what they name their Humble Desires of Redress are Presumptuous Demands and the Number of the Petitioners are a Rebellious Insurrection for which they ought to be Severely Punished fome of them with Imprisonment and some with the Loss of their Goods others to be Punish'd with Death and others with Banishment and their Privileges ought utterly to be Taken from them as that they have Forfeited them to your Majesty Thus shall you raise Money from Mollits Strength from Traitors and Peace from Warr. A Privy-Counsellours Speech to his Majesty at the Council-Table May it Please your Majesty THat I say I am of the opinion that the Counsel of the Lord N. N. is too Severe and that it is Dangerous to Inveterate a Discontented People but rather they should be Palleated and Qualified with some Condescence as also to put out some Declarations in their Favour which will be a means to Pacifie them and to Allay their Discontents and Hinder their Evil Designs For if you Rub a Sore it will Fester and may make it Gangreen and cause a Part to fall from the Whole So to Inrage a People may make them Rebell and Fall from their Allegiance which otherwise it may be they would not do and he is an Ill Surgeon that will Make a Wound instead of Healing a Wound So it were not well to Make Traitors that would be Loyal Subjects or to make Warrs instead of keeping Peace and when Warr is begun it is not likely there will be any good Agreement untill most of the Kingdome is Ruined in which Ruine your Majesty will be a Loser for he is the Greatest King that hath the most Flourishing and Populous Kingdome and he is the Happiest King that hath the most Peaceable Subjects A Privy-Counsellours Speech to his Majesty at the Council-bord May it Please your Majesty THat I say I am neither of the Lord N. N. Opinion as to put your Justice against your Offending Subjects presently in Execution nor of the Lord S. Y. Opinion to let your Offending Subjects go Unpunished and Worse to Flatter them for that will make them Proud and Pride will make them stand upon High Terms nay it will make them Insult so Imperiously as not any Condescence will Satisfie them for when as the People perceives their Soveraign is Afraid of them they become Unruly but when they Fear their Soveraign they are Obedient for it is impossible to Work upon their Good Nature as to make them Obey through Love and Good Will because they have no Good Natures to Work on wherefore there is none other way but Force to make them Loyal and to keep them to their Allegiance and my Advice is to your Majesty to make your self Strong before you appear either to Favour them or Disfavour them but to be so Long in your Results as your Majesty hath Gathered up your Strength and Setled your Power and Secured your Person otherwise you may Declare what you will but you shall have but Few Partakers whilst you are Weak and Powerless for men Listen not so much to Words as they are Afraid of what they See for Power Increases Power whereas Words do but Multiply Words and Lessen Power but when your Majesty hath got a Sufficient Power to Oppose them or to Command them then Declare your Will and Pleasure and put your Justice in Execution Wherefore it is Requisite that your Majesty should Store your Magazins Man your Forts make Garrisons Rigg your Navy and Get what Money you can to Raise an Army if need require also your Majesty must take great Care that you Imploy and Intrust Honest Men and Loyal Subjects such as have been alwayes Obedient otherwise you will be Betrayed and your own Designs will be turn'd against you for your Majesties Affairs require now rather Honest than Subtil men and Wise rather than Crafty men ORATIONS IN Courts of MAIESTY FROM Subjects to their KING AND From the King to his Subjects PART VI. Complaints of the Subjects to their Soveraign Most Gracious Soveraign WE are come here not as Mutinous Rebells but Humble Petitioners to implore your Favour as to redress our Grievances and to take off our Heavy Oppressions for all the Profit of our Labours which should maintain our Lives Wives and Children is Forcibly Taken from us and we do not only Pay Taxes but Intolerable Prices for all Commodities and Necessaries occasioned by Monopolies and Projects which ingross all Particular Commodities so that we are Forced to Buy our Liberties to Sell and Sell our Liberties to Buy But if your Majesty were a Gainer by our Loss and were Inriched by our Poverty we could be well contented to be Miserable for your Majesties Sake either for your Profit or Pleasure but your Majesty injoyes it not but Other men which are call'd Courtiers Promotors Promooters and Projectors spend it Idlely Vainly Riotously and we fear Wickedly So that what we get with Labour they spend with Idleness what we get with Care they spend with Carelesness the truth of it is they Wear our Lives upon their Backs and Feed upon our Bowels but the worst is that if we be Poor Half Starved we shall neither be able to Serve your Gracious Majesty either in Peace or Warr and therefore we beseech your Majesty for your Own sake as well as for Ours you would be pleas'd to Redress our Grievances The Subjects Complaint to their Soveraign of the Abuses of their Magistrates Most Gracious Soveraign AS all Creatures make their Complaints to God as the Highest and most Powerfull in Heaven So we your Humble and Obedient Subjects make our Complaints to your Majesty as the Highest and most Powerfull being Gods Vice-regent on Earth But though your Majesty is Loving and Carefull of your Poor Subjects making Judges Magistrates and Officers to keep Order to do Justice to give Right to rectifie Errors and to punish Crimes that your Subjects might Flourish in Peace and Plenty yet they are so far from doing Justice as they make Wrongs and do Injuries and instead of Giving every one their Right they Take away our Rights from us and instead of Order they commit Disorder and instead of rectifying Errors they make Errors and instead of punishing Crimes they are the greatest Criminals themselves and those that are the most Honest and Peaceable of your Subjects are most sure to be Worst used by them because they have not that Profit by Them as by those that are Disturbers Destroyers or Deceivers for when They have committed Faults they get money for their Pardons whereas those that commit no Fault need no Pardon And as for Justice or rather Injustice it is sold at the Bar or on the Bench for Causes or Cases are not Pleaded or Decided for Truth or Right but for Bribes or Favour also the Magistrate doth not set the Poor a-Work but takes away the Poors Work I mean not their Labour but their Getting as the Profit and so leaves them not any thing
this Fault in Government was a great Grievance Also Monopolizers Ingross'd several and almost all Commodities in the Kingdome hightning their Price as they pleased which hindred the General Trade and Traffick and this was an other great Grievance Also there were great Taxes laid upon the People and Kingdome which was an other Grievance Moreover needy Poor Courtiers would Beg that which ought not to be Granted or Accuse some Rich men to Get some of their Estates at least to get a Bribe to be Freed all which begot such Dislike and Hatred that the whole Kingdome Rebell'd with such a Fury as they Pull'd down Monarchy and after much Blood was Spilt in the VVarr they Set up a Repulick in which Government the Commons Chose the Magistrate and Officers of State for which the Commons were grossly Flattered by the Nobler Sort which Vice of Flattery became a Studied and Practised Art by which the Chief men became most Elegant and Eloquent Orators every Man striving to Out-Speak each other but this Practice and Strife begat Ambition and Envy in the Better Sort and Pride in the Commons which Pride was hightned by their Power to make Peace or Warr to Choose Magistrates and Officers to Pull down or Advance to give Life or Death to Banish or Recall to Condemn or Reprieve and all this Power lay in their Voices O Powerfull Voice of a Headless Monster this Power caused the Brainless People to be so Proud and withall so Envious as also Malitious to those Men that had Merit and Worth having None Themselves as they would often Banish if not Put to Death their Generous Nobles Valiant Commanders and Wise Magistrates as also those that were more Rich than their Neighbours besides they would Advance Mean and Worthiless men such as were of their own Degree and Quality to Places and Offices of Dignity which Discontented the Nobles and that Discontent bred a Faction betwixt the Commons and Nobles which Faction being Increas'd by the Friends of the Banished or Executed Persons brought forth a Civil Warr long was the Strife but at last the Nobles got the Better and then the State or Government became Aristocraty in which Government for some time they Liv'd Agreeable and Govern'd Justly and Orderly but by Reason Aristocraty is a Government of Some of the Nobles and not of One they could not Long agree Every one Striving to be Chief and most Powerfull insomuch that through Envy and Ambition they would Cross and Oppose each other for some would keep Peace with their Neighbours others would make Warr and some would have such or such Laws made others would not some would have some Old Laws Abolished or Dissolved others would Oppose them neither was Justice Executed as it ought for some would Punish those that others would Save some would Reward those that others would Disgrace Thus every one was Striving for Supreme Power although they did hinder One an Other and by the means of Doing and Undoing Decreeing and Opposing the People could not Tell whom to Address their Sutes Causes and Grievances to for what one Spake For an other would Speak Against till at last by their Pulling several wayes the Aristocratical Government broke in Pieces and then those Nobles set up each One for Himself and so there became another Civil Warr Long was that Warr for some times one had the Better and then an Other and some times two or three Sides would Joyn against the Rest and then most against One but now at last they being weary with Warr yet know not how to Agree in a Peace insomuch as we have neither Warr nor yet Peace nor any Setled Government the truth is the Kingdome is like as the Chaos and Confused Substance and there is no way to bring it to an Orderly Form but to have a Native King to bring Light out of Darkness that we may See our own Errors and Reform our Faults and hereafter Live Happily under the Government of a Good and Wise King which I Prav the Gods to Send you An Oration to a Discontented People Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men AFter many Disorders Several Governments Cruel Warrs much Losses and almost Absolute Ruine we desire to Associate and Agree in a Peace with our First Government which was Monarchy a Government our Forefathers Chose for the Best But our Natures I may say Mankind are so Restless as never to be Contented with what we Have were it the Best for should the Gods Reign and Rule Visibly upon Earth we should find Fault and be apt to Murmur if not Rebell against them Wherefore I Fear we shall never Continue long in Peace if a Celestial Power cannot Perswade us a Terrestrial will never be able to Keep us in Order for if Mankind desire to be above the Gods a Fellow Creature will never be Satisfied with any Power nor the Rest of Men will never be Satissied with any Government so as we shall never Live in a Setled Peace in this World nor never Dwell Peaceably but in the Grave nor never be Happily Govern'd but by that Grim and Great Monarch Death An Oration in Complaint of the Former Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men THe Former Orators Oration although it was Short yet it was Sharp for though it was but a Dagger for Length yet it was a Sword for Death for he partly Perswaded men to Dye Voluntarily to Dwell in the Grave Peaceably a Cruel Perswasion and a Wicked One for Death is the Punishment of Sin and shall we Imbrace our Punishment without Hopes of Redemption shall we Dye before a Repentance and Amendment but Surely he Believes after this Life there is none Other but that is more than he Knows or can Prove for I am Confident he hath no Intelligence from Death for Death is so Obscure that there is not any that Goes To him which ever Returns From him into this World But setting aside the Former Orator and his Oration give me Leave to Tell you that you are in the way of being Happy in that you are Resolved to agree Peaceably under a Monarchical Government and to have a King who shall have Absolute Government which Government King and Power is a Type of Heaven God and his Omnipotency and I Hope we shall all Prove as Angels and Saints for which I Pray God to Grant that we may Live in Unity Peace and Love A Kings Oration or Speech to his Subjects Beloved Subjects ANd I Hope you will Prove Such you are Return'd to your Obedience and I to my Rights after along Absence the One from the Other But since your Loyalty and my Royalty have been Parted we were never Happy nay we were never out of Misery and whose Fault was it that Caused such Miseries you in the Time of Rebellion laid the Fault on Me and I on You which was a sign we were of either Side Guilty but of your Side Most for though a King may Err in his Government yet a People
your Condemned Subjects at your Council-bord their last Refuge in Extremity appealing to your Majesties Self where your Majesty sits in Person to Hear not only Counsels but Complaints I shall answer this Privy-Counsellour whose Judgement is more Severe than I hope your Majesty will be in your Sentence He says it is Inhuman Uncharitable Unnatural and Impious for neer Allies to Kill each other but neither your Majesty nor your most Loyal Subjects should nor would think nor believe so if your Majesty had a Civil Rebellious Warr which I Pray the Gods to keep you from yet in all Civil Warrs neer Allies Fight against one an other and Kill one another believing they do not only their King but God Good Service in so doing for what Pious Men or Loyal Subjects would not Kill their Fathers or their Sons that Fight against their King or do but Oppose his Will and Pleasure nay those that Speak against it ought to be accounted Traitors and as for Honour which is said only to be an Opinion and Fancy of some men yet it is such an Opinion and Fancy that without it men would neither be Generous nor Valiant Just nor Gratefull Faithfull nor Trusty but all men would be Sordid Covetous Cowards False Cheats Unthankfull and Treacherous besides Wit and Learning would be quite Abolished or Buried in Oblivion and if men care not for Esteem Respect and Praise men would not care to do that which is Good but on the contrary would do all the Hurt and Evil they could for Praise keeps men from Evil more than Laws or Punishment and Praise is more Powerfull to Perswade and to Allure men to good than Strength or Authority hath Power to Inforce men to good and Honour Lives in Praise and Praise Lives in Worthy Acts which Worthy Acts Fame Records that After-ages may know what Just Valiant Generous Wise Learned Witty Ingenious Industrious Pious Faithfull and Vertuous men Liv'd in Former times which Knowledge will make Posterity Desirous and Industrious to do as their Fore-fathers have done Thus do Good and Honourable Acts beget their like in After-ages which is a Race of Worthy Deeds Wherefore your Majesty for the Good of the Present and Future times will Favour these men that Love Honour more than Life and Fear Disgrace more than Death which is the Cause of the two Brothers for whom I Plead and Beg your Majesties Pardon The KINGS Answer I Neither ought to Approve the Act of those two Brothers concerning the Death of their Sister nor to Obstruct or Oppose my Laws in their Condemnment Yet since their Act was to Take away Disgrace and not out of Malice and through a Hate to the Crime not to the Person I am not willing to leave them to the Punishment and the Laws being Satisfied by their Arraignment Judgement and Condemnment I will give them their Lives Lands Goods and Liberties which the Laws took from them and so leave them to Gods Mercy for Grace to Repent their Sin A Privy-Counsellours Speech at the Council-bord to His Soveraign Most Gracious Soveraign THis your City wherein your Majesty doth chiefly Reside grows Too big for the rest of your Kingdome indeed So big as it will be too Unruly and Unwieldy to be Govern'd and being fully Populated it will not only be apt to Corrupt the Air and so cause Often and Great Plagues which may Infect the whole Kingdome for where Many People are there is much Dung and Filth both within the Streets and Houses as also Foul Bodies and Corrupt Humours which of Necessity must be very Unwholesome but it will Devour the rest of the Kingdome for it is the Mouth and Belly that Devours the Fruitfull Increase of the Land yet Labours not to Husband the Ground Besides the Richest and Noblest of your Subjects Residing for the most part in the City as being the Chief City Rob the Country and Inrich the City for what they Receive in the Country they Spend in the City so that they Feed on the Labours of the Poor Country-men and are Inriched by the Vanities of the Nobles Thus they Thrive by Vanity and Live by Spoils Wasting the Plenty Beggering the Gentry and Ruining the Country and so the Kingdome Also too Great and Populous a City is not only a Head too Great for the Body of the Common-wealth but like a Head that is full of Gross Humours indeed a Great City is a Head fill'd with Evil Designs and not only a Head with Evil Designs but it is the Tongue of Detraction the Heart of Civil Warr the Magazin of Warring Arms and the Treasury to maintain Rebellious Armies for though they are more apt to Mutin than to Fight and more apt to Rise in Tumults than in Arms yet more apt to Take up Arms than to Keep Peace and though they have neither Conduct nor Courage yet they will Destroy with Force and Fury whosoever will offer to Oppose them and their great Plenty will make them more apt to Rebell than if they were Pinched with Necessity for their Wealth makes them Proud their Pride makes them Ambitious their Ambition makes them Envious their Envy makes them Factious their Faction makes them Mutinous and in a Tumultuous Mutiny they will indeavour to pull your Majesty from your Throne break your Laws and make Havock and Spoil of all the Goods and Lives of your Loyalst Ministers of State and Noblest Persons about you and for the most part the most Honest and Worthiest Persons they can come to they will Destroy Thus a great City is too Rich to be Obedient too Proud to be Govern'd too Populous to be Quiet and too Factious to Live Peaceably A Privy-Counsellours Speech to his Soveraign concerning Trade Dread Soveraign I Think it my Duty to inform your Majesty that Trade is so Decayed as it will in a short time Ruine your Kingdome if not Timely Repaired for this Kingdome being an Island Trade is the Foundation to Uphold it without which Foundation it will fall to Ruine and the Chief Persons of and for Trading in an Island are Merchants Adventurers which are both Forein and Home Traffickers These Merchants your Majesty should Assist and Defend to the Utmost of your Power As for the Advancing of Trade there be Three things the First is Easie Taxes for Customs the Second is to Secure them from Enemies at Sea the Third is Not to Suffer your Neighbour-Nations to Incroach upon their Privileges or to Take the Trading from them As for the first to Lessen your Customs will Lessen your Revenue and that ought not to be by Reason your Revenue is not so Great as to admit of any Diminution your Charge being Extraordinary Great but your Majesty may Secure them at Sea by your Shipping and Maintain their Privileges abroad and at home by your Power which Actions will not only cause your Neighbours to Fear you but your Subjects to Love you the One for your Force the Other for your Favour And
Sparing in Spending the Common Treasure and Severely Punish those that Indeavour to Coosen and Rob the Common Treasure and none should be Suffer'd to Hord up Riches but in the Common Treasure which is to be Spent Generally for the Good of all the whole Kingdome in time of Necessity as in the times of Plagues Famines and Warrs as also for the Strength and Power of the Kingdome for the Reward of Merit Advancing of Trade and such like wayes of Expences not in Gay Shews and Idle Pastimes nor in Vain or Unprofitable Buildings or the like But if we Suffer the People to be Impoverish'd by these Cheating Coosening Purloiners we shall never fill the Common Coffers for to Coofen and Rob the People is to Coofen and Rob the Common Treasure which is the General Store of the whole People Fill'd and Inriched By Them to be Profitably Laid out For Them An Oration for Taxes Fellow Citizens I Perceive a Discontent amongst you by your Murmuring at the Tax that is Laid upon you which Murmuring is Dangerous for many men's Murmurs may in a short time Amount to the Summ of Rebellion which will make a Civil Warr in which Warr you will Lose more than you are now Required to Pay But give me Leave to tell you that you are both Unreasonable and Unjust for you will Live in the Common wealth and yet not Help to Maintain or Uphold it also you are Ungratefull as not to Return a Small Gratuity to the Common-wealth for the Many and Great Benefits you have Receiv'd therefrom Indeed in Denying this Tax you seem as Unnatural to your Country as Children who should Suffer their Parents to Starve whilst they Surfeit which Causes Both their Untimely Deaths through Want and Excess So rather than you would Abate your Idle Expences and Vain Pleasures to Pay Necessary Taxes you would Suffer the Kingdome to be Defenceless and Open for an Enemy to Invade and Destroy It and your Selves But if VVords cannot Perswade you surely your Rational Understanding VVife Prudence Carefull Providence Honest Minds and Natural Affections will not only make you Willing and Ready to Pay this Tax but any other Tax at any time you are Taxed which is for the Common Benefit Good and Safety of your Country wherein you Desire to Live Safely and to Dye Peaceably and to Lie in the Graves with your Fore-fathers An Oration to Hinder a Rebellion Noble Citizens and Dear Country-men I Perceive by your Humours Dispositions Factions and Speeches that you intend to Rebell against your King and Noble Governours Indeavouring to Alter the Ancient Government of this Flourishing Kingdome that hath Continued in and under the Reign and Rule of Kings these many Hundred years which time hath Confirm'd so strongly in the Monarchical Power as you Cannot easily make a Change yet if you Could the Action would be very Unjust Unnatural Wicked and Damnable Unjust to Force away the Rights of your King Unnatural as not to Live under the Same Government your Fore-fathers did Wicked to Spill the Blood of your Nobles and Damnable to Spill the Blood of your Soveraign Thus it will be Evil and Dangerous for you cannot Think they will Part Peaceably from that Power their Ancestors Left them they will not become your Slaves if they can Help it nay they will sooner Part with their Lives than their Honours and you are not sure of Victory for all Honest men will be of Their Party yet put the Case you should have Victory you will sooner make a Confusion than Settle the Kingdome into a Republick for the Nature and Constitution is not for it as having been Bred up a Long time to Monarchy so that you may sooner Change the Nature of Man into a Beast than the Government of this Kingdome into a Republick and could you make it a Republick you would not be so Happy as you are Now for now you are Govern'd Easily without Troubling your Selves but then you would be Troubled not Knowing how to Govern your Selves as also the Common-wealth for you must be Forc'd to set up Some to Govern you and is it not Better to be Govern'd by your Superiours than your Equals which Equals would Rule you by Corrupting Flattery or Terrifie you with Reports of Dangers and so Rule you by Fear Thus by Insinuations or Terrors you would be more Inslaved than you are now and Poorer than you are now for though you Commons have not Power to Rule as a King yet you have Wealth to Spend on what you Please witness your Luxuries and Vanities which if you were Poor you could not Exceed in Plenty as you Do insomuch as you can hardly Afford God some Fasting Daies Besides those Sycophants and Cheats which perswade you to this Change would not only Spend your Wealth but Waste your Lives for they would Perswade you to make Warrs Abroad to Keep you in Subjection for in VVarrs they Command You and in Time of Peace they are Afraid you will Command Them and rather than you should Live in Peace they would Corrupt your Neighbours with Bribes or Provoke them with Injuries to make Warr with you Thus you would be Inslaved by being Out-witted by Those that have more Brain than your Selves O Foolish People that will quit your Present Happiness for a Voluntary Slavery and as for a Monarchical Government which you seem to be Weary of it is the most Ancient and Divinest as being an Imitation of God and his Angels in Heaven wherein are Degrees as Higher and Lower from and to his Throne But as God had Evil Angels so our King hath Evil Subjects which ought to be Cast out of the Kingdome like Devils as they are An Oration against Civil Warr. Noble Auditors I Perceive this Kingdome hath two Faces like a Janus and Both Look with a Lowring and Frowning Countenance which doth Fore-shew a Storm and by your Accusations and Factions your Hearts seem full of Malice and your Heads full of Design as if you did Intend each others Ruine and so the Kingdom 's Destruction by a Civil Warr not Considering that a Civil Warr is far worse than a Forein VVarr for against a Forein Enemy the whole Strength of a Kingdome is United to Defend it Self but in a Civil Warr the Strength is Divided to Destroy the whole Kingdome and so much Difference there is Between each Warr that a Forein Warr is but like an Outward Sore on the Body but a Civil VVarr is as an Inward Disease even in the Vital Parts which Causes a Consumption Indeed I may Similizing say that in a Civil Warr the Kingdome doth as if it did Spit up its Lungs for Civil Warrs oftentimes cause Famine and Plagues which is to a Kingdome as a Hectick Leanness Heat and Corruption in a Man's Body which causes Death and Destruction But Dear Country-men what can you Propound to your Selves in a Civil Warr can any Man be Happy when Injustice Reigns and Force Rules or can any Man
if I should Ask you why you did put your Selves into a Warring Posture without Leave or Command from your King or Ministers of State you will Answer me for the Defence of some of your Privileges so that for the Sake of Some you Indanger'd All for the Readiest way and Surest means to Lose your Privileges was to Rebell against your Soveraign all which shews your Ignorance Folly and great Simplicity Wherefore by this Rebellious stirr you have not only Lost your Privileges but you are Forc'd to Pay more than your Privileges are Worth might you Injoy them so that you must Lose the One and Pay the Other and all this Loss and Charge is Caused through your Factious Humours and Restless Natures being Unprofitably Busie Indeed you are like Troubled Waters Muddy and Foul yet it is Likely at least Hoped that the Fine that is set upon you will draw you Clean making you Clear and Smooth which is to be Loyal and Peaceable only the Chief misery is that in the Loss of your Privileges and Payments of Money Good Men for All were not Traitors though Most were must Suffer with the Bad the Fine being Generally laid upon the Whole City wherein every Particular must Pay his Share and the Loss of the Privileges falls upon All by which we may Observe that Peaceable Men Suffer with Troublers and Honest Men with Traitors and it cannot easily be Avoided not only that the Few that are Good are Obscured and Hid amongst the Many that are Bad and so cannot be easily Cull'd out but in Cases of Taxes and Privileges it would make a Confusion in Levies and Partments Thus neither Good nor Wise Men can suddenly avoid those Misfortunes that Fools and Knaves many times bring upon them but Wise Men did see at your first Rising Arming and Souldiering that you would sooner Yield to your Opposers than Fight them and rather Pay for your Follies than Dispute for your Privileges for you were all Body and no Head and so consequently no Brains But that I Wonder at most is that so Great a Body as you were should not only be Headless but also Heartless as having neither Wit nor Courage Wherefore to Conclude let me Perswade you having never a Head of your Own to send to your Gracious Soveraign to send you a Head and he will not only send you a Head but a Wise Head to Rule and Govern you and as for a Heart Fortune in time may Give you One An Oration concerning Trade and Shipping Dear Country-men For some Small Errors in the former Government and for some Few Oppressions by our former Governours we were Discontented and through a Discontent began to Murmur then to Complain and at last to Rebell in which Rebellion we Enter'd into a Civil Warr wherein Fortune was our Friend for Fortune for the most part is a Friend to Fools and Knaves and though we were Honest Men Fighting only for our Liberties yet our Enemies say we Fought for their Lands and Riches having none of our Own but let them say what they Will since we have what we Desire the Misery is only that now we have both their Wealth and Power we Know not how to Use it a Shrew'd Sign that we are more Covetous than Provident more Ambitious than Wise for every Man Striving to make a Particular Profit to Himself we shall at Last bring the whole State or Common-wealth to a Confusion the truth is that Striving to make Particular Profits you make a General Spoil for you Cut down Woods Pull down Houses set Open Inclosures Live Idlely upon the Fundamental Riches of the Common-wealth not Labouring to Manure the Land But if you take not Care of Two Things your Ruine will be Sooner than you Imagine these Two Necessary Considerations and Actions are Trade and Shipping As for Trade you give your Neighbours leave to take Part of it away from you and that you Trade your Selves in is so Ill Managed as it brings but Small Profit or Advantage to this Kingdome for you Trade rather like as Pedlars than Great Merchants besides you Send out of the Kingdome the most Profitable Commodities as those that are call'd Staple Commodities and Bring in the most Unprofitable Commodities such as are only for Vanities and not such as are for Necessary Use Also you Raise your Customs to so High a Rate as the Custom is Beyond the Profit of Trade but could Merchants Gain yet if the Gain of their far-fetched Commodities be Uncertain and the Customs for those brought home Commodities Certain few would Venture or be Merchants so that Trade upon Necessity must Fall and then the Kingdome cannot be Rich And as the Kingdome cannot be Rich without Forein Trade so it cannot be Safe without Home Shipping which is the other Necessary Consideration and Action but you do not Consider enough of it as being Blinded with Covetousness Regarding your Particular Profits more than the General Safety Cutting down and making a Spoil of all such VVoods as should Repair and Increase Shipping which Wood is Oak whereof this Island had the Best in the World Indeed there is no such Oak in any Part of the VVorld but in this Kingdome which is the Reason there are no such Ships in the VVorld as do belong to this Island for one of our Ships is Able to Vanquish two or more Ships of other Nations by Reason our Oak is not apt to Cleft or Splinter being Smooth Sound and Strong besides Close not Porous or Spongy but we for the Covetousness or Present Gain Cut down this Excellent full-Grown Timber to be Burnt into Coals for Iron Forges whereas our Ancestors were so Carefull as they would not Cut more than was for Necessity although there was great Store of it for by Reason this Sort of Wood requires above a Hundred years Growth to be Tall Firm Strong Close and Free from Splintering they would not Cut it before the Age made it fit for Use nay our Ancestors did oftner Plant Young than Cut down the Old and all for the Sake and Safety of their Posterity But we do not Consider Posterity for if we did we should not Do as we Do Wherefore what with a Standing Army no Trade and daily Spoils the Kingdome will be Impoverish'd and of Necessity fall to Ruine An Oration for the Disbanding of Souldiers Senators and Citizens IF I might I would Counsel you to Disband most of the Souldiers since we Perceive no Visible Enemy for we have more Reason to Fear our own Souldiers than any other Power by Reason they are become so Proud and Insolent with their Victories that We that were their Masters if not Speedily Prevented may Chance to become their Slaves at least their Servants as their Stewards and Purveyors to Get them Money and Provision But were they as Obedient as Insolent yet it were fit that most of them should be Disbanded otherwise they will Impoverish the Common-wealth for there is no greater Expence and
Charge than to Maintain an Idle Army that Feeds upon others Labours and is Cloath'd upon others Cost besides they are not only Unprofitable through their Idleness and Chargeable to be Maintain'd but they are great Destroyers with the Spoils they daily make for their Idleness makes them Mischievous so as they are Insolent and Proud as we their Masters dare not Speak roughly to them but when they are Disarm'd they will be Humble and the Common Souldiers will follow their former Trades and several Occupations Thus the Charge and Expence of Maintainting the Army will not only be Taken off but Trading will then Increase by which the Common-wealth will be Unburden'd and Inriched and we our Selves out of Danger and Fear of being Dispossest of our Power A Souldiers Oration for the Continuance of their Army Fellow Souldiers THose that would be our Masters if you will give them Leave will Disband us Turning us out of our Power by their Authority but if we Submit and Yield thereto we shall not only Lose our Pay at least Part of it but we shall be Subject to their Tyranny Ruled by their Laws and Commanded by their Power in Short we shall be their Slaves which are now their Masters our Arms being Stronger than their Laws Wherefore let us Keep our Strength and Pull down their Authority for it were a shame for Sword-men to Yield to Gown-men which only Love to Talk but Dare not Fight and shall their Tongues wrest out the Swords out of our Hands shall their Gowns pull off our Arms shall they give Law to us that are Victorious or shall we Suffer them to make Ill Laws that broke Good Laws or shall we be Govern'd by them that cannot Govern themselves shall they that have sit in Safety when we Ventured our Lives Reap the Profit of our Victories shall we that have Conquered with our Swords be Conquered by their VVords shall we that have Fought for our Liberty be Subject at last to their Commands No Fellow Souldiers let us Subject them to our Commands as being their Betters and let not Us that have made our Selves Gentlemen by Arms Noble-men by Victories and Kings by Absolute Conquest and so Absolute Power be Subject to the Common Cowardly Rout to Parish-Officers with their Tip-Staves to Unjust Judges Corrupt Magistrates Babling Lawyers Foolish Counsellours City Sergeants Tub-Preachers and the like No we will Preach Teach Decide Rule and give the Law our Selves and we having Absolute Power can Command our Pay for Every Mans Purse is Ours but it is Best if it can be to have our Pay gather'd a Legal way Wherefore let me Advise that these Men that are our Seeming Masters be made our Real Servants and Officers to Raise us Money and to Collect it from every Particular throughout the whole Nation whereby they will only get the Hatred of the People and we their Money An other Oration against the Former Senators and Citizens VVE that were the first Studiers and Stirrers to Alter the Government of the Common-wealth we that have Pray'd Preached and Pleaded down Tyrannical Power which was in Monarchical hands we that have Pull'd down the Nobles and have Advanc'd the Lowly Inriched the Poor and Impoverished the Rich shall we now be Subjected and Ruled by those we Imployed in our Service as to Lead our Armies to Fight our Battels and to Keep our Cities Towns and Forts shall these I say Command us when we at first Commanded them for you well Know this Army that is now in this Kingdome was Rais'd Arm'd and Paid by our Order and Industry for it was we that Combin'd Joyn'd Plotted and Contrived this Warr and by our Subtility Policy and VVisdome we made Factions and Divisions Drawing thereby Numbers to our Party and by our Ingenuity we Drain'd their Purses as well as Drew their Persons to Maintain this Warr and yet now this our Army Disputes with us and are Disobedient to our Command nay they Threaten to Overthrow our Counsels and to Put us out of our Authorities forcing the Supreme Power from us which ought not to be Suffered but Seriously Consider'd how we may Disband them for it is Dangerous to let One and the same Men continue long in Arms especially Commanders but rather to Change their Commanders often lest they may Gain so much the Love and Obedience of their Souldiers as to make them Absolute Yet I Leave all to your Better Judgements A Souldiers Oration concerning the Form of Government Fellow Souldiers NOw we are Absolute Masters of this Kingdome having cast out the Gown men out of their Power and Authority the question will be What Kind of Government we shall Settle this Kingdome in as in a Celestial Aereal or Terrestrial The Celestial is Monarchy the Aereal is Aristocraty the Terrestrial is Democraty The First is to be Govern'd by One the Second by Few the Third by Many The First is to be Govern'd by a King the Second by Nobles the Third by Commons But one of these Governments we must Settle in otherwise all the Kingdome will be in a Confusion for if there be no Order and Method there will be no Rule nor Government since Every one will do what he List and then None will take Care of any thing so that there will be neither Tillage nor Trade and if there be no Tillage nor Trade there will be neither Food nor Money for where there is no Government there can be no Assurance and who will take Pains for that they are not Sure to Keep or rather I may say they are Sure to Lose VVherefore some Government we must Choose and all Kinds of Governments are Divided into these three I have mentioned as for Democraty I like that the Worst for the Common people is not only Insolent when they have Power Commanding Imperiously Condeming Unjustly Advancing Unworthily but they are so Inconstant as there is no Assurance in them and so Foolish as they Know not what to Choose only like little Children they will be Perswaded with a Flattering Tongue sometimes to Reason but oftner against Reason and sometimes against all Reason and Sense the truth is though they seem to Govern yet they are Rul'd by some Particulars as first by One and then an Other as those that can Flatter Best or rather Most by which they become Slaves to an Insinuating Tongue Wherefore it is no fit Government for Us for we are Souldiers and not Pleaders we are Fighters and not Flatterers the truth is that a Pure Democraty is all Body and no Head and an Absolute Monarchy is all Head and no Body whereas Aristocraty is both Head and Body it is a Select and Proportionable Number for a Good Government which Number being United Represents and Acts as One Man for like as Many Mens Voices Agreeing and Consenting make it as One Mans Decree so a Proportionable Number makes it as One Mans Ruling or Governing Wherefore this is the Best Kind of Government for Us