and their Lordships or any Three or more to meet when they please to appoint Then the Lord Privy Seal E. Pembroke and L. Goring were sworn at the Clerks Table the Lord Keeper reading the Oath and are to be Examined concerning the Incendiaries Ordered also That John E. of Sterling Robert Young Printer William Warnor Corrector and Robert Chapman Compofer shall attend the Lords Committees this Afternoon and be Sworn and Examined in the business concerning the Incendiaries This was in order to the discovery of the Writer of the King 's large Declaration which was generally supposed to be Dr. Bellcanquel Dean of Durham which had so much Mordacis Veritatis of sharp and cutting Truth in it that the Scots thought there was no other Way to undo the Reputation of the Book but by ruining the Reputation of the Author and no way so Effectual for that as the Brand of an Incendiary burnt upon the forehead of his fame by this Publique Procedure which yet could not but even then be liable to suspition his Enemies being his Accusers and the Majority of these Lords Committees who were to report and in Effect therefore to be his Judges being apparently of the Scottish Party and Interest A Message was brought from the Commons by Mr. Strode Message about the Desperate Estate of the Kingdom and Hull to let their Lordships know That they have taken into Consideration the desperate Estate the Kingdom now stands in in the time of Disbanding the Army and they have Considered of the Danger the King's Ammunition at Hull is in if there should be any design upon it Therefore they desire their Lordships would joyn with them in some Course that the Ammunition there be not stirred nor removed from thence without the Order of both Houses of Parliament Hereupon it was Ordered That a Letter be sent to the Lord General to give Order That no Munition or Artillery of the Kings at Hull be removed or sent from thence but by Order from both Houses Mr. Pym reports from the Committee about the Commission for the Commissioners of both Houses who are to attend the King in Scotland Difficulty about the Commission for the Commissioners to go into Scotland That the first thing they took into Consideration was the Commission to give Power to these Commissioners and the doubt is Whether such a Commission may be granted or no the King being now out of the Kingdom so that the Royal Assent cannot now be had and it would be of much danger if such a Power may not be had and therefore they desire the Opinion of the House in this Point Upon which a Conference was desired with the Lords upon this Subject After which Mr. Pym Reported it to the House That the Lords were doubtful The Opinion of the Lords at a Conference about it and therefore propounded to have a Messenger sent to procure his Majesties Warrant and the Commissioners to stay here till the Messenger returned and that in the mean time they would consider of their Instructions This day the Earl of Dorset signified to the Lords House That he hath Waited on the Queen and hath acquainted her Majesty with the Humble Desires of this House touching restraining of the Capuchin Friers in Sommerset House from tampering and withdrawing the Kings People Her Majestie sayes The Queens Answer about the Capuchin Friers at Denmark-House Aug. 17. 1641. It is much against her Will that they have gone abroad or have endeavoured to pervert any from their Religion and her Majestie is also very unwilling that any English People should resort there to Chappel but her Majesty will give Order to prevent these for the future And the Earl of Dorset said He would obey their Lordships Command and send for the Chief of the Capuchins and give him a strait Command not to suffer any of the Friers to go abroad nor any English People to come to them or to hear Mass there The Impeachment brought up from the House of Commons against the 13 Bishops was read Votes in the House of Lords about the Impeachment of the 13 Bishops and the House fell into Debate what time they should have to Answer and whether in this Debate they should be present in the House And it was Resolved upon the Question That the Lords the Bishops that are Impeached may Sit in this House without Voting when it is in Debate whether they shall have further time to Answer or not Resolved c. That such of the Bishops as are Impeached shall not Sit here in this House when the Merits of the Cause is in Debate Resolved c. That when the disposing of the manner of the Proceedings of the Cause is in Debate the Bishops may Sit in this House but not Vote The Letter drawn by the Committees of both Houses to the Lord General concerning Hull The Letter to the Lord General concerning Hull was read as follows May it please your Excellency I Am commanded by the House of Peers
to give your Lordship many thanks not only for your great care daily exprest of the Army but for your no less vigilancy over the present distracted Estate of this Kingdom particularly for the account given by your Excellency to my Lord Chamberlain of the doubts conceived by your Lordship concerning it and we hope that if the causes of those doubts shall increase that your Excellency will likewise increase both your Vigilancy to discover and your Industry to inform us of all such proceedings as may concern us to be made acquainted with for the Publick Good I am likewise to acquaint your Excellency That to prevent all inconveniencies and dangers that may happen of which we find your Lordship to have already so quick and just a Sence both Houses have joyned to secure Hull as a place of great Importance especially by reason of the Magazine and upon which ill affected Persons may most readily have some design and in pursuance of that Resolution your Lordship will receive Orders from the House of Commons and I am to deliver your Lordship those of the House of Peers That your Lordship command the Major of Hull in the name of both Houses to use all possible care to secure the Town committed to his charge and not to suffer the Arms and Amunition in that Magazine to be disposed of without the Orders of both Houses I shall trouble your Lordship no further but only to desire your Excellency to continue your speed of Disbanding of the Army in the method already Ordered which till it be effected as we are confident it will be so soon as your Lordship can bring it to pass I am commanded to make a part of every Letter which I shall direct to your Excellency Your Excellencies Humble Servant Edward Littleton The time for the 13 Bishops to put in their Answer The Lords fell upon the Debate at what time the Bishops should put in their Answer and iâ— was Ordered That the Lords the Bishops that are Impeached by the House of Commons are to make their Answers thereunto on Thursday come Month being the 16th day of September nexi It was this day Ordered by the Commons 3000 l. Ordered for the Garrison of Portsmouth That Three Thousand Pound shall be paid by the Sheriff of Hampshire out of the Poll-Money to Colonel Goring for the Garrison of Portsmouth The Committee then reported the Case about the Pattent for Soap Monoply of Soap voted Illegal upon which it was Resolved c. That the Patent Indenture Decree and Process in the Star-Chamber about Soap-Boilers is Illegal The Commons having desired a Conference with the Lords Wednesday August 18. Report about putting the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence about putting the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence Mr. Hollis Reports that Conference The Lord Chamberlain told us his Majesty before his going had declared That he would appoint a General for the South Side of Trent and that his Majesty was pleased to nominate him and that since his Majesties going a Commission had been delivered unto him under the Great Seal He apprehended this too great a Burden and knew not what Exception had been taken to the Proceedings of the Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants That by this Commission in case of Tumults and Commotions he is to raise Forces and Men for the securing the Person of the Queen the Prince and the rest of the Royal Family He offered these Difficulties That when these Forces were raised he knew not how to levy Money for the Payment of them and besides he is to take a Care if there were an Invasion from Abroad for which he was ill prepared having no Intelligence or Correspondency from Ambassadors Abroad or from the Fleet and so concluded with a desire of Advice from this House Orders concerning the Bishops to prepare for their Answer In order to their Preparation for giving in their Answer It was this day Ordered by the House of Lords That the Bishop of Rochester with one other of the Bishops may have free Access twice unto the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to speak with him concerning their Answer to the Impeachment brought up against them from the House of Commons for making a Book of Canons c. and they are to speak with the said Archbishop of Canterbury about no other Business It was also Ordered That the Lords the Bishops may Access unto and have Copies of all such Acts and Records as are in any of his Majesties Courts of Justice and Publick Offices which may make for their Defence or Answers to the Impeachments brought against them from the House of Commons Upon what Ground Information or Suspicion it does not appear but it was this day Ordered That Mr. Justice Heyward shall have Power by virtue of this Order Order to search under the Parliament Houses to search before the next Meeting of Parliament at Roseby's House the Tavern and such other Houses and Vaults or Cellars as are under the Vpper House of Parliament that there be no Powder Arms or any other Ammunition as may endanger the Safety of the Houses of Parliament and hereof Account is to be given to this House The Lord Viscount Say and Seal reported the Conferences Yesterday with the House of Commons touching disarming Popish Recusants THat because divers former directions have been frustrated The Result of the Conserence about Disarming Recusants Aug. 18 1641. the House of Commons holds it necessary to add some extraordinary courses at this time for the disarming of Papists there being more then extraordinary cause of danger for effecting whereof It is propounded and desired That Commissioners or Committees may be forthwith sent into the Counties of most danger as Yorkshire Lancashire Cheshire Staffordshire Hampshire and Sussex Authorized by Ordinances of Parliament to see the Papists disarmed in those places That these Committees may examin where the defect hath been that former Orders have not been observed especially in Case of such Papists as are in Power and that they may have direction to give the Oath of Allegiance to such as are justly suspected of Popery That the Commons have informed that divers Recusants have been kept from Conviction by Priviledg of Parliament allowed in the Upper House whereupon it was delivered as the clear Opinion of the House of Commons That no Priviledg of Parliament is to be allowed in this Case of Conviction or Disarming of Recusants for which these Reasons are given 1 That no Priviledg is allowable in Case of the Peace betwixt Private Men much more in Case of the Peace of the Kingdom 2 That Priviledg cannot be Pleaded against an Indictment for any thing done out of Parliament because all Indictments are contra pacem Domini Regis 3 Priviledg of Parliament is granted in regard of the Service of the Common-wealth and is not to be used to the danger of the Common-wealth 4 That all Priviledg of Parliament is in the power
of Winchester's House the Commons desired a Conference with the Lords about it which Conference was thus Reported by Mr. Pym. That the Earl of Warwick said That whereas this House had propounded the Disarming of Recusants their Lordships agreed with them in the matter but desired a free Conference concerning the manner but it was remembred by another Lord that the manner was likewise propounded which was to send down Commissioners into all Counties to see it done upon which the Lords desired of this House to consider what men to send down and they did fully agree to the manner This Day the Lord Keeper signified to the House A Message from the King about Soldiers for the Spanish Ambassador That His Majesty hath Commanded Mr. Nicholas the Clerk of the Council to let their Lordships know That His Majesty is so far now engaged to the Spanish Ambassador for four Regiments of Irish That His Majesty cannot go back now and that it was assured His Majesty before he went from London that both Houses were content only it wanted the formality of Voting whereupon His Majesty gave an absolute Order for the Levying and Transporting of those Men and reiterated His Majesties promises to the Ambassador wherefore His Majesty would have the Houses acquainted herewith that those Levies may not be stopt Which was afterwards at a Conference communicated to the House of Commons Monday August 23. Letters from the E. of Holland and Sir William Udal about disbanding A Letter from the Lord General the Earl of Holland was this Day Read informing the Lords That he had not been wanting in diligence to fulfil their Orders and Commands in Disbanding the Army and that it was an affliction to him that the best Service he was able to perform was not better accepted by their Lordships That he had done all that lay in his Power and that as soon as the Accounts for Billetting could be stated they should be discharged but till Money came to them they could not do it This was seconded by a Letter from Sir William Vdal informing That they can proceed no further in the Disbanding till there be a Supply of Money and that he hath not above 200 l. in his hands Tuesday August 24. Whereupon It was Ordered That the Gentlemen that serve for the City of London shall endeavour to Borrow 40000 l. of the City upon the Credit of the Two last Bills of 4 Subsidies and the Poll-Bill without which the Army cannot be Disbanded The Speaker of the House of Commons was likewise Ordered to write a Letter in the Name of the House to those Sheriffs who were thought deficient in gathering the Poll-Money to quicken them in the Collecting and sending of it to the Army The Copy of which Letter was thus SIR THE House of Commons did hope The Speakers Letter to the Sheriffs about the Poll Mony that in so great a time and so visible a Necessity of present Money no private person much less any Publique Officers would have been so slow in contributing their Assistance to the getting in of the Poll-Money but by the not coming in of this from the slow and slender coming of it from others together with more particular Informations this House is forced to believe that both Payers Assessors Collectors and Returners are in fault concerning it I am therefore Commanded to let you know from the House That as you tender your Own or the Publique Good you make all possible hast in returning such Money as you have ready and that you will make known to the Commissoners That if we be not by them prevented the House intends to make a review of the Assessments to the End that wherein the Assessors through partiality shall be found either to have left any uncharged whom the Act chargeth or to have charged any lower than they are charged by the Act those that shall be found faulty may incur both the ill Opinion and severe Punishment of Parliament as Contemners of the greatest Authority in a time of greatest Necessity and by that Contempt being Causes of the Armies less speedy Disbanding to the Danger as well as the unsupportable and unnecessary Expence of the Kingdom An Order was likewise drawn up and presented to the Lords at a Conference by Mr. Pym with the Reasons of it the Necessity of present Money for the several Counties therein mentioned to pay in their Poll-Money at York See the Order it self August 24. 1641. An Order of the Lords and Commons in Parliament The Order of both Houses for paying in the Poll-Mony at York to Expedite the Disbanding Aug. 24. 1641. concerning the more speedy Transportation of the Poll-Mony to York for Disbanding of His Majesties Army WHereas it is Enacted that the Sheriffs of the Counties and Cities hereafter named shall amongst others pay such Summs of money as they shall receive for Poll-money to the Treasurer in the Act named in the Chamberlains Office within the City of London Now forasmuch as their long delay and slow payment is very burthensom and dangerous to the Kingdom because the Kings Army in the North by this means remains un-disbanded to the insupportable Charge of the Common-wealth For the more speedy relief of the Kingdom the Lords and Commons in this Parliament assembled do hereby order and ordain that the several Sheriffs of Worcester Cambridge Huntington Leicester Northampton Rutland Warwick and of the Cities that are Counties within those Countries and every of them respectively shall forthwith on notice of this Order send such Monies now in their hands or shall come to his Hand or any of their Hands respectively or to the Hands of his Under-Sheriff or Deputy or to the Hands of any of their Under-Sheriffs or Deputies respectively under a sufficient Guard and Convoy to the City of York to pay the same to Sir William Vdall Knight Treasurer of His Majesties Army now there residing takeing his acquittance for the same which acquittance the said several Sheriffs respectively shall send to the Chamber of London and that the said Treasurer in the Act named shall accept of the same as if so much Money were paid in specie and shall deliver an Acquittance or Acquittances for the same which shall be as sufficient a discharge to the said several Sheriffs as if the Mony had been paid there And the said Treasurer of the Army is hereby required that he shall as speedily as he may after the receipt of any such Summs from any of the Sheriffs afore-mentioned send up to the said Treasurer of the Chamber of London present and distinct Certificates of the same It is further Ordered that the several Sheriffs of the Counties through which these Moneys do pass shall provide a sufficient Convoy to Guard the same through the several Counties and that the Sheriffs under whose charge the Money is shall have allowance for Transportation thereof in their several Accounts Lastly it is ordered that a strict account
which moved them to desire the Horse might be first Disbanded was of very special Importance and still inclineth them to continue the same expectation for those who are yet undisbanded but for the time past they rest satisfied in the answer and proceedings of your Excellency assuring themselves That though there was some difference in the way yet you fully agreed with them in the end which is to ease the Common-wealth and settle the publick Peace with as much expedition as may be for the more speedy effecting whereof there is already 23000 l. on the way and Order given for 27000 l. more to be sent with all speed and a Course taken by the House of Commons to quicken the payments of the Poll Money in the Nine Shires adjoyning to York and both Houses of Parliament have by an express Ordinance commanded the Sheriffs of eight other Counties to bring all their Money immediately to York whereby the House conceiveth and hopeth your Excellency will be supplied with Treasure sufficient to Disband the remainder of the Army at the time prescribed or sooner if it may be and that by your prudent and faithful effecting thereof the heavy burthen of Care and Pains which lies upon you in the discharge of this great Trust will be removed and shall end in the thanks and obligations of this House and of the whole Kingdom producing to your Excellency such an Increase of Honor and happiness as shall be suitable to your own Merit and the desires of Your Excellency's humble Servant Edward Littleton Custos Sigilli To stir up the City to lend more money the Commons fell upon the Debate of the Case of London-Derry and thereupon Mr. Whistler Reports from the Committee appointed to examin that matter the Case of London-Derry upon which it was 1 Resolved upon the Question Votes about London-Derry in Ireland That it is the Opinion of this House that the Citizens of London were sollicited and pressed to the under taking of the Plantation of London-Derry 2 Resolved c. That the Copy attested with Mr. Soams his Hand is a true Copy of the Sentence in the Star-Chamber given against the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London and the Society of the Governor and Assistants of London of the new Plantation of Vlster in the Kingdom of Ireland 3 Resolved c. That the Order made in the Court of Star-Chamber Dated 8. May 8 Car. is unlawful both for the Matter Persons and time therein prefixed 4 Resolved c. That the King was not deceived in the Grant which he made unto the Society of Governors and Assistants of London of the new Plantation of Vlster in the Kingdom of Ireland in particular not in creating a new Corporation called the Society of the Governor and Assistants of London of the new Plantation of Vlster in the Kingdom of Ireland 5 Resolved c. That in creating the new Corporation of the Society of the Governor c. The King did not by that Patent grant more Lands then was by him intended to be granted nor was therein deceived 6 Resolved c. That it doth not appear by sufficient Proof that the Citizens of London were tyed to perform the Printed Articles and consequently not bound to plant with English and Scots nor restrained from planting with Natives 6 Resolved c. That though by the 27 Article the City was to build 200 Houses in Derry and 100 Houses at Colerain by the first Day of November 1611 admitting the Houses were not Built nor the Castle of Culmore repaired by the time prefixed yet this is no Crime nor cause for giving Damages in regard the City had not their Patent until the 29th of March 1613. 8 Resolved c. That there is no proof that the Governor and Assistants of London of the new Plantations or any of the twelve Companies did make any Lease unto any Popish Recusant nor of any decay of Religion there by default of the Planters 9 Resolved c. That there is no proof of any default in the Planters for not making of a sufficient number of Free-holders nor any Article that doth tye them thereunto 10 Resolved c. That there is no proof that the City of London or their Governor of the new Plantation have felled any Trees in the Woods called Glancanking and Killitrough contrary to their Covenant 11 Resolved c. That the not conveying of Glebe-Lands to the several Incumbents of the several Parish Churches in regard they did not enjoy the Lands is no Crime punishable nor cause of Seizure of their Lands 12 Resolved c. That the breach of Covenant if any such were is no sufficient cause to forfeit Lands 13 Resolved c. That the breach of Covenant is no Crime but Tryable in the ordinary Courts of Justice 14 Resolved c. That the Court of Star-Chamber whil'st it stood as a Court had not any power to examin or determin breach of Covenant or Trust 15 Resolved c. That the Court of Star-Chamber while it stood a Court had no power to examin Free-hold Inheritance 16 Resolved c. That the Sentence upon these two Corporations aggregate no particular Person being Guilty is against Law 17 Resolved c. That in all the proof of this cause there doth not appear matter sufficient to convince the City of London of any Crime 18 Resolved c. That upon the whole matter this Sentence in the Star-Chamber was unlawful and unjust 19 Resolved c. That this composition and agreement made with the City upon these Terms in this time of extremity ought not to bind the City 20 Resolved c. That this House is of Opinion that when the King shall be pleased to repay those Monies which he hath received upon this composition and such Rents as he hath received by colour of this Sentence that then His Majesty shall be restored to the same State he was in and the Patent thereupon gotten shall be cancelled or surrendred 21 Resolved c. That the Citizens of London and all those against whom the Judgment is given in the Scire facias shall be discharged of that Judgment 22 Resolved c. That the Opinion of this House is That they think fit that both the Citizens of London and those of the new Plantation and all under Tennants and all those put out of possession by the Sequestration or Kings Commissioners shall be restored to the same State they were in before the Sentence in the Star-Chamber The Plague which had for some time visited the City of London The Plague in London City Petition for a Fast began now to spread and increase upon which there was a Petition from the Magistrates Ministers and People of the City of London for a Day to be set apart for Solemn Humiliation and Fasting to implore the Divine Majesty to avert the impending Judgment of the Pestilence from the City and Nation This day it was moved Friday August 27.
certainly by the informing Sectaries who were very diligent in springing Game for the Committee and Sub-Committees for Religion the Ministers Remonstrance and for Scandalous Ministers Mr. White 's Mr. Corbet's Sir Robert Harlow's and Sir Edward Deering's Committees And then these Godly Informers must be gratified for their Petitions Informations and such like good Service to the Common-Wealth by the Imprisonment Scorn and Contempt Charges and many times utter Ruine of the truly Loyal and Orthodox Clergy of the Church of England And whoever will take the pains to Rake in that Libel of Mr. White 's called The first Century of Scandalous Malignant Priests will find that the greatest Crimes which many of the Clergy were Accused for and turned they and their Families naked to the wide World were the disobeying this Order For Bowing at the Name of Jesus Examples 33 and 43. For setting up the Name of Jesus in the Church Ex. 72.83 Preaching against Sacriledge Ex. 22. Bowing the Body in God's House Ex. 7. But to return to the House of Commons after the Voting of this Declaration they fell upon the business of the Recess and preparing Instructions for the Committee which was to Sit during the time of the Adjournment And Mr. The standing Committee during the Recess of the Parliament Pym Sir Gilbert Gerrard Sir John Franklin Sir John Culpeper Mr. Wheeler Sir Henry Mildmay Mr. Bridgman Sir Thomas Bowyer Sir Thomas Barrington Sir Edward Hales Sir William Litton Sir Richard Cave Mr. Robert Goodwin Sir Samuel Luke Mr. Wingate Sir Robert Pye Alderman Soams Alderman Pennington Captain Venn Mr. Vassal Lord Falkland Capt. Rainsborough Mr. Bence Sir Peter Wroth Sir John Holland Mr. Winwood Mr. John Goodwin Sir Thomas Dacres Mr. Morley Mr. Henry Martin Mr. Arthur Goodwin Sir John Clotworthy Mr. White Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Spurstow Mr. Laurence Whitacre Serjeant Wild Mr. Strode Sir Henry Vane Mr. Glyn Sir Symon D'Ewes Sir William Drake Mr. Beddingfield Sir Gilbert Pickering Mr. Blakston Mr. Waller were appointed to be a Committee during the Recess This Committee to meet on Saturday next in the Exchequer-Chamber at Nine of the Clock in the Fore-noon Directions for the Committee during the Recess and they are to meet every Tuesday and Saturday in every Week and at such other times as they think fit during the Recess and they or any Six of them have power to meet with the Commissioners of the Lords appointed during their Recess at such times as they shall appoint They have Power to receive open and answer such Letters as come from the Committee in Scotland according to former Instructions and Orders of this House To take Care that the Orders of this House be punctually observed concerning Disbanding the Army Train of Artillery and Garrisons and for the Issuing and sending down of Money to those purposes To Recall the Committee in Scotland if they see Cause To go on in preparation of Proceedings against the Principal of such Delinquents as are already Voted or Complained against and to report Vpon any Informations of Riots or Tumults to have Power to send to all Sheriffs Justices of Peace and other Officers to stir them unto their Duties in repressing them and to report To Examine the Entries of the Clerks Books and that the Committee may not mistake any past Actions of the House a Clerk to be left there with the Books To take Care of the Preparations for his Majesties Revenue and to take into Consideration any Accounts to his Majesty To go on in prosecution of the Consideration of a West-Indian Company To take into Consideration the Fishing upon the Coasts of England Scotland and Ireland To take into Consideration the Resolutions of the Abuses in Exchange and Transporting of Money and the Regulating of the Par between this and other Nations To prepare the Irish Laws depending to be either at the Access transmitted to the Lords or recommended to the Irish Parliament To consider about Sal Petre and Gunpowder To send for any Persons Writings and Records To prepare a Discharge for the Earl of Warwick according to those Acquittances he hath given concerning the Northern Counties After which the Speaker desired he might have leave to go into the Country during the Recess which being granted the House was Adjourned till October 20. at Eight of the Clock in the Morning Happy had it been for England had they never met again to be the Authors of the most Dismal Tragedy that ever was Acted upon the Theatre of England but Providence whose Wisdom is unsearchable had Ordained them to be a Scourge to a People Wanton with Long Peace Ease Plenty and Even Religion it self The day to which the Parliament was Adjourned being now come Wednesday Octob. 20. both Houses met And the Lords being sate in their House and divers of them observing the Palace Yard full of Armed Men it was moved That it might be known upon what Grounds and Reasons the Trained Bands of Westminster were in the Old and New Palaces assembled The Lord Chamberlain being Captain General of the South Parts of this Kingdom during the King's absence in Scotland by Command of the House signified That his Lordship received a Desire from the Committee of the House of Commons which sate during the time of the late Recess that there might be a Guard of Souldiers about the Parliament to prevent the Insolence and Affronts of Souldiers at this time about the Town and to secure the Houses against other Designs which they have reason to suspect untill the Parliament meets and gives further Order therein Hereupon it was Ordered The Parliament takes a Guard of the Trained Bands of Westminster That the Lord Chamberlain shall by virtue of this Order continue a Guard of Souldiers to guard the Parliament Houses until the further Pleasure of the Parliament be known and that the Number of the said Soldiers shall be wholly left unto the discretion and management of the said Lord Chamberlain Captain General After this the Lord Keeper informed the House That he had received a Letter from the Lord Howard in Scotland dated the 14th of October which was read The Conspiracy in Scotland declaring That upon Monday Night then last there fell out a great Interruption in the Business there by reason of an Information given to the Marquiss of Hamilton the Earl of Argyle and the Earl of Lannerick That there was a Design to seize upon their Persons that Night whereupon they removed their Lodgings and stayed in the City all Night and relation being made hereof the next day to the Parliament the Earl of Crawford Colonel Steward and Colonel Cockram were restrained and after a further Examination his Lordship will give this House a further Information The first thing that was done in the House of Commons Mr. Pym's Report of what was done during the Recess Mr. Pym Reports what was done during the Recess THE first thing we had in Charge was
the performance hereof their Pleasure is That you should continue there to wait upon his Majesty till you receive further direction or that his Majesty be pleased to come away for England Instructions of the Lords and Commons in Parliament to the Committees of both Houses now Attending his Royal Majesty in Scotland I. YOU shall acquaint his Majesty Additional Instructions to the Committee in Scotland That by your Advertisement both Houses have taken Notice of the Examinations and Confessions taken in the Parliament of Scotland concerning a malicious design affirmed to be undertaken by the Earl of Craford and others against the Persons of the Marquiss of Hamilton the Earls of Argyle and Lannerick having taken the same into Consideration they have good Cause to doubt That such ill-affected persons as would disturb the Peace of that Kingdom are not without some malicious Correspondence here which if those wicked Purposes had taken Effect in Scotland would have been ready to attempt some such mischievous Practices as might produce Distempers and Confusions in this Kingdom to the Hazard of the Publique Peace for prevention whereof they have given Order for strong Guards in the Cities of London and Westminster * The Debate about the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom in order to their possessing themselves of the Militia was many Weeks before in the House only this was a fair occasion for the attempt and have resolved to take into their Care the Security of the rest of the Kingdom II. You shall further declare to his most Excellent Majesty That the States of his Parliament here do hold it a matter of great Importance to this Kingdom That the Religion Liberty and Peace of Scotland be preserved according to the Treaty and Articles agreed by his Majesty and confirmed by Act of Parliament of which they are bound to be careful not only by Publique Faith in that Treaty but by their Duty which they ow to his Majesty and this Kingdom because they hold it will be a great means of preserving Religion Liberty and Peace in England Ireland and his Majesty 's other Dominions and the Union of all his Loyal Subjects in maintaining the Common good of all will be a sure Foundation of Honor Greatness and Security to his Royal Person Crown and Dignity wherefore they have resolved to Employ their Humble and Faithful Advice to his Majesty the Power and Authority of Parliament and of this Kingdom for Suppressing of all such as by any Conspiracy Practice or other Attempts shall endeavour to disturb the Peace of Scotland and to infringe the Articles and the Treaty made betwixt the Two Kingdoms III. You shall likewise inform the King That whereas Orders have been given by his Majesty with the Consent of Parliament for the Disbanding the Garrisons of Carlisle and Berwick the first whereof is already wholly disbanded and all the House and Eight Companies of Foot sent out of Berwick and only Five Companies remaining which likewise should have been disbanded at or before the 15th of this Month if they had not been stayed by his Majesties Command signified to Sir Michael Ernley Lieutenant Governor according to direction in that behalf and whereas by Order of Parliament Ships have been sent for the Transporting his Majesties Munition Ordnance and other Provisions in that Town and the Holy Island all which have been of very great Charge to the Commonwealth the Commons now Assembled in Parliament have declared That they intend to be at no further Charge for the longer stay and Entertainment of those Men or for the Demurrage of the Ships if by occasion of this direction they be kept out longer than was agreed upon Ordered That Mr. Speaker do write a Letter to Mr. Secretary Vane that in case the Committee of both Houses be come out of Scotland before the Letter and Instructions now to be sent can be delivered there unto them that then he shall he desired by this House to present the same unto his Majesty Saturday Octob. 23. Order for the Bishops impeached to have Councel This day upon the humble Request of the Bishop of Rochester on his own behalf and the rest of the Bishops which are impeached by the House of Commons before their Lordships concerning the late Canons c. It is Ordered That Mr. Serjeant Jerman Mr. Herne Mr. Chute and Mr. Hales being publiquely named in this House by the said Bishop and approved of by the House shall be assigned to be of Counsel with the Bishops that are impeached With this Proviso nevertheless That if any of the said Counsel shall upon just Cause desire to be Excused here and the House approve of the said Excuse That then he or they shall not be compelled to be of the said Bishops Councel as aforesaid The Commons being met there was a Report made of certain Troopers who had made a disturbance about a Tavern-Reckoning and the Guard in the Pallace-Yard being called to quiet them they fell upon them and cut the Drum but being taken and committed to Custody and one of them saying in Bravado That there were a thousand of them about the Town who if they were there would help them and make the Pallace too hot for the Guards they were Ordered to be sent to the Lords Bar to receive their Censure for this Misdemeanor But it struck such a fear into some of the Members of the Commons House that they immediately Voted what they had so often denied the King though his Word and Honor were engaged to the Spanish Ambassador to let him have some of the disbanded Troops for it was Votes to let the disbanded Soldiers past beyond Sea Resolved c. That the House is of Opinion and holds fit that Orders should be sent to the Officers of the several Ports requiring them to permit all such Soldiers of the late disbanded Army as shall desire it to pass beyond the Seas provided that they take such Oaths and perform such other Duties as are usually required according to the Laws Resolved c. That this House is further of Opinion and holds it fit That such other Soldiers of the late disbanded Army as are Strangers and not Subjects or Natives of this Kingdom shall have liberty to pass out of this Kingdom and to receive Entertainment of any Forreign Prince Sir Gilbert Gerrard carries up the Bill for dissabling all Persons in Holy Orders to exercise any temporal Jurisdiction or Authority and acquainted the Lords That the House of Commons desired there might be all speed in the passing of it for it much concerns the good of the Common-Wealth The Lord General Thanks given to the L. General by the House of Lords the Earl of Holland being now returned and having at a Conference given an Account of the disbanding of the Army It was Ordered by the Lords That this House gives Thanks to the Earl of Holland late Lord General of his Majesties Army in the North for
his Lordships great Care and Diligence in disbanding the said Army so happily for the preservation of the Safety and Quiet of the Kingdom which accordingly was done immediately by the Lord Keeper in the Name of the House Upon the reading of the Bill against Pluralities and Non-Residence after the debate of the House Proviso for Kings Chaplains Noblemen c. in the Bill against Pluralities these Lords Committees following were appointed to take into Consideration the King's Chaplains the Priviledges of Noblemen and the Heads of Colledges in the two Universities and also to consider of a Proviso That every Parson or Vicar that lives from his Living shall provide an able Curate to supply the Living allowing him a Moiety thereof clear of all Charges and the Parson to Nominate the Curate with the Consent of the Patron Committed to the Lord Privy Seal Marquiss of Hartford Lord Admiral Lord Chamberlain E. Southampton c. Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Mr. Justice Heath Mr. Justice Mallet Assistants their Lord ships or any Seven of them to meetat Nine a Clock to Morrow Morning in the Painted Chamber Upon a Motion made by Mr. Pym Monday October 25. Order to provide Match Bullets for the Guard A Plot against Mr. Pym. it was Ordered That the Burgesses of Westminster and the Knights for Middlesex shall take Care for the providing of Bullets and Match for the Soldiers and a convenient Place for them to stand dry in Mr. Pym declares That he received a Letter from a Porter at the Door of the House and upon the opening of it a Plaister which came from a Wound full of Corrupt Matter dropt out of it and that the Letter contained many Menaces and much railing against him The Porter being examined said a Gentleman on Horse-back in a Gray Coat gave him twelve Pence for the speedy delivery of it What ever the Matter was it made a mighty Noise both in the House and out of the House in the City and Country for Mr. Pym was then one of the greatest Idols of the Faction All the Art imaginable was used to find out the Author of this dangerous Attempt to infect Mr. Pym with the Plague but to no purpose for many Persons believed it to be only a Plot of his own inventing against himself However one Mordant was taken upon Suspition and Examined but there being no Proof against him he was acquitted Captain Ven brought in the Complaints of the Godly and Well-Affected Party Tuesday October 26. against Mr. Hutton Curate of St. Giles Cripple-Gate For that on the Day of Thanksgiving he would not suffer any one to Preach but himself 2ly That instead of Preaching in the Afternoon he only read the Bishop of Lincoln's Prayer 3. That he refused Mr. Sedgewick to preach there as Lecturer Whereupon it was Ordered That Mr. Hutton Curate of Cripple-Gate be taken into Custody for Contemptuous Speeches against the Orders of the House The House then fell upon the debate of the Impeachment of the Thirteen Bishops and great bandying of the Matter there was for the difficulty was The Commons in great perplexity what name to give the Crime of the Bishops for making the new Canons by what Name this Heinous Offence of the Bishops should be called and many of the Lawyers being in Westminster Hall it was Ordered That the Serjeant should immediately give Notice to all the Lawyers and others in Westminster Hall to attend the House Mr. Hollis thought fit that the Bishops should be charged with High Treason but some of the most Eminent of the long Robe affirmed they might as well Call it Adultery as Treason and after all that could be said upon the Subject it was Resolved upon the Question That the Debate concerning the naming of the Crime of the Bishops in making the last New Canons shall be at this time laid aside Resolved c. That no certain time shall be now appointed for the further Debate of the Business concerning the Naming of the Crime in the Bishops for the making of the last new Canons Mr. Pym Reports the Conference with the Lords Conference about a Letter from the King The Lord Keeper declared that he had received a Letter from his Majesty wherein he signified That though extraordinary Occasions had kept him there longer then he expected so that he was forced not to be so good as his Promise and Intention yet he did assure them he would make all the hast back to them that he could The King's Letter was in these Words My Lord Keeper SInce that by the Necessity of My Affairs I am detained here so long The King's Letter to the L. Keeper that I cannot be at the Down-Sitting of the Parliament I have thought it fit by these Lines to direct you to tell both Houses in My Name that as this My long Absence is beyond My Expectation so it is against My Desire and that I will make all the Dillgence that the Weightiness of these Affairs will possibly permit to return and so I rest Edenborough the 20th of October 1641. Your Assured Friend Charles R. This day Sir Robert Berkley Knight Judge Berkley at the Bar of the Lords one of the Judges of the King's Bench was brought as a Delinquent to the Bar of the Lords House and the Lord Keeper told him that he was now to hear the Impeachment of High-Treason brought up against him from the House of Commons read which being done He gave their Lordships Humble Thanks for their Justice in calling him to make his Answer and acknowledged the Justice of the House of Commons that they have desired he might make his Answer to his Charge and be Proceeded in according to Justice And withal he made it his earnest Request to their Lordships that they would permit him a little time now to speak somewhat to the Particulars of his Charge and having obtained Leave of the House so to do he made a long Relation upon the particular Articles of his Impeachment and concluded with this his Plea and Answer That he is not Guilty in Manner nor Form as is laid against him in his Impeachment After which he humbly presented to the House a Petition desiring their Lordships to take their Particulars into Consideration Hereupon he withdrew and his Petition was read in haec verba To the Right Honorable the Lords Assembled in Parliament The Humble Petition of Sir Robert Berkley one of the Judges of his Majesties Court of Kings-Bench YOur Lordships having The Petition of Judge Berkley to the Lords October 26. 1641. as your Petitioner conceiveth appointed Tuesday the next Week being the second of November next for your Petitioners Tryal he most humbly prayeth That your Lordships will be pleased to grant unto him your Lordships present Warrant for such Witnesses as he shall have Cause to use at his Tryal That your Lordships will be pleased to admit and if need be to assign him
Quod erat probandum Object 1. It remains now to answer some Objections which are made against these Positions And First a Canon which they urge was made at Westminster by Richard Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that Persons in Holy-Orders should not agitare Judicium sanguinis To which it is Answered That this is part of one of the Canons of Toledo which never were any part of the Common or Statute Law of this Land even in times of Popery much less obliging now since the Reformation but however the very Canon it self is perverted for the Prohibition explains it self unde prohibemus ne aut per se Membrorum truncationes faciant aut inferendas Judicent they were prohibited personally to be the Executioners in dismembring or to pronounce the Judgment or Sentence in Cases of that Nature Two Offices of which neither the Lords the Bishops nor the most inferior of the Clergy will at this time contend for or be ambitious of Object 2. It is Objected Secondly that in the 11. of Richard the Second the Bishops in Cases of Blood entred a Solemn Protestation in Parliament which was Assented to by the King the Lords Temporal and Commons with these words Non licet nobis aut alicui eorum juxta Sacrorum Canonum instituta quomodolibet interesse That according to the Canon Law it was not lawful for them or any of them in any manner to be present To this it is answered That the Protestation saith as Peers they had Right as per Baroniam de Domino Rege tenentes in Parliamentis Regis quibuscunque personaliter interesse cum caeteris Paribus aliis de Regni negotiis consulere Tractare Ordinare Statuere definire ac caetera facere quae Parliamenti tempore ibidem imminent facienda holding of our Lord the King by Baronage to be personally present in all Parliaments of the King together with the rest of the Barons and others to Consult Treat Order Appoint and Determin of the Affairs of the Kingdom and to do all other things which in the time of Parliament were there to be done And it is plain the King Temporal Barons and Commons allowed they had this Right But it being a troublesome time the Kings Ministers being to be Impeached in that Parliament which was called Parliamentum sine Misericordia because the King gave up all his Court Ministers to be Sacrificed to the Animosities of the Potent Faction of the Lords binding himself not to pardon any without their consent the Bishops were willing to get out of harms way and therefore pleaded the Canons in excuse And possibly both sides might have their several ends in consenting to this protestation the King that so he might call in Question the Acts done without them as it happened 21. R. 2. when all done in this Parliament was Repealed and made void for this Reason the Lords might consent to the Bishops withdrawing that so their Affairs might proceed without opposition against the Kings Ministers But however as before these Canons being not the Law of the Land neither then nor now could be no real Barr to their Right Nor did they upon other occasions think them so as appears by several Instances beforementioned upon the second Position It is Objected in the third place Object 3 That there was a Parliament held 25 E. 1. at St. Edmonds-Bury Excluso clero And notwithstanding many good Laws were there made and that upon this Case in Kelway's Reports it is said to be the Opinion of the Judges that the King may hold his Parliament without the Bishops To this it is answered First That it is but one single Instance and an Extraordinary Case and that it is not only ill but dangerous arguing and concluding universally from one single president for if a Parliament may be good without one Estate why not without another and according to their Position who make the King Lords and Commons the three Estates any one of the three may be Excluded upon the same reason Secondly The Bishops in this Parliament were not Excluded by the King and the other two Estates but by their own voluntary action And the occasion of it was a Bull of Pope Boniface the 8. prohibiting the Clergy to give any more Subsidies which whatever Influence it had then can have none upon the Bishops since the Reformation And whereas it is said many good Laws were made in that Parliament never since questioned it is evident by the Rolls that all that was done in that Parliament was the granting of a 12th by the Laity to the King As for Kelway's reason in his Reports that they might be excluded because they have no places in Parliament by reason of their Spiritualty but only by reason of their Temporal Baronies it will hold as well against the other Barons And that this is but one President of a Parliament without Bishops agaâ—nst a Multiutde of others wherein they were present Et consuetudo Parlamenti est Lex Parlamenti and that Law is the Law of the Land It is Objected Object 4 That if they were a distinct Estate they would have a distinct-Negative I think the best answer to this is the former that Consuetudo Parlamenti est lex Parlamenti and though former Parliaments have ever owned them a distinct Estate yet as the Author observes they sit there now not in their Spiritual Capacity as formerly in the Saxon times before Baronies but in their Temporal Capacities as Barons by Tenures and they have ever Voted in Common with the other Lords according to Custom of Parliament which is the Law of Parliament In the last place it is Objected Object 5 if they were Peers of the Realm they would according to Magna Charta be tried by their Peers but they are in Capital Cases tried by Juries of the Commons To this it is answered First That they have challenged and had this Priviledg in Parliament So John Stratford Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Antiq. Brit. p. 223. Rot. Par. 15. E. 3. n. 7. tanquam major par Regni post Regem vocem primam in Parliamento habere debens put himself upon Trial by his Peers and after great debate it was at length resolved that the Peers should be tried only by Peers in Parliament and he had appointed to examin the Articles against him 4 Bishops viz. London Hereford Bath and Exceter 4 Earls Arundel Salisbury Huntington and Suffolk 4 Barons Percy Wake Basset and Nevil After which he was admitted to answer for himself in Parliament devant les Piers before his Peers 21. R. 2. Tho. 21. R. 2. Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was Impeached of High-Treason before the King and Lords in Parliament The Kings answer was that forasmuch as this Impeachment did concern so High a Person Pier de Son Roialm a Peer of the Realm he would be advised But soon after he was condemned for Treason by the House the Proxy of the Bishops Sir Thomas Percy giving his
to be restored to his Possession and to hold the same quietly untill he shall be Evicted by Course of Law And we think fit that Mr. Blackston should be left to his Remedy and Course at Law to try his Title to the same Church and for such Wrongs as he supposeth that Mr. Cook hath done unto him And that Mr. Cook be left also to his Remedy and Course in Law for such Wrongs and Damages as he doth Alledg that Mr. Blackston hath done unto him All which we â—â—mbly submit to your Lordships Wisdom 25 October 1641. John Bramston John Bankes Upon this the House Ordered The Order of the Lords upon it That the Possession of the Rectory of West Thorney shall be setled upon the said John Cook according to the aforesaid Certificate and that the Sheriff and Justices of the Peace shall give him Possession and continue him quietly in the same until he shall be evicted by Course of Law and that the rest of the Certificate is hereby fully confirmed and Mr. Blackston left to his Remedy and Course of the Law to try his Title to the same Church A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Mr. The Tryal of Judge Berkley put off Perpoint to let their Lordships know That by reason many of their Witnesses are in Places remote so as they cannot be ready for the Tryal of Mr. Justice Berkley on the second of November next therefore the Desires of the House of Commons are that their Lordships would be pleased to take the same into Consideration and put the Tryal off for some Longertime whereupon it was Ordered That the Day of Tryal of Mr. Justice Berkley is put off from the Day appointed until this House gives further Order herein and Mr. Justice Berkley is to have speedy Notice hereof In the Commons House it was this day Ordered That the Orders concerning the Soldiers to depart the Town shall be Printed and Published as also the Orders made by the Lord General the Lords also Assenting A Committee was also appointed An Order of Commons to make such as they voted Delinquents Estates forfeifted Debate in the House of Commons concerning the five new Bishops to present the Names of those Persons that are Voted Delinquents by this House to the end the House may present such of their Names as they shall think fit to the Lords whereby their Estates may be lyable for their Offences Then the House fell into Debate concerning the Conge d' Eslires for the making of the five New Bishops and upon the Question the House was divided with the Yeas were 71 with the Noes 53. Whereupon a Committee was appointed to prepare Heads for a Conference with the Lords to desire them to joyn with this House in a Petition to his Majesty to stay the making of the five Bishops until further Consideration be had by both Houses The Lord Keeper reported the Conference with the Commons touching the Safety of the Kingdom and the Security of the Princes Person to this Effect Saturday October 30. Report of the Conference about the Safety of the Kingdom c. That the House of Commons are full of Tenderness of the King's Honor Duty to the King's Person and his Posterity It was said that it was not News now a-Days to hear of dangerous Designs they having newly discovered some more therefore the House of Commons have Reason to look into every Corner whence Danger may come And upon Information the House of Commons understands that of late the Prince hath been much from his own House at Oatlands out of the Custody of his Governor they do not doubt of the Motherly Affection and Care of the Queen towards him but there are dangerous Persons at Oatands Priests and Jesuits as hath of late appeared by some Examinations taken and some of them are sent for by the House of Commons Vpon these Reasons the House of Commons desires That a Message be sent to the Lord Marquiss of Hertford from both Houses of Parliament That he should forthwith take the Prince into his Custody and Charge and attend upon him in Person and desire that the Prince may make his Ordinary Abode and Residence at his own House at Richmond and that his Lordship will place such Persons about him as he will be answerable for to both Houses Whereupon it was Resolved To send the Lord Chamberlain to the Lord Marquiss of Hertford and the Earl of Holland to acquaint the Queen herewith and to present Her Majesty the Reasons of it In the House of Commons Mr. King reports the Case of the Soap Business Votes about the Soap Business in the H. of Commons Whereupon it was Resolved upon the Question That all those who made the Decree in the Star-Chamber are Delinquents Resolved c. That the Proclamation dated 26. Januarii 1633. made in pursuance of the Decree of Star-Chamber of the 23 of August 1633. for regulating the Trade of Soapers and two other Proclamations the one dated 13 July 1634. and the other dated the 25 January 1634 concerning Soapers are illegal and tend to the Subversion of the Laws of this Realm and are against the Liberty of the Subject Resolved c. That the Orders of the Council-Board of 29th of September 1634. of the 24 of November 1634. of the 29th of July 1635. concerning the Soapers and of the 18 of December 1636. for a Commission to Sir John Hales Knight and John How Esquire and the Dormant Warrant of the One and Thirtieth of December 1636. to such of the Soapers of Westminster were Illegal and against the Liberty of the Subject Resolved c. That all who Signed the Warrants were Delinquents Resolved c. That the restraining of the Subjects Persons the Examination of them upon Oath against themselves the imposing of Fines upon them and the Sharing of those Fines by Colour of the Order of the Council-Table dated the 10 of December 1636. and a pretended Commission directed unto Sir John Hales Knight and John How Esquire are Illegal month November 1641. and a Grievance to the Subject and the same were put in Execution by the said Sir John Hales John How and Corporation of Soapers of Westminster and their Officers and they for the doing thereof are Delinquents and ought to make amends to the Parties damnified thereby Resolved c. That the Matter agreed upon by the Indentures of Covenants dated the 12th of April 1636. made between the King and Sir Henry Compton and the rest of the Soapers of Westminster are Illegal and a great Grievance to the Subject and of dangerous Consequence in the Execution Resolved c. That these several Parties viz. That were Covenanters with the King by the Indenture of Covenant dated the 12th of April 1636. are Delinquents and ought to make Amends to the Common-Wealth and to all such as after these Covenants entred into were restrained the Vse of their Trades of making Soap or sustaining
were disposed to free themselves furtherly from the like inconvenience and get good Conditions for themselves for regaining their Ancestors or at least a good part thereof Estates they could never desire a more convenient time than that time the distempers of Scotland being then on foot and did ask me what I thought of it I made him answer that I could not tell what to think of it such Matters being altogether out of my Element Then he would needs have an Oath of me of Secrecy which I gave him and thereupon he told me that he spoke to the best Gentry of Quality in Lemster and a great part of Connaght touching that matter and he found all of them willing thereunto if so be they could draw to them the Gentry of Vlster for which cause said he I came to speak to you then he began to lay down to me the case that I was in there overwhelmed in Debt the smalness of my Estate and the greatness of the Estate my Ancestors had and how I should be sure to get it again or at least a good part thereof and moreover how the welfare and maintaining of the Catholick Religion which he said undoubtedly the Parliament now in England will suppress doth depend on it For said he it is to be feared and so much I hear from every understanding man the Parliament intends the utter Subversion of our Religion by which perswasions he obtained my consent And so he demanded whether any more of Vlster Gentry were in Town I told him that Phillip Reyly Mr. Torlagh O Neal Brother to Sir Phelim O Neal and Mr. Cosloe Mac Mahone were in Town so for that time we parted The next day he invited Mr. Reyly and I to dine with him and after Dinner he sent for those other Gentlemen Mr. Neale and Mr. Mac Mahone and when they were come he began the discourse formerly used to me to them and with the same perswasion formerly used to me he obtained their consent And then he began to discourse of the manner how it ought to be done of the fesibility and easiness of the Attempt considering Matters as they then stood in England the Troubles of Scotland the great Numbers of able Men in the Kingdom meaning Ireland what Succours they were more then to hope for from abroad and the Army then raised all Irish-men and well armed meaning the Army raised by my Lord Strafford against Scotland First that eveâ— one should endeavour to draw his own Friends into that Act and at least those that did live in one County with them and when they had so done they send to the Irish in the Low-Countreys and Spain to let them know of the Day and Resolution so that they be over with them by that day or soon after with supply of Arms and Ammunition as they could that there should be a set day appointed and every one in his own Quarters should rise out that day and seize on all Arms he could get in his County and this day to be near Winter so that England could not be able to send Forces into Ireland before May and by that time there was no doubt to be made but that they themselves should be supplied by the Irish beyond Seas who he said could not miss of help from either Spain or the Pope but that his resolutions were not in all things allowed For first it was resolved nothing should be done until first they had sent to the Irish over-Seas to know their advice and what hope of success they could give for in them as they said all their hope of Relief was and they would have both their Advice and Resolution before any further proceedings more than to speak to and try Gentlemen of the Kingdom every one as they could conveniently to see in case they would at any time grow to a resolution what to be and Strength they must trust to Then Mr. Moore told them That it was to no purpose to spend much time in speaking to the Gentry For there was no doubt to be made of the Irish that they would be ready at any time And that all the doubt was in the Gentry of the Pale but he said That for his own part he was really assured when they had risen out the Pale Gentry would not stay long after at least that they would not oppose them in any thing but be Neuters and if in Case they did That they had Men enough in the Kingdom without them Moreover he said he had spoke to a great Man who then should be nameless that would not fail at the appointed day of rising out to appear and to be seen in the Act. But that until then he was sworn not to reveal him and that was all that was done at that Meeting only that Mr. Moore should the next Lent following make a Journey down into the North to know what was done there and that he also might inform them what he had done and so on parting Mr. Philip Reyly and I did importune Mr. Moore for the knowledge of that great Man that he spake of and on long Entreaty after binding us to new Secrecy not to discover him till the Day should be appointed he told that it was the Lord of Mayo who was very powerful in Command of Men in those Parts of Connaght wherein he lived and that there was no doubt to be made of him no more than was of himself and so we parted The next Lent following Mr. Moore according to his promise came into Vlster by reason it was the time of Assizes in several Counties there he met only with Mr. Reyly and nothing was then done but all Matters put off till May following where we or most of us should meet at Dublin it being both Parliament and Term-time In the mean time there Landed one Neale O Neale sent by the Earl of Tyrone out of Spain to speak with the Gentry of his Name and Kindred to let them know that he had treated with Cardinal Richelieu for obtaining Succor to come for Ireland and that he prevailed with the Cardinal so that he was to have Arms Ammunition and Mony from him on Demand to come for Ireland and that he only expected a convenient Time to come away and to desire them to be in a readiness and to procure all others whom they could to be so likewise which Message did set on the Proceedings very much so that Mr. Moore Mr. Reyly my Brother and I meeting the next May at Dublin and the same Messenger there too It was Resolved That he should return to the Earl into Spain with their Resolution which was That they would rise out twelve or fourteen Days before or after Allhallontide as they should see Cause and that he should not fail to be with them by that time There was a Report at that time and before that the Earl of Tyrone was killed which was not believed by reason of many such Reports formerly which we
found to be false and so the Messenger departed with Directions that if the Earls death were true he should repair into the Low-Countries to Colonel Owen O Neale and acquaint him with his Commission from the Earl whereof it was thought he was not Ignorant and to return an Answer sent by him and to see what he would Advise or would do himself therein But presently after his Departure the certainty of the Earls Death was known and on further Resolution it was Agreed That an Express Messenger should be sent to the Colonel to make all the Resolutions known to him and to return speedily with his Answer And so one Toole O Comely a Priest as I think Parish Priest to Mr. Moore was sent away to Colonel O Neale In the interim there came several Letters and News out of England to Dublin of Proclamations against the Catholicks in England and also that the Army raised in Ireland should be Disbanded and Conveyed into Scotland And presently after several Colonels and Captains Landed with Directions to carry away those Men amongst whom Colonel Plunkett Colonel Burne and Captain Bryan O Neale came but did not all come together for Plunkett Landed before my coming out of Town and the other two after wherein a great sear of Suppressing of Religion was conceived and especially by the Gentry of the Pale and it was very common amongst them that it would be very inconvenient to suffer so many Men to be Conveyed out of the Kingdom it being as was said very confidently reported that the Scottish Army did threaten never to lay down Arms until an Uniformity of Religion were in the three Kingdoms and the Catholick Religion suppressed And thereupon both Houses of Parliament began to oppose their going and the Houses were divided in their Opinions some would have them go others not but what the definitive conclusion of the Houses was touching the Point I cannot tell for by leave from the House of Lords I departed into the Country before the Prorogation But before my Departure I was informed by John Barnewall a Fryer that those Gentlemen of the Pale and some other Members of the House of Commons had several Meetings and Consultations how they might make Stay of the Souldiers in the Kingdom and likewise to Arm them in Defence of the King being much injured both of England and Scotland then as they were informed and to prevent any Attempt against Religion and presently after I departed into the Country and Mr Reyly being a Member of the House of Commons stayed the Prorogation and on his coming into the Country sent to me to meet him and I came to his House where he told me that he heard for certain that the former Narration of Barnewall to me for I did acquaint him with it was true and that he heard it from several there also was Emar Mac Mahone made firmly privy to all our Proceedings at Mr. Reylys lately come out of the Pale where he met with the aforenamed John Barnewall who told him as much and he formerly told me and moreover that those Colonels that lately came over did proffer their Service and Industry in that Act and so would raise their Men under Color to Convey them into Spain and then seize on the Castle of Dublin and with their Arms there to Arm their Soldiers and have them ready for any Occasion that should be Commanded them but that they had not concluded any thing because they were not Assured how the Gentlemen of the remote Parts of the Kingdom and especially of Vlster would stand Affected to that Act and that Assurance of that Doubt was all their Impediment Then we three began to think how we might assure them Help and of the Assistance of Vlster Gentlemen It was thought that One should be sent to them to acquaint them therewith and they made Choice of me to come by reason as they said that my Wife was allyed to them and their Country-Woman and would believe me trust me sooner than other of their Parts they or most of them being of the Pale And so without as much as to return Home to furnish my self for such a Journey Volens Nolens they prevailed or rather forced me to come to Dublin to confer with those Colonels and that was the last August was Twelve-Month Coming to Town I met Sir James Dillon accidentally before I came to my Lodging who was one of those Colonels and after Salutations he demanded of me where my Lodging was which when I told him and parted the next Day being abroad about some other Occasions in Town I met him as he said coming to wait on me in my Chamber but being a good Way from it he desired me to go into his own Chamber being near at hand And then began to discourse of the present Sufferings and Afflictions of that Kingdom and particularly of Religion and how they were to expect no Redress the Parliament in England intending and the Scots resolving never to lay down Arms until the Catholick Religion were suppressed Then he likewise began to lay down what Danger it would be to suffer so many Able Men as was to go with them to depart the Kingdom in such a time Neither said he do their other Gentlemen that are Colonels and my self affect our own private Profit soas to prefer it before the general Good of the Kingdom And knowing you are well Affected thereunto and I hope said he ready to put your helping-hand to it upon Occasion I will let you know the Resolution of those other Gentlemen and Mine which is if weare ready to raise our Men and after to Seize on the Castle where there is great store of Arms and Arm our Selves This was the first Motion that ever I heard of taking the Castle for it never came into our Thoughts formerly nor am I perswaded ever would if it had not proceeded from those Colonels who were the first Motioners and Contrivers thereof for ought known to me and then to be ready to prevent and resist any Danger that the Gentlemen of the Kingdom like thereof and help us For we of our selves neither are able nor will do any thing therein without their Assistance I began according to the Directions that were sent with me to approve of their Resolution and also to let him know how sure he might be of the Assistance of those of Vlster Then he told us that for my more Satisfaction I should Confer with the rest of the Colonels themselves as many as are Privy to the Action and accordingly a Place of Meeting was appointed that After-Noon and on the Time and Place appointed there met Sir James himself Colonel Bourne and Colonel Plunket And that former Discourse being renewed they began to lay down the Obstacles to that Enterprise and how they should be Redressed First If there should War ensue how there should be Money had to Pay the Soldiers Secondly How and where they should procure Succors
the 5th day of October having regard therein to the day of the Week whereon that day did fall which was the Saturday being the Market day on which day there would be less Notice taken of people up and down the Streets Then began a question who should be deputed for the Surprisal of the Castle and then Mr. Moore said he would be one of them himself and that Colonel Bourne should be another and what other Gentlemen of Lemster they could procure to joyn with them and seeing the Castle had two Gates the one the great the other the little Gate going down to my Lord Lieutenant's Stables hard by which Stables without the Castle was the Store-House for Arms they of Lemster would undertake one Gate and that should be the little Gate and the great Gate should be undertaken by those of Vlster and said he of necessity one of you both meaning Sir Phelim and me must be there for the meer countenance of the matter it being the glory of all our proceedings and all that his Speech was well liked of all present But Sir Phelim would be exempted from that employment and so would I but then all of them set on me desiring me to be one alledging for Reason that their Proceedings and Resolutions were very honourable and glorious it being for Religion and for to procure more liberty for their Country as did say they of late Scotland and that in taking the Castle consisted all the glory and honour of the said Act all which should be attributed to them which should be imployed therein and so by consequence all or most part to be there being as they said the chief in that Enterprize and more Sir Phelim said that he would endeavour to take or procure others to take Londonderry the same day and if he should be away that place would not be taken with these and many other perswasions they obtained my consent and then the Captain offered himself they began to think what number should be imployed in that Act and they concluded on Two Hundred Men one Hundred from each Province for those Gates which they seize on of which number Sir Phelim O Neale should send forty with an able sufficient Gentleman to conduct them And likewise Captain Neale twenty Mr. Mac Mohone Mr. Reyly ten more and I should bring twenty two then began a doubt how they should raise those Men and convey them to Dublin without suspicion and it was answered that under pretence of carrying them to those Colonels that were conveying Soldiers into the Kingdom it might safely be done and to that purpose Sir Phelim O Neale Mr. Moore and the Captain had several blank Patents with Deputations to make Captains to those Colonels which they sent to those that should send men to Dublin for the more colour they bethought of what was to be done in the Country that day and it was resolved that every one privy to that matter in every part of the Kingdom should rise up that day and seize on all the Forts and Arms in the several Counties to make all the Gentry Prisoners the more to assure themselves against any averse fortune and not to kill any but where of necessity they must be forced thereunto by opposition and that those that were appointed for taking of the Castle should observe and in particular the Gentry All their Army in Vlster to take that day Londonderry which Sir Phelim did undertake and Knockfergus which they thought Sir Henry Mac O Neale would do and to that end Sir Phelim's Brother Torilagh O Neale should be sent to them and the Newry which should be undertaken by Sir Conne Magennis and his Brothers for whom Sir Phelim in regard they were his Brothers-in-law his deceased Lady being their Sister did undertake Moreover it was agreed that Sir Phelim Mr. Reyly Mr. Coll mac Mahone and my Brother should with all the speed they could after that day raise all the Forces they could and follow us to Dublin but to Arm the Men and Succour and Attend and Garrison the Town and Castle And likewise Mr. Moor should appoint Lemster Gentlemen to send like supply of Men then there was fear of the Scots conceived that they should presently oppose themselves and that would make the matter more difficult and to avoid which danger it was resolved on not to meddle with them or any thing belonging to them and to demean themselves towards them as if they were of themselves which they thought would pacifie them from any opposition and if the Scots would not accept of that offer of amity but would oppose them they were in good hope to cause a stir in Scotland that might divert them from them and I believe the ground for that hope was That two years before in or about the beginning of the Scots Troubles my Lord of Tyrone sent one Torilagh O Neal a Priest out of Spain and that this I take it was the time that he was in Treaty with Cardinal Richelieu to my Lord of Argile to Treat with him for help from my Lord for him to come into Ireland as was said for Marriage between the said Earl and my Lord of Argile's Daughter or Sister I know not which and this Messenger was in Ireland with whom Mr. Torilagh O Neale Sir Phelim's Brother had conference from whom this Relation was had that said Messenger went into Scotland as I did hear from the said Mr. Neale or from Ever mac Mahone aforenamed I know not from which of them but what he did there I could never hear by reason that my Lord of Tyrone was presently after killed they were the more confirmed therein hearing that my Lord of Argile did say near to the same time as I guess and when the Army was raised in Ireland as I think to a great Lady in Scotland I know not her name but did hear that she was much imbarqued in the Troubles of that Kingdom there she questioning how they could subsist against the two Kingdoms of England and Ireland that if the King did endeavour to stir Ireland against them he would kindle such a Fire in Ireland as would hardly or never be quenched And moreover they knew my Lord to be Powerful with the Highlanders Redshanks in Scotland whom they thought would be prone and ready to such Actions they for the most part descended out of Ireland holding the Irish Language and Manners still and so we parted The next day being Wednesday Leghrosse every man went about his own task and so when I came home I acquainted my Brother with all that was done and what they had appointed him to do and did like according as they had appointed me send to Mr. Reyly to let him know as much and the 18th of the same Month I began my Journy to Dublin and when I came to Dublin being the day before the appointed day for putting that Resolution in Execution there I met with Captain Conne O Neal sent out
Time The Parliament indeed had one sent over from the Lords Justices in Ireland and I find in the Journal of the Lords that it was read in their House but in regard though it had some Scandalous Reflections upon the King as being willing to favour their Religion which in due time we shall prove utterly false and that in this common Calumny they agreed with the English Rebels yet in regard it seemed and that not without great probability to charge the Rebellion upon the Parliament and their present Proceedings and future Intentions the thing was at that time smothered for it is neither Entred in the Journal as usually Papers of that Importance were wont to be nor can I find any Order for the Printing or Publishing of it or for any Answer to take off the Charge of the Rebels against the Parliament Take it however as I find it in Print The Remonstrance of the Rebels in Ireland WHEREAS we the Roman Catholicks of this Kingdom of Ireland The Remonstrance of the Irish Rebels Oct. 23. 1641. have been continual Loving and Faithful Subjects to his Sacred Majesty and notwithstanding the General and Hard Oppressions suffered by Subordinate Governors to the Ruine of our Lives Honors and Estates Yet having some Liberty of Religion from his Majesty out of the Effluence of his Princely Love unto Vs We weighing no Corporal Loss in respect of that great Immunity of the Soul are inviolably resolved to infix our Selves in an immutable and pure Allegiance for ever to his said Royal Majesty and his Successors Now so it is That the Parliament of England Maligning and Envying any Graces received from his Majesty by our Nation and knowing none so desired by us as that of Religion And likewise perceiving his Majesty to be inclining to give us the Liberty of the same drew his Majesties Prerogative out of his Hands thereby largely pretending the General Good of his Majesties Kingdoms But We the said Catholicks and Loyal Subjects to his Majesty do probably find as well by some Acts to pass by them the said Parliament touching our Religion in which the Catholicks of England and Scotland did suffer as also by Threat to send over the Scottish Army with the Sword and Bible in Hand against us that this whole and studied Plot was and is not only to extinguish Religion by which we altogether live Happy but likewise to supplant us and raze the Name of Catholick Irish out of the whole Kingdom And seeing this Surprize so dangerous tending absolutely to the overthrow of the Liberty of our Consciences and Country and also our Gracious King's Power forced from him in which and in whose prudent Care over us our sole Quiet and Comfort consisted and without the which the Fear of our present Ruines did prescribe the Opinion and premonish us to save our Selves We therefore as well to regain his Excellent Majesties said Prerogative being only due to him and his Successors and being the Essence and Life of Monarchy hoping thereby to Confirme a Strong and Invincible Vnity between his Royal and ever happy Love unto us and our faithful Duty and Loyalty to his incomparable Majesty have taken Arms and possessed our Selves of the best and strongest Forts of this Kingdom to enable us to serve his Majesty and defend us from the Tyrannous Resolutions of our Enemies Thus our Consciences as we wish the Peace of the same to our selves and our Posterity is the Pretence and true Cause of our present Rising in Arms by which we are resolved to perfect the Advancement of the Truth and the Safety of our King and Country Thus much we thought in General fitting to publish unto the World to set forth our Innocent and just Cause the particular whereof shall be speedily declared Dated 23 October 1641. We do declare unto God and the World That what we do or have done is for the Maintenance of the Kings and our Religion and for fear these our Doings should be misconstrued We thought good to make known unto the World by this our Declaration and Remonstrance 1 The several private Meetings of Factious and Ill-disposed People unto our Government and Common-Wealth at several Places Plotting and Devising our utter Ruine and the Extirpation of our Religion 2 Several Men imployed by them with Instruments ready drawn for to get Hands thereunto to be preferred to the Parliament of England whereby they would have the Papists as they call them and the Protestant Bishops of the Kingdom whom they joyn with the Papists and hate as they hate the Papists the Bishops to be deposed and the Papists banished or otherwise rooted out of this Kingdom 3 The Government of this Kingdom successively put into the hands of so many Needy and Poor Ministers who for raising of themselves have by scruing Inventions Poll'd the Gentry and Commons of this Kingdom that no Man was secured of any thing he had 4 We saw his Majesty to whom we thought to Address our selves was so oppressed by the Arrogancy of such Faithless and Disloyal Subjects and as it were cut off from all Prerogative that we could not expect any Redress as long as they ruled in his Kingdom as now they do All which we taking into our serious Consideration did fear we should be circumvented on the suddain and for our Security did think fit to arm our Selves for our own Defence and Safety of his Majesty from such wicked Perturbers of all Common-Wealths where they get any Superiority that they will not admit either of the Kings or Bishops as well Witness Germany and for the Places we have taken we will yield them up when his Majesty pleaseth to Command us and takes a Course for Securing of us and the Protestants of this Kingdom who are only his true and obedient Subjects against such Factious and Seditious Puritanes the Disturbers of all States as had brought the like Misery on Queen Elizabeth and King James had they not been by them and their wise Councels prevented which we thought fit to intimate unto the good Subjects that they may the more willingly assist us until we be at better leisure to make our great Grievances known unto his Majesty and he have more power to relieve us And because they nor any others shall have any reason to accuse me with Partiality I here present the Reader with a Narrative which I find Printed in P. W.'s Answer to the Lord Orrery as follows THey therefore meaning the English Nation and the whole World A Narrative of some things done in the beginning of the Rebellion which Irish Papists plead in mitigation of their taking Arms. may be pleased to know That We speaking of the Irish are so far from justifying any horrid Actions perpetrated at that time when but a few of any Quality raised a Rebellion in the North as we have and still make it our request That those Crimes and all Massacres and Murthers then or after committed whoever shall be
Brown Thomas Bourk Esquires Vlster Sir William Cole Sir James Montgomery The Remonstrance was as followeth addressed first to the L. Deputy Wendesford The humble and just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled Shewing THat in all Ages since the happy subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England The Irish Remonstrance it was and is a principal study and Princely Care of his Majesty and his most noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood That their Loyal and Dutiful People of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from Brittish Ancestors should be governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England That the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared that by the means thereof and the most Prudent and Benign Government of his Majesty and his Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a flourishing Estate whereby the said People were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural Desires to comply with his Majesties Princely and Royal Occasions by their free gift of 150 Thousand pounds sterling And likewise by another free gift of 120 Thousand pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the gift of 40 Thousand pounds and their free and cheerful gift of Six intire Subsidies in the Tenth Year of his Majesties Reign which to comply with his Majesties then Occasions signified to the then House of Commons they did allow should amount in the Collections unto a Hundred and fifty Thousand pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have mounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the Four intire Subsidies granted in this present Parliament So it is may it please your Lordship by the occasion of infuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to his Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that Extream and Universal Poverty that the same is less able to pay Two Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before-recited great Payments and his Majesties most Faithful People of the Land do conceive great Fears That the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Presidents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great hopes and strong belief they are perswaded is contrary to his Royal and Princely Intention towards his said People of which Grievances are as followeth 1. First The general apparent decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities Exported and Imported by reason whereof and of extream Usage and Censures Merchants are beggered both and dis-inabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the Honorable Persons who gain thereby often Judges and Parties And that in the conclusion his Majesties Profit thereby is not considerably advanced 2. The Arbitrary decision of all Civil Causes and Controversies by paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon references from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain time cause season or thing whatsoever And the consequences of such exceeding by immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clarks Pursivants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of proceedings his Majesty looseth a considerable part of his Revenue upon original Writs and otherwise and the Subject looseth the benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversal Vouchees and other Legal and just advantages and the ordinary course and Courts of Justice declined 3. The proceedings in Civil Causes at Council Board contrary to the Law and Great Charter not limited to any certain time or season 4. That the Subject is in all the material parts thereof denyed the benefit of the Princely graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 21 Jac. Granted by his Majesty in the Fourth year of his Reign upon great advice of Council of England and Ireland and for great consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all persons do take notice That contrary to his Majesties Pious Intentions his Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the benefit of his Majesties Princely Promise thereby made 5. The Extrajudicial avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of his Majesties Subjects under the Great Seal the Publique Faith of the Kingdom by private Opinions delivered at the Council-Board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to the Law and without president or example of any former Age. 6. The Proclamation for the sole Emption and uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low rates and uttered at high and excessive rates by means whereof Thousands of Families within this Kingdome and of his Majesties Subjects in several Islands and other parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coyn of this Kingdom is ingrossed into particular hands Insomuch as the Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and engrossed thereby doth surmount his Majesty's Revenue certain or casual within this Kingdom and yet his Majesty receiveth but very little Profit by the same 7. The universal and unlawful increasing of Monopolies to the advantage of a few to the disprofit of his Majesty and Impoverishment of his People 8. The extream and cruel usage of certain late Commissioners and other Stewards the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Vlster to the great weakening of the Kingdom in this time of danger the said Plantation being the principal strength of those Parts 9. The late erection of the Court of High-Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in those necessitous times the proceedings of the said Court in many Causes without Legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the encroaching of the same upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom 10. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship 11. The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesties service and profit are much more impaired then advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much increased His Majesties Revenue by the buying of
Illustrious Memory of the Royal Martyr from the Barbarous Calumny which the wickedest of Mankind indeavoured to fix upon him as being conscious of and favouring this Execrable Rebellion in Ireland Whereas this makes it evident beyond the possibility of contradiction that His Majesty took all the care imaginable to suppress the very first beginnings and motions towards an Insurrection And from hence one may also very probably conjecture at the reason why his Majesty was so willing to comply with the Desire of the Spanish Ambassador to Transport such a Number of the Irish for the Service of the King his Master and possibly this very information might be the great inducement which moved his Majesty to consent to their Transportation for rationally speaking had these Levies gone forward and the Military men of that Nation been sent abroad into the Service of Forreign Princes there could have been no Rebellion or at least nothing so formidable as it proved and that which seems to confirm the Conjecture is That the Roman Catholick Members of the House of Commons in Ireland who were acquainted with the Conspiracy did with all the Artifice and Industry imaginable as well as the English Parliament indeavour to obstruct the Transportation of the disbanded and discontented Souldiers among other Specious and Colourable Arguments * Vide Dr. Borlase's History p. 8. insinuating That the Spaniards having long born ill-will to England they did not know how soon those very Regiments acquainted with every Creek of the Kingdom might be returned on their own Bowels having naturally a love to their Religion which such an Incendiary as the King of Spain might soon inflame to the highest prejudice But however this Intimation given to the Lords Justices by Secretary Vane's Letter doth abundantly clear his Majesty from the least degree of Suspition of contriving fomenting or conniving at this Irish Rebellion so it will fix a blemish either upon the Integrity or Abilities of Sir William Parsons at least after having so fair Warning given that he should never be able to penetrate into the Plot of the Irish which sure a Chief Governor of Ireland could not want Means and Instruments to do till it was so ripe for Execution as to be impossible to prevent it and which is worse to be in no tolerable posture of Provision to Suppress and Extinguish it upon the first Eruption Nor did the Conspirators in Ireland fail to Use the same Arts and Methods which those of Scotland and England and indeed all Conspirators are wont to make Use of to raise up Fears and Animosities Jealousies and pretended Grievances to unhinge the People from their Allegiance by complaining of the Mal-Administration of the Government and Publick Affairs Salust in Conjur Catal. This the Historian tells us was one of the Master-Pieces of Cataline and his Associates illis quieta movere magna merces videbatur And thus did the Irish Conspirators for at the meeting of the Parliament the great business was complaints of Grievances and Impeachments of High Treason against the Prime Ministers of State Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor of Ireland and others were Impeached of High Treason and the Bishop of Derry though contrary to all presidents of that Nature as was certified by the Lords Justices to the principal Secretary upon Search made by his Majesties Commands for that purpose but as Sir John Temple observes they had a design to draw the Government wholly into the hands of Natives thereby to facilitate the intended Alteration of the Constitution And upon this occasion the Popular Men displayed their Talents in aggravating Speeches to make things little in themselves swell and appear bulky and grievous Upon the Impeachment of Sir Richard Bolton c. Mr. Audley Mervin made this following Speech My Lords I Am commanded by the Knights Mr. Audley Mervin's Speech at the Exhibiting the Articles of High Treason against Sir Richard Bolton c. March 4. 1640. Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House to present unto you Ireland's Tragedy the Gray-Headed Common Laws Funeral and the Active Statutes Death and Obsequies This dejected Spectacle Answers but the prefiguring Type of Caesar's Murther wounded to the Death in the Senate and by Brutus his Bosom Friend our Caesar's Image by Reflection even the Fundamental Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom the sole Means by which our Estates are confirmed our Liberties preserved our Lives secured are Wounded to Death in the Senate I mean in the Courts of Justice and by Brutus too even by those Persons that have received their Beings and Subsistance from them so that here enters those inseperable first Twins Treasons and Ingratitude In a plain Phrase My Lords I tender unto you Treason High Treason such a Treason that wants nothing but Words to express it To Counterfeit the King's Seal to Counterfeit the King's Money it is Treason but this dies with the individual Party To betray a Fort is Treason but it dies with a few Men. To betray an Army is a Treason but it dies with a Limited Number which may be reinforced again by Politick Industry To blow up both Houses of Parliament is Treason but succeeding Ages may replant Branches by a fruitful Posterity but this High Treason which I do now in the Name of the Houses of Commons charge and impeach Sir Richard Boulton Knight Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir George Ratcliffe Knight is in its Nature so far transcending any of the former that the rest seem to be but petty Larcenies in respect of this What is it to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom High Treason What is it with a contumacious Malice to Trample under Feet the rich Legacies of our Fore-Fathers purchased with Sweat and Expence I mean the Statute Laws what is it but High Treason What is it through an Innate Antipathy to the Publick Good to Incarcerate the Liberty of the Subject under the Iron and Weighty Chains of an Arbitrary Government High Treason What is it since his Majesty the most amiable and delightful Portraiture of Flourishing and Indulgent Justice to his Subjects to present him Personated in their Extrajudicial Censures and Judgments but to possess if possible the Hearts of his Loyal Subjects of this Kingdom That he is a Bloody and Devouring Tyrant and to provoke their never Dying Allegiance into a Fatal and Desperate Rebellion What is it to Violate the Sacred Grants of many of his Majesties Progenitors Kings and Queens of England Confirmed under the Broad Seal being the Publick Faith of this Kingdom by an Extrajudicial Breath grounded upon no Record What is it to Insert a Surreptitious Clause forged by some Servile Brain in the Preamble of our last Act of Subsidies by which the King 's Most Excellent Majesty and the Earl of Strafford are placed in one and the same Sphear allowing them but equal Influences to nourish the
Allegiance of this Kingdom what is this but to extol other then Regal Authority and to Crucify the Majesty of our Most Gracious Soveraign betwixt the two Thieves of Government Tyranny and Treason My Lords having such a full and lasting Gale to drive me into the Depth of these Accusations I cannot hereby Steer and Confine my Course within the Compass of Patience since I read in the first Volums of their Brows the least of these to be the certain Ruine of the Subject and if prov'd a most favourable Prologue to usher in the Tragedy of the Actors Counsellors and Abetters herein What was then the first and main Question it was the Subversion of the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Let then Magna Charta that lies Prostrated Besmeared and Grovelling in her own Gore discount her Wounds as so many Pregnant and Undeniable Proofs mark the Epethite Magna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confirmed by thirty Parliaments in the Succession of eight Kings the Violation of which hath several times ingaged the Kingdom of England in a Voluntary Sacrifice a Charter which imposeth that Pleasant and Wel-becoming Oath upon all Soveraignty to vindicate and preserve the Immunity thereof before the Crown incircle their Royal Temples in this Oath of so high consequence and general Interest his Majesty doth in a manner levie a fine to his Subjects use for avoiding all frandulent conveyances in the Administration of Justice And this Oath is transplanted unto the Judges as the Feoffees in trust appointed between his Majesty and the Subject and sealed by his Majesties provident care with that emphatical penalty that their Estates and Lives shall be in the Kings mercy upon the Violation of the same either in whole or in part neither hath the deserved punishment for the breach of this Oath enacted as fulgura ex vitrio or as bugbears to inforce the obedience of Children no my Lords the just execution of it upon their Predecessors though in breaches not so capital might have warned them to have strangled their ill born resolutions in the Cradle before they now proclaim their infancie and petition for their punishment Witness Sir Thomas Weyland his banishment confiscation of his Goods and Lands only for his mercenary Justice contrary to his Oath who was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the time of Edward the first Witness Sir William Thorp Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the time of Edward the Third who was adjudged to be hanged because he had broken the Kings Oath made unto the People wherewith he was intrusted in the Roll. Now my Lords though Magna Charta be sacred for antiquity though its confirmation be strengthned by Oath though it be the proper Dictionary that expounds meum tuum and assignes a Subject his Birth-right yet it only survives in the Rolls but now miserable rent and torn in the practice These words Salvo contenemento live in the Rolls but they are dead in the Castle Chamber These words Nullus liber homo ejicitur è libero suo tenemento in praejudicium parium live in the Rolls but they are dead where property and free-hold are determined by paper-Petitions These words Nulli vendemus nulli differemus Justitiam live in the Rolls but they are dead when the Suites Judgments and Execution of the Subjects are wittingly and illegally suspended retarded and avoided Shall we desire to search the mortal wounds inflicted upon the Statute Laws who sees them not lying upon their death Bed stab'd with Proclamations their primitive and genuine tenures escheated by Acts of State and strangled by Monopolies Will you survey the Liberties of the Subjects every Prison spues out illegal Attachments and Commitments every Pillory is dyed with the forced Blood of the Subjects and hath ears though not to hear yet to Witness this complaint Do you doubt of the defacement of the amiable Offices of his Majesties most transplendent and renowned Justice and Grace let then that Microcosme of Letters Patents confirmed under his Majesties and his Predecessors broad Seal of the Kingdom being the publick faith thereof and yet unchristened by frivolous and private opinions rise up in Judgment let the abortive Judgment of the tenure in Capite where no tenure was exprest nay let the Heretical and Traiterous opinions where the Tenure was exprest yet to draw in all by Markets and Faires granted in the same Patents rise up in Judgments What glass hath this unhappy divided Kingdom from his Majesties presence and audience to contemplate the fair and ravishing form of his Royal intentions in but in the clear and diaphanous administration of his Justice and what do these Trayterous and Illegal practises aim at but in affront to his Majesty which we most tenderly resent and discontent to his Subjects to multiply as by a Magick Glass the Royal dispensation of his Favors into the ugly and deformed Visage of their Suppression of the Liberties Devastation of the Estates and the Deprivation of the Lives of his Loyal Subjects so that it may be said Regali Capiti cervicem consul equinam Jungere sic vellet variasque inducere plumas My Lords these ought to be considered with as serious an Ear as they were practised by mischievous Experiments Inquire of the Netherlands why their Fields are grown Fertile by the Inundation of Blood why the pensive Matrons solemnize too too frequent Funerals of their Husbands and Issue and they will Answer you it was for the Preservation of their Hereditary Laws which Tyranny would have innovated This Kingdom personated in the sable Habit of a Widdow with dishelved Hairs seems to Petition your Lordships That since she is a Mother to most of us yet certainly a Nurse unto us all that you would make some other for Redress of her Tyrannical Oppression These Persons Impeached resemble the opacous Body of the Earth interposed to Ecclipse that Light and Vigor which the solar Aspect of Majesty would communicate unto his Subjects They Imitate the Fish Sepia that vomits a Dark Liquor out of her Mouth to cloud the Waters for her securer Escape They are those whom to the Keys have been committed yet they have barred the Do or to them that Knoc't They are those Unnatural Parents that give their Children Stones instead of Bread and Scorpions for Fish Was it for this purpose that the Royal Authority situated them in these Eminent Places that like Beacons upon high Hills they should Discover and Proclaim each Innovation and Stratagem against the Publick Weal whilest they in the mean time imploy therein Fire to Publick Incendiary or like Ignes fatui seduce the easie and believing Traveller into Pits and unexpected Myres Were they sworn to Seal their Damnation and not their Confirmation of our Liberty Estates and Lives Shall a man be censured for Perjury in that Breach of his private Faith and those be justifiable in Treason aggravated by Perjury against the Dignity of the Crowns and Publick Faith of the Kingdoms No
this Kingdom and in Pursuance thereof they and every of them have Traiterously Contrived Introduced and Exercised an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law thorowout this Kingdom by the Countenance and Assistance of Thomas Earl of Strafford then Chief Governor of this Kingdom II. That they and every of them the said Sir Richard Bolton Knight Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and Sir George Radcliffe Knight have Traiterously assumed to themselves and every one of them regal Power over the Goods Persons Lands and Liberties of his Majesties Subjects in this Realm and likewise have Maliciously Perfidiously and Traiterously Given Declared Pronounced and Published many False Unjust and Erroneous Opinions Judgments Sentences and Decrees in Extrajudicial manner against Law and have Perpetrated Practised and Done many other Traiterous and unlawful Acts and Things whereby as well divers Mutinies Seditions and Rebellions have been raised as also many Thousands of his Majesties Liege People of this Kingdom have been Ruined in their Goods Lands Liberties and Lives and many of them being of good Quality and Reputation have been utterly defamed by Pillory Mutilation of Members and other infamous Punishments By means whereof his Majesty and the Kingdom have been deprived of their Service in Juries and other Publick Imployments and the general Trade and Traffick of this Island for the most part destroyed and his Majesty highly Damnified in his Customs and other Revenues III. That they the said Sir Richard Bolton John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight and Sir George Radcliffe and every of them the better to preserve themselves and the said Earl of Strafford in these and other Traiterous Courses have laboured to Subvert the Rights of Parliament and the ancient Course of Parliamentary Proceedings all which Offences were contrived Committed Perpetrated and done at such time as the said Sir Richard Bolton Sir Gerard Lowther and Sir George Radcliffe Knights were privy Counsellors of State within this Kingdom and against their and every of their Oaths of the same at such times as the said Sir R. Bolton Knight was Lord Chancellor of Ireland Chief Baron of his Majesties Court of Exchequer within this Kingdom and Sir Gerard Lowther Knight was Lord Chief Justice of the said Court of Common-Pleas and against their Oaths of the same and at such time as the said John Lord Bishop of Derry was actual Bishop of Derry within this Kingdom and were done and speciated contrary to their and every of their Allegiance several and respective Oaths taken in that behalf IV. For which the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do Impeach the said Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of his Majesties said Court of Common-Pleas and Sir George Radcliffe Knight aforesaid and every of them of High-Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity The said Knights Citizens and Burgesses by Protestation saving to themselves the Liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir Richard Bolton John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther and Sir George Radcliffe aforesaid and every of them and also of replying to them and every of their Answers which they and every of them shall make to the said Articles or any of them and of offering Proof also of the Premisses or of any other Impeachment or Accusation as shall be by them Exhibited as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliament require And the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do pray that the said Sir Richard Bolton Knight Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of his Majesties said Court of Common-Pleas and Sir George Radcliffe Knight and every of them be put to Answer to all and every of the Premisses and that all such Proceedings Examinations Tryal and Judgment may be upon them and every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice Copia vera Signed PHILIP PHERNESLY Cler. Parliamenti Thus did these Popular Reforming Protestants help to unhinge the Government and not only helped forward the Designs of the Irish if Sir John Temple's observation before mentioned be true of their endeavours to push out the present Ministers and to get into their places but they gave great Countenance especially to the Vulgar and colourable pretences to the Ensuing Rebellion when even the Protestants of the Parliament of Ireland as well as the Parliament of England by their severe Procedure against the Earl of Strafford for misgovernment and Oppressions done in Ireland by impeaching of these Persons and by their repeated loud Complaints of Grievances Wrongs and Injustice publickly defamed his Majesties Government and proclaimed to the whole World That those Miseries which the Irish suffered under those their Governors and for the Redress of which they pretended to take up Arms were so great real and intolerable that both the Parliaments of England and Ireland were so deeply sensible of them as to acknowledg and thus bitterly inveigh against them Nor were the active men of the Commons House there less busie but the Lawyers Darcy Martin Plunket Cusack Brown Linch Bodkin Evers and others took upon them with much confidence to declare the Law and to frame several Queries which being proposed to the Judges and their Modest Answers not being satisfactory they gave out Resolutions of their own upon them such as might serve their Interest and Designs rather then comport with the Honor Duty and Allegiance which they owed to their Soveraign The Queries together with the Judges Answers to them as also their own Resolutions which were transmitted hither I find in the Paper-Office as followeth Questions wherein the House of Commons humbly desires that the House of the Lords would be pleased to require the Judges to deliver their Resolutions IN as much as the Subjects of this Kingdom are Free Queries propounded by the Parliament of Ireland to the Judges of that Kingdom Loyal and Dutiful Subjects to his most Excellent Majesty their Natural Liege-Lord and King and to be governed only by the Common Lawes of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom in the same manner and form as his Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of England are and ought to be Governed by the said Common-Laws and Statutes of Force in that Kingdom which of Right the Subjects of this Kingdom do Challenge and make their Protestation to be their Birth-right and best Inheritance Yet in as much as the unlawful Actions and Proceedings of some of his Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice of late years introduced and practised in this Kingdom did tend to the infringing and violation of the Laws Liberties and Freedom of the said Subjects of this Kingdom contrary to his Majesties Royal and Pious Intentions Therefore the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in
come in further Agitation and discussion in this Honourable House 9. Lastly The Judges Opinions are not usually call'd upon in Parliament but when upon Debate great and difficult Points in Law do arise where this most Honourable doth think fit to Command their Opinions but no Resolutions do belong unto the said Judges in Parliament but unto your Lordships yet in the Front and Preamble of the said Questions the Resolution of the said Questions by the Judges is forthwith desired to be required by your Lordships in Writing Although the first Question Viz. Whether the Subjects of this Kingdom c. be positively resolved by the Preamble to the said Questions in which it is likewise declared That the said Judges Answers thereunto are not desired For any Doubt or Ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concerning the Premisses nor of the said Questions but for Manifestation and Declaration of a clear Truth and of the Laws and Statutes already planted and setled in this Kingdom And they conceive it is impossible to make any Manifestation or Declaration of Law or Statutes which may hold or be useful upon such general Questions as most of these are namely by what Laws in what Cases of what Power of what Force How Where and Why by Whom Wherefore what punishment by what Rule of Policy in what Condition of Persons In regard that the next succeeding Judges may be of another Opinion and that a Circumstance may alter the Reason of the Law in many particular Cases which the Wit of Man is not able to foresee or give a general Rule in And they say That to give any satisfaction to your Lordships or the Honourable House of Commons would make up a great Volume and require far more time then your Lordships have afforded unto the said Judges considering their great Toyl in the Circuits the last long Vacation their other Employments in the Common-wealth at their daily Attendance on your Lordships in Parliaments and in ordering Courts of Justice and yet lest they may seem to come any way short in performance of that Duty which they confess to be due unto your Lordships or be wanting in promoting and advancing the Good of the Common-wealth which they believe to be aimed at by the said Questions though it may seem to draw Damage or Prejudice upon their Particulars They do in all humbleness present unto your Lordships the ensuing Answers unto the said Questions which is as much as by their Oaths or in their Duty they owe unto His Sacred Majesty before his Princely pleasure be therein signified they can answer thereunto TO the First they Answer That the Subjects of this Kingdom are a Free People and are for the general to be Govern'd only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom yet they say That as in England many Statutes are grown obsolete and out of use and some particular Ancient Laws as well in Criminal as Civil Causes have been changed by Interpretation of the Judges there as they found it most agreeable for the general Good of the Common-wealth and as the Times did require it so our Predecessors the Judges of this Kingdom as the Necessity of the Times did move them did declare the Law in some particular Cases otherwise then the same is practised in England which the now Judges cannot alter without apparent diminution of a great part of His Majesties standing Revenue and opening a Gap for the shaking and questioning the Estates of many of His Majesties Subjects and the overthrowing of several Judgments Orders and Decrees which depend thereupon For Example If it be found by Office of Record sufficient for Form That a Man was killed in actual Rebellion and at the time of his Death he was seised of Lands Hereditaments Goods or Chattels by the constant Declaration of Law and Practise in former times here the Crown was Intitled to such Lands Goods and Chattels and many Mens Estates depend thereupon and yet the Law is not so taken in England So If one or more commit Felony and then stand out upon his or their keeping and he or they will not submit themselves to be tryed by the Law but being in that Case do rob or spoil and terrifie His Majesties People whereby the Country is disquieted This by the constant Opinion of our Predecessors in this Kingdom hath been adjudged a Levying of War within the Statute of 25 E. 3. and so consequently Treason Also by the common received Opinion and Practice of this Kingdom the Wife is to have a Third of all the Goods and Chattels and Credits of her Husband the Debts being paid although he dispose of all by his Will from her And yet the constant Practise is otherwise in England And other Instances of that kind might be made so that that word Only must receive a benign Exposition before the first Question can receive a general Answer in the Affirmative Secondly Many Causes of great Weight and Consequence in this Kingdom are to be Decreed and Ordered by Equity in the proper Courts of Equity and in Course of State at the Council Board and by particular Customes not contrary to Law for which the Common Law and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom gave no Remedy Thirdly There are several other Laws of Force in England and Ireland so far as they have been received which though some would have to be part of the Common Law of England yet we find them particularly distinguished from it in our Printed Books and Parliament Rolls in England As Lex Consuetudo Parliamenti jura Belli Ecclesiastical or Canon Law in certain Cases Civil Law in some Cases not only in Ecclesiastical Courts but in the Courts of Constable and Marshal and of the Admiralty and upon particular occasions in other Courts Lex Mercatoria c. 2. To the Second they say That the Judges of this Kingdom do take the Oath of Judges which Oath is specified amongst the Statutes in 18 E. 3. And is afterwards explained by the Stat. of 20 E. 3. And that they may not stay hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon otherwise than according to the Law and Course of the Court when they Sit under pretence of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governors of this Kingdom most of which doth appear by their Oath expressed in the Statutes and the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 8. And the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 2. as to the Barons of the Exchequer And that as they know no Punishments due to Judges for their Deviations and Transgressions without other Aggravation so they know no punishment laid down by any Law against them for their Deviations and Transgressions in hindering staying or delaying of Justice contrary to their said Oath
Armies or Multitudes of Armed Men lawfully or unlawfully convented together the right use whereof in all times hath been found most necessary in this Kingdom And further to that Question they cannot Answer for that as they conceive it doth concern his Majesties Regal Power and that the Answer of the other Part of the Question doth properly belong to another Profession whereof they have no Cognizance 9. To the Ninth they say That as the taking of any Oath before any but such Judges or Persons as have Power to give or Demand an Oath for decision of Controversies is by most Divines in most Cases counted to be a rash Oath and so an Offence against God within the third Commandment so the perscribing or demanding of a set Oath by any that cannot derive Power so to do from the Crown where the Fountain of Justice under God doth reside Is an Offence against the Law of the Land and as for Voluntary and Extrajudicial Oaths altho freely taken before Arbitrators or others they say as this Kingdom is Composed in many Particulars as the Nature and Consequence of the Course or the Quality of the Person who taketh or before whom the same is taken may concern the Common-Wealth or the Members thereof such taking of such Oaths or Proceeding or Grounding on such Oath in deciding of Differences according to the several Circumstances that may occur therein or the Prejudice it may introduce to the Common-Wealth may be punishable by the Common Law or if it grow unto an height or general Inconvenience to the Common-Wealth or Members thereof in the Castle-Chamber for thô such an Oath be Voluntary yet in most Cases it is received by him that doth intend to ground his Judgment thereon and after the Oath is taken the Arbitrator or he that intends to yield Faith to the Party that took the Oath doth examine him upon one or more Questions upon the said Oath unto the Answer whereof he doth give Faith and Assent trusting on the said Oath And whereas Oaths by God's Institution were chiefly allowed to be taken before lawful Magistrates for ending Controversies yet common Experience doth teach in this Kingdom That oftentimes Orders and Acts grounded on such Voluntary Oaths beget Strife and Suits and commonly such Orders when they come to be measured by the Rules of Law or Equity in the King's Courts become void after much expence of Time and Charge that we say nothing of that that thereby many Causes proper for the King's Courts are drawn ad aliud examen are thereby the Justice and Courts often defrauded and declined 10. To the Tenth they say That they are not Judges of Rules of Policy but of Law and that they know no certain Rule of Law concerning Reducement of Fines the same being Matters of his Majesties meer Grace after a Man is censured for an Offence And that they know no Law that none shall be admitted to Reducement of his Fines or other Penalties in the Courts in the Question specified until he confess the Fact for which he was Censured But forasmuch as the admittance or Reducement after Conviction for an Offence is Matter of Grace and not Justice It hath been the constant Course of those Courts both here and in England for clearing of his Majesties Justice where the Party will not go about to clear himself by reverfal of the Censure or Decree not to admit him to that Grace until he hath confessed the justness of the Censure pronounced by the Court against him and that the rather for that commonly the Ability or disability of the Party doth not appear in Judgment before them but the Nature and Circumstances of the Offence according to which they gave Sentence against him or them in Terrorem after which when the Party shall make the weakness of his Estate to appear or that the Court is otherwise ascertained thereof they do of Course proportion the Censure or Penalty having regard to his Estate 11. To the Eleventh they say That neither the Judges of the King's Bench as they inform us that are of that Court or Justices of Goal-Delivery or of any other Court do or can by any Law they know deny the Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the Party only Accused as by the said Question is demanded 12. To the Twelfth they say That where Lands are holden of the King by Knights-Service in Capite the Tenant by the strict Course of Law ought in Person to do his Homage to the King And until he hath done his Homage the Ancient Course of the Exchequer hath been and yet is to issue Process of Distringas out of the second Remembrancers Office to distrain the Tenants ad faciendum Homagium or ad faciendum finem pro Homagio suo respectuando upon which Process the Sheriff returneth Issues and if the Tenants do not thereupon appear and compound with the King to give a Fine for Respit of Homage then the Issues are forfeited to the King for the Contempt But if he appear then the Court of Exchequer doth agree with him to Respite his Homage for a small Fine wherein they regulate themselves under the Rate expressed and set down in England by Virtue of a Privy Seal in the 15th year of Queen Elizabeth wherein the Rates are particularly set down according to the yearly value of the Lands which Rates are confirmed by Act of Parliament in the first of King James c. 26. in England before which time there was not any such certainty but the same rested in the discretion of the Court by the Rule of Common Law and so it doth at this day in Ireland Howbeit we conceive that the Court of Exchequer here do well to regulate their discretions by those Rates in England and rather to be under then to exceed the same which the Barons there do as they do inform us that are Judges of the other Courts 13. To the 13th they say That they know no Rule of Law or Statute by which it should be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to Repair and Appeal unto His Majesty for Redress of Injuries or for other their Lawful occasions unless they be prohibited by His Majesties Writ or Proclamation or other his Command But they find that by the Statute of 5 R. 2. that the passage of the Subjects out of the Realm is prohibited without special License excepting Noblemen and others in the said Statute specially excepted and some inference to that purpose may be made upon that Statute of 25 H. 6. c. 2. in this Kingdom 14. To the Fourteenth they say That some Deanries and Dignities not Deans or Dignitaries as the Question propounds it are properly Et de mero Jure Donative by the King some Elective and some Collative according to the first Foundation and Usage of those Churches And they humbly desire that they may not be required to give any further Answer to this Question for that it may concern many Mens
according to the Command thereof upon due and convenient notice thereof given to him at the Charge of the Party or Parties who requireth or procureth such Writ or Writs and upon Security by his or their own Bond or Bonds given to pay the Charge of carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners if he or they shall be commanded by the Court to which he or they shall be brought as in like Cases has been used such Charges of bringing up and carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners to be always ordered by the Court if any Difference shall arise there about bringing or cause to be brought the Body or Bodies of the said Party or Parties so committed or restrained unto and before the Judges and Justices of the said Court from whence the same Writ or Writs shall issue in open Court and shall then likewise certify the true Cause of such his or their Deteinors or Imprisonment and thereupon the Court after such Return made and delivered in open Court shall proceed to examine and determine whether the Cause of such Commitment appearing upon the said Return be just and legal or not and shall thereupon do what to Justice shall appertain either by Delivering Bailing or remanding the Prisoner or Prisoners 7. Quest Of what Force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberty Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether they or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by Infringing any such Act of State Proclamation or both And what punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy Councellors incur that Vote for such Acts and Execution thereof Declarat An Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom cannot bind the Liberty Inheritance Possession or Goods of the Subjects of the said Kingdom nor alter the Common Law and the Infringers of any such Act of State or Proclamation ought not to forfeit Lands Leases Goods or Chattels for the infringing of any such Act of State or Proclamation and the Judges of the Law who do vote for such Acts of State or Proclamation are punishable as Breakers and Violators of their Oaths of Judges 8. Quest Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to the Martial Law And whether any man in the time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be Sentenced to death If so by whom and in what Cases If not What Punishments do they incur that in time of Peace execute Martial Law Declarat No Subject of this Kingdom ought to be Sentenced to Death or Executed by Marshal Law in time of Peace and if any Subject be so Sentenced or Executed by Marshal Law in time of Peace the Authors and Actors of any such Sentence or Execution are punishable by the Law of the Land for their so doing as Doers of their own Wrong and contrary to the said Law of the Land 9. Quest Whether Volantary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for Affirmance or Disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore Declarat No Man ought to be punished in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court for taking a Voluntary Oath before Arbitrators for affirmance or disaffirmance of any Thing or the true Performance of any thing in Civil Causes nor are the Arbitrators before such Voluntary Oath shall be taken Punishble 10. Quest Why and by what Law or by what Rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to Reducement of Fines and other Penalty in the Castle-Chamber or Council Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is Censured when as Revera he might be innocent thereof tho suborned Proofs or Circumstance might induce a Censure Declarat By the Laws and Statutes of the Realm no Man is bound or ought to be compelled to acknowledg the Offence laid to his Charge or the justness of any Censure past against him in the Castle-Chamber or at the Council Table nor ought to be deteined in Prison or abridged of his Liberty or the Reducement of his Fine stayed or delayed until he doth acknowledg such Offence or the justness of such Censure And it is further declared That no such inforced or wrested Confession or Acknowledgment can or ought to debar or hinder any Subject from his Bill of Reversal or Review of any Sentence or Decree past or conceived against him in the Castle-Chamber or in any other Court 11. Quest Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judges of Goal-Delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny the Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to the Law Declarat The Judges of the Kings-Bench or Justices of Goal-Delivery or the Judges of any other Court ought not to deny Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the Parties indicted 12. Quest What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the Respite of Homage arbitrarily to what Rate they please to what Value they may raise it by what Law they distinguish between the Respit of Homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are apportionable by Parliament Declarat The Barons of the Exchequer ought to raise the Respite of Homage above the usual Rates appearing in and by the Course and Precedents of the Court continued until the year of our Lord God 1637 and the raising thereof since that time was Arbitrary and against the Law And the Barons of the Exchequer ought not to distinguish between the Respite of Homage upon any diversity of the true values of the Knight's Fees 13. Quest Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries or for other Lawful Occasions If so for why and in what Condition of Persons and by what Law Declarat The Subjects of this Kingdom may lawfully repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries and for other their Lawful Occasions and for their so doing ought not to be punished or questioned upon the Statute of 5 R. 2. nor by any other Law or Statute of Force in this Kingdom eminent Officers and Ministers of State Commanders and Soldiers of his Majesties Army the Judges and Ministers of his Majesties Courts of Justice and of his Highness Revenue and Customs whose Attendance is necessarily requisite by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm only excepted 14. Quest Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de Mero jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so Why and by what Law And whether the Confirmation of a Dean de Facto of the Bishops Grant be good or valid in Law and no If not by what Law
before been said concerning the beginning of this Execrable and Unparallel'd Rebellion take the Words of an * Excellent and Noble Author upon that Subject THe Irish Nation A M. S. S. in the custody of his Grace the Duke of Ormond written by the Right Honourable the Earl of Clarendon saith he was possessed of the most blessed and happy Condition before their own to say no worse unskilful Rage and Fury brought this War upon them and they have since had leisure enough thoroughly to consider and value the wonderful Plenty Peace and security which they enjoyed till the year 1641 when they wantonly and disdainfully flung those Blessings from them They were arrived to a mighty increase of Traffick Improvement of Land Erection of Buildings and whatever else might be profitable or pleasant to any People and these desirable Advantages and Ornaments the Policy and Industry of that Nation was utterly unacquainted with till they were brought to them by the skill and labour of the English planting and living Charitably Friendly and Hospitably among them Taxes and Tillages and other Contributions were things hardly known to them so much as by their Names whatever their Lands Labour or Industry produced was their own and they were not only free from the fear of having it taken from them by the King upon any pretence whatsoever without their own consents but also so secured against Thieves and Robbers by the Execution of good Laws that Men might and did Travel over all Parts of the Kingdom with considerable Sums of Money unguarded and unconcealed If this happy posture of Affairs It were well if our English Non-conformists would look in this Glass they would see their own pourtaict exactly and may by timely consideration avoid the same destiny was undervalued under the Notion of being but Temporal Blessings and the want of Freedom be alledged as to the Exercise of the Romish Religion to which that Nation was generally addicted it cannot be denied but that though by the Laws and Constitutions of that Kingdom the Power and Authority of the Bishop of Rome is not in any degree allowed or submitted to by the Government yet by connivance the whole Catholique Body of that Nation enjoyed an undisturbed Exercise of that Religion and even at Dublin where the Seat of the King 's chief Governour was such was the indulgence of Authority then towards them that they went as uninterruptedly to their Devotions as the Governor did to his Bishops Priests and all Degrees and Orders of the Secular and Regular Clergy lived and exercised their Functions among them And though there were some Laws against them still in force which the Necessity and Wisdom of former Ages had caused to be Enacted to suppress those acts of Treason and Rebellion which that People frequently fell into and the Policy of the present Times kept unrepealed to prevent the like Distempers and Designs yet the Edge of those Laws was so totally rebated by the Clemency and Compassion of the King that no Man could say he had suffered prejudice or disturbance in or for his Religion which is another kind of indulgence then the Subjects professing a faith contrary to that which is Established by the Laws of the Land can boast of in any other Kingdom in the World When in the Year 1640 they discerned some Distempers arising in England upon the Scots Invasion and perceived the Support and Countenance that People then found in both Houses of Parliament in England they would likewise bear a part and bring in their Contribution to the work in hand then they began to Transplant those dangerous humors of Jealousies and Discontents which they found springing up Seditiously in the Parliament at Westminster into Ireland and with the same Passion and Distemper cherished them in the Parliament at Dublin They fell to Accusing upon general and unreasonable Imputations the principal Councellors and Ministers of State who were intrusted by the Crown in that Kingdom impeaching them of High Treason and thereby according to the Rule unjustly then prescribed at Westminster they removed those Persons from any Power in Publick Affairs there whose wisdom might probably otherwise have prevented the mischiefs which have since ensued Then did they most weakly and childishly concur with the greatest Enemies their Nation or Religion had in the Conspiracy against the life of the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom by whose Wisdom and most prudent Government that Nation had reaped great advantages and was daily receiving greater and sent a Committee from Dublin to Westminster to join in the Prosecution of him and having in the end procured the miserable and never enough lamented Ruin of that great Person they powerfully opposed and hindred the conferring of that charge upon any of those His Majesty had designed to undertake it and at the last by their repeated importunities they got it devolved into such hands as were most unlike to grapple with the difficulties which they were sure to meet with and having thus to their uttermost power fomented the divisions in England and discountenanced and weakened the Regal Power in Ireland by raising the same Factions against it there on the sudden upon the 23d day of October 1641 without the least pretence of Quarrel or Hostility so much as apprehended by the Protestants great multitudes of Irish Roman Catholicks in the Province of Vlster and shortly after in other Provinces and parts of the Kingdom Tumultuously assembled together put themselves in Arms seised upon the Forts Castles Towns and Houses belonging to the Protestants which by their force they could possess themselves of and with most Barbarous Circumstances of Cruelty within the space of a few days murthered an incredible number of Protestants Men Women and Children promiscuously and without distinction of Age or Sex and of all those who were within the reach of their Power they who escaped best were robbed of all that they had to their very skins and so turned naked to indure the sharpness of that Season and by that means and for want of Relief many thousands of them perished by hunger and cold the Design which was at the same time laid for the surprise of the Castle of Dublin the Residence of the King 's chief Governors and His Majesties principal Magazine of Arms and Ammunition wherewith it was then plentifully stored being discovered by a person trusted and thereby disappointed that place was left singly to consult of the best means to oppose the Torrent which was like to overwhelm the whole Kingdom and for a Refuge to the poor Protestants who from all parts of the Kingdom flocked thither Despoiled Robbed and Stripped with the sad Relations of the most inhumane Cruelties and Murthers exercised upon their Friends Kindred and Neighbours which have been ever heard of amongst Christians It is not All the Irish not Guilty of the Rebellion adds he the purpose of this Discourse to lay any imputations of this Rebellion and
Savage Cruelty upon the whole Irish Nation and all the Catholicks of that Kingdom many Persons of Honour were never in the least degree tainted with that Contagion but on the contrary have always given as signal Testimonies of their Affection and Duty to the King and of their detestation of that Odious and Bloody defection as any of his Subjects of either of his other Kingdoms have done whose memories must with equal justice and care be transmitted to Posterity as pretious Examples of Honour and Integrity others there were who by the Passion and Rigour of those who were then in Authority and had power enough to destroy whom they had inclination to suspect or accuse were driven to put themselves into the Protection of those whose ways and courses they totally disapproved and hated and many who were by mis-information and mis-belief ingaged in the carrying on and possibly contriving the War and Insurrection yet were mortally averse to those barbarous actions of Blood Rapine and Inhumanity which dishonour even the most just and lawful War One Circumstance of unhappy and impious Policy must not be forgotten by which the Bold Authors of that unnatural War in the first entrance into it promised to themselves notable advantages and which in truth as most of the policies of that kind brought unspeakable misery and devastation upon that Nation for the better seducing the People who having lived so long in Peace and Amity with the English were not without some Reverence to that Government and so could not in plain and direct terms be easily led into an avowed Rebellion against their King they not only declared and with great skill and industry published throughout the Kingdom that they took Arms for the King and the Defence of his Lawful Prerogative against the Puritanical Parliament of England which they said invaded it in many Parts and that what they did was by His Majesties Approbation and Authority And to gain Credit to that Fiction they produced and shewed a Commission to which they had fastened an impression of the Great Seal of England which they had taken off from some Grant or Patent which had Regularly and Legally passed the Seal and so it was not difficult to perswade weak and unexperienced Persons to believe that it was a true Seal The Rebels of Ireland counterfeit the King's Commission and Great Seal prejudicial to the King but Ruinous to them and real Commission from the King And by this Fatal Stratagem they cast so Odious an Imputation upon the King and upon those Persons who were worthily nearest him in his Affection and Councils that the Seditious Party in England who were then contriving all the Mischief they afterwards brought to pass used all their Arts to propagate those horrible Calumnies and to infuse into the Hearts of the People an Irreverence and Jealousy of the King Queen and those of nearest Trust to either of them so that his Majesty was even compelled for his own Vindication and lest he might be thought too faint a Prosecutor of an Enemy whose Insurrection it was said he himself had fomented to commit the whole Management of that War to the two Houses of Parliament and they having obtained this Power Interessed and trusted such Members of their own Body with the Ordering and Directing of the same as were resolved with most Passion Uncharitableness and Violence to Prosecute that whole Nation and the Religion that was most generally Exercised there and by this means all Persons who were to conduct both the Civil and Military Affairs in Ireland were drawn to a Dependence upon the Two Houses of Parliament at Westminster all Officers and Commanders for that War were Nominated and approved by them all Monies raised for that Service was Issued and Disposed only by their Orders from whence it came to pass that they who craftily intended to derive a Support and Countenance to themselves by using the King's Name to Purposes which he abhorred foolishly thereby defrauded and deprived themselves of that Protection and Mercy which his Majesty might have vouchsafed to them for their Reduction and Preservation for from this time when any thing was proposed of Extravagancy or overmuch Rigor which the Proposers said was necessary for the Carrying on of that War or if the King made any Scruple or Pause in giving his Consent to the same they straight declared That they were obstructed in sending Relief to the Poor Protestants in Ireland and then they published some particular Relations of the lamentable and inhumane Massacre made there by the Irish which were confirmed by Multitudes of miserable undone People who landed from thence in the several Parts of England who likewise reported the Rebels Discourse of executing all their Villainies by the King's Direction so that indeed it was not in his Power to deny any thing which they thought fit to say was necessary to the good Work in Hand Thus he was compelled to put all the Strong-Holds Towns and Castles in the Province of Vlster into the Possession of the Scots who were at that time by the greatest Managers believed to be more worthy to be trusted then the English with unusual Circumstances of Power and even an independency upon the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and when his Majesty did but desire them to re-consider their own Proposition and reflect how much it might Trench upon the English Interest they suriously Voted That whosoever Advised his Majesty to that delay was an Enemy to the Kingdom and a Promoter of the Rebellion in Ireland thus his Majesty was necessitated to Consent to that Bill by which so great a Latitude was given to the disposal of Lands in the several Provinces of that Kingdom to those who adventured Mony in the War as that without the Interposition Shelter and Mercy of the Soveraign Power almost that whole People and their Fortunes were given up to the Disposal of their most Cruel and Mortal Enemies And lastly by this groundless and accursed Calumny thus raised upon the King full Power was devolved into their Hands who too much imitated the Fury and Inhumanity of the Irish in carrying on the War and proceeded with that Rigor and Cruelty in the shedding of Blood as was most detested by his Majesties Gracious and Mercisul Disposition Thus far this Excellent Author whose Words thô not Exactly accommodated to the Period of Time I have thought fit to insert here because they give the Reader a Landscape or short Map of all the Tragical Actions which filled the Scene of Ireland with Blood and Desolation and will be of excellent Use to the understanding of many future Passages in the Historical Account both of that and our own Miserable and Bleeding Nation Having given this Account of the beginning of the horrid Rebellion in Ireland Tuesday Novem. 2. the Reader must expect the continuation of it to be interwoven with the other great Affairs which were the misfortune of the present and will be the Wonder
That Mr. Hugh Benson shall be forthwith sent for as a Delinquent by the Serjeant at Arms attending on this House After which it was Ordered Captain of Hurst Castle Summoned That the Lord Gorge who is Governor of Hurst Castle be forthwith Summoned to appear here to give an Account why he suffered that Castle to go to decay A Complaint was exhibited by the Resident of Florence Resident of Florence complains of his House being broken c. against May and Newton two Persons imployed to apprehend Priests for violently contrary to the Law of Nations breaking open his Doors and taking and committing his Domestick Servants to Prison Whereupon it was Ordered That the said May and Newton be Summoned to give an Account of that Action and that the said Persons Imprisoned be set at Liberty the Resident passing his Word for their forth-coming Then certain Interrogatories to be administred to Owen O Connelly Interrogatories for the further Examination of Connelly were read as follows 1 What ground had you to Suspect that the Papists had any Design upon the State of Ireland 2 What have you heard any Priests or others say concerning the promoting of the Romish Religion 3 What Discourse have you had with Hugh Ogh Mac-Mohan concerning any such Design in Ireland 4 Have you heard of any Design in England or Scotland of the like Nature what is it you have heard Declare your whole Knowledg The Design of which Questions as plainly appears by the very Words of them were purposely to draw out something from him which might give color to the pretended Calumnies against the King or Queen or both of them as being some way or other concerned in promoting Popery and the Rebellion in Ireland as they had upon all Occasions insinuated the King to have been privy and Consenting to the Design of bringing up the Army and the Conspiracy in Scotland pretended against Hamilton Argyle and others And indeed the Faction laid hold upon all Occasions which were in the least capable of an Improvement to the Defamation of his Majesty and to rob him of the Affections of his People by whispering such Surmises as might beget and confirm those useful Fears and Jealousies of Popery and Arbitrary Power which were to be the Engines by which their wicked and mischievous Designs were to be effected and accomplished After this Sir Thomas Widdrington Reports further of the Conference The Report of the Conferrence about the Prince and Queen concerning the Prince and Queen That the Earl of Holland said he had according to the Commands of both Houses waited upon her Majesty and presented her with the Reasons of both Houses why they desired that the Prince should reside at Richmond 1. Because that he lost much opportunity in improving himself in his Learning and Study by being at Oatlands 2. Next though the Parliament doth not think her Majesty would intimate any thing to him concerning her Religion yet there were many about her which might prepare him with those impressions in his Religion which mightsit upon him many Years after 3. That in this time so full of danger for we hear of new Treasons every day that the Prince might be more Secure and yet his Lordship said he acquainted the Queen That it was not the Intentions of the Two Houses of Parliament that the Prince should not at all wait upon her Majesty but might come when her Majesty was desirous to see him but yet that his place of Residence might be at Richmond for otherwise his Governor could not take that Charge over Him as was required by the Parliament nor be answerable for such Servants as were about him His Lordship was pleased further to say That Her Majesty gave this Answer THat She gave the Parliament Thanks for their Care of her Son The Queens Answer the Occasion wherefore Her Majesty sent for him was to Celebrate the Birth-Day of one of his Sisters but that the Prince should be presently sent back to Richmond And Her Majesty said She did make no doubt but upon the King's Return the Parliament will Express the like Care both of the Kings Honor and Safety Mr. Whitlock further Reported That the Lord Chamberlain said at the Conference That he had taken care for a Guard That many of them complained of standing upon their Guard 24 Hours without Relief and some of the Captains neglect to come and that therefore Order should be taken therein A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Arthur Goodwin Esquire to let their Lordships know Wednesday Novemb. 3. A Message from the Commons about Phillips the Priest That he was Commanded to give their Lordships Thanks from the House of Commons for their Care and Honour of Religion in committing Robert Phillips the Priest unto the Tower desiring that he may not be released from his Imprisonment without they be made acquainted with it and that their Lordships would give Directions that none may speak with him at the Tower but in the presence of some of the Keepers Whereupon the Lords made an Order accordingly The Lord Privy Seal Reported The Report about Borrowing 50000 l. of the City That Yesterday the Committees of both Houses in the Name of the Parliament went to the City to propound the Borrowing of 50000 l. for the Irish Affairs He said They gave the City a full relation of the State and Condition of Ireland now is in it being the Case of Religion That they were much moved at the Relation and the Committees then told the Three Wants which the Council of Ireland desires to be speedily furnished with or else that Kingdom will be in danger to be lost which are Men Arms and Money His Lordship said the Committee told them the Parliament required nothing of them but the Loan of Money which should be Secured to them by Act of Parliament with advantage to themselves with Interest Vpon this the Major and Aldermen with the Common Council presently retired to consult among themselves till it was very late and so the Committees left them The next Morning the Recorder came to the Lords of the Councel at Whitehall and declared That he had Command from the Major and Aldermen and Common Council of the City to inform their Lordships first by way of Protestation That so great Sums of Money were drawn from them lately that they were hardly able to Supply this Occasion Yet such is their Zeal to this Cause that they will do their best Endeavours therein 2. He delivered by way of Plea from the City That Protections were so frequent that unless the Parliament did take some Course therein they shall not be able to do the Parliament that Service they desire in this kind because it decayes their Trading Mr. Recorder further declared That the City had formerly lent 50000 l. upon the Request of the Great Council at York which was due the 22d. of October last which yet is not paid
nor any Security given therefore they desired their Lordships to take the same into Consideration for they relied more upon their Lordships Honor than their Security He said There was now such a slighting of the Government of the City that there is an Equality between the Mayor and the Commons the Power of the Mayor no more then that of the Commoners of the City they desired but Countenance from their Lordships and their Lordships shall have Service from them The Recorder delivered this as their Answer That they had hearty and good Affection to the Cause it being for Religion's sake the saving the Lives and Estates of Protestants the saving of a Kingdom and preserving it to the dependency of this Crown they would do their utmost Endeavours but would not promise any thing before every man had consulted with himself what he was able to do which they promised to do speedily and he hoped to give a further account thereof this Night Mr. Pierrepoint also in the Commons House made the Report about the same Proposition The Commons Report about the same which because it varies from the other in some particulars I will insert here as follows He said That according to the Commands of the House several of the Committee went to the Lord Major and Common Councel and delivered the Commands of this House how well this House took the former Lending of Money The Answer given us by Mr. Recorder was 1 That there were several Grievances they suffered under as first under the Protections which are granted which did not only hinder their lending of Money but did stop Trade To that Sir Henry Vane did give them satisfaction both of the Order lately made against Mr. Benson for granting of Protections and that this House had committed to the Care of a Committee to draw a Bill to prevent the Inconveniences that happen thereby Next Mr. Recorder propounded That 50000 l. heretofore lent to the Peerage of this Realm for the Publique Affairs is not yet paid Next the Common Council did find themselves aggrieved by a disrespect shewn to the Lord Mayor and the Magistrates of London by divers people who refuse to give any Obedience to any Warrant to appear before the Lord Mayor declaring they would not come and particularly in the Case of providing of Money and for their Loans of Money they will take into consideration and give an Answer this Day but the Security for the same is Expected to be by Act of Parliament The Commons then entred upon the consideration of the Irish affairs and several Votes were passed in order to the Relief of that Kingdom which were presented to the Lords for their Concurrence and which to avoid unnecessary repetitions the Reader will find when they come before the Lords An Information was brought to the House by one Richard Butch a Warder That there was great resort to Father Phillips in the Tower An Information against Phillips the Priest in the Tower Whereupon it was Ordered That Sir Gilbert Gerrard Sir John Franklyn Sir Thomas Barrington and Mr. Laurence Whittacre do forthwith repair to the Tower to Examine all such Strangers as they shall find there of their Dwelling and Business there and to tender them the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Warders are hereby required to suffer none to come out of the Tower till these Gentlemen are come forth again Mr. Maynard Reported the Case of Gatton in Surrey Mr. Owfield his Election to serve for that Place is settled Case of Gatton in Surrey upon Election of Members the difference resteth between Mr. Sandys and Mr. Sanders who are returned by two Indentures Mr. Sanders hath for him 14 Voices Mr. Sandys hath 8 Voices but of the 14 Voices for Mr. Sanders 8 of them are dwellers out of the Town and one of them a Minister yet all of them have Freehold in the Town and of Mr. Sandys 8 Voices one of them was a Recusant Convict another the Clerk of the Parish who receiveth Yearly Wages from the Parish and then if these two should be declared to have no Voices their Voices are Equal so the Question in Debate was Whether the Election belonged to the Burgesses by Common Right or that the Free-holders dwelling out of the Town who had Freeholds in the Town ought to have Voices by virtue of a Particular Prescription The Committee were of Opinion That there was a Prescription in this Case which was good against a Common Right It appears by a Record 33 H. 8. that a Return was made by one Inhabitant And 10 E. 6. 6 E. 6. Returns made by the Inhabitants and Burgesses But 18 Jac. a President was shewn on the behalf of the Freeholders And for the Parson of the Parish Whether he shall have a Voice that cannot Sit here if he were chosen and next whether by Law a Recusant Convict ought to have a Voice and thirdly to receive the Judgment of the House whether one that receives Alms of the Parish shall have a Voice and then whether the Clark of the Parish who receives 50 s. per annum of the Parish is one that lives of the Alms of the Parish These were doubts offered to the Committee in the debate of this Election Vpon the matter it was Resolved c. That there is no sufficient proof of a Prescription against the Common Right within the Burrough of Gatton in Com. Surrey Resolved c. That the Parish Clark of the Burrough of Gatton does not appear upon the Evidence given to this House to be an Alms-man Resolved c. That Mr. Sanders Election for the Burrough of Gatton is not good Resolved c. That Mr. Sandys Election for the Burrough of Gatton is good Resolved c. That Mr. Sandys is well Elected and ought to Sit as a Member of this House upon the Election for the Burrough of Gatton The Lord Keeper signified this Day Thursday Novem. 4. That he had received a Letter from Mr. Secretary Vane dated the 28th of October last from Holy-Rood House touching the Intelligence which his Majesty had received in Scotland concerning the Rebellion in Ireland which is by his Majesties Command to be communicated to both Houses of Parliament here to whom he hath recommended the Care of those Affairs and Expects their Advice what Course is fittest to be taken for the reducing of that Kingdom The King Informed in Scotland of the Irish Rebellion recommends it to the Care of the Parliament Marquess of Winton has leave to sell his Arms. Likewise his Lordship said he had received Copies of other Letters which were sent to his Majesty out of the North Parts of Ireland desiring his Majesty to send them speedy Supplies for the Saving of that Kingdom All which were referred to the Committee for Irish Affairs It was Ordered That the Lord Marquess of Winchester shall have liberty by vertue of this Order to sell off his Arms to such Tradesmen as
and Boats they have to Transport Men in and what Number of Men they are able to send over if need he and they find that they are able to Land a considerable number of Men in the North of Ireland and that with more speed and less charge then it can be done from any other part of the Kings Dominions and their Highlanders are conceived proper to fight with the Irish in their own Kind and Country amongst Hills and Boggs An Information was given in by one Col. Hunkes That two disbanded Troopers Moor and Mac-Miller had listed about 40 Men who were lodged near the Iron Gate of the Tower in St. Katharines and that one Bourk an Irish-man of Lincolns-Inn paid them 14 d. per diem that according to the Order of the House he had taken care to disarm them Whereupon Bourk being sent for and Examined confessed that he was an Irish-man and a Roman Catholique That he did this to advance his Fortunes being to Command them in the Service of the King of Spain against Portugal That he received Money from the Spanish Ambassador to pay them and that he did it upon the Order of the House of Commons dated the 26th of October last which gave Licence to Transport the disbanded Soldiers It appearing to the Lords that the Order did Expresly prohibit the Transporting of any of the Kings Subjects Natives of England or Ireland Bourk was committed to the Custody of the Gentleman Usher during the Pleasure of the House Moor and Mac-Miller were for a former misdemeanor in abusing the Lord General Sir John Conyers and assaulting and sending a Challenge to one Captain Trist committed before to Newgate Hereupon Order was sent to the Constable of the Tower to keep diligent Watch for the Safeguard of it The Justices of the Peace for Middlesex and the City of Westminster were also Ordered to make speedy and diligent search in and about the Suburbs of London and Westminster What Irish are residing in their several Jurisdictions and to cause their Names to be taken and return them into this House and to cause strong and good Guards to be set upon such as they find to be dangerous and suspected Persons untill the pleasure of this House be further known Directed To William Roberts John Hooker and Thomas Shepherd Justices of the Peace for Middlesex Upon the reading the Petition of the Bishops that are Impeached Council assigned to the Impeached Bishops shewing That the Councel that was assigned them by this House refuse to be of Council for them because they being Commoners are involved in all the Acts and Votes of the House of Commons Hereupon it was Ordered That Serjeant Jermin Mr. Hern Mr. Chute and Mr. Hales be sent for to give their Answers herein Order of the Lords to expel all Romish Recusants out of the Inns of Court and Chancery It was also this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament That the Treasurers Recorders Readers and Benchers of the Societies of the four Inns of Court shall make or cause to be made diligent Search and Examination whether there be any Recusants of any Nation whatsoever admitted into their several Houses or into the Inns of Chancery belonging thereunto or live within the same Houses And if upon search any shall be found that they be forthwith dismissed and expelled out of the said Houses And it is further Ordered That no Romish Recusant shall hereafter be admitted into any the said Inns of Court or Inns of Chancery upon any pretences whatsoever Directed To the Treasurers Readers and Benchers of the Society of the Inner-Temple To the Treasurers c. of Grayes-Inn To the Treasurers c. of the Middle Temple To the Treasurers c. of Lincolns-Inn In the Commons House it was likewise Ordered Order of the Commons to tender the Oaths of Alleglance and Supremacy to Irish Recusants and others in the Inns of Court Order of the Commons to Examine all Irish endeavouring to pass over into Preland That the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy shall be tendred to the Irish Gentlemen and such others as are suspected for Recusants as are within the Inns of Court that are Students there and that the Lord Keeper shall be desired to award a Commission to that purpose to the Benchers of the several Inns of Court respectively It was also Ordered That all suspected Persons Irish and others that do endeavour to pass over into Ireland shall be Examined by the Mayor or other Officers of the several Ports where they endeavour to take Shipping upon such Instructions as they shall receive from this House and that the said Officers do tender unto all such persons the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and to Convict such according to Law An Information was this day given in to the Commons against one Mr. Carter a School-Master at High-gate for words spoken by him Viz. Chamberlain an Informer That Mr. Carter said That they were mad that would read the Order of the House of Commons of the 8th of September concerning Innovations And for the Protestation there were none but fools had taken it Whereupon Mr. Green who was also present said he had taken it Carter replied It was for want of information and he would maintain that it was against Reason Justice and Law and whereas said he it is to maintain the Priviledge of Parliament no Justice of Peace nor Constable but had as much priviledge as they had And said further That it was against the King and State I answered him Are you wiser than two Kingdoms for the Scots have taken it likewise What do you talk said he of a Company of Rebels and Rascals the Parliament hath dishonoured the King and Kingdom by making a Peace with them Upon which complaint it was Ordered That Carter should immediately be taken into Custody by the Sergeant at Arms. By which passage the Reader may plainly see the Genius of those times and of those Men who verified the saying of the Poet Nec Hospes ab Hospite tutus No person could in common discourse have the freedom of conversation but was in danger of these Zealous Informers who made it their business to run with informations to the House of Commons against such as durst oppose their Votes and Arbitrary Orders Tuesday Novemb. 9. Serjeant Jermin Mr. Chute and Mr. Hales appeared this day before the Lords and declared themselves willing to be of Council with the Lords the Bishops in the Impeachment brought up from the House of Commons The Bishops to answer their Impeachment upon Friday November 12. as they were formerly assigned by the House Whereupon it was Ordered That the Bishops that are impeached shall put in their Answers to the said Impeachment on Friday Morning next and that the Bill concerning the Bishops Votes shall be deferred until then Upon report of the Lords Committees for the Irish Affairs Earl of Leicester scruples raising men without the Kings Commission that
the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland making some scruple of raising Men to be imployed in the busness of Ireland without the King's Commission and his Lordship desiring to have the Authority of the Parliament for the same in the mean time It is thought fit and so Ordered by the Lords in Parliament according to the Power given unto them by His Majesty mentioned in an Order dated the sixth of November 1641. That the said Lord Lieutenant shall have full power by virtue of this Order to Levy Men according to the Order given him from the Parliament in the interim until His Majesty shall grant him a Commission under the Great Seal of England for his Warrant for so doing The House of Commons did also take notice of the Doubt of the Earl but notwithstanding did resolve and think fit that he should proceed to raise men for the Service by Virtue of the Ordinance of Parliament It was also Ordered by the Lords and Commons A Council of War for the Affairs of Ireland That the Lord Viscount Wilmot Sir John Conyers Sir Jacob Ashly Sir Simon Harcourt Sir John Heyden Sir Foulk Hunks Sir Thomas Glemham Sir Robert King Colonel Culpeper Colonel Vavasor Lieutenant Colonel Ballard and Captain Skippon shall be Assistants as a Council of War to the Committees of both Houses of Parliament appointed for the Affairs of Ireland and have full Power by virtue of this Order to meet and consider of the present state and condition of the said Kingdom and also of an Establishment for the Army Lords agree with the Commons to put the Laws against the Papists in Execution speedily The Lords then entred upon the Consideration of the Proposition sent from the Commons concerning securing the Persons of Popish Recusants and after a long Debate the Result was this That whereas the House of Commons desired that the persons of the Romish Recusants for the safety of the Kingdom might be secured this House doth consent with them therein and Orders That the Laws of this Kingdom shall be put into Execution against them presently Upon the desire of the Commons by Mr. Pym Letters from France and Antworp stopped it was Ordered by the Lords That the Foreign Letters from France and Antwerp be stopped and perused by the Lords Committees for opening Letters there being as Mr. Pym said ground and intelligence that those Letters will discover some Root of the Rebellion in Ireland The Declaration of the State of the Kingdom was also this day read and it was moved that a Consideration of these particulars might be added and which is very uncommon I find in the Margin of the Journal the Names of the Persons which made the several Motions which in regard it is to be supposed they did it in futuram rei Memoriam that Posterity might not hereafter be to seek for their Names I will take care to transmit them down to future Ages but whether they will have Statutes Erected for the Achievement I cannot promise unless it be of Infamy Moved That the last Expedition into Germany J. C. but whether Corbet or Clotworthy I cannot tell The Loans upon Privy Seals The Commission of Excise might be added The Additional Explanation to the Petition of Right Palmer I suppose The Declaration set forth upon the Breach of both Parliaments Strode The Proclamation set forth Wingate forbidding People so much as to talk of a Parliament Gun-Powder Monopoly J. C. as it was a Project for the disarming of the Kingdom The destruction of Timber Wildt especially in the Forrest of Dean by Recusants The Entituling the King to the Lands between High-Water J. C. and Low-Water mark The abuses of Purveyors and Salt-Petre men Whitlock The Commission of Sewers to be further Explained Cromwel The Court of Wards Smyth The Jurisdiction of the Council of the Marches The Council Table as they take Cognizance of Me Te. The Buying and Selling of Honours and Dignities The further Debate ordered to be resumed to Morrow The Lord Keeper Reported the Conference with the Commons Yesterday That Mr. Pym delivered by Command divers Heads agreed upon by the Commons Wednesday Novem. 10. which are Instructions to be sent to the Commissioners of both Houses now attending his Majesty in Scotland which they desire their Lordships to joyn with them in The Instructions were read in haec verba 1. YOu shall humbly inform his Majesty Instructions to the Commissioners in Scotland Nov. 10th 1641. That the Propositions made to the Parliament of Scotland concerning their Assistance for suppressing the Rebellion in Ireland hath been fully considered and debated by both Houses of Parliament here and their Wise and Brotherly Expressions and Proceedings are apprehended and Entertained here by us not only with Approbation but with Thankfulness Wherefore we desire that his Majesty will be pleased That You in the Name of the Lords and Commons of England give publick Thanks to the States of the Parliament of Scotland for their Care and Readiness to imploy the Forces of that Kingdom for the reducing the Rebellious Subjects of Ireland to their due Obedience to his Majesty and the Crown of England 2. You shall further make known to his Majesty That in the great and almost Vniversal Revolt of the Natives of Ireland cherished and fomented as we have Cause to doubt by the Secret Practices and Encouragements of some Forreign States ill-affected to the Crown and that the Northern Parts of that Kingdom may with much more Ease and Speed be supplied from Scotland than from England We humbly desire and beseech his Majesty to make Vse of the Assistance of his Parliament and Subjects of Scotland for the present Relief of those Parts of Ireland which lie nearest to them according to the Treaty agreed upon and confirmed in both Parliaments and this Affectionate und Friendly Disposition now lately Expressed as is more particularly specified in the 5th Article 3. You shall present to His Majesty the Copy Enclosed of the Declaration which We have sent into Ireland for the Encouragement of his good Subjects there and for the more speedy and Effectual opposing of the Rebels and in Execution and performance of our Expressions therein made of Zeal and Faithfulness to his Majesties Service We have already taken Care for 50000 l. to be presently Borrowed and Secured by Parliament We have likewise resolved to hasten the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland very speedily to repair thither and forthwith to raise a Convenient number of Horse and Foot for securing Dublin and the English Pale with such other Parts as remain in his Majesties subjection intending to second them with a far greater Supply 4. We have further Ordered and Directed That his Majesties Arms and Munition lying in the City of Carlisle shall be Transported into the North Parts of Ireland for the supply of Carrick-fergus and other his Majesties Forts and
ever hitherto done to advance their own wicked Intendments and rather then fail of them to raise a more desperate Rebellion in England instead of applying themselves vigorously as they were in Duty Honor and Conscience bound to assist his Majesty to suppress the other in Ireland and let their Pretences be never so glorious for the Preservation of the Reformed Religion and Interest yet it is evident that even from the very first Eruption of this Rebellion they had a Design to make their own Terms with the King and to oblige him under the Pretence of abandoning Evil Counsellors to devolve the intire Trust of the whole Nation and consequently his Crown and Dignity into their Hands and to leave him only the vain shaddow of Sovereignty and Majesty and unless he would Consent to this they must as they say be obliged to take other Measures for the fecuring themselves from such mischievous Councils and Designs as have lately been in Practice and Agitation against them and a little time discovered what ways those were for in Reality this was no new Design the crucifying Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom had been long hewing and these were but some Chips of that Block only they were wanting a fit Occasion and this offering it self they were resolved to lay fast hold upon it But in regard though they had sorely shaken and disabled the third Estate of the Lords Spiritual in Parliament by the repeated Batteries of Impeachments and Bills to take away their Voices yet there was a great Number of the Lords Temporal whose unstained Loyalty and Fidelity to the Crown and Royal Interest might prove dangerously Obstructive to their wicked Intentions they were resolved to attempt to deceive as many of them as they could by their popular Rhetorick upon this Topique of the danger of evil Counsels and Counsellors and if any proved refractory or had Constitutions too strongly amuletted with Loyalty against this insinuating Poison they had other more severe Methods of purging the Body Politick and Representative to be made use of upon Occasion as we shall see hereafter Upon this Subject of evil Councils and Counsellors Mr. Pym the great Oracle of the Faction took Occasion at this last Conference to display his Talent in these Terms HE said he was to speak touching the ill Councils Mr. Pym's Speech at the Conference concerning ill Councils November 10. which he laid down in these several Steps 1 First That the Dangers which come to the State by ill Councils are the most pernitious of all others and since it is usual to compare Politick Bodies with the Natural the Natural Body is in danger divers Wayes either by outward Violence and that may be foreseen and prevented or else by less appearing Maladies which grow upon the Body by Distempers of the Air immoderate Exercise Diet c. and when the Causes of the Disease are clear the Remedy is easily applied but Diseases which proceed from the inward Parts as the Liver the Heart or the Brains the more noble Parts it is a hard thing to apply Cure to such Diseases Ill Councels they are of that Nature for the Mischiefs that come by evil Councel corrupt the Vital Parts and overthrow the Publick Government 2 * If this had been applied to himself and his Faction he never spoke more truth in his whole life The second Step is That there have been lately and still are ill Councils in this Kingdom and about the King 1 That there hath been lately you will not doubt when the main Course of the Government hath been so imployed as Popery thereby hath been maintained the Laws subverted and no distinguishing between Justice and Injustice and that there is still reason to doubt is apparent by the Courses taken to advance mischievous Designs but that his Majesties Wisdom and Goodness kept them from the Heart though they were not kept out of the Court so most Principal and mischievous Designs have been practised by such as had near Access unto his Majesty though not to his Heart and the Apologists and Promoters of ill Counsels are still preferred 3 The third Step is That the ill Counsels of this Time are in their own Nature more mischievous and more dangerous then the ill Counsels of former Times former Counsels have been to please Kings in their Vices * A remarkable Testimony from an Enemy of the King's Innocence from which our King is free and sometimes for racking of the Prerogative if it had gone no further it had brought many Miseries but not Ruine and Destruction but the ill Counsels of this Time are destructive to Religion and Laws by altering them both therefore more Mischievous in their own Nature then those of former Times 4 The fourth Step is That these ill Counsels have proceeded from a Spirit and Inclination to Popery and have had a Dependance on Popery and all of them tend to it the Religion of the Papists is a Religion incompatible with any other Religion destructive to all others and doth not indure any thing that opposeth it whosoever doth withstand their Religion if they have Power they bring them to Ruin There are other Religions that are not right but not so destructive as Popery is for the Principles of Popery are destructive to all States and Persons that oppose it with the Progress of this mischievous Councel they provide Counsellors fit Instruments and Organs that may execute their own Designs and to turn all Councils to their own Ends and you find that now in Ireland that those Designs that have been upon all the Three Kingdoms do end in a War for the maintenance of Popery in Ireland and would do the like here if they were able they are so intentive to turn all to their own Advantage 5 The fifth Step That unless these ill Councils be changed as long as they continue it is impossible that any Assistance Aid or Advice that the Parliament can take to reform will be effectual for the Publick Orders and Laws are but dead if not put in Execution those that are the Instruments of State they put things into Action but if acted by Evil Men and while these Counsels are on foot we can expect no good it is like a Disease that turns Nutritives into Poyson 6 The sixth Step is That this is the most proper time to desire of his Majesty the Alteration and Change of the evil Counsellors because the Common-Wealth is brought into Distemper by them and so exhausted that we can indure no longer Another Reason why we cannot admit of them is to shew our Love and Fidelity to the King in great and extraordinary Contributions and Aids when God doth imploy his Servants he doth give some Promise to rouse up their Spirits and we have reason now to expect the King's Grace in great abundance this is the time wherein the Subject is to save the Kingdom of Ireland with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes And
therefore expect from his Majesty in a more larger and bountiful Manner then at other times A time of great Agitation and Action their State is ready by preparation to annoy us and ill and false Councils at home may quickly bring us to Ruin as we have weakness at home so we ought to decern the Actions abroad where great Provisions are made and a carelesness and improvidence herein when our Neighbours are so provided and have such great Fleets at Sea as will open a Way to suddain Ruin and Destruction before we can be prepared and therefore now the fittest time to move the King 6 The seventh and last Step is That this Alteration of Councils will bring great Advantages to the King in his own Designs In all our Actions our Prayers to God should be that his Name should be Glorified so our Petitions to his Majesty should bring Honor and Profit and Advantage to him by a discouragement to the Rebels a great part of their Confidence resting in the Evil Counsels at home as by the Examinations appeareth it will be a great Encouragement to the King 's good Subjects at home who hazzard their Lives and give Aid and Contribution to have things governed for the Publick Good it will make Men afraid to prefer Servants to the King that are ill Counsellors when they shall come to the Examination of the Parliament for many times Servants are preferred to Princes for advantage of Forreign States This will put an Answer into the King's Mouth against all Importunities that he is to prefer none but such as will be approved on by Parliament those that are Honorable and most Ingenious are aptest to be troubled in this kind and not to deny therefore the King may Answer he hath promised his Parliament not to admit of any but by Advice in Parliament this will Answer them all These are Domestick Advantages but it will also make us fitter to enter into Union and Treaty with Foreign Nations and States and to be made partakers of the Strength and Assistance of others It will fortifie us against the Designs of Foreign Princes there hath been common Council at Rome and in Spain to reduce us to Popery if good Counsel at Home we shall be the better prepared to preserve Peace and Union and better Respect from Abroad Lastly it will make us fit for any Noble Design Abroad Let us but turn the Tables and imagine this Speech spoken by some Loyal Gentleman against Mr. Pym and his Confederates and we shall find all those mischiefs and dangers from ill Counsels and Evil Counsellors the Alteration of Religion and Subversion of Laws the Encouragement of the Irish Rebellion the Impoverishment of the Nation the Loss of Liberty and Property the Ruin of the King and Kingdom to be the Natural Effects of their Consultations and Actions But in Order to accomplish their Wicked Designs the People must be affrighted with the danger of approaching Popery the present Government traduced with intentions of re-introducing it and the King must be Wounded through the Sides of the most Faithful of his Friends These were the Popular Arts by which after they had by repeated Flatteries Importunities and Promises obtained from the King those Fatal Concessions before mentioned they pursued their Design and by Arming those People whom they had deluded with the pretence of Religion and hurrying them on into Actual Rebellion they sought by Violence to obtain that which they could not do by Fraud and Flattery But to proceed After this an Order was read in the House of Lords made by the House of Commons Dated Nov. 9. 1641. That an Ordinance of Parliament may pass to engage the Honor Credit and Authority of both Houses of Parliament for the securing and repaying to the City the 50000 l. with Interest desired to be borrowed of them for the Occasions of Ireland and that a provisional Act shall pass with all Speed for repayment of the said Summ with Interest within six Months Next an Ordinance of Parliament was read concerning the Irish Affairs in haec verba viz. WHEREAS there is just Cause to conceive The Ordinance of Parliament prohibiting any Irish to pass out of England without License c. that diverse ill Affected Persons here being Natives or Inhabitants of Ireland do intend to pass over thither to joyn with the Rebels It is Ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that no Irish Man shall pass out of any the Parts of this Kingdom to return into Ireland without special License of the Committees of both Houses for Irish Affairs or the Lords of his Majesties most Honorable Privy Council or of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland It is further Ordered That no Arms Munition or Powder shall be transported without such License as is aforesaid It is likewise Ordeined by the said Lords and Commons That whereas upon the perusal of diverse Letters and other Intelligence here there is just Cause to suspect that diverse of his Majesties Subjects in Ireland had some Hand in the Conspiracy and Rebellions of the Irish That the Lord Lieutenant shall certifie from time to time during his Aboad in England into Ireland the Names of such suspected Persons and the the Grounds and Reasons of the Suspition and that thereupon the Lords Justices of Ireland and the rest of his Majesties Council there shall enter into Examination of the said Parties and shall have Power to commit them to Prison till the Truth may be fully discovered that so they may either be cleared if they be Innocent or if they be found Guilty they may be proceeded against according to the Laws And that this Ordinance of Parliament shall be a sufficient Warrant to the Lord Lieutenant Lords Justices and Council aforementioned The Lord Admiral then acquainted the House That he had Command and Directions from his Majesty to send some Ships for the Guuarding of the Irish Coasts and also some Ships to keep the Narrow Seas because his Majesty conceives that the Rebellion from Ireland is fomented from abroad and that they expect some Supply from Foreign Parts And his Lordship desires to have the Directions of the Parliament herein what to do Whereupon it was ordered to have a Conference with the Commons about it Divers Orders were read which were made by the House of Commons concerning the Irish Affairs to which they desired their Lordships concurrence that so they may be put in Execution That the Merchants Some Orders of the House of Commons concerning the Affairs of Ireland who have made the Proposition to their House of Transporting Spanish Money in specie into Ireland for the present Occasions of that Kingdom shall have Liberty to Transport so much only as the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall from time to time give them Order and Direction for paying it there as it passes by Proclamation and that all Sums so Transported shall be Registred in the Custom-House and that they shall bring Certificates
That by the Words Irish Papists We intended only such of the Old meer Irish in the Province of Ulster as have Plotted Contrived and been Actors in this Treason and others who adhere to them and that We did not any way intend or mean thereby any of the old English of the Pale nor of any other Parts of this Kingdom We being well assured of their Fidelities to the Crown and having experience of the good Affections and Services of their Ancestors in former times of Danger and Rebellion And We further require all His Majesties loving Subjects whether Protestants or Papists to forbear upbraiding Matter of Religion one against the other and that upon pain of His Majesties Indignation Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin 29. Oct. 1641. R. Ranelagh R. Dillon An. Midensis Ad. Loftus Geo. Shurley Ger. Lowther Jo. Temple Fr. Willoughby Ja. Ware God save the King With this the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale seemed extreamly well satisfied and the Lords Justices and Council were so far from suspecting them guilty of the Conspiracy The Lords and Gentlemen of the English Pale supplied with Arms and Ammunition or that they would perfidiously renounce their Allegiance and fall in with the Rebels that they immediately supplyed them with a Convenient proportion of Arms and Ammunition to inable them to defend themselves and those Counties of the English Pale against the attempts and incursions of the Rebels To the Lord Gormanstone were delivered 500 Arms for the County of Meath Arms for 300 men for the County of Kildare Arms for 300 for the County of Lowth Arms for 300 for the County of West-Meath Arms for 300 for the County of Dublin And so assured did they seem to be of the Fidelity of these Lords and Gentlemen that several Commissions whereof that before inserted to the Lord Gormanstone was one and was found in his Study after he had quitted his House were issued out to the Roman Catholiques Borlase Hist p. 28. viz. To the foresaid Lord Gormanstone for Meath To the Lord Mountgarret in Kilkenny Nicholas Barnewell in Dublin Walter Bagnal in Caterlagh Lord Lowth in Lowth Sir Thomas Nugent in West-Meath Sir Robert Talbot in Wickloe the two Sir James Dillons in Longford and several others in Munster Connaght and Vlster who not long after most treacherously turned those Arms they had received to defend the Government and Protestants against them and basely joyned with the Rebels It seems by comparing several past and future Transactions of these Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale with some of the Examinations and Depositions taken about the Rebellion that if they were not in the Conspiracy yet they had a great inclination to promote rather than suppress it though after all the indiscreet Zeal of the then Chief Governors by putting their Agent Sir John Read to the Rack gave them but too great a pretence and colour for their Revolt and I know nothing that can be sufficient to palliate much less Excuse Rebellion upon any pretences whatsoever till St. Paul's holy Rule be reversed and that Men may do Evil that Good may come of it The Principal of the Rebels that at first appeared in the Execution of this detestable Conspiracy The Names of the Chief Rebels which broke out first in the Province of Vlster were Sir Phelim O Neal Turlogh O Neal his Brother Roury Mac-Guire Brother to the Lord Mac-Guire Philip O Reley Mulmore O Reley Sir Conne Mac-Gennis Col. Mac-Bryan and Mac-Mahon These having got together according to their Assignation did at one and the same time treacherously Surprize the Town and Castle of the Newry Several Places surprized by the Rebels the Fort of Dongannon Fort Montjoy Charlemont Tonrages Carick Mac-Rosse Clough-Cuter Castle Blaney Castle of Monaghan being all of them Places of considerable Strength and besides these many other Castles Towns and Villages so that before the End of October they had gotten into their Possession all the Towns Forts Castles and Gentlemens Houses within the Counties of Tyrone Donegal Fermanagh Armagh Cavan Londonderry Monaghan and half the County of Down except the Cities of Londonderry and Colraign the Town and Castle of Encekillin and some other Places which were for the present bravely defended by the British Undertakers though afterwards for want of Relief they were surrendred also into the Hands of the Rebels Nor will it appear at all strange The strange Secresy of the Conspiracy that they made so great Progress in so little time when it is considered that the Conspiracy was so secretly carried among them as that except the Information given to Sir William Cole it was not known to any of the English or British Inhabitants till they felt the Effects of it They Lived in the greatest seeming Friendship together with the Irish which brought them into a Security that proved so fatal to them And like People who are surprized in their midnight Sleep with their House blazing about their Heads when they had not seen the least Sparks of Fire at their lying down so it happened to these miserable Creatures who upon the first Risings about them put themselves their Wives and Children into the Protection of such of the Irish whom they had most Obliged and from whose Friendship they promised themselves Security and Preservation but these Perfidious and Inhumane Wretches too frequently either betrayed them into the Hands of the Rebels their Associates who Murdered and Destroyed them or at least Stript and Despoiled them of all they had or else having them and their Goods and Money in their Power basely did it themselves and it is almost a shame to Humanity Sir John Temple Irish Rebellion p. 70.71 et passim alibi to repeat the Cruelties which as the Writers of that time relate from the Depositions of those who escaped the Fury of the Irish were acted upon the Innocent English and British Inhabitants of that Island but it will be a greater and eternal Reproach and Infamy to the Priests and those who call themselves the Religious of the Romish Persuasion that they were the Actors and Instigators of the deluded People to commit those Execrable and Savage Cruelties as if they were Meritorious and Acceptable Services to God Almighty which far surpass the most Sanguinary Hecatombs that were ever offered to the Devil by the Blind and Pagan Idolaters and yet it is but too evident it must be placed to the account of those of the Popish Clergy for it seems before the Plot was come to Maturity there was a Consultation held at the Abbey of Multifernan in the County of Westmeath Borlase Hist p. 25. Dr. Jones's Deposition where among other things the Question was debated What Course should be taken with the English and all others that were found in the whole Kingdom to be Protestants some were only for expelling them as the King of Spain did the Moors out of Granada others disliked that Lenity urging that they might
held by Bishops the greatest Fires and Pests of Christendom the Old Heresies were by their Industry extinct Church Discipline and Pious Constitutions by them Established many Nations by them converted many Miracles done for the Confirmation of the Christian Faith one of the Gospels written by a Bishop St. Mark of Alexandria if we believe as authentick Records as any are extant Three of the Epistles of St. Paul written to Bishops seven Epistles by the Holy Ghost himself recorded in the Revelation and sent to the Seven Asian Bishops as all ancient Fathers accord * * Timotheus Titus Clemens Limus Marcus Dyonisius Onesimus Caius Epaphroditus Jacobus Hierosolimit Euodias Simeon the Names of twelve Men besides Apostles mentioned in Holy Scripture which all Antiquity reports to have been Bishops most of the Fathers whose Works all Posterity embraces with much Zeal and Admiration were Bishops these also in our Apprehensions advance that Holy Function to a high and unalterable Estimation 17. Very many of the fairest Churches and Colleges and Places of Religion were built by Bishops which are fair Characters to shew their prompiness to do Publick Acts of Piety and that Persons so well qualified as they were that is Governors and Clergy and fairly endowed is an excellent Composition to advance publick Designs for the Honor of God in the Promotion of Publick Piety 18. Since it hath pleased this Honorable Court of late to commend a Protestation to Vs which We by solemn Vow engaged our selves to Attest with our Lives and Fortunes the established Doctrine of the Church of England We consider that since the 36 Article hath approved and established the Book of Consecration of Bishops the Abolition of Bishops would nullifie that Article and should We not make humble Remonstrance to the contrary we should suddenly recede from our great and solemn Protestation for maintenance of our Church Doctrine But may it please this Honorable Assembly We consider on the other side 19. The introducing of Lay Elders must bring an insupportable Burthen to all Parishes by maintaining them at the Parish Charge for they must be maintained or else a Transgression is made against the Apostolical Rule Tim. 5. for the principal and indeed only colourable pretended Place for Lay-Elders injoyns their Maintenances so that either the People must be Oppressed with so great a Burthen or else St. Paul's Rule not obeyed or else there is no Authority for Lay Elders as indeed there is not 20. And also there can be no less fear of Vsurpation upon the Temporal Power by the Presbytery then is pretended from Episcopacy since that Presbytery challenges Cognisance of more Causes and Persons then the Episcopacy does so making a dangerous Entrenchment upon the Supremacy and derives its Pretence from Divine Institution with more Confidence and more immediate derivation then Episcopacy though indeed more vainly as We conceive 21. We crave leave also to add this That these two viz. Episcopacy and Presbytery being the only two in contestation if any new Design should justle Episcopacy we are confident that as it hitherto wants a Name so it will want a Face or Form of Reason in case of Conscience when it shall appear Signed by Knights Justices Gentry and Free-Holders about 800 By Ministers about the Number of 40. Though this Number seem but small yet the County is so too and certainly the Reasons which they offered were great and altogether unanswerable But the Word of the Faction was Delenda est Carthago Root and Branch must up though the 12 Apostles themselves had Petitioned them and remonstrated against this Violent and Anti-Christian Enterprize as in reality both they and all Apostolick Men as is well urged in this Petition did This day a Petition was read in the House of Lords Friday Novemb. 19. Officers of the late Army Petition for their Pay Presented by the Colonels and Chief Commanders in the late King's Army shewing That whereas there was a Trust desired by the Parliament of the said Officers for part of their Pay and thereupon an Act was made for their satisfaction to be given positively on the 10th of this Instant November They therefore desire That the Parliament may be moved to make good their Act. Whereupon it was Ordered to be propounded to the Commons at a Conference The Press breaks loose against Church and State The Press now began to break loose as indeed every thing that looked like Order seemed to be wholly Abandoned to Libertinisme both in Church and State for daily Complaints were made of abusive Pamphlets against both particular Persons and the Government Civil and Ecclesiastical Complaint had been some time before made to the House of a Libel against the Earl of Worcester another against the French Ambassador a third for Printing and Publishing a Book Intituled Leicester's Commonwealth upon all which the Honourable House of Lords who had not yet ejected the Bishops and others of the Loyal Nobility had animadverted and this Day it was Ordered That Lewis Hughs a Minister be sent for to attend this House to see if he will avow the making of a Book Intituled The Grievances and Errors of the Service-Book and that the Company of the Stationers do take Care to find out the Printer of the same Ordered Wall restored to his Place That Thomas Wall shall be restored to his former Imployment about the Vpper House of Parliament which although it is in the Gentleman Vshers disposure yet the Lords do presume that he will give way unto it by reason that his Dismission from the Imployment was by Order of this House for the reglect of his Duty to their Lordships only and the Business that concerned the House The Commons were still busy with the Declaration which having been the Work of many Daies and some Nights the Faction watching the opportunity of a thin House when most of the Loyal Party were tired and risen was at last brought to that perfection that it was Ordered to be Ingrossed A Motion was made for encouraging voluntary Contributions for the Relief of the poor English in the Kingdom of Ireland to which Sir John Packer presently gave 100 l. The Lord Brooks acquainted the Lord Thursday Novemb. 20. That he had informed the Venetian Ambassador with the Order of this House concerning Priests and Jesuits and the Ambassador saith he hath none that are the King 's Native Subjects if he had any such he would discharge them as for Father Jones and Father Andrews he saith he knows none such The Petition of Robert Philips the Priest was read Philips the Priest Petitions to be released from the Tower Craving Pardon for having presented formerly to their Lordships such Petitions as have not afforded expected Satisfaction which he humbly beseecheth may not be imputed to his backwardness but rather unto want of Experience in forming Petitions of that Nature And further he beseecheth their Lordships to believe that from his Heart he is
Water in the other for the same Committee was appointed to draw up the Petition together with some Reasons which necessitated the House make this Declaration were at the same time ordered to frame a Congratulation for his Majesties safe return from Scotland And that the Reader may perceive the true Reason why they made use of this Fucus of pretended Loyalty to paint over their Designs and that the Remonstrance was very early projected by the Faction even in the beginning of the Parliament I must once more present him with a Passage out of the Memoires of the late Earl of Manchester The Grievances of the Kingdom having been fully enumerated and declared some of the Members of both Houses had private Meetings and Consultations how to direct their Parliamentary Resolutions in order to present Redress and future Security and it was conceived by them to be the most certain Way and most consistent with the Duty and Allegiance of Subjects to fix their Complaints and Accusations upon evil Counsellors as the immediate Actors in the Tragical Miseries of the Kingdom rather then upon the personal Failings and Mal-administrations in the King Therefore it was resolved That the House of Commons as the Grand Inquest of the Kingdom should draw up such a Remonstrance as might be a faithful and lively Representation to his Majesty of the deplorable Estate of his Kingdom and might point out unto him those that were most Obnoxious and Liable to Censure owning still such a due regard to his Royal Authority as not to mention his Name but with Honor and in the deepest Sense of their former Grievances to render him Thanks for the calling this Parliament as the happy Omen to their present Hopes of future Redress and Establishment By which short passage one may plainly see the Method by which they conducted themselves which was to preface their most scandalous Declarations and most unreasonable Demands with the fair Expressions of Loyalty Duty Allegiance and Honor to his Majesties Person and that all their Animosities month Decem. 1641. were only against the Evil Counsellor who Administred the Publick Affairs but for the King they had no other Intentions then to render him Great and Glorious and to establish the Throne to him and his Posterity But to proceed in the Parliamentary Transactions Wednesday Decemb. 1. Bishop of Exeter's Report about Books formerly seized by the High Commission this Day the Bishop of Exon reported to the Lords House That the Committee formerly appointed by their House have perused those Books which were seized on coming from beyond the Seas and others printed in England and put into the Hands of the Register of the High Commission Court and the Committee finds them to be of three several sorts 1 Such as are fit to be delivered to the Owners and to be sold by the Stationers as good and vendible Books viz. The Holy Table Name and Thing Mr. Walker 's Treaty of the Sabbath A French Commentary on the Revelations Dr. Burgess his Rejoynder for Ceremonies Some old Books of Controversies A Second sort of Books which the Committee thinks fit to be sold to choice Persons as Causin 's 4th Tome of Holy Court in fol. of which there are 370. Thomas de Kempis of the following of Christ of which there are 100 in Decimo Sexto The Life of Sir Thomas Moor. A Third sort of Superstitious Tablets and Books which are fit to be Burnt as Missals Primers and Offices of our Lady c. Hereupon it was Ordered by this House The Order of the Lords concerning some Popish and other Books That the first sort of Books are approved of by this House and are to be delivered to the Owners and to be sold by the Stationers and that the second sort be delivered over to safe Hands to be sold to Noblemen Gentlemen and Schollars but not to Women and lastly That the third sort be burned by the Sheriffs of London in Smithfield forthwith Sir Henry Beddingfield who was formerly sent for by Order of the Lords Sir Henry Beddingfield of Norfolk his Examination was brought in and the Information of William Shales was read unto him which being done Sir Henry Beddingfield desired he might answer particularly to the Charge But there being several Opinions in the House herein he was commanded to withdraw and the House took it into Consideration and Resolved he should be asked Generals before Particulars Sir Henry was called in again and the Speaker by Directions of the House asked him these Questions 1. Whether he knowes one William Shales 2. Whether he was with him in his Garden at the time mentioned in the Information and who else was with him 3. What Discourse he had with Shales 4. How long be had known Shales Sir Henry Beddingfield's Answer was 1. That he knowes William Shales for he was formerly his Faulkner 2. That Shales was with him in his Garden in April last and Poole with them 3. That their Discourse was Where the best place for Hawking was in Ireland and no other discourse It was then desired That Sir Henry Beddingfield might be asked Whether that Poole be a Priest And it was objected That thereby he might accuse himself but he being not upon Oath was asked the Question and he Answered That Poole was no Priest After this Poole was Examined upon Oath What he knowes concerning the Information of William Shales He answered That he was present at the Discourse between Sir Henry Beddingfield and the said Shales and he remembred they discoursed in the Garden of Hawking and what kind of Country Ireland was for Hawking and about taking of a House at Kilkenny and that Shales said All things were quiet in Ireland but denied he heard or knowes any more The House taking the whole business into Consideration and finding no sufficient matter to proceed against Sir Henry Beddingfield Sir H. Beddingfield acquitted Ordered That he be released from his present restraint and dismissed from any further attendance upon this House for any thing concerning this Business And lastly that his Study shall be Vnsealed and opened as it was before any Order of this House served upon him The Lord Keeper Reported a Conference this day had with the Commons concerning the Impeached Bishops and Phillips the Priest A Conference concerning the Impeached Bishops and Phillips the Priest That the House of Commons have received the Plea and Demurrer of 12 of the 13 Bishops that are impeached for making the Book of Canons c. contrary to Law and that one of them pleads Not Guilty the other 12 neither confessed nor denyed the Charge The House of Commons are ready to make it good by proof and do desire a short day to be prefixed for that Purpose Concerning Phillips the Priest the House of Commons say That they understand their Lordships have received satisfaction from him for the Contempt done to their House That the general business of the Kingdom hindered the
sway in all their determinations and if they be not prevented are likely to devour the rest or to turn them into their own nature In the beginning of his Majesties Reign the Party begun to revive and flourish again having been somewhat dampt by the breach with Spain in the last year of King James and by his Majesties Marriage with France the Interest and Counsels of that State being not so contrary to the good of Religion and the Prosperity of this Kingdom as those of Spain and the Papists of England having been ever more addicted to Spain then France yet they still retained a Purpose and Resolution to weaken the Protestant Parties in all Parts and even in France whereby to make way for the Change of Religion which they intended at Home The first Effect and Evidence of their Recovery and Strength was the dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford after there had been given two Subsidies to his Majesty and before they received Relief in any one Grievance many other more miserable Effects followed The loss of the Rochel Fleet by the help of our Shipping set forth and delivered over to the French in opposition to the Advice of Parliament which left that Town without Defence by Sea and made way not only to the loss of that important Place but likewise to the loss of all the Strength and Security of the Protestant Religion in France The diverting of his Majesties course of Wars from the West-Indies which was the most facile and hopeful way for this Kingdom to prevail against the Spaniard to an expenceful and unsuccessful Attempt upon Cales which was so ordered as if it had rather bin intended to make us weary of War then to prosper in it The precipitate breach with France by taking their Ships to a great value without making recompence to the English whose Goods were thereupon imbar'd and confiscate in that Kingdom The Peace with Spain without Consent of Parliament contrary to the promise of King James to both Houses whereby the Palatine Cause was deserted and left to Chargeable and Hopeless Treaties which for the most part were Managed by those who might justly be suspected to be no Friends to that Cause The charging of the Kingdom with Billeted Soldiers in all Parts of it and that Concomitant Design of German Horse that the Land might either submit with Fear or be inforced with Rigour to such Arbitrary Contributions as should be required of them The dissolving of the Parliament in the second Year of his Majesties Reign after a Declaration of their Intent to grant five Subsidies The exacting of the like proportion of five Subsidies after the Parliament dissolved by Commission of Loan and divers Gentlemen and others imprisoned for not yeilding to pay that Loan whereby many of them contracted such sicknesses as cost them their Lives Great Summs of Money required and raised by Privy Seals An unjust and pernicious attempt to extort great Payments from the Subject by way of Excise and a Commission issued under Seal to that purpose The Petition of Right which was granted in full Parliament blasted with an illegal Declaration to make it destructive to it self to the Power of Parliament to the Liberty of the Subject and to that purpose printed with it and the Petition made of no use but to shew the bold and presumptuous injustice of such Ministers as durst break the Laws and suppress the Liberties of the Kingdom after they had been so Solemnly and evidently declared Another Parliament dissolved 4 Car. the Privilege of Parliament broken by imprisoning divers Members of the House detaining them close Prisoners for many Months together without the Liberty of using Books Pen Ink or Paper denying them all the Comforts of Life all Means of preservation of Health not permitting their Wives to come unto them even in time of their Sickness And for the compleating of that Cruelty after Years spent in such miserable durance depriving them of the necessary means of Spiritual Consolation not suffering them to go abroad to enjoy God's Ordinances in God's House or God's Ministers to come to them to administer Comfort unto them in their private Chambers and to keep them still in this oppressed Condition not admitting them to be bailed according to Law yet vexing them with Informations in inferior Courts Sentencing and Fining some of them for Matters done in Parliament and Extorting the Payments of those Fines from them inforcing others to put in Security of good Behaviour before they could be released The Imprisonment of the rest which refused to be bound still continued which might have been perpetual if necessity had not the last year brought another Parliament to relieve them of whom one died by the cruelty and harshness of his Imprisonment which would admit of no relaxation notwithstanding the Imminent Danger of his Life did sufficiently appear by the Declaration of his Physician And his release or at least his refreshment was sought by many humble Petitions And his Blood still cryes either for Vengeance or Repentance of those Ministers of State who have at once obstructed the course both of his Majesties Justice and Mercy Upon the Dissolution of both these Parliaments untrue and scandalous Declarations Published to asperse their Proceedings and some of their Members unjustly to make them odious and colour the Violence which was used against them Proclamations set out to the same purpose and to the great dejecting of the hearts of the People forbidding them to speak of Parliaments After the Breach of Parliament in the fourth year of his Majesty Injustice Oppression and Violence broke in upon us without any restraint or moderation and yet the first project was the great Sums exacted thorough the whole Kingdom for default of Knighthood which seemed to have some colour and shadow of a Law yet if it be rightly examined by that obsolete Law which was pretended for it it would be found to be against all the Rules of Justice both in respect of the persons charged the proportion of the Fines demanded and the absurd and unreasonable manner of their Proceedings Tonnage and Poundage hath been received without colour or pretence of Law many other heavy impositions continued against Law and some so unreasonable that the sum of the Charge exceeds the value of the Goods The Book of Rates lately inhansed to a high proportion and such Merchants as would not submit to their Illegal and unreasonable Payments were vexed and oppressed above measure and the ordinary course of Justice the common Birth-right of the Subject of England wholly obstructed unto them And although all this was taken upon pretence of Guarding the Sea yet a new and unheard of Tax of Ship-money was devised upon the same pretence By both which there was charged upon the Subject near 700000 Pounds some years and yet the Merchants have been left so naked to the violence of the Turkish Pirates that many great Ships of value and thousands of his Majesties Subjects
Declaration against the House of Commons was published in His Majesties Name which yet wrought little Effect with the People but only to manifest the Impudence of those who were Authors of it A forced Loan of Money was attempted in the City of London The Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their several Wards injoyned to bring in a List of the Names of such Persons as they judged fit to lend and of the Sum they should lend And such Aldermen as refused so to do were committed to Prison The Archbishop and the other Bishops and Clergy continued the Convocation and by a new Commission turned it to a Provincial Synod in which by an unheard-of presumption they made Canons that contain in them many Matters contrary to the King's Prerogative to the Fundamental Laws and Statutes of the Realm to the Right of Parliaments to the Property and Liberty of the Subject and Matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence thereby establishing their own Usurpations justifying their Alter-Worship and those other Superstitious Innovations which they formerly introduced without Warrant of Law They Imposed a new Oath upon divers of his Majesties Subjects both Ecclesiastical and Lay for maintenance of their own Tyranny and laid a great Tax upon the Clergy for Supply of his Majesty and generally they shewed themselves very Affectionate to the War with Scotland which was by some of them styled Bellum Episcopale and a Prayer Composed and Injoyned to be read in all Churches calling the Scots Rebels to put the two Nations into Blood and make them irreconcileable All those pretended Canons and Constitutions were armed with the several Censures of Suspension Excommunication Deprivation by which they would have thrust out all the good Ministers and most of the Well-Affected People of the Kingdom and left an easie Passage to their own Design of Reconciliation with Rome The Popish Party injoyned such Exemptions from the Penal Laws as amounted to a Toleration besides many other Encouragements and Court Favours They had a Secretary of State Sir Francis Windibank a powerful Agent for the speeding of all their desires a Popes Nuntio residing here to Act and Govern them according to such Influences as he received from Rome and to intercede for them with the most powerful Concurrence of the Forreign Princes of that Religion By his Authority the Papists of all sorts Nobility Gentry and Clergy were convocated after the manner of a Parliament new Jurisdictions were erected of Romish Archbishops Taxes levied another State moulded within this State independant in Government contrary in Interest and Affection secretly corrupting the ignorant or negligent Professors of our Religion and closely uniting and combining themselves against such as were Sound in this Posture waiting for an Opportunity by force to destroy those whom they could not hope to seduce For the effecting whereof they were strengthened with Arms and Munition encouraged by superstitious Prayers enjoyned by the Nuncio to be weekly made for the prosperity of some great Design And such Power had they at Court that secretly a Commission was issued out intended to be issued to some great Men of that Profession for the levying of Soldiers and to Command and Imploy them according to private Instructions which we doubt were framed for the advantage of those who were the Contrivers of them His Majesties Treasure was consumed his Revenue anticipated His Servants and Officers compelled to lend great Sums of Money Multitudes were called to the Councel Table who were retired with long attendances there for refusing illegal Payments The Prisons were filled with their Commitments many of the Sheriffs summoned into the Star-Chamber and some imprisoned for not being quick enough in levying the Ship-Money the People languished under Grief and Fear no visible hope being left but in desperation The Nobility began to be weary of their Silence and Patience and sensible of the duty and trust which belongs to them and thereupon some of the most eminent of them did Petition his Majesty at such a time when evil Councels were so strong that they had reason to expect more hazard to themselves then redress of those publick Evils for which they interceded whilest the Kingdom was in this agitation and distemper the Scots restrained in their Trades Impoverished by the loss of many of their Ships bereaved of all possibility of satisfying his Majesty by any naked Supplication entred with a powerful Army into the Kingdom and without any Hostile Act or Spoil in the Country as they passed more than forcing a Passage over the Tyne at Newborne near New-Castle possessed themselves of New-Castle and had a fair opportunity to press on further upon the King's Army but Duty and Reverence to his Majesty and brotherly love to the English Nation made them stay there whereby the King had leisure to entertain better Counsels wherein God so blessed and directed him that he summoned the great Council of Peers to meet at York upon the twenty fourth of September and there declared a Parliament to begin the Third of November then following The Scots the first day of the great Council presented an humble Petition to His Majesty whereupon the Treaty was appointed at Rippon A present Cessation of Arms agreed upon and the full Conclusion of all Differences referred to the Wisdom and Care of the Parliament At our first Meeting all Oppositions seemed to vanish the Mischiefs were so evident which those Evil Counsellors produced that no Man durst stand up to defend them Yet the Work it self afforded difficulty enough The multiplied Evils and Corruption of sixteen years strengthened by Custom and Authority and the concurrent Interest of many powerful Delinquents were now to be brought to Judgment and Reformation The King's Houshold was to be provided for they had brought him to that Want that he could not supply his ordinary and necessary Expences without the Assistance of his People Two Armies were to be payed which amounted very near to eighty thousand Pounds a Month the People were to be tenderly charged having bin formerly exhausted with many burthensome Projects The difficulties seemed to be insuperable which by the Divine Providence we have overcome The Contrarieties incompatible which yet in a great measure we have reconciled Six Subsidies have been granted and a Bill of Poll-Money which if it be duly levyed may equal six Subsidies more in all six hundred thousand pounds Besides we have contracted a Debt to the Scots of 220 thousand pounds and yet God hath so blessed the endeavours of this Parliament that the Kingdom is a great gainer by all these charges The Ship-Money is abolished which cost the Kingdom above two hundred thousand pounds a year The Coat and Conduct Money and other Military charges are taken away which in many Countries amounted to little less then the Ship-Money The Monopolies are all supprest whereof some few did prejudice the Subject above a Million yearly The Soap an hundred thousand pounds the Wine three hundred thousand pounds
the Leather must needs exceed both and Salt could be no less then that besides the inferior Monopolies which if they could be exactly computed would make up a great Sum. That which is more beneficial then all this is that the root of these evils is taken away which was the Arbitrary Power pretended to be in his Majesty of Taxing the Subject or charging their Estates without consent in Parliament which is now declared to be against Law by the judgment of both Houses and likewise by an Act of Parliament Another step of great advantage is this the living Grievances the evil Counsellors and Actors of these Mischiefs have been so quelled by the Justice done upon the Earl of Strafford the flight of the Lord Finch and Secretary Windibank The Accusation and Imprisonment of the Archbishop of Canterbury of Judge Bartlet and the Impeachment of divers other Bishops and Judges that it is like not only to be an ease to the present times but a preservation to the future The discontinuance of Parliaments is prevented by the Bill for a Triennial Parliament and the abrupt dissolution of this Parliament by another Bill by which it is provided it shall not be dissolved or adjourned without the consent of both Houses Which two Laws well considered may be thought more advantageous then all the former because they secure a full Operation of the present Remedy and afford a perpetual Spring of Remedies for the future The Star-Chamber the High Commission the Courts of the President and Council in the North where so many Forges of misery oppression and violence and are all taken away whereby men are more secured in their Persons Liberties and Estates then they could be by any Law or Example for the regulation of those Courts or terrour of the Judges the immoderate Power of the Council-Table and the excessive abuse of that Power is so ordered and restrained that we may well hope that no such things as were frequently done by them to the prejudice of the publick Liberty will appear in future times but only in stories to give us and our Posterity more occasion to praise God for his Majesties goodness and the faithful endeavours of this Parliament The Canons and the power of Canon making are blasted by the Vote of both Houses The exorbitant power of Bishops and their Courts are much abated by some Provisions in the Bill against the High Commission Court The Authors of the many Innovations in Doctrine and Ceremonies the Ministers that have been scandalous in their lives have been so terrified in just Complaints and Accusations that we may well hope they will be more modest for the time to come either inwardly convicted by the sight of their own folly or outwardly restrained by the fear of punishment The Forrests are by a good Law reduced to their right bounds the encroachments and oppressions of the Stannery Courts the extorsions of the Clerk of the Market and the compulsion of the Subject to receive the Order of Knighthood against his will paying of Fines for not receiving it and the vexatious proceedings thereupon for Levying of those Fines are by other beneficial Laws reformed and prevented Many excellent Laws and Provisions are in preparation for removing the inordinate power vexation and usurpation of Bishops for reforming the Pride and Idleness of many of the Clergy for easing the People of unnecessary Ceremonies in Religion for censuring and removing unworthy and unprofitable Ministers and for maintaining Godly and diligent Preachers through the Kingdom Other things of main importance for the good of this Kingdom are in proposition though little could hitherto be done in regard of the many other more pressing businesses which yet before the end of this Session we hope may receive some progress and perfection The Establishing and ordering the Kings Revenue that so the abuse of Officers and superfluity of expences may be cut off and the necessary disbursments for his Majesties Honour the Defence and Government of the Kingdom may be more certainly provided for The regulating of Courts of Justice and abridging both the delays and charges of Law Suits the setling of some good courses for preventing the exportation of Gold and Silver and the inequality of exchanges betwixt us and other Nations for the advancing of Native Commodities increase of our Manufactures and well ballancing of Trade whereby the Stock of the Kingdom may be increased or at least kept from impairing as through neglect hereof it hath done for many years last past For improving the Herring fishing upon our own Coasts which will be of mighty use in the imployment of the Poor and a plentiful Nursery of Marriners for enabling the Kingdom in any great Action The oppositions obstructions and other Difficulties wherewith we have been encountred and which still lye in our way with some strength and much obstinacy are these the malignant Party whom we have formerly described to be the Actors and Promoters of all our Misery they have taken heart again they have been able to prefer some of their own Factors and Agents to degrees of Honour to places of Trust and Employment even during the Parliament They have endeavoured to work in his Majesty ill Impressions and Opinions of our Proceedings as if we had altogether done our own work and not his and had obtained from him many things very prejudicial to the Crown both in respect of Prerogative and Profit To wipe out this slander we think good only to say thus much That all that we have done is for his Majesty his Greatness Honour and Support when we yielded to give twenty five thousand pounds a Month for the relief of the Northern Countries this was given to the King for he was bound to protect his Subjects they were his Majesties evil Counsellors and their ill instruments that were Actors in those Grievances which brought in the Scots and if his Majesty please to force those who were the Authors of this War to make satisfaction as he might justly and easily do it seems very reasonable that the people might well be excused from taking upon them this burthen being altogether innocent and free from being any causes of it When we undertook the Charge of the Army which cost above 50000 l. a Month was not this given to the King was it not his Majesty's Army were not all the Commanders under Contract with his Majesty at higher rates and greater wages then ordinary and have we not taken upon us to discharge all the Brotherly assistance of three hundred thousand pounds which we gave the Scots was it not toward repair of those damages and losses which they received from the Kings Ships and from his Ministers These three particulars amount to above 1100 thousand pounds besides his Majesty hath received by impositions upon Merchandise at least 400 thousand pounds so that his Majesty hath had out of the Subjects Purse since the Parliament began one Million and an half and yet these Men can be
speed as the weightiness of the business will permit And so He gave us all his Hand to kiss and afterwards sent Mr. Comptroller to us with this Message to be delivered to the House That there might be no publishing of the Declaration till the House had received his Majesties Answer We were all Entertained by Mr. Comptroller with great Respect and Lodged by the King's Harbinger This Day Mr. Mr. Jarvaise Hollis restored to his place in the House of Commons Jervaise Hollis who had formerly been Expulsed the House for a Speech which he made with a great strength of Reason and Courage but more heat than the Times would bear against the tame Compliances with the Scottish Army then in England was restored to his place to sit as a Member of the House of Commons The Debate about the Tumults was as it had been the day before adjourned till to morrow The Earl of Bath Reported the Conference had this Day with the Commons That they did let their Lordships know Friday Decemb. 3. Ammunition sent from the Tower for Ireland That whereas there were divers Waggons and Carts loaden with Arms and Ammunition from the Tower of London to be conveyed to West-Chester and to be Shipped for Ireland which were but slenderly Guarded therefore they desire that their Lordships would be pleased to joyn with them to move his Majesty to give Order to the Sheriffs of the several Counties through which they are to pass That they may be guarded safely to West-Chester To which the Lords agreed Also That Information was given That a Ship was lately discovered in Milford Haven loaden with Arms and Ammunition and that it is reported the Men in her be French-men but they speak English and that another Ship as they are informed is in the Haven of Aberdoney in Cardiganshire and the Men buy up the Provisions of that Country That two Men which were in that Ship they understand are now in Town Whereupon the Lords Ordered that they should be sent for to be Examined concerning this business It will possibly to some persons appear very superfluous to take notice of such trifling passages as these Informations and the Necessity of Guarding the Waggons to West-Chester but it is to be considered That as trifling as these things now may seem to be the Faction industriously pickt up all such Informations and made Extraordinary Use of these little Arts to facilitate their Great Design for now the Kingdom was to be put into a Posture of Defence as they termed it that was they intended to wrest from the King the Power of the Sword the Militia of the Nation and nothing could be more serviceable to them in amusing the People with imaginary Dangers of French Ships laden with Arms and Ammunition and French-men that speak English and consequently Fears of Forreign Invasions c. than these stories which being spread abroad and sufficiently magnified by running from hand to hand gave a Countenance to their unjust Demands of settling the Militia and puting the Kingdom into this Posture of Defence The King having acquainted the Lords That Certain Commissioners were come from Scotland to Treat with both Houses of Parliament concerning the Assistance for Ireland Commissioners of both Houses appointed to treat with the Scots Commissioners concerning Assistance for Ireland and to settle all the Condition and State of the Warr the Lords Appointed and Nominated the Earl of Bedford and the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Lord Howard of Escrick and the Commons Nathanael Fynes Esquire Sir William Armyn Baronet Sir Phillip Stapleton Knight and John Hampden Esquire to be Commissioners to be Empowered by the King's Commission to Treat with the said Scottish Commissioners who were to acquaint his Majesty and the Parliament with their Proceedings before they came to any final Conclusion The Councel of the Impeached Bishops were called in to be heard in that affair who informed their Lordships The Bishops Plea and Demurrer to be argued Tuesday Dec. 7. That the Cause will not be fit for hearing until the Bishops have put in their Answers for until then there can be no Issue joyned and they conceive no Answer can be made until the Charge be particular therefore the Bishops abide by their Plea and Demurrer Whereupon the House Ordered That the Councel for the Bishops shall be heard at the Barr what they can say in maintenance of the Plea and Demurrer to the Impeachment brought up from the House of Commons against the Bishops on Tuesday the 7th of this instant December at which time and place the House of Commons or such of their Members as they shall appoint may be present if they please And a Message was sent by Sir Robert Rich and Dr. Bennet to acquaint them with this Order Phillips the Priest was this Day according to a former Order Bailed Phillips the Priest bailed upon conditions not to go to Court c. as before Two Bills were brought up from the Commons by Sir William Lewis the One Entituled An Act for the better raising and levying of Soldiers for the present Defence of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland The other For Relief of Captives taken by Turkish Pyrates and to prevent the same for the time to come Little of moment passed in the Commons House besides the reading and passing the above named Bills and Messages before recited about the Bishops c. only St. Germain the French man released the Debate of the Tumults was again put off till to morrow and Monsieur St. Germain a French-man whose close Imprisonment with strict Orders That no person should speak with him but in the presence of a Keeper c. which had made a mighty noise about the Town and so answered the design why he was taken up was this day by Order of the Commons discharged from his Imprisonment This day Sir George Whitmore Mr. Cordall Mr. Soame Mr. Gayer Several Aldermen with the Sheriffs and Recorder of London attend the King at Hampton-Court Mr. Garret Mr. Wollaston and the two Sheriffs of London being all Aldermen of the same City together with the Recorder by virtue of an Act of Common Council attended his Majesty at Hampton-Court to render him the Thanks of the City for his gracious favour done them by affording them his Royal Presence and giving so great Testimonies of his Affection and Kindness to the City They were conducted to His Majesty by the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain to the Queen and Sir Peter Wiche Comptroller to his Majesty where after they had returned the Humble Thanks of the City to his Majesty for his former Favours they offered these two humble Petitions First That their Majesties would vouchsafe this Honor to the City if it might stand with their good Pleasures to make their Residence at this Season of the Year at the Palace of Whitehall The Second was That whereas since his Majesties happy Return
have a Copy of the Declaration against him and shall put in his Answer thereunto on Tuesday come seven Night The Commons were also in an extraordinary heat about the Halberdeers who were set to prevent Tumults and Riots Routs and unlawful Assemblies which now frequently resorted to Westminster to cry out against the Bishops and their Votes in Parliament some of the Halberdeers were called to the Bar and Examined and they giving the same Account as was before given to the Lords the Bailiff of Westminster the Constable of St. Clement Danes and the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex were ordered to be sent for to give an Account of the Reason of placing those Guards about the Parliament House And thereupon it was Voted Resolved c. That the setting of any Guards about this House Vote of the Commons concerning the Guard of Halberdeers set about the Parliament House without the Consent of the House is a breach of the Privilege of this House and that therefore such Guards ought to be dismissed And thereupon the Serjeant at Armes attending the House was appointed to Command them to depart which was done accordingly The House then sell into Debate concerning the treating with the Scottish Commissioners concerning raising Men for the relief of Ireland and upon the Question it was Resolved c. That this House doth Approve and Consent that his Majesties Commissioners named by the House and appointed to treat with the Scotch Commissioners shall treat with them for the raising of 10000 Scots for the Occasions of Ireland Sir Walter Earl then gave Information to the House of some dangerous Words spoken by several Persons but did not Name them whereupon it was Ordered That Mr. Speaker should issue out a Warrant to apprehend such Persons as Sir Walter Earl shall nominate to him for speaking Words of a dangerous Consequence This was one of the common Arts which they used to restrain those who were able from informing the People of the dangerous Consequences of their own Proceedings and Liberty of Speech seemed now to be wholly confined within the Walls of St. Stephen's Chappel or if any of that common Privilege of Mankind was indulged it was only to the Favourites of the Faction the Sectaries and Schismaticks who they were assured would be very serviceable to them in imploying that Liberty to traduce and Calumniate the King the Bishops the Government of the Church and whatever was either Orthodox or Loyal but for others if they once dared to Intrench upon the Privilege of the Pretended Sects or to correct those Liberties they took to defame the King and his Ministers the Church and her Governors or to arraign any of the violent Proceedings of the Faction these Religious Spies and Setters immediately gave Informations against them to some of the Members of the Commons and these Men had a certain devise to punish Men who had transgressed no known Law for Crimes which would not bear an Indictment or the Test of a Jury of their Peers by bringing them under the Rod of the Commons House for Words of dangerous Consequence for which constructive Offences their Persons were imprisoned and their Purses fleeced by the Serjeant and his Officers as if they had been the most notorious Malefactors Such precious beginnings had this Dawning of the glorious Day which they promised the People should be nothing but one continued Sun-shine of Liberty and Property without the least Cloud of Arbitrary or Exorbitant Government But as a great Man said upon another Occasion in this present Parliament Misera est servitus ubi jus est vagum et incertum Where known Law ends there Slavery begins And where our Law knows not how to lay an Indictment it must certainly be something Arbitrary that inflicts a Punishment But this was the Case of Loyalty Men were not only made Offenders for a Word but for such Words as were justifiable by the Laws of God and Man His Majesty whose Zeal for the Church was as Eminent as his Piety and Devotion were singular and most extraordinary observing what an Inundation of Schisme and Errors were flowing in upon the Church the Pretence of Reformation letting loose all the Schismaticks who pretended to be the great Reformers issued out a most Excellent Proclamation to prevent that Disorder Division and Separation which he too Prophetically foresaw would indanger the Subversion of the very Essence and Substance of Religion The Proclamation was as follows A Proclamation for Obedience to the Laws Ordained for Establishing of the True Religion in this Kingdom of England HIs Majesty considering that it is a Duty most beseeming A Proclamation for Obedience to the Laws for Establishing the true Religion in England Dec. 11. 1641. and that most obligeth Soveraign Authority in a Christian King to be careful above all other Things of preserving and advancing the Honor and Service of Almighty God and the peace and tranquility of the Church to which end His Majesty with his Parliament hath it under Consideration how all just Scruples might be removed And being in the mean time sensible that the present Division Separation and Disorder about the Worship and Service of God as it is Established by the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom in the Church of England tendeth to great Distraction and Confusion and may endanger the Subversion of the very Essence and Substance of true Religion hath resolved for the preservation of Vnity and Peace which is most necessary at this time for the Church of England to require Obedience to the Laws and Statutes Ordained for establishing of the True Religion in this Kingdom whereby the Honor of God may be advanced to the great Comfort and Happiness both of His Majesty and his good Subjects His Majesty doth therefore Charge and Command That Divine Service be performed in this His Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as is appointed by the Laws and Statutes Estadlished in this Realm and that Obedience be given by all His Subjects Ecclesiastical and Temporal to the said Laws and Statutes concerning the same And that all Iudges Officers and Ministers Ecclesiastical and Temporal according to Iustice and their respective Duties do put the said Acts of Parliament in due Execution against all willfull Contemners and Disturbers of Divine Service contrary to the said Laws and Statutes His Majesty doth further Command That no Parsons Vicars or Curates in their several Parishes shall presume to introduce any Rite or Ceremonies other then those which are Established by the Laws and Statutes of the Land Given at His Majesties Palace of White-Hall the tenth Day of December in the Seventeenth Year of His Majesties Reign God save the KING But the Root of the Schism lay too deep to be Cured by a Proclamation and the Separatists knew where to take Sanctuary not only for their Disobedience to the Laws made in favor of the Church but of the Crown too or otherwise they would not in such riotous and Tumultuous Manner
and procure Her Majesty that by her consent and direction it may be published and declared That Her Majesty doth Abhor and Detest the Perfidious and Traiterous proceedings of the Rebels in Ireland The Fifth Paper was a Certificate from the Council of Ireland A Certificate from the Lords Justices of Ireland for contribution to the poor Protestants shewing That forasmuch as the City of Dublin is not able to entertain and nourish such Multitudes of distressed poor People who are stripped of all they have by the Rebels they thought fit to take up the Men to imploy them in His Majesty's Service in the Wars there and to cause the Women and Children to be Transported by Ship into England and do recommend them to the Charity of all good Christians desiring them that they will take some Commiseration of their Distress and great Necessity and extend some Relief towards them by making Contributions which Contributions they desire may be reserved and such a Course taken as that it may be sure to be imployed only to the Relief of the poor distressed People Dublin Nov. 15. 1641. William Parsons Jo. Borlase R. Bolton Canc. Ormond Ossory Jo. Temple The Sixth Paper was Motion for a Fast for Ireland That the House of Commons out of a deep sense of the Calamity of our Country-men and Brethren of Ireland and considering how all Success and Prosperity depends upon the Blessing and Favour of God do desire their Lordships to joyn with them in Petitioning his Majesty That there may be a publick Fast throughout the Kingdom and that His Majesty will be pleased to appoint a near day for the same to be kept by both Houses of Parliament and the City of London and the adjacent Parts and one other Day for other remote Parts of the Kingdom and because they have received a Certificate from the Lords Justices and others of His Majesties Council in Ireland concerning the miserable Want and Distress of the poor English being divers Thousands of all Qualities and Sexes That the House of Commons for the Relief of the Persons aforesaid have appointed a Collection in their own House to be made on Thursday next and they desire their Lordships to Order the like for their House that by the Example of Parliament the like Collection may be made in all the Parts of the Kingdom upon the Day of the Fast and the Money gathered to be disposed in such manner by such Commissioners as shall be appointed by both Houses for the Succour and Relief of these poor distressed People of Ireland The King came this day to the House of Lords and being sate in the Chair of State he commanded the House of Commons to be sent for who being come with their Speaker the King made this Speech to both Houses of Parliament as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THe last time I was in this place The King's Speech to the two Houses concerning Ireland c. Dec. 14. 1641. and the last thing that I recommended unto you was the business of Ireland whereby I was in good hope that I should not have needed again to have put you in mind of that business But still seeing the slow proceedings therein and the daily dispatches that I have out of Ireland of the Lamentable Estate of My Protestant Subjects there I cannot but again earnestly commend the Dispatch of that Expedition unto you for it is the chief business that at this time I take to heart and there cannot almost be any business that I can have more care of I might now take up some of your time in expressing My detestation of Rebellions in general and of this in particular But knowing that Deeds and not Declarations must suppress this great Insolency I do here in a word offer you whatsoever My Power Pains or Industry can contribute to this good and necessary Work of reducing the Irish Nation to their true and wonted Obedience And that nothing may be omitted on My part I must here take notice of the Bill for Pressing of Soldiers now depending among you My Lords Concerning which I here Declare that in case it come so to Me as it may not infringe or diminish My Prerogative I will pass it And further seeing there is a dispute raised I being little beholding to him whosoever at this time began it concerning the bounds of this Ancient and Vndoubted Prerogative to avoid further debate at this time I offer that the Bill may pass with a Salvo Jure both for King and People leaving such debates to a time that may better bear them If this be not accepted the fault is not Mine that this Bill pass not but theirs that refuse so fair an offer To conclude I conjure you by all that is or can be dear to you or Me that laying away all disputes you go on cheerfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland His Majesty having ended his Speech departed and the Commons went to their House The Lords conceived that the Fundamental Privileges of Parliament have been broken by the King 's taking Notice in his Speech this Day of the Debate in this House Exceptions taken at the King's Speech of the Bill for Pressing of Soldiers Nor were the Commons less moved then the Lords for as nothing was more welcom to the Faction then any matter with which they might charge the King as intrenching upon their Priviledges so they greedily laid hold upon this occasion and after they had Voted it a breach of Priviledge for the King to take notice of a Bill that is passing before it be presented to His Majesty by the Consent of Lords and Commons as likewise to prescribe Savings and Limitations to any Bills before they be presented a Message was sent up to the Lords by Mr. Hollis to desire a Conference by a Committee of both Houses so soon as may stand with their Lordships conveniency touching a thing most precious to their Lordships and the Commons the Priviledge of Parliament To which the Lords assented and the Conference being ended the Lord Keeper Reported the Effect of it in these words That the Priviledges of Parliament have ever been placed in a high Estimation with both Houses Lord Keeper reports the Conference concerning Breach of Privilege by the King in his Speech and have been enjoyed with great Affection not only as an Ornament but as a Right to have free Debate in matters of Parliament The House of Commons say That the occasion of this Conference grows from somewhat that fell from the King this Day in his Speech in full Parliament they say his Presence is an Occasion of Joy and would be so if it were not for mis-representations of things Acted and Debated in Parliament which is against the Indemnity of the Lords and Commons as 9 H. 4. His Majesty took notice of a Bill for the Pressing of Soldiers being in Agitation in the Houses and not agreed upon and did offer a Salvo Jure
Affections therein and shall desire you to frame your Councels and to give such Expedition to the Work as the Nature thereof and the pressures in point of Time requires and whereof you are put in Mind by the daily insolence and increase of those Rebels For Conclusion your promise to apply your selves to such Courses as may support Our Royal Estate with Honor and Plenty at Home and with Power and Reputation abroad is that which We have ever promised Our Self both from your Loyalties and Affections and also for what We have already done and shall daily go adding unto for the Comfort and Happiness of Our People His Majesties Declaration to all His Loving SUBJECTS Published with the advice of His Privy-Council ALthough We do not believe that Our House of Commons intended by their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom to put Vs to any Apology either for Our past or present Actions Notwithstanding since they have thought it so very necessary upon their Observation of the present Distemper to publish the same for the satisfaction of all Our Loving Subjects We have thought it very suitable to the duty of Our place with which God hath trusted Vs to do Our part to so good a Work in which We shall not think it below our Kingly Dignity to descend to any particular which may compose and settle the Affections of Our meanest Subjects since we are so conscious to Our Self of such Vpright Intentions and Endeavours and only of such for which We give God thanks for the Peace and Happiness of Our Kingdom in which the prosperity of Our Subjects must be included that We wish from Our bears that even Our most Secret thoughts were published to their View and Examination Though We must confess We cannot but be very sorry in this Conjuncture of time when the unhappiness of this Kingdom is so generally understood abroad there should be such a necessity of publishing so many particulars from which We pray no inconveniencies may ensue that were not intended We shall in few words pass over that part of the Narrative wherein the Misfortunes of this Kingdom from Our first entring to the Crown to the beginning of this Parliament are remembred in so sensible Expressions And that other which acknowledgeth the many good Laws passed by Our Grace and Favour this Parliament for the Security of Our People of which We shall only say thus much That as We have not refused to pass any Bill presented to Vs by Our Parliament for redress of those Grievances mentioned in the Remonstrance so We have not had a greater Motive for the passing those Laws then Our own Resolution grounded upon Our Observation and understanding the State of Our Kingdom to have freed Our Subjects for the future from those Pressures which were grievous to them if those Laws had not been propounded which therefore We shall as inviolably maintain as We look to have Our own Rights preserved not doubting but all Our Loving Subjects will look on those Remedies with that full gratitude and affection that even the memory of what they have formerly undergone by the Accidents and Necessities of those Times will not be unpleasant to them And possibly in a Pious Sence of Gods Blessing upon this Nation how little share soever We shall have of the acknowledgment they will confess they have enjoyed a great measure of Happiness even these last sixteen years both in Peace and Plenty not only comparatively in respect of their Neighbours but even of those times which were justly accounted Fortunate The Fears and Jealousies which may make some Impression in the minds of Our People We will suppose may be of two sorts either for Religion or Liberty and their civil Interests The Fears for Religion may haply be not only as Ours here Established may be invaded by the Romish Party but as it is accompanied with some Ceremonies at which some tender Consciences really are or pretend to be Scandalized for of any other which have been used without any legal Warrant or Injunction and already are or speedily may be abolished we shall not speak Concerning Religion as there may be any suspicion of favour or inclination to the Papists We are willing to Declare to all the World That as We have been from Our Child-hood brought up in and practised the Religion now Established in this Kingdom so it is well known We have not contented simply with the Principles of Our Education given a good proportion of Our time and pains to the Examination of the Grounds of this Religion as it is different from that of Rome and are from our Soul so fully satisfied and assured that it is the most pure and agreeable to the Sacred Word of God of any Religion now practised in the Christian World That as We believe We can maintain the same by unanswerable Reasons so We hope We should readily Seal to it by the Effusion of Our Blood if it pleased God to call Vs to that Sacrifice And therefore nothing can be so acceptable unto Vs as any proposition which may contribute to the advancement of it here or the propagation of it abroad being the only means to draw down a Blessing from God upon Our Selves and this Nation And We have been extreamly unfortunate if this profession of Ours be wanting to Our People Our constant practice in Our own Person having always been without ostentation as much to the Evidence of Our Care and Duty herein as We could possibly tell how to express For differences amongst Our Selves for matters indifferent in their own Nature concerning Religion We shall in tenderness to any number of Our Loving Subjects very willingly comply with the advice of Our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such cases which by the judgment of most Men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided that this ease be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the peace and quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the decency and comeliness of Gods Service discountenanced nor the Pious Sober and Devout actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first Labourers in the blessed Reformation or of that time be scandal'd and defamed For We cannot without grief of heart and without some Tax upon Our Self and Our Ministers for the not Execution of Our Laws look upon the bold Licence of some Men in Printing of Pamphlets in Preaching and Printing of Sermons so full of bitterness and malice against the present Government against the Laws Established so full of Sedition against Our Self and the peace of the Kingdom that we are many times amazed to consider by what Eyes these things are seen and by what Ears they are heard And therefore We have good cause to Command as We have done and hereby do all Our Judges and Ministers of Justice
the said 500 Men and keeping them there till their first Muster Resolved c. That 432 l. 13 s. 4 d. being for a Months Pay shall be paid to the Officers of a Regiment of 1000 Men in Nine Companies for Munster Resolved c. That 1000 l. shall be imprested for the Levying Conducting and Transporting into Ireland 500 of those Men which are to be raised here in England for the said Province of Munster and for the keeping them together till the first Muster Resolved c. That 543 l. 4 s. shall be paid to the Officers of the Troops of the 300 Carabins being for a Months Pay Resolved c. That the Sum of 4128 l. shall be paid for the Levying of the 300 Carabins and for the 44 Horses for the Officers of the 4 Troops reckoning to every Troop eleven Horses which makes in all 344 Horses at 12 l. a Horse and for the Conducting the said Horses to Chester and keeping them there till they are Muster'd and that so soon as they are Muster'd they shall enter into Pay and that a Commissary do go along with them to Muster them so soon as they come there and likewise that a Commissary continue there and Muster them when they go into the Ship The Saddles to be furnished out of his Majesties Stores Resolved c. That 179 l. 4 s. being for one Months Pay shall be paid to the Officers of the 300 Dragoons in three Companies Resolved c. That 5 l. a Horse shall be allowed for the 300 Dragoons and for the 33 Horses for the Officers allowing to every Company 11 Horses for the buying of them and bringing them upon the Place of Muster and then to enter into Pay Resolved c. That 200 l. more shall be forthwith imprested upon account to the Officers of the Ordnance for the carrying down the Arms to Chester out of the 50000 l. lent by the City of London for the Affairs of Ireland Resolved c. That 186 l. 13 s. 4 d. being one Months Pay shall be paid to the Officers which are to Command the five hundred Men in the Province of Connaght being Officers of five single Companies Resolved c. That a Months Pay for Sir Simon Harcourt 's Regiment of 1100 Men viz. For the Officers 470 l. and for the 1100 Men 1026 l. shall be likewise paid Ordered That Owen O Connelly be from this House recommended to the L. Lieutenant of Ireland to have the Command of one of the Companies of Dragooners The House of Commons having by Vote assented to the time of the Fast Mr. Calamy and Mr. Marshal are desired to preach on that Day at St. Saturday Decemb. 18. Margarets Westminster before the House of Commons and Sir Robert Harlow undertook to give Mr. Calamy notice and Sir Thomas Barrington to Mr. Marshal The Lord Steward acquainted the House That the King assented to the Desires of both Houses concerning the Fast and the Dayes they have agreed upon The E. of Bristol Reported a Paper containing the Sense of the House yesterday concerning the first Proposition of the Scots Commissioners which was read in haec verba That the House of Peers will assent to the sending 10000 Scots but under this Condition that it be presently voted in both Houses and assented unto by his Majesty that 10000 English be likewise sent with all the possible speed as may be and that all such Monies as shall be raised and assigned for this expedition be equally divided and that proportion as belongeth to the English be not meddled withal upon any Occasion but be wholly imployed for the raising and sending away 10000 English and this is likewise to be understood besides the 2000 English Horse which have been in Proposition to be desired A Message was then brought up from the House of Commons by Arthur Goodwin Esquire Mr. Daniel O Neal impeached of High Treason and committed to the Gate-House to let their Lordships know That he was Commanded by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses for the Commons now Assembled in Parliament to accuse and in the Name of the House of Commons and of all the Commons of England did accuse Daniel O Neal of High Treason and further he was to desire That their Lordships would send for the said Daniel O Neal and commit him to safe Custody and in convenient time the House of Commons will bring up the particular Charge against him Whereupon a Warrant was sent to bring Daniel O Neal before the Lords which being done and he being brought to the Bar as a Delinquent the Lord Keeper by the Command of the House told him That he is accused by the House of Commons in the Name of the House of Commons and of all the Commons of England of High Treason and that this House doth commit him to the Prison of the Gatehouse in Westminster there to remain until the Pleasure of this House be further known After this the House fell upon the Bill for pressing of Soldiers and it was moved That before it be debated by this House Mr. Attorney General may be heard what he can say for the King therein if he desires it Hereupon Mr. Attorney General desired the House to give him leave to be heard for the King concerning the said Bill which the House gave way unto and then presently Mr. Attorney made a long Argument in the King's behalf which being done the House Ordered that the debate of the said Bill for pressing of Soldiers should be upon Munday next In the Commons House among other things the Consideration of the Navy came under Debate and it was Ordered That the Committee formerly appointed to consider of the Affairs of the Navy do draw an Order according to the Debate this Day about the disposing of the Monies for Tunnage and Poundage and likewise to consider what Way is fit for this House to take for the Continuance of Sir Henry Vane in the Place of Treasurer for the Navy Then the Humble Petition of the Officers of the late Army was read The Officers Petition for their Arrears and are answered smoothly and some of the Officers that presented it were called in and Mr. Speaker told them That it was the great necessities of this Kingdom that had unexpectedly fallen upon them which hath prevented the full Satisfaction which the House much desired to give them that within a very small time they hope they shall be able to do it This Day the King sends by the Lord Keeper a Message Monday Decemb. 20. to let the House of Lords know That he would send his Answer to the Petition this Afternoon so soon as the Committees of both Houses do attend him which was immediately by a Messenger communicated to the Commons Next a Petition was delivered into the House by the Lord Keeper by Command of the King from the County of Chester concerning Church Government and the Book of Common Prayer but it it was laid aside
the deep Sense they have of the Calamities incumbent on that and in danger to fall on this Kingdom with all Humility crave leave to present most humbly desiring that in pursuance of the Zeal and Fervency already shewn to the Glory and Worship of God to the Honor and Renown of his most Excellent Majesty both which are now strongly assaulted and push't at and out of the Tender Commisseration already Expressed for Relief of that bleeding Kingdom That this Honorable Assembly will represent such prevalent Arguments unto his Sacred Majesty and the House of Peers That the 10000 Men tendred by the Kingdom of Scotland and accepted of by this Honorable Assembly may be speedily Ordered to resort into Ulster not but that We do desire there may be as great a Proportion of Soldiers sent out of this Kingdom as soon as they can be prepared if so it may please his Majesty and both Houses of Parliament the Contagion of the Rebellion in Ireland having spread it self over so many other Parts of the Kingdom and yet daily more and more increasing as will require the service of those who shall be sent out of England for the Subdual of the Rebels and Comfort of his Majesties good Subjects in the other Provinces But for asmuch as your Petitioners many of them whose whole Estates and some of their Wives Children and nearest Kindred or Friends are already in the Hands and Possession of those Barbarous Bloody Rebels of Ulster and that they have more than ordinary Cause to fear That the remaining Protestant Party together with the important Towns of Carrickfergus London-Derry and Colerain being the chiefest Bullworks and Fortresses of that Province may for want of speediest Relief be surprized and destroyed and by that means the rest of the Kingdom Extreamly indangered to the irreparable dammage and discomfort of his Majesty and all his Good and Loyal Subjects of all his Dominions Therefore your Petitioners do most instantly supplicate this Honorable Assembly to endeavour the hastening thither with all possible Expedition the 10000 Men out of Scotland whose Assistance being within Three hours Sail may be soonest conveyed and whose Constitutions will notably match with the Rebels being well able as many of these Petitioners have known by former Experience to follow them through the Boggs and Moorish places frequent in those Parts during this Winter Season which other Supplies may not be so fit for at present This Number added to those Raised and to be raised in those Parts through Gods Blessing may soon Check those Insolencies and contribute much for reducing that Kingdome to due Obedience and yield unspeakable Comfort and Relief to many Thousand disconsolate bleeding Protestant Souls who have long languished in Expectation of Aid from that and this Kingdom the longer retarding whereof will carry loud Cries to Heaven against those who cause the same And your Petitioners shall pray c. A. Loftus Ro. Digby Tho. Foliot Hen. Blaney Fr. Mountnorris Cromwell Edward Loftus Arthur Jones Geo. Blundel Robert King Jo. Clotworthy Faith Fortescue Joh. Moor Arthur Annesley Rob. Packhurst Ra. Walles Tho. Fortescue Ro. Whistler Nicholas Loftus Rich. Fitz-Gerrard Rich. Perkins Jo. Davis After the Reading of this Petition Inego Jones Esquire The Answer of Inego Jones to the Complaint of the Commons Surveyor of his Majesties Works put in his answer to the Declaration of the Commons in behalf of the Parishioners of St. Gregories London At which day the said Inego Jones Esquire appeared before the Lords in Parliament and being demanded what he could say in Answer to the Declaration brought up from the House of Commons against him He the said Inego Jones for Answer thereunto saith That he is not Guilty of the Offence charged in the said Declaration in such manner and Form as therein is Expressed Whereupon Friday Fortnight was ordered for the day of hearing the Cause It was also Ordered That the Lord Visâ—â—nt Loftus Ro. Lord Digby Lord Foliot Lo. Docura Lo. Blany Lord Mountnorris Sir Faithful Fortescue Sir Robert King Edw. Loftus Nich. Loftus Arthur Jones Geo. Blundel John Moor Arthur Annesley Ro. Whistler Jo. Davis Richard Fitzgerrard and Rich. Perkins do attend the Lords Committees for Irish Affairs to morrow at 9. of the Clock in the Painted Chamber who are to hear what Reasons they can give concerning the putting off the Parliament of Ireland After which the Lord Keeper reported the Effect of the Conference and an Answer to their Lordships Two Propositions offered to the House of Commons this day A Smart Answer of the Commons to the 2 Propositions of the Lords forsending 10000 English as well as 10000 Scots into Ireland 1. For the Certainty which their Lordships desire of sending 10000 English into Ireland the House of Commons say That they were not Vsed to be Capitulated withall their Actions are free as well without Conditions as Capitulations and the House of Commons desire it may be so no more 2ly The House of Commons think they have given sufficient certainty already having formerly Voted the sending of 10000 English into Ireland and transmitted the same to their Lordships and likewise sent the same into Ireland therefore they think it not necessary to Vote it again but do desire their Lordships would Vote the sending of 10000 Scots to Ireland by it self without any Relation to the 10000 English and that speedily the Safety of Ireland depending upon it Further the House of Commons do desire their Lordships to do it in regard they conceive the 10000 English can not go unless the Bill for pressing passes This last Clause easily unriddles all the rest they had a Design to clip the Prerogative by that Bill and to put the issue of passing or not passing it upon this popular Theme of the Tragical necessity of Ireland when if they would have raised Mony there would not have wanted 10000 English Soldiers without pressing for that Expedition or any other the Genius of the Nation having ever been Martial and rather too forward to run into Arms then otherwise at the Beat of the Drum The House of Lords was immediately then resolved into a Committee of the whole House to debate this Conference Votes of the Lords for 10000 English 10000 Scots for Ireland and the House being resumed It was Resolved Nemine contradicente That 10000 English shall be sent into Ireland Resolved upon the Question That 10000 Scots shall be sent into Ireland upon such Conditions as shall be agreed upon by the Parliament of England Ordered That the Lords Commissioners do acquaint the Scots Commissioners with the aforesaid Votes and to let them know That this House hath entred into Consideration of their Propositions and will give them an Answer herein with all Expedition It was also Ordered That the Committee for keeping of a good Correspondency between both Houses shall meet on Friday Morning to take into Consideration this last Message brought up from the House of Commons
will discourage Merchants and Strangers from bringing in their Bullion into the Mint 2. The House of Commons say That Colonel Lunsford is a Man of a desperate Condition he having been formerly Censured in the Star-Chamber for lying in Wait and besetting Sir Thomas Pelham Knight as he came in his Coach upon a Sunday from Church and did discharge two Pistols into the Coach Also being challenged into the Field by one Captain Buller upon some injury offered to him by the said Colonel Lunsford Colonel Lunsford refused to Answer him but sent him word he would cut his Throat and would meet him with a Pistol and put out his other Eye 3. The House of Commons say That they are informed that Colonel Lunsford is not right in his Religion for they understand that when he was a Commander in the North in the Kings Army he did not go to Church though he was desired The House of Commons conceiving this business concerns the safety of the King City and Kingdom they desire their Lordships would be pleased to joyn with the House of Commons to Remonstrate these things to the King and to desire him that a Place of such importance may not be put into the hands of such a Man as Colonel Lunsford but that if His Majesty think Cause that there should be a Lieutenant of the Tower being under the Command of such an Honorable Person as the Earl of Newport who is Constable thereof by His Majesties appointment that Sir John Conyers may be recommended to his Majesty for that Place After a long Debate of this Conference The Lords refuse to joyn with the Commons to move the King to displace Lunsford the Question was put Whether this House shall joyn with the House of Commons in the whole Matter of this Conference And it was Resolved Negatively The first thing that was done in the Commons House this day was an Order That Mr. Calamy and Mr. Marshal shall be desired to Print their Sermons they yesterday Preach'd at St. Margarets Westminster at the intreaty of this House and Sir Arthur Ingram and Sir Tho. Barrington are desired to return them Thanks from this House Thanks of the House and a Plate of 20 l. apiece Ordered Calamy and Marshal and to print their Fast Sermons and it was likewise Ordered That they shall have a Piece of Plate of 20 l. a piece given unto them and Sir Arthur Ingram and Sir Thomas Barrington are to think of some convenient Course for raising the said Monies Then the Kings Answer to the Petition of the first of December was read and referred to the Committee that prepared that Petition to frame an Answer unto it and present it to the House and to meet this Afternoon at Four of the Clock in the Inner Court of Wards It was also Ordered That the Gentlemen that serve for the City and Mr. Tompkins Mr. Martin and Mr. Peard shall inquire in what hands the Tower of London now is From which is plain from what Quarter of the World the Petition against Lunsford came Captain Leg was also this day Ordered to be Bailed Then the Petition of the Apprentices and others whose times are lately Expired in and about the City of London was read and the Parties that preferred this Petition were called in and Mr. Speaker told them That this House doth approve of the manner of the delivery of their Petition and the Interruptions complain'd of they will consider of when proofs shall be produced they will likewise consider of the desires of their Petition when the great Affairs of this House shall permit And their Complaints were referred to the Committee appointed to consider of the Interruptions in preferring the Petition from the City of London All the World was now run into one Trade and that was Statemending and Church-modelling in which matters the Godly and Well-affected have ever had in their own opinion such a peculiar Gift that every little Blew-Apron-Boy behind the Compter undertakes as boldly as if he had served an Apprenticeship at the Council-Board and because Posterity shall be satisfied this is no abuse I here present the Reader with these Indenture-mens Petition as I find it among the Prints of the Time for they had the vanity after having presented it to think it would turn to account to Print and Publish it too to help Trading and procure Custom This Petition which by these young Reformers was addressed to the King but presented to the Commons with a multitude of Names who could not write and by consequence neither read nor understand Common Sense was as followeth The Apprentices Petition WHereas we of the lowest members of the City and Kingdom touched with the common Sense of all good Subjects do by Experience find both by our own and our Masters Tradings the beginning of great Mischief coming upon us to nip us in the bud when we are first entring into the World the Cause of which we can attribute to no others but to the Papists and Prelates and that Malignant Party which adheres unto them And where as by the late Protestation we stand solemnly ingaged in the presence of Almighty God by all lawful means with the utmost of our Lives Power and Estates to defend your Sacred Majesty and Royal Issue with the Rights and Liberties of Parliaments and all your Majesties Subjects against Papists and Popish Innovators such as Arch-Bishops Bishops and their dependants appear to be the Extirpation of which Government Root and Branch by several Petitions from this City and many parts of this Kingdom have been humbly desired We hold it our bounden Duty after long Expectation of due and just Proceedings against the forenamed Papists and Popish Innovators now at the last to become most humble Suitors to your Majesty in this present Parliament that you would please to take Notice that notwithstanding the much unwearied pains and industry of the House of Commons to subdue Papistry and Popish Innovators neither Popery is subdued nor Prelates are yet removed whereby many have taken great incouragement desperately to Plot against the Peace and Safety of this and other your Majesties Dominions Witness the most barbarous and inhumane Cruelties perpetrated by the Papists now in Ireland From whence ariseth in us a new Spring of fears and jealousies what the Issue of these things may be in this your Kingdom of England also without a speedy and timely prevention of the same In hope therefore of your Majesties willing readiness by the advice of this Honourable Court of Parliament to provide for our present Relief and Safety We Humbly Supplicate that the Popish Lords and other eminent and dangerous Papists in all parts of this Kingdom may be narrowly look'd unto and secured the Laws against Priests and Jesuits fully Executed the Prelacy Rooted out that so the work of Reformation may be prosperously carried on our distracting fears removed the weighty Affairs of the Kingdom settled and consequently God may
and disorders about the Houses of Parliament 2. To joyn with them in a Petition to his Majesty that the Houses of Parliament may have a Guard But the Faction of the Commons had other imployment for these Tumults Favoured by the Faction of the Commons and were so far from thinking fit to discourage them that some of these insolent People being laid hold on and Committed to the Gate-house their Friends in the Commons House receiving quick advertisement of it immediately dispatched Sir Robert Pye Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Glyn to inquire upon what Grounds those Citizens are Committed to the Gate-house and by whose Authority and to discharge them if they shall see Cause And when this Conference was reported by Mr. Hollis they were not at leisure to consider of it that night it was too late and therefore it was deferred till the next day and the next day when it was moved the Question being put whether the Question shall be put at this present concerning the joyning with the Lords in a Declaration as is desired it past in the Negative they being it seems so unwilling to disoblige the Rabble that they would not so much as permit the Question to be put concerning it and it is easie to conjecture with what courage this inspired those Rude and Insolent People Porters Watermen c. when they saw themselves out of the reach of the Law the only thing those mean and sordid spirits are capable of being kept in order with and that they had nothing to fear when their Guardians of the Commons House would not suffer the tenderest part of the Law a Proclamation to be awarded against them Sir Thomas Barrington this day Reported in the House of Commons ' That according to the Command of the House E. of Newport discharged from being Constable of the Tower not being able to meet with the Constable of the Tower he wrote a Letter unto him that yesterday he came to him and told him that his Majesty was pleased to discharge him of the Constableship of the Tower and to tell him he did it because it was cause of Jealousie The Reader will from hence gain a clear Light into the Mystery of all this Bustle about the Scandal which took up so great a part of this and the following Days Debate and will easily perceive the displeasure of this Lords being displaced raised all this Dust which however blanched as a Scandal upon him and others yet is so like the sayings of some in that Company at Kensington that one can difficultly be perswaded to believe but that with all this Smoak there was some Fire that the King spake what he did upon good assurance but that such was the Fury and Violence of the headstrong Faction that to have produced any Witness in a matter which concerned them so nearly and would have exposed their Designs would have been to have thrown a Man into a Den of half starved Lyons and it had been impossible to have escaped their fury without the help of Daniels Miracle in the Sacred Story The Lord Dillon and Col. L. Dillon and Colonel Taaf Imprisoned Taaf having by Order of the House been taken into Custody their Papers were searched and ordered by a Committee to be perused and they to remain in Custody till the House takes further Order therein It was also Ordered That Col. Lunsford summoned to the Commons House Lunsford be summoned to attend this House to morrow morning at 10 of the Clock and that Mr. Thraile be required to be here at the same time as also Capt. Hide Capt. Scrimshire Mr. Butler Mr. Brooks and Mr. Moore and that the Citizens who gave the Information at the Bar against Colonel Lunsford be required to be here at the same time The Reader may here see the terrible Army under Colonel Lunsford which frighted the Citizens as they pretended in Excuse to the Lords that they durst not go through Westminster-Hall A Committee was appointed to joyn with the Lords Committee for the Petition concerning L. Newport to draw the Petition concerning the Lord Newport viz. Sir Henry Vane Senior Mr. Glyn Sir Edward Hungerford Sir Gilbert Gerrard Sir John Culpeper Sir Thomas Barrington Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Robert Cooke Mr. Strode Mr. Long Sir Benjamin Rudyard and Mr. Hollis The Tumults as the Reader may have observed Tuesday Decemb. 28. begun now to be Frequent Dangerous and Insolent which occasioned his Majesty this Day to Issue out his Royal Proclamation against them as followeth By the KING HIs Majesty taking into His Princely Consideration A Proclamation against Tumults the manifold Inconveniencies and Mischiefs that may arise and happen by the Riotous and Tumultuous Assemblies in and about the Cities of London and Westminster not only to the violation of His Majesties Peace and Scandal of Government but to the Disturbance of His Houses of Parliament now Assembled doth strictly Charge and Command all the Inhabitants of His Cities of London and Westminster and the Liberties thereof and also of the Suburbs and Confines of the said Cities and Places adjoyning that upon no Occasion they do not Assemble themselves in any Tumultuous or Riotous manner in any Part or Place in or near the said Cities or Liberties and that all Perlons now Assembled in any Numbers without his Majesties Authority do forthwith upon Publishing this His Majesties Proclamation dissolve their Assemblies and Companies and repair to their Dwellings or Places of aboad upon their Perils of being proceéded against as Violaters of the Publick Peace of this his Majesties Kingdom and of being punished according to the Severity of the Laws and Statutes of the same Given at Our Court at White-Hall this 28th day of December in the Seventeenth Year of Our Reign God save the King The Lord Keeper was this Day ordered to wait on the King The King to be moved for a Monthly Fast for Ireland and move his Majesty from both Houses of Parliament that a Monthly Fast may be kept throughout the whole Kingdom during the Troubles of Ireland and that his Majesty will be pleased that a Proclamation may issue forth for this purpose and likewise for the keeping of the 20th of January next as a Fast throughout the whole Kingdom except London and Westminster where it hath been already Solemnized Then the Lord Admiral reported the draught of the Petition drawn up by the Committee of both Houses in the Kensington business which was read as follows To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled WHereas The Petition of the Lords and Commons about the Kensington business during Your Majesties last being in Scotland the Queens Majesty received Information that at a meeting in Kensington where the Earl of Essex the Earl of Newport and Lord Viscount Say and Seal the Lord Mandevile the Lord Wharton Members of the Lords House the Lord Dungaruen
Kensington The King's Answer to the Petition concerning the Kensington matter for the seizing of the Persons of my Wife and Children And in things of so high a Nature it may be fit for any Prince to inquire even where he hath no belief nor perswasion of the thing so I have asked Newport some Questions concerning that Business but far from that way of expressing a belief of the thing which Newport hath had the boldness and confidence to affirm which I could easily make appear but that I think it beneath me to contest with any particular Person But let this suffice that I assure you I neither did nor do give credit to any such Rumor As for telling the Name of him who informed Me I do stick to the Answer which I gave to your last Petition upon the like particular After the Reading of this it was Ordered That a Copy of this Answer be sent to the House of Commons The Bill for pressing of Marriners Bill for pressing Marriners passed the Lords House Report of the Conference with the Commons about the safety of the Kingdom c. was read a third time in the Lords House and being put to the Question it was consented to for to pass as a Law After which the Lord Keeper Reported the Conference with the Commons touching the safety of the Kingdom That Yesterday the House of Commons sent up a Message to their Lordships wherein they Expressed their Fears of the ill Consequences which will happen by the many disorders and assaults made upon the King's Subjects to the Violation of their Liberties and Peace going to and returning from the Parliament for preventing whereof and for the securing of the Parliament they desired that their Lordships would joyn with them to desire His Majesty that the Parliament may have such a Guard as both Houses might confide in that they might be commanded by the Earl of Essex to which desire the House of Commons have yet received no Answer They desire therefore their Lordships would take these following Reasons into Consideration by way of addition to their former 1. The Insolent and Traiterous Petition and Protestation of the Bishops preferred this day to their Lordships which the House of Commons conceive they durst not dare to have done without some Back in their Design 2. They desire to have a Guard because they hear that the King hath a Guard at White-Hall as apprehending it fit And the House of Commons conceives that those that are Enemies to the King are likewise Enemies to the Parliament and those that are Enemies to the Parliament are Enemies to the King The Lords then took this Message into Consideration and Debated Whether this House should recede upon these further Reasons from the Vote given last night concerning the Guards And it was Resolved upon the Question by the major part That this House thinks it not fit upon such Reasons as have now occurred to alter at this time the Vote last night and to joyn with the House of Commons to desire a Guard And it was Ordered That these two Votes be Communicated to the Commons by Serjeant Ayliff and Serjeant Glanvile After which the House having notice that the Bishops that were Accused of High Treason were attending without The Impeached Bishops at the Lords Bar. the House gave directions they should be severally called in and have their Accusation made known unto them by the Lord Keeper and then if they desired to speak they should be heard First John Arch-Bishop of York was brought in by the Gentleman-Usher and having kneeled at the Bar as a Delinquent he was commanded to stand up and then the Lord Keeper told him That the House of Commons in their Name and of all the Commons of England had Accused him and others of the Bishops with High Treason for endeavouring to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Realm and the Being of Parliament by preferring their Petition and Protestation this day to the House of Lords The said Arch-Bishop desired leave of the House to Speak a few words which the House granting he said He would not at this time make any Demurrer to the Charge as having never heard it before but he desired their Lordships would give him leave to do as he should be advised when he came to Answer and then he withdrew The Bishop of Durham was in the same manner brought to the Bar and the Lord Keeper repeated unto him the same Charge and he having leave to Speak said That this was the greatest Misery that ever befell him and what he did was not with any Malicious or Treasonable Intent but he going by chance to the Arch-Bishop of York 's House about two days ago he found some Bishops there and the Petition Signed by many of the Bishops and being desired to subscribe the said Petition he read it over and took some Exception at it but he was drawn to it by their Inducements and he did Subscribe it only to preserve his Right in Voting in Parliament and desiring their Lordships to have pitty upon him being a Man of great Years he withdrew And then in the same manner the Bishop of Norwich was brought to the Bar and after he had heard his Accusation he said That this was the heaviest Affliction that ever befel him and professed it was far from his thoughts to be guilty of an Offence of so high a Nature and confessed he Subscribed the Petition and Protestation but he desired the rest of his Brethren the Bishops that it might be very well considered before it was delivered but whether it was he knows not Next the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield was brought to the Bar after the same manner and confessed He Subscribed the Petition but craved their Lordships best Constructions for he did it not with any Traiterous Intentions and submitted himself to the Pleasure of this House Next in the same manner the Bishop of St. Asaph was brought to the Bar and confessed That he Subscribed the said Petition but the thoughts of Treason were far from his heart and desired their Lordships favour to him The Bishop of Bath and Wells who acknowledged He set his hand to the said Petition but without any ill intent The Bishop of Hereford was next who said That when time was fitting he would make his humble Answer to his Charge but desired to say nothing for the present The Bishop of Ely was the next who made this short and discreet Answer He desired their Lordships would excuse him for Speaking now lest he should do himself more hurt by Speaking then by Silence The Bishop of Oxon who confessed He set his hand to the Petition but his Offence is through Ignorance and therein Craves their Lordships Compassion Then the Bishop of Glocester who confessed He set his hand to the Petition but that he was one of the last that Subscribed it which he professed was not done with any Traiterous intent but through Ignorance
Holiness and love of Sin Will work their destruction which now doth begin Their Curbing the Gospel will kill their own growth Go Toll the Bell for them and eke for their Broth. Nor were they who pretended to be Poets on the other side idle but pelted them with Rolands much like the others Olivers I will give the Reader but Two or Three Stanza's of a Litany month January 1641. lest I surfeit him of this sort of Mechanick Wit which yet wanted not Truth From all dissembling Sep'ratists and those That snuffle their unlearned Zeal in Prose As if the way to Heaven was through the Nose Libera nos c. From those that dare work ill in every Season And are so far from Sanctity or Reason They dare believe there 's Piety in Treason Libera nos c. From them which nothing but false Rumors Rear And likewise those which lend such Men an Ear Who publish for a Truth all which they hear Libera nos c. From those indiff'rent Men that know no Guide Who are from their Allegiance so wide That come what will they 'l take the strongest side Libera nos c. But the number of the Malicious and Seditious Pamphlets did far exceed those that had any thing honest in them And how trivial soever such things may appear yet it is incredible what mischief they do and what Impressions they make upon the credulous Vulgar and it may be a piece of Policy not misbecoming the wisest States-men to obviate such Arts as seeming little yet are of such universal dangerous influence upon the lower Ranks of People whose hands act those mischiefs which the more cunning heads of the Faction contrive and I know not any one thing that more hurt the late King then the Paper Bullets of the Press it was the Scandalous and Calumniating Ink of the Faction that from thence blackned him and represented all his Words and Actions to the misguided People who would difficultly have been perswaded to such a horrid Rebellion if they had not been first prepossessed by the Tongues and the Pens of the Faction of strange and monstrous Designs which they said the King and his evil Councellors the Bishops and Malignants who were all by these Pamphlets stiled Papists and Atheists had against their Lives Liberties and Religion But I crave the Reader 's pardon for this seeming digression and now let us pursue our Voyage through this Tempestuous New Year The King that the whole World might see how sollicitous he was in every thing for the deplorable State of Ireland which the Faction were so far from relieving in good earnest that they were angry at the beating up of Drums for Volunteers for that Service issued out his Royal Proclamation for the suppressing of those Rebels as follows By the KING A Proclamation for the suppressing the Rebellion in Ireland Jan. 1. 1641. WHereas divers lewd and wicked Persons have of late risen in Rebellion in Our Kingdom of Ireland surprized divers of Our Forts and Castles possessed themselves thereof surprized some of Our Garrisons possessed themselves of some of Our Magazins and Munition dispossessed many of Our Good and Loyal Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants of their Houses and Lands robbed and spoiled many thousands of Out good Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants of their Goods to great Values Massacred Multitudes of them imprisoned many others and some who have the Honor to serve Vs as privy Counsellors of that Our Kingdom We therefore having taken the same into Our Royal consideration and abhorring the wicked Disloyaity and horrible Acts committed by those Persons do hereby not only declare Out just Indignation thereof but also do declare them and their Adherents and Abettors and all those who shall hereafter joyn with them or commit the like Acts on any of Our good Subjects in that Kingdom to be Rebels and Traitors against Out Royal Person and Enemies to Our Royal Trown of England and Ireland And We do hereby strictly Charge and Command all those Persons who have so presumed to rise in Arms against Vs and Our Royal Authority which We cannot otherwise interpret then Acts of High Rebellion and detestable Disloyalty when therein they spoil and destroy Out good and loyal Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants that they do immediately lay down their Arms and forbear all further Acts of Hostility wherein if they fail We do let them know That We have Authorized Our Iustices of Ireland and other Our Chief Governor or Governors and General or Lieutenant General of Our Army there and do hereby accordingly require and authorize them and every of them to prosecute the said Rebels and Traitors with Fire and Sword as Persons who by their high Dissoyalty against Vs their Lawful and undoubted King and Sovereign have made themfewes unworthy of any Mercy or Favour wherein Our said Iustices or other Chief Governor or Governors and General or Lieutenant General of Our said Army shall be countenanc'd and supported by Vs and by Our powerful Succors of Our good Subjects of England and Scotland that so they may reduce to Obedience those wicked Disturbers of that Peace which by the blessing of God that Kingdom hath so long and so happily injoyed under the Government of Our Royal Father and Vs and this Our Royal Pleasure We do hereby require Our Iustices or other Chief Governor or Governors of that Our Kingdom of Ireland to cause to be publish't and Proclaimed in and throughout Our said Kingdom of Ireland Given under Our Signet at Our Palace at Westminster the first day of January in the Seventeenth Year of Our Reign 1641. God save the King The King at his last being in Scotland Munday January 3. had gained Informations there of the secret Intrigues of the Faction and their Contrivances to promote the Scottish Invasion and Rebellion and that they were Meditaâ—ing the same Course in England And therefore this day the Lord Keeper Signified to the House of Lords That he was commanded by the King to let their Lordships know that his Majesty hath given Mr. Attorney General Command to Acquaint their Lordships with some Particulars from him Hereupon Mr. Attorney standing at the Clerks Table said That the King had Commanded him to tell their Lordships that divers Great and Treasonable Designs and Practices against him and the State have come to his Majesties knowledge for which the King hath given him Command in his Name to Accuse And did Accuse six Persons of High Treason and other High Misdemeanors by delivery of the Articles in Writing which he had in his hand which he received from his Majesty and was Commanded to desire your Lordships to have it read In which Articles the Persons Names and the Heads of the Treason were contained Which Articles were Commanded to be read and were in these words Articles of High Treason and other High Misdemeanors against the Lord Kymbolton Mr. Denzil Hollis Sir Arthur Hasterigg
Mr. John Pym Mr. John Hampden and Mr. Will. Strode I. THat they have Traiterously endeavoured to Subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Kingdom of England Articles of High Treason against the L. Kymbolton Mr. Denzil Hollis c. to deprive the King of his Royal Power and to place in Subjects an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power over the Lives Liberties and Estates of his Majesties Liege People II. That they have Traiterously endeavoured by many Foul Aspersions upon his Majesty and his Government to Alienate the Affections of his People and to make his Majesty odious unto them III. That they have endeavoured to draw his Majesties late Army to difobedience to his Majesties Command and to side with them in their Traiterous Designs IV. That they have Traiterously Invited and Encouraged a Forreign Power to Invade his Majesties Kingdom of England V. That they have Traiterously Endeavoured to Subvert the Rights and very being of Parliaments VI. That for the Compleating of their Traiterous Designs they have endeavoured so far as in them lay by Force and Terror to compel the Parliament to joyn with them in their Traiterous Designs and to that End have Actually Raised and Countenanced Tumults against the King and Parliament VII And they have Traiterously Conspired to Levy and actually have Levied War against the King After which Mr. Attorney declared That he was farther charged to desire certain things on his Majesties behalf 1. That a Select Committee of Lords may be appointed to take the Examinations of such Witnesses as the King will produce in this business as formerly hath been done in Cases of the like Nature according to the Justice of this House and this Committee to be under a Command of Secresy as formerly 2. And his Majesty Commanded him to ask Libenty to add and alter if there should be Cause according to Justice 3. By the like Commandement he desired that their Lordships would take care for the securing of the Persons as in Justice there should be Cause Hereupon the Lord Kymbolton being present in the House offered himself to obey whatsoever it should please this House to Impose upon him and what course their Lordships would please to take with him he would submit thereunto but as he had a Publick Charge so he desired he might have a publick Clearing Hereupon it was Ordered That this business shall be taken into Consideration by a Committee of the whole House and to consider whether this Accusation of Mr. Attorney General of the Lord Kymbolton and others of High Treason and High Misdemeanors be a Regular proceeding according to Law and whether there were any such Proceedings ever before in this House and whether an Accusation of Treason may be brought into this House by the Kings Attorney against a Peer of Parliament and whether any Person ought to be Committed to Custody upon a general Accusation from the King or the House of Commons before it be reduced into Particulars And these Lords following were appointed Committees to peruse and consider of Presidents and Records concerning the aforesaid Particulars and Report the same to the House Lord Steward Lord Chamberlain Earl of Bath Earl of Southampton Earl of Warwick Earl of Bristol Earl of Holland Mr. Serjeant Whitfield and Mr. Serjeant Glanvile Assistants their Lordships or any five of them to meet and search Records when and where they please After this a Petition of the twelve Bishops that are Impeached by the House of Commons of High Treason was read Desiring that they may have Council Assigned them by this House to advise them in their defence and in particular They desired these Councellors following Mr. Counsel Assigned for the Bishops Lane the Princes Attorney Sir Thomas Gardner Recorder of London Mr. Herne Mr. Chute Mr. Fountain Mr. Hales Mr. Trevor who were thereupon by the Lord Assigned to be of Council for the Bishops It was also Ordered That this House layes no restraint upon any Member of this House but any Peer may go and see the Bishops in the Tower if he please Then the House Ordered That in regard of the many Occasions at this present the House cannot take the Propositions brought last from the Scotch Commissioners concerning Ireland into so speedy Consideration as the Necessity of the Kingdom requires That the Lords Commissioners do Treat with the Scotch Commissioners about the said Propositions and bring them to as low Terms and Conditions as they think fit for this House to grant and to Report the same to the House The King in Prosecution of his Impeachment of the aforesaid Gentlemen of the House of Commons had Commanded their Chambers Studies and Trunks to be Searched and had Issued out Warrants for their Apprehension in order to bring them to a Fair and Legal Tryal but this Procedure did so fire and Irritate the Faction that they fell to Voting and out-cries of the Breach of Priviledge of Parliament as if those very Walls had been a Protection against Treason as indeed they afterwards proved For it was Immediately Resolved c. That the several Parties now Sealing up of the Trunks or Doors or Seizing the Keyes of Mr. Pym Mr. Hollis or any other Members of this House that the Serjeant shall be informed of Votes concerning Sealing of Trunks Doors c. shall be forthwith Apprehended and brought hither as Delinquents and that the Serjeant shall have Power to break open the Doors and to break the Seales off from the Trunks Resolved c. That Mr. Speaker shall Issue a Warrant directed to the Serjeant at Armes attending on this House to the Effect of the Order abovesaid Resolved c. That if any Persons whatsoever shall come to the Lodgings of any Member of this House and there do offer to Seal the Trunks Doors or Papers of any Members of this House or to Seize upon their Persons that then such Members shall Require the Aide of the Constable to keep such Persons in safe Custody till this House do give further Order and this House doth declare That if any Person whatsoever shall offer to Arrest or Detain the Person of any Member of this House without first acquainting this House therewith and receiving further Order from this House that it is lawful for such Member or any Person Assisting him to stand upon his and their Guard of Defence and to make resistance according to the Protestation taken to defend the Priviledge of Parliament And Mr. Conference about Breach of Priviledge in Sealing Studies c. Walter Long was sent up with a Message to the Lords for a Conference by a Committee of both Houses touching the Breach of Priviledge of Parliament which the Lord Keeper Reported as follows That the House of Commons apprehended the Parliament to be the great Council and the Representative Body of the Kingdom and both Houses are but one Body of the Realm the Priviledges are as the Walls and Sinews of the Parliament which being cut
attempt in their Petition and Protestation against the King and Parliament These Gentlemen with my self and others having the prosecution of that business and other Charges of great Crimes against them committed to our Trust did unanimously with one consent follow the same bringing to a period our Debates and Disputes concerning their Crimes what we conceived they were guilty of upon their several Charges and what guilty of for framing and preferring their Petition and Protestation to His Majesty that they were guilty of Misprison of Treason upon their former Accusations and guilty of High Treason upon this their last design And these our Votes and Conclusions grounded and warranted not only by the Common Laws of this Land but by divers Acts of Parliament and Presidents we presented to the whole House for Consideration and Confirmation of the same by general Vote with whom we again agreed by our publique Votes and thereupon they were Impeached and Committed This I conceive provoked their malice against us and was the principal cause of this their Plot in drawing an Accusation against us for the same Crime of Treason thereby to make us seem as vile as themselves and to take away our Votes at their Tryal And thus I have joyn'd together both the Cause and the Authors of this Accusation The Effects I conceive will be dangerous and cause great Trouble in these respects 1. In turning the Current of the Parliaments Proceedings against them upon us by which device they shall have further time to put in practice their Plots and bring to perfection their purposes against the Parliament 2. That being busily imployed concerning this business in their disputes about breach of Priviledg of Parliament in illegal accusing the Members thereof in drawing a Declaration to his Majesty concerning the same in appeasing him by shewing the sincerity and integrity of the Parliament toward his Majesty and other things pertinent thereunto this High Court may lay aside their Proceeding and avert their Purposes touching the Irish Affairs whereby the Rebellion there may increase and forraign Aid brought to them to the utter losing of that Kingdom 3. Many Fears and Troubles will arise in the Citizens concerning this Accusation of desperate and devillish Stratagems in agitation as well against them as the Parliament by disconsolate and disaffected persons to the Safety and Security thereof causing their continual Watching and Guarding by their Trained Bands which will be to them a great Charge and Molestation 4. It will incourage ill-affected and pernitious Cavaliers and Commanders about Court to attempt any mischief against both Houses of Parliament or particular Members thereof upon the least opportunity that shall be offered them thinking thereby they shall do the King good service which otherwise they dare not adventure to put in practise 5. And lastly It will provoke and stir up a dislike of these designs in the Hearts of all his Majesty's Subjects and disaffection to his Sacred Person cause great Uproars and Tumults of the Citizens yea and I fear a general Insurrection in the Kingdom if not suddainly prevented which God forbid And thus Master Speaker having nothing more to say concerning these Articles I humbly crave of this Honourable House That I may have Expedition in my Tryal upon the same and that all things done by this Wise Councel may tend to the Honour and Glory of Almighty God the Peace and Safety of His Sacred Majesty and all his Kingdoms A Message was this day brought up from the House of Commons by Sir John Hotham to desire a present free Conference Tuesday Jan. 4th if it may stand with their Lordships conveniency by a Committee of both Houses touching the safety of the King and Kingdom and the Privileges of both Houses of Parliament The Lord Keeper Reported the effect of the Conference which was To move the Lords again to joyn with them humbly to move his Majesty that the Guards at White-Hall may be discharged and to vindicate the Priviledges of Parliament and they do reiterate their desires of Yesterday upon these Reasons 1. The House of Commons have received fresh Informations that divers Gentlemen have made their Addresses to the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court and have dealt with them to come Armed to White-Hall when they shall be required yet they have not condescended thereto 2. The House of Commons have met with a scandalous Paper as was published abroad which contained Articles of High Treason against the Lord Kymbolton c. The House of Commons desires their Lordships would joyn with them to find out the Authors and to bring them to condign punishment for so high a breach of the Priviledges of Parliament But nothing at this time was Resolved of In the Commons House the Lord Faulkland reported the King's Answer to the Message of this House delivered to his Majesty last night That his Majesty asked them whether the House did expect an Answer They replied they had no more in Commission to say but only to deliver the Message The King asked them as private Persons what they thought of it They said they conceived the House did expect an Answer but his Majesty was informed the House was up so he said he would send an Answer this Morning as soon as this House was set but in the mean time he Commanded them to acquaint the House that the Serjeant at Arms did nothing but what he had directions from himself to do Mr. Whittaker Reported from a Committee at Guild Hall Mr. Toby Wood committed to Newgate That an Information was Exhibited upon Oath by one John Bricker against Mr. Toby Wood for Seditious and Treasonable Words whereupon he was committed to Newgate by Order of the Committee at Guild-Hall Also a Vote passed Sir Will. Killegrew a Delinquent That Sir William Killegrew be forthwith sent for as a Delinquent by the Sergeant at Arms attending on the House Then Mr. Smith Mr. Ellis Mr. Hill Mr. Brown and Sir Richard Vivian were appointed to go to the several Inns of Court Message to the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court and to acquaint them That this House hath taken notice of the Practice of some Gentlemen that have endeavoured to engage the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court to be in readiness upon all Occasions to come down to the Court if they should be required That this House hath sent for the Gentlemen that were with them as Delinquents and do believe that their Crime will prove to be of an high Nature And further to inform them That the Parliament is and will be upon all occasions as ready to defend his Majesties Person as any others and they are to inform them that the Cause of sending to them is not any diffidence they have in them but to advise them from any Practices that they shall be moved unto And that upon this occasion put the whole City into an uproar Message to the Common-Council It was Ordered That Alderman
Soams Alderman Pennington and Mr. Venn do repair to the Common-Council of the City of London when they are sitting and to acquaint them with the Information this House received what Practices have been used to the Inns of Court and those other Informations of the like Nature that have been given to this House of the Preparations of Armed Men about White-Hall and those other Preparations at the Tower And to inform them in what danger the Parliament the Kingdom and the City is in It was also Ordered That Mr. Whittaker Sir Robert Pye and Mr. Pury do presently repair to the House of the Marquess de Neuf-ville and see if his House be furnished with Warlike Ammunition as the House is informed Memorandum Mr. Hollis Mr. Pym Sir Arthur Haslerigg Mr. The 5 Members appearance Entred in the Journal Hampden and Mr. Strode appeared to day according to the Injunction of the House And I find among the Prints of that time a Speech of Mr. Hampden's upon the occasion of his Impeachment which confirms this Memorandum which was as followeth Mr. Speaker IT is a true Saying of the Wise Man That all things happen alike to all Men Mr. Hampden's Speech in Vindication of himself against his Impeachment Jan. 4. 1641. as well to the good Man as to the bad There is no state or condition whatsoever either of Prosperity or Adversity but all sorts of Men are sharers in the same no man can be discerned truly by the outward appearance whether he be a good Subject either to his God his Prince or his Country until he be tryed by the Touchstone of Loyalty Give me leave I beseech you to parallel the Lives of either sort that we may in some measure discern Truth from Falshood and in speaking I shall similize their Lives 1. In Religion towards God 2. In Loyalty and due Subjection to their Soveraign in their Affection towards the Safety of their Country 1. Concerning Religion the best means to discern between the True and False Religion is by searching the Sacred Writings of the Old and New Testament which is of it self pure indited by the Spirit of God and written by Holy Men unspotted in their Lives and Conversations and by this Sacred Word may we prove whether our Religion be of God or no and by looking in this Glass we may discern whether we are in the Right Way or no. And looking into the same I find that by this Truth of God that there is but one God one Christ one Faith one Religion which is the Gospel of Christ and the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles In these two Testaments is contained all things necessary to Salvation if that our Religion doth hang upon this Doctrine and no other secondary Means then it is true to which comes nearest the Protestant Religion which we profess as I really and verily believe and consequently that Religion which joyneth with this Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the Traditions and Inventions of Men Prayers to the Virgin Mary Angels Saints that are Used in the Exercise of their Religion strange and Superstitious Worshipping cringing bowing creeping to the Altar using Pictures Dirges and such like cannot be true but Erroneous nay devillish and all this is used and maintained in the Church of Rome as necessary as the Scripture to Salvation therefore is a false and Erroneous Church both in Doctrine and Discipline and all other Sects and Schisms that leans not only on the Scripture though never so contrary to the Church of Rome is a false worshipping of God and not the true Religion And thus much concerning Religion to discern the truth and falshood thereof 2 I come now Mr. Speaker to the second thing intimated unto you which was how to discern in a state between good Subjects and bad by their Loyalty and due Subjection to their Lawful Sovereign in which I shall under favour observe two things 1. Lawful Subjection to a King in his own Person and the Commands Edicts and Proclamations of the Prince and his Privy Council 2. Lawful Obedience to the Laws Statutes and Ordinances made Enacted by the King and the Lords with the Free Consent of his Great Council of State assembled in Parliament For the First To deny a willing and dutiful Obedience to a Lawful Soveraign and his Privy Council for as Cambden truly saith The Commands of the Lords Privy Councellors and the Edicts of the Prince is all one for they are inseparable the one never without the other either to defend his Royal Person and Kingdoms against the Enemies of the same either publique or private or to defend the Antient Priviledges and Prerogatives of the King pertaining and belonging of Right to his Royal Crown and the maintenance of his Honor and Dignity or to defend and maintain true Religion Established in the Land according to the truth of God is one sign of an Evil and Bad Subject Secondly To yield Obedience to the Commands of a King if against the true Religion against the Ancient and Fundamental Laws of the Land is another sign of an ill Subject Thirdly To resist the Lawful Power of the King to raise Insurrection against the King admit him adverse in his Religion to Conspire against his Sacred Person or any wayes to Rebel thô Commanding things against our Consciences in Exercising Religion or against the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject is an absolute sign of a Disaffected and Trayterous Subject And now having given the Signs of discerning Evil and Disloyal Subjects I shall only give you in a word or two the Signs of discerning which are Loyal and Good Subjects only by turning these Three Signs already shewed on the contrary side 1. He that willingly and chearfully endeavoureth himself to obey his Soveraign's Commands for the Defence of his own Person and Kingdoms for the Defence of True Religion for the Defence of the Laws of his Country is a Loyal and good Subject 2. To deny Obedience to a King commanding any thing against Gods true Worship and Religion against the Ancient and Fundamental Laws of the Land in endeavouring to perform the same is a good Subject 3. Not to resist the Lawful and Royal Power of the King to raise Sedition or Insurrection against his Person or to set Division between the King and his good Subjects by Rebellion although commanding things against Conscience in the Exercise of Religion or against the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject but patiently for the same to undergo his Prince's Displeasure whether it be to his Imprisonment Confiscation of Goods Banishment or any other Punishment whatsoever without Murmuring Grudging or Reviling against his Soveraign or his Proceedings but submitting willingly and chearfully himself and his Cause to Almighty God is the only sign of an Obedient and Loyal Subject I come now to the Second Means to know the difference between a good Subject and a bad by their Obedience to the Laws Statutes and Ordinances made
by the King with the whole consent of his Parliament And in this I observe a twofold Subjection in the particular Members thereof dissenting from the General Votes of the whole Parliament And 2ly the whole state of the Kingdom to a full Parliament First I confess If any particular Member of a Parliament although his Judgment and Vote be contrary do not willingly submit to the rest he is an ill Subject to the King and Country Secondly To resist the Ordinance of the whole State of the Kingdom either by stirring up a dislike in the Hearts of his Majesties Subjects of the Proceedings of the Parliament to endeavour by levying of Arms to compel the King and Parliament to make such Laws as seem best to them to deny the Power Authority and Priviledges of Parliament to cast Aspersions upon the same and Proceedings thereby inducing the King to think ill of the same and to be incensed against the same to procure the untimely Dissolution and Breaking off of the Parliament before all things be settled by the same for the Safety and Tranquillity both of King and State is an apparent sign of a Trayterous and Disloyal Subject against his King and Country And thus having troubled your Patience in shewing the difference between true Protestants and false Loyal Subjects and Traytors in a State or Kingdom and the means how to discern them I humbly desire my Actions may be compared with either both as I am a Subject Protestant and Native in this Country and as I am a Member of this present and happy Parliament and as I shall be found guilty upon these Articles Exhibited against my self and the other Gentlemen either a bad or a good Subject to my Gracious Soveraign and Native Country to receive such Sentence upon the same as by this Honourable House shall be conceived to agree with Law and Justice It is prodigious to see with what Confidence some Persons durst appeal to God and Man and certainly ex ore tuo may most truly be applied to this unhappy Gentleman who by his future Actions upon his own declared Principles proved himself to be that ill and disloyal Subject whom he doth here take such Pains to delineate nor is it less remarkable that as he was one of the first who was in Actual Hostility against the King so contrary to his own avowed Declaration here so was he one of the first who fell in that unnatural Rebellion receiving his mortal Wound in a Skirmish near Chinner in Bucks upon the same Turf where he had assembled the County to frame those Petitions which first led the Nation into Sedition and afterwards into down right Rebellion from whence Posterity may learn what little Credit is to be given to the deepest Protestations of Loyalty and Asseverations of Innocence of such Persons whose Guilt has driven to dispair of any other Security from the Punishment of their ill Actions but what is to be hoped from doing Worse and that the Professions of Loyalty in such Cases are but purely to palliate and hide their Guilt from the view of the World and to avoid the horrid Imputation of Treason a Crime which because it is naturally destructive of humane Society is universally the hatred of Mankind Mr. Brown who was one of those sent to the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court Reports from the Gentlemen of Lincolns-Inn That they went to the Court first upon a general Report that his Majesties Person was in danger This Afternoon his Majesty came in Person to the House of Commons and having Seated himself in the Speaker's Chair he spake as followeth Gentlemen I Am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you The King's Speech in the House of Commons concerning the five Members Jan. 4 1641. Yesterday I sent a Serjeant at Arms upon a very important occasion to apprehend some that by My Command were Accused of High Treason whereunto I did expect Obedience and not a Message And I must declare unto you here That albeit no King that ever was in England shall be more careful of your Priviledges to maintain them to the utmost of His Power then I shall be yet you must know that in Cases of Treason no Person hath a Priviledge And therefore I am come to know if any of those Persons that were Accused are here For I must tell you Gentlemen That so long as those Persons that I have Accused for no slight Crime but for Treason are here I cannot expect that this House can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it Therefore I am come to tell you that I must have them wheresoever I find them Well since I see all the Birds are flown I do expect from you that you shall send them unto Me as soon as they return hither But I assure you in the Word of a King I never did intend any force but shall proceed against them in a Legal and fair way for I never meant any other And now since I see I cannot do what I came for I think this no unfit occasion to repeat what I have said formerly That whatsoever I have done in favour and to the good of My Subjects I do mean to maintain it I will trouble you no more but tell you I do expect as soon as they do come to the House you will send them to Me otherwise I must take My Own course to find them So soon as his Majesty was gone the Faction in the House was all in a flame and after the heats were a little over it was Resolved upon the Question That this House shall Adjourn it self till to morrow at One of the Clock There was not any one Action of which the Faction made greater advantage then this of his Majesties coming to the House in Person to demand the five Members the Faction blew the whole Nation into a blaze with their Out-cries upon it and it did not escape odd Interpretations even from those who professed themselves his Friends It is but just therefore that we should hear his Justification which I cannot give the Reader better then from his own Incomparable Pen. Which therefore take as follows MY going to the House of Commons to demand Justice upon the five Members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon his Majesties going to the H. of Commons to demand the five Members was an Act which my Enemies loaded with all the Obloquies and Exasperations they could it filled indifferent Men with Jealousies and Fears yea and many of my Friends resented it as a Motion rising rather from Passion then Reason and not guided with such discretion as the touchiness of those times required But these Men knew not the just Motives and pregnant Grounds with which I thought my self so furnished that there needed nothing to such Evidence as I could have produced against those I charged save only a free and Legal Tryal which was all I desired Nor had I any Temptation of displeasure or revenge
against those Mens persons further then I had discovered those as I thought unlawful Correspondencies they had used and ingagements they had made to embroil my Kingdoms of all which I missed but little to have produced Writings under some Mens own hands who were the chief Contrivers of the following Innovations Providence would not have it so yet I wanted not such Probabilities as were sufficient to raise Jealousies in any King's heart who is not wholly stupid and neglective of the Publick Peace which to preserve by calling half a Dozen Men in a fair and Legal way which God knows was all My design could have amounted to no worse Effect had it succeeded then either to do Me and My Kingdom Right in case they had been found Guilty or else to have cleared their Innocency and removed My Suspicions which as they were not raised out of any Malice so neither were they in reason to be smothered What flames of Discontent this spark though I sought by all speedy and possible means to quench it soon kindled all the World is Witness the Aspersious which some Men cast upon that Action as if I had designed by force to assault the House of Commons and invade their Priviledge is so false that as God best knows I had no such intent so none that attended Me could justly gather from any thing I then said or did the least intimation of any such thoughts That I went attended with some Gentlemen as it was no unwonted thing for the Majesty and Safety of a King so to be attended especially in discontented times so were my followers at that time short of My ordinary Guard and no way proportionable to hazard a Tumultuary conflict Nor were they more scared at my coming then I was unassured of not having some affronts cast upon Me if I had none with Me to preserve a Reverence to Me For many People had at that time learn'd to think those hard thoughts which they have since abundantly vented against Me both by Words and Deeds The Sum of that business was this Those Men and their adherents were then looked upon by the affrighted Vulgar as greater Protectors of their Laws and Liberties then My Self and so worthier of their Protection I leave them to God and their own Consciences who if guilty of evil Machinations no present Impunity or Popular Vindication of them will be Subterfuge sufficient to rescue them from those Exact Tribunals to which in the obstructions of Justice among Men we must Religiously appeal as being an Argument to us Christians of that after unavoidable Judgment which shall rejudge what among Men is but corruptly decided or not at all I endeavoured to have prevented if God had seen fit those future Commotions which I foresaw would in all likelihood follow some Mens activity if not restrained and so now hath done to the undoing of so many thousands the more is the Pity But to over-aw the freedom of the Houses or to weaken their just Authority by any violent impressions upon them was not at all My Design I thought I had so much Justice and Reason on My side as should not have needed so rough assistance and I was resolved rather to bear the Repulse with Patience then to use such hazardous Extremities So far the Royal Martyr This day in the Forenoon as I have it in one of the printed Diurnals which I give in the Writers own Words his Majesty went to the Guild-Hall attended with divers of the Nobility and there demanded likewise his Prisoners giving order for their Apprehensions and then went to Dinner at one of the Sheriffs where he was Royally Feasted and towards the Evening he was attended by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen as far as Temple-Bar homewards who returning were set upon by some rude Persons my Lord Mayor being pluckt off his Horse and some of the Aldermen and forced to go home on foot having other abuses offered them This is related by one of the permitted Writers of those times from whence it is plain how governable a sort of People these pretended Zealots were and are for such they were who were the Authors of all these disorders Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists and the other Anomalous Schismaticks who put this affront upon the Magistracy of the City purely out of their spightful Zeal for their paying this respectful Duty to His Majesty A Message was this Day brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Wednesday January 5. Message to the Lords concerning the King's coming to the House Nathaniel Fienes 1. To acquaint their Lordships That yesterday the King did come to the Door of the House of Commons with armed Men and came into their House in Person when the House sat and demanded some of their Members which they conceive is a high and great Breach of the Priviledges of Parliament therefore they thought it fit to give their Lordships notice of it as a Breach of Priviledg for it may concern this House likewise 2. The House of Commons renew their former desire to their Lordships to joyn with them to Petition his Majesty that the Parliament may have a Guard for to secure them as shall be approved of by the King and both Houses of Parliament 3. The House do let their Lordships know That they have appointed a Committee to sit at Guild-Hall in London and have also appointed the Committee for Irish Affairs to meet there Hereupon It was Ordered That the Lords Committees for the Irish Affairs shall meet in this House when the House rises and shall have Power to adjourn themselves from time to time and from Place to Place as they shall see Cause The Bishops who were ordered to put in their Answer unto their Impeachment upon the 7th of January were this Day ordered to put in their said Answer upon Wednesday the Twelfth of January and not before After which the House was Adjourned till the Eleventh of January In the Commons House It was Ordered That the Doors be locked and the Key brought up and the outward Rooms cleared of all Persons but Servants to Members of the House and that no Member do offer to go out without leave and also that some Members do send forth their Servants to see what Numbers of People are repairing towards Westminster and to bring notice to this House Then Mr. Glyn. Sir Philip Stapleton Mr. Whitlock Sir Henry Vane ju Mr. Grimston Sir John Hotham Serjeant Wild Mr. Fiennes Mr. Bellasis and Sir Walther Earl were appointed as a Committee presently to retire into the Committee Chamber and to consider of some Way for vindicating the Priviledges of Parliament and for providing for the Safety of both Kingdoms and present it to the House with all speed The Question was then put Whether a Committee shall be named by this House to sit in Guild-Hall in London the House was divided Mr. Herbert Price Tellers for the No 86. Mr. Kirton Tellers for the No 86. Mr. Cary Tellers for the
then the very Act which this Parliament obtained from the King that they should not be dissolved or prorogued by the King without their own Consent which was a plain Confession that till his Majesty had in this Particular by giving the Royal Assent to that fatal Bill limited the undoubted Power of his Prerogative it was an inherent Right annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm that the King was the sole Judg of the Calling Continuance and Dissolution of Parliaments And though some Seditious Pens and particularly the Apostate Author of the Life of Julian the Apostate have taken great Pains to revive and furbish up this Opinion and to reflect upon his present Majesty as the Rebels of this Parliament did upon his Royal Father for breaking up of some Mutinous and Troublesome Parliaments in the beginning of his Reign which plainly shews them to be of the Temper of the ill Men of those ill times yet I think they ought to stay before they Preach this Doctrine to the People for a true Privilege of Parliament till they have got such another Act of Perpetuation in one Hand and a Sword to maintain it in the other which is the only Argument that at long run such Seditious People must have Recourse to and I hope it may be some time before such another Act will be obtained and longer before they can get the Power of the Sword to maintain it And certainly were there no other Inconveniences yet the dismal Effects which the continuance of this Parliament brought upon the King and Kingdom to the intire Ruin of the Government Laws Liberty and Property of the English Nation are sufficient to give all Loyal and Honest Subjects very terrible Apprehensions not only of the thing it self but that the Persons who revive and propagate such Opinions must have Designs to compass and effect the same Mischiefs over again which like an Inundation drowned the Kingdom in Blood by the Breach of this Bank of Royal Prerogative of the Kings being the sole Judg of the continuance and dissolving of Parliaments Mr. Glyn's Speech upon this Subject was as followeth Mr. Speaker WE sit now upon that grand business of the Breaches of the Rights and Priviledges of Parliaments which are so many and great Mr. Glyn's Speech about Breach of Priviledges Jan. 5. 1641. so carefully preserved and defended and having in former times severely punished the infringers thereof that I had thought and conceived that no Subject of what degree or dignity soever would either in their own persons or by misinforming his Majesty concerning the same would have presumed to have intrenched in the least measure upon the free Liberty Rights and very Beings of Parliaments or tending to the Breach thereof But Mr. Speaker I perceive the perverseness of divers persons in places of Authority that they dare not only presume to provoke his Majesty by their politick mis-informations but dare attempt of themselves to resist the lawful power both of the King and his high Court of Parliament Mr. Speaker These Men notwithstanding they apparently perceive that their wicked practices and malicious designs cannot take effect according to their expectation but are rejected and detected as well by his Sacred Majesty as his Lords and his whole Council dare venture to endeavour by casting aspersions and spreading abroad evil reports not only of the Members but of the Proceedings of the House of Commons against them and others of their Adherents and Favourits in their wicked and desperate Actions and Designs against their lawful Soveraign and his Liege People I conceive Mr. Speaker did these persons but remember the many Presidents yet extant of the just and deserved punishments inflicted by former Parliaments upon such Miscreants as witness the Arch-Bishop of York the Duke of Suffolk Chief Justice Belknap and the rest of that Conspiracy in the Reign of King Edward the Second they would have prejudged to themselves the like danger would follow upon them for their evil Actions Nay Mr. Speaker did these men but consider with themselves the just judgments of God that have immediately lighted upon the necks of such as have been the troublers of Kingdoms and Common-wealth whereof they have been Members as well recorded in Sacred Writ as of late times in this Kingdom yet still in fresh Memory they would have laid their hands upon their Mouths and hearts when they went about to speak or do any thing tending to the dishonour of Almighty God in innovating of his true Religion corrupting the sincere Doctrine and discipline of Christ and his Apostles as also any thing tending to the dishonour and perpetual destruction of his Royal Majesty however otherwise they may pretend the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom the Rights and Priviledges of Parliaments and the very being thereof but surely Mr. Speaker they are altogether benummed and stupified their Consciences dead and seared their Lives and Conversations altogether devoted to the works of darkness and impurity their desires altogether sensual carnal and devilish forgetting God kicking and spurring with maliciousness against all Piety and Godliness or else they would never have adventured to practice such things as it is too too manifest they have done Mr. Speaker I intend to be brief in that which I am to speak concerning the Breaches of the Priviledges of Parliament First To inform his Majesty of any Proceedings in the House of Commons upon any businesses whatsoever before they have concluded finished and made ready the same to present to his Majesty for his Royal Assent thereunto is a Breach of the Priviledges of Parliament Secondly To mis-inform his Majesty contrary to the Proceedings in Parliament thereby to incense and provoke him against the same is a Breach of Priviledge of Parliament Thirdly To cause or procure any Information or Accusation to be brought or preferred without the knowledge or consent of the Parliament into the House against any of the Members thereof is a Breach of Priviledge of Parliament Fourthly To apprehend any such Accused to imprison their persons to seize upon their Goods or Estates to prosecute and proceed against them to their Tryal and Judgment to Condemn or Execute them upon such Accusation without the consent or advice of the Parliament is a Breach of the Priviledges thereof Fifthly To endeavour to cast an evil opinion of such Members Accused into the hearts of his Majesties Loyal Subjects whereby they disaffecting them may be ready and willing to put in execution any Command or Warrant for their apprehension and imprisonment is a Breach of the Priviledges of Parliament Sixthly To come in open Parliament for any Officer or Serjeant to demand and arrest any such Member accused be it of high Treason or any other Crime whatsoever without the knowledge of the whole House is a Breach of the Priviledges of Parliament Seventhly to come to a Parliament sitting in free consultation assisted and guarded with Armed Men and with them be sitting the
which time they met and concluded of an Order to Adjourn the House till Tuesday the 11th of January 1641. And in the mean time appointed a Committee of the House of Commons to Sit in London to consider of the Safety of the King Kingdom and Parliament and of repairing of the Priviledges of Parliament so highly broken Which Meeting hath produced several Orders and Decalrations for maintaining the Priviledges of Parliament which are to be reported to the House and there to have its force But for the Safety of the Kingdom and City which they conceived to be in Imminent danger the Committee for Irish Affairs of the House of Commons propounded the consideration thereof to the Committee of the Lords House for Irish Affairs who sate likewise in London who in regard the King had denyed both Houses a Guard to protect them and in regard such an Hostile Plot was intended as was apparently proved declared their Opinion That whereas the King and Parliament was in so great danger that in that Case the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex ought to come with the Posse Comitatus to the Parliament to defend the King and Parliament To which Opinion the Committee of the House of Commons assented which was communicated to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Councel of London and they delivered their Opinions herein and expressed their forwardness hereunto This Breach of Priviledg of Parliament begot much discontent in the Parliament and People and the more in regard by special Command the Articles against Master Pym and the rest were Printed and the same published by Sir William Killegrew and Sir William Flemyn and delivered in his Majesties Name as they falsely pretended to the Four Inns of Court to the end to make these persons the more odious to them and the Kingdom And in regard the consequence of admitting this Accusation in this manner against these five persons is a president to take away the whole House of Commons at a breath under pretence of High Treason if as God forbid an Accusation of this Nature should be hereafter and considering that to this very day 11 Januar. 1641. no Articles of Impeachment is come into the House of Commons by the King's Attorney or otherwise or from the Lords House if any be there against them till which time that it come from thence by Messengers of their own if there first depending the House cannot legally take notice thereof This and many other Reasons made the House of Commons to insist upon it besides the great merit of these persons whom as the House hath declared though as dear as their Lives unto them they will deliver over unto a Tryal so as his Majesty will proceed against them in a Legal way either at the Kings-Bench or in Parliament and produce any Subject in England that will stand to make good the Accusation and in case they fail to make it good that his Majesty will let them be forth-coming and also to discover those wicked Counsels that have advised him to this course that they may be brought to condigne punishment The City and People in the adjacent Parts are so much moved in this business and fearing some suddain Execution may be done upon the Parliament both the House of Peers and House of Commons and the Lords of the Privy Councel having declared that this Act of his majesties without their Advice and against the Priviledges of Parliament That they yesterday declared That Eight Companies of the Trayned Bands with 8. Pieces of Ordnance and divers Horsemen mounted shall Guard the Committees of the House of Peers and Commons from Grocers-Hall in London to Westminster And the Sea Captains Masters of Ships and Marriners with small Barges and Long-Boats sufficiently Mann'd and Armed with Murderers Rablets Faulchion and Minion with Musquet and Half-Pikes to the number of 2000 persons have engaged themselves to Guard the Parliament by Water The Trayned Bands in Southwark have offered themselves to secure all the other side of the Water and the Apprentices tendred their Services to attend the Parliament to the number of Ten Thousand with Warlike Weapons but those the Parliament enjoyned to stay at home And lastly the Watermen tendred their Barges for more Safety to carry the Parliament-men by Water All which to the great admiration of all the Beholders put in Execution this day And that which is most considerable 4000 Horsemen are come to the House of Commons this day except some of them which lay at Vxbridge and places thereabouts with a Petition in the Name of the whole County of Buckingham That Mr. Hampden their Knight of the Shire may receive his Tryal and not lie under the name of High Treason and cannot obtain a Legal way of Tryal and that if he acquit himself as no good men make doubt of Justice in a high measure may be done upon the false informers of his Majesty how near or how great soever They being confident that it is but design of the Popish Party to put an interruption in the Proceedings of Parliament that no Relief may be sent to Ireland but that more Protestant Blood may be shed there and that all Acts made this Parliament may be avoided under pretence of no Free Parliament And lastly to force a Breach of this Parliament by an untimely Adjournment or fayl of meeting through fear of danger By this it will be easy to observe how the People were deluded and inflamed into those Heats and Commotions which cast this Nation so dear and by what wayes the popular Poison and and Contagion spread it self far and wyde so as to become almost an Epidemical Disease throughout the Kingdom and will plainly demonstrate how dangerous a Tool the Press is when the Hand of Faction And now let us take a view of their Actions and how they demeaned themselves having got the Bishops cooped into the Tower and the King out of the Town Tuesday Jan. 11. and themselves triumphantly replaced at Westminster The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Reported That the Lords Committees for the Irish Affairs have met in London with the Committee of the House of Commons and have agreed upon some Resolutions concerning the Affairs of Ireland 1. That 2500 l. out of the Loan Money be forthwith delivered to Sir Job Harvey and Sir John Nulls who have undertaken to return it to Chester for the Paying and Transporting the 300. Men now there to Dublin 2. That 3000 l. more be paid to them they having undertaken to give Credit to Mr. Walter Frost Commissary for the Victuals The Committee of the House of Commons told the Lords Committees likewise That they were now at the bottom of their Purses and for-as-much as the necessity of providing Money and of the Supply for the present relief of Ireland requireth the Consideration of both Houses of Parliament and for-as-much as they cannot sit in safety without strong and sufficient Guards from the City of London and adjacent Parts they desire
means to prevent this great and threat'ning danger to his Majesties Royal Person and to our Religion Lives Liberties and Fortunes have thought good to give a timely Advertisement thereof to all his Majesties Subjects of the Reformed Protestant Religion declaring hereby That they hold it necessary and adviseable that with all Expeditithey put themselves into a good posture of Defence to provide fit Arms and Ammunition and be ready upon all occasions to defend the several Counties from Domestick Insurrections and Foreign Invasions and that the Sheriffs Justices of Peace Majors and Head-Officers within their several Limits do take Care that their Magazines of Powder Arms and other Ammunition be compleatly furnished and that they cause strong Guards and Watches to be set in convenient places for the Securing themselves and for the apprehending of such Persons who they shall have just cause to suspect and if upon Examination any grounds of danger shall appear to give notice thereof unto the Parliament and that all Officers take special care that no Soldiers Arms or Ammunition be raised or levyed nor any Castles Forts or Magazines delivered up without his Majesties Authority signified by both Houses of Parliament This hopeful Declaration had the misfortune to become only an Abortive for when it came up to the House of Lords how prevalent soever the Faction was there yet they were ashamed to own that for a Child of Parliamentary Authority which carried so many notorious Falshoods and Calumnies most easie to be detected in the Front of it and yet this thing which was to be imposed upon the Nation for so great a Truth was compiled out of 3 or 4 Parcels of the same kind of Stuff but much Coarser which were drawn up by the Committees at Guild-Hall and Grocers-Hall and out of which the Committee for this Declaration were by the appointment of the House Ordered to frame it and they accordingly licked those Monstrous and Deformed Cubbs into this Bear which begins with the Papists but flies directly at the Throat of his Sacred Majesty the best Protestant in all his Dominions And this was one of the greatest Artifices of the Faction to Sail with this Side-wind as if they intended to fall furiously upon the Papists but then to make a sudden Tack and pour in all their Broad-sides of Calumnies Plots and Conspiracies upon the King himself and the Loyal and Orthodox Protestants whom under the Notion of Malignants Popishly-affected and Adherents to the Papists they still drew into the Designs which they said were laid against the Parliament Kingdom and the King himself against whom the Bolt of their Thunder was always directly levell'd though the Noise and Crack sounded nothing but Papist There are two or three Passages very remarkable that I cannot but turn them upon themselves For when they charge these Plotters and Papists that they had a Design To make a Division of the Body of this Common-wealth from the Head thereof they themselves it seems were in that Design afterwards putting that horrid Plot in Execution by cutting off not only in a Political but Literal Sense that Illustrious Head of their Sovereign both from his own and the Body of the Common-wealth And whereas afterwards they Charge this Malignant Party with a Design by intestine Wars here amongst our selves to wast the Wealth and Substance and Totally to Annihilate the True Protestant Religion and the whole frame of Government in all his Majesties Dominions There certainly never was in so few words so true a Character of their own subequent Actions and had they sitten for their Picture in Miniature to the fam'd Appelles who used to boast of his Art that he painted for Eternity it had been impossible for him to draw them more exactly to the life with his Pencil then in these words they have drawn themselves with their own Ink the blackness of which though intended for the King and the Loyal Party will with an Ex ore tuo stick to their Memories so long as there remain any Records of time and Posterity will easily discern who were the Plotters to Subvert the Government not by the Charge but the Execution and may from hence draw this serviceable Aphorism That no Persons are more likely to design against a Government or to bring the People into Slavery then such Subjects as Arraign their Sovereign with Designs of Erecting Arbitrary Power and introducing Popery Which were the two main Engines by which this Rebellious Faction undermined and overthrew the best Church and Government in the Christian World and rendred the Freest People of Europe the most Abject Slaves in Christendom to the Arbitrary Usurpations of their fellow Subjects and Servants in every thing that Men esteem valuable whether Life Liberty Fortune or Religion But whether the Lords would consent or not the materials out of which this Declaration was drawn being the results of several Debates of the Committee at Guild-Hall and Grocers-Hall got immediately into the Press and from that Mint of mischief flew like Lightning through the Nation to the intolerable Scandal of his Majesty And yet the very chief Aggravation of this Action of his Majesties of the Insolence of the Soldiers is by one of the News-writers of the Party and Times before mentioned taken off from the King and his Retinue Who he saith demeaned themselves Civilly though this Declaration takes no notice of that And in truth who considers how ill the Parliament had treated the Soldiers both during their being in Arms and after the Disbanding will not think it strange for such a sort of Men who have Mars predominant should be apt to vent their private Resentments against those Persons whom the King had Impeached of Treason and to whom they owed all their Sufferings But to put this to the King's Score was a Barbarous injustice which none but such Men as had shaken hands with all Respect as well as Loyalty to the King could be guilty of But see the Paper it self A Declaration of the House of Commons The Debates at Guild-hall and Grocers-hall Drawn into a Declaration concerning Breach of Priviledge c. Mr. Glyn Reports from Guild-hall Jan. 6th 1641. Touching a late Breach of their Priviledges And for the Vindication thereof and of divers Members of the said House WHereas the Chambers Studies and Trunks of Mr. Denzill Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr John Pym Master John Hampden and Mr. William Strode Esquires Members of the House of Commons upon Munday the third of this instant January by colour of His Majesties Warrant have been sealed up by Sir William Killigrew and Sir William Flemen and others which is not only against the Priviledge of Parliament but the common liberty of every Subject Which said Members afterwards the same day were under the like colour by Serjeant Francis one of His Majesties Serjeants at Arms contrary to all former Presidents demanded of the Speaker sitting in the House of Commons to be delivered unto him that
removed and that Sir John Conyers may be recommended to his Majesty for that Place But before the House of Lords would give any Resolution herein it was Ordered That the Common-Council of the City of London the Merchants that have Estates in Bullion the Minters and all others concerned shall be inquired of whether there be a stay of the Mint or any forbearance of bringing in of Bullion into the Tower of London and if there be whether it proceeds in respect of Sir John Byron 's being Lieutenant of the Tower and hereof speedy Certificate to be made to the Lords in Parliament A Message was then brought from the House of Commons by Denzil Hollis Esquire 1. He brought up the Bill for the Relief of his Majesties distressed Subjects of Ireland 2. To desire the Lords to join with them in an Ordinance to secure 50000 l. borrowed of the Merchant Adventurers for the Affairs of Ireland 3. To move the King to concur with both Houses in the Order made giving Power to Sir John Hotham for securing the Town of Hull and the Magazine there for his Majesties Service To which the Answer was That their Lordships will take the particulars into Consideration this Afternoon The Ordinance for securing the said Merchant Adventurers was read in these words THe Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled Ordinance of the Lords and Commons for securing the Merchant Adventurers 50000 l. having a due Regard to the good Affections of the Governors Assistants and Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers of England expressed in the present advancing and lending of 30000 l. of Lawful Money and forwardness to advance and lend the foresaid Sum of 20000 l. more of like Money if their Affairs will admit the same for the security of this Common-wealth in the supply of the present Affairs in Ireland which the said Lords and Commons do take in very good part and being resolved to make a full and just satisfaction for the same do hereby declare that the said Sum of 30000 l. and such Sum and Sums as they shall further advance and lend as aforesaid shall be fully satisfied and paid unto the said Company of Merchant Adventurers into the hands of their Treasurer for the time being with Interest after the Rate of 8 l. per cent for a Year out of such Moneys as shall be next raised by Authority of Parliament To which Ordinance the Lords agreed Then the Lord Keeper informed the House The Act for the Captives at Argiers and for pressing Marriners passed by Commission That the Commission was come signed by his Majesty for giving the Royal Assent to two Bills one for pressing of Marriners the other against Pyrates Then the Lord Keeper the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Earl of Cumberland three of the Commissioners being sate upon a Form for a-cross the House between the Chair of State and the Lord Keeper's Wool-sack the Gentleman-Usher of the Black-Rod was commanded to go for the House of Commons who being come with their Speaker the Lord Keeper acquainted the Lords and Commons That his Majesty having such occasions as he could not come to this House to give his Royal Assent to the Two Bills in Person hath given a Commission under the Great Seal of England the Contents whereof was read openly which being done the Clerk of the Crown was commanded to read the Titles of the Bills severally in haec verba viz. An Act for the freeing of the Captives of Argier and to prevent the taking of others An Act for pressing of Marriners and Soldiers for the present Guarding of the Seas and the defence of his Majesties Dominions Which being done the Clerk of the Parliament pronounced the Royal Assent to them particularly and severally in these Words Le Roy le Veult And then the Commons returned to their House After this the Lord Keeper Reported the Conference yesterday to this Effect The L. Keeper's Report of the Conference concerning Bagshaw's Information That the House of Commons received Information concerning divers Forces of Horses and Armed Men in a Warlike manner which have been seen at Kingston and afterwards at Windsor and now gone towards Farnham and that Yesterday about 100 Men were met going from London towards Windsor Armed with Pistols and Waggons were going towards Windsor laden with Ammunition The House of Commons say this causeth much wonder at this time all at Peace and a Parliament sitting that such Forces should be Levied therefore they desire that it may be declared by both Houses That whosoever shall raise Forces at this time without Consent in Parliament may be esteemed Enemies and Disturbers of the Peace of the Kingdom and that both Houses will take care to suppress them and likewise the House of Commons desire That a Message be sent to the King to this purpose and to acquaint his Majesty that both Houses of Parliament will be very careful of the Publick Peace and that they hold it against the Law any Forces should be so levied And further the House of Commons acquaints their Lordships That the Lord Digby hath been with the Soldiers at Kingston and given them thanks in the King's Name and told them That his Majesty came out of London to keep them from being trampled in the dirt therefore they desire that the Lord Digby may be summoned to attend this House forthwith Hereupon it was Ordered Order to Summon the Lord Digby to attend the House of Lords That the Lord George Digby shall be Summoned forthwith to attend this House as a Peer of this Realm and hereof he is not to fail Directed to the Gentleman-Usher attending the House of Peers It will be worth the Readers while to cast his Eye a little back upon the Information of Bagshaw of Windsor upon which Foundation all this Conference was built and as there is little doubt but Bagshaw saw double so the Commons looked through their usual Multiplying Glass and saw his single Waggon of Ammunition turned into Waggons and those few Soldiers which he only by Report heard to be at Windsor were Multiplied into an Army But they had a Design now behind the Curtain of seizing the Militia into their Hands either with or against the King's Consent to which this noise of raising Forces by the Lord Digby was to contribute by heightning and swelling the Peoples Fears and Jealousies throughout the Nation in order to smooth their Way to this great Design upon which these Criminals of the Faction built their own Security though they pretended the Safety of the Nation But that I may give all the light I can possibly into this Affair which filled the City and Nation with Terror and Amazement I will present the Reader with the Lord Digby's Apology which besides the clear account it gives of this Kingston Army will also let in some light into other dark and obscure passages both before and after this time and will set the Arts and Intrigues of the
through this little Artifice and therefore the Merchants c. being withdrawn after much consideration the Question was put Whether this House will joyn in an humble Petition with the House of Commons to his Majesty to remove Sir John Byron Knight The Lords refuse to joyn with the Commons in a Petition to displace the Lieutenant of the Tower Several Lords enter a Protestation against the Vote for not joyning with the Commons about the Lieutenant of the Tower from being Lieutenant of the Tower of London and to place Sir John Conyers in that Place And it was Resolved Negatively These Lords following before the Question was put demanded their Right of Protestation and that they might have liberty to Enter their Dissents to this Vote which the House gave leave unto Lord Admiral Earl of Bedford Earl of Pembroke Earl of Leicester Earl of Sarum Earl of Warwick Earl of Holland Earl of Bolinbrook Earl of Stamford Viscount Say and Seal Lord Wharton Lord Pagett Lord North Lord Hunsdon Lord Willoughby de Parrham Lord St. Johns Lord Spencer Lord Kymbolton Lord Brooke Lord Roberts Lord Grey de Warke Lord Newnham Lord Howard de Escrick After which the Committee of the House of Commons were called in and the Councel of the Bishops standing at the Bar the 12 Bishops were severally brought in one after another First The Bishops answer to the Impeachment of the Commons The Arch-Bishop of York was brought to the Bar and after he had kneeled as a Delinquent he was commanded to stand up And then the Speaker by direction of the House told him That this Day was appointed for the 12 Bishops to put in their several Answers to the Impeachment of the House of Commons of High Treason against them and that their Lordships do require him to put in his Answer thereunto His Grace Answered That he had received an Order Dated the 30th of December last with an Impeachment against himself and 11 other Bishops of High Treason from the House of Commons And likewise divers Orders of several days that were appointed for them to put in their Answers and the last Order for this day which accordingly he is come to obey their Lordships Commands And for his own Answer to the aforesaid Impeachment of High Treason he gives his Answer in this manner I John Arch-Bishop of York saving to my self all advantages of Exceptions to the insufficiency of the said Impeachment for my self say That I am not Guilty of the Treason Charged by the said Impeachment in manner and form as the same is therein charged Then he desired a present and speedy Tryal and so withdrew In the same manner Thomas Bishop of Durham Robert Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield Joseph Bishop of Norwich John Bishop of St. Asaph William Bishop of Bath and Wells George Bishop of Hereford Matthew Bishop of Ely Robert Bishop of Oxon Godfrey Bishop of Glocester John Bishop of Peterborough and Morgan Bishop of Llandaff were severally brought to the Bar and gave the same Answer The Bishops having given in their Answers the Committee of the House of Commons went to their own House Then a Petition of the Bishops was read as followeth To the Right Honourable the Lords Assembled in the House of Peers The Humble Petition of John Arch-Bishop of York and other the Bishops Impeached by the House of Commons of High Treason the 30th of December last Humbly Sheweth THat your Petitioners by your Honourable Order of the date of the Impeachment The Bishops Petition to be speedily Tryed or Bailed were to put in their Answers thereunto the 7th of this Instant and have had sit hence several days for that purpose assigned them and are now this 17th of this Instant brought hither by your Lordships Order They always having been as now they are ready to obey your Lordships Commands and many of them already much Impaired both in their Health and Estates Do most Humbly Pray That a Speedy proceeding may be had therein and that in the mean time they may be admitted to Baile And your Petitioners shall ever Pray for increase of Honour and Divine Blessing upon your Lordships Jo. Eborac Godfr Glouc. Jos Norvic Tho. Duresme Jo. Asaph Guil. Bath Well Geo. Hereford Mat. Eliens Ro. Oxon. Jo. Petriburg Mor. Landaff Ro. Cov. Litch Hereupon It was Ordered by the Lords The Bishops remanded to Prison That the day of Tryal for the twelve Bishops which are Impeached of High Treason by the House of Commons shall be on Tuesday the 25th of this Instant January at the Bar of the Lords House In the mean time the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield shall be remanded to the Custody of the Gentleman Vsher attending this House and the other ten to be presently remanded to the Tower there to remain until the further Pleasure of the House be known And a Message was sent to the House of Commons by Mr. Serjeant Finch and Mr. Serjeant Glanvile to acquaint them with this Order The Lord Keeper being indisposed had by the leave of the House retired himself but before his going had delivered a Letter from the King to the Speaker of the Lords House for the time which was read as follows To Our Trusty and Right well-beloved Councellor Edward Lord Littleton Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England A Letter and Message to both Houses from the King concerning the Prince CHARLES R. O Or Will and Command is That you deliver to the Parliament in Our Name the Message inclosed concerning the Marquess of Hertford's Attendance upon Our Son and for so doing this shall be your Warrant Given at Our Court at Windsor the 17th Jan. 1641. His Majesty hath seen the Order of the Lords upon the Motion of the House of Commons given to the Marquess of Hertford concerning his Care in attendance upon the Prince not without Wonder that the Parliament should make such an Order which can hardly be otherwise understood but as if there had been a Design of sending the Prince out of the Kingdom which must necessarily have reflections upon his Majesty the Prince being now in the same Place with him And his Majesty hath shewed himself both so good a Father and a King that he thinks it strange that any should have such a thought as that he would permit the Prince should be carried out of the Kingdom or that any durst give him that Counsel Whereupon it was Ordered That this Message be communicated to the House of Commons at Grocers-Hall And then the House was adjourned till the 20th of Jan. In the Commons House Mr. Quelch balled It was Ordered That Mr. Quelch now in the Serjeant's Custody by order of the House shall be forthwith bailed It was rare that ever they absolutely discharged any Person who once came under their Hands though but for the slightest Information and they rather chose to let them go under Bail by which Artifice they
Authors of our miseries is the Bishops and their Adherents favourers of the Romish and Arminian faction that have with a high hand and stretched out Arm in their several places of Power and Jurisdiction both spiritual and temporal exercised crueâ—â—â— and tyranny over the Children and Saints of God binding the Consciences of free Subjects only to their opinions and commands in the Exercise of their Religion with extremity and greatest severity inflicting punishment upon those of tender Consciences that shall refuse the same enjoyning all of the Clergy under their Authority to teach only such things as may serve only to the defence and maintenance of their devised doctrines and Tenents of their superiours preaching the same out of Fear not Conscience these corrupt Bishops Lords over their brethren and fellow servants in the Administration of the Mysteries of Salvation have been the prime Authors of all the troubles we are now incumbred withal I speak not Master Speaker altogether against their persons but even their Offices and Places of authority as now they are used contrary to the true intent of the Apostles in the first admitting of the ordination of Bishops in these particulars as I under favour conceive First their denomination and style Lord Bishops we find not any where allowed nay not named in Scripture Secondly they joyn not with their authority teaching and constant preaching of the word of God warranted by the same but separated contrary thereto Thirdly joyning with their Spiritual Power temporal Jurisdiction usurping to themselves the only Office of the Magistrate Fourthly procuring to themselves places of Judicature chief Judges in great Courts as their High Commission late Star-Chamber and the like which are all contrary to the rules and ordinances of Divine-Writ We cannot otherwise conceive or expect as long as their Offices thus corrupted remain without limitation or correction that ever there will be true Religion setled in this Land or any peace or unity of hearts and affections in this Kingdom being too apparent to all the world that from age to age since the Prelates have had such power and command in the Common-Wealth they have bin either the roots and founders or Actors and Competitors with others of all the divisions and dissentions that have ever been in this Kingdom either between the Prince and his People or between the Prince and his Parliaments and still such persons of perverse Spirits possess such Offices Secondly I come to shew you these their practises how they have and still endeavour to bring to pass their wicked designs they are known already I verily believe both to you and almost all men that is * * Most notorious falshood by Innovating Religion joyning with the Church of Rome approving as well of the Doctrine as Ceremonies thereof endeavouring to bring all others into the same opinion with them especially the Lords and Grandees of this Kingdom to perfect this they raise divisions between the King and his Subjects between King and Parliament between Lords and Commons and between the Commons themselves to raise Mutinies Insurrections Rebellions amongst his Majesties good Subjects open Wars between his Majesties Kingdomes one against another and all under pretence of the Religion to defend the Office Power and Jurisdiction of Bishops above all others yea that their Spiritual power is above the Kings in Ecclesiastical causes and the like all which we have had woeful experience of Thirdly and lastly the means whereby we may remedy these evils is First to regulate and rectifie their unlawful and usurped Power and Jurisdictio and settle such a form of Government in Religion as shall seem to the Wisdom of this House to come nearest the Word of God And Secondly with all speed as we possibly can upon Triall bring to deserved punishment these Prelates and Bishops that have been the only Authors of all our miseries Thus did these Vultures and Harpies accuse the innocent Doves upon whom they intended to prey and Quarry but God be praised We have found though by woful Experience who were the Occasions of all those dreadful Miseries those Wars and Bloodshed that Tyranny and Usurpation under which the Nation so long groaned which from the Day that it saw the Bishops excluded from the Execution of their Function and from their Right never saw one happy Day till by the Miracle of Providence they were by the Restauration of the Illustrious Son of the Glorious Martyr repossessed of their Office and Rights Then Sir Philip Stapleton Reported the Paper of Thanks to be returned to the Scots Commissioners which was in these Words The House of Commons having considered The Thanks of the House of Commons to the Scots Commissioners for their Papers to the King and Parligment both that Paper given in to them from the Scottish Commissioners upon Saturday last as likewise their Advice lately given to his Majesty by occasion of the present Troubles which at the intreaty of the said House they have communicated to them and finding therein a large Testimony of their Fidelity to the King of Affection to this State and of Wisdom for the Honor Security and Peace of his Majesty and Kingdoms doth hereby declare That they have herein done that which is not only acceptable to this House but likewise that which is of great Advantage to both Nations and therefore have Ordered That Sir Philip Stapleton Mr. Hampden Mr. Fiennes Mr. Pym Mr. Arthur Goodwin Sir Henry Vane ju or any three of them shall return them very hearty and affectionate Thanks in the Name of this House and this House doth further desire them That according to their Affections already expressed they will continue their Care and Indeavors to remove the present Distractions among us as also to preserve and confirm the Vnion between the two Nations so happily begun And that this might appear to be not only a verbal Acknowledgment It was this day Ordered That the Citizens that serve for the City of London do take Care that the Scots Commissioners do pay nothing for their House Rent and Furniture belonging unto the same and this House will undertake to see the same satisfied After this one Ralph Hope being at the Bar informed the House of Commons That 4th Jan. instant Serjeant Dendy came to Mr. Weekes his House at the Gate-House Information against Serjeant Dendy and required of him if Mr. Hollis lay there whereupon he asked the Serjeant What his Business was the Serjeant bid him tell him his Name he answered if he would tell him his Business he would tell him his Name whereupon he said I charge you upon your Life to tell me where Mr. Hollis is for he is a Traitor how dares Mr. Weekes lodg a Traitor in his House he said he must have him and would have him for he was a Traitor Whereupon it was Resolved c. That Mr. Dendy Serjeant at Arms shall be forthwith sent for as a Delinquent by the Serjeant at Arms attending
fruition of your future favours The fixion our Confidence in you before any other of the Peers and privy Councellors of the Kingdom doubleth this Obligation Your Lordship may therefore be pleased to acquaint the Lords Justices and Councel to be imparted unto his Sacred Majesty with our Grievances and the causes thereof the reading of which we most humbly pray and the manner of it First the Papists in the neighbouring Counties are severely puniâ—â—ed and their miseries might serve as Beacons unto us to look unto our own when our Neighbours Houses are on fire And we and other Papists are and ever will be as loyal Subjects as any in the King's Dominions For manifestation whereof we send herein inclosed an Oath solemnly taken by us which as it received indelible Impression in our hearts shall be sign'd with our hand and seal'd with our Blood Secondly There is an incapacity in the Papists of Honour and the Immunities of true Subjects the royal Marks of distributive Justice and a disfavour in the Commutative which rais'd Strangers and Forreigners whose valour and vertue was invincible when the old Families of the English and the Major part of us the meer Irish ddi swim in blood to serve the Crown of England and when Offices should call Men of worth Men without Worth and merit obtain them Thirdly The Statute of the 2 Eliz. of force in this Kingdom against us and they of our Religion doth a little disanimate us and the rest Fourthly The avoidance of Grants of our Lands and Liberties by Quirks and Quiddities of the Law without reflecting upon the Kings Royal and real Intention for confirming our Estates his Broad Seal being the pawn betwâ—â—t his Majesty and his people Fifthly The restraint of purchase in the meer Irish of Lands in the Escheated Counties and the taint and blemish of them and their posterities doth more discontent them than that plantation Rule for they are brought to that Exigent of poverty in these late times that they must be sellers and not buyers of Land And we conceive and humbly offer to your Lordships consideration Principiis obsta that in the beginning of this Commotion Your Lordship as it is hereditary for you will be a Physitian to cure this Disease in us and by our Examples it will doubtless beget the like auspicious scucess in all other parts of the Kingdom For we are of opinion it is one sickness and one pharmach will suffice Sublata causa tollitur Effectus And it will be recorded that you will do service unto God King and Countrey And for salving every the aforsaid Soars your Lordship is to be an humble Suitor in our behalf and of the rest of the Papists that out of the abundance of his Majesties Clemency there may be an Act of Oblivion and general pardon without restitution or Account of Goods taken in the time of this Commotion a liberty of our Religion a repeal of all Statutes formerly made to the contrary and not by Proclamation but Parliamentary way A Charter free Denizen in ample manner for meer Irish All which in succeeding Ages will prove an Union in all his Majesties Dominions instead of Division a Comfort in Desolation and a Happiness in perpetnity for an eminent Calamity And this being granted there will be all things Quae sunt Caesaris Caesari and Quae sunt Dei Deo And it was by the Poet written though he be prophane in other matters yet in this prophetically Divisum Imperium cum Jove Caesar habet All which for this present we to leave your Honourable Care And we will as we ever did and do remain Your very humble and assured ever to be Commanded Hugh mac Gillernow Farrall James Farrall Bryan Farrall Readagh Farrall Edmond mac Cael Farrall John Farrall in Carbuy Garret Farrall Lisagh mac Conel Farrall Bryan mac William Farrall James mac Trig Farrall his Mark Morgan mac Carbry Farrall Donnagh mac Carbry Farrall Richard mac Conel Farrall William Mac James Farrall James Farrall Taghna mac Rory Farral Cormack mac Rory Farrall Conock mac Bryne Farrall John mac Edmund Farrall John Farrall Roger mac Bryne Farrall Barnaby Farrall Redeagh mac Lisagh Farrall Connor Oge mac Connor Farrall Edmond mac Connor Farrall Cahel mac Bryne Farrall Before the Parliament broke up the Popish Lords deputed the Lord Dillon to go into England to carry over their Desires to the King and to represent the Means which they thought fittest for the suppressing of the Rebellion and he with the Lord Taaf imbarqued for England but by stress of Weather the Vessel was driven into Scotland and they took their way by Land for London But the Parliament having notice of their coming they were by Order of the Commons seized upon and brought up in safe Custody and all their Papers searched and Examined So unwilling it seems was the Faction that any Address should be made to the King or that any Steps should be made towards the reducing that Kingdom to his Majesties Obedience by any sort of Treaty or Accommodation By this procedure though they gained upon the good Opinion of the People whose favor they most industriously courted and to whom nothing sounded more pleasant then what seemed to express a Hatred and Detestation of the Irish Rebellion and Religion yet certainly was it a means of running the Rebels into such Extremities as dispair of Mercy are wont to produce in those who have transgressed the Bounds of Law and Duty and know their Lives and Estates without it to be forfeited to Justice But for the better understanding of this and some other Particulars the Reader may peruse the following Extracts of some Letters from the Board in Ireland which I found among the old Papers of the Clerk of the Parliaments Office Extract of a Letter of the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland to the Lord Lieutenant dated the 25th of November 1641. THe Rebels in the County of Wexford increasing daily Extract of divers Letters of the Lords Justices Council of Ireland to the Lord Lieutenant received the 6 of December by Mr. Fitz-Girald read Dec. 10. 1641. have taken the Castles of Arickloe Limbrick the Lord Esmond 's House and Fort-Chichester places of good Strength and Importance The Rebels also in the County of Wickloe have laid Siege to his Majesties Castle of Wickloe those in that Castle were in fight with them Yesterday what the issue is we yet hear not and some of those Rebels in the County of Wickloe have dared to come within four Miles of this City and swept away great droves of Cattle And in both Counties as well Wickloe as Wexford all the Castles and Houses of the English with all their substance are come into the hands of the Rebels and the English with their Wives and Children strip'd naked and banished thence by their fury and rage The Rebels in the County of Longford do still increase also as well in their Numbers as in their
since we find there is little hope of it for some of the Priests are returned nothing being wrought thereby However it is fit your Lordship should know what we do we must now crave leave to declare to your Lordship That things being risen here to this height threatning not only the shaking of the Government but the loss of the Kingdom as the Supplies of Men Arms and more Treasure are of great necessity to be hastned away hither so is it also needful that we enjoy your Lordships presence here for the conduct in your own person of the great and important Affairs of this State as well in the Martial as in the Civil Government which do necessarily require it in this time of great imminent danger wherein so far as we may be able to contribute any assistance with you we shall be ready to discharge our duties therein with that loyalty and uprightness of heart which we owe to his Majesty and the particular respect due from us to your Lordship but we hope you will bring that strength with you which may befit the greatness of the King our Master to send with his Lieutenant against so numerous Enemies as these Rebels are become as well for the Honour of his Majesty as for the terror of those Rebels By what we have heretofore and now humbly represented to your Lordship you may in part see the greatness of the publick danger wherein this Kingdom now stands and particularly this City and Castle the principal piece thereof that if those be lost which we now again assure your Lordship were never in so great peril to be lost since the first Conquest of this Kingdom by the Crown of England the whole Kingdom must quickly follow that the danger which must thereupon arise to the Kingdom of England is very great in many Respects There is no possibility to prevent those Evils with Honor and Safety to England but by Succors from thence or Scotland or both and that if those Succors come not speedily it cannot be avoided but the Kingdom must be lost And if notwithstanding all this so often and truly made known by us to your Lordship we shall perish for want of Supplies we shall carry this Comfort with us to our Graves or any other Burial we shall have That your Lordship can witness for us to the Royal Majesty and to all the World that we have discharged our Duties to God to his Majesty to that Nation and to this in humbly representing to his Majesty by your Lordship the chief Governour of the Kingdom the Extremities and Dangers wherein his Kingdom and People stand and the necessity of hastning Supplies hither by all possible means for preservation of both so as whatever become of our persons our memory cannot be justly stained with so wretched a breach of Faith and Loyalty to the King our Master as to forbear representing thither the Extremities wherein we are whether we have the Credit to be believed or no and that we write Truth and most needful Truth will be found true when perhaps we shall perish and which is more considerable the Kingdom also for want of being Relieved and Succoured in time And so we remain Your Lordships to be Commanded William Parsons Ormond Ossory Char. Lambert John Temple Francis Willoughby Jo. Burlace R. Dillon Ad. Loftus Charles Coot R. Meredith From his Majesties Castle of Dublin 14 December 1641. Postscript BY our Letters to your Lordship of the 22. of November We did desire to be informed from thence Whether the Parliament here being once Prorogued may not again be Prorogued by Proclamation before they Sit or whether it be of necessity that they must Sit again and the Parliament to be Prorogued the House Sitting And now that this Rebellion hath over-spread the whole Kingdom and that many Members of both Houses are involved therein so as the Parliament cannot Sit We humbly desire to know his Majesties Pleasure therein and if his Majesty shall think fit to Prorogue it which at present we hold expedient that then we may receive his Commandment for Prorogation and that the doubt concerning that be cleared for to assemble at that time cannot be with Safety Our Letters of the Third of December have been hitherto with-held on this side by contrary Winds The Propositions mentioned in this Letter for a Treaty by Sir Thomas Carey and Dr. Cale a Doctor of the Sorbon were First That there should be a Toleration of Religion Some Overtures for a Treaty Secondly That Popish Officers as well as Protestants should be admitted to all Employments Thirdly That the wrongs of Plantations should be repaired since 1610. Fourthly That there should be a Proclamation to take off the File the Title of Rebels and Traitors But Sir Phelim O Neil would not be perswaded to condescend to any manner of Treaty unless the Lord Mac-guire Mac-Mahon and the other Prisoners in the Castle were first set at Liberty which the Board rejecting with Contempt and Indignation that Overture died almost as soon as it was born Though it now began to be notorious that the Lords of the The Board Vindicates Sir Charles Coot and themselves from the Imputation of the Lords of the Pale Pale were deeply in the Conspiracy yet to take away their pretences the Board published a Proclamation and sent it to those Noblemen wherein it was positively Affirmed That the Lords Justices and Council did never hear Sir Charles Coot or any other utter at the Council Board or elsewhere any Speeches tending to a Purpose or Resolution 〈◊〉 Execute on those of their Profession or any other a general Massacâ—â— nor was it ever in their thoughts to dishonour His Majesty or the State by such an Odious Detestable and Impious Action giving them assurance of their safety if they would repair to Dublin the 17th of that Month. In Answer to which The Answer of the Lords of the Pale the Lords of the Pale return a Letter to the Lords Justices wherein they complain That they were so justly affrighted with Sir Charles Coot's severity and deportment that they durst not adventure their persons within the Confines of his Government they heavily charge upon him the inhumane acts perpetrated in the County of Wickloe the Massacre of Santry and the burning of Mr. King's house at Clantorfe contrary to the Publick Faith given but the day before for which severity they said they did not blame their Lordships but Sir Charles Coot for his Rigor in the Execution and therefore desire that no sinister Construction may be made of their stay but that they may have some Commissioners appointed to confer with them concluding with professions of their Loyalty and readiness to give their advice for the advancement of His Majesty's Service and the Common Peace of the Kingdom But though they did not proceed to open Hostilities chusing rather to force the Government to be the Aggressors yet they began to form themselves into a
Moneys by reason of these Troublesome Times but on the receipt of your Secretaries Letter to the Commissary we shall receive the Over-plus of the Monies which was appointed for the Horse which is 240 l. which will help us a little but if there is not some Monies now on the Way for us I doubt the Soldiers will disband suddenly I shall beseech your Lordship to put the Irish Committee in mind of their promise for Coats and Caps Shoes and Stockins for the Soldiers it is very needful and will be very advantagious for the Service if the Soldiers have them and by promise from us are expected by the Soldiers The Officers that are wanting at this present of your Lordships Regiment besides those that are wanting with their Companies is Capt. Snelling Lieutenant Palmer Captain Bois 's Lieutenant and Ensign Smith Captain Turvil 's Ensign I understand by my Lord Lisle that one Mr. Morrison is to be your Lordships Ensign who came this day to Chester I shall desire with your Lordships next Commands I may understand what quantity of Ammunition we shall carry from hence with us into Ireland or if we should be stayed here by contrary Wind what Ammunition you will be pleased to allow us weekly for Exercising desiring your Lordships pardon for being so tedious I humbly take my leave Your Lordships most humble Servant to be Commanded George Monck Chester 21 Jan. To his Excellency the Earl of Leicester L. Lieutenant of Ireland these present at Leicester-House in St. Martin's-Fields In this distressed Estate stood the Affairs of these miserable Kingdoms Scotland recovered from those Rebellious Commotions raised by the Presbyterian Faction by Remedies that proved more Fatal to the King then the Disease Ireland all in a Flame and England by the prevalency of the same Faction which had raised the disturbances in Scotland ready to follow their Example and to pursue their Model of Reformation by the same wicked Courses of Religious Dis-obedience and Rebellion in which Condition I must at present leave them till such time as it shall please God to give me ability and opportunity I may after some little necessary Refreshment pursue this Laborious work in perfecting the Remainder of these Historical Collections FINIS A TABLE Of the principal Matters in this Second Volume A. ANswer of the King to the Commons request about his Servants 231. Concerning the Irish Acts 421. About disbanding the Horse 429. To the reasons for staying his Journey to Scotland 434. To the Speech of the Recorder of London 676. To the Petition of both Houses about Guards for the Parliament 685 833. To the Petition of the Aldermen c. at Hampton Court 712. To the Petition accompanying the Remonstrance 744. To the Petition about Breach of Priviledge 762. To the Petition concerning the Kensington business 796. To the Message of the House of Commons for a Guard 803. To the Petition from Buckinghamshire 841. To the Petition of the Lord Mayor c. 842. To the Message concerning the three Bills 848. To the Commons demand of stores 860 To the Message concerning the Bill for Adjournment 877. Alderman Abel a Patentee a Bill Ordered against him 256. Bailed 475. Accompt of the Armies 292 410. Act of State about the Oath in Ireland 79. Act of Parliament for reversing the Attainder of the Earl of Strafford 23. Act of Scotch Parliament part of one making it Treason to Levy Forces without the Kings consent 682. Act of Common-Council of London against Tumults 803. See Bill Adjournment Bill past by both Houses that it be in the power of the Houses respectively 834. The Kings Answer to it 877. Earl of St. Albans his Letter from Ireland concerning Affairs there 686. Aldermen Sheriffs c. of London attend the King at Hampton Court 711. Many of them Knighted 712. America Petition of some Merchants that parts of it be seiz'd 467. Mr. Anderton a Member of the House of Commons receives a Letter about a Plot 836. Anslow a Witness against the Earl of Strafford 60. Answer of the Earl of Strafford to the Articles of Impeachment 20 to 27. To Pym 's Speech against the Preamble of his Answer 39. Of the House of Commons to the Lords Reasons for the Bishops Voting in Parliament 260. Of the Judges to certain Queries about Matters in Parliament 374. Of the Scotch Commissioners to the two Propositions 406. Their Answer about disbanding the Army 412. Of the English Commissioners to the Propositions of the Scots Commissioners 423. Of the Scots Commissioners to the reasons for staying the Kings Journey 435. Of the House of Lords to the Propositions of the Scots Commissioners about difficulty of Marching their Army home 538. Of the House of Lords to a Petition of the Lord Mayor concerning the Londoners denying subjection to the Common Council 460. Of the House of Lords to the House of Commons Propositions concerning Ireland 525. Of the Judges in Ireland to Queries of the Parliament there 575. Of the City of London to the Parliaments desire of lending Money 598 644. Of the Queen concerning Father Philips 605. Of the House of Commons to the House of Lords two Propositions about the Scotch relief of Ireland 771. Of the several Impeached Bishops 797. Of the Lords of the Pale to the Lords Justices 906. Of the same to the Vindication of the severity of Sir Charles Coot 917. Apology of the Lord Digby 863. Apprentices of London their Petition concerning Church Government c. 775. An account of a Tumult of them 805. Nicholas Ardagh a Witness against the Earl of Strafford 70. Argiers a Vote about the Captives there 254. Act for them past 861. Argument of Mr. Lane in behalf of the Earl of Strafford 153. Of Recorder Gardner for the same 156. Of Mr. St. John for the Bill of Attainder 162. Arch-Bishop of Armagh his Testimony in the Case of the Earl of Strafford 83 See Usher Arms search'd for at Lambeth 236. Supplied to the Lords of the English Pâ—â—â— 632. Sent from the Tower for Ireland 710. search for Arms at Mr. Ropers at Eltham 847. At Sir James Hamilton 's Lodgings ibid. At Sir James Hanham 's in Somersetshire 848. At the Lady Rivers and at Oxon 859. Army pretended to be in danger of being seduced 231. Several Lords Examined about it 258. An Account of it 272. Army in Ireland a Report for disbanding it 233. The State of it in the Earl of Strafford 's time 537. State of the same when the Rebellion first broke out 627. Articles of Impeachment against the Earl of Strafford 8. Of further Impeachment against the same 11. Against the Judges 324. Against Sir Robert Berkley 337. Against Lord Chief Baron Davenport 347. Against Baron Trevor 352. Against Baron Weston 356. Against Justice Crawley 362. Against Lord Chief Justice Bramstone 363. Against the Bishop of Ely 398. Against the Lord Chancellor of Ireland c. 570. Against Lord Kimbolton and the five Members 811. Arundel Debate about the
of the House of Lords 849. At the Bar of the House of Commons 856. A Petition of some Merchants c. against him 881. A Motion of the House of Commons for displacing him dissented to by the House of Lords 882. Cruelty of the Irish Rebels 633. Customers offer 100000 l. for an Act of Oblivion 256. are Ordered to pay 150000 l. ibid. Votes about the Petty-Farmers 258. who Petition the House 265. Custos Regni insisted on by the House of Commons 425. the Judges Opinion about it 430. D. SIr Thomas Danby a Witness for the Earl of Strafford 95. Mr. William Davenant accused for a Conspiracy to seduce the Army 232. a Proclamation to stop him 233. sent for by a Serjeant 245. Committed 246. Bayled 377. Lord Chief Baron Davenport Impeach'd by the House of Commons 343. Articles against him 347. Sir Thomas Dawes a Writ Ne exeat regnum against him 425. Deans and Chapters defended by Doctor Hacket in the House of Commons 240. Speeches in Parliament concerning them 282. 289. Debts of the Kingdom considered by the House of Commons 257. 724. Declaration of the House of Commons concerning several Church-matters without the consent of the House of Lords 481. of the House of Commons of Ireland upon the Queeres proposed to the Judges there 584. of the English Parliament touching the Irish Rebellion 601. of the House of Commons against Inigo Jones 728. of the King in answer to the Remonstrance 746. of the House of Commons concerning the Tower and Collonel Lunsford 778. Declaration of the State of the Kingdom projected 615. debated 664. appointed to be delivered and by whom 689. set down at large 692. c. how received by the King 709. House divided about Printing it 743. Declaration for a Posture of Defence 850. rejected by the House of Lords 857. Declaration concerning Breach of Priviledges 853. Sir Edward Deering Chairman of a Sub-Committee for Scandalous Ministers 245. delivers the Bill for abolition of Episcopacy with a Speech 248. how unfortunate 249. his Speech about Episcopal Government 295. concerning the Order for removing the Communion Table 493. concerning Bowing at the Name of Jesus 610. about the Declaration of the State of the Kingdom 664. against passing it 668. the behaviour of the factious to him 672. Defence of the E. S. to the first Article against him 54. to the second 55. third 56. fourth 58. fifth 60. sixth 61. eighth 63. ninth 64. tenth 65. twelfth 67. thirteenth 68. fifteenth 71. sixteenth 74. nineteenth 78. twentieth to twenty fourth 84. to 87. twenty fifth 89. twenty sixth 91. twenty seventh 94. twenty eighth 99. Delinquents who are so Voted their Estates to be seized 511 Delinquents about the Sope Patent 513. Serjeant Dendy Inform'd against for words 888. Bishop of Derry Impeach'd 566. Articles against him 570. Sir Simon D'ewes his Speech about the Poll-Bill 322. concerning the Palatinate 368. Differences between the Lords and Commons about the Votes for the Protestation 416. Lord Digby one of the Committee to prepare the Charge against the Earl of Strafford 7. appointed one of the Managers of the Evidence against him 28. his Speech at passing the Bill of Attainder 157. which is Ordered to be Burnt by the Common Hangman 160 389. exceptions taken at some Words of his 271. expelled the House of Commons 275. made a Baron and added to all the standing Committees ibid. a Message from the House of Commons about him 791. Information against him 845. Summoned to attend the House of Lords 882. his Apology at large 863. Lord Dillon a Witness for the Earl of Strafford 56 58 60 61 71. made one of the Lords Justices of Ireland 564. displaced to please the Faction ibid. Committed by the House of Commons 786. Directions of the House of Commons for taking the Protestation 229. of the same to their Committee during the Recess 481. Disbanding the Army Votes Orders c. about it 233 286 454 456 457 458 461. Disbanded Soldiers to be permitted to go beyond Sea 495. Dondalk taken by the Irish Rebels 636. Sir James Douglas sent for as a Delinquent 753. Mr. Edward Dowdall's Depositions concerning the Treaty between the Lords c. of the Pale and the Irish Rebels 907. Bishop of Down a Warrant to him concerning Contemners of Eeclesiastical Jurisdiction 63. William Dowson a Witness against the Earl of Strafford 94. Thomas Drinkwater ordered to the Pillory for a Contempt 238. excused 245. Drogheda see Tredagh Dublin Fortified 636. Citizens pretend themselves not able to raise 40 l. ibid. cunningly victualled by the Master of the Rolls 637. Strangers ordered by Proclamation to depart the City and Suburbs 637. Dr. Duncomb Witness for the Earl of Strafford 55. Dunkirkers laden with Ammunition for Ireland stopt 844 857. Durham House assured to the Earl of Pembroke by an Act 426. Dutch Ambassador desired to assist in stoping the Dunkirkers 857. E. EDwards a Witness against the Earl of Strafford 90. Egor a Witness against the Earl of Strafford 36. Election of Members Cases about it 599. 870. Sir John Elliot 's Case 376. Bishop of Ely his Case with Lady Hatton 270. see Wren Dean of Ely see Fuller Embassadors Voted not to entertain Priests Natives of England 373. French or Spanish Embassadors see French or Spanish Episcopacy a Bill Proposed for the Abolishing of it 248. Sir Edward Deering 's Speech upon it 248. Sir Benjamin Rudyard 's 249. the Lord Newark 's 251. Votes of the House of Lords upon it 255. Report of a Conference about it 259. Debated in the House of Commons 275. two Papers concerning it presented to the House of Commons 301. Votes about it 380. Order to discourage Petitioners for it 655. Epitaphs upon the Earl of Strafford 204. 205. Sir Walter Erle one of the Commissioners to prepare the Charge against the Earl of Strafford 7. appointed one of the Managers of Evidence against him 28. gravell'd in his Management he is assisted by the Lord Digby 100. sent down to secure Dorsetshire 233. Earl of Essex made Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire 247. and Lord Chamberlain 407. Motion of the House of Commons that he have power over all the Train'd Bands South of Trent 608. lays down that Commission 684. Evidence against the Earl of Strafford Summ'd up by him 104. Examination of Owen Connelly about the Irish Rebellion 520. of Mac Mahan concerning the same 521. of Richard Grave 522. of Mr. Attorney General about the five Members 873. Exceptions taken at some words of the Lord Digby 27. at a Letter from the Speaker of the House of Lords of Ireland 417. at a Message from the House of Lords by one Person only 474. at the Bishop of Lincoln 477. at the Kings Speech 739. Exclusion of the Bishops from Voting in the case of the thirteen Impeached Bishops a Conference about it 500. Execution of the Earl of Strafford 201. Explanation of the Protestation 241. of the Act of Pacification 625. Extract of Letters from the Lords Justices of
out of their House they revived his Dormant Speech concerning the Attainder of the Earl of Strafford And notwithstanding that tender point of freedom of Speech which he might well plead as a Member of that Body where it is allowed to all Men to speak according to their Conscience yet upon the Debate of it they proceeded to these Votes Resolved c. Votes about the Lord Digby's Speech against the Bill of Attainder of the E. of Strafford That the Lord Digby 's Speech upon the Bill of Attainder of Thomas late Earl of Strafford contains matters Vntrue and Scandalous and that the Printing and Publishing of it is a Crime Resolved c. That Sir Lewis Dives and John Moor and Thomas Parston the Printer are Delinquents for Printing and Publishing the said Speech Ordered to be burnt by the Common Hangman Ordered That the Lord Digby 's Speech be burnt by the hand of the Common Hang-man on Friday in the Palace-Yard Cheapside and Smithfield And that these Votes be transmitted to the Lords for their Concurrence and that the Lords be moved to joyn with this House to Petition His Majesty That he would be pleased to forbear to confer any honour upon the Person of the Lord Digby who hath deserved so ill of the Parliament An Order for the speedy raising the Mony for disbanding the Army according to the Act of Parliament Wednesday July 14. The first Printing of the Orders of the H. of Commons was this day Ordered by the House of Commons to be Printed by the King's Printers The Order following about the Lord Digby's Speech to be presented to their Lordships at a Conference WHereas upon the 21 of April last past Orber about the L. Digby's Speech there was a Speech spoken in the House of Commons at the passing of the Bill of Attainder of Thomas Earl of Strafford by the Lord Digby then a Member of the said House the which Speech contained in it matters Vntrue and Scandalous as they have reference to the Proceedings of the Committees of the Lords House and this and to the Evidence of the Witnesses produced in that Cause And whereas the said Speech was published by the Lord Digby after the said Bill of Attainder was past by Vote in this House and after that great offence was taken to the said Speech and the same questioned in the House to the scandal of the Proceedings of this House and is since come forth in Print to the scandal of the Proceedings of His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament It is therefore this day Ordered by the said House That all the said Books so Printed shall be publickly burnt on Friday next part of them in the New Palace-Yard at Westminster the other part of them in Cheap-side London and the rest in Smithfield by the hands of the Common Hang-man And to that purpose the Bailiff of Westminster and the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex respectively are hereby required to be Assistant to the effectual Execution of this Order and see the said Books burnt accordingly And it is also Ordered by the said House That the Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers do their utmost endeavours to collect all the said Books into their hands remaining now dispersed among their Company and others and forthwith deliver them to one of the Sheriffs of London to be burnt according this Order And all others who have any of the said Books are hereby required forthwith to deliver them to one of the Sheriffs of London or Bailiff of Westminster as they will undergo the displeasure of this House in doing the contrary to be burnt according to this Order The ingrossed Articles against the Bishop of Ely were read Upon his Petition and Submission to the House Mr. Mr. Whittacre released from the Tower Pym Reports the Conference about the Q. Journey to the Spaw Whittacre was this day discharged from his Imprisonment in the Tower Mr. Pym Reports the Conference with the Lords about the Queen's Journey That the Lords had agreed to the Propositions and had resolved to send a number of their House to desire His Majesty to be pleased to appoint some time when such a certain number of both Houses as he shall think fit may attend him touching this business and that if he please the Queen to be prefent The Lords appointed to wait upon the King to know his pleasure herein were Lord Steward Lord Chamberlain Earl of Bath Earl of Bedford and Earl of Essex An Act for the Confirmation of the Subsidies granted by the Clergy was this day read the Bill was once read the Preamble and Confirmation was read 3 times And afterwards being put to the Question Bill of Subsidies granted by the Clergy passed the Lords and carried down to the Commons Thursday July 15. it was consented to pass Nemine Contradicente Then the Confirmation being Subscribed by the Clerk of the Parliament Soit baille aux Comuns it was sent down to the House of Commons by Serjeant Whitfield and Serjeant Finch to pass there A Message from His Majesty by the Lord Chamberlain to acquaint the Lords that he appoints to meet both Houses at Four of the Clock this day in the Banquetting-House about the Queen's Journey which was at a Conference communicated to the Commons Heads of the Address to stop the Queens Journey YOur Majesties Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons taking notice of an Intention of the Queen's Majesty to pass beyond the Seas whereby the Kingdom will be deprived of the comfort of Her Majesties presence they have thought good to express their humble Duties and Affections to Your Majesty and to the Royal Person of the Queen in some Considerations which they do now present unto You as they conceive very important for the good of this Kingdom and the safety and contentment of Her Majesty whose Honour and Happiness shall always have a chief place in their Estimation which Considerations are these following I. First there is great Cause to doubt lest the Papists have some Design upon Her Majesties Journey because the House hath been informed that divers of them have sold off their Lands to a great value and used other means to get ready mony 2. It is observed some of them have been very diligent gathering great quantities of Gold 3. It is informed that more then ordinary numbers of Papists are gone beyond Sea already and those of the better sort II. The great number of English Fugitives now beyond the Seas who by their late Designs and Practices are known to be full of Malice to the State and will no doubt seek all opportunities of access to Her Majesty and as much as they can labour to infuse into her such evil Counsels as may trouble the Peace of the Kingdom whereof at this time there is more danger because the Affairs of the Kingdom are not yet fully setled and upon the Disbanding the Army all Parts are like to