rebuke them sharply from one of themselves even a Prophet of their own In a word true Morals and good Thoughts lose nothing of their Innate Excellence from whencesoever they are handed to us The Devil had not been the Enemy but Friend of Mankind if he had spoke no worse in Paradise than he did at Delphos viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self And therefore admitting the Accusation were true where lies the Scandal Nor will he have done while there 's a drop yet left The King says He call'd this Parliament with an upright Intention to the Glory of God and his People's good Our Answerer makes this of it That there be some whom God hath given over to Delusion whose very Mind and Conscience is defil'd of whom St. Paul to Titus makes mention To which I say there is not any one such Expression in the whole Epistle but others there are whom he calls Evil Beasts Slow-bellies and Lions With which I leave him and proceed to the second Section CHAP. II. Vpon the Earl of Strafford's Death I Looked upon my Lord of Strafford saith His Majesty as a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than asham'd to employ him in the greatest affairs of State Yes saith our Answerer He was a Man whom all Men look'd upon as one of the boldest and most impetuous Instruments that the King had to advance any violent or illegal design He had rul'd Ireland and some Parts of England in an Arbitrary manner Had endeavour'd to subvert Fundamental Laws and Parliaments To make Hostility between England and Scotland And Counselled the King to call over that Irish Army of Papists to reduce England For which and many other Crimes alledged and proved against him iâ— twenty eight Articles he was Condemned of High Treason by the Parliament The Commons by the far greater number Cast him The Lords likewisâ— agreed to the Sentence and the People cry'd out foâ— Justice c. Only the King saith he was not satisfied in his Conscience to Condemn him of High Treason In reply to which I think he might morâ— truly have said not prov'd but alledg'd as I shalâ— come to shew presently That he was oncâ— the Darling of the Commons His Tryal of Tho. Earl of Strafford Fol. 763. to 769. we have several Instances of it in Mr. Rushworth But alas the King had made him Lord Deputy of Ireland and the heighth of that Sphere contracted Envy in the Great Ones and an Odium in the People nor is it every one that can say nâ—â—pluribus impar Though during that his Government he improv'd the Revenue of that Kingdom which before his time had been rather 〈◊〉 Charge than Advantage to this and procur'd of the King that all Impropriations then in thâ— Crown be restor'd to the Church of that Nation and supplied it with Learned Men out oâ— England upon the Scottish Invasion in 1639 he counsell'd the King 't is true to fight them out Vox Reipub honesta sibi anceps as Taciâ—â— of Galba on the like Occasion for the Scotcâ— Commissioners not long after preferr'd that Charge in Parliament against him before-mention'd And then for the Irish Army of Papists c. that brings me naturally to the Article themselves which were as is said Twentâ— Eight in number Some of which were for matters of Fourteen Years standing some of them as the First Seventeenth Eighteenth not insisted on and others as the Fourteenth Twenâ—y first Twenty Second Twenty Fourth not â—rg'd Dr. Nalson's impartial Collect Part 2. Fol. 8. And to disable him of the Testimony and Assistance of Sir George Ratcliffe his quondam Secretary and now Friend he also was charged with High-Treason and Confederacy with him and sent for out of Ireland The Earl had now been under five Months Imprisonment when the 22d of March 1640. he was brought to his Tryal which held till the 13th of April following and in which he defended himself so well that since there was neither Matter nor Proof enough against him to take off his Head by the Common-Law it was resolv'd a Bill of Attainder should The pinching Article against him was the Twenty third and is the main Particular mention'd in the said Bill viz. That he advis'd the King that he was loose and absolv'd from the Rule of Government and that he had an Army in Ireland by which he might reduce this Kingdom A shrewd Article no doubt and sufficiently evidences their Crime that without the King's Consent afterwards brought the Scots into England But let us see how this was proved There had been an old grudge between Sir Henry Vane the Father Secretary to the King and my Lord of Strafford touching the Title of Baron of the Castle of Raby of which Vane was Proprietor and endeavour'd the Honour to himself notwithstanding which the King had given it to the Earl of Strafford And is so happen'd that the said Sir Henry having a sudden occasion to make use of a Paper gave his Son young Sir Henry Vane the Key of his Cabineâ— where lay another Key which open'd a Tilâ—â— in which he found some short Notes of a Committee of eight of the Privy-Council of whicâ— the said Earl was one upon this Question Whâ—ther the War with Scotland should be offensive or defensive In which there were Words 〈◊〉 spoken by the said Earl somewhat to that puâ—pose but still relative to the War with Scoâ—land However young Sir Henry carries it 〈◊〉 the Lords and makes it an Article of the Additional Charge against him which upon fuâ—â— Evidence of such of the said eight as were noâ— in Prison terminated in this The Earl oâ— Northumberland being interrogated touchinâ— these Words absolutely denied that ever hâ— heard the said Earl speak them Mr. Treasurer Sir H. V. shuffled in his Evidencâ— forward and backward The Tryal Fol. 563. and at last said hâ— thinks they were spoken positively or to thaâ— effect And a shrewd Evidence for the proof of a Bond The Lord Treasurer declar'd that he never heard the said Earl speak thâ—â— said Words or any thing like it The Lord Cottington to the same purpose and thinkâ— the Earl might say The Parliament had noâ— provided for the King and that the King ought to seek out all due and lawful ways to employ his Power and Authority Caste Candide which Words he very well remembers The Marquess Hamilton that he hath often heard the said Earl use those last Words to the King for otherwise said the Earl it were unjust and oppressive And to the same purpose the Lord Goring â—ll Nelson Fol. 87. and Sir Thomas German in behalf of the said Earl However die he must and to that end a Bill of Attainder was prepar'd by both Houses to which the King May the first in the House of Lords the Commons then present declar'd That in his Conscience he could not condemn him of Treason On which a City armed Rabble of
about Six Thousand tumultuously flock to Westminster crying Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Which within a day or two they second with a Petition On which the Earl less valuing his Life than the quiet of the Kingdom writes a Letter to the King whereby to set his Conscience at Liberty and by his own Consent prays him to pass the Bill which in a few days after was by Commission to the Earl of Arundel and three other Lords accordingly done with this Proviso That no Judge or Judges c. shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason any other way than they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been had or made A modest Confession and that nothing but an Act of Parliament could affect him Nor unlike that Clause in an Ordinance of the King and Lords for the Banishment c. of the Lady Alice Pierce a Favourite of King Edward the Third's viz. That this Ordinance in this Special Case Mr. Seldâ—n's Privilege of Baronage 71 which may extend to a Thousand other Persons shall in no other case but this be taken in Example However after the Bill was pass'd the King as deeming They will reverence my Son wrote a Letter to the House of Lords with his own Hand and sent it by the Prince of Wales in which he interceeds for that Mercy to the Earl which many Kings would not have scrupled to have given themselves But 't was resolv'd and nothing would do And thus between Accumulative and Constructive Treason nor better prov'd than I have shewn before Sic inclinavit heros caput Taken from Mr. Cleveland Belluae multorum Capitum Merces favoris Scottici praeter pecunias Nec vicit tamen Anglia sed oppressit Or if my Reader had rather have it in English take it from that happy Flight of Sir Richard Fanshaw on that Occasion And so fell Rome herself oppress'd at length By the united World and her own Strength And yet not to leave his Memory in the Dust there is an Act of Parliament that vindicates all I have said in the matter and that is The Act for reversing this Attainder 13 14. Car. 2. c. 29. which says thus That the Bill of Attainder was purposely made to Condemn him upon Accumulative and Constructive Treason none of the said Treasons being Treason apart and so could not be in the whole if they had been prov'd as they were not And the Act further says It was procured by an armed Tumult the names of Fifty nine of the Commons that opposed the Bill posted by the name of Straffordians and sent up to the Peers at a time when a great part of them were absent by reason of those Tumults and many of those present protested against it For which Causes and to the end that Right be done to the Memory of that deceased Earl it was enacted c. That the said Act c. be repeal'd c. And all Records and proceedings of Parliament relating to the said Attainder be cancell'd and taken off the File c. to the intent the same may not be visible in after-Ages or brought in Example to the prejudice of any Person whatever Provided that this Act shall not extend to the future questioning of any Person c. however concern'd in this Business or who had any hand in the Tumults or disorderly procuring the Act aforesaid c. A shrewd suspicion that they thought that Act of Attainder was not so regularly obtain'd as it ought to have been for if it had what needed that Proviso And having duely considered this Act I think the Wonder will cease why the King was so dissatisfied in his Conscience touching the giving his Assent to that Bill of Attainder His Speech on the Scaffold or that the Lord Capel so publickly begg'd forgiveness of God for having given his Consent toward it At least I presume it may startle any Man that from such repeated Calumnies has not yet come to be of our Answerer's Opinion That there may be a Treason against the Commonwealth as well as against the King only A Treason not mention'd in 25 Edw. 3. or in any Statute since saving those of the late Usurper's making inasmuch as no Estate or Estates of the Realm make any thing of themselves but as joyned to their Figure the King And therefore passing the King 's most detested Conspiracy as he calls it against the Parliament and Kingdom by seizing the Tower of London bringing the English Army out of the North c. I leave him and his Stuff together and come to the Third CHAP. III. Vpon His going to the House of Commons I Said ere-while His Majesty might think the Lords would reverence his Son nor was in to be doubted whether the Commons would himself Especially considering the business he went about It was faith the King to demand Justice upon the Five Members whom upon just motives and pregnant grounds I had charged and needed nothing to such Evidence as could have been produced against them save only a free and legal Tryal which was all I desired Which fill'd indifferent Men with Jealousies and Fears yea and many of my Friends resented as a motion rising rather from Passion than Reason See says our Answerer He confesses it to â—an act which most Men whom he calls his Enemies cried shame upon indifferent Men c. as before He himself in one of his Answers to both Houses made profession to be convinc'd that it was a plain breach of their Privilege Yet here like a rottâ— Building newly trimm'd over he represents it speciously and fraudulently to impose upon the simple Reader c. Words insolent enough without adding the rest though it had not been from his Matter if he had told that simple Reader in which Answer of his Majesties he might have found that Profession However for the discovery of the Truth on both sides it may not be amiss to make a few steps backward that considering the occasion we may the better judge of the thing It had been advis'd to the King by the then Privy-Council of Scotland to send the Book of Common-Prayer to be receiv'd and us'd in all Churches of that Kingdom The King's Declaration 1639. which was accordingly order'd And in the Month of July 1637. publickly read in the great Church of Edinburgh The Kirkmen took fire at it nor wanted there some in England to fan the Flame which in a short time got that head that they invade England but finding the design not ripe enough yet they humbly submit and the business is smother'd Whereas had those smoaking Brands been sufficiently quench'd they had not made a greater Eruption the next Year During this time the King had gotten into the matter and calls this Parliament with a real intention of quieting all They begin where the last Parliament
left Complaints of Grievances Innovations in Religion Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Power and single out the Earl of Strafford for an example of their Justice The King I said was got into the matter and had discover'd whose Correspondencies and Engagements they were that had embroil'd his Kingdoms and ordered his Attorney to draw a Charge of High-Treason against the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym Mr. Hanbden Mr. Hollis Sir Ar. Haslerigg and Mr. Strode Which was accordingly done and the substance of it is this That they have Traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Saudeâ—sin's Hist of K.C.I. Fol. 473. and to deprive the King of his Power That they have endeavoured by foul Aspersions to alienate the Peoples affections from the King That they have traiterously invited and encourag'd a foreign Power to invade His Majesties Kingdom of England That for the compleating their traiterous designs they have actually rais'd and countenanc'd Tumults against the King and Parliament And that they have traiterously conspired to levy and actually have levied War against the King Nelson 2d Part F. 811. ad idom On this the King having first demanded them of the House by a Serjeant at Arms a Warrant is granted to apprehend them but missing their Persons Id. Fol. 514. their Trunks are seiz'd and seal'd up While this was yet doing the Commons had notice of it and thereupon Vote That on all like occasions for the future any Member might call a Constable to his assistance defend himself and seize all such Persons The next Morning the King goes to the House with part of his ordinary Guard of Pensioners and orders them to stay without and having rested himself in the Speaker's Chair told them He came to demand five Persons whom he had accused of High Treason Id. Sander Fol. 474. And though no King that ever was in England could be more tender of their Privileges that yet they knew there was no Privilege against Treason So Sir Fâ— Coke a â—â—st 25. And looking round him I see faith he they are gone But assured them in the word of a King that he never intended any force but to proceed against them in a legal fair way and therefore expected the House would send them to him and so went off Nor was he yet out of hearing when the general Cry was Privilege Privilege And the next day they Vote this coming of the King a breach of Privilege and adjourn for a Week into London there to sit as a General Committee pretending they were not safe at Westminster and though the King afterwards wav'd their Prosecution would not be satisfied unless he also discover'd who gave him that Counsel to come to the House as if it were not enough that he for bore his Enemies without he also betray'd his Friends Upon this Tumult upon Petition and Petition upon Tumult daily encreasing the King Queen Prince and Duke retire to Hampton-Court the Members in the mean time passing to and from Westminster with Hundreds of Boats Flags Seamen Rabble and Huzza's as they pass'd by Whitehall And now again judge any sober Man between the King and them The King to avoid the ill consequence of a denial gave his Assent to the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford He demands Justice against the five Members and 't is refus'd him If they were guilty why were they protected against him And if not guilty why did they not clear themselves The King came to the House with an attendance short of his ordinary Guard and it was Voted a Breach of Privilege They had their armed Tumults of Six Thousand at a time to awe the King's Friends and no notice taken of it but rather encourag'd Whereas it is Lex consuetudo Parliamenti That wheresoever the Parliament is holden Sir F. Coke 3 Inst 160. there ought to be no wearing of Armour exercise of Plays games of Men Wothen or Children much less Riots What shall I add They in the Year 1647. submitted eleven of their Members to the impeachment of an Army after that their House to be garbled and when contrary to the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom they had voted themselves the Legislative Power of the Nation as tamely submitted to be turn'd out by their Journey-Men And yet when the safety of the Nation was at stake insolently contend nay mate it with their Sovereign And therefore weighing altogether in a true Balance judge I say wherein the King was to blame or where lay this breach of Privilege And for what His Majesty's Intention in this matter was besides what has been before urg'd take this further from himself where he says If he purpos'd any Violence or Oppression against the Innocent then let the Enemy persecute my Soul tread my Life to the Ground and lay my Honour in the Dust To which this Accuser thus What needs there more disputing He appeal'd to God's Tribunal and behold God hath judged and done to him in the sight of all Men according to the Verdict of his own Mouth Whereas in Common Humanity as a Man Charity as a Christian Reverence to him as a King and Duty as his King he might and that truly have said 2 Sam. 3.34 As a Man falleth before wicked Men so fell'st thou The Breath of our Nostrils Lam. 4.10 the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits of whom we said under His shaddow we shall live among the Heathen CHAP. IV. Vpon the Insolency of the Tumults WHat and how frequent the Tumults of London and Westminster that follow'd the convening of this Parliament were is obvious enough to every Man that knows the least of our own Story and how aptly His Majesty has compar'd them not to a Storm at Sea which yet wants not its Terror but an Earthquake which shakes the very Foundations of all may be also as visible from the too sad effects of them Earthquakes the more general they are do less hurt by reason of the united weight which they offer to subvert whereas narrow and particular Earthquakes have many times overturn'd whole Towns and Cities And such was the Case here The Kingdom as yet stood well enough witness those the Nobility and Gentry who out of a principle of Honour and Honesty adhered to the King Some humours t is true might glow and estuate in the Body but they were not yet got into the Head That Ricketty Head that was already swoll'n too big for the Body But when they once discover'd that Vent all gather'd to it and shook those Foundations which the Wisdom of so many Centuries had been laying and securing as I shall come to show presently In the mean time our Answerer for what concerns the King's Words says The matter here is not whether the King or his Houshold Rhetorician have made a Pithy Declamation against Tumults but first whether they were Tumults or not next if they were whether the King himself did not
Self-will they broke down a Wall CHAP. V. Vpon His Majesty's passing the Bill for the Triennial Parliaments and after settling this during the Pleasure of the two Houses PArliaments saith Sir Robert Cotton are the times in which Kings seem less than they are His Reign of Hen. III. p. 1 and Subjects more than they should be A smart Character whether we respect those Paaliaments of Henry the Third of whom it was spoken or that Parliament of 1640. of which we are now speaking And yet they are become so congenial and as it were bred up and embodied with the English Temper which as it naturally relishes nothing but what comes from them so it rarely disputes any thing that is transacted by them that some have thought this might be one reason that inclin'd His Majesty to pass these Bills though for my part I 'll believe no Man against the King when he says That the World might be confirm'd in my Purposes at first to contribute what in Justice Reason Honour and Conscience I could to the happy Success of this Parliament which had in me no other design but the general good of my Kingdoms I willingly passed the Bill for Triennial Parliaments Which as gentle and seasonable Physick might if well applied prevent any Distempers from getting any head or prevailing especially if the Remedy prov'd not a Disease beyond all Remedy And as to the other for settling this during the Pleasure of the Houses An Act saith the King unparallell'd by any of my Predecessors yet granted on an extream Confidence I had that my Subjects would not make an ill use of an Act by which I declar'd so much to trust them as to deny my self so high a Point of my Prerogative c. Whereas saith our Answerer He attributes the passing of them to his own Act of Grace and willingness as his manner is to make Vertues of his Necessities he gives himself all the Praise and heaps Ingratitude upon the Parliament to whom we owe what we owe for those beneficial Acts but to his granting them neither Praise nor Thanks No! and by what Law I would fain know is the King obliged to pass every Bill that is offered him He swears 't is true to defend the Laws i. e. Such Laws as are then in being but that obliges him to no futurity in granting every thing whether good or bad that shall be offer'd him And therefore unless he had shewn at least some one Act of Parliament that had not the Royal Assent to it he might with more Modesty have acknowledged that it was in the King's Option whether to have passed these Acts or not Sir Ed. Coke 4 â—â—nst 25. because neither of the Houses singly not both of them together can make any binding Law without the King's Concurrence which gives the Embryo Life and quickens it into 〈◊〉 Law But saith he The first Bill granted lesâ— than two former Statutes yet in force by Edward the Third that a Parliament should be called every Year or oftner if need were Very well anâ— there being no more in it it is somewhat strange methinks how the King could be necessitated to the passing it or that the Houses eveâ—â— desired it When all that he says to it is Thaâ— the King conceal'd not his unwillingness in testifying a general dislike of their Actions and told theâ— with a Masterly Brow that by this Act he had obliged them above what they had deserved And truly if the King had said it or given thaâ— Masterly Brow for which yet he brings nâ— Voucher but himself those subsequent Acts oâ— Parliament which repeal'd both these Acts have sufficiently evidenc'd their particular dislike of them also in that they nulled them And how well they were pleas'd with their Persons or their Actions the Statute of the 12th of Charles the Second before-mention'd may satisfie any Man And as to the other Act for settling their sitting c. The King saith he had by his ill Stewardship and to say no worse the needless raising of two Armies intended for a Civil War beggar'd both himself and the Publick Left us in score to his greedy Enemies their Brethren the Scots to dis-engage which great Sums were to be borrow'd which would never have been lent if he who first caused the Malady might when he pleas'd reject the Remedy And from thence and other the like dross meerly thrown in to help out Weight which yet he never gives he comes to this That it was his Fear not his Favour drew that first Act from him lest the Parliament incens'd by his Conspiracies against them should with the People have resented too heinously those his doings if to the suspicion of their danger from him he had also added the denial of this only means to secure themselves And now to examine it a little he charges the King with the needless raising two Armies intended for a Civil War What the Houses then intended was afterwards visible by its Effects a Civil War But that the King should intend it and at the same time divest himself of his Power is manifestly ridiculous For as he says himself 1641. this Bill was pass'd in May whereas the King besides his Journey into Scotland retired not from Whitehall till above half a Year afterwards and when he left it considering their respective Conditions might have as truly said Cum baculo transivi Jordanum istum And how then could he intend a Civil War Having as our Accuser says so beggar'd himself For what concerns the King's Enemies and their dear Brethren I refer it to its proper Place And for what relates to the Sums of Money to be borrow'd besides what I have already shewn how they were dispos'd of Chap. 1 I add this That they could not have put the Kingdom into a Posture of a Defence i. e. â—â—â—'d a Rebellion without it And withal considering that the King set not up his Standard till the August following 1642. he must have been much shorter sighted than our Answerer all along endeavours to make him to have design'd a War without Sir Edward Coke's Materials Firmamentum belli Ornamentum pacis which the Houses having taken his Revenue into their Hands all the World knew he wanted But the 〈◊〉 â—ot yet run to the end of the 〈…〉 King taxes them for undoing what they found well done Yet knows they undid nothing but Lord Bishops Liturgy Ceremonies c. judged worthy by all Protestants to be thrown out of the Church But what Protestants were they that so judg'd it Those of the Church of England were I am sure of another Opinion and the temporal Laws of the Kingdom had sufficiently establish'd them And therefore since Interest had so blinded his Intellect that he world not see were he now living I could tell him wherein they had undone what they found well done And because there are many yet in being who perhaps may be willing enough to be satisfied
of a King A King of England of whose Predecessors the Parliament of England had declar'd That they could not assent to any thing that tended to the dis-inherison of the King and his Crown Sir Ed. Coke 4 Inst 14. whereunto they were Sworn But what could the wisest of Men say to it when the Parliament and the Rabble were both of a side And whether they were so or not witness those Tumultuary Routs from the Men of Essex Colchester Devon Somerset Middlesex Hartford Sir W Dagdale's Short View Fol. â—5 London Apprentices Seamen nay the very Women and all for putting the Kingdom into a Posture c On which follow'd those several Associations for suppressing the Popish Malignant Party though in truth it was to pursue the King with all vehemence Id. Dagd 113. for such are the Words of Essex's Letter to the Houses near that time Nor were the Black Cloaks less wanting to their Parts they could blow the Bellows well enough tho' they car'd not how little they wrought at the Forge And therefore seeing the Reverence of his Government was lost with the People and the Great Ones moving at another rate quam ut Imperantium meminissent 〈◊〉 As it was no less than time for His Majesty to retire and pray for fair Weather so our Answerer instead of snarling and catching at his Words might have suffer'd him to depart in Peace But to go on with him I am saith the King not further bound to agree with the Votes of both Houses than I see them agree with the Will of God my Rights as a King and the general good of my People And better for me to die enjoying this Empire of my Soul which subjects me only to God than live with the Title of a King if it carry such a Vassallage with it as not to suffer me to use my Reason and Conscience in which I declare as a King to like or dislike An use of Reason saith our Answerer If he thereby means his Negative Voice most reasonless and unconscionable and the utmost that any Tyrant ever pretended over his Vassals For if the King be only set up to execute the Law which is indeed the highest of his Office he can no more reject a Law offer'd him by the Common than he can new-make a Law which they reject And yet as reasonless and unconscionable as he pretends to make it this Negative Voice is and ever has been the undoubted Right of the Kings of England For besides what I had the occasion to speak to this matter before it is no Statute if the King assent not to it Because if it were all those Bills that have passed both Houses and for want of the Royal Assent lie buried in Oblivion might as occasion serv'd be trump'd up for Laws And if he may dis-assent it is a sufficient Proof of this Negative Voice and that he may refuse or ratifie as he sees cause And withal shews where this Legislation lies though the use of it be restrained to the consent of both Houses whose Rogation which is exclusive of all co-ordinate Power preceeds the Kings Ratification Then for his if the King be only set up c. If this if be false his whole matter falls with it And that it is so I thus prove it The Parliament-Roll 1 Edw. I. n. 8. says That upon the decease of King Richard the Second 9 Edw. 4. Fol. â— 6 the Crown by Law Custom and Conscience descended and belonged to Edmund Earl of March under whom King Edward the Fourth claimed And Henry the Fourth who had usurp'd upon King Richard the Second makes no other Title but as Inheritor to King Henry the Third Sir J. Hayward's 1st year of â—â—n 4. So the Parliament of the first of King James the First Recognize as say they we are bound by the Law of God and Man the Realm of England and the Imperial Crown thereof doth belong to him by Inherent Birthright and lawful and undoubted Succession The same also for Queen Elizabeth 1 Eliz â— 1. as to her Which shews that Kings are neither set up by the People nor have the Titles to their Crowns from the two Houses but by Inherent Birthright Which needs no setting up And so I think what depends upon this if sinks with it though I shall have a further occasion to speak to it in his next Paragraph And here he taxes the King for saying He thinks not the Majesty of the Crown of England to be bound by any Coronation Oath in a blind and brutish formality to consent to whatever its Subjects in Parliament shall require But where does the Law of England say the King is so bound Tho' yet out Answerer is pleas'd to say What Tyrant could presume to say more when he meant to kiâ—â— down all Law Government and Bond of Oath Least considering what his Majesty subjoyns viz. I think my Oath fully discharg'd is that Point by my Governing only by such Laws as my People with the House of Peers have chosen and my self consented to Nor did the Coronation Promise See the Oath in every Hist of his Reign or Oath oblige him to more than To hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this his Kingdom have and to defend and uphold them to the Honour of God so much as in him lay Whereas had there been any Obligation upon him to have consented to whatever the Parliament shall require it is not to be doubted but it would have been expressed in the Oath as it is not And yet our Answerer less doubts to say That that Negative Voice to deny the passing of any Law which the Commons chuse is both against the Oath of his Coronation and his Kingly Office in that he makes himself Superiour to his whole Kingdom which our standing Laws gainsay as hath been cited to him in Remonstrances That the King hath two Superiors the Law and his Court of Parliament An excellent Proof in the mean time But we 'll examine it a little The Common-Law saith Omnis sub Rege Sir E. Coke 1 Inst 1. c. Every Man is under the King and he under none but God And to the same purpose Bracton Lib. â— Ed. 55. 2 Inst 496. from whom he quotes it His Prerogative is a part of the Law of the Land All offences are said to be against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King c. The Laws of England are call'd the King's Laws The Parliament as is confess'd to my hand his Parliament And therein also the King is sole Judge 22 Ed III. 3. the rest but Advisers His is the power of Calling Proroguing and Dissolving them 4 Inst 46. Id. Inst 3. And by his Death they are dissolv'd of course And why all this but that the King is Principium Caput c. The beginning the head and end of a Parliament As he is also the Head of
the Commonwealth And of the Law 1 Inst 73. Id. Inst 99. which he is presum'd to carry in Scrinio pectoris sui And then for the Statute-Law besides those Statutes that call the Kingdom the Kings Ligeance 27 Ed. 3. c. 1. 10 11. R. 2. c. 1. 25. H. 8. c. 3. the King Liege Lord the People his Leige Men it is further declared 16 R. 2. c. 5. That the Crown of England hath been ever so free that it is in no Earthly Subjection but subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to none other So that of Henry the Eighth which says That by sundry old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declar'd and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire govern'd by one Supream Head and King 24 H. 8. c. 12. unto whom both Spiritualty and Temporalty are bound and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble Obedience And in another of the same King 25 H. 8. c. 21. the Crown of England is called An Imperial Crown recognizing no Superiour under God but only your Grace i. e. the King Which Statutes being declaratory Statutes as others of that kind made in affirmance of the Common-Law are a guide in praeteritis 2 Inst 308. as saith Sir Edw. Coke and shew us what the Law as before the making of those Statutes Which I the rather urge because our Answerer makes such a sputter about the old Law though as well here as generally throughout his Book he has an odd way with him of keeping it to himself However if this be to have a Superiour be the Superiour he that will and keep it without Envy And for what concerns me I hope I have prov'd that the King of England has no Superiour but God and that neither the Law nor his Coronation-Oath require his undeniable Assent to what Laws the Parliament agree upon but that he may well refuse them without the Imputation of Incomparable Arrogance aâ—â—Vnsufferable Tyranny as he is pleas'd to term it One thing I had forgot Suppose the King had never been Crown'd by which means he could not have taken the Coronation Oath was he the less King for that I should think not And if I am mistaken 3 Inst 7. Sir Edw. Coke was mistaken before me when he says The King iâ— King before Coronation So 7 Coke Calvin's Case and Coronation is but an Ornament or Solemnity of Honour Which in other Words may amount to this That he promises no more at that time that what he was morally pre-oblig'd to do viz. To discharge that Duty honourably which the Laws of God and Nature had requir'd of him without that Royal Promise CHAP. VII Vpon the Queen's Departure and Absence out of England AND truly this Chapter being but a kind of Re-capitulation of the mutual Endearments between the King and his Queen whose Sympathy with his Afflictions had assur'd him and might the World that she lov'd him and not his Fortunes might one would think if not for the King 's have for her own sake escap'd his Venom but poor Lady she was the King's Wife and Malice like Fear where it finds no real Object will be sure to create one And truly it was once in my Thoughts to have spoken more at large to it and had done it but that I fear'd even Truth it self might incurr the suspicion of Flattery What my end was in making this Reply I have already shewn it was to vindicate that good King from this ill Man's Calumnies and the Method I have taken in it has been from the History of that time and the Prior Law of the Land as it came in my way and therefore not to break that Method as I find him hereafter running wide of that Matter I shall purposely leave him as I do at present CHAP. VIII Vpon His Majesty's repulse at Hull and the Fates of the Hothams THIS my repulse at Hull saith the King was the first overt Essay to be made how patiently I could bear the loss of my Kingdoms The hand of that Cloud which was soon after to over-spread the whole Kingdom and cast all into disorder and darkness Which how Prophetically true it was the miserable effects of it both before and since the Restauration have too visibly spoken it And yet our Answerer thus slubbers it over That Hull a Town of great Strength and Opportunity both to Sea and Land Affairs was at that time the Magazine of all those Arms which the King had bought against the Scots The King had left the Parliament and was gone Northward The Queen into Holland where she pawn'd and set to Sale the Crown Jewels a Crime heretofore counted Treasonable in Kings and to what purpose the Parliament was not ignorant and timely sent Sir John Hotham Knight of that County to take Hull into his Custody and some of the Train'd-bands to his Assistance and seeing the King's Drift in raising a Guard for his Person send him a Petition that they might have leave to remove the Magazine of Hull to the Tower of London which the King denies and soon after goes to Hull with Four Hundred Horse and requires the Governour to deliver him up the Town whereof the Governour prays to be excused till he could send notice to the Parliament who had entrusted him and the King being incens'd at it Proclaims him a Traytor before the Town Walls and demands Justice of them as upon a Traytor who declare that Sir John Hotham had done no more than his Duty and therefore was no Traytor And this is the Substance of his 57. 58. 59 Pages How and by their own Authority which was none the Houses had rais'd an Army and made Essex General I have already shewn and though the King had not yet set up his Standard he knew he had a Magazine at Hull which might either help to defend himself or certainly annoy him if it fell into his Enemies Hands and therefore in order to a Self-Preservation takes a Journey to York where the Parliament had been before him with a Committee then lying there as Spies upon his Actions However upon Petition of that County to have the Magazine of Hull to remain there for the greater Security of the Northern Parts His Majesty thought fit to take it into his own Hands and appointed the Earl afterwards Duke of Newcastle to be Governour of Hull but the Townsmen had been so influenc'd by that Committee that they refused the Earl The Queen also had borrow'd some Moneys of the Hollanders upon the Crown Jewels a Crime heretofore counted treasonable in Kings but not a word of when or by what Law not in the least considering the Crown it self was the King's or how the King of England could commit Treason against himself The Houses during this time wanting no Intelligence from their Committee nick the Opportunity and send down Sir John Hotham who was receiv'd as
Governour and upon the King 's coming before Hull attended only with his own Servants and some Gentlemen of the Country audaciously shut the Gates against Him and standing upon the Wall denied him Entrance Upon which the King as by Law he might proclaim'd him Traytor A Cholerick and revengeful Act says our Answerer to proclaim him Traytor before due process of Law having been convinc'd so lately before of his Illegallity with the five Members Goodly goodly and yet at the same time doubts not to tax the King of a Treasonable Act in borrowing Moneys upon his own Jewels Not unlike the Parliament 41 Hen. 3. who took notice of the Lye given to Montfort Daniel's Hist of Eng. 171. and 175. Earl of Leicester by William of Clarence but not of the Lye given the King by the said Leicester But the Point between us lies narrow A Man with Train'd-Bands holds and defends a place of Strength against the King The question is whether this be a levying of War within the Statute of the 25th of Edward the 3d. Sir Edward Coke shall answer for me 2 Inst 10. If any with Strength and Weapons invasive and defensive doth hold and defend a Castle or Fort against the King and his Power this is levying of War against the King within the Statute of 25 Edward 3. And in the leaf before he says It was High Treason by the Common Law to levy War for no Subject can levy War within the Realm without Authority from the King for to him only it belongeth Le Roy de droit doit saver defender son Realm Fitz. N. B. 113. a. c. And therefore this being the Case wherein may it be said that the King was to blame And lastly for what concerns this Gentleman's Catastrophe and whether Hotham were more infamous at Hull or at Tower-Hill no less ignominiously pretended to be answer'd it may be enough to satisfie any Impartial Man that he repented and came in though it were at the last Hour and for the rest he stood and fell to his own Master CHAP. IX Vpon the Listing and raising Armies against the King I Find saith His Majesty I am at the same Point and Posture I was when they forced me to leave Whitehall What Tumults could not do an Army must which is but Tumults listed and enroll'd to a better order but as bad an end To which our Answerer thus replies It were an endless work to walk side by side with the verbosity of this Chapter only to what already hath not been spoken convenient Answer shall be given But what that Answer is see He begins again with Tumults all the demonstration of the Peoples Love to the Parliament was Tumult their Petitioning Tumult their defensive Armies were but listed Tumults and will take no notice that those about him those in a time of Peace lifted in his own House were the beginners of all these Tumults abusing and assaulting not only such as came peaceably to the Parliament at London but those that came Petitioning to the King himself at York Neither abstaining from doing Violence and Outrage to the Messengers sent from Parliament himself countenancing or conniving at them Which is the Substance of what our Accuser says to this verbose Chapter as he calls it An old Figure in Politicks to Calumniate stoutly till somewhat stick to a Prejudice But where lay this Love of the People that they must needs express it in such a Tumultuary way God Almighty is more pleased with Adverbs than Nouns and respects not so much the Justice or Lawfullness of the thing as that it be Justly and Lawfully done and I think the Case was not such here Three or more gather'd together do breed a disturbance of the Peace Mr. Lambert ' s â—irenarchâ— Lib. 2. c. 5. either by signification of Speech shew of Armour turbulent Gesture or express Violence so that the peaceable sort of Men be disturbed or the lighter sort embolden'd by the Example It is Turba a Rout And it has been said Decem So Kitchen page 20. multitudinem faciunt Ten make a Multitude What then must ten times ten not to say Hundreds and Thousands arm'd with Swords Clubbs Staves as many of these Demonstrators of their Love were Chap. 4 and throwing out Seditious Language as I have shewn before the did O but their Business was Petition The same said the Barons and Commonalty at Running-Mead in the 17th of King John But what came these for What but Matters that no way concern'd them Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Chap. 2 yet the Parliament of the 14th of Char. the 2d calls them arm'd Tumults as before For putting the Tower of London into confiding Hands Chap. 4 A City Guard for the Parliament And the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence c. But still what was this to them As if a Parliament must be beholding to a Fescue And their defensive Armies saith he were but listed Tumults So that now as a last Shift he turns the Question to a Quis prior induit arma When all the World knows That the Defensive part of it was the King's and the Parliament were the Aggressor's in that they had made their Associations rais'd an Army some Months before and made Essex General thereof the 12th of July 1642. Whereas the King set not up his Standard until the August following But stay say the King in defence of his Right had first drawn his Sword what Law of England warranted theirs When besides what Sir Edward Coke of whom so lately says No Subject can levy War without Authority from the King it appears that the ancient Law of England was ever such or the Parliament had never declar'd That both 1 Cat. 2. c. 2 or either of the Houses of Parliament neither can or lawfully may raise or levy War offensive or defensive against the King c. And will take no notice that those about him were the beginners of those Tumults That the King had his Guards about him was no more than what became the Majesty of a King and that the Loyal Gentry made their Appearances at Whitehall when they saw it beset with a kind of Gebal and Ammon and Ameleck a confus'd conflux of People which also the King had forbidden was but the least of their Duty But when he talks of listing and abusing and assaulting such as came peaceably to the Parliament and doing Violence to the Messengers sent from them it is such a Rapsodie of Stuff that no Man can credit upon his single Authority And therefore I leave it as I do the rest of this Matter it being either such as I have before spoken to or such as no Man that had not a hand in those Mischiefs had ever vented Yet before I go off to another I cannot but take notice how he says The King twits them with his Acts of Grace Proud and unself-knowing Words in the Mouth of any King who
would think to have prov'd where when and how at least rendred it probable that there was once some such thing done though the Grant be lost And if they took it themselves it was Unjust in its Original and consequently they had no more Right to chuse their Kings than Children have to chuse their Fathers And yet from this false Position magisterially determines That Kings do no Acts of Grace and Bounty but in discharge of their publick Duty The Sum of the King's Discourse saith he is against settling Religion by violent Means and yet never did thing more eagerly than to molest and persecute the Consciences of most religious Men and made a War and lost all rather than not uphold an Hierarchy of persecuting Bishops That Consciences are not to be forced but to be reduced by force of Truth aid of Time and use of good Means of Instructions and Perswasions was his Principle as well as Queen Elizabeth's but saith Sir Francis Walsingham concerning the Queen's proceedings in the like Cases Causes of Conscience when they exceed their Bounds V. Hist of the Reform Part 2. f. 418. and grow to be matter of Faction lose their Nature and Sovereign Princes ought distinctly to punish their Practices and Contempt though colour'd with the pretences of Conscience and Religion And according to this saith he the Queen proceeded And if the King also did distinguish Faction from Conscience and Tenderness from Singularity blame the Law not him But He obtruded new Ceremonies upon the English and a new Liturgy upon the Scots with his Sword Saving the Reverence of the Thing it is Indifferent whether a Man Preach with his Hat on or hung upon a Pin the Hugonots have one way and the English another The same also may be said of Ceremonies but how indifferent soever they are in themselves when they are once commanded the indifferency ceases in the Law that enjoyns them And for that other of the Liturgy upon the Scots the King obtruded it not on them much less with his Sword because it was sent them at their own Request as I have shown before But admitting their Kirk liked it not what had they to do with a Church that did Or what Authority had Tweed to reform Thames least of all to give Law to their King and that too with beat of Drum and Colours displayed Especially when one of their own Acts of Parliament says Continuation of Sir R. Baker f. 514. That it should be damnable and detestable Treason in the highest Degree to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any pretext whatever without the King 's Royal Commission Nor is this all For their National Covenant oblig'd them to his Defence or else what means this Expression in it Sir W. Dudg his short View f. 132. That whensoever his Majesty's Honour and Interest should be in Danger they would as one Man obliged by the Laws of God and Man apply themselves to his Succour and Defence And the Chancellor and others the Lords of that Kingdom had by their Letter of 1. July 1643. assured his Majesty That no Arms should be raised without his special Commission And after all this and contrary to the Common tye of Nature to run into open Rebellion against him What may it mean I 'll tell ye This Matter had been hatching ever since the Third of his Reign and though the Chick appear'd not till the Year 1637 yet it could run about with the Shell upon its Head and it wanted not Friends in England to keep it alive till it could feed it self and if it liked not one Barn-door take to another The Metaphor is too visible to need Application There was a kind of a Kirk Party in England that finding the King firm to his Principles knew there was no better way to deal with him than by reducing him to Necessities to the end that being forc'd to extraordinary means for Supply he might disgust the People and consequently attract an Odium But what 's a Bow without a Bowman The Scots and they made but one Kirk Money was the Nerve that would keep them together and what need many words among Friends Nor were they long without the occasion of shewing their Fidelity The new Liturgy as before had been sent to Edinburgh The Scots presently take the Alarm are quieted again but lost nothing by it and in return make the King all Protestations of future Loyalty How comes it then you 'll say that it was not long after that they invaded England and after that took Arms for the Parliament against the King The Case is plain the King had no Money the Houses had or at least knew where to get it Nor will it be unworth any Man's while to see what that was They had as a Relief to the Scots for their Losses 17 Car. 1. and a supply of our Brethren of Scotland for so the Act words it 220000 l. rais'd for them by Act of Parliament By an Ordinance of Lords and Commons Vid. Hughes's Abridgement of Acts and Ordinances p. 92. 27 Octob. 43. 66666 13 4. for their Brotherly Assistance in the defence of the common cause of Religion and Liberty By a like Ordinance Feb. 20. 1644. 21000 l. per Mens Id. p. 178. for the maintenance of the Scots Army under the Earl of Leven Further confirm'd Id. p. 197. June 13. 1645. Continued for four Months more Id. p. 220. 25 Aug. 1645. By a like Ordinance Id. p. 201. June 20. 1645. 130000 l. for enabling the Scots Army to advance Southward And by a like Ordinance Decem. 3. 1645. 31000 l. Id. p. 237. for payment of the Scots Army Besides all which I find in the continuation of Sir Richard Baker Fol. 611. Several other Moneys rais'd for the Scots which because they agree neither in Sum nor time I thought fit to transcribe and leave it to my Reader to judge of it as he thinks fit Taxed by them in 16 Car. 1. 350 l. per diem on the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. per diem on the County of Northumberland on the penalty of Plundering In the 20th they were impowered by Parliament to assess for themselves the twentieth part of the North c. In the 21st sent them 30000 l. to induce them to besiege Newark In the 22d 200000 l. more for delivering up the King And another 200000 l. secur'd them out of the publick Faith And 16000 l. allowed them for the charge of their Carriages All which I leave as I said to my Reader to judge and whether notwithstanding all that cry of Religion and Loyalty it far'd not with them like Atalanta in the Fable Declinat cursus Ovidâ—◠〈◊〉 l. 10. Fâ—â— 15. aurumque vâ—luâ—ile tollit And truly considering all if they were not well paid for their Pains I wish they were CHAP. XIV Vpon the Covenant UPON this Theam saith our Answerer his Discourse is long his Matter little
times at what time it pleas'd God in Mercy to these Kingdoms to restore King Charles the Second to the Throne of his murther'd Father but that they yet expect the Advancement of the Sceptre and that as obstinately as the Jews their Messias were there no other Argument the very re-impression of this Book may seem sufficient to evince especially if we consider the following Circumstances 1. That it bears the Impress from Amsterdam a Popular State to the freedom of whose Presses we are beholding for many things we had otherwise miss'd However whether it were that Amsterdam or another of the same Name in or near London as Printers have a way to themselves it matters not its Principles are altogether Republican and whoever he were that thus shuffled it into the World took the right course in chusing darkness rather than light because his Way was evil To have offered at a Commonwealth directly had been Madness and yet who knew how he might turn it about by a Side Wind 2. That a Book which from its first impression had been Waste-Paper and never read by any good Man without Contempt should after an interval of two and forty Years be raked out of its forgotten Embers if the design at bottom had not been to re-mind the People of the days of old and hint to them how the same Cards may be play'd over again as God shall enable them i. e. as opportunity shall offer And if this be not the drift of it let any Man judge when in bespattering that good King it represents to them by a false Glass what they may expect from other Kings and in effect tells them A Lyon is still a Lyon and tho' his laws be pared they 'll grow agen 3. That as if there had been some private agreement between them it was seconded by another to the same Tune intituled A Letter from Major General Ludlow to Sir E. S. which whether it were his or his Name only made use of to serve a turn will not be much in the Case tho' it confirm the Design The name is yet a popular name among that Faction and himself a daring Man witness his late regress into England and that not Incognito but in the face of the Sun in Westminster-Hall a Parliament and Judges then sitting where once he sate Judge himself and had there been a third of Mr. Jenkins's to have rung All-in What wonder if the Sheep had followed their Bell-weathers And if this were not the Design strange it seems and no small breach of Politicks to have thrust it on the World at a time when three of the Grand-Children of that King are yet Living and two of them in possession of the Throne It was one of Milton's Sarcasms to Salmatius Patrem defendis ad fillum mirum ni causam obtineas You defend the Father to the Son no wonder if you carry the Cause But on the other hand how can any of His Posterity think themselves secure while the murther of the Grandfather is yet mention'd without abhorrence When in a manner it hints the Faction with the Proverb Stultus qui patre caeso pepercit liberis tandem aliquando patriae necis futuros vindices He 's a Fool that kills the Father and spares the Children who some time or other will be sure to revenge it But malicious and nothing but malicious could be the Printing the Advertisement at the end of his Preface grounded it seems upon a Memorandum of the Earl of Anglesey's Viz. King Charles the Second and the Duke of York did both in the last Session of Parliament 1675. when I shewed them in the House of Lords the Written Copy of this Book meaning â—con Basilica wherein are some corrections and alterations written with the late King Charles the First 's own Hand assure me That it is none of the said King 's compiling but made by Dr. Gawden Bishop of Exeter which I here insert for the undeceiving others in this point by attesting so much under my hand Anglesey And that the Earl might have left such a Memorandum as is said I do not doubt because I have heard of it so often but what end the first Publisher of it had I cannot devise unless it were to Crucifie his Lord again and by putting in his Stab to His Memory expose him a second time which the more merciful Jews did but once to our Saviour with a Behold the Man and yet notwithstanding all this I doubt not to evince it to every unbiass'd Man that this The Portraiclure of his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First in his Solitudes and Sufferings was an Original drawn by Himself and not by any other Hand or Pencil For 1. He was able to do it as having been early bred up to Letters in design if Prince Henry had lived to be King for the Archbishoprick of Canterbury To which if it be said He had some little difficulty of Speech I answer Jer. 1.6 Exod. 4.10 Nescivit Jeremias loqui and Moses himself was Impeditioris Linguae And what of that It is the Office of a Steward to see the Provision be good and that the Family have it in due Season but I think no Man will say to Cook it himself 2. These Meditations are written feelingly and carry with them the Sense and Language of a Person under such Circumstances Jeremiah in his Prophecy denounceth Judgments to others and speaks with the Tongue of him that sent him but in his Lamentations we see him in distress himself and his Stile is as mournful as the City he bewails And he that reads Job with due consideration instead of doubting whether he wrote it himself cannot but sit down and weep with him Especially taking this with it that the Holy Ghost in his Pen labours more to describe that affliction than ever it did the Felicities of Solomon 3. Neither the Thought nor Stile are in the least like that of Bishop Gawden nor is it to be doubted if he had been the Author of so well a design'd Service to the Memory of a distress'd Father but that he might on the Son's Restauration have reasonably deserv'd a better Bishoprick than that of Exeter especially when so many of those Vacancies were fill'd with Covenanters Whereas on the other hand do but compare this Icon with his Majesty's Speeches in Parliament with his Discourse about Religion with the Marquess of Worcester His Papers with Henderson touching Episcopacy His Letters to the Queen Those his frequent tho' fruitless Messages to both Houses from Hampton-Court and the Isle of Wight when he was under restraint debarr'd of every one that might assist or comfort Him and the Company obtruded upon Him was more sad than any Solitude could be compare I say this Icon Icon. Basâ— 195. and them together and then tell me whether they do not all breathe the same Soul and consequently whether they can justly be denied to have proceeded from the same Pen. And for
Example of both Fortunes and of a Mind unchang'd in the greatest change of either A Prince Learned Eloquent Affable Courteous and born for the Good of Mankind his Lot had fallen among a better People One iâ— a word who if he had any fault it was hâ— not timely adverting his Father's dear-bough Experience who thus confesses of himself Where I thought by being gracious at thâ— beginning to win all Men's Hearts to a loving and willing Obedience Basilicen Doron p. 23. I on the contrary found the disorder of the Country anâ— the loss of my Thanks to be all my Reward Which how truly it was verified in this Hâ—â— Son will be the Subject of the ensuing Discourse And so I come to this Accuser and hiâ— Book in the examining which I shall follow his own Method and as he pretends to answer the King make him a suitable Reply and thaâ— also with as much brevity as I can for neither needeth so much Barbarity any Aggravation nor so plentiful an Argument as the Vindication of an oppress'd King any Art to inforâ—â— it But I stay too long in the Porch The King's Meditations are thus Intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as the English Title speaks it Thâ— Portraicture of His Sacred Majesty And this Answer of Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Breaker-in-pieces of that Portraicture Which how he has done Sub Judice Lâ—est CHAP. I. Vpon the King's calling his last Parliament THAT saith he which the King lays down here as his first Foundation Milton p. 1. and as it were the Head Stone of his whole Structure That he called this last Parliament not more by others advice and the necessity of his affairs than by his own choice and inclination is to all knowing Men so apparently not true that a more unlucky and inauspicious Sentence and more betokening the downfal of his whole Fabrick hardly could have come into his Mind And a good mannerly beginning A Man may not say to the King What dost thou and yet it seems may tell him Eccles 8.4 He lyes And without proving any thing but throwing it out boldly that somewhat may stick charges the Court Parasites as he calls them with their averseness to Parliaments and that the King never called a Parliament but to supply his Necessities and having supplied those as suddenly and ignominiously dissolv'd it without redressing any one Grievance of the People And broke off the Parliament at his coming to the Crown for no other cause than to protect the Duke of Buckingham against them who had accused him besides other heinous Crimes of no less than poysoning the deceased King his Father In reply to which it is but necessary to take notice of the condition of that time The Parliament had engaged King James in a War with Spain in which the Parliment 1 Car. 1. deserted his Son He had a large Dominion and a flourishing Kingdom left him but as I said a War and an empty Treasury with it beside which King James died in Debt To the City of London One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds Vid. Annals of K. Charles 1 â—in Râ—â— 1. and â—â—r Râ—â—w Câ—ileet 1 Paâ—â— Fâ— 179. besides Interest For Denmark and the Palatinate One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds For his Wardrobe Forty Thousand Pounds Laid out for his Navy Twenty Thousand Pounds For Count Mansfield Twenty Thousand Pounds For the Expence of his Fathers Funeral Forty two Thousand Pounds For the Queen Forty Thousand Pounds And to equip and pay the Navy for the Expedition for the Palatinate Three Hundred Thousand Pounds And what was worse than all this there had follow'd King James out of Scotland a sort of People whom himself calls Puritans very Pests in the Church and Common-weal whom no deserts can oblige Basâ—â—â—n Dorâ—â— p. 31. nor Oaths or Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own Imaginations the Square of their Conscience These Men had by degrees spread themselves through City and Country and watch'd the People like Hawks so long till they could do any thing with them and sow what they pleas'd as they found them napping Nor wanted there some of the same Kidney here among our selves who under the specious pretences of easing the People had got the command of most of their Purse-strings King James 't is true might have helpt it at first if his Beati Pacisici that is Give Peace in our time O Lord had not been too much in his Light by which means all Remedies in his Son's time came too late and joyn'd with the Disease to the destruction of the Body In this Case what could King Charles the First do Monarchy is more Ancient and Independant than Parliaments and yet their Advice and Assistance makes it more compacted He calls a Parliament in the first Year of his Reign which sate not long And another in his Second in which he lets them know his and the Kingdoms condition and particularly that of the Palatinate Instead of answering which they fall into Debates and Reflections against the Duke of Buckingham and at a Conference of both Houses Vid. The 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 p. 15. â—â— 1. p. 104. the Commons deliver in an Impeachment of thirteen Articles against him the last of which was That the King being sick of an Ague at Theobald's the Duke had given him a Plaister and a Posset-drink without the Advice and Consultation of his Physicians Three days after the King by message to them takes upon himself as having full knowledge of all those transactions to clear the Duke of every one of those Articles Pâ—â—â— Câ—◠〈…〉 However the Duke makes his Defence to the Lords and puts in his Answer and Plea to the Impeachment made against him by the Commons And to the thirteenth Article says That having been recovered himself of an Ague by a Plaister and Posset-drink given him by a Physician of the Earl of Warwick's the King impatiently press'd to have it but was delayed by the Duke who pray'd the King not to make use of it but 〈◊〉 the Advice of his own Physicians nor till it wâ—â— tryed upon one Palmer of the Bed-Chambeâ— then also sick of an Ague which the King said he would do However the Duke being goâ—â— to London the King would have it and 〈◊〉 took it and upon his return hearing a Rumoâ—â— that the Physick had done the King hurt as that it had been administred by him withoâ—â— Advice the Duke acquaints the King with iâ—â— who with much discontent answer'd thus Theâ— are worse than Devils that say it And so having put in his Answer the Duke moves thâ— Lords that the Commons might expedite the Reply Instead of doing which they Petitioâ— the King against Papists and suspected Papist holding Places of Authority and Trust in thâ—â— Kingdom and draw a Remonstrance againâ— the Duke and Tonnage and Poundage
That the Lord High-Steward of England Lord High-Constable Lord Chancellor Nine other Principal Officers the Two Chief Justices and Chief Baron be always chosen with the Approbation of Both Houses and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major Part of the Council The same may be said to this as to the First with this farther that though the like had been often attempted it never continued longer than the Rebellion that set it on foot 4. That the Government of the King's Children be committed to such as Both Houses shall approve of and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Privy Council And the Servants then about them against whom the Houses have just Exception to be removed This had been to abridge the King of that Privilege which the meanest of Subjects has in his Family nor had themselves yet try'd it in theirs 5. That no Marriage for any of them be treated or concluded without Consent of Parliament The same also here as to the Fourth 6. That the Law in Force against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put is Execution And where had the King ever refused it 7. That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers be taken away This had been to take away their Birth-right a Right as ancient as any thing but the Monarchy it self 8. The the King will be pleased to reform the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses shall advise This had been already settled by several Acts of Parliament 9. That he would rest satisfied with what they have done for ordering the Militia and recall his Declarations and Proclamations against it This confesses an Usurpation upon the King 's Right and in that who began the War For if it were not so what need was there for the King to recall his Declarations c. when in doing it he had made himself Guilty of the War and all the Blood therein spill'd 10. That such Members as have been put out of any Place or Office since this Parliament began be restored or have Satisfaction But how does this agree with the Self-denying 11. That all Privy Counsellors and Judges take an Oath to be settled by Act of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Petition of Right and certain Statutes made by them The Judges are ex Officio oblig'd to take notice of a General Act of Parliament and such the Petition of Right is but who knew what those Acts of this Parliament might be 12. That all Judges and Officers plac'd by Approbation of the Houses may hold their Places quamdiu se bene gesserint To the intent that if any Confiding Person how Ignorant or Factious soever had been approv'd by them it should not be in the King's Power to remove him without a Sute at Law in which themselves or their Creatures were sure to be Judges 13. That all Delinquents whether within the Kingdom or fled out of it and all Persons cited by either House may appear and abide the Censure of Parliament That is all such Persons as upon an innate Honour according to their Duty and the Statute of the 11th of Henry VII had stood firm and Loyal to the King against their Usurpation 14. That the General Pardon offered by his Majesty be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by Both Houses But who knew what those Exceptions might be Saving this that they intended them not to any of themselves A thing that carried Rancour and Venom in it and which was his Majesty's whole drift to take off 15. That all Forts and Castles be put into such Hands as the King with Approbation of Both Houses shall appoint That is to keep them in their own Hands as they were when yet the Undoubted Right was the King's and the Grant of it had given away the Sovereignty An old Trick which together with the Three first Propositions they borrow'd from Montfort's Rebellion in Henry III.'s Time 16. That the King 's Extraordinary Guards 〈◊〉 discharg'd and none rais'd for the Future but according to Law in Case of actual Rebellion and Invasion Like the Wolves in the Fable that would come to no Terms with the Sheep unless they first discharg'd their Dogs Whereas his Majesty had not rais'd those Guards but according to Law in the Case of an actual Rebellion a◠Home and a then threatning Invasion from the Scots 17. That his Majesty enter into a more strict Alliance with the Vnited Provinces and other Neighbour Protestant Princes and States The King is the only Supream Arbiter of Peace and War and what honourable Alliance with any of them had he ever refus'd 18. That his Majesty be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members If they were Guilty why should they be less brought to Tryal than were Canterbury and Strafford And if they were Innocent what need of an Act of Parliament to clear them 19. That a Bill be passed for restraining Pears made hereafter from sitting or voting in Parliament unless they be admitted with Consent of Both Houses The King is the Fountain of Honour and to have granted this Article had been if not to damm up that Fountain to turn it into another Channel Nor could the King have done it without a manifest Contradiction to himself I have blessed him said Isaac and he shall be blessed Such were these Propositions this at Least the true Substance of them which if his Majesty had conceded to what other were it than as himself says of it As if Sampson should have consented not only to bind his own Hands and cut off his Hair but to put out his own Eyes that the Philistines might with the more Safety Mock and Abuse him He had rendred himself not a half Duke of Venice nor much better than that Inutile lignum of which Horace speaks who Serm. l. 1. Sat. 8. tho' he were God of the Gardens could not keep a Crow from muting upon his Head Nor ought they says his Majesty to have been obtruded upon him with the Point of a Sword nor urg'd with the Injuries of a War To which our Answerer in his bold Way And which of the Propositions were obtruded upon him with the Point of the Sword till he first with the Point of the Sword thrust from him both the Propositions and the Propounders Which how egregiously and scandalously False it is let any Man judge Rush 2. part 307. when these Propositions were not sent the King till the Second of June 1642. Five Months before which they had not only forced him from Whitehall but disposed of the Militia as appears by the Ninth Proposition where they pray the King that he would rest satisfied with what they ordered in it As resolv'd it seems that Will or Nill he should And thence he runs off again to the Coronation Oath and That the Parliament is the King 's Superiour Chap. 6 Touching which I have said so much already and not from any