their Prince Notwithstanding the former Abuses of this Reign they proceeded with no Censures and Punishment of the King 's evil Ministers except Dr. Manwaring but only to represent to the King the Grievances of the Nation and did not impeach the Duke of Buckingham as they did in the last Parliament nor proceed upon it but only remonstrated to the King the Evils which the exorbitant Greatness of the Duke brought upon the King and Nation and how unsafe it would be to the Nation to grant Aids to the King which were misemployed for the exalting the Grandeur of the Duke However before they entred upon Grievances they voted the King five entire Subsidies which was the greatest Tax that ever was before given to any King of England at once and to be paid in the shortest time Now let 's see tho but in Epitome how these things were changed and what Returns the King made the Parliament and Nation The Unanimity of the Commons in the Gift was not less than the Gift was great being nemine contradicente which so pleased the King that he sent them word by Secretary Sir John Cooke that he would deny them nothing of their Liberties which any of his Predecessors had granted them Then the Commons fell upon Grievances and voted the Imprisonment of any Free-man by Warrant from the King or Council without a Cause alledged to be a Grievance and that the raising Monies by Loan and imposing an Oath upon the Subject to discover the Value of his Estate the Billeting of Soldiers and exercising Martial Law in time of Peace were Grievances Then several Debates arose in the House how the Subjects should be secured against these in time to come And upon the Motion of Sir Edward Coke the House agreed to sue to the King by Petition the most antient and humble Address in Parliament that his Majesty would give his People Assurance of their Rights by Assent in Parliament as he uses to pass other Acts. And hereupon the House ordered Sir Edward to draw a Petition accordingly The House agreed to the Petition and ordered Sir Edw. Coke Sir Dudley Diggs Mr. Selden and Mr. Littleton to carry it up to the Lords The Duke of Buckingham and his Creatures were zealous to stop the Petition in the House of Lords but he was much fall'n from his Lustre since his dishonourable Expedition to the Isle of Rhee last Summer and his Expedition to Cales So as his Sway in the House of Peers was much abated Besides the Bishops were not at this time all of a piece for Arch-bishop Abbot urged his own Case how he was banished from his Houses at Croydon and Lambeth while the Duke was prosecuting his Voyage to the Isle of Rhee and confined to a moorish Mansion-place at Ford to kill him and debarred from the Management of his Jurisdiction and no Cause given for it And Dr. Williams gave most learned and elegant Arguments for the Petition which you may read at large in the second Part of the History of his Life fol. 77 78 79. But this stuck close to him that neither the King nor Laud ever after forgot it which you may read fol. 96. tit 93. The Lords would not proceed to any determinate Vote before they had heard the King's Counsel against the Petition and the Commons Defence of it wherein no less time was spent than six Weeks The Managers for the Petition were Sir Edward Coke Mr. Selden Sir Dudley Diggs Sergeant Glanvile Sir Henry Martin and Mr. Mason Besides Magna Charta the Commons fortified the Petition of Right with six other Acts of Parliament explanatory of Magna Charta viz. The Statute made in the Reign of Edward I. commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non concedendo the Statute of 25 Edward III. where it is declared That from thenceforth no Person shall be compelled to make any Loans to the King against his Will because such Loans were against Reason and the Fanchise of the Land The third was the Statute of 28 Edward III. That no Man of what Estate or Condition soever should be put out of his Lands or Tenements nor Taken nor Imprisoned nor Disherited nor put to Death without being brought to Answer by due Process of Law The fourth Statute the 25 Edw. III. 9. and the sixth 9 Hen. III. 29. against exercising Martial Law in times of Peace These Statutes were so well managed by the Commons in Defence of the Petition that Sir Robert Heath who was Attorney-General and the rest of the King's Counsel pleading tho eagerly yet impertinently had nothing to say materially against them but submitted to the Judgment of the Peers However the Lords before they would put the Vote entred into a Committee of the whole House when my Lord Say moved That those Lords who stood for the Liberties of the Nation might make their Protestation and that to be upon Record and that the other opposite Party should with the Subscriptions of their Names enter their Reasons to remain upon Record that so Posterity might not be to seek who they were that so ignobly betrayed the Freedom of our Nation and this done they should proceed to Vote This struck such a Daunt upon the other Party that not one of them opposed it The Lords agreed to the Petition of Right but with this Addition or Saving We present this our humble Petition to your Majesty with the Care not only of preserving our Liberties but with due Regard to leave entire that Soveraign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People But the Lords did not make any determinate Vote in it but sent it to the Commons to advise upon The Bishop of Lincoln was a great Stickler for this Addition to qualify what he had said before in the Defence of the Petition which did him no good the other sticking alta mente When this Addition or Saving came down to the Commons Mr. Noy said To add a Saving is not safe doubtful Words may beget ill Construction and the Words are not only doubtful and Words unknown to us but never used in any Act or Petition before And Sir Edward Coke said This is the Multum in parvo this is propounded to the Conclusion of our Petition it is a Matter of great weight and to speak plain it will overthrow all our Petition it trenches on all the parts of it it flies at Loans at the Oath at Imprisonment and Billeting of Soldiers this turns all about again Look into all Petitions of former times they never petitioned wherein there was a Saving of the King's Soveraignty I know Prerogative is part of the Law but Soveraign Power is no Parliamentary Word In my Opinion it weakens Magna Charta and all our Statutes for they are absolute without any Saving Power and should we now add it we shall weaken the Foundation of the Law and then the Building must needs fall Take we heed what we yield unto
Magna Charta is such a Fellow that he will have no Soveraign I wonder this Soveraign was not in Magna Charta or in the Confirmations of it If we grant this by Implication we give a Soveraign Power above all these Laws Power in Law is taken for a Power with Force The Sheriff shall take the Power of the County what is meant here only God knows It is repugnant to our Petition grounded on Acts of Parliament Our Predecessors could never endure a Salvo jure suo no more than the Kings of old could endure for the Church Salvo honore Dei Ecclesiae We must not admit this and to qualify it is impossible Let us hold our Privileges according to the Law that Power which is above this is not fit for the King or People to have it disputed further I had rather for my part have the Prerogative acted and I my self lie under it than have it disputed Sir Thomas Wentworth said If we admit of this Addition we leave the Subject worse than we found him and we shall have little Thanks for our Labour when we come home Let us leave all Power to his Majesty to punish Malefactors but these Laws are not acquainted with Soveraign Power We desire no new thing nor do we offer to trench upon his Majesty's Prerogative We may not recede from our Petition neither in part or whole Mr. Selden said Let us not go hastily to the Question if there be any Objections let any propound them and let others answer them as they think good If it the Saving hath no Reference to our Petition what does it here I am sure others will say it hath Reference and so must we how far it does exceed all Examples of former times no Man can shew the like Then he shews the manifold Statutes besides Magna Charta wherein is no such Saving And whereas Mr. Speaker said The King was our Heart and ever shall be but then Mr. Selden said We spake of the King's Prerogative and we are bound to say so but when we speak of our Rights we are not to be imprisoned Saving but by the King 's Soveraign Power Say my Lands without any Title be seized into the King's hand and I bring a Petition of Right and I go to the King and say I do by no means seek your Majesty's Title and after that I bring a Petition or Monstrance de droit setting forth my own Right and Title and withal set down a Saving that I leave entire his Majesty's Right it would be improper Then he cites many Statutes wherein there are Savings but no ways pertinent to this which you may read at large in Rushworth ' s Collections and Franklin ' s Annals And in truth it troubles me I am forced to curtail this not only in Mr. Selden but other Noble Persons by reason the Treatise would swell to a greater Bulk than I designed it The Lords afterwards had a Conference with the Commons to fortify their Addition managed by my Lord Keeper which was answered by Mr. Mason And after that the Commons desired another Conference with the Lords and ordered Serjeant Glanvile to argue the legal part of the Petition and Sir Henry Martin the rational part of it which they did so well that at a Conference May 26. 1628 between both Houses the Lord Keeper from the Lords told the Commons the Lords agreed with them in omnibus of their Petition only in the Alteration of two Words viz. Means for Pretext and for the Word unlawful not warrantable by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm The Houses thus happily accorded the Petition with the foresaid Amendments were read two several times in the House of Commons and then upon the Question voted to be engrossed and read a third time and the House to sit in the Afternoon till it was engrossed and read and ordered to be presented to the King in which there was not one Negative And the Bill for the Subsidies was read a second time and committed and upon Wednesday the 28th the Lords and Commons had a Conference about the Manner of Delivery of the Petition and Sir Edward Coke reported that their Lordships were agreed That no Addition or Preface be used to the King but that the Petition be preferred to his Majesty by the Command of the Lords and Commons and that his Majesty by be desired to the Content of his People he would give his Gracious Answer in full Parliament In all these Transactions the King was very uneasy fain he would have the Money yet was unwilling to answer the Petition The House was aware of this and therefore agreed the Petition before they would pass the Money-Bill Upon the 12th of April the King by Secretary Cook acquainted them of the Necessity of Supply and expected some Fruit of what was so happily begun but finding a Stop beyond all Expectation of so good a Beginning the Secretary was therefore commanded to tell them That without any further or unnecessary Delay they proceed in this Business and bid them therefore take heed that they force him not to make an unpleasing end of that which was so well begun And two Days after the Secretary quickned the Business of this Supply again Upon the 2d of May the King sent a Message by Secretary Cook That as he would rank himself amongst the best of Kings wherein he has no Intention to invade or impeach our lawful Liberties so he would have them to match themselves with the best of Subjects not by encroaching upon that Soveraignty or Prerogative which God had put into his hands for their Good and that this Sessions of Parliament must continue no longer than Tuesday come Seven-night at the farthest and that his Royal Intention is to have another Session at Michaelmas next for the perfecting such things as cannot now be done Now let 's see how unwillingly the King was brought to pass the Petition Upon the 16th of May Secretary Cook pressed the House to rely upon the King's Word and that the King promised to govern them by the Laws and that they shall enjoy as much Freedom as ever and that this might be debated in the House but Sir John Elliot answered that the Proceedings in a Committee is more honourable and advantagious to the King and House with whom the House agreed In the Debate of this Committee some were for the Bill to rest but Sir Edward Coke ' s Reasons prevailed to the contrary Was it ever known said he that General Words were a sufficient Satisfaction to particular Grievances Was ever a Verbal Declaration of the King Verbum Regni When Grievances be the Parliament is to redress them Did ever Parliament rely on Messages They put up Petitions of their Grievances and the King answered them The King's Answer is very gracious but what is the Law of the Realm that 's the Question I put no Diffidence in his Majesty the King must speak by Record and in
told them that the King of his Grace and Favour upon their granting 12 Subsidies to be paid in three Years would forbear levying Ship-Money and abolish it and for their Grievances they should rely upon his Royal Promise and give as much time now as may be and after at Michaelmas next and that the King expected a positive Answer Hereupon the House was turned into a grand Committee and spent the whole Day upon the Message but came to no Resolution and desired Sir Henry Vane to acquaint the King that the House would next day proceed upon the King's Supply But next Morning early Secretary Windebank in actual Correspondence and Conspiracy with Richlieu's Chaplain for subverting our Religion and introducing Popery commanded the Speaker to Whitehall and the same Day the King dissolved the Parliament and the next Day the Lord Brook's Study Cabinet and Pockets were searched for Papers and Mr. Bellasis and Sir John Hotham were convened before the Council to answer concerning Passages in Parliament and giving no satisfactory Answer were committed Prisoners to the Fleet till further Order from the King and Council and Mr. Crew was committed close Prisoner to the Tower till further Order from the Council and no Cause shewed in either of these Warrants The greatest Objection against Hereditary Monarchy is that Princes Ears are always open to Minions Flatterers and Sycophants whereby they rarely understand the state of their own Affairs or of their Subjects To attemper this the Wisdom of our Constitution ordains That Parliaments be frequently held to represent to the King the state of the Nation and so to inform him of Grievances that they may be redressed And so inviolably has this mutual Correspondence between the King and Parliament been observed in all Ages that I do not believe any King or Queen of England and of the English Race since Henry 3. ever dissolved one Parliament in Displeasure before King James whereas of eight Parliaments these two Kings of the Scotish Race dissolved seven in Displeasure Yet never did Parliaments in any Reign demean themselves more chearfully to any King than to these two and I challenge any one to shew that in any one respect they intrenched upon any just Prerogative of either of these Kings or did any Act not warranted by former Precedents It 's true Queen Elizabeth would not endure to have the Parliament to meddle with the state of the Church as 't was established nor hear of declaring a Successor and when either of these were moved contrary to her express Order she would commit the Members but easily dismiss them otherwise I believe in no Age any Member of Parliament was ever committed or censured by any King of England before King James for debating or reasoning of the state of the Nation or Church In the 20th of Edward 3. John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevil were accused in Parliament for misadvising the King and were sent to the Tower for it and Henry 4. Rot. Parl. 5. upon the Complaint of the Commons against four of his Servants and Counsellors that they might be removed declared openly That tho he knew nothing against them in particular yet he was assured that what the Lords and Commons required of him was for the Good of himself and Kingdom and therefore he banish'd them and at the same time declared he would do so by any other who should be near his Royal Person if they were so unhappy as to fall under the Hatred of his People Whereas this King tho the Duke of Buckingham were accused of more Crimes in Parliament than is recorded of Pierce Gaveston and the Spencers in 2d's time and of the Duke of Ireland Tresilian and Belknap in 2d's time and of the Death of this King's Father to boot yet rather than the Duke shall be brought to Trial the King dissolves the second Parliament of his Reign And in his Declaration for dissolving the three Parliaments calls the questioning his Ministers an Invasion upon his Prerogative and that through them they endeavoured to wound their Soveraign's Honour and Government Since the Statute De Tallagio non Concedendo in the Reign of Edward the I I think no mention has been made that ever any King of England taxed the Subject before this King and his Father except Edward the IV by Benevolence for which his Memory is bitterly stained in the Parliament-Roll of the second Chapter of Richard the III tho it be not in the printed Statutes and by a Loan demanded in the Reign of Henry the VIII by Cardinal Wolsey the raising of which had near raised a Rebellion which when it came to the King's Ear he laid the Blame upon the Cardinal and said he would not rend his Subjects from the Law and forbid further proceeding in it Arch-bishop Abbot excepts against his Licensing Sybthorp's Sermons for that the King 's taxing Loans by his own Authority was neither by the Laws nor Customs of England the King in his Answer says He did not stand upon the Laws and Customs of England for he had a Precedent for it and would insist upon it The Arch-bishop replied He thought it was a Mistake and feared there was no such Precedent and that Henry the VIII desired but the sixth part of Mens Estates but the King required the full six Parts so much as the Men are set at in the Subsidy-Book And when the Commons in the third Year of his Reign made a Remonstrance against the King's taking Tunnage and Poundage not granted by Parliament the King calls this a detracting from their Soveraign and commands all who have or shall have any Copies of it to burn them upon Pain of his Indignation and high Displeasure The King for Causes of dissolving this Parliament the last he shall ever dissolve begins with the usual Stile That he well knows that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to his Imperial Crown of which he is not bound to give any Account but to God alone no more than of his other Regal Actions But quid gloriaris Did ever any King of England say this before his Father and himself Or in what common-common-Law or Acts of Parliament is this to be found Or if he had such Power Why does the King so often boast of it Sure it had been better done by another than himself Is this a time of day when this Prince had lost all his Honour abroad to magnify himself that he has Power to dissolve Parliaments at home and thereby obstruct those Ways by which he might unite himself to his Subjects and then glory that he is only accountable to God for all his Actions Nebuchadnezzar's Boast Is not this the Babel which I have built was but a Bauble to this He said this but once and God sent him seven Years among Wild Beasts and he saw his Pride and he repented This King upon all Occasions makes his Boasts but I do not
the Revenues of the Crown and Aids given in Parliament and these being of both Nations Scotch as well as English made them to be the more intolerable All things being at Peace Abroad Publick Affairs were neglected or scarce thought of whilst the Dutch still grew more powerful at Sea and without any Aid from the King were Matches for the King of Spain by Land and Henry the 4th of France was accumulating incredible Treasure at Home and laying the Foundation of vast Designs Abroad whereof the King took no notice his Genius lying another way In these Debates at Home and Lethargy of State of Foreign Affairs the Prerogative-Clergy swelled the High Commission to such an height that it was complained of as a Grievance in Parliament as you may read in Wilson's History of Great Britain â—ol 46. Nay Bancroft this Year notwithstanding the Judges Answer to the Articles exhibited to the King against granting Prohibitions and that the Parliament was still sitting repeated his Exhibitions But however the King inclined to favour Bancroft he had not Courage enough to over-rule the Judges Answer to them it may be for fear the Parliament should interpose or indispose them to grant him more Money whereof already he stood in great need But the Parliament however they gratified the King for their Deliverance from the Popish Conspiracy did not think fit to pour it forth so plentifully now in times of Peace to be profusely thrown upon Favourites and Minions who were no more Friends to them than they to the established Church of England To supply the King's Necessities as he made them one Doctor Cowell no doubt set upon by Bancroft and those called the Church the next Year after published his Interpreter wherein he premises these three Principles First That the King was Solutus a Legibus not bound by his Coronation-Oath Secondly That it was not ex Necessitate that the King should call a Parliament to make Laws but might do it by his Absolute Power Thirdly It was a Favour to admit the Consent of the Subjects in giving Subsidies Cowell's Interpeter approved by the King as the Civil Law was highly extolled by the King See Wilson fol. 46. was not only printed but publickly sold without Impunity and this gave Encouragement to the publishing many others to the same purpose among which one Blackwood published one which concluded that we were all Slaves by reason of the Conquest The Commons tho they took no notice of Bancroft and his Articles against Prohibitions took Fire at these and intended to have proceeded severely against him but the King interposed and promised to call in these Books by Proclamation as he did but they were out and the Proclamation could not call them in but only served to make them more taken notice of But this had not the desired Effect of getting more Money than one Subâ—dy and one Tenth whereupon the King by Proclamation dissolved them the 31st of December 1609 after they had sat near seven Years wherein the King set forth that he had proposed many things far differing and surpassing the Graces and Favours of former times both in Nature and Value 〈◊〉 â—â—pectation of a good Conclusion of some weighty Cause which had been there in Deliberation not only for the Supply of the Necessities of his Majesty's Estate but for the Ease and Freedom of his Subjects but these being the two last Sessions little taken notice of and that the Members by reason of the length of the Parliament were debarred from the Hospitality they kept in the Country and that divers Shires Cities and Boroughs had been burdened with Expence of maintaining their Members for these Reasons he dissolved them so that they should not need to meet at the Day set by their Prorogation CHAP. II. A Continuation of this Reign to the Dissolution of the Second Parliament 1614. BUT how precarious soever the King was to get Money of the Parliament he had not Courage enough to demand the 100000 l. per Annum by the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Dutch States in 1598 whereby Eleven hundred thousand Pounds was due to him much less to demand the principal Debt viz. two Millions and also two Millions and two hundred thousand Pounds due for eleven Years Interest at 10 l. per Cent. Now by the Mediation of several Princes but especially by King James this Year a Truce or Peace for twelve Years was concluded between the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes Albert and Isabel and the Dutch wherein the Dutch were declared Free States and independent upon the Crown of Spain or Arch-Dukes But tho the King had not Courage enough to demand the Monies due to him from the Dutch by the Treaty with Queen Elizabeth he had so much as to enter into a Treaty with the Dutch for a Tribute to be paid to him for License to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland but the Dutch observed this no better than that with the Queen and the King got less by it Long Parliaments beget long Intervals in which Grievances become so multiplied and fixed that they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Intervals are And since the King could not get Money of the Parliament and was afraid to demand any of the Dutch let 's see what Courses he took to get Money during the Interval from this Parliament to the meeting of the next which was five Years and how the Case stood with them In the opening of the first Parliament the King tells them that he was so far from encreasing their Burden with Rehoboam as that he had so much as either Time Occasion or Law could permit lightned them and at that time had been careful to revise and consider deeply upon the Laws made against them that some Overture may be proposed in Parliament for clearing those Laws by Reason which is the Soul of the Law in case they have been in times past further or more rigorously executed by Judges than the meaning of the Law was or might tend to the Hurt as well of the innocent as guilty Persons At the Dissolution of the Parliament the King 's principal Favourites were Henry Howard Brother to the Duke of Norfolk whom Queen Elizabeth beheaded tho a Papist yet Lord Privy-Seal Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Treasurer Philip Earl of Mountgomery for a certain Reason Thomas Lord Walden Son of the Duke of Norfolk after created Earl of Suffolk and Sir Henry Rich after Earl of Holland English the Earl of Dunbar Sir Alexander Hay and Sir Robert Carr who in a short time shall overtop them all Scotish There was a Story current in those Times which I have heard from some credible Persons which did live in that time That King James having given Sir Robert Carr a Boon of 20000 l. my Lord Treasurer Salisbury that he might make the King sensible of what he had done invited the King to an Entertainment and so
Angely Gergeau Sancerre and Saumur which were all the Cautionary Places which the Reformed had upon the Loire and also Suilly Merac and Caumont King James that he might as much appear for the Reformed as he had done for his son-in-Son-in-law sent Sir Edward Herbert after Baron Herbert of Cherberry his Ambassadour into France to mediate a Peace between the King and the Reformed and in Case of Refusal to use Menaces which Sir Edward bravely performed to Luynes and after to the French King himself which being misrepresented to King James Sir Edward was recalled and the Earl of Carlisle was sent Ambassadour into France in his room and the Earl finding the Truth to be otherwise than was represented by Luynes acquainted the King with it Hereupon Sir Edward kneeled to the King and humbly besought him that since the Business between Luynes and him was become publick that a Trumpeter if not an Herald on Sir Edward's Part might be sent to Luynes to tell him That he had made a false Relation to the King of the Passages between them and that Sir Edward would demand Reasons of him with Sword in Hand on that Point but the King was not pleased to grant it and here began the Downfal of the Power of the Reformed in France and the Rise of the French Grandeur by Land In this rotten and teachy State of Affairs before the Meeting of the Parliament the King issued out a Proclamation of which he was as prodigal as bountiful to his Favourites forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs as if his Favourite Buckingham who governed all was so mindful of them nor was the King less jealous of the Parliament's meddling with State-Affairs than of the Peoples talking of them out of Parliament so that the King upon the opening of the Parliament the 30th of January told them of the Constituting Parts of a Parliament and how it was twelve Years since he had received any Aids from Parliaments and how that though he had prosecuted a Treaty of Marriage between the Prince and Infanta of Spain which if it were not for the Benefit of the Established Religion in England and of the Reformed abroad he was not worthy to be their King and though he had refused to assist his son-in-Son-in-law in his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia being a matter of Religion contrary to what he had wrote against the Jesuits yet that he could not sit still and see the Patrimony of his Children torn from them by the Emperor and therefore was resolved to raise an Army next Summer and that he would engage his Crown his Blood and Soul for the Recovery of the Palatinate And having before told the Commons of their Duty to petition the King and acquaint him with their Grievances but not to meddle with his Prerogative he after tells them that who shall hasten after Grievances and desire to make himself popular has the Spirit of Satan The Parliament notwithstanding the violation of their Privileges the last Parliament by the King 's imprisoning their Members yet being zealous to assist the King against the Emperor and King of Spain in favour of the Palsgrave and though the Nation at no time before so much abounded in Corruption and Grievances yet to humour the King inverted the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament and the Commons granted the King two entire Subsidies and the Clergy three before they entred upon Grievances which so pleased the King that in a Speech in the House of Lords he declared it was more acceptable to him than Millions it shewing he reigned in the Love and Affections of his Subjects but he did not long hold in this Mind At this Sessions of Parliament if it may be called so no Act but that of the Subsidies passing Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis Michel were sentenced and degraded for erecting new Inns and Ale-houses and exacting great Sums of Money by pretence of Letters Patents granted for that purpose Sir Giles fled and so escaped a farther Punishment but Sir Francis was condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in Finsbury Goal Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Verulam and Lord Chancellor was likewise censured deposed fined and committed Prisoner to the Tower for Bribery and Bacon's Fall was Doctor Williams's Rise Dean of Westminster to be Lord Keeper of the Great Seal But the Commons debating the Growth of Popery and the dangerous Consequences of the Spanish Match contrary to the King's Speech and Inclinations he upon the Fourth of June which the Commons took to be an Invasion upon their Privileges by Commission adjourned them to the 14th of November and by a Proclamation forbid the talking of State-Affairs In this recess the Spaniards took Stein in the lower Palatinate and the Duke of Bavaria all the Upper Palatinate and the Arms of Lewis prevailed more upon the Reformed in France yet none of these prevailed upon the King further than to mediate a Suspension of Arms in order to treat an Accommodation between the Emperor and his son-in-Son-in-law and the French King and the Reformed which had no other Effect but to make the King contemptible in Germany as well as France his Power and Authority being bounded up only in Words and Messages which the King's ill-Willers blazing abroad cost the King more than would have recovered the Palatinate However the King abated nothing of his Pleasure and dissolute Life but according to the usual Methods of his Life in the Autumn went to New-Market to divert himself with Hunting from the trouble of Affairs either foreign or domestick leaving his Favourite Buckingham Dictator of all his Affairs when the Parliament met again But how remiss soever the King was of his Affairs the Commons were not perhaps heated by their Adjournment and alarmed at the Progress of Lewis against the Reformed in France and of the Emperor and King of Spain not only in the Palatinate but all over the Empire against the Protestants and also with the Liberty which the Popish Party took upon the hopes they conceived would accrue to them by the Spanish Match still as fervently pursued by the King and Prince as ever the King being encouraged hereto by the Earl of Bristol the King's Ambassador in Spain but more by the Spanish Ambassador Gundamor here A Person as Nâ—ni observes who with a stupendous Acuteness of Wit so confounded pleasant things with serious that it was not easy to be discerned when he spoke of Business and when he rallied he had so insinuated himself into the Mind of the King that he need not take any further care of restoring his son-in-Son-in-law to the Palatinate but by Prince Charles his marrying with the Infanta the Treaty whereof now is 8 Years old being brought to Maturity and Perfection so soon as the Pope should grant a Dispensation The House of Commons hereupon being ill satisfied with the Distribution of the Subsidies before granted to the King resolve to proceed upon Grievance before they granted more Supplies and to that end drew up
affected have done before them And to make choice of meet Collectors of the Monies and to return a Schedule of the Names of such as shall contribute and the Sums that are offered by them that his Majesty may take notice of the good Inclinations of the Subjects to a Cause of such Importance as likewise of such others if any such be as out of Obstinacy or Disaffection shall refuse to contribute These were the Ways which this pacifick King took in and out of Parliament which I believe except in the Reign of Edward the 4th were never practised by any of our English Kings and all this under the specious Pretence of recovering his son-in-Son-in-law's Patrimony prodigally to squander it among his Favourites especially Buckingham whose Avarice could not be supported otherwise by the Revenues of the Crown and Venality of all Places Sacred and Civil These were the Noble Atchievements which this pacifick King obtained over his Parliament which presumed to advise him for his own Honour and the Nation 's Safety this was the Return he made for inverting the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament to pleasure him by granting Subsidies before Grievances were redrest A Prince foreign born to our English Laws and Constitutions A Prince as the noble Nani Anno 1619. fol. 137 138. observes in whom Decorum and want of Power were commonly Opposites he being Scotish by Birth and come to the Crown by Inheritance was the first that governed the two Nations by Natural Antipathy and antient Emulation of Enemies and designing to reclaim the Fierceness of those People with Ease and Idleness had set up his Rest in Peace and avoiding as much as possible the calling of Parliaments without which not having the Power to impose Contributions nor levy Money he contented himself rather to struggle with many Straits and Difficulties than to see them meet with a Jealousy of them or being met be obliged to separate them with the disgust of the People or with the satisfaction of Prejudice to the Superior in Power A Prince so poor before he came to the Crown of England that if he had not been supported by the Pension which Queen Elizabeth allowed him could not have maintained the Garb of many of our English Gentry and being come to the Crown of England not only the Sacred Patrimony of it was squandered and embarassed upon debauched and profane Favourites but the People otherwise oppressed with almost infinite Monopolies and Projects which the Nation never before heard of and as they were new so were they all illegal and all these to make his Favourites rich while he continued the poorest King that ever governed England Justled in his Throne by the Presbytery in Scotland yet nothing less than Sacred would down with him from the Clergy in England tho his dissolute Life and profane Conversation were diametrically contrary These by a twenty Years Habit were so fixed in the King a Prince of all others the most regardless of his Honour and Word that they became natural So that after the Parliament had given him two Subsidies and intended another for carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate and after he had by such means as before said by such Terror raised Benevolences all England over upon pretence of it yet by the Advice of Buckingham and Gundamor he placed the Anchor of his Hope to do it by the Match of his Son with the Infanta of Spain when an unlooked-for Accident reported by Nani in his 5th Book fol. 186. had like to have spoiled all For the King of Bohemia weary of being amused and deluded with the Hopes of his father-in-Father-in-law's Treaties which he now saw were mocked by the Spaniards themselves in a Disguise with two Persons only from Holland passes into France by Sea and from thence through Lorrain and through the midst of his Enemies Troops arrives at Landau where Count Mansfield who then made War in the Palatinate in his Right had a Garison where he discovered himself and from thence went to Germersheim where he was received with the general Applause of the whole Army This Escape of the King's son-in-Son-in-law confounded all the King's Measures which he had taken for him by the Marriage of the Infanta with his Son so that he was more alarm'd at it than at the Commons Remonstrance and Protestation tho he bore the Affliction with a much better Temper So all Wits were set at work how to get the Elector out of the Hands of Mansfield back again into Holland for now the Proceedings at Brussels upon the Peace were put to a full stop the Spaniards alledging they could not proceed in the Treaty so long as the King's son-in-Son-in-law was in the Hands of Mansfield their most inveterate and bitter Enemy It fell out luckily for the King's Designs tho unluckily for his son-in-Son-in-law's that Mansfield being worsted by the Spanish Arms in the Palatinate and the Elector Palatine fearing that Mansfield in the Adversity of his Affairs would make him a Sacrifice in giving him up to the Spaniard to make his own Terms the better was the more easily enveagled by the King's Agents to return again into Holland where the first News he heard was that Tilly had taken Heidelburg the Capital Seat of his Ancestors by Storm and Frankendal his next City reduced to Extremity by Cordua so that as Nani says fol. 188. King James who had published that his son-in-Son-in-law held that Country under his Protection was laugh'd at by all the World and forced to consent to a Truce for fifteen Months during which Frankendal and the rest of the lower Palatinate should be deposited into the Spaniards Hands to restore them to the King James if within that time there were not a Peace concluded King James having thus deposited his son-in-Son-in-law's Patrimony in the Hands of the Spaniards in the Low Countries now by the Direction of Buckingham not only the Dictator over the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but over the King himself and 't was feared more over the Prince upon pretence that the Earl of Bristol was too remiss in prosecuting the Prince's Suit at Madrid resolves to deposite the Prince in the Power of the Court of Spain there to remain as an Hostage till he can procure the Infanta to be his Spouse This was such an Adventure as Don Quixot never dream'd of in any of his that because the King the Prince his Father was poor at home and despised abroad therefore by making his only Son an Hostage in another King's Court where the Maxims both of Religion and State were directly contrary he should think to perswade the King of Spain to overturn all and also get such a Portion as was fourfold more than any Prince before had to enrich himself and to make War against the King of Spain or Emperor which the Spaniard esteemed all as one and also that the King of Spain should restore the Palatinate because the King knew not which way else
Peron of the Papal Power of King-Killing and King-Deposing were only Brawls and Contentions and 〈◊〉 Learning on one side or the other A Power disclaimed by our Saviour when the Devil would have given him it and denied any such Power in this World even when the Jews were ready to crucify him John 18. 36. And as there were no Reasons for these Brawls so was the End of them Arrogance on the Popish Part to impose a foreign Power or Jurisdiction upon the King and Kingdom and as foolish on the King's Part it being exploded by the Nation and under the severest Penalty the asserting such a Power prohibited and how could the King by his Writings further secure himself and the Nation against it But it seems the King was in this more zealous for himself and the Preservation of his Inherent Birth-right to the Crown of England than for the Honour of God and our Saviour against the Pope's Usurpations other ways for in his Speech at the Opening the first Parliament of his Reign he calls the Church of Rome a 〈◊〉 Church and our Mother-Church and if they would lay aside their King-killing and King-deposing Doctrine and some Niceties but names them not he was content to meet them mid-way Does not the Pope exalt himself above God and is Antichrist i◠forbidding the Laity the Cup in the partaking the Sacrament a Christ's last Supper If any Man makes a Question of it I 'll demonstrate it by a better Syllogism than can be made up of Aristotle's Analyticks For whosoever shall forbid what another commands exalts himself above that other But the Pope forbids the Drinking of the Cup at the Sacrament to the Laity who are Christ's Members as well as the Priests And our Saviour commands the Cup with an Emphasis Drink ye All of it Therefore the Pope exalts himself above our Saviour and is Antichrist which was to be demonstrated and this Mutilation makes this the Pope's and not a Sacrament of our Saviour's Institution COROLLARY By the same Reason I say the Pope exalts himself above God in forbidding Marriage to the Priests For Marriage is an Institution of God in Paradise Gen. 2. and commanded by God Gen. 9. 1. and the Pope forbids the Marriage of Priests which St. Paul says is the Doctrine of Devils and it 's worthy Observation that the Pope makes Marriage to be a Sacrament yet denies it to Priests and our Saviour commands the Cup in the Sacrament of his last Supper to be drunk by all yet this is denied the Laity and only allowed to Priests I say Pope Julius the 2d in dispensing with Henry the 8th to marry his Brother Arthur's Wife exalted himself above God For whosoever shall dispense with or allow what another forbids exalts himself above that other But Julius dispensed with Henry's Marriage of his Brother's Wife And God forbids the Marriage of a Man's Brother's Wife Lev. 18. 16. Therefore Julius exalted himself above God which was to be demonstrated It 's true I do not find the Marriage of a Man's Sister's Daughter particularly forbidden by the Levitical Law yet by the 17th verse it is by inference forbidden and is abhorrent to Nature So that when Cambyses asked the Magi if it were not lawful to marry his Sister's Daughter they told him it was not yet like Flatterers they told him he might do what he pleased and Platina I think it is in the Life of Pope Boniface the 5th or Honorius exclaims against the Emperor Heraclius his marrying his Sister's Daughter as an Impiety scarce ever heard of yet three Popes successively dispensed with Philip the 2d Philip the 3d and Philip the 4th Kings of Spain marrying with their own Nieces viz. their Sisters Daughters It were endless to enumerate the Doctrines of the Church of Rome how dishonourable they are to God and his sacred Laws I 'll give Instances only in two 1. Their Invocation of Saints after Death many of which are of their own making thereby attributing to them a concurring Power with God in his Omniscience which is a robbing God of his Honour and if Saints after Death be not Omniscient it were in vain to pray to them The other is dispensing with Mens Promises and their own tho they have bound themselves to the Performance of them by an Oath whereby the Popes render themselves Enemies of Mankind and Humane Society for these are founded in Truth and Mens mutual Performance of their Promises That this for several hundreds of Years hath been practised by the Popes upon those Princes and Subjects whom they please to call Hereticks when the Popes are greater is well known to those conversant in their Histories I 'll give but one Instance of the Liberty the Popes take to themselves herein Upon the Death of Pope Marcellus 2d Ann. 1555. the Cardinals in the Conclave before they proceed to the Election of another Pope mutually swore That whosoever should be chosen should call a Synod in six Years and not make more than 4 Cardinals in two Years after the Election and Paul the 4th was chosed See the Council of Trent Anno 1555. Some small time after this Election Paul entred the Conclave to declare his Intentions of a Promotion of Cardinals and the Cardinal of St. James's pressed to him and put him in mind of his Oath before his Election but the Pope thrust the Cardinal back and told him This was to bind the Pope's Authority that it is an Article of Faith that the Pope cannot be bound much less bind himself that to say otherwise was manifest Heresy from which he did absolve those who spake it because he thought they did not speak obstinately but if any should say the same again he would give Order the Inquisition should proceed And this being spoken in the Conclave was in Cathedra and infallible and never since retracted by him or any other Pope These are the Heresies in the Church of Rome for which Men must be slaughtered and burnt and for not believing them against the Evidence of a Man's Senses to the contrary and against the Nature of a Sacrament That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after Consecration is Christ's organical Body and Blood This is that true and Mother-Church which the King would meet mid-way if it would let him and his Inherent Birth-right alone This is that Prince who to prosecute these Brawls and to wallow in sensual Pleasures neglected the foreign and domestick Affairs of his Kingdom only Great in making himself little and not beloved at home and contemptible and dishonoured abroad A Prince who squandred away the sacred Patrimony of the Crown amongst Flatterers and Favourites thereby becoming not able to maintain the Honour of the Nation abroad and neglecting the Encrease and Repair of his Navy-Royal not only rendred the Nation in an unsettled and dangerous Peace at home but notwithstanding the Treaty with the Dutch for Licence to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland suffered
them with Men of War to guard their Fisheries and to do it whether he would or not A Prince that by his dissolute Life and prophane Conversation debauched and effeminated the Genius of the English Nation whereby it became more scandalized for Swearing and Drinking than in any Age before A Prince that broke all the Measures by which Hen. 8. and Queen Elizabeth were the Arbitrators of Christendom A Prince fearful of all his Enemies abroad while he was only great by exercising a Tyrannical Arbitrary Power over his Parliaments and Subjects who could only have made him great abroad and honoured at home whereby he became little beloved at home and suffered the Dutch to redeem their Cautionary Towns upon their own Terms and to dispossess the English at Amboyna and their other Factories in the East-Indies and Africa He only stood still looking on while the French upon the Matter supprest the Reformed in France and suffered Ferdinand the 2d to over-run and near subdue the Protestant Princes in Germany as well as his own Son-in-law And tho he were the 6th of that Name King of Scotland from John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Robert Stuart by his Paramour Elizabeth Moor yet if Sir James Melvil says true that Cardinal Bethoun poisoned James the 5th he was the first of that Name who died a natural Death if he did so for James the first was murdered by his Uncle the Earl of Athol his Grand-father's legitimate Son in his Queen's Arms with eight and twenty Wounds the Queen receiving two to defend him This was in the Year 1436. James the II. was killed by the breaking of a Piece of Cannon while he besieged the Castle of Roxburgh the 3d of Aug. 1460. James the III. having his Army routed by an Army headed by his Son James was killed at Bannoch-Burn by the Lord Gray and Robert Sterling of Ker after Sir Andrew Brothick a Priest had shriven him This was in 1488. James the IV. was killed the 9th of December 1514 at Flowdenfield by the English commanded by the Earl of Surrey and his Body never found and if James the 5th was poisoned then none of these Jameses died a natural Death neither did King James his Mother being put to death Ann. 1587 for conspiring the Death of Queen Elizabeth After the Dissolution of the Spanish Match the King as greedily prosecuted the French and tho he lived not to see it settled yet he saw the Army raised under Count Mansfield for the Recovery of the Palatinate ruined by trusting to the French Faith in this very Treaty When he died he not only left an empty Exchequer but a vast Debt upon the Crown yet was engaged in a foreingn War and the Monies given by the Parliament for carrying it on were squandred away in carrying on the French Treaty and the Nation imbroiled in intestine Feuds and Disorders At his Death he left a Son and Heir and one Daughter Before he died he saw his Son over-ruled by his Favourite against his determinate Will and Pleasure and the Prince's own Honour and Interest which was a great Mortification to him and which he often complained of but had not Courage to redress and so strongly was 〈◊〉 Favourite possessed of his Power over his Son in the King's Life that the Prince little regarded his Father's Precepts or the Counsels of any else after his Death whereby he encreased the Internal Feuds Jealousies and Discords of the Nation which ended in a sad Catastrophe both of the Favourite and the King At the King's Death his Daughter with her Husband and her many Children were driven into Exile and Poverty in the Dominion of the Dutch States where they were more relieved by the States the Prince of Orange and some Bishops and Noblemen of England than by either of the Kings Father or Son A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King CHARLES I. c. BOOK II. CHAP. I. This Reign detected to the Dissolution of the Parliament Tertio Car. 'T WAS a strange Reign this As this King's Father's Reign was introduced with a horrible Plague so was this King's with a greater and such as no Records of any Times before mention the like The first 15 Years of his Reign were perfectly French and such as never before were seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King whenas it was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done Baptista Nani in the sixth Book of the History of Venice An. 1625 f. 221 observes That after the Marriage of King Charles with the Daughter of France the Interest of State or rather the Passion of Favourites converted the Bonds of Affection into Causes of Hatred Europe in those times reckoned it amidst its unhappy Destiny that the Government of it fell upon three young Kings yet in the Flower of their Age Princes of great Power desirous of Glory and in Interest contrary but in this alone by Genius agreeing that they committed the Burden of Affairs to the Will of their Ministers for with equal Independency France was governed by Richlieu Spain by Olivares and Great-Britain by Buckingham confounding Affections with Interest as well publick as private Betwixt the Cardinal and Buckingham open Animosities discovered themselves for Causes so much more unadvised as they were more hard to be known When King James died the Nation was rent into four Parties viz. The Prerogative which exalted the King's divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions above his Royal and Legal Will The Country or Legal Party which stood for the Legal Establishment of Church and State and the Puritan and Popish Parties After the Treaties of Marriage between the Prince and the Daughters of Spain and France the Popish and Prerogative Parties joined for carrying on the Court-Designs and were opposed by the Country and Puritan Parties and as the Prerogative and Popish Factions grew more insolent so the Puritan Party gathered Strength and Reputation among the Vulgar or ordinary People insomuch that in Number they became more than all the other three We shall take a better View of this Reign if we look a little back into the former After the Treaty of the Match with Spain was broken off King James was perplext what to do he had neither Money nor Courage to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate and the Wounds which he had given the last Parliament by Imprisoning their Members for advising him to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate were yet fresh and bleeding and yet Buckingham whom he durst not offend not content to satisfy his Spite against Olivares by breaking off the Match was notwithstanding all Difficulties nay Impossibility of Success still pushing on the King to declare War against the King of Spain The King
the Commons ask any Grant of it to them or any other To conclude I command you all that are here to take notice of â—hat I have spoken at this time to be the true Intent and Meaning of â—hat I have granted you in your Petition especially you my Lords the Judges for to you only under me belongs the Interpretation of the Laws for none of the Houses of Parliament either joint or separate what new Doctrine soever may be raised have any Power either to â—ake or declare a Law without my Consent And you need not doubt but these shall be placito-men all who shall not scruple to make the King's Will to be the Subjects Law and those that will not shall be none of this King's Judges I do not find that the King before he prorogued them gave the Parliament any Thanks for the Bill of Subsidies tho greater than ever was given to any King as his Predecessors ever did or if he did it ill sorted with the Speech he made before But before we proceed to take a View of this King's Actions in the Interval of this Recess of Parliament let 's a little consider the present State of the King and Kingdom and herein who it was the King quarrelled with and upon what Account and for whose sake It was with the Representatives of the Kingdom who had so obsequiously and unanimously gratified him above what any other House of Commons ever did to any King of England before The Crimes for which the King inveighed so against them were for representing their Grievances and the dangerous and feeble State of himself and the Kingdom and to represent to him the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by taking the Customs as he did yet declaring their Readiness to relieve him therein and to reconcile him to his Subjects And for whom was it the King thus contended but for a Favourite who against the King's Father's Will and Advice of his Council without a Declaration or Reason shee l the next Day after the King's Father's Death as the Bishop of Litchfield observes excited him to make War against the King of Spain and after made the King to dissolve the Parliament to save himself from being impeached in it And so he did the second Parliament and then engaged the King in a War against France wherein he himself was the Aggressor and put the King upon those unheard-of ways to support these Wars that never were practised by any King of England before and in the ill Management of them brought greater Loss and Dishonour to the Nation than ever was before A Favourite who besides these brought the Crown to extream Poverty to support his intolerable Ambition and Avarice Here again I cannot but note the miserable State of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and their Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents above other Men for other Mens Enemies are but few and the rest of Mankind their Friends but the Majesty Glory and Honour of a Prince is founded in the Love and Obedience of his Subjects and if this be lost whereto then can a Prince betake himself What became of Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. tho two of those four Hereditary Princes of ten after the Conquest when they had lost the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and this Prince and his Sons after him made haste to overtake their Fate Not one many hundreds of private Men but die a natural Death but Sine Caede Sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges But above all those of this Scotish Race of Kings descended from Elizabeth More which 't is a question whether any one of Nine of them in a continued Succession died a Natural Death The Duke of Buckingham upon his Retreat from the Isle of Rhee promised the Rochellers to send them speedy Relief and to make good his Word sent the Earl of Denbigh his Brother-in-law with a Fleet to relieve it now close besieged by the French King the Earl came before Rochel the first of May 1628 where he found the French Fleet of 20 Sail had blockt up Rochel by Sea upon the Approach of the Earl the French retired towards their Fortifications and anchored within two Cannon shot of the Fleet and so continued till the 8th of May the Earl promised the Rochellers to sink the French Fleet when the Waters encreased and the Wind came Westerly it being then neap Tides but two Days after the Waters did encrease and the Wind became Westerly then the Earl being intreated to fight the French Fleet did not but weighed Anchor and came away only four of the French Fleet at a distance pursuing the English Fleet. Thus was the Duke's Expedition to the Isle of Rhee seconded by this of his Brother-in-law for the Relief of Rochel I do not find the Parliament took notice of this but if they had it had been to no purpose for soon after the Earl's Return the King resolving not to hear of the Commons Remonstranceâ— against his taking the Customs not granted by Parliament to which he said he must have given a harsh Answer upon the 26th of June prorogues the Parliament to the 20th of October following and after by Proclamation to the 20th of January To redeem his Brother-in-law's Miscarriage the Duke in this Recess goes to Portsmouth to command the Fleet there to relieve Rochel but at Portsmouth he is stabb'd by Felton the 23d of August yet was the Design pursued under the Command of the Earl of Lindsey who several times attempted to force the Barricadoes of the River before Rochel but all in vain or if he had it had been to no purpose for the Victuals wherewith the Rochellers should have been relieved were all tainted and 't was well the French had no Fleet there for the English Tackle and other Materials were all defective This was the last Attempt this unhappy â—ing made either for the Relief of the poor Protestants in France or for the Recovery of the Palatinate for now Buckingham was dead who put him upon making War with Spain and France the King as secretly as before he had done suddenly made Peace with both Spain and France What 's now become of the twelve Subsidies and three Fifteenths granted to this King's Father and himself in less than eight years time by Parliament for Recovery of the Palatinate besides Loans Benevolences Coat and Conduct Money raised by his Father and himself without Consent of Parliament Let any Man shew in any Records of time that half so much in like time was raised by any of our Kings upon any Occasions except the Dissolution of Abbeys in Henry the VIII's time Search all Histories and find any one Prince so wilfully set to be govern'd by such loose vain wild and negligent Councils as either of these Princes Father or Son Now let 's see the Condition of these poor Rochellers trusting to this Prince and his Favourite they lived long upon Horse-flesh Hides Leather Dogs and Cats hardly
leaving a Horse alive still in hopes of the Relief promised from England they held out so long till but 4000 of 15000 were left alive most of them died of Famine and when they began to be pinch'd with Extremity of Hunger they died so fast that they usually carried their Coffins into the Church-yard and other Places and therein laid themselves and died great Numbers of them being unburied and many Corps eaten with Vermin Ravens and Birds when the French Army entred the Town The Outrages committed against the Reformed Churches in France were so high as constrained them to implore King Charles his Aid in these Expressions That what they wrote was with their Tears and Blood But how unhappy soever this Prince's Fate was in War abroad yet it had been happy for him if he had not made his Fate worse at home and now let us see what Steps he made towards it even in this short Recess of the Parliament's Meeting Upon the 15th of July the King made Sir Richard Weston who died a declared Papist Lord Treasurer of England and the same Day translated Laud the Firebrand of the Arminian Faction to the Bishoprick of London whose next Step was Arch-bishop of Canterbury who that he might testify his Zeal to this Cause which after set all these Nations on Fire got Richard Mountague to be consecrated Bishop of Chichester the 24th of August following This Mountague was fierce for Arminianism and wrote a Book call'd A new Gag for an old Goose for which he was questioned in the Parliament of 23 Jac. and the Cause was committed to Arch-bishop Abbot which then ended in an Admonition and though the Arch-bishop disallowed the Book and sought to suppress it yet it was reprinted and dedicated to King Charles under the Title of Appello Caesarem Hereupon the Commons 1 Car. questioned Mountague for this and gave Thanks to the Arch-bishop for what he had done but this displeased the King who took the Business out of the Commons Hands but they had taken Bond of Mountague to appear I desire to be more particular herein because Arminianism was not only turn'd up Trump for the flattering Clergy to play their Game but for the Popish Party to undermine the Church of England as it was established by Law and the Canons Doctrine and Homilies of it and now Mountague's Cause was recommended to the Duke of Buckingham by the Bishops of Rochester Oxford and Laud Bishop of St. Davids as the Cause of the Church of England Thus this Cause stood when the King dissolved the first Parliament the 12th of August 1625. But the King's Necessities as he managed Business forcing him to call another before assembled Laud procured the Duke to sound the King whether he would leave Mountague to a Trial in Parliament which the King intended to do whereupon this pious Man Laud said I seem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God of his Mercy dissipate it Note that all those who were not of this Faction of Arminianism were stiled by them Puritans these Mountague treats with bitter Railing and injurious Speeches and inserts divers passages in his Appeal dishonourable to King James the Commons therefore prayed that the said Mountague might be exemplarily punished and his Books supprest and burnt Yet this is the Saint that Laud in the first Act of his Regency as it may be called after he became Bishop of London must have made Bishop of Chichester and after Bishop of Norwich But this is observable that while Neal and Laud were consecrating Mountague News came of the Duke's being stabb'd This was the first step after Laud's Preferment the next was a Pardon for Mountague and Manwaring of all Errors by speaking writing and printing and you cannot believe that Laud would be less kind to Manwaring than to Mountague and therefore notwithstanding Manwaring's Censure he procured Manwaring the fat Rectory of Stamford Rivers in Essex and a Dispensation to hold it with the Rectory of St. Giles in the Fields That you may see the Kindness of this Bishop of London to our Laws in the very Infancy of his Power When Felton was brought before the Lords of the Council for murdering the Duke Laud threatned Felton with the Rack unless he would confess his Inducement for murdering the Duke but the King then in Council refused till the Judges were consulted and said if it could be done by Law he would not use his Prerogative but though the Judges determined he could not be put to the Rack by Law the King was graciously pleased not to use his Prerogative yet this was no thanks to the Bishop of London Now let 's see the Fruits of the Petition of Right and the manifold-Declarations of the King for maintaining the Laws of the Land and the just Rights and Liberties of the Subject but here you may understand that though he had taken the Customs not granted by Parliament yet by virtue of his Prerogative Royal he had enhanced the Rates such as were never granted by any Parliament and declared it his absolute Will and Pleasure besides that of Wines that the 2 s. and 2 d. Duties upon every Hundred of Currants by the Book of Rates should be advanced to 5 s. and 6 d. in the Hundred The first that suffer'd under the King 's absolute Will and Pleasure was Mr. Chambers who was committed by the Lords of the Council this Michaelmass-Term and was bailed by the Court of King's-Bench for which the Judges were check'd having done it without due Respect to the Privy-Council Next Mr. Vassal's Goods were seized for not paying the 5 s. 6 d. upon every hundred pound Weight of Currants upon which the Attorney General Sir Robert Heath exhibited an Information against him in the Exchequer to which Mr. Vassal pleaded the Statute De Tallagio non concedendo and that this was neither Antiqua seu Recta Consuetudo to which the Attorney demurred and Mr. Vassal joined in the Demurrer but the Court would not hear Mr. Vassal's Counsel and said the King was in Possession and they would keep him so and imprisoned Mr. Vassal for not paying the Duty thus imposed About the same time the said Mr. Chambers's Goods were seized by the Customers for not paying such Customs as were demanded by the Farmers Mr. Chambers sues a Writ of Replevin the Barons grant an Injunction against it Mr. Chambers offers to give Security for Payment of such Duties as the Court should direct which the Court refused unless he should pay such Customs as demanded by the Farmers which Chambers refusing the Court ordered the Officers to detain double the Value of Chambers's Goods demanded by them The same Course was taken with Mr. Rolls's Goods though a Parliament-Man one of the Commissioners saying Privilege of Parliament extended only to Persons not Goods another more boldly told Mr. Rolls if all the Parliament were in you we would take your Goods These Proceedings so ill sorting with the Petition
and before his Answer made to it which came forth shortly after to all the Heads of it Now let any shew a Precedent when one State in Parliament appealed to the People and arraigned the King and the other two States unheard and against the King's express Desire and he shall be my great Apollo And if the End be first consider'd in every Action what could be the End of publishing this Remonstrance Or how could it tend to the settling the Distractions of the Kingdom I make this difference between Reproof and Reproach Reproof is privately to admonish another of such Speeches and Actions as tend to the hurt of his Reputation and Fortune so as this other may avoid them for the future Reproach is to divulge the Speeches and Actions of another to the lessening of the Fame and Credit of that other Reproof is the Act of a Friend Reproach of an Enemy And was this a time of day for the Commons thus to reproach the King for his past Actions after he had redressed all their Grievances and given up his Evil Counsellors to their Justice Or was it ever known before that when the King had redressed Grievances they should be after rip'd up to reproach him The first Effects of this Remonstrance Mr. Whitlock mentions is That during this time and taking the opportunity from these Differences between the King and Parliament divers of the City of the meaner sort came in great Numbers and Tumults to Whitehall where with many unseemly and insolent Words and Actions they incensed the King and went from thence in like Posture to Westminster behaving themselves with extream Rudeness towards some of the Members of both Houses and tho the King sent to the Lord Mayor to call a Common Council to prevent these riotous Assemblies yet I do not find the Commons took any Care herein and how these Actions of the Commons tended to settle the Distractions of the Nation or the Relief of Ireland let any impartial Man judg But of all this Mr. May takes no notice yet does of the Parliament's petitioning the King for a Guard for the Security of their Persons being informed of a Plot contrived against them such another as that of Scotland and the Earl of Essex to command it which tho the King denied he promised to take care for their Safety Since Mr. May had no better luck with his Scotish Plot he 'll be sure of one now by the King 's entring into the House of Commons attended by 300 Gentlemen and seated in the Speaker's Chair and demanded five Members viz. Mr. Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr. Pym Mr. Hambden and Mr. Stroud to a fair Trial and would be as careful of their Privileges as ever any King of England was But in regard Mr. May is so short and partial in this we 'll state the Case as reported by Mr. Whitlock f. 50. a. The King being informed that some Members of Parliament had private Meeting and Correspondence with the Scots and countenanced the late Tumults from the City he gave a Warrant to repair to their Lodgings and to seal up the Trunks Studies and Chambers of the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym Mr. Hambden Mr. Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig and Mr. Stroud which was done but their Persons were not met with The King caused then Articles of High Treason and other Misdemeanours against those five Members to be exhibited 1. For endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government and deprive the King of his Legal Power and to place on Subjects an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power by foul Aspersions on his Majesty and Government to alienate the Affections of his People and 〈◊〉 make him odious 2. To draw his Army to Disobedience and to side with them i◠their Traiterous Designs 3. That they traiterously invited and encouraged a Foreign Power t◠invade England 4. That they traiterously endeavoured to subvert the very Right and Being of Parliament 5. For endeavouring to compel the Parliament to join with them 〈◊〉 their Traiterous Designs and to that end have actually raised and countenanced Tumults against the King and Parliament This great Breach of Parliament-Privilege Mr. May says happened in a strange time to divert the Kingdom from relieving Ireland And did not the Commons Remonstrance against the King and House of Lords do so too And when Men especially Princes are reproached and defamed regular Actions are not always consequent The Censures of the King's Act was variously scanned by Men of different Affections The Royalists said Privilege of Parliament extends not to Treason Felony or so much as Breach of the Peace And the Commons frame and publish a Declaration That there was never such an unparallell'd Action of any King to the Breach of all Freedom not only in the Accusation of their Members ransacking and searching their Studies and Papers and seeking to apprehend their Persons but now in a Hostile Way He the King threatned the whole Body of the House This was Jan. 5. 1641. And after the Commons published another Vote That if any arrest a Member of Parliament by Warrant from the King only it is a Breach of Privilege and that the coming of Papists and Souldiers to the number of 500 armed Men Mr. May says but 300 and Mr. Whitlock says with his Guard of Pensioners and follow'd by about 200 of his Courtiers with the King to the House was a traiterous Design against the King and Parliament They vindicate the five Members and declare That a Paper issued out for apprehending them was false scandalous and illegal How could they tell before they heard both Parties and they ought to attend the Service of the House and require the Names of those who advised the King to issue out that Paper and the Articles against the five Members Which if the King had done they would have been exposed to more Violences of the Rabble than those which befel the Bishops and other Members of Parliament by a great Number of Persons which came from the City to Westminster where they offered many Affronts to the Bishops and others in a tumultuous manner See Whit. Mem. f. 51. a. But of this no notice was taken by the Commons or Lords that I can find so that as the Temper of the Times then went it was a notorious Breach of Privilege in the King to demand five Members to answer Articles of High-Treason but none in the Rabble in a tumultuous manner to affront and use Violence to the Bishops and others who were coming to do their Duties and Service in Parliament These Actions Mr. May p. 41. calls petitioning by the Rabble and many times to utter rude Speeches against some Lords whom they conceived to be evil Advisers of the King which however it was meant produced ill Consequences to the Commonwealth and did not so much move the King to be sensible of his grieving the People as arm him with an Excuse of leaving the Parliament and City for fear of what might
Wing of Horse of the Parliament's which Prince Rupert pursued too far tho with great Slaughter but the King 's left Wing of Horse was broken by Sir William Balfour Sir Philip Stapleton and the Lord Fielding However the Victory was uncertain the Success was not so for the King took Banbury Town and Castle and Oxford and Prince Rupert took my Lord Say's House at Brought and made Excursions near London whereupon the Parliament recalled Essex to defend themselves And it was time for the King was marching towards London having taken Reading and Henley and at Brentford both Armies fought Essex being assisted by the Trained Bands and Apprentices of London and the King was forced to retreat and if Essex had followed in all Appearance the King would have lost his Army not having Bullet enough to have maintained one quarter of an Hour's Fight and towards the latter end of the Year Prince Rupert storms Cirencester and puts many of my Lord Stamford's Regiment to the Sword and took 1100 Prisoners which were used with great Barbarity and Colonel Nathaniel Fines in the West was routed by Prince Rupert and in the North Sir John Hotham was beaten by the Forces commanded by the Earl of Cumberland Sir Fran. Worsley Sir Marm. Langdale and Sir Thomas Glenham This Year there was a Treaty of Peace at Oxford the Parliament's Propositions were That the King should disband his Army return to the Parliament leave Delinquents to Trial and Papists to be disbanded That a Bill be brought in for abolishing Episcopacy c. and such other Bills as should be presented for Reformation Recusants to abjure Papacy to remove malignant Counsellors to settle the Militia as the Parliament desired to prefer to Offices such as the Parliament should name and to take in all that were put out of Commissions of the Peace A Bill to vindicate the Lord Kimbolton and five Members to enter into Alliances for the Palatinate and to grant a general Pardon excepting to the Earl of New-Castle Digby and others To restore Parliament-Members to their Offices and to restore their Losses The King proposed That his Revenue Magazines Ships and Forts be restored That what had been done contrary to Law and the King 's Right may be recalled That all illegal Power claimed or acted by Order of Parliament be disclaimed And as the King will consent to the Execution of all Laws concerning Popery and Reformation so he desires a Bill for preserving the Common-Prayer against Sectaries that all Persons excepted against by this Treaty may be tried per Pares with a Cessation of Arms and a free Trade This Treaty began March 4. 1642 and broke off April 15. following viz. 1643. But this is observable in this fickle King that four Days before the Treaty broke off the King said he was fully satisfied and promised to give the Parliament-Commissioners his Answer in Writing according to their Desires but because it was past Midnight he would have it drawn up in Writing and give it them in the Morning but instead thereof the King gave them a Paper quite contrary to what was concluded the Night before Whitlock's Mem. fol. 65. a. The Treaty of Peace thus broke off both sides proceed in War The Queen this Year about the beginning of May landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire from Holland having avoided a Squadron of Men of War designed by the Parliament to intercept her and brought abundance of Arms and about 3000 Soldiers and was proclaimed Traitor by the Parliament and after joined with the King and his Army at Edg-Hill in Warwickshire And if the Parliament prospered so ill last Year they succeeded worse this for the Earl of Northampton enters Litchfield and drives the Parliament's Forces into the Close and after that defeats Sir John Gell and Sir W. Brereton but the Earl was slain at the Head of his Forces and the Earl of New-Castle in the North overthrew the Parliament's Forces commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax at Bradforth and Sir William Waller is defeated in the West Prince Rupert takes Bristol and Prince Maurice Exeter Biddiford Barnstable Appleford and Dartmouth The great Hambden is routed and mortally wounded at Chalgrave Field by Prince Rupert And now the King had two conquering Armies in the North and West and the Parliament none considerable to oppose either so that if either the King or the Marquess of New-Castle had marched to London in all Appearance either Army would have found little Opposition but instead hereof the King sits down and besieges Glocester and the Marquess of New-Castle comes before Hull This gave the Parliament an Opportunity to recruit Essex's Army and to enter into a Treaty to procure the Scots to bring an Army into England again for to assist the Parliament In this Treaty a double Consideration is remarkable first The Instability of humane Actions which are founded in Passion and Prejudice for there was but one Year between this Treaty and the National Protestation by the Parliament to Maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England which Passage Mr. Whitlock in his Memoirs fol. 43. has left out and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and this to be taken by all English-men but now the Scots would not stir one Step unless the Parliament of England would join with them in their Covenant which ill agreed with their Protestation which the Parliament submitted to The other was a Discovery of a Spark which soon after broke out into such a Flame as consumed the Covenant Presbytery the Parliament King and Church and State of England for tho during the Prosperity of the King's Affairs this Fire was covered yet when young Sir Henry Vane who was one of the Parliament's Commissioners and one who loved the Presbyterian Government no better than the Episcopal saw that the Parliament would submit to the Scotish Covenant and Discipline he stifly opposed it singly and at last carry'd it that the Nations should join in a Solemn League and the Scots would have Church-Government to be according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches but Sir Henry Vane insisted to have it according to the Word of God only and carried both points Afterwards one of Sir Henry's Fellows expostulated with him why he should put them to so much Trouble about such needless Trifles Sir Henry answer'd He was mistaken and did not see far enough into the matter for a League shewed it was between two Nations and might be broken upon just Reasons but not a Covenant and that Church-Government according to the Word of God by the Difference of Divines and Expositors would be long enough before it were determined for the learnedst held it clearly for Episcopacy so that when all agreed we may take in the Scots Presbytery
seem to court the King and the Parliament sent Propositions of Peace to the King at Hampton-Court the same they sent to the King at New-Castle when he was in the Power of the Scots which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 120. b. and 121. a. But now the Mystery of Iniquity works for Cromwel was as fearful the King should agree with the Parliament as the King was unwilling to agree to them and therefore Cromwel gave Instructions to the Commissioners That if the King would assent to Propositions lower than those of the Parliament that the Army would settle him again in his Throne Hereupon the King returned Answer to the Parliament That he waved now the Propositions sent to him or any Treaty upon them and flies to the Proposals of the Army urges a Treaty upon them and such as he shall make professes he will give Satisfaction to settle the Protestant Religion with Liberty to tender Consciences to secure the Laws Liberty and Property and Privileges of Parliament and of those concerning Scotland he will treat apart with the Scots Commissioners See Whitlock ' s Memoirs fol. 271. b. Upon the reading of the King's Answer a Day was appointed by either House to consider of it and that in the mean time it be communicated to the Scots Commissioners There was a Report at that time and so yet continues tho I cannot find the bottom of it yet I am confident in time it will appear that Cromwel made a private Article with the King That if the King closed with the Propositions of the Army Cromwel should be advanced to a Degree higher than any other as Vicar-General of England as Cromwel was in the Reign of Henry 8. But the King was so Uxorious that he would do nothing without communicating it to the Queen and wrote to her That tho he assented to the Army's Proposals yet if by assenting to them he could procure Peace it would be easier then to take off Cromwel than now he was the Head that govern'd the Army Cromwel who had his Spies upon every Motion of the King intercepts these Letters and resolved never to trust the King again yet doubted that he could not manage his Designs if the King were so near the Parliament and City as Hampton-Court therefore Cromwel sent to the King That he was in no Safety at Hampton-Court by reason of the Hatred which the Adjutators had to him and that he would be in more Safety in the Isle of Wight Hereupon the King upon the 11th of November while the Parliament and Scots Commissioners were debating the King's Answer to their Propositions at Night made his Escape having Post-Horses and a Ship provided for him at Southampton accompanied only with Sir John Berkley Colonel Leg and Mr. Ashburnham and came to the Isle of Wight which would morally have been impossible if Cromwel and his Agents had not put the King upon it But how concealedly soever Cromwel and his son-in-Son-in-law Ireton had carried the Business of the King's Escape to the Isle of Wight yet the Adjutators had some Jealousy upon them that they designed to have the King establish'd and possest the Soldiers with much Prejudice against them Fairfax doubting the Event of these Practices dismist the Adjutators to their several Regiments and sent most of their Officers to their several Charges and appointed a General Rendezvouz of the Army at Cork-bush-field between Hertford and Ware upon the 14th which the Adjutators endeavour'd to have prevented The next Day many Soldiers of five whole Regiments mutiny'd against their Officers and wore Marks of Distinction to be known from the rest Cromwel Ireton and some other of the Officers struck at by the Adjutators were very active in suppressing them and seized upon some of the principal Mutineers and one or two of them were shot before their Troops were reduced and most of the Mutineers and the Officers which favoured them were tried at Court-Martials and cashier'd and three of them condemned to die And for this Cromwel had the Thanks of the House but it will not be long before they shall find little Joy of it From the Isle of Wight the King upon October the 18th sent to the Members for a personal Treaty of Peace at London which after much Debate was agreed to upon these four Preliminaries 1. An Act For Raising Settling and Maintaining Forces by Sea and Land within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominion of Wales 2. An Act For recalling all Declarations Oaths and Proclamations against the Parliament or those who had adhered to them 3. An Act That those Peers who were made after the Great Seal was carried from the Parliament may be made uncapable of Sitting in the House of Peers 4. That Power may be given to the Houses to adjourn as they shall think fit The King it may be not knowing Cromwel had intercepted his Letters to the Queen and so trusting to Cromwel's Promises and the Scots Commissioners flatly protesting against these Preliminaries as opposite to Religion the Crown and Agreement of the Kingdoms refused to sign any Propositions till a Peace was made which might comprehend all Interests Which had no other Effects than that the Lords and Commons Voted 1. That they will make no further Applications or Addresses to the King 2. That no Addresses or Applications be made to the King by any Person whatsoever without Leave from both Houses 3. That the Person or Persons that shall make Breach of this Order shall incur the Penalty of High Treason 4. That they will receive no more Messages from the King and that no Person do presume to bring any Message from the King to both or either Houses of Parliament or any other Person But these Votes were too hot to hold long These Votes were so pleasing to the Army that it was declar'd by a Council of War the 17th of January That they resolved to endeavour to preserve the Peerage and Rights and the Rights of the Peers of England notwithstanding any Scandals upon them to the contrary Yet within little more than a Year the Rump set up by the Army shall turn them out of doors as dangerous and useless Here see what a Labyrinth Men run into when they forsake the Paths of Justice for as Socrates says Plato Eutiphro If Men in Dissension will not submit to some certain Rule which may determine them their Dissensions will be endless and that the Will of the Gods if it be divided cannot be the Rule to determine Justice for Men in obeying one God may disobey another If therefore the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation may not be the Rule which may determine the Controversies between the King the Members the Scots and the Army then nothing can for else what pleased one would displease the other The King would gladly have had the Law to have determined the Controversies for this would have vested him in his Royal Power and by the 18th of Henry
and in September appoint a Conference with the King at Newport in the Isle of Wight to continue for 40 Days and to that purpose take the King out of Prison and allow him the Liberty of the Island and the King upon the Matter with Reluctancy enough grants the Scots and Members their own Demands But neither the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation nor the Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects nor the joint Desires of the Scots and Members who had brought the King to this Condition could protect this unhappy Prince from his approaching Ruin for the Army every where victorious over the Scots and Royalists draw together and make a Remonstrance against all Peace with the King that Justice may be done upon him that the Crown and Church-Lands be sold to pay their Army and that the present Parliament be dissolved and another called which they present to the Members the Twentieth of November And herein Cromwel and his son-in-Son-in-law Ireton were the principal Promoters But the Members were intent upon the King's Answer to their Propositions and laid aside the Army's Remostrance which they take as a slighting of them and then seized the King in the Isle of Wight and make him Prisoner in Hurst-Castle an unhealthy Place and march to London puâ—â—â—â— Garisons into Whitehall Noble-Mens Houses and posted themselves about the Palace Yard Notwithstanding the Memberâ—nâ—â— upon the first of December and vote the King's Concessions to be a sufficient Ground for a Peace and then adjourn for a Week But when the Members were to meet again they found all the Avenues to the House beset with Soldiers who exclude all which were not of their Faction from entring the House which were not one fourth part and make the Residue Prisoners So that if the Mayor Sir John Gage and the Aldermen his Brethren were guilty of High Treason for committing a Force upon the Parliament viz. for continuing the Militia of London in the City the Year before how much more was it High-Treason in Cromwel and his Agents to keep back by Force three Fourths of the Members from entring the House and making them Prisoners that the Rumps of the rest might do his Journey-work So farewel Presbytery and all the Scotish Trumpery in England nor shall these secluded Members ever meet more but to dissolve themselves and make room for another Parliament which shall legally persecute them and their Solemn League and Covenant as much as they by it persecuted the King and their fellow Subjects against Law Nor was Presbytery much longer liv'd in Scotland where they shall never see it restored by this now Race of Kings which shall plague them with the Exercise of Archbishops and Bishops which by their Covenant they are sworn to abolish and cut off the Head of the principal of their Faction allowing them as little place for the Exercise of Presbytery as they now do the Episcopal Party Having tho but in Epitome seen the various Accidents in War whereby the King came to be in this Distress before we declare his End and the manner of it it 's fit in short to take notice of the several Treaties of Peace between the King and Parliament and the Improbability of the good Success in any of them The first Propositions for Peace which the Parliament sent to the King was June the 2d when the King was at York before the War broke out which were Nineteen which you may read at larger in Sir Richard Baker f. 518. a. b. In these Propositions no mention is made either of the Scots Covenant or abolishing Episcopacy yet some of them were so inconsistent with Monarchy and Arbitrary in the Parliament as the King in Honour and Conscience could not condescend to them I say the King could not in Honour or Conscience condescend to the 9th Proposition 15 and 16 Propositions to settle the Militia as the Parliament have ordered without the King That all Forts and Castles of the Kingdom be disposed of by the Parliament viz. The Houses and that the King discharge all his Guards and Forces and not to raise any but in case of actual Rebellion But how could this be done by the King when the Militia and Forts of the Kingdom were in the Power of the Houses So here the King who by Virtue of his Office is obliged to preserve the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and to suppress all Disturbers of them at home and to defend the Nation from all Foreign Invasion has no means to do any of them Objection But the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation by being armed with these Powers that the Nation could be in no Safety if they were continued in him Answer It 's true the Nation was in a very calamitous Estate herein But if the Members had only made it their Business how to have restrained the King herein and to have preserved the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation it would have had another Face than now when the Members are setting up themselves to do the same thing which they feared the King should act I say the King could not in Honour or Conscience agree to the 13th Proposition That the Justice of Parliament viz. the Members should pass upon all Delinquents and they to appear and abide by their Censure For Delinquent is a Word unknown to our Laws and so equivocal that it may signify whatever the Members pleased So that if the King had agreed to these Propositions he would have been a King that could neither have executed Justice nor shewed Mercy and the Houses have an unlimited Arbitrary Power to do whatever they pleased To the Propositions the King returns a sharp Answer That the Houses contrary to Law had pressed their Ordinances upon the People wrested from him the Command of the Militia countenanced the Treason of Hotham and had directed to the People Invectives against his Government and asperst him with favouring Papists and therefore protested that if he were utterly vanquished and a Prisoner in a worse Condition than any of his most unfortunate Predecessors had ever been reduced to he would never stoop so low as to grant these Demands and to make himself of a King of England a Duke of Venice But when the Covenanters in Scotland sent their Proposition to his Majesty he returned Answer he would rather die than submit to them and from a King of England make himself a Duke of Venice Yet the next Year of his own Accord went into Scotland and by Act of Parliament granted the Covenanters all they desired which yet perplext all the subsequent Treaties of Peace in England and more as the Case now stood The next Treaty was at Oxford in the beginning of 1643 which broke off the 15th of April and nothing agreed to upon this Score The Parliament Commissioners gave such Reasons for the King to assent to one of the most material Points of the Treaty that the King assented to it but
being 12 a Clock at Night it could not then be reduced to Writing but he promised it should next Morning when the King gave them a Paper quite contrary whereupon the Treaty broke off See Whitlock's Memoirs f. 65. a. b. For in the next Treaty at Vxbridg which was in December 1644 the Parliament not only insisted that the King's Nephews Rupert and Maurice though Princes Foreign born and so no Subjects to the King of England but many of the principal Lords and Gentry who assisted the King in this War and who by the 11 Hen. 7. 18. were protected for assisting the King should be excepted out of Pardon by an Act of Indempnity which if they had had no Law to have protected them yet the King could not in Conscience have offered them up a Sacrifice for assisting him But another Difficulty arose in this Treaty which the Parliament would have imposed upon the King contrary to the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation viz. To extirpate Episcopacy and to impose the Scots Covenant and Directory upon the Nation though the Bishops were excluded their Sitting in the House of Lords by an Act in 1641 and none in Orders to exercise any Civil Office So that the Houses not content with what had been already granted but grasping at more they lost all for in the first Parliament Car. 2. they were restored to their Seats in Parliament again Objection But if Episcopacy were Jure Divino as the King was informed by his English Bishops and therefore the King could not in Conscience submit to the abolishing of it then it is Jure Divino in Scotland as well as England and if the King of his own Accord could go out of England to abolish it in Scotland Why should the King against the Advice of both Nations not do the same in England Answer He that shall answer for all the Actions of this Prince shall have a great Task Nor can I give any other Answer to it than that because a Man has done an ill Act it shall be a Precedent to him to do it again But if the King should have consented to abolish Episcopacy in England and set up Presbytery I do not see any Benefit the King could have reaped by it according to the Covenanters Practice and Principles For if the Scots after the King had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland and set up Presbytery there and that the Scots had thereupon promised all Obedience to the King in time to come and declared by Act of Parliament That it was detestable and damnable Treason in the highest Degree for any of the Scots Nation either conjunctly or singly to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any Pretence whatsoever without the King's Command could raise Arms unprovoked by the King and against his express Command and invade England why should the English Covenanters after the King should have abolished Episcopacy in England be more obliged to perform any Agreement they made with the King in England then the Scots Covenanters were in Scotland When the King desired the Scots Parliament upon the breaking out of the Irish Massacre and Rebellion to assist him against the Irish they refused because Ireland was not subject to Scotland and tho England be not subject to Scotland yet the Scots against the King's Command can assist by Arms the Parliament against him So that if the Covenant could entitle the Scots to be so false perfidious and treacherous to the King after he had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland Why should not this be a Precedent for the English Covenanters to be so in England after the King should abolish Episcopacy in it and establish Presbytery The Overtures for a Treaty at Oxford in November 1644 preceded that at Vxbridg whence upon the King's Desire it was adjourned and Passes reciprocally of safe Conduct were granted to Commissioners on both sides to meet the 29th of January wherein the Commissioners from Scotland were included The Scots Commissioners being included in this Treaty you need not doubt but their principal Care shall be to establish their Solemn League and Covenant and the Presbyterian Government as firm in England as in Scotland and to this end the three first days were set apart for Religion three other Days for the Militia and three other days for the Settlement of Ireland How humble soever the Scots were if you 'll take their Word yet the first Debate arose between the English and Scots Commissioners concerning Precedence which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs f. 122. a. b. But when the Business concerning Religion came to be debated nothing less than that Presbytery was Jure Divino would down with the Scots nor was Episcopacy less Jure Divino by the English Commissioners for Religion But both these Assertions are false and blasphemous for Jus Divinum is so inseparably inherent in God as cannot be communicated to any Creature and though God by Divine Law or Institution did impower Bishops and Priests with Episcopal and Priestly Power to perform their Offices designed by God for the planting and continuing the Gospel yet the Jus Divinum from whence these Institutions were derived remains the same in God as before As God by the Law of Nature gives Parents a Dominion over their Children and Husbands over their Wives yet the Divine Right which gives these Powers is the same as before and Parents and Husbands have no Divine Right hereby but a Temporal Right by Nature or the Law of Nature so Bishops and Priests have no Divine Right to exercise their Ghostly Powers but a Spiritual Right given them by God's Law or Institution supernaturally or extraordinarily given If Bishops and Priests had a Divine Right they might create Divine Laws which in Terminis I believe none of them will affirm However you may see how the Theologues as they call themselves impose by this Cant upon the World and what endless Discords Factions and Wars have been raised hereby no Man conversant in History can be ignorant of The Principal whereof was Dr. Steward and Mr. Henderson and Marshall for Presbytery but the Zeal on both Parts being so obstinate as well as contradictory would have taken up more than all their Time in these Broils if a Stop had not been put to them upon the Motion of the Marquess of Hartford on the King's Part and the Earl of Pembrook Mr. Hollis and other Commissioners on the Parliament's that they might proceed upon the other Points of the Militia and Ireland In both these there was as little Agreement as in that of Religion not any one Point being agreed to by the King's Commissioners so the Treaty ended and nothing concluded The other Treaties at New-Castle Hampton-Court and the Isle of Wight we have taken notice of before So that the King was as unsuccessful in his Treaties as in his Arms. The Catastrophe of this Tragedy resolves into the King himself for this Juncto after called the Rump-Parliament having thus purged the House
assume to themselves the Supream Power of Ordering the English Affairs confirm the Vote of Non-Addresses to the King and raze the Votes of having a Conference with the King and the Declaration that the King's Concessions were a sufficient Ground for a Peace out of the Journals of the House And vote first that all Power resides in the People Secondly That the Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the Force of a Law without the King Fourthly That to take Arms against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament is High-Treason Fifthly That the King himself took up Arms against the Parliament and therefore is guilty of all the Blood shed in this Civil War and ought by his own Blood to expiate it The Nation was astonished at these Votes for the Person of the King of England was ever esteemed Sacred and therefore tho his Ministers were always accountable in Parliament for using or abusing the Name of the King to gratify their Ambition and wicked Designs against the King or Kingdom yet in no time was any King of England arraigned and judged to die by his own Subjects and tho Edward the Second Richard the Second Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fifth were murdered by wicked Men yet none of these suffered upon pretence of Justice But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake both Rump and Army and as they both joined by Force to impose these upon the King and Nation so both without Force or any Man kill'd in their Defence shall be cashier'd with all imaginable Ignominy and Reproach These Men whom nothing but the King 's and his Loyal Subjects Blood could satiate against Law shall by Law have their own Blood shed in the most terrible manner the Law can inflict these Men who would have the Crown and Church-Lands for their Avarice shall either die or be hang'd as a Company of Beggars Oliver's Heir being undone to pay the Charge of his Father's Funeral or those who had Estates shall forfeit them to encrease the Revenues of the Crown The Regicides to put the best Face they could upon this audacious Act send the Bill for Trial of the King up to the Lords for their Concurrence but so far were the Lords from concurring that they threw the Bill over the Bar Hereupon the Rump vote the Lords dangerous and useless yet Henry Martin said they were useless but not dangerous Then the Rumpers advise with the Judges about the Trial of the King who unanimously declare it against Law and the Scots Commissioners protest against it But neither Authority Law nor Reason would take place with those Men so they erect a new Court never heard of before called a High Court of Justice for the Trial of the King to consist of I think Seventy two thirds of which were Souldiers who by putting the King to Death expected the Reward of the Inheritance both of the Crown and Church If it be Misery to have been happy to what a miserable State have these cursed Minions Flatterers and Sycophants brought one of the greatest and most high-born Princes in the Western World to gratify their Ambition Lust and Avarice for this Prince whom they would have to rend his Subjects from their Laws has now no Subjects who dare protect him by the Laws He who before so often gloried that to him alone belonged the Power of Proroguing Adjourning and Dissolving Parliaments who never did him Wrong but met to assist him against those who wronged him and to have reconciled him to his Subjects has now no Power to dissolve this Rump of a Parliament which will not be reconciled to him He who before so often called his truly Loyal Subjects Undutiful Seditious and Vipers Terms unusual in Princes shall hear himself call'd Tyrant Murderer and Traitor by his implacable Subjects He who before so often gloried he was only accountable to God for all his Actions shall be now called to an Account by a company of Men for Actions whereof they themselves were much more guilty and be sent to God to pass his Accounts there also For upon the 20th of January the King was haled before this Assembly where he was charged of Treason Tyranny and Murder for raising War against the Parliament and People of England Tho it 's evident the Members seiz'd the Militia the Tower of London and Fleet which Powers were inherent in the King and shut him out of Hull and granted Commissions for levying Souldiers before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham But admit the King did first raise Arms to have forced the Parliament and first actually set up his Standard against them and that was a Crime yet was the Regicides Crime greater who had forced the Parliament and set up themselves instead of it The King now too late flies to the Laws of the Land for his Protection protests against the Jurisdiction of the Court as established by no Legal Authority and declares his Life was not so dear to him as his Honour and Conscience and the Laws and Liberties of his People and that he will lose his Life rather than submit to such a Tyrannical Court And at last the King desired to be heard before the Lords and Commons in some things which concerned the Peace of the Kingdom and Liberty of the Subjects but this too was denied And so the 4th day after this Appearance Bradshaw the President gave Sentence upon him to lose his Head all the Court to the number of 67 owning it by standing up Which Sentence was executed the 30th of January The Character of King Charles the First THus fell one of the greatest and most high-born Princes of the Western World In his Person he was somewhat more than ordinarily tall and the Composition of it was framed in most exact natural Proportion of Parts so that he was very active and of a fine Mein in his Motion which was commonly more than ordinarily fast yet he appeared best on Horse-back and excelled in managing his Horse so that when he was in Spain in sight of the King Queen the Infanta's and the Infanta Maria whom he courted or at least seemed to do so and innumerable other Spectators he took the Ring in his first Course His Visage was long and appeared best when he did not speak for he had a natural Impediment in his Speech and would often stutter in it especially when he was in Passion To these Natural Endowments may be added a Temperance in Eating and Drinking and Chastity tho his Enemies unjustly traduced him otherways rarely to be found in Princes He was born in Scotland about two Years before his Father became King of England and being bred from his Infancy in a most luxurious and flattering Court tho he avoided the Luxury of it yet the Flattery of it took such deep Root in him that he would never permit free Counsel to take any Impression in him In his Nature
his Memoirs fol. 523 524 525 526. wherein Cromwel takes notice as well as Whitlock of the Danger of a Victorious Army lying idle in Peace more than in War and of their murmuring in not being rewarded according to their Deserts and that the Army had a strange Disgust against the Parliament for their Pride Ambition Self-seeking engrossing all Places of Honour and Profit to themselves and Friends and their daily breaking forth into new and violent Factions their Delays in Business and Design to perpetuate themselves their medling in private Matters contrary to the Institution of Parliament their Injustice and Partiality in those Matters and the scandalous Lives of some of the chief of them so that unless there be some Authority so full and high as to restrain and keep things in better Order and that may put a stop to these Exorbitancies it will be impossible in humane Reason to prevent our Ruin Whitlock magnifies Cromwel's Government of the Army yet finds great Difficulty how he could reform the Parliament he being subordinate to them and having taken his Commission from them and hopes the greater part of the Members are not such as Cromwel says when great Matters come before them Cromwel answered My Lord There is little hopes of a good Settlement by them really there is not but a great deal of fear that they will destroy again what the Lord hath so graciously done for them and us we all forget God and God will forget us and give us up to Confusion and these Men will help it on if they be suffered to proceed in their ways some Course must be taken to curb and restrain them or we shall be ruin'd by them Whitlock answered We our selves have owned them the Supreme Power and taken our Commissions from them and how to restrain them after this will be hard to find out Cromwel What if a Man should take upon him to be King Whitlock I think the Remedy worse than the Disease Cromwel Why do you think so Whitlock As to your own Person the Title of a King would be of no Advantage because you have the Kingly Power in you already concerning the Militia as you are General as to the Nomination of Civil Officers those whom you think fittest are seldom refused and tho you have no Negative Vote in passing Laws yet what you dislike is not easily carried and the Taxes are already settled and in your Power to dispose the Moneys raised and as to the foreign Affairs tho the Ceremonial Part be to the Parliament yet the Expectation of good or bad Success is from your Excellency and particular Solicitations of foreign Ministers are made to you only So that I apprehend indeed less Envy and Danger but not less real Opportunities of doing Good in your being General than it would be if you had assumed the Title of King Whitlock after enlarged himself How dangerous it would be to Cromwel to assume the Title for that the main Controversy between us and our Adversaries is to be established in a Monarchy or a Free State and most of our Friends have engaged with us upon the Hopes of a Free State and to that end have undergone all their Hazards and Difficulties if then your Excellency shall take upon you the Title of a King this state of your Cause will be thereby wholly determined and Monarchy established in your Person and the Question will be no more whether our Government shall be by a Monarch or Free State but whether Cromwel or Stuart shall be our King After Whitlock desired his Excellency to consider his Condition viz. You are environ'd with secret Enemies upon your subduing the publick Enemy the Officers of the Army account themselves all Victors and have had an equal share with you The Success which God hath given us hath not a little elated their Minds and many of them are turbulent and busy Spirits and are not without their Designs how they may dismount your Excellency and some of them get into the Saddle how they may bring you down and set up themselves They want not Counsel and Encouragement herein it may be from some Members of Parliament who may be jealous of your Power and Greatness lest you should grow too high for them and in time over-master them and they will plot to bring you down first or to clip your Wings Cromwel thank'd Whitlock for his good Advice then ask'd him What were his Thoughts for Prevention of the Mischiefs which hung over our Heads Whitlock advised him to make a private Treaty with the King of Scots whereby he did not doubt but in the Condition the King was in but Cromwel might secure himself and Friends and might make himself and Posterity as great and permanent to all humane Probability as ever any Subject and provide for his Friends as well as secure our spiritual and civil Liberties Cromwel heard him and seem'd displeas'd and brake off the Discourse and his Carriage to Whitlock from that time was altered Notwithstanding the manifold Pretensions of the Dutch and Rump wherein God's sacred Name was so often exposed to cover their Hypocrisy of sincere Love and Friendship of either State to one another and of their Zeal for Propagation of the Honour of God and encreasing the true Reformed Religion neither State trusted the other but made all imaginable Preparations for carrying on the War and the Rump for Encouragement of the Seamen order'd them some Pay before-hand and Subsistence for their Families in their Absence and that for every Ship which shall be adjudged good Prize 40 l. per Tun and 6 l. for every Piece of Cannon taken or found in Prize-Ships and 10 l. for every Piece of Cannon which should be taken on board of any Ship they should take or fire to be distributed to the Seamen according to their Qualities and that whosoever should enrol themselves in the Parliament's Service within 40 Days should receive a Month's Pay not to be passed upon Account and Hospitals provided for sick and wounded Men. This was in Jan. 1652. Cromwel's Ambition to be uppermost could no longer be supprest but now the Rump being the only Obstacle he first set the Officers of his Army to bait the Rump which they did with the Words Cromwel put in their Mouth and which he before declared to Whitlock During these Commotions Doleman and Hugh Peters set on by the Dutch did make very submissive Applications to the Council of State and Rump confessing they were not able to contest with the Puissance of England offering to acknowledg to the English the Sovereignty of the British Seas and to pay 300000 l. to the Rump but the Dutch above all things dreading the Rump animated Cromwel with the Promise of a far greater Sum in case he would depose the Rump See Stubbe pag. 81. If the Dutch dreaded the Rump the Rump did not less dread Cromwel and therefore made their Application to Monk for Protection but failed for Cromwel
had gained him before and he discovered all to Cromwel and that he had no Concern for them nor Obligation to them as you may see in Dr. Gumble's History of Monk ' s Life pag. 73. So that Monk was not now of the same Mind as he was afterward when Lambert turn'd the Rump out of doors All other Obstacles thus removed and Cromwel heightned in his frantick Resolutions by the Expectation of Mountains of Gold from the Dutch upon the 20th of April with a Party of Soldiers with him marched to the House and led a File of Musqueteers in with him and the rest he placed at the Door of the House in the Lobby and entring the House in furious manner bid the Speaker leave the Chair and told the House That they had sat long enough unless they had done more Good I could have told him they had done two good Deeds for him one in taking away the King's Life to let him into his Throne the other that they had made him General to enable him to turn them out of doors That some of them were Whore-masters looking towards Henry Martin and Sir Peter Wentworth That others of them were Drunkards and some corrupt and unjust Men and scandalous to the Profession of the Gospel and that it was not fit they should sit any longer as a Parliament and desired them to go away But the Speaker not stirring from his Seat Col. Harrison took him by the Arm to remove him from his Seat which when the Speaker saw he left the Chair Some of the Members rose up to answer Cromwel but he would suffer none to speak but himself He bid one of the Soldiers Take away that Fool 's Bawble the Mace and stay'd himself till all the Members were out and then caused the Doors to be shut up We will look upon this Act in a threefold Consideration viz. In the Doers to whom done and in the Manner of it 1. The Doers were the Rump ' s Servants raised by the Rump and no ways provoked by the Rump So little do Benefits received by ill Men create any Obligation of Gratitude in those who receive them 2. The Rump were a Parliament which were impowered to make War or Peace or were not if they were not then Cromwel and his Assistants Commission from the Rump to judg the King to Death and all the Acts of Hostility which they did during these Wars were Murder or Rapine but if they were a Parliament who might grant Commissions in War and make Laws then Cromwel and his Assistants were greater Rebels and Violators of the Liberties of the Nation than either the Irish or Scots were against the King or the Royalists against the Parliament for the Irish and Scots pretended Grievances and Oppressions against the present Powers whereas Cromwel and his Assistants pretended not one categorical Complaint against the Rump and the Royalists foâ—ght to preserve the Establish'd Laws and Constitutions of the Nation which Cromwel and his Assistants did not Besides herein Cromwel and his Assistants assumed a Power above Regal in deposing the Rump if it were a Rightful Parliament which the King could not do without their Consent 3. For the Manner of Cromwel's Deposing the Rump it was so barbarous and rude as I do not think you will find the like among the most Savage People unless it were when Cromwel and his Agents deposed the Secluded Members Yet sure there was a Divine Justice in both for as the Covenanting Members expelled the Royalists for not taking the Covenant or joining with them in the Innovations which the Covenanters brought into the Church and State so Cromwel and the Rump expelled them for their Covenanting and set up themselves instead of them and now Cromwel does the like by the Rump to exalt himself Thus by their own mercenary Servants and not a Sword drawn in their Defence fell the Haughty and Victorious Rump whose mighty Actions will scarcely find Belief in future Generations and to say the Truth they were a Race of Men most indefatigably industrious in Business always seeking for Men fit for it and never preferring any for Favour nor by Importunity You scarce ever heard of any revolting from them in England Scotland or Ireland during their time except by the Levellers 1649. See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 385 386 387. No Murmur or Complaint of Sea-men or Soldiers employ'd by them either by Sea or Land for want of Pay In all the Ports of England during the Dutch War Money or Credit was found to pay off the Sea-men whenever their Ships were designed to be laid up Nor do I find they ever press'd either Soldiers or Seamen in all their Wars And as they excelled thus in their Management of Civil Affairs so it must be owned they exercised in Matters Ecclesiastick no such Severities as either the Covenanters or others before them did upon such as dissented from them And as the Rump were thus industrious and victorious in War so were they not negligent in reforming the Abuses in the Practice of the Common Laws and to that end in October 1650 order'd that all the Books of the Laws be put into English and that all Writs Process and Returns thereof and all Patents Commissions Indictments Judgments Records and all Proceedings in Courts of Justice shall be in the English Tongue and not in the Latin or French or any other Language See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 459. a. The Rump further ordered a Committee for regulating the Law and the Committee reported the Draughts of several Laws viz. 1. The taking away Fines upon Bills Declarations and Original Writs 2. Against Customary Oaths of Fealty and Homage to the Lords of Mannors 3. For taking away common Recoveries and unnecessary Charge of Fines and to pass and charge Land intailed as Lands in Fee Simple 4. For more speedy Recovery of Rents 5. Touching Pleaders and their Fees 6. For more speedy regulating and easy Discovery of Debts and Damages not exceeding 4 l. and under See Whitlock ' s Mem. fol. 504. a. Whether the Rump passed these into Laws I do not find but if they did not they might have done if Cromwel had let them alone and they sat not four Years and three Months But how industrious and victorious soever the Rump was in War they were not so wise in Counsel by making the Act of Navigation and tho we have before demonstrated the manifold Mischiefs and Inconveniences which this Law has brought upon this Nation and shall more particularly hereafter if God pleases in Answer to those Reasons which Sir Josiah Child and Sir Francis Brewsier pretend in Defence of it yet it 's fit that we here shew how that the Rump was mistaken as well in the End as Causes of this Law If we look upon Britain it is an Island and divided into two Kingdoms England and Scotland and both these Kingdoms before they were united under one King viz. James I. by immâ—morial Prescriptions were possessed of
had not cheated both Mazarine and him thereby to be Arbitrator over the French as well as Spaniard when he pleased 6. Cromwel out-vied the best of our Kings in rendring our Laws to the Subject in the English Tongue for tho Edward the Third the most Excellent of our Kings permitted Pleading in the English Tongue yet he went no further whereas Cromwel rendred not only the Pleadings but Practice and Laws themselves into the English Tongue and herein he imitated our Saviour common Justice and the Practice of the most Learned and Civilized Nations I say he imitated our Saviour who after his Ascension wrought his first Miracle by inspiring his Apostles to speak all Languages to teach the Gospel to all Nations in their Native Tongue and by the same reason all Nations ought to be instructed in their Laws in their own Tongue I say this is conformable to common Justice for all Laws ought to be a Priori for where there is no Law there is no Transgression and if Laws be rendred in a Tongue not understood it 's all one to those who understand not the Language as if there had not been Laws The Romans and Grecians who were the most Learned and Civiliz'd of all Nations would never endure a Foreign Word in any of their Laws lest the Subject through Ignorance of it might be unjustly punished when 't was not his fault When Caesar was murder'd in the Senate and the Senators were ready to cut one another's Throats Cicero cried out Let there be an Amnestia and for the future the Power to reside in the Senate And you may read in his second Philippicks the long Apology he makes for suddenly using this Foreign Word in the Senate And Tiberius asked leave of the Senate to use Monopolion because 't was foreign to the Latin And the Romans as well as Grecians not only instructed Youth in their Laws but in all Arts and Sciences in their Mother-Tongue and thereby became the most Learned of all Nations But these good Deeds of Cromwel you 'll soon see will not long out-live him CHAP. III. A Continuation of this Treatise from the Death of Cromwel to the Restoration of King Charles the Second AFter the Death of Cromwel there was some Grumble between the Republican Officers of the Army and Protectorian who should succeed Those said that Cromwel when he was well promised his son-in-Son-in-law Fleetwood that he should succeed but these said That tho Cromwel was sick yet he declared his Son Richard his Successor and that this was his last Will And besides Cromwel's Council which by the Instrument of Government had the Power had elected Richard and so Richard was proclaimed Protector in all the publick Places of England Scotland and Ireland Richard thus seated not only the Protectorian but the Officers of the Republican Faction congratulate him and under their Hand-writing promise to be true to him and what Cromwel so industriously obtained from the Mercenary Officers of the Army in England and Scotland to congratulate him in his assuming the Protectorian Dignity and to assist him in it with their Lives and Fortunes is now voluntarily done by numerous Companies of Sycophants from all Parts of the Nation to the number of ninety Congratulatory Addresses which Richard had as little good of as King James II. had from those above thirty Years after When they flatter'd that Prince in those things which tended to the Subversion of the English Constitution both in Church and State But Richard's wandring Joys faded in the Bud For after his Father's Funeral the Pomp whereof undid him the Republican Officers cabal and conspire to depose Richard and exalt Fleetwood and in two respects they say Fleetwood ought to be Protector one that he was truly Godly and an expert Leader and had been tried to be so in many Difficulties The other Cromwel had by his last Will when he was Compos Mentis design'd him his Successor whereas Richard was substituted in a surreptitious manner by the Craft of some of the Council when Cromwel had lost his Senses Lambert after he had been discarded by Cromwel betook himself to Wimbleton-House where he turned Florist and had the fairest Tulips and Gelliâ—â—owers that could be got for Love or Money yet in these outward Pleasures he nourished the Ambition he entertain'd before he was cashier'd by Cromwel And in these Dissensions as Tortoises do upon the approach of the Spring he comes abroad and becomes a prime Ring-leader in the Cabal and in due time shall be the Ruin of them all The first thing they agree upon was to restore the common Souldiers to their former Pay which Cromwel had retrench'd two Pence a day And herein they shew their good Will as Dego did but how to pay the Souldiers they could no more tell than how Dego's Executors should pay his Legacies In this Kindness to the common Souldiers the Officers did not forget themselves and charge the Memory of Cromwel that he ruled over them with a Tyrannical and Despotical Power turning out and putting in Officers by his own Will therefore they petition Richard That for the future no Souldier be turned out of his place without a Council of War nor any Action brought but by Martial Law That no Souldier be tried in any Criminal Case but in a Court-Martial and that the Souldiers have Power to chuse their own General Richard was Head of no Faction as his Brother Fleetwood was nor was his gentle and easy Nature a â—it Match to encounter the intriguing Designs of Lambert or resist the rude Attacks of his Clownish Uncle Desborough and so foresees no Help to be had for his Security but from a Parliament Therefore Richard summons a Parliament to meet at Westminster upon the 27th of January 1658 of the Composition made by his Father of this and t'other House this to consist of 400 English 30 Scots and as many Irish This and t'other House met accordingly when this House fell at Variance with t'other House by what Right they sat there Nor did this House agree better with the Scots and Irish sitting there having no Right to sit and vote with the free-born English they being conquer'd Slaves and Creatures of the Protector Nor did the Republican and Protectorian Factions agree better However all agreed to recognize Richard Protector of England Scotland and Ireland yet would not agree to Cromwel's Instrument of Government but inveighed bitterly against it as being extorted from a lame Parliament that was neither â—ull nor free But they recalled Overton who was imprisoned in Jersey by the Arbitrary Will of Cromwel and made an Ordinance against the meeting of the Officers of the Army to hold Consultations till the Parliament should determine Affairs This Ordinance stung the Caballing Officers to the quick so that they resolved to be rid of Richard and his Parliament too but how to do this or where to begin admitted of great Debate For to begin at Richard now the Parliament
are commissionated by him So help me God So that from swearing Negatively to Belief in the first part of this Oath we come to swear Affirmatively in this part of it But this part not being Promissory of Time to come is an Assertory Oath too if any besides the taking God's Name in vain or worse An Assertory Oath is of what a Man knows to be certainly true and what was immediately the Object of Sense Here a Man swears not that he knows but abhors and what does he abhor That Traiterous Position of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person or those commissionated by him Is Traiterous Position the Object of Sense and immediate so as the Swearer knows what the meaning of Traiterous Position is Which I believe not one of twenty does Or is not some Inference deduced from some Law or Usage which cannot be the Object of Sense and so not to be sworn to The End of an Assertory Oath is to inform the Judg and Jury so that Justice may be determined by it but here is neither Judg nor Jury to inform What can be the end of this Swearing Why 't is because otherwise the Swearer cannot be a Member of the Corporation but if I cannot take his Word I 'll not take his Oath And he that swears most to get Places is least worthy of them And I dare say he so much less understands his Duty in any Place by how much the more he is ready to swear to get into it And you will see that those Men who are so ready to swear by this Oath which they did not understand to get to be Members of Corporations shall be more ready to forswear themselves in giving up their Charters which they had sworn to maintain and keep and which they understood they ought to do Religion Piety Judgment Justice and Righteousness are the ways by which God is honoured and Peace and Happiness established in Nations and Kingdoms And will God instead of these suffer his Sacred Name to be prostituted by vain Swearing so as to pass unpunished Did not the Prophet Hosea Ch. 4. v. 3. of old complain That the Land mourned because of Oaths And hath not our Land mourned ever since the Convocation after the Dissolution of the Short Parliament 1640 did enjoin the Oath I A. B. swear that I approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation and will not consent to alter the Government in the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. to be taken by all the Clergy Was God well pleased that his Sacred Name should be affixed to such Stuff Or did this establish this Hierarchy Did not the Parliament about a Year after expel the Bishops out of the Lords House and imprisoned their Persons and made them and all Deans and Arch-Deacons uncapable of Temporal Jurisdiction And did not England and Scotland about two Years after join in a Covenant and swear to extirpate Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons Did not the Engagement expel the Covenant and the Recognition to Oliver out the Engagement till Men neither regarded what they had sworn nor cared what they swore to Monk before he came out of Scotland caused the Scots to abjure the King and his Interest So in his coming to London he did by the Officers of the Irish Brigade and the Rump died abjuring the King and Royal Family yet in less than four Months after the King was restor'd Before the Scots would admit the King to land in Scotland the 23d of June 1650 they made him with his Hands lifted up swear in the Presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all Hearts his Allowance and Approbation of the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant and Directories of Worship and not only to give his Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament enjoining the same in all his Dominions but to observe them in his private Family And upon his Coronation on the 11th of January 1651 repeated the same Oath Yet how little did this avail him or the Covenanters for in less than eight Months Cromwel drove him and his Covenanters quite out of Scotland And I dare say the King never after made use of them in his private Family nor ever after give his Assent to any Act of Parliament enjoining the Covenants tho he were restored to all his Dominions From swearing the Corporation-Oath the Parliament proceeds That all Members of Corporations declare against the Solemn League and Covenant in these words I A. B. do declare That I hold there lies no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom This Declaration is as vain and more wild than the Corporation-Oath for 't is but matter of Belief or Opinion and so no Issue can be taken upon it but if there could in him who declares yet none can be taken upon that part which declares there lies no Obligation upon another and I 'll put it upon this Issue that such a Declaration was never before enjoin'd by any Law And if the Covenant be an unlawful Oath in it self because imposed by no lawful Authority yet I say that no Authority under Heaven can make the taking God's Name in vain lawful much less to take a vain or superfluous Oath From new invented swearing and declaring to keep the King in the Kingdom the Church makes many new invented Prayers for him especially that for the Parliament wherein they tell God that the King is their most Religious and Gracious King as if he were so and God did not know it and if he were not so to perswade God he was so De Jove quid sentis Will God be mock'd Is not he Omniscient and knows the Secrets of every Man's Heart Has he any need to be informed what Man is Or did this King's manner of Life induce the Church to inform God that he was most Gracious or full of Grace Or his devout Behaviour at his seldom Presence in Divine Service declare him to be most Religious This King's Father and Grand-father's Flatterers went no higher than to flatter them that they were bound by no Laws and accountable to none but God for all their Actions and that their Subjects were bound to obey them in all under Penalty of Damnation They never went about to perswade God they were most Religious and Gracious in so doing The Parliament chimed in with the Church and by the Act of Vniformity enjoin That every one who holds an Ecclesiastical Promotion shall publickly declare before his Congregation his unfeigned Assent and Consent to every thing contained and prescribed in the Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. Put these together I. A. B. do declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent That the King
Speech that they would not deign to debate it or one Paragraph in it Neither the Baâ—t of Tangier nor the King 's making Alliances with the Dutch and Spaniard if any such were in his Ramble of Prorogations of this Parliament would make the Commons give more Money This Parliament met in a contrary Humour to that of the Long Parliament and that from contrary Causes for that Parliament adored him as their Deliverer from the Rage and Persecution of the late times whereas this Parliament met in Dread and Terror of the Nation at present and were frighted at the Prospect of the Consequence of it after the King's Death The Commons heated by the Dissolutions of the two last Parliaments when they were searching into the Discovery of the Popish Plot and exasperated against the Tories for ridiculing the Popish Plot and for abhorring petitioning the King to let the Parliament sit in order to prosecute and secure the Nation against it c. proceeded in another Temper I think than any other ever before and in Truth I do not desire the Prosecution of the Commons in the Long Parliament in the first ten Years against the Protestant Dissenters and of the Commons of this Parliament against the Tories should be taken for Precedents by any Parliament in time to come When Parliaments met annually or at least frequently I think a Complaint cannot be found against any Man for Breach of Privilege but when there were long Intervals of Parliaments from whence the Consequence resolved into long Sittings of Parliaments which began in the Reign of Henry VIII then the Inconvenience I may say of Privilege of Parliament first began nor do I find any before the latter end of Henry VIII nor does Mr. Petit in his Precedents from Arrests and other Privileges of Parliament-men cite any before the Thirty fourth of Henry VIII in Case of Mr. George Ferrers Burgess for the Town of Plimouth being arrested for Debt and this was taken for such a Novelty that he takes up near seven Pages to recite the Proceedings of the Commons upon it and how the King being advertised thereof called the Chancellour the Judges the Speaker of the Commons and the gravest Persons of them wherein he commended the Wisdom of the Commons in maintaining their Privileges which he would not in any Point have infringed and that the Privileges of Parliament extend to the Servants of the Commons from Arrests as well as to the Persons of the Commons It 's worthy Observation with what Sobriety and Justice the Commons proceeded herein They ordered their Serjeant forthwith to repair to the Compter in Breadstreet wherein Mr. Ferrers was committed with his Mace to demand his Delivery which the Serjeant did to the Officers of the Compter who notwithstanding refused to do it and beat and hurt some of the Serjeant's Officers and broke his Mace and during the Brawl the Sheriffs of London came in who countenanced the Officers of the Compter and refused to deliver Mr. Ferrers and gave the Serjeant proud Language and contemptuously rejected his Message Hereupon the Commons commanded the Serjeant to demand the Sheriffs of London to deliver Mr. Ferrers by shewing them his Mace which was his Warrant for so doing whereupon the Sheriffs delivered him accordingly but then the Serjeant having further Command from the Commons charged the Sheriffs to appear personally on the Morrow by eight of the Clock before the Speaker in the nether House or of the Commons to bring thither the Clerks of the Compter and such other of their Officers as were Parties in the Fray and to take into Custody one White who had wittingly procured the said Arrest in contempt of the Privilege of Parliament The next day the two Sheriffs with one of the Clerks of the Compter and the said White appeared in the Commons House where the Speaker charging them with their Contempt and Misdemeanour they were compelled to make immediate Answer without being admitted to Counsel and in conclusion the Sheriffs and the said White were committed to the Tower and the Clerk which was the Occasion of the Fray to a place called Little Ease and the Officer which did the Arrest called Taylor with four other Officers to Newgate where they remained from the Twenty eighth to the Thirty first of March and then were delivered at the humble Suit of the Mayor and their other Friends The next Breach of Privilege reported by Petit is eight Years after viz. the fourth of Edward VI by one Withrington who made an Assault upon the Person of one Brandling Burgess of New-castle but the Parliament drawing towards an End the Commons sent Withrington to the Privy Council but the Council would not meddle in it and sent the Bill of Mr. Brandling's Complaint back again to the Commons according to the antient Custom of the House whereupon the Bill was sent to the Lords from the Commons when Withrington confest he began the Fray upon Dr. Brandling upon which he was committed to the Tower This was in the Year 1550. Mr. Petit finds not another Breach of Privilege till the Fourteenth of Elizabeth twenty one Years after which was done by one Arthur Hall for sundry lewd Speeches used as well in the Commons House as abroad who was warned by the Serjeant to appear before the Bar of the Commons to answer for the same and upon his Speech upon the humble Confession of his Folly he was remitted with a good Exhortation given him by the Speaker Here I observe these three Particulars 1. The Rarity of these Breaches of Privileges of Parliament in former times 2. The Justice of the Commons in their Proceedings of Breach of Privilege to cite the Person or Persons to appear before them to answer for themselves before the House passed any Censure upon them 3. That in none of these Censures they enjoined the Delinquent to pay their Fees to their Serjeant for the Serjeant is the King's Officer and by the 26th West 1. no Officer of the King 's shall take any Fee or Reward for doing his Office but what he receives from the King upon Penalty of rendring double to the Plaintiff and be further punished at the Will of the King And Sir Edward Coke in his first Inst Lib. 3. Sect. 701. Tit. Extortioners says this was the antient common Law and the Penalties added by the Statute and that tho some Statutes since have allowed the King's Officers in some Cases to take Fees for executing their Offices yet none other can be taken but what such Statutes allow and that all Officers of the King who take Fees otherwise are guilty of Perjury I would know by what Law the Commons Serjeant takes his Fees and how the Commons can absolve him from Perjury for taking such Fees Whereas in this Parliament rarely a Day passed wherein Men upon bare Suggestions and absent were not judged and Execution ordered for high Breaches and notorious Breaches of the Commons Privileges yet most of these
not mean by taking the Test to bind up himself from wishing and endeavouring any Alteration in a lawful Way which he shall think fit for advancing the Church and State where by his Example he invited others to be loose from the Test to make Alterations 6. That he understood this as part of his Oath which was Treasonable Invasion upon the Royal Legislative Power as if it were lawful for him to make to himself an Act of Parliament For the better understanding the Earl's Case it 's fit to consider first the Test was not to be imposed upon any but those who bear Office and the Earl was desirous to have laid down all his Offices which was denied him Secondly it was not to be imposed before the first of January whereas all these Proceedings against the Earl upon the Test were not only unwarrantable but the Council usurped the Royal Legislative Authority by imposing the Test upon the Earl before Thirdly that this Explanation of the Test by the Earl was by the Duke's Command and Allowance of the Council one Day and the next Day made Treason for publishing it the Earl being peremptorily commanded by the Duke to deliver the Explanation he had drawn in Writing to the Council 1. The Earl's Counsel insisted that the Earl having before always dutifully and loyally behaved himself to the King his Words and Intentions ought to be interpreted in the best Sense and in his Favour 2. That the Act against Leasing-making and depraving the King's Laws were for plain Words and Speeches tending to make Discords between the King and People and were never intended against a Person in Judicature required to give the true Sense of a Law to the best of his Skill and Conscience and that it would be strange in such a Case that this should be a Crime if one Man differ from another whereas oftentimes not only learned Lawyers but the Judges themselves differ about the Interpretation of Laws 3. That the Act of Parliament does not impose the Test generally but as a Qualification for those who shall bear publick Office and therefore it is just and commendable in any Person who has a Scruple of Conscience upon him to declare his meaning in taking of it how he understands it it matters not whether he errs or not for Conscientia etiam erronea obligat especially where a Man's Conscience is opposite to his Interest as in this Case to lose his Preferment nor was this any Reflection by the Earl upon the Act of Parliament nor their Prudence in imposing the Test 4. Tho the Earl could not take the Test otherwise than he explained it yet by the Act there was no greater Penalty than that Habetur pro recusante he should not hold his Places of Trust 5. That the Counsel allowed the Earl's Explanation by bidding him take his Place after he had made his Explanation 6. The Earl's Explanation could not be treasonable viz. Animo defamandi whenas he only made it to the Council when required whereas some Bishops whole Presbyteries and Synods had made Explanations of the Test and in downright Terms charged it with Inconsistencies and Contradictions and these allowed to be printed before the Earl made his and even the Council themselves had made an Explanation of it before the Earl was tried tho the Parliament was then in being and this made publick Q. If this were not more Treason than the Earl's tho his Counsel durst not say so 7. That the Earl by making his Explanation has assumed a Legislative Power to which it was answered The Legislative Power extends to all but the Earl's Explanation refers only to himself how he understood he might take the Test and this was done without any Diminution to the Legislative Power of making or interpreting Laws and if the Legislative Power be not satisfied it cannot extend any further than that the Earl shall be a Refuser of the Oath which is neither Treason nor Perjury as was charged upon the Earl 8. That the Earl was ready to give Obedience as far as he could did not import the Parliament had imposed an unlawful Oath for here is no Impeachment of the Justice or Prudence of the Law-giver nor can any Law be so plain especially affirmative Laws as this is that every Man shall understand it alike and if one Man declare one Sense of it and another otherwise how does this become Treason in one or the other or import the Injustice or Illegality of the Law 9. That the Earl was confident the Parliament never intended contradictory Oaths which was so far from being treasonable that considering the plain downright Objections spread abroad of the Inconsistencies and Contradictions of the Test it was a high Vindication of the Parliament 10. Therefore he thinks no Body can explain it but for himself which having no reference to any other this cannot be taken for any diminution of the Parliamentary Authority or depraving of the Law 11. That he takes it so far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion if this be a Crime the Earl is neither the Beginner nor Promoter of it so many Bishops Synods and Presbyteries having before printed it with Allowance from the Council nor the Promoter of it for the Earl said this only for himself and was passive in it being required by the Council to make his Explanation and if they divulged it 't was their Fault 12. That he did not bind up himself in his Station and in a lawful way to wish and endeavour any Alteration he thinks to the Advantage of the Church or State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and his Loyalty This has reference to the Earl in his Station as he is a Peer of Scotland who has not only a Right in Parliament to debate freely of any Law in being but is a Member which has a Legislative Right and Vote to repeal as well as make Laws and herein can no more bind up himself than one Act of Parliament can bind another Parliament Note the Earl does not say this is part of the Test-Oath but part of his Oath in the Sense he takes the Test which makes no alteration of the Test The King's Advocate Sir George Mackenzy being one of the Conspiracy in contriving the Earl's Destruction you need not fear but he 'll strain his Wit to make good his Indictment of the Earl He begins with a long Invective against the jugling Covenant and this excellent Law the Test was established to prevent the like for the future and that no Law is of private Interpretation and if it were Men would be loose from Obedience to all Law and concludes with a Lie that there was no force upon the Earl to take the Oath that he took it for his own Advantage It 's true no private Interpretation of any Law is of force to bind another and whatsoever Interpretation another makes of any Law it makes no Alteration in the Law but if a
were undone by it yet little of the Money levied upon them was brought into the Exchequer and you may be sure the Prosecutors would take their own share and it was no difficult Matter to get a Grant or at least a Pardon for the King 's Among the rest of the Worthies in this pious Business one Jenner a Lawyer was one who for this and other meritorious Acts was after knighted and made one of the honourable Barons of the Exchequer and Sir Dudly North the Keeper's own Brother was another and though these Men were excepted out of the Act of Indemnity made by this King and Informations against them in the Exchequer and among the rest against this Jenner yet upon pleading their Pardons I do find no great matttr came of them And now since the Meal-Tub Plot and that of Fitz-Harris had no better Effect the Court sets up another to throw the Popish Plot upon the Nonconformists You have heard before how there appeared to be a Popish Plot carried on in Ireland ever since the Year 1665 for establishing the Popish Religion and that several Witnesses were brought out of Ireland to prove it and how that the Lords in Parliament having throughly enquired into it did upon the sixth of January last viz. 1680-81 send this Message to the Commons Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled that they do declare that they are fully satisfied that there now is and for divers Years last past hath been an horrid and treasonable Plot continued and carried on by those of the Popish Religion in Ireland for massacring the English and subverting the Protestant Religion and the antient Government of that Kingdom to which they desire the Concurrence of this House to which the Commons agreed The Evidence by which the Lords discovered this Plot were generally Irish and of the Popish Religion and it 's probable were Partakers of the Design of this Massacre and had not their Pardons or if they had they were poor and had no means to subsist now the Oxford Parliament was dissolved and no Prospect of another especially having now lost their Friends and Dependance for having given their Evidence of the Discovery of the Plot and were in a strange Country In this state the Court imployed a sort of Men partly by Terror and partly by their Necessities to work upon the Irish to pervert their Evidence another way And the Cause being the same it had the same Effect upon others as well as the Irish for the Oxford Parliament being dissolved and all Hopes of Enquiry further into the Popish Plot growing desperate Dugdale Turbervile and Smith not having that I can find gotten their Pardons and having lost their Dependances upon their having given their Evidence and being reduced to the same Necessities the Irish Witnesses were were easily wrought upon to smother the Popish Plot and to swear another upon the principal Inquirers into the Popish nay even my Lord H tho not in the like Circumstances could not procure his Pardon till his Drudgery of Swearing was over The Foundation thus laid now we proceed to shew how the King made good his Declaration for calling frequent Parliaments and in using his utmost Endeavours of extirpating Papacy and it is without any Precedent that ever any King before did truckle to such vile and mean things to invert his Declaration and his manifold repeated Promises to the Parliament The 28th of March the Parliament at Oxford was dissolved and upon the 27th of April following an Indictment of High Treason was preferred against Edward Fitz-Harris to the Grand Jury at Westminster for the Hundred of Oswalst but the Grand Jury having the Vote of the Commons of the 27th of March so fresh in their Memories desired the Opinion of the Court whether they might safely proceed upon it and you need not doubt but the Court gave their Opinion they might So the Grand Jury found the Bill From the time that Fitz-Harris was removed from Newgate to the Tower which was 10 Weeks before this Indictment he was kept so close Prisoner that his Wife nor any others were permitted to come at him whereas the Lords impeached in Parliament had the Liberty of the Tower and for any Man to visit them Yet Fitz-Harris's Wife foreseeing the Design of the Trial of her Husband had gone to Counsel and had a Plea drawn to the Jurisdiction of the Court to which the Attorney-General demurred and Fitz-Harris's Counsel joined in the Demurrer It were Vanity and extream Arrogance in me to judg of the nice Pleadings on both sides concerning the Form and Substance or to give a Reason why the Court over-ruled Fitz-Harris's Plea since the Court did not Yet I say the Reports of Coke Dier Plowden and others would have proved dry Businesses if the Courts of Westminster-Hall had given such Judgments as the King's Bench did in Fitz-Harris's Case And I say also That no Man lives out of Society and Commerce and that in every Country there are Laws for the Preservation of Mens Lives and to protect them in Society and Commerce and that in every Country there is a Power which is loose from these Laws and gives Laws to all the Subjects of those Countries But because all Laws are vain unless they be executed every Country has Judicatories wherein these Laws are executed which differ in different Countries The supreme Power of this Nation resides in a Parliament whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons are the Body These Courts of Judicature have their distinct Jurisdictions and are restrained to certain Rules and Methods the highest of these Courts are the Body of the Parliament viz. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons which have distinct Jurisdictions but are not bound up in their Judicatories by such strict Rules as other Courts are Other Courts take Cognizance of civil and criminal Cases between particular Men but these Courts of Parliament take Cognizance of the State and Grievances of the Nation where only they find Relief and tho no other Courts take Cognizance of Matters transacted in Parliament yet either of these Courts take Cognizance of all Proceedings in other Courts and not only reverse all illegal Proceedings in them but punish the Judges of all other Courts for any Errors or Abuses committed by them so if any Person or Person shall grow so great as to be dangerous to the Publick tho they be out of the Reach of other Courts yet they are subject to these Courts of Parliament and by these Courts the English Nation have preserved their Liberties and Laws now France and Spain have lost them which before had their Assemblies of the States all one with our Parliaments and in losing them have lost their Liberty and Laws to the Arbitrary Will of their Princes The Jurisdiction of Parliaments hath been in all Ages in England esteemed sacred so that other Courts rarely
Doctrine of Passive Obedience had made a plain and easy Passage for the Popish Faction to take Possession of this Power The Bishop of London therefore after the Lords had voted an Address of Thanks to the King's Speech moved in the name of himself and all his Brethren that the House would debate the King's Speech which as it was extraordinary and unusual in the House so was it not less surprizing to the King and Court who now dreaded the Lords would concur with the Commons in their Address to prevent which the King first prorogued and then dissolved the Parliament and never called another in all his Reign And thus the King made good to the Parliament in his Speech to them the 28th of May That the best Way to engage him to meet them often was to use him well and did expect that they would comply with him in what he desired and that they would do it speedily that it might be a short Sessions and that he and the Parliament might meet again to all their Satisfactions and for the Bishop of London the King shall remember his Motion in due time when he shall plead no Privilege of Parliament The King having so ill performed his Promise to the Parliament of often meeting of them where he might hear of it again which by no means he would endure after he had dissolved them had a fair Field without any Rub to do what he pleased and to petition him or represent the Grievances of the Nation out of Parliament shall be a great Crime next to High Treason And now 't is time to observe the Steps the King proceeded by to maintain the Church and State of England as by Law established His Brother had laid the Foundation of making a Parliament felo de se by hectoring and making Bargains with Corporations to surrender their Charters and taking new ones from him whereby he reserved a Power that if they did not send such Members as pleased him he would resume the Charters he granted them and herein he made a great Progress till his Keeper and Attorney General refused to grant Patents to such poor Corporations as could not pay their Fees so as a new Keeper or Chancellor and Attorney-General must be had who would grant Patents gratis or a Stop would be made in the Progress of so noble a Design In a lucky Hour my Lord Keeper N died at Astrop-Wells I think when Jeffries was in his March to the West and for a Reward of my Lord Jeffries's Clemency that he shewed had the Seals given him with the Title of Lord Chancellour but the Attorney was not so lucky but lived to be turned out and another put in his Place which would perform his Office more charitably to these indigent Corporations which could not pay their Fees in taking new Patents after they had perfidiously betrayed their old But this was but one Step towards this Holy Work the King to make a thorow Reformation will make the Judges in Westminster-Hall to murder the Common Law as well as the King and his Brother designed to murder the Parliament by it self and to this end the King before he would make any Judges would make a Bargain with them that they should declare the King's Power of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests made against Recusants out of Parliament However herein the King stumbled at the Threshold for it 's said he began with Sir Thomas Jones who had merited so much in Mr. Cornish his Trial and in the West yet Sir Thomas bogled at this and told the King He could not do it to which the K. answered He would have Twelve Judges of his Opinion and Sir Thomas replied He might have Twelve Judges of his Opinion but would scarce find Twelve Lawyers of his Opinion The Truth of this I have only from Fame but I 'm sure the King's Practice in reforming the Judges whereof all except my Lord Chief Baron Atkins and Justice Powel were such a Pack as never before sat in Westminster-Hall gave credit to it But if the Lord Chief Justice Thorp for taking a Bribe of 100 l. was adjudged to be hanged and all his Lands and Goods forfeited in the Reign of Edward the 3d because thereby as much as in him lay he had broken the King's Oath made unto the People which the King had intrusted him withal and if Justice Tresilian was hanged drawn and quartered for giving his Judgment that the King might act contrary to one Act of Parliament and if Blake the King's Counsel Vsk the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex and five more of Quality were hanged in the Reign of Henry the 4th for but assisting in Tresilian's Judgment What then did these Judges deserve which made Bargains with the King before-hand to break the King's Oath he had made to the People and entituled the King to a Power to subvert the Laws and gave Judgment before-hand to act contrary to them Andrew Horn in his Mirror of Justice tells us That King Alfred the Mirror of Kings hanged Darling Segnor Cadwine Cole and 40 Judges more because they judged in particular Causes contrary to Law But sure this was not more to Alfred's Honour than it was to the Dishonour of King James to make Bargains before-hand with Judges to give Judgment contrary to the Laws themselves and unless they would break the King's Oath to his People they should not be his Judges The Laws and Constitutions of this Nation as has been already noted make it a Kingdom whereof the King is Head and the Nation the Body so that if you take away the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom there is neither King nor Kingdom Did not the King then descend from his Majesty in rending himself from his Kingdom by breaking Laws whereby he ceases to be a King and the Nation to be a Kingdom And what was it for that the King would not be content with the Soveraignty he had over the Nation wherein his Majesty consisted but would strain it into a Tyranny over the Nation It was to introduce a foreign exploded Dominion of the Pope denied by our Saviour and asserted by the Devil whereby how absolute soever the King would be over his Subjects yet himself and Kingdom must be at the Pope's Disposal to be deposed and destroyed as the Pope pleased Bishop King in the State of the Protestants in Ireland fol. 18. gives this Account of one Moore a Romish Priest who preached before the King at Christ's Church in Dublin in the Beginning of the Year 1690 where he told him to his Face that he did not do Justice to the Church and Churchmen and amongst other things said That Kings ought to consult Churchmen in Temporal Affairs the Clergy having a Temporal as well as Spiritual Right in the Kingdom but Kings had nothing to do in the Management of Spiritual Affairs but were to obey the Orders of the Church Thinking Men could not conceive this dispensing with the Penal Laws
and Tests against Dissenters was any ways intended in favour of the Protestants for notwithstanding the Slaughter Jeffries had made of them in the West the rest all over England were imprisoned and forced to give Security for their good Behaviour Nay my Lord D. of Albermarle who had done the K. so signal Service in keeping the Devonshire Men from joining with the D. of Monmouth must be sent out of England to Jamaica and the Earl of Pembroke and others who had been so active in suppressing Monmouth were scarce thanked and but coldly entertained at Court If things were acted with this indeed bare-fac'd dissimulation in England they were not less in Ireland for the King having revoked the Duke of Ormond from his Lieutenancy and given Talbot an independent Commission to make such a reform of the Army there as is aforesaid made my Lord Clarendon Deputy-Lieutenant and Sir Charles Porter Chancellour who arrived there the 10th of January 1685-86 with a Charge to declare that the King would preserve the Acts of Settlement and Explanation inviolable and to assure all his Subjects he would preserve these Acts as the Magna Charta of Ireland but this Declaration compared with Talbot's reforming the Army in Ireland seemed as strange as that the King 's dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests was in favour of the Protestant Dissenters in England In Scotland the King had so settled Affairs there when he was Commissioner that after the cutting off the Earl of Argyle he did not doubt to carry on his Designs more bare-fac'd there than in England or Ireland and therefore tho he did not call a Parliament till April 1686 yet in his Letter to them of the 12th he takes no Notice of the Protestant Dissenters but recommends to them his innocent Roman Catholick Subjects Who had with their Lives and Fortunes been always assistant to the Crown in the worst of Rebellions and Vsurpations tho they lay under Discouragements hardly to be named These he heartily recommended to their Care to the end that as they have given good Experience of their true Loyalty and peaceable Behaviour so by their Assistance they may have the Protection of his Laws and that Security under his Government which others of his Subjects had not suffering them to lie under Obligations which their Religion cannot admit of by doing whereof they will give a Demonstration of the Duty and Affection they had to him and do him most acceptable Service This Love he expected they would shew to their Brethren as they saw he was an indulgent Father to them all The King having settled his Prerogative in Westminster-Hall by dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests in the Beginning of the Year 1686 granted a Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs but it was not opened to act till the 3d of August following why it lay so long dormant I do not find but only guess that the King might the better settle his Dispensing Power in the Country by such Judges as he had made as well as in Westminster-Hall and that he might be more at leisure to carry on the Design for surrender of Charters wherein one Robert Brent a Roman Catholick was a prime Agent and great Care was taken that the beggarly Corporations might surrender their Charters and take new ones without paying Fees and if any should be so honest as to insist upon their Oaths and Trust reposed in them for Preservation of their Charters to be prosecuted as riotous and seditious Persons But in regard the Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs was not printed that I can find nor is in the State Tracts I thought fit to insert it here as I had it in Manuscript from a learned Hand JAMES the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To the most Reverend Father in God our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Counsellor William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Counsellor George Lord Jeffries Lord Chancellour of England and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Lawrence Earl of Rochester Lord High Treasurer of England and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Robert Earl of Sunderland President of Our Council and Our Principal Secretary of State and to the Right Reverend Father in God and Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Nathaniel Lord Bishop of Duresme and to the Right Reverend Father in God Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Thomas Lord Bishop of Rochester and to our Right Trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Herbert Knight Chief Justice of the Pleas before us to be holden assigned Greeting We for divers good weighty and necessary Causes and Considerations Us hereunto especially moving of our meer Motion and certain Knowledg by force and virtue of Our Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal do assign name and authorize by these our Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England you the said Arch Bp of Canterbury Lord Chancellor of England Lord High Treasurer of England Lord President of Our Council Lord Bishop of Duresme Lord Bishop of Rochester and our Chief Justice aforesaid or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one from time to time and at all times during our Pleasure to exercise use occupy and execute under us all manner of Jurisdiction Privileges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions within this our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all such Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm can or may be lawfully reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the Pleasure of Almighty God and encrease of Vertue and the Conservation of the Peace and Unity of this Realm And we do hereby give and grant unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one thus by Us named assigned authorized and appointed by force of Our Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal full Power and Authority from time to time and at all times during Our Pleasure under us to exercise use and execute all the Premises according to the Tenour and Effect of these our Letters Patents any Matter or Cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And We do by these Presents give full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the Lord Chancellor to be one by all lawful Ways or Means from time to time hereafter during Our Pleasure to enquire of all Offences Contempts Transgressions and Misdemeanours done and commited contrary to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Our Realm in any County City Borough or other Place or Places exempt or not exempt within this our Realm of England
have a Commission but by Law is utterly disabled and disarmed Will you exchange your Birth-right of English Laws and Liberties for Martial and Club-Law and help to destroy all others only to be eaten up at last your selves If I know you well as you are English Men you hate and scorn these things And therefore be not unequally yoked with idolatrous and bloody Papists Be valiant for the Truth and shew your selves Men. The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all English Seamen who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since 88. The first Lightning which the dormant Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs produced fell upon the Bishop of London a Person of Exemplary Vertue and Loyalty and who besides the Nobility of his Birth had his Father slain in the late Civil Wars in defence of the King's Father's Cause and had himself and all his Brothers freely and valiantly exposed their Lives in defence of it The Crime alledged against him was that by the King's Letter he did not suspend Doctor Sharp then Dean of Norwich now Archbishop of York for preaching a Sermon against the Frauds and Corruptions of the Church of Rome by a Power as Arbitrary as that by which the Commissioners acted and for this these Commissioners suspended the Bishop tho every one understood the true Cause was the Bishop's Motion in the House of Lords to have debated the King's Speech Tantum Religio potuit swadere malorum I 'm perswaded King Charles the II. to make a Roman Hierarchy in Scotland made the Bishops out of the most obnoxious of the Clergy who besides their profligate Lives run the King's Prerogative there to a higher pitch than Laud in the King's Father's time did in England And that towards the latter end of his Reign he laid the same design here for the Bishopricks of Oxford York St. David's and Chester becoming void about the latter end of his Reign or beginning of King James's I 'll not name the Bishoprick of Litchfield and Coventry for the Petticoat governed in that Election Dr. Samuel Parker whom Mr. Marvel in his Rehearsal transposed calls Bays a Man of a virulent Disposition and who by railing against the Church got into Preferment and when he was in became a zealous Railer against them without was made Bishop of Oxford Dr. Cartright as high for the Prerogative as Parker was made Bishop of Chester and the Succession to these two Bishopricks was the more observable because Parker succeeded Dr. Fell and Cartright Dr. Peirson Men of Piety and Learning equal to any in their time and one Watson an obscure Man was made Bishop of St. David's but the Archbishoprick of York was reserved for a Person of another Temper whom these Bishops were making way for The Presidentship of Magdalen College in Oxford becoming void and the Fellows fearing a Mandamus would be imposed upon them for some Person not qualified by the Statutes and whom by their Oaths they could not submit to chose Dr. Hough for President a Person qualified by their Statutes for that Place As the Fellows feared so it came to pass for the King sent them a peremptory Mandamus to chuse the Bishop of Oxford Bays their President but he being a Person not qualified by the Statutes of their College which the Fellows were sworn to observe they in a humble Answer excused themselves as being otherways obliged as well by their Oath as Statutes I will not repeat the Anger the King express'd hereupon 't is in Print but sure such Language was never used by any Prince before But if the King 's harsh Language will not work the Fellows to his Will he will send the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs among them to turn them out of their Fellowships wherein they had as much Property as any other had to any real or personal Estate nor shall these Commissioners stay here but by a new strain of Tyranny never practised but by Absolute Tyrants they make the Fellows uncapable of any other Ecclesiastical Preferments The Fellows thus expelled the Statutes of the College are thrown out of Doors to make room for a Seminary of Jesuits and Popish Priests as much tending to the Subversion of the established Church of England as the Statutes of the College But see how God in his Providence blasted these things for the Bishop of Oxford had scarce taken possession of his thus new-acquired Presidentship when he died and you 'll soon see the Fellows restored again in spite of these Commissioners and Dr. Hough made Bishop of Oxford as well as President of Magdalen College If the King were zealous in advancing his Prerogative Royal both in the Church and State of England he will not be less in Scotland whereupon the 12th of February 1686-87 he issues out his Proclamation for Toleration of Religion which you may read in the State Tracts wherein he asserts his Absolute Power which he says his Subjects ought to obey without reserve But the Toleration which the King allows his Roman Catholick Subjects in Scotland he 'll scarce permit to his Protestant Subjects in Ireland for Tyrconnel for so has Talbot merited for his Service in Reforming the Army is not only made an Earl but Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the room of my Lord Clarendon and one Fitton made Sir Alexander an infamous Person detected for Forgery not only at Westminster but at Chester and fined in the House of Lords was brought out of the King's Bench in England to be Chancellor and Keeper of the King's Conscience in Ireland in place of Sir Charles Porter The first Proclamation which Tyrconnel issued out was dated Feb. 21. 1687. wherein he promised to defend the Laws Liberties and established Religion but leaves out the preservation of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation But tho at first he only left out the Acts of Settlement and Explanation being resolved first to out the Protestants and let the Irish into their forfeited Estates yet did he not stay here and Bishop King in his Treatise of the State of the Protestants in Ireland gives so particular and methodical an Account how he proceeded in the destroying the Church and State of Ireland as by Law established that I refer the Reader to it not intending to lessen it by taking parts of it When the Judges had been above a Year propagating the King's Power in Westminster-Hall and in their Circuits of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests against Dissenters from the Church upon the 25th of April 1687 out comes the King's Declaration to all his Subjects for Liberty of Conscience wherein the King declares That it had been a long time his constant Sense and Opinion that Conscience ought not to be restrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion and that it was contrary to his Inclination as he thought it to be the disinterest of the Government by spoiling Trade and depopulating Countries c. Sure no Prince ever acted
so in Extreams yet his Actions so diametrically opposite to his Profession Here you see a Jesuited Prince pleading for Liberty of Conscience to the breaking down the â—aws which before he had so often professed to maintain and for such a sort of Men whom but little before he had slaughter'd banished and imprisoned as if he had designed to extirpate the whole Race of them If to reconcile these to Truth or Reality be not as great a Miracle as is in any of the Popish Legends I 'll believe them all and be reconciled to the Roman Catholick Church how inconsistible soever the Terms be The generality of the Protestant Dissenters having for near seven years together been so severely treated by the Tories were as forward to congratulate the King for his Indulgence in manifold Addresses as the Tories were in King Charles his time in their Addresses of Abhorrence to petition the King to call a Parliament to settle the Grievances of the Nation However this Declaration was so drawn in the sight of every Bird that of my knowledg many of the sober thinking Men of the Dissenters did both dread and detest it That this Declaration might be more passable Popish Judges were made in Westminster-Hall and Popish Justices of the Peace and Deputy-Lieutenants all England over the Privy Council was replenished with Popish Privy Counsellors the Savoy was laid open to instruct Youth in the Romish Religion and Popish Principles and Schools for that purpose were encouraged in London and all other Places in England Four Foreign Popish Bishops as Vicars Apostolical were allowed in Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction all England and Wales over From instructing the St. Omers Boys how to behave themselves in their Evidence to prove Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 my Lord Castlemain is sent Ambassador to the Pope to render the King's Obedience to the Holy and Apostolical See with great hopes of extirpating the Northern pestilent Heresy In return whereof the Pope sent his Nuncio to give the King his Holy Benediction yet I do not find that he beforehand sent for Leave to enter the Kingdom as was observed by Queen Mary Henry VIII and before The Judges in their Circuits had their private Instructions to know how Men were affected with the King 's Dispensing Power and those who were disaffected to it were turned out from the Lieutenancy and Commission of the Peace Justice Judgment and Righteousness support the Thrones of Princes but these were Strangers to this King's ways other Means must be found out to support and carry them through a standing Army is judged the best Expedient and as the King told the Parliament at their second Meeting he had encreased his Army to double what it was before so he made his Word good that he would employ Men in it not qualified by the late Tests and to this end Tyrconnel having disbanded the English Army in Ireland qualified by the Tests sends over an Army of Irish not qualified by the Tests to encrease the Army in England This Army thus raised against Law committed all manner of lawless Insolences though the King by several Orders would have had their Quarters restrained to Victualling-Houses Houses of publick Entertainments and such as had Licences to sell Wine and other Liquors the Officers too when they pleased would be exempt from the Civil Power And though the King had no other Wars but against the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation yet he would have the Act of the 1 2 Edw. 6. 2. which makes it Felony without Benefit of the Clergy for any Souldier taking Pay in the King's Service in his Wars beyond Sea or upon Sea or in Scotland to desert from his Officer to extend to this Army thus raised by the King And because the Recorder of London Sir J. H. would not expound this Law to the King's Design he was put out of his Place and so was Sir Edward Herbert from being Chief Justice of the King's Bench to make room for Sir Robert Wright to hang a poor Souldier upon this Statute and afterward this Statute did the Work without any further dispute Thus this Prince did not only assume a Power to controul the Laws of the Nation at his pleasure in Civil Affairs but when he pleased made them bend to his Will to establish an illegal Army and countenance the Effusion of Christian Blood but you 'll soon see God will blast these ungodly Ways and that not the Arm of Flesh but Judgment Justice and Righteousness establish the Thrones of Princes Thus Affairs stood in England Scotland and Ireland in the year 1687. wherein I suppose no History mentions so great and violent Alterations in so little time as in this King's Reign all tending to introduce a Foreign Power and to enslave the Nation yet so patiently endured by it but the Dangers of these Designs were not circumscribed within the bounds of this Nation but extended into France where for above twenty years a Conspiracy was carried on for promoting these Designs thus far advanced so that the Year 1688 had a much more terrible Aspect upon England than the Year 1588 had when Philip the II. designed the Conquest of it for then the Nation was firm and intire for its own Interest whereas this Year it was not only torn in pieces by internal Discords but had an Army and Fleet designed to join with the French King in propagating his boundless Ambition not only upon England but upon the Empire of Germany Spain Holland the Duke of Savoy and other Princes of Italy About the beginning of the year 1688 a Gentleman of High Jesuited Principles told me The States of Holland were Rebels against the King of Spain and that I should soon see the King of France would call them to an Account for it and humble them and that the French King would assist our King with Men of War I took more heed to this because I knew that he was frequently visited by several Jesuits in whose Counsels I believe the French King's Designs this Year were locked up for my Lord of Sunderland in his Letter recited in the History of the Desertion fol. 32. protests he knew nothing of a League between the King yet you will see it come out another way But my Lord of Sunderland says that French Ships were offered to join with our Fleet which was refused however this shews there was a Design contriving by these Princes yet at present the Affairs of France seemed to look another way and a French Fleet and Souldiers in them are sent to Canada the Design and Success you will soon hear of The King having thus as he thought laid a Foundation tho it proved a very Sandy one of his Designs and to shew how Absolute he would be in them upon the 4th of May passed an Order in Council that his Declaration of Indulgence should be read in all Churches and Chappels in England and Wales in time of Divine
of Indulgence was an unlawful Act and that if they had submitted to the King's Will to have enjoined it to have been read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses it had been an unlawful Act which was one Reason they could not comply with the King's Will and that this Declaration was not intended a Favour to the Protestant Dissenters but a Design to ruin the established Religion and Church of England and the enjoining the Bishops to have read was a Design upon their Persons as well as the Declaration was upon the Church and that the King professed himself to be of the Popish Religion which they believed and declared to be Idolatry in the worshipping Images and derogatory to God's Honour by Invocation of Saints whereby they grant to Creatures an Omniscience which is inseparable from God and only to be ascribed to him and that the King had owned the Papal Power which not only claims a Dominion over all Kings and Kingdoms to be at the Pope's disposal and who had declared the Church of England to be Heretical Schismatical and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept but had assumed a Power equal or superiour to God himself in dispensing with God's Laws and setting its own above them by sending his Ambassador to the Pope and receiving his Nuncio With what Conscience then could the Bishops approach God's Altars in their highest Acts of Devotion and in the Prayer for the Parliament declare to God that he is their most religious King and in the Litany to pray to God to keep and strengthen the King in the Worship of God or Religion which the King profest And how could they delare to God he is their most gracious Sovereign when he had imprisoned them for not submitting to his unlawful Will and had owned a Power which had declared them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons who were by all ways and means to be extirpated from the Face of the Earth Yet the Bishops by their Canonical Obedience were as much obliged hereto and to enjoin the Clergy in their respective Diocesses to offer these Praises to God as they were not to obey the King's Will by enjoining the King's Declaration of Indulgence to be read by all the Clergy in their Diocesses To this Dilemma had the flattering Church and State in King Charles the II's Reign tho intending it against the Presbyterians by their Act of Vniformity brought the Church and State too in the Reign of King James But lest this establishing of Popery should have no longer support than in the King's Life a new Miracle is to be added to the Legend for the next day after the Bishops were committed to the Tower the Queen was brought to Bed of a Prince of Wales so that now they had got a Prince of Wales and the Queen received the Consecrated Clouts and the Pope by his Nuncio is become God-father a Foundation so infallible is laid for exalting the Papal Chair and extirpating the Pestilent Northern Heresy that it's Heresy to doubt it But Man purposes and God disposes and in truth without God's special Assistance not only these Dominions of England Scotland and Ireland but all the Western Parts of Europe were not to be retrieved out of I may say even a desperate State for in England the King had a standing Army of above 20000 Men and the Whigs were but too forward to congratulate the King in his Designs and in humouring him in giving him up their Charters as the Tories in King Charles his Reign in their Abhorrences of the King 's calling a Parliament and as forward then as the Whigs now in surrendring their Charters The Protestant Army in Ireland not only disbanded by Tyrconnel and a Popish Army set up but the Protestants disarmed and Scotland so perfectly subdued that there the King 's Absolute Will without reserve must pass for Law The King of Spain so weak as not able to defend himself much less relieve others the Empire engaged in a War against the Turks in the East so as the Western Parts were in no Condition to repel the Impression the French should make upon it The Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark remote and at such natural Enmity with one another that if one should side with France or England the other would engage against it and tho Holland were considerable elsewhere at Sea yet their Strength at Sea was inferiour to the English but much more in Conjunction of the French with the English However something must be done for Modesty in this State had been the highest Crime and of all Foreign Princes the Prince of Orange was most immediately concerned not only in the Oppression of the French King upon his Principality of Orange and the Dangers which threatned the Vnited Provinces by the swelling Grandeur of the French but by the King 's Arbitrary Proceedings in England for the Princess was the Presumptive Heir to the Crown of England and Scotland And since it is the Laws and Constitutions which erect these Nations into Kingdoms whereof the King is the Head then if the King destroys the Laws and Constitutions he is neither King nor the Princess of Orange Presumptive Heir to them besides since the King had assumed a Power of Dispensing with the Laws he might as well in Dispensing with the Succession and the Prince was well assured neither those about the King nor the Pope would much favour his or his Lady's Title to the Crown nor was the introducing the Prince of Wales into the World intended to have either the Prince or Princess come to the Crown of England The Prince of Orange thus injured by both these Kings and being denied the Benefit of any Humane Laws for redress has recourse to God and his Sword for relief and opposes the Justice of his Cause against the Potency of his Adversaries Nor does he take up his Sword to vindicate his own Rights only but for restoring the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to their antient Rights Laws and Privileges invaded by King James and to put a stop to the French King 's boundless Ambition and Tyranny in Murdering Ravaging and Destroying rather than making a War upon all his neighbouring Princes not dispossest and ruined by him A Design so great by so little a Prince as no less than a Divine Power could inspire him to such an Undertaking The Prince these two last years had several Conferences with the Electors of Brandenburg Saxony and the Princes of the House of Lunenburg and other Princes of Germany it 's believed in concerting Measures how to behave themselves against the Designs of these two Kings but the Results were so secret that I find no mention of them But how secret soever these Results were yet the Preparations to put them in Execution could be no Secret especially the Naval Preparations by Sea though the Dutch Ambassador assured the King they were not intended against him yet refused to communicate
A DETECTION OF THE Court and State OF ENGLAND DURING The Four Last REIGNS And the INTER-REGNUM Consisting of Private Memoirs c. With Observations and Reflections AND AN APPENDIX discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many SECRETS never before made publick As also a more impartial Account of the CIVIL WARS in England than has yet been given In Two Volumes By ROGER COKE Esquire The Third Edition very much corrected With an Alphabetical Table London Printed for Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhill MDCXCVII AN APOLOGY TO THE READER THAT Man has lived long enough who has out-lived the Love and Piety he owes to his Native Country by my Native Country I do not mean the fertile and pleasant Soil of Britain nor the sweet and temperate Climate of it nor the manifold Varieties which it naturally abounds with for the use and conveniencies of humane Life nor yet the pleasant and excelling Rivers which water it nor the noble Havens and abundance of most open Ports from which it supplies other Parts of this our habitable Globe with the super-abundance of those Commodities wherein it excels and whereof the Inhabitants of those Parts stand in need and where the Waters flow as well as ebb as if they invited the World to trade with us as well as we with them But by my Native Country I mean the Constitutions and Laws of the English Monarchy which have continued for near Nine hundred Years viz. since King Egbert made a Decree that laying aside the Names of Britains and Saxons the whole Nation of that part of Britain under his Dominion should be called England Vnder these Constitutions and Laws have all English Men ever since without any Act of their own Will been born in Subjection and by them have been protected in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to govern by these Constitutions and Laws have been the Claims of our Hereditary Monarchs who have ever since governed England and though the Succession of the Kings of England have been often changed in the Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings yet these Laws and Constitutions have been ever since preserved notwithstanding the Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and I may say of the Scotish Race too to have subverted them which I believe is more than can be said of any other Monarchy in the World out of Britain So that in our English Government the Constitution and Laws of it are as well the Rules of the King's Dominion as of the Subject's Allegiance to the King and when the Majesty of the King is arrayed in Judgment Justice and Mercy then for his Subjects to resist him is High Treason in this World and Damnation in that to come and I think I may truly say no People in the World are more Honourers of their Kings yet more jealous of preserving their Constitutions and Laws than the English whereby they have preserved their Government now France and Spain whose Government was like ours have lost theirs But when the Kings of England will not make the Laws and Constitutions of England to be their Will but their Will differing from these to be the Laws and Constitutions of it then a divided Dominion will necessarily follow and it will be impossible for the Subject to obey both The King hereby puts himself out of God's Protection whose Vice-Gerent he is in governing by the Laws and misplaces his Majesty which is founded in the Honour Love and Obedience of his Subjects upon Minions and Favorites whose Servant he makes himself and these shall be the first who shall forsake him when any Adversity shall come upon him Our Chronicles give Instances hereof in the Reigns of King John Hen. 3. Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. And the design of this Treatise is to shew the Consequences that have been produced hereby in the Reigns of the Kings of the Scotish Race In this regular Monarchy the Kings of England do not abrogate old Laws or impose new or raise Monies from the Subject above the Revenues of the Crown without Consent in Parliament and hereby the Kings of England reign in the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and are freed from the Imputation of Tyranny in Sanguinary Laws and from Oppression in the Taxes granted in Parliament which no absolute Monarch is and are more absolutely obeyed in both than any absolute Monarch who makes his Will the Law of his Subjects The Division of the Will of a King of England does not only distract the Allegiance of his Subjects so that the divided Will of the King must necessarily prevail over the Laws and Constitutions of it or these prevail against the divided Will for both are incompatible and cannot subsist together But this Distraction gives Life and Motion to the ambitious Humour of Male-contents who are impatient as well of Regal Government as of submitting to the Laws and Constitutions of it And I submit my self to the Judgment of any Impartial Reader if this Divided Will in the Prince did not give that Life and Motion to the Ambition of the Factions in England Scotland and Ireland which not only raised Civil Wars in all of them but brought destruction upon K. Charles the First as well as the Laws and Constitutions of them However I will take Notice of the Loyalty of the English Nation both to K. James the first and K. Charles the first that tho these Kings were foreign born to our Laws and Constitutions yet it patiently submitted to their Vsurpations for above 35 Years whereas when King Charles the first thought he had wholly subdued this Kingdom to his Will and endeavoured to have done the same in Scotland his Native Country the Scots would not endure it so many Weeks as the English had done Years but rose against it first in Tumults after in open Arms and the discontented Parties in England joining with them however disjoined from one another brought on those Civil Wars in all the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which procur'd Destruction to the King as well as the Kingdoms In writing this History I cannot say with the noble Baptista Nani I have any Command from my Prince or any other to do it neither will I pretend to such great Advantages as he had gratis by a free access to the Records and most secret Counsels of my Country tho I must not say I have been wholly destitute of some for else such an Vndertaking would render me guilty of the highest Arrogance but what those have been I judg not pertinent here to relate they will best appear by the Work it self Yet I can say with Nani that I have not suffered my self to be defiled with Partiality which hath so prevailed in all the Writers of the late and present Times that I have seen but passing by the Privilege of venerable Antiquity which to a face of Truth hath another close adjoining that of Falshood I have chosen to expose my self
to Trial and perhaps to Reproof and that I might render a Testimony of Authority to Posterity to write the Story of the present Age to the Age it self And I am not only induced hereto by the Authority of so noble an Historian but by the Reason of History For many Accidents and Circumstances which are no part of the Records of Time and which soon die and are forgotten are so interwoven in History as to make it entire and of one piece and which not only enliven it and create pleasure in reading of it but without them History becomes disjointed and is made up of broken pieces And I can in part say with the noble Nani and in his own words That to compose Histories is sacred and not to be undertaken but with an upright Mind and undefiled Hands and for that Cause the Memory of them was consigned to the Temple under the faithful Custody of the Chief Priests as the Witness or Trust of those that went before and the Treasure of those that should come after not to be handled but as a Religious Thing and with great Caution In sum the Historian taking to himself an absolute Dictatorship nay an Authority more than Human over Times Persons and Actions governs Fame measures Deserts penetrates Intentions discloses Secrets is with an undistinguished Arbitriment over Kings and People the Judg of Ages past and Master of those to come Absolves or Punishes Deceives or Instructs Whence not without Reason the Pen of Writers may be compared to the Lightning which striking out but one Letter from the Name Caesar Augustus made him a God because Praise is a thing so tender that one Dash makes Illustrious and a little Blot Infamous and the Censure of the World thereupon is so severe that it either consecrates to Eternity or proscribes to Infamy For my self I know not what else to wish but that every one would take upon him to read this Work with the same disinterested and innocent Mind with which I have wrote it confining my Confidence in this one thing that the present Age will not be so unjust to me nor so ungrateful to Posterity as to deny me the Opinion of Sincerity It was Nani's Felicity to write the Stories of the Times when the Prudence of the Venetian Senate not only preserved their State from the Tumults of War wherein Christendom was engaged but in a great measure was Arbitrator of it So that the Wars which Nani writes of were like Thunder afar off yet herein Nani expatiates his Story in a short time scarce 30 Years into a large Volume whereas without looking after any thing abroad but what relates to my Story I am contracted to the unhappy Story of my Native Country to shew from what Causes such a Train of Consequences have followed that England which before was the Ballance which turned the Scale of the Affairs of Christendom to that side it inclined not only fell from this envied Height and became the most despisable of all other States but sunk into the most miserable State of Abject and Pity I am the rather induced to write the Story of these Times because the Hackney-Writers of them at least those I have seen have not only taken things in the midst without assigning the Causes but being interested Parties their Writings have been either fulsom Flatteries or Invectives against one another tending to the fixing of the Distempers of the Parties without regard to the Publick or assigning the Cause of the Distempers But herein I except the Collections of Mr. John Rushworth who tho interested in the Factions of the late Times hath so faithfully delivered them over to Posterity and I could have wished tho I know not from whence he had it that he had not mentioned in that part of King James his Speech to the Parliament 18 Jac. that the Parliament is made up of the three States the King the Lords and Commons and this is the main part of his Collections which Franklin and Nalson so carp at yet both these differ not only from one the other in reciting it but from the Record of Parliament for I have perused them with it according to the Copy which Mr. Petit has taken For my part I can truly say that as I never complied with any of the Factions in the late or present Times so my Ancestors stood firm to the Laws and Liberties of the Nation and were Sufferers both before and in the late Troubles and Civil Wars and in these Circumstances I am less disposed to favour or fâ—atter any Party than another who is interested in any one of them I expect it will be objected against me that in writing this History I have sometimes been transported into an Heat unbecoming an Historian I answer that it may happen a Man may be angry and not sin especially when the Offence relates to the Dishonour of God the King or the publick Destruction or Distraction of the Country where Men are protected in their Lives Liberties and Fortunes but if I have erred herein I shall but be in the number of Lactantius who wrote the Relation of the Death of the persecuting Emperors of the Christians and of Suetonius and Tacitus It was the unhappy Fate of Europe that the Miseries and Calamities which succeeded the Divided Will of the four Kings of the Scotish Race from the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation were not terminated within the Limits of the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but were the occasion of the first Rise and growing Grandure of France through the boundless Ambition of Cardinal Richlieu and the present French King both by Sea and Land as well to the Terror of Christendom as of these Nations and this Story will in some measure trace the Steps of them This Treatise I suppose will displease two sorts of Men whom I will never take care to please One who exalt the Divided Will of the Prince above his Royal Capacity in governing by the Constitutions and Laws of the Kingdom The other those which are impatient under Regal Government and the Constitutions of this Kingdom I have been more particular herein because notwithstanding the Calamities which this Divided Will of the King had brought upon the Nation in the late Civil Wars and after yet after the Restoration of King Charles the 2d the Nation was more fiercely rent into Divisions under the Names of Whig and Tory than it was before the Wars and these last having the Dominion of the Press and Favour of the Court made it their business to irritate and provoke all others not of their Faction and if any opposed them by Writing when they could not answer to persecute them for printing without a Licence tho not unlawful in it self yet unlawfully printed ADVERTISEMENTS THE General History of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William Taken from the most Antient Records
them tho at this time not only the Roman Emperours but all Kings and those in Authority were Heathen and Idolaters that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the Sight of God our Saviour who will have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledg of the Truth for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus If therefore by Divine Precept or Command from God Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgiving be to be made for Heathen Kings and Magistrates much more are Christians obliged to make all these for Christian Kings and Magistrates All Kingdoms consist in the mutual Office of Commanding and Obeying so that it is as well the Duty of Kings and those who are in Authority to command as it is of the Subjects to obey and no Obedience can be where there is no Command to which it is due for where there is no Law there is no Transgression or Omission Tho these Offices be distinct in their Relations to the Governors and Governed yet the Rules of these Offices are the same and common to both so as that they ought to be foreknown as well to those in Authority to command as those who are subject to them these Rules are the Laws and Constitutions of every Kingdom and Country which unite them into one Incorporeal or Intelligible Body and under these is Mankind in different Places in divers manners maintained in Society and Concord The Offices of Commanding and Obeying are not only restrained to Moral Speech and Actions but extend to Religious for the Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom as well in all publick as private Actions So that all Civil Nations to whom God had not revealed himself however they misplaced their Deities in Osyris Isis Jupiter c. worshipped their Gods in publick manner and had those Rites and Ceremonies which were performed by separate Persons ordained thereto As God governs the World and all Creatures in it so does he govern the Kingdoms in the World and has-set fatal Periods to them as well as to the Life of Man and all other Creatures yet as he has not in vain given Laws to Man to govern his Intentions Speech and Actions by and made him to subsist in the Labour of his Body and Cares of his Mind or both so has he not in vain commanded all Kingdoms and Nations to honour and serve him and to live justly and peaceably with one another and under these only can Kingdoms and Nations hope for Peace and God's Blessing upon them So that it is not the extent of the Territories of Kingdoms and Nations which is the Strength of them but the number of People in them nor is it their well-peopling only but their Unity in Religion and Civil Government for by these small Dominions increase upon others which are in Distraction and Dissension and where Kingdoms or Nations become distracted or divided either in Religion or Civil Government they become how great soever they be so much more enfeebled and tending to outward and intestine Dissolution as these shall be more These Discords in Religion and Justice have their Beginnings oft-times from Kings and those in Authority and often from the Subjects It was Solomon's Wives 1 Kings 11. that turn'd away his Heart from the Religion which God commanded which was the Cause ver 11. that God rent his Kingdom of Israel from him and gave it to his Servant Jeroboam and it was Jeroboam's Idolatry which distracted the Israelites into Factions which in time brought the Babylonish Captivity upon them from which they never returned And as Discords in Religion often arise from Kings and those in Authority which enfeeble the Strength of Kingdoms and Nations so does the Oppression and Injustice of Kings and Magistrates when they are not God's Ministers for their Subjects good make Kings Instruments of their vile Ends to the damage of their Subjects Thus Rehoboam to humour his Favourites bred up with him preferred them before his Subjects and threatned to oppress them more than his Father did whereby he lost the Dominion of ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel not only from himself but from his Father's House for ever and became so poor and feeble that the King of Egypt took Jerusalem and made Spoil of all the wonderful Riches which his Father had left him It was Ahab's Covetousness and Injustice in the Murder of Naboth and seizing his Vineyard that God not only disinherited his Posterity but rooted them out from the Face of the Earth 1 Kings 21. 21. And as this Discord in Religion and Justice may begin with the King and those in Authority so it may from those subject to them It was the People contrary to God's immediate Command forsook the Religion and Worship which was commanded them and set up the Molten Calf to be adored and worshipped Exod. 32. and it was the People which twice conspired to depose Moses from ruling over them Numbers 16. which brought so great a Destruction upon them I do not question but it was the intolerable Tyranny and Oppression of Dioclesian Maximinian Maximin and Maxentius as well as their horrible Persecution of the Christians so livelily described by Lactantius which gave so great a Reputation to the Christians and made Constantine's Passage to the Roman Empire more desirable not only by the Christians but even by the Gentiles Nor was the Roman Empire at any time of a greater extent unless under Trajan than when Constantine became sole Emperor Whereas this Roman Empire in the Body of it was never in so distracted and feeble a State for tho Constantine in regard of the Excellency of his natural Disposition was universally acknowledged Emperor yet above all things endeavouring the Propagation of Christian Faith and Religion and by his own Authority without the Concurrence of the Senate he granted an universal Toleration of Religion to all Sects of Christians as well as Jews and Gentiles and not only discharged the Christian Clergy which by the Constitutions of the Empire when they were not otherwise persecuted were subject to give their Attendance upon defraying the Lustral Sacrifices and watch and ward for Security of the Pagan Temples but made the Christians capable of receiving Legacies and of all publick Imployments so as the Christians were not only in an equal but better Estate than the Gentiles and upon all occasions had the Preference of Constantine's Favour But however this displeased the Gentiles it did not content all sorts of Christian Hereticks and Schismaticks who were so obstinate in their Opinions that all the Endeavours Constantine could use would not reconcile them For besides the Nicene Council he called four more viz. at Gaul Ancyra Neo Caesarea and Laodicea But when the Hereticks and Schismaticks would not submit to these Constantine restrained them from the Privileges he before granted them and left them in the same
Contentions not only in civil but religious Affairs Having given an Account of the Reasons of the Ruine of the Roman Western Empire and how like our Case is to that of the Empire in its Declension It 's time to take a view of the State of the Goths and Vandals after they had planted themselves in Spain and herein I observe that though the Romans as well as Grecians esteem all other Nations barbarous but themselves yet the Government of them was equal if not better than either for it was a Regular Monarchy wherein the King did not govern by an absolute despotick Power but by established Laws nor could they make new nor alter the old or raise Money without the Consent of the States of their Kingdoms and this continued for many Hundred Years after how many of the Kingdoms in Spain lost these Privileges is too long to be inserted here yet at this Day the Kingdom of Arragon retains them So that the King of Spain never speaks to them as King of Castile In the Reign of Honorius and Arcadius Ann. 408. about five Years before Gundericus entred Spain Attila King of the Huns over-run the Empire and pierced into Gaul with a huge Army against whom Honorius sent Ecius the greatest General of his time with an Imperial Army which was raised in all parts of the Empire so as Ecius was forced to withdraw the Roman Legions in Britain to oppose Attila nor did they ever return more so that the poor Britains being enured to no warlike Discipline but only to serve their imperious Masters easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots and so were in a more servile State than when they were under the Romans To redeem themselves from which they called the English Saxons to their Assistance who used them worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of Britain now called England But this is observable That as in these Times the rest of the Roman Empire was over-spread with Arianism so was that part of Britain subject to the Roman Empire over-spread with Pelagianism and here observe the Justice of God upon them that these Men who ascribed to themselves a Power of Salvation without God's special Grace and Favour to them should not be able to save themselves from their Enemies but be either slaughtered by them or expelled their Native Country upon the Earth The Saxons which conquered the Britains were Heathen yet was their Government as well as that of the Goths a Regular Monarchy and so continued in all the Dynasties of their Kings and yet is continued notwithstanding the several Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and the Scotish Race to the contrary About ten Years after Ecius recalled the Roman Legions out of Britain viz. in 418. Pharamond entred Gaul and conquered some part of it which he called France after the Name of the Franks and Pharamond was Heathen and so was Meroveus his Successor and Childerick his Son and so continued till about the Year 490 when Clovis was converted to Christianity of whom Messeray glories that he was the only King in the World which was not Infidel or Heretick However the Government of the Franks as well as the Goths and Saxons was a Regular Monarchy till the Reign of Charles the 7th about the Year 1430. which was above a thousand Years after the Franks planted themselves in Gaul If we look back into the Reign of Henry the 2d of England we shall find him it may be the greatest of all the Western Kings and Lord if not of the greatest yet best part of France as he was Duke of Normandy and Aquitain in Right of his Wife Eleanor Aquitain having the Ocean on the West and Normandy the British Sea on the North. But this Dominion did not last long for King Henry's Son and John's Son Henry the 3d endeavouring to usurp a more than Legal Authority over their Subjects caused such a Ferment and Discord in the Kingdom and this lasted near 70 Years that the Kings of France in the mean time took all Normandy and the greatest part of Aquitain from the English When King James became King of England Henry the 4th was French King having composed by Force and Clemency the Civil Wars which had raged near 40 Years all over France and in the Year 1597 made Peace with Spain which was about 5 Years before King James became King of England and here let 's take a view of Spain Though Spain were 1 3 greater than France when King James came to the Crown of England yet France was I believe fivefold better peopled and generally a more fruitful Country How this came to pass it's fit to look back upon the Cause of the Sterility of Men in Spain and their abounding in France Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Castile and Arragon about the Year 1490 having conquered the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia and against their Faith given to the Moors brought in the Inquisition upon them the greatest part of the Moors forsook their Country and thereby left the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia so much less peopled and Ferdinand and Isabella being addicted to the Roman Religion established manifold Bishopricks and Religious Houses in these Kingdoms of both Sexes and the Pope though he pleases to make Marriage a Sacrament yet forbids it to the Clergy and other of both Sexes who take upon them a Religious Life whereby as the Moors leaving Spain unpeopled it at present so future Generations became so much less replenished by how much more People took upon them a Religious Habit. But this Mischief did not stop here for Philip the 2d great Grand-Son of Ferdinand and Isabella and a most bigotted Prince to the Romish Superstition brought the Inquisition upon the Converted Moors which drove them out of Spain to the farther unpeopling of it and my Lord Bacon says that many of these poor converted Moors became as persecuted in their Exile for their Religion as if they had continued in Spain And this Mischief further followed not only to Spain but to Christendom for the exiled Moors having no other Habitation and Means of Living set up their Trade of Piracy in Algiers Tunis and Tripoli within the Straits and in Sally without whereby they have been a Plague to all other Christians as well as Spaniards who trade into the Straits and Affrick and other Southern Countries ever since About the time that Ferdinand and Isabel conquered Spain Columbus discovered the West-Indies and Hornando Cortez siding with one part of the Indians which were at War against the other and thereby becoming Conqueror of those he fought against he got incredible Wealth with a Discovery of the Rich Mines in Mexico The Blaze of this quickly flew all over Spain so that the Spaniards expected Mountains of Gold in running out of Spain into America and therefore near half Spain ran into America to seek new Adventures there the covetous
the Crown her Father Brother and Sister in debt and the Navy Royal neglected and out of Repair yet the Revenues of the Crown besides the Court of Wards and the Dutchy of Lancaster I say the Profits of the Kingdom were but 188179 l. 4 s. See Sir Robert Cotton ' s Means of the Kings of England p. 3. the Kingdom imbroiled in intestine Heats in Religion and Philip the second of Spain aspiring to an unlimited Dominion in and out of Europe Calais notwithstanding the united Interest of England with Spain but some Months before lost to the French and Francis the Dauphin of France in right of his Wife Mary Queen of Scotland laying claim to the Crown of England Whereas when King James came to be King of England the Kingdom was in intire Peace within and in a Martial State and full of Honour and Reputation abroad the Royal Navy not only Superior to any other in the World in Strength but in good Repair few Debts left charged upon the Crown yet if the Exchequer were not replenished with Money the King received Three entire Subsidies and six fifteens of the 4 Subsidies and eight Fifteens granted to the Queen for suppressing the Irish Rebellion and carrying on the War against Spain some Months before though both the Rebellion and War with Spain ceased that Year he became King the Customs for supporting the Navy more than fivefold they were in the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and above two Millions and four hundred Thousand Pounds due from the States of Holland or the Vnited Netherlands but how the States became discharged of it it 's fit to premise it there and how it became due to Queen Elizabeth and so to the Crown of England Queen Elizabeth though she refused to accept of the Sovereignty of the Vnited Provinces when she took them into Protection after the Expulsion of the Duke of Anjou and the Death of the Prince of Orange yet she entred into a Treaty with the States Anno 1585. wherein it was agreed That the Dutch should repay her all the Monies which she should expend for their Preservation with Interest at 10 per Cent. when the War was ended with Spain and that two English whom the Queen should name should be admitted into their Council of State and for Security whereof the Dutch should deliver up to her Flushing Rammekins and the Brill which were the Keys of their Country Upon this Agreement the Queen for the Dutch's further Encouragement gave them Licence to fish upon the Coast of England which she denied them when they continued in their subjection to King Philip and removed the Staple of the English Woollen Manufactures from Antwerp in the Power of the King of Spain to Delf in the Dutch Power and it is scarce credible how in so short a time after viz. scarce thirteen Years the Dutch entertaining all sorts of People who were persecuted upon the Account of not submitting to the Papal Usurpations called Religion swelled their Trade and Navigation not only in Europe but in the East and West-Indies The Queen considering this Encrease of the Dutch Trade and Navigation was as much to the lessening of the English and being provoked by the Ingratitude of the Lovestein Faction whereof one Olden Barnevelt was the Head a Fellow as factious and turbulent as ungrateful by whose Counsel another Assembly was erected at Amsterdam called The Convention of the States General wherein they managed all the secret and important Affairs of their State and out of which they excluded the English The Queen I say highly incensed at the Ingratitude of this Faction which now governed all in Holland and yet continuing to support them at the Charge of 120000 l. per Ann. as Camden observes in his Eliz. Reg. Ann. 1598 signified to the States her Intention of making Peace with the King of Spain which if she did it would be impossible for them to continue their War with Spain and recover their Cautionary-Towns from the Queen Hereupon the States sent my Lord Warmond as they called him as their humble Supplicant to the Queen and in the lowest Posture of Humility acknowledged themselves obliged to her for infinite Benefits and that as her Majesty excelled the Glory of her Ancestors in Power so she excelled them in Acts of Piety and Mercy but pleaded Poverty for not repayment of the Money the Queen had expended for their Preservation they might have said their Exaltation The Queen in Answer to them said she had been often deceived by their deceitful Supplications and ungrateful Actions and Pretence of Poverty when their Power and Riches confuted them and that she hoped God would not suffer her to be a Pattern to other Princes to help such a People who bear no Reverence to Superiors nor take care for the Advantage Reputation or Safety of any but themselves The Dutch were confounded at the Queen's Answer submitted themselves to such Terms as the Queen should lay upon them and the Queen wisely considering if she should cast them off Henry the 4th of France who the last Year viz. 1597 had concluded a Peace with Spain at Vervins by the Interposition of the Pope's Nuncio and sought to be Protector of the States whereby the Queen would not only be in danger to lose their Dependance but the Monies she had expended in their Support they the Queen and States came to this Agreeement 1. That upon an Account stated there was eight Millions of Crowns or two Millions Sterling due to the Queen for which they were to pay Ten per Cent. so long as the War lasted 2. That during the War they should pay the Queen one hundred thousand Pounds yearly and the Remainder when Peace with Spain was concluded and then to have their Cautionary Towns surrendred back to them 3. That till this Agreement was performed the States were to pay Fifteen hundred English in Garison in them We leave this Agreement here till we hear more of it hereafter There were but thirteen Months between this King's Birth and Reign his Mother being deposed to make Room for his coming to be King and by this Title he reigned twenty Years in his Mother's Life and during that time he never made use of her Name in the Coin of Scotland nor in any Proclamation or Law and after her Death continued his Reign by this Title to his dying Day which was inconsistent with the Flatteries which his Favourites buz'd continually in his Ears That he was King by inherent Birth-right and that he held his Crown from God alone and so pleasing was this Doctrine to him that above all other things he set himself upon it not only in magnifying himself herein in his Speeches in Parliament but in his Writings against Bellarmine and Peron against the Pope's deposing Kings In his Infancy and Minority the Regents and Nobility made Havock of the Crown and Church Revenues so as when he came to Age he had but little left
Peace between England and Spain whereto both Kings were equally disposed more smooth and easy Yet Philip the 3d before he would openly seek it by an Ambassador from the Arch-Duke Albert Governor of Flanders felt the Pulse of the Court how it stood affected to a Peace with Spain which beat high towards it so as soon after it followed which as it was most beneficial to the English Nation so it had been to Spain if it had been as sincerely observed by King James as it was by Philip. Henry the 4th of France tho spited as 't was said that King James should not only come so peaceably but with universal Acclamations to the Crown of England whereas he laboured with such difficulty above seven Years to attain that of France and at last was forced to a dishonourable Submission to the Pope Clement VIII Yet being a Prince of great Prudence in Peace as well as fortunate and victorious in War sent Monsieur de Rosny Great Treasurer of France to renew the Treaty of Peace and Commerce formerly made between Queen Elizabeth and him which was without any difficulty done The King being thus at Peace Abroad and at Home not only in England but in Ireland as if the Wars expired there with Queen Elizabeth he not only pardoned the Earl of Tyrone the Head of that Rebellion but by Proclamation declar'd he was restor'd to the King's Favour and to be honourably used of all Men. But how pleasing soever the King 's coming to the Crown of England was to the English Nation it seems it was not so or something else to God for an horrible Plague greater than any since that in the Reign of Edward the 3d accompanied his coming in There were two Factions in England when the King came to the Crown distinguished by the Names of Puritans and Papists both dissenting from the Religion established in the Church of England the King hated those and wrote against these chiefly for their Doctrine of the Pope's Power of deposing Kings These received the King after different manners the Puritans had a huge Expectation of his Favour because he was bred up in their Doctrine and Discipline but were much deceived in it for he rarely mentioned them but with Detestation which he did not those of the Popish Religion However in January they obtained a Conference with the Church-Party at Hampton-Court where the King himself would be Moderator whilst most of the Nobility and Bishops were Spectators You need not doubt which Party prevail'd the Nobility and Bishops not only giving the King the Victory with the Epithets of The Solomon of the Age The most Learned but of being inspired But what Expectation soever the Puritans had of the King 's coming to the Crown the Papists had another Lesson taught them for tho the Popish Conspiracy against the Person of Queen Elizabeth ceased upon the Death of the Queen of Scots yet did not the Pope's Designs upon the Kingdom of England do so but Clement VIII in the Year 1600 sent Orders to his Emissaries in England that the Catholicks should admit none to succeed the Queen but one obedient to the Holy See and in Conformity hereunto Watson and Clark two Romish Priests joined in Cobhant's Conspiracy to have kept the King from coming to the Crown and were executed for it as Traitors but the Effects of the Pope's Instructions did not die with Clark and Watson as you 'll soon hear and upon the 24th of October 1603 a Proclamation was made for Quietness to be observed in Matters of Religion Notwithstanding the Rage of the Pestilence the first nine Months after the King 's coming to London all were Halcion-days Proclamations Pageants Feastings Creation of Lords and Knights Reception of Foreign Ambassadors erecting a Master of the Ceremonies after the Mode of France c. and in this time the Dignified Clergy and those who courted to be so with the Favourites at Court with whom the Civilians chimed in had so rooted their Doctrine of the King 's Absolute Power and that notwithstanding his Succession to the Crown of Scotland in the Life of his Mother he succeeded by inherent Birth-right and that Primogeniture is the Gift of God by the Law of Nature and that in his Person was reconciled all the Titles of our Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings that being propensly disposed to receive the Impressions they took such deep root in him that in all his Life after he would never with Patience hear any thing to the contrary however it was not long before he heard of it as you shall hear But we will stay a little and see how inconsistently these Flatterers jumbled an Absolute and Hereditary Monarchy together and how this King reconciled the Titles of the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles to the Crown For no Hereditary Monarch that ever reigned in this World but derived his Title from an Ancestor who had no Hereditary Right nor did ever any Hereditary King succeed but to govern by Laws and Constitutions which were established before he became King So however Absolute may be applicable to Conquerors yet it is inconsistent with Hereditary Kings especially in a Regular Monarchy as that of England is and those of old as of the Medes and Persians where the Will of the King alone could not alter the Laws and Constitutions of them And now let us see how King James came to claim his Crown by inherent Birth-right and how all the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles came to be reconciled in his Person It 's evident to me that tho only God can make an Heir and that tho Primogeniture be natural yet God in disposing Kingdoms is not obliged to it tho Grotius lib. 1. Tit. 11. de Jure Belli Pacis is pleased to say the Law of Nature is immutable by God himself but reserves unto himself the Prerogative of disposing Kingdoms without restraining the Succession of the King to Primogeniture or Hereditary Succession Here let us see in Epitome which you may read at large in Sir William Jones his History of the Succession of the Kings of England before and after the Conquest and the History of the Succession of the Crown of England from King Egbert to Henry the 8th printed in the Year 1690 where you will see that tho the Kings of England both before and after the Conquest succeeded in their Royal Families yet many more were not in the right Line than in it and tho before Caesar invaded Britain there was no other Government but Kingly yet Britain was divided into so many petty Kingdoms that tho it had not been barbarous it would have been as difficult to have wrote the History of the Succession of their Kings as to have wrote the History of the Succession of the Kings immediately after the Flood After the Roman Empire oppressed by its own Weight by the Division into Eastern and Western its intestine Jars and the over-flowing of barbarous Nations was so torn
and shaken that the Legions which governed Britain were recalled by Ecius the Roman General under Honorius and Valentinian the 3d to make Head against Attila the poor Britains disarmed and only made use of to serve their imperious Masters and so utterly destitute of Martial Discipline easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots not subject to the Romans who treated them more intolerably and tyrannically than the Romans had done For Redress whereof the Britains sought Succours from the English Saxons who came to their Relief in the Year 409 as Bede says lib. 1. cap. 15. of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation but these Saxons used the poor Britains worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of the Island now called England Tho the Saxons had their Wills of the Britains they were before the Heptarchy at continual Variance among themselves and so after that it is almost as unaccountable to give a History of the Succession of their Kings as it was of the Britains before Julius Caesar Egbert about the Year 800 viz. 391 Years after the Saxon Invasion was called the first of the Saxon Monarchs tho the Kingdom of the Mercians was not united to his Monarchy who by Merit as well as Birth obtained the Dignity and succeeded Brithric Ethelwolph succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Westsax but not to those of Kent Sussex and Eastsax or Essex these being given by Egbert to Egbert's younger Son Ethelwolph by his Will divided his Kingdoms between his two eldest Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert to Ethelbald he gave the Kingdom of the West Saxons to Ethelbert the Kingdom of Kent and the Eastern Southern and middle Angles But there were two other Sons Ethelred and Alfred Ethelbert after the Death of Ethelbald succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and after the Death of Ethelbert Ethelred succeeded in the whole viz. of the West Saxons and of the Kingdoms of Kent the Eastern Southern and Middle Angles Alfred after the Death of Ethelred by universal Applause the famous the youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded Edward Son of Alfred was chosen by the Nobles on Whit-sunday in 901. Athelstan after the Death of Alfred tho a Bastard was elected by the Nobles of whom 't was said there was nothing ignoble in him But Athelstan dying without Issue his younger Brother Edmund succeeded him without any Opposition and tho he left two Sons Edwy and Edgar yet Edmund's younger Brother succeeded him Edwy after Edred's Death Edred's elder Brother 's elder Son succeeded but being a vicious Prince the Mercians and Northumbrians chose Edgar his younger Brother King in the Life of Edwy and Edgar after the Death of Edwy became King of the whole Nation Edward Son of Edgar after his Death was chosen by the Bishops and Nobles by the Command of his Father Edgar but he being murdered by his Step-mother Edward's younger Brother Ethelred succeeded And after his Death the Saxon Monarchy being rent in pieces by the Danes and Saxons Edmund Ironside Son of Etheldred by an obscure mean Woman tho he had two half-legitimate younger Brothers Edward and Alfred born of Etheldred's Wife was chosen King by one part of the Nobility and Canutus the Dane by another Thus the whole legitimate Race of the Saxon Kings were excluded one part chusing Ironside a Bastard the other Canutus a Stranger to the Saxon Royal Race Edmund Ironside being treacherously murdered by his brother-in-Brother-in-law Edric Edmund leaving two Sons Edwy and Edward Canutus the Dane became sole Monarch of the Saxon Monarchy So that this was the beginning of the Danish Dynasty which lasted not long Harold Son of Canutus succeeded him and Hardicanute his Brother succeeded Harold neither the Issue of Etheldred Edward or Alfred nor Edwy or Edward the Sons of Edmund Ironside so much as taken notice of with this Hardicanute ended the Danish Rule with the Slaughter and Expulsion of the Danes Edward Son of Etheldred called the Confessor Uncle to Edwy and Edward Sons of Edmund Ironside after Hardicanute was advanced to the Royal Dignity principally by means of Earl Goodwin a powerful and imperious Lord upon the account of Edward's marrying the Earl's Daughter so little was the Hereditary Succession of the Saxon Kings regarded And that Edward's Reign might be more secure this Earl Goodwin caused the Eyes of Alfred the King's Brother to be put out and some say took away his Life Edward the Confessor growing old having no Issue and the Family of the wicked Earl Goodwin growing not only insolent but intolerable to him declared Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside his Cousin his Heir And to the end he might better succeed the King sent to the King of Hungary to return his Nephew Edward whom the King of Hungary had married to his Niece Agatha Daughter to Henry Emperor of Germany which the King of Hungary did and upon Edward's return the Confessor declared that he or his Sons should succeed in his Hereditary Kingdom of England But the Confessor did not long hold in this Mind for his Nephew Edward soon after dying and leaving a Son Edgar unfit for Government either as to his Body or Courage he decreed that his Kinsman William Duke of Normandy tho a Bastard should succeed him in the Kingdom of England which came to pass and so a new Race of Kings have succeeded in England of the Norman Race whose original Title was from a Grant of a King of the Saxon Race and so the beginning creates little Title to an Hereditary Succession in the Norman Race And now we 'll see how an Hereditary Succession was observed in it yet as in the Saxon so in the Norman Kings none succeeded who was not of the Royal Blood as all the Kings of Judah were of the Family or Tribe of Judah William Rufus the second Son of the Conqueror succeeded his elder Brother Robert then alive So did Henry the First his elder Brother Robert living Stephen the Son of the Conqueror's Sister succeeded Henry tho Henry left a Daughter Maud or Matilda Henry the Second succeeded Henry's Mother yet living so his Succession was not Hereditary for Haeres non est viventis Richard the First succeeded Henry the Second John succeeded Richard Arthur the Son of John's elder Brother then alive Henry the Third succeeded Arthur's Sister then alive who was Heir before him So that of seven Successions after the Conqueror but one Richard the First succeeded as Heir to his Father or the Conqueror Admit Edward the First succeeded as Heir to Henry the 3d and Edward the 2d as Heir to Edward the First yet Edward the 3d did not succeed as Heir to Edward the 2d he being then alive Admit Richard the 2d was Heir to Edward the Black Prince eldest Son to Edward the 3d yet neither Henry the 4th 5th or 6th were Heirs from Edward the 3d but the Descendants of Phillippa the Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence John of
Match to oppose the turbulent aspiring Faction of Harold and his Family named William Duke of Normandy his Successor but none of these were Reasons for the Deposing the Earls of Athol and Strathern being for ought I find much better qualified to reign than either John or Robert the Issue of Elizabeth Moor for John was of a heavy and unactive Disposition not fit to govern which made the King his Father to constitute his younger Brother Robert Vice-Roy a Man of a violent and inveterate Disposition So that these three Dynasties viz. the Norman Bâ—itish and Scotish were all derived from spurious Originals and as Henry the 7th was descended from John of Gaunt who was never King by Catherine Swinford so is the Race of Scotland from Robert Stuart the first of that Name before he was King by Elizabeth Moor. But though the Parliament erected this Dynasty of the Kings of Scotland yet this did not cease their Power of altering the Succession of it in a right Line For James the 2d had two Sons James the 3d who succeeded him and Alexander Duke of Albany Alexander married two Wives the first was a Daughter of the Earl of Orkney by whom he had a Son named Alexander and after married a Daughter of the Earl of Bulloign by whom he had a Son named John yet in James the 5th his Reign John was by Parliament declared the second Person of the Kingdom and next Heir to James the Fifth notwithstanding the Claim and Protestation made by John's elder Brother against it And the Scots out of Parliament assumed a Power not only of altering the Succession of their Kings but of deposing them For in the Year 1567 they deposed Queen Mary the Daughter of K. James the 5th and set up King James the 6th after King James the 1st of England an Infant scarce 14 Months old in her stead and by this Title he reigned in Scotland twenty Years in his Mother's Life and to his dying Day owned this Title Yet this King and his Son and two Grandsons after him gloried in declaring their Titles to be by inherent Birth-right and that they were accountable only to God for all their Actions Here how truly let the Reader judg the Scene was laid upon which they played their designed Game which did not end so I do not account the Dynasty of the Kings of England in the Scotish Race since Queen Elizabeth to be new in the Succession of the Persons of the four last Kings I mean King James the 1st King Charles the 1st King Charles the 2d and King James the second yet I say it was new in the Exercise of it and such as none of the Saxon Danish or Norman Race since Henry the 3d or of the British Race ever pretended to claim But in regard it has put the Nation into such a Ferment for above 80 Years and which if God pleases not to put an end to may prove as fatal to these Nations as the Feuds between the Guelphs and Gibelines did for above 300 Years overwhelm Germany and Italy in most horrible Blood-shed and Devastation we are more particular in taking a View of the Original of it From the time of the King 's coming to London May the 7th to the 11th of January little more than eight Months Stow takes notice of twelve Proclamations and upon the 11th of January out comes another for calling a Parliament which though new for the manner yet more new for the Substance and such as never before was heard of in England And that we may the better take a view of the success of the Parliaments of England in this King's Reign from this we will stay a little and consider the Constitution of a Parliament and the principal Ends of its meeting The King is the Head Principle and End of the Parliament the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons which are made up of Knights of the Counties of England and Wales Citizens sent from Cities Burgesses sent from Corporations and Barons sent from the Cinque Ports which do not differ from Burgesses but only in Name are the Body the Temporal Nobility sit in Parliament in their personal Capacities but the Spiritual Nobility do not so but in right of their Bishopricks which they hold of the King by Barony and the Commons are said to be the Representative-Body of all the Commons in England not Noble by Birth or in their Politick Capacities as the Bishops are and in this Assembly resides the Supreme Authority of the Nation which as they make Laws for the publick Benefit for are they loose from them and are not obliged to them As the King is freed from the imputation of Tyranny in sanguinary Laws and of Oppression in taxing the Subjects for how can the Subjects complain of either when their Representatives in Parliament promote them So does a Parliament discharge the great Objection against Hereditary Monarchies that tho Princes see only with their own Eyes and hear with their own Ears as other Men do yet so as it is impossible without a true Representation of the State of their Subjects they can see or hear of the true State of them whereas Minions and Flatterers whose Interest is different from that of the Kingdom not only conceal the true State of the Nation but make false Representations of it to raise themselves tho out of the publick ruine but the Parliament is the Eye of the Nation which sees the Abuses which Flatterers by abusing the King's Name and making it subservient to their Interest impose upon it The great Ends of the Meetings of Parliament are first to redress the Grievances of the Nation if any be by representing them to the King Secondly to punish Men which are out of the reach of the ordinary Rules of Justice which either abuse the King's Name to attain their Ends or may prove dangerous to the Government Thirdly to make Laws against growing Evils and to repeal Laws which have been found inconvenient to the Nation And fourthly to supply the King upon extraordinary Occasions for Support of the Nation as Times and Accidents may happen Heretofore the Meetings of Parliament were so frequent that Sir John Thompson in his Preface to the Earl of Anglesey's Memoirs takes notice that from the first of Edward the 3d to the 14th of Henry the 4th which was but 85 Years there are 72 Original Writs for the Summons of Parliament so that if you allow forty Days from the Tests of the Writs to the Returns and but one Month for the Sittings of Parliament there will not be a Year's Interval between the Dissolution of one Parliament and the Summoning another and Mr. Johnson proves that they were annual and fixt to meet on the first or the Kalends of May which continued down to Edward the 1st how or whether discontinued by Edw. the 2d I cannot tell however there are two Laws yet in force for the annual Meeting of the King in Parliament
one the 4th of Edw. the 3d c. 14. the other 36 Edward 3. c. 10. and when Parliaments thus frequently met Grievances were nipt in the Bud the Courts of Law kept to the Administration of Justice uprightly the Ambition of great Men restrained Factions and Innovations suppressed and when the Parliament met thus frequently the King had an Account of the State of the Nation and upon Redress of Grievances if any were the Parliament in acknowledgment of their Duty gave the King a Gratuity sometimes a Fifteenth other times a Subsidy and at other times a Subsidy and a Fifteenth and sometimes a Subsidy and two Fifteenths but never more before the 35 of Eliz. and the King in return granted a general Pardon to his Subjects with such Exceptions as the Parliament pleased and thus a mutual Love and Understanding between the King and his Subjects was nourished and encreased Whereas by the long discontinuance of Parliaments Grievances multiply and take Root so as they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Discontinuances last The Favourites by their flattering the Prince not only keep him in Ignorance of the State of his Subjects but fix the Prince so to their Will that it becomes so habitual in him that the Prince prefers them before his Subjects and their Flatteries before the Advice of his Parliament and often takes their parts before that of the Parliament and Nation These long Intervals of Parliaments you 'll see will beget long Parliaments and the Members get to be chosen by the Favour of great Men and vast Expence so that the Grievances with the Parliament should redress become diffused into the Body of the Parliament than which nothing can be more dangerous to the Constitution of Parliament Besides that the publick Business may not be interrupted during the Sessions of Parliament the Members of both Houses have Privileges whereof they are the only Judges both in their own Persons and of their Servants whereby they are exempted from Arrests or any Process at Law which is not only grievous to the Subjects but oft the Ruine of them But now it 's time to see what the King's Proclamation for calling his first Parliament tended to Before King James his coming to the Crown of England the Election of Members in the House of Commons was so free that the Letters of the King or any Noble Man to chuse a Member was judged Cause sufficient to render the Election void but the King by this Proclamation gives order what Sorts of Men and how Qualified should be chosen by the Commons and concludes We Notify by these Presents That all Returns and Certificates of Knights Citizens and Burgesses ought and are to be brought to the Court of Chancery and there to be filed upon Record and if any be found to be made contrary to this Proclamation the same is to be rejected as unlawful and insufficient and the City or Borough to be fined for the same and if it be found that they have committed any gross or wilful Default or Contempt in the Election Return or Certificate that then their Liberties according to the Law are to be seized as forfeited And if any Person take upon him the Place of a Knight Citizen or Burgess not being duly elected and sworn according to the Laws and Statutes in that behalf provided and according to the Purport Effect and true Meaning of this our Proclamation then every Person so offending to be fined and imprisoned for the same Never was such a Prelude to the Meeting of a Parliament by any of the Kings of England either of the Saxon Danish Norman or British Race and if the King in the Beginning thus extends his first Note above ELA to what Pitch will he strain his Prerogative hereafter However since Forfeitures of Charters Fining and Imprisoning of Members not elected and returned according to this Proclamation were the Penalties imposed by it for the better Execution it might have been declared who should judg of these Elections and Returns or by what Law It fell out unluckily I think I may say designedly that upon the opening of the Parliament several of the House of Commons one of which was Sir Herbert Crofts coming to hear the King's Speech in the House of Lords had the Door shut upon them and were repulsed by a Yeoman of the Guard one Bryant Cash with the uncivil and contemptible Terms of Goodman Burgess you come not here The King in a long and tedious Speech which you may read at large in Stow's Chronicle after he had expressed his Thanks to the whole Nation for their Universal Acclamations in receiving him for their undoubted Sovereign which so much conduced to their Happiness in the Union of all Claims in his Person being the undoubted Heir of Hen. 7 and Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th wherein the Titles of the Houses of York and Lancaster were reconciled He tells them the Wonders which he will do both in reference to the inward and outward Peace of the Kingdom which how well he performed you will hear hereafter But as to the Glory which he ascribes to himself of being King by inherent Birthright from Hen. 7. and his Queen I think he could not have taken a worse Topick for what he so much gloried in For no hereditary Monarch has a better Title to his Crown than the Ancestor from whom he first claims had and it is evident Henry the 7th had no Colour of Title to the Crown of England by Inheritance being only descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Concubine when John of Gaunt's Wife was alive nor could the King claim any Title from the Wife of Henry the 7th for Henry himself would never own she had any reigning not only during her Life without naming her in the Coins Proclamations or Laws but after her Death and was not only crowned without her but called a Parliament without her ere he was married to her and had the Crown entailed upon him and the Heirs of his Body before he married her Besides there is no Averment against an Act of Parliament and the Act of the first of Richard the 3d declares all the Issue of Edward the 4th by the Lady Grey the Mother of Henry the 7th's Wife to be Illegitimate and so uncapable of any Inheritance to the Crown of England But how edified soever the Commons were with the King's Speech they were little pleased with the Yeomen of the Guards usage of their Members which in due time the King shall hear of However the King who since his coming in had been acquainted only with Flatteries introduced with the Epithet of most sacred which I find rarely applied to any of his Predecessors and how properly applied to him giving himself up to a dissolute and prophane Life let another judg was buoyed up with a mighty Expectation of the Success of his Proclamation and Speech which did not succeed
or withdraw themselves from their Obedience and Subjection any Souldiers Provision of Victuals Monies Instruments of War and whatsoever Aid else to maintain War and the five Articles renounce all former Leagues Confederacies Capitulations and Intelligences to the contrary But tho these two Articles pointed as directly as the Wit of Man could devise and to which King James sware to withdraw the English and Scotch out of the Dutch Service against the Spaniard yet had the King no more Courage to do it than he had to demand the 600000 l. now due from the Dutch to him by their Treaty with Queen Elizabeth in 1598. And King James to palliate this made it worse by granting the King of Spain Licence to raise what Forces he could in any of his Dominions to fight against the Dutch so prodigal was the King of the Expence of his Subjects Blood Abroad to keep an unsettled Peace at Home wherein he might follow his Pleasure and Luxury and aspire to a Dominion over his Subjects which none of his Predecessors ever claimed King James in the 7th Article excuses the delivery of Flushing Brill Rammekins and other Forts in the English Possession in the Netherlands to the King of Spain because of the Contracts made between Queen Elizabeth and the States by which she being engaged in Faith and Honour it was not free for him to restore the same to the Arch-Dukes yet on the Word of a King he promises to enter into a Treaty with the said States wherein he will assign a competent time to them to accept and receive Terms agreeable to Justice and Equity for a Pacification with the Arch-Dukes to whom the King of Spain had assigned the Dominions of the Low-Countries which if the States shall refuse his Majesty from henceforth as being freed from the former Conventions will determine of the said Towns according as it shall be just and honourable wherein the said Princes his loving Brethren shall find there shall be no want in him of those good Offices which can be expected from a Friendly Prince How well the King performed his Promise you will hear hereafter but I find no time set by the King when he entered into any Treaty herein with the States As the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes got but little by this Treaty of Peace so did the English Nation as the King had ordered it get as little by the Treaty of Commerce for if you consider Man in his Nature he is born naked and the generality of Mankind have nothing to feed clothe provide an Habitation or defend themselves with but as they are assisted by other Men and as they are born to nothing but what they get from others so if any rob or steal from another any thing this will be an Injury to that other Nor does Man born in this poor State know how to get or be supplied by another with either Food Raiment or an Habitation but as he shall be taught or instructed by another so that after all the generality of Mankind in their most perfect State eat their Bread by the Sweat of their Brows and in the Cares of their Mind To debar therefore any Man from his honest Labours whereby he gets his Subsistence is a greater Violation of the Law of Nature than to rob another and equal to the depriving another by Injustice of an Estate whereon a Man lives and is a greater Injury than the Tyranny of Pharaoh over the Children of Israel in compelling them to make Brick yet denying them Straw for this imposed upon the Israelites a greater Hardship how to live whereas that denies poor Men their Means of living and by Consequence it is a greater Tyranny and Injustice for any Man or Company of Men either by Law or without Law to arrogate to themselves a Monopoly in any lawful Imployment exclusive to other Men than to rob any of them for this but hinders them in their Livelihood whereas that takes from them all their Means of living Nor are Monopolies less impolitick than injurious for the restraining the Labours and Industry of Men in any Profession Art or Mystery in any Country to a few does not only hinder the Improvement of them in that Country but makes open a Way to the People of other Countries not only to enlarge but improve them as much to their Benefit as to the Loss of that Country where they are restrained to a few And if Monopolies be so wicked impolitick and injurious in restraining the Labours and Industry of Men the monopolizing the Product of Mens Labour by Navigation in Foreign Trade is not less but more for no Man will labour who cannot enjoy the Fruits of his Labour and the great Benefit herein which England enjoys is that being the greater and better part of the Isle of Britain it abounds with more noble and better Ports except Ireland to vend the Product of Mens Labours upon the Materials which it abounds with than any other Country To monopolize therefore the Foreign Vent of our Manufactures to any Men or Company of Men is doubly injurious not only to our Artificers in them but to those Countries which might otherwise reap the Benefit of them and by this Restriction gives other Countries the opportunity of supplying them Nor does the Injury and Impolicy of restraining the Foreign Vent of our Manufactures stay here for by it infinite People might be supplied with manifold things from other Countries as Pitch Tar Hemp Flax Bees-wax Elephants Teeth Raw Silks all sorts of dying Stuffs c. whereof the Nation stands in need which being restrained to a few the Nation cannot be supplied by them and so multitudes of Manufacturers are denied the Fruits of their Labours and hereby they become so dear that those who imploy themselves in them cannot without extraordinary Pains subsist and thereby give the Foreign Vent of them to other Nations where these are more plentiful and cheap Nor does the Injury and Impolicy of monopolizing of Foreign Trades end here for as the Riches of England are derived from our Foreign Trades so is the Strength and Glory of it founded in Navigation which Trade being a principle to it will be so much lessened as the Foreign Vent of our Manufactures and their Returns are restrained We have thought â—it to premise this that a better View may be had of what follows The first day the King came to London after the Death of Queen Elizabeth viz. the 7th of May he issued out a Proclamation to cease the exacting all Monopolies and Protections that hindred Mens Suits in Law and to forbid the Oppressions done by Salt-Peter-Makers Purveyors and Cart-takers but this was too hot to hold For the Treaty of Peace and Commerce with Spain was no sooner made but the King made a Monopoly of the Trade to Spain and Italy by incorporating it in a Company exclusive to other Men Hereupon the Parliament then sitting made that memorable Law founded upon those
ordered it that before the King should come at it he should pass through a Room wherein he had placed four Tables and upon each Table lay 5000 l. in Silver when the King came into the Passage he started and was amazed at the sight having never before seen such a Sum he asked the Treasurer the meaning of it who told the King It was the Boon he had given Sir Robert Carr Swounds Man the Oath he usually swore but five thousand should serve his turn and so for that time the Treasurer saved the King the other fifteen thousand Pounds To support these Favourites and other of the King's Country-men of less Note was all the King's Care notwithstanding his Foreign Affairs or his Proclamation at his first coming to London against Monopolies or his Speech at the opening of the Parliament But since Money cannot be had by Parliament other means must be found out There were many ways used for raising Monies during this Interval of Parliament First Monopolies which swarmed more than in any King's Reign before Secondly Payments for new invented Knighthoods never before heard of in England in Times of Peace called Baronets the Prince was 1000 l. and the King to quicken the Market promised to make but 200 of them tho when this Market was done he kept it up all his Life-time after Thirdly Tho the Baronets paid for their Honours yet the King issued our Commissions for reviving the old Obsolete Laws for making Men which could expend 40 l. per Annum to compound for not being Knighted Fourthly Payments for being made Knights of Nova Scotia Fifthly The purchasing of English Honours at certain set Prices a Baron at 10000 l. a Viscount at 15000 l. an Earl at 20000 l. Sixthly Payments for Scotish and Irish Honours I do not find set Prices of these Scotish Honours of the same Title to have the Precedence of an Irish as a Scotish Baron Viscount or Earl to have the Precedence of an Irish and tho an English Honour of like Degree had the Precedence of either of the other yet if either of the other had a higher Title he should precede an English Peer under a less as a Scotish or Irish Viscount shall precede an English Baron so such an Earl shall precede an English Viscount Seventhly Compositions upon defective Titles Eighthly Compositions for Assart Lands Ninthly Monies for making Prince Henry Knight Tenthly Monies to marry the Lady Elizabeth to the Palsgrave Eleventhly A Benevolence Twelfthly Monies borrowed upon Privy-Seals and never repaid besides Sales of Lands Woods and Fee-farm Rents c. During this Interval of Parliament was perpetrated a most horrible Murder upon the Person of Sir Thomas Overbury which is the more remarkable if it be considered how far tho the King detested the Fact Favourites had the Ascendant over the King and how the King influenced the Causes of this Murder and that the Story may more intirely consist it will be necessary to borrow a little of common Fame Sir Robert Carr was made Viscount Rochester the 25th of March 1610 and upon the 22d of April following was made one of the King's Privy-Council and having the Ascendant above all other Favourites over the King he chose a Council of some Persons how to advance himself in this great Power Of these Sir Thomas Overbury a Gentleman of brisk and lively Parts was the chief who had as much an Ascendant over the Lord Rochester as he had over the King and as Rochester was a Favourite so was Thomas Earl of Suffolk who had a Daughter named Frances married to Robert Earl of Essex Son of Robert cut off in the last Year of Queen Elizabeth who after was General of the Army raised by the Parliament in the late Civil Wars Tho of disagreeing Humours the Earl and Countess were of agreeable Years when they were married both about the Age of twelve Years and now had lived above ten Years without any Carnal Knowledg of one with the other as both confessed when the Countess sued for a Divorce whereto the Countess was intolerably bent and if publick Fame may be credited and which is attested by a Writer of the first 14 Years of King James his Life chap. 7. she entred into a Conspiracy with one Ann Turner to have poisoned the Earl But how cold soever the Countess was in her Affections to the Earl they were not less on fire to my Lord of Rochester and that these Flames might soar in an equal height the Countess by the help of Mrs. Turner procures one Doctor Foreman as he was called to bewitch Rochester into equal Desires of mutual Love with the Countess and now Familiarity between the Countess and Rochester becomes publickly scandalous However the Earl continued his Love to the Countess but withal acquainted her with the Dishonour she brought upon him and more upon her self by her loose Life which was now become so publickly taken notice of this was so far from reclaiming the Countess that it stung her to the quick and instead of Reformation she by Letters to Mrs. Turner who the Countess says is all her hopes of Good in this World and by her to Dr. Foreman whom she calls sweet Father and subscribes her self his Affectionate Daughter Frances Essex endeavours to procure the Doctor to bewitch the Earl to Frigidity towards her Sir Francis Bacon in his Charge against my Lord Rochester after Earl of Somerset at his Trial for the Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury gives Sir Thomas hard words as That there was little in him that was solid for Religion or Moral Vertue but was wholly possest with Ambition and vain Glory and was loth to have any Partners in my Lord of Rochester's Favour and that to flatter my Lord in his unlawful Love with the Countess of Essex Sir Thomas had made his Brags that he had won Rochester the Love of the Countess by his Letters and Industry But these stoln Pleasures could not satisfy the Countess's Desires and that she might enjoy them to be compleat she endeavours since the Design of poisoning the Earl did not succeed to make way to her Desires of marrying Rochester by suing out a Divorce against the said Earl which she acquaints Rochester with and Rochester and the Countess acquaint the Earl of Northampton who before was privy and consenting to the Familiarity between them and was easily induced to join in procuring a Divorce Tho this was agreed between them yet the Viscount would not proceed further till he had consulted Sir Thomas Overbury protesting he the Viscount would do nothing without his Advice Sir Thomas told him The marrying the Countess would not be only hurtful to his Preferment but helpful to subvert and overthrow him and who would being possest of so great Possibilities as he was so great Honours and large Revenues and daily in expectation of others cast all away upon a Woman noted for her Injury and Immodesty and pull upon himself the Hatred and Contempt
heard any thing without the prelude of Sacred Peaceful Wise Most Learned c. These made him careless both of his Domestick and Foreign Affairs the Thoughts of which disturbed his Pleasures and if at any time he was thoughtful or pensive his Favourites made it their Business to mimick or ridicule those things especially the Puritans whâ—m the King hated These Courses and the King's Favourites perpetually sucking his Treasures brought the King to great Necessities yet he had not Courage enough to demand the Debt due to him from the States of Holland neither Principal nor Interest so that after five Years interval a Parliament is agreed to be called to supply the King's Occasions and the principal Cause to excite the Parliament to give Money was for the Portion the King had paid for marrying the Princess Elizabeth to the Palsgrave and for his Entertainment whilst he was in England tho the King had collected Aid-Money all over England before But it rarely happens when Grievances be multiplied and the Kings become necessitous that then the King and Parliament attain their Ends the Ends being so different the Parliaments being to redress Grievances and the Kings to get Money and so it fell out in this Parliament for entring upon Grievances and remonstrating them to the King which was Language he was not acquainted with he in great Passion dissolves the Parliament and commits many of the principal Members of the Commons close Prisoners without Bail or Man-prize and though no Law was passed this Parliament nor any Notice had of it in the Statutes printed at large yet this Benefit came of it That the Commons voting Cockaine's Patent for Dressing and Dying English Cloths to be a Monopoly and a Grievance it was recalled and cancelled and the vent of White Cloths left free This was the greatest Violation and Invasion of the Privilege of Parliament that ever was done by any King of England before but though it began it did not end here neither in this King's Reign nor his Son 's after him For after the Dissolution of the Parliament the King extorted a Benevolence from the Subject and those who would not contribute were to have their Names returned to the Council CHAP. III. A further Account of this Reign to the End of the third Parliament in 1620. IF from the Parliament we look into the Court we shall see the King's Affections begin to alter towards his Favourites which began upon this Occasion My Lord of Northampton was Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports and by his Permission Romish Priests in great Numbers swarmed into England this was observed and great Clamours were made upon it which came to the Earl's Ears hereupon the Earl exhibits an Information against some of them these justify the Truth of what they were accused of the Arch-Bishop Abbot at the same time produces a Letter from the Earl to Cardinal Bellarmine wherein he says That however the Condition of the Times compelled him and the King urged him to turn Protestant yet nevertheless his Heart stood for the Catholicks and that he would be ready to further them in any Attempt This procured the King's Frowns and the Prisoners Discharge whereupon 't was said Northampton took such Grief that he made his Will wherein he declared He died in the same Faith wherein he was baptized viz. the Popish and died the 15th of June Now was Somerset left without his chiefest Support and soon after another shall rise up which shall turn him quite out of the King's Favour About this time one Mr. George Villiers appeared in Court the youngest Son of Sir George Villiers of Leicestershire by a second Venter whose Name was Mary Beaumont the Heraulds will tell you she was of the honourable Family of the Beaumonts and I will tell you what a Lady of Quality told me and one who might well know the Truth of what she said her youngest Sister by a second Venter being married to the Eldest Son of Sir George Villiers by Beaumont Mary Beaumont was entertained in Sir George Villiers his Family in a mean Office of the Kitchin but her ragged Habit could not shade the beautiful and excellent Frame of her Person which Sir George taking notice of prevailed with his Lady to remove Mary out of the Kitchin into an Office in her Chamber which with some Importunity on Sir George's part and unwillingness of my Lady at last was done Soon after my Lady died and Sir George became very sweet upon his Lady's Woman which would not admit any Relief without Enjoyment and the more to win Mary to it gave her 20 l. to put her self into so good a Dress as this would procure which she did and then Sir George's Affections became so fired that to allay them he married her In this Coverture Sir George had three Sons John after Viscount Purbeck Christopher after Earl of Anglesey and George and one Daughter after married to the Earl of Denbigh When Sir George died George was very young and Sir George having setled his Estate upon the Children born of his former Lady could leave the Issue by his Widow but very little and her but a Joynture of about 200 l. per Annum which dying with her nothing could come to these Children nor was it possible for her out of so contracted a Joynture to maintain her self and them so as to make scarce any Provision for them after her Death and the Issue of Sir George by his former Lady both envied and hated her so as little could be expected from them To supply these Defects she married one Thomas Compton a rich Country Gentleman whereby she became able to maintain and breed up her Children in a better than ordinary Education and George being of an extraordinary and exact Composition of Person was sent abroad and in France acquired those outward Advantages which more adorned the natural Parts which Nature had given him The King this Year about the Beginning of March 16 14 15 according to his usual Methods went to take his Hunting Pleasures at New-market and the Scholars as they called them of Cambridg who new the King's Humour invited him to a Play called Ignoramus to ridicule at least the Practice of the Common Law Never did any thing so hit the King's Humour as this Play did so that he would have it acted and acted again which was increased with several Additions which yet more pleased the King At this Play it was so contrived that George Villiers should appear with all the Advantages his Mother could set him forth and the King so soon as he had seen him fell into Admiration of him so as he became confounded between his Admiration of Villiers and the Pleasure of the Play which the King did not conceal but gave both Vent upon several Occasions This set the Heads of the Courtiers at work how to get Somerset out of Favour and to bring Villiers in but here it 's fit to look a little back and see
Destruction upon himself having first seen his Son Walter slain in the Design he intended to raise his Fortunes by Tho the King was never poorer than at this time yet the Nation was far richer than in all the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth by reason of the English Trade with Spain made free by that celebrated Law of the 3d of the King cap. 6. and at this time and many Years before the King of Spain made Count Gundamor his Legier Ambassador in England the Count would ape the King iâ— all his Humours but his Cups and hereby became so intimate with the King that he discover'd all his Designs and the Secretâ— if ther were any of the Court In this Posture of Affairs Sir Walter informs the King that 〈◊〉 he would grant him a Commission he would bring Mountains of Gold into the King's Exchequer from Guiana the King who had stopt his Ears to Sir Walter 's Advice concerning the Dutch Fisheâ— upon the Coasts of England and Scotland opens them both to Sir Walter 's Project and grants him a Commission directed Dilecto fideli meo Waltero Raleigh Militi But this Commission ill agreed with the Treaty made between the King and the most renowned King of Spain his dear and loving Brother in the second Year of his Reign wherein in the first Article it was agreed That they should use one another with all kind and friendly Offices and by this Treaty the English were restrain'd to their Trades in Europe For the King of Spain was as jealous of his West-Indies as the Apple of his Eye or the Pope 〈◊〉 of his Triple-Crown or the King of his Prerogative The Fame of Sir Walter and the Expectation of the Mountaiâ—â— of Gold to be poured into the Exchequer by this Expedition bâ—â—zed it all abroad so as Gundamor gave the King of Spain aâ— account of it and this became so much the more publick by how much the King could not contribute any thing but his Commission towards it and tho Sir Walter 's Fame induced many Nobles and Gentlemen to join with him in it yet this being distracted and divided into so many Interests it went on more heavily and became every day more known so that tho Sir Walter intended to have proceeded on his Voyage this Year in the beginning of April it was upward in August before he set out In his Passage a terrible Fever overtook Sir Walter now in the 76th Year of his Age which yet the Strength of his Constitution overcame to bring him to his End by a worse Fate When he arrived at Guiana he found all the Marks which he and Sir Nicholas Kemish had made either worn out by Time being twenty Years before or alter'd by the Spaniards who had so long before had notice of his Design so that Kemish and Sir Walter fell at such odds about it that Kemish killed himself besides the Spaniards to prevent Raleigh's Design had built many new Fortifications unknown to Raleigh or Kemish Hereupon Sir Walter stormed the Town of St. Thomas wherein he lost his Son Walter but took the Town and sack'd it and here the Souldiers took great Spoil but with little Profit to Sir Walter or any of the Adventurers with him For the Souldiers and Sea-men being Reformades and being under no severe Discipline kept what they had got Now was Sir Walter in a most desperate State he had no Friends at Court and which made the matter worse he had disgusted all the Nobles and Gentlemen who had engag'd with him in this Expedition he need not consult the Augurs what should be his Fate upon his Return to prevent which he endeavoured to have got into France and carry his Ship with him but the Sea-men who now had his Fortune in Contempt would not forsake their Wives and Children to partake with him in his Misfortunes and so brought him back again into England It was resolved that Sir Walter 's Misfortunes should lose him his Head but how to do it with a face of Justice was the Question for his Commission protected him from any Prosecution for the sacking of St. Thomas and it would seem strange to execute him upon the Conviction in Cobham's Conspiracy sixteen Years before especially since the King had discharged his Imprisoment upon it and had granted him a Commission wherein he called Sir Walter his beloved and faithful Sir Walter However this was the best Face could be put upon it and upon the 28th of October next Year 1618 Sir Walter was brought from the Tower to the King's-Bench to shew Cause why Sentence of Death should not pass upon him Mountague being Chief Justice upon his former Conviction to which Sir Walter pleaded his Commission which pardoned his Crime For he could not be a Traitor and the King 's beloved and faithful Servant at one and the same time but this was over-ruled by the Court which answered That Treason could not be pardoned by Implication but by express words And next day he had his Head cut off in the Palace-Yard at Westminster In granting Sir Walter Raleigh this Commission you may see by what an undistinguished Power Covetousness governs the Actions of Princes as well as meaner Men against their Honour and Interest for at the same time when the King granted this Commission he was by Sir John Digby after Earl of Bristol treating a Marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain upon the Terms of a Portion of two Millions of Money with her but if this Act of Raleigh's and the difficulty of raising such a Portion put no stop to the Progress of it you 'll soon see an Accident which shall make it utterly impracticable with the Maxims and Policy of Spain yet so far was the King blinded with the Covetousness of getting the Portion that he shall put his only Son into the Power of the Spaniards to obtain it Tho young Villiers and the King's Favourites governed the King without any Controul by the English Conchino Conchini an Italian Marquess d' Ancre and Marshal of France and his Wife succeeded not so well in France for after the Death of Henry the Fourth of France these two governed Henry's Relict and Regent as absolutely as our young Favourite did the King which put the Princes of the Blood and Nobility into such a Ferment that they several times rose in Tumults and Arms against them Yet such was their Power with the Queen that they continued as insolent after the King was declared of Majority as before whereupon the Feuds of the Princes of the Blood and Nobility grew higher hereupon Luynes the King's Favourite prompted the King to take off Ancre any way which was so ordered that Ancre coming into the Louvre and reading a Letter Vitry Captain of the King's Guard arrested him Me said Ancre Yes you by the Death of God answered Vitry who cried out Kill him whereupon he was killed by three Pistol Shots the King owning the Fact But
Rome The Bohemians having this farther strain of their Crowns being disposed of to another and dreading the Disposition of this Ferdinand assembled at Prague the Regal City of Bohemia and demand a General Diet of the Kingdom to bring their Grievances thither herein they did not apply themselves to Ferdinand as their King but to Matthias the Emperor but Matthias denied or deferred it to use Nani's words who tho a Venetian seems to me to be very partial against the Bohemians whereupon the Bohemians upon the 23d of May 1618 parted in a Rout and believing the Counts Martinitz Slavata and Philip Fabritus most zealous Papists to be the Motives of Matthias his Denial flung them out of the Windows of the Castle of Prague but they escaped by a Miracle as Nani says lib. 4. p. 127. The Count de la Tour in this Commotion makes a most pathetick Oration to the Bohemians wherein he sets forth how the Privileges of the Kingdom were violated and the Exercise of their Religion forbid and made to descend upon the Will of Princes That the usurped Crown of Bohemia passed from Head to Head as the Revenue and Inheritance of one House and to establish an everlasting Tyranny being ravished before its time from Successors in spite of Death is never suffered to be vacant c. And then goes on What have we not yet suffered The use of Life comes now to be denied us and the Vsufruit of our Souls contested but all our past Miseries will not be able to call to Remembrance but some imperfect Representations of the Calamities to come In sum Rodolph lived amongst us Matthias has reaped us as the first Fruits of his ambitious Desires for Matthias had forced Rodolph to resign the Crown of Bohemia to him as Ferdinand had done to Matthias But what may we expect from Ferdinand unknown to us and in himself rigorous directed by Spanish Counsels and governed by that sort of Religious Priests and People who detest with an equal Aversion our Liberty and Belief He was born and bred up in the Abhorrence of us Protestants and why should we be so forward to make trial of it Since the Persons banished the Families displanted the Goods violently taken away demonstrate too cruelly to us that he would abolish our very Being if he could as easily command Nature as he uses Force Wo to you Bohemians to your Children to your Estates to your Consciences if you suffer this Ferdinand to keep his footing in the Throne And when will you attempt to shake off the Yoke if you have not Courage to do it at a time when without Power without Guard the Kingdom is in your own Power and that you have two Kings to oppose you one whereof is fallen and the other toâ—ters c. which you may read at large in the fourth Book of Nani and concludes The Lot is drawn Liberty or the Hangman If Conquerors we shall be Just Free and Princes if overcome Perâ—idious Perjured and Rebels The Inhabitants of Prague before disposed took fire at this Oration of De la Tour and chose a Magistracy of Thirty with the Title of Directors to carry on a Government in opposition to Ferdinand and what happened in Prague was no sooner divulged through the Kingdom but all was in a Revolt drawing also the Provinces of Lusatia and Silesia adjoining to them into their Confederacy Matthias had a Counsellor named Gleselius upon whose Advice and Integrity Matthias relied above all other Men who advised Matthias by all fair means possible to compose the Commotions of the Bohemians for if he should come to a Rupture with them and Matthias be compelled to raise an Army the Interest of Ferdinand was such not only in the Spanish Councils but the Popish in Germany and the hereditary Countries that he would command it and thereby be in a Condition to ravish the Empire from him as he had done the Crown of Bohemia and Matthias feeling yet this Flesh-wound feared that mortal one if Ferdinand were put on the Head of an Army Hereupon Ferdinand without any regard to the Majesty and Authority of Matthias resolved to arrest Gleselius and separate him from giving any farther Advice to Matthias and one day being called to Council where the King was with one Ognate Gleselius was seized upon by d' Ampiere and Prainer and put into a close Coach and guarded by an hundred Horse hurried away to Inspurg Matthias was astonished at this bold Insolence which struck at his Authority in the tenderest part and now without any Council left in the Hands of his Cousin who designed to rise out of his Ruin became so overwhelmed with Melancholy that both asleep and awake he could not be with-held from crying out with a loud Voice That Gleselius might be brought back again but all to no purpose for he shall never live to see him again and in these Agonies he had some thoughts to have cast himself into the Arms of the Bohemians but it was not in his Power to do it These things were in 1618 at the end whereof Matthias died These Commotions in Bohemia and other parts of the Empire encreased after the Death of Matthias so that the Election of an Emperor was controverted till the 30th of August 1619 when Ferdinand was chosen having by large Promises prevailed upon George Duke of Saxony to vote for him But however the Bohemians were stiff in opposing his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia and offered the Crown to Charles Duke of Savoy tho a Popish Prince and who had a better Title to the Crown of Bohemia than Ferdinand his Mother being a younger Daughter of Maximilian the 2d but prevailed upon by the Pope and Spanish Councils he refused it as did the Duke of Saxony and then they chose Frederick Count Palatine hoping to receive great Assistance from King James his father-in-Father-in-law but were mistaken in the Man Upon this Election Abbot Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was all on Fire to perswade the King to assist his son-in-Son-in-law and to that purpose wrote a long perswasive Apology to the King concerning it which you may read at large in Rushworth's Collections fol. 12. but the King and Bishop were not of the same Opinion for the King would have it that the Election of his son-in-Son-in-law was upon the Score of Religion not Right and therefore disswaded him from it but being a mighty Man of Embassies as well as Words Nani says fol. 138. published that he would assist his Son-in-law and dispatched an Ambassador to Vienna proposing that Bohemia should remain to Frederick But if his Authority by words would not settle his Son-in-law King James could not go further Frederick thus forsaken by his father-in-Father-in-law raised upon his own account 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse and entred Prague and was crown'd King on the Fourth of November 1619 and was no sooner crown'd but laid the Foundation of his own Ruine for the Counts De la Tour and Mansfield who had raised
two Armies and kept up the Bohemians till the King 's coming to Prague were not only neglected but the Prince of Anhalt whom the King brought with him was made not only Generalissimo of the Army the King brought but of the Armies raised by de la Tour and Mansfield besides the King tho he had got a vast Treasure was niggardly in paying the Souldiers which necessitated them to take free Quarters upon the Bohemians In this disgusted State with the Bohemians the King having withdâ—awn so great Forces out of the Palatinate left it exposed to the Ravages of the Spaniards who under the Command of Ambrose Count Spinola General of the Spanish Army under the Arch-Duke Albert whom the King in the Treaty of the 2d Year of his Reign calls His renowned and dear Brother made terrible Wars in the Palatinate Here you may see how unhappy King James was in the Peace or Truce he procured the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes to make with the Dutch in 1609 for twelve Years for in this Interval the Dutch did not only retrieve their Cautionary Towns out of the King's Possession but the Truce still continuing the Arch-Duke had not only an Opportunity to assist the Emperor but to send Spinola with an Army to invade the Palatinate and the Emperor by an imperial Ban had proscribed the King's son-in-Son-in-law a Traitor and Rebel to the Empire and thereupon forfeited his Electoral Dignity and Estate which he gave to Maximilian Duke of Bavaria and committed the Execution of it to the Arch-Duke Albert the Elector of Saxony and Duke of Bavaria King James was startled at this Return to his Proposition at Vienna that his son-in-Son-in-law shall possess the Crown of Bohemia and now complains that his Childrens Patrimony would be lost and that he would not sit still and take no further Care in it and therefore sent another Ambassadour to the Arch-Duke at Brussels to expostulate the matter and this was the utmost he was able to do and was forced to strain his Credit for it but lest this should not do tho sore against his Will he resolved to call another Parliament and try their Good Will towards it But that we may take all things before us as they stood at the Meeting of this Parliament the King notwithstanding the Attempt of Sir Walter Raleigh upon the Spanish West-Indies had still by Sir John Digby continued the Treaty of Marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta Maria of Spain with the same Confidence of Success as if the King of Spain had not been concerned in Sir Walter 's Expedition But the Court of Spain to check the King 's forward Desires demand high Privileges for the Romanists which amounted to little less than a Toleration and that the Pope must be satisfied in his Conscience before he could grant a Dispensation for the Infanta to marry with an Heretick Prince both which the King and Prince agreed to and were signed by them both though afterwards But however the Agreement between the Pope King and Prince was not much known the Liberty granted to the Roman Catholicks was generally taken notice of and beside the Generality of the Nation notwithstanding the Benefits received by the Spanish Trade still retained an Aversion to the Spaniards which made the Spanish Match hated and feared by them and how much more they hated and feared the Spaniards so much more zealous were they for the King's Assistance of his son-in-Son-in-law in his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia as well as in the Preservation of the Palatinate now invaded by the Emperor and King of Spain Thus things stood when the King's Necessities forced him to the unwilling Resolution of calling another Parliament but they did not stay here for upon the 9th of November happened the fatal Battel at Prague fought by above 60000 Combatants wherein tho the Bohemians were superior in Number the Imperialists were in Discipline and Valour and tho the King was the principal Object of the War yet he thought not fit to engage in the Battel but stood at a distance out of Harm's way to observe the Event of it After two hours Fight the Bohemians were utterly overthrown and routed 6000 being killed and more taken Prisoners with all their Colours Baggage Guns and Ammunition and scarce 300 of the Imperialists killed the Prince of Anhalt was the first who gave the King notice of his Overthrow with Advice to provide for his Safety which the King thought to do by flying back into Prague but found no Safety there For the Duke of Bavaria General of the Imperialists followed him close and summons him to surrender the City and quit his Claim to the Kingdom The King demands 24 Hours respite to answer but Bavaria only grants him 8 to which without any Reply next Morning the King with the Queen big with Child and their Children fly out of Prague and by unfrequent Ways by almost a Miracle escape to Vratislavia leaving the Heads of his Party in Prague to be Victims after an horrible Sacrifice to their enraged and bloody Enemies and all that inestimable Wealth which he had got together and was so niggardly of to his Souldiers to be a Prey to his Enemies also In this disasterous State Frederick driven out of Bohemia the Palatinate invaded and overrun by Spinola and having lost all his Wealth as well as Kingdom and Country retires with his Wife and Children into Holland more supported by the Dutch Prince of Orange and some of the English Nobility and Arch-Bishop Abbot than by the King whose Bounty lay another way and since he could not obtain Aids from his father-in-Father-in-law for the Preservation of his Country yet he became a Suitor to the King to solicite the Imperial Court for the Conservation of the Palatinate which the King did but did him no good and further the King would not go but vainly promised to himself he could do it by the Marriage of his Son to the Infanta of Spain and get two Millions of Money for her Portion to boot Though the English Nobility patiently truckled under the Ambition and Covetousness of Buckingham yet the same Genius was not found in the French Princes of the Blood and Nobility under the prodigious Pride and exorbitant Promotions of Luynes to restrain them or it may be to force Luynes from the King's Favour the Queen-Mother made a League with the Count of Soissons a Prince of the Blood the Count Vendosm and Grand Prior of France both natural Sons of Henry the 4th of France against him and the Dukes of Longuevil Main and Espernoon joined with them so did those of the reformed Religion under the Duke of Rohan and his Brother Sobiez Princes of the Blood of the Line of Navarr But these Commotions being sudden and ungrounded were soon supprest and the King was reconciled to the Queen and Popish Nobility and the greatest Loss fell upon those of the Reformed Religion who lost St. John de
a long and particular Remonstrance which you may read at large in Mr. Rushworth's Collections fol. 40 41 42. setting forth the dangerous State of the Nation and of Christendom by the Alliances of the Pope and Popish Princes especially the King of Spain chief of the League and what dismal Consequences would follow by the Marriage of the Prince with the Infanta c. yet resolve to grant the King another Subsidy for carrying on the War for the Recovery of the Palatinate but withal humbly desired his Majesty to pass such Bills as shall be prepared for his Honour and the general Good of his People accompanied with a general Pardon as is usual concluding with their daily Prayers to the Almighty the great King of Kings for a Blessing upon their Endeavours and for his Majesty's long and happy Reign over them and for his Childrens Children after him for many and many Generations The Noise of this Remonstrance so disturbed the King in his Pleasures at New-market which all his Cares for the Preservation of his son-in-Son-in-law's Patrimony could not do that upon the 3d of December he wrote to Sir Thomas Richardson Speaker of the House of Commons this Letter which because of the Rarity of it by any King of England to his Parliament before we will give verbatim Mr. Speaker WE have heard by divers Reports to Our great Grief that Our distance from the Houses of Parliament caused by our Indisposition of Health hath imboldned the fiery and popular Spirits of some of the Commons to argue and debate publickly of Matters far above their Reach and Capacity tending to Our high Dishonour and breach of Prerogative Royal. These are therefore to command you to make known in Our Name unto the House that none therein from henceforth do meddle with any thing concerning Our Government and deep Matters of State and namely not to deal with Our dear Son's Match with the Daughter of Spain nor to touch the Honour of that King or any other of Our Friends and Confederates and also not to meddle with any Man's Particulars which have their due Motion in any of Our ordinary Courts of Justice And whereas We hear they have sent a Message to Sir Edwin Sandys to know the Reasons of his late Restraint you shall in Our Name resolve them that it is not for any Misdemeanor of his in Parliament but to put them out of doubt of any Question of that nature that may arise among them hereafter you shall resolve them in our Name that We think our self very free and able to punish any Man's Misdemeanors in Parliament as well during their Sitting as after which We mean not to spare hereafter upon any Occasion of any Man 's insolent Behaviour there that shall be ministred unto Vs And if they have already touched any of these Points which We have forbidden in any Petition of their which is to be sent to Vs it is Our Pleasure that you tell them That except they reform it before it comes to our Hands We will not deign the Hearing nor Answering of it The Commons having a publick Trust reposed in them and truly apprehensive of the dangerous State of the Protestants in Christendom as well as of the Kingdom and that not only the King's remisness in taking care of both but the Designs he prosecuted were equally dangerous to both in a most humble and supplicant Remonstrance represent to the King his recommendation of the Affairs of the Palatinate to them and the dangerous State of Christendom in discourse whereof they did not assume to themselves any Power to determine of any part thereof nor intend to encroach or intrude upon the Sacred Bounds of his Royal Authority to whom and to whom only they do acknowledg it does belong to resolve of Peace and War and of the Marriage of the most noble Prince his Son but as his most loyal and humble Subjects do represent these things to his Majesty which otherwise could not so clearly come to his Knowledg c. They beseech his Majesty that they may not undeservedly suffer by the Misinformation of partial and uncertain Reports which are ever unfaithful Intelligencers and not give Credit to private Reports against all or any of their Members whom the House hath not censured until his Majesty hath been truly informed from themselves that they may stand upright in his Majesty's Grace and good Opinion than which no worldly Consideration can be dearer to them c. Which you may read at large in Mr. Rushworth's Collections Fol. 44 45 46. The King having cast the Sheet-Anchor of all his Hopes upon the Spanish Match whereby he should not only re-establish his son-in-Son-in-law in the Palatinate and get more Money than he could hope for in Parliament furled all his Sails and resolved to ride out this Storm of the Commons notwithstanding his Pleasures and Indisposition of Health in a long Invective against them in a Scotisâ— Dialect which you may read at large in Rushworth's Collections the Heads whereof were 1. That he must repeat the Words of Queen Elizabeth to aâ— insolent Proposition made by a Polonian Ambassador Legatuâ— expectabamus Heraldum accepimus that he had great Reason to have expected better from them for the 37 Monopolies and Patents called in by him since the last Recess and for the three whereof Mompesson and Michel were censured but of these he heard no news but on the contrary Complaints of Religion tacitely implying his ill Government 2. That the taxing him with trusting to uncertain Reports and partial Informations concerning their Proceedings was needless being an old and experienced King and in his Conscience the freest of any King alive from hearing or trusting to idle Reports That in the Body of their Petition they usurp upon his Prerogative Royal and meddle with things far above their Reach and then protest to the contrary as if a Robber should take away Man 's Purse and then protest he meant not to rob him 3. That his Recommendation of the War for regaining the Palatinate was no other than if it could not be recovered otherwise which can be no Inference that he must denounce War against the King of Spain break his dearest Son's Match and match him to one of our Religion which is all one as if we should tell Merchant we had great need to borrow Money of him for raising an Army and that thereupon it should follow that we were bound to follow his Advice in the Direction of the War That this Plenâ—potency of theirs invests them with all Power upon Earth lacking nothing but the Pope's to have the Keys both of Heaven and Purgatory That it was like the Puritans in Scotland to bring all Causes within their Jurisdiction or like Bellarmine's distinction of the Pope's Power over Kings in ordine ad Spiritualia whereby he gives them all temporal Jurisdiction over them 4. That he expected the Commons would have given him Thanks for the long maintaining a setled
Peace in all his Dominions when all our Neighbours about are in a miserable Combustion of War but Dulce Bellum inexpertis 5. That he had ever professed to restore his Children to their Patrimony by War or Peace and that by his Credit and Intervention with the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes he had preserved the lower Palatinate from the farther conquering for one whole Year and that his Lord Ambassador Digby had extraordinarily secured Heidelburg 6. That he could not couple the War of the Palatinate with the Cause of Religion and that the War was not begun for Religion but only by his Son-in-law's hasty and rash Resolution to take to himself the Crown of Bohemia and that this Usurpation of it from the Emperor had given the Pope and that Party an Occasion to oppress and curb many thousands of our Religion in divers parts of Christendom Here I desire that the Reader take notice of the Case of the Bohemians as it is set forth by Baptista Nani fol. 126. Anno 1618 after they had Liberty of Conscience granted them by Rodolph the Emperor and that Ferdinand had no colour of Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia but as he forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender it to him Ferdinand says he bred up in the Catholick Faith detested all sorts of Errour and therefore by how much not succeeding to the Father he found the Patrimonial Countries incumbred with false Opinions so much more with signal Piety had he applied himself to promote the true Worship with such Success that at last those Provinces rejoiced to be restored to the Bosom of the Antient Religion But this was not without some Sort of Severity so that many not to leave their Errours were constrained to abandon their Country and sell their Estates living elsewhere in Discontent and Poverty and others driven away by force and their Estates confiscate saw them not without Rancour possessed by new Masters and all this done in the Life of Matthias So that Ferdinand as his Title was Vsurpation and Force so was the Exercise of it Tyranny in the highest Degree to the Overthrow of the Bohemian Laws and Liberties therefore the Original of the Bohemian War was not founded in the Election of Frederick to be King for Ferdinand perpetrated these things two Years before Nani goes on and says in the Empire therefore in which the Religion no less than the Genius is for Liberty there appeared great Apprehensions that where Ferdinand should get the Power he would exercise the same Reformation and impose a Yoke so much the more heavy by how much standing in need of Money and the Counsels of Spain he should be governed by the Rules and Maxims of that Nation so hateful to the Germans So that it was not the Election of Frederick to be King of Bohemia that opened that Gate for the Pope and his Party for curbing and oppressing of many thousand of our Religion in divers parts of Christendom as the King said for it was set wide open before by Ferdinand 7. That the Commons Debates concerning the War with Spain and Spanish Match were Matters out of their Sphere and therefore Ne sutor ultra Crepidaâ— and are a Diminution to him and his Crown in Foreign Countries That the Commons in their Petition had attempted the highest Points of Soveraignty except the stamping of Coin 8. That for Religion he could give no other Answer than in general that the Commons may rest secure he will never be weary to do all he can for the Propagation of ours and repressing of Popery but the manner they must remit to his Care and Providence 9. That for the Commons Request of making this a Sessions and granting a General Pardon it shall be their fault if it be not done But the Commons required such Particulars in it that he must be well advised lest he give back double or treble of that he was to receive by their Subsidy but thinks fit that of his free Grace he sends down a Pardon from the higher House containing such Points as he shall think fittest 10. He thinks it strange the Commons should make so bad and unjust a Commentary upon some Words in his former Letter as if he thereby meant to restrain the Commons of their antient Privileges and Liberties in Parliament wherein he discharges them from meddling with Matters of Government and Mysteries of State namely Matters of War and Peace or his dearest Son's Match with Spain or that they meddle with things which have their ordinary Course in the Courts of Justice That a Scholar would be ashamed so to mis-judg and misplace Sentences in another Man's Book for in the coupling these Sentences they plainly leave out Mysteries of State and so err a bene divisis ad mala conjuncta that for the former part concerning Mysteries of State he plainly restrained his meaning to the Particulars which were after mentioned and for the latter he confesses he meant it by Sir Coke's foolish Business and therefore it had well become him especially being his Servant and one of his Council to have complained to him which he never did tho he was ordinarily at Court and never had Access refused him Sir Coke's Business was a Conspiracy against him by my Lord Chancellor Bacon one Lepton and Goldsmith after he was discharged from being Chief Justice to have exhibited an Information against him in the Star-Chamber or have sent him into Ireland The Business was debated in the House of Commons but Sir Edward complained not nor appeared to speak in it If the King were uneasy with the Commons Remonstrance the Commons were not less with the King's Answer and at the Resolution taken at Court to adjourn the Parliament to the 8th of January next which the Commons took to be a Violation of their Privileges and an Omen of their Dissolution whereupon they entred this Protestation THE Commons now Assembled in Parliament being justly occasioned thereunto concerning sundry Liberties Franchises and Privileges of Parliament among others here mentioned do make this Protestation following That the Liberties Franchises Privileges and Jurisdictions of Parliament are the antient and undoubted Birth-right and Inheritance of the Subjects of England and that the ardueus and urgent Affairs concerning the King State and Defence of the Realm and of the Church of England and the maintenance and making of Laws and Redress of Grievances and Mischiefs which may happen within this Realm are proper Subjects and Matter of Counsel and Debate in Parliament and that in the handling and proceeding of those Businesses every Member of the House of Parliament hath and of right ought to have freedom of Speech to propound treat reason and bring to Conclusion the same And that the Commons in Parliament have like Liberty and Freedom to treat of these Matters in such order as in their Judgment they shall think fittest And that every Member in the said House hath likewise freedom from all Impeachment Imprisonments and
Marquess clearly and upon what Guard he should stand Yes said the Keeper and to that purpose I have dispatched some Pacquets Then continue says the King to help me and them in those Difficulties with your best Powers and Abilities and serve me faithfully in this Motion which like the highest Orb carries all my Raccalta's my Counsels at present and Prospects upon the future with it and I will never part with you Which you may read in the first part of the Keeper's Life fol. 115. tit 127. The Keeper hereupon continues to prosecute this Advice to the Marquess after Duke but hereby lost the Duke's Favour who ever after sought all means to ruin the Keeper which tho he could not effect in King James his Reign he did it in the first Year of his Son 's But when the King understood that the Contraventions of the Duke with Olivares and Bristol was like to make a Rupture in the Treaty he then began seriously to consider with himself the fickle State he stood in both at home and abroad if the Marriage succeeded not all the two Subsidies he had granted him by the Parliament and the Benevolence he had raised after upon his Subjects by his own Authority was expended and a great Debt contracted besides he also besides the Benevolence stood upon ill Terms with his Subjects for petitioning him against the Spanish Match and asserting their Privileges by imprisoning them after he had dissolved the Parliament the like whereof was never before done by any of his Predecessors and now Buckingham had so violently caused a Rupture of the Match wherein he placed his sole Felicity he had not Courage so much as to frown upon him who could contribute no Relief whereas he dissolved the Parliament and imprisoned the Members upon their Advice against the Match who could have relieved him in his Necessities besides he now saw that Buckingham by his Audacity more worshipped the Sun in its Rise than in its Declination Now did he not know to whom he should complain nor was there any about him but the Keeper who durst give him any Advice In case a Rupture happened the King after all this wild Expence of Foreign Embassies and the Charge of his Son's Voyage to Spain would be despised by all Foreign Princes and States in case he did not endeavour to recover his son-in-Son-in-law's Patrimony which would in all appearance bring on a War between him and the Emperor and King of Spain who kept nothing from him and therefore had no cause to make War upon either Besides in case the King made War for the Recovery of the Paâ—atinate he could not hope to do it upon his own single account but in Conjunction with Foreign Confederates and above all with the States of the Vnited Netherlands who now had renewed the War against the King of Spain the Truce made between them and the King of Spain in 1609 being expired But how uniust would this be for the King to make War upon the Emperor and King of Spain who kept nothing from him and join with the Dutch herein who against the Treaty made between the King and them but three Years before viz. in 1619 kept from the King and his Subjects the Isles of Amboyna Seran Nero Waire Rosingen Latro Cambello Mitto Larica Lantare Polaway and Machasser in the East-Idies and Cabo de Bon Esperanza in Africk But the Impolicy of such an Alliance would be as great as the Injustice of it for hereby the English must lose the benefit of the Spanish Trade which above all others enriched the Nation and the King his Customs which above any other did arise from it These Considerations fixed in the King's Mind fearful of any War so cleft his Heart That as the Bishop of Litchfield observes he effected neither yet he submitted himself to be ruled by some whom he should have awed by his Authority but wanted Courage to bow them to his Bent. A Prince that preserves not the Rights of his Dignity and the Majesty of his Throne is a Servant to some but a Friend to none and least to himself as you may see in his Book fol. 167. tit 173. In these Perplexities the King saw no visible Means under Heaven to relieve him but by closing with his next Parliament and it was observed that some Impressions were gotten into the King's Mind that he was so resolved to be a Lover of Parliaments that he would close with the next that was called nor was there any likelihood that any Man's Incolumity tho it were his Grace himself should cause an unkind Breach between him and his People This Resolution of the King 's was not concealed from a Cabinet or Cabal of the Duke's which met at Wallingford-House who hereupon set up to consider what Exploit the Duke should commence to be the Darling of the Commons and as it were to re-publicate his Lordship and to be precious to those who had the Vogue to be the chief Lovers of their Country and resolve that all Attempts would be in vain unless the Treaty of the Spanish Match were quash'd and that the Breach thereof should fall upon the Duke's Industry so that what the Duke did before in spite to Olivares and Bristol he now pursues for his own Safety tho the King had little reason to thank him for it See the first Part of the Keeper's Life fol. 137. tit 147. And this took such Impression in the Duke that the Bishop heard the Duke afterward in the Banqueting-House before the King and both Houses of Parliament ascribe to himself the sole Glory of breaking the Spanish Match and you will soon see how the Prince and Duke after their return from Spain over-awed the King and made his Authority bow to their Bent for notwithstanding Buckingham blasted all the Raccalta's of his Counsels and the Prospect of his future Happiness placed in the Spanish Match yet he shall become the Duke's Advocate herein and note his Fidelity Constancy and Conduct in breaking it off and from his Disciple become his Master and teach him that Dolosus versatur in Generalibus and also keep back the Earl of Bristol from coming to the Parliament that he might not spoil the â—ine Tale the Duke had told yet at other times the King would say If he had sent Williams into Spain with his Son he had kept Heart-ease and Honour both which he lacked See the first part of the Bishop of Litchfield fol. 168. tit 174. The Duke thus doubly engaged resolved to break the Spanish Match and to dispose the King James to it the Prince writes to him That he must look upon his Sister the Queen of Bohemia and her Children never thinking more of him and forgetting he ever had such a Son Though it be evident the generous Spaniards were far enough from entertaining such a thought however Buckingham's Behaviour might have prompted them to it that by the Authority of Litchfield and Rushworth they entertained him
horrible manner massacred many English and seized upon the English Factories there to the Value of four hundred thousand Pounds and made the rest of the English Slaves and sent them into other Islands which the Dutch had possessed themselves of This was in the Year 1622. Nor did the Dutch stay here but seized upon the English Factories in Seran Nero Waire Rosingen Latro Cambello Hitto Larica Lantare and Poloroone possessing themselves of their Goods and Factories there and took 1800 English which they sent into other Islands and Plantations which they had forced from the Indians Let 's see now how highly King James resented these things he only sent to the Dutch Ambassador and told him He never heard nor read a more cruel and impious Act than that of Amboyna But I do forgive them and I hope God will but my Son's Son shall revenge this Blood and punish this horrid Massacre nor never further vindicated his own Honour or his Subjects Blood and loss of their Goods and Trade herein Whereas about a Year before when he heard of the Commons horrid Invasion upon his Prerogative by asserting their Rights and Privileges in a Fury he dissolves the Parliament and sick as he was or seemed to be to the indangering of his Health he came in a hurry from Theobalds called his Council and Judges about him and propria Manu cut the Commons Protestation out of their Journal-Book and committed many of their Members close Prisoners without Bail or Main-prize and banished others That we may take a better View of the latter end of this Reign and the following one of King Charles it will be convenient to look into Holland and herein observe That Barnevelt and the Dutch States after they had retrieved their Cautionary Towns from King James Barnevelt assisted by Hugo Grotius nourished a Faction in Holland called the Arminian from Arminius who maintained 5 Heads contrary to what Calvin had taught in his Institutions which was the Doctrine of the Church set up in Holland and the other Vnited Provinces By this Faction thus countenanced by Barnevelt and Grotius they endeavoured to have deposed Maurice Prince of Orange State-holder tho he and his Father and Uncles were the principal Instruments whereby the Dutch became States But Maurice proved too hard for them and cut off Barnevelt's Head and had hanged Grotius if his Wife had not conveyed him away in a great Chest pretending it contained Arminian Books This was in the Year 1620. Tho Barnevelt and Grotius propagated the Arminian Tenets to have deposed the Prince of Orange and advanced their Democratical Government yet the Church-men of England who preached the King's absolute Power and exalted his divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation above his Royal Will in Governing by them promoted these Tenets and those that opposed them were stiled Puritans The principal Stickler herein was Dr. William Laud a Man of a most turbulent and aspiring Disposition and one of the first Acts for which he was taken notice of was to marry the Earl of Devonshire to the Lady Rich Mother to Robert Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Holland when her Husband was alive but this was so far from advancing him that the King was highly incensed against him for it Yet Laud's aspiring Humour could not contain him in a private State but follow the Court he would yet could never arrive higher than to be one of the King's Chaplains by means whereof he sometimes got the King's Ear. The King hated the Presbyterian Government and had got the Bishops in Scotland to be re-ordained by three of the English Bishops as a distinct Order which the Kirk in Scotland took for an abominable Usurpation over them and also in the Year 1618 got the five Articles commonly called The five Articles of Perth to be settled as more agreeable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England but this was to the further Indignation of the Kirk-party and herein King James set up his rest as having gained an high Point but tho the King hated the Presbyterian Government yet he opposed the Arminian Tenets Arch-bishop Abbot observed of him when he was at Court he was Buckingham's only inward Counsellor sitting sometimes with him privately whole hours and feeding his Humour with Malice and Spite and when he was at Oxford his Business was to pick Quarrels in the Lectures of publick Readers and to advertise them to the Bishop of Durham Neal the great Countenancer of the Arminian Tenets and Promoter of the King's Prerogative that he might fill the Ears of King James with Discontents against the honest Men that took pains in their Places and settled the Truth which he called Puritanism in their Auditors As you may read in Rush fol. 444. Nor could Laud forbear when he could get the King's Ear but he urged him more than once to promote the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in Scotland after the obtaining the passing of the five Articles at Perth this frighted King James who better knew the Temper of his Country-men and how difficultly he had got the Articles of Perth to pass that Laud ignorant of the Temper of the Scotish Nation should be so audacious to put the King upon this which might as it after did embroil all Scotland in Tumults and Wars and now becomes more averse to Laua's Promotion than before But this was no Consideration to Buckingham whether the King would or nor Laud should rise And soon after Williams was made Lord Keeper the Bishoprick of St. Davids fell and Buckingham resolved Laud should have it and the Keeper must be the Man to propound it to the King and receive no Denial But it 's fit to observe here in what an humbling manner this Promotion was accomplish'd on the part of Laud and take it as it was sent me by a Gentleman with the Attestation of Col. L. and R. L. Esq who often heard Mr. Francis Osburn speak of it as a certain Truth and who had taken notice of it in some of his Works not made publick As soon as Laud had Information that the foresaid Bishoprick was vacant he hastens to wait upon the Duke of Buckingham for that Preferment but found the Duke was not stirring but being impatient of Delay prevails upon one of the Duke's Gentlemen to acquaint him he had earnest Business with his Grace and begged immediate Admittance which being granted the Doctor enters his Grace's Chamber and finds him a-bed with a Whore the Duke asks his Business Laud told him the Bishop of St. Davids was dead and that he came to beg his Grace to recommend him to the King for the vacant See The Duke told him that he had been represented to him as the proudest Man alive and therefore he could not in Honour recommend him to the King Laud assures his Grace that what had been said of him upon that Head was utterly false and the effect of
a narrow point but there is no point in Generalities relying upon their general Propositions of which I do not find neither the King nor the Prince or Buckingham after him named one he found when they came there the Matter proved so raw as if it had never been treated of they generally giving them easy way to evade and affording them means to avoid the effecting any thing But it seems there were Particulars which the King would not then discover but left them to the Prince and Buckingham to relate As for a Toleration of the Roman Religion As God shall judg him he said he never thought nor meant nor never in word expressed any thing that savoured of it How was Arch-bishop Abbot mistaken when he wrote his disswasive Letter against the King's Proclamation for the Toleration of Religion to Roman Catholicks See Rushworth fol. 85. And how was my Lord Keeper Williams mistaken after the King had directed him and other Commissioners to draw up a Pardon for all Offences past by Roman Catholicks with a Dispensation for those to come obnoxious to any Laws against Recusants and then to issue forth two general Commands under the Great Seal the one to all Judges and Justices of Peace and the other to all Bishops Chancellors and Commissaries not to execute any Statute against them and tho the Keeper past the Pardon as fully and amply as the Papists could desire to pen it yet the Keeper put some stop to the vast Prohibition to the Judges and Bishops for the Reasons he gave First Because the publishing of this General Indulgence at one push may beget a general Discontent if not a Mutiny but the instilling thereof into the Peoples knowledg by little and little by the Favours done to Catholicks might indeed loosen the Tongues of a few particular Persons who might hear of their Neighbours Pardon and having vented their Dislike would afterward cool again and so his Majesty might by degrees with more convenience enlarge his Favours Secondly Because to sorbid the Judges against their Oaths and the Justices of Peace who are likewise sworn to execute the Laws of the Land is a thing unprecedented in this Kingdom and would be a harsh and bitter Pill to be digested without some Preparative But this Delay disgusted the Spanish Ambassador which you may read in Rushworth fol. 101. And as God was his Judg he never thought nor meant nor ever in Word expressed any thing that savoured of a Toleration of the Popish Religion So God was his Judg and he spake as a Christian King Never any wayfaring Man that was in the Desarts of Arabia and in danger of Death for want of Water to quench his Thirst more desired Water than he did thirst and desire the good and comfortable Success of his Parliament and Blessing upon their Counsels that the good Issue of this may expiate and acquit the fruitless Issue of the former and prayed God their Counsels may advance Religion and the publick Weal and they of him and his Children You may read the Speech at large in Rushworth fol. 115 116 117. But tho the King gloried that he had ever endeavoured to procure and cherish the Love of his People to him which the Lords and Commons did represent yet the Commons could remember a time not out of mind with the King for they chose that honourable Gentleman Sir Thomas Crew newly returned from his Exile into Ireland whither the King had sent him as one of the ill-tempered Spirits who advised him against the Spanish Match and presumed to assert the Privileges of the Commons for their Speaker After the Ceremonies of Opening the Parliament and the Choice of a Speaker was over the first thing that appeared upon the Stage of Affairs was the Narrative of the Proceedings in the Spanish Match made by the Duke of Buckingham and assisted by the Prince Which you may read at large in Rushworth from fol. 119 to 125. I shall not descant upon this long Narrative but leave the Answering of it to the Earl of Bristol but only take notice of the Preamble of the third Article of the Duke 's Narrative and the latter part of the fourth The Preamble of the third Article is It is fit to observe this Passage which is the thing whereupon all his Highness's the Prince's subsequent Actions did depend He had never staid a Sennight longer in Spain he had never left any Proxy with Bristol he had never taken the Oath at the Escurial or ever so much as have written a Letter of Compliment to the Lady but that he had still before his Eyes as his Cynosure the Promise made by the Conde I think the Duke meant Olivares for the Restitution of the Palatinate Why was this Treaty between King James and the Conde Or if the Restitution of the Palatinate were the Foundation upon which the whole Treaty moved Why was it not so much as mentioned in all the Treaty so solemnly sworn to by both Kings the Prince and Buckingham himself Nay King James himself by two several Expresses to the Earl of Bristol the first of the 14th of May 1621. and the other of the 30th of December 1623. commanded him That he should not make the Business of the Palatinate a Condition of the Marriage as you may read in Rushworth fol. 302. For the better understanding of Buckingham's Narrative in the fourth Article it is fit to take notice That the Reason in the Instrument for not pursuing the Proxies of the Marriage so solemnly sworn to by the Prince and Buckingham himself was not for the Restitution of the Palatinate but forsooth for fear the Infanta might retire into a Cloister and so deprive the Prince of a Wife tho the Infanta so far as the Gravity of the Spaniards would permit ever expressed an entire Affection to the Prince so that when the Prince took leave of the Infanta she seemed to deliver up her Heart to him in as high Expressions as that Language and her Learning could with her Honour set forth for when the Prince told her His Heart would never be out of Anxiety till she had passed the intended Voyage and were safe on the British Land she answered with a modest Blush That if she were in danger upon the Ocean or discomposed with the rolling brackish Waves she should chear up her self and remember all the way to whom she was going As you may read in the Life of Williams Lord Keeper fol. 161. tit 168. And Mr. Rushworth fol. 104. says She caused many divine Duties to be performed for the Prince's Return In the Proxies left with the Earl of Bristol there was a Clause inserted De non revocando procuratore as much as to say irrevocable And because the Earl did in his Letter to the Prince of the First of November in 1623 press this vehemently to the Prince the Prince vowed openly before both Houses that he had never by Oath nor Honour engaged himself not to
she should take other French Catholicks in their Places but nevertheless by the Consent of the King of Great Britain That the King of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales his Son should oblige themselves by Oath not to attempt by any means whatsoever to make her change her Religion or to force her to any thing that might be contrary thereto and should promise by writing in the Faith and Word of a King and Prince to give Order that the Catholicks as well Ecclesiastical as Secular who have been imprisoned since the last Edict against them should be set at Liberty That the English Catholicks should be no more enquired after for their Religion nor constrained to take the Oath which contains something contrary to the Catholick Religion That their Goods that have been seized since the last Edict should be restored to them And generally that they should receive more Graces and Liberty in Favour of the Alliance with France than had been promised them in consideration of that of Spain The Deputation of Father Berule Superior General of the Fathers of the Oratory to his Holiness to obtain the Dispensation for the aforesaid Marriage THE Instructions which were given to Father de Berule were to render himself with all Diligence at Rome to obtain the Pope's Dispensation and to this Effect to represent to his Holiness That the King of Great Britain having demanded of the King his Sister Madame Henrietta Maria for a Wife for the Prince of Wales his Son his Majesty hearken'd the more willingly to this Proposition in that he esteem'd it very profitable towards the Conversion of the English as heretofore a French Princess married into England had induced them to embrace Christianity but the Honour which he had vowed to the Holy See and particularly to his Holiness who baptized him in the Name of Pope Clement VIII did not permit him to execute the Treaty without having obtained his Dispensations That this Marriage ought to be look'd upon not only for the Benefit of the English Catholicks but of all Christendom who would thereby receive great Advantage That there was nothing to be hazarded for in Madame seeing that she was as firm in the Faith and in Piety as he could desire That she had a Bishop and 28 Priests to do their Duties That she had not a Domestick that was not Catholick and that the King of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales would oblige themselves by Writing and by Oath not to solicit her directly or indirectly neither by themselves or by Persons interposed to change her Religion On the contrary having nothing to fear for her he had great Cause to hope that she being dearly beloved of the King who was already well enough disposed to be a Catholick and of the Prince of Wales she might by so much the more contribute to their Conversion as Women have wonderful Power over their Husbands and their fathers-in-Fathers-in-law when Love hath given them the Ascendant over their Spirits That she was so zealous in Religion that there was no doubt but she would employ in this pious Design all that depended upon her Industry and that if God should not bless Intentions in the Person of King James and of the Prince of Wales it was apparent that their Children would be the Restorers of the Faith which their Ancestors had destroyed seeing she would have the Charge to educate them in the Belief and in the Exercises of the Catholick Religion till the Age of 13 Years and that these first Seeds of Piety being laid in their Souls cultivated with Care at the time when they should be more susceptible of Instructions would infallibly produce stable and permanent Fruits that is to say a Faith so firm that it may not be shaken by Heresy in a riper Age. That after all the Catholicks of England would receive no small Profit at present since the King of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales would both oblige themselves upon their Faith and by Writing no more to enquire after them nor punish them when they should be discovered to enlarge all those that had been imprisoned and to make them Restitution of Money and of other Goods that had been taken from them since the last Edict if they were yet in being and generally to treat them with more Favour than they could have expected from the Alliance with Spain And further He had Orders to let the Pope understand that to render more Respect to the Church it had been agreed that Madame should be affianced and married according to the Catholick Form and agreeable to that which was followed at the Marriage which Charles IX made of Madam Margaret of France with the late King Henry IV. then King of Navarre All these things spoke themselves and appeared so visibly that they would admit of no doubt so this Father that wanted neither Spirit nor Fire represented them dexterously to the Pope and his Holiness made him hope for a speedy and favourable Answer c. See the Life of Cardinal Richlieu printed at Paris 1650. fol. 14 15. How does this agree with the King's Speech at the opening of the Parliament in the 18th Year of his Reign That if the Treaty of the Match between his Son and the Infanta of Spain were not for the Benefit of the Established Religion at home and of the Reformed abroad he was not worthy to be their King And how does this agree with that part of the King's Speech at the opening of this Parliament That as for the Toleration of the Roman Religion as God shall surely judg him he said he never thought nor meant nor never in Words expressed any thing that savoured of it Do not Religion Truth and Justice support the Thrones of Princes and Hypocrisy Falshood and Injustice undermine and overthrow them What future Happiness then could either the King or Prince hope to succeed this Treaty sworn to by them both so diametrically contrary to the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation wherein the Majesty of the King as well as the Safety of the Nation is founded and to govern by these and observe this Treaty will be impossible What Peace could the Prince find at home even in his Bed when an imperious French Wife shall be ever instigating him to break his Coronation-Oath to truckle to that imposed upon him by her Brother of France These Pills how bitter soever must be swallowed by the King rather than his Son shall be baulk'd a second time nay it seems they were very sweet to him For Mr. Howel in the Life of Lewis III. says fol. 66. that King James said passionately to the Lords of the Council of the King of France My Lords the King of France has wrote unto me That he is so far my Friend that if ever I have need of him he will render me Offices in Person whensoever I shall desire him the Truth of this you will see by and by Truly he hath gained upon
me more than any of his Predecessors and he may believe me that in any thing that shall concern him I will employ not only my Peoples Lives but my own Bravely spoken and like K. James and whosoever of his Subjects Lewis's shall rise against him either Catholicks or others shall find him James a Party for him Lewis 'T is true if he be provoked to infringe his Edicts he shall impart as much as in him lies by Counsel and Advice to prevent the Inconveniencies Who ever expected he should do more or ever did But Venus must not have the only Ascendant in this Treaty for the Cardinal will have Mars to be in Conjunction with her and 't was high time for at this time Monsieur Sobiez had provided a great Fleet of Men of War as Times went then with the French and had entered and surprised the Fort of Blavet in Bretaign and took and carried away six of the French great Men of War out of it and also taken the Isles of Rhe and Oleron which he began to fortify and being absolute Master of the Sea triumphantly with a Fleet of 75 Men of War of all sorts landed a considerable Force at Medoc near Bourdeaux The Court of France was never so alarmed as at this notwithstanding all the King's Victories over the Reformed by Land and therefore the Cardinal threw another Article into the Treaty That King James should lend the French a Fleet of Ships to repress Soubiez and in lieu thereof the French should permit Mansfield who had raised an Army of 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse in England to land at Calais where the French should join him with another Body of Horse and Foot for the Recovery of the Palatinate But see the French Faith and how well Lewis made good his Promise to King James to render him all Offices in his own Person whensoever King James should desire him for at this time the Army being shipt at Dover and put over to Calais where being denied Entrance and having no other Instructions and wanting Provisions they lay neglected at Sea and in this Distress a Pestilence raged among them so that they were forced to sail to Zealand where having no Orders they were denied Landing there and this being the most terrible Season of the Year in December what by Hunger Cold and Pestilence above two thirds of them perished before Leave could be obtained to land them in Holland so that they never did the King of Spain near so much Hurt as they had done in England before they were shipt living upon Plunder and Free-Quarter These were sad Presages of future Happiness from the designed Marriage yet these things no ways discomposed the quiet Repose of our pacifick King so as he might see his only Son married to a Daughter of France was all his Business no matter how The Thirst which God was his Judg and as he was a Christian King he had contracted equal to that of the wayfaring Man in the Desarts of Arabia and in danger of Death for want of Water for the good Success of the Parliament is now asswaged by the granting of three Subsidies and three Fifteenths Here 's no mention of marrying his only Son with the Tears of his only Daughter and he is still ready with the Lives of his Subjects and his own to assist the most High most Excellent and most Puissant Prince his most dear and most beloved Brother Cousin and antient Ally Lewis The Managers of this Treaty were Hay a Scots-man created Earl of Carlisle and the Lord Kensington for the more Honour of it created Earl of Holland two of the King's Favourites of the second Rate but who bare no proportion to the Sagacity Wisdom and Integrity of the Earl of Bristol Bristol was all Heare of Oak and would not bend to Buckingham's Pride and Ambition but they were Willows that were liable to every Nod and Wind of Buckingham's Breath But how comes Buckingham who must have an Oar in every Boat to be absent from this Treaty The Reason was tho he were not wise yet he was jealous lest King James in his Absence should hear Bristol against him as the King had promised as well as he had heard Buckingham against him which was so dangerous a Rock as our Land-Admiral would not venture to run against Notwithstanding all this Haste for consummating this desired Marriage the Thread of the King's Life was spun out before for upon the 27th of March Ann. 1625. he died at Theobalds in the 58th Year of his Age having reigned twenty two Years compleat Having had an Ague the Duke of Buckingham did upon Monday the 21st before when in the Judgment of the Physicians the Ague was in its Declination apply Plaisters to the Wrists and Belly of the King and also did deliver several quantities of Drink to the King tho some of the King's Physicians did disallow thereof and refused to meddle further with the King until the said Plaisters were removed and that the King found himself worse hereupon and that Droughts Raving Fainting and an intermitting Pulse followed hereupon and that the Drink was twice given by the Duke 's own hands and a third time refused and the Physicians to comfort him telling him that this second Impairment was from Cold taken or some other Cause No no said the King it is that which I had from Buckingham I confess this was but a Charge upon the Duke upon the Impeachment of the Commons as you may read in Rushworth fol. 355 356. yet it was next to positive Proof for King Charles rather than this Charge should come to an Issue dissolved the Parliament which was a Failure of Justice tho the Commons had voted him four Subsidies and four Fifteenths before it was passed into an Act. The Character of King James He was the first of that Name King of England and the first King of the whole Isle of Britain and the first King since Henry the first that was born out of the Allegiance to the King of England and was the first at least since Rich. 2. that affected and endeavoured to introduce an Arbitrary Power in England foreign to the Laws and Constitutions of it and in all his Reign was more governed by Flatterres and Favourites than by the Advice of his Parliament or a wise Council His Flatterers and Favourites seldom spake of him but under the Appellation of Most Sacred rarely I think or never before used to any of the Kings of England and of the Solomon of the Age though never were two Kings more unlike unless it were in their Sons Charles and Rehoboam for Solomon died the richest of all the Kings of the World King James the poorest Solomon was inspired above all other Kings with Wisdom and his Proverbs Divine Sentences for Improvement of Vertue and Morality whereas this King's Learning wherein he and his Flatterers so much boasted was a Scandal to his Crown for all his Writings against Bellarmine and
thereupon referred this Business to my Lord Keeper Williams my Lord Treasurer Cranfield the Duke of Richmond Marquess Hamilton the Earl of Arundel the Lord Carew and the Lord Belfast who all agreed that they could not say that the King of Spain had done the part of a Friend in the Recovery of the Palatinate as he had professed nor could find that he had acted the Part of an Enemy declaredly as the Duke objected and indeed my Lord Keeper's Reasons against the War governed all the rest that saw no Expediency for War upon the Grounds communicated by Buckingham And 't was more observable that during the whole Treaty while Buckingham was in Spain the Business of the Palatinate was never mentioned and now he is come out of it it must be the Cause of a War with the King of Spain The Keeper's Reasons were Vpon whom shall we fall Either upon the Emperor or King of Spain the Emperor had in a sort offered the King his son-in-Son-in-law's Country again for Payment of a great Sum of Money in recompence of Disbursments but where was the Money to be had yet it might be cheaper bought than conquered before a War was ended For the King of Spain he saw no Cause to assault him with Arms He had held us indeed in a long Treaty to our Loss but he held nothing from us and was more likely to continue the State of things in a State of Possibility of Accommodation because he disliked the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition and had rather stop the Enlargement of his Territories The King embraced this Advice nor did he stay here yet did not stay long but spake hardly of Buckingham who would have put him upon making War upon the King of Spain and the King's Censure upon him was so bitter Cabal Page 92. that it was fit to be cast over-board in Silence says the Bishop of Litchfield f. 169 170. tit 175. This Resolution of the Council was so little to the Duke's Satisfaction that the Bishop says in the same Tit. that it made the Duke rise up and chafe against them from Room to Room as a Hen that had lost her Brood and clucks up and down when she has none to follow her Nor did the Duke stop here but notwithstanding the fierce Anger of the King and his not answering one of the Keeper's Reasons he appealed from the Judgment of the Council to the Parliament Sure he durst not have done this if he had not been sure of the Prince to second him against the Opinion and Anger of his Father This was the third inexpiable Crime the Keeper had committed against the Duke the first was his Advice to the Duke when he was in Spain to hold a good Correspondence with the Earl of Bristol and Olivares but finding the contrary by a Letter to the Duke of the 28th of June which you may read in the Bishop of Litchfield's Life of Bishop Williams fol. 136. tit 146. and another of the 22d of July tit 155. fol. 147. where he in gentle manner informed the Duke as from the King himself how zealous the King was not only of fair Terms between the Duke and Earl but of a nearer Alliance This was such a piece of Impudence in the Keeper that the Bishop says in the next tit that it removed the Duke's Affections from the Keeper for ever nor could this State-Minister contain his Displeasure but wrote to my Lord Mandevile that the first Action he would imbarque himself in when he came home should be to remove the Keeper out of his Place And the next Crime of the Keeper was The Duke was afraid of his Wit See the Bishop tit 156. However this Counsel took such Effect with King James and he was so satisfied that he had no Colour of Title to make War against the King of Spain that when the Parliament after gave him three Subsidies and three Fifteens for the Recovery of the Palatinate and when he had raised an Army of 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse to be commanded by Count Mansfield the King not only made it a Condition that Mansfield with the Army should not commit any Hostility against any of the Dominions which by Right appertained to the King of Spain or the Infanta Isabella Princess of the Low Countries or the Spanish Netherlands and in case he did so from that time the King was not longer to continue Payment of the Army but also took an Oath of Mansfield to observe the Conditions So that how powerful soever the Duke was over King James yet in none of these Particulars could he obtain his End viz. in not prevailing upon the King to make War upon the King of Spain nor in removing the Lord Keeper nor in having the Earl of Bristol committed to the Tower After the breaking of the Spanish Match it was observed that King James's Temper was quite so altered that he forgot his Recreations of Hunting and Hawking at New-Market but whilst he was there he remained as in an Infirmary and in a Fit of Melancholy told the Earl of Carlisle that if he had sent Williams into Spain with his Son he had kept Hearts-ease and Honour both which he wanted See the Bishop of Litchfield lib. 1. tit 174. King James then began to look back upon his former Actions in having lost the Affections of his Subjects and now intangled in the Difficulties which he saw inevitably coming upon him charged the Prince often in the hearing of the Lord Keeper Williams to call Parliaments often and to continue them tho their Rashness sometimes did offend him That in his own Experience he never got any Good by falling out with them See the Bishop of Litchfield lib. 2. f. 16. tit 16. How well King Charles observed his Father's Advice in any of these nay how diametrically he went contrary and contrary to all good Advice given him in the very first Year of his Reign will soon appear and the miserable Effects which followed I have heard my Father tho not a Courtier yet acquainted with many Courtiers say that they would oft pray to God that the Prince might be in the right Way where he set for if he were in the wrong he would prove the most wilful of any King that ever reigned Tho all must stoop to mighty Buckingham yet that he might stand surer who must be his only Support but Laud Bishop of Saint Davids who from picking Quarrels in Lectures at Oxford and being an Informer before now is become Vice-gerent to Buckingham A List of all the eminent Men for Promotion in the Church is given in those whom Laud would have promoted were noted O for Orthodox and whom he liked not were marked P for Puritans these two stopt up both the King's Ears from any other Doctrines in Church or State but what was infused by them so early did King James's Prophecy to my Lord Keeper Williams when he was so importunate to have Laud preferred begin to be fulfilled
two Treaties which were for the Spanish Match and Recovery of the Palatinate and that his Father being thereby engaged in a War for the Recovery of the Palatinate they would now assist him in the carrying of it on The Speech you may read in Rushworth fol. 175 176. But Mr. Rushworth is mistaken and I wonder Nalson and Franklin took no notice of it that my Lord Keeper Coventry did second it for it was my Lord Keeper Williams whose quaint and learned Speech you may read in the second Book of the Life of the Keeper by the Bishop of Litchfield fol. 9 10. Nor was Williams displaced till the 23d of October following as you may see fol. 27. The Commons before they enter'd upon Grievances Sir Edward Coke moving it to ingratiate themselves with the King voted him two entire Subsidies and the last Parliament but the Summer before gave his Father three Subsidies and three Fifteens which were more than ever any Parliament granted the King in threefold the time before But that we may better look forward look a little back King James upon the Rreach of the Spanish Match put forth a Proclamation for putting the Laws in Execution against Popish Recusants but upon the first of May King Charles sent this Warrant to my Lord Keeper Williams Charles Rex RIght Reverend and Right Trusty c. Whereas we have been moved in Contemplation of our Marriage with the Lady Mary Sister of Our dear Brother the Most Christian King to grant to Our Subjects Roman Catholicks a Cessation of all and singular Pains and Penalties as well Corporal as Pecuniary whereunto they be subject or any ways may be liable by any Laws Statutes Ordinances or any thing whatsoever or for or by reason of their Recusancy or Religion in every Matter or thing concerning the same Our Will and Pleasure is and we do by these Presents authorize and require you upon the Receipt hereof That immediately you do give Warrants Order and Directions as well unto all our Commissioners Judges and Justices of the Peace as also unto all other our Officers and Ministers as well Spiritualas Temporal respectively to whom it may appertain that they and every of them do forbear all and all manner and cause to be forborn all manner of Proceedings against our said Subjects Rom. Catholicks and every of them as well by Information Presentment Indictment Conviction Process Seizure Distress or Imprisonment or any other Ways and Means whatsoever whereby they may be molested for the Causes aforesaid And further also That for time to come you take notice of and speedily redress all Causes and Complaints for or by reason of any thing done contrary to this our Will and this shall be unto you and to all to whom you shall give such Warrant Order or Direction sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that Behalf And this is so much more remarkable that this Warrant was granted when Buckingham was so busy in setting out the Fleet against the Rochellers Here was a Suspension of the Laws with a Witness by the King 's absolute Will and Pleasure notwithstanding all the Officers by Law were under the Obligations of their Oaths to the contrary and for the first-Fruits of this Warrant the King granted upon the 10th of May a special Pardon to twenty Roman Priests of all Offences committed by them against the Laws Can any Man now believe that the Parliament 18th Jac. should be so jealous that the Spanish Match would be a Door to let in a Toleration of Popery and therefore advised the King to break off the Match with Spain and yet this Parliament should be so purblind as not to see this put in Execution at the Instance of the French in this King's Reign especially whenas the Spaniards unless in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth were the English Friends and Allies and with whom the English had a most beneficial and gainful Trade for 22 Years in King James's Reign whereby they became doubly more enriched than in the 44 Years Reign of Queen Elizabeth whereas the French as they were a Neighbouring Nation were ever faithless and Enemies to the English Nation and with whom it always had a Trade to the English Loss as much to the enriching France as to the impoverishing the English Hereupon the Commons sent Sir Edward Coke with a Message to the Lords to desire their Concurrence in a Petition to the King against Recusants which was agreed to and presented to the King who answered That he was glad the Parliament were so forward for Religion and assured them they should find him as forward that their Petition being long could not be presently answered Nor were the Commons less alarmed at the countenancing the Arminian Sect whose Tenets next to Laud Mr. Richard Mountague propagated and about the latter end of King James his Reign published a Book entituled A new Gag for an old Goose which the Parliament took notice of and referred it to the Archbishop of Canterbury who disallowed it and sought to suppress it and ended in an Admonition given to Mountague but after King James his Death who was an Enemy to these Tenets Mountague then printed it again and dedicated it to King Charles now Buckingham and Laud ruled all Hereupon the Commons brought Mountague to the Bar of their House and appointed a Committee to examine the Errors therein and gave Thanks to the Arch-bishop for the Admonition to Mountague whose Books they voted to be contrary to the Articles established in the Parliament to tend to the King's Dishonour and Disturbance of the Church and State and took Bond of Mountague for his Appearance But the King intimated to the House that the things determined concerning Mountague without his Privity did not please him for he was his Servant and Chaplain in ordinary and that he had taken the Business into his own Hands whereat the Commons seemed much displeased This was the first Breach between the King and Commons and here let 's see what hasty Steps Laud took to fulfil King James his Prophecy of him in making Dissensions and to be a Fire-brand to set the Nation on fire by fomenting and exasperating the Factions in it In this Act of Mountague you may observe a twofold Crime First his Contempt and Disobedience to the Church of England which Laud pretended so much to exalt and to the Parliament that his Book being questioned in Parliament and by the Commons committed to the Arch-bishop who not only disallowed and suppressed it but Mountague being admonished against it he should upon King James his Death presume to reprint it in Defiance to the Metropolitan of England contrary to his Canonical Obedience and to the Commons thereby to make a Dissension between the King and them And secondly his being so audacious as to dedicate it to the King thereby to engage the King in defence of his Arrogance and Disobedience and for a Reward of this special Piece of Service before King James was two
Months dead to be made the King's Chaplain in Ordinary to be thereby protected from Justice But if it be asked how it does appear that Laud was concerned in this Act and Promotion of Mountague I answer there is a threefold Reason to induce the Belief of it First the end for which this Book was wrote for Promotion of Arminian Tenets whereof Laud was so great a Stickler Secondly none else but Laud could have such an Ascendant in things of this kind and to cause to early a Promotion for such a piece of Service but Thirdly which clears the Question when the King's Necessities caused him to call another Parliament about six or seven Months after Laud fearing the Commons falling again upon Mountague as they did Laud sounded the King by Buckingham whether the King would leave Mountague to the Parliament and finding the King determined to do it in great Zeal said I seem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God in his Mercy dissipate it as you may read in Rush f. 203. as if the questioning a seditious and a disobedient Fellow to his Superiour in the Church were a Cloud to threaten the Church of England If Laud was the first that sowed Dissension between the King and Parliament upon the Pretence of the Church of England Buckingham shall be the second upon the Account of the Church of Rome and herein you 'll see the Temper of Buckingham to any which should presume to give him good Counsel The Dissension between the King and Commons began with Mountague at London where the Plague than raged and all England over so that most of the Members shrunk away to flee the Danger of it and those that staid were in danger of their Lives This put the King into a marvellous Strait what to do for his Necessities as Buckingham managed Affairs and his being imbroiled in the Spanish War were such as the Subsidies granted the King his Father the last Year and those granted the King now could not support Hereupon the King calling a Council at Hampton-Court what to do the King proposed upon the 10th of July to adjourn the Parliament to Oxford which was mainly favoured by the Duke my Lord Keeper Williams opposed the Proposition for two Reasons First That the Infection had overspread the whole Land so that no Man that travelled from his own Home knew where to lodg in Safety that the Lords and Gentlemen would be so distasted to be carried abroad in so mortal a time that it 's likely when they came together they would vote out of Discontent and Displeasure that his Majesty was ill counselled to give Offences in the Bud of his Reign tho small ones Secondly the Parliament had given two Subsidies at Westminster tho they removed to Oxford it is yet the same Sessions and if they alledg it is not the Use of the House to give twice in a Sessions tho I wish heartily they would yet how shall we plead them out of Custom if they be stiff to maintain it It is not fit for the Reputation of the King to fall upon a probable Hazard of a Denial The Duke which heard this with Impatience said That publick Necessity must sway more than one Man's Jealousy The Keeper hereupon besought the King to hear him in private and acquainted the King That the Duke had Enemies in the House of Commons who had contrived Complaints and made them ready to be preferred and would spend time at Oxford about them And what Folly were it to continue a Sessions that had no other Aim but to bring the Duke upon the Stage But if your Majesty think that this is like an Hectick quickly known but hardly cured my humble Opinion is That the Malady or Malice call it what you will may sleep awhile after Christmas there is no time lost in whetting the Sithe well I hope to give an Account by that time by undertaking with the chief Sticklers that they shall supersede their Bitterness against your great Servant and that Passage to your weighty Counsels may be made smooth and peaceable But why said the King do you conceal this from Buckingham Good Sir said the Keeper fain would I begin at that End but he will not hear me with Moderation And because it was the Mishap of the Keeper to give the first Notice of this Storm that was gathering the Duke in Defiance bid him and his Confederates do their worst and besought the King that the Parliament might be continued and he would confront the Faction tho he looked upon himself in that Innocency that he presumed they durst not question him Buckingham's Will must be a Law so on the 10th of July the Parliament was adjourned to Oxford to meet the first of August But to sweeten them the Keeper in the Presence of both Houses in the King's Name promised them That the Rigour of the Law against Popish Priests should not be deluded Here see the Levity of the King and the Dominion Buckingham had over him for upon the 12th of July the King caused a Warrant to be sealed to pardon six Roman Priests When the Parliament met at Oxford the Speaker had no sooner taken his Chair but a Western Knight enlarges the Sense of his Sorrow that he had seen a Pardon for six Priests bearing test July 12th whereas but the Day before it when they were to part from Westminster the Lord Keeper had promised in the King's Name before them all that the Rigour against the Priests should not be deluded Hereupon the Members were in such a Heat that they strived who should blame it most What! their Hope 's blasted in one Night But for the Lord Keeper that brought the King's Message and knew it best and for a Bishop to set the Seal to such a Warrant for him to do wrong to Religion it was enormous Hereupon Mr. Bembo a Servant to the Clerk of the Crown confess'd he brought the Writ to the Keeper to be sealed but it was stopt Mr. Devike Servant to Sir Edward Conway brought it from his Master but it could not speed It was my Lord of Buckingham's hard Hap to move the King to command the Warrant to be sealed in his Sight at Hampton-Court the Sunday following The Commons hereupon turned about to clear the Keeper and commend him but what pleased the Parliament at Oxford did not please the Court at Woodstock where this had not pleased the King The Commons in this Heat desired a Conference with the Lords in Christ-Church-Hall in the Afternoon where Sir Edward Coke open'd the Complaint sharply against my Lord Conway and like an Orator did slide away with a short Animadversion upon the Duke the Commons enlarged hereon that the Duke that put the King upon this was the highest in the King's Favour and that all the important Places of Honour and Offices by Sea and Land were in his Disposal which you may read at large in the Life of the
they might But these were no Considerations where Buckingham and Laud govern'd all and those worthy and honourable Statesmen the Archbishop of Canterbury the Keeper Williams and the noble Earl of Bristol were not only discountenanc'd but disgrac'd and not permitted to come into the Council How unsuccessful soever the Expedition was yet another Fate attended that Fleet lent to the French for the Dutch joining a Fleet in conjunction with the French Fleet commanded by the Duke of Momerancy fought the Fleet of the Rochellers and utterly subdued it and then reduced the Isles of Rhee and Oleron to the French Power But tho the miserable Fate of the Reformed began here yet the Dishonour of the English Nation shall soon after follow it so that now Richlieu might write florebunt Lilia Ponto Tho the King dissolved the first Parliament to prevent their impeaching Buckingham yet it was not in Buckingham's Power to supply the King's Necessities but they put him upon the Necessity of calling another And here you may see the little Artifices the King 's grand Ministers of State put him upon for the attaining his Ends and how quite contrary they succeeded There were five Persons whom the Duke took to be his Enemies if they were not so he had given them Cause enough to be so two of them were Peers and three of them Commoners the Peers were the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Lincoln the Commoners were Sir Edward Coke Sir Robert Phillips a Person whose Memory I revere and should be glad I knew any of his Descendants to whom I could acknowledg it and Sir Thomas Wentworth these Persons the Duke feared would be leading Men in both Houses and was resolved that to his Power he would keep them out He was sure the Earl and the Bishop as Peers of Common Right would have their Writs of Summons and was as sure the other three would be chosen Members of the House of Commons In looking a little back you 'll better see forward You have heard how by the Duke's Power in King James's Reign the Earl of Bristol was first kept back from coming into England and after he was come over was kept under Restraint and denied Admission into the King's Presence lest he should have spoiled the Duke's fine Tale in Parliament concerning the Spanish Match and also after he had answer'd every Particular of it without any Reply and that after King James had promised the Earl should be heard in Parliament against the Duke as well as the Duke had been against the Earl King James fell sick and died thereupon before the Parliament met again After King James's Death the Earl wrote a most humble Letter to King Charles imploring his Favour and desiring the Duke's Mediation which the Duke answered the 7th of May 1625 that the Resolution was to proceed against him without a plain and direct Confession of the Point which he the Duke had formerly required him to acknowledg and in a courtly manner told him That he would advise him to bethink himself in time what would be most for his good In the mean time the Earl received his Writ of Summons to the Parliament whereupon the Earl sent to the Duke that he would do nothing but what was most agreeable to his Majesty's Pleasure which the Duke answered I have acquainted his Majesty with your Requests towards him touching your Summons to the Parliament which he taketh very well and would have you rather make your Excuse for your Absence notwithstanding your Writ than to come your self in Person Hereupon the Earl desired a Letter of Leave under the King's Hand for his Warrant but instead thereof he received from the Lord Conway an absolute Prohibition and even to restrain and confine him as he had been in King James's time tho the Earl was freed from it by King James and in this Restraint the Earl continued three Quarters of a Year during which time he was remov'd from all his Offices and Places he held during that King's Life and tho he had laid out the greatest part of his Estate for their Majesties Service and by their particular Appointment he could never be admitted so much as to clear his Accounts yet hereof the Earl never made the least Complaint Upon the King's Coronation when Princes usually confer Acts of Grace and Favour the Earl addressed himself to the Duke and then became an humble Suitor to the King for his Grace and Favour to which he receiv'd an Answer so different from what the King's Father and the King himself had given him since the Earl's Return into England that the Earl knew not what Construction to make of it After the Writs of Summons for the meeting of this Parliament were out the Earl addressed himself to my Lord Keeper Coventry to be a Suitor to the King in his behalf that the Privilege which of right is due to every Peer might not be denied him which not taking effect the Earl petitioned the House of Peers to mediate to the King for his Writ which was granted but accompanied with a Letter from the Keeper not to take his Place in Parliament As Bristol was the worthiest Statesman in either of these King's Reigns and whose Integrity in all these Varieties of Employments none but Buckingham and Conway presumed at least that I can find or ever heard of so much as to carp at so Lincoln's quaint and excellent not pedantick Learning both in Divinity History the Civil and Canon Law and not a Stranger to our English excelled all others These were adorned with a lively and excellent Elocution and with a wonderful promptness and presence of Mind in giving Judgment in the most nice and subtile dark Points of State and accompanied with an indefatigable Industry in Prosecution of them These Parts were so well observed in him by King James that without any Solicitation of Buckingham or any other but whilst he solicited for another the King conferr'd the Lord Keeper's Place upon him as you may read in his Life fol. 52. tit 62. and after unsought for the King promised him the next Avoidance of the Arch-bishoprick of York or any other Ecclesiastical Preferment and so steddy stood he in King James's Favour that Buckingham's Attacks could no ways shake him in it In Chancery he mitigated the Fees and all Petitions from poor Men were granted gratis and was so far from prolonging Suits that in the first Year he ended more than in seven Years before yet with such Caution that he would have some of the Judges but principally Sir Henry Hubbard to be assisting so that notwithstanding his Celerity in Dispatch in all the five Years of his being Lord Keeper not one of his Orders neither by Parliament nor by the Court of Chancery were ever revers'd Cardinal Richlieu is much celebrated for the Speech he made in the Convention of Notables which you may read at large in Howel's Life of Richlieu f. 162 163 164. to excite
Memory but a more peculiar Charge of their Friends and that it may be admitted that some Saints have a peculiar Patronage Custody Protection and Power as Angels also have over certain Persons and Countries by special Deputation and that it is not Impiety so to believe And whereas in the 17th Article it is resolved That God has certainly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose working in due season they through Grace obeying the Calling they be justified freely walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy attain to everlasting Felicity He the said Mountague in his Book called The Appeal does maintain That Men justified may fall away and depart from the State they once had and may again arise and become new Men possibly but not certainly nor necessarily And the better to countenance this Opinion he hath in the same Book wilfully added and falsly charged divers Words in the said 16th Article and in the Book of Common-Prayer and so misrecited and changed the said Places he does alledg in his said Appeal endeavouring thereby to lay a most malicious and wicked Scandal upon the Church of England as if he did herein differ from the Reformed Church of England and from the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and did consent to those pernicious Errors which are commonly called Arminianism and which the late famous Queen Elizabeth and King James of happy Memory did so piously and diligently labour to suppress That he had contrary to his Duty and Allegiance endeavoured to raise Factions and Divisions in the Commonwealth by casting the odious and scandalous Name of Furitans upon such as conform themselves to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church of England under that Name laying upon them divers false and malicious Imputations so to bring them into Jealousy and Displeasure with the King and Ignominy and Reproach of the People to the great danger of Sedition and disturbance of the State if it be not timely prevented That the Scope and End of his Books is to give Encouragement to Popery and to withdraw the King's Subjects from the true Established Religion to the Roman Superstition and consequently to be reconciled to the Church of Rome whereby God's true Religion has been scandaliz'd those Mischiefs introduced which the Wisdom of many Laws hath endeavoured to prevent the Devices of his Majesty's Enemies furthered and advanced to the great danger of the King and all his loving Subjects That he has inserted in his Book called The Appeal divers Passages dishonourable to the late King full of Bitterness Railing and injurious Speeches to other Persons disgraceful and contemptible to many worthy Divines of this Kingdom and other Reformed Churches beyond the Seas impious and profane in scoffing at Preaching Meditating and Conferring Pulpits Bibles and all shew of Religion all which do aggravate his former Offences having proceeded from malicious and enormous Heat against the Peace of the Church and the Sincerity of the Reformed Religion publickly professed and by Law established in this Kingdom All which Offences being to the Dishonour of God and of most mischievous Effect and Consequence against the Church and Commonwealth of England and other of his Majesty's Realms and Dominions the Commons assembled in Parliament do hereby pray that the said Richard Mountague may be punished according to his Demerits in such exemplary mannner as may deter others from attempting so presumptuously to disturb the Peace of the Church and State and that the Books aforesaid may be suppressed and burnt This was that special Stick of Wood which Laud in the beginning of this young King's Reign put into his Hand to support him in the establish'd Religion of the Church of England and afterwards planted him to be one of the Cedars of our Church by having him made first Bishop of Chichester and after of Norwich However Laud was so nettled with the Votes of the Commons I do not find Buckingham concerned himself in them it may be believing this might divert the Storm from him but it was impossible for the Commons in looking into the Grievances of the Nation but to meet Buckingham in the Front of every one of them And when they began their Debates concerning the Duke they received a Message from the King of the pressing State of Christendom and with what Care and Patience he expected their Resolutions of Supplies and to let them know he look'd for a full and perfect Answer of what they would give for his Supply according to his Expectation and their Promises and that he would not accept of less than was proportionable for the Greatness and Goodness of the Cause and that it was not fit to depend any longer upon Uncertainties whereby the whole Weight of the Affairs of Christendom may break in upon us upon the sudden as well to his Dishonour as the Shame of the Nation and when this is done they may continue longer and apply themselves to the Redress of Grievances so they do it in a dutiful and mannerly Way without throwing an ill Odor upon his present Government or upon the Government of his late blessed Father You will hear further of the Care he took of Buckingham in his Reply to the Commons Address upon this The Commons in answer beseech the King to rest assured that no King was ever dearer to his People than his Majesty no People more zealous to maintain and advance his Honour and Greatness and especially to support that Cause wherein his Majesty and Allies are now engaged and beseech his Majesty to accept the Advice of his Parliament which can have no other end but the Service of his Majesty and the Safety of his Realm in discovering the Causes and proposing the Remedies of those great Evils which have occasioned his Majesty's Wants and his Peoples Griefs And therefore in Assurance of Redress herein they really intend to assist his Majesty in such a way and in so ample a Measure as may make him safe at home and feared abroad and for dispatch whereof they will use such Diligence as his urgent and Pressing Occasions require The King in answer to the Commons tells them he takes the Cause of their presenting Grievances to be a Parenthesis and not a Condition and will be willing to hear their Grievances so as they apply themselves to redress Grievances and not enquire after Grievances That he will not allow any of his Servants to be question'd by them much less such as are of eminent Place about him that the old question was What shall be done to the Man whom the King honours But now it hath been the Labour of some to seek what may be done against him whom the King thinks fit to honour he saw they specially aimed
Answer in Writing and that the Witnesses on both sides be examined and Evidences on both sides heard by such Course and manner of Proceedings as shall be thought fit by the House And if upon a full Hearing the House shall find it Treason then to proceed by way of Indictment if doubtful in point of Law to have the Opinion of the Judges to clear it if doubtful in Matter of Fact then to refer it to a legal Trial at Law and that the rather for that 1. It appears that the Earl in the space of two Years till now he complained has not so much as been questioned for Matter of Treason 2. He has been examined upon twenty Interrogatories and the Commissioners satisfied that his Answer would admit of no Reply 3. The Lord Conway by several Letters hath intimated that there is nothing against him but what was pardoned by the Parliament of the 21st of Jac. and signified his Majesty's Pleasure that he might rest in that Security and sit still 4. That his Majesty had often declared to the Countess of Bristol and others that there was neither Treason nor Felony against the Earl nor ought else but what a small Acknowledgment would expiate The Earl in Conformity to this Order answered every Particular of the King's Charge against him without any Reply but it would be a wonderful Discovery to find an Answer to any one Particular of the Earl's Charge either against the Duke or my Lord Conway The Commons at the same time impeached the Duke of high Misdemeanours in a Charge of thirteen Articles whereof that of the Death of King James was one but to the Displeasure of the King so far as to commit Sir Dudley Diggs and Sir John Elliot to the Tower for it and the Commons sent a Message to the Lords by Sir Nathaniel Rich by an unanimous Vote to commit the Duke to safe Custody which I do not find the Lords did nor did the imprisoned Members lie long in the Tower for the King signified to the House that Sir Dudley Diggs did not speak the Words for which the King committed him and soon after Sir John Elliot was discharged However the Commons ran high against the Duke with a Protestation That till he were removed from meddling with State-Affairs they were out of all hopes of any good Success and did fear that any Money which they shall or can give will through his Misemployment rather he turned to the Hurt and Prejudice of this Kingdom than otherwise as by lamentable Experience they have lately found in those large Supplies they had formerly and lately given But the Duke thus doubly stormed both by the Earl and Commons and utterly unprovided to defend himself against either and the King rather than receive the Remonstrance the Commons had prepared to present him against the Duke resolved to part with the Parliament rather than the Duke and thereby lost four Subsidies and three Fifteenths tho the House of Peers petitioned to the contrary This was upon the 15th of June 1626. The King having sent the Parliament home again sends a long Declaration after them wherein he magnifies his Power of Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments peculiarly belonging to himself by an undoubted Prerogative inseparably united to his Imperial Crown of which as of all his other Royal Actions he is not to give any Account but to God only whose immediate Lieutenant and Vicegerent he is in these his Realms and Dominions by Divine Providence committed to his Charge yet his Purpose is so to order himself and all his Actions concerning the Weal of his Kingdoms as may justify themselves not only to his own Conscience and to his own People but to the whole World He thought fit to make a true plain and clear Declaration of the Reasons that enforced him to dissolve these two last Parliaments so that the Mouth of Malice it self might be stopt and the deserved Blame of so unhappy Accidents may justly fall upon the Authors thereof The King says That when he came first to the Crown he found himself engaged in a War against a potent Enemy Who was that Enemy Or at what time was any Declaration of any War made either against his Father or him Which after the best Search I could ever make I could never find any yet this I find that the next day after his Father's Death he and his Favourite the Duke were so eager to make a War against the King of Spain that a day must not be lost but Writs must be issued out to summon a Parliament to give Subsidies to make War against Spain See the second Part of the Keeper Williams ' s Life fol. 4. tit 2. This War the King says was not undertaken rashly nor without just and honourable Grounds but enforced for the necessary Defence of himself and his Dominions If this War were for the necessary Defence of the King and his Dominions there must be some Body that did thus offend the King and his Dominions but who this is the King neither says nor can I find For the Support of his Friends and Allies This is general so no particular Answer can be given to it but who these Friends and Allies were which were to be supported the King neither says nor can I find For redeeming the antient Honour of this Nation It had need for it was never so blasted as in his Father's and his own Reign For the Recovery of the Patrimony of his dear Sister her Consort and their Children injuriously and under colour of Treaties of Friendship taken from them The King's Father to make good the Narrative which this King and Buckingham made of the Spanish Treaty told the Parliament he was deceived by Generals and that dolosus versatur in generalibus If the King would have satisfied the World how his brother-in-Brother-in-law's Patrimony was taken from him by Colour of Treaties and Friendship he should have set forth the Treaties and Friendship and by whom and when sought and by whom and when broken but of this the King says not one word and therefore that which he says stands for nothing And for the Maintenance of the true Religion Were the Ships which he and Buckingham last Year sent to subdue the Rochellers who had never given him or his Father any Offence for the Defence of the true Religion If this was not what was it this King did for the Defence of the true Religion And invited thereunto and encouraged therein by the humble Advice of both Houses of Parliament What! all this by the Advice of both Houses of Parliament I cannot find the Parliament 21 Jac. ever invited his Father to any more than to break off the Treaties of the Prince's Match with Spain and the Palatinate But what if upon the Misinformation of the Duke ex parte the Parliament had done all this yet whenas the Earl of Bristol had twice blasted the Duke's Narrative in every particular without any Reply Why
could Human Wisdom foresee of any good Success in them being against three the most potent Princes in Christendom For the Charges to maintain these Wars almost against Christendom the King requires a Benevolence of the Subject and the Nobility to lend freely Demands a Loan of 100000 l. from the City of London charges the Ports of England to furnish Ships upon their own Charges issues out Privy-Seals for Benevolences in proportion to the four Subsidies and three Fifteenths voted by the Commons grants a Commission to execute Martial Law billeâ—s Souldiers and makes the Country pay their Quarters the Rich who refuse to pay the Loans are assessed and bound over to answer at the Council-Table and the other press'd for Souldiers These were the Ways this King took to justify his Integrity for the Weal of the Kingdom so as to satisfy not only his own Conscience but his People and the whole World as he promised in his Declaration for Dissolution of the Parliament But lest the King 's Royal Proclamation for these things should be stumbled at or disputed Sibthorp and Manwaring two special Favourites of Laud are set on work to preach that the King is not bound to observe the Laws of the Land in his Government and that his Royal Will in imposing Loans and Taxes does oblige the Subject's Conscience upon Pain of Eternal Damnation Tho these things were settled to the Duke's Heart 's Content yet he had a Jealousy that in his Absence the Arch-bishop of Canterbury might give the King such Counsel as might spoil all the Glories of the Duke's Designs and therefore to remove him not only from the Council-Table but far enough out of the way from coming into the King's Presence is the Design but to put some colour upon it it was resolved That the King by a special Message should order the Arch-bishop to license Sibthorp's Sermon under his own Hand The Arch-bishop at this time was sorely afflicted with the Stone and kept his Bed when Mr. Murray brought the King's Command to him the Bishop could not forbear to take notice of the piece of Drudgery to be put upon him the like whereof was never enjoined to any of his Predecessors yet desired my Lord Conway to leave the Sermon with him some small time to peruse which my Lord did The Bishop instead of licensing the Sermon made Observations upon it how false and inconsistible the Parts of the Sermon were to one another and how contrary to Antiquity and the Authority of the Scripture for one part of the Sermon justified Ahab's taking away Naboth's Vineyard and he desired to be satisfied about his Objections before he licensed the Sermon This gave the desired Offence for upon the Arch-bishop's refusal to license the Sermon the Bishop of London who had allowed John Cosins his Book called The seventh Sacrament with all the Errors which were after expunged gave it a great and stately Allowance and Laud was ordered to answer the Archbishop's Objections and had the Bishops of Durham Oxford and Rochester to be his Assistants in it and to this the Arch-bishop must reply without seeing the Answer which if he might see he said he would batter it all to pieces which being denied you may read in Rushw f. 446 447. how the Arch-bishop did batter it all to pieces upon Mr. Murray his reading it For this special piece of Service in answering the Arch-bishop's Objections the Bishop of Durham and Laud of Bath and Wells are made Privy-Counsellors and for the Arch-bishop's refusal to license Sibthorp's Sermon he was not only banished to his House at Ford five Miles beyond Canterbury a moorish unhealthy Place and that before he could lay in his Provisions for House-keeping but the Office of High-Commission is taken from him and the Exercise of it committed to the Bishops of Durham Oxford Rochester and Bath and Wells which had so well answered the Arch-bishop's Objections to Sibthorp's Sermon And now things are thus settled at home In July the 27th the Duke is commissionated Admiral and General of a Navy Royal of 100 Sail and 6 or 7000 Land Souldiers and when he came before Rochel Sobiez came aboard of him where for several Reasons it was agreed to land the Army on the Isle of Oleron and not on the Isle of Rhee but Sobiez going to perswade the Rochellers to join with the English the Duke before his return lands on the Isle of Rhee in spite of the Opposition made by the French but instead of pursuing the Blow not only neglects to take the Fort la Prie to secure his Retreat and prevent the French from landing Supplies but stays five days whereby Toiras the French Governor encouraged his Men and also got more Force and Provisions into the Cittadel of St. Martins The French were so alarm'd at this Invasion that the King offered the Duke of Rohan and the Rochellers any Terms to join against the English which both refusing caused both their Ruins So that the Duke having made three false Steps viz. his deceiving Sobiez his not marching after landing and not taking in the Fort la Prie now let 's see a fourth The Enemy's Retreat upon the landing of the English was so hasty that they quitted a Well about twenty Paces from the Counterscarp which supplied the Cittadel with Water which not being possest upon the first coming of the Army the French drew a Work about it which the English could not force and without which Well the besieged could not have subsisted however the Duke resolved to take the Fort by Famine We have marked four false Steps the Duke made now observe the fifth which was the loss of the whole Army and ruin of all the Protestant Party in France for instead of the French joining with the English for the recovery of the Palatinate by Land the Spaniards now join the French against the English by Sea to relieve St. Martins and the Duke instead of pressing the Fort by a strait Siege entertains a Treaty of Surrender with Toiras and several Compliments past between them subscribed Your humble Servant Buckingham and Your humble Servant Toiras till Toiras got Relief of Men Victuals and Ammunition and then Toiras broke off the Treaty with the Duke Soon after the French landed Forces by the neglect of the English to suppress them and Orders were given to draw the English out of the Trenches which the French possess whereupon the English were forced to retreat and fight the French to regain the Trenches at last the 6th of November the Duke makes a vain Storm upon the Castle and was beaten off and upon the 8th the Duke retreats the French being now equal to him in Foot and superiour in Horse when the English were intangled in their Retreat the Duke having neglected to take la Prie or build a Fort upon a narrow Lane and Causey to secure their Retreat the French charged the English Horse in the rear and rout them who rout the Foot in
away the Merchants Ships so that they may not easily catch and light upon the West-India Fleet. A Jesuit and nine Priests were taken with this and many other Papers which were delivered to Sir John Cook Secretary of State the Jesuit was condemn'd but reprieved by the King because Sir John Cook said The King delighted not in Blood and afterward the nine Priests were released by special Warrant from the King and the King in his Reasons for dissolving the Parliament makes the House of Commons Enquiry into this Business to be an exorbitant Encroachment and Usurpation such as was never before attempted by that House By this you may see the Religious care this pious Prince had for the Church of England and how much he regarded the Laws of England or minded the Support of the poor Protestants in France or the Re-establishment of his Brother-in-law in the Palatinate Thus stood things when the Parliament met the 17th of March when the King as Men in a deep Lethargy no ways sensible of their Pain or the dangerous State they are in not considering the dangerous State he was in both abroad and at home Abroad in that he had made War upon the King of Spain without any Declaration of War and that against his Father's Advice and of his Council and upon the King of France wherein himself and his Favourite Buckingham were the Aggressors at Home by his unheard of Invasions upon the Fortunes and Liberties of his Subjects never before done by any King of England in the short Interval of these two Parliaments scarce being 9 Months upon the Opening of the Parliament far unlike his Father in the last Parliament of his Reign when his Case was not near so dangerous as this King's tho their Necessities were equal to get Money by Parliaments when they could get it no other Way begins his Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THese Times are for Action wherefore for Example sake I mean not to spend much Time in Words expecting accordingly that your as I hope good Resolutions will be speedy not spending Time unnecessarily or that I may say dangerously for tedious Consultations at this Conjuncture of Time are as hurtful as ill Resolutions I am sure you now expect from me both to know the Cause of your meeting and what to resolve on yet I think there is none here but knows that common Danger is the Cause of this Parliament and that Supply at this time is the chief End of it so that I need but point to you what to do All this but of Supply is Mysterious and General and had need of an Interpreter The King goes on and says I will use but few Perswasions for if to maintain your own Advices and as the Case now stands for the following thereof the true Religion Laws and Liberties of this State never so violated by any King of England before him and the just Defence of our true Friends and Allies be not sufficient then no Eloquence of Men or Angels will prevail What Parliament or any other Council but that of Buckingham advised him to make War either upon the King of Spain or France search all the Records of the Journals of Parliament of 21 Jac. and Rushworth Franklin and Bishop of Litchfield and see if in any one of them there be one Sentence of making War against the King of Spain but only to break off the Treaty with the Spanish Match and for the Palatinate But admit the Parliament had upon the Misinformation of the King and Duke advised the King to have made War upon the King of Spain yet since the Earl of Bristol so shamefully blasted the whole Story not a Year since in open Parliament without any Reply How was this Parliament obliged to have made good what that had done And since the King dissolved the last Parliament rather than the Duke should be brought to Trial upon the Earl's Charge which was a Failure of Justice sure it had been more to the King's Honour not to have mention'd this to the Parliament than that what he had done was by their Advice Did this Parliament or any other ever advise him to put the Fleet under the Command of Vice-Admiral Pennington into the French King's Power to subdue the poor Rochellers who never did him any wrong to the Ruin of the Reformed Interest in France and to be the Foundation of the French Grandeur by Sea and then on the contrary make War upon the French King when he was the Aggressor Did ever this or any other Parliament advise him to take his Subjects Goods by force without and against Law and imprison their Persons by his Absolute Will and Pleasure denying them the Benefit of their Corpus's the Birth-right of the Subject and to continue them Prisoners during his Will without allowing them a Trial by the Laws whether they were guilty of any Crime or not Or to execute Martial Law impose new Oaths and give Free-Quarter to Soldiers in his own Kingdom in time of Peace However the King goes on and says Only let me remember you that my Duty most of all and every one of yours according to his Degree is to seek the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth and certainly there never was a time in which this Duty was more necessarily required than now Was the Discharge of the Pack of Jesuits conspiring the Ruin of Church and State with Impunity for the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth Or was the Commission which the King granted the next Day after the Writs for the Assembling the Parliament to raise Monies by Imposition in the nature of Excise to be levied throughout the Nation for the Maintenance of the Church and State And at the same time to order my Lord Treasurer to pay 30000 l. to Philip Burlemac a Dutch Merchant in London to be by him returned into the Low-Countries by Bill of Exchange to Sir William Balfour and John Dalbier for the raising of 1000 Horse with Arms both for Horse and Foot for the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth of England And also to call a Council for levying Ship-Money now he had by his own Will taken the Customs without any Grant of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Church and State I therefore judging a Parliament to be the antient speediest and best way in this time of Common Danger to give such Supply as to secure our selves and save our Friends from imminent Ruin have called you together Every Man must do according to his Conscience wherefore if you as God forbid should not do your Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs I must in Discharge of my Conscience use those other means which God has put into my hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may otherwise hazard to lose It 's certain a Parliament is the best way in time of Common Danger to give Supplies and secure the Nation from imminent Ruin the Nation being most
concerned in it yet what Parliamentary Advice did the King take the last nine Months If the Nation and the King's Friends be in such imminent Ruin the King should have declared who those Friends were and who they were which threatned this Ruin When his Father died he was at Peace with all the World and it was his own Wilfulness that without any other Counsel but that of Buckingham he made War upon France and Spain and let any Man read the Passages of the short time of his Reign and judg if the imminent Ruin of the Nation were not from himself within as well as without and if the granting him further Supplies would not more endanger the Nation in carrying on his Designs in both Here note Tho the King had made no Conscience of what he had done yet he now tells the Parliament If they shall not do their Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs he must in Discharge of his Conscience use those other Means which God hath put into his hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may other ways hazard to lose The King should have explained what other ways God put into his hands to govern his Subjects than by Justice Judgment and Righteousness for all other ways are unjust and wicked And how any Man how great soever can plead Conscience to perpetrate Injustice and Wickedness must be unfolded by Laud Neal Sibthorp Manwaring Mountague Wren Heylin c. The King proceeds and says Take not this for a Threatning for I scorn to threaten any but my Equals but an Admonition from him that both out of Nature and Duty has most Care of your Preservations and Prosperities This is Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam What a Monster does the King here make a Parliament the Head so incomprehensively big and the Body so scornful and little But if it ill becomes any Man to glory in his own Actions it worse becomes him to glory in that which he himself had not done So that admit the King had been so superlatively great as to scorn all the World besides yet it would better have become any other to have said it than the King A Parliament is a Political Body whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons the Body and What is the Head without the Body Are not all the Members of every Body of Use for the Head And does not the Head stand in need of every Member of the Body But if the Head be overgrown and too big and the Body too scornful and lean is not this not only monstrous but a Symptom of the Imperfection of the whole and that it is in a declining and dangerous State Yet the King tells them The End of calling this Parliament was for Supply And did ever King or other Man before him tell those from whom he expected Supply or any other Benefit that he scorn'd them and if they do not their Duties he would use other Means which God had put in his hands without telling what those other Means were and call them Fools and particular Men if they do not their Duties to save what they may otherwise hazard to lose whereas heretofore the Kings of England ever thank'd the Parliament upon a Bill for Aids But after all this the Parliament must not take it for a Threatning but an Admonition An Admonition may be taken in a double Sense either to instruct another in his Duty or to menace or threaten another if he continues obstinate in some Fault or Crime committed by that other But this Admonition of the King 's in the Parliament must not be taken for a Threatning of them therefore it must be for their Instruction ignorant of their Duties A Parliament was called by the Saxons Wittenage-Mote or the Conventus Sapientum the Meeting of Wise Men who met together to deliberate of the arduous and urgent Businesses of the Kingdom and concerning the State and Defence of the Kingdom and Church of England and is called the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Council of the Kingdom and the Council of the Kingdom See 4th Institute 2. And tho the Writ of Summons of Parliaments be Ad Tractandum Deliberandum de certis arduis Regni negotiis pro statu defensiâ—e Regni Ecclesiae Angliae concernentibus yet the Parliaments of England unlike the Convention of the State of Scotland are not tied up to those things only which the King propounds but are free to treat and deliberate of all things which other ways concern the Kingdom and Church of England So that the great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is to advise the King And all our Saxon Norman and British Kings had ever Parliaments in so high an Esteem that we do not read any where before these two Kings of the Scotish Race came to reign over us that ever any King and Parliament parted in Disgust whereas since King James came to be King five or six parted in Disgust and God knows what would have become of the other if King James had not died before the Parliament met again Did ever any King of England before tho he scorn'd to threaten the Parliament yet admonish them of their Duties or otherwise he would use those other means than by Parliament which God had put into his hands But Quorsum haec or where will the Designs of this young King stop However you may see by this Speech of the King 's that those who govern'd him were as little Politicians as Orators But good Laws often arise from corrupt Times and bad Manners for Magna Charta did arise from the Usurpations of K. John and Henry III. above the Laws and Liberties of this Nation so did the Petition of Right the Magna Charta of this Age from the Usurpations of this King since the Dissolution of the last Parliament to the Meeting of this little more than nine Months And as the old Magna Charta was no new Law but a Declaration of the old restored by Henry II. King John's Father called the Avitae Leges so neither was the Petition of Right which enumerates the Breaches the King had made of Magna Charta and manifold other Laws before it prays Relief against them But these Charta's were obtained after different manners the old by cruel Wars The Doctrines of Passive Obedience and submitting to the Absolute Will and Pleasure of the King were Strangers to those Days and the Bishops were so far from those Doctrines that they were the chief Promoters of Magna Charta and stigmatized the Infringers of it the King himself not excepted with a dreadful Anathema Whereas neither Rome nor Athens could ever glory in such an Assembly as the Commons of this Parliament were for their Vertue and Learning nor any Age produce such a number of Men of the like Integrity to their Country and humble Obedience to
Particulars not in General Did you ever know the King's Message to a Bill of Subsidies all succeeding Kings will say You must trust me as well as you did my Predecessors and trust my Messages but Messages never came into a Parliament Let us put up a Petition of â—â—ight not that I distrust the King but that I cannot take his Trust but in a Parliamentary way Hereupon the Commons desired a Conference with the Lords which was managed by Sir Edward Coke who said My Lords it is evident what necessity there is both in respect of your selves and your Posterity to have good Success in this Business we have acquainted your Lordships with the Reasons and Arguments and after we have had some Conference we have received from your Lordships Propositions and it behoves us to give your Lordships some Reasons why you have not heard from us before now for in the mean time as we were consulting this weighty Business we have received divers Messages from our great Soveraign the King and they consisted of five Parts 1. That his Majesty would maintain all his Subjects in their just Freedom both of their Persons and Estates 2. That he will govern according to his Laws and Statutes 3. That we shall find much Confidence in his Royal Word I pray observe that 4. That we shall enjoy all our Rights and Liberties with as much freedom as ever Subjects have done in former times 5. That whether we think fit either by Bill or otherways to go on in this great Business his Majesty would be pleased to give way tâ— it These gracious Messages did so work upon our Affections that we have taken it into deep Consideration My Lords what we had these Messages I deal plainly for so I am commanded by the House of Commons we did consider what way would be our most secure way nay yours We did think it the safest way to go on in a Parliamentary Course for we have a Maxim in the House of Commons and written in the Wall of our House That old Ways are the safest and surest Ways And at last we did fail upon that which we think if your Lordships did consent with us the most antient of all and that is my Lords the Via fausta both to his Majesty to your Lordships and to our selves For my Lords this is the greatest Bond that any Subject can have in open Parliament Verbum Regis That is a high Point of Honour but this must be done by the Lords and Commons and assented to by the King in Parliament This is the greatest Obligation of all and this is for the King's Honour and our Safety Therefore my Lords we have drawn the Form of a Petition desiring your Lordships to concur with us therein for we do come with an unanimous Consent of all the Commons and there is great reason your Lordships should do so for your Lordships be involved in the same Danger and then the Petition was read Upon the 20th of May the King wrote a Letter to the House of Lords wherein he said That as he had given leave to free Debates upon the highest Points of his Prerogative Royal which in the times of his Predecessors were ever restrained as Matters they would not have discussed yet he finds it insisted upon that in no Cause whatsoever he and his Council could commit without Cause shewed which if granted would dissolve the Frame of the Monarchy That as he had made fair Propositions to the Commons which might easily preserve the Liberty of the Subject so he thought good to let their Lordships know that without the overthrow of the Soveraignty he could not suffer his Power to be impeached yet that he will extend it beyond the just Rule of Moderation c. which he thought good to signify the rather to shorten the long Debates upon this great Question the Season of the Year being so far advanced and his great Occasions of State not lending many more days for the continuance of the Session The same day the Lords communicated the Letter to the Commons upon which Sir Thomas Wentworth said it was a Letter of Grace but the People will only like that which is done in a Parliamentary way and the Debate upon it would take up much time neither was it directed to the Commons and the Petition of â—ight would clear all Mistakes for some give out as if the House weâ—â— to pinch the King's Prerogative and so the Letter was laid aside These were while the Petition was in debate and before it was agâ—â—ed to by both Houses but after it was agreed upon the second of June the King came into the House of Lords and having sent for the Commons said Gentlemen I Am come hither to perform my Duty I think no Man can think it long since I have not taken so many days in answering your Petition as you have spent Weeks in framing it I am come hither to shew you that as well in formal Things as in essential I desire to give you as much Content as in me lies Then the Lord Keeper said MY Lords and ye the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons the King hath commanded me to say unto you That he takes it in good part that in Consideration of settling your own Liberties ye have generally professed in both Houses that ye have no intention to lessen or diminish his Majesty's Prerogative wherein as ye have cleared your Intentions so now his Majesty comes to clear his and to subscribe a firm League with his People which is ever likely to be most constant and perpetual when the Conditions are most equal and known to be so These cannot be in a more happy State than when your Liberties shall be an Ornament and Strength of his Majesty's Prerogative and his Prerogative a Defence of your Liberties in which his Majesty doubts not but that both he and you shall take a mutual Comfort hereafter and for his part he is resolved to give an Example in using his Power for the Preservation of your Liberties that hereafter you shall have no cause to complain and that they here read their own Petition and his Majesty's gracious Answer Then the Petition was read to which the King answered The King willeth that Right be done according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm and that the Statutes be put in due Execution that his Subjects may have no cause to complain of any Wrong or Oppressions contrary to their just Rights and Liberties to the Preservation of which he holds himself in Conscience as well obliged as of his Prerogative This Answer no ways satisfied the Commons whereupon Sir John Elliot made a pathetick and lively Representation of the Grievances of the Nation within and of the Danger and Weakness of it by the Mismanagement and Abuse of the King's Ministers and therefore wished that it might so stand with the Wisdom and Judgment of the House that these Dangers and Grievances
may be drawn into the Body of a Remonstrance and therein humbly exprest with a Prayer to his Majesty for the Safety of himself and for the Safety of the Kingdom and for the Safety of Religion that he would be pleased to give the House time to make perfect Inquisitions thereof or to take it into his own Wisdom and there give them such timely Reformation as the necessity of the Cause and his Justice does import Sir Edward Coke seconded Sir John Elliot 's Motion and propounded that a humble Remonstrance be presented to the King touching the Dangers and Means of the Safety of the King and Kingdom which was agreed to by the House and thereupon the House turned themselves into a grand Committee and the Committee for the Bill of Subsidies was ordered to expedite the said Remonstrance But this King rather than hear of what he had done did not care what he did and therefore the Speaker brought a Message from the King That his Majesty having upon the Petition exhibited by both Houses given an Answer so full of Justice and Grace for which we and our Posterity have just cause to bless his Majesty it is now time to draw to a Conclusion of the Session and therefore his Majesty thinks fit to let them know That he does resolve to abide by that Answer without further Change or Alteration and so he will Royally and Really perform unto them what he had thereby promised And further That he resolves to end this Session upon Wednesday the 11th of this Month and that this House should seriously attend those Businesses which may bring the Session to a happy Conclusion without entertaining new Matters and so to husband the time that his Majesty may with more Comfort bring them speedily together again at which time if there be any further Grievances not contained or expressed in the Petition they may be more maturely considered than the time will now permit But this did not disturb the Commons but they proceeded in their Declaration against Dr Manwaring and the same day presented it to the Lords at a Conference which was managed by Mr. Pym. The Commons impeached the Doctor upon these three Points in his Sermons of Allegiance and Religion 1. That he affirmed that the King is not bound to keep and observe the good Laws and Customs of this Realm concerning the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and that his Royal Will and Command in imposing Loans Taxes and other Aids upon his People without common Consent in Parliament does so far bind the Consciences of the Subjects of this Kingdom that they cannot refuse the same without peril of Eternal Damnation 2. That those of his Majesty's Subjects that refused the Loan did therein offend against the Law of God and against his Majesty's Supream Authority and by so doing became guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion and Disobedience and liable to many other Taxes and Censures which he in the several Parts of his Book does most falsly and maliciously lay upon them 3. That the Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies that the slow Proceedings of such Assemblies are not fit to supply the urgent Necessities of State but rather apt to produce sundry Impediments to the just Design of Princes and to give them occasion of Displeasure and Discontent Whereupon the Commons demanded Judgment against the Doctor not accounting his Submission with Tears and Grief a Satisfaction for the Offence charged upon him and the Lords gave this Sentence 1. That he should be imprisoned during the Pleasure of the House 2. That he should be fined 1000 l. to the King 3. That he should make such Submission and Acknowledgment of his Offences as shall be set down by a Committee in Writing both at this Bar and the House of Commons 4. That he shall be suspended for the Term of three Years from the Exercise of the Ministry and in the mean time a sufficient preaching Minister shall be provided to serve the Cure out of his Livings this Suspension and Provision to be done by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 5. That he shall be disabled hereafter to have any Ecclesiastical Dignity or Secular Office 6. That he shall be disabled hereafter ever to preach at Court 7. That his Book is worthy to be burnt and that for the better effecting of this his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be burnt accordingly in London both the Vniversities and for the inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great Penalty This Censure immediately succeeding Sir Elliot's Representation of Grievances startled Laud as much as Sir John's Representation did the Duke of Buckingham and the King that he might not hear of any more Business of this kind upon the 5th of June commanded the Speaker to let the House know that he will certainly hold to the day fixed for ending the Session viz. the 11th and therefore requires them that they enter not into nor proceed in any new Business which may spend greater time or which may lay any Scandal or Aspersion upon the State-Government or the Ministers thereof This put the House into a fearful Consternation whereupon the House declared That every Member of the House is free from any undutiful Speech from the beginning of the Parliament to that day and ordered the House to be turned into a Committee to consider what was to be done for the Safety of the Kingdom and that no Man go out of the House upon pain of being committed to the Tower But before the Speaker left the Chair he desired leave to go forth which the House granted Then Sir Edward Coke spake freely We have dealt with that Duty and Moderation that never was the like Rebus sic stantibus after such a Violation upon the Liberties of the Subjects let us take this to Heart In 30 Edw. 3. were they then in any doubt to name Men that mislead the King They accused John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevilâ—or â—or misadvising the King and they went to the Tower for it now when there is such a downfal of the State shall we hold our Tongues How shall we answer our Duty to God and Men 7 Hen. 4. Parl. Rot. 31 32. 11 Hen. 4. Numb 13. there the Council are complained of and removed from the King they mewed up the King and disswaded him from the common Good and why are we turned from that way we were in Why may not we name those that are the Cause of all our Evils In the 4 H. 3. 21 E. 3. 13 R. 2. the Parliament moderated the King's Prerogative and nothing grows to Abuse but this House hath Power to treat thereof What shall we do Let us palliate no longer if we do God will not prosper us I think the Duke of Bucks is the Cause of all our Miseries and till the King be informed thereof we shall neither go out with
thereunto that altho he granted Commissions for collecting certain Duties and Customs due by Law yet made none for receiving the Subsidies of Tunnage and Poundage till it was granted in Parliament Since his time all Kings and Queens have had such Grants for Life by the free Love and Good-will of the Subjects but whensoever the People have been grieved by laying on any other Imposition or Charges upon their Goods and Merchandise without Authority of Law which has been very seldom yet upon Complaint in Parliament they have been relieved saving in the time of your Royal Father who having through ill Counsel raised the Rates and Charges upon Merchandise to that height at which they now are yet he was pleased so far to yield to the Complaint of his People as to offer That if the Value of such Impositions as he had set might be made good unto him he would bind himself and his Heirs by Act of Parliament never to lay any more which Offer the Commons did not yield to Nevertheless your Loyal Commons in this Parliament out of special Zeal to your Majesty's Service and especial Regard of your pressing Occasions have taken into their Consideration so to frame a Grant of Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage to your Majesty that both you might have been better enabled for the Defence of your Realm and your Subjects by being more secure from all undue Charges be more encouraged chearfully to proceed in Trade by Encrease whereof your Majesty's Profit and likewise the Strength of the Kingdom would be much augmented But being now not able to accomplish this their Desire there is no Course left to them without manifest Breach of their Duty to his Majesty and Country save only to make this Declaration That the receiving Tunnage and Poundage and other Impositions not granted by Parliament is a Breach of the Fundamental Liberties of this Kingdom and contrary to your Majesty's Royal Answer to the Petition of Right The King who had so unwillingly heard the Commons Remonstrance against the Duke before the Bill of Subsidies was passed both Houses now it was past both Houses was resolved to hear no more of this and therefore when this Remonstrance concerning the Tunnage and Poundage was engrossed and reading in the House the King sent for the Speaker and the House to the House of Lords where the King came so unexpectedly that the Lords had not put on their Robes nor had the Commons given the Speaker any Order or Direction to deliver the Bill of Subsidies neither was it brought down to the Commons again as is usual When the Commons came to the Lords House the King said It may seem strange that I come so suddenly to end this Session before I give my Assent to the Bills I will tell you the Cause tho I must avow that I owe the Account of my Actions to God alone It is known to every one of you that a while ago the House of Commons gave me a Remonstrance how acceptable every Man may judg and for the Merit of it I will not call that in question for I am sure no wise Man can justify it Did ever any King of England but this King's Father and himself treat a Parliament or either House at this rate before At the opening of the Parliament he calls them Fools if they would not do as he would have them and now he tells the Commons No wise Man can justify their Advice to him I 'm sure a wiser Man than this King or his Father says He that wins Souls is wise and if you convert the Proposition He that provokes them is otherwise Heretofore the Kings of England and I believe all prudent and civiliz'd Princes ever forbore to give any Petitioners harsh Language if their Petitions did not please their usual Answer was The King will consider or be advised upon them One great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is truly to represent to the King the State of the Kingdom which is rarely done by Flatterers and Favourites whose Interest is contrary to that of the Kingdom and if any thing be done in Prejudice of the King and Kingdom that both may be redressed in Parliament In the Commons Remonstrance to the King they set forth the weak and dangerous State of the Kingdom equally dangerous to the King and Kingdom in six several Particulars Does the King either answer or deny any one of the Particulars otherwise than that he is sure no wise Man can justify their Remonstrance But tells no Reason for this nor from whom he had this Assurance Was ever any King or Man so great as to be above his Interest or less for being well advised in all his Actions Nay ought not not only every King but other Men be so much more careful and advised in all their Actions by how much greater they are The King goes on and says Now since I am truly informed that a second Remonstrance is preparing for me to take away the Profit of Tunnage and Poundage one of the chief Maintenances of my Crown by alledging I have given away my Right thereto by my Answer to your Petition So that here the King hath true Information of that but says not how he was truly informed which was not in being for the Remonstrance was not passed the Commons when the King came into the House of Lords so that it may more probably be the King is not truly informed of this Remonstrance I 'm sure he is misinformed if the Remonstrance as it is printed in Rushworth and Franklin be true that the Commons alledged that the King had given away his Right to the Customs by his Answer to the Petition of Right For the Commons denied there that either he or any of his Predecessors before him which was long before the Petition of Right had any Right to them before they were granted by the free Gift of the Subject Tho the King would take the Customs to which he had no Right yet would he not permit the Commons to sit till they could perfect a Bill to give him Duties upon Tunnage and Poundage without which no King of England before him claimed any other Right But since the King says in his Declaration for the Dissolution of the Parliament that his Predecessors time out of mind have had these Customs but says not who told him so it 's fit to see when and what Customs of Tunnage and Poundage were taken and for what end and how they were taken Sir Edward Coke in his fourth Institute of the High Court of Parliament fol. 32. out of Records makes thirteen Observations upon the Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage 1. Of Poundage only at 6 s. in the Pound for two Years upon Condition c. And this was 47 Edw. 3. 2. 6 d. for Poundage 2 s. for Tunnage of Wine hac vice This was 6 Ric. 2. 3. 6 d. of every Pound of Merchandise 2 s. of every Tun of Wine upon Condition
of Right the King as Norton the Printer said commanded the printing of the Petition with other Additions besides the King's Answer and that he had printed 1500 Copies with the King's Answer without the other Additions but these were suppressed by Warrant and the Attorney General commanded no more should be printed and those which were should not be divulged These were the Just and Religious Acts of this pious King and can any Man believe the Parliament at their Meeting should without Breach of a publick Trust sit still and not represent these things to the King The Parliament did meet according to their Prorogation the 23d of January 1628. and debated these Practices against Church and State which hapned since the 26th of June before but now see the Artifice of this little Prince rather than hear of any thing in this kind he commands the Speaker Sir John Finch the late Lord Chancellor Finch's own Uncle to put no Question upon Debates of Grievances So that the House could do nothing but sit still or adjourn and this continued till the 2d of March when the Commons met and urged the Speaker to put the Question concerning Grievances who answered I have a Command from the King to adjourn the House till the 10th of March and put no Question and endeavouring to go out of the House he was held by some Members till the House had made this Protestation 1. Whosoever shall bring in Innovation of Religion or by Favour or Countenance seem to extend or introduce Popery or Arminianism or other Opinions disagreeing from the Truth and Orthodox Church shall be reputed a Capital Enemy to this Kingdom or Common-Wealth 2. Whosoever shall counsel or advise the taking or levying the Subsidies of Tunnage and Poundage not granted by Parliament or shall be an Actor or Instrument therein be likewise reputed an Innovator in the Government and a Capital Enemy to the Kingdom and Common-wealth 3. If any Merchant or Person whatsoever shall voluntarily yield or pay the Subsidies of Tunnage and Poundage not being granted by Parliament he shall likewise be reputed a betrayer of the Liberties of England and an Enemy to the same This Act consisted in two Parts the Speaker and the House the Speaker's of three Parts a Command by the King to put no Question to adjourn till the 10th of March and an endeavour to go out of the House In the former Session of this Parliament Secretary Cook the 10th of April from the King desired the House not to make any Recess those Easter Holy-days that the World may now take notice how earnest his Majesty and We were for the publick Affairs in Christendom which would receive Interruption by this Recess To which Sir Robert Phillips answered that the 12th and 18th Jac. the House resolved it was in their Power to adjourn or sit and that this may be put upon them by Princes of less Piety and that a Committee consider of the House's Right Sir Edward Coke said the King makes a Prorogation the House adjourns it self That a Commission of Adjournment the House never read but say the House adjourns it self yet here the Speaker verbally says I am commanded by the King to adjourn till the 10th of March. His second Command was to put no Question So here was a Speaker which might not speak what did he there then He sits there by the King in his Highest and Regal Capacity under the broad Seal to put the Question and now if you 'll take his Word he says he has a Command from the King to put no Question The third Act was his Endeavour to go out of the House which the House conceiving him to be their Servant would not suffer Here you may understand that the King had privately made Peace with France though not proclaimed at Paris till June following and soon after with Spain so that in his Speech this meeting he did not begin with The Times are for Action and the Eyes of all the World are upon us and therefore demands Supplies in the first place but that without loss of Time they would pass the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage but the House seeing the Dangers of the Church and State in not only pardoning but preferring Mountague and Manwaring and seizing Merchants Goods and imprisoning their Persons even in this Recess they resolve to secure their Religion and redress Grievances before they grant the Customs of Tunnage and Poundage in both they could not but take notice of the Orders of the Star-Chamber Privy-Council Judges and Customers And these were the Invasions upon the King's Perogative Royal which for the future he resolved never to suffer yet he shall live to hear more of them But in regard it may seem strange that Customs of Tunnage and Poundage ever since the Reign of Richard the 3d had been granted to the Kings and Queens of this Realm for securing the Soveraignty of the narrow Seas and of the English Merchants yet was not granted to this King The Reason was this the House of Commons in their Grievances in the two first Parliaments of this King and the former Sessions of this complained that the Duke of Buckingham being Lord High Admiral of England neglected to guard the Seas to the Dishonour of the King and endangering the Trade of England and feared if the Duke were not removed the End designed by the Parliament would be diverted to supply the intolerable Pride and Luxury of the Duke but the King rather than endure this dissolved the two former Parliaments and prorogued this when they were upon settling the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage That the Parliament had Reason for this it appears in their Charge against the Duke in the 2d Year of this King and that in ten Years time he had received of King James and this King 284395 l. besides the Forest of Leyfield the Profits of the third of Strangers Goods and the Profits of the Moiety of the Customs of Ireland besides the Tricks he used to get Money as he was Lord High Admiral of England and Ireland Master of the Horse Lord Warden Chancellor and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and the Members thereof Constable of Dover Castle Justice in Eyre of all his Majesty's Forests and Chases on this side of Trent Constable of Windsor Castle and Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber To these might have been added the Duke's Venality in selling all Places in Church and State at least preferring such Men in Church as should propagate Arminianism and such Judges as shall do what the King and he bid them Objection But the Duke was now dead in this Session of Parliament and so the Reason ceasing the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage ought to have been granted Answer The King would not suffer the Commons to come at it neither in the last Sessions nor this for the Religion of the Church of England and the Laws and Liberties of the Subject being so shaken in this Recess the Commons
resolve that Religion shall have the Precedency in their Debates and make this Vow WE the Commons in Parliament assembled do claim protest and avow for Truth the Sense of the Articles of Religion which were established by Parliament in the 13th Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth which by the Publick Acts of the Church of England and by the general and currant Exposition of the Writers of our Church have been delivered unto Vs And we Reject the Sense of the Jesuits and Arminians and all others wherein they differ from us But the true Reason why the King would not take the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage from the Commons was for fear the Commons should not grant the Duties imposed by his Father and taken by him which he was resolved to continue whether the Parliament would or not The House had a Petition from the Printers and Booksellers in London complaining that Laud Bishop of London who had been so but from the 15th of July last had restrained Books written against Popery and Arminianism and the contrary allowed of only by him and had sent Pursevants for many Printers and Booksellers who had printed Books against Popery and that Licensing Books was only restrained to the Bishop of London and his Chaplains This is the Patron and Saint-like Martyr of the Church of England And all this Ado in the House of Commons was upon Sir Elliot's Speech against Neal Bishop of Winchester a zealous Promoter of Arminianism and Weston Lord Treasurer a Papist in whose Person he said All Evil is contracted acting and building upon those Grounds laid by his great Master the Duke and that his Spirit is moving to these Interruptions and they for fear break Parliaments lest the Parliament should break them That he finds him the Head of all the great Party That Papists Jesuits and Priests derive from him their Shelter and Protection c. But the Speaker upon Motion of the House refused to put the Question being he said otherwise commanded by the King Whereupon the House adjourn'd till Wednesday the 25th and from thence to the 2d of March when the Speaker again refused to put the Question the Success whereof was said before What now was the Crime of the House It was their Endeavour to preserve the Religion of the Church of England and the Laws and Liberties of the Subjects of England and since the Speaker refusing to do his Office they could not represent their Duty to the King they made their Protestation in the Defence of the Church and State And Masters oft-times upon Disobedience of their Servants do that which at other times they would not have done The King having made Peace abroad was resolved now to prosecute a vigorous â—ar at home against those Noble Gentlemen who in a Parliamentary Way had asserted the established Religion and Laws of England The Duke of Buckingham who was stabb'd the 23d of August before you need not fear had furnished the King with Judges Privy-Counsellors and Star-Chamber-Men who should do the King's Work and now let 's see the Order and Method by which it was carried on Upon this very Day viz. the 2d of March a Proclamation was drawn for the Dissolution of the Parliament but not proclaimed the King afterwards doing it himself in Person upon the 10th But next Day Warrants were directed from the Privy-Council for Denzil Hollis Sir Miles Hobert Sir John Elliot Sir Peter Hayman John Selden William Coriton Walter Long William Stroud and Benjamin Valentine Esquires to appear before the Council next day Mr. Hollis Sir John Elliot Mr. Valentine and Mr. Coriton appeared and for refusing to answer out of Parliament for what was said or done in Parliament were committed close Prisoners to the Tower and Warrants were given for sealing up the Studies of Mr. Hollis Mr. Selden Sir John Elliot Mr. Long and Mr. Stroud who not then appearing a Proclamation was issued out for apprehending of them The 10th of March the King comes into the House of Lords and tells the Reasons of his Dissolution of the Parliament that it was the undutiful and seditious Carriage in the lower House but says not wherein calls them Vipers who must look for their Reward and Punishment but promises the Lords the Favour and Protection that a good King oweth to his loving and faithful Nobility and then the Lord Keeper dissolved the Parliament CHAP. II. This Reign detected to the Second Parliament in 1640. JUstice like Truth is one and consists in entire Parts and will not admit of more or less but Injustice like Falshood and Error is distracted into infinite Discord and Confusion King James upon the Dissolution of the Parliament of the 12th and 18th Years of his Reign without any Trial but only by the Prerogative of his own Will commits several Members of Parliament to Prison for presuming to represent the Grievances of the Nation to him for Redress without Bail or Main-prize But this King puts a face of Justice upon his fining and imprisoning the Members of Parliament for their Debates and Transactions in it which was so much worse than his Father's Actions by how much the affixing a sacred Character to a bad Act and Justice is sacred renders the Act so much worse as Perjury is a greater Crime than simple Falshood and to murder a Man under pretence of Justice a greater Crime than simple Murder The Members thus close imprisoned after the Dissolution of the Parliament viz. in Trinity-Term following Mr. Selden was brought by Habeas Corpus to the King's-Bench with the Cause of his Detainer and also the same day Sir Miles Hobert Mr. Benjamin Valentine and Mr. Hollis appeared by Habeas Corpus directed to their several Prisons with their Counsel to argue their several Cases But when the Court were prepared to give their Opinions the Prisoners were not brought according to the Rule of Court Then Proclamation was made to the Keepers of the several Prisons to bring their Prisoners but none appeared But the Marshal of the King's-Bench said that Mr. Stroud was removed out of his Custody the day before to the Tower by the King 's own Warrant and so it was done by the other Prisoners But in the Evening the Judges received a Letter from the King containing Reasons why he would not suffer the Prisoners to appear yet that Selden and Valentine should appear the next day and about three Hours after the Judges received other Letters that upon mature Deliberation neither Selden nor Valentine should appear And the same Term four Constables of Hertfordshire pray'd Corpus's to several Pursevants to whom they were committed by the Lords of the Privy-Council which were granted but then they are committed to other Pursevants and so they were upon every other Habeas Corpus so that the Constables could have no benefit of them The Members as well as the Constables being thus shifted from one Prison to others to prevent the Returns of their Corpus's by special Order from
the King the Attorney-General Sir Robert Heath preferred an Information in the Star-Chamber against Sir John Elliot and others of the Members therein named setting forth their Misdemeanours in the late Parliament and all those Proceedings But Mr. Long ' s Charge was different from those of the other Members viz. Not for Misdemeanours in Parliament but that contrary to his Oath being when he was made Sheriff and was by his Oath to keep within his County yet he did come to Parliament and serve as a Member there and in the time of Parliament resided out of his County To this Mr. Long pleaded that the Oath of a Sheriff to reside in his County does not exempt him from obeying the King's Commands out of the County when the King requires it and that by the King's Command in his highest Capacity he being chosen a Member of Parliament was obliged as well by the King's Command as by a Trust reposed in him by his County to serve as a Member of Parliament Yet by a Sentence in the Star-Chamber he was fined 2000 Marks to the King to be imprisoned in the Tower and to make a Submission But the Attorney-General putting the Question to the Judges upon the Proceedings Ore tenus in the Star-Chamber against the Parliament-Men the Judges held it the juster way not to proceed Ore tenus And Justice Whitlock did often and highly complain against this way of sending to the Judges for their Opinions beforehand and said that if Bishop Laud went on this way he would kindle a Flame in the Kingdom Mr. Hollis Selden Stroud and Valentine having been brought to the King's-Bench Bar by several Corpus's and Cause of their Commitment returned one on a Warrant from the Council another on a Warrant from the King for Sedition and Contempts and whether this was a good Return or not was argued The Judges were perplexed about the Habeas Corpus and wrote a humble and stout Letter to the King That by their Oaths they were to bail the Prisoners but thought fit before they did it or publish their Opinions therein to inform his Majesty thereof and humbly to advise him as had been done by his noble Progenitors in like case to send a Direction to his Justices of his Bench to bail the Prisoners But the Lord Keeper Coventry would not acknowledg to Justice Whitlock who was sent to him from the rest of his Brethren about this Business that he had shewed the Judges Letter to the King but dissembled the matter and told him that he and his Brethren must attend the King at Greenwich at a day appointed Accordingly the Judges attended the King who was not pleased with their Determination but commanded them not to deliver any Opinion in this Case without consulting the rest of the Judges who delayed the Business and would hear Arguments in the Case as well as the Judges of the King's-Bench had done and so the Business was put off to the end of the Term Then the Court of King's-Bench being ready to deliver their Opinions the Prisoners were removed to other prisons and a Letter came from the King to the Judges That this was done because of their insolent Carriage at the Bar and so they did not appear The Judges of the King's-Bench were sent to by the Lord-keeper to be in London on Michaelmas-day and the Chief Justice and Justice Whitlock were sent for to the King at Hampton-Court who advised with them about the imprisoned Members and upon the first day of the Term Mr. Mason moved for the Members to have the Resolution of the Court All the Judges declared that they were contented the Prisoners should be bailed but that they must find Sureties for their good Behaviour If this Addition of finding Sureties for the Members good Behaviour were part of the good Offices which the Judges did as Mr. Whitlock says to bring the King to heal the Breaches the Members had little Reason to thank them for their Pains Mr. Selden pray'd that his Sureties for his Bailment might be taken and the Matter of the good Behaviour omitted as a distinct thing So did the rest of the Members whereupon the Court remanded them to the Tower which I suppose is extraordinary the Court having them in their Power and the Tower no Prison of theirs in such Cases In the same Term the King's Attorney Heath exhibited an Information against Sir John Elliot Mr. Hollis Selden and Valentine in the King's-Bench setting forth the Matters in effect as were in the Information in the Star-Chamber to which the Defendants pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court because the Offences are said to be committed in Parliament and ought not to be punished in this or any other Court except the Parliament The King's Attorney moved the Court to over-rule the Plea tho he did not demur to it but the Court would not and gave a day to join in Demurrer and to have the Point argued and in Hillary-Term the Judges over-ruled their Plea and the Defendants were ruled to plead further but they would not whereupon Judgment was given against them upon a Nihil dicit That they should be imprisoned and not delivered till they had given Sureties for their good Behaviour and made a Submission and Acknowledgment of their Offences and they were also fined and what their Fines were you may read in the Appendix of the first Part of Rushworth's Collections But herein the Judges were not all of one piece for that venerable and honourable Gentleman Sir John Walter Chief Baron of the Exchequer and who was no placito-man dissented from the rest of the Judges whereupon the King discharged him from his Place I have heard my Father say that when Sir John received the King's Message he returned Answer that he was intrusted by the King in that Office quam diu bene se gesserit and that the Law was free for any Man to prosecute him if he had ill demeaned himself in it but to forsake his Station any other way implied Guilt which he was not conscious to himself of and therefore tho the King sent him his Quietus yet he retained the Perquisites of his Place to his Death A little before the Members Sentence in the King's Bench the King's Attorney exhibited an Information against one Chambers a Merchant for saying Merchants have more Incouragement and are less screwed up in Turkey than in England Chambers confest the Words but he spake them of the under Officers of the Customs who had much wronged him without reflecting upon the Government yet the Court fined him 2000 l. and to make a Submission which he refused as unjust and false The Fine was estreated into the Exchequer where he pleaded Magna Charta and other Statutes against the Fine it not being by legal Judgment of his Peers nor saving his Merchandise but the Barons would not suffer his Plea to be filed and afterwards he brought his Habeas Corpus but the Judges remanded him Thus you
see what Fruits the Petition of Right passed but the Year before had and the King 's repeated Declarations to maintain the Laws of the Land and the Liberty and Property of the Subject But if this Prince has not kept his Word for the time past he will keep it he says for the time to come in the Declaration he made for the Dissolution of this last Parliament I do not find the Date of it yet it begins with the usual Prologue However Princes are not bound to give an account of their Actions but only to God In this the King says nothing of the Eyes of all Christendom being upon him but tells how the Aids granted this last Parliament were for Payment of his Fleet and Army and that with part of those Monies he began to supply his Magazines and Stores and to put his Navy into a constant Form and Order and that notwithstanding the Provocations of evil Men whose Punishment he reserves to a due time he will maintain the Established Religion and Doctrine of the Church of England and the antient and just Rights and Liberties of the Subject Yet as he will maintain the Subjects Rights so he expects that they yield as much Submission and Duty to his Royal Prerogative and as ready Obedience to his Authority and Command as had been performed to any of his Predecessors Then wills his Ministers not to be terrified by the harsh Proceedings strained against them for as he will support them by his Authority and Prerogative so he expects they should obey him and that he will receive the Customs and the Duty of Five in the 100 and if any factious Merchants refuse to pay they shall be assured he will find honourable and just means to support his Estate and Soveraignty and preserve the Authority God had put into his Hands and for this his Subjects ought to acknowledg their own Blessedness and for the same to be thankful to God the Author of all Goodness For this you must take the Prince's Word for the next twelve Years But being thus great and happy at Home let 's see what is doing Abroad The War against France was not more inconsiderately begun about two Years before than the Peace made with it was secret The first time it was made known was when the French King besieged Privas he proclaimed the Peace with his good Brother of England The Reformed were astonished and confounded that the King of England who brought them into the War should leave them out of the Peace Hereupon Privas surrenders so does Castres and Nismes the great Rohan is forced to submit and disband The Power of the Reformed thus rooted up and while the King of England is making War against the Members of Parliament Richlieu marches with an Army into Italy and takes Salusses and Pignerol from the Duke of Savoy Richlieu having thus secured the King of England took no less care that the Empire should not put a stop to the swelling Ambition of his Master and to this purpose enters into a Confederacy with the Protestant Princes of Germany to call the King of Sweden in to Germany who next Year entred into it where for eighteen Years the French Protestant Princes joining the Swede a most dreadful War was raised all over Germany so as the French had no cause to fear any Danger thence on the contrary they took Brisac and other Places and had opportunity to wrest Lorain from that Duke But King Charles prospering as he thought in his Domestick War having taken more Prisoners in it I mean the Members of Parliament and Constables of Hertfordshire than his Father and he had done in all their Wars against France Spain and the Empire for the recovery of the Palatinate was very unwilling to enter into a Foreign and therefore in a kind of petitioning way sends Sir Henry Vane his Ambassador to the King of Sweden to take care of the Patrimony of his Brother but with no better Success yet in a more rough scornful and dishonourable manner than his Father's Ambassadors had with the Emperor But that he might seem to do something the King sent Marquess Hamilton with 6000 Men to assist the Swede who tho every-where else victorious yet this Army under Hamilton had worse Success than that under Mansfield being starved and mouldred away almost to nothing and yet fought not at all and being reduced to two Regiments the King of Sweden would not permit King Charles to name the Officers See Whitlock's M. f. 15. and Franklin's Anno 1630. The ill Success of Hamilton's Army put the King out of all Conceit of prosecuting any Foreign War and therefore wholly makes it his Business to make himself more Absolute at Home There is but one Rub in the way viz. the great Prop of the Church the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Abbot a Prelate of most eminent Learning whose upright Integrity stood as an unshaken Rock against the Innovations both in Church and State which were now so fiercely push'd on by the Arminians I find but little Action in this Year 1631 things were only preparing to what followed yet altho Arch-bishop Abbot was living the Torrent run so high in the University of Oxford that several of the Members were proceeded against and censured for Sermons preach'd against Arminianism and expell'd the University and the Book of Sports and Pastimes upon the Lord's-day was republished Judg Richardson was so hardy as to repress them but the Bishops took this as an intruding upon the Ecclesiastical Power and Bishop Laud complained thereof to the King and the Judg was check'd for it See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 16 17. But in the Year 1632 this Reverend Prelate died and thereby left room for Laud the Fire-brand of Arminianism to take Possession Before we see what follows let 's look back upon what went before He being of a restless aspiring Temper in the beginning of King James his Reign got to be Chaplain to Mountjoy Earl of Devonshire and to shew he would be great upon any account he marries the Earl to the Lady Rich tho her Husband was then alive and had many Children by her viz. Robert then Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Holland which Act so displeased King James that the Earl fell into his Displeasure and tho Laud hanker'd near twenty Years after the Court to get Preferment principally under the Countenance of Neal Bishop of Winchester yet the King would never endure to hear of it But at last by the Importunity of Neal and others Williams Bishop of Lincoln and Lord-Keeper was prevailed upon to intercede for him without any Success till at length the Keeper told the King It would be hard to serve a King who could not forgive one Fault At last he got the King to prefer Laud to the Bishoprick of St. Davids but he had not been scarce one Year in his Bishoprick before he became Williams his bitter Enemy and Prosecutor as you may read in the second Part
write a Mercenary Treatise called Mare Liberum wherein he will not allow the King to have any Title to the Soveraignty of the British Seas or his Subjects any more Right to fish in them than the Dutch or any other Nation But how consistible this Treatise is to Truth Antiquity the sacred Scriptures or to Grotius himself or to the Practice of his Country-Men is now fit to be enquired into And since I have as well as I can asserted the Laws and Constitutions of my Country at home I will with that Sincerity that becomes an English-man endeavour to vindicate the Honour of it abroad especially in our King's Soveraignty of the British Seas which Grotius so absurdly in his Mare Liberum endeavours to rob them of An Answer to Grotius his Mare Liberum wherein is shewed how often he contradicts himself how ignorant he is in all Principles and Methods in Reasoning and how impossibly contrary his pretended Arguments are to Sacred History and all antient Authority But before we enter hereupon it 's fit to see how the Case stood before Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum as well in reference to the King of England's Claim as how the Case stood between the King and Dutch when Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum And that we may avoid the endless Confusions which Grotius above all other Writers abounds in I require these Premises First That God made all things in the Waters as well as upon the Earth for the Use of Man Secondly That no Man upon the Waters as well as on the Earth did live out of Society Thirdly That in Society the Offices of commanding and obeying are necessary Fourthly That Anarchy is as abhorrent among Men upon the Waters as upon the firm Land and as impossible for Men to subsist in the one as in the other Fifthly Piracy by Sea is a Crime equal to Theft by Land Sixthly Killing a Man by Sea without lawful Authority is a Crime equal to Murder by Land Note Grotius answers not one of these Principles nor shews by any Authority when or where the Dominion of the Seas was by Usurpation Whereas the contrary has been practised by Kings and States as old as there are Records of any times but only feigns Premises not only contrary to the Authority of sacred History and all Antiquity but such as are absurd blasphemous and impossible considering the Nature of Man But these are not said in his Mare Liberum but in his Preface and Treatise of War and Peace So that to have answered these in this Treatise would have swelled it to a much greater Bulk than intended but if God please I shall hereafter answer these in a Treatise by it self The Principles thus premised we proceed to enquire what Soveraignty the Kings of England have claimed in the British Seas bordering upon England and Ireland since that Kingdom became subject to the Crown of England and leave it to unbiassed Readers whether the Kings of England claimed any thing contrary to any of these Premises The Claims which the Kings of England make to the Soveraignty of the British Seas are threefold 1. To protect their Subjects in all their just Employments upon the British Seas from all Hostility by Enemies whereof the Fishing in these Seas are the chief 2. To prevent Hostility by other Nations in these Seas 3. To receive an Acknowledgment from all Nations for their Protection in these Seas by striking their Flag in Submission to the King's Men of War which protect them By this Dominion of the British Seas the Kings of England more secure their Subjects from foreign Invasion than any other Potentates in the World how great soever their Territories are can do I will not swell this Treatise with what Mr. Selden Sir John Burroughs Mr. Camden and others have written of the Kings of England being possest of these Rights by immemorial Prescription and of the Maritime Laws they have made as well in reference to their Subjects as Foreigners nor of the Treaties they have made with Foreign Princes and the Compositions they have made for Licence to fish in the British Seas before the Dutch Government was formed into States nor was ever these Rights disputed by any of them before Grotius did this Year Nor is this Dominion in the Seas new in the World but as old is any Records of Time for of old the Egyptians Phenicians and Athenians enjoyed it and set Bounds to other Nations how far they would permit Nations to trade in them Sir Walter Rawleigh in his History of the World at large sets forth the long Wars between the Romans and Carthaginians in the first Punick War for this Dominion and the Romans being often beaten by the Carthaginians resolved to desist further Contention herein till they found that it was to little purpose to strive to extend their Dominion by Land if the Carthaginians were Masters at Sea So that the Dominions of the Seas which beat upon the Shores of Princes are not new or only usurped by the Kings of England but used by other Princes and States of old From more antient to descend to more recent times the Veâ—etians claim the Soveraignty in the Adriatick Gulf tho the Venetian Territories on either side of it are not one sixth part of it and cause all Ships even of the King of Spain and Great Turk whose Territories on both sides the Gulf are fivefold more than the Veâ—etians to pay Customs and other Duties In the Year 1630 Mary the Sister of the Queen of Spain being espoused to the Son of the Emperor Ferdinand the Vice-Roy of Naples provided a great Fleet to transport her to Triesti but tho the Venetians were involved in a War abroad and infected with a Plague at home they would not permit it but conveyed her by a Fleet of their own See Jo. Palatius de Dom. Maris l. 2. c. 6. In the Year 1638 a Turkish Fleet entring the Gulf without Licence was assaulted by the Venetian Admiral who sunk divers of their Vessels and forced the rest to fly to Valona and there besieged them tho the City and Port were in the Dominion of the Great Turk yet tho a dangerous War was like to have ensued hereon the Venetians rather than lose their Dominion insisted on their Right and concluded an honourable Peace with the Turk wherein it was agreed That as often as any Turkish Vessels did without Licence enter the Gulf it should be lawful for the Venetians to seize upon them by force if they would not otherwise obey see the Justification of the second Dutch War by K. Charles II. pag. 58 and the Grand Signior prohibits all Nations except his Vassals to enter the Euxine or Black Sea as also the Red Sea Dr. Stubbe in his Justification of King Charles the Second's Dutch War pag. 126. says the Danes and Norwegians would not permit either Fleming or English to fish near Schetland without Licence previously obtained and if any presumed
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
Fleet and an Army in readiness to compel the Covenanters to Obedience but not to consent to the calling of a Parliament or General Assembly till the Covenant be given up that now his Crown and Reputation for ever lies at stake that he had rather suffer the first which time would help than the last which is irreparable that the Explanation of the damnable Covenant makes him to have no more Power than a Duke of Venice which he will rather die than submit to Yet without dying he did submit to the Revocation of the Service-Book Canons High-Commission and the Articles of Perth forsakes the Bishops and by a Proclamation Sept. 22 1638 commands the Covenant to be subscribed by the Privy-Council and all his Scotish Subjects but this would not content the Covenanters because it came not from a General Assembly and because the Band of mutual Defence was not in the Proclamation Having gone thus far there was no going back and the King's Army and Navy was not yet ready the King therefore indicts a General Assembly to be held the 21st of November 1638 at Glasgow and a Parliament to meet at Edinburgh the 15th of May following The General Assembly met accordingly but the Marquess and the Assembly were at Variance about the Elections and Votes of the Lay-Elders and the Bishops sitting in the Assembly and the Votes of the King's Assessors in it But what the Marquess would have the Covenanters would not whereupon the Marquess on the 28th dissolves the Assembly upon Penalty of High-Treason The Covenanters and General Assembly protest against this Dissolution and sit notwithstanding yet profess all Duty and Obedience to the King in its due Line and Course which in plain English is They 'll do what they will and if the King will do what they would have him they will be obedient Subjects And in this Session they depose and excommunicate all the Bishops of Scotland To this State within less than two Years has his Grace of Canterbury brought the Church of Scotland and a terrible Cloud hangs over that of England whereby his Grace will have the Glory of becoming a Martyr in it Weston Earl of Portland died in the Year 1634 and Dr. Juxton Bishop of London was made Lord-Treasurer by whose prudent Management it 's said that in less than five Years he had lodged 900000 l. in the Exchequer and now the King had raised an Army of about 20000 Horse and Foot made the Earl of Arundel General Lord Viscount Wentworth Lieutenant-General and Earl of Holland General of the Horse and had fitted up a Navy with 5000 Land-Men commanded by Marquess Hamilton to compel the Scots to their Obedience and marches at the Head of this Army himself It was time for the Scots were up in Arms too had seized the Regalia at Dalkeith and brought them to Edinburgh taken Dumbarton and routed the Scots who took the King's part at Aberdeen which they likewise took This King 's good Nature never more appeared than in his Necessities so that when he came to York by Proclamation he recall'd 31 Monopolies and Patents formerly granted by him he not before understanding how grievous they were to his Subjects The Scots that the English might have no Jealousy of an Invasion had resolved not to come within ten Miles of the Borders with their Army When the King came to Berwick the Earl of Holland made two vain and inconsiderate Incursions into Scotland and upon the Approach of the Scots retreated and these were the only Actions of this War by the English Upon the Retreat of the Earl the English Army was contemned by the Scots who advanced to the Borders and pitched their Tents in sight of the English before any notice was given of their Motion this raised a Murmur all over the English Army where Provisions were not only scant but their Bread and Biscake mouldy nor was there any prospect of a further Supply However the Scots propose a Treaty of Accommodation which the King's Necessities compell'd him to submit to which being made the Terms you may read in Rushworth's and Franklin's Collections the King disbands his Army and withdraws his Navy this was all the Scots cared for for the Treaty being upon equivocal Terms the Scots were resolved to make their own Interpretation and stand by it and to that purpose hold Correspondence with the French King and stile him Au Roy and also with the discontented in England and buy Arms and Ammunition at Bremen and Hamburg To forment these Jealousies and propagate the Popish Interest Cardinal Richlieu employs one Chamboy or Chamberlain in Scotland and Con or Cunaeus his own Chaplain in England whose chief Confidents were the Earl of Arundel General of the King's Army and his Countess Sir Francis Windebank Principal Secretary of State Sir Toby Mathews Endymion Porter English and one Read and Maxwel Scots See this at large in Rushworth's Collections fol. 1318 1319 1320 1321 to 1326. This Year my Lord-Keeper Coventry died and Sir John Finch Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Lord-keeper of the Great Seal no doubt for promoting the Legality of Ship-money and enlarging the Bounds of the Forests The Cloud rising so thick in the North presaged a Storm which to dissipate the King summons a Parliament to meet the 23d of April 1640. the Arch-bishop and the Earl of Strafford giving out according to the Advice which Sir Robert Cotton gave the Duke of Buckingham that they were the first Movers of it At the opening of this Parliament the King lays before them his Necessities for Money in the first place as he had done in all the three Parliaments before and that Delay was all one with a Denial and communicates to them the Covenanters Letter to the French King imploring his Assistance But the House of Commons having found the Effects of giving Money before Grievances were redrest both in the 18th of his Father's Reign and in the first of his began at Grievances now multiplied by the Additions of Ship-Money breaking the Bounds of the Forests and Monopolies multiplied without end the Arbitrary Power of the Star-Chamber and High-Commission against those who opposed the Proceedings of the Innovations brought into the Church and the Imprisonment and unheard-of Censures of their Members for their Proceedings in the House last Parliament so that instead of enjoying any Benefit by the Petition of Right the Church and State was in a manifold worse State than before they had now found by Experience that no Laws or Judgments in Parliament could bind the King's Prerogative but that he would act quite contrary as in the Cases of Mountague and Manwaring c. and how could the Parliament rely upon his Royal Word which he would upon all occasions give when they found no Assurance in any Law nor so many Declarations of his observing them However the Commons upon the 2d of May resolved to take care of supplying the King upon the 4th when Sir Henry Vane
find he ever repented of any of them But admit the King had this Power and also that the Opening Adjourning and Proroguing Terms and granting Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and times of their Sitting and Continuance for Executing Justice be Prerogatives inseparable to the Imperial Crown of which he is accountable to God only Yet if he shall not open the Terms or grant Commissions of Oyer and Terminer or if he does refuse to have Justice done between himself and Subjects or between his Subjects but instead thereof prorogue or adjourn Terms and withcall his Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and declare to Him only belongs the Power of opening the Terms and of granting Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and that he is only accountable to God for all his Actions would not this be a Failure of Justice and can any Man believe that he would be God's Vicegerent herein for the Good and Benefit of his Subjects The Act of the 25 of Edward the III determines what Treasons are cognisable by the King's Judges but the other Treasons at common-Common-Law are only determinable in Parliament and one of the chiefest Ends in calling Parliaments is when the Judges themselves or Ministers of State becoming corrupt and too great for the ordinary Courts of Justice they may be punished in Parliament it is therefore greater Injustice and infinitely more dangerous to the King and Subjects to deny the Nation this Right than to deny Justice to particular Subjects The King is Head of the Common-wealth and the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation unite them into one Body which if they cease there is neither King nor Common-wealth and by the 4 Edw. 3. c. 4. Parliaments shall be holden every Year and by 36 Edw. 3. c. 10. Parliaments shall be holden once a Year and oftner if need be that Grievances and Mischiefs be redrest How then does it become the King to glory that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to the Imperial Crown which in plain English is to say It is a Prerogative inseparable to the Imperial Crown to rend himself from his Subjects and to make himself neither King nor the Nation his Subjects But if the King be accountable only to God for his Actions how comes it that he so often appeals to the People by these Declarations against their Representatives or rather against the People and their Representatives to his own Minions and Flatterers which are worse than any other Rebels and Traitors for these appear barefac'd what they are whereas those steal away the Love and Obedience of his Subjects and provoke them either to be Rebels and Traitors or careless to assist him against such as are And this was the Case of Edward the 2d and Richard the 2d and now it comes fast upon this unhappy King for so hereafter he will ever be In September this Year the Dutch fell upon a Fleet of the Spaniards in the Downs so furiously as being 53 in Number made them cut their Cables and run 23 of them on Shoar whereof 3 were burnt 2 perished on the Shoar the Remainder of the other 23 were deserted by the Spaniards and mann'd by the English to save them from the Dutch the other 30 put to Sea of which only 10 escaped Yet the King however he gloried in being stiled Soveraign of the British Seas took no Care to vindicate this against the Dutch to whom he was now become as contemptible as to his Scotish Subjects Now let 's see how things stood in Scotland After the Pacification between the English and Scots yet full of Jealousy on either Part the King sent for 14 of the principal Covenanters to come to him at Berwick which the Scots refused and only sent Montross Lowden and Lowthian these three Lords seemed much mollified by what the King had granted and promised all Obedience to the King The King urged Hamilton to be his Commissioner which he refusing he made Traquair but tied him up to close Instructions and in August he indicts a General Assembly the Bishops protest against it and the Covenanters supplicate the Commissioners and Council that Episcopacy be declared unlawful and the Covenant subscribed by all the Scotish Nation which the Commissioners verbally consented to Here you must understand that the Covenanters make the Kirk a distinct Table or Body from the Civil of which Christ Jesus is the only Head and that the Parliament is obliged to pass all the Acts of a General Assembly so that though by many Acts of Parliament the Bishops Sitting and Voting in Parliament is ordained and confirmed yet the voting Episcopacy to be unlawful hath rescinded all those Acts of Parliament for Sublata Causa tollitur effectus Upon the 30th of October in 1639 the Parliament met but upon the Difference between the Houses and the Earl of Traquair about naming Lords of the Articles the Earl prorogues them to the 14th of November which the Parliament protest against and declare all Proceedings in Parliament to be as valid as if no Prorogation had been The Parliament hereupon appoint a Committee to represent this to the King and in the mean time to expect the King's Answer and make the Earl of Dumfermling and the Lord Lowden their Deputies to do it who coming without Warrant from the Earl of Traquair were commanded back again without Audience Then the King commands the Commissioner Traquair to prorogue the Parliament to the second of June in 1640 and that Traquair should come and give an account of the Matters proposed in Parliament and Traquair having gotten one of the Letters which the Covenanters had sent to the French King for his Protection and Assistance of the Covenanters subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesley Mountgomery Lowden and Forester brings this with him and delivers it to the King for which the Scots would never forgive the Earl but ever after deemed him an Incendiary This yet being unknown to the Covenanters they petition the King to permit them to send some of their Members to vindicate their Proceedings which the King did and they sent the Earl of Dumfermling and Lowden again The King when they came to London claps Lowden close Prisoner in the Tower and expected that this Confederacy between the Scots and French would be a means to procure the Parliament to assist him more powerfully against the Scots but the King having dissolved the Parliament he as suddenly dismist him as before he had committed him which did the King no good This unhappy King would as easily be excited to give harsh language as be put upon sudden Actions and as soon leave them and often proceed quite contrary And now the King taxes the Scots Proceedings to be Traiterous and Rebellious and causes a Paper published by the Scots after the Pacification to be burnt by the Hand of the common Hangman but the Scots insisted their Proceedings to be according to the Covenant which they could not
that rather than forsake their Seats in Parliament they 'll lose their Places at Court You have heard how my Lord Privy-Seal became Lord Chief-Justice of the King's-Bench after which the King made him Earl of Manchester Lord Privy-Seal and President of the Council my Lord-Keeper Coventry was upright in all his Decrees but my Lord Privy-Seal sets up the Court of Requests to have a concurring Jurisdiction with the Chancery and Men whom my Lord Coventry did not please brought their Causes into the Court of Requests so that in a short time the Practice of this Court swell'd so much that my Lord Privy-Seal made more Clerks and Attorneys than ever was known before King Charles sent to the Bishop of Ely that he the King would have Hatton-House in Holborn for Prince Charles his Court and that the King would be at the Charges for maintaining the Bishop's Title tho the Bishop told me it cost him many a Pound so in the Bishop's Name a Suit was commenced in the Court of Requests for Hatton-House Before the new Buildings were built Hatton-Garden was the â—â—nest and greatest in or about London and my Lady Hatton had planted it with the best Fruit Vines and Flowers which could be got but upon commencing this Suit she destroy'd all the Plantations yet defended her Cause with all Opposition imaginable But at last in 1639 notice was given to my Lady to hear Judgment and at the day my Lady appear'd in Court when my Lord Privy-Seal demanded of my Lady's Counsel If they had any more to say otherwise upon his Honour he must decree against my Lady Hereupon my Lady stood up and said Good my Lord be tender of your Honour for 't is very young and for your Decree I value it not a Rush for your Court is no Court of Record And the Troubles in Scotland growing higher the King had no Benefit of the Decree nor my Lord any Credit in his Court ever after Nor were the Descendants of many of the King's Favourites more faithful to the King than their Fathers as the Lord Kimbolton Sir Henry Vane jun. Sir John Cooke Henry Martin c. Now when it was too late like a Man who begins his Business the last day of the Term the King seems to alter his Countenance and indulge another sort of Men in Church and State who were opposite to the Principles in Bishop Laud's Regency Dr. Williams censured and imprisoned in the Tower has all the Proceedings against him in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission revers'd and taken off the File and Mountague Bishop of Norwich dying in the beginning of the Parliament Dr. Hall is translated from Exeter to Norwich and Dr. Brownrig a most learned and zealous Anti-Arminian is made Bishop of Exeter c. my Lord Chamberlain Pembroke is removed and the Earl of Essex put in his place Sir Robert Holborn made Attorney-General and Oliver St. John Solicitor both which were Mr. Hambden's Counsel against the Legality of Ship-Money But neither these Actions nor the King 's repeated Royal Word could gain Credit with the Parliament I mean the Houses who tho at another time they would have dreaded a standing Army now resolve to maintain two till their Grievances were redrest And sure now it was a lamentable State the King was reduced to he that before rather than hear of what he had done did not care what he did and therefore dissolved four Parliaments now every day hears of what he had done yet cannot help it His Judges which before had refused to bail his Subjects committed by the King without Cause are themselves now committed against the King's Pleasure and no Bail to be taken for them The King's Customers who by the King's Order seized and sold the Merchants Goods for non-payment of Duties not legally imposed are themselves seized and fined more than they are worth Herein the King was only passive but the Houses would not stay here but tho the Commons at first impeached the Earl of Strafford before the Lords in their Judicial Capacity wherein the King's Consent was not actually necessary yet they after proceeded against him by Bill wherein the Attainder must be actually assented to by the King personally or by Commission which the King did my Lord Privy-Seal and the Earl of Arundel I believe very unwillingly being Commissioners and the same day passed an Act That the Parliament should not be Prorogued Adjourned nor Dissolved without their own Consent which proved as great a Grievance as the King 's proroguing and dissolving them at Pleasure And the passing these Laws so frightned my Lord Treasurer Juxton the Master of the Court of Wards and the Governor of the Prince that they all resign'd their Places Besides these the King passed an Act for a Triennial Parliament to meet if not by usual means then by others whether the King would or not And an Act for the utter abolishing the Star-Chamber and High-Commission Courts And to make it a Praemunire in every one of the Privy-Council to determine any Causes cognisable at Common Law An Act to abolish the Court of the Council and President of the North and an Act to rescind the Jurisdiction of the Court of Stanneries An Act to repeal the Branch of a Statute made the first of Eliz. cap. 1. to authorize Ecclesiastical Persons natural born Subjects of England to reform Errors Heresies Schisms c. An Act for declaring Ship-Money and all Proceedings therein void An Act for ascertaining the Bounds and Limits of the Forests as they were in the 20th Year of King James And an Act to prevent the vexatious Proceedings touching the Order of Knighthood These Acts thus passed the Houses thought themselves secure enough and so paid off and disbanded the English and Irish Armies and sent the Scots into their Country again The much greater part of the Gentry and also of the Members of both Houses would have been content to have staid here and many believed if the Parliament had met at York or Oxford they would but this could not be without disgusting the City of London from which only the Loan of 200000 l. could be raised for Payment of the Armies till Provision could be made by Parliament But it was decreed that things should not rest here and that the Faction in the House of Commons might get a Majority at one Vote as they order'd it they voted all those who had been instrumental in Monopolies or in Ship-Money or Collectors of the Customs out of the House and others to be chosen in their Places And the Rabble in the City in Tumults exclaim'd against the Bishops and Popish Lords Votes hereupon the Bishops enter their Protestations against all Proceedings till they might sit and vote freely whereupon they are committed to the Tower and a Law was passed to disable the whole Hierarchy for the future to have any Place in Parliament As the Scots began their Reformation with a Covenant so the Commons began theirs with a
Never was Nation shuffled into such unhappy Circumstances for to join the King was to return to his Prerogative Royal and Absolute Will and Pleasure and I have oft heard several of those who followed the King in the War say They as much dreaded the King's overcoming the Parliament-Party as they feared to be overcome by them And the Houses had broken the Fundamental Constitution of the Nation so as no Man could tell where they would stay Now are things brought to that pass Richlieu design'd them viz. England and Ireland in Civil Wars and Scotland Pensioners to France so as he might now securely carry on his Designs of advancing the Grandeur of France without any Fear of Disturbance from hence And now you may see the miserable Condition the King's Minions and Favourites had brought upon the King and all his Kingdoms Yet it is observable how great the Loyalty of the Nobility and Gentry was to the King that from so low Beginnings in all Appearance they would have subdued the Parliament-party if the Scots next Year had not come to their Assistance whereas in the Reigns of Edward the 2d and Richard the 2d though the Grievances of the Nation were more in one Year of this King's Reign than in both their Reigns yet both were expelled and lost their Lives their Subjects not drawing a Sword in their Defence An Apology BEfore we enter upon the War between the King and Parliament it will not be amiss to enquire into the Causes of it and who first began it and whether the King or Parliament or both designed it And I am the rather induced hereto because I am told that I have unjustly charged the Parliament with beginning the War and that the contrary appears by a Treatise written by Tho. May Esq of the Causes and Beginning of the Civil Wars in England So that the Question between us is not who first designed the War but who began it But because Designations and Intentions precede Action I will begin so far as appears to me Whether the King or Parliament first designed this War or whether it were not intended by both And give me leave to shew a little of Mr. May's Partiality in the Business I say Mr. May is partial where page 13 he says after the Pacification made with the Scots 1639 that when the King came to London his Heart was again estranged from the Scots and Thoughts of Peace he commanded by Proclamation that Paper which the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of the Pacification to be disavowed and burnt by the Hands of the common Hangman So that he makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Case without mentioning the Articles of the Pacification or what the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of it We will therefore set forth the Articles of the Pacification and let another Judg whether the Scots observed them or had any Thoughts of Peace The Articles were 1. The Forces of Scotland to be disbanded within 24 Hours after the Agreement 2. The King's Castles Ammunition c. to be delivered up 3. His Ships to depart after the Delivery of the Castles 4. All Persons Ships and Goods detained by the King to be restored 5. No Meetings Treaties or Consultations to be by the Scots but such as shall be warranted by Act of Parliament 6. All Fortifications to desist and be remitted to the King's Pleasure 7. To restore to every Man their Liberties Lands Houses Goods and Means The Articles were signed by the Scots Commissioners and a present Performance of them on their Parts promised and expected The King justly performed the Articles on his part but the Scots kept part of their Forces in being and all their Officers in pay and the Covenanters kept up their Fortification at Leith and their Meetings and Councils and inforce Subscriptions to the late Assembly at Glasgow contrary to the King's Declaration they brand those who had taken Arms for the King as Incendiaries and Traitors and null all the Acts of the College of Justice as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs f. 29. So that tho the King performed all the Articles of Pacification on his Part the Scots performed not one on their Part. Nor did the Scots stay here but published a Paper very seditious against the Treaty which is that which Mr. May speaks of I do not find the Copy of it but even Mr. Whitlock no great Friend to the King's Cause calls it so Nor did the Scots stay here but levied Taxes at ten Marks per Cent. and made Provision for Arms as you may read in Sir Baker's History f. 408. and more at large in the second part of Rushworth's Collections and all this before the King commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the Common Hangman And therefore the King justly commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the common Hangman And Mr. May says The honest People of both Nations began to fear another War But why does Mr. May say the honest People began to fear another War Was it honest in the Scots to break all the Articles of the Pacification to keep their Forces in a Body and their Officers in Pay contrary to the Pacification to raise Taxes and make Provision of Arms and after all these honest Men to begin to fear another War Mr. May goes on and says The King in December told the Council he intended to call a Parliament in England in April following But rational Men did not like it that it was deferred so long and that the Preparations for a War in Scotland went on in the mean time The last part is gratis dictum by Mr. May nor does he mention any Preparation for a War in any one particular nor do I find this said by any other But admit the King had made Preparation for a War with Scotland yet by all Laws of God and Man the King might justly have done it after the Scots had broken all the Articles of Pacification kept an Army on foot against it levied Taxes by their own Authority and made Provision of Arms without the King's Authority which besides the Perfidiousness of the Scots is Treason in the highest degree And I would be glad to be informed by what other means the King could vindicate his Honour or relieve his oppressed Subjects otherwise than by a War Mr. May goes on and says They these rational Men were likewise troubled that the Earl of Strafford Deputy of Ireland a Man of deep Policy but suspected Honesty one whom the King then used as a bosom Counsellor was first to go into Ireland and call a Parliament in that Kingdom And what then Why might not the King call a Parliament in Ireland as well as in England or Scotland And if these rational Men did not like it as he says that a Parliament should be deferred so long in England why should these rational Men be so troubled that the King
should call a Parliament in Ireland Nor does Mr. May give any Reason why they should be so troubled Besides Mr. May says The King at that time had broken up the Parliament in Scotland which the Scots complained of the Business of State depending as a great Breach of their Liberties and against the Laws of that Kingdom So here again Mr. May makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Cause and is not ingenuous in thus charging the King at random and not shewing what Business of State was then depending It 's fit therefore to shew what Business of State was then depending before Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled at the King 's breaking up the Parliament The Scots having as before said violated all the Articles of Pacification on their part and persecuted the Loyal Scots expresly contrary to the Pacification as Incendiaries and Traitors levied Taxes provided Ammunition of War and kept an Army on foot The Parliament over and above these formed these Demands to be made to the King 1. That Coin be not medled with but by Advice in Parliament 2. That no Stranger be to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's but by their Advice 3. That no Honour be granted to any Stranger but such as have a competency of Land-Rent in Scotland 4. No Commissioner or Lieutenancy but for a limited time And next they protest against the Precedency of the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal as not warranted by any positive Law See Baker 408. These were the Businesses of State which Mr. May speaks of which added to what the Scots usurped before I would know what Regality would be left for the King and a Reason why Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled for the King 's dissolving the Parliament Mr. May drives on and says Upon which they sent some Lords into England to intreat the King for a Redress of such Injuries as they had received since the Pacification which were that the Parliament was broken up before any Business done If they made it their Business to divest the King as they did of his Rightful Regalities the King had reason therefore to break them up That Edinburgh Castle was garison'd with far more Soldiers than was needful So here the Scots are Parties and Judges in their own Cause and you need not doubt but that so many Soldiers as shall be able to defend the Castle shall be judged by the Scots to be more than is needful That Dunbritton Castle was garison'd by English Soldiers And why might not the King do it for the English as well as Scots were his Subjects But I dare say if these had been the honest rational English-men May speaks of neither he nor the Scots would ever have complain'd of it That the Scots which traded to England and Ireland sure they mean Pedlars prohibited by Law were enforced to take new Oaths contrary to their Covenant and altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification Whereas their Covenant is a new Oath contrary to their Allegiance And if there were any such new Oaths why do neither the Scots nor Mr. May name them or if any such were imposed that was so far from being altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification that I say they were not contrary to any one Article of the Pacification unless the Scots or Mr. May could make new Articles of Pacification and other than those before mentioned The King Mr. May says imprisoned those Lords sending one of them the Earl of Lowden to the Tower and commanded a Charge of High Treason to be drawn against him concerning a Letter which the Scotish Covenanters had written to the King of France French King had been as well for his Assistance and Lowden had subscribed it But the Accusation was frivolous easily answered and came to nothing because these Letters were not sent at all and besides it was before the Pacification upon which an Oblivion of all things were agreed So here are two impertinent and frivolous Answers to excuse a most treasonable and rebellious Conspiracy to bring in a foreign Power into Scotland for it was subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesley Marre Montgomery Lowden and Forrester under the Title of Au Roy or our King to Lewis 13. The first is That those Letters were not sent at all because they were intercepted by the Earl of Traquair the King's Commissioner in Scotland If Mr. May had not been a Christian yet the very Heathen by the Light of Humane Nature could have informed him that Scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum Facti Crimen habet And if Conspiracies of Rebellion and Treason against Princes shall be esteemed frivolous unless they evade into Actions Princes and States too would be in a very unsecure state and all Counsel and Endeavours to prevent them would be vain and frivolous and I say here was a double Overt-Act in this Conspiracy one the Conspirators Meeting the other the Subscribing the Paper The other Answer That the Pacification was after the Subscription and so there was an Oblivion upon it But the Pacification was reciprocal between the King and Scots and if the Scots first broke the Pacification as they did let them take all that followed and therefore the King had no Reason to perform his Part nor the Scots to complain if the King had hanged and quartered Lowden The War Mr. May says p. 16. went on the Earl of Strafford commanding in Chief the Earl of Northumberland not being in Health who was appointed General But if Mr. May had been ingenuous and impartial he should have told on which Side the War began which he does not but only says the Scots had not been backward for having been debarred of their Trade and lost their Ships by Seizure they entred England with an Army expressing their Intentions in writing to the English and bringing with them a Petition to the King Admit all this to be true the Scots should first have represented this to the King and what was their Loss by being debarred of their Trade and the Value of their Ships so seized and upon Denial to have granted Letters of Reprizal till they had recovered Satisfaction but of this Mr. May says not one Word nor do I find or believe the Scots ever did demand Satisfaction before they entred England in open Hostility and in Defiance of the King and English Nation and for the Manner of bringing their Petition to the King it was without Precedent or such as never was done by any other People for they entred England and maintained their Army by Plunder and Rapine upon the English and when Lesley came to Newborn upon Tine he craves leave of my Lord Conway ordered by the King to guard the Pass there to pass with his Petition to the King which my Lord Conway granted with a considerable Number but not with his Army Hereupon Lesley who had the Night before planted nine Pieces of Cannon on
ensue upon such tumultuous Concourse of Men. And why was not this a reasonable Excuse for the King to leave the Parliament and City when they countenanced these Tumults and the King had not Power to suppress them Mr. May goes on and says Vpon this ground twelve Bishops at that time absenting themselves entred a Protestation against all Laws Votes and Orders as Null which in their Absence should pass by reason they durst not for fear of their Lives come to perform their Duties in the House having been rudely menaced and assaulted And why might not the Bishops enter such Protestation for if it be a Maxim in all Assemblies that Plus valet contemptus unius quam consensus omnium then does the Contempt and Affront of a whole Order of Men who have a Right of Suffrage much more render the Actions of the rest invalid However Mr. May goes on and says Whereupon it was agreed by both Lords and Commons that this Protestation of the Bishops was of dangerous Consequence and deeply entrenched upon the Privilege and Being of Parliaments they were therefore accused of High-Treason apprehended and committed Prisoners to the Tower And I say a time shall come when in Parliament these Men who run thus high against the Bishops and established Church of England shall be prosecuted by a contrary Extream and the Church by Law exalted higher than it was before Mr. May goes on and says Thus was the Parliament daily troubled with ill Work whereby the Relief of Ireland was hindred If they were thus troubled they may thank themselves for beginning these Troubles as well by the Commons Remonstrance against the King and Lords as by their countenancing the Tumults By this time things were so envenom'd as would admit of no Lenitives especially by the Commons and the King went from London to Hampton-Court and sent a Message to the Parliament and advises them To digest into one Body all the Grievances of the Kingdom and send them to him promising his favourable Assent to those Means which should be found most effectual for Redress wherein he would not only equal but excel the most indulgent Princes The Parliament thank'd him but nothing but having the Militia at their Disposal would secure their Fears and Jealousies This was as new in England as the perpetuating the sitting of the Parliament and if the King should grant it it would be a total Subversion of the Monarchy For the Parliament being perpetual and having the Power of the Militia the Government must be either a Commonwealth or an Oligarchy and the King insignificant in it yet have it the Parliament would notwithstanding other Grievances and the deplorable State of Ireland And therefore upon the 26th of February they tell the King plainly That the settling the Business of the Militia will admit no more Delay and if his Majesty shall still refuse to agree with his two Houses of Parliament in that Business and shall not be pleased upon their humble Advice to do what they desire therein that then for the Safety of his Majesty of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent future Fears and Jealousies they shall be constrained of themselves without his Majesty to settle that necessary Business of the Militia See Whit. M. f. 54. a. Here 't is observable That as the King feigned a Necessity to raise Ship-money for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general when the whole Kingdom is in danger the Judges gave their Opinion That the King may by his Writ under the Broad Seal of England command all his Subjects of this Kingdom to provide and furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as the King shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger and that by Law the King may compel the doing thereof in Case of Refusal and Refractoriness and that in such Case the King is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same may be prevented and avoided So now the Parliament pretending a Necessity for the Safety of the King and of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof will tear the Militia from him In this State things could not stand long at a Stay Mr. May p. 47. will have the Queen 's going into Holland with her Daughter and carrying with her the Crown-Jewels of England and pawning them there whereby she bought Arms for the War which ensued that it was then designed by the King against the Parliament but if Mr. May had been sincere he should have told too as Mr. Whitlock does f. 59. a. how the Parliament took 100000 l. of the 400000 l. they voted to be raised for Ireland and whether this was not for the War which ensued in England Mr. May p. 48. recites three Votes of Parliament 1. That the King's Absence so far remote being then at York from his Parliament is not only an Obstruction but may be a Destruction to the Affairs in Ireland 2. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall declare what the Law of the Land is to have this not only questioned and controverted but contradicted and a Command that it should not be obeyed is a high Breach of the Privilege of Parliament 3. That they who advised the King to absent himself from the Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourites of the Rebellion in Ireland But Mr. May should have added that it is not the King's Presence in London or any other Place but his assenting to Bills presented to him which he may do by Commission as well as Personally that enacts them into Laws and that the King after he went from London passed the Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament and that no Clergy-Man should exercise any Temporal Jurisdiction which the King did with remorse enough and only to humour and appease the Temporal Lords and Commons in Parliament and the Bishops in Parliament are one of the 3 States of England The King moreover in his Absence upon a Motion by the Parliament put Sir John Byron from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir John Conniers to succeed him and refers the Consideration of the Government and Liturgy of the Church wholly to the two Houses see Whitlock's M. f. 53. b. But nothing less than the King 's parting with the Militia would satisfy the Parliament which the King would not part from so now it 's left fair for indifferent Men to judg whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War And to proceed to set forth who began it I have said in the first Page of this King's Reign or p. 153 That the first Fifteen Years of it were perfectly French and such as were never before seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the Three
Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King when is was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done I am told that the last Part of this Paragraph is an unjust Charge upon the Parliament in that they acted defensively in this War and that the King first raised Arms and this by the Authority of Mr. May. If I be mistaken I have the Authority of him who could best know I mean the King at his Death who declared That he never did begin the War with the two Houses of Parliament as all the World knows that they began with him it was the Militia they began upon they confest that to be his but they thought fit to have it from him and to be short if any body will look into the Dates of those Commissions theirs and his and likewise to the Declarations they will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not he See Whit. Mem. f. 369. a. and all the Writers of those times If this be not Authority sufficient to shew the Parliament began the War the first Scuffle between the King and Parliament was about the Business of Hull where the Parliament had committed the Charge of the Town and Magazine to Sir John Hotham one of the Members of the Commons who was sent down thither to remove the Magazine to London but the Country of York petitioned it might still remain at Hull for securing the Northern Parts especially the King residing there Hereupon the King taking a Guard of his Servants and some Neighbouring Gentry upon the 23d of April went to Hull but contrary to Expectation found the Gates shut and the Bridges drawn up by Sir John and his Entrance denied though but with 20 Horse which so moved the King that he proclaimed Hotham a Traitor and sends to the Parliament for Justice against him To this the Parliament return no Answer but justify Sir John Hotham and order that the Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace do suppress all Forces which shall be raised or gathered together against Hull or to disturb the Peace nor did they stay here but put the Power of the Militia in Persons nominated by them excluding the King in ordering any thing together with them and authorized Hotham by his Warrants to raise the trained Bands in Yorkshire to march with their Arms into Hull where he disarmed them and turned them home again See Whit. Mem. f. 55 56. So I submit this to Judgment whether this was not raising Arms against the King being done by Subjects and contrary to the King's Command and if the King did encrease his Guards yet this was subsequent to the excluding the King from having Power in the Militia and Hotham's Raising Arms and Disarming the Trained Bands of Yorkshire Mr. May says p. 55. the Parliament being then intent upon settling the Militia by Land took care also to seize the Navy into their Hands and ordered the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral to put this in Execution but the King had chosen Sir John Pennington to that place instead of the Earl of Northumberland and sent a Command to the Earl of Warwick to resign the Place to him Pennington But the Earl chose rather to obey the Ordinance of Parliament and with great Courage and Policy got the Fleet into his Hands tho many of the Captains stood out against him but the Earl deprived them of their Commands and possest himself of the Ships taking shortly after another Ship called the Lyon of great Import coming out of Holland and laden with Gun-power which proved a great Addition to his Strength So here was a double Beginning of the War by the Parliament both in seizing the Fleet and taking the Lyon and this before the King committed any Act of Hostility And for the carrying on this War which Mr. May calls the Cause the Parliament upon the 10th of June made an Order for bringing in Money and Plate to raise Arms for the Cause and the Publick Faith for Repayment to them which brought it in So here the Parliament raised Money as well as Forces for carrying on the War before the King levied any And so I leave it to Judgment who first began the War Objection The Parliament raised Arms for their own Defence and Security of the Nation Answer This is said but of no kin to Truth or Reason for Men defend what they are possest of and the King was possest of the Militia and Fleet when the Parliament ravish'd both from him nor did the King use either against the Parliament when they invaded them Besides the King at least as he declared endeavoured to defend the established Religion and Laws of the Land whereas the Parliament contended to abolish the Established Religion and to exalt themselves above the Laws of the Land Objection 2. That the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and governed so Arbitrarily that the Parliament could have no Security for the future to prevent his so doing again so long as the King was possest of the Militia Answer The Case was not the same then when the King resolved to have no more Parliaments as now when the King had made this Parliament perpetual and had passed the Triennial Bill for Parliaments to meet whether he would or no And tho Favourites and Flatterers instill'd those things into the King when they were without any Fear or Apprehension of being questioned by a Parliament yet now the Parliament had so severely prosecuted and punished such Men and being perpetual or at least to meet Three Years after every Dissolution none would presume to advise the King in things derogatory to his Honour and the Interest of the Nation And now we proceed to the ensuing War The Parliament before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham Aug. 22 Voted That an Army should be raised for the Defence of the King and Parliament that the Earl of Essex should be Captain General of the Army and the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse The War began first between the Marquess of Hartford for the King in the West and the Earl of Bedford for the Parliament the Earl being worsted by the Marquess at Sherborn-Castle Goring got into Portsmouth and held it for the King but could not hold it long for the Country joining with Sir John Meyrick forced him to surrender who thereupon went into Holland and my Lord Say St. Johns and Weemen with Colonel Whitlock enter Oxford and keep it for the Parliament But the Face of Affairs soon changed for the King having made the Earl of Lindsey his General and the Parliament the Earl of Essex upon the 23d of October the Armies met and fought at Edghil with uncertain Victory which both sides claimed the Earl of Lindsey was mortally wounded and taken Prisoner the Right Wing of the King's Horse commanded by Prince Rupert brake the Left
See the Life of General Monk p. 23 24. written by his Chaplain Dr. Gumble The Parliament having recruited the Earl of Essex's Army he forced his Passage and relieved Glocester the King's Army retreat to Newbury where it was charged by Essex and worsted and in the Fight the Ornament of the Age the learned and most ingenious Lord Falkland tho weary of his Life and presaging his own Destiny was slain as were the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarven If the King's Army had such bad Success before Glocester my Lord of New-Castle had worse before Hull for lying in a moorish unhealthy place in a sickly season of the Year viz. September and October the whole Army fell into Fluxes and other Distempers so as they were forced to raise the Siege having done nothing considerable in it besides at this time Lyn-Regis in Norfolk a Place near as considerable as Hull was seized by the Gentry of Norfolk and might have been relieved if New-Castle had not been engaged in besieging Hull Tho the English and Scotish Parliament agreed in their Solemn League and Covenant yet so did not Sir John Hotham and his Son with the Preferment of Sir Thomas Fairfax and others in the North so that Sir John Hotham refused to serve under Fairfax Hereupon the Parliament intended to have displaced Hotham which when he heard of both he and his Son treated with the Marquess of New-Castle to deliver Hull to the King and the Parliament suspecting the Design sent Sir Matthew Bromton Sir John's brother-in-Brother-in-law to seize both Father and Son which Sir John little suspecting till it was too late fled to Beverly where he was seized by his own Soldiers and carried to Hull from whence Sir Matthew sent both Father and Son to London where soon after both lost their Heads When the Parliament sent Commissioners to invite the Scots to come to their Assistance the King sent Letters to disswade them from it urging the manifold Grants he had given to them when he was in Scotland last which compleated all they could ask and their solemn Protestations to be for ever his Majesty's most obedient Subjects See the Act cited by Sir Rich. Baker fol. 514. That it should be detestable Treason in the highest degree for any of the Scots Nation conjunctly or singly to raise Arms or any military Force upon any Cause whatever without the King's Commission But now unprovoked by the King and against his express Command they in open Hostility enter England a second time against him so little Faith or Honour was to be trusted to from these Covenanters for the Scots having made their Market with the King resolve to improve it with the Parliament and besides their Pay or Wages of Iniquity will have the Covenant and Kirk-Government imposed upon the English as well as Scots Nation and tho the King's Letters were signed by 19 Lords the Scots ordered them to be burnt by the common Hangman and in order hereunto General Lesley now Earl of Leven upon the 16th of January enters into England again with an Army of above 20000 Scots The King to add Reputation to his Arms summoned the Members of Parliament which followed him to meet at Oxford upon the 22d of January where they voted the coming of the Scots to be Treason and Rebellion but because they would not come up to the King's Desire in Voting the Members at Westminster to be no Parliament the King in great Displeasure with them and in his Letters to the Queen calls them his mungrel Parliament such was the Kindness the King shewed those Noble Lords and Gentry for sacrificing their Lives and Fortunes for his Service And to oppose the Scots the King makes a Cessation of Arms with the Irish and draws back into England the English which he sent to oppose the Irish but these were every where beaten 1500 of them cast away by Sea and the greatest Body of them commanded by Sir Michael Ernley Major General Gibson Sir Francis Boteler and Colonel Monk who shall unravel all the Parliament and Scots were now weaving were totally routed and dispersed by Sir Thomas Fairfax joining with Sir William Brereton near Nantwich and all these with Colonel Gibs Harmon Sir Ralph Dawns with 14 Captains 26 Ensigns and other inferiour Officers and 1500 common Soldiers taken Prisoners with the loss of their Cannon and Baggage So that as Serjeant Whitlock observes f. 79. a. these Irish never did the King any considerable Service But to sweeten this Prince Rupert at the close of this Year beat Sir John Meldrum a Scot who besieged Newark and his Army surrendred up their Arms Upon which the Parliament-Garisons in Gainsborow Lincoln and Sleford quitted these Places to the King's Forces And here we will end the Year 1643. and take notice how Mr. Serjeant Whitlock f. 64. b. errs in point of Time where he says the Scots passed the Tyne in 1642 under General Lesley to assist the Parliament and f. 67. a. he says the Queen was brought to Bed at Exeter of the Princess Henrietta Maria which for ought appears was before the Queen landed from Holland for she was born the 20th of June 1644. See Sir Baker's Hist f. 434. a. Anno Reg. 20. Dom. 1644. The Wonders which succeeded these two Years in England will better appear if a View be taken of the present Posture of Affairs as they stood in the beginning of this Year England and Scotland are united in one Solemn League and Covenant in January last Lesley or Leven enter'd England with an Army of 18000 Foot and 3500 Horse and Dragoons and soon after the Earl of Calendar enter'd England with an Army of 10000 Scots more these commanded by old and experienced Officers and the English Parliament's Armies were commanded by as brave and resolute Commanders as were to be found in Europe The Fleet wholly at the Parliament's Devotion and so was the City of London So that if you look upon the Superstructure nothing could appear more strong and lasting And all this time you hear little of Oliver Cromwel more than that he was a Captain of Horse and being of a bold and active Spirit secured the Town of Cambridg for the Parliament and was very diligent in obstructing several Levies for the King in Cambridgshire Essex Suffolk and Norfolk For these Services he had a Commission to be a Colonel of Horse and having an insinuating and canting way of preaching and seeming very Godly raised such a Regiment of Horse as was no where to be found the Riders spirited with Zeal to the Cause yet not of the Scots mode and to secure them without Oliver took care to provide them able Horses and to be well arm'd and accoutred so as every one of them beside Sword and Pistol had Pot Back and Breast Musquet-proof He was Nephew to Sir Oliver Cromwel who had a very great Estate but his Father being a younger Brother had not above 300 l. per Annum as was said Their
7. would have justified all his Subjects who fought for him But the Members would not submit to this being to divest themselves of the Power they thought they had in their hands nor the Scots because their Solemn League and Covenant was enacted by no Law in England nor least of all would it please the Army who nourished Designs against the King Members and Scots To such a deplorable state is this poor King and Kingdom fall'n past all humane Relief yet it 's admirable to consider how Divine Justice pursued the Causers of it even in the Series by which they were promoted The King who would not have the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation to be the Rules of his Subjects Obedience but his Prerogative and Absolute Will and Pleasure cannot now by it command one Servant He who before against Law committed so many of his best Subjects close Prisoners whereof several died in Prison for asserting his Subjects Rights without any Benefit of Law is now by his Subjects made close Prisoner against Law and without any Benefit of it He who before dissolved four Parliaments because they in all dutiful Ways would have addressed unto him to be reconciled to his Subjects is now denied under Penalty of High Treason to have any Address made to him by any of his Subjects He who before had so many Forests for his Pleasure yet not contented with what the Law and his Ancestors had left but would break the Bounds of them that his Subjects Inheritance might become a Prey to wild Beasts has not now a Horse Hound or Beast to take Pleasure in But these things will not stay here for it is the unhappy Fate of Princes rarely in their declining state to stay till they fall to the bottom And here we end the Year 1647 and hereafter shall observe the Divine Justice overtaking the other Promoters of the Miseries both in England Scotland and Ireland And if I shall ill perform it yet it may be a Ground-work for another to do it better In this Confusion the Nation began to forget the times under the King's Government now they saw no end of these And tho the Essex-Men who had the Bounds of their Forests broke down and were the first who petition'd the Parliament to redress Grievances and bring Delinquents to condign Punishment yet they are now the first who petition the Commons for a Personal Treaty with the King and then the Surrey-Men but were differently received and some of the Surrey-Men kill'd This was in May 1648. The Scots too offended that they and their Solemn League and Covenant were not taken notice of in the Preliminary Treaty with the King call a Parliament and order the Raising an Army to deliver the King out of Prison The rude Entertainment of the Essex and Surrey-Men was so far from quelling them that they rise in Arms in Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Wales and the North and declare for the King and People Sir William Batton too who was Vice-Admiral of the English Fleet goes over to Prince Charles with 17 Men of War and declare for the King having set Rainsborough made Admiral by the Army on Shore This was in May and June and soon after viz. in June the Surrey-Men rise being headed by the Duke of Buckingham and his Brother the Lord Francis with the Earl of Holland But it was decreed that this Prince who for 15 Years had violated the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation and without any Law or just Reason had so often imprisoned his best Subjects for endeavouring to reconcile him to his Subjects should now himself being made a Prisoner against Law find no Relief by Law or Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects For Cromwel sends Horton into Wales against Major-General Laughorn and Colonel Poyer who headed the Welch and had seized Pembrook and Tenby-Castles Fairfax marches into Kent and Rainsborough into the North where the Northern-Men had seized Pontfract-Castle and the Members restore the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral and fit out a Fleet under him to suppress that which joined the Prince of Wales Horton beats the Welch and took Laughorn and Poyer Prisoners and besieges and takes Pembrook and Tenby but whilst he besieged these Hamilton who the Year before was released from being a Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle by the King for holding Correspondence with the Covenanters while he was Commissioner now comes into England to discharge the King from his Imprisonment with a numerous Army of Scots which Sir Marmaduke Langdale Major-General Massey and many English join against these Cromwel after the Surrender of Pembrook and Tenby marches and utterly routs them and takes Hamilton Prisoner Nor were the Fate of the Kentish Essex and Suffolk Men better for Fairfax fights and beats the Kentish Men at Maidstone the Remainder under my Lord Goring whom the King had made Earl of Norwich cross the Thames at Greenwich and join the Essex Men headed by Sir Charles Lucas and march to Colchester where my Lord Capel and many Suffolk Men joined them Fairfax pursues them and after a stubborn Siege of 11 Weeks forces it to surrender being reduced to extream Famine and after caused Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle to be shot to Death Equal to this was the Success of the Surrey-Men for they were routed by Sir Michael Lewesly and my Lord Francis killed near Kingston But the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland with those which were escaped fled over Kingston-bridg and were pursued by Colonel Scroop and overtaken at St. Neots where Major-General Dolbier is killed the Earl of Holland taken Prisoner but the Duke of Buckingham escaped But the Northern-Men besieged in Pontfract Castle are not so easily subdued on the contrary a Party of about 30 Horse break through the Besiegers and surprize Rainsborough in his Bed at Doncaster about 12 Miles from Pontfract and kill him because he refused to be carried off a Prisoner but Pure Famine at last forced the Besieged to surrender The revolted Fleet now commanded by the Princes Rupert and Maurice partly cajol'd by the Earl of Warwick their former Admiral and unwilling to forsake their Country Wives and Children in great part return to the Parliament the rest were after pursued by Blake and Popham to Ireland from thence to Portugal from whence they were forced by Blake to Carthagena where Blake run the Princes Ships on shore yet the Princes having then but three Ships left and having no Port in Europe to protect them seek for one in the West-Indies where Prince Maurice is lost in a Hurricane and Prince Rupert after got into France and sold the Remainder of this miserable Fleet being two tatter'd Ships to Mazarine to fit out himself for other Adventures Whilst the Army was thus busied abroad the Members having got possession of the Fleet and the City of London being well affected to them they join with the Scotish Commissioners and rescind the Votes of Non-Addresses to the King
he was over parsimonious ill becoming so great a Prince He laid the Foundation of an unhappy Reign before he became King not only in his Dissimulation in the Treaty of Marriage with the King and Infanta of Spain to the Displeasure of his Father but much more in the French Treaty not only in submitting to grant a Toleration of the Popish Religion and that his Children should be brought up under their Mother till they were twelve Years old but by engaging to assist the French King with a Fleet against the Reformed in France which he did tho the French broke their Faith in denying Mansfield to land the Army at Calais raised for the Recovery of the Palatinate Unlike his Predecesâ—or Henry the Fifth who so soon as he became King banished all his Flatterers and loose Companions and betaking himself to grave and wise Counsel he became the most Renowned and Victorious of all our English Kings Charles became more wilful and gave himself to be more governed by Favourites after he became King than before So that the insite Piety and Affection which is due to Parents and usually exprest in some mournful Demeanour upon their Death took no Impression in him after his Father's Death but contrary Passions against his Father's Counsel and Will prevailed upon him For next day after his Father's Death only the King and Buckingham present the Keeper Williams coming to wait upon him the King asked him whether the Parliament were dissolved upon his Father's Death Which when the Keeper told him it was the King commanded him to issue out new Summons for calling another and not to stay a day for Subsidies must be had for carrying on a War against Spain and when the Keeper advised him to consider a little hereof and that before Writs were issued out Interest should be made about Elections the King in Displeasure turn'd from him Which you may read in the second Book and second Folio of the Keeper's Life And these two things were observable in this Prince That when any advised him against his Will he would never ask it after or be Friends with him and that in all his Reign as well in Prosperity as in Adversity he would never own any one of his Irregularities to be so but justified them all to his Death As Henry was the most self-denying of all his glorious Actions ascribing them only to God so Charles upon all occasions in all his irregular Actions gloried he was accountable to none but God for them After he was married he became the most uxorious Husband of all our English Kings except Henry the Sixth and being intangled by the Articles of Marriage which the Queen fostered and the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation contrary to them which his Parliaments stedfastly asserted he became both ways uneasy and to reconcile them was impossible But to me it seems how uxorious soever the King was yet during Buckingham's Regency for so it may be truly called he had an Ascendency over the Queen as appears by the French War in the second Year of the King notwithstanding all the Power of the Queen against it He was unaffable in his Conversation and Approaches to him very difficult and those with such strained Submissions as were never required by any of his Predecessors As his Actions were without Counsel sudden and inconsiderate so were his Resolutions as variable and uncertain so that oftentimes he would change them the same day And as his Actions were without Counsel so were his Designs without Secrecy which blasted them as well at Home as Abroad He was so superstitiously addicted to the Arminian Clergy which flatter'd him that I do not find except Juxton Bishop of London that he preferr'd any others in the Church till he fell into Adversity In his adverse Fortune he would betake himself to contrary Extreams yet be as inconstant in them as in his Actions in Prosperity He was only constant in his Affections to the Queen after he had given up his Favourites in his prosperous Fortune to the Parliament and her Counsels fixed stedfast in him tho in his Declarations to the Kingdom and Parliament he profess'd otherwise and herein he was as unhappy as he was before in his Designs in his Prosperity for they whether by Fate or his own Imprudence became known to his Enemies who blaz'd them abroad not only to the Nation but all the World so that the sincerity of his Promises and Declarations became suspected as well by his Friends as Enemies and all Accommodation with them more difficult whereby it came to pass that his Armies being subdued by them and thereby falling into the Hands of his Enemies he became a Sacrifice to them in the 49th Year of his Age having reigned 23 Years ten Months and three Days leaving six Children three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange and Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter So that as King John and his Son Henry the Third lost all Normandy and the greatest part of Aquitain to the French by endeavouring a more than Legal Jurisdiction over their Subjects whereby they lost their Love and Obedience so these two Princes Father and Son by raising and Arbitrary Power over their Subjects not only lost their Honour Abroad but with their own Subjects and for want of whose Assistance this King lost his Life and suffered the French to grow so great as to endanger the Safety of their own Subjects in the Realms of England Scotland and Ireland I 'll conclude this Story with one which a learned Gentleman who liv'd in those Times affirmed When the Duke of Buckingham was stabb'd by Felton 1628 the Earl of Portland was then newly made Lord Treasurer and the King to manifest his Affection to the Duke order'd the Treasurer to issue out of the Exchequer 30000 l. I think for a solemn Funeral for the Duke but the Treasurer unwilling the King should be at so hateful an Expence at a time when the King was at War with France and Spain told the King that the Sum laid out in erecting a stately Tomb for the Duke would be a more lasting Monument of his Favour to the Duke than a Funeral-Expence which would be but the Work of a Day and soon forgot The King assented and several Patterns were brought and what the King lik'd the Treasurer dislik'd till at last the King pitch'd upon one which he said he would have but then the Treasurer said Sir what will the World say that you should be at such an Expence for a Favourite when your Father has not a Stone to cover him which struck the King so as he proceeded no farther in it I remember I think it was in 1669. that the Commons voted 50000 l. for the Charge of taking up this King's Body and the solemn Funeral
and sure never was there such a Generation who so impudently out-braved Truth and all that may be call'd Sacred If you could force a Belief into them they first told you they fought for King and Parliament then they declared for the King and People against the Parliament and now they have taken off the King if you will have any Benefit of their Protection you must engage to their Government without King or House of Lords and be content with a piece of the Commons call'd the Rump Not content with the Death of the King the Rump proceeds to abolish Monarchy and place the original Power of Government in the People whose Representatives they are if you 'll take their Word and voted it High Treason to restore Monarchy or to assist or pray for Charles Stuart or any of that Line overthrow the King's Statue with an Exit tyrannus Regum ultimus Nor are they satiated with the Blood of the King but erect another High Court of Injustice whereof one Lisle an ignorant Fellow was President who condemns the Marquess Hamilton Earl of Holland and Lord Capel for raising Arms against the Parliament which themselves had destroy'd But tho the Rump and Army were establish'd upon these strange Principles yet being the Instruments of Divine Vengeance like a Torrent broke loose from raging Seas in less than five Years time they overwhelm not only England but Ireland and Scotland almost pull'd the Dutch States up by the Roots and made France and Spain tremble But that we may observe what follow'd let 's see what went before The Scots were the first who invaded England against the King to impose their Solemn League and Covenant which was more against the English Laws and Constitutions than Laud's Service-Books Canons and High-Commission were against the Scotish In July last the Scots invaded England commanded by the Marquess Hamilton in August Cromwel routs and utterly overthrows this Army and takes Hamilton Prisoner So the Scots who began these Wars first are the first chastised by this English Army But this is but the Earnest of what shall follow The secluded Members who first join'd the Scots beginning first with an equivocal Protestation but after downright joined with the Scots in their Covenant are now not only turned out of the House by the Rump but kept in nasty Prisons till they became as little dangerous as The House of Lords The horrid Irish Massacre and Rebellion succeeded in the third place And now the Rump having established themselves by subduing of the Scots under Hamilton and deposing the secluded Members are laying Rods in Piss to scourge these abominable Irish But before we proceed let 's see how things stood in Ireland In October 1641. the Irish Massacre was which succeeded in a Rebellion in which Richlieu's Scarlet was as deep dyed as in the Scotish and English Commotions The Head of this accursed Crew was John Baptista Pennuncio the Pope's Nuncio who in his Passage through France threatned he would suffer no Man to live in Ireland that wished well to the King or to the English Affairs Thus you see how all the Factions conspired against the King the Laws and Constitutions of England But for these last seven Years viz. so long as the Distractions were continued in England the War was pursued but by halves in Ireland King Charles in his Life-time had made the Marquess of Ormond Lieutenant of Ireland who in 1643 made a Truce with the Irish that the King might make use of the English in England But the Irish kept their Faith no better in it than the Scots had before with the King in the Peace in 1639. For on a sudden they rise against the Marquess now the English are sent into England and had surprized him if he had not been informed before and escaped into Dublin and being in no Condition to defend it but obliged to deliver it up either to the English sent by the Parliament or to the Irish he gave it up to the English who make Colonel Jones Governour and so Ormond leaves Ireland After the Marquess was withdrawn the Nuncio behaved himself like a Church-Man with such a Despotical Tyranny that he became intolerable even to the Irish themselves who being press'd by Jones Coot and Monk combine in a Body and send to the Queen and to the Prince of Wales for then the King was close Prisoner in the Isle of Wight to return the Marquess of Ormond and they would submit to his Authority and join to expel the Scots and Parliament's Forces The Nuncio taking this for an Affront to his Authority being that of the Apostolick See which is infallible threatens Excommunication to them who should not obey him but neither he nor his Excommunication were obey'd but was forced to Capitulate with the Irish themselves to procure his Departure which was as shameful as his Entrance was proud and insolent Upon the Marquess's Return he enter'd into most dishonourable Articles with the Irish which yet would not please Owen Ro Oneal who join'd with the Parliament's Forces and reliev'd Londonderry then besieg'd by the Lord Ardes After this Pacification with the Irish such as it was Ormond raises a numerous Army and by my Lord Inchiqueen routs a Party of Jones's going to Drogheda who takes the Town and Dundalk Green-Castle Newry and Trim and returns Victorious to the Marquess Hereupon the Marquess besieges Dublin but unfortunately sends my Lord Inchiqueen into Munster with if not the greatest the best part of the Army Jones falls upon the Remainder and utterly routs them This was in August 1649. And the same Month Cromwel lands at Dublin with an Army of 15000 old Soldiers Upon this Disaster the Irish no more to be reconciled to the English than the Scots Covenanters to Episcopacy quarrel with the Marquess which was never after composed So the Marquess left Ireland again leaving the Earl of Clanrickard Deputy Cromwel after his landing first storms Drogheda or Tredah with a most terrible Execution and after in less than one Year all Ireland upon the matter is reduced to the Obedience of the Rump who take dreadful Vengeance upon all the Irish who could be found to have had any hand in the Massacre of the English The King Charles II. having lost England and Ireland with all their Dependencies except the Isles of Guernsey Jersey Man and Scilly and the Plantations in America which shall soon follow set up for Scotland and makes the Marquess of Montross his Commissioner who having got together about 400 Swedes Danes Poles and Germans lands them at the Wick of Cathness in April 1650 and takes Dumbeath But Lesley having sent Major-General Straughan with 300 choice Horse he set upon this ill composed Body of Montross and utterly routs them Montross fled but was betrayed by the Laird of Aston who had formerly served him The Covenanters to shew their Clemency and Humility bind the Marquess in a Chair planted backwards on a Cart that all
honoured and beloved was set upon by Col. John's elder Brother and routed the 29th of August where the Lord Widdrington Sir Thomas Tiddersly Col. Boynton Sir Francis Gamul Major Troâ—lop Sir William Throgmorton Col. Leg Col. Ratliff and Col. Gerard with some others were taken Prisoners but the Earl tho wounded escaped to the King at Worcester but it was his hard Fortune to be afterwards taken and tried by a Court Martial upon the 6th of October which consisted of 20 Officers and Captains five Colonels Maj. General Milton and Col. Mackworth President at Chester and upon the 22d was beheaded When Cromwel came into England he left Monk to command in Scotland who besieges and takes Sterlin-Castle by Surrender with all the Guns Ammunition and Arms Money Jewels and the Registers transferred from Edinburgh thither and quite defaced the lofty Inscription Nobis haec invicta dedere Centum sex Proavi About this time old General Lesley was raising an Army in Perth-shire Monk sends Morgan and Alured to prevent it who surprized them and take Lesley the Earls of Crawford and Lindsey the Lord Ogilby and many other Prisoners and after take Dunfrise At this time Monk besieges and takes Dundee by Storm with as terrible an Execution as Cromwel the Year before had done at Tredah Here it was and at Sterlin-Castle the Scots had lodged all their Plunder and Money they had got in England which was so plentiful that the English common Souldiers shared Money by Hatfuls The Terror of this Success frighted Aberdeen and all the other Towns in Scotland into Obedience nor did it stay here but all the Isles of Orcades and Shetland submitted which neither Roman nor English Force could ever accomplish Now the Kirk-Party are all in Yelling and Woes Heresy and Schism had overspread the beauteous Discipline of Reformation Now they cannot persecute other Men they exclaim and cry out they are persecuted themselves Their Nobles except Argile which are not killed are committed to Prison that they might share in the Tribulations as well as Triumphs of their Brethren in England But the Tribulations of the Covenanting Party did not end in Imprisonment only but extended to Life for upon the 22d of August Love and Gibbons two most zealous Covenanters were executed by a Judgment of a High Court of Justice as 't was called for holding Intelligence with their Brethren in Scotland so that this High-Justice or Summum Jus reached the Covenanters as well as the Royalists Now the Rump change the Fabrick of the Scotish Government and make Itinerant Judges part Scots part English and make a Council of State of that medly yet allow them 30 Commissioners to sit and vote in their Parliament at Westminster so that tho the Crown of Scotland were independent upon the Crown of England yet Scotland as well as Ireland and England must depend upon the Rump And that the Scots may be the more tamely ridden they are denied Arms and even Horses unless on necessary Occasions The Victory at Worcester swelled the Sails of Cromwel's Ambition brim full so that he began to entertain Thoughts of Setting up himself yet being a ticklish Point wherein he was sure to be opposed by the Factions as well as Royalists upon the 10th of December he called a Meeting of divers Members of the House and some of the Principal Officers of the Army and proposed to them That now the old King being dead and his Son defeated he held it necessary to come to a Settlement of the Nation and that he requested this Meeting that they might consider and advise what was fit to be done and to present it to the Parliament So much easier is it to destroy a Government than to erect another And now Cromwel and his Adherents had overturned the Government of Three Kingdoms they are to advise and consider how to erect another This was the good Fight which these Men fought to destroy and then knew not what to do However we 'll give the Account of these Mens Opinions verbatim as I find it in Whitlock's Memoirs f. 492. a. b. Lenthal My Lord who made him so This Company were very ready to attend your Excellency and the Business you were pleased to propound to us is very necessary to be considered God hath given marvellous Success to our Forces under your Command and if we do not improve these Mercies Blood Rapine and Murder to some Settlement such as may be to God's Honour and the Good of the Common-wealth we shall be very much blame-worthy Harrison I think that which my Lord General hath propounded as to a Settlement both of our Civil and Spiritual Liberties and so that the Mercies which the Lord hath given in to us may not be cast away how this may be done is the great Question Whitlock It is a great Question indeed and not suddenly to be resolved yet it were pity that a Meeting of so many able and worthy Persons as I see here should be fruitless and I would humbly offer in the first Place whether it be not requisite to be understood in what way this Settlement is desired whether by an Absolute Republick or with any Mixture of Monarchy Cromwel My Lord Commissioner Whitlock hath put us upon the right Point and indeed it is my meaning that we should consider whether a Republick or a mixt Monarchical Government will be best settled and if any thing Monarchical then in whom that Power shall be placed Sir Tho. Widdrington I think a mix'd Monarchical Government will be most sutable to the Laws and People of this Nation and if any Monarchical I suppose we shall hold it most just to place that Power in one of the Sons of the late King Fleetwood I think that Question whether an absolute Republick or a mix'd Monarchy be best to be settled in this Nation will not very easily be determined L. C. J. St. John It will be found that the Government of this Nation without something of Monarchical Power will be very difficult to be so settled as not to shake the Foundation of our Laws and the Liberties of the People Lenthal It will breed a strange Confusion to settle a Government of this Nation without something of Monarchy Desborough I beseech you my Lord why may not this as well as other Nations be governed by a Republick Whitlock The Laws of England are so interwoven with the Power and Practice of Monarchy that to settle a Government without something of Monarchy in it would breed so great an Alteration in the Proceedings of our Law that you will scarce find time to rectify nor can we well foresee the Inconveniencies which will arise thereby Whaley I do not understand Matters of Law but it seems to me the best way not to have any thing of Monarchical Power in the Settlement of our Government and if we should resolve upon any whom should we pitch upon The King 's eldest Son hath been in Arms against us and his second
Norway for Timber Pitch and Tar and to Liefland and Prussia for rough Hemp and Flax for which Trades the English never built one Ship since this Act and by reason of the Dearness and Inconveniences of our English Ships in these Trades the Norwegians have encreased their Navigation from 6 Ships of about 60 Tun to above 200 of three four five and six hundred Tun and the English pay near double the Price for these they did before the Act. And as the Inhabitants of Liefland and Prussia rarely or never trade with us in rough Hemp and Flax so the Dutch importing these by the Cheapness of their Navigation one third cheaper than the English and when they are made into the Manufactures of Cordage Sails and Nets the Dutch by the Act of Navigation may import them whereby the English in their Fisheries and the Foreign Vent of their Commodities have lost the Manufactures of them and by a Foreign Expence buy them of the Dutch and French as much to their enriching and Employment of their People as to our Impoverishment and the Loss of employing ours It 's fit to give this light Touch of the Mischiefs and Inconveniences this Act has brought upon the Nation but hereafter I shall enlarge upon them when I reply upon Sir Josiah Child and Sir Brewster's Defence of it as before CHAP. II. A Continuation of this Treatise during the Vsurpation of Oliver Cromwel WHEN Men forsake the plain and foreknown Ways of Justice and Righteousness they not only run into Confusion or contrary Extreams but these they endeavour to sanctify by previous swearing to them and imposing them upon other Men. In Scotland 1638 the Scots without the King's Consent made their Covenant wherein they abjure Episcopacy and swear a mutual Defence of one another herein against all Persons whatsoever without excepting the King and imposed this upon all Sorts of People with Violence and Menaces as beating tearing of Clothes drawing of Blood and exposing thousands to Injuries and Reproaches and notwithstanding several Laws to the contrary expelled all Professors of Colleges and Ministers out of their Places who refused to subscribe their Covenant See Baker's Chron. fol. 461. a. To encounter the Scots Covenant by a contrary Extream the English Convocation in the Year 1640 after the King had dissolved the Parliament imposed without Consent in Parliament an Oath wherein they swear That they approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation that they will not endeavour to bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to it That they will not consent to alter the Government of this Church by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. as it now stands and ought by right to stand nor to subject it to the Vsurpations and Supersttitions of Rome That this they do plainly and sincerely acknowledg and swear and do it heartily and willingly Thus was God's Sacred Name exposed to cover their Ambitious Designs on both sides and for which neither gave any Reason Nor did this Convocation stay here but imposed without Consent of Parliament six Subsidies upon the Clergy to be paid in six Years for carrying on a War against the Scots the refusers to be suspended and excommunicated Thus you see now In Nomine Domini on both sides these Feuds began at the Clergy and the King to secure the Convocation set Guards about Westminster Abby Here let 's examine and compare these two Oaths The Covenanters in Scotland swear That according to their Places and Callings they shall endeavour the Preservation of the Reformed Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government At this Time there was no Reformed Church in Scotland but the Episcopal unless the Scots Covenanters erected another So here the Scots do not distinguish which Church they swear to endeavour to preserve nor say what the Doctrine Discipline Worship and Government of the Church of Scotland was So that herein in the first part of the Oath they swear equivocally and in the second they swear by Implicit Faith without declaring wherein their Doctrine Discipline Worship and Government does consist That they shall also endeavour the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresy Schism Prophaneness c. All Oaths are to be taken in Truth viz. of what a Man knows or truly intends Can any Man believe that every Scot which swears the Covenant knows what Popery Prelacy Superstition Schism and Prophaneness are especially when they have an c. joined to them I do not believe that ever the Church of Rome or any other Nation ever imposed such an Equivocal and Canting Oath as this Covenant by a Rout of Men and contrary to the establisht Government in being and against the King's express Will And to make all sure they swear to defend all those that shall enter into this Covenant and shall zealously and constantly all the Days of their Lives continue therein But God shall soon blast this abominable Swearing to the Destruction of these Covenanters The Oath of the Covenant was purely promissory wherein they swear what wondrous Acts they would do in Preservation of their Kirk c. and for the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy c and for the mutual Defence of one another But the first Part of the Convocation-Oath is assertory wherein they swear that they approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation so as there is no further need of searching the Scriptures and no Man needs further to seek his Salvation with Fear and Trembling if he be conversant in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England The next part of it is negatively Promissory that they will not bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to it The third part of it is partly Promissory and partly Assertory Promissory not to give Consent to alter the Government of this Church by Archbishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons c. Assertory as it now stands and ought to stand The fourth part is Promissory not to subject it to the Usurpations and Supersitions of Rome without declaring what these were The last part of this Oath is Assertory That this they do plainly and sincerely acknowledg and swear and do it heartily willingly and truly Now let 's see the Success of this jumbled Oath and Grant of these Subsidies first the King never got one Groat of them Secondly The very next Year after viz. March 10th the Commons voted that no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any judicial Power in the Star-Chamber nor Authority in Temporal Matters and that no Clergy-man shall be in Commission of the Peace and upon the 22d of June the High Commission Court and Star-Chamber wherein Laud and the Prerogative Clergy plaid their Pranks were abolished by Act of Parliament and soon after viz. January 12th Twelve of the Bishops were committed to the Tower for High Treason for protesting against all Votes and Orders of
the Lords during their Absence and soon after the King passed a Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament so little Success had the Clergy in their Convocation-Oath As the Clergy without Consent in Parliament imposed the Convocation-Oath upon the rest of the Clergy So the Parliament I mean the Lords and Commons without the Consent of the King imposed upon the Subjects a Vow and Protestation to maintain and defend so far as lawfully may be the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to the Duty of the Allegiance to his Majesty's Royal Person Honour and Estate to defend the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject and by all just and honourable Ways endeavour to preserve the Union and Peace of the Three Kingdoms and neither for fear nor other respect relinquish the Promise Vow and Protestation See Baker's History fol. 508. b. But the Lords and Commons were not constant to their Vow for within less than two Years after they impose their Solemn League and Covenant being basely imposed upon them by the Scots upon the rest of their Fellow-Subjects with all the Scotish Cant and c. too and this is observable that the Presbyterians who so bitterly inveighed against the c. in the Convocation-Oath without any scruple swallowed the c. in their Solemn League and Covenant It 's scarce credible by what Severity this Covenant was after the Scots Temper imposed upon all other sorts of Men as well Dissenters from the Church of England as those of the Church This Temper was too hot to last long for about three Years after the Independents outed the Presbyterians and set up the Engagement to be true to the Rump without King or House of Lords nor did this Engagement last five Years but was outed when Cromwel set up himself and imposed the Recognition for establishing himself Now let any shew how in any Nation since the Creation in less than 13 Years time Men so often swear and forswear Governments which were so often changed and he shall be my great Apoâ—â—â— The Secluded Members and the Rump if you 'll take their Words were the Representatives of the People but without a Head and could not be dissolved by the King without their Consent yet O. Cromwel and his Myrmidons without their Consent dissolved them both And as these were Bodies without a Head so Cromwel and his Army like that of the Egyptian Mamalukes were a Monstrous Head without any Body of the Nation yet with this Difference the Mamalukes chose their Sultan but Cromwel exalted himself without the Army's Choice The first Manifesto that Cromwel made known to the Nation was this I Oliver Cromwel Captain General and Commander in Chief of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth c. So here Cromwel by his own Authority makes the Army perpetual having deposed the Parliament which were made perpetual by Act of Parliament I have often admired upon what Bottom Cromwel stood when he presumed to do these things for the Sectaries and Monarchy-Men who were the Creatures whom he at first most relied upon when they perceived his Ambition then became his utter Enemies the Presbyterians and Independents hated him for the Violences he put upon them and the Royalists both dreaded and hated him All Kings of England in their Coronation-Oath before sware to govern by the received Laws and Constitutions of the Nation but Cromwel having subverted these neither says nor swears by what Laws or Rules he 'll govern and tho both in the Saxon and Nâ—rman Dynasties the Hereditary Succession of the Kings was often changed yet none succeeded which was not of the Royal Blood which cannot be said of the Caroline and Capusian Lines of France nor in the Succession of the Race of the Kings of Spain yet Cromwel without Law or being of the Royal Blood made himself more absolute than any of our Kings before him Now Terras I am sure Britannias Astraea reliquit Justice Truth and Plain-dealing is fled the Land and Dissimulation Hypocrisy Intriguing and Designs rove all England over and Cromwel to support his ill-establish'd Greatness sets all his Agents and Sycophants on work to congratulate and approve his Actions and to stand by and assist him One of the first of these was from the Officers of the English Army in Scotland no doubt but excited by Monk in the State he stood then with Cromwel So that as from Scotland our Civil Wars first began and from thence their solemn League and Covenant was so rigidly imposed in England so from thence now come Congratulatory Addresses to Cromwel for overturning all they had done and a time shall come when a Storm shall come from Scotland which shall disperse and unravel all that the Covenanters Rump and Cromwel had done thus you 'll see how lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake them all Having seen how Cromwel established himself we 'll proceed to see the Success The Dutch above all things dreading the Rump animated Cromwel to dissolve them promising greater things to him than they had done to the Rump in case he would do it which being done the Dutch not unreasonably hoped by the Disorders which would arise in England by it they should be better able to deal with Cromwel than the Rump and notwithstanding their calling God to witness of their sincere Love and Affection to the English Nation and desire of propagating the true Reformed Protestant Religion with all imaginable Diligence set out a greater Fleet to Sea than they had done before and Trump gave out he would fire the English Ships in their Harbours and the Downs before the English Fleet should get out But the Rump who well understood what Faith or Credit was to be given to the Dutch Protestations were not behind-hand with the Dutch in their Naval Preparations which Cromwel found ready to fight with the Dutch and sooner than the Dutch look'd for the English Fleet commanded by Monk and Dean Penn Vice-Admiral and Lawson Rear-Admiral upon the second of June engaged the Dutch and at the beginning Dean was kill'd by a Cannon-Ball but the Dutch sore pressed upon by the English bore away and made a running Fight having a Ship of 42 Guns sunk by Lawson and 140 Men in her but the Winds blowing cross the English could not that day do much more Execution Next day Monk engaged the Dutch Fleet again and sunk six of their best Ships two were blown up and eleven taken one Vice-Admiral and two Rear-Admirals with two of their Hoys and thirteen hundred and fifty Prisoners and of the English not one Ship was lost or disabled and besides Admiral Dean but one Captain killed The Dutch thus balk'd of their Expectation of firing the English Ships in their Harbours and in the Downs send Beverning Newport Vande Parro and Jonstal to Cromwel and the new Council of State for Cromwel had discharged
Presence of God That I will not violate or infringe the Matters and Things therein contained but to my Power observe the same and cause them to be observed and shall in all other things to the best of my Vnderstanding govern these Nations according to the Laws Statutes and Customs seeking their Peace and causing Justice and Law to be equally administred In the former Impression I followed Cromwel's Instrument of Government as it is set forth by Dr. Bates but finding this differ from Mr. Whitlock not only in the Number of the Articles but in the Substance of several of them I shall now follow Mr. Whitlock as being of better Authority tho not particularly recite them all being long but make Remarks upon several of them to shew how inconsistent this Instrument was with Cromwel's Oath and how he observ'd it in his future Actions Cromwel ' s Council was Philip Lord Viscount Lisle now Earl of Leicester Charles Fleetwood his Son-in-law John Lambert Sir Gilbert Pickering Sir Charles Woolsley Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper after Earl of Shaftsbury Edward Mountague after Earl of Sandwich John Desborow his brother-in-Brother-in-law Walter Strickland Henry Lawrence William Sydenham Philip Jones Richard Major Francis Rouse and Philip Skipton Esquires The 5th Article is That the Protector with the Consent of the major part of the Council have Power of War and Peace How well he observed this in his Peace with the Dutch and French and War with Spain will appear afterward The 6th Article is That the Laws shall not be altered suspended or repealed nor any new Law made nor any Tax Charge or Imposition laid upon the People but by common Assent in Parliaments save only as is expressed in the 30th Article How does this Article agree with the 27th That a constant Revenue shall be raised for the maintaining 10000 Horse and 20000 Foot in England Scotland and Ireland and 200000 l. per Annum to himself beside the Crown-Lands or with the 38th Article To repeal all Laws Statutes and Ordinances contrary to the Liberty Cromwel grants to all tender Consciences as he calls them in the next preceding Articles where he excludes Popery and Prelacy Or how did Cromwel observe this Article when he imprisoned the Royalists which would not give Security for their Good Behaviour to him and whether they did or not took from them the tenth part of their Estates and put them to Death by his High Court of Justice as he call'd it The 8th Article is That Parliament after the first Day of their Meeting shall sit five Months and not in that time be Adjourned Prorogued or Dissolved without their Consent Yet he dissolved the next Parliament as he called them within five Months after their first sitting with their Consent and if they refus'd had his Janizaries in Westminster-hall and in the Court of Requests to have forced them as he did by the Rump this is true of my own Knowledg and declared what should be Treason See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 563. b. The 34th Article is That the Chancellor Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal the Treasurer Admiral Chief Governours of Scotland and Ireland and the Chief Justices of both the Benches shall be chosen by the Approbation of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Approbation of the major part of the Council to be afterwards approved by Parliament I deny any of these Officers were ever chosen or approved by Parliament if any were it lies upon another to prove them to be so chosen or approved by Parliament Thus by manifold Perjuries deepest Dissimulation Hypocrisy and foul Ingratitude Cromwel waded through a Sea of Blood in England Scotland and Ireland and then deposed them who had raised him for which he had murdered thousands for but attempting to do what he had done He aspired to the Dominion of Britain and Ireland which the Rump had conquered to his hand and by Monk's Victories over the Dutch Holland lies at his Mercy so that as Cromwel was the most absolute Tyrant that ever raged in England so was he not less terrible to his neighbouring Nations And now he had it in his Power to do what he will let 's see how like a Beast he did what he did Of all our neighbouring Nations the Dutch and French were the most formidable to the English the Dutch being not only Competitors with the English in Trade but Contenders with them in the Dominion of the Seas and the French the most formidable and faithless by Land and of all Nations the English Trade to France was the worst being as much to the enriching France as the impoverishing England Spain neither a neighbouring Nation to England except some part of Flanders nor any ways formidable to England by Sea or Land yet of all others the English Trade with Spain was the most beneficial and enriching to the English Now let 's see how diametrically contrary to the English Interest Cromwel acted in every one of these After Cromwel had assumed the Protectorate Mr. Whitlock says he observed new and great State and all Ceremonies and Respects were paid to him by all sorts of Men as to their Prince and Stubbe says upon the 20th Notice was given to the Dutch Plenipotentiaries by Cromwel's Master of the Ceremonies of his being Protector and how ready he was to treat with them and how kind he would be to them but they must pay him the same Honour and Respect which was heretofore exhibited to the English Kings and in their Writings and Discourses give him the Title of Highness which was in Use before that of Majesty that they not being in the Quality of Ambassadors but Lords Deputies Plenipotentiaries must be uncovered in his Presence In this state Cromwel takes the Treaty of Peace out of the Council's Hands tho it ill agreed with his Oath to the Instrument of his Government and upon the 26th of December but ten Days after his assuming the Protectorate by his Secretary Thurloâ— brought the Dutch Plenipotentiaries a Writing wherein the Satisfaction of the 3d Article demanded by the Council was wholly omitted but the Claims of the East-India Merchants and others were to be compounded The 15th Article was changed so as that neither the Dominion of the Seas was mentioned nor their Ships to be searched but they were to strike the Flag and lower their Top-sail to any English Man of War within the British Seas with several other Concessions Now the Dutch Artifice after having made so many Protestations of agreeing with Cromwel upon better Terms than they would if he would dissolve the Rump and Barebone's Parliament appeared for notwithstanding Cromwel had omitted the Satisfaction demanded by the third Article and qualified the fifteenth yet looking upon Cromwel's state uncertain and that he stood in as much need of them as they of him without giving any Answer upon the 28th of December desired a Passport to depart Now Cromwel perceived how the Plenipotentiaries had deluded him
Ringleaders of these were Bidle Cops Fry Erbury Saltmarsh c. But more blasphemous than these was one James Naylor I saw him when he stood in the Pillory before Westminster-hall who personated our Saviour and was like his Picture in his Words and Gestures and so mad was he and many of his Crew that getting upon a Horse-Colt an Ass would have becom'd him better he came riding to Bristol his Sect strewing his way with Leaves and Boughs of Trees crying Hosanna Blessed is he who cometh in the Name of the Lord. Nor did he stay here but imitated our Saviour in affecting his Divinity as that he could Raise the Dead Heal the Sick and Fast 40 Days In these Distractions without to prevent which Cromwel took little Care Cromwel had little Peace within He was obey'd by none for Love had no Title to his Greatness but by Barebone's Parliament of his own making his own Will and the Flattery of some of the Officers of his Army yet the Body of the Army and a greater part of the Officers look'd upon him as a Tyrant and Usurper and with these the Generality of the Commonwealth Party agreed The Presbyterian Party hated him and he knew the Royalists would never obey him if ever they could find an Opportunity to get rid of him The Crown-Lands and the established Revenues he reserved by his Instrument of Government would not near maintain the Charges of his Intelligence and Army which in a manner lived upon Free Quarter and the Decimation of the Royalists bore no Proportion to support them His Expendition to Hispaniola from which he expected Mountains of Gold proved not only dishonourable but thereby he contracted so great a Debt as he could never live to overgrow In these Disquietudes of Mind his Looks were intent upon new and unusual Spectacles He took particular notice of the Carriage Manners Habit and Language of all Strangers especially if they seemed joyful He never stirr'd abroad without strong Guards wearing Armour under his Clothes and offensive Arms too never came back the common Road or the same Way he went and always passing with great speed had many Locks and Keys for the Door of his Houses seldom slept above three Nights in one Chamber nor in any which had not two or three Back-doors and Guards at all of them To these Dr. Bates in the second Part of his Elenchus adds this That Cromwel being much troubled with the Stone used sometimes to swill down several sorts of Liquors and then stir his Body by some violent kind of Motion as riding hard on Horseback jolting in a Coach c. that by such Agitation he might disburden his Bladder Wherefore one Day he took with him his Secretary Thurlow that they two might privately use this Exercise in a Coach in Hide-Park When they came thither Cromwel got into the Coach-box drawn by six brave Horses lately presented to him by Count Ollenburg and so soon as Cromwel began to snap his Whip the Horses ran away and the Postilion was thrown off the Fore-horse the Horses fretting and growing unruly tost Cromwel from his Seat upon the Pole and falling from thence upon the Ground was intangled in his Coat and dragged up and down till he received many Bruises a Pocket-Pistol in the mean time going off â—â—d his Coat rent but a Guard of Horse which waited at the â—ate seeing the Disaster hasting toward his Assistance disâ—â—tanâ—ed him out of the Danger However Cromwel to establish his ill-acquired Greatness in his Family makes his Son Henry Lieutenant of Ireland and fain would have made his Son Richard Governour of Scotland but Monk would not budg there which it may be was as great an Affliction to Cromwel as all those he laboured under before Now was Cromwel driven to a Forc'd-put if a Parliament could not help him he had lost his Game So he in September 1656 sets up a new Bawble call'd a Parliament Cromwel set his Wits upon Tenterhooks to have those chosen for England to be for his Turn he cared not so much for those sent from Scotland and Ireland being sure of them To this purpose his Major-Generals used all their Endeavours equally to hinder the Elections of Royalists and Republicans for neither would sute with Cromwel's Designs However Cromwel would not suffer any to enter the House before he subscribed to the Authority of the Protector These Men chose Sir Thomas Widdrington Speaker who June 1657 begirt Cromwel in Protectorean Robes for King he would not be and told him That the Robe of Purple is the Emblem of Magistracy which imports Righteousness and Justice the Robe of Mixt Colour Justice and Mercy and a great deal more of such Stuff which Cromwel regarded no more than he did Barebone's Parliament and his Instrument of Government To ease Cromwel of the Trouble this Parliament put down the Major-Generals who were become troublesome to Cromwel himself as well as the Nation in general and made it Treason to conspire Cromwel's Death and that the Royal Family should be renounced These gave Cromwel the Customs and a Triennial Tax upon all Houses built upon New Foundations in London and within ten Miles round that every one of them should pay Cromwel a Year's Rent And to endear him the more this Parliament gave Cromwel Leave to name his succeeding Protector which he kindly accepted By this you may see the Nature of the Beast for when Cromwel's former Parliament disputed the Authority of his Instrument of Government he told them It was the Foundation of Government upon which they must build and not destroy and therefore it was unalterable by Act of Parliament and by the Instrument his Council was to chuse a Successor But now 't is for his Turn the Parliament may alter his Instrument and give him Power to name his Successor This Alteration of naming a Successor had another Effect too for Lambert who expected to succeed Cromwel and therefore told Cromwel's former Parliament That unless they would confirm it they the Officers of the Army would call another and a third and fourth till the Instrument of Government was confirmed Now his Hopes of Succession were balk'd he tack'd about and seem'd to join with the Republican Party Hereupon Cromwel took away Lambert's Commission and made his son-in-Son-in-law Fleet-wood Lieutenant-General in his place So that tho Cromwel got a Power after his Death he distracted his Power whilst he was alive And as Pedlars which have not Gold yet will shew something which may glister like it so Cromwel that his Parliament may seem like a Parliament will have a House of Lords too but these are not Lords with Titles but Lords of the Lord knows what If you 'll take the Measures of the rest I 'll give you a List of some of them There was Pride the Brewer Huson the Shooe-maker Barkstead the Thimble-seller Cooper an Haberdasher of small Wares Whaley a Broken Clothier c. Yet these Lords must not be
called the Vpper but The Other House of Parliament Nothing could have madded the Republicans more than this Other House of Parliament What said they have we fought to Depose the Prerogative-Creatures the Lords those Limbs of Tyranny who so lorded it over the Free-born People of England and shall we submit to these Creatures of Cromwel to usurp the same Tyranny over us and the Free-born People of England Nor did this end in Words only but the Republicans conspire to make an Insurrection against Cromwel but were discover'd and dispersed by Cromwel for which Cromwel committed Lawson afterward Sir John Harrison Rich Sir Robert's own Father Danvers and several other Officers And one Sundercome more boldly attempted to have killed Cromwel as he should pass from White-hall to Hampton-Court and to that purpose had prepared a Blunderbuss loaded with twelve Bullets to shoot him out of an Arbour as he should pass in a narrow Way in Hammersmith but one Toop who seemed to conspire in it discovered this to Cromwel and so Sundercome was taken and condemned for High Treason by Cromwel's Law made this Parliament but Sundercome escaped the Execution being found dead in his Bed before Nor did this and the Other House agree better than Cromwel and the Commonwealth-Men this scorned the Other House as having no Authority from the People and were as vain as useless so that to prevent further Heats Cromwel adjourns them for six Months I 'll vie this Cromwel against Tarquin Agathocles either of the Dionysius's or any of the Roman Athenian or Sicilian Tyrants that he was a more arrogant and boundless Tyrant than any or all of them For if Tyranny be either Sine Titulo viz. To arrogate a Power over another which he hath nothing to do with or ab Exercitio to be bound by no Laws then both ways Cromwel was a greater Tyrant for Tarquin had a Title and his Vices were rather personal and particular than tending to subvert the Roman Laws and Constitutions So were the Vices of Agathocles and both the Dionysius's c. Whereas Cromwel's Title was only from some corrupted Officers of an Army raised by his twice deposed Masters and what Widdrington begirt him with So tho Cesar and his Successors did assume to themselves an Imperial Power which did not well sute with the Consular and Tribunitial Dignities yet they never made a Pack of Senators to do whatsoever they would have them nor forced or corrupted the Free Voices of the Romans in chusing such Tribunes as the Emperors pleased and permitted the Roman Laws to have their free Course Whereas Cromwel made a Parliament as 't was called of his own Nomination and tho he called two more yet they met by Elections utterly unknown to our Laws and Constitutions and when they met he would suffer none to sit but such as would own his Authority By our Laws the King cannot tax the Subject but by Consent in Parliament whereas Cromwel by his Instrument of Government of his own Will alone taxed the Nation to maintain him an Army of Twenty Thousand Foot and Ten Thousand Horse and after taxed the Cavaliers a tenth Part of their Estates It 's the Birth-right of every English-man not to be punished in his Person Liberty or Fortune but by Judgment of his Peers or the Law of the Land and these to be done by Legal Officers whereas this Cromwel without any Law imprisoned and took away Mens Lives and Estates by a new thing called A High Court of Justice never heard of in this Nation before the Rump and himself the Judges whereof were of his own naming and his Janisaries the Soldiers his Military Executioners But it may be objected Cromwel had reason for erecting his High Court of Justice having been so ill used by Jurors for he had by them tried John Lilburn twice for High Treason and Sir John Stawel thrice who were acquitted by these Juries yet neither of them could be discharged from their Imprisonment which by Law they ought to have been But that which madded Cromwel most and made him utterly out of love with Juries was that three Men Davison Holder and Thorold being apprehended upon Suspicion of endeavouring to bring in the King were committed Prisoners to a Provost Marshal and these having obtained leave of the Provost to walk abroad under the Guard of a Souldier they would have wheedled the Souldier to have made their Escape which the Souldier refusing they killed him Cromwel who before designed to have sacrificed these Men by a High Court of Justice having as he thought a more plain Proof of Murder against them than he had for their endeavouring to bring in the King would now try them at Common Law by a Jury When they came upon their Trial they pleaded Not Guilty and upon their Trial the Question was Whether they were legally committed which if the Jury found they were to find them guilty of Murder if not they could find it but se defendendo or at highest but Manslaughter and the Jury found them not legally committed and so acquitted them of Murder This put Cromwel so out of conceit with Juries that he never after made use of them in Capital Cases However by this he might see he was as little regarded by the Body of the Nation as by his discarded Officers and the Commonwealth-Men Nor was Cromwel a better Governour in Church than State for he prostituted all Orders of Christianity and so little regarded things dedicated to Sacred Uses that he made St. Paul's Church a Garison for his Souldiers and a Stable for Horses and his Want of Money was as Great as the Love of the Nation was little This being a forc'd-Put he 'll try once more what he can get by a Parliament and that it may be a Free Parliament it should be made up of the other House and Republicans were permitted to sit in this Thus qualified they met upon the twentieth of January 1657. Never was such Brawling heard the Republicans brawling against Cromwel's Creatures in this House and both against Cromwel's Lords in the other House so that it may be truly said of this Parliament That this did out-babble that of Barebone's as far As these above those Men in Number are viz. Above Three-fold more Cromwel therefore not able to endure their Jangling longer and having got not a Groat by them suddenly dissolved them and shall never call another To make this Tragedy a little comical Cardinal Mazarine was as little a Slave to his Word as Cromwel and endeavoured to enlarge the French Dominions by as unworthy means as Cromwel did to establish his About this time a Party of the Garison of Ostend with the Privity of the Governour held Intelligence with Mazarine and after with Cromwel to betray the Town to the French wherein Cromwel was to have his Share Mazarine was to send a Land-Army commanded by Marshal d'â— Aumont and Cromwel was to provide a Fleet to transport them and the
do but said He would consider some time of it The next Day after Monk attended by Robison and Scot went to the House where the Speaker caress'd him in a florid Speech congratulating his coming to Town and in the Name of the House thank'd him for the great Service he had done them To which Monk in a plain Soldier-like Answer said That amongst the many Mercies of God to these poor Nations their Restitution was not the least that it was his Work alone and to him belongs the Glory of it that he esteemed it an Effect of God's Goodness that he was some ways instrumental in it wherein he did no more than his Duty which did not deserve the high Mark of Favour they put upon it That he would trouble them with no large Narratives yet desired leave to acquaint them That in his March from Scotland he observed the People in most Countries earnestly desired a Settlement for a full and free Parliament and that they would determine their Sitting a Gospel Ministry Encouragement for Learning in the Vniversities and that the Secluded Members before 1648 might be admitted without previous Oaths That he had answered They the Rump were a free Parliament and if there were any Force upon them he would remove it that you would fill up your House and then would be a full Parliament and that you had already determined your Sitting And for the Ministry and their Maintenance the Laws and Vniversities you had declared largely concerning them in your last Declaration That for the Gentlemen secluded before 1648 you had already given your Judgment and that they ought to acquiesce therein but to admit Members to sit without a previous Oath was never done in England yet begg'd leave to say That the less Oaths and Engagements were imposed your Settlement would be sooner attained yet that neither the Cavalier nor Fanatick Party have any share in the Civil or Military Power Then he recommended to them the State of Scotland and Ireland which you may read at large in the third Part of Dr. Bates ' s Elenchus The Rump were as little pleased with Monk's Speech as the Council of State with his Refusal to take the Oath of Abjuring the King and Royal Family therefore seeing he would not Swear as the Rump would have him they 'll try if he will Do as they will have him The Common-Council in London had passed an Order That unless they had a full and free Parliament they would pay no more Taxes This so startled the Rump that the next day after Monk had been at the House they sent to him to send 12 of the forwardest Citizens to the Tower and to pull up the City-Posts Chains and Portcullices In Obedience to the Rump's Order Monk marches into the Old Exchange and secur'd as many of the Citizens the Rump ordered as he found there but when he issued out his Orders to pull down the Posts Chains Gates and Portcullices the Officers withdrew and consulted what to do and resolved They could not obey these Orders and offered to lay down their Commissions Monk endeavour'd to pacify them and told them The Orders of the Council were to be obeyed but they persisted so as he was forced to set his lesser Officers to do the Work but did not pull down the Gates and Portcullices thinking he had done enough to satisfy the Rump but was mistaken for the Rump sent more peremptory Orders to pull down the Gates and Portcullices which piece of Drudgery Monk perform'd Col. Herb. Morley a Non-Abjurer of the King at this time was Lieutenant of the Tower and took this Occasion to come to Monk and assured him for the Tower himself and Sir J. Fagg his brother-in-Brother-in-law whose two Regiments were in London and were resolved to agree with him in any Matters that should be for the publick Peace and Settlement This was a Preparative to what followed and that Night Monk returned to White-hall And the next Day or a Day after Praise-God Barebone with a multitude of Water-men and others who it may be could neither write nor read presented a Petition to the Rump for the excluding the King and Royal Family and that those who refused should not be capable of any Imployment for which the Rump thank'd them but the Success shall be no better than Richard's 90 Congratulatory Addresses This struck directly at the Authority of Monk whereupon he called a private Council of his Confidents to advise what to do where it was resolved to take a General Muster of his Army in Finsbury-fields the 11th of Febr. From whence Monk wrote to the Rump That the Services he had done them were slighted whilst the late Traitors no less Enemies to them than the Commonwealth had more Esteem than he From whence else was their Kindness to Lambert and Vane and new Offences against him and their Respect to that leering Heretick Barebone and all his Rabble And therefore demanded that the filling up their Members be within a Week and their Sitting determined and to give place to a new Parliament From Finsbury Monk sent to the Mayor That he would dine with him at the Bull-head in Cheapside where he desired the Mayor in the Evening to call a Court of Aldermen at Guild-hall This was blown about the City and thousands came to Guild-hall and I amongst the rest to see what the Meaning of it should be About six Monk came and all the way as he came and quite through the Hall the Cry was A Free Parliament I saw him when he lighted out of his Coach and went leaning on Col. Cloberry's Shoulder into the Mayor's Court but not one word he said and when he came into the Mayor's Court he read a Letter he sent that Morning to the Rump and then returned the Cry was the same A Free Parliament Monk said nothing Cloberry said You shall have a Free Parliament And it 's not to be imagin'd how far this spread in so little time for I believe in less than 2 Hours all the Bells of London were ringing and in all the Streets to the number 't was said of above 6000 Bonfires were made and Rumps of all sorts roasting But that Night Monk did not return to White-hall but lay at the Glass-house in Broadstreet If the Rump were nettled at Monk's Speech they were now ready to die for fear but since they could not shew their Teeth they would shew their Back-sides and voted a Committee of Five to order the Affairs of the Army whereof Monk to be one But Monk who but 4 Days before was so terrible to the City is now become their Darling they let him have 30000 l. to pay his Army in the City whereas that without was like a Herd of Goats upon the Mountains having no body to look after them nor a Penny to help themselves And Monk now having his Army entirely at his Devotion scorn'd for all the Rump's Vote to suffer any other of their Committee to
before we will lay to the Charge of Cardinal Mazarine We will therefore see if the French King was not as little a Slave to his Word in this League as Mazarine was in any before and you 'll see that in all the Leagues this King after made he was as little a Slave to his Word as in this Treaty We have in the former Book set down particularly the Article whereby the French King upon his Honour and the Faith and Word of a King did promise neither directly nor indirectly to assist Portugal against Spain yet at the beginning of the Treaty they secretly conveyed Troops into Portugal in several Bodies And when upon Complaint of the Marquess de la Fuente they sent publick Orders to the Governours of their Ports not to suffer any Souldiers to embark for Portugal they did not abstain by Connivance under-hand to let them pass Nay when Marshal Turene made publick Levies to assist Portugal it being complained of by the Marquess de la Fuente they answered it was a particular Act of the Marshal and the Court of France had no Hand in it And also continually supplied Portugal with Corn and all sorts of Ammunition And France also fomented the Obstinacy of Portugal to continue the War when Spain offered them advantagious Terms of Peace This and much more you may read in the second Article of The Buckler of State and Justice Nor did the French King stay here but being become the dearest Confident with his Brother of England almost as soon as the King was settled the French sent Monsieur Courtin to move the King not to abandon Portugal nor did he yet stay here but Mazarine dying much about the latter end of Summer having a Stone in his Heart so the French Pasquils said in September or beginning of October the Queen-Mother came over seemingly to treat with her Son for a Marriage between Monsieur of France and her fair Daughter Henrietta Maria the King 's beloved Sister Yet it seems to me the Marriage of the King with the Infanta of Portugal was not less designed than that with Monsieur And besides these you will soon hear of something else which brought the Queen-Mother into England As the Designs of the Queen's coming over were dark so I acknowledg I have not seen any of the Treaties or Transactions concerning them but must take Measures by what followed and so far as I had Light from what went before yet in all of them it seems evident to me that the Queen shewed her self to be more affectionate to her Daughter than Son and to be more a Daughter of France than Queen of England But before I proceed it will be convenient to take notice of the deplorable State of Spain which their Ambition in seeking so many Foreign Dominions and a Tyrannical Government had brought it to For before the Accession of their American Dominions which they acquired by unjust War and unheard-of Cruelties in all the ten Years War between Ferdinand and Isabella with the Moors who had seven hundred Years been possessed of the Kingdoms of Granada Murcia and a great part of Andaluzia every Year the Moors and Christians brought near a hundred thousand Men into the Field to fight one with another yet the Kingdoms of Arragon Navar and Portugal were Neutral in all the War Whereas now all the Kingdoms of Spain except that of Portugal were united under this King Philip the Fourth yet out of them all he could not raise an Army to fight the Portuguese but trusting to the French Faith in the Pyrenaean Treaty sent the Army in Flanders under the Command of the Marquess Caracene to do it The King imbraced the Overtures of both Marriages and now the French King doubly if not trebly assured of his Brother of England as well by the Treaties of these Marriages as by his Message by Courtin no longer acts covertly in assisting the Prince Regent of Portugal against Spain but bare-fac'd sent Marshal Schomberg with an Army and Fleet to their Assistance yet this Army was not sufficient to make an Offensive War against Spain but Portugal stood only upon the Defensive The Want of Money a little retarded the Marriage of the Princess with Monsieur but this might be easily help'd if the King would give up Dunkirk to the French whereby he might pay 200000 l. for his Sister's Portion which was more than his Father had with his Mother and also receive 200000 l. more for himself Nor was this all he might save the Charges of maintaining a Garison there yet the Parliament in the Hereditary Excise allowed him 60000 l. per Annum for the Support of it I do not find this mentioned in the Body of the Act yet several Members assured me it was so intended in the passing the Act. All this the King agreed to and so Dunkirk and Mardike Fort were given up to the French against all the Laws of Humanity Justice and Prudence I say it was against all the Laws of Humanity for the Spaniard entertained and relieved the King when the French had expelled him and joined with Oliver the Usurper of all his Dominions It was against Justice for the Soveraignty of Dunkirk was of Right and Justice the Spaniards And against the Rules of Policy and Prudence the French Nation being the Natural Enemies of the English and the next Neighbour to it and of all Nations the most formidable It had been happier for the poor Spaniard and the English Nation if the Unkindness of the King to the Spaniard had ended in his giving up Dunkirk to the French but it ended not here for the King imployed the Army which should have kept Dunkirk against the Spaniard in Portugal and with these and another Band of the disbanded English Army joined to them the French Portuguese and English or rather the English without them routed the whole united Army of the Spaniard at the Fight of Elvas So as now the French had a new Inlet into Flanders and the Spaniard no Army to defend it This was a foul Blot in the Spanish Politicks by their King 's trusting to the Faith of his Brethren of England and France But this will not stay here as hereafter you will see Here I take leave so well as I can to vindicate the Memory of my Lord Chancellor Hide from two Aspersions as I conceive cast upon him one That he was the Adviser of the giving up Dunkirk to the French The other That he was the Procurer of the King's Marriage with the Infanta of Portugal For the first I was assured by a credible Person tho a Confident of my Lord Chancellor's that he was so far from advising the King to give up Dunkirk to the French that only he and my Lord Treasurer Southampton upon whose Honour my Lord Chancellor relied more than any other of all the Council entred their Protestations against it The Truth of this may be resolved by inspecting the Privy-Council's Books It 's true
I cannot prove negatively that my Lord Chancellor did not first propound the King's Marriage with the Infanta of Portugal yet it seems to me reasonable he did not for these Reasons I never heard of any Discourse of this Match before the Arrival of the Queen-Mother in England or if any were it 's probable that Monsieur Courtin had this in his Instructions as well as that of moving the King not to abandon Portugal for both these tend to the same end and the French King all his Reign after sought to attain his Ends by Women as well as other Ways Nor can it be believed that the Prince of Portugal now engaged in War against Spain should pay the Queen's Portion 400000 l. I believe he did what he could give up Tangier and Bombay to the King which last Place he leased to the East-India Company for 10 l. per Annum but the Money was paid by the French King Though the Factions had such ill Success with previous Swearing which every one imposed upon the Nation when it was uppermost and which no Man regarded when another succeeded yet upon the Restoration of the King the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which latter was only imposed upon certain Sorts of Men and as my Lord Verulam says sinks deep into the Conscience and was therefore interpreted by Queen Elizabeth in her Injunctions which were after confirmed by Act of Parliament were imposed upon all sorts of People and the Refusers looked upon as Enemies to the King and Favourers of the late Times And tho the Convention sate but from the 25th of April 1660 to the 29th of December following yet by this time the outward Face of almost all the Nation was quite changed the Cavalier Party under the Persecution of the late times lived quietly upon that part of their Estates which was permitted them after their Compositions and the Governing Factions put on a Countenance of Godliness and Sobriety whereas in the Jollity of the King's Restoration all sorts of Men even the Factions endeavoured to imitate the profuse Prodigality and Luxury of the Court which scarce entertained any but upon those Terms To humour the King the Publick Theaters were stuffed with most Obscene Actions and Interludes and the more Obscene pleased the King the better who graced the opening of them with his Presence at the first Notice of a new Play In this State the Convention was dissolved and a Parliament met the eighth of May 1661. where that they might outvy the Convention in Loyalty in the first Chapter they make Words to compass or imagine any Bodily Harm Imprisonment or Restraint upon the Body of the King or to Depose him or levy War against him to be High-Treason And if any shall any ways affirm the King to be a Heretick or Papist shall be incapacitated to hold any Ecclesiastical Civil or Military Imployment And that it shall be a Premunire in any to say The Long Parliament begun in November 1640 is not dissolved or that there lies any Obligation upon any one from any Oath to endeavour a Change of Government either in Church or State or that one or both Houses of Parliament have a Legislative Power and declare the Oath commonly called The Solemn League and Covenant to be an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subject against the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of the Nation And Chap. 5. declare against Tumultuary petitioning the King or Parliament And Chap. 6. declare the sole Right of the Militia to be in the King This Parliament upon the thirtieth of July was adjourned to the twentieth of November This being but an Adjournment and so the Act of the Houses for as yet the King did not exercise his Prerogative of Proroguing them which hereafter you will see him very prodigal of I do not find that this Adjournment was made that the King might better proceed in his Bargain and Sale of Dunkirk to the French Yet I do say that before the Parliament met it was as I remember in September that the Bargain and Sale was perfected and Dunkirk put into the Power of the French But neither the Sale of Dunkirk without nor the keeping up a standing Army within called the King's Guards after it was disbanded and paid off by the Covention nor the King's Manner of Life could any ways abate the Loyalty of this Parliament to the King and keep him they would whatever came of it And to all the Provisions for Security of his Person and Power they will add that to keep him in which the Rump in its last Breath did to keep him out viz. To swear to keep him out And therefore the Parliament Chap. 2. made the Corporation-Oath to be taken by all the Members of Corporations viz. I A. B. do declare and believe that it is not Lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King And that I do abhor that Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those who are commissioned by him So help me God This I think is one of the first Laws that ever was made to swear to Opinions and Belief And sure if Swearing would determine Controversies and Beliefs all Learning Reasoning and Instruction would be at an end and he that swears most is the best Logician and the Godliest Man We will therefore consider the Nature of an Oath and those who are to take this Oath If we consider Man and other Sensitive Creatures in their Creation and Generation they were all passive and they were created and generated without any Act of their own Will or the Counsel or Concurrence of any Creature but of a Divine and Omnipotent Power and by a Providence and Prescience not less wise and good than the Power was Omnipotent they had Food and other Means for their Continuance in this World provided before they were created or generated But though God without the Act of the Will of any Creature did make Man and other Sensitive Creatures by an inimitable Power which he communicated to no Creature and by an unscrutable Wisdom and Goodness did provide for them before they were made or generated yet did he not in vain make them Organical Bodies endued with Life Sense and Motion so that after they were made they might seek food which God had before provided for them and preserve themselves from other Creatures which might be hurtful to them As Sensation is naturally common to Man and other Sensitive Creatures so are the Passions of Love Fear Hatred and Desire viz. Love of those things which conduce to their Welfare and Preservation Fear of those things which are hurtful to them accompanied with an Hatred of them and a Desire of generating their Like in other Bodies Besides these Attributes common to other Creatures God endued Man with an Intellectual and Reasonable Soul which is proper to Man exclusive to other Creatures and made all things in this our Habitable World for the Use of
of State of Scotland and as Runnagadoes from Christianity become the greatest Persecutors of Christians so was Lauderdale of the Kirk and Presbyterian Government However Lauderdale seemed zealous for calling a Parliament in Scotland and demolishing the Forts thaâ— bridled the Scots which Monk opposed and hereby Lauderdale became popular in Scotland so that all Applications to the King from thence was by Lauderdale In this state it was not easily determined who should be Commissioner in Scotland in case a Parliament should be called for Affairs were not yet ripe enough to make a Popish one nor would the Court trust a Presbyterian one and Lauderdale would not forsake his Post at Court where he govern'd all but continue it that all the Motions in Parliament might receive their Life from him At last it was agreed That Middleton who first served the Kirk against King Charles I. and after changing Sides made some Bustle in Scotland after the King left it should be created an Earl and made Commissioner and a Parliament should be called in Scotland The Nobility and Gentry of Scotland clearly saw there was no other way to redeem Scotland from being a conquered Nation and a Province to England but by an entire Submission to the King Lauderdale knew this as well as they and therefore resolved to make them pay dear for their Deliverance and now you shall see the Nobility and Gentry which with the Kirk united against King Charles I. divide under his Son and sacrifice the Kirk and all their Discipline to make an Atonement for themselves The first Act which was shewed herein was upon this Occasion The firy Zeal of the Kirk-men burnt up all Rules of Prudence or the Consideration of the present State of Scotland so that even in this state Crowns and Scepters must submit to the Kirk And that the King might know his Duty a Company of them met together and drew up a Supplication as they said but in nature of a Remonstrance to the King setting forth the Calamities they groaned under in the Time of the Usurpers by their impious Incroachments upon the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the Liberties thereof which of themselves they were not able to suppress and overcome and the Danger of the Popish and Prelatical Party now beginning again to lift up their Head they press him to mind his â—aths and Covenant with God c. The Committee of Estates well knowing how ungrateful this would be to the King upon the 23d of August 1660. sent a Party and apprehended these Men whereof one Mr. James Guthry was the chief of whom you 'll hear more hereafter and committed them Prisoners to Edinburgh-Castle and from thence Guthry was sent Prisoner to Dundee for treasonable and seditious reflecting on his Majesty and on the Government of England and the Constitution of the Committee of State and tending to raise new Tumults and kindling a new Civil War among his Majesty's good Subjects This was the first Spark which soon burnt into such a Flame as totally consumed the whole Kirk-Party in Scotland and left them in a much worse plight than before when they suffered under the Usurpation as they called it of the English For during the late Usurpations the Kirk enjoyed a Liberty of Conscience but it 's the Nature of some Men that unless they may persecute other Men they 'll exclaim they are persecuted themselves and therefore since they were not able to do it themselves they minded the King of his Covenant with God to extirpate Heresy Schism and Profaneness and to remove the stumbling which the King had given them in admitting Prelacy Ceremonies and Service-Book in the King's Chappel and other Places of his Dominions But these Men were mistaken in their Measures for after the King was expelled from Scotland by Cromwel he little I may say never observed the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechisms in his Family according to the National and Solemn League and Covenant as he repeated in his Coronation-Oath and less the establishing Presbyterian Government in England and Ireland and least of all in Scotland For one of the first Acts of the first Sessions was an Anniversary Thanksgiving to be observed on every May 29 with this Proem The States of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland taking into their Consideration the sad Condition Slavery and Bondage this antient Kingdom has groaned under these twenty three Years the time when the Troubles arose in K. Charles the First 's Reign in which under very specious Pretences of Reformation a publick Rebellion has been by the Treachery of some and Misperswasion of others violently carried on against sacred Authority to the Ruin and Destruction so far as was possible of Religion this King's Majesty and his Royal Government the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and all the publick and private Interests of the Kingdom so that Religion it self hath been prostituted for the Warrant of all these treasonable Invasions made upon the Royal Authority and disloyal Limitations upon the Allegiance of the Subjects Therefore upon the 29th of May be set apart for an Holy Day c. Yet soon after the King's Restoration he wrote to the Presbytery of Edinburgh promising to countenance the Church as by Law established But Lauderdale knew his Mind better Here it 's observable That in 1638 when the Kirk were so zealous with lifted-up Hands in the Presence of the Eternal God to swear to establish their National Covenant there was not one of the Nobility but the Popish except the Marquess of Hamilton and the Earl of Traquair but joined with the Kirk expresly against the King's Command Traquair the Kirk-Party proceeded against as an Incendiary and after Hamilton secretly joined with the Covenanters for which King Charles I. made him Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle from whence he was discharged when Fairfax had it surrender'd And not one of the Nobility except Argile and Cassels but declare this and all the Kirk-Proceedings since Treasonable Rebellion against the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and Prostitution of Religion and this Declaration was celebrated with a double Sacrifice the Marquess of Argile being executed as a Traitor for holding Correspondence with Cromwel and his Head set where Montross's stood on the Monday before and Mr. Guthry on Saturday after for refusing to own the Jurisdiction of the Judges in Ecclesiastical Affairs had his Head set upon one of the Ports of Edinburgh This was a sad Presage to the Kirk of what followed For as they without the King would impose their Solemn League and Covenant upon England now by the King and Parliament an Oath of Allegiance in the very Nature if not the Words of the Oath of Supremacy in England is imposed upon them wherein they are to swear That the King is the supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes c. and That they will maintain defend and assist his Majesty's Jurisdiction aforesaid against all
and that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any of the Subjects from the said Oaths or either of them to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of the Kingdom Thus you see the Parliament throw this upon the Son which his Father so zealously contended for even to the Loss of his Life and when they had done all they could the Son little cared for what they had done For the Year after viz. 1663 the King granted a Toleration and Indulgence to Dissenters from the Church Thinking Men thought this strange that the King should the Year before pass the Act of Vniformity as the best Means to secure the Church against Popery and Fanaticism and in this grant a Toleration It could not be in Favour of them termed Fanaticks who kept him from his Crown and last Year Venner with his Party would have expell'd him again And this Year Swarms of Pamphlets were spread abroad to defame his Person and Government For printing some of which Twyn the Printer was hanged Thinking Men considered too the time when this Indulgence was granted for as the King in the Sale of Dunkirk chose to do it in the Interval of the Sitting of the Parliament so he did grant this Indulgence I think in November when the Parliament was prorogued to February But tho the Parliament would take no notice of the Sale of Dunkirk they did of this and therefore the Commons upon their Meeting entred into a serious Debate about it and made an Address to the King humbly representing How it would reflect upon the Wisdom of the Parliament to have such an Alteration made so soon and that for ought they could foresee would end in Popery And sure the Commons were true Prophets herein However whether the King fearing the Continuance of the Indulgence might retard the Commons in giving him Money or that time was not yet ripe enough to insist upon it at present he recalled his Declaration So that tho the King did establish a High Commission in Scotland by his Prerogative Inherent in his Crown which the Parliament agreed to in Scotland yet this Indulgence had not the like Effect in England This Indulgence may seem more strange if we look into Ireland where the Irish this very Year were contriving a Massacre of the Protestants and holding Intelligence with the French King which you may read at large in Plunket's Trial and this proved by Popish Witnesses I do not find the Irish had any Countenance herein by the King nor do I believe the French King acquainted his Brother of England with it Yet the Insincerity of the King's Intentions of any Benefit the Protestant Dissenters should have by this Indulgence will appear by this that when the Parliament seeing the Danger which the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters might bring upon the Nation had prepared Bills for the Ease of Protestant Dissenters the King would not pass them However the Memory of the Rage and Tyranny of the late Times took deeper Impression in the Parliament than the Fear of Popery intended by the King's Toleration and Indulgence and therefore the Parliament from new invented Swearing and new invented Declaring proceed to new invented Laws against Dissenters and Conventicles and the Act of the 16 Car. 2. c. 4. does declare the 35 of Eliz. c. 1. to stand in full Force and ought to be put in Execution and did also enact That if any Number above Five more than the Family shall meet in any Assembly or Conventicle upon Colour or Pretence of Religion in any other manner than is allowed by the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England he shall be committed Prisoner for the first Offence there to remain for a Term not exceeding three Months unless such Offender shall pay a Sum of Money not exceeding Five Pounds for the second Offence to be committed to Prison for a Term not exceeding Six Months or pay a Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds and for the third Offence to be transported beyond the Seas for the Space of seven Years unless he pay one hundred Pounds I will not dispute the Justice of these Laws but I say no Human Laws can divest Men of Human Nature but that Man as well as all other Creatures will endeavour by such Means as they are endued with to preserve their Being and Subsistence in this World And herein I again observe the unhappy State of this Nation in the Education of Youth in the Grammar-Schools and our Academical Learning as 't is called For tho a great Part of the Youth of England have Means to maintain them after they have lost their time of Youth under this unprofitable Breeding whereby they are no way instructed how to live and converse in this World yet double if not treble Numbers of Youth are thus bred who have little or no Means to maintain them after they become Men and more than can be maintained by the Revenues of the Church as they are established I say therefore this kind of Breeding Youth shall eternally create Feuds and a kind of Civil War between those who are in Church-Preferments and those excluded from them and these for their necessary Subsistence shall become Patrons of Factions opposite to the Church within the Kingdom and to the promoting the Popish Interest without In the late Times when the Presbyterians bare the Sway were there not enow of that Party to supply the Vacancies of the Sequestred Clergy besides such Swarms of the Patrons of Independency as were more numerous than they and who turned them out Yet was there a large Relick for to promote the Popish Faction Upon the Restoration of the King when the Sequestred Clergy were restored were there not Multitudes of such Clergy as would have conformed yet could not get any Preferment in the Church Thus excluded what other means had they to subsist but to become Nurseries of Factions which were opposite to the Church and tho these Laws were intended against Protestant Dissenters who had no other means of living but dissenting yet you shall soon hear of another Sort of Dissenters and these secretly countenanced by this most Religious and Gracious King which shall be much more dangerous to this Church and State than those against whom these Laws were made And I say the Vnreasonableness of Separation from the Communion of the Church of England will no more prevent this than Origines Sacrae by not only confounding but inverting all Rules and Methods of Reasoning prove a Deity or the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures thereby making them the Creatures of a Creature and the Production of a Fantastick Brain CHAP. II. A further Account of this Reign to the End of the Second Dutch War THe King being thus established in England and Scotland tho he was not so in Ireland this Year shews the Effects of his Power by making a War upon the Dutch and even this War
sent a Squadron under Sir John Lawson to that end And the Dutch sent another commanded by De Ruiter seemingly but not designedly for to join Sir John against the Algerines For De Ruiter after he had entred the Straits abandoned Sir John Lawson and sailed to Cape Verd and dispossessed the English of their Factories nor did he stay there but sailing thence he attempted Barbadoes but was beaten off with loss But with better Success he sailed to Long-Island where he made great Depradations This Double-dealing of the Dutch alarm'd the Parliament so as they petitioned the King to make War upon the Dutch and the King was well disposed to it having before designed it as many thought and so took this Occasion for it nor were the City of London less forward than the Parliament for promoting this War and upon that Account furnished the King with several Sums of Money for which both Houses gave the City Thanks upon the Twenty Fifth of November 1665. The King the Day before made this Speech to the Commons Mr. Speaker and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons I know not whether it be worth my Pains to endeavour to remove a vile Jealousy which some ill Men scatter abroad and which I am sure will never sink into the Breast of any Man who is worthy to sit upon your Benches that when you have given me a Noble and Proportionable Supply for the Support of a War I may be induced by some evil Counsellors for they will be thought to think very respectfully of my Person to make a sudden Peace and get all the Money for my own Private Occasions But let me tell you and you may be confident of it That when I am compelled to enter into a War for the Protection Honour and Benefit of my Subjects I will God willing not make a Peace but upon the obtaining and securing those Ends for which the War is entred into and when that can be done no good Man will be sorry for the Determination of it But the War was not declared till the 22d of February following But here I observe that neither my Lord Chancellor Hide nor my Lord Treasurer Southampton were present in Council at it It may seem strange to any Man conversant in our Government that the King in less than four Years and a half after his Restoration should be in such a Necessity of borrowing such Sums of Money of the City for the disbanding of the Army was paid by the Convention and Parliament and the Parliament had settled the Excise on him which was cessed at 500000 l. per Annum and the Customs at 600000 l. and Chimney-Money worth 150000 l. per Annum and 12 Car. 2. c. 26. granted the King the Arrears of twelve Months Assessment commencing the 25th of December 1659 and C. 29. gave the King 70000 l. and C. 34. also the Post-Office worth 50000 l. per Annum and in the 13 Car. 2. cap. 3. vested in the King the Arrears of the Excise and new Imposts and in the second Session Cap. 3. the Parliament gave the King 1270000 l. and Cap. 5. a voluntary Contribution and C. 8. gave the poor Cavaliers 60000 l. that the King might never hear more of them and C. 9. granted a further Relief for the poor and maimed Officers which had served the King's Father and also Cap. 15. four intire Subsidies by the Laity and four by the Clergy besides all the forfeited Estates both in England and Ireland So that the Excise Customs Chimney-Money Post-Office and forfeited Estates at a moderate Computation may be computed at 1600000 l. per Annum a new Addition to the Crown which Queen Elizabeth had not only the Court of Wards was exchanged for part of the Hereditary Excise And if you compute but six Months Arrear of the twelve Months Assessment at 70000 l. per Mensem beginning at Christmass 1659 this will amount to 420000 l. and the Arrears of the Excise and new Impost at 300000 l. and 70000 l. granted the King 12 Car. I. 29. and the 1270000 l. 13 Car. II. 3. and the voluntary Contribution at 300000 l. and the four Subsidies granted by the Clergy and Laity at 400000 l. besides the new added Revenue of 1600000 l. per Annum to the Crown the King in less than four Years and a half received 2860000 l. or two Millions eight hundred and sixty thousand Pounds Yet the King paid no Debts of his Father's nor do I find he built any new Men of War nor made any War except that last Year against the Algerines It 's true he married his Sister but had twice her Portion of the French King for the Sale of Dunkirk and also 400000 l. Portion with the Queen Now let 's see how things stood in Scotland During the Earl of Middleton's Commission the Parliament of Scotland granted the King so great a Revenue that the King signified his Pleasure not to raise any more but tho Middleton in the general Opinion had done more in Scotland than could have been expected yet Lauderdale thought he had not done enough and therefore got the Parliament to be dissolved and a new one to be called in 1663 and the Earl of Rothes the Ring-leader of the Presbyterians in the Reign of Charles the First and was the first that subscribed the Letter to Lewis the XIII th for his Aid by the Appellation of Au Roy to be made Commissioner The King's Supremacy in all Ecclesiastial and Civil Matters and so great a Revenue as the King could ask being settled by Middleton one would have thought no more could be done yet another Law must be passed intituled the Humble Tender Whereby the Kingdom of Scotland is obliged to raise the King twenty thousand Foot and two thousand Horse sufficiently armed and furnished with forty days Provision to be in a readiness at his Majesty's Call And also that all Scots-Men from sixteen to sixty if the King should have further use of them should hazard their Lives and Fortunes as they shall he called by his Majesty for the Safety and Preservation of his Sacred Person Authority and Government to march into any part of Scotland England or Ireland for the suppressing any Foreign Invasion or Intestine Troubles or any other Service wherein his Majesty's Honour c. was concerned And this Law it may be was the Equivalent for which the Forts were demolished Tho Rothes was Commissioner when the Act passed yet Lauderdale assumed to himself the Glory of it and it 's observable this Act passed the same Year and about the same time the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence to the Dissenters in England Thus you see as the Parliament of Scotland outrun the Parliament of England in Loyalty to the King so at least they went hand in hand with them in grauting the King more Aids than he would ask of the Subjects of his antient Kingdom Never had Kings of England or Scotland their Debts so easily
paid or was one tenth part so highly caressed by their Subjects in a time of Peace Was it not strange then that the King should be in such Necessities for Money as to borrow such great Sums of the City for carrying on this hasty War before the Parliament should meet to supply him Whereas when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown her Revenue besides the Court of Wards and the Dutchy of Lancaster was but 188179 l. per Annum and the Crown left in Debt by her Father Brother and Sister which she afterwards paid and for the four first Years of her Reign the Parliament gave her but one Subsidy and two Fifteens about 120000 l. Yet in these Years she fitted up her Navy Royal so as it was not only superiour to those of all the Neighbouring Nations but of any Prince in the World and also sent a Fleet and Land-Army into Scotland with which she expelled the French out of it And the Parliament in the fifth Year of her Reign gave her but another Subsidy and two Fifteens wherewith she assisted the Princes of the Reform'd Religion in France Whereas the Parliament in the fifth Year of this King 's actual Reign gave him 2467500 l. for carrying on the War against the Dutch I will not dispute the Justice of this War yet sure never was any made with such Precipitancy and Inconsideration both abroad and at home for as the King entred into no Alliances or Confederations abroad in it so on the contrary France and Denmark our next Neighbouring Nations join'd with the Dutch against the King and that tho the Spaniard stood Neuter in it yet the King had little reason to expect any Benefit from him having been so used in the King's Sale of Dunkirk to the French and joining with the Portuguese and French against the Spaniard And as the King had made no Foreign Alliances abroad so had he not laid up any Naval Stores at home and which is worse he had the Act of Navigation tho made by the Rump yet the Parliament 13 Car. II. confirmed it or set the Royal Stamp upon it to struggle with to supply himself with Naval Stores for carrying on the War For the Rump were as hasty in making the Act of Navigation as the King was in entring into this War and made it general without any Consideration of Time either in War or Peace and herein their Zeal to make this Law outrun their Wit or Memory for these very Men about ten Years ago viz. 16 Car. I. 21. which yet stands unrepealed taking notice of the manifold Mischiefs tho in time of Peace which happened by reason the Importation of Gunpowder was prohibited contrary to Law viz. That the Price of Gunpowder was excessively raised many Powder-Mills decayed the Kingdom much weakned and endangered the Merchants much damnified many Mariners and others taken Prisoners and brought into miserable Captivity and Slavery many Ships taken by Turkish Pirates and many other Inconveniences thereby ensued and like to ensue Therefore this Act made the Importation of Gunpowder Salt-petre and Brimstone free to Strangers as well as Natives and a Premunire to hinder it Whereas in this War if the East-India Company shall set double or treble the Price upon Salt-petre or if their Ships should miscarry yet by this Act it is Confiscation of Ship Goods Tackle Apparel and Ammunition for the Subjects of any other Nation to import Salt-petre or Gunpowder The King tho this were a Naval War having laid up no Stores for it yet if the Swede from any Port of Norway but Gottenburg or if the Bradenburgher Lubeker Hamburgher or Emdenber should import any from any Port of Norway or any rough Hemp or Flax from Leifland or Prussia for making Cordage or Sails this had been Confiscation of Ships Goods Guns Tackle Ammunition and Apparel by this Act. This Act restraining the English in the Newcastle Trade and to the Plantations to navigate their Ships by three fourths English the King was forced to man his Fleet with pressed Men the greater part whereof were Land and Water-Men Whereas if it had been free for the English during the War to have imployed Foreigners in these Navigations the King might have above twenty thousand of his best Sea-men more than he had to man his Fleet and the City of London and other Parts of England throughly supplied with Coals at half the Prices and with more Security The King by reason of this Act in the first Year of this War was forced in the dead of Winter to send Sir John Harman to Gottenburg with a Squadron of Men of War for Masts Pitch and Tar where by the Coldness of the Season some of the Ships were frozen up and many of the English lost their Noses and were benumm'd in other Parts with the Cold Yet all agreed if the King had not been supplied with Naval Stores by this Fleet he could not have fitted out a Fleet next Year These things tho evident to any Stander-by yet the Parliament took no notice of them However the King wisely dispensed with the Act of Navigation so far as it related to the Importation of Naval Stores and Hemp and Flax with this different Success that tho the Parliament the Year before boggled at the King 's dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters yet they took no notice of the King 's dispensing with the Act of Navigation Tho this War was thus hastily begun yet was it managed more carelesly and prodigally than ever any was before The Officers of the Fleet like those of the Guards bought their Places to sell their Lives the poor common Sea-men not paid and wanting Money to pay their Quarters were forced to take Tickets for less than half their Wages whilst Favourites swelled into incredible Riches by the Ruin and Spoil of the Nation The innumerable Prizes taken from the Dutch were so far from contributing to the Charges of this War that many of them were given to Women and Favourites and became a Charge to the King no Inspection must be into the defraying the Monies given for the War for this was to distrust the King The Officers who had bought their Places in the Fleet instead of minding their Business made it their Business how to be Gainers for the Purchase of their Places and caballed how they might improve their Interest at Court However the King receiving no Satisfaction from the Dutch for the Injuries done to Sir William Courten and Sir Paul Pindar upon the 17th of May 1665 granted Letters of Reprisal to Sir Edward Turner and George Carew their Executors c. against the Dutch till they should be satisfied 151612 l. This Grant to stand in force notwithstanding any Peace to be made till Sir Edward Turner c. were fully satisfied of the said Sum with all their Costs and Damages Sir Thomas Allen opened the first Sea Campagn by falling upon the Smirna-Fleet and took four of them richly laden and the
third of June following the English Fleet commanded by the Duke of York Prince Rupert Admiral of the White and the Earl of Sandwich of the Blue fought the Dutch off the Coast of Harwich where the Dutch were put to flight Opdam their Admiral was blown up and Cartinere Stillingwolf and Stamp Flag-Officers killed and eighteen of the Dutch Fleet sunk and taken and if it had not been for fear of disturbing the Duke in his next Night's Sleep it 's believed the whole Dutch Fleet might have been destroy'd But in this Fight the English lost the renowned Earl of Marlborough who tho Admiral in King Charles the First 's Reign died a private Captain in this Fight Rear-Admiral Sanson was killed in it and Vice-Admiral Lawson soon after died of his Wounds The Duke of York was of too estimable a Value to be ventur'd any more in this War for in his Person the Hopes of this War and Declaration of Indulgence resolved So the Earl of Sandwich was made Admiral Sir Thomas Allen of the White and Sir Thomas Tiddiman of the Blue Squadrons The Dutch were so damaged in the first Fight that they were not in a Condition to set out another Fleet this Year But the Dutch having lodged their East-India and other Fleets in Bergen in Norway the English Fleet sailed thither to attack them in it But Sir Thomas Tiddiman who was ordered to do it did not sail into the Harbour as he might have done upon his first Approach but sent to the Governour of the Castle to treat without the Dutch within alarm'd at the Danger set all hands on work that Night so that by the Morning they had so fortified the Castle that it was impossible for the English to force a Passage and the Weather growing boisterous it being towards the latter end of September the English Fleet was forc'd to return nor could the Dutch Fleet stay in Bergen and in their Return home two of their richest East-India Ships and about 80 Sail of their other Ships fell to the English share but tho they were deep laden when the English took them they became much lighter before they came into the English Harbour It seems God was not pleased with these things for this Year he sent a horrible Plague which raged over almost all the Parts of England The greatest Plague which happened since Edward the Third's time in England was in the first Year of this King's Grandfather yet a greater in the first Year of his Father's Reign and now a greater than either in the sixth Year of his actual Reign And as the Plague drove the Parliament to Oxford in his Father's Reign so did it now in his But neither the Mourning of the Land because of Oaths the Plague this Dutch War nor the King's Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters could abate the Parliament's Zeal in prosecuting Protestant Nonconformist Ministers but they made a Law called the Five-Mile-Act whereby they were banished five Miles from any Corporation or Market Town and had this Oath imposed upon them I A. B. do declare That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and that I do abhor that traiterous Position of taking up Arms by his Authority against his Person or any that are commissionated by him in pursuance of such Commission And I do swear that I will not at any time to come endeavour the Alteration of the Government either in Church or State So help me God The poor Non-conforming Ministers did quietly submit to this in England but the Presbyterians did not so to the High Commission erected in Scotland for about this time they rose in Arms at Pentland against the Persecution of the Prelates who disturbed them in the Execution of their Ministry but were soon broken and a terrible Execution follow'd upon them as Traitors and Rebels In England the Parliament at Oxford granted the King 1250000 l. for carrying on the War against the Dutch and in the Spring 1666 the Plague ceasing the King set forth a Fleet under the Command of Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle Sir Thomas Allen Admiral of the White and Sir William Berkley of the Blue But the Dutch and French now try to do that by Craft which they could not do by Force and Plain-dealing And to this purpose it was given out that the French had fitted up a strong Fleet to join the Dutch and this so prevailed upon the King and Council that upon the 29th of May a remarkable Day when the English Fleet was riding in the Downs Prince Rupert in all haste was ordered with the White Squadron to sail to the West to fight the French Fleet coming to join with the Dutch I desire to be particular in some part of what followed because I had it from Sir John Harman himself who was Vice-Admiral of the Blue At the same time Prince Rupert sailed from the Fleet the Dutch put out to Sea the Wind at North-east a fresh Gale this brought the Dutch Fleet on the Coast of Dunkirk and carried the Prince to St. Helens on the Isle of Wight but the Wind suddenly turning into the South-west blew a strong Gale which brought the Dutch and Duke to an Anchor when Captain Bacon of the Bristol by firing of his Guns gave notice to the Duke of the Approach of the Dutch Hereupon the Duke summoned all the Captains on board him not to consult whether to fight the Dutch but to order them to weigh Anchor and fight the Dutch This was the 1st of June the Wind at South-west blowing a stiff Gale so that the Dutch were forced to cut their Cables not having time to weigh Anchor and tho the English had the Weathergage of the Dutch yet the Wind so bowed the English Ships that they could not use their lowest Tire when they came up to fight the Dutch Sir Berkley's Squadron led the Van but the Duke when he came on the Coast of Dunkirk to avoid running on a Sand made a sudden Tack which brought his Top-mast to the Board whereupon he was forced to lie by 4 or 5 Hours till another was set up but the Blue Squadron knowing nothing of this sailed on fighting through the Dutch Fleet which were 5 to 1 of the Blue Here Sir William was killed and his Ship the Swiftsure a second Rate and all her Guns Brass taken so was the Essex a Frigat of the third Rate and Sir John Harman in the Henry got among 9 Ships of the Zeal and Squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Everts and these so disabled the Henry that Everts offered Sir John Quarter if he would yield but Sir John told him 't was not come to that yet and gave him a Broadside and killed Everts Hereupon this Zealand Squadron sailed to assist their Fellows behind and only left Sir John to the Mercy of 3 Fireships one of which grappled the Henry on her Starboard Quarter The Dutch
Fitzharris's Trial fol. 5. says That the Commons resolving to examine Hubert upon the Matter next Day Hubert was hanged before the House sat and so could tell no further Tales Those who excused the firing of London to have been by Design or that Hubert had any hand in it said Hubert was mad and knew not what he did or said And why then would they let him be tried upon it For it is not only contrary to our Laws but to the Law of Nature and Humanity to try and convict a Mad-man of any supposed Crime when he is incapacitated to make any Defence as a Mad-man is And tho the Statute of 33 Hen. 8. in High-Treason ordains That if a Man fall mad after he had committed High-Treason yet he should be tried for it and executed yet this extends only to High-Treason upon which Hubert was not tried but even this Law being deemed inhumane and cruel was soon after repealed But this Case of Hubert's only led the Van you 'll hear of others of like nature which followed I remember very well that when it was blazed about that Hubert was mad and the City in Ruin Hubert was carried to shew where he fired the City and tho it was in its Ruin Hubert shewed those who brought him where it began I confess I was not present then but such was the Fame of it which I never heard to be contradicted This Year the Parliament that they might not less contribute to the French Grandeur by Sea than the Rump had done by the Act of Navigation made a Law 18 Car. 2. cap. 2. against Importation of Irish Cattel which in regard it is the only Law since the Creation which was ever made by any Prince or State to make things necessary for Preservation and Convenience of Humane Subsistence scarce and dear we will more particularly make these Observations upon it The Reason given for this Law was That the Importation of Irish Cattel had fallen the Rents and Value of the Lands of England and were like to fall more Observation I. It 's true the Rents and Value of the Lands of England were fallen at this time considerably but not from the Importation of Irish Cattel for Lands are valuable as Trade is more or less and Money more plentiful And we have shewed That the Severity used by the Bishops in 1636 had sent many of our Woollen Manufacturers into Holland as much to their Enriching as to our Impoverishment That by the Treaty of Munster in 1648 the Dutch became Partakers with us in the Spanish Trade whereby above all others we were enriched That by reason of the Act of Navigation we have upon the matter lost the most beneficial Trades to Hamburgh and into the Sound with our Woollen Manufactures And besides the eternal fixing the Fishing-Trade upon the Coasts of England and Scotland to the Dutch by this War we have totally lost the Greenland Fishery and the Dutch partake with us in the Iseland and Westmony Fishing Trades and the French to the Newfound-Land That by Oliver's breaking with the Spaniard and joining with the French the Dutch got all the Riches of the Spanish Trade whilst we were bound to be Losers by the French I will add two more Reasons of the Fall of the Lands of England One The advantageous Treaty of Commerce made by Oliver with the French was not established by the King but a much worse if any submitted to And after the French set such high Imposts upon our Commodities that Sir John Trevor in his Appeal takes notice that we did not vend one fourth of the Commodities we before exported into France whilst we consumed French Wines Brandies and other French Wares more than before So that about this time or soon after the Lords Commissioners for a Treaty of Commerce with France appointed a Committee to inspect the Difference of the Ballance which besides those of Gloves Lace Ribbon and other Toys did amount yearly to 965128 l. 17 s. 4 d. imported from France more than exported out of England The other is That the most gainful Trade the English have is that to Spain which has no other Means to maintain it but by the Returns of their Fleet which since we took Jamaica the Buccaneers so interrupted the Spaniard in the West-Indies that as the Spanish Loss and Returns were more difficult so much was our Trade to Spain damnified Observation II. The Importation of Irish Cattel might fall the Rents of Lands yet not make them the less valuable for if Landlords would content themselves with the Product of their Tenants Labours so that if they could buy their Commodities half or one third c. cheaper their Lands would be as valuable as if they had half or one third c. more Rent and they pay so much more for their Commodities besides many thousands of People might subsist by their Labours where Provisions are cheaper which could not if dearer and the Charge of maintaining the Poor are so much more as Provisions are dearer and so much less must the foreign Vent of our Manufactures be as Provisions are dearer whereon Workmen subsist But admit the Importation of Irish Cattel had caused such Plenty of Provision as the Nation could not have expended yet if Commodities be Riches the Nation would have been so much more enriched by the Importation of the Irish Cattel and by this means might have established a foreign Trade upon that Account and only by foreign Trade the Nation is enrich'd Observation III. The Returns which the English made for Irish Cattel were Clothes Hats Caps Stockings Hops and other Manufactures which upon the Act ceasing the People who subsisted by working these necessarily fell into Decay and Poverty so as the Value of the Lands of England were lessen'd both ways for as these People who by their Labours were enabled to buy Provisions to the Improvement of the Value of the Lands of England so by their Poverty they became a Charge and Burden to them Observation IV. If it be Injustice and Wickedness to take away another's Lands or Goods without a just Cause it 's equally or more wicked and unjust to take away the means of living from industrious Men in their just Employments and make no Retribution both which this Law did to the People employed in the Manufactures returned for Irish Cattel Nor did this Law make any Provision for the Mariners employed in bringing over Irish Cattel nor pay the Owners of the Vessels employ'd in it for their Vessels now they had lost their Employment Nor did the Parliament give the King any Satisfaction for 30000 l. per An. Duties paid the King for importing Irish Cattel Observation V. By this Law the English lost the Manufactures of the Hides Tallow and Horns of the Cattel which might have been wrought in England and gave them to other Nations if the Irish should not work them to the Loss of the Employment of the English and thereby lessening the
Value of the Lands of England Observation VI. Suppose that we had no Act of Navigation but our Western Men might have built and fitted out Ships for the Newfound-Land Fishery as cheap as the French yet by this Act against Importation of Irish Cattel the French being enabled to victual Ships cheaper from the Ports of Ireland than we from the English the French from this only Cause may have the foreign Vent of the Newfound-Land Fishery whilst the English are necessitated to vend theirs only in England which is as much a Grievance as the Importation of Irish Cattel for the Expence of them will as much fall the Price of Flesh as the Importation of the Cattel Observation VII By this Law the English have lost the Benefit of Victualling foreign as well as English Ships from our own Ports and established them in Ireland to the lessening the Value of the Lands of England and this in time of Peace And in time of War by how much cheaper foreign Nations can victual Ships from Ireland than we can from England so much cheaper they may manage War and continue it longer Observation VIII The Wools of Ireland are generally better than those of England I have it by very good Authority and by the 14 Car. II. 18. it's Felony to export any out of England or Ireland The Reason given is it would decay the Woollen Manufactures ruin many Families and be the Destruction of the Navigation and Commerce of England and Ireland And why would it decay the Woollen Manufactures and ruin many Families to export Wool The common Reason given is That the Natives of other Countries would work them cheaper than the English whereby we should lose the Employment of our People If this be a Reason this Irish Act was made in an ill time to make Provisions dearer which will necessarily resolve into a further Dearness because those who work our Woollen Manufactures must live by Food and so much the dearer Food is so much dearer must Mens Labours be But I say this is not the Reason for no People in the World in like Circumstances take so much Pains for so little Profit as the Combers Spinners and Weavers do in our Woollen Manufactures and I 'm sure the Wools and Fullers-Earth in England are cheaper here than can be had elsewhere and an English Man or Woman hath a better Habit of Body and as good a Wit as a French or Dutch Man or Woman and that in Holland they pay as much for Excise for Meat and Drink as in England is paid for them I 'll give the true Reason why if the Dutch or French get our Wools and Fullers-Earth they may vend the Manufactures cheaper in foreign Trade than the English The Wools of Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Leicestarshire Warwickshire Lincolnshire Rutlandshire Northamptonshire Huntingtonshire Hertfordshire c. are in the dead of the Winter brought by Land-Carriage to Norwich and Colchester and even the Wools of the Sheep killed in London are carried to Colchester to be wrought there and then by another Land-Carriage they are brought to London as our Western Cloths are And then none but the Free-men of London must buy them at it may be 20 per Cent. cheaper than they might be sold if the Trade were free then they must be vended abroad in English-built Ships double as dear by the Act of Navigation and these sailed by near double the Hands of foreign Ships of like Dimensions and if any Returns be made they shall pay twofold more Duties than if they were imported into Holland and Hamburgh And upon other Terms ouâ— Poor must not be employed working Woollen Manufactures It 's agreed the vast Riches of France arise by the Trades which the English Dutch Dane Hamburgher Embdener Lubecker and Bremeners drive trading into France for Wines Brandies Salt Paper and the English besides these for Linen Cordage and Sails Suppose then the French King should by Edict ordain that these should be first brought by Land-Carriage to Paris and then none but the Free-men should buy them at what Rates they please and then these should vend them in foreign Trade only in French-built Ships and these sailed by three fourth parts French whether they have Ships or Men or not and the Returns made of them to pay him twofold more than if they were imported into Holland or Hamburgh c. Would not any Man think he were mad Yet what would that differ from our Practice At this rate we have in England more Wools than we can work and by this Act the Irish are forced to breed Sheep upon the Grounds they bred their Cattel before the Act and by the Act of 14 Car. II. 18. it's Felony to export the Wools so as the Irish are necessitated to work them where Provisions are cheaper than in England and where they shall not be at the unnecessary Land-Charges of Carriage of their Wools and Re-carriage of their Cloths where they shall not be restrained to the vending of them to Free-men of Corporations at 20 per Cent. Loss and where their Ports are better and more convenient for foreign Trade than those of England and then the English must condescend to the Terms of the Irish or these will undo more Families and more decay the Trade of our Woollen Manufactures than if Foreigners wrought the Irish or English Wools. Observation IX Ireland is a Kingdom depending upon England and Trade and Commerce create a mutual Correspondence and Interest between Countries so as this Law makes the Correspondency and Interest of Ireland to depend upon other Countries whereas it is the Interest of England that England should have been the Mart or Store-house of all the Wools Hides Tallow c. renewed in Ireland as England is the Store-house of the Product of our Plantations or as Holland is of the Spice-Trade These ruinous and mischievous Consequences this Law has brought upon England and Ireland only that the Northern and Western Men might have a Monopoly of imposing what Rates they pleased upon the Eastern and Southern Parts of England I may safely say to the lessening the Rates and Value of those Lands at 30 per Cent. and I dare say from many less Causes or if this Partial Law had been imposed by any King out of Parliament it might have caused a Rebellion in England and Ireland too Yet it had been the Interest of the Northern and Western Men to have continued the Importation of Irish Cattel for in breeding Cattel they can make but one Return in five Years whereas they might make four Returns in one Year by the Irish Cattel imported Yet in many Land-Taxes the Parliament taxed the Southern and Eastern Parts of England near double more than the Northern and Western But neither the King's Management of Business this infant-Infant-Law the Fire of London the pulling down the Houses upon the Tower-Ditch the Plague nor the Act of Navigation now sixteen Years old could allay the Parliament's Heat from
8. The French Progress in Flanders more nearly concerned the Dutch than the English the Spanish Netherlands being the Barrier to secure the United Netherlands from sinking under the Power of France and therefore the Dutch States readily complied with Sir William's Proposals and Sir William waited upon the King to give him an Account of his Negotiation and within 5 Days after was sent back with Powers to conclude a stricter Defensive League than that at Breda between England and Holland either by Mediation or Force to stop the further Progress of the French Army in the Spanish Provinces And because the Swedes soon after entred into it it was called the Triple Alliance This preserved what the French had left untaken and the Spaniard was forced to sit down by the Loss But whatever the Spaniard lost by the French Ravages the English gained this Benefit by it That one Brewer whose Parents were said to be English with about fifty Walloons who wrought and died Fine Woollen Cloths came into England and the King after the Example of two of his wisest and most renowned Predecessors Edward III. and Queen Elizabeth entertain'd them against our Barbarous Law or rather Usage against Foreigners partaking the Benefit of Natural-born English and by them the English in a few Years time were instructed to make and dye fine woollen Cloths cheaper by 40 l. per Cent. than they could do before not only to the Benefit of the English at home but in foreign Vent abroad which before the Dutch had I think it was this Year the French sell into the Franche County of Burgundy and took Dole and Besanzon but this being a Barrier to the Swiss against the French Power as the Spanish Netherlands are to the Dutch the Swiss recalled their Subjects out of the French Service and ordered the levying Sixty Thousand Men to expel the French out of the County of Burgundy and now it was not time for the French King to contend against the Triple League and the Swiss too so he gave up Dole and Besanzon again to the Spaniards and withdrew his Forces out of the County Thus was Spain saved by others when they could not help themselves The banishing the Chancellour Clarendon did palliate but the Triple League reconciled all Difference between the King and Parliament as if no Dutch War or Miscarriages had been and for the Triple League they granted the King a Treble Supply viz. 20 Car. II. c. 1. 301000 l. upon Wines and Liquors Secondly an additional Duty of 8 l. per Tun on French Wines c. and 12 l. per Tun on Spanish Wines for eight Years which amounted to 560000 l. this was the 22 Car. II. And also cap. 3. an Act for sale of the Fee Farm Rents to the Value of 1300000 l. An. Dom. 1668. But you 'll see these dear bought Joys soon will fade for the great Clarendon and noble Southampton now are gone and another Generation is springing up and that with such forward Growth as all Weeds do that upon the Joy of the Triple League the House of Commons having given the King the 301000 l. Mr. Clifford after Lord Treasurer in April following told a Friend of Sir Temple's that for all this great Joy it must not be long before we have another War with Holland and this very Year a French Man gave my Lord Arlington the Design of laying another Holland's War and the Advance of it by the Practice of Monsieur Colbert upon the Ministers of our Court. An. Reg. 21. Dom. 1669. However the Devil will play at small Games rather than stand out for now the French King's Hands are tied up by the Triple League and Treaty at Aix la Chapelle from taking more Towns in the Spanish Netherlands Yet he exacted great Contributions from the Dutchies of Limburgh and Luxemburgh and confiscated the Estates of those in his Conquests who would not forswear their Allegiance to the King of Spain and endeavoured to surprize the Town of Hainault And tho by the Pyrenean Treaty the Duke of Lorain was to be restor'd to his Dutchy yet the Duke tho a Friend to the King was rejected from entring into the Triple League which he endeavoured and therefore incurred the French King's Displeasure who in the Year 1669 seized upon the poor Remainders of his Country and ordered one of his Generals to seize his Person and bring him either dead or alive And tho by the Treaty of Breda the French King was to restore the English to their Plantations in St. Christophers which the French had taken from them yet hitherto he refused to do it In this trifling which the Hector of France did only to keep his Hand in ure he did not sleep otherways the Triple League stuck sore in his Conscience which unless broken would set Bounds to his boundless Ambition In its infant State Monsieur Colbert in the first Year had made some Steps towards it but the next Year made such Advances that he had almost brought the Destruction of it to Perfection To facilitate this hopeful Project Madam the King 's beloved Sister came in June 1670 to Dover with full Powers to conclude this desired Business The King was not long behind but with equal Desire and extraordinary Affection meets his Sister where all things are concluded which tho as dark as Hell yet were as secret as Witchcraft which would have no Light but by their Consequences and that this well-laid Design might not be forgotten the Princess left her Woman Madam Carwel after Dutchess of Portsmouth with the King to put him in mind of it but the Princess was unhappy in this for Monsieur her Husband entertained a furious Jealousy in his frantick Brain that something else besides this hopeful Project was designed by the Princess so that though she were in perfect Health and never more pleased than when here yet upon her Return she in the Glory of her Age but Twenty six Years old died suddenly so that the Cause of her Death was as dark as the Design she came for But there is neither Sister Father or Mother with Kings and Kingdoms The sudden Death of Madam put no stop to the ratisying the Business she came for but the Marquess of Bellefonds is sent hither and an honourable Person is sent into France for both Kings Ratification of it Hereupon the French King descended from his Stiffness and delivered the English their Grounds in St. Christophers to Sir Charles Wheeler yet destroy'd all the Plantations plundered and carried away all that was portable laid the whole Country waste and left it in a much worse Condition than if it had never been planted The French King by his English Pensioners did not only keep the Emperor and Duke of Lorain out of being desirous to enter into the Triple League but he enters into a stricter League with the Arch-bishop of Collen and the Bishop of Munster two Princes of the Empire against the Dutch and now began to
sit out a greater Fleet of Men of War than ever any French King did before Nor were the Dutch behind-hand but made proportionable Advances not doubting but the King would make good his Proportion according to the League so lately made between the King and them in case the French King made any Attempt upon them Upon the 24th of October 1670 the Parliament met again and notwithstanding all the Aids granted the King in April before my Lord-Keeper Bridgman told the Parliament the great Care his Majesty had of them and the Kingdom since their last Recess and that besides the triple Alliance he had made many advantagious Alliances both for Security and Profit of Trade with the Swede Dane Spaniard and Duke of Savoy But since the Dutch and French made such vast Naval Preparations it was necessary for the Safety and Honour of the Nation that the King should at least keep equal Pace with them which could not be done without great Supplies which must be speedily granted for the King intended to put an End of this Session before Christmas but the Success of this Speech so ill agreeing with the Premises it was not permitted to be printed yet you may read it at large in Mr. Marvel's Growth of Popery But whatever Treaties of Commerce were made with other Princes the Keeper finds none with France where neither the advantagious Treaty made by Oliver was observed nor any new one made but the French King did use the English with all imaginable Oppressions without any Redress from the King However this Speech wrought so pathetically with the Parliament that they gave the King one Shilling in the Pound of the real Value of all the Lands of England for one Year and an Additional Excise upon Beer and Ale for six Years and the Law-Bill for nine Years which three Bills were computed at two Millions and a half And now this dark Design founded in such deep Dissimulation Hypocrisy and Perfidiousness as Oliver Cromwel would have been ashamed of and blush'd at begins to receive Light For the Parliament having granted the King the Aids were in Consequence prorogued and did not meet to act till the fourth of February 167 1 2. But in regard that not only the extirpating the Protestant Religion but the Subversion of the Western Parts of Europe was now designed which extended as far as the Baltick Sea and the Bounds of the Turkish and Tartar Empires we will be a little particular in it But what is most amazing is that the King in appearance a Protestant and a free independent King so used by the French King in his Exile and since his Restoration should be so forward in joining with a Faithless and Boundless Ambitious Neighbouring Prince which if his Design had succeeded had involved the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland in the same Condition with the rest of Christendom The Vizard-Mask under which the Popish Party covered their Hypocrisy in propagating their Catholick Cause for plain-dealing must never be expected in it in King Charles the First 's time was Arminianism which then had the Ascendant in Laud's Regency but since the King's Restoration the Protestant Dissenters being so fiercely prosecuted by the Parliament it was judged that the dispensing with Penal Laws against Dissenters from the Church of England would conjoin the Protestant Dissenters Interest with the Popish and this not only appeared by Practice but by Design in Coleman's Letters to Father Ferier and La Chaise the French King's Confessors As before the first Dutch War the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws in Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Interval of the sitting of the Parliament so did he before the second War It seems to me that the Designers of this War got some secret Oath or Promise from the King that he should not do the like again for the King told the House of Commons he would stand by his Declaration of Indulgence and sure nothing but Queen Money would have got him off However these Conspirators were more zealous than politick for before the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence in England upon the 26th of February 1671 he issued out his Proclamation in Ireland wherein he granted general Licence to all Papists to live in Corporations exercise Trades there and enjoy the same Privileges as other Subjects ought to do which was a greater Privilege than his Protestant Subjects had for by their Charter all who were not free of the Corporations could not have the Benefit of their Privileges But that the Catholick Design might take deeper Root and Continuance the Duke of York's Sons being dead and the Princesses his Daughters being bred up in the Protestant Religion Care must be taken to establish the Popish for the time to come for which it was expedient the Duke should marry some Popish Princess and to this end the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck was propounded and a Treaty entred into upon it But tho the Princess's Religion pleased the French King yet the Interest this Marriage would bring with it did not So that tho the Treaty were far advanced yet the French King who ruled all the Roast propounded the Princess of Modena the Daughter of a little Italian Prince and a Dependant of the French King's yet had a great Interest in the Court of Rome and this against all Endeavours of the Parliament and to the Dishonour of the Treaty with the Arch-Dutchess prevailed the French King having adopted her a Daughter of France and given her a Portion But while these Designs are laid in the dark here in England the French King bare-faced by his Ambassador at Vienna in a solemn Speech declared that his Master had undertaken the War against Holland for propagating the Catholick Cause and that all good Christians were bound to join with him to extirpate Heresy and that he would restore all his Conquests to re-establish the true Worship banish'd out of the Holland's meaning the Vnited Netherlands Territories which you may read more at large in Mr. Secretary Trevor's Appeal c. Now let 's see how agreeable these Mens Morals were to their Religious Pretences in laying the Scene for this designed Dutch War The Treasury since the Death of my Lord Treasurer Southampton was managed by Commissioners and if the Aids granted by the Parliament were not sufficient for carrying on the King's Designs the French King is to supply him further but things were not ripe enough yet for these Monies to be returned into the Exchequer lest they might give cause of Suspicion and therefore between six and seven hundred thousand Pounds were received by Mr. Chiffins he to have two Pence in the Pound to be disposed of as the King shall order If you doubt this you may examine Mr. Chiffins's Accounts when he was advised to pass them and take his Quietus out of the Exchequer Tho by the Defensive League between the King and States when the Triple League
of his Majesty's Subjects who are Dissenters in Matters of Religion from the Church of England And a Bill passed the House accordingly but was stopt in the House of Lords Causa patet the dead Weight joining with the Caballing Party But whatever the Commons thought of the King 's Dispensing Power in England Lauderdale the fifth in the Cabal in England was of another Opinion in Scotland for in the second Parliament c. 1. held by him he gets an Act declaring That by Virtue of the King's Supremacy the ordering the Government of the Church does properly belong to his Majesty and Successors as an inherent Right of the Crown and that he may enact and emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Church-Administrations Persons Meetings and Matters as he in his Royal Wisdom shall think fit c. any Law Act or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding And that he might not be less active in Scotland than his Brother Clifford was in England and Buckingham and Arlington were in Holland being armed with these other Powers he made all sorts of People depose upon Oath their Knowledg of the Persons of Dissenters not Popish Meetings in the Exercise of their Worship upon Penalty of Fining Imprisonment Banishment and Transportation to be sold for Slaves imprisoning all outed Ministers who shall preach out of their Families till they give Security of 5000 Marks Scot not to do the same again every Hearer being a Tenant to pay 25l Scot and Cotter 12 toties quoties they shall offend and that it shall be Death for any to preach in Fields or Houses where any are without doors and 500 Marks Reward for any to secure such dead or alive and gave Orders That every Man for himself and all under him should give Bond not to go to Field-Meetings and to inform against pursue and deliver up all outed Ministers to Judgment The Execution of these Orders was not by legal Officers but by an Army of Highland Robbers who quartered upon the Country so that it may be a Question whether the French King did not take his Measures in his Dragoon-Reformation by the ground-work laid by Lauderdale But his Grace which it seems did work irresistibly did not stay here for his Highland Army which consisted of eight or nine thousand Men not only lived upon Free Quarter upon all sorts of the King 's peaceable Subjects but in most places levied great Sums of Money under the Notion of Dry Quarters they had only regard to the Duke 's private Animosities for the most part of the Places where they quartered and destroyed had not been guilty of Field-Conventicles The King's Subjects were denounced Rebels and Captions issued out for seizing their Persons for not entring into Bond That neither they nor any under them shall go to Field-Conventicles and the Nobility and Gentry were disarmed who had ever been faithful to the King and assisted in suppressing Field-Conventicles Indictments were delivered in by the King's Advocate in the Evening to be answered next Morning upon Oath otherwise they were to be reputed guilty These and many more of this kind in the Matters relating to Lauderdale's Administration of Affairs in Scotland were represented to the King and that by his Command and are in Lauderdale's and his Lady's Impeachment which are all in Print Notwithstanding all this it was this Lauderdale who had procured an Act of Parliament to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse to march into England to serve the King upon all Occasions And tho the Duke to prevent the Fame of his Actions arriving in England had by a Proclamation forbid all Subjects to depart the Kingdom without Licence yet the Noise of his Actions flew every where in England not less than the Censures of the Star-Chamber and High Commission in Laud's Regency did in Scotland and in due time the Duke shall hear of them Can any Man now believe That the King by his Declaration of Indulgence intended any Benefit to the Dissenters in England whilst Lauderdale without doubt by his Order was acting these things in Scotland The House of Commons could not at first step forget all the Loyalty they before profest to the King nor yet would they own the Dutch War and therefore they voted the King 1238750 l. to supply the King 's extraordinary Occasions but before they would let this Bill slip through their Fingers they tack'd a Bill to it by which no Papist should have any publick Employment This Bill catch'd my Lord Treasurer Clifford the first in the Cabal who was forced to resign his Treasurer's Place or renounce Popery which he would not do his Pensioners not being against it hoping thereby to get the Places which the Popish Party held and even my Lord Chancellor Ashley from Delenda Carthago now sets up for the Country Party against the Designs of the Cabal so moultry are all Designs which are not cemented in Justice and Honour The King having got the Bill for the Money the further Sitting of the Parliament became uneasy to him whereupon the Parliament was adjourned till the 20th and after to the 27th of October viz. 1673. During this Recess there were three Sea-Fights between the English French and Dutch Prince Rupert Admiral in all which the French stood aloof looking on whilst the English and Dutch battered one another only Monsieur de Martell for engaging was recalled checked and dismissed As the English thrived no better by Sea so neither did the French by Land for first the Elector of Brandenburg then the Emperour and at last the King or Queen Regent of Spain apprehensive of the Danger common to them all of the French subduing the Dutch Provinces entred into a mutual League for their Defence and by their Conjunction the Prince of Orange recovered many of the Vpland Towns in almost as little Time as the French had taken them In this state the Swede now broke loose from the Triple League whereby he opened the Gap to let in this Confusion and became a Pensioner to France and proposes a Treaty of Peace to be held at Cologn and thither the King the Emperor the French King and the King of Spain send their Plenipotentiaries to treat of it The French King's Propositions were so insolent that if granted our King could have nothing yet the King pudet haec insisted That tho he was contented with such Propositions as he required so as accepted in ten Days yet if granted by the States they should be of no force nor will he enter into any Treaty of Peace unless his most Christian Majesty shall receive Satisfaction from the States in his Particular After the French King should have all the King's Demands were a Regulation of the Trade to the East-Indies a Settlement of the Freedom of Navigation in Europe the Arrears for the Fishing-Trade upon the English Coast to assert a settled Revenue to the Crown for every Buss or Dogger-boat for the future and to make Satisfaction for the Damages
sustained by the Depredations upon the Ships and Lading taken from Sir Paul Pindar and Sir William Courten c. In this Interval of the Parliament's Recess the King took the Seals from my Lord Chancellour Ashley now made Earl of Shaftsbury and gave them to Sir Heneage Finch a Person of singular Integrity Eloquence and Veracity who to those insite Excellencies which were natural to him improved them by the great Example of his Uncle John Finch likewise Keeper of the Great Seal in the King's Father's Reign yet with a different Fate for the Temper of the Times would not bear his Uncle's Integrity Eloquence and Veracity whenas the Nephew with prosperous Gales continued his Course till he arrived at Lord Chancellour Lord Daventry and Earl of Nottingham and kept the Seals to his dying Day which not one of his three Predecessors could do And Sir Thomas Osburn succeeded Lord Treasurer So C. and A. are out we shall soon see what became of B. A. and L. At last the 20th of October came and the Parliament met again when at the opening of the Session the new Lord Keeper with admired Eloquence and Veracity which he retained to his dying Day made a large Deduction of the Dutch Averseness to Peace their uncivil Demeanour to the King 's Plenipotentiaries at Cologn and how indirectly they dealt with the King in all the Overtures of Peace and therefore a necessary Supply proportionable to the Greatness of the King's Affairs was not only demanded but Care to be taken for Payment of the Bankers Debt otherways Multitudes of the King 's Loyal Subjects would be undone But neither the Keeper's Eloquence nor his Veracity would down with the Commons for during this Recess the Terror of the French Progress had alarm'd the Nation as well as the rest of Christendom The French Legerdemain at Sea was so much more taken notice of as our Loss was more by their looking on whilst the English and Dutch destroyed one another The Commons were frighted at the standing Army in England commanded by a Foreigner and an Irish Papist taking all Military Liberty as in Time of War It was more than whisper'd the Conditions proposed by the King 's Plenipotentiaries at Cologn were impossible which tho granted yet no Peace was to be had unless the French King was answer'd in his Demands nor were the Commons content with their Prorogation till the Marriage with the Princess of Modena was past Cure Hereupon the Commons on the 31st of October bound themselves by a Vote That considering the present Condition of the Nation they will not take into further Consideration any Aids or Charges upon the Subject except it shall appear that the Obstinacy of the Dutch shall render it necessary nor before this Kingdom be effectually secured from Popery and Popish Counsels and other Grievances redressed This early Vote of the Commons was so much more surprizing to the Band of Pensioners who as yet had not earned their Bread by how much they expected Mountains of Gold should fall from my Lord Keeper's Eloquence and Veracity And now is the King like his Father when he went to York to fight the Scots reduced to a fine state all the Monies received from the French King like Water spilt upon the Ground never to be collected Besides the Band of Pensioners he had a Land Army to maintain and a Fleet at Sea which the French Subsidies would not one fourth maintain He could not avoid the Clamours of his Subjects whose Monies were shut up in the Exchequer nor the Merchants who had supplied his Navy in this and the former Dutch War yet their Graces the Dutchesses of Cleveland and Portsmouth must be maintained sutable to their Qualities so must the Dukes of M G S N R St. A and Earl of P besides Portions to be provided for many of his Off-spring of the other Sex He had already provided Titles for the Cabal except Buckingham who could not be greater However you 'll see this Vote of the Commons will work powerfully notwithstanding the Agreement at Vtrecht that the King shall not make a separate Peace without the French King nor any Peace with the Dutch unless the French King shall be satisfied in his Particulars at Cologn Nor did the Commons stay here but C. and A. being gone one dead the other turned to t'other side they fell upon B. A. and L. and addressed themselves to the King that they might be removed from his Councils Presence and all publick Employment and upon the 4th of November moved 1. That the Alliance with France was a Grievance 2. That the evil Counsel about the King was a Grievance to the Nation 3. That the Lord Lauderdale was a Person grievous to the Nation and not fit to be trusted in any Office or Trust but to be removed The Rump of the Cabal thus used frighted the whole Band of Pensioners into a Fear their Turn would be next at least their Pensions not paid and therefore to undo all that was done in a Hurry the Parliament was prorogued to the 7th of January following not having sat eight Days But the Commons needed not to have been so fierce upon B. A. and L. for B. was now going off and A. being the King's brother-in-Brother-in-law was spited that he was twice balked in being Lord Treasurer and if he did not turn to t'other side yet he would never be reconciled with my Lord Treasurer Only L. now remained to be quit with the Commons to get an Act of Parliament in Scotland to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse to serve the King upon all Occasions The King having so hastily begun this War by two such Acts as were without Precedent viz. The shutting up the Exchequer and the Attempt upon the Dutch Smyrna Fleet was now as forward to make a Peace with the Dutch even upon any Terms tho but last Year his Plenipotentiaries had agreed at Vtrecht with the French King not to make Peace with the Dutch without him and this Year at Cologn to grant no Peace unless the French King be satisfied in his Particulars By this time the CABAL was degenerated into a Juncto and this was compounded too of five viz. My Lord Keeper F L Lauderdale Arlington and Secretary Coventry in room of Secretary Trevor now dead It was agreed by the whole Juncto That Sir William Temple was the most proper Agent for making this Peace not only for his Abilities and great Reputation he had acquired in concluding the Triple League but for the Honour and Esteem the King of Spain and States of Holland held of his Integrity and Conduct And in order hereunto my Lord Arlington from the King and Juncto complimented Sir William and told him He would not pretend the Merit of having named him Sir William upon this Occasion or whether the King or my Lord Treasurer did it first but that the whole Committee joined in it and concluded That since a Peace was to be made no
Offices he was capable of and that the Duke was fully convinced that their Interests were one and the Parliament was not only unuseful but dangerous both to England and France and that it was the Duke's Opinion That if his most Christian Majesty would write his Thoughts freely to the King upon this Subject and make the same Offer of his Purse to dissolve this Parliament as he made to the Duke to call another he did believe it very possible for him to succeed and from this time to the breaking out of the Popish Plot you shall see the Parliament call'd prorogu'd and adjourn'd by Order from France or French Ministers and Pensioners That this Design may be carried on in Masquerade the whole Band of Pensioners make it their Business to possess whom they could perswade that the Church is in danger truly said but untruly intended and that the Nation was running into Forty One All Countenance and Hopes of Preferment were promised to those who would support the Church from the Danger of Forty One This was blaz'd abroad and encouraged by all sorts of printed Pamphlets and if they met with Opposition the Authors and Printers were persecuted for publishing unlicensed Pamphlets Mr. Roger L'Estrange was the Champion and Pensioner of the Cause Never did Man fight so to force the Whig into the Church and when he was there made a Trimmer of him and would have him out again Forty One was his Retreat against all who durst contend against him and the Government This was the Licenser of the Press but never was there such a Press Rifler For propagating this holy Cause Sir Francis North is made Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Richard Rainsford Chief Justice of the King's-Bench William Mountague Chief Baron Vere Bartue a Baron of the Exchequer Sir William Scrogs a Justice of the Common-Pleas and Sir Thomas Jones of the King's-Bench Men all durante bene placito You need not fear the Chancery for at this time there were four Chancellors and Lord-Keepers alive The Parliament was to have met the 10th of November 1674 but the Instructions from France were not yet sufficiently ripened so 't was put off till the 13th of April 1675. At the opening of this Session my Lord-keeper told the Houses No Influence of the Stars no Configurations of the Heavens are to be feared so long as these two Houses stand in good Disposition to each other and both in a happy Conjunction with their Lord and Soveraign but they ought not quieta movere nor res parvas magnis motibus agere The House of Commons had been sullen these two last Sessions and proceeded contrary to the Humour and Design of the Court and therefore a Bill was brought into the House of Lords eâ—tituled An Act to prevent the Danger that may arise from Persons disaffected to the Government which was the same imposed upon the dissenting Clergy by the Oxford five-Mile-Act this my Lord-keeper said was a moderate Security to the Church and Crown which no honest Man could refuse and who did gave great suspicion of dangerous and Antimonarchical Principles This Oath or Abhorrence or Test is mentioned before and is now set on foot to be taken by all who enjoy'd any Beneficial Offices Ecclesiastical Civil or Military to which were added Privy-Counsellors Justices of the Peace and Parliament-Men It 's strange to me that Princes or indeed other Men who have any Piety or Fear of God should think to be secure in unjust Actions by Mens swearing to observe them For tho Human Actions be voluntary yet the End and Design by them is not in Human Power Paul may plant and Apollos water but only God can give the Blessing with what reason then can Man expect a Blessing from God because his Name is profaned and made as a stalking-Horse to attain it What Security had the Presbyterians by their Covenant or the Rump Parliament by their Engagement or Oliver or his Son by their Recognition And more I think the King could not expect hereby Whereas Princes whose Thrones are establish'd by Justice and Righteousness have a nobler Security than can be hoped for by Mens previous swearing to get Offices and Employments so that Trajan who was truly called the Just put his Sword into the Prefect's Hands and bid him draw it against him whenever he should attempt any thing against the Publick Good This King had a way never gone by any of his Predecessors to be present in the House of Lords at Debates and would solicit Lords for their Votes This was first declaimed against by my Lord Lucas as an Awe upon the Peers in their Debates and Votes This Oath being the Gap to let in the Popish Designs you cannot think the King would now be away but give all Countenance to the passing of it the Bishops to a Man were for passing of it so were all the Court-Lords or those who hoped for Preferment so as these were the much greater Part Yet the Country Lords when they debated it in Paragraphs made it inconsistent with the present Constitution of the Nation vain and superfluous and inconsistent in it self which held for seventeen days together But the Debates were laid aside by the Commons Votes against the Jurisdiction of the Lords in Appeals from Chancery These Debates you may read at large in Print in a Tract intituled A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Country But because my Lord-keeper will have an ill-meant Distinction between the King 's Natural and Politick Capacity I 'll put one Case which I do not find in all these Debates The one Part of the Oath is I declare That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those who are commissionated by him in pursuance of such Commission Suppose Duke Lauderdale should have a Commission from the King to bring his twenty two thousand Scots into England and you cannot believe the Scots Law to do it was made to no purpose and plunder and dispossess the English of their Estates and the Sheriffs of the Counties should raise the Posse to suppress them and compel them to keep the Peace as the Sheriff by his Commission and Oath is bound to do On which side does the Abhorrence of the Traiterous Position of taking up Arms against those commissionated by the King lie But you 'll say this cannot be imagined and I say the Design of imposing this Oath makes this not only imaginable but believed to be intended In the Debates the Commons raise a Storm against the Lords Jurisdiction in Appeals from Chancery upon which the King prorogued the Parliament to the 13th of October 1675. Tho the Duke lost Ground in the House of Commons and was disappointed in carrying the abhorring Test in the House of Lords yet he gained so much upon the French King
that upon the second of June he offered the Duke his Friendship the use of his Purse to the assisting of him against the Designs of his and the Duke's Enemies and protested their Interests were so close linked together that those who opposed the one should be looked upon as Enemies to the other with much more as you may read in the Duke's Letter to Le Chaise the 29th of June 1675. Tho the French could not fight against the Dutch in Conjunction with the English yet without the English they can fight the Spaniard and Dutch For the Spaniard having block'd up Messina in Sicily by Land which last Year revolted to the French agreed with the Dutch to send a Fleet of Men of War to join the Spanish to block up Messina by Sea which the Dutch this Year did under De Ruyter but were so niggardly in it that the French beat both Dutch and Spanish Fleets and killed De Ruyter This was a just Reward returned to the Dutch for building the French six great Men of War six or seven Years before Just so Richlieu served the Spaniard in 1637 for joining with the French in expelling the English out of the Isle of Rhee Tho the King were the first in the Triple League for the Guaranty of the Treaty of Aix for the Preservation of Flanders and tho the King in his Declaration at the beginning of this War had engaged to support the Peace made at Aix yet the French King this Summer took the City of Limburg being the chief of one of the Spanish Provinces which the King not only takes no notice of but tells Sir William Temple newly commanded out of Holland by the King that some warm Leaders in both Houses had a mind to engage him in a War against France which they should not do because he was sure they would make use of it to the Ruin of his Ministers If the King were unhappy in his Declaration he was not less in saying this to Sir William to whom the Year before he promised to be the Man of his People but is now of his Ministers And sure he was the first Prince that ever profest it Upon the 13th of October the Houses met and the King asked a Supply for building of Ships and to take off the Anticipation upon his Revenue In the Interval of this Recess the Debates of the Abhorring Oath became publick which so nettled the Court and Church-Party being the more numerous that since they could not prevail by Reason they would by Fire and therefore ordered them to be burnt which made the Debates so much more to be enquired into and hereby received a greater Light The Commons had before them several Bills for preventing future Mischief viz. The Habeas Corpus Bill A Bill against sending Men Prisoners beyond Sea Against raising Money without Consent in Parliament Against Papists sitting in either House For more speedy convicting of Papists And for recalling his Majesty's Subjects out of the French Service These Bills being so diametrically contrary to the French and Popish Designs and the Commons now more peremptorily than before opposing the Lords Jurisdiction in Appeals from Chancery so that they voted Whosoever shall solicite or prosecute any Appeal against any Commoner of England from any Court of Equity before the House of Lords shall be deemed and taken a Betrayer of the Rights and Liberties of the Commons of England and shall be proceeded against accordingly And the Commons having commanded the Counsel who pleaded before the Lords to the Tower How much is the case now altered the King took thereby an occasion to prorogue the Parliament from the 22d of November 1675 to the 16th of February 1676 which is above a Year in which time by a Law in Edward the Third's time a Parliament was to be called and as it was without Precedent so it caused new Debates and Heats in both Houses when they met In this long Recess I find but few Motions of the French and Popish Councils more than what appeared in Sir Gascoin's and other Trials For Coleman's last two Years Letters were supprest as was his Book of Entries and the Commotions raised in Britany and Guiene by the Impositions imposed upon the Inhabitants hindred the French this Year from their usually more early opening their Campagn than the Confederates so that every where the Confederates prevailed against the Tureen's Army was distressed by Montecuculi and himself killed yet the Army got on the French side of the Rhine by the Bravery and bold Stands of the English The Dukes of Lunenburg routed Marshal Crequy's Army and after took Triers and made Crequy Prisoner and the Imperialists also took Philipsburg the Elector of Brandenburg routed the Swedes in Pomerland entred into a League with the King of Denmark who took Wismar from the Swede and the Prince of Orange took Binch from the French and rased it But the Progress of all these Victories were stopt by the unaccountable Retreat of Montecuculi out of Alsatia with his whole Army back over the Rhine it was said by express Orders from Vienna thereby leaving Alsatia in the Power of the French to the breaking of the old Duke of Lorain's Heart who at that time had and never before so fair a Prospect of the Recovery of his Country If the Commotions in Britany and Guiene retarded the French opening the Campagn last Year the King shall make amends in this For having provided Stores for Horse and Man in his Frontier Garisons in February 167 6 7 he block'd up Valenciennes and Cambray and committed such Ravages by burning and destroying those Parts of Germany which lay opposite to him on the other side of the Rhine as if he made War not to conquer but to destroy tho this were at a time whilst they were in a Treaty of Peace with the Empire and King of Spain Upon the 17th of March he notwithstanding the extream Coldness of the Season took Valenciennes and from thence marched to Cambray and laid Siege to it and St. Omers and after the opening of his Trenches Cambray surrendred but not the Citadel our King looking on as if he had not been concerned in the Guaranty of the Treaty of Aix Nor could the Prince of Orange prevent this the Spanish Garisons being ill provided and the Confederates being so slow in getting into Bodies to oppose the French or if they had been to be got together they could not have kept the Field for want of Provisions for Horse and Man However tho the Prince could not come time enough to relieve Cambray and Valenciennes yet with the single Forces of the States the Spaniard not so much as supplying him with Guides marched to the Relief of St. Omers but the Duke of Luxemburg joining with the Duke of Oleance met the Prince at Mount-Cassel where at first the Dispute was brave but the first Regiment of the Dutch Infantry breaking and falling into Disorder the Prince rallied them
the Determination of the States themselves This Bait these Gudgeons swallowed as if no Hook had been in it so that several Towns and Provinces proceeded with a General Concurrence to the Ratifications of the Peace that they might lie ready in their Ambassadors Hands to be exchanged when that of Spain's should be signed and so diligent was Beverning in carrying on the French Designs now they were thus entertained in Holland that they huddled up the Treaty between France and Spain and by the twentieth of September the Ratifications of it were exchanged with the usual Forms and now the Dutch Ambassadors are become Mediators of or Conspirators in this Treaty whilst Sir Lionel Jenkin the King 's Mediator only stood still looking on and having no Hand in it and all the Ambassadors of the other Allies as well as the Spaniard enraged and exclaiming against it During this Conspiracy the French Troops made Incursions into the rich Parts of Flanders which had been covered in the time of the War and there exacted so great Contributions and made such Ravages where they were disputed that the Spanish Netherlands were more ruined between the signing of the Peace and the Exchange of the Ratifications than they had been in so much time during the whole Course of the War At last the Outcries and Calamities of the poor Flemins moved the Spaniards out of their slow Pace so that they were forced to accept of the Terms the French and Dutch would give them And now the Dutch had done the French Work with Spain the will do the rest without the Dutch and piece-meal made the Duke of Lorrain the Emperour and King of Denmark and all the Princes of the Empire submit to such Terms as the French pleased The Particulars and manner of it you may read in the second part of Sir Temple's Memoirs which are printed And now the French King had by the Help of the Dutch made his Market by the Peace at Nimeguen let 's see how he improved it after The French King sets up a Court of Claims in Alsatia and Flanders to determine the Dependences upon those Towns which he kept by the Treaty of Nimeguen both in Flanders and Alsatia where he is sole Judg and executes his Judgments by Military Execution It 's scarce credible the Ravages he made hereby and what Titles he set up I 'll give but one Instance herein mentioned by Sir William Temple p. 370. The Town of Tournay was to have been given up to the Spaniard by the Agreement made between our King and the Prince this was left out in the French Terms accepted by the Dutch and Aeth was to be one of the six Towns to be delivered up to the Spaniard by the Dutch Terms with the French and the French had dismembred above sixty Towns which were dependent upon Aeth and added them to the Chatellence or Bailywick of Tournay and were thus belonging to Aeth when the Spaniard transferred Aeth to the French by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle but now Aeth must be restored to the Spaniard in the Condition they left it and not what they found it So that by these Acquisitions which the French got by this Treacherous Peace he got more in Consequence than by the War CHAP. IV. A Continuation of this Reign to the End of the Oxford Parliament WHen the Parliament had given the King 1200000 l. for carrying on an actual War against France in January last the Popish Plot was then in Embrio and the Parliament were so mortified by the Answer which the King made to them upon the twenty eighth of May before for advising him to enter into a League with the States General of the Vnited Provinces against the Growth and Power of the French King and Preservation of the Spanish Netherlands c. that they never durst meddle more in it and it may be concurred more readily in giving the King 1200000 l. for carrying on the War against France upon the League which he had made at the Hague by Mr. Thyn though Sir William Temple refused to have any Hand in it as is said before The Commons in Parliament for the first ten Years of this Reign were Tories and all their Business was against the Protestant Dissenters from the Church scarce taking notice of the Papists till the Breach of the Triple Alliance the second Marriage of the Duke of York the second Indulgence for Liberty of Conscience the Attempt upon the Smirna Fleet the shutting up of the Exchequer and the King 's making War upon the Dutch in Conjunction with the French these thus successively acted opened the Eyes of the greater part of the Commons that for their own and the Nation 's Safety they became more numerous in the House than the Tory Party yet retained their Loyalty to the King I verily believe as firm as any English Men before them But out of the House the Feuds of the Tories and Whigs were as invenomed as those between the Guelphs and Gibelines which for three hundred Years involved Germany and Italy in intestine Wars The Tories cry'd up the Court and the Court countenanced them and the Tories having the Dominion of the Press printed all Sorts of Irritating Libels against the Whigs and if the Whigs answered they were prosecuted for printing Illicite when the Tories could make no other Reply but that the Whigs were running back to 1641. The Tories had got a new invented Doctrine of inconsistible Terms called Passive Obedience I would willingly be informed in the Grammatical Construction of these two Words how a Noun Adjective or Participle can alter the Signification of a Noun Substantive for if any one be subject to another and be commanded or forbidden by this other it is Disobedience if he does not the Command of this other How therefore Passive joined to Disobedience can make it Obedience had need of a better Interpretation than what the Tories give which is if you cannot obey you must suffer But this is another Proposition and so Disobedience here is Disobedience still and the true Construction of Passive Obedience is Disobedience and be hang'd for it The Tories and Whigs in these Feuds were apt to take Fire and divulge â—ay it may be invent Stories of one another and the Popish Party nourished Designs against both and being countenanced by the Tory Party in the Interval between the Prorogation of the Parliament which met by Anticipation as Sir William Temple calls it in January 1677-78 made a great Outâ—ry which was blazed by the Tories That there was a Design by the Whigs of killing the King but it happened Mr. Hawles says in Fitz-Harris's Trial f. 3. to be in such a Place and Manner as afterwards Oates discovered the Papists intended to have done it Hereupon Mr. Oliver's son-in-Son-in-law was imprisoned in the Tower the Place you 'll see where the Papists acted all their Designs for designing to kill the King and in Trinity Term 1678 Mr. Cleypole had
the Covenant and burnt several Acts of Parliament made against it and for establishing Prelacy since the Year 1660 and would have affixed their Declaration at Glascow but were prevented by the King's Forces for that time This Rebellion of the Covenanters initiated by so horrid a Fact did not extend so far as the Covenanters in their Frenâ—â— and Zeal imagined yet upon Sunday the 1st of June they rendezvouz'd about fifteen hundred Men upon Louden-Hill onâ—â— Wier commanded the Foot and the Horse was under Robert Hamilton one Patron with Balfour and Hackston which two 〈◊〉 assassinated the Arch-bishop With this Force they took the City of Glasgow and to sheâ— how all Crowns and Scepters must vail to them they published two Proclamations The first of which was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Burgh of Glasgow to furnish us with 24 Carts and 60 Horses for removing our Provisions from this Place to 〈◊〉 Camp where-ever we shall set down the same and to abide with us for that End during our Pleasure under pain of being reputed our Enemies and proceeded against accordingly The other was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command the Magistrates of Glasgow to extend and banish forth thereof all Arch-bishops Bishops and Curates their Wives Berns Servants and Families and Persons concerned in the King's Army within 48 Hours after publishing hereof under highest Pains And then they published a long Declaration of their taking up Arms for a free General Assembly and free and unlimited Parliament to redress the manifold Grievances there enumerated and humbly to request his Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms that was to the Dominion the Rump-Parliament in England had over them which you may read at large in the aforesaid Author from pag. 67 to 74. To these Declarations the said Author p. 17. adds they barbarously treated the dead Body of one Graham whom they had killed at a Conventicle They committed insufferable Insolencies in the Houses of the regular Ministers and Loyal Gentlemen as they marched along to Glasgow stabbing and gashing his Majesty's Picture where-ever they found it They behaved themselves barbarously in the House of the Arch-bishop of Glasgow where they burnt his Books cut in pieces his best Furniture and Hangings and almost kill'd a Gentlewoman with Blows who was left to keep the House for saying Gentlemen I hope you 'll remember you are in an Arch-bishop's House They sacrilegiously entred the Cathedral of Glasgow and finding a Tombstone over two of the Children of the Bishop of Argile with an Inscription of a Modern Date they digged up their Bodies run them through with their Swords and left them lying above Ground In the mean time the Council of Scotland were not idle but raised an Army and quartered it at a place called Blackborn to prevent the Covenanters Approach to Edinburgh and gave the King an Account of these things and expected his Majesty's further Orders And now I 'll tell a wonder which will scarce be believed in future Generations The King sent the Duke of Monmouth from London upon the 20th of June and the Duke rode above three hundred Miles upon that day and the two next days and upon the 23d ordered and disposed the King's Army raised by the Council that he fought the Covenanters and routed them killing about seven hundred of them and took above eleven hundred of them Prisoners and now it may be you will hear of a Wonder in Consequence after this Fight as great as the Fight and the Duke's Journey before it I do not question but the Design of the Court in sending the Duke of Monmouth into Scotland to suppress the Covenanters was by it to make him odious to the Presbyterians and other Dissenters from the Church of England in case he suppressed the Covenanters which tho the Duke did yet the End designed by the Court in it did not succeed For the dreadful Apprehension of the Duke's Succession to the Crown of England had taken a deep Impression in another sort of Men besides Dissenters and where Men are fearful of Danger they will seek all means how to prevent the Danger especially where the Power of doing ill is greater and therefore another sort of Men no Whigs might have their Eyes upon the Duke of Monmouth as the only means to prevent the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown his Title to the Crown of England if he could get an Act of Parliament for it being as good as that of John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Elizabeth Moore from whom the King and the Duke of York were both descended and in whose Right they claimed the Crown of Scotland if not those of England and Ireland However this gave the Lie to the Tories that all those were Commonwealths-Men who would not submit to the Illegal and Arbitrary Will of the King and their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and that Kings Jure Divino may do what they list tho God has set Laws and Bounds to all the created Bodies of Heaven and Earth and all other Creatures in them But how mischievous these Doctrines have proved to these three Kings of the Scotish Nation has been already said and I say it has been such flattering Doctrines as those that ruined all these Kings and Kingdoms except the Gibeonites Joshua 9. the State of Venice and that of Geneva for Du Salez was a just and vertuous Prince from which Commonwealths arose Who ever before King James and King Charles the First 's Reign in England heard of talking of Common-wealths in England and the several sorts of Governments viz. Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy which two latter tho they have the same Names yet no two of either in their Constitutions were like one the other And as these Commonwealths took their Rise from the Tyrannies of Kings and Princes so the exploded Government of the Rump if it were a Democracy or Common-wealth gave Life to all those Confusions Perjuries Breach of Leagues and devilish Practices of this Reign which would have been intolerable in any other and would have been opposed if not by rising in Arms against them yet at least in not so profusely pouring out Money for not continuing and carrying of them on The Popish Faction were more jealous of the Duke of Monmouth than the Tories were of a Commonwealth and the rather because there was a Pamphlet printed that the King was married to the Duke's Mother and rumoured abroad that Sir Gilbert Gerrard had a Black Box in which the Marriage of the King with the Duke's Mother was fully proved and made out and the fear of the Duke of York's Succession was so fix'd in Mens Minds that the Story of the Black Box was generally divulged and for ought I know believed by those who were fearful of the Duke of York's Succession If this could be
be kept with Hereticks which he esteemed all others in England but those of his own Romish Faction to be Could the King believe that the Duke's Succession could be any Security to the Protestant Religion as the King calls it which the Duke esteemed Heresy and to be rooted out by Fire and Sword or that any other but the Duke's Faction could be protected by him when he esteemed them Hereticks Schismaticks Church-Robbers and no Christians It 's true at this time the King of Portugal was made a Prisoner to restrain him from his immoral and wicked Actions whilst his Brother in his Imprisonment acted as Regent of Portugal in his Brother's Name But upon the Duke's Succession how could a Regent act when the King was not a Minor but of full Age double and at large in the King's Name and contrary to his Will and Pleasure and this to consist with the Security of the Protestant Religion or Laws In the Debates in the House of Commons many Expedients were propounded how the established Government in Church and State could be preserved and none could be found in case the Duke succeeded so the Country Party moved that the Court Party would propound Expedients herein but either they could not or had no Instructions from the Court to warrant such Expedients as they should propound But if the due and legal Descent of the Crown must be preserved though to the Destruction of the Church and State they who advised the King to be so positive herein should have done well to have declared what Law in England declares the Descent of the Crown of England or how this becomes due I am sure the Act of the first of Henry the IV intailed the Crown upon the King and the Heirs of his Body and so did that of the first of Henry VII before he married the Lady Elizabeth Edward the Fourth's Daughter and if Henry the seventh's Title to the Crown had been good by inherent Birth-right yet he had been an Usurper For his Mother under whom he claimed lived all his Reign and so she did some time after Henry the VIII became King as you may read in Stow's History p. 487. And how was the due and Legal Succession of the Crown of England observed in the Reign of Henry the VIII when by his Will he might name what Successor he pleased as has been said or in Queen Elizabeth's Reign when it was in Parliament declared Treason to affirm the Parliament might not dispose of the Succession of the Crown in her Reign and a Premunire at this Day And let any Man shew that ever there were three Kings before these of the Scotish Race in the Saxon Danish or Norman Race which succeeded successively by inherent Birth-right I will submit that all I have said is not true and why then must such a Stress be put for the preserving the Descent of the Crown in its due and legal Course without declaring what is that due and legal Course to endanger the Subversion of the Church and State of England Then the King recommends to the Parliament a Strict Enquiry into the Popish Plot and that the Lords in the Tower be brought to a speedy Trial without which he did not think himself or the Parliament safe The constant Vogue was That the King dissolved the two last Parliaments to preserve the Lords in the Tower from being brought to Trial and I am sure that you will soon hear that the King did not believe his and the Nation 's Safety did consist in the Trial of the Lords in the Tower Then the King tells the Parliament what Danger Tangier was in and what vast Expence he must be at to keep it And the Commons last Parliament drew up an Act to settle it upon the Imperial Crown of England and that they who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any Foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom And what Care the King took to keep it will soon appear tho 't was said the Parliament I think it was out of the Chimney-Bill gave him 40000 l. per Annum towards the Preservation of it to the Crown of England The King goes on and says That above all the Treasure in the World which he was sure would give him greater Strength both at home and abroad than any Treasure can do is a perfect Union among our selves yet says not wherein we should unite Truth and Unity are one and consist in intire Parts but Falshood and Discord are infinite What Truth or Unity could be in the King 's loose and irregular Actions so confounding and every day varying from what he had promised before Or how is it possible for the Nation to unite under Terms which are inconsistible and impossible viz. Unite to preserve the Constitutions of the Kingdom and yet be at no Discord with the King who they were morally certain would make it his Business to subvert them If we should be so unhappy the King says as to fall into such Misunderstanding among our selves as would render our Friendship unsafe to trust to it will not be wondred at if our Allies shall begin to take up new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us and advised them not to gratify our Enemies and dishearten our Friends by any unreasonable Disputes viz. to take all by an implicit Faith I do not understand what the King means by Misunderstanding among our selves which may render our Friendship to our or his Allies unsafe nor does he say wherein such Misunderstanding consists I 'm sure the Parliament misunderstood him when they gave him 1200000 l. to enter into an actual War against the French King in the Defence of these Allies and when he had got the Money to make a separate Peace with a Faction of the Dutch to the Ruine of his Allies and take French Money for it and to get the Parliament twice over to disband this Army for fear he should turn it against them and the Nation and now 't was disbanded to give Money to raise another upon Pretence of assisting these Allies now they were forced to such a dishonourable Peace with the French or that our Allies as the King calls them would ever trust to any more of his Alliances If any should so happen the King says the World will see it is no Fault of his for he had done all that was possible for him to do to keep us in Peace while he lived and to leave us so when he died Can any Man believe the King believed himself herein Or that any Man will be his Voucher for it Even my Lord C. F. out of the Field of his sweet lisping Eloquence could not gather one Rhetorical Flower to make a Flourish upon this Speech nor assure the Parliament upon his Veracity that Now Now was the time to secure their Religion and Properties nay the Commons gave so little Credit to this
for repealing the said Act of 35 Eliz. which passed the Commons upon the 26th of November and was sent up to the Lords who agreed to it As the Lords joined with the Commons in passing this Repeal so did the Commons join with the Lords in their Vote the 4th of January viz. Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That they do declare that they are fully satisfied that there now is and for divers Years last past there hath been an horrid and treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion in Ireland for massacring the English and subverting the Protestant Religion and antient established Government of that Kingdom To which the Commons added That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Expectation that Party had of his coming to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement to the Popish Plot as well in Ireland as here But the Lords ran counter to the Commons in the Bill intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging for after the Reading it the first time in the House of Lords and the Question being put whether it should be read a second time it was resolv'd in the Negative by above a double Majority of Votes If the Lords and Commons ran counter in some things the King and Commons ran counter almost in every thing The King 's main End in calling this Parliament was to get Money for the Preservation of Tangier and in perfecting the Alliance he had made with Spain The Commons would not give any Money upon the Account of Tangier for three Reasons One was For that as the state of the Nation stood it might augment the Strength of the Popish Party and encrease the Danger of the Nation Another was There were several Regiments besides the Guards in pay in England which might be transported to Tangier with little Charge and be maintained there as cheap as here And the third was That that Garison was the Nursery of Popish Officers and Soldiers The Commons would not give Money for the pretended Alliance of mutual Obligations of Succour and Defence with Spain for three Reasons 1. The Jealousy they had of the King's Sincerity in this Alliance and the more because the King did not declare to them what manner of Alliance this was and it might be more to the Prejudice than Benefit of this Kingdom or if it should have been to the Benefit of the Kingdom they could have no more Assurance of the Performance of it than they had of the Triple League that made with the Prince of Orange or that made between the King and States of Holland by Mr. Thyn on the King's Part which were all broken almost as soon as made 2. The Impossibility of any Benefit which could arise to England and Spain by such an Alliance for if all Christendom after the separate Peace which the King joined with the Dutch Faction in could not uphold Spain and the Spanish Netherlands from falling under the Dominion of the French how could the King in the feeble and distracted state of the Nation be in a condition to support it without them 3. The Unreasonableness of giving Money upon this Account for tho oftentimes the Kings of England have demanded Supplies for maintaining vast Wars yet never any King of England before demanded Supplies for making Alliances and not declare what such Alliances were But if any such mutual Alliances of Succour and Defence were made between our King and the King of Spain I 'm sure they were ill observed by the King for two Years after viz. 1682 the French blocked up the City of Luxemburgh and the next Year took Courtray one of the six Towns delivered back to the Spaniard by Beverning's separate Treaty from the Confederates and keeps it to this Day and so the French King does Luxemburgh which he took by plain Force from the Spaniard the next Year after viz. 1684. I wish I could find any mutual Succour of Defence the King gave the King of Spain in any of these either by this Alliance or as the King was Guarantee in the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle which in his Proclamation against the Dutch in the second Dutch War he declared he would maintain Nor did the Commons only run counter to the King's Designs of getting Money but considering the dangerous and weak state of the Kingdom as by the Debt the King had contracted by shutting up the Exchequer and his squandring away almost all the antient Revenues of the Crown and to prevent the like upon the Revenue settled upon the King since his Restoration upon the 7th of January resolved 1. That whosoever shall lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Customs Excise or Hearth-money shall be adjudged a Hinderer of the Sitting of Parliaments and be responsible for the same 2. That whosoever shall accept or buy any Tally or Anticipation upon any part of the King's Revenue or whosoever shall pay such Tally hereafter to be struck shall be adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and be responsible therefore in Parliament Now let 's see wherein the King run counter to both Lords and Commons After the Lords had agreed with the Commons in the Repeal of 35 Eliz. the Bill was taken from the Lords Table and never heard of after which no Man durst have done without the King's Command at least Privity Herein you may observe the Insincerity of the King's Indulgences for dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters when he nourished those Ends by them which the Parliament dreaded and now the Parliament would have legally eased them the Bill must be ravished away Here is a greater Wonder yet to be told of this Parliament for notwithstanding all these Discords between the Lords and Commons and the King and the Lords and Commons yet they all reconciled in making the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel c. perpetual thereby to perpetuate the Discords between the Kingdoms of England and Ireland as much as those between Whig and Tory. And in this posture of Affairs the King prorogu'd the Parliament from the 10th to the 20th of January 1681 and upon the 18th dissolved them This Dissolution caused a great Amazement in the Nation but in some measure to allay it the King summons another to meet the 21st of March following at Oxford This rais'd a Jealousy in the Nation and many of the Nobility that there was some hidden Design nourished in the Court which might have dangerous Influences upon the Nation and the Parliament too Hereupon 16 of the Nobility petitioned the King against the Meeting of the Parliament at Oxford and my Lord of Essex upon the Delivery of it made a short Speech which I believe was not forgotten afterwards The
the others were so that they proceeded where the last Commons left and sat but seven Days wherein they had these foâ—â— Considerations under their Debates first the preparing a 〈◊〉 against the Duke of York's Succession the second the taking the Bill of the Repeal of the Act of 35 Eliz. out of the House of Lords the third an Inquiry into Fitz-Harris's Business the fourth a Prosecution against the impeached Lords in the Tower The Commons spent the three first Days in choosing their Speaker and confirming him and in taking Oaths as the Laws direct so that it was Thursday the twenty fourth of March before they entred upon any Business and being dissolved upon the Monday following they could make but little Progress upon the four Particulars aforesaid and each of them was so green that the Court would not endure much Enquiry into any one of them Upon the Debate of Fitz-Harris's Business one of the Members reported how that one Hubert had confessed that he had fired the City of London upon which the House resolved to examine him next Morning but before the House sat next Morning Hubert was hanged to prevent it and they remembred there was a Design to have tried the Popish Lords in the Tower by Indictment to prevent which the Commons exhibited general Impeachments against them with that Success that the Lords were never tried upon Indictments and the Judges gave their Opinions they could not Hereupon the Commons ordered an Impeachment of Fitz-Harris upon Friday the twenty fifth of March and ordered Sir Lionel Jenkins to carry it up to the Lords who at first refused it saying The sending of me upon this Message reflects upon my Master the King and do what you will I will not go Hereupon seveveral moved to call him to the Bar and several Speeches were made of his Offence but at last he relented and carried up the Impeachment to the Lords but the Lords threw it out But the Lords having thrown out the Impeachment the Commons the next Day being Saturday the twenty sixth ran high in their Debates upon it One said this was to have no further use of a Parliament but to serve a present Purpose Another said Indictments were brought against the Lords in the Tower yet that was no Impediment against their Impeachment in the Lords House and the last Day of the last Sessions of Parliament the Lords accepted an Impeachment of the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs and that this Denial of Justice by the Lords was greater than my Lord Chief Justice Scroggs's Denial of taking Presentments from the Grand Inquest of Middlesex by how much the Commons of Parliament are the great Inquest of the Nation Another said this is a new Plot against the Protestants of which Fitz-Harris is accused and the Commons impeach him and the Lords say We will not hear it and that if it were not for the Lords Fitz-Harris might have discovered all the Conspiracy and the Protestant Religion might have been saved and therefore moved That the denying this Impeachment tends to the Subversion of the Constitution of the Parliament and of the Protestant Religion Another said That this was a Confirmation of the Design to murder the King and the Duke consenting to destroy his own Brother and our King and therefore moved That if any Judg Justice or Jury proceed upon Fitz-Harris and he be found Guilty That the House would declare them guilty of his Murder and Betrayers of the Rights of the Commons of England to which was added upon the Motion of Sir W. J. or that any Inferiour Court shall proceed c. which was passed The Reason of these Votes were That if Fitz-Harris were tried upon an Indictment he must have been tried singly upon the Fact whether he were guilty or not of contriving and dispersing the Libel but upon an Impeachment the Commons might enquire into the whole Conspiracy Sunday March 27. The Houses sat not and the next Day Monday 28 in the Morning the King came suddenly and unexpectedly to the House of Peers and sent for the Commons and dissolved the Parliament and immediately took Coach and drove to Windsor leaving both Houses in an Amaze and the City of Oxford in a Hubbub If it were Sir William Jones who wrote the just and modest Vindication of the two last Parliaments viz. the last Westminster Parliament and this at Oxford pag. 393. he says The Peers at Oxford were so wholly ignorant of the Council that they never thought of a Dissolution till they heard it pronounced yet the Dutchess of Mazarine published the News at St. James ' s many hours before it was done If the Nation as well as the Parliament and City of Oxford were amazed at this Dissolution and Manner of it they were not less with the Declaration that followed it which though the King did not communicate to the Council till Friday the eighth of April yet the next Page says Monsieur Barillon the French Embassador read it to a Gentleman upon the fifth of April before and demanded his Opinion of it which the Embassador might better remember because of the great Liberty the Gentleman took in ridiculing it to his Face It 's observable that that Declaration was printed in French as well as English and many Gallicisms in it and particularly That it was a Matter extreamly sensible to us which was a Form of speaking peculiar to the French and unknown to any other Nation The Substance of the Declaration contained the Dissatisfaction the King took at the two Westminster Parliaments that they gave him no sutable Return to support the Alliances which he had made for the General Peace of Christendom nor for the further Examination into the Plot nor for the Preservation of Tangier and for their Votes That no Man should lend any Money upon any Branches of the Revenue or buy or pay any Tally of Anticipation upon any part of the King's Revenue This was not so for the Commons restrained them to the Custom Excise and Chimney-money given for other Ends see the Votes that they passed a Vote That the prosecuting of Protestant Dissenters was a Grievance to the Subject c. by which they assumed to themselves a Power of suspending Laws So the Commons might do any other Law found by Experience to be grievous and dangerous to the Subject and must do so in order to repeal such Laws and did not the King do so twice before by his Declaration of Indulgence though to a contrary End to what the Commons intended That these Proceedings caused him to dissolve that Parliament and to assemble another at Oxford who had warning given them of the Errors of the former and were required to make the Law of the Land their Rule and adding that he would not depart from what he had formerly declared concerning the Succession yet declared he was ready to hearken to any Expedients by which the Religion established might be preserved yet the Monarchy preserved viz. How
Forfeitures by Papists would be insignificant viz. remitted this intended Act did ordain that such Fines and Forfeitures one half should be to the Informers the other to charitable Uses But this Act being so contrary to the Duke's Design the Committee of Religion was discharged from meeting again and another short Act was brought into Parliament ratifying all former Acts for securing the Protestant Religion so that in this first Act the Duke pursued not his Instructions but went contrary to them and to the Custom of Scotland At the passing this Act the Earl of Argyle proposed that all Acts against Popery might be added which was opposed by the King's Advocate and some of the Clergy yet seconded by Sir George Lockhart and the President of the Sessions it passed without a Vote but such was the Jealousy of the Parliament that this did not secure the established Religion that several of the Members desired other Additions and Acts which the Duke in open Parliament promised when Time and Opportunity offered should pass but when at any time this was proposed the Test was obtruded If the Parliament were so zealous to secure the established Religion the Duke was not less to secure the Succession of the Crown of Scotland shrewdly struck at in England in the very Person of the Duke and to that end a Bill was brought in and passed wherein it was declared High Treason to affirm that the Succession of the Crown of Scotland can be altered from the next of Proximity of Blood but how agreeable this was to the Title of the Bruces and Stuarts who had no Title to the Succession of the Crown of Scotland but by Act of Parliament has already been shewed and how disagreeable this Act was to the Duke's Grandfather's Succession to the Crown of Scotland without any Act of Parliament let any Man judg This Act was not only thus contrary to the Laws and Usages of Scotland but the Act is equivocal if not contradictory to the Duke's Design for there is a difference between the next Heir and the next in Proximity of Blood as if a Man had several Sons and the eldest has a Son or Daughter his Father living and after his Father dies his eldest Son's Son is Heir and his other Sons and Daughters are next in Proximity of Blood the Heir being a degree in Blood further removed from the common Ancestor than his Uncles or Aunts and this was the case of Richard II. of England Son of the Black Prince Edward the Third's Eldest Son who succeeded to the Crown of England though his Uncles the Dukes of Clarence Lancaster York and Cambridg were nearer of Blood to Edward the Third This Act for the Succession of the Crown of Scotland was succeeded by another called the Test as contradictory to it self as contrary to the Act of Succession to be taken by all Persons in publick Trust in Scotland wherein they solemnly Swear in the Presence of the Eternal God whom they invoke as Judg and Witness of their sincere Intention of this their Oath That they own and profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of King James the Sixth and believe the same to be founded on and agreeable to the Written Word of God That they will adhere thereto and endeavour to educate their Children therein and never consent to any Change or Alteration contrary thereto and renounce all Popish and Fanatical Doctrines inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith And by this their solemn Oath they Swear That King Charles the Second is the only Supream Governour of this Realm over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and renounce all Foreign Jurisdiction of the Pope or any other Person and promise to bear true Faith and Allegiance to the King his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to their Power to defend all their Rights and Prerogatives And by this their solemn Oath they Swear They judg it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any Pretence whatsoever to enter into any Covenants or Leagues or to convene c. in any Council to treat of any Matter of State Ecclesiastical or Civil without his Majesty's special Command or express Licence or to take up Arms against the King or those commissionated by him That they will never rise in Arms or enter into such Covenants or Assemblies That there lies no Obligation upon them by the National Covenant or the solemn League or Covenant or any other way to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either of Church or State as by Law established and promise and swear to the utmost of their Power to maintain the King's Jurisdiction against all deadly and as they shall answer it before God and that they took this Oath in the true and genuine Sense and Meaning of the Words without any Equivocation Mental Reservation or Evasion and never to accept of any Dispensation from any Creature So God help them By these two Acts you may observe the Scotish Temper whether it were natural or in contradiction to the Kirk-Party I will not say nor how much higher it flew than the Tory in England but because of the extraordinariness of these two Acts it 's fit to make some Reflections upon them Such another Law as that of the Succession was made the twenty first of Richard the Second in the Case of Roger Mortimer which lasted not longer than the next Year after when the Law was not only repealed but Henry the Fourth succeeded contrary to it whereas this Law continued for above eight Years after when it not only lost its Force but another Face appeared in Scotland and so continues in spight of this Law Now from this treasonable Law let us make some Remarks upon this ranting swearing Law called the Test We have said elsewhere that all Oaths are assertory of the Truth of Things Speech and Actions in time past or promissory to do or forbear to do some Act in time to come and now let 's consider what is Truth and the End of an assertory Oath Truth is proper to intellectual and reasonable Creatures and is either the apprehension of intelligible Beings as God a Law the Soul Time c. which can never be the Objects of Sense and of the Causes and Consequences of Intentions Speech and Action for Sense is not of Futurity but of present Things and Actions the Consequence or Inference will be whether good or bad just or unjust c. However all intelligible Beings and the Causes of Things and Actions are ever assumed not sworn to and if another does not nor will assent to them swearing to the Truth of them will be to no purpose So it is of the Consequence of Speech and Actions if another be not convinced from the Reason of such Consequence or Inference swearing it to be so will never do it But though sensible Things Speech and Actions
Man be asked his Opinion of any Law or Point in Law and he gives it according to the best of his skill shall this be taken for Treason and depraving of the Law and a Man be in danger of his Life for it This was the Earl's Case he was called upon by the Duke to take the Test with his Explanation before he did it and whereas Mackenzy says there was no Force upon the Earl I 'm sure if my Author says true the Earl refused to give in the Paper whereof he is indicted and proffered to lay down his Offices upon it till the Duke peremptorily commanded him to do it if this were not Force I would know what is I 'm sure there was no Force but Corruption and Bribery upon the Advocate to enter into this villanous Conspiracy against this Noble Earl to murder him under the Pretext of Justice which is to be esteemed sacred And let any Man read his whole Harangue and see if there be any thing in it but forced and strained Inferences or any one Proof against the Earl within the Act 60 Parl. 6. Mary or the 9 Act. Par. 20. Jac. 6. which makes it Treason to make false Construction of Laws to others with a Design to raise Sedition and Dissension among the King's Subjects so that some Overt Act or Speech to others with a Design to raise Sedition c. must be proved and not what is said in the Council or any Court of Judicature However as was the Advocate such were the Assizers whereof the Marquess of Montross the Earl's Father's most bitter Enemy was the Fore-Man and the rest of the Pack of the same Stamp who with one Voice found the Earl guilty of Treason Leasing-making and Leasing-telling but like conscientious Men having made the Earl to have forfeited his Life Honour and Estate by a Majority they find the Earl innocent of Perjury which they could get nothing by So that the Noble Lord Lorn is become the Forlorn late Earl of Argyle yet the Earl not to be wanting to himself in this deplorable State next day but one viz. December the 15th by a Friend humbly intreated to speak with the Duke who returned Answer It was not ordinary to speak with Criminals except with Rogues on some Plot where Discoveries might be expected By this you may see what Spirit governed this Prince and what might be expected from him if he became King The next Day after the Earl's Sentence viz. December the 14th the Council gave the King notice of it and expected his further Pleasure now the Work is done to his Hand but it seems his Highness was very impatient till he had the Earl's Blood for he said If the Express from the King came not timously he would take upon himself what was to be done by which you may see what an Ascendency the Duke had over the King However the Earl upon the sixteenth petitioned the Duke that he might send a Petition to the King which was refused Things brought to this Extremity and the Earl hearing that some Troops and a Regiment of Foot were to be brought down from the Castle to the Common Goal from which Criminals were usually brought to Execution he resolved to try to make his Escape and the rather because about seven at Night he had notice that new Orders were given for further securing him and that the Castle Guards were to be doubled and that none were suffered to go out without shewing their Faces and therefore a Friend advised him not to attempt it No said the Earl now is the Time and so he attempted it and it pleased God he escaped Hereupon the Lords of Assize upon the twenty third of December pronounced the Earl guilty of the Crimes of Treason Leasing-making and Leasing-telling for which being detained in the Castle of Edinburgh out of which since the Verdict having made his Escape therefore they adjudged the said Earl to be executed to Death and his Name Memory and Honours to be extinct and his Arms to be riven forth and delete out of the Book of Arms swa that his Posterity may never have Place nor be able hereafter to bruick or joyse any Honour Offices Titles or Dignities within this Realm iâ— time coming and to have forefaulted all his Lands and Tenements c. But tho the Earl be escaped out of Prison whereto shall he flee For Terras I 'am sure Britannicas Astraea reliquit he had some thoughts of casting himself at the King's Feet but those soon vanished for the same Counsel which governed in Scotland raged all England over and so privately he passed into Holland where for some time we leave him and see what 's doing in England Mr. Hawles in his Remarks upon Fitz-Harris's Trial F. 18. out of Tully's Offices lays this down for a Rule That nothing is profitable but what is honest for which Tully gives many Reasons but nothing so convincing as the Examples he brings in publick and private matters and tho the Empire was vast and he bore a great Figure in it and was very knowing in the Greek and Roman Histories yet was he not able to bring a hundredth Part of Examples to prove his Position as had been in this little Island in the space of eight Years And in his Preface gives six Reasons for the Disaffection to the late Government viz. Exorbitant Fines cruel and illegal Prosecutions outragious Damages dispensing with the Test and penal Laws and undue Prosecutions in criminal but more especially in capital Matters But these I take to be the Effects of those Councils which governed in England ever after the King's Restoration tho they did not so manifestly appear till the Duke was sent into Scotland and after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford and for these first six Years after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford the Tories in England as well as in Scotland were the Tools which the Popish Faction made use of for carrying on their Designs then they were laid by and the Whigs set up as they thought to finish the Work The Tories were so far from being suppressed by the Proceedings of the Commons against them last Westminster Parliament that they only so much more irritated them against the Whigs after the Dissolutions of the last Westminster and Oxford Parliaments and this was what the Popish Party desired The King's Declaration signed Francis Gwyn was not only obeyed by the Tories but entertained with unexpressible Joy and celebrated with manifold Returns of Thanks to his Majesty and now nothing but Halcyon Days were expected and an absolute Dominion over the Whigs and the King to gratify the Tories in their Jollity and after the Bill for repealing the Act of 35 Eliz. was taken out of the House of Lords before it was passed which little sorted with the King's Declarations of Indulgence has this Law now put in Force against the Dissenters and prosecuted with that Violence that many thousands of Families
presumed to take Cognizance of Cases which were in the Jurisdiction of or depending in Parliament for this was to depose the Parliament and usurp their Jurisdiction nor do we read that ever any other Court assumed this Authority but in the Reigns of Kings affecting Tyranny and Arbitrary Power The first Judges which I think gave their Opinion That the Courts in Westminster Hall might take Cognizance of Causes determinable in Parliament were Tresilian and Belknap in 11 Rich. II. for which they were impeached by the Commons in Parliament of no less than High Treason and for which by Judgment of the Lords in Parliament Tresilian was hanged and Belknap banished Mr. Williams in his Pleadings for Fitz-Harris cites another Case in 20 Rich. II. of a Person who exhibited a Petition in Parliament which suggested something which amounted to High Treason which it may be was determinable by Common Law This Person was after indicted at Common Law found guilty and pardoned but because the Business was depending in Parliament the Prosecution and Judgment were made void in Parliament The next Case I think but of an higher Nature for Tresilian and Belknap only gave their Opinion was that of Sir John Elliot my Lord Hollis c. 5 Car. I. when an Information was exhibited against them in the King's Bench they pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court being for Matters transacted in Parliament the Court over-ruled their Plea and gave Judgment against them and Reasons such as they were for their Judgment but in the 19 Car. I. upon a solemn Debate in the Commons House and upon their Reasons given at a Conference with the Lords the Judgment of the King's Bench Reasons and all were reversed by a Writ of Error in the Lords House and after the Judges who gave the Judgment were impeach'd of High-Treason by the Commons for endeavouring to subvert the fundamental Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom This Case of Fitz-Harris I take to be the fourth of this kind yet shall open a Gap for a fifth but that this Case may be better understood it will be necessary to distinguish between an Indictment or Information and an Indictment by the Commons in Parliament An Indictment or Information is at the Suit of the King and the Judges and Jury are tied up to some single Issue as in this Case of Fitz-Harris the Trial was whether he was guilty or not of the Treason whereof he was indicted But an Impeachment of the Commons is at their Suit and of all the Commons of England nor are they tied up to one single Issue but impeach for Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours in the same Impeachment they assume to themselves That all the Commons in England have a Right in the King and all the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and therefore can impeach where none of the Courts of Westminster-hall can take any Cognizance at the Suit of the King either by Indictment or Information After Fitz-Harris was committed to Newgate he was examined by the Earls of Essex and Shaftsbury Sir Robert Clayton and Sheriff Cornish who found in him a Disposition to discover the bottom of the Popish Plot and also to make a further Discovery of the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but the next Day Fitz-Harris was carried to the Tower and kept close Prisoner and out of their Power to whom Fitz-Harris promised to make a Discovery The Commons conceiving themselves and all the Commons of England concerned in this Plot wherein the French Ambassador his Confessor my Lord H the Dutchess of Portsmouth and her Woman Wall and even the King himself for Fitz-Harris had several times acquainted the King with it and the King gave him Money and countenanced it were Agents impeached Fitz-Harris thereby to enquire into the Bottom of this Business which no Court in Westminster-Hall could do and this I take to be the Reason of the Commons Vote of the 27th of March 1681 That if any inferiour Courts shall proceed upon Fitz-Harris and he be found Guilty the House will declare them guilty of Murder and Betrayers of the Rights of the Commons of England And so it fell out that Fitz-Harris being indicted upon the single Issue of contriving and publishing the Libel was convicted and executed upon it tho he desired to proceed upon the Discovery of this Plot to the Earls of Essex Shaftsbury and to Sir Robert Clayton and to make an End of his Evidence against my Lord H which was denied So that whether Fitz-Harris was murder'd in his Person or not it 's no Question but his Evidence for further Discovery of this and the Popish Plot was murder'd by this Trial. I will make these Remarks more upon this Trial that in the Case of Tresilian and Belknap the Nation was in no other Danger than the Courts of Westminster-Hall's invading the Jurisdiction of Parliament and the Case of my Lord Hollis Sir John Elliot Mr. Selden c. was only for Misdemeanour whereas the King's Person and the Safety of the Nation were concerned in the Discovery which Fitz-Harris might have made see Mr. Hawles's fine Remarks upon the Practices and Illegalities of the Judgment of the Court not warranted by the Common or any Statute Law and that the Consequences of this Trial were manifoldly more mischievous to the Nation than if Fitz-Harris's Design had taken Effect The Fright of Fitz-Harris's Discovery of this new Popish Plot being seemingly allayed by his Death Revenge with winged Haste pursues the Discoverers of the old It was in Trinity-Term that Fitz-Harris was tried and executed and after this Term an Indictment of High Treason was exhibited to the Grand Jury of London against Stephen Colledge a mean Fellow but a great Talker against the Popish Plot who was more known by the Name of Protestant Joiner than Stephen Colledge The Fore-man was one Wilmer This Indictment would not down but the Grand Jury returned an Ignoramus upon it for which Wilmer was forced to fly his Country The Design not succeeding in London the Scene against Colledge is laid at Oxford the Judges were Chief Justice North Justice Jones Justice Raimond and Justice Levins To make sure of a Bill to be found there against Colledge the King's Counsel had prepared Witnesses at the Assizes to post thither and there to make sure Work the King's Counsel are privately shut up with the Jury till they had found the Bill which Mr. Hawles says was a most unjustifiable and unsufferable Practice Whilst these things were contriving Colledge had the Honour as well as Fitz-Harris to be committed and continued a close Prisoner in the Tower yet the Lords impeached in Parliament had the Liberty of it and free Access was permitted to them it 's true indeed Colledge was permitted to have a Solicitor and Counsel which was Mr. West I think a Plotter or Setter in the Rye-Plot as dark as Fitz-Harris's and as like it as two Apples are one to the other But this was
not out of Favour to Colledge but to betray him for when the Bill against Colledge was found at Oxford Murrel a Goaler and Seywel a Messenger were sent to bring Colledge to Trial who after they had taken him out of Prison run him into a House and by Order of the King's Counsel took from him all his Instructions for his Defence and carry'd them to the King's Counsel as well to disable him to make his Defence as to enable the King's Counsel how to proceed against him by some way he was not provided to make his Defence Upon Colledge's Arraignment he demanded his Papers taken from him by Murrel and Seywel which were denied by the Court till he had pleaded guilty or not to his Indictment Here take notice that Sir Francis Pemberton Sir Thomas Jones and Justice Raimond having done the Court's Job in Fitz-Harris's Trial a new Set of four is made to do this of Colledge's the chief of these was Sir Francis North a Man cut out to all Intents and Purposes for such a Work and as if born to do it his Father was a Committee-Man in all the late Times against King Charles I. and his Grandfather one of the seven who condemned Arch-bishop Laud it 's no matter who were the other three for North was the Mouth of the Court. This was the first time that ever any Prisoner had his Instructions taken from him to make his Defence and at a time when there were such Contrivances to take away his Life My Lord Chief Justice told Colledge he took not away his Papers but Colledge replied they were taken from him upon pretence of bringing them to his Lordship The Court and Counsel had a twofold Design upon Colledge in seizing his Papers one to trapan Colledge to plead guilty or not before they deliver'd the Papers which having done it was too late to plead either to the Jurisdiction of the Court or that the Indictment was erroneous as it was it being of different Natures as for Treason and Misdemeanours Here I leave it to the Learned to judg whether the Court and King's Counsel did not in this Indictment endeavour to depose the Parliamentary Authority and usurp it themselves for tho the Commons may impeach generally for Treason and Misdemeanours in the same Impeachment yet neither by the Common or any Statute Law any such Indictment can be The other Design was to disable Colledge to make his Defence after his pleading not guilty Colledge finding himself thus beset tho a mean Man yet with a Roman Courage said This was a horrid Conspiracy not only against his Life but against all the Protestants of England And herein he proved a true Prophet The Courage of the Man put the Court and King's Counsel to the Whisper which was never before done in any Court of Common Law and now the Court must be adjourned the Pretence being for Dinner tho they had breakfasted but a little before and before their Return the King's Counsel altered their Method of proceeding against the Prisoner from that they before designed and so sorted their Evidence that they might not contradict one another and so would not examine some of his Evidence Yet upon the Return of the Court the Attorney Sir R. S. for fear his Instructions might not well be remembred or understood moved the King's Evidence might be examined in the hearing of one another which tho over-ruled yet 't was not observed and to satisfy the Jury the Court Sir F. N. told them in summing up the Evidence they would inform the Jury what part of it was Treason and what Misdemeanor which they did not Mr. Hawles's learned Remarks herein as well upon Law and Practice are worthy the Consideration of the Parliament The Court and Counsel thus armed Cap-a-Pe and the Prisoner bound Hand and Foot you need not doubt of a glorious Victory over him And now let 's see by what valiant Combatants they aâ—chiev'd it The first Champion against Colledge but whether to prove Treason or Misdemeanour is not yet determined was Stephen Dugdale That in a Barber's Shop and a Coffee-house he had spoken vilifying Words of the King that Colledge had shew'd him several scandalous Libels and Pictures of which he was the Author that Colledge had a silk Armour a Brace of Horse-Pistols a Pocket-Pistol and a Sword that he had several stout Men would stand by him that he would make use of them in Defence of the Protestant Religion and that the King's Party were but a handful to his To pass over the Improbability of Colledge's designing Treason against the King and trust the Management of it to Papists and none of them ever discovered the thing they swore till after the Parliament at Oxford tho most if not all were pretended to be transacted or done before let 's see what Credit could be reasonably given to any of the Evidence against him 1. Dugdale ' s Evidence was confronted by Dr. Oates who testified that Dugdale said He knew nothing against any Protestant in England and being taxed by Oates that he had gone against his Conscience in the Evidence he gave to the Grand Jury at London against Colledge Dugdale said It was long of Colonel Warcup a worthy Person who for this and such like Services is since Knighted for he could get no Money else Elizabeth Hunt testified That after Colledge was in Prison Dugdale told her He did not believe Colldge had any more hand in conspiring against the King than the Child unborn and that he had as live have given an 100 l. he had never spoken what he had and that he had nothing to say against Colledge which would touch his Life and Yates testified that when he said Colledge was an honest Man and stood up for the King and Government Dugdale answer'd I believe he does and I know nothing to the contrary Haynes swore Colledge said Vnless the King would let the Parliament sit at Oxford they would seize him and bring him to the Block and that he said The City had fifteen hundred Barrels of Powder and ten thousand Men ready at an hour's warning 2. To confront this Evidence Hickman testified that Haynes swore God damn him he cared not what he swore for it was his Trade to get Money by Swearing Mrs. Hall said she heard Haynes own That he was employed to put a Plot upon the Dissenting Protestants And Mrs. Richards said She heard him say the same thing Whaley said Haynes stole a Silver Tankard from him And Lun said Haynes said The Parliament were a Company of Rogues for not giving the King Money but he would help the King to Money enough out of the Fanaticks Estates Everard testified that Haynes said His Necessity and hard Pay drove him to say any thing against the Protestants Turbervile swore Colledge said at Oxford That he wished the King would begin if he did not they would begin with him and seize him and that he Colledge came to Oxford for that
Family might accompany the Captain to Carolina which was agreed to but the Captain being under several Disappointments and the charges of the Ship of four Months lying in the River insupportable the Captain was arrested and thrown into the Compter from whence he removed himself to the King's Bench. The Captain 's Necessities were equal or more than those of the Irish Evidence but the Captain at least as he supposed had no need of a Pardon for any thing designed against the King or Government as the Irish Evidence had so the first Attempt upon the Captain was to hire him to give Evidence against my Lord of Shaftsbury If Empson and Dudly were so zealous to fill Henry the 7th's Coffers by straining the Penal Laws to utmost Rigour as the Vogue went Graham Baynes and Burton were as zealous to pack Juries and procure Evidence for carrying on this black Design but I do not find Burton was in this upon Captain Wilkinson Upon the eighth of October Baynes made his first Attack upon the Captain and told him that he had been lately with Mr. Graham who had a great Interest with my Lord H. and that the Captain could not but know much of my Lord Shaftsbury's Designs and that he had now a desired Opportunity to discover them and urged the Captain not to deny the proffer and that he need not fear his getting a Pardon but the Captain was constant that he knew nothing of any such Design By this time Booth was a Prisoner in the King's Bench as well as the Captain and upon the eleventh Booth attack'd the Captain and told him he might have 500 l. per annum or 10000 l. if he would discover what he knew of my Lord Shaftsbury's Design against the King and that the Captain should appear at Court and have Assurance of it from Persons of Honour but this wrought not upon the Captain neither Upon the thirteenth Baynes Booth and Graham renewed the Promises Baynes and Booth had made and that he should have the King's Promise for the same and his Royal Word for a Reward for his Sufferings and that Graham was sent by some of the Council to bring the Captain to the King and that he had an Order for it but all would not do for the Captain was resolved not to go to White-Hall if he could help it Upon the fourteenth Booth told the Captain that Mr. Wilson my Shaftsbury's Secretary who was a Prisoner in the Gate-house had sent to the Council that he would come and discover all he knew and therefore he urged the Captain to have the Honour of being the first Discoverer and that to the former Promises the Captain should have 500 l. per Annum settled on him in Ireland by the D. of York but all to no purpose Upon the fifteenth Booth and Baynes attackt the Captain again the Captain asked Baynes why he was so urgent for his Testimony Baynes answered That as yet they had none but Irish Evidence which would not be believed but if the Captain came to it he was not blemished in his Credit and then Baynes told him if he would not go he Baynes had a Habeas Corpus from my Lord Chief Justice Pemberton to carry him to White-Hall In the Afternoon the Captain was carried by his Habeas Corpus to Whitehall and examined in the Secretary's Office by my Lord Conway and Secretary Jenkins and in his Examination in comes the King into the Office as before he had done into the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber when my Lord H came to kiss her Hand and there the King told the Captain he had served his Father and him faithfully and hoped he the Captain would not now decline his Obedience to which the Captain answered he never deserved to be suspected then the King told him he had not the Opportunity to serve his Friends but hoped he might then the King examined him what he knew of my Lord Shaftsbury's having a Design against his Person but the Captain upon his Oath denied he knew any thing so the King left him to the further Examination of Secretary Jenkins But this Business did not stay here for the Captain was carried into another Room where were present the King my Lord Chancellor the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton and several other of the Nobility with Graham Baynes and Booth where my Lord Chancellor was very sharp upon the Captain and put several Questions to the Captain which he could not answer and told the Captain there were two sorts of Advancements and that the Captain was like to come to his Trial before the Lord Shaftsbury The Business was Booth had sworn that the Captain had a Commission from my Lord Shaftsbury for a Troop of fifty Men to be my Lord's Guards against the King and that Booth was listed in it This Booth had sworn but was so unfortunate in it as to swear this was when the Parliament was at Oxford at which time the Captain was making his Preparations for his intended Government of Carolina but whether the King believed the Captain or Booth is unknown but it stop'd here and the Captain was no higher advanced upon Booth's Oath nor could be prevailed upon to be a Witness against my Lord Shaftbury though his Wife was as much tempted to have it so as the Captain was so the Captain 's only Advancement was to be remanded to Prison However it was resolved that my Lord Shaftsbury should be prosecuted and so upon the 24th of November a Bill of High Treason was preferred against him to the great Inquest at the Sessions-House in the Old-Baily and Baines proved a true Prophet though Booth sware to the Captain's Command of Fifty Men to be a Guard to my Lord for the Jury neither believed him nor the Evidence so baffled at Colledge's Trial nor the Irish Evidence added to that and so returned an Ignoramus upon it Suetonius in the Life of Tiberius says he could never have made such Ravages upon the Roman Empire and exercised such Cruelties if he had not been backt by an Officious and flattering Senate which carried the Face of Justice in it and tho it be evident that for near Eighty Years these three Kings of the Scotish Race had been endeavouring to establish an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government over this Nation yet except King James the First who if his Necessities had not forced him would have never had a Parliament after the first and who by his own Authority created so many Monopolies and Benevolences and in the Parliament of the 12th and 18th Years of his Reign without any Colour of Justice imprisoned so many worthy Gentlemen without the Benefit of Corpus's for their Debates in Parliament yet these other two pretended to raise their Tyrannies under the Form of Justice and therefore Charles the First after he for Fifteen Years together had not only exceeded his Father in granting Monopolies and raising Money by Loans Benevolences Coat and Conduct Money but also
in taking the Customs without Grant of Parliament and such as were never granted by Parliament and in further raising Ship-Money and imprisoning the Members of Parliament without Benefit of their Corpus's yet he thought best to do it by such Judges as he should make So this King in the Executions of Fitz-Harris and Colledge would have the Colour of Justice by a Form of Law for which there was no Law But as the Knights of Malta could make Knights of their Order for eight Pence a-piece yet could not make a Soldier of Sea-man So these Kings tho they could make what Judges they pleased to do their Business yet could not make a Grand-Jury from whom the Judges in all criminal Cases between the King and Subject must take their Measures these Grand-Juries in London are returned by the Sheriffs and the Sheriffs are chosen by the Livery This Difficulty after my Lord Shaftsbury's Case put the Court to their Trumps and at present a Stop to their Proceedings The Assistance of the Duke of York was necessary but at this time he was as busy in Scotland about my Lord of Argyle as his Brother was in England about my Lord Shaftsbury The City upon the Dissolution of the Four last Parliaments were aware of the Designs of the Court and chose Sheriffs accordingly when Colledge's Bill was preferred Mr. Cornish and Bethel were Sheriffs and now another such was preferred against 〈◊〉 Lord of Shaftsbury Sir Thomas Pilkington and Mr. Shute were Sheriffs who tho at other times Sheriffs would rather fine than serve yet at this time none refused to serve so that unless Sheriffs of another Stamp were chosen all would be to no Purpose It 's scarce credible what a Noise the not finding my Lord Shaftsbury's Bill made all Justice now the Tory Party cried was stopped if these Ignoramus Juries were not set aside R. L. S. proclaimed Forty one would inevitably return and this countenanced by the Court flew out of the City all the Country over so that scarce any other thing was to be heard but of Ignoramus Juries and what would follow from them It was the latter End of Michaelmas Term the great Inquest returned an Ignoramus upon the Bill of High Treason preferred against my Lord Shaftsbury and in the Vacation all Wits were set on work how to take the Election of the Sheriffs of London out of the Power of the City and no other Expedient could be found out but by taking away their Charter which if it could be done would not only entitle the Court to making of Sheriffs but open a Gap to their making a House of Commons for near 5 6 of the Commons are Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque Ports who would not dare to contest their Charters if the City of London could not hold theirs So that in Hilary Term following a Quo Warranto was brought against the City for two hainous Crimes viz. That they had made an Address to the King for the Parliament to sit for Redress of Grievances and to settle the Nation yet King Charles the First thought the Parliament's Vote of non-Addresses to him was a Deposing of him and that the City had raised Money towards repairing Cheapside Conduit ruined by the Fire of London The City pleaded their Right and the King replied upon which there was a Demurrer but Judgment was not given upon it till Trinity Term 1683. However the Novelty of the thing caused an Amusement upon the Generality of the City and Nation too whereto this tended In the mean time the Duke having done his Work in Scotland was returned to London and his Zeal for promoting the Catholick Cause outwent his Patience for the Court's Judgment upon the Demurrer to the Quo Warranto so that Courtiers of the First Magnitude appeared barefaced for the next Election of Sheriffs and Sir Dudley North Sir Francis's own Brother and Sir Peter Rich were returned one by a shameless Trick the other by open Force Tho the Court had gained this Point they thought not fit to push it further till the Demurrer to the City Charter were determined in which such Haste was made that only two Arguments were permitted on either Side one in Hilary Term 1682-83 and the other in Easter Term following and so Judgment was given in Trinity Term next after against the City The Judgment against the City was as strange as the Election of the Sheriffs for it was without any Reason and by two Judges only one was Sir Francis Withens who had heard but one Argument and I believe understood but little of that and who after in the Absence of Sir Edward Herbert delivered that for his Opinion which Sir Edward when present disowned and Sir Thomas Jones However they said Justice Raimond was of their Opinion and so was Saunders the Chief Justice tho he was past his Senses and only had Sense enough to expostulate with them for then troubling him when he had lost his Memory But the Court of Kings Bench were not so ripe for this hasty Judgment as that at White-Hall was for Discovery of Plots against the Government and Justice of the Nation of which they set three on Foot viz. A Plot to surprize the Guards the Rye-Plot to murder the King and Duke as they should come from New-Market and the Black-Heath Plot for the People to rise upon a Foot-Ball Match if those Sheriffs would not do the Court's Work you may be sure the next should where the King should have the Nomination but these were as trusty as any the King could make and it was now Graham and Burton's Work to find Good Jury-Men and then the Sheriffs would be sure to return them In all these Plots for ought I can find the Fox was the Finder my Lord H and Rumsey in that of the Guards Lee and Goodenough in that of Black-Heath Keeling and West in that of the Rye-Plot Lee was set to trapan Rouse and Baker in the Black-Heath Plot. Rumball at whose House 't was said the Rye-Plot was to be acted upon his Death denied he ever knew of any But the Great Design was upon my Lord of Essex and my Lord Russel one the most eminent of the Nobility for his great Honour and all eminent Vertues the other of the Commons and both zealous Protestants and Opponents to the Design of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power I will not again curtail Mr. Hawles's learned Remarks upon my Lord Russel's Trial on the Thirteenth of July 1683. yet I must observe how that that Day whether my Lord of Essex killed himself or was to be killed the King and his Brother were both in the Tower when the Act was done and immediately Notice was sent to the Old-Baily to give Notice of it to the Court that in the worst Sense Use might be made of it by the King's Counsel against my Lord Russel The Blaze of the Earl's having murdered himself having had its designed Effect upon my Lord Russel's Trial
of Luxemburgh from the Spaniard notwithstanding the late Treaty of Mutual Assistance between the King and Spain and had encreased his Men of War at Sea to be more and greater than those of the King 's and his New-found-land Fishery to be twenty fold more than it was 1660. and the English fallen not to 1 ◠of what it was yet in this dreadful State the Feuds of Whig and Tory no ways abated and both so stupid as if neither were concerned in this Design common to them both But though this most religious and gracious King for so the Tories will have him to whom all their nonsensical Doctrine of Passive Obedience is due had by the help and indefatigable Industry of the Tories laid this Foundation for the Ruine and Destruction of this Church and State yet he lived not to compleat this goodly Structure for he died upon the sixth of February 1684-85 it may be the sooner because he made no more haste to do it in the thirty seventh year of his Reign computing it from his Father's Death after he had lived fifty four Years eight Months and eight days The Character of King Charles II. HIS Person was of a very well composed Structure tall above the ordinary Stature of other Men not much much more resembling his Grandfather Henry IV. of France by his Mother than his Father or his Grandfather King James And as in his Person he more resembled Henry than either his Father or Grandfather James so did he in his Humours for both had lively and pleasant Wits and would be wondrous facetious and pleasant with those which humour'd them in their Pleasures and were of free Access whereas King Charles the Father was grave and severe in his way hard of Access and that by such strained Terms of Submission as were never heard of before in England and I believe no where else and King James was slovenly in his Behaviour and more servile to his Favourites than they to him Like his Grandfather Henry Charles gave himself up to all sensual Pleasures without any Controul but unlike his Father who was temperate and chaste Like his Grandfather Henry in Profession of his Religion for both seemingly professed that which neither believed Unlike his Father who while he did what he would was severely addicted to what he professed Unlike to his Father and Grandfather Henry in Covetousness but like his Grandfather James in profuse Prodigality to his Favourites but unlike his Father and Grandfather Henry in Parsimony ill becoming so great Kings like his Father and Grandfather James in laying the Foundation of the Ruin of the Grandure of England abroad and the Church and State at home unlike his Grandfather Henry who laid the Foundation of the Grandure of France Tho Henry and Charles were esteemed Clement and Merciful Princes till the Rage of the latter end of Charles's Reign yet both were most vindictive against any who reproached their licentious Liberty in their lustful Pleasures as appears by Henry's putting the Duke of Biron to Death more as Sir Walter Raleigh observes for the Taunt he gave when Henry brought Madam Gabriel to the Siege of Amines That she was the Fortune of France than for Biron's Conspiracy with the Duke of Savoy and by that of cutting off Sir Coventry's Nose for the Report which was of Sir John that he asked the Question Which of the King's Favourites Men or Women Unlike to both Father and Grandfather James Charles was to his own Cousin-German the Elector-Palatine for they both at least seemingly endeavoured to have restored the Prince's Father to his Country after he was dispossessed of it by the Emperor and King of Spain whereas after this Prince was restored to a part of it by the Treaty of Munster this King without any Offence or Provocation given him by the Elector assisted the French to ruin and destroy it But he 's gone God knows by what means and the Possession of the Crown takes away all Attainders And now he 's gone he left the Nation more vitiated and debauched in their Manners than ever it was before by any other King having not only squander'd away the antient Revenues of the Crown which were esteemed sacred and which should have supported it against foreign Force and intestine Discord but left such a Debt upon it as never before was heard of nor contracted by such means having prostituted the Majesty of his Crown in becoming a Pensioner to France and advancing that Interest to be as formidable and dangerous to the rest of Christendom as to his own Dominions and embroiled 〈◊〉 Subjects in intestine Feuds and Discords as if thereby he designed them an easy Prey to the French and Popish Interest and having by Bribery and Corruption so vitiated all publick Offices both Sacred Civil and Military that they became habitual and so fix'd that it would become difficult if possible to reform them And as this King's Actions were little and dark so was his Funeral for never any King who died possest was so obscurely and meanly buried hurried in the dead of the Night to his Grave as if his Corps had been to be arrested for Debt and not so much as the Blue-Coat-Boys attending it his Brother then King shewing as little Gratitude to him for all his Favours as he had done to the Nation for all their Loyalty and incredible Sums of Money poured upon him And as his Father and Grandfather had not a Stone to cover their Graves thereby to preserve their Memories in future Generations so neither had he nor any of his Name hereafter is like to have as King of England But now he is gone all the dreadful Presages of the four last Parliaments are come upon the Nation and nothing left to secure the Nation 's Fears unless that the Crown being so in Debt and the Excise for the King's Life dying with him the Parliament would not be so prodigal of their Bounty as to grant this King's Successor such a Revenue which might enable him to attain his Ends by the Ruin of the Church and State of England The Good Deeds of King Charles II. 1. HIS dispensing with the Act of Navigation in the first Dutch War whereby he was enabled to continue the War against the Dutch two Years longer than he did and the Dutch otherwise might have fired the Ships in our Harbours a Year sooner and forced the King to a more inglorious Peace than that he made in the Year 1667 whilst the Parliament in the Temper it was in sat still and took no notice of these things Objection If the King has Power to dispense with the Act of Navigation by the same Reason he may dispense with other Laws and so the Laws of the Nation will be loose and subject to the King's Will at his Pleasure Answer I. I wish all Legislators in passing Laws would be of another Temper than when the Rump made this Law which was in spight of the Dutch without
any Consideration of the dreadful Consequences it has brought upon the Nation both within and without or in another Temper than the Parliament was in in the twelfth Year of the King when they passed or confirmed this Law without any consideration of Times whether in War or Peace II. If the Act of Navigation had been in general a good Law yet Times must be distinguished and in War Civil Laws are silent so that for the Preservation of the Publick the King may destroy particular Mens Interest as in case of firing the Suburbs of a City to preserve the City and destroy the Fruits of the Ground rather than these shall sustain an Enemy to the endangering the whole Nation but it was much more reasonable for the King to grant Liberty without any Destruction or Wrong to his Subjects to dispense with the Act of Navigation and give all Foreigners Liberty to import Gunpowder and all sorts of Naval Scores c. for the Nation 's Preservation in the time of War with the Dutch And I say it was Prudence in Oliver tho in time of Peace to dispense with the Act of Navigation in reference to the Trade to Norway and Sweden after the Norway Merchants had represented to him how grievously the Norwegians by this Act imposed upon not only the English Subjects but upon Oliver himself in building and fitting up his Men of War 2. The second better Act of King Charles was his dispensing with the Law against Foreigners partaking the Benefits of the natural-born Subjects of England by permitting Brewer and his Walloons tho Papists after they fled from the Rage of the French Ravages in Flanders in 1667 to plant and settle themselves in the West whereby the English became instructed how to make and dye fine Woollen Cloths 30 per Cent. cheaper than they could before and herein the King imitated two of his most glorious Predecessors that ever reigned in England I mean Edward III. and Queen Elizabeth Princes who no ways affected Tyranny or Arbitrary Power I say the King might justly and legally do this for tho the King cannot dispense with Laws which have a complicated Interest with himself and Subjects to the Wrong of his Subjects yet the King may dispense with those Penalties which properly belong to him even in criminal Cases as to the Life and Estate of an Offender and therefore much more where there is no Offence and the End for the publick Good as in this Case of Brewer and all other Foreigners the Penalty is if they trade they shall pay Strangers Duties but this is to the King and if he pleases he may take to other Duties than his natural-born Subjects pay whereby the Foreign and Fishing Trades which are carried on in Holland might not be carried out of England and thereby the Navigation of England become double or treble to what it now is and the ruined and even desolate Coast-Towns of England flourish as Hamburgh Amsterdam Gottenburgh Diep St. Maloes and other Ports Would not this be not only for the enriching but strengthning the Nation and that in a double Proportion for we should be so much more rich and strong here as other Nations would be less and in a worse state to make War upon us Nay should we only make our Ports free as Leghorn Marseilles and as of late the Pope has Civita Vecchia would not the Nation be so much more enriched as the Goods imported are more I would know from whence else it was that France became so enriched above all other Countries for Mines they have none but from the vast Trades the English Dutch Swedes and Danes drove in France And suppose the King should dispense with Foreigners purchasing Lands in England and not take them as he may do if he pleases whereby Millions of Money would be brought into England the Lands we shall have still and would not the Nation be so much more enriched hereby as the Purchase-Monies are more And would not the Nation be so much more peopled and strengthned as the Purchasers are more and the King's Revenue by Excise and Customs so much more encreased as the Consumption of these and their Descendants shall be more Merchants to enrich themselves and the Nation run great Hazards and are often undone in their Merchandizing whereas the Nation nor any Man else runs any Hazard by Foreigners purchasing Lands in England Ambitious Princes to acquire more Subjects run great Hazard and destroy and make Men miserable and ruin Countries to accomplish their Designs whereas none of these attend the Permission of Foreigners to trade and inhabit among us and when they are once settled theirs and the Nation 's Interest will be the same and both alike obliged to defend them Xenophon in Cyropaedia says That by reason of the Goodness and Justice of Cyrus's Reign many Nations became his Subjects Will any say Cyrus was less a King hereby Or should we be less a Nation if by the Benefit of our many Advantages in Trade we should by others encrease our Trade which we cannot of our selves Nay should we not so much more enrich and strengthen our selves When I consider these things I wonder Foreigners should be at such Charges to purchase their Freedom by an Act of Parliament whenas the King may do it if he pleases unless it be that their Posterity shall not inherit but if the King may permit Foreigners to purchase without taking the Forfeitures or grant them a Licence to purchase he may grant them a Licence to settle their Estates as they please 3. The third good Act of K. Charles was his marrying the late Queen to his present Majesty tho by the manner of it it seems to me he did it by Surprize and I 'm apt to believe if he could well have come off from it again he would as appears by the Story 4. We may add this fourth That he bred up the late Queen and her Sister after the Religion of the Church of England A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England DURING THE REIGN OF King JAMES II c. BOOK V. WHAT before King Charles II. acted in Masquerade King James did bare-fac'd and here you 'll see how plain and easy a Passage the Absolute Will and Pleasure-Men and Passive Obedience-Men had made for this King to overthrow the whole Church and State of England and by what steps he proceeded in it the King's Speeches looking one way and he going quite contrary Upon the 6th of February in 1684 85. the Day of his Brother's Death the King declared in Council That since it had pleased God to place him in that Station to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother that he thinks fit to declare his Endeavours to follow his Brother's Example more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People and make it his Endeavour to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it is by
Law established Commends the Church of England's Principles and Members knows likewise that the Laws of England are sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he can wish and therefore as he will never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so he will never invade any Man's Property The next Sunday after his Brother's Death the King went publickly to Mass and that Week I think he order'd his Brother's dying in the Communion of the Church of Rome and before his Death his receiving his Viaticum and other Ceremonies of that Church and attested by Father Huddleston to be printed and also the Papers taken out of the King's Strong-box shewing that however he outwardly appeared otherwise in his Life yet in his Heart he was sincerely a true Roman Catholick So that however he promised to preserve the Church of England as by Law established yet his Profession was of the Church of Rome which curses the Church of England and declares them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept The King's Father Charles I took the Customs before granted by Parliament this King took both Customs and the Excise granted only for the Life of his Brother before they were given him by Parliament How this corresponded with the King's Promise but the Week before that he would never invade any Man's Property I do not understand for tho in every Government no Man has Property against the Supream Power yet by the English Constitutions the Supream Power of the Nation is in the Parliament in Conjunction with the King and the King 's taking both the Customs and Temporary Excise for his Brother's Life by his only Will and Pleasure was as much a Violation upon the Property of the Subject as if he had taken the rest of their Goods and Inheritances To the King's Promise of preserving the Church and State of England as by Law established he adds That he will imitate his kind Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness of his People The first Act of the King's Clemency and Tenderness to his People was extended to Dr. Oates but tho the Act was compleated in this King's Reign the Scene was laid in his good and gracious Brother's when Oates was Fined 100000 l. for Scandalum Magnatum against the Duke of York in saying The Duke was reconciled to the Church of Rome and to be kept close Prisoner till the Fine was paid Oates being thus mew'd up upon the King 's coming to the Crown an Indictment of Perjury is contrived against him upon two Points one That Ireland was not in London from the 3d of August in 1678 till the 14th of September next following when Oates in Ireland's Trial said He was in a Consult concerning the killing the King about the middle of August The other was That Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 when Oates in Harcourt and Whitebread's c. Trials swore They were at a Consult the 24th of April concerning killing the King and establishing the Popish Religion But that a better View may be had of this Trial of Oates it 's fit to look back into King Charles II's Reign It seems evident to me That after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford and I believe it will to any other that shall read King Charles's History that he designed never after to have another Parliament until he should get the Corporations to surrender their Charters so as they should elect no other Members than pleased him and in the mean time to take off the Heads of those who were zealous in prosecuting the Popish Plot. Upon the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford the Feuds between the Whigs and Tories were in highest Ferment so that whatever was done against the Whigs was cried up by the Tories and Addresses made by them to the King that they would live and die with him in them And because the Whigs as they were called would not find Bills against my Lord of Shaftsbury and Colledge they resolved to carry the Election of Sheriffs in 1682 wherein Mr. Dubois and Mr. Papillon Whigs stood Candidates against Sir Peter Rich and Sir Dudley North Tories but they resolved by Right or Wrong Rich and North should carry it and so they did but by what Right you may judg by the Prints The Tories having gained this Point Sir R. S. Gra. and Burt. are Instruments for packing Juries the Judges North Pemberton and Saunders c. shall do their parts for declaring Charters void and for Trying Fitz-Harris my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney Sir Thomas Armstrong c. But the taking off the Heads of the Whigs was but half this Design the impeached Lords in the Tower must be let loose or the Game was but half play'd This was so ticklish a Point that neither Pemberton nor Saunders could be brought up to it but Saunders dying and Pemberton removed to the Common Pleas Sir Geo. Jeffries was set up to do this Work which he did to content and so was initiated to do what other Journey-work the Court should order And now before him Oates is to be tried for Perjury upon the two Points aforesaid Ireland was tried above six Years before viz. in December 1678 before a Jury of Judges in the Old-Baily and so was Whitebread and Harcourt within about a Month less than six Years viz. in June 1679. Ireland pleaded he was not in London from the 3d of August till the 14th of September and Whitebread Harcourt c. pleaded that Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 so that if their Witnesses said true 't was impossible Oates's Testimony of Whitebread's being at the Consult in April and Ireland's in August could be true That Oates was in Town in April and May in 1678 was proved by Sir Richard Barker Mr. Walker a Minister Mr. Clay a Romish Priest Mrs. Mayo Sarah Ives Mr. Oates's Schoolmaster with whom Oates dined about the Beginning of May Mr. Page and Butler Sir Barker's Coachman But besides Oates and Bedlow's swearing Ireland was at the Consult in August only Sarah Pain who had been Servant to Grove one of the Jesuits swore Ireland was in Town in August Oates thus mew'd up the St. Omers Boys are sent for over in all haste and you need not doubt had new Instructions and the Crew of Staffordshire Witnesses the Boys to swear Oates was at St. Omers all April and May the Staffordshire Witnesses that Ireland was in Staffordshire or thereabouts in August and September Jeffries was the Judg and you need not doubt of a Jury to chime into Jeffries summing up the Evidence Things standing in this Posture Oates is tried upon the 9th of May upon Perjury upon these two Points At the Trial Oates could get only four Witnesses to appear and 't was a Wonder he could get any viz. Mr. Walker the Minister who after so long time durst not trust to his Memory to swear positively
Oates was in Town unless he should have the Minutes of his Examination before and so Mr. Page but Mayo and Butler both swore Oates was in Town but unless Sarah Pain could be found 't was impossible for Oates to prove Ireland was in Town in August for Bedlow was dead and Oates could not swear for himself But Ex tempore verum nascitur Ireland was Confessor to Mr. John Jenison Father of Mr. Thomas Jenison a Jesuit in this Conspiracy and who died in Newgate elder Brother of Mr. Robert Jenison This Mr. Jenison having been at Windsor in August 1678 came from thence to Ireland's Chamber the 19th and found him pulling off his Boots on the Frame of a Table being newly come from Staffordshire Ireland ask'd him from whence he came who told him from Windsor Ireland enquired about the Diversions of the Court Jenison said His Majesty's chief Delight was in Hawking and Fishing accompanied only with two or three early in the Morning How easily then might he be taken off answer'd Ireland Then Ireland asked Mr. Jenison if he would be assisting in taking off the King which if he would Ireland said he would forgive him 20 l. which he owed Ireland Afterwards Ireland ask'd him if he knew any Irish-men who were courageous and stout Jenison told him he knew Captain Levallian Kerney Broghall and Wilson then Ireland ask'd him if he would go along with these and assist in taking off the King which he refusing Ireland said he knew Levallian and Kerney and set down the other two Names in writing and said he was going to the Club to Mr. Coleman Mr. Levallian and Kerney and dunn'd Mr. Jenison for the 20 l. which he owed Ireland but Ireland at his Death denying he was in Town from the third of August till the fourteenth of September Mr. Jenison changed his Religion upon it and printed the Reason and after upon his Oath at my Lord Stafford's Trial declared this and a farther Account of the Conspiracy against the King and for introducing the Popish Religion If living Testimonies shall be doubted yet I conceive I shall put it out of doubt that Ireland was in Town when his Staffordshire Witnesses said he was in Staffordshire by a Proof which could not be bribed or corrupted One Mr. Benjamin Hinton a Goldsmith in Lombard-street was Ireland's Cashier and Mr. Hinton going out of Town at that time in Aug. 1678 met Ireland at or about Barnet coming for London when Ireland told him that he had extraordinary Occasions for Money and urged Hinton to go back with him but Hinton told him his Man could do Ireland's Business as well as he and his Occasions would not permit him to go back I asked Mr. Hinton the Truth of this to which he would not give me any Answer but be this true or false it 's entred into Hinton's Book of Accompts paid to Mr. Ireland ' s own Hands whereas the other Entries are paid by his Order and 't is said Mr. Hinton's Man would depose he paid these Monies to Ireland himself Mr. Hinton afterwards failing a Commission of Bankrupt was sued against him and his Book of Accompts was delivered and kept at the Widow Vernon's Coffee-house in Bartholomew Lane on the back side of the Royal Exchange where any Man may see the Truth of this Entry I am assured Mr. Hinton was in Court at Oates his Trial to have testified this but was terrified from it for fear of being undone However Oates was found guilty of Perjury upon both Points in this Trial before Jefferies and his Brethren and his Sentence was to be whipt from Aldgate to Newgate the next Wednesday after and the Friday after but a Day between from Newgate to Tyburn which was put in Execution with the utmost Rigour the Stripes of the first Whipping being so sore and green upon the second that few other Men could have undergone the second to stand in the Pillory five times in the Year and to be a Prisoner during Life which was as close as his Whipping was severe This was the first Act of this King's Clemency and Tenderness to his People in Imitation of his good gracious and kind Brother and this before any general Pardon as is usual upon Kings coming to their Crowns or the Parliament had met but it might be easily presaged whereto this tended and tho it began with Oates yet Dangerfield underwent as severe a Punishment with a worse Fate for discovering the Meal-Tub Plot to have thrown the Popish Plot upon the Presbyterians These were the Preparations which King James made before the Parliament met to demonstrate to the World and them how sincerely he had made good his Promise to his Privy Council That he would never invade any Man's Property and imitate his good and gracious Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People and make it his Endeavours to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it was established by Law By Law no new Laws can be made nor old ones repealed or the Subject taxed but by Parliament But Flatterers in this King's Father and Grand-father's Reign ascribed these Powers to the King without Consent in Parliament and that Obedience was due to their Absolute Will and Pleasure and the Parasites of this King and his Brother did the same but under a new Doctrine termed Passive Obedience but these Princes not trusting to this would make a Parliament Felo de se and by corrupting them in their Principles ruin the Being of them and so to be at the sole disposing of the Prince The House of Commons is made up of 513 Members whereof 92 are Knights of Shires and Counties the rest are Citizens Burgesses and Barons of the Cinque Ports so as the Knights of the Shires are not near one Fourth of the House of Commons The King creates the Temporal Lords in Parliament and names the Spiritual so that if the King can make the Members of Corporations to give up their Charters and take such as he shall grant it will be in his Power to make above â…˜ of the House of Commons The Parliament at Oxford being dissolved the Contrivance of the Court was to play this Game but because Warranto's against all the Charters in England tho the King had made Judges and the Sheriffs would be sure to return such Juries as should be sure to do the Work would take up so much time as King Charles should never live to enjoy the Fruits of his Design 'T was therefore contrived that after the Court had got North and Rich Sheriffs to return such Juries as should do their Work to begin at the City of London and if the Court could have Judgment against their Charter few or none of the other Corporations would presume to abide the Contest So said so done for in Trinity-Term in 1682 Judgment was given against the City Charter yet there were three remarkable Observations upon it First It was without any Precedent Secondly
1693 towards a Supply for Repairs of the Navy and providing Stores for the Navy and Ordnance and other his Majesty's weighty and important Occasions They shall soon find the weight and importance of his Majesty's Occasions But this was not the only Reason the Customs which were 800000 l. per annum as granted to his Brother and a greater Revenue than any King of England except the religious Houses granted to Henry the VIII had before would have done this They add their thankful Acknowledgment of his Majesty's favourable and tender regard of his Commons They had but little experience of it yet and shall find less afterward The 4th Act grants in Imposition upon all Tobaccos and Sugars from the 24th of June 1685 to the 24th of June 1693 for the Repairs of the Navy and providing Stores for the Navy and Ordnance and the payment of Debts due to his late Majesty's Servants and Family and other the King 's weighty and important Affairs But this Act being represented to be dangerous to the Trade of our Plantations some of the Members said for the King if it succeeded so the King promised not to collect them so the Act passed But the Plantations being sore oppressed by this Act claimed the Benefit of the King's Promise but were answered It was Insolence in any Subject to challenge the King of his Promise which was all the Benefit they reaped by it The 5th Act granted the King an Imposition on all French Linens and all East-India Linen and several other Manufactures of India and French wrought Silks and Stuffs and all Brandies imported from the first Day of July 1685 to the first day of July 1690. The reason of this Act was the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion and the Acknowledgment of his Majesty's favourable and tender regard of his Commons And that there might be a nearer Conjunction between the King and his dear Brother of France for carrying on their great and important Affairs the Parliament repealed the Prohibition of French Wine Vinegar Brandy Linen Cloth Silks Malt Paper or any Manufactures made or mixed with Silk Thread Wool Hair Gold or Silver or Leather being of the Growth and Manufacture of France by the 29th and 30th of King Charles the Second The 9th Act enables the King to make Grants Leases and Copies of Offices Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of the Dutchy of Cornwal or annexed to the same and if this were not enough it confirms the Grants already made so that all the sacred Patrimony of the Crown which was not squandred away by his Brother this King is intituled to do by Law Yet after all this that this good King might be at no unnecessary Charges the 10th Act makes provision for necessary Carriages for him in his Royal Progress and Removal how grievous soever to the Subject The 11th Act provides Carriages by Land and Water for the use of his Majesty's Navy and Ordnance And after all this the 12th Act grants the King five Shillings per Tun extraordinary upon every Voyage which any Foreign Ship shall make from Port to Port in England and twelve pence per Tun for every Voyage which a Foreign built Ship not free shall make I have heard this Revenue with the Hereditary Excise and the other Revenues of the Crown computed at 2400000 l. per Ann. to which Revenue if you add 150000 l. per Ann. which the King had when he was Duke of York the whole will amount to two Millions five hundred and fifty thousand Pounds per Ann. which was threefold more than ever any King of England except Hen. VIII had before this King's Brother But Quorsum haec for except the Tumult which the Duke of Monmouth raised the Nation was at Peace abroad so that by granting the King this Revenue one of these two Consequences would necessarily follow either the King might maintain an Army of forty thousand Men to ride the Nation as he pleased or if he would contract his Expence to 700000 l. per Ann. which I say was a greater Revenue than ever King of England except Hen. VIII had before his Brother he might in less than seven years time hoard up more Money in his Exchequer allowing ten Millions to be in England than was in the Nation and thereby render the Nation in as bad a State as Egypt was in the Reign of Pharaoh in the seven Years Famine when the Egyptians were forced to sell the King their Land to buy them Bread Now let 's see to whom this Revenue was given and who gave it This King was a profest Jesuited Papist whose Principles are That not only the Givers of this Revenue but the whole English Nation except the Popish Faction are Schismaticks Sacrilegious Persons and Hereticks with whom no Faith is to be kept and could any Man believe this profuse Donative which these Men gave who called themselves a Parliament could change the King's Nature and the Principles of the Jesuits which forsooth must be infallible so that the King should neglect these and imploy this Revenue for the benefit of Schismaticks Hereticks and Sacrilegious Persons And if in all free Assemblies a Violence or Contempt upon any one who hath a Right of Suffrage invalidates all the Acts of that Assembly what then shall be deemed of this House of Commons where such Violences were offered in the Election of the Knights of Shires and where so many Corporations were either over-aw'd to surrender their Charters or had perfidiously against their Oaths given them up to take new ones as the King pleased And if the first Act of Henry IV. repealed all the Acts of the 21 Rich. II. because they intrenched upon the fundamental Rights of the Nation I 'm sure there is more Reason for the Parliament to repeal the Acts of this pretended Parliament where so many Violences and Frauds were done before their Assembly which we do not read were done before the Parliament of 21 Rich. II. met And as this grave Assembly heaped such a Revenue upon the King without redress of one Grievance so they took no care to secure the Nation by a general Act of Grace or Pardon for time past but left all to the King 's good Nature who had promised to imitate his good and gracious Brother but especially in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People And now the Parliament had done the King's work they had done their own too and for the time to come he will do what he pleaseth without them yet at present he only prorogued them till November following when they shall hear more of his Mind And now 't is time to see what the King acted between The first Act of Gratitude which the King testified to the Memory of his good and gracious Brother was his obscure and mean Burial of him as you have heard before And after the King had defeated the Tumult raised by the Duke of Monmouth his next Act of Gratitude to his kind Brother was to
sign a Warrant of Execution for the Duke his Brother's beloved Son without any Trial or Process of Law against him But his Grandfather James the First had either done the like or at least not unlike it when he came to Newark upon Trent in his Passage to London at his first coming to the Crown one was said to cut a Purse whereupon the King without more ado signed a Warrant for his Execution to the Sheriff and the poor Fellow was executed accordingly The Duke suffered upon the 15th of July but the Issue of Blood did not stanch with him for towards the latter end of August a Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer was granted to Sir George Jefferies and four other Judges to try the Duke of Monmouth's Adherents in the West But as the Duke suffered without any Trial and so was unjustly put to Death so I believe this Commission was initiated by such a Trial as can scarce be parallel'd by any other and this was the Case Alicia Lisle a Woman of extream Age was Wife of Lisle one of King Charles the First 's Judges and who was President of the High Court of Justice as 't was then called in the Trials of Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland and my Lord Capel and also in the Trial of Sir Henry Slingsby Dr. Hewet c. and had entertained after the Defeat of the Duke of Monmouth one Hicks a Non-Conformist Minister who was with the Duke not in any Proclamation that he was so and one Richard Nelthorp a Stranger to Mrs. Lisle who was in the Proclamation and Out-lawed of High Treason for which she was tried at Winchester for High Treason for comforting and assisting Rebels It appears by the publick Prints the Jury were so unsatisfied by the Evidence Hicks not being in any Proclamation and Nelthorp unknown to Mrs. Lisle that they thrice brought her in Not Guilty at last upon Jefferies Threats they brought her in Guilty of High Treason and so had Sentence passed upon her accordingly which in Women is to be burnt but the Execution was by beheading of her so that whether the Sentence was just or not the Execution was unjust for though the King may pardon or mitigate the Punishment of any Crime against him as to pardon Treason or to mitigate the Execution to beheading which is part of the Sentence yet he cannot alter the Punishment into any other than the Law prescribes but the Convention after King William came in were so dissatisfied in her Case that though they could not restore her to Life yet they reverst the Judgment for her Death From this uncertain Justice Jefferies and his Brethren make haste to proceed in their Commission Summo Jure and from Winchester by Salisbury upon the 3d of September a day fam'd for Oliver's Victory over the Scots at Dunbar over King Charles the II. at Worcester and for his Death arrives at Dorchester and because time was precious the next day Jefferies contrives this Stratagem to shorten his Work Thirty Persons being found by the Grand Inquest to have assisted the Duke of Monmouth when they came upon their Trials and before they had pleaded Jefferies told them that whosoever pleaded Not Guilty and was found so should have little time to live and if any expected Favour he must plead Guilty But the Prisoners trusted little to what Jefferies said and pleaded Not Guilty yet 29 were found Guilty and immediately Sentence was passed upon them and a Warrant of Execution signed upon Monday following after which a couple of Officers were sent to the Goal to take the Names of all the Prisoners who told the Prisoners if they confest they might expect Mercy otherwise none was to be hoped for these wretched Men thus wheedled pleaded Guilty and so at one Sentence Jefferies condemned 292 whereof 80 were executed From Dorchester Jefferies proceeded to Exeter and used the same Stratagem as at Dorchester for one Mr. Fower Acres being arraigned and pleading Not Guilty yet being found so had immediately Sentence passed upon him and Execution awarded upon it whereupon 243 pleaded Guilty and by one Sentence had Judgment passed upon them From Exeter Jefferies marched to Taunton where some few pleaded Not Guilty but being found had immediately Sentence and Execution awarded the rest terrified pleaded Guilty and had Sentence passed upon them and thence Jefferies marched to Wells where he finished his bloody Assize where and at Taunton he condemned above 509 whereof 239 were executed and had their Heads and Quarters set up in the principal Places and High Roads of Somerset and Dorsetshires to the terror of Passengers and annoyance of those Parts In these Executions I find one remarkable Story it 's printed in a Treatise called The New Martyrology fol. 478. Colonel Holmes and 11 more of those condemned at Dorchester were carried from Dorchester to Lime towards their Execution by six in a Coach and six in a Cart and at Lime they were put in a Sledg prepared to carry them to be executed but the Horses could not be driven to go but turned backward whereupon the Coach-horses were taken from the Coach and put to draw the Sledg but then the Sledg broke so the poor Men were forced to go on their Feet to their Execution I will not dispute the Justice of these Executions but I say Justice ought to look forward viz. to terrify others from committing like Crimes never backward to take Pleasure in punishing and a black Brand is set upon the Reigns of those Princes which shed much Blood nor do we read in any Story such a Sea of Blood flowed from Justice as did in less than eight Months after this King began his Reign and that which rendred it more remarkable was the King's Profession to his Privy Council and after to the Parliament That he would imitate his good and gracious Brother but above all in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People But if Justice look'd forward in Jeffries's Executions it did not in Kirk's who was one of King James's Major-Generals in the Expedition against the Duke of Monmouth who when after the Duke's Defeat he came to Taunton caused 90 wounded Men who had been taken Prisoners not permitting their Wives or Children to speak with them to be hang'd with Pipes playing Drums beating and Trumpets sounding and after their Bowels to be burnt their Quarters to be boiled in Pitch and hang'd in several parts of the Town and I have heard that when afterwards Kirk was charged with this Inhumanity he excused it that he could do no less it being but part of the Instructions he had from the Right Honourable the Earl of F General in this famous Expedition As yet no Pardon could be hoped for to any one but by those which could purchase it by the Ruin of their Estates and those which could not purchase one were sold for Slaves to the Plantations When Justice could take no further place then out comes a Pardon
but so ridiculously cruel as will scarcely be believed for not only those who escaped were excepted but a Company of Girls some of 8 or 9 Years old who had made some Colours and presented them to the Duke of Monmouth while he was at Taunton these were excepted by Name and no Pardon could be purchased for this Treason till the Girls Parents had paid more for it than would have provided a Marriage Portion when they should come of Age. But suppose the King did imitate his good and gracious Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People and that Justice only looked forward in these Executions yet we will give Instances wherein this King did not imitate his good and gracious Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People Alderman Cornish tho he had committed two horrible Crimes in the Reign of King Charles one in presuming to examine Fitz-Harris while he was a Prisoner in Newgate before he was hurried from thence to the Tower to prevent his further Examination the other that he testified at Fitz-Harris's Trial that King Charles told Mr. Cornish that the King did countenance Fitz-Harris in his Design and had given him Money yet King Charles was so good and gracious as not to take away Mr. Cornish's Life But the offended Ghosts of Coleman Ireland Harcourt c. were no ways appeased by the Blood which flowed from the Stripes of Oates's Sentence nothing less than a Sacrifice of humane Blood must be offered to them and this to be performed by affixing Sacred Justice to it Upon Tuesday the of October Mr. Cornish having no dread of any Accusation upon him for any Crime but freely following his Profession was clapt up close Prisoner in Newgate without use of Pen Ink or Paper till Saturday Noon when he had notice of an Indictment of High Treason against him on Monday following and could get no Friend to come to him till 8 a clock at Night Next Day Mr. Cornish's Children petitioned the King to have his Trial put off which was referred to the Judges who you may be assured had their Instructions who denied it tho he knew not whether his Trial were for Treason against this or the late King and his most material Witness was above 140 Miles off and was also denied a Copy of the Pannel of his Jury The Charge of High Treason against him was That in the Year 1682 he had promised to be assisting to James late Duke of Monmouth William Russel Esquire and Sir Thomas Armstrong in their Treasons against King Charles II. The only Witness to prove this was Colonel Rumsey who swore That about the latter end of October or beginning of November at Mr. Sheppard's House Ferguson told Mr. Cornish that he had read a Paper to the Duke of Monmouth Lord Russel Lord Grey and Sir Thomas Armstrong which they desired should be read to Mr. Cornish that Mr. Sheppard held the Candle while it was reading and afterward they asked him how he liked it who said he liked it very well He remembred two Points in it very well one was for Liberty of Conscience the other was That all who would assist in that Insurrection who had had Kings Lands or Church Lands should have them restored to them Rumsey did not hear all the Paper but observed only these two Points it was a Declaration on a Rising and when the Rising was to have been it was to have been dispersed abroad there was a Rising intended at that time and Mr. Cornish said He liked the Declaration and what poor Interest he had he would join in it Rumsey had sworn at my Lord Russel's Trial that Mr. Cornish was not at the Reading or the Declaration by Ferguson and being tax'd for it in this said it was out of Compassion to the Prisoner and Mr. Sheppard who was subpoena'd for the King testified Mr. Cornish was not there Richard Goodenough was the other Witness which was about Words foreign to Rumsey's Testimony about seizing the Tower and a Rising in the City which if what Goodenough said had been true yet Mr. Cornish could not have been found Guilty of Treason for tho by the first Act of Parliament after the Convention of King Charles II. Words were made Treason against the King during his Life yet were they to be prosecuted within six Months and the Person to be indicted in three Months after whereas these Words were pretended to be spoken in Easter Term in 1683 which was two Years and a half before Add hereto the Words were imperfectly said by Goodenough and might be applicable to a pretended Riot wherein Mr. Cornish was concerned and that Goodenough was upon ill Terms with Mr. Cornish because he would not trust Goodenough to be his Under-Sheriff You may read the Trial at large with Mr. Hawles his fine and learned Remarks upon it and how rudely Mr. Cornish and his Witnesses were used at his Trial and how notwithstanding his Quality after Conviction he was tied as if he had been a boisterous and dangerous Rogue and that by Order and executed with the utmost Rigour of the Law for this far-fetch'd and ill-proved Treason But these Tories shall soon see they labour for others not for themselves and these whom they now persecute shall have the Ascendant over them And I observed this of Sir Thomas Jones who was Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and most active in this Trial that he was one of the first if not the first who was turned out of his Place for giving his Opinion the King could not dispense with the Test and Penal Laws The Design thus deep stained in humane Blood first budded in Ireland but whether it was in Affirmance of the King's Promise to his Privy Council and after repeated by him in Parliament that he would make it his Endeavour to preserve the Church and State of England as by Law established let any Man who reads the following Story judg The Book stiled the State of the Protestants in Ireland said to be written by Bishop King fol. 58. says That King James was no sooner settled in his Throne but he began to turn out some Officers who had been most zealous for his Service and had best deserved of him meerly because they had been counted firm to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest such as my Lord Shannon Captain Robert Fitz-Gerald Captain Richard Coote Sir Oliver St. George and put in their places Kerney one of the Russians designed to murder Charles II. Anderson a mean Fellow Sheldon a profest Papist and one Graham and fol. 59. saith the Duke of Ormond was sent for abruptly and divested of the Government and immediately the modelling of the Army was put into the Hands of Colonel Richard Talbot a Man of all others most hated by the Protestants and who had been named by Mr. Oates in his Narrative for this very Employment so that many who believed nothing of the Plot before gave Credit to
intend to make Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland an independent Commission to reform the Army in Ireland and to take the Troopers Horses Pistols Swords and Boots and the Arms and Clothing of the Foot which they had bought and paid for without paying for them I then told you I would endeavour to preserve the Church and State of England as established by Law but now I tell you that I have employed some Officers in the Army not qualified according to the late Tests and will deal plainly with you I will neither expose them to Disgrace nor my self to the want of them The Militia is not sufficient for my Occasions nothing but a good Force of disciplin'd Troops in constant Pay will do it and to that purpose I think it necessary to encrease the Number to the proportion I have done viz. double for which I ask your Assistance in giving me a Supply answerable to the Expence it brings along with it Tho I have disbanded the Army in Ireland which were as true Passive-Obedience-Men as could be got for Love or Money yet were they not fit for my Occasions and tho I have encreased my Army in England to such a Proportion as you now see and officer'd with such Officers as are not qualified by the late Tests yet they are not fit for my Occasions and for which I ask your Assistance in giving me a Supply answerable to the Expence it brings along with it yet let no Man be so wicked as to hope this may put a Difference between you and me but consider what Advantages have arisen to us in a few Months by the good Understanding we have hitherto had and the wonderful Effects it hath already had Now let 's see what Influence this King's Speech had upon the Members The Lords hand over head ordered Thanks to the King for his good and gracious Speech but it did not pass so hastily with the Commons but they debated it Paragraph by Paragraph and because the Militia had not been so forward as the King would have them they voted that they would take into their Consideration how to make it more useful in time to come in case such dangerous Attempts should be made as in Monmouth's Rebellion and upon the 16th of November made this Address to the King Most Gracious Sovereign WE Your Majesty's most Loyal and Faithful Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled do in the first place as in Duty bound return Your Majesty most humble and hearty Thanks for your great Care and Conduct in the Suppression of the late Rebellion which threatned the Overthrow of this Government both of Church and State and the uttter Extirpation of our Religion as by Law established which is most dear to Vs and which Your Majesty has been graciously pleased to give Vs repeated Assurances You will always Defend and Support which with all grateful Hearts we shall ever acknowledg We further crave leave to acquaint Your Majesty that we have with all Duty and Readiness taken into our Consideration Your Majesty's gracious Speech to Vs and as to that part of it relating to the Officers in the Army not qualified for their Imployments according to an Act of Parliament made in the 25th Year of the Reign of Your Majesty's Royal Brother of Blessed Memory Intitled An for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants We do out of Our bounden Duty humbly represent unto Your Majesty that these Officers by Law be uncapable of their Imployment and that the dangers they bring upon themselves thereby can no ways be taken off but by Act of Parliament Therefore out of the great Deference and Duty we owe unto Your Majesty who has been so graciously pleased to take notice of their Services to you we are preparing a Bill to pass both Houses for Your Royal Assent to Indemnify them from the Penalty they have now incurred and because the continuance of them in their Imployments may be taken to be a Dispensing Power with that Law without Act of Parliament the Consequence of which is of the greatest Concernment to the Rights of all your Majesty's Dutiful and Loyal Subjects and to all the Laws made for security of their Religion We therefore the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of your Majesty's House of Commons do most humbly beseech Your Majesty that You would be graciously pleased to give such Directions therein that no Apprehension or Jealousies may remain in the Hearts of Your Majesty's Good and Faithful Subjects This Address was like the shutting the Stable-door when the Steed was stoln these Commons had no such Apprehensions when they heaped such an exorbitant Revenue upon the King to enable him to maintain an Army of 40000 Men to ride them and the Nation when he pleased and now they see the King drives a Way which tends to the Nations as well as their Destructions they tell the King such Ways may give Apprehensions and Jealousies in the Hearts of His Majesty's good and faithful Subjects Did not the Commons in all the four Parliaments in King Charles the 2d's Reign declare what would be the Consequences of the Duke of York's coming to the Crown and did the Duke's Actions while he was Regent in Scotland any ways alleviate those Parliaments Fears Could this Parliament as 't was called now they were got together again and saw Colonel Talbot with an independent Commission from the Lord Lieutenant so barbarously disbanding the Army in Ireland because guilty only of being Protestants yet believe the King would admit of no Papists in his Army in England Could they believe that once professing of the King who was a Jesuited Papist that he would maintain the Church and State as by Law established would wash out all the Jesuit Principles which had taken such deep root in him that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks which the King esteemed these who had prostituted him with such a vast Revenue and all the Nation besides who were not of his Faction to be but that by Fire Faggot and all other such means they were to be rooted out and grow no more upon the Face of the Earth The Bishops retained fresh in memory during the Reign of King Charles the 2d the Indignities the Factions in the late times had shewed to their Persons and Revenues so that they were not only opposite to the Commons in passing the Bills which the Commons had prepared for uniting the King's Protestant Subjects when they perceived the Danger the Nation was in by the Popish Designs but stifly opposed the passing The Bill of Exclusion against the Succession of the Duke of York and all along King Charles his Reign countenanced the Doctrine of Passive Obedience as thinking themselves and their Order most secure under it but herein their Politicks failed them For now the Bishops perceived a more terrible Storm coming upon them by a Faction who never shewed Mercy to any opposite to them whenever it came in their Power and the
and Dominion of Wales and of all and every the Offender or Offenders therein and them and every of them to order correct reform and punish by Censure of the Church And also We do give and grant full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one in like manner as is aforesaid from time to time and at all times during Our Pleasure to inquire of search out and call before you all and every Ecclesiastical Person or Persons of what Degree or Dignity soever as shall offend in any of these Particulars before mentioned and them and every of them to correct and punish for such their Misbehaviours and Misdemeanors by suspending or depriving them from all Promotions Ecclesiastical and from all Functions in the Church and to inflict such other Punishment or Censures upon them according to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm And further we do give full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one by virtue hereof and in like manner and form as is aforesaid to inquire hear determine and punish all Incest Adulteries Fornications Outrages Misbehaviours and Disorders in Marriage and all other Grievances and great Crimes or Offences which are punishable or reformable by the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Our Realm committed or done or hereafter to be committed or done in any Place exempt or not exempt within this Our Realm according to the Tenor of the Ecclesiastical Laws in that Behalf Granting you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the Lord Chancellor to be one full Power and Authority to order and award such Punishment to every such Offender by Censures of the Church or other lawful Ways as is abovesaid And further We do give full Power and Authority to you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellour to be one to call before you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one all and every Offender and Offenders in any of the Premises and all such as you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall seem to be suspected Persons in any of the Premises which you shall object against them and to proceed against them and every of them as the Nature and Quality of the Offence or Suspicion in that Behalf shall require and also to call all such Witnesses or any other Person or Persons that can inform you concerning any of the Premises as you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one and them and every of them to examine upon their Corporal Oaths for the better Trial and opening of the Truth of the Premises or any Part thereof And if you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall find any Person or Persons whatsoever obstinate or disobedient in their Appearance before you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Chancellor to be one at your Calling and Commandments or else in not obeying or in not accomplishing your Orders Decrees and Commandments or any thing touching the Premises or any Part thereof or any other Branch or Clause contained in this Commission that then you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall have full Power and Authority to punish the same Person or Persons so offending by Excommunication Suspension Deprivation or other Censures Ecclesiastical And when any Persons shall be convented or prosecuted before you as aforesaid for any of the Causes above expressed at the Instance and Suit of any Person prosecuting the Offence in that Behalf that then you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall have full Power and Authority to award such Costs and Expences of the Suit as well to and against the Party as shall prefer or prosecute the said Offence as to and against the Party or Parties that shall be convented according as their Causes shall require and to you in Justice shall be thought reasonable And further Our Will and Pleasure is That you assume our well-beloved Subject William Bridgman Esquire one of the Clerks of our Council or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies in that behalf to be your Register whom we do by these Presents depute to that effect for the registring of all your Acts Decrees and Proceedings by virtue of this our Commission and that in like manner you or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one by your Discretions shall appoint one or more Messenger or Messengers and other Officer or Officers necessary and convenient to attend upon you for any Service in this behalf Our Will and express Commandment also is That there shall be two Paper-Books indented and made the one to remain with the said Register or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies the other with such Persons and in such Places as you the said Commissioners or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall in your Discretion think most fit and meet in both which Books shall be fairly enter'd all the Acts Decrees and Proceedings made or to be made by virtue of this Commission And whereas our Universities of Oxford and Cambridg and divers Cathedral and Collegiate Churches Colleges Grammar Schools and other Ecclesiastical Incorporations have been erected founded and endowed by several of our Royal Progenitors Kings and Queens of this Realm and some others by the Charity and Bounty of some of their Subjects as well within our Universities as other Parts and Places the Ordinance Rules and Statutes whereof are either embezeled lost corrupted or altogether imperfected We do therefore give a full Power and Authority to you or any five or more of you of whom we will you the afore-named Lord Chancellor always to be one to cause and command in our Name all and singular the Ordinances Rules and Statutes of our Universities and all and every Cathedral and Collegiate Churches Colleges Grammar-Schools and other Ecclesiastical Incorporations together with their several Letters Patents and other Writings touching or in any wise concerning the several Erections and Foundations to be brought and exhibited before you or any five or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one willing commanding and authorizing you or any five or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one upon the exhibiting and upon diligent and deliberate View Search and Examination of the said Statutes Rules and Ordinances Letters Patents and Writings as is aforesaid the
Service and that all the Bishops in their respective Diocesses should take care to have this done accordingly The Bishops who knew the Declaration of Indulgence was designed to conjoin the Protestant Dissenters with the Popish to ruin the Established Church easily foresaw that the Order to them was to pick a Quarrel with them for the King might have ordered it to be read without as well as by them And besides the Injustice of it it was deemed an undecent thing that the Fathers of the Church in time of Divine Setvice should be the Instruments to give a Liberty to all whether they should come to Divine Service or not Besides the Bishop of London who stood suspended thes Bishops viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Bath and Wells Ely Peterborough Chichester St. Asaph and Bristol were in or about the Town and this Order of Reading the Declaration in Churches was served upon them The Bishops in a humble Petition to the King gave their Reasons in Writing but so cautiously that after it was drawn up they would let no other Man see it before they presented it why they could not comply with the Order of Council The Chancellor tho he thought his Commission big enough to suspend the Bishop of London and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridg and expel the Master and Fellows of Magalen College in Oxford yet it seems did not think it sufficient to suspend these Bishops and therefore advised the King 't was said to try them upon an Information of High Misdemeanour in the King's Bench and in order to it they were committed Prisoners to the Tower Accordingly the Bishops were tried in the King's Bench in Trinty Term following upon an Information of High Misdemeanour for their Petition to the King but how secure soever the King and Chancellor thought themselves of the Judges and tho Sir Robert Wright who was Chief Justice and Sir Richard Allibone a known Papist were two of them yet they were not all of a Piece for Mr. Justice Powel both learnedly and stoutly defended the Bishops Cause If we look down to the Bar we shall see as strange a mixture as in the Bench for the late Attorney-General Sawyer and Solicitor Finch who were so zealous to find my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney and Mr. Cornish c. guilty of High Treason and for Surrender of Charters now they are turned out are as zealous for the acquittal of the Bishops and the then Solicitor-General of a most zealous Prosecutor of Abhorrers and Searcher into the bottom of the Popish Plot as zealous for finding their Misdemeanour However the Jury acquitted the Bishops Unless it were when Monk came into the City the 12th of February 1659-60 and Colonel Cloberry told the Citizens at Guild-Hall they should have a free Parliament or when King Charles came into London the 29th of May following never were such loud Acclamations of Joy exprest as upon the Acquittal of the Bishops nor did the Bounds of the City terminate this Joy but it flew like Lightning to Hounslow Heath where the King would be present to see the Army exercised wherein he trusted more than in Justice and Righteousness to accomplish his Design It seems the King was treated that Day by my Lord of Feversham General of the Army in his Tent when the News of the Bishops Acquittal arrived at the Army which entertained it with a general Shout the King 't was said was startled at it and sent the Earl to enquire the Cause the Earl in return told the King 't was nothing but the Souldiers Joy for the Acquittal of the Bishops And call you that nothing replied the King who was much discomposed upon it and well he might for now he saw how little Confidence was to be imposed in the Army he so much relied upon It 's a Duty incumbent upon Mankind to honour and worship God and give him Thanks for the Benefits received from him and to petition and pray to him for continuance of them Next after God it 's the Duty of all Subjects to honour the King for the Benefits they receive by his Justice and Protection and to petition and pray Relief from him for Oppressions and Injuries which cannot be redressed by the ordinary Course of Law or where the Ministers of the Law either cannot or refuse to do Justice It 's therefore the Wisdom of our Constitution that Parliaments frequently meet not only to receive Petitions against Oppressions or Injuries received which were not or could not be redressed by the King's Ministers of the Law but also to correct and punish the King's Ministers themselves if they transgressed or neglected their Duty But tho frequent Parliaments are the most proper Expedients for the Subjects herein yet oftentimes Accidents may be which will not stay for relief by Parliament as in Case of the Bishops In May they are ordered to have the King's Declaration of Indulgence read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses and to do it and to give no Reasons why they could not do it would have been a manifest Contempt of the King's Authority they could not do it either in Honour or Conscience and by an humble Petition and Address represent this to the King and for ought appeared then the King never intended to call another Parliament till he had modelled them as much to his Will as Cromwel did Barebone's Parliament This Petition is made a High Misdemeanour and the Bishops committed upon it and Father Petre the Club of Jesuits the Attorney and Solicitor-General Graham Burton c. are all plotting how to make it so So as now the Kingdom is without all hopes of a free Parliament and yet it is a High Misdemeanour to address to or petition the King And that this Order upon the Bishops to enjoin the Reading of the King's Declaration for Indulgence was a Design upon their Persons as well as upon the Church is apparent for after their Acquittal Orders from the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs were sent into all parts of England to return an Account to the Lord Chancellor of those that refused to read the Declaration of Indulgence that they might be proceeded against for their Contempt but the Reign and Rage of these Commissioners was too hot to last long and now let 's see what return of Praises and Thanksgivings the Bishops can make to God for their Deliverance God requires Truth in the inward Parts and that it should govern all the Intentions Speech and Actions of every Man in his Conversation with Man yet more in his Prayers and Petitions to God and if it be an High Crime of Hypocrisy to speak or act contrary to a Man's Knowledg or Belief for the end designed thereby is to deceive another though God cannot be deceived it 's a greater Crime to approach his Omniscience with Prayers and Petitions contrary to a Man's certain Knowledg or firm Belief I take it for granted that the Bishops understood the King's Declaration
the Design At this time there was not only a high Ferment in all the Nation against the King's Proceedings but in the Army against its mixture with Irish Officers and Soldiers which put the King into a great Agony which was increased by the Dutch Preparation Whereupon the Marquess d' Albeville the King's Envoy at the Hague upon the 2d of Sept. N. S. 23d of Aug. O. S. put in this Memorial to the States General High and Mighty Lords THE great and surprizing Preparations for War made by your Lordships by Sea and Land in a Season when all Action especially by Sea is laid aside giving just Cause of Surprize and Alarm to all Europe obliges the King my Master who has had nothing so much in his Mind since his Accession to the Crown as a Continuation of the Peace and Correspondence with this State to order the Marquess d' Albeville his Envoy Extraordinary to know your Highnesses Intentions thereby His Majesty as your antient Ally and Confederate believes it just to demand this Knowledg which he hoped with good Reason to have heard from your Ambassador but as he sees this Duty of Alliance and Confederation neglected and that such Power is raising without communicating the Intent in the least to him he finds himself obliged to reinforce his Fleet and to put himself in a Condition to maintain the Peace of Christendom The States paused upon an Answer to this Memorial when upon the 9th of September N. S. or the 30th of Aug. O. S. Monsieur d' Avaux the French Ambassador put in a Memorial to the States wherein he foolishly discovers the Contrivances which had been so long hatching between his Master and King James for after a long Story of his Master's Desire of maintaining the Peace of Europe now he had actually broke it he impertinently tells the States All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore His Majesty hath commanded me to declare to the States on his Part that the Bonds of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him the French King not only to assist him the King of Great Britain but also to look on the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops and your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown Though the Dutch made no Answer to this Memorial yet they made no Bones to make this Answer to the Marquess d' Albeville's That they had armed in Imitation of his Britannick Majesty and other Princes and that they had thereby given no just Cause of Offence by arming when all other Princes were in Motion and that they were long since convinced of the Alliance which the King his Master had treated with France and what had been mentioned to them by Monsieur le Count d' Avaux in his Memorial This Answer King James took all one as if the Dutch had declared War against him and all the Eyes of England are now turned toward Holland as if from thence they expected Deliverance from the Designs of King James and his Popish Crew and the Fathers and Sons too of the Church of England are at as much Variance in their private and publick Prayers to God as Whig and Tory were in their Humours for in their private Prayers they pray for Prosperity to the Prince of Orange and in the Liturgy they pray that God would be King James's Defender and Keeper giving him Victory over all his Enemies God was pleased to prefer the private Prayers of the Church-men before those of the Church and to have granted both had been impossible and to put a hook into the French King's Nose who turned those Forces which he had raised not for the Peace and Tranquillity of Europe as d' Avaux said in his Memorial to the Dutch States upon the Empire where without any Declaration of War or Cause alledged he first fell upon Philipsburg which he took and after Heydelberg and Mainheim and while he was thus engaged he left the Prince of Orange free to vindicate his Cause against King James whereas if the French King had turned those Forces which he employed against the Empire upon the Spanish Netherlands and he might as justly have done this as that the Prince of Orange would have had little Force and less Leasure to have made any Attempt upon King James Thus God is pleased often to turn the Wisdom of the Crafty I will not say Wise into Folly and Destruction You have heard before how the French King in the beginning of the Year had sent out a Fleet to Canada whereupon the Company of Hudsons-Bay represented to the King their Apprehensions it was a Design upon their Factories and Plantations and so it succeeded for the French seized upon a Fort and Plantation of theirs called Fort Charles Towards the latter end of the Summer the King without the Knowledg of Hudsons-Bay Company entred into a Treaty of Commerce with his Brother of France in reference to the Trade of Canada wherein it was concluded that the Forts and Factories should be reciprocally enjoyed in the same state they were at the Conclusion of this Treaty the French having taken the Fort and Factory of Charles about three Months before So little did this King regard the Safety and Welfare of his Subjects wherein his Majesty and Honour was founded for to pleasure and endear his Brother of France from whom he expected mighty things for the Advancement of his Prerogative without reserve in England Scotland and Ireland Thus have I brought down the History of this King's Reign to the History of the Desertion where at large and particularly you may read how by a Wonder equal to King Charles his Coming in King James went out And if no human Prospect could have foreseen where the Tyranny of King Charles the I's Reign would have ended if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a full Stop to it so no uninterested Person was so purblind as not to see if the Heroick Magnanimity of this King in his Queen's his own and the Nation 's Right and for the common Safety of Christendom had not put a Stop to King James his Designs but the Popish Superstition and French Tyranny would have been imposed upon these Kingdoms and have overspread Christendom We admit these four Kings of the Scotish Race had an Hereditary Title to have governed England by the Laws and Constitutions of it yet no Hereditary King hath any higher Title nor any Man a Right to do Wrong and for an Hereditary King to govern otherways is a greater Tyranny than if an Usurper does by how much he adds Perfidiousness and Breach of his Trust to it Yet so it was that these four last Kings of the Scotish Race which should have been the Guardians of England in preserving the
Laws and Constitutions of it and to have maintained the Honour of it abroad made it their Business to have subverted them and being thereby always at Variance and Contentions with their Subjects lost their own and the Nation 's Honour abroad and by taking no Care of the foreign Concerns of the Nation became contemptible to other Nations Nay the last three Kings instead of restraining the French Ambition and Tyranny joined with them in advancing of them as if they designed to make the French King an Universal Monarch as well as to destroy the Constitutions of England And I would know a Reason why now his Majesty King William has by God's Blessing redeemed this Nation from the imminent Danger which the French King in conjunction with King James designed upon the Western Parts of Christendom as well as these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland any Christian should endeavour or desire the Restitution of King James any more than the Primitive Christians did Dioclesian Maximi◠and Maxentius after God had freed them from their Rage and Persecution by Constantine APPENDIX MY Lord Bacon compares Times to Ways some more plain and easy to pass others more rugged and more hard to pass the former is better for him who lives in them the latter is better for the Reader not only in the Pleasure of reading the Variety of Accidents in them but because in their Contests fine Notions arise which otherwise might have been concealed and which may be beneficial to the Readers in succeeding Times and also in shewing the Causes of these Distempers succeeding Generations may be admonished hereby to prevent them in time to come In these Treatises we have given an Account of the manifold Varieties of Accidents which have hapned for above 80 Years in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland France Spain and the States of the Vnited Netherlands and though the Roman and Grecian Histories may give Instances of the like by Land yet none of them can shew the like of the French Grandeur by Sea in little more than forty Years but more especially in that this was acquired in the Face of two neighbouring Nations either of which could have prescribed Laws to all the World besides herein the one claiming the Dominion of the British Seas the other of the Indian and Southern Ocean On the other Side Spain which in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was both the Envy and Dread of these Western parts of Christendom is now fallen into that abject State as it is scarce in the Power of Christendom to uphold it from falling under the Dominion of the French and this History in some Measure hath shewn the Causes both of the Grandeur of France and the Cadency of Spain To the natural Advantages which the French had above other Nations after the Death of Queen Elizabeth was added that James the first and Charles the first of England whose Interest it was to have restrained the ambitious and aspiring Humour of the French were degenerous Princes wholly given up to be governed by Flatterers and Favourites and made it their Business to usurp another Jurisdiction over the Nation than they could claim by their Inherent Birth-right so that if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a Stop to Charles his Career no mortal Creature could have foreseen where it would have ended King James not to disturb his licentious and voluptuous Pleasures stood only still and looking on whilst Lewis the 13th had near broke the Interest of the Reformed in France but Charles in the first Act of his Reign lent the French a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers at that time superior to Lewis by Sea and as inconsiderately in the second Year of his Reign made War with France having in the first Year made War against the Spaniard whereby both Spain and France joining against the English brought that Loss and Dishonour upon the English in the Expedition of the Isle of Rhee and Charles being as loose in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions after the Death of the Duke of Buckingham who had engaged him in both these Wars made a secret Peace with the French and left the Reformed out of it though he engaged them to join with him in the War whereby the whole Interest of the Reformed was rooted out So that the Original of the French Grandeur by Sea and Land may be truly ascribed to these two Hereditary Princes James and Charles After the Tyranny of Charles his Reign had degenerated into the Usurpations of the Rump they thinking to prejudice the Dutch made the Act of Navigation which crampt up all the foreign Trades of England and the fishing Trade which above all others is the Nursery of Seamen and encrease of Navigation to English-built Ships and sail'd with ¾ English whether there be Ships or Mariners or not and without any Consideration of Times whether of War or Peace Though we have in this History and in The Reasons of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also in the View of the Act of Navigation in reference to the Laws which yet stand unrepealed to the Trades for Masts Rafters Boards foreign Oak Timber Pitch and Tar and to the Trades for rough Hemp and Flax and to the fishing Trades and also to the Safety of the Nation against Foreign Powers at large demonstrated the Iniquity of this Law and the dangerous Consequences of it yet it is fit even here to take some Notice of it and of the Navigation of the Nation before the Act and how the Case stands now by reason of it Before the Rump contrived the Act of Navigation the English as the Traders told me alone fished upon the Coasts of Iseland and Westmony for Ling and the Cod-fish called Haberdin and at that time the Town of Alborough in Suffolk as I was informed fished yearly to those Seas with 35 Sail of Vessels called Iselands-Barks and the Town of Sould or Southold with 15 and Great Yarmouth with manifold more the Number I cannot tell but this I can tell That besides London and other parts of Norfolk and Suffolk which they supplied with this sort of Fish as also the Navy Royal and other Ships with this sort of Provision the Town of Yarmouth yearly exported to Calice St. Valery Diep Havre de Grace St. Maloes Brest and other parts of France 150000 Haberdin and Ling and by their Trades with these returned Sails and Nets for their Navigation and Fisheries Wells and Lyn in Norfolk too drove Trades into these Seas but I am not informed in how many Vessels but I have heard the Inhabitants of Wells complain that they have almost lost their Trades and I belive Lyn wholly Before the Act of Navigation the English from the Western Ports drove threefold a greater Trade in the Newfound-Land Fishery than the French whereas the French now drive above twenty-fold more the Trade to Newfound-Land Fishery than the English do And I have
against the Lords Jurisdiction in Appeals from Chancery 502 504. Their Bills to prevent the French Designs c. 503 555. Address the King for a League with the Dutch 505. Their Votes for disbanding the Army 536. for the King's Safety 539. against the Tories c. 552. concerning the Revenue 558 559. Confederates their Success against the French 504. Complain to our King of the French Ravages 513. Exclaim against the separate Peace 529. Convention act hand over head in restoring Charles II. c. 423 424. Sent him 50000 l. 425. Convocation frame an Oath to preserve the Church and grant the King a Benevolence 273 367. Cooke Rob. a Pythagorean his manner of living c. 664. Cornish Alderman his hard Vsage is murder'd 622 624. Corporation-Oath see Oaths Corporations unjust in excluding Foreigners 27 658. Cotton Sir Rob. his Advice to the King 199 200. Covenant see Scots Covenanters rise in Scotland their Proclamations c. 542. Their Actions are routed 543. Coventry Lord-Keeper his Speech on the King's behalf 184. Mr. Henry breaks the Triple-League is made Secretary of State 477 478. Offers to sell his Place 514. Cowel his Interpreter incenses the Commons 59 60. Croke Judg a remarkable Story of him 259. Cromwel Lord his Letter to Buckingham 157. Oliver his Pedigree and Character how he rais'd himself 301 302. Designs against him 303 305. His first Success and Loss 310. Treats with the King his Ambition therein 322 323. Intercepts the King's Letters 323. Storms Drogheda and reduces all Ireland 344. Is declar'd General of all the Forces his Success against the Scots 345 346. and at Worcester 346. Contrives how to set up himself 348 358 361. Summons several great Men about settling the Nation with their Opinions 348 349. Furiously dissolves the Rump with Remarks thereon 362 363. His first Manifesto to the Nation 370. Summons a Council to govern the Nation his Speech to them 372 373. Gets rid of 'em 377 378. Appoints another Council is declar'd Protector his Instrument of Government with Remarks 379 380. Treats with the Dutch his Design against the Pr. of Orange 381 382. His Selfishness c. 383 387. His pretended Parliament and Speech to 'em 385. Is highly disgusted and dissolves 'em 386. Makes an unjust War with Spain with the ill Success of it 387 388. Assists the French against them 389 390 401. His Ways to raise Money 392. Is ill belov'd under great Disquietudes his Misfortune by a Coach 397 402. His third Parliament 398. His House of Lords 399. Is attempted to be kill'd ib. Compar'd with the greatest Tyrants 399 401. His fourth Parliament 401. His ill Success at Ostend 402. His Army of Volunteers and Death 403. His good Deeds 404 405. Rich. declar'd Protector 405. Has 90 Congratulatory Addresses presented him 406. Recogniz'd by his Parliament which he is forc'd to dissolve and thereupon is depos'd 407 408. D. DAnby Earl impeach'd by the Commons 536 538. Dangerfield discovers the Meal-tub-Plot is vilified by the Chief Justice 546. His Trial barbarous Punishment and Death 638. Dean Admiral slain by the Dutch 371. Sir Anth. sent into France to build Ships 497. Delinquents first use of the Word 274. Denbigh Earl sent to relieve Rochel but did not 225. Derby Earl routed and beheaded 347. Deserters hang'd against Law 643. Dewit John his Character and Actions 484 485. He and his Brother assassinated by the Mob 487. Digby Earl of Bristol his noble Character and severe Charges against Buckingham 109 110 118 137 187. His Ruin design'd by the Prince and Buckingham his Defence of himself is recall'd from Spain 119 138 139. Refuses the K. of Spain's generous Offers 120. His Reasons for his Proceedings in Spain 128 129. Is confin'd and petitions the King 139 175 185. Petitions the Lords for his Writ whereon 't is sent him 186. Is accus'd by the King c. ib. Is committed to the Tower 192 193. Follow'd Charles I. in all his Adversity 193. Discords in Religion often arise from Kings 17. Dispensing Power see James II. Dissenters a Bill for their Ease past the Commons but fiting out by the Lords 490. Fierce Laws against them in Scotland ib. Severâ—ly persecuted by the King and Tories 587. Too forward to address K. James 642 647. Dover Treaty 474. Dumbar Fight 345. Dunkirk sold to the French 429. Dutch declar'd Free States 26 61 339. Much in our Debt 32 33 54. Pay Tribute for fishing 32 61. Get their vast Debt remitted and their Cautionary Towns 80 81. What they detain'd from the English 115 121 249 250 338. Dispute the Sovereignty of the Seas with the English 244 c. Refuse a Coalition with England 350 374. Their Engagements at Sea with the Rump 351 354 356 371 372. Their pretended Excuses c. therein 351 352 358 372. Animate Cromwel against the Rump 361 371. Are in great Confusion 374. Their advantageous Theaty with Cromwel 383. Court Charles II. to a League 426. An Account of their former Encroachments c. 450 452. Their double-dealing 452. Their Engagements at Sea with Charles II. 457 461. Enter the River and burn our Ships 468. Get a beneficial Peace with K. Charles 469. yet their Smirna Fleet set upon send Deputies to the English and French Kings 478 479. whose Fleets they rout 481. Recapitulation of their History 482 483. Make a separate Peace with France 523 527. Complain to the English Court of the French 524. Assist the Pr. of Orange in saving these Nations 649. Their Answer to Albeville's Memorial 650. E. EAst-India Company incorporated by Cromwel 338. Edghill Battel there doubtful 296. Education of Youth 23 240 448 665. Egerton Lord Chanc. refuses to sign Somerset's Pardon 76. Eikon Basilike disown'd by Charles II. 425. Elector Palatine see Frederick Elizabeth Queen forbid French and Dutch building Ships 30. Granted the Dutch Licence to fish 32. Her sharp Answer to them 33. Allow'd K. James in Scotland a Pension 34. Elliot Sir John against the Court 189 213 231. Information against him in Star-Chamber 234 235. Essex Earl the Parliament's General 296 297 303. His ill Success 307. Lays down his Commission 310. Essex Earl murder'd in the Tower 601 602. Exchequer shut up by the King and his Cabal 478. F. FAirfax Sir Tho. for the Parliament 298 300 306. Is made General 310. Lord favours Monk 412 414 416. Falkland Lord slain his Character 299. Felton stabs Buckingham 225. Is threatned with the Rack 227. Finch Sir Joh. refuses to put any Question concerning Grievances with Remarks thereon 229 230 232. Is made Chief Justice and complies with the King 's illegal Actions 253. Made Lord-Keeper 266. Sir Heneage made Lord Chancellor c. 492 493. His Veracity Speeches 493 501. Fines excessive granted the Duke of York 602. Fire of London with Notes upon it 461 462. Fishing Trade and fishing on our Coasts 32 61 83 87 243 364 376 390 391 450 653 654 675 676 679. Increases Navigation 390 676. Fitton an infamous
Indulgence to be read in Churches 644. Jefferies the Commons Votes against him 556. Releases the impeached Lords 611. His savage Cruelty in the West c. 613 620 621. Is made Lord Chancellor 630. Jesuits their Projects in England 200 201. for which some were taken yet releas'd by the King 201. Ignoramus the Play 74. Ingoldsby sent against Lambert 420. Inoiosa Spanish Ambassador presents the King a Paper against the Prince and Buckingham 130 132. which much perplexes him 132 133. Johnson Mr. Samuel whipt for writing an honest Address to the English Army 638 639. Jones Sir Tho. his Thoughts of a Dispensing Power 630. Sir Will. put out and for what 546. Ireland how bounded c. 12. A horrible Massacre there 277 343. Another design'd 448. and a Rebellion in Conjunction with the French 472 533. K. James's Proceedings there 624 625 632 641. Irish Cattle Act to prohibit their Importation with 9 Observations upon it 462 467. Is made perpetual 559. Judges their Opinion for Ship-Money 258. Those made by Char. II. 501. Juries hated by Cromwel 400 401. Are pack'd to murder honest Men 601 602 611. Jurisdiction of Parliaments discust in relation to Fitz-harris 588 590. Jus Divinum 330 332 544. Juxton Bishop of London made Lord-Treasurer 265. K. KIngs their divided Will against Law 5. Never parted with Parliaments in Disgust till the Stuarts 205 267. Not wont to be present at Debates in Parliament 502. Never speak but in Parliament or under the Great-Seal 568. Kirk Maj. General his barbarous Inhumanity at Taunton 622. Kirk-Party strict with James VI. 34. Mind the King of his Covenant 443. See Scots L. LAmbert turns against Cromwel 399. After against his Son 406. Is made Lieutenant-General 408. Petitions the Rump 409. Is turn'd out by them ib. and after turns them out 410. Marches against Monk 412 414. Is sent to the Tower 416. Is routed and taken Prisoner 421. Langdale Sir Marmad his Success for the King 309. Is discontented 311. Laud his Rise and Character 122 123. Puts the King on altering Religion in Scotland 122 123 242 255 256 260. Gets a Bishoprick by playing the Spaniel 123. His ways to ruin Bishop Williams 124 239. Proves a Firebrand c. 157 166 167 226 239 242. Is made Bp of London 226. Favours Popery 231. His great Care of the Church 167 227 241 242. Prosecutes his Injunctions concerning Ceremonies with great Severity 254 255 257 258. Quarrels with the King about visiting the Vniversities 256 257. Procures an Alteration in the Church of Scotland 262 263. Lauderdale some account of him 441 442 454. Is bitter against the Presbyterians in Scotland his Highland Government there 490 491. Laws c. ought to be in the Mother-Tongue 363 404 405 665. Lenthal made General by the Rump 408. Lestrange Roger Champion of the Tory-Cause 500. Is employ'd to ridicule the Popish Plot 545. Levellers in the Army 318. Liberty of Conscience to be continued 662. See Dissenters and James II. Lindsey Earl sent to relieve Rochel but in vain 225. Lisle Lady her unparallel'd Case is basely murder'd 620. London on ill Terms with the King 272. yet lend him Money 273. Raise Souldiers under Waller c. 321. In Confusion 414. Join with Monk for a Free Parliament 419. Is set on fire 461. See Hubert Long Mr. sentenc'd in Star-Chamber 234. Lorain Duke basely dealt with by the French King 474. Lords five impeach'd by the Commons 535. See Jefferies Lowden Chancellor of Scotland his Speech concerning Cromwel 303 304. Ludlow deposes Henry in Ireland 408. M. MAckenzy Sir Geo. pleads against the Earl of Argyle 584 585. Magdalen-College Story 640. Mansfield denied landing at Calais contrary to Agreement 146. Manwaring for the King 's absolute Power 197. Impeach'd by the Commons and sentenc'd by the Lords 214 215. Is promoted by Laud 227 256. Marriage with France see Charles I. Marsilly murder'd at Paris to the Dishonour of K. Charles 479. Marston-Moor Fight 307. Maurice Prince for the King 298. Is lost in the W Indies 327. May Tho. Esq his Treatise of the Civil Wars disprov'd 280 295. Mazarine turns K. Charles c. out of France 383. His Success against the Pr. of Conde 388 389. and Loss at Ostend 402. Opposes K. Charles's Restoration 421 422. Meal-tub-Plot discover'd 546. Militia who shou'd have the Power of it the chief Cause of the War 296. Whether it belongs to King or Parliament ib. 329. Mombas betrays the Dutch 484 486. Monk takes Sterling-Castle and Dundee 347. Complies with Cromwel 359. Engages the Dutch 356 371 372. Is caress'd on his Victory 373. Sent to Scotland 383. His Pedigree and Story 384 385. His Regency in Scotland 410. Is much courâ—ed secures Berwick 411. His ill Success treats with the Committee of Safety but displeas'd with the Agreement with a Story of him 412 413. Sends to Fleetwood summons a great Assembly at Edinburgh abjures K. Charles 413. His Success 412 416. Is declar'd for in Ireland 412. Marches to London is addrest for a Free Parliament 416. Is carest by the Rump his Speech to them 417. Pulls down the Gates of the City sends an angry Message to the Rump 418. Declares for a Free Parliament at Guild-hall and restores the secluded Members 419. Meets the King at Dover and is made Knight of the Garter 426. Monmouth Duke sent against the Covenanters 543. 'T was believ'd his Mother was married to the King and why 544. Is unjustly put to Death 619. Monopolies injurious 55 56 65. Montross for the King 313 315 316. Is routed and executed 344. Morley Col. Herbert secures the Tower for Monk 418. Mountague accus'd by the Commons of Arminianism 166. Is favour'd by the King 166 167 171 226. Impeach'd by the Commons for favouring Popery 180 183 226. Made Bp of Chichester 226. and after of Norwich 227. Holds Correspondence with the Pope 273. Muscovy the Czar revokes the English Privileges on K. Charles's Death 350. N. NAseby Fight 311 312. Navigation-Act made by the Rump 350. Its Inconveniences 364 367 391 455 653 658. Nayloâ— James his Blasphemy 396 Newberry first Fight 299. Second Fight 308. Newfoundland Fishery how the French got it from us 390 391. North Sir Francis a Tool in the late Times 592. Promoted 603. Northampton Earl concern'd in Overbury's Death see Carr and Overbury Yet in favour with the King tho a Papist 72 73 Incourages the Irish Papists 74. November 5. appointed an Anniversary Thanksgiving 58. Noy Mr. against the Court 208. Is taken off by being made Attorney-General 243. His Pretence for Ship-money c. 252. O. OAtes Dr. first discovers the Popish Plot 532. His excessive Fine 610. Indicted of two pretended Perjuries 610 613. His barbarous and illegal Punishment 613. Oaths Remarks on that of the Scots Covenant 368 438. on the Convocation-Oath 369 438. on the Corporation-Oath 431 439. Orange Prince General for the Dutch 486. Declar'd Stadtholder is courted by the French King his noble Answer to his Proposals
Honour nor sit with Honour here That Man is the Grievance of Grievances let us set down the Causes of all our Disasters and all will reflect on him As for going to the Lords that is not via Regia our Liberties are now impeached we are concerned it is not via Regia the Lords are not participant with our Liberties Mr. Selden advised That a Declaration be drawn under four Heads First To express the House's dutiful Carriage to the King Secondly To tender the Liberties violated Thirdly To present what the House was to have dealt in Fourthly That that great Person viz. the Duke fearing to be questioned did interpose this Distraction All this time said he we have cast a Mantle on what was done last Parliament But now being driven again to look on that Man let us proceed with that which was then well begun and let the Charge be renewed that was last Parliament against him to which he made an Answer but the Particulars were sufficient that we may demand Judgment upon that Answer only In Conclusion the House agreed upon several Heads concerning Innovations in Religion the Safety of the King and Kingdom Misgovernment Misfortune of our late Designs with the Causes of them and when the Question was putting that it should be instanced that the Duke was the principal and chief Cause of all those Evils the Speaker came in and said that the King commands for the present that the House adjourn till to Morrow and that all Committees cease which was done accordingly And upon the 7th of June the King in Parliament passed the Petition of Right whereupon there was an universal Joy all over the City and the Commons returned to their own House with unspeakable Joy and resolved so to proceed as might express their Thankfulness and order the grand Committees for Religion Trade Grievances and Courts of Justice to sit no longer but that the House proceed only in Consideration of Grievances of most moment which was their Remonstrance to the King of the weak distracted and dangerous State of the Kingdom which was done in the most pathetick and humble manner which could be expressed and presented to the King in the Banqueting-House upon the 17th of June It 's very long and consisted of these six Branches 1. The Danger of the Innovation and Alteration of Religion This occasioned by First The great Esteem and Favour many of the Professors of the Romish Religion receive at Court Secondly Their publick Resort to Mass at Denmark-House contrary to his Majesty's Answer to the Parliament's Petition at Oxford Thirdly Letters to stay Proceedings against them Lastly The daily Growth of the Arminian Faction favoured and protected by Neal Bishop of Winchester and Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells whilst the Orthodox Party are silenced or discountenanced 2. Dangers of Innovation and Alteration in Government occasioned by Billeting Soldiers by Commission of procuring 1000 German Horse and Riders for the Defence of the Kingdom by a standing Commission granted to the Duke to be General at Land in time of Peace 3. Disasters of our Designs as the Expedition to the Isle of Rhee and that lately to Rochel wherein the English have purchased their Dishonour with the waste of a Million of Treasure 4. The Want of Ammunition occasioned by the selling 36 lasts of Gun-powder at low Rates 5. The Decay of Trade by the Loss of 300 Ships taken by the Dunkirkers and other Pirates within the three last Years 6. The not guarding the narrow Seas whereby his Majesty has almost lost the Regality Here note That none of these except Billeting of Soldiers which was yet continued were contained in the Petition of Right Of all which Evil and Dangers the principal Cause is the Duke of Buckingham his excessive Power and Abuse of that Power and therefore humbly submit it to his Majesty's Wisdom whether it can be safe for himself and Kingdom that so great Power should be trusted in the hands of any one Subject whatsoever It 's observable how cross the King set himself against the Commons in this Remonstrance for in the last Parliament when the Commons impeached the Duke and the Earl of Bristol exhibited Articles against him the King ordered the Attorney-General to exhibit an Information against the Duke in the Star-Chamber for the great Misdemeanours and Offences complained of against him by the Commons and Earl thereby to have stopt their Proceeding against the Duke in Parliament as he would have taken the Earl's Cause out of Parliament and proceeded against him by Indictment But the King hearing of this Remonstrance of the Commons against the Duke the Day before the Commons presented it viz. upon the 16th of June caused the Attorney-General to take the said Information and all the Proceedings to be taken off the File for that his Majesty was fully satisfied of the Duke's Innocency in all those things mentioned in the Information as well by his own certain Knowledg as by the Proofs taken in the Cause This was the first Fruit the Parliament and Nation reaped by the Petition of Right Now let 's see the next and whether the Commons deserved such a Censure as the King made upon them at the Prorogation of the Parliament After the Commons had presented a Remonstrance of their other Grievances to the King they then took into Consideration the preparing a Bill for granting his Majesty a Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage as might uphold the King's Profit and Revenue in as ample a manner as their just Care and Respect of Trade would permit But this being a Work of Time and would require much Time and Conference with Merchants and others and being often interrupted by Messages from the King and the Shortness of Time limited by the King for concluding this Sessions and fearing the King might be misinformed of this Particular they were forced by the Duty which they owed to his Majesty to declare That there ought not any Imposition to be laid upon Goods of Merchants exported or imported without Common Consent by Act of Parliament For Manifestation whereof they desired his Majesty to understand That tho the Kings of this Realm had often Subsidies granted them upon divers Occasions especially for guarding the Seas and Safeguard of Merchants yet the Subjects have been ever careful to use such Cautions and Limitations in these Grants that they did proceed not from Duty but the free Gift of the Subjects and that heretofore they used to limit a time for such Grants and for the most part but short as for a Year or two and at other times it has been granted upon occasion of War with Proviso that if the War ended in the mean time then the Grant should cease and of course it has been sequestred into the hand of some Subject to be employed for Guarding of the Seas very few of the King's Predecessors had it for Life until the Reign of Hen. VII who was so far from conceiving he had any Right
how to erect a High Commission Court in Scotland by the King's Authority without Consent in Parliament for proceeding against such as would not submit to the Common-Prayer Book and Canons enjoined by the King and Bishops of Scotland and upon the 28th of February the Arch-bishop consecrated Dr. Manwaring Bishop of St. Davids a worthy Successor to so Saint-like and pious a Predecessor for this Bishoprick was Laud's first Preferment You have seen his Grace of Canterbury's Temper towards the King's Subjects now see how it was towards the King His Grace being as high as England could admit viz. Metropolitan and first Peer thereof would visit both Universities by his Metropolitan Right and not by Commission from the King and signified so much to both to which both answered That to admit it without a Warrant from the King was a Wrong to the Vniversities his Grace was Chancellour of Oxford and the Earl of Holland of Cambridg The Cause came to a hearing before the King and Council the 21st of June 1634 where the Attorney General Banks was for his Grace against the King Mr. Gardener the Recorder of London â—or Cambridg and Serjeant Thyn for Oxford the Cause was shortly this Both sides agreed in this that both Universities were of the King's Foundation and so might be visited as they had often been by Commission from the King But this would not do with his Grace he would to use his own Words visit by his own Right Serjeant Thyn urged against this the King's Foundation of the University of Oxford and that never any Arch-bishop so visited But the Recorder could not say so of Cambridg which happened upon this Occasion In the Reign of Richard the Wickliff's Doctrine prevailed much in both Universities and Arundel then Arch-bishop of Canterbury as zealous to suppress the Wicklevites as Laud was the Puritans to suppress them did visit Jure Metropolitano but Oxford opposed him forti Manu Upon this Arundel appeals to the King who being a weak Prince and as zealous for the then Church as King Charles was for Laud's declares the Right to be in the Bishop so did Henry the 4th the Current running against Wickliff which was after confirmed in Parliament but Cambridg was not in it Yet never before did any Arch-bishop visit Oxford nor Cambridg since the Year 1404 Jure Metropolitano as his Grace would do and so the Cause went for the Arch-bishop Plum'd thus in his own Feathers all black and white without one borrowed from Caesar whereby the more he assumes to himself the less he leaves the King he now soars higher the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury in their own Names enjoin the Removal of the Communion Table in the Parish-Churches and Universities from the Body of the Church or Chancel to the East of the Chancel and cause Rails to be set about the Table and refuse to administer the Sacrament to such as shall not come up to the Rails and receive it kneeling that the Book of Sports on Sundays be read in Churches and enjoin Adoration I do not find that Adoration was ever enjoined before nor any of the fore-named Injunctions in any Canon of the Church sure I am they were never publickly put in Execution so that whether these were any of the Canons of the Church or not was not understood by one of 10000 and the Lecturers Chaplains and School-masters who had no Maintenance from the Church being principally struck at by these Injunctions make all the sinister and worst Constructions they could invent against them so that though those Injunctions had been founded in the Canons of the Church yet the contrary was believed and so had the same Effect as if they had not been founded in the Church-Canons Here I cannot omit one Passage That several were deprived by the Bishop's Authority for refusing to read the Book of Sports on Sunday Whereas King James the 2d allowed the seven Bishops a legal Trial for refusing to enjoin the Clergy to read his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops were acquitted That the Legality of these Proceedings might be manifest a Proclamation was issued out that it was the Opinion of the Judges that the Act of the 1 Edw. 6. 2. which ordains that Bishops should hold their Ecclesiastical Courts in the King's Name or by Commission from him was repealed by the 1st of Queen Mary though this Act was repealed by the 1 Jac. 25. and so the Act 1 Edw. 6. 2. was revived and so resolved upon a full Debate in Parliament 7 Jacobi The Thunder of those Canons the terrible and unheard of Execution of them in the Star-Chamber against all Opposers by Speech or Writing so terrified the Puritans which would not submit that incredible Numbers of them left the Kingdom to inhabit in foreign Plantations especially in New-England where these Ecclesiastical Canons could not well play upon them But to restrain the further Evasion of them the King by Proclamation the 30th of April 1638 stops all the Ports of England to keep them in it The Reason was no doubt that they might be better instructed in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England here than elsewhere But Ship-Money notwithstanding my Lord Keeper Coventry's Charge to the Judges last Year that in their Circuits they should give Charge how justly the King required Ship-Money for the common Defence and with what Alacrity and Chearfulness they the Subjects are bound in Duty to contribute yet this did not pass-for true Doctrine with all for Mr. Hambden upon Advice with Holborn St. John and Whitlock denied the Payment whereupon several other Gentlemen refused also Hereupon the King was advised by the Lord Chief Justice Finch to require the Opinion of his Judges which he did in a Letter to them and after much Solicitation by the Chief Justice promising Preferment to some and highly threatning others whom he found doubting he got from them in Answer to the King's Letter and Case their Opinion in these Words We are of Opinion that when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger you may by your Writ under the Great Seal of England command all your Subjects of this your Kingdom at their Charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from Peril and Danger And that your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion that in such Case your Majesty is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided This Opinion was signed by Davenport Denham Hutton Croke Trevor Bramston Finch Vernon Berkly Crawley and Weston See Whitlock ' s Memoirs f. 24. The King having previously extorted the Judges Opinions exparte gave order for the Proceedings against Mr. Hambden in the