Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A34135
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The Common interest of king & kingdom in this confus'd conjuncture, truly stated, and to consist in the speedy calling of a free Parliament
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1688
(1688)
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Wing C5569; ESTC R20729
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6,362
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10
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The Common Interest OF KING Kingdom In this Confus'd Conjuncture Truly Stated And to consist in the Speedy Calling of A Free Parliament IT is a frequent Observation upon Polemical Debates whether they be in the Philosophical Speculations of the Schools or what 's almost the same in the Scholastick Disputes among the School-Divines That when the Disputants come to understand one another they are soon agreed This tho' but a Theorem among the Scholars may pass for a good Maxim among Politicians too and in this juncture very applicable to our present Perplexities and the Differences and Disagreements that the State lies under it has been Agreed on all hands that a Parliament can only Compose the Distractions of the People and yet some People seem as much Distracted at the Apprehension of this Parliament and perhaps for that reason have influenc'd the King so long from Calling Any This certainly was No kindness to the Crown to reduce it to those Extremities which with more Honour to it self and Safety to them it could have granted before For as Necessity in Matters of Right is said to have no Law so in respect of Favours it will have no Thanks too And this I urge only as an Error that has been observable in our late Councils which I am perswaded the Inclinations of the King would have otherwise recâ—ity'd and for which the Unhappy Advisers will hardly have reason to thank themselves On the other hand the Declaration of the Prince of Orange has no other Pretence but the Calling of this Parliament which upon the Faith of a King that ought to be esteem'd Inviolate has been 〈◊〉 to the People shall be Call'd and the difference all the â—â—â—le consisting only in this That His Majesty would willingly Call â—â—e assoon as the Prince with his Forces was retir'd out of England â—ut this Prince was unlikely to leave this England with his Forces till this â—arliament was Call'd I do with all the regard and tenderness to the Crown presume to offer That a Speedy Parliament in spight of these Pretensions of the Prince which I hope are not to attempt it is the only Expedient to Preserve it's just Rights and to pacifie the Peoples Rage I. It is a Parliament that will certainly consist of the same Loyal Persons that against so much Opposition A Resistance even to Blood plac'd this Crown upon the Head of the Prince that wears it and who I am perswaded will never suffer an Hair of That Head to fall to the Ground II. It is a Parliament that will do His Majesty more Service in this Conjuncture than those Military Men that have Deserted him by what I see ever design'd to do and instead of his Standing Army I hope he 'l have Reason to make This his Standing Parliament The First Proposition I shall thus plainly prove Those Persons that Adher'd to the Crown and its unalterable Succession are men of the best Fortunes and Estates that their Counties can afford us and who 't is known by that Interest they had in them Establisht the Throne by this their Interest they will as certainly be elected again and for ought I see the P. of O. proposes it as his Interest to have them chosen too so that here is a Common Interest agen in which we all agree if People would without passion give themselves up to understand it To these men this dreadful Declaration of the P. must be intirely submitted and he himself determin'd by it Their Order'd and Resolv'd will certainly be the Decretum Finale and as it is the higâ—â—â—â— Court from whence there is no Appeal so has the Prince obligâ— himself by Appealing to it To this can only be Objected these two things 1. That the Prince's Army may hinder the Election of these Men. 2. That he may influence their Debates when Elected That it cannot and will not do either of these will appear not only probable but plain he has no Power to regulate Corporations and must ruin the very Foundation of his Design if he pretends to it 't is a contradiction to what he declares and a Design upon the Crown which he renounces and which is his visible Interest not to Attempâ— He knows too well the Temper of those Men whom only the common Cause of Religion has made his Adherents to be no Dâ—poâ—er of Crowns and Scepters which like the King's Heart are said to bâ— only in God's Hand and who have asserted too much of a Divinâ— Right to set up now for the Doctrin of Deposing He must need know too that the offering to exclude such Men from being duly Elected would raise the just Indignation not only of these Men upon whom some will say he has most depended but of the whole Kingdom of which they make the greatest part and in all probability make a greater Defection in his Army than his Cause has done in the King 's In the next place If Elected he cannot influence their Debates He has no Ministers of State to make their Courts to the House of Commons and I am perswaded is too thrifty to allow any Pensions to purchase their Votes The Members that will be chosen will be too Wealthy for a Bribe and will no more Sell their King than they would their Country and in what concerns Succession and a Right Heir have given such proofs of their Sincerity that as it is the most ungrateful Distrust where the Descent is owing so to Contradict it is to deny a Postulate or a Piece of Demonstration And since of these Men the Parliament must consâ—â— it 's eaâ—â—e to prove that His Majesty Their Anointed cannot be touch'd and â—omâ— wiâ—h I could add they would do his Prophets no harm The 〈◊〉 tive has been Advanced by them as some think even to a 〈◊〉 as themselves find to their own damage and Danger â—o that 〈◊〉 such Members his Sacred Person as well as his just Rights must meet with the greatest Security The Second Proposition is That such a Parliament in this very Juncture will do the King more Service than any Army or his own has done The Foreign Forces that were brought into the Kingdom were not so few but what without such a Defection might have shaken the Throne I dare not say overturn'd it I shall not insist upon any Excuse or Justification of what some will call a Revolt from Allegiance others only an Asserting of Religion but take the matter as it stands we 'll suppose it once for Fact That what for foreign Troops and the Defection of his own the King's Affairs in his Army are very declining and Himself unlikely to keep the Field What is there possible left to oppose the unlimited Demands of the Prince should he extend them to Extravagancy but such a Parliament to which even a sort of Conquerors seem to submit The Nation has such an expectancy from it that it unanimously agrees to be guided by it and should it disagree with
to their Doubts so that we cannot tell how far the Prince now may be satisfy'd himself or a Parliament think it satisfactory since so much has been done of late in the Council Chamber as may perhaps give the great Council of the Nation much of satisfaction and they that stood up so stoutly for the Succession of the Duke of â—ork may not be so soon brought to disinherit a Prince of Wales Secondly what concerns the Growth of France I always thought must very much affect England and none sure then so proper to Judge of the Nations safety as those who are sent to be her Peoples Representatives 'T is certain or at least very probable that the same Justice by which he detains Lorrain and has seiz'd the Palatinate the same power by which he defies all the Electoral Princes and all the Forces of the Emperor will one time warrant him to claim Holland as one of the Appendancies to his Pays Conqui de Flandre and the Chamber of Metz can alway give even faster than he Conquers and then perhaps it may be too late for England to look about for her self and 't is plain 't is for this reason the Dutch ' tho I believe truly in the first place for their own Preservation would now engage the English into a War with the French and tho' that I think too would have been more honestly done if it could have been compast without force of Arms and to be wisht the P. might have had no need of his 'T is granted on all sides that the King is the sole Arbitrator of War and Peace But yet it has been as constant a Practise in Parliament to move the King to the one and encline him to the other and to offer one thing more it is known that their Growth of France and our Growth of Popery has for above this Ten Years been so beaten into peoples Heads to be the same thing that nothing almost but a Breach with that Crown can make them think well of our Court and I think that has broke with us and made already a War if we are any thing concern'd in a late famous Peace and 't is but with an ill Grace that this French Declaration reminds the Dutch of the Treaty of Nimmeguen which by their Invading the Palatinate they first took care to violate I am not infatuated with those Foolish Fears that affect the Vulgar no more afraid at present of the French Army here than the Spanish Pilgrims but will not promise for futurity should their Growth meet with no opposition and unless it be Religion I could never apprehend what should encline our Ministers so much to that Government since that very thing has created so many Disturbances in our own much less should it influence the King or the Court at this time since the only season to recover some of that Kingdom of which His Majesty's Ancestors were once possess'd in another Field than that of a Coat of Arms. These I think are the chief things that will come before this Parliament of which they 'll bethe most Competent Judges even to the Composing of the Distractions between King and People and this Parliament will be more conveniently now call'd than ever since nothing less than that Convention can Compose them and therefore those rude Reflections in a Late imprudent paper that were so uncharitably made upon the Worthy Lords that so conscientiously Petition'd for it were very unseasonably very unadvisedly set forth especially since it appear'd His Majesty was pleased to receive it so Graciously as to tell them he passionately desir'd it and since all sides after so much Alteration seem now to agree in this one thing necessary may it answer too the expectation of all may their moderation be known to all Men may People be surpris'd to see their prudent Administrations and that this Revolution alone is that which will not run into Extreams Lastly May the King's Enemies be cloathed with shame but upon his Head let his Crown flourish FINIS LONDON Printed by T. M. 1688.