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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29579	A Speech made by the Right Honorable Iohn, Earl of Bristoll, in the high court of Parliament, May 20. 1642 concerning an accommodation : whereunto is added, the copy of a letter sent from the Right Honourable, the Lord Paget, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Buckingham, to the Right Honourable the Earl of Holland, shewing the great readinesse of that county, to obey the ordinance of the Parliament touching the militia.	Bristol, John Digby, Earl of, 1580-1654.; Paget, William Paget, Baron, 1609-1678.; Holland, Henry Rich, Earl of, 1590-1649.	1642 (1642)	Wing B4796; ESTC R1282	6,551	8

A SPEECH Made by the RIGHT HONORABLE IOHN Earl of BRISTOLL IN THE HIGH COVRT OF PARLIAMENT May 20. 1642. Concerning an ACCOMMODATION Whereunto is added THE COPY OF A LETTER Sent from the Right Honorable the Lord PAGET Lord Lieutenant of the County of Buckingham to the Right Honorable the Earl of Holland shewing the great readinesse of that County to obey the Ordinance of the Parliament touching the MILITIA LONDON Printed for W. G. 1642. A SPEECH made by the Right Honorable IOHN Earl of Bristoll in the high Court of Parliament May 20. 1642. MY LORDS I Have spoken so often upon the subject of Accommodation with so little acceptance and with so ill successe that it was in my intention not to have made any further assay in this kind but my zeale to the peace and happinesse of this Kingdom and my apprehensions of the neere approaching of our unspeakable miseries and calamities suffer me not to be master of mine own resolutions Certainly this Kingdome hath at all times many advantages over the other Monarchies of Europe As of Scituation of plenty of rich commodities of Power both by Sea and Land But more particularly at this time when all our neigbouring States are by their severall interests so involved in warre and with such equalitie of power that there is not much likelyhood of their mastering one another nor of having their differences easily compounded And whereby we being only admitted to all trades and to all places Wealth and Plenty which ever follow where trade flourisheth are in a manner cast upon us I shall not trouble your Lordships by putting you in mind of the great and noble undertakings of your Ancestors Nor shall I passe higher then the times within mine own remembrance Queen Elizabeth was a Princesse disadvantaged by her Sex by her age and chiefly by her want of Issue yet if we shall consider the great effects which were wrought upon most of the States of Christendome by this Nation under her prudent government The growth of the Monarchy of Spain chiefly by her impeached The United Provinces by her protected The French in their greatest miseries relieved Most of the Princes of Germany kept in high respect and reverence towards her and this Kingdome and the peace and tranquilitie wherein this Kingdome flourished and which hath bin continued down unto us by the peaceable government of King Iames of blessed memory and of his now Majestie untill these late unhappy interruptions We cannot but judge this Nation equally capable with any other of Honour Happinesse and plentie Now if in stead of this happy condition in which we have been and might be upon a sober and impartiall inquirie we shall find our selves to have bin for some few yeares last past involved in so many troubles and distractions and at the present to be reduced to the very brink of miseries and calamities It is high time for us to consider by what means we have been brought into them and by what means it is most probable we may be brought out of them This Kingdome never injoyed so universall a peace neither hath it any visible enemy in the world either Infidell or Christian Our Enemies are only of our own house such as our own dissentions jealousies distractions have raised up And certainly where they are found especialy betwixt a King and his people no other cause of the unhappinesse and misery of a State need to be sought after For civill discord is a plentifull Sourse from whence all miseries and mischiefes flow into a Kingdome The Scripture telleth us of the strength of a little City united and of the instabilitie of a Kingdome divided within it selfe So that upon a pruden● inquirie we may assigne our own jelousies and discords for the chief caus● of our past and present troubles and of our future feares It must be confessed that by the counsell and conduct of evil Ministers th● the Subject had cause to thinke their just liberties invaded And from thence have our former distempers growne For it is in the body politique of a Monarchie as in another Naturall body the health whereof is defined to be Partium Corporis aequa temperies an equall temper of the parts So likewise a State is well in health and well disposed when Soveraigne powers and common right are equally ballanced and kept in an even temper by just and equitable rules And truly My Lords by the goodnesse of his Majestie and by the prudent endeavour of the Parliament this State is almost reduced to that equall and even temper and our sicknesse is rather continued out of fancie and conceipt I meane feares and jealousies then out of any reall distemper or defect I well remember That before the begining of this Parliament some Noble Lords presented a Petition unto the King and in that Petition did set down all or most of the grievances and distempers of the Kingdome which occurred to them To these as I concieve the Parliament have procured from his Majestie such redresses as are to their good satisfaction Many other things for the ease security and comfort of the subject have been by their great industrie found and propounded and by his Majesties goodnesse condescended unto And now we are come so neere the happinesse of being the most free and most setled Nation in the Christian world Our dangers and miseries will grow greater and neerer unto us every day th●n other if they be not prevented The King on his part offereth to concurre with us in the setling of all the liberties and immunities either for the proprietie of our goods or libertie of our persons which we have received from our auncestors or which himselfe hath granted unto us And what shall yet remain for the good and comfort of his Subiects He is willing to hearken to our just and reasonable proportions And for the establishing of the true Protestant Religion he wooes us to it And the wisdom and industrie of the Parliament hath now put it in a hopefull way The rule of this government he professeth shall be The Laws of the Kingdom And for the comforting and securing of us he offereth a more large and more generall pardon then hath been granted by any of his Predecessors And truly My Lords This is all that ever was or can be pretended unto by us We on the other side make profession That we intend to make his Majestie a glorious King To indeavour to support his dignitie and to pay unto him that duty and Obedience which by our Allegeance severall Oathes and late Protestation we owe unto him and to maintain all his just Regalities and Prerogatives which I conceive to be as much as his Majestie will expect from us So that My Lords we being both thus reciprocally agreed of that which in the generall would make both the King and people happy shall be most unfortunate if we shall not bring both inclinations and indeavours so to propound and setle particulars as

both King and people may know what will give them mutuall satisfaction which certainly must be the first stepp to the setling of a right understanding betwixt them And in this I should not concieve any great difficulty if it were once put into a way of preparation But the greatest difficultie may seeme to be how that which may be setled and agreed upon may be secured This is commonly the last point in Treaties betwixt Princes and of the greatest nicenesse But much more betixt a King and his Subjects where that confidence belief which should be betwixt them is once loe And to speaee cleerly I feare that this may be our case and herein may consist the chiefest difficulty of accommodation For it is much easier to compose differences arising from reason yea even from wrongs then it is to satisfy jealousies which arising out of the diffidence distrust grow and are varied upon every occassion But My Lords if there be no indeavours to alay and remove them they will every day increase and gather strength Nay they are already grown to that height and the mutuall replies to those direct termes of opposition That if we make not a present stay it is to be feared it will speedily passe further then verball contestations I observe in some of His Majesties Answers a Civill War spoken of I confesse it is a word of horror to me who have been an eye-witnesse of those unexpressible calamities that in a short time the most plentifull and flourishing Countries of Europe have been brought unto by an intestine warre I further observe that His Majestie protesteth against the miseries that may ensue by a Warre and that he is cleere of them It is true what a protestation of that kinde is no actuall denouncing of Warre but it is the very next degree to it Vltimo admonitio as the Civilians term it The last admonition So that we are upon the very brink of our miseries It is better keeping out of them then getting out of them And in a State the Wisedome of Prevention is infinitely beyond the Wisedome of Remedies If for the sins of this Nation these misunderstandings should produce the least Act of Hostility it is not almost to be believed how impossible it were to put any stay to our miseries For a Civill Warre admits of none of those Conditions or Quarter by which cruelty and bloud are amongst other enemies kept from extremitiss Nay if it should but so happen which God of his goodnesse avert That mutually forces and Armies should be raised Jealousies and Feats would be so much encreased thereby that any Accommodation would be rendered full of difficulty and length and the very charge of maintaining them whilst first a cessation of Arms and then a generall Accommodation were in treating the Wealth of the Kingdom would be consumed And of this we had lately a costly example for in those unhappy troubles betwixt us and Scotland after there was a stop made to any further Acts of Hostility and a desire of peace expressed on both sides Commissioner nominated and all the Articles propounded yet the keeping of the Armies together for our securities whilst the cessation at Rippon and the peace at London were in treating cost this Kingdome not much lesse then a Million of pounds And if two Armies be once on foot here in England either a sudden encounter must destroy one of them or the keeping of them both on foot must destroy the Kingdom I hope therefore we shall make it our endeavour by moderation and calmnesse yet to put a stay to our so neer approaching miseries and that we shall hearken to the wise advice of our Brethren of Scotland in their late Answer to the King and Parliament wherein they earnestly intreat us That all means may be forborn which may make the breach wider and the wound deeper And that no place be given to the evill spirit of Division which at such times worketh uncessantly and resteth not But that the fairest the most Christian and compendious way may be taken by so wise a King and Parliament as may against all malice and opposition make his Majesty and his Posterity more glorious and his Kingdome more happy then ever And in another place they say That since the Parliament have thought meet to draw the practice of the Parliament of Scotland into example in point of Declaration They are confident that the affection of the Parliament will lead them also to the practice of that Kingdom in composing the unhappy differences betwixt his Majesty and them and so farre as may consist with their Religion Liberties and Laws in giving his Ma Certainly My Lords this is wise and brotherly advice And I doubt not but we are all desirous to follow it We must not then still dwell upon generals For generals produce nothing But we must put this Businesse into a certain way whereby particulars may be descended unto And the way that I shall offer with all humility is That there may be a select Committee of choyce persons of both Houses who may in the first place truly state and set down all things in difference betwixt the King and the Subject with the most probable wayes of reconciling them Secondly to descend unto the particulars which may be expected by each from other either in point of our supporting of him or his relieving of us And lastly how all these Conditions being agreed upon may be so secured as may stand with the honour of His Majestie and the satisfaction of the Subject When such a Committee shall have drawn up the heads of the Propositions and the way of securing them they may be presented unto the Houses and so offered unto His Majestie by such a way as the Parliament shall judge most probable to produce an Accommodation My Lord What have I yet said unto you hath been chiefly grounded upon the apprehensions and fears of our future dangers I shall say something of the unhappinesse of our present estate which chiefly standeth in as much need of relief and remedy as our fears do of prevention for although the King and people were fully united and that all men that now draw severall wayes should unanimously set their hand to the work yet they would find it no easie task to restore this Kingdom to a prosperous and comfortable condition If we take into our consideration the deplorable estate of Ireland likely to drain this kingdom of men and treasure If we consider the debts and necessity of the Crown the ingagements of the Kingdom the great and unusuall contributions of the people the which although they may not be so much to usuall contributions of the people the which although they may not be so much to their discontent for that they have been legally raised yet the burthen hath not been much eased Let us likewise consider the distractions I may almost call them confusions in point of Religion which of all other distempers

are most dangerous and destructive to the peace of a State Besides these publick calamities let every particular man consider the distracted and discomfortable estate of his own condition for mine own part I most ingeniously professe unto your Lordships That I cannot finde out under the different Commands of the King and the Parliament any such course of caution and warinesse by which I can promise to my self security or safety I could give your Lordships many instances of the inconsistancie and impossibility of obeying these commands But I shall trouble you with onely one or two The Ordinance of Parliament now in so great agitation commandeth all persons in Authority to put in execution and all others to obey it according to the Fundamentall Laws of the Land The king declareth it to be contrary to the Fundamentall Laws against the Subject and Rights of Parliament And commandeth all his Subiects of what degree soever upon their allegiance not to obey the said Ordinance as they will answer the contrary at their perils So likewise in point of the King commanding the attendance of divers of us upon His person whereunto We are oblieged by severall relations of our service and oathes In case We comply not with his Commands We ate liable to his displeasure and the losse of those places of Honour and Trust which We hold under Him If we obey his Commands without the leave of the Parliament which hath not been alwayes granted We are liable to the censure of Parliament and of ●oth these We want not fresh examples So that certainly this cannot but be acknowledged to be an uncomfortable condition I am sure I bring with me a ready and obedient heart to pay unto the king all those duties of loyalty allegiance and obedience which I owe unto him And I shall never be wanting towards the Parliament to pay unto it all those due Rights and that obedience which we all owe unto it But in contrary Commands a conformity of obedience to both is hardly to be lighted on The Reconciliation must be in the commanders and the Commands and not in the obedience or the person that is to obey And therefore untill it shall please God to blesse us with a right understanding betwixt the King and Parliament and a conformity in their Commands neither the Kingdom in publike nor particular men in private can be reduced to a safe or comfortable Condition I have said thus much to give occasion to others to offer likewise their opinions For we shall sit st●ll and nothing tending to the stay of the unhappy mis-understanding betwixt the King and his People be propounded It is to be feared That our miseries will hasten so fast and opportunity of applying remedies may be past I have herein discharged my conscience sutable to that duty which I owe to the King my Soveraigne and Master and sutable to that zeal and affection which I shall ever pay to the happinesse and prosperity of the Kingdome towards which I shall ever fully contribute my humble prayers and honest indeavours And I shall no way doubt whatsoever successe this my proposition may have it will be accompanied with the good wishes of your Lordships and of all peaceable and well minded men The Copy of a Letter sent from the Right Honorable the Lord Paget Lord Lieutenant of the County of Buckingham To the Right Honorable the Earl of Holland shewing the great readinesse of that County to obey the Ordinance of the Parliament touching the Militia I Have received so great expressions of my Country-men of Buckinghamshire of their good affections to the Publique and ready Obedience to the commands of Parliament in the present Master this day begun for a fourth part of this County that I held it my duty to make your Lordship acquainted therewith to the end an account may be given of it to the Parliament if your Lordship shall think fit Ten of my Deputie Lieutenants met me this morning at Beckonsfield where we called over the Traine Band consisting but of one hundred and fifty men who made a very good appearance with their Armes and supplies and as full as they have been formerly upon any other summons Besides these eightscore Voluntiers and upwards within this Division presented themselves to us very well armed and exercised in two Companies more in number then the Trained Band summoned to this place I am also informed of another Company of an hundred and fifty Volunteries more within this Division that intend to shew themselves in our way to the next place of meeting and of another Company of an hundred more who there intend to meet us besides the Trained Band. This publique testimony of my Countrymens good affections for the safety of the King and Kingdome I thought not unfit to make known And rest Your Lordships most dutifull son and humble servant WILL PAGET Beckonsfield 23. May. 1642. FINIS