Darien Colony upon Proclamations published against their having any Supplys from the English West Indies whereas it was chargeable upon other Causes this frivolous pretext we say is so very thin that it may easily be seen through and was contrived on purpose to draw a Vail over the manifest Injustice of this Proclamation so diametrically opposite to the Claim of Right on which His Majesty accepted the Crown wherein it is expresly declared That it is the Right of the Subject to Petition the King and that all Prosecutions and Imprisonments for such Petitioning are and were contrary to Law Here is no exception made of Subjects that have not given proofs of their Affection to the Government It is sufficient if they be Subjects to certainly Petitioning in it self infers an owning of the Government but admit it were so that the said Petition was promoted by such must the whole Nation when injured in its Honour and Interest be denied the liberty of Petitioning for a Redress of their Grievances because Persons that are not well Affected to the Government when they suffer in the common loss of their Country and likewise in their own personal Property are willing to concur with them and to promote such a Petition This is Doctrine fit for Turky or for France and indeed not digestable there much less to be obtruded upon us But the Truth of the matter is this the mischeivous Counsellors were not willing the Nation should be acquainted with the Treatment they had met with by their means and therefore did not care to hear of a National Application for a Redress But did those Gentlemen think we would take their word for it that the miscarriage of our Colony was not chargeable upon their West-India Proclamations since they know they never yet suffered his Majesty to keep his word to us as is but too too evident from the Hamburgh Memorial the said Proclamations and other steps of opposition made to our Company contrary to express Law Was it not but reasonable then that we should desire a Parliament to enquire into the Matter and examine whether the Company 's Charge be true or false Or when the Practises of pernicious Counsellors gives the Country just cause to complain of Grievances must they not petition for a Redress because some ill men may perhaps improve it against the Government We hope our Parliament will think it worth their while to enquire whether they that gave the occasion for such a Petition or those that make such a Petition be most culpable Ay but says the Faction such petitioning is an invasion of his Majesties Prerogative it being he only who is to call a Parliament To which we answer that the Claim of Right sets bounds to his Prerogative beyond which he is not to go since upon those Terms he accepted our Crown and that Claim having reserv'd to the Subject the Right of petitioning the denial of it is an Invasion of their Property And besides tho his Majesty only is to call a Parliament it 's not left absolutely or solely at his Disposal when By the Claim of Right he is obliged for the redress of Grievances to call them frequently and to allow them to sit So that the denying of the Parliaments meeting and adjourning them from time to time as in the present Case when the whole Nation complains of their Grievances in relation to their Colony is another manifest infraction upon the Claim of Right which our Parliament is concern'd to enquire into the Authors of that they may be punish'd otherwise our Claim of Right will by degrees come to be of no more use to us than an Almanack out of date We come now to the Address of the House of Lords in England concerning our Colony at Darien which we think convenient to insert here at large London February 13th Yesterday His Majesty received the following Address from the House of Lords WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled being according to our duty solicitous for the preservation and Encrease of the Trade of this Kingdom on which the Support of your Majesties Greatness and Honour so much depends as well as the Security and Defence of your People have been very apprehensive that the steps lately made towards a Settlement of your Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland at Darien may tend to the great preiudice of this Nation and possibly to the disturbance of that Peace and good Correspondence with the Crown of Spain which we conceive is very advantagious to us all VVe have therefore taken the same into our serious consideration as a matter of the greatest Importance and proper to be laid before your Majesty as the Common Father of both Countries And as we are truly sensible of great Losses our Neighbour Kingdom hath sustained both by Men and Treasure in their Expeditions to that place which we very heartily lament so we should not endeavour by any Interposition of Ours to defeat the Hopes they may still entertain of recovering those Losses by their further engaging in that design but that we judge such a Prosecution on their parts must end not only in far greater Disapointments to themselves but at the same time prove very inconvenient to the Trade and quiet of this Kingdom On this occasion we humbly presume to put your Majesty in mind of the Address of both Houses of Parliament presented to Your Majesty on the 17th of December 1695. In the close of which Address Your Majesty will see the unanimous Sense of this Kingdom in relation to any Settlement the SCOTS might make in the West-Indies by virtue of an Act of Parliament past about that time in the Kingdom of Scotland which was the occasion of the said Address And we humbly represent to Your Majesty that having received Information of some Orders Your Majesty had sent to the Governours of the Plantations on this Subject the House did on the 18th of January last come to this Resolution That Your Majesty's Pleasure signified to the Governours of the Plantations in Relation to the Scotch Settlement at DARIEN was agreeable to the Address of both Houses of Parliament presented to Your Majesty on the 17th of December 1695. And on the 8th of this Instant February this House came to this further Resolution that the Settlement of the Scots Colony at DARIEN is inconsistent with the Good of the Plantation Trade of this Kingdom All which we humbly hope Your Majesty will take into your Royal Consideration and we are confident that Your Majesty cannot be thought too partial to the Address of this House if Your Majesty shall in the first place consider the Advantage and Good of this Trade of this Kingdom by the Preservation and Improvement of which both these Kingdoms and all your other Dominions must on all occasions principally be defended If this Address be not a manifest Invasion of our Sovereignty and Independency never any thing was and therefore 't is to be hop'd
our Parliament against whose Act they have so expresly declared themselves will protest against this Address and declare it to be an invasion of our Freedom and such an interposition in our Affairs as is inconsistent with the Sovereignty and Independency of Scotland We have already taken notice that this Address was the procurement of the Court which shews how fraudulently the pernicious Counsellors have all along acted with us and what our Nation is to expect so long as we are governed by such Advice But to come to the Address it self It is evident that the natural Tendency of it is to render our Kingdom subject to that of England and a plain Declaration against our Settlement at Darien or any place in the West-Indâ—es It is also plain from this Address that they presented it on purpose to defeat the hopes that we might still entertain of recovering our Losses by further engaging in that Design and that they have taken upon themselves the Loss of the Blood and Treasure which we have sustained in the West-Indies by declaring that his Majesties Pleasure signified to the Governours of the Plantations in relation to our Settlement at Darien was agreeable to the Address of both Houses of Parliament of the 17 th of December 1695. It 's observable also that by this Address the Lords take upon them to say the Commons are of the same mind with themselves which since the Commons seem to comply with by their silence wants very little of a formal Declaration of both Houses against our trading either in the East or West-Indies It is also evident from this Address that they demand his Majesty should prefer the Advantage of their Trade to ours from all which together its demonstrable that they have no more to do but to alledge any branch of our Trade they please to be inconsistent with and disadvantagious to theirs and so may at last deprive us of our whole Trade since those who are his Majesties Counsellors in our Affairs think it sufficient it seems to absolve him from his Coronation Oath to us or any other Obligation he is under to govern us according to our own Laws if what he does against our Interest and Honour be but agreeable to the mind of his Parliament of England These things make it evident beyond Contradiction that except some speedy redress be had Not only our Company but all other individual Merchants of this Kingdom must from henceforward conclude that all their Rights and Freedom of Trade are and may be further violently wrested out of our Hands by our Neighbours As our Company well express'd it in their Address to his Majesty Iune 28 th 1697. By those barefac'd and avow'd methods the Conjecture of our Company in their Address to the Council of Scotland of December 22 d 1697 hath been also too much verified viz. That if effectual means were not taken for putting an early stop to such an open and violent Infringement of so solemn a Constitution its hard to guess how far it may in after-ages be made use of as a Precedent for invading and overthrowing even the very fundamental Rights natural Liberties and indisputable Independency of this Kingdom which by the now open and frequent Practises of our unkind Neighbours seem to be too shrewdly pointed at and give cause of Apprehensions and Jealousies not only to our Company in particular but even to the whole Body of the Nation in geneneral It is no less evident by those proceedings that the Authority and Credit of our Parliament is struck at through our Companies Sides As the Company likewise truly express'd it in their Address to the Parliament Iuly 22 d 1698. And from this Address they may as well foresee that they are to expect all the opposition from the Faction that can be as they formerly predicted but too late in their Address to the Parliament That their Enemies would either directly or indirectly pursue their Designs of ruining all their Measures For we may assure our selves that those Persons about his Majesty who were so officious to procure Proclamations against our Colony when there was no such Address to countenance their Proceedings will not be wanting to press his Majesty to oppose us to the utmost since they have been at so much pains to procure this Address tho at the expence of His Majesty's Reputation who had promis'd us the contrary This is but too evident from the Advices we have already receiv'd that the Captain of the Sloope who brought 2 of our Colony from Darien to Iamaica since our repossessing our selves of it was imprison'd there and his Vessel seiz'd on that Account We come next to the Causes they assign for this Address viz. That our Settlement may occasion a breach of the Peace betwixt them and Spain and be prejudicial to their Plantation-Trade The first they have no Cause to fear since there is no offensive and defensive League 'twixt us and England that we are a distinct and independent Nation and that they have sufficiently declar'd their opposition to our Settlement to the loss of our Blood and Treasure the second is frivolous and against the Law of Nations since every free and independent Kingdom has a right to seek their own advantage without any regard to the Interest of another as much as two Freemen of the same Employment have a right to set up a Shop in the same Street or next Door to one another if they find their account in it If it were otherwise the English have as much right to oppose the old French Settlements in the West-Indies and their new one at Mississipi as they have to oppose ours so that their proceedings against us in this matter is a piece of the blackâ—st Injustice that one Nation can be guilty of towards another And we wonder very much at it since some of their Council of Trade who are amongst the Chief of those that advise to this way of proceeding against us seem to place all their hopes of Heaven upon Justice 'twixt Man and Man and yet seem to have no sense of Justice betwixt Nation and Nation We come next to consider His Majesties Answer His Majesties most Gracious Answer to the Address was to this Effect Viz. HIS Majesty having received a very dutiful Address from the House of Peers in relation to the Endeavours lately used by some of his Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland towards making a Settlement at DARIEN in which they humbly represent to him their Opinion that such a Settlement is inconsistent with the good of the Plantation-Trade of this Kingdom Is pleased to let the House know That he will always have a very great regard to their Opinion And to assure them that he will never be wanting by all proper means to promote the Advantage and Good of the Trade of England At the same time His Majesty is pleased to Declare that he cannot but have a great Concern and Tenderness for his Kingdom of
gave His Majesty such Council that they may be punished according to Demerit We come next to consider his Majesty's Answer to the Contents of the Address brought up by my Lord Basil Hamilton viz. That he was resolved in the Terms of the Treaty to demand that Capt. Pincartâ—n and those of his Crew who are detained Prisoners at Carthagena be released and set at liberty That the Subjects of Scotland shall be allowed the same liberty of Trade that others enjoy with the English Plantations that it was his Resolution to Promote and Advance the Trade of the Kingdom And the three Frigats they demand having been given by Parliament for Guarding the Trade of the Coasts he was not resolved to dispose of them till he had the Advise of his Parliament By this His Majesty owns that Capt. Pincarton and his Crew were detained Prisoners by the Spaniards contrary to the Treaty Then what can his Counsellors in Scots Affairs say for their not having Advised His Majesty to demand him sooner especially since he was obliged to it by the Act Establishing our Company had the Zeal of those Counsellors who pretend to be concerned for the Wellfare and Honour of our Nation been equal to the malice of those that Advised His Majesty to issue Proclamations against our Colony in the West Indies before he knew whether we had done any thing in contravention to his Treaties with Spain or not they would certainly have put him upon demanding Satisfaction sooner for a manifest breach of those Treaties This we conceive deserves also the Consideration of our Parliament In the next place by His Majesty's Promise that we should have the same Liberty of Trade that others enjoy with the English Plantations It is owned by the Advisers of it that it was in His Majesty's Power so to do and that he might lawfully do so which is a plain Conâ—ession that we had acted nothing contrary to his Treaties with Spain nor to the detriment of his English Plantations and that the former Prohibition was the Act and Deed of those Pernicious Counsellors for had it been contrary to the Laws of England or Treaties betwixt the Crown of Great Britain and Spain that our Colonies should be supplied with Provisions c. from the English Plantations it had not been in His Majesty's Power to dispence with it now The matter then being so it concerns the Parliament of Scotland to enquire who they were and upon what motives they Advised His Majesty to emit those Proclamations against supplying our Colony with Provisions c. Since it was settled in the precise Terms of the Act of his Scots Parliament and his own Letters Patent and that our Colony had done nothing contrary to his Treaties with Spain or to the Interest of his English Plantations At the same time it may be proper for them to enquire why Capt. Pincarton and his Company as also the Ship and Goods are not restored all this while And whether the promise of demanding them from Spain hath not been as ill performed as was that of recalling the Memorial at Hamburgh As to His Majesty's Promise of our having the same Liberty of Trade to the English Plantations as others have it is worth the while to observe the management of the Pernicious Counsellors in this point It would seem they were sensible that His Majesty's Promise if performed might be of advantage to our Colony and would make shew to the World that he really Countenanced our Undertaking and by consequence oblige those that oppose us to greater Precautions and therefore though this Promise was made us to calm the Spirits of our People whom they knew to be in a general Ferment they were resolved it should never be performed but how to bring His Majesty handsomly off was their next Enquiry This they found a method to do by endeavouring to have the Parliament of England approve what his Majesty had done against our Company and Colony and they thought no doubt that His Majesty would be sufficiently absolved and the mouths of our Nation for ever stopped as having neither Courage nor Power to call the Kingdom of England to an Account This was in vain attempted upon the House of Commons but carried at last in the House of Lords viis modis yet not without a Proâ—estation against it and several sharp Speeches inveighing against the Courtiers who had promised that very thing to the Scots against which they were then soliciting the House to Address His Majesty The Address it self we shall view anon after some further Considerations on His Majesty's Promise to our Company as to the three Frigaâ—s they demanded which he says Because they were given by the Parliament for Guarding the Trade of the Coasts he is resolved not to dispose of till he have the Advice of our Parliament It is certainly an essential part of our Constitution for a King of Scots to Advise with his Parliament Why then was not the Parliament summoned to meet speedily at the Companies desire since the Honour and Interest of our Kingdom required it And we would willingly know of those that Advise His Majesty in Scots Affairs whether they think the Parliament meant those Ships when the Peace had rendred the Guarding our Coasts unnecessary should have been denied for Guarding the Trade of the Nation and the Coasts of our new Settlement at Caledonia And in the next place we would willingly know of them why the Granting of this necessary demand should be deferred till the Parliament can be Advised with concerning it since the Granting of it in all common Interpretation must be supposed to be according to their Act and why their Advice was not also staid for or desired before the emitting the Proclamations against our Colony in the West Indies This is certainly worth our Parliaments enquiring into For 't is not to be supposed that they entrust our Kings to do whatever Pernicious Councils Advise them to against the Interest of the Nation and only to delay doing what is visibly for its Advantage till they have the consent of Parliament Upon the whole it is demonstrable beyond contradiction that they who have His Majesty's Ear as to Scots Affairs and by whose Advice he has Governed himself as to our Kingdom designed no good to our Company Colony or Country otherwise such reasonable Requests as they have from time to time desired of His Majesty could not have been refused as they have constantly been in manifest violation of our Laws and to the irreparable Disgrace of our Nation This will appear convincingly to those that consider the Proclamation issued in Scotland by His Majesty's Order against carrying on a Naâ—ional Petition for a Parliament in order to redress our Grievances as to Darien c. The frivolous pretext of the Pernicious Counsellors that the same was promoted by Persons who had given no proofs of their Affections to the Government and that they endeavoured to charge the miscarriage of the
Scotland and a desire to advance their Well-fare and Prosperity and is very sensibly touched with the loss His Subjects of that Kingdom have sustained by their late unhappy Expeditions in order to a Settlement at DARIEN His Majesty does apprehend that difficulties may too often arise with respect to the different Interest of Trade between his two Kingdoms unless some way be found out to unite them more nearly and compleatly And therefore His Majesty takes this opportunity of putting the House of Peers in mind of what he recommended to his Parliament soon after his Accession to the Throne That they would consider of an Vnion between the two Kingdoms His Majesty is of opinion That nothing would more contribute to the security and happiness of both Kingdoms and is inclined to hope that after they have lived near 100 years under the same Head some happy Expedient may be found for making them one People in case a Treaty were set on Foot for that purpose And therefore he does very earnestly recommend this Matter to the Consideration of the House This Answer is indeed something more like the Answer of a King of Scots than that to the Address of both Houses of the 17 th of December 1695. Yet the mâ—nagement of our Friends his Majesties Counsellors in Scots Affairs is still obvious to our view in this Answer the transports of Joy they were filled with upon the receipt of the Lords Address discovers it self by visible Ebullitions in the very first Line His Majesty having received a VERY DVTIFVL ADDRESS What pity 't was that new Patents of Honour were not sent to every one of those Lords that were for this Dutiful Address But when it comes to be weighed in a Scots Ballance it appears to be undutiful to the highest degree 1. Because they take upon them to advise his Majesty to act contrary to what he had promised to the Scots And 2. Because instead of owning him as an independent Sovereign of Scotland they treat him like their Vassal as he is King of Scots by pretending to direct him in the Affairs of our Nation where they have nothing to do and that also in opposition to the Sentiments of the Parliament of Scotland who must rationally be suppos'd to understand the Interest of our Nation better and to consult it more than they either can or will do Certainly they must have a very mean Opinion of the Wisdom of our Nation if they think we can be gull'd with their pretending to be sorry for our great loss of Men and Treasure when at the same time they charge themselves with advising to those measures which occasioned the loss of both and indirectly threaten us for we cannot interpret it otherwise WITH FAR GREATER DISAPPOINTMENTS IN THE PROSECVTION OF OVR DESIGN for justification of which they have already form'd their Declaration viz. That our Settlement at Darien is greatly prejudicial to their Nation and disturbs their Peace with Spain when all this while the Spaniards have never offered to make the least Reprizal upon them for it whereas they have committed actual Hostilities upon us His Majesty's declaring that he cannot but have a great Concern and Tenderness for his Kingdom of Scotland and a desire to advance our Welfare and Prosperity discovers a Paternal Affection to us but considering how he is circumstantiate is like to be of as little use to our Nation as the Affection of a Natural Father to his own Children for whom he dares not do any good Office because of a cursed ill-natured Step-mother that has him at command Thus His Majesty was graciously pleased to grant us an Act for Encouraging and Promoting our Trade but by the Malice of our Enemies who have him in their Hands was forced to Counteract it Thus he has been pleased again to promise our Colony the same Liberty of Trade that others have to the English Plantations but must be forced to recal his Word or at least to be worse than his Promise because he is told that the Sense of both his Houses of Parliament in England is against it To these straights those pernicious Counsellors have reduced His Majesty for though the Faction will promise to support him in aâ—ting contrary to Law and his Coronation Oath against us yet they will not suffer him to do any thing against what they are pleased to call the Interest of England but he is in danger of being Lop'd off or Abdicated They will not allow us to complain of our Kings when misled by Ill Council or to say that by our Ancient Constitution they were accountable to their Parliaments for Male-administration but strait they will burn our Books as False Scandalous and Trayterous yet they themselves fly in the Face of their Prince every day suffer his Administration to be tamely Libelled and his Person reflected on in all their Pampblets against a standing Army they will tell him to his Face that they who advised him to the Irish Grants had not consulted his Honour And that they who advised him to such and such Answers had done as much as in them lay to create a misunderstanding betwixt him and his People If we quote our Historians or Laws for asserting that the Supreme Power of our Government risided formerly in the Stateâ— who could dispose of the Lives and Fortunes of our Princes they strait condemn it as Trayterous but at the same time they quietly suffer Books to be published asserting their own Power of doing so by their Kings and justifie the cutting off of King Charles the I. as Milton's Works and others If their own Kings dispence with their Laws and Invade the Rights of their Church they kick them from their Thrones and then tell the World they have Abdicated yet at the same time they support them in acting Arbitrarily and contrary to Law against us and tell them that in so doing they act according to the Sense of both Houses If we complain of Injuries done us and Affronts put upon us by a Faction of theirs in conjunction with some ill Men of our own straitway we are accused of reflecting upon the Honour of both Nations and endeavouring to stir up War and Sedition and Proclamations are issued offering 500 l for discovering the Authors of such Complaints yet at the same time they suffer us to be Libelled railed upon vilified and belied and God himself and the Holy Scriptures blasphemed in Villanous Pamphlets without taking the least notice of it Thus in a Scurrilous Pamphlet called A History of Darien we are bantered and laughed at with Romantick and Foppish Stories in the Defence of the Scots Abdicating Darien the Honour of our Nation is outrag'd our Company belied and Religion blasphemed yet the Author Rewarded and Caressed by Mr. V n now a Minister of State but formerly a Licenser of Books for taking off the Penal Laws and overturning the Protestant Religion In a Villanous Lampoon called The Pedlar turn'd Merchant we are
Company This will still be further evident from the Proclamations publish'd against our Colony in Iamaica Barbadoes and New England which were not only treacherous to the highest degree but such an Invasion upon the Sovereignty and Independency of our Nation as ought not to be pass'd over by our Parliament without a Protestation against them and a strict enquiry after the Authors and Advisers of them That they are full of Treachery and Malice against our Country is plain from their being emitted as appears by their Dates before ever any Complaint was made against us by the Spaniards before we were heard what we could say in our own defence and at the same time whilst our Lord President and Advocat were sent for from Scotland to hear what they could say in Justification of our Colony's Settlement The Treachery is also plainly demonstrable because the said Proclamations were publish'd without consulting the Council of Scotland and that they were contrary to the solemn Promises made by the Commissioners and Presidents in our Parliaments from time to time wherein His Majesty promis'd to encourage and protect our Trade of which those Proclamations are utterly subversive If it be objected that His Majesty was obliged to publish those Proclamations out of regard to the English Nation and His Foreign Allies We answer that his Majesty by his Coronation Oath as King of Scotland is oblig'd to govern us by our own Laws and not by any Consideration of Foreign Interests but admitting that he ought in this Case to have giv'n the preference to the English Nation and his Foreign Allies It will by no means acquit the pernicious Counsellors of Treachery towards us since the least they could have advis'd in this case was that we should have had notice of such Proclamations before-hand that we might have been upon our Guard and have done what we could to have prevented our Colonies being frightened or starved from Darien the omitting of which alone had there been nothing of an actual concurrence to destroy us makes those Counsellors chargeable with the Blood of our Men the Loss of our Treasure and the Disappointment of the just Expectation we had from that Expedition That the publishing of those Proclamations was an unsufferable Intrenchment upon the Sovereignty and Independency of our Nation is undeniable since thereby the King of England takes upon himself to condemn the Subjects of Scotland as Invaders of the Dominions of Spain and thereupon forbids his English Subjects to have any Correspondence with them or to supply them with any Necessaries which by the Law of Nations must be interpreted an Act of Hostility when done by one Nation to another That this being done by the King of England is an Invasion upon the Sovereignty of Scotland is evident because he hath no right neither as a Liege-Sovereign nor Conqueror to judge of our Actions If he did it as King of Scots then it concerns our Parliament to enquire by what Law he could do it without their Consent or what Scotsmen advis'd him so to do and whether it be true what Mr. Vernon said That it was done with the Lord S 's Privacy and Consent That the emitting of those Proclamations was a deliberate Action of the pernicious Counsellors and full of Malice and Treachery against the Kingdom of Scotland appears further from the publishing a Second Proclamation Sept. 5. 1699 at Barbadoes against entertaining any Correspondence with the Scots at Darien tho the Lord President and Advocate had so long before given in sufficient Reasons to justify our Settlement This will appear yet more plainly if the Tenor of that Proclamation be considered which is not so positive as that at Iamaica in condemning our Settlement at Darien as contrary to the Peace with his Majesty's Alâ—ies but is express'd doubtfully Lest the same should derogate from the Treaties His Majesty hath entered into with the Crown of Spain or be otherwise prejudicial to any of His Majesty's Colonies in the West-Indies Whence it is evident that we have a positive Injury done us tho the Court could not be positive but only suppoâ—'d that our Settlement might derogate from his Majesties Treaties with Spain or be prejudicial to his Majesties Colonies in the West-Indies The Authors of this Proclamation knew well enough the state of our Colony's Provisions and how fatal those Proclamations would be to them and therefore no Art can palliate their Malice and Treachery That the said Proclamations were emitted with a design to ruin our Colony is demonstrable from this That tho our Company upon the dismal News of its Disaster did in a very dutiful manner petition his Majesty put him in mind of the several Acts of Parliament and his Letters Patent authorising the Natives of this Kingdom to settle Plantations in Asia Africa and America upon the Faith and Encouragement of which they form'd themselves into a Company and had made a Settlement at Darien precisely according to the Terms of the said Acts and Letters Patent at the same time informing him That they had too much reason to believe that the said Proclamations had been of fatal Consequence to our Company and Colony desiring that the effect of the Proclamations might be taken off and that they might be supplied from the English Plantations in the ordinary way of Commerce Yet notwithstanding all this Application they had a meer trifling Answer returned them and Couch'd in such Ambiguous Terms as might leave room for farther trifling viz. That we should have the same freedom of Trade and Commerce with the English Plantations as ever we had formerly which was just none at all So that this was nothing but a meer Evasion and no direct Answer to our Companies necessary and reasonable Petition Certainly it concerns our Parliament to enquire who were the Authors of this scandalous Breach of Publick Laws upon the Faith of which our Country ventur'd so much to Sea and by the violation of which in such a manner the Sovereignty of our Nation is trampled under foot and we have lost so much Blood and Treasure The Malice of these pernicious Counsellours against our Country and Colony is further display'd by their doing all that 's possible â—o preclude us from having our Grievances redressed we have in vain Petitioned the Court ever since the last Sessions of Parliament and therefore had no way left us but to Petition that the Parliament may meet again at the day appointed in November next that His Majesty may have the Advice and Assistance of the Great Council of this Nation in such a Weighâ—y and General Concern This those blessed Counsellours are so far from thinking fit to be Granted that they Advise His Majesty to Adjourn our Parliament further till the 5th of March following just when they heard this Petition was coming up and at the same time we are told that His Majesty will Order the Parliament to meet when he judg'd the Good of the Nation did require it as
into all its Courts which is absolutely necessary to prevent Ecclesiastical Ambition it 's an effectual restraint upon them from decreeing such Doctrines as Passive Obedience and hinders them from Preaching Mankind out of their Lives and Eâ—taâ—es into a Slavish Subjâ—ction to Princes had it been otherwise we have good reason to think that the Interest of the Country would not have carried so much as it did in the last General Assembly From all this it will naturally result that it's incumbent upon our Parliament to take measures for securing the Church against such Threats as the Faction made use of to induce the Ministers to a Compliance this is so much the more reasonable because tho' Presâ—yterian Ministers may comply with the designs of Courts against the Liberties of the Subjects Bishops must and they are so much the more dangerous because they have a Power in the Legislation and are commonly so many Votes on the Courts side whereas by the present Constitution the Clergy have no such Power Iâ— the Parliament of Scotland should demand from His Majesty a further assurance for the Constitution of our â—hurch it 's no more than what our Neighbours in England have from time to time done as to theirs and wherein His Majesty did as readily comply with them To this end it would seem to be no unreasonable demand if the Revenues of the Bishopricks that are not already appropriated to Pious Uses were applied to the use of our American Colony This is so much the less to be objected against because the Establishment of our Plantation tends to the propagation of the true Christian Faith it would be an effectual way to prevent the Restituâ—ion of Episcopacy in this Nation which can never be done without throwing all into Confusion again which would utterly obstruct our Trade besides it were but a just reprisal since it is from those of the Episcopal Party in England that our American Settlement meâ—â—â— with the greatest opposition there If â—t bâ— objected that those Revenues have faâ—len to the King as Vltimus Hoeres we answer that as we never see a King amongst us there 's no reason we should augment his Revenue that the Parliament of England have appropriated to Publick Use the Irish Forâ—eitures which by the ordinary Course of Law sell to the King and that His Majesty is obliged by the Act establishing our Company to obtain a Reparatiâ—n of their Loss at the Publick Charge All this being considered such a demâ—nd cannot any ways seem unreâ—sonable and so much the less that this Fund is already settled and would be no new burden to the Subject These things we have insisted the more upon because some People took the opportunity to improve the proceedings of the Assembly to the disadvantage of the Presbyterians and openly boasted of it as a handle to restore Episcopacy But we hope that neither this nor any fuâ—ure Parliament of Scotland will be so Impolitic as to attempt that It 's well enough known the Presbyterians look upon their Form of Church-Government to be of Divine Institution that most of them have suffered for it and some hundreds of them have sealed it with their Blood therefore 't is no wonder they should prefer it to all Temporal Advantages whatever and shew more than an ordinary Compliance with what they are told is the Mind of a Prince whose Family and Person they have reason to esteem and to whom they have been more obliged than ever they were to any there 's so much the less reason to wonder at their Compliance when we consider what endeavours there have been to persuade them that the greatest Zealots for our American Settlement are their mortal Enemies and seek their overthrow Nor indeed have we any reason to wonder at the opposition of the Court when His Majesty is informed that the Affâ—ir of Darien is a Jacobite design at the bottom and that a Presbyterian Lord should be so far possessed with this Calumny as to assert it in opposition to our Colony in the English House of Peers Therefore it would seem to be incumbent upon our Parliament to enquire into the Authors of such malicious Suggestions This is so much the more necessary because our Enemies endeavour to maintain their own Cause by creating in us a mutual distrust of one another and dividing us amongst our selves by false reports Thus some of the greatest Men of ouâ— Kingdom as well as the greatest Friends of our Colony are sometimes traduced as carrying on a Jacobite design and at other times râ—proached as falling in with the Factions aâ— Court that have declareâ— themselves so openly against our Country But to return to the Presbyterians as we would not be thought to disuade them or others from entertaining high and dutiful thoughts of our most gracious Sovereign King William yet on the other hand as they never believeâ— Kings to be inâ—allible we would have them to beware how they fall in with such measures as ill Men about His Majesty may put him upon in relation to our Country and Colony We would not have them to lick up the Vomit of Passive Obedience that the Church of England hath â—pewed out and though we would have them and all good Subjectâ— to account His Majesty's Person Inviolable and Sacred yet there 's no reason that all aâ—out him should have the same priviledge or be protected from Justice when they invade the Fundamental Laws of â—ur Nation nor would we have them to obstruct the Peoples demanding a Redress of Grievances or not to concur with the Parliament to maintain their Authority which is so manifestly violated for this would be a direct breach of the Solemn League and Covenant which obâ—â—ges the Nation to maintain the Authority of Parliaments as well as his Majesty's Just Right and Prerogative It had been time long ago to have drawn to a Conclusion but the Pressures we labour under are so many that we hope they will make an Apology for the length of this Discourse It being evident that most of our Grievances proceed from His Majesty's absence and our Circumstances being so unhapy that we are no more to expect our Kings should reside amongst us We have no other Remedy but to Address our selves to our Parliament that they would take care to make up that want by good and wholsome Laws which it 's hoped His Majesty will very readily agree to Many Particulars might be insisted upon but those which seem most necessary are a Law for a New Parliament once in three Years as our Neighbours in England have that in future Reigns we may not be liable to be undone by a Band of Pensioners under the Notion of Representatives 2. That we may have the benefit of a Habeas Corpus Act as well as our Neighbouring Nation and so much the more that we seem intitled to demand it by the Article of the Claim of Right against Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason and delaying to