of Strafford hath done appeare to have been harboured in his thoughts and settled in his heart long before it was executed You see what his Counsels were That the King having tryed the affections of his people was loose and absolved from all rules of government and might doe every thing that power would admit and his Majesties had tryed all wayes and was refused and should be acquitted of God and man and had an army in Ireland wherewith if hee pleased he might reduce this kingdome so there must be a triall of his people for supply that is denyed which must be interpreted a defection by refusall and this refusall must give advantage of necessity and this necessity must be an advantage to use his Prerogative against the rule of the Law and consent of the People this is his advice which shewes that this very thing that hapned did harbour in his thoughts long before the breach of the Parliament and the occasion of the Armie Your Lordships have heard it confessed by himselfe That before this last advice he had advised the calling of a Parliament to the Parliament a proposition of twelve Subsidies was made for supply and which may be spoken with great assurance before they had consulted or given any resolution to that proposition the Parliament was dissolved upon a supposal that the supply was denied Now that this was predesigned by my L. of Strafford himselfe I beseech you observe these things following that is the words in the two and twentieth Article That his Majestie was first to try the Parliament and if that did not supply him then he would serve the King any other way His words are proved by Mr. Treasurer That if the Parliament supplyed him not hee would serve him any other way and this is before the Parliament set now if your Lordships heare the proofes of my Lord Primate which my Lord of Strafford slights taking it singly My Lord Primate before the Parliament was called when my Lord of Strafford was in Ireland and not yet come into this kingdome testifies my Lords saying That if the Parliament will not supply his Majestie the King was acquitted before God and Man if hee tooke some other course to supply himselfe though against the will of the Subjects I beseech your Lordships observe how he prophecies these things must come to passe and advised them accordingly My Lord Conway testifies that before the Parliament sate my Lord of Strafford said that if the Parliament would not supply his Majestie the King was acquitted before God and Man if hee tooke another course to supply himselfe though it were against the will of the subject and he doubts not but the Parliament would give what twelve Subsidies and your Lordships very well remember twelve were propounded but I beseech you observe the coherence of all the Parliament must be called they must be tryed if they deny there is necessity and this necessity is a warrant for the King to proceed so that my Lord of Strafford must be judged to be either a Prophet or to have this designe before hand in his thoughts Now the Parliament being broken before answer to the demand given he vents his counsell in the three and twentieth Article and how far it is proved your Lordships have heard Now comes the Bullion to be seized the Copper money to be advised and now comes he to tell the King that the Aldermen of London must be put to fine and ransome and laid by the heeles and no good would be done till some of them bee hanged so you heare his advice I beseech your Lordships observe what successe this advice tooke foure Aldermen were instantly committed and then the Councell of the three and twentieth Article is fomented First he foments the warre then there is a necessitie the defection of the Parliament must set the King loose from rules of government and now see whether the occasion of the warre the calling of the Parliament the dissolving of it be not adequate to what he propounded to himselfe namely to set up an arbitrary government Your Lordships remember how fresh my Lord of Bristowes memorie is touching my Lord of Straffords opinion upon the dissolution of the Parliament how he declared unto my Lord of Bristow instantly within three or fower dayes after That the King was not to be mastered by the frowardnesse of his people or rather of some particular persons and your Lordships remember Sir George Wentworths words spoken the very day of dissolving the Parliament which may be very well applyed as a concurrent proof to his intentions of bringing the Army into England He was my Lords owne brother that knew much of his Councell and his words are That the English Nation would never be well till they were conquered over againe So my Lords put all together if he declared his owne intentions if actions in executing of this tyrannicall and arbitrary power if Counsels of as dangerous consequence in as high a strain as can be be not a sufficient evidence to prove an intention and desire to subvert the Law I know not what can prove such an Interpretation and now I referre it to your Lordships judgements whether here be not a good proofe of the Article laid to his charge My Lord in the seven and twentieth Article hee is charged with levying of warre upon the Kings people by forcing them in Yorkshire to pay money to prove they were so forced you have heard by two witnesses that Sergeant Major Yaworth by Musketeers fower together in the towne and one by one out of the towne did compell them to pay the fortnights contribution else they were to serve in person That hee did this by warrant is likewise confessed by Sir William Penyman and whether this were an authoritie derived from or commanded by my Lord of Strafford that is the question and my Lords it is plainly proved that it was commanded by my Lord of Strafford for Sr. William Penyman himselfe being examined alledged that the warrant was made in pursuance of the relation and direction made by my Lord of Strafford Your Lordships heard what my Lord of Strafford did say before hand as is proved by two witnesses Sir William Ingram and Mr. Cholmeley that this money should be paid or levied on the subjects goods Then his declaration to Sir William Penyman in pursuance of which he made his warrant That it was the assent of the Lords of the great Councell that this money should be levied and taking all together whether it fixes it not upon him to be the authour and instrument it rests in your judgements in point of fact and so I suppose the seven and twentieth Article rests on him and so I shall conclude the evidence produced on the behalfe of the Commons And now give me leave to put your Lordships in mind of some evidences offered by my Lord of Strafford himselfe in his answer and in the passages of his defence for his clearing and
justification but tending directly to his condemnation I will enter upon some passages he mentioned to day and often before When he is charged with invading the estates of the Peeres of the kingdome of Ireland and determining them upon paper petitions in an arbitrary way your Lordships have heard him speake it before and repeat it this day that he did it out of compassion for the more expeditious proceeding on behalfe of the poore against these mighty But then my Lords I beseech you compare some other part of his proceedings Your Lordships remember the businesse of the Flax which concernes the poore wholly and universally and if compassion had beene the rule and direction of his actions towards the poore surely this would have beene a just cause to have commiserated them in this case but hee exercised his power over them and over them wholly and over them universally and therefore it shewes it is not his compassion to the poore nor respect to the rich or mighty that will any way restraine or obstruct his wayes to his owne will And therefore you may see what truth there is in his answer by comparing one part of the charge with another when the businesse of the Flax brought that calamity upon the Kings Subjects that thousands of them perished for lacke of bread and dyed in ditches Secondly your Lordships have often heard him use a Rhetoricall insinuation wondering that he should be charged with words and they strained so high as to be made treason to question his life and posterity though the words might be spoken unadvisedly or in discourse or by chance your Lordships remember the fifth Article touching his proceedings against my Lord Mount-Norris where words were spoken in an ordinary discourse at dinner and slight ones God knowes of no consequence at all such as another man would scarce have harkened after and yet my Lord extends them to the taking away of my Lord Mount-Norris his life gets a sentence of death against him and that against Law with a high hand in such a manner as I thinke your Lordships have not heard the like and therefore I beseech you compare one part of his answer with another and see how ready he is to make use of any thing that may excuse himselfe and yet when he comes to act his power you see his exercise of it You have heard how hee magnifies his zeale for advancing the Kings benefit revennue and his care of his service and would shelter and protect himselfe under it to justifie an exorbitant action but if your Lordships call to mind the businesse of Customes for Tobacco which in truth were the Kings right and due and a great profit was thereby advanced and he trusted to advance it The King must loose of his former rents in the case of Custome and received a small rent in the case of Tobacco my Lord himselfe in the meane time imbursing such vast summes of money where is then the discharge of his trust where is his care to advance the Kings rents to encrease his revennue Compare that part of his answer with this and see what credit is to be given to his affirmation My Lords throughout the passages of his discourse he insinuates and never more then this day with the Peeres of the Realme magnifying them almost to Idolatrie and yet my Lords when he was in his kingdome in Ireland and had power over them what respect shewed he then to the Peeres of the kingdome when he judged some to death trampled upon others in misery committed them to prison and seized on their estates where then was the Peerage he now magnifies And to shew it was an insinuation for his owne advantage you may remember when there was an unlawfull Act to be committed that is the levying of money in the North what regard had he then to the Peeres of the kingdome when hee comes to justifie and boulster up high treason it selfe under the name and authoritie of the great Councell where most of the Peers of the Realm then were and so by this time I know what credit your Lordships give to his words spoken when he lyes under your mercy and power But what doe I speake of the Peers of the kingdome and his using of them My Lords he spared not his Soveraigne his Majestie in his whole defence for being charged with offences of a high nature hee justifies those offences under the pretence and under the authoritie of his Majestie our gracious King and Soveraigne even murder it selfe in the case of Denwit and my Lord Mountnorris Treason it selfe in the fifteenth Article by a command in Ireland and in the seven and twentieth by a pretended authoritie from his Majestie in the face of his people hee justifies my Lord Mountnorrice his sentence by a letter from his Majestie Denwits sentence by a Commission from his Majestie and hee read three or fower clauses to that purpose My Lords my Lord of Strafford doth very well know and if he doth not know it I have a witnesse to produce against him which I wil not examine but refer it to his owne Conscience that is the petition of right that the Kings servants are to serve him according to law and no otherwise he very well knew if an unlawfull act be committed specially to a degree of Treason and Murder the Kings authority and warrant produced is no justification at all So then my Lords to mention the Kings name to justifie an unlawfull act in that way can doe him no good and his owne understanding knowes it may doe the King harme if wee had not so gracious a King that no such thing can doe harme unto But my Lords to produce the Kings warrant to justifie his actions under his Patent and Command what is it else but so farre as in him lies in the face of his people to raise a cloud and exhale a vapour to interpose betwixt the King and his subjects whereby the splendour of his glory and justice cannot bee discovered to his people My Lords what is it else when the people make complaint against the Ministers that should execute justice of their oppression and slavery and bondage For the Minister when he is questioned to justifie this under the Kings authority what is it I say but as much as in that Minister lies to fix this offence to fasten this oppression upon the King himself to make it to be beleeved that the occasion of these their groanes proceeded from his sacred Majestie yet God be thanked the strength of that Sunne is powerfull enough to dispell these vapours and to disperse the cloud that hee would have raised but in the meane time my Lord is nothing to bee excused My Lords he may pretend zeale to the Kings service and affection to his honour but give me leave not to beleeve it since when he is questioned by all the Kings people and in the face of his people and offences laid to his charge which
Master Glyns REPLY TO THE EARLE OF STRAFFORDS DEFENCE OF The severall Articles objected against him by the House of COMMONS Published by speciall direction out of an authentick Copy LONDON Printed for Lawrence Chapman Anno 1641. Master GLYNS Reply to the Earle of STRAFFORDS Defence My Lord of Strafford having concluded the recapitulation of his evidence Mr. Glyn applied himselfe to their Lordships in manner following MAy it please your Lordships my Lord of Strafford as your Lordships have observed hath spent a great deale of time in his evidence and in his course of answering hath inverted the order of the Articles He hath spent some time likewise in defending the Articles not objected against him wherein he hath made a good answer if in any wee shall presume to withdraw a while and rest upon your Lordships patience and I doubt not but to represent my Lord of Strafford as cunning in his answer as hee is subtill in his practice The Committee withdrawing for about the space of halfe an houre and then returning to the Barre Mr. Glyn proceeded as followeth My Lords your Lordships have observed how the Earle of Strafford hath been accused by the Commons of England of high Treason for a purpose and designe to subvert the fundamentall Lawes of both the kingdomes of England and Ireland and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannicall government The Commons have exhibited Articles in maintenance of that charge My Lord of Strafford hath thereunto answered in writing The Commons have proceeded to make good their charge by proofe and thereunto my Lord of Strafford hath made his defence and this day my Lord of Strafford hath taken upon him to recollect his evidence and make his observation upon it the most he could to his advantage My Lords wee that are intrusted for the house of Commons stand here to recollect the evidence on our part and to apply it to the generall charge and how farre it conduces thereunto My Lord of Strafford in recollecting the evidence of his defence as I did mention before hath under favour exprest very much subtilty and that in divers particulars which I shall represent to your Lordships My Lords before I enter upon the recollection of the proofes produced on the behalf of the Commons I shall make some observations and give some answer to that recollection of his though very disorderly to the method I propounded to my selfe And first in generall it will appeare to your Lordships looking upon your notes and observing his recollection that he hath used the repetition of evidence on both sides in such manner as you know who useth Scripture that is to cite as much as makes for his purpose leave out the rest And likewise that in repetition of the evidence he hatâ— mis-recited plainly very much of the proofs on both sides likewise hath pretended some proofes to be for his defence which indeed were not and hee hath taken this farther advantage when it makes for his defence he hath disjoynted the proofes and testimonies and severed them asunder that it might appeare to your Lordships like raine falling in drops which considered in distinct drops bring no horrour or seeming inconvenience with them but when they are gathered together into an entire body they make an Inundation and cover the face of the earth He would not have your Lordships look on those Testimonies together but distinctly and asunder wch being put together look horrid as will appeare to your Lo. when you duly consider of them These bee the generall observations which in my Answer I doubt not but to make good But before I shall enter into observations of what hee hath spoken I shall answer in generall to some things which hee hath in generall alledged In the first place hee hath made a flourish this day and severall other dayes in the way of his defence That if hee could have had longer time hee could have made things appeare clearer and have produced more proofes Give mee leave to informe your Lordships that he is no way straightned of time for he hath bin charged above three months since he knew what was laid to his charge and therefore his pretence of want of time and of his disabilities to make better proofes are but flourishes And it appears plainly whatsoever he hath had occasion to make use of even the least paper though hee fetched it from Ireland there is not one wanting he hath copies of papers from the Councell Table from the Parliament of Ireland and all that may any way tend to his justification and yet he stands upon that flourish that if he had had time he could have made it more cleare My Lords he hath mentioned often this day and oftner the dayes before that many of the Articles laid to his charge are proved but by one witnesse and thereupon he takes the advantage of the Statute of E. 6. that sayes A man ought not to be condemned for high Treason without two witnesses My Lords this is a fallacy knowne to his own breast I doubt not and not taught him by any of his Councell or others learned The Treason laid to his charge is the subverting of the Lawes the evidence is the Articles proved and though some one Article appeares to be proved but by one yet put the evidence together you shall never find it to bee within the words or meaning of the Statute for the charge is proved by a hundred witnesses and because one part of the evidence is proved onely by one witnesse since when you put them together you will find a hundred witnesses it is not within the words nor meaning of the Statute neither will his Councell direct him to say so I am confident My Lords another observation I shall be bold to make is that hee was pleased to cast an aspersion as we must apprehend upon them that be trusted by the house of Commons this day That we that stand here alledged and affirmed things to be proved that are not proved Hee might have pleased to have spared that language we stand here to justifie our selves that we doe not use to expresse any language but what our hearts and consciences tels us is true and howsoever he is pleased to cast it upon us I am confident I shall invert it upon himselfe and make it appeare that hee hath bin this day guilty in the highest degree of what he most unjustly layeth to our charge And now my Lords to enter upon the particulars hee hath beene pleased to make it his generall Theame to day though hee hath not spoke much to day but what he hath spoken formerly that these particulars considered by themselves make not a Treason and therefore put together he wonders how they should make a Treason Several misdemeanours can never make a murther and severall murders can never make a Treason and he wonders it should be otherwise in this case My Lords he did instance it if my memory failes me not in
a case of Felony That if a bloudy knife should bee produced in the hand of the party suspected to have slaine the man if the party had bin there seen before the death it were a strong evidence but there must bee death in the case the fact must be committed else there can be no murther but he himselfe might answer himselfe for there is a great difference There cannot be murther but there must be death but hee knowes very well there may be Treason and yet no death it is too late to forbeare questioning Treason for killing the King till the King be killed God forbid wee should stay in that case for the very intention is the Treason and it is the intention of the death of the Law that is in question and it had beene too late to call him to question to answer with his life for the death of the Law if the Law had been killed for there had been no Law then and how should the Law then have adjudged it Treason when the same were subverted and destroyed and therefore he is much mistaken The greatest Traytor in the memory of any that sits here to heare me this day had a better a fairer excuse in this particular then my Lord of Strafford and that is Guido Faux for hee might have objected that the taking of the Cellar the laying of the Powder under the Parliament House the kindling of the match and putting it neare are not so much as a misdemeanor if you look no further for it was no offence in him to lay Barrels under the Parliament House and to kindle the match and to lay it neere but collect all together that it was eâ intentione to blow up the King and the State there is the Treason but God be blessed it was not effected So that the rule is the same Nay my Lord of Strafford hath not so much to say when he is charged with a purpose and intention to subvert the Law for to that purpose gave he trayterous counsels and executed actions thereby discovering his intentions to destroy the Kingdome and to destroy the Kings claime by Law and discent It is true they were not put in execution but they declared his intentions therefore this gives an answer to his first flourish which is not so great an Argument as the greatest Traytor might use for himself and yet it proved Treason in him My Lords he hath been pleased to divide his Treasons into two parts and his division I allow of that is Treason by Statute-Law as he tearmes it though it be Treason by the Common-Law and constructive Treason And upon that method hee hath recited the evidence produced on either part Give mee leave to follow and trace him a little and afterwards to discharge my duty in taking my owne course and representing the evidence as it appeares truly and I will avoid as much as I can to fall into my Lord of Straffords errour in mis-reciting a Particle if I doe it shall be against my will He begins with the fifteenth Article and pretends that that is not proved the ground and foundation of that Article was a warrant issued out by himselfe to a Sergeant at Armes one Savill which gave directions and power to that Serjeant to lay souldiers on any person that should contemne the Processe of the Councell boord in Ireland that was the effect Now sayes he this warrant is not produced and addes that the Judges will tell your Lordships that if a man bee charged with any thing under hand and seale the deed must be produced and proved or else no credit is to bee given to it Truely my Lords it is true if it had beene a Bond or a Deed where those that seale it use to call their neighbours to testifie and be witnesses to it perhaps it might be a colourable answer that because we do not produce the Deed and prove it by witnesses you can therefore give no credit to it But my Lords in case of authority to commit high treason I suppose my Lord of Strafford nor any other did call witnesses to prove the signing sealing and delivering of the warrant for execution of high treason and therefore it is a new way and invention found out by his Lordship for ought I see to commit high treason and to give authority for it and it is but taking away the originall warrant and hee shall never be touched for any treason But I beseech your Lordships patience till I come to open that Article and your Lordships will finde the warrant though it be not produced proved by three or foure witnesses and his hand seale proved too And wheras he pretends the Sergeant at Armes is no competent witnesse because he excuses himselfe my Lord mistakes himselfe for I take it to bee no excuse to prove a warrant from any person whatsoever if it be to commit high treason and therefore Savills testimony is the more strong being so farre from excusing that hee doth accuse himselfe And though he is charged with laying of souldiers upon the Kings people contrary to an expresse Act of Parliament made in 18. H. 6. yet my Lord is pleased I know not how to terme it whether it be merrily or otherwise to use his Rhetorick Here is a great levying of war when there is not above foure Musketiers or six at most laid upon any one man My Lords it is a plain levying of warre and without all question and in all sense it is as much mischievous to me to be surprized by foure or six Musketiers to enforce me to any thing they would have as if there were an Army of forty thousand brought upon me for if that strength will but over master me it is all one to me whether I be mastered by foure or by foure thousand And therefore let not this be a rule that to send foure or six or ten Musketiers up and downe is not considerable because of the smalnesse of the number the danger is the same yet this is no levying of warre because they goe not in troops of greater number as it pleases my Lord of Strafford to affirm My Lords your Lordships remember what the effect of the Warrant is sworn to be that howsoever the Sergeant at Armes and his Ministers that executed it brought but foure or six or ten yet the Sergeant might have brought all the Army of Ireland for there was authority so to doe And admitting the matter of fact proved he mentions an Act of Parliament made 11. Eliz. whereby a penalty is laid upon men that shall lay souldiers on the Kings subjects and yet as my Lord observes it must now be Treason in the Deputy My Lords the very casting of an eye upon that Act shewes it to be as vainly objected as if he had said nothing for in truth it is no other than as if he should say The King hath given me the command of an Army in Ireland and therefore I may turne
He came from the foure and twentieth Article to the seven and twentieth and he answers against that Article that when Armies are in the field men cannot walke so peaceably as an Atturney with his box and papers in Westminster hall I know not what he meanes but when two Armies are in the field they may raise warre against the Kings people as well as the King for his just defence it is the way to make his people terrified with armies and to avoid them as a serpent and therefore it is a dangerous aspersion as I conceive With these he concluded except some things that hee took by way of artificiall insinuation to perswade your Lordships that it was dangerous to raise a Treason that had laine asleep I know not how many hundred yeeres and create a Treason A strange thing indeed it is that a man should be charged with a Treason for subverting the Law A strange thing that one should be charged with Treason for killing a Justice sitting in the seat of justice and yet it should bee no Treason to destroy King and kingdome and people and all all which are destroyed if the Law be subverted And now having touched upon what he hath spoken with your Lordships good favour I shall crave leave to run the course I have propounded with my selfe and that very briefly that is upon the whole matter to shew how far the evidence produced on the Commons part doth prove the charge My Lords That laid to his charge is a design and purpose to subvert the fundamentall lawes of two kingdomes and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannicall government not that he did effect it but that he did intend it for if he had done it it had been tâ—â— late to question it he had left no rule whereby to calâ— him to triall but his intention and his endevour are his charge My Lords how farre this is proved if your Lordships be pleased to call to mind the Articles and the evidence produced on the Commons part your Lordships will find I beleeve that his words his councells and his actions doe sufficiently prove his endevouring to destroy In the first Article where my Lord of Strafford hath the first opportunitie offered him to put this endevour in execution that is the first place of eminency amongst his other places and commands which I take it was his being made President of the North he is no sooner there but there be Instructions procured to enable him to proceed in that Court almost in all causes for a man can scarce think of a cause which is not comprehended within the Instructions obtained after his comming thither but I shall put your Lordships in mind of two clauses of the Instructions procured in the eighth yeer of this King and after he was President that is the clause of habeas Corpus and Prohibitions that no man should obtaine a Prohibition to stay any suit that should be commenced before him in the Councell of York that if any man should be imprisoned by any processe out of that Court he must have no Habeas corpus A Prohibition is the only meanes to vindicate the estate of the subject if it be questioned without authoritie A Habeas corpus is the onely meanes to vindicate his liberty if it be detained without law but these doores must be shut against the Kings subjects that if either they be questioned or restrained before him there must be no reliefe How far he could goe further I am to seek there being no means for the subject to â—â—lieve himselfe if he be questioned for his estate withâ—â—… authoritie no meanes to redeeme himselfe if his person be imprisoned without law And he had so incircled himselfe about that if the Judges should fine the party that returnes not the Habeas corpus according to law there was a power and a warrant by the Instructions to the Barons to discharge the Officers of that fine And now I referre it to your Lordships judgements whether this be not to draw an arbitrary power to himselfe For the execution of this power it is true it is proved to be before the instructions in the eighth yeere of the King but then it riseth the more in judgement against him for your Lordships have heard how he went into a grave Judges chamber blaming him for giving way to a Prohibition granting Attachments against one that moved for a Prohibition and though this was done before the Instructions were granted yet the Instructions comming at the heeles of it sheweth his disposition and resolution more clearly for he acts it first and then procures this colour to protect it and though he pretends there was no proofe yet I must put your Lordships in mind that when these things were in question concerning the apprehension of a Knight by a Sergeant at Arms he kneeles to his Majestie that this defect might bee supplied and this jurisdiction maintained else he might goe to his owne Cottage And here being the just commencement of his greatnesse if you look to the second it followes that at the publick Assizes he declared that some were all for law but they should find the Kings little finger heavier then the loines of the law He did not say it was so but he infused it as much as he could into the hearts of the Kings people that they should find it so and so he reflects upon the King and upon his people The words are proved And to speak them in such a presence and at such a time before the Judges and Countrey assembled they were so dangerous so high expressions of an intention to counsell the King or act it himselfe to exercise an arbitrary government above the weight of the law as possibly could be exprest by words And this is proved by five witnesses and not disproved nor is any colour of disproof offered but only by Sir William Penniman who saies he heard other words but not that he heard not these words If hee doth he must give me leave not to beleeve him for five affirmations will weigh downe the proofe of a thousand negatives He staies not long in England with this power though while he staies you heare how he vexes the subject but then he goes into Ireland and as his authority increases so he ampliates his designe and no sooner is he there but the third Article is laid to his charge That when the City and Recorder of Dublin the principall City of Ireland presented the Mayor upon a solemne speech and discourse concerning the lawes and liberties as your Lordships know that is the subject matter of a speech at such presentments as when the Lord Mayor of London is presented to the King I beseech your Lordships observe the words he then used they were a conquered Nation and that we lay not to his charge but they were to be governed as the King pleases their Charters were nothing worth and bind but during the Kings pleasure I am to
seek if I were to expresse an arbitrary power and tyrannicall government how to expresse it in fitter words and more significant terms than these that the people shall be governed at the Kings will that their Charters the sinewes and ligatures of their liberties lands and estates should be nothing worth and bind no longer then the Kings pleasure specially being spoken upon such an occasion and the words proved by two or three witnesses of credit and quality From thence we descend to Articles that shew the execution of his purpose There be three things a man enjoyes by the protection of the law that is his life his liberty and his estate And now my Lords observe how he invades and exercises a tyrannicall jurisdiction and arbitrary government over them all three I shall begin with the fifth Article that is concerning my Lord Mountnorris and Denwit My Lord Mountnorris a Peere of that Realm was sentenced to death by procurement of my Lord of Strafford who howsoever hee pretends himselfe not to be a Judge in the cause yet how farre he was an Abettor and Procurer and Countenancer and drawer on of that sentence your Lordships very well remember he was sentenced to death without law for speaking words at a private Table God knows of no manner of consequence in the world concerning the treading upon my Lord of Straffords toe the sentence procured seven moneths after the words spoken and contrary to law and himselfe being put in mind of it my Lord Mountnorris desiring to have the benefit of the law and yet he refusing it And then it was in time of peace when all the Courts of justice were open and to sentence a man to death of that quality my Lord of Strafford himselfe being present an author a drawer on of it makes it very hainous Your Lordships remember this Article was fully proved and though he pretends his authority by a letter from his Majesty I shall in due time give a full answer to that so that it shall rise up in judgement against him to aggravate his offence and that in a great measure Here he exercises a power over life his excuse was that he procured a pardon for my Lord Mountnorris but the power was exercised and the tyranny appeared to be the more he would first sentence him to death and then rejoyce in his power that he might say There remaines no more but my command to the Provost Marshall to doe execution To exercise a power over his life and to abuse him afterwards is very high but no thanks to him that the sentence of death was not executed it was the grace and goodnesse of his Majesty that would not suffer my Lord Mountnorris a person of that eminence to be put to death against law But the other was hanged and as appeares against law and though my Lord pretends the party was burnt in the hand yet that was not proved nor materiall and for him to doe this in time of peace when the Courts of justice were open it argues a desire in his breast to arrogate a power above law And in truth I may not omit some observations that my Lord made this day he hopes his Majesty would bee pleased to grant him a Pardon I perceive hee harboured in his thoughts that hee might hang the Kings subjects when he would and then get a Pardon of course for it The Lord blesse me from his jurisdiction My Lords give me leave to goe back againe here is power over the lives and liberties of the subject but he exercised likewise a Tyrannicall power over his estate Your Lordships may be pleased to remember the fourth Article where he judges my Lord of Corks estate in neither Church land nor plantation land and therefore had no pretence of a jurisdiction for it is a lay fee divolved by Act of Parliament to the Crown yet he deprives him of his possession which he had continued for twenty nine yeeres upon a paper petition without rules of law And whereas my Lord of Cork went about to redeeme himselfe the law being every mans inheritance and that which he ought to enjoy he tels him hee will lay him by the heeles if he withdraw not his proces and so when he hath judged him against an expresse Act of Parliament and Instructions and bound up a great Peere of the Realme hee will not suffer him to redeeme that wrong without a threat of laying him by the heeles and he will not have Law nor Lawyers question his Orders and would have them all know an Act of State should be equall to an Act of Parliament Which are words of that nature that higher cannot be spoken to declare an intention to proceed in an arbitrary way The next was in my Lord Mountnorris his case and Rolstone And here I must touch my Lord with misrepetition Rolstone preferred a petition to my Lord Deputy my Lord Deputy himselfe judges his estate and deprived him of his possession though he cannot produce so much as one example or precedent though if he had it would not have warranted an illegall action but hee cannot produce a precedent that ever any Deputy did determine concerning a mans private estate and if hee hath affirmed it he proved it not some petitions have been preferred to him but what they be non constat But though never any knew the Deputy alone to determine matters of land yet he did it To the seventh Article we produce no evidence but my Lord of Strafford cannot be content with that but he must take upon him to make defence for that which is not insisted upon as a charge but since he will doe so I refer it to the book in print where he determines the inheritance of a Nobleman in that Kingdome that is my Lord Dillon by a case falsly drawne and contrary to his consent and though he deprives him not of his possession yet he causes the Land to be measured out and it is a danger that hangs over his head to this day And had we not knowne that we had matter enough against my Lord of Strafford this should have risen in judgement against him but I had not mentioned it now if he had not mentioned it himselfe The eighth Article containes severall charges as that of my Lord Chancellour how he imprisoned him upon a judgement before himselfe and the Councell how he inforced the Seale from him when hee had no authority nay though it were excepted by his Patent that hee should no way dispose of it but he looked not to Authority further then might make way to his will Another concerns the prime Earle of that Kingdome my Lord of Kildare whom he imprisoned and kept close prisoner contrary to the Kings expresse command for his deliverance and in his answer my Lord acknowledges it but sayes that that command was obtained from the King upon a mis-information These things I would not have mentioned if he had passed them over but since he
himselfe now confesses to be against law he should justifie it under the Kings authority that savours not of a good servant I will say no more My Lords he is charged with exercising of a tyrannicall power over the Kings people and in his defence your Lordshâ—ps have often heard and I may not omit it that he shelters himself under the protection of the Kings Prerogative though he be charged with tyranny of the highest nature that may be see then how foule and malignant an aspect this hath My Lords what is it else but to endeavour as much as in him lies to infuse into the Kings heart an apprehension that his Prerogative is so bottomlesse a gulfe so unlimited a power as is not to be comprehended within the rules of law or within the bounds of government for else why should he mention the Prerogative when he is charged to exceed the law What is it else but as farre as in him lyes to make the people beleeve for I may not forget the words hee hath used by his magnifying of the Prerogative that it hath a speciall stamp of Divinity on it and that the other part of the government that God pleases to put into the Kings hands had not that stamp upon it as if anything done by one was to be justified by authority derived from heaven but the other not These expressions your Lordships remember and I may not omit to put your Lordships in mind of them and I can expound them no otherwise then as much as in him lies to make the subject beleeve and apprehend that which is the buckler and defence of his protection to be the two edged sword of his destruction according to the doctrine he preached and that that which is the Sanctuary of their liberty is the snare and engine of their slavery And thus he hath cast a bone of contention as much as in him lay betwixt King and people to make the subjects loath that glorious flower of his Crowne by fixing a jealousie in them that it may bee a meanes of their bondage and slavery But there is so much piety and goodnesse in the Kings heart that I hope upon faire understanding there will be no such occasion but no thankes to the party that so much advaâ—â—ed the prerogative in the case and condition he stands in to justifie that which is laid to his charge of high treason My Lords I beseech you give me leave there is no greater safety to Kings and people then to have the throne incircled with good Counsellers and no greater danger to both then to have it encompassed with wicked and dangerous ones and yet I beseech you call to mind how hee hath attempted to deprive the subject of all meanes to discover this danger by insinuating to your Lordships what a dangerous thing it were if Counsellers should be called in question for giving of counsell for who then saith he would be a Counseller where is your safeguard where is the Kings service Is not this as much as in him lies to deprive the people of the means whereby they must make themselves happy and whereby the King must be happy that is by his having good Councellours about him and yet he infuses that venome that the questioning of Counsellours is dangerous both to King and Peeres if it should be brought into example My Lords for many yeeres by past your Lordships know an evill spirit hath moved amongst us which in truth hath been made the author and ground of all our distractions and that is necessity and danger this was the bulwarke and the battery that serves to defend all exorbitant actions the ground and foundation of that great invasion of our liberties and estates the judgement in the ship money and the ground of the counsell given of late to doe any thing and to perswade the King that he was absolved from all rules of government and yet your Lordships have observed in the course of his defence how often he hath raised this spirit that God be thanked hath beene laid to the great comfort of King and Kingdome by your Lordships and all the Commons in Parliament And when he stands under this question and goes about to justifie his exorbitant actions how often hath he created this Idol againe and therefore I am affraid he discovers too much his owne heart in it My Lor I may not omit some other passages in his defence how he hath cast scandalls upon three Nations in this place that is in his first day of defence when the Irish Remonstrance made by all the Commons of Ireland was produced by the Commons of England he expressed in a passion that things were carried against him by faction and correspondence and if hee had time he would make it appeare with a strong conspiracy Here is a scandall cast upon the Parliament of Ireland with a reflection on the Commons of England howsoever it is true your Lordships may remember the recantation he made that day which I will not omit desiring not to lay any thing to his charge but what is true but it is the reflection of a scandall that I cannot omit to put your Lordships in mind of and the rather because this Remonstrance presented from the Parliament of Ireland did beare date before my Lord of Strafford was charged here which is very remarkable viz. the seventh of November and therefore though he pretends a correspondence certainly there could be none then for he is not charged here til the tenth And the same day justifying a sentence in the Castle Chamber your Lordships remember he affirmed that unlesse a strict hand were kept upon the Nation there they would find it hard to prevent perjury one of the most crying sinnes in Ireland Now to lay an aspersion upon the subjects of Ireland being under the government of the same King with us how fit this is to be done by a man in that condition that my Lord of Strafford is I referre to your consideration Another passage I remember whereby in his defence he fell upon that Nation in answer of which I may not omit to do the service I owe to the Commons for whom I am trusted and that is that talking of an arbitrary and tyrannicall government in reference to some Orders of the Commons House in Ireland hee used words to this purpose You talk of an Arbitrary government looke upon these Orders here is an Arbitrary government and yet when he produced the Orders they appeared to have so much justice and discretion in them that he can lay nothing to the charge of them though in a passion he is not backward to asperse them My Lords if this Lyon to use his own language now that hee is chained and muzzled under the restraint and question of high Treason will here take the boldnesse to vent this language and expresse this malignity how would he doe if he were unchained how would he devoure how would he destroy c. My Lords something concernes your Lordships your Lordships remember that hee was not backward in his owne answer to fix a charge of high Treason upon the Lords of the great Councell and howsoever hee hath affirmed this day I must open it againe that the charge of the seven and twentieth Article he fixes in his answer to be by consent of the Lords of the great Councell though he hath since recanted it and yet you have heard him alledge that he will stand and fall by the truth of his answer My Lords I am now at an end You have my Lord of Strafford here questioned for high Treason for going about to subvert the fundamentall lawes of both Kingdomes in defence whereof your noble Ancestors spent their lives and bloods My Lords you are the sonnes of those fathers and the same blood runs in your veines that did in theirs and I am confident you will not think him fit to live that goes about to destroy that which protects your lives and preserves your estates and liberties My Lords you have the complaints of three kingdomes presented before you against this great person whereby you Lordships perceive that a great storme of distemper and distraction hath been raised that threatens the ruine and distraction of them all The Commons with much paines and diligence and to their great expence have discoved the Jonas that is the occasion of this tempest They have still and will discharge their Consciences as much as in them lyes to cast him out of the Ship and allay this Tempest They expect and are confident your Lordships will perfect the worke and that with expedition lest with the continuance of the storme both Ship and Tackling and Mariners both Church and Common-wealth bee ruined and destroyed The danger and horrour of this storme your Lordships shall heare by the Gentleman that is next to speake FINIS