from the Committee for Examination for refusing to answer to such Questions as were propounded unto him by this Committee by Order of the House of Commons and for the reasons that he gave for the same And not to permit him to goe out of the same without further Order of the House or Committee Dat. 9o. Augusti 1645. Examinat per Radm. Briscoe Cler. de Newgate On Munday the 11th of August this comtemptuous obstinate deportment of his and refusall to be examined was reported to the House together with his commitment for it to Newgate whereupon the House unanimously made and entred these two Votes Die Lunae 11o. Augusti 1645. Ordered upon the Question by the Commons assembled in Parliament that they doe approve of what the Committe hath done concerning Lievtenant Collonel Lilbourne Ordered upon the Question That Lievtenant Colonell Lilburne be tried at the next Quarter Sessions to be held for the City of London concerning the contriving making devulging and spreading DIVERS NOTORIOVS SCANDALS set forth in his name in a Printed Pamphlet under the Title of a Letter to a Friend AGAINST THE PARLIAMENT AND SEVERALL MEMBERS OF THE COMMONS HOVSE and the care hereof is especially referred to Master Recorder And by other subsequent Orders a Sollicitor and Councell were specially assigned in the behalfe of the Parliament to prosecute this businesse against him Yet notwithstanding this incorrigible Libâ—ller and unparalleld affronter of the Higher Powers persevering in his villany and seditious practises since his commitment to Newgate hath compiled printed and privily dispersed another most pestilent mutinous Libell against the Parliaments power and proceedings to incense and muteny the people against them Printed in halfe a sheet as Libellous and seditious as his Letter and much of the same straâ—ne for all which unparallel'd insolencies he shall no doubt be brought to a faire Legall triall and receive condigne punishment in due season This is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth of his Case and of the Parliaments and Committees proceedings against him every Tittle whereof will be justified and made good by a clowd of Witnesses being persons of Honour quality Piety Fidelity by the Parliaments and Committees Journalls Lilburnes owne Pamphlets and himselfe if he be not past all shame grace dares not gaine-say it in any particular Now this being the true state of his Libellous Seditious Incorrigible Contemptuous carriages toward the Parliament successively from time to time and of the Parliaments leasurely milde indulgent proceedings towards him I appeale to all the world yea to his best and most partiall friends and Confederates First Whether any mortall be he Papist Prelate Malignant Royalist or Cavalliere much lesse any profest Votary to the Parliaments service did ever demeane himselfe so Libellously Slanderously Seditiously Contemptuously Peremptorily Presumptuously and ungratefully to the Parliament the Committee of Examinations the Members proceedings of the House as this proud upstart Iacke hath done both in words writing deedes without the least shaddow of remorse or penitence Or whether any History records his Parallel Secondly Whether ever any Parliament Committee or other Court of Justice did with so much lenity patience and long-suffering endure so many reiterated multiplied Libels and publike affronts against their Jurisdiction Proceedings Justice Members without any just occasion or ground at all as this Parliament and Committee hath received from this Seditious Lying Libeller before they did commit him after so many preceedent questionings and admonitions Or whether any such patterne of Clemency Patience as they have used toward this incorrigible wretch can be produced out of any Parliament Rolles or Journals in preceeding Ages If not as I am confident none can then how desperately ingratefull and malicious is this Lilburne for taxing them with Tyranny Cruelty and injustice in their proceedings against him Thirdly Whether ever any proceedings were more Legall just and regular in every punctilio of Law or more consonant to Magna Charta the Petition of Right or Lawes of the Land then these against him And whether ever any man committed by Parliament had lesse cause to complaine of Injustice and Infringement of the Subjects Liberty then he Yet never did any man both in discourse and Printed Libels so raile against the Parliament for Tyranny Injustice breach of Magna Charta the Petition of Right the Subjects Hereditary freedome and liberty as he hath most causelesly and seditiously done of purpose to raise up tumults against and alienate the peoples affections from the Parliament his Emissaries scattering abroad these his seditious Libels among the Malignants in Kent and else where no doubt to excite them to a new Rebellion Having thus truely stated his case and the truth of the Parliaments proceedings I shall in the next place discover and refute his malicious Lyes and Forgeries against the Parliament and Committee of Examinations in his owne Printed Relation of his Case in his Letter to a Friend In this Lying Libell Pag. 3. he writes Yet notwithstanding since the first of May last I have by the Authority of the House of Commons BEEN THREE TIMES IMPRISONED before ever I knew mine Accuser or mine accusation or ever was suffered to speake one word in mine owne defence which I humbly conceive is contrary to Magna Charta And these Priviledges that I ought to enjoy by vertue of my having an interest therein The manner whereof he relates more largely Pag. 12. 13. 14 where he repeates the former words with this addition In againe I was called and told I must wait again to morrow I expressed my selfe againe and againe unto them to give mee leave to declare but one thing to them but heard I could not be till about two houres after waiting at the doore bemoaning and * Note here his seditious carriage crying out to those that stood by of the sad and deplorable condition that I and the rest of the Free people in England are fallen into to be so unjustly Imprisonned for the expence of our bloud for the just preservation of our just Freedomes that we should from Commitees of Parliaments themselves be Imprisoned we know not wherefore and when we come before them according to their owne command that we shal be * If the Committee hath businesse of greatâ—â— importance yâ—t John Lilburn must forthwith be heard and have pâ—ecedence of all others else Magna Charta the Subects Liberties are presently infringed remanded back again and not suffered to speake one word for our selves Heare ô Heavens and give eare ô Earth and thou righteous God that lovest justice and judgement and hatest and abhâ—orrest oppression and crueltie which makest wise men mad put forth thy hand and doe justice thy selfe upon the unjust and unrighteous Iudges of this age whom the people have set up for their good namely to preserve their Lives Liberties and Estates as their faithfull Stewards and Servants doe yet destroy what they would seeme to mainetaine
17 c. 15 26. c. 16. 13. 1 John 4. 6. c. 5. 6. A Spirit of Truth which guides true Christians into all Truth Upon this ground Solomon rankes h Prov. 6. 16. 17. 19. A lying tongue and a false witnesse that speaketh Lyes among those things which the Lord especially hates and abhominates And Saint John registers i Rev. 21. 8. c. 22. 15. Lyars and he that loveth and maketh a lye in the black Catalogue of those damned ones who shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone and shall be excluded the Caelestiall Jerusalem to k Mat. 25. 4â— accompany the Devill and his Angels for Eternity in hell fire Yet notwithstanding this undeniable verity there is a new Generation of fiery zealots sprung up in the world of late who deem themselves brimfull of the Spirit of Truth and most others no better than Reprobates or Devils in carnate who like Jobs deceitfull friends are l Job 13. 4. Forgers of Lyes or like the m Tit. 1. 12. Cretians alway Lyars if not like those wicked ones whom David describes Psal 58. 3 4. They go astray as soon as they be born yea new-born into their factious separation speaking Lyes their poyson is like the poyson of the Serpent n Psal 52. 2 3 4. Their tongue deviseth mischiefes like a sharp rasor working deceitfully They love lying more than to speake righteousnesse they love all devouring words Yea o Jer. 9. 3. 5. they bend their tongues like their bow for lyes but are not valiant for the Truth and they will deceive every man his Neighbour and will not speake the Truth they have taught their tongues to speak Lyes and weary themselves to commit Iniquity even in Print being the very generation of men in the latter times of whom the p 1 Tim. 4. 1. 2. 2 Tim. 3. 3. 4. Spirit speaketh expresly that they should depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits speaking Lyes in hypocrisie having their conscience seared with a hot Iron false accusers sierce heady high-minded c. having a form of godlinesse but denying the power thereof Among the whole rabble of this lying slandring Generation there is none more peceant then John Lilburn of late years a poor obscure Apprentice in London but now a Lieutenant Colonel and Ringleader of an Anti-Parliamentary Anabaptistical Faction who forgetting all the Laws of Christianity common Civility hath abused his best Benefactors yea the very high Court of Parliament who as himself confessed saved him from the Gallows and most grosly belyed traduced his ancient Christian friends in such a scurrilous virulent unchristian maner without any provocation as no age can parallel in sundry Printed Libels which he intitles Letters wherewith he hath poysoned the minds of many poor Ignorant people of his Sect and others with prejudices against the Parliaments proceedings and filled their mouths with bitter invectives calumnies and reports against those they formerly honoured most of any Mortallâ— and the very Raisers of John Lilburne to all the reputation he ever gained in the world to wit Master William Prynne whose Servant he was generally reputed to be and was contented to own that Title for his own emoliment though never capable of such an Honour and Dr. John Bastwick the Printing of whose Letany which he freely bestowed on him at his request was the best stock he had and that which first made him notorious to the Prelates their opposites and the present Parliament whereas otherwise he had lyen buried in obscurity among the rubbish of the meanest vulgar scarce known to any but him selfe For my own particular I so much undervalue all his scurrilous lyes and rayling invectives against my selfe that I deeme them more worthy scorn than answer and his Libellous seditious Letter to a Friend with that unto my selfe fitter to be refuted by the hangman hand than any others But because I am certainly informed by divers That this last Letter with other seditious Printed papers of his which he hath privatly scatred among his friends have done extraordinary hurt much incensed his ignorant mis-informed Brethren of the Separation and opened the mouthes of them yea of many Royalists and Malignants against the Parliaments proceedings in his and other cases as tyrannicall illegall arbitrary unjust and diametrally contrary to Magna Charta which this grand Ignoramus had never law enough to understand in the Language wherein it was first written nor in his mother tongue as appears by his very transcribing of it wherein he writes DISEASED for DISSEISED the meaning of which Law term I am certain he understands not and that his mistaken Law embraced by his disciples as infallible Oracles hath deceived many poor silly souls and is conceived to have been learned from my selfe whose servant heretofore and now he is generally cryed up to have been when as I blesse God I never entertained him in my service nor any such turbulent factious crosse-graind peece as he shews himself I have at the motion of some friends undertaken to passe a briefe censure on this his most seditious Letter so far as it trencheth upon the Parliaments and Committees most just Proceedings and my own personall reputation both which I shall clearly vindicate from his Malicious Lyes and intollerable Libellous slanders Wherein I shall pursue this method First truely State the Parliaments most just and favourable Proceedings against him which he most wilfully falsly and ungratefully mis-relates to alinate the peoples affections from and draw down an odium upon them without the least just occasion Secondly Rectify his grosse mistaken Law his mis-interpretation of Magna Charta and the Petition of Right and manifest the Parliaments and Committees proceedings against him to be warranted by both not contrary to either much lesse to be utterly Illegall Tyrannicall Unjust and destructive to the Subjects Liberties as he scandalously reports them Thirdly Recite and answer this whole Jury of most grosse Lyes and Slaunders summoned from the very Vicinage of Hell and brought by him to the Bar to give in a Verdict intentionally against my Reputation but really against his own 1 To begin with the first of these Upon the publication of my Truth triumphing over Falshood Antiquitie over Novelty in defence of the Parliaments undoubted Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction against Papists Prelats Anabaptists Independents Royalists who oppugned the same Iohn Lilburne for whom I had done sundry Courtesies but never injured in thought word or deed I know not out of what malicious schismaticall or unchristian humour before ever he had read over my book a great part whereof he understood not Writ and sent me a most rayling virulent Letter dated the 7. of January 1645. wherein he scurrilously Libels not onely against my selfe but likewise against the Synod assembled by Parliament against the Ordinances of Parliament prohibiting the Printing of Libellous and Seditious Pamphlets Bookes without speciall License as contrary to the Libertie and
indulged so much liberty to any other in the like case onely they added this command then entred in their Booke of Examinations He was commanded to be carefull to publish nothing Hereupon being dismissed for the present he Penned an Answer full of Invectives against the Parliament the Iudges and Iustices Legall proceedings against seditious Sectaries seconded with many false relations of unheard off cruelties towards them to render the Parliament odious to his Faction calumniates and railes afresh against me as an enemy to Gods people a Seditious Fire-brand one deserving to be hanged c. which answer he no sooner delivered in to the Committee but the very same or the next day after he published it in Print without any Licence contrary to the Committees expresse Command and the Priviledges and Orders of Parliament and to shew his further contempt of Authority caused this very Letter for which he was questioned to be re-printed About which time the Scurrilous Libels entituled The Araignement of Persecution and A Sacred Synodicall Decretall were published Printed with the selfe same Letter and Presse as his Letter and Answere were and some of them seised together with his Letters by the Stationers Who acquainting the Committee of Examinations therewith according to the former Order of the House thereupon the Committee for these insufferable insolencies and contempts of his on the 18. of June ordered that Lilburne should be sent for in custody touching the Printing of his Letter and other Scandalous Bookes in which number was his Answer to nine Arguments Printed at an unlicensed Presse Anno 1645. with his Picture and Verses before it wherein he intollerably railes against our Church Ministers Worship Goverâ—ent as Antichristian and Diabolicall to be utterly abhorred renounced by all Gods people Upon this the Messenger only summoned him to appeare before the Committee but did not at all attach or imprison him After that another seditious Libell intituled Martyns Eccho Printed with the selfe same Letter and Presse that Lilburnes Letters and Pamphelts were being published and having some of his very Expressions and Phrases scatterd in it Lilburne upon the Stationers Information who were checked for suffering these Libels to be Printed which they said they could not remedy unlesse some were exemplarily punished was againe Ordered to be sent for in custody by the said Committee whereupon the Messenger took detained him in his house but for one nights space where he used him very courteously and tooke not one farthing of him And notwithstanding his publishing of so many Libellous Pamphlets contrary to expresse Ordinances of both Houses which inflict not onely Imprisonment but other Censures too upon such delinquents and his refusall to discover the Printers of those Books the Committee of Examinations were so exceeding indulgent to him thinking to reclaime his incorrigible obstinacie by lenity that they permitted him to goe at large attending them only when he should be sent for without putting in any Bayle On the 19.th of July following Lilburne walking in the Court of Requests with one Hawkins and others reported to them without any reall ground at all but bare reports heare-sayes from persons of meane condition That there were strange things discovered against many Members of the House of Commons and went as high as the Speaker against whom it would be proved that he had with his owne hand sent three score thousand pounds to the King at Oxford and that many Members had made their Peace and done strange things amongst whom Sir Robert Harloe was one Of which seditious and scandalous Speeches the House being informed by Colonel King Dr. Bastwicke and other Witnesses of good credit and having no time to examine the businesse having sate all that day till past six of the clocke made this ensuing Vote Die Sabbati 19. Julij 1645. Resolved upon the Question by the Commons assembled in Parliament that Lievtenant Colonel Lilburne be forth with taken into Custody by the Serjeant at Armes attending this House and so kept till the House take further Order To the Serjeant at Armes attending on this House or to his Deputy c. H. Elsing Cler. Parl. D. Com. By vertue of this Warrant and upon this occasion onely he was apprehended by the Serjeant of the House and kept in Custody till the 24. of July At which time being brought to the Committee of Examinations and there examined touching this forementioned scandalous Speeches of the Speaker and others He peremptorily refused to give them any answer unlesse the Committee would first expresse the cause why he was ordered to be taken into custody when as himselse did well knwo it was for those very words against the Speaker and other Members whereupon they told him they would then examine him Using divers insolent Speeches to them and charging them with the breach of Magna Charta which he is not ashamed to relate at large in his Printed Libel to his Friend pag. 2. to 5. whereupon he was most justly and Legally committed to Custody and his contempt Ordered to bee reported to the House The very next day he compiled a most lying scandalous seditious Libell Against the Parliament Speaker some eminent Members of both Houses Sir Iohn Lentall Doctor Bastwicke and my selfe which he Intitled The Copy of a Letter from Lievtenant Colonell Iohn Lilburne to a friend The most seditious scandalous false lying Libell against the Parliament Committe of Examinations and Members of both Houses that ever yet was penned farre worse then any Oxford Aulicus and tending only to stirre up the People to rise up against the Parliament to resist their power Proceedings alienate their affections from them This after his old manner he sent to a private Unlicensed Presse alwaies ready at his command where being speedily Printed he despersed the printed Copies thereof every where by his Agents among his Friends and Confederates who vented them under-hand for money One of the Printed Copies whereof being brought into the House and there read the House unanimously passed this Vote Die Sabbati 9. August 1645. Ordered by the Commons assembled in Parliament That the consideration for finding out the Author of this Booke be referred to the Committee of Examinations and that in case it appeares to be Lilbournes Booke they shall have power to commit him to what Prison they please Hereupon the Committee of Examinations sent for Lilburne this very day in the afternoone to examine him concerning the writing and printing of this Letter but he most obstinatly in a peremptory and contemtuous manner refused to be examined or give any answer to the questions demanded of him concerning the writing or publishing therof whereupon he was committed to Newgate by this ensuing Warrant expressing the cause of his commitment thither according to the Petition of Right and Magna Charta the effect whereof is thus entred in the Keepers Book of Newgate Gibb Chambers Vic August 1645. Lievtenant Collonel Lilburne committed by Laur. Whittaker Esquire
examined before they ever acquaint them with their Accuser or Accusation or heare them speake one word in their own behalfe yet none ever deemed these ordinary proceedings of theirs either Arbitrary Tyrannicall or Illegall contrary to Magna Charta or the Subjects Liberties but most iust And shall not the Parliament the supremest Court have as great a liberty and power thus to summon and attach men upon informations against them onely to answer their Accusations when ripe for Examination as the meanest Iustice of the Peace doth dayly exâ—rcise without exceptions How many thousands have the Lord Mayor of London the Courts of Guard and Committee of Examinations sent sor attached and restrained thus for a short space of their liberty till they could be examined before ever they knew their Accuser or Accusaton or could be brought to publike examination and yet not one of them ever made such an horrid outcry against the Legality of their proceedings as this Ignoramus who understands the Law and Magna Charta no more then a Iack-daw as one once said of a doting Lawyer But to proceed to his other falsehoods Page 7. he writes That during his imprisonment at Oxford he was ruined in his estate to the value of six or seven hundred pounds which he left behind him at LondoÌ„ which he can clearly make appeare Which he likewise recites in two other printed papers This certainly is as grosse a lye as any of the former For his best and neerest friends will attest he was never worth halfe so much and the maine reason why he left the City and went into the Parliaments Forces was not so much for any good affection to the Parliaments cause as to protect himselfe against his Creditors arrests for these many debts which he incurred by renting of a Brew-house which both himself and his Father oft times told me when they repaired to me for advice in Law concerning it had quite undone and broke both himselfe and his friends who stood ingaged for him And this Libeller himself Pag. 5. insinuates as much complaining for want of recompence for his imprisonment TO PAY HIS DEBTS and buy him and his bread So that he was as much or more beholing to the Parliaments Service for protecting him from the arrests and executions of his Creditors as they were to him for any of his good services the praise whereof he hath now utterly lost and blemished by his evill Libellous and Seditious attempts against them Pag. 16. He most scandalously and falsely avers That many of the House of Commons tooke to themselves 3. l. 10. s. a weeke and some of them more and others of them great places worth 500 l. 1000 l. 1500 l. 2000 l. and more per annum and live in as great pompe superfluity and bravery as ever they did in their daies by the ruine of the Common-wealth when as thousands who have spent all they have in the world and done the Kingdome good service have not a bitt of bread to put in their mouthes c. This is a most notorious Lye the Lords and Commons having removed all their Members by a speciall Ordinance from all the Offices conferred on them by the Parliament though well deserving and fit to mannage them And when this slanderer shall make good this false charge by sufficient witnesses against any particular Members guilty of it he shall receive a fuller answer Page 5. He complaines that the Parliament and House of Commons who formerly owned him having served their turnes of him hee could never have Justice from them though he hath been as faithfull a friend to the Common-wealth as ever any they imployed And whereas Magna Charta saith Justice and Right we will deny to none we will deferre to none yet have I waited these foure yeares upon them at great expences and cannot get them to put their Votes in execution And now of late I have followed them about this six moneths to the expence of about 100 l. to get a Petition read that I might have justice and reparation but have been denied Justice and Right and could not get my Petition read which he ingeminates inculcates in sundry other pages To which I answer that it appeares by the next preceeding words that the Parliament served his turn first not he theirs First By inlarging him out of Prison and restoring him to his Liberty Secondly By hearing his cause and Voting his sentence in the Star-Chamber illegall and that he ought to have reparations Thirdly By saving him from an arraignement for his life before the whole House of Peeres about the Earle of Strafford when the King himselfe sent in an Accusation against him Aug. 4. 1641. for his seditious carriage To which he might have added and doth elsewhere relate a fourth by saveing his necke from the Gallowes at Oxford and purchasing his release by an exchange from thence to which I contributed my owne best assistance But did the House ever imploy him in any publike service to serve their turnes Surely never for ought I could learne and if they had they should have heard of it to purpose in this Letter What an ungratefull lying Merchant then doth he shew himselfe thus ill to requite the House of Commons for this their extraordinary favours to use such scandalous false speeches and Libellous invectives against them that having served their owne turnes of him he could never have Iustice from them since c. Yea but he hath waited above foure houres space and can have no reparations for his losses according to their Votes But is this the House of Commons fault Have they been backewards to doe him right or rather hath not he beene negligent and wanting to himselfe in procuring a transmission of his cause to the Lords without whose concurrence his sentence cannot be reversed nor his dammages ascertained and repaired Surely it is very well knowne to the world that my owne Sufferings Imprisonments Losses transcended his by many degrees and that the Commons Voted me Reparations and Dammages for them long before they passed their Votes for him that never yet received one farthing recompence for all my Losses Dammages eight yeares Imprisonment Exile the losse of my calling and estate in any kinde whatsoever though I presume I have done far greater more and better Services for the State Church Parliament then ever he performed for them Yet did I never complain either of or against the Parliament for breach of Magna Charta in not doing or delaying to do me Right or Justice neither had I just cause to do it since the weightier publike affaires of three bleeding Kingdomes Churches and our Bloody Wars and Schismes in all three have ingrossed all their time thoughts and deprived them both of vacancy opportunity and since of present meanes to right me in this kind in these necessitous times The like I might say of my Dear Fellow-sufferers Doctor Bastwicke Mr. Henry Burton Mr. Peter Smart Dr. Leighton Mr. Walker and
least contradiction proving much more against them then Mr Prynne relates of them And therfore Iohn Lilburn to use his own language here shews himselfe once more a Grand Lyar in giving such unseemly speeches to Mr Prynne for relating nought but truth and defaming traducing the witnesses produced by Sir Samuel whose persons conditions he knowes not in so grosse a manner upon the Delinquents own bare false reports 7. The seventh That Mr Prynne hath published to the world abundance of lyes and slanders not only against these Lay-preachers but also against Honourable Sir Thomas Fairfax and Honourable Cromwell and divers other chiefe Officers in the Army to whom the whole Kingdome owes so much honour and respect for all their faithfulnesse and good service done them which writes he is so insufferable unwarrantable unjust and abusive as I think was never done by any to the Parliament since they sate besides Mr Prynne And I am consident if I had done as much as he hath in that Book he meanes my Fresh Discovery and had beene such a firebrand as there he is I should hardly escape Tiburne O the intollerable Impudency of this Scribler whose lines are as full of lyes as a Dog of fleas In my Epistle to the Parliament before my Fresh Discovery I occasionally related That two Captain Prâ—achers Hobson and Beamond apprehended by Sir Samuel Luke for breâ—ch of an Oâ—dinaâ—ce of Parliament against Lay-Preachers did among other their lavash speeches MOST FALSLY AND SEDITIOUSLY AFFIRME That the Generall and all the Colonels in the Army were deeply engaged in their designe of preaching c. of purpose to vindicate the Honourable Victorious Generall and his Noble Colonels from this very notorious false slander most untruly cast upon them by these slanderers For doing them this right and honour I am thus most scandalously charged by Lilburne with publishing lyes and slanders against them with being a firebrand and deserving Tyburne who on the contrary justifies and pleades for these slanderous Delinquents in three whole pages and thereby slanders both the Generall and Officers in the highest degree whose Innocency I have vindicated from their misreports Certainly all Lilburnes friends who have any spark of Truth or Christianity in their breasts will for ever execrate and renounce such an abominable impudent slanderer as this who dares affirme such grosse untruthes even in print and I wish his publike penitence for all his premised slanders may be such as none may ever conclude in his owne termes that since he hath beene a farre greater Firebrand in his last printed libellous Letters then Mr Prynne appeares to be in his Fresh Discovery he will hardly escape Tiburn if justly prosecuted for and censured according to his misdemeanors 8. The eighth is That in page 22. hee promiseth hereafter at some other time to anatomize Will Prynnes lyes and fooleries and destructive practises to the Common-wealth in supporting Sir Phillip Cartwright the Malignant governour of Iersey who by his meanes alone hath been as great an instrument of the support of the King and of his unjust wars as any hath been in England It seemes this Libeller for want of present matter intends to forge and publish some new lies and forgeries of me for the future which I shall as easily wipe off as those already charged on me As for my supposed destructive practises to the Common-wealth in supporting Sir Philip Cartwright he should say Carteret a man he never knew I shall give a brief account thereof because it most concerns the State to be truly informed of it and of the losse of Jersey It is very well known to the world what extraordinary favours and respect I received from Sir Philip Carteret and his Lady during my three yeares close imprisonment and exile in Iersey when all my kindred and friends by speciall order from the Lords were debarred any accesse unto me and none of my friends in England durst publikely to own me and that my brother Burton then close prisoner in Garnsey Castle did by his interest in the Governour there at my request procure him more liberty respect and better Accommodations then all his other friends could obtain for him In respect of which obligations I should have manifested my self a Monster of ingratitude had I not contributed my best assistance to support Sir Philips innocency honour and reputation against the malicious and injurious Accusations Aspersions of his inveterate backbiting Enemies who endeavoured only to defame and out him of his Offices of trust that themselves might step into them Among these his Adversaries one Bandinell an Italian Dean of Iersey who first introduced Episcopall Government and Iurisdiction into that Island a man of a very lewd and wicked life and a crafty Machivilian was the chiefe who came purposely over into England to procure a Benefice in Iersey for a distracted son of his and to complain to the Archbishop of Canterbury against Sir Philip for his courtesies and kindenesse unto me as the readiest means to obtain his desires but instead thereof this Parliament being assembled before his arrivall here and the Archbishop questioned he met with Articles of complaint against himself for severall grosse misdemeanors and oppressions done by him in that Isle as Dean for which he was committed by the Commons House for two or three moneths to the Serjeants custody after which he confederating with one Monsieur Samyres of Iersey who was justly questioned by Sir Philip for an astront against him as Deputy Governour in laying down his Captains staffe and command in the open field because he could not have his will in disposing of the Lieutenants place in his band to a person altogether unfit whom the whole company disliked they first of all secretly contrived divers false and scandalous Articles against Sir Philip to the Parliament without any name subscribed to them and inclosed them in a Letter desiring any wel-affected person who should take them to present them to the house of Parliament left them upon the Stocks at London where being found by one who passed that way they were presented to some Members of the House who gave Sir Philip notice thereof Not long after this Deane and Samyres drew up a large paper of Articles the very same in substance and for the most part in words with the former and delivered some Copies of them to sundry Members of both Houses but were not forwards to presse them to be read that so they might slander Sir Philip in the opinion of those Members by this underhand dealing to stay his return to Iersey and he be disabled to clear his innocency which Sir Philip hearing of procured these Articles which they left in the Earl of Stamfords hands to be read in the Lords House and so mooved his adversaries to make them good if they could that so he might clear himself from their false Accusations ere his departure from hence and not be slandered in his absence Whereupon at Sir Philips
sollicitation only not theirs a day of hearing was appointed before a Committee of Lords in the Lords House whereat I was present The Dean and Samyres being called in they were demanded first whether they had any deputation or CoÌ„mission from all the Islanders or any considerable part of them to exhibite these Articles against Sir Philip they being intituled Articles exhibited by the Inhabitants of the Isle of Iersey against Sir Philip Carteret and complaining for the most part only of generall grievances to the Island They answered they had no deputation from the States or Inhabitants of the Island to exhibite those articles but they doubted not but they would justifie and allow what they had done Whereupon Sir Philip produced a Deputation from the three Estates of that Island made in their generall Assembly under their common Seal deputing intrusting him for their Agent to the Parliament to inform them of some publick grievances of which they desired redresse and crave some confirmation and enlargement of their priviledges which Deputation certainly they would never have made to him had himself been the chief and only publick grievance as the Articles imported and such an enemy to their common good as was suggested Whereupon the Lords were fully satisfied the accusers silenced reproved by the Lords for abusing them the Islanders in presenting a Petition in their names without their privity and Commission against a person of honour deputed by them to the Parliament and state After which they demanded of them severally what they could object or prove against Sir Philip who answered that they could prove nothing for the present since all their witnesses were in Iersey and that they could attest little of their own knowledge only Samyres complained that Sir Philip had put him from his Captains place and ordered him to answer his contempt in England in refusing to take it up again whereupon Sir Philip answered that he had voluntarily laid it down in contempt for which he had power to Fine and commit him but in regard he was his kinsman and one of a weak estate he only gave him an admonition and used him with all kindnesse and civility which Samyres could not deny on whose part the businesse appeared so foul that they told Sir Philip because he did not committ him for his contempt then they would commit him now and the Dean too for their malicious libellous Articles which they could not prove nor say any thing to of their own knowledge But by Sir Philips importunity and request their commitment was taken off Soon after which Sir Philip was setled Deputy Governour of that Isle by order and approbation of both Houses and ordered to put it in a posture of defence against the French whereupon he returned to Iersey and I departed into the Country of which his malicious prosecutors taking advantage caused their false and scanscandalous Articles to be secretly Printed at their own charge and dispersed into divers Parliament mens hands and others about London and then carried the residue of them into Iersey where they translated them into French and dispersed them among their Acquaintance and the people as if they had been Printed by the Parliaments Authority and made good before them of purpose to raise a Faction against Sir Philip for which being there judicially questioned and Indicted they thereupon appealed to the Parliament pretending their Articles were there depending to take off which prosecution upon some mis-information of theirs against Sir Philip to the close Committee they procured a Warrant to send for him over into England as a Prisoner to answer to some charges against him contained in the former Articles Whereupon Sir Philip writ a Letter to the Committee acquainting them with the former malice of his enemies his discharge of these Accusations on a hearing before the Lords the cost and danger of his journy thence the inconvenience to the state of his present deserting the Island desiring that till some offence were really proved against him he might not thus bevexed upon a meer suggestion being a person of quality having so great a trust and setled there by a late speciall Order of both Houses offering to give Bond or any other security to the Parliament to answer any charge that his prosecutors should either in England or by a Commission in Iersey be able to prove against him so as they on the other side might enter into Bond to answer him dammages in case he should clear himself from all their accusations of which he made no doubt Whereupon the Committee were fully satisfied but not the prosecutors malice For one Maximilian Messervy and his brother who during my imprisonment in Iersey were accused for Coyning and venting counterfeit Coyne of all sorts both Gold and silver and Maximilian being imprisoned for his crime divers months the melting pot Mould Mettles sophisticated with some false Silver and Gold being found in his study which I my self there saw besides sundry single and double false Pistols which he vented unto others for which offence he had been executed had not he obtained a speciall pardon from the King by Sir Philips and Captain Carterets means falling about this time to their old trade of Coyning false gold and venting some of it both in Normandy and the Island Sir Philip upon complaint and proof thereof sent out Warrants and Officers to apprehend them and made Proclamation there usuall that none should convey them out of the Island notwithstanding they both escaped thence in the night in a small boat and fled into France and not long after into England Sir Philip upon their flight before their arrivall here writ a Letter to my self informing me of the particulars of the offence and proof against them craving my advise how to proceed now they were sled from thence and how to punish him that transported them contrary to his Proclamation to which I returned an Answer Upon these Coyners arrivall at London they siding with Sir Philips opposites complained of great injuries he had done them for their good affection to the Parliament and pretended they could ptove great matters against him concerning the State if they could but procure a Warrant to apprehend and bring him over prisoner and by the help of some friends they made here and their false insinuations they procured a Warrant from the close Committee for these two Coyners to go unto Iersey and apprehend Sir Philip and bring him over Prisoner to the Parliament which Warrant was signed and delivered to Maâ—â—â—â—â—â—ian Of which I casually having information and knowing what crâ—â—es they were guilty of and that Maximillian was as very a villain cunning â—heater as breathed having formerly cheated divers of my friends my 〈◊〉 did according to my bounden duty and the care I had of the Parliaments honour acquaint some of the Committee with this grosse abuse and the qualities of thoâ—â— persons informing them what an extraordinary scandall and dishonour it
would be to the Parliament and what cause of clamours and just exceptions it would give to the Kings Malignant party to exclaim against them if they upon the information of those false Coyners who were Traitors by Law and had relapsed into this offence after a Pardon and now fled from thence to escape the hands of Iustice should thus be sent over thither by the Parliaments Authority as their Agents to apprehend Sir Philip the Governour a man of honour and credit who had formerly saved them from the Gallows and did now but his duty in prosecuting them and craved my advice therein before their arrivall here and bring him prisoner over hither who had just cause to apprehend and hang them there That this would be such an Act of indiscretion and injustice as would open the mouthes of all the world against them and alienate the heart of Sir Philip the whole Island and all good men from them And thereupon I desired them to take some course to call in their Warrant which they thought very just and desired my assistance therein whereupon I imployed one to finde out their lodgings which he did at last informing me withall that they were full of money and that Maximilian had offered a small Ingot of gold to sell whereupon I conceiving they had here set up their Coyning trade for which they fled from Jersey procured a Warrant from Iustice Hooker to apprehend their persons and search their lodgings for suspition of Coyning which was delivered to one Master Stone a Constable in Saint Clements who coming early in the morning to their lodging and standing at their Chamber door heard them telling mony on the Table which he conceived to amount to five or six pounds at least by the noise it made after which he knocking at the door and demanding them to open it they suspecting by his words and carriage he was some Officer refused to do it stood upon their guard and Maximillian offered to escape forth out of a Garret window and after that at a back door but at last they were both apprehended and searched but no money could be found about them except three or four pieces of French and Spanish Coyn not amounting to above five or six shillings But in Maximilians Trunk there was found a plate and mould to coyne with which himself bespoke about a month before of a Smith neer Charing Crosse bringing him the pattern in paper pretending it was an instrument which he must use in the Army wherein he pretended he was to be a Trooper together with powder to cast gold and silver mettle in and Alchimy Salts to colour their false silver with in the chamber over theirs there was found about a pound or two of their false mettle hid under the mats in a corner some in the lump not sophisticated some in small pieces newly melted and so cunningly sophisticated with Alchimy ingredients that it shewed like silver and would indure the Test insomuch that the Goldsmiths themselves could not discern whether it was sophisticated or not till Sir John Wollastons servants melted it down and then there was not one grain of silver in it being the most artificiall counterfeiting of silver without any mixture of it that they ever saw Vpon these pregnant evidences of their guiltinesse of coyning false money here seconded with their reall guilt of it in Iersey whence they so lately fled They were examined by Iustice Shepherd where Maximillian confessing his having the Ingot of gold which he tendred to sale and being examined what he had done therewith First he said he had given it away but to whom he knew not then that he had exchanged it for some Commodities he wanted but when where and with whom he exchanged it he knew not afterwards he said he had delivered it to a Master of a Ship and being taken tardy in that his last envasion was that he had sent it to Saint Malâ—es in France Vpon all these circumstances they were both committed Prisoners to the Gate-house there being nothing wanting fully to convict them but only some of their false Coyne which they conveyed away in such sort that no piece of it could be found though the Constable heard them telling it as he conceived After which they were examined by Sir Robert Harles Master of the Mint who took away the Warrant they had from the close Committee to apprehend Sir Philip which Maximillian carried about him in a little box Not long after this these two Coyners lying prisoners in the Gate-house procured some Iersey Anabaptists and other of Sir Philips adversaries to informe some Members of the House of Commons that these two Coyners were very honest men who came purposely from Iersey to complain of Sir Philip to the Parliament for his Malignity and great oppressions and that by a meer plot and combination of some Malignants and friends of Sir Philips their lodgings were searched and they committed by Iustice Hooker and Iustice Shepherd to the Gate-house of purpose to take them off from prosecuting Sir Philip who was a great Royalist and notorious Enemy to the Parliament and would keep the Island only for the King they having complained against him and one or two of his Agents here that were in custody to the Committee of Examinations Vpon which mis-information both the Iustices and Constable were sent for to that Committee to be examined touching this practise who acquainting me therewith I accompanied them thither and hearing them begin to examine Iustice Shepherd in a criminall way upon the pretended plot against these Coyners I the reupon took all the businesse on my self that the Iustices and Constable did what they had done upon my information being meer strangers to Sir Philip and the Prisoners acquainted them with all the premises produced Sir Philips Letters the Mettle Mould and other particulars to make them good informing how they had abused the close Committee and this Committee too through their mis-informations and what a dishonour it would be to countenance or imploy such villains whom they should either hang here or send over thither in a way of Iustice to be executed desiring them to take some course to punish those who did thus mis-informe and abuse them neither of them daring to appear to make good what they suggested Whereupon the Iustices were dismisled these Coyners remanded to the Gate-house and Ordered to be proceeded against at the Sessions Whilest these things were in agitation about the time of these Coyners first arrivall in England Sir Philip assembled the Estates of Iersey together in nature of a Parliament where he and the States in name of the whole Island framed and joyned together in two Petitions the one to the King the other to the Parliament to this effect That they were deeply affected with the dissentions and civill Wars in England between the King and Parliament that they feared the like distractions there unlesse timely prevented by their wisdoms and care
That it was their cordiall desire not to look on the King or Parliament as divided one from another but united and would thus cordially adhere to both without siding against either c. Whereupon they humbly prayed they might enjoy their joynt favour and protection and the like liberty of Trade to both their Quarters as they enjoyed by ancient Charters between England and France during the Wars between both only with their Lawfull Commodities without doing prejudice to either side This Petition to the Parliament with Letters from Sir Philip to Mr. Pym were sent to London by one John le Coulter of Iersey bound thence for England with divers Letters from some English Captives in Argeir to their friends here about their Redemption who coming to London with the Letters and Petition presently met with some Iersey men opposites to Sir Philip and acquainting them that he had Letters from Sir Philip to Mr. Pym with a Petition from the Estates of the whole Island to the Parliament and desiring their direction how he might present them to Mr. Pym they presently procured him to be seised on by a Messenger as a Spye sent purposely over by Sir Philip whom they cryed up for a Malignant and Enemy to the Parliament without any colour or shadow of proofe took away all his Letters and the Petition which by this means was smothered and never presented to the House and if presented and Answered would doubtlesse have settled that Island in quietnesse and made Sir Philip and the whole Island firm to the Parliament After which by false suggestions they detained him above three moneths in their Custody to his great expence before I could procure his full release About the same time one Osmond Cooke a Souldier of Mount-Orguile Castle who attended on me in my Chamber during all the time of my close Imprisonment there and came into England about halfe a year before meerly upon his own private businesse to recover a house and some Lands in Beccles devised to him by his Uncle returning into Iersey from hence was in his passage thither by these malitious persons Informations seised on in the Western parts as a Spye to Sir Philip sent up Prisoner to London by Sea and there detained in Custody divers moneths Notwithstanding there was no proof of any thing at all against him but meer suggestions behinde his back the which to my knowledge were false Whiles these two parties were thus Imprisoned Sir Philips Adversaries by their malitious suggestions of his dangerous malignity and Enmity to the Parliament and importunate solicitations procured an Order from the close Committee for Major Lidcot and some other Officers with six very good brasse Ordnance and sundry Musquets Barrells of Powder Match and Ammunition to be sent into Iersey to apprehend Sir Philip as an enemy to the Parliament to besiege and take in the Castles secure the Island to the Parliament and desend their party there and withall got the Coyners Messeruies enlarged to go over with them into Iersey Maximillian promising to do great matters for the Parliament with the party he and his confederates would there raise and out of my cordiall affection to the Parliament and that Island acquainted Mr. Solicitor and others of the close Committee with the inconveniences and ill consequence of this rash design of which I having intelligence grounded upon meer misinformations of Sir Philips adversaries to effect their own ends informing them upon my own knowledge that both Castles in Iersey were so strongly scituated fortified that they must have an Army by Land and a Fleet by Sea to Block them up that an hundred men in each would maintain the Castles against all the Force the Island could make and three times more and therefore it was a ridiculous thing to imagine that a Major with five or six Gunners and Officers and that small force Sir Philips Enemies could raise there should take both or either of the Castles especially without a Fleet to assist them one of them being quite surrounded with the Sea at half Flood and above half the other at low water that the Castles to my knowledge were very well furnished with Ordnance and Ammunition for two or three years Siege that they could every tide receive fresh Supplyes of Victualls Men and what ever they wanted from France and elsewhere That the Islanders were generally rawe faint-hearted Souldiers who durst not come within Canon shot of the Castles much lesse approach a Breach and run upon the Canons mouth as they must do if they will take them That if they sent any Ordnance Musquets or Ammunitions thither which they needed at home they would all certainly be lost and that they who engaged them in this action did it more out of private ends and malice against Sir Philip then any publike good to the Parliament for admit the Parliament had the Castles and Island surrendred without a stroke they would cost them more the keeping then they were worth and draw a charge upon the State in these needfull times to no purpose but to waste the publike Treasure That in times of Peace the King received not one peny profit from the Island but only the Governour whose whole income in time of war would not maintain the Garrison souldiers requisite to keep one of the two Castles and that it could supply the Parliament neither with fighting men nor money nor Shipping in this time of War but must be supplyed from hence with all these And admit the King had it all in his absolute power it could do the Parliament no hurt at all since it could neither supply him with Souldiers Men Money Provisions nor Ammunition and far remote from England quite out of the road of our English Trade That the Inhabitants being generally very poor and having none but base French Coyne among them could yield the King no supply of moneys That Sir Philip Carteret and the States of the Island did now by Petition and Letter desire the Parliaments friendship and Kings joyntly and not to side with either as divided but United and that he would engage himself if they would give but a fair Answer to their Petition which was suppressed by the opposite party that Sir Philip and those Islanders of his party should continue firm unto the Parliament and their friends and never do one act of Hostility or unkindenesse on the Kings behalf against them and that the Parliaments and the Kings Ships upon all occasions should have all accomodations and ride safely in the Harbour there at their pleasure which was all the benefit we could reap if the Island and two Castles were totally in the Parliaments possession That if they sent any Ships or Forces thither to apprehend Sir Philip or Seise the Island and Castles by sorce especially by such infamous persons as the Coyners and some others were it would make Sir Philip and his party to stand upon their guard and perchance of friends or Neuters at