AUTHORITY ABUSED BY The VINDICATION Of the Last Years Transactions AND The ABUSES DETECTED WITH INLARGEMENTS upon some Particulars more briefly touched in the Reflections upon the Occurrences of the Last Year TOGETHER WITH Some NOTES upon another Vindication Entituled The Third and Last Part of the Magistracy and Government of England Vindicated By the Author of the REFLECTIONS Magna est VERITAS Praevalebit LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXC TO THE KING SIR WHEN I first came in to you to Sherborn I came with as much Appetite though in an infirm Condition to engage in the same Cause with you as I could have done to a good Meal when an hungred And though you are now setled in the Throne and the Storms of War which then threatned this Nation long since blown over Yet I have reason to believe I may run some Danger in what I now do for the Service of your Majesty and my Country And though I doubt not of the Protection of Almighty God and the powerful Supports of Truth Justice and a good Conscience yet because it is my Duty to neglect no honest Means for my Safety and Quiet having here performed an Act of Great Fidelity to your Majesty and the Government of my Country I do claim as my Right the Protection of both for my self and my Labours I have not written one Syllable which I do not believe to be true nor have I forborn a Word which I thought pertinent to my Subject and necessary to your Service And this being done not out of Discontent for any Disappointment * Vnworthily suggested not without the Check of his own Conscience by the Writer of the Vindication p. 30. in quest of some Place for I never sought any though I my self with Five Sons are all ready to serve you if you please to command it nor to serve any Faction or Party but sincerely to preserve one of the Noblest Governments in the World as I have long thought it to serve a Just and Noble Cause as I have else where though briefly proved to serve my Country to serve your Majesty and which is above all to serve Almighty God is such an Act of Fidelity as is too rare to be met with in this Nation at this time And I know you cannot desert me in it without deserting more or less all that I have endeavoured to serve Nor can any one hurt or molest me an innocent Man and endeavouring to do good without bringing greater hurt upon themselves Whereof he who gave occasion of this Writing may be an Example And besides without striking at your Majesty and the Government to say no more For the same intent and purpose besides what I have said in the following Sheets in common I must crave the Favour of a few Words to your self in particular God by his Providence has brought you to one as I said of the Noblest Governments in the World That You and these Nations may enjoy the Compleat Benefit of so great a Favour these things I will presume to say are necessary nay absolutely necessary on your part First That you be very careful to keep up such a firm and quick Sense of the Providence of God in these things that your Heart be neither so lifted up with any high Conceit of your self for what you have already gotten nor so involved in Cares and Endeavours to keep that or get more that you forget him and either take up with the Enjoyment of these things and neglect the further Prosecution of his Service or deserting your Confidence in him decline to vulgar Policies for your own Security or Advantage Secondly That often contemplating the unconceivable Excellence of the Divine Majesty which hath given Being to and governs this vast Universe whereof the whole Earth is in comparison of the rest but a Point and raising your Soul above these transient things which the Vulgar admire you look upon the Acceptance of a Crown as an Act of Charity to poor Mortals but your only true Glory to consist in the Approbation of that excellent Majesty and of his Glorious though to us Mortals Invisible Ministers Such as is the Applause and Admiration of the Rabble to a great King such and no more is the Applause and Admiration of the greatest of Mortals to a truly Wise Man without the Approbation of the Celestial Spectators Thirdly That assuring your self that you are raised up by the Providence of this Glorious Majesty for his Service in these Nations at least if not further you generously prosecute the same with all Fidelity according to his Will and Pleasure that is his Eternal Laws of Righteousness his Express Instructions and Commands and the Constitution and just Laws of this Government and Nation which is the special Ordinance of God for this People that is ordered and preserved by his Providence Fourthly That for that purpose you generously and faithfully endeavour to improve all the Advantages put into your Hand and Talents committed to your Trust for the Honour of his Name Worship Laws and Institutions that is the Exemplary Authority of your Royal Person and of your Royal Family conniving at no vitious Persons there though otherwise never so great or necessary the Dispensations of your Honours and Favours and the strict Execution of the Laws which is your proper part in the Government The doing of this magnanimously slighting the vulgar Prudentials of Animal Polititians is that which in the Sacred Scripture is called Faith and highly recommended But to boggle at any of this will be dangerous to you and may produce as great Disappointments as those of the last Year and make your Counsels prove Abortive and it may be as destructive as King James's did by the like means You have begun well in your Letter to the Bishops but the like Care is to be taken that the Laws be strictly executed by the Judges and Civil Magistrates Nor would this Debase but Improve your Military Discipline and make it more prosperous and successful Fifthly That to this end and purpose also you inform your self as well as may be concerning the true Constitution of the English Government and your own Part therein that you neither neglect nor exceed your Duty or fall into any of the unhappy Miscarriages of some of your Predecessors but wisely and religiously contenting your self with what has been conferred upon you and justly belongs to you to the others you generously secure to each their own Sixthly That for Information in these matters you rely upon no private or secret Counsellors but in the Intervals of Parliament consult the Privy Council and Judges and the great Council of the Nation as soon as may be This it was which raised you to the Throne It is their Interest to preserve the Hernour and Majesty of the Monarchy and they will certainly do it And it was nothing but the Craft of ill Men who kept our late Brinces in continual Jenlousies of Parliaments to hold
wicked Courses hereafter But above all the Judges and Bishops who betray'd also their own Professions ought to be made Examples What special Reasons there may be to mitigate any part of the Punishment in any of them they being not many belongs to the Parliament to consider But in general they ought to be good and weighty On the other side when the Offenders are many and the Grime and Punishment Capital it is usual and reasonable to punish only the Principals and most notorious and to pardon all the rest as in cases of Rebellion and Insurrections because of the Evil Consequence of taking away the Lives of so many Persons whereof perhaps many were missed by the Principal of them and might prove good Men afterward In such cases they are all to be looked upon as one Body and the taking off the Heads and Principals of them is a kind of a capital Punishment of that Body of Men. But when the Crime and Punishment are of a lower Nature as Misdemeanors which being very various the Punishment is more discretionary as Fine or Fine and Imprisonment both according to the nature of the Crime it is not so nor is there any reason it should For a Pecuniary Punishment may be inflicted on many without any Inconvenience And in the present Cases it may be proportioned according to the Rates assessed upon the Criminals in some of the late Taxes and some Disabilities might very properly be made part of the Punishment But in these discretionary Punishments divers things are to be taken into consideration And one or two I will mention on the side of Mercy 1. The Example of our Heavenly father now in our own ease who hath shewed Mercy and sent so great a Deliverance notwithstanding the sinful and wicked state of the Nation 2. The Papists and the wicked Examples of those late Popish Kings have been the principal Corrupters of the Manners of the Nations and therefore if they who have been mislead by them suffer not so deep as otherwise they ought it is but reasonable So much for Punishment of Criminals and now for Preferment The Vindicators think it an Invasion upon the Kings own Liberty to deny him the use of such Persons as through the Temptations and Snares of a Court were guilty of Compliance in things blamable c. if their great Parts and Acquaintance with Affairs of State make them necessary I have known some persons cry'd up for notable cunning and shrew'd Men whom when I have hapned to understand more neerly I have found to be Men of Craft indeed but such as did consist not so much in greater Knowledge of Business than other Men had as in the use of a greater Latitude in Acting than some other Men would use And such Persons may be so far from being necessary to a Prince that they may be dangerous As I remember one of those cunning Men I mention'd being apply'd to by three Persons then of good Credit for his Advice in a Cause easie to have been relieved in Chancery as it was afterwards by his Cunning involv'd them all and some others for Witnesses in a notorious Forgery Subornation and Perjury Parts without Fidelity which is inconsistent with Compliance in Blamable things ought not to recommend any Man to a Prince's Service This I say to shew the Insufficiency of his Argument in that part Nor am I so rigorous as not to agree with him in the former as he states the Case only the person ought to be very necessary and the Prince to be very cautious how far he relies upon him Nay I will go further with him and suppose the Person stand accused or even impeach'd in Parliament I would not deny him the use of such a person in due time that is when he hath been try'd and either cleared and acquitted or for some special good cause legally pardon'd Otherwise that which those persons say is an Invasion upon the Kings Liberty to deny him is an affront to the Government tends to the Subversion of the Constitution and to the disparagement of the present Cause both of the King and Kingdom makes it look like a matter of Trick and Violence and not as I take it to be of clear and necessary Justice The Protection and Employment of Criminals being one of the great Grievances of former Reigns and as pernicious to the Kings as to the People And if this be the Case of any person now employed he cannot be a a good Man or worthy of any Favour at all if he would desire his own Security at the rate of so great an Inconvenience both to the King and to the Government and especially under our present Circumstances and not rather willingly retire for some time and if innocent modestly put himself upon a fair Tryal or if Guilty of any thing considerable humbly submit and beg Pardon And this is the truest Wisdom in such case For they who obstinately stand out in such cases do usually bring mischief to themselves or the King and the more highly they carry it out among Men the more they provoke the Judgments of God upon themselves of Excision or in some remarkable manner according to the Nature of the Crime All Courts and Judicatures ought to maintain their Authority and so much the more when notoriously violated or when there are any attempts to evade or oppose it And especially at this time when we are either doing Justice and Equity against the late King himself or plainly playing Tricks with him and exposing the Iniquity of our own Hearts There is but one thing more which I think worth my taking notice of in this Pamphlet for Trifles I have passed over good store all along and that is what he saith pag. 32. that The Calling or Dissolving of Parliaments is ordinarily one of the most mysterious Problems of State and one of the truest Touchstones of Skill in the Art of Government To Men of ill Designs or who understand not the true Constitution of this Government it may be so indeed But to honest and understanding Men nothing is more easie It was the Law of this Nation before Magna Charta or any Statute now in Force was made and it is still the Law That Parliaments be held once a year or oftner if need be And I will tell this Gentleman in the Words of King James I. that which will effectually explain this Mystery and solve the Problem A King says he governing in a setled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to rule according to his Laws And a little after Therefore all Kings that are not Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the Limits of their Laws And they who perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Speech 21. March 1609. This most ancient Institution is not more ancient than wise useful and necessary and of a just proportion to the other parts of the Constitution The Commons in the Counties are represented by the Grand Jury who are to enquire and present what is amiss there and the Lords by the Free-holders who are the Judges And as the Counties have their Court once in a Month the Kingdom their Courts of Common Law for private and ordinary matters four times in the year that is in effect once in a Quarter so the whole State had and still ought to have their Session for Publick and Extraordinary matters concerning the whole Kingdom once in the year The great business of this is to enquire into and inspect the Actions of the Great Officers Privy Counsellors and Judges c. and of the King himself if he do any thing contrary to Law and the common Interest of the Nation to interpret their own Laws where there is occasion and resolve other Difficulties to receive and hear Petitions redress Grievances and give Relief c. And this is an Institution as much for the Honour Safety and Ease of the Prince as for the Security and Commodity of the People For if the Prince act as he ought to do by Advice of Privy Council and of such persons as in their several Places are by Law to advise him The Parliament being to convene within the year must needs be such a Check to them that they will rarely dare to propose any thing mischievous or illegal and more rarely be able to bring it to effect and whatever it be the King is secure and the Counsellor or Officer to answer for it Now an Institution of so great Antiquity so agreeable to the other parts of our Constitution of so great Importance in the Government secured by two several Acts of Parliament in the Reign of that wise and magnanimous Prince Edw. 3. still in force besides others ought not certainly to be eluded with vain Pretences of Reason of State and abused as it hath been by the whole last Race of our Kings to their own hurt and to the great disturbance and almost Dissolution of a most Noble Constitution to gratifie ill Men by long Intermissions abrupt Prorogations and Dissolutions and by long Continuances for no other reason but to corrupt the Members to betray their Trust As by Law they ought to be assembled once a year so ought they also by Law to fit effectually till all Grievances be redressed and business dispatch'd before their Departure v. 4. Inst p. 11. For if our Kings by their Oath be obliged to Govern according to Law they are certainly obliged to it in this particular it being the chief part of the Government Parliamentum departiri non debet dummode aliqua Petitio pendeat indiscussa vel ad minus ad quam non fit determinatum Responsum Et si Rex contrarium permittat perjurus est saith the Ancient Modus tenendi Parliament of which Mr. Selden allows some Copies he had seen to be as ancient as Edw. 3. Tit. of Hon. p. 611. But this is not a place to insist more largely upon this matter nor indeed doth it need it FINIS
be more fully detected to prevent greater mischief for the future I shall endeavour to explain some of those Mysterious practices which are used at this day from their very Original in the days of King James the First and then return to what is necessary to be further observed upon this Vindication When that King after that horrid Plot of the Gunpowder Treason being more terrified with the Danger he had escaped than animated by so great a Deliverance to dependance upon the Providence of God who preserved him which that Deliverance in a special manner obliged him to deserting that great Duty and relying upon his own craft sought to secure himself and his own Posterity by Compliance and Alliances with his Enemies the Papists like those who have recourse to Witches and Conjurers instead of that Security he expected he involved himself and his Posterity in such Snares as were the real cause of all those Evils which afterward befel them and out of which they could never after extricate themselves During the long and happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth who generously performing that great Duty kept them at a distance all they could do was only to contrive secret Plots against her Person and Foreign Invasions and to sow Seeds of Division in secret Meetings all which that Providence of God in which she confided dissipated and turned to their own Confusion But when afterward they were favoured and admitted to a nearer Converse with our Princes Statesmen and Bishops they presently found their Advantage to put in practice other Policies of a more deep subtile and dangerous Nature and under the cover of very plausible Pretences whereby they and their Venome might insinuate the deeper These were principally Three 1. To change the Government and make it Arbitrary and Absolute in the Prince 2. To raise and heighten Divisions 3. To corrupt the Manners of the Nation 1. To endeavour a Change of the Government they saw several Reasons 1. They plainly saw it to be utterly unpracticable to deal with the other two Estates to introduce their Religion 2. They also understood very well that such endeavours might be so managed as to ingratiate them with the Prince and many of the Courtiers Ministers of State and of the aspiring Clergy 3. They also foresaw that by slighly insinuating into the Prince and his Favourites and Flatterers such matters as tended to this they should also by the same means promote their other design of raising Divisions between the Prince and the People 2. To raise and heighten Divisions they easily saw would not only weaken and dissolve the strength of the Nation but would also give them a fair opportunity to shelter themselves under one Party or other as they should see occasion These Advantages they might expect by Civil Dissentions and these and some more by Divisions also about matters of Religion and therefore they industriously promoted both 3. And to corrupt the manners of the Nation they might expect would give them these Advantages 1. It would weaken the strength of the Nation making men more inconsiderate and careless of any Publick Concern and indisposing them for either Prudent Counsel or Generous Action 2. It would make them more indifferent in matters of Religion and less apt to give them any disturbance in the prosecution of their Designs 3. And this indifference would dispose them to the more easie admission of theirs when it should be seasonably and prudently proposed to them under some plausible pretences These were the Principal of their Policies and the Grounds of them which were rational enough though it pleased God who hath the Hearts of all Men at his disposal by his over-ruling Providence in his own time to defeat them all But the Contrivances Methods and particular Practices which they used for the promotion of these Policies and Designs were too many to be here discovered nor is that my business at this time I shall therefore only take notice of such as are pertinent to the present occasion that is such as aspiring Courtiers and Clergymen joyned with them in though for different ends of their own and such as we have still reason to beware of Such as these 1. Magnifying the Regal Power upon false Principles beyond its true bounds according to the English Constitution and Vilifying our Laws in general as rude and barbarous and the Fundamentals of our Constitution which limit and restrain the Excesses of Regal Power as encroachments of the People upon Prerogative and so possessing the King and many honest welmeaning People not sufficiently acquainted with the Excellence of our Laws and Constitutions with False Dangerous and Pernicious Notions concerning our Government And having by this means prepared the way and insinuated themselves into Favour they never failed of some Project for their own ends though never so illegal to put the King upon encouraging him to despise the just complaints of the People as clamours and that which was below his Majesty to be aw'd by And because this could not but move all truly Loyal honest and understanding Men who saw the dangerous Consequences to the King as well as to the People of such Courses it was very natural and easie to them to represent all such as Persons of Antimonarchical and Republican Principles And always by how much the more notorious and illegal were their Practices by so much the greater and lowder were the clamours against the Commonwealth Principles and the noise of the Dangers threatning the Monarchy And by this means were our Kings kept in continual Jealousie and ill Opinion of many of their best most honest Loyal and most faithful Subjects But they could never have proceeded so far in these things had they not by inculcating false Notions concerning one branch of the Regal Office the Calling Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments and suggesting false Fears and Dangers of the consequence of their Sitting often prevailed with those Kings to abuse the Trust in that respect reposed in them contrary to the Constitution of this Government to the most ancient Laws of this Nation to the true intent and meaning of the Statutes then and still in Force and to their own true interest and safety as I shall shew hereafter By these means were our Civil Dissentions begun and by degrees continually heightened till by these Practices and the like in matters of Religion in the Year Forty one they involved the King in a Civil War to make good those illegal Practices which they before had engaged him in and by consequence in an ill Cause against as good a Parliament as perhaps this Nation ever had This will seem strange to some to come from me who was from my Youth on the Kings side and at Fifteen Years of Age ventured my life for his Service But I know what I say and will presently make it clear The King might have trusted that Parliament they would never have hurt him or diminished any thing of his true Prerogative but
in plain English most deliberate wilful and wicked Murders being committed under Colour and Pretence of Law of most of which Judgment hath been reversed by Authority of Parliament and that I think it differs not much in the fight of God whether a Man have his Hand or his Tongue dip'd therein And I doubt not but the great and good Sir Matthew Hale would have been of the same Opinion which this Gentleman who gives him those deserved Characters will find some Reason to believe if he please to peruse but The Account of the Good Steward concerning the Gift of Elocution But to the business The Votes of 23 Jan. have enumerated thirteen Heads of Crimes for every one of which some Persons may be excepted out of the Bill of Indemnity Against all Punishments of these our Lawyer takes Exception as Punishments never declared or promulged and which by the Standing Laws and Common Justice of the Realm could not be inflicted That is to say They are neither Treason Felony nor Misdemeanours For for all those there are Punishments declared and to be inflicted by the Standing Laws and Common Justice of the Realm I must add Nor Crimes punishable by any Statute And this is the least that these Words can imply So that we must suppose that they are nothing like any of those we meet with in the Impeachments Indictment Articles c. against those Flatterers and Evil Counsellors and Instruments of Princes which my Lord Coke mentions in his Chapter of Flattery or any others to be found in our Records Books of Entries Reports or Statutes not so much as those concerning the High-Commission Court 17 Car. I. But the contrary of all this is so well known to all who have looked into the Records and Books aforesaid that it is as needless as improper for this Paper to offer to recite them But in stead of that I will shew him that which is more that is That the Parliament may declare those things to be Treason the punishment whereof is sufficiently known which never were nor can now by the Ordinary Judges though in the late Reigns they are believ'd to have exceeded their Bounds be judged such and that by the express Words of the Statute 25 E. 3. And because that many other like Cases of Treason may happen in time to come which a man cannot think or declare at this present time it is accorded That if any other Case supposed Treason which is not above specified doth happen before any Justices the Justices shall tarry without any going to Judgment of the Treason till the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be adjudged Treason or other Felony Besides for such Crimes as are of their own Nature great Crimes and not meerly by some positive Law of the State there is neither Law nor Reason why the Legislative Authority in any State should not order and inflict such Punishments as they deserve And among those may doubtless be reckoned all such as have a direct tendency to the Subversion of the Laws and Government of any Stateâ— But Treason against the Kingdom as well as against the King may be found in our Books of Law and History And now I know not what most to admire in this Gentleman his profound Skill in the Law the Modesty of his Assertions or his Honesty and Conscience I cannot but think him a very proper Person to have been one of the Servants of former Crowns one of the last Kings Ministers Officers or Instruments of Justice He was certainly well qualify'd for lit and his Zeal for their Vindication discovers that he had some concern of his own in it And so confident a Gentleman and so qualify'd one would think should get in somewhere now at least into the Parliament and no doubt but set up by the Faction and a great stickler there one of those who are recommended by our Vindicators not only for Pardon and Indemnity but for Favour and Employment to our present King And no doubt but he will be well served by them as well as he was the last Year I cannot let this pass without some further Reflection It is not at all besides the Design of my Writing and no great Digression from that particular matter I am now upon Our other Vindicator tells us that His Majesty came a Stranger to England and but darkly informed of the true Arcana of the last two Reigns and of the Practices and Principles of particular Men it being so much their interest to vail them from his View Whence it is to be suppos'd that at his coming to the Government the Representation made him of Persons and Things could not but receive a Tincture of the many different Principles and Interests of those who made them Considering which it 's no wonder that in such a Maze of Business and Mist of various Representations his Majesty's Bounty might happen to to be misplac'd in some one or other page 29. I know not any thing more truly and reasonably said by that Writer It was indeed a great Disadvantage his Majesty was under being unacquainted with the Principles and Interests of Persons And as that was just Cause both of Caution in the Choice and of Excuse of him from any ill Choice upon the recommendation of others so doth it aggravate the Fault of such recommendations and recommend the Service of such as detect them I shall therefore for the more comple at Detection of some ill Men to what I have before observed add this for Confirmation 1. That the Persons concerned in these Vindications are Men of dangerour Principles in respect of the present Government For if these Crimes be not punishable by Law then are all they who invited the Prince of Orange to come in with an Army and all that associated with him Traytors and he himself an Invader and Usurper 2. They are Men of Arbitrary Principles and so dangerous to the Nation and the true ancient Constitution of this Government For if these Crimes be not punishable by Law our English Monarchy is gone and we are already fallen into a French or Turkish Tyranny 3. They are dangerous Persons to be employed or trusted in respect of their Genius Men of smooth voluble Tongues and of Confidence to impose any thing Of which I could add divers Instances to those I have noted before But I will add only this because it may serve also for another purpose He tells us If the thirteen Heads c. had been reduced into a Law one third at least of the Nation had been involved who with their disoblig'd Relations and Dependents is not so contemptible a Flock c. Now if every one of this third part had but one Relative or Dependent they would make two thirds if two they would make the compleat number of the Nation but if many of them have 10 20 100 as many certainly have they would far exceed the number of
up a Faction for their own Advantage Seventhly That if upon good Information you find that this is a mixt Government composed of the Three Simple Forms the Enquiring Part belonging more specially to the Commons the Judiciary to the Lords the Consultary and Legislative to the King Lords and Commons and the Executive to the King which I believe is the truth upon this Consideration you look upon the Whole as one great Body whereof your self is indeed the Head in Honour and Degree but in effect rather the Hand or if you will the Right Hand but however a Part And therefore that you always retain a great Respect for this Noble Body treating them with all Honour and Affection reputing their Honour and Interest your own as Yours is Theirs and will be so treated by them if a fair Correspondence be kept up between you which will make you not only beloved at home but dreaded abroad Eightly That you be very tender and cautious of invading their Rights or neglecting their Counsel in any matter of Importance but especially of holding up any Favourites against them and to that end that you be very jealous of that Generation and those particular Persons who have been the Authors or Propagators of False Notions concerning the Constitution of this Government or of Evil Counsels and Courses among your Predecessors and more especially those who have already by any Evil Counsels or Unfaithfulness in not well informing you betray'd your self into any Inconvenience Whereof if you please to command me I shall be ready to give you some plain Instances Ninthly That you endeavour wisely to compose the Dissentions and allay the Heats and Animosities of the Nation and to unite all in a mutual Assistance for the Common Interest Our Divisions and the Heats of our Dissentions are for the most part the Reliques of Popish Practices and Effects of Evil Policies of Courtiers These have both conspired for different ends to divide us both in Church and State and to impose upon the People so that it is the truest Wisdom and greatest Interest of this Nation to endeavour so much the more for an Union and to that end to detect their Impostures This Government is in truth a Noble Commonwealth in the Root and Body accommodated with the Advantage and adorned with the Honour and Majesty of a Monarchy in the Execution Crafty Men observing this have practis'd the Division in this manner First By putting the Kings upon illegal Projects till that produced Jealousies of Arbitrary Designs and then improving those to the raising of the like Jealousies in those unhappy Kings of Republican Conspiracies Thus were multitudes imposed upon Whereas the Subversion of the Commonwealth to support the Monarchy is no less Foily Madness and Treachery in an English Man than is the pulling down the Monarchy to support the Commonwealth Nor can any thing endanger our Monarchs but themselves by adhering to Evil Counsellors rejecting or declining the Advice of the Great Council of the Nation and violating their Rights Lastly That to this purpose you avoid all Favour and Encouragement to any Faction and make no other difference between Persons but what the Law hath made except only between the Virtuous and the Vitious and between such as may safely be trusted and such as may not for which end for Parliament-Men and persons admitted to great Offices of Trust and Bishops a Recognition by Act of Parliament may be necessary but by a constant tenor and course of your Actions demonstrate a cordial and universal Affection to All and a great Zeal and Activity for the Service of God and for the Peace Safety and Prosperity of the Nation By these Means you will be a compleat King and rule in the Hearts of the People These will produce in them such a Trust and Confidence in you as will make your Government exceeding easie and such a Government will make your Name Honourable in the Roll of our English Kings But if you once set up for a Separate Interest strike-in with and make your self the Head of any Faction give your self up to the Conduct of particular Favourites suffer the Publick Revenue and the Treasure of the Nation to be squandred away without any Account and the People to be injur'd by Exactions and Delays of Officers and tread in the steps of your Predecessors of the last Race you will ipso facto cease to do the part of a King violate the Trust reposed in you and your Coronation Oath and deceiving the Expectations of all Men after such a Succession of Kings raise such Prejudice against Monarchy it self as may indanger this Noble Government and the Settlement of the Nation and make your Name inglorious to all Posterity But these are things so inconsistent with the Reasons for which you was invited hither the Causes of your Expedition expressed in your own Declaration the Ends for which the Crown was first offered to you and after set upon your Head the Honour and Safety of your Government and which is more than all the Righteous Laws of God who as we hope raised you up to be an Instrument of Mercy not of Vengeance to This Nation as no Man who believes the Character we have received of your great Vertue can easily fear from you though the notorious Miscarriages of the late Reigns may have left some Impressions upon the Minds of some which yet I hope Experience of your Prudence and Justice will totally expunge And I pray God give you as I hope he will true Wisdom to know Him to discern His Hand in these things and what He expects from you to know what is your proper Part in this great Affair and to be more careful to discharge it well than to enlarge it beyond its just Bounds and that all true Happiness may always attend your Majesty Your Majesties most Faithful and Obedient Subject AUTHORITY ABUSED BY THE Vindication of the Last Years Transactions AND The ABUSES DETECTED By the Author of the Reflections OF a great many Evil Arts and Practices which in the late Reigns were used for the Subversion of the True English Government and Suppression of the most ancient common Rights of the People of these Nations one that was most constantly used for that purpose was the Employment of Mercenary Writers to put a colour of Words and Oratory upon those things for which they had no colour of Law And it would be a sad case with us if after so glorious a Deliverance we should be already so far deserted by the Divine Providence as to stand in need of any such Practices or Assistance Yet so it should seem to be unless the Pamphlet Entituled The last Years Transactions Vindicated be a bold and impudent Imposture For it will not be hard to prove That that Pamphlet is a False Scandalous and Impious Libel And to Print it not only as under the Patronage of a Chief Secretary of State but expresly as Published by Authority is
speaking of And now to return to our merciful Vindicator He makes me think of the vulgar Observation of March that it comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb and he shews himself a right March Bird. Our Laws were not severe enough with him at the beginning to punish the Author of the Reflections whom yet he dares not charge with any want of kindness to his Majesty v. p. 2. But he must fetch a Precedent as far as Venice to shew the heinousness of his Crimes in prying into Secrets of State to be no less than what is punishable with Death But when he comes to King James's Counsellors c. how is the Lion changed into the Lamb But alas it is only to those good People So kind to them that one would think that this Vindicator had had some hand in the Letter and Bill of Pardon for King James which was found in the Speakers Chair But to the Author of the Reflections he presently turns Lion again at least puts on the Lions Skin If he but complain for the just and necessary Assertion of our present Settlement that not one of King James's Instruments has been brought to condign Punishment how does this Lion roar and storm at this as a Revengeful Spirit that would drench the World in Blood c. But the truth is it seems but a Copy of his Countenance a meer personated Fury to please some body But what their Sentiments are who were to be pleased with this is not hard to be understood They were it seems not only for Pardon but for Preferment too for those honest Gentlemen as such as do deserve the return of our Gratitude Sure this Writer had a mind to try his Skill in Oratory and after the Example of Carneades try what he could add to his Oration against Justice And I should have thought that Carneades had got a new Set of Scholars amongst us since the late Revolution For since I wrote the last Period I met with another Vindication so like this that I dare presume the Authors of both are pretty near of Kin. Only I find this vast difference between him and them What he did innocently only for a Tryal of Skill to shew his Wit and Oratory and what an ingenious Man might be able to say on an ill Subject these Men do in good earnest that is strain all their Faculties to the utmost in a real opposition of Justice Nay those who not long since strain'd all their Wit and Parts and the Law it self to take away Mens Lives under pretence of Justice contrary to Law now strain all to exempt the most notorious Criminals deserving the greatest Severity from condign Punishment by an Indefinite Act of Oblivion and Vniversal Indempnity wherein I must confess they act very uniformly before in suppressing and now in opposing of Law and Justice and always for their own Interest So it must be or if we suppose them to believe that there is any such thing as Justice at all it must be granted that they have different Sentiments concerning the Crimes than we imagine or however than we have And this is plainly the Truth The one in effect will admit no Crime in King James precedent to his Departure And the other will admit none in his Ministers Officers or Instruments That which we take to be Justice in that case he calls Vengeance and Revenge and those who are for it Blood-hounds Bellowers for Vengeance Hot-headed Animals c. What we take to be great and notorious Crimes he reputes Points Justifiable or at least doubtful wherein the Justice of inflicting Punishments can never be vindicated and begs the Readers Pardon for the Impropriety of calling them Punishments though he will not name their proper Term. And a little after Actions done in the last or former Reigns about which the World hath been so much divided if Lawful or not And if this be not sufficient to declare his Sentiments concerning his proposed Indefinite Act of Oblivion and universal Indemnity he tells us plainly Lastly It s consistent with and promotive of the Truest and Highest Justice that is for King James For in most of the Cases the thirteen Heads he had mentioned before viz. The Heads Voted 23 Jan. to be Crimes for which some Persons may justly be excepted out of the Bill of Indemnity the Law is doubtful And to punish Opinion in matters of Law is as unjust as to prosecute Mistakes in matters of Religion is unchristian So that here we have a Vindication not indeed of the last Years Transactions but what is more of the Transactions of the last or former Reigns And if this be good my Opinion which according to this Lawyers Judgment is not punishable being in matter of Law is That King William hath no good Title but he 's a meer Usurper and we have catch'd at an advantage against an Innocent Man upon a timerous Flight or Departure to keep him from his Right My Opinion in this matter I have publish'd in Print more than once and therefore will not repeat it here But this is so evident a Consequence of what he saith that it is his Opinion that I know not with what Colour or Pretence he could deny it if he would Other Consequences of his Discourse I take no notice of because not pertinent to my present purpose But I think I may reasonably recommend it to the consideration of the Dissenters as that which may in some things afford as proper Topicks for them as for any sort of People of this Nation that I know and may be alledged with much more reason for them than for his Party of Criminals Veritas praevalebit one time or other By what hath been said I suppose it is very evident that the Authors of The last Years Transactions Vindicated and of the three Parts of The Magistracy and Government of England Vindicated are near of Kin at least in their Principles and Sentiments of the present Government under King William and Queen Mary and of their Right and Title thereunto and in the General Scope of these Writings as near as in their Titles And therefore this last coming so opportunely to my hand it doth not only confirm my Opinion of the former but gives me a fair occasion to consider the matter of both so far as concerns my Subject with one and the same Labour And therefore before I proceed to speak of the Punishment of the Criminals in our Case this Gentleman being a Lawyer gives me occasion to consider of the Law by which they may be punished For if there be no Law for it he is in the right That they are not properly Punishments but Violence where the Justice of the thing is not clear and undoubted And so much by the way I hope he will give me leave to say of the Executions of Stephen Colledge my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney Sir Thomas Armstrong c. that they were Violences that is