consider it but possibly there may be several This Bill is agreed to be an Expedient and I have known that in a business of less weight then this you have gone into a Committee c. If an Expedient must be offered in the House you cannot but allow Gentlemen to make replies in a fair Debate to answer Objections And if you in the House will depart from that from the House or Committee are equal to me But our Debate is broke one Gentleman said he would be content with a Committee if not intended for delay I do not doubt but this day will have its full effect When 't was moved on Thursday last for this day to take into consideration the preservation of Religion without naming Bill or Expedients it gave a great credit to your work I would have no discouragements upon people that have Expedients by not going into a grand Committee R. H. We are perplexed in having several Questions on foot I shall put you in mind that this Bill now proposed is no new nor strange thing Our bunness I suppose is to find out Expedients to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Kings Person here is a way has past two Parliaments already a way no reasonable objection has ever been made against it and a way rejected by the Lords in gross without offering any other But I doubt if other Expedients be tryed if they prove false we shall endanger the Protestant Religion Some have said that Gentlemen apprehend they have Expedients why then may not they 〈◊〉 propounded that the House may judge whether 't will be worth going into a grand Committee to consider them But if Gentlemen will have it their own way or not at all I 'le tell you how this looks as if they were something one way and nothing another but he does not discharge his duty to his Countrey that does â—e therefore if Gentlemen have any Expedients pray let them offer them Sir J.E. If the House be of a mind not to enter into a grand Committee I shall offer my little mite as 't is every mans duty to offer Expedient that has any I doubt not but other men have and better than me but forego not into a grand Committee I shall offer what I have I do apprehend by the Bill proposed that 't is a Bar to the Succession of the Duke and places the Succession in the next Heir I shall propose if you please not the Name of King but the power as a Regency in the next Heir 't is no new thing in Spain and France and God knows we have seen it done in our Kingdom If the Administration be placed safe in the person that may have no power to resign to the Duke and may have full power and authority at the death of the King to call that Parliament which sate last who shall have time to sit to confirm this by Act of Parliament I hope this may be done and may be done safely if you can contrive such a way Sir N. C. As I understand 't is proposed that the Government shall be in Regency during the Dukes Life I would be satisfied if the Duke would not submit to that whether those that fight against it are not Traytors in Law Sir W. P. I think this you are upon a matter of great weight some Expedient has been offered you I believe as yet but a crude one and I cannot imagine will ever be an effectual one He that moved it tells you he hopes when drawn into better form it may do what you desire It Excludes the Duke and in his place the next in the Succession shall have the Regency in him But our last act left it in the Law Consider what is a Regency I never heard of it but of a Prince in possession in Minority or Lunacy and it has generally been very unfortunate But to talk of a Regency in futuro in condition and limitation of time I never heard of This Expedient does not answer the Kings Speech nor your former Bill they make the King but a shadow and they divide Person from Power our Law will not endure it The Person divided from the Power both will be courted and who that next Heir will be we know not The King leads you to consider Expedients but such as will consist with the safety and dignity of Monarchy This must be two Kings at the same time one by Law and another by Right Portugal gives us some instance of Regency where the King was put into prison for Miscarriages in the Government and his next Heir made Regent but there is a vast difference in these two cases The King of Portugal was set aside for personal Miscarriages not for being a Papist and which is another thing that was present this is to come If this Question be to let the Duke in and then make a Question whether Allegiance be due to him but I am afraid that unless we be true to those we represent from whom by Express direction most of us are to pursue the Bill c. we shall not be avowed in what we do The Bill c. has been under consideration of all the people of England and perhaps all the Protestants of Europe all the Wits of Learned men have made their Objections against it yet notwithstanding all people are stilof the same mind And now we run upon the most mis-shapen thing which it may be two or three years before we understand it and we may expect to have an operation of it no body knows when I see very little weight in it unless improved by some other person therefore I am for the Bill Sir T. Litt. We are flying at a great matter To fight against the Duke if he should be King God forbid We have been told three or four times of Directions Gentlemen have had from their Principals to be against all those things of Expedients and to insist upon the Bill of Exclusion c. I would not have that way much cherished 't is an uncertain thing and no footsteps remain of any papers from their Country I take the meaning of that going down is to consult their Neighbours for Direction what to do I hear talk to day of Parliaments of France but this way is as dangerous like the States of Holland to consult with their Principals before they resolve most unusual and of very dangerous consequence A Regency has been proposed to secure the Administration of the Government in Protestant Hand so as not to alter the constitution of the Monarchy and this alters the Constitution of the Monarchy the least imaginable A Regency in Room of a King and the Monarchy goes on We have had Regent Protectors call it what you please Primus Consiliarius in case of a Minor Prince but I propose not this If you alter the Government I am against it but here is offer'd a Regent in place of the King or transferring the Government But it may be said
Where shall the Duke be all this while That point I think is pretty well over there is no design of Seclusion The Lords would have Banished him 600 Miles from England The Duke has an Estate and He as all men beside loves it and will not part with it and will do nothing to forfeit it But your Bill of Exclusion secludes the Duke and the Crown then is to fall as it does fall What is then the Case You must imagine either his own Daughter will take up Arms if the Duke attempt the Crown or some bodie else will to keep him out and that will raise such an Anger in the Dukes mind whether will they shelter themselves Not under his Daughter they must naturally shelter themselves and run into Armes Cromwel's way was to keep up an Army of Sixty thousand Men for his security especially an Army flesht with Victory And they that have it will keep it We are not in the condition we were formerly when the Lords cherished their Tenants by good Leases they could raise an Army send them home to their houses when they had done what they were raised for But we are now in another way raise an Army and they wil think of their own Interrest to be kept up But if it fall out thus your Bill leaves it very lose Assoon as this Bill is past suppose the Regency established in the Princess of Orange or the Lady Ann and in the same Law a Commission be sent over to take an Oath from her strictly to execute this Law you are then not left in that loose manner you will be by the Bill c. 'T will be a far less matter for her to save a Family before Misfortune come upon it than to take the Government upon her afterwards in the trouble of an opposition But it may be said What needs all this 't is just nothing but retaining the name of K. in an exiled man But 't is less violation in her to Govern in her Fathers Name than to take the Kingdom from him It may be wondered why in Portugal upon Deposing that King there was a great Debate of the three Estates though they hold not the proportion as they do here In this great Debate the Commons were for Don Pedro to be King the Nobility to have him Regent the Ecclesiasticks Demurr'd but at last both came over to the Nobility But Don Pedro stuck here and would still leave his Brother the Title of King and would leave nothing of shelter to force Nature too far There are Reserves in the King's Speech I cannot but take notice of by the way There is another thing to be considered Some will be paying a deference to the Sacredness of a Crown for Governments sake This Objection looks like something He is like to be five hundred Miles off c. and a Law to take up Arms against him How was that Law that the King and Parliament have power to dispose of the Crown it was then an Opinion amongst the Lawyers that the Crown was unal enable but when that Law was made that Opinion was damn'd under a penalty though 't was a standing Max'me before that Statute was made If so this new Act will be a Warrant for what is proposed as that was for the other For my part I have had the all fortune to have the wind in my face and to be against the generall Opinion and stream of the world and having had for some time no share in the Government I may speak possibly more freely then they that have 'T is a great Crime to spy things too soon which makes men apt to run from one Extream to another I have proposed the best Expedient I can and most safe but I am afraid if you do nothing in this great Affair now it is started I 'll graple with neither of the Expedients but if you do nothing but let the thing lye loose you 'll gratifie the Jesuits by our confusion and the commonwealths men to shuffle the Cards again But if you go into some Medium both these sort of men will be undone Sir W. J. I have beard with great Attention this very Learned and able Gentleman I am really of opinion if any better Expedient could have been found out than what has been proposed that he as assoon as any Gentleman would have proposed it But I am amased that so learned a Gentleman should not see through this Expedient That which I take for the Expedient its the Duke to retain the name of King and the next Heir to be under the Title of Regent or Protector What does he mean by next Heir For any thing I know and believe it is the Dukes Daughter but it may be the Duke may have a Son Either I have a great cloud upon my understanding or this is strange that if the Duke have a Son and shall he at a Day a Month or Year old be Regent Suppose the Princess of Orange come over and she dye the Prince of Orange has no Right to the Regency and she leave a Child and that Child be Regent that Child must have a Protector and so there will be a Protector of a Protector But Sir we are told that nothing but to keep up the Greatness of the Government makes them go from the Bill of Exclusion to this Expedient But is it so great and pleasing a thing to wear a Crown and be called King and have no Authority It is much worse than to loose an actual Crown and the possession of it If the Bill pass and the Duke be Banished 500 Miles off it must be out of England if the name will please him in Givility beyond the Sea he shall be King and it will be as much to his purpose boyond the Sea to be called King only as here But for the Security of his Estate being here He that would venture the loss of a Kingdom for Religion will his Estate too that 's but a weak ty It is less injustice to take away the Crown and power from him than to have of both but the Name If you allow the Duke the Name it will imply a Right therefore for that to be used as an Argument is strange But why is this Contention and all this ado I wonder for an empty Name But I am afraid this Expedient is a kind of Jesuit-Powder I do not think the Gentlemans Intent or Opinion is for the Jesuits but a wise man may over-do sometimes If you do not Exclude the Dukes Title the Duke is King still and then will Learned Lawyers tell you that by 1 H. 7. all Incapacity is taken away by the possession of the Crown If you take not away the Discent of the Crown and that the Duke has a Tittle to be King then without Doubt all incapacities fail but if the thing may be effectually done I am as willing to exclude him the Name as well as the power but Lawyers know no
't is much more to take it from Court Parliaments formerly upon any extraordinary matter staid and sent their Members to consult with those who sent them I am not subjugated when I am here to what the Country does propose I am as much against a Republick as he that fears it but I am a Protestant I say I know Sir T. Litt. to be of that Experience and Reason that if he go away satisfied in this matter he will do all the good he can in the post he is in But to keep close to this question It being allowed by Law That an Exclusion of the D. from the Crown may be the next thing is to consider the Expedient of the Regency proposed The same Authority that can make a Descent of the Crown may mod fie it He argued to shew that the Regency would make the Duke insignificant in the Administration of the Government Now the Question is which is the most parcticable We Lawyers are aptest to go on the strongest side and to call every thing Prerogative I 'l put you a case in King James's time the Sheriff of there was an exceptation in his Commission that he should not keep the County Court of but should have all other Exercises of his Office But the Judges resolved he was Sheriff to all intents and purposes and that he could not be hindred keeping the County-Court An Act of Parliament against common sence is void To make a man King and not suffer him to exercise Kingly power is a contradiction Some clauses formerly in Acts of Parliament were flattering clauses to satisfie the people and not let them have the thing Should this of the Expedient be an Act 't is nonsense and may be said hereafter the House of Commons were outwitted I owe the Duke obedience if he be King but if he be King and have no power to govern he is the King and no King I have urged this to shew that this is no Expedient it blears only peoples Eyes and is no solid security To say the Duke values his Estate which he may forfeit c. He loves a Crown too very well therefore you are not to arm your self in point of Consequence but in point of Reason The last Parliament I did see by the management of the Papists and the Ministers that without this Bill of Exclusion our ruine is irresistable If the Duke come to the Crown He brings with his Religion Merum Imperium and that made me fond of the Bill but if by Law the Duke never was King there is no case of Conscience lyes upon us in his Exclusion I will only make this observation of the Kings Speech in relation to this Question And if it be practicable the ridding of our selves quite of that Party c. and not to lay so much weight upon one Expedient as to determine all others are ineffectual vide Speech The two main points it seems the King doubts himself and all this delivered by the King in great wisdom is clipt off to this Expedient of the Regency You see now we come to Expedients the Ministers have had two Parliaments to consider it and now we are come to this Expedient of the Regency I find no security in Law by this Expedient you take away nothing by this Expedient and therefore I hope the Bill of Exclusion will pass I hope that reason and not great Offices will take men off from their Nemine contradicente I speak this as if I were a dying man and Humbly Move for the Bill c. H. B. I have it in command from my Country That they apprehend no Expedient to secure us from Popery but that the Remedy will be worse than the Disease unless this Bill I have heard as yet no Reason given against it But there is an aliquid latet If the D. be not set aside I am sure the Government will be and therefore I am for the Bill of Exclusion c. Sir T. M. I know not how far Sir Fr. W. Argument may be prest what Bill soever we may have Pray let us have the Law on our sides that if the King should dye we may know whether we are to go I think the K. s ' Speech is penned as it ought to be penned and should a King speak positively to what Laws He would have we are an Irish Parliament and not an English but the Kings words are tender words The thing lies fairly before you if any Expedient can be thought of not to destroy the Monarchy and if the next presented be not the best not to refuse the next E. V. You have had an Expedient offerd you of a Regency c. instead of the Bill of Exclusion c. Pray consider what this Regency is 'T is the whole Office of a King to appoint Judges call Parliaments c. This Power they would take away from the Duke But if by Law they will reserve the name of King to the Duke 't is to bring a War upon us and to bring the Duke in by force This Regency must he supported by War as well as the Bill of Exclusion By the 13 Eliz. the Crown is not alienable by the King but may be alienated by King Lords and Commons And when that Statute was made no Successour was named to keep King James in awe which I conceive was the Reason why none was named in the last Bill of Exclusion Though we have bin frighted out from that Bill by Prorogations and Dissolutions yet 't will not frighten them whose Reasons go along with it And I am for that Bill because all men are for it and have sent up the same Parliament again that past it But if you lead people into uncertainties in the Government as this project of Regency undoubtedly will do the Court and the Country will be of a mind to lay aside Parliaments because they are useless Sir H. C. Peoples eyes are now enlightned and all the world over they are an informed people The Papists care not who is King if he be a Papist And so he proceeded much to the same purpose in several Speeches in the last Parliament Col. G. L. I would not have spoke so much out of duty to my Master but for the duty I owe to my Country I owe a new Obligation to the King for I am the D's Servant from the King My Father was a Servant to the late King and this and I have my protection under him I was bred in England and for his Service at Sea I know my own weakness not being bred to the Law but by enquiry I find that the Doctrine of disposing a Kingdom from the Right Heir is Damnable and 't is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome I have heard that in the 24 E. 3 the King demanded Advice of the Parliament in matters relating to the Crown The Answer was by the whole Parliament They could not advise in any thing relating to the Crown nor of disinheriting
Let this matter be reassumed on Saturday-morning and so taken into consideration to secure the Protestant Religion and not to let appear upon your Books any thing relating to Expedients or preventing a Popish Successour J. T. I was much surprized at the K.'s Speech considering your weighty Reasons for the Bill c. the last Parliament and that the Lords found out no Expedients for preservation of Religion and yet threw out the Bill But that the K. may see that what we do is out of real sense of the danger we are in from a popish Successor and not in contradiction to him and when nothing is found out to save us we may justifie our selves in what we do I am for adjourning the Debate Vote vide the Print Friday March 25. 1681. Thanks moved for free Choice of Members J. S. WHen there has been a general Corruption and all have not done their duty you should distinguish and give thanks to them that have and formerly you have done to Officers for doing their duty in suppression of Popery when through the corruption of the times some have not done their duty Nothing is more Parliamentary than to return Thanks to those who have freely and without expence chosen you Members and I desire that the Members so elected may be ordered to send their Thanks to those who chose them Vide the Vote in the Print The loss of the Bill for repeal of 35 Eliz moved Sir W J This matter deserves material consideration whether in respect of the loss of the Bill or the shaking of the very Constitution of Parliament The Bill that is lost is of great moment and of great service to the Country and perhaps to their lives in the time of a Popish Successor Those men that hindred the passing that Bill had a prospect of that and if it be sent up again we are like to meet with great opposition But be the Bill what it will the president is of the highest consequence The King has his Negative to all Bills but I never knew that the Clerk of the Parliament had a Negative if he laid it aside or not But consider if we send up many good Bills if this be not searched into we may be deprived of them No man that knows Law or History but can tell that to Bills Grateful and popular the K. gives his consent to them But if this way be found out that Bills should be thrown by it may be hereafter said they were forgot and laid by and so we shall never know whether the K. would pass them or no. if this be suffered 't is in vain to spend time here and 't will be a great matter to find time to redress it I move therefore that a Message be sent to the Lords for a Conference that some way may be found out to give us satisfaction in this great matter H. B. I do concur with the Gentleman spoke last that Parliaments are Prorogued and Dissolved by the King and now here is a new way found out to frustrate Bills The K. cannot take one part of a Bill and reject another but gives a direct answer to the whole But to avoid that this Bill was never presented to the K. a thing never done before I desire we may send to the Lords for a Conference to represent this Innovation and that a Committee be appointed to draw up Reasons for the Managers W. G. I was a freind to this Bill and I agree in all things concerning the weight of it The laying this Bill aside is such a breach of the Constitution of Parliament that 't is in vain to pass any Bill if this miscarriage be not searched into By the constitution of Parliaments all Bills but Money-Bills after they are past both Houses are deposited in the Lords hands 't is below you to look after the Clerks for this Bill If the Lords give you no answer for the loss of this Bill that is satisfactory I would then send to them to know a Reason why the Bill was not tendred to His Majesty with the other Bills Sir R. H. I would have you search the Lords Journals and if you and no account of the Bill there then 't will be time for us to go to the Lords to require satisfaction Sir R T I have not much to offer you but I fully concur in the weight and consequence of this matter and you are to take all the care you can to secure it for the future Never any thing of this nature was done before but the Bill for observation of the Lords day in the late long Parliament 'T was left upon the Table at a conference and stolen away But 't is not proper I conceive to take notice of this in a Message to the Lords because the miscarriage of this Bill was in another Parliament The matter must go upon the desire of a Conference with the Lords concerning the Rights and Priviledges of both Houses of Parliament and then you may appoint a Committee to inform you of the progress of this matter E. V. I think the passing over the inquiry after the loss of the Bill of the Sabbath in the late long Parliament was the great occasion of the loss of this Consider how many interruptions Parliaments have had of late in the greatest business by Prorogations and Dissolutions and another way to gratifie your Enemies is to stifle your Laws when they have a mind the people should have no benefit of them though they have passed both Houses Therefore I Move c. ut ante Sir H. C. I differ only as to the words I agree to a Conference but no more to be said then to know what 's become of the Bill for the Lords are the Depositories of all Bills but money Without any other words I would send the Lords for a conference to know what 's become of the Bill I know but of three Negatives but by this proceeding here is a fourth Negative which may destroy the Government S. T. 'T is the best way in this matter to observe old methods and the best method to know the Lords minds is by Conference I remember in the late long Parliament the Lords sent to us for a Conference and at it told the Roof of our House was falling on our heads but they sent us not a message of the danger we were in by the falling of the Roof but desired a conference about a matter of great consequence Therefore I would now send to the Lords for a Conference of matters relating to the Nation R. H. I would say this We desire a Conference with the Lords concerning the Constitution of Parliaments in matters relating to passing of Bils Vide Printed vote Sir T. L. This is a thing of as high weight as we can confer upon Therefore I would not do less than in a thing of lesser moment Let a Committee meet and then agree of the subject matter till then you know not what
distinction When the Lady comes to be Regent not only Nature but Conscience will put her upon giving Caesar his due and perhaps that Text some of our Divines will preach upon They 'l say that the Parliament by what they have done acknowledg a good Title in the Duke But if he be King as the Parliament allows him to be in Name he has right of Descent and so will be restored to all the Rights of King An Argument upon Queen Marie like this restored the first Fruits and Tenths Another thing perhaps may come from them that proposed this Expedient I do not believe it came from that Gent. c. if you had past the other Bill great many would not submit to it but if you pass this if the Duke have right to be King and be kept from the Administration of it I doubt whether I shall sight against him And the Papists will say you have got a Law to seperate that which is inseperable I would if I were as the Duke have this Bill to perplex my opposers rather than a clear one He has told you of an Army to maintain the Bill c. which will not soon be laid down But why an Army If there must be an Army for your Bill there will be four Armies requisite to maintain the Expedient A protector has been proposed not like that of E. 6. who was little more than the now Lord President of the Councel But certainly they who proposed the Expedient would have by it the same power of letting in the Duke as of keeping him out Therefore I move to lay aside this consideration and take up the Bill as has been moved for L. G. I think it is fit we should present Reasons to the King for passing this Bill of Excluding the Duke c. I do think that the Administration of the Government has been in such hands since the King come in that though the Ministers have been changed yet the same principles remain to to this day though some have been removed The breaking of the Tripple League the taking of the Dutch Smyrna-Fleet The King of France makes War for his glory and we for nothing but to get Riches to make the King Absolute Such a violation was done upon the Rights of the people as has been done He was called down to Order E. V. A Question so extreamly well spoken unto to be interrupted with any angry Question is not very decent at this time what is spoken of is matter to be enquired into another time though the Gentleman does it with a worthy intent If any Gentleman have any thing else to propose pray hear him L. G. Goes on I intended to Move you for Reasons to induce the King to pass this Bill The strange and dishonourable Retrenchments made in the Kings Family He is surrounded by the Dukes Creares 'T is not safe for the King to part with any one Minister unless he part with all and when these men have got a Bank of money for a Popish Successor then will be the time to take away the King Sir F. W. This we are upon is a matter of great weight and difficulty Let any man that can maintain this Expedient or give you a new one Sir T. M. I have heard with patience this Expedient which has been well offered and I believe mistaken by the Gentleman who answered it I must say this your Question and your business is Religion and I have given as good proof of my zeal for the Protestant Religion this twenty years as any man has and I have been for this Bill of Excluding the Duke c. I am of opinion something must be done to secure Religion For the point of Law mentioned if the Law be such That Dominion must run with the Name of King that single Reason is to carry the Debate But if I answer not that I am at an end But sure those words that can disinherit a King may make this Expedient Law I would not rise now if I thought the Bill to Exclude the Duke c. could pass my grounds are but conjectures The last Parliament I did think this Bill would pass with greasing the wheels The condition of England is thus we do need one another both King and People and we have need to make use of a Parliament to assist one another to relieve us in the difficulties we are in If the Duke should be King he will need a Parliament and so will the people In order to this if another Expedient can be found out as like this though not the same which no objection of Law could destroy he would do the King and Kingdom great service and advantage who would produce it In this necessity we are like two great Armies encamped upon two Hills and neither dare remove not for want of Valour but from their Reason he that has the last loaf stays longest necessity compels the other to decamp At last it must be one side or other or else England will have the worst of it But if none will venture to clear the matter in point of Law I am answered If any could alter that Bill that it should not be the same we have had twice before I should like it I like this Expedient offered you for 't is a Bill of Exclusion and so strong a one that the Duke may choose the first rather I am for the nail that will drive to do our business If Gentlemen have other thoughts pray so contrive it that we have one Bill or t'other W. H. All the Expedients I have heard yet are like a Coucomber when you have well drest it throw it away These Gentlemen tell you they will bring in a Bill of Excluding the Duke from the Regency c. This proposition is either honest or not if it be honest and without design then all the dispute betwixt the King and Us will be whether the Duke shall have a Title to the Crown But I hope the King will rather gratify the Nation than the Duke If this be not honest and people about the King circumvent him they will find means from day to day to divert him Why was England so fond of Calis but to have some footstep into France And so this Bill let the Bill pass and all those Gentlemen who have dependency upon the Duke if he come to the Crown will change matters Sir F. W. A worthy Member not being satisfied with Argument of Law against the Expedient that calls me up as in my profession The Question about this Bill of Exclusion that 't is lawfall in Conscience no man will oppose the great opposers of it in the Lords House agreed it lawfull when they threw it out Not Jure Divino unlawfull concurrentibus iis qui concurrere debent Some Gentlemen told you their Country gave them instructions to press this Bill of Exclusion c. Sir T. Lit. said it was dangerous to take Instructions from the Country But I say
of the indictment I must confess that with the carriage of this I have enlarged my suspition for I cannot but suspect unusual ways The worst of Mankind with all his Villanies about him has been pardoned Is there in this any provocation given by us but something depends upon this Man as well as upon the Bill to day When you was told by Sec J. He would not carry the Impeachment c. and the House would make no breach by taking any severe course against him but past it over with temper sure we must not lay down all prosecution of the Plot and say that the Protestant Religion shall have no mercy Fitzharris may merit mercy by confession and if his breath be stopt by the Lords I am sorry that people will say if it were not for the Lords Fitzharris might have discovered all the Conspiracy and the Protestant Religion might have been saved I Move therefore that in your Vote you will not only say That denying this Impeachment c. tends to the subverting the Constitution of Parliament but of the Protestant Religion also I hope we shall proceed in this with the same calmnesse of mind that every man does wish who would not lose his Religion Serg. M. A Plot we all know has been on foot in England and I am sure in Ireland too and what Arts and Crafts have been used to hide the Plot It began with Murder and Perjury and false Subornation this of Fitzharis is a second part of that We have sent up an Impeachment against Fizharris and the Lords deny to receive it In effect they make us no Parliament if we are the prosecutors and they will not heare our Accusation t is strange when their own Lives as well as ours are concerned in the Plot. The same day we Impeach Fitzharris the Lords Vote we shall not prosecute him Now when all is at stake we must not prosecute if this be so Holland and Flanders must submit to the French and they run over all This is a strange Breach of priviledge and tends to the Danger of the King's Person and Destruction of the Protestant Religion Sir T. P. This of Fitzharris is a considerable Confirmation of the Former Plot I call it the Old Plot but 't is still new upon us This is a confirmation of the designe to Murder the King and the Duke consenting to destroy his own Brother and our King I have often heard it wisper'd that this Plot was Madames Designe at Dover 'T is plain that Justice Godfrey was Murdered and that the Army at Black heath was to destroy the Protestants in Holland and to awe the City of London When Fitzharris was in an Inclination to discover what he knew and two or three Honourable Members went to Examine him this man was fetch'd the next day to Whitehal and sent to the Tower and so we were deprived of all farther hopes of discovery We have received the Information he gave and now that the man may be in no capacity to discover farther they stop his mouth I move therefore that you will declare That if any Judge Justice or Jury proceed upon him and be found Guilty that you will declare them Guilty of his murder and betrayers of the rights of the Commons of England Vid. the Printed Vote Sir W. J. Now the House has done as much as is fit for the Lords but we do not know how Inferiour Courts will proceed therefore I 'll propose a Vote That if any Inferiour Court shall proceed c. which past Vid. the Print I would not give occasion to people to say we do things in an extraordinary manner 'T is late and pray let 's Adjourn Munday March 28. 1681. The Bill for Excluding the Duke c. read Sec. J. NO Bill was ever offred in Parliament of the like nature so much against the Justice of the Nation it condemns a Man never heard and then 't is a Law made ex post facto Very extraordinary against the Fundamental Justice of the Nation and not only that but against the wisdom of the Nation and will introduce a change of the Government If the Duke will try to cut this Law with his Sword if he overcome he will have the same power to set aside all Laws both for Religion and Property the power will be in the hands of the Conqueror and certainly he will change the Government 'T is against the Religion of the Nation which teaches to pay Obedience to our Governours whether good or bad never so faulty or criminal In primitive Christianity Obedience was paid to Heathen Princes in licitis honestis and we are not to do evil that good may come of it nor on the prospect of any good I shall say one word more 't is against the Oaths of the Nation of Allegiance and Supremacy The Duke is the Kings lawful Heir if he have no Son and in the Eye of the Law I am sworn to him and every Oath is in the sense of the Law-giver If this Disinherison pass now into a new Law who dispenses me from that Oath to the King possibly I am too tedious and not willingly heard If the Bill be against the Religion of the Nation being obliged by Oaths against the Government and the wisdom of the Nation I hope you will throw it out T. B. Sec. J. has moved to throw out the Bill and desired to be heard patiently I find no body second him pray let him go on and second himself Ordered a second Reading Sir W. J. Because there has been much discourse in the Town of the Votes that past on Saturday upon the Lords Spiritual and Temporal rejecting the Impeachment c. though I believe what is done will be made good yet I would for the present give the Nation all the satisfaction we can that we are in the right Amongst our misfortunes in being called to this place we are far remote from Records and Books but yet I think it may be easy to prepare our selves to maintain what we have done According to the little light I have I find it the undoubted right of the Commons not only to bring Impeachments against Lords but against Commons too Magna Charta does not only say Per judicium parium c. but per Legem Terrae c. Tryal by Parliament is Lex Terrae I have heard of a Record 4. E. 3. where when the E. of March The Black Rod came to command their Attendance in the House of Lords whither they immediately went and the Lord Chancellour by Command of the King Dissolved the Parliament FINIS
Him to whom they were sworn The Fundamental and Common Law of England has made the Duke Heir to the Crown if the King have no Sons The Title of Hen. 4. was confirmed by Parliament but he laid his Claim of Descent from H. 3 and it continued in that Descent till H. 6. and then the Parliament declared that those Acts were not binding but unjust and declared the Oaths of Allegiance to those Kings in famous and wicked and so the Right Heir came in H. 8. had Power to dispose of the Crown by his last Will and Testament to place and displace the Crown at his pleasure yet all his right Heirs came to the Crown though Jane Gray claimed it by vertue of that Will and baited her Title with Religion Queen Elizebeth made a Law That whoever did maintain That the Crown could not be disposed of by Parliament should be Guilty of Treason c. and for ever after of Praemunire But since that there is a Restitution of King James which acknowledge him lawfully rightly and justly the next Heir to the Crown and did beseech the King to accept of their Allegiance to him and his Posterity And I think our Ancestors swore to the King and his Posterity as well as we 'T is a great Happiness to this Nation that both the Lines are united and that we are rid of the Misfortunes of the Barons Wars We have had Attempts to turn the Government into a Republique And who knows but that if you put by the Right of the D. the Revenue of the Crown being much upon the people but that there may be Attempts to turn the Gevernment into a Republick again When my Father was in Prison in the late Troubles an eminent man then in Power in discourse with him said I have obliged you and if the King come in as I believe He will then think of me Look to your Selves when you are in the Saddle again If once you divide adieu to Monarchy for ever If you keep out the Duke what must follow An Act for Association I speak now for England and for my Posterity I have seven Children How will this look The Kings Father Murder'd and his Brother taken from Him Will this take no effect with the King I wish the Duke many happy days but the King more from my heart than the Duke The King is a healthful Man and the Duke is not I am not barely the Duke's Servant which makes me concern my self nor out of pique of Honour would I do any thing to destroy my Posterity Therefore I am against the Bill c. Sir W. C. That which calls me up is to answer something that was said by the worthy Member that spoke last I am for the Bill of Exclusion and was so the last Parliament because I am clearly satisfied there can be no Security without it But I must so far agrree with him that this Bill if it should pass will not be a full and compleat Security But Here being an Interruption by a noise in the House this Gentleman proceeded no further Col B. This is the day of Englands distress and not only England but upon this days Debate depends the good fate of the Protestant Religion all the world over Except you expect a Miracle from Heaven nothing else can save the Protestant Religion but this Bill of Exclusion I think I have said this many years ago That Popish Matches would bring in Popery at last As to the point of Law spoken of that 't will be interpreted according to the strength of the Party But I doubt not if we do our endeavours God will help us if we have nothing left us but Prayers and Teares We are in condition of Conquest or Compact and so is all Government Interest must defend this Bill and not an Army we are the Army I have a Family as well as others and where Idolatry must be set up and rather than my Children should breath in such an Air I had rather they were buried and had all the mischiefs in the world Col. L. ingenuously offer'd some things but without this Bill you may sit down take a Popish Successour and renounce the Protestant Religion I would break this Popish Interest and then Interest will maintain this Bill If once this Bill pass and as in Queen Elizebaths time Protestants are put in places of Trust you need not fear the disturbance spoke of Where ten were of this minde an hundred are now that will bleed for this Bill In plain English let the world see that the Protestant Religion is dear to us and we shall have the Law on our sides Sir T. Litt. I was mistaken by some Gentlemen in what I said I shall be very short and tender of the time because 't is late That of the Lady Maries Regency obviated an absurdity in the former Bill If the Duke should have a Son where are you then The Lady cannot descend from the Throne having possess'd it But my meaning was that the two Princesses respectively should Succeed in the Regency during the Minority of that Son The Bill of Exclusion is so weak a thing that 't will need all the props to support it And a train of consequences will follow it What is told you of Scotland is worth your consideration if Scotland be not consenting to it I know not how you 'll obviate that It unites the Papists of England and France which we ought above all things to prevent H. B. He may be convinced by his own Argument For by so much the easier 't is for the Princess of Orange to descent from her Authority of Regent so much the less is our security And for Scotland the same Interest that passes this Bill here will do it in Scotland and in Ireland there is no need of it By this Proposition of the Regency all Commissions Military by Sea and Land Church and Law are to go on in the Dukes name And if all Dispatches under the Great Seal must go under his Name we can have no Security The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy can be taken to none but him and if that be granted That 't is unlawful to take up arms against the King or those Commissionated by him If that be not a true proposition I know not why that Declaration was made It lies loose to me I must confess this Expedient seems to me as if a man that scorched his Shins at the Fire instead of removeing himself farther off should send for a Mason to remove the Chimney back I have heard from Lawyers That if a man do make a Freehold-Lease to begin from the date thereof 't is void It would be more ingenuous for the Gentlemen to say If you do pass the Bill to exclude the Duke they will not be bound by it they will have the Duke to Succeed and then I wish they would tell us what will save the Protestant Religion If the Duke come to the Crown will