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
cause them and having all along begg'd the Question as to the first makes the other as a consequence of the former The King saith he having both unwillingly call'd this Parliament and as unwillingly from time to time condescended to their several Acts first tempts the English Army with no less Reward than the Spoil of London to come up and destroy the Parliament But that being discover'd makes the like bait to the Scotch Army with the Addition of four Northern Counties to be made Scottish with Jewels of great value to be given in Pawn the while which they with much Honesty gave notice of to the Parliament Besides this a malignant Party was grown up The Rebellion of Ireland broke out a Conspiracy in Scotland had been made while the King was there against some Chief Members of that Parliament numbers of unknown seditious Persons resorted to the City the King upon his return from Scotland dismisses that Guard the Parliament thought necessary to have about them and appoints another which they discharge the People therefore lest their worthiest and faithful Patriots should want aid came in Multitudes tho' unarm'd to witness their Fidelity to them c. The King sends a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex the King refuses it and the next day comes to the House of Commons and begins to fortifie his Court many are wounded whereof some died and so concludes it was no Tumult Or if it grew to be so the Cause was in the King himself who both by hostile Preparations and an actual assailing the People gave them just cause to defend themselves Which saving the scandal of his wording it is the full substance of his 24th 25th 26th 27th Pages Wherein also how far he has begg'd the Question I appeal to every unbiass'd Reader How willingly the King call'd this Parliament Chap. 1 I have already shewn And why he so unwillingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the willingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford I have not been wanting to it and if he had never condescended to several of the Bills pass'd this Parliament Chap. 2 and since repeal'd he had not with one hand cut off the other But when he calls them their Acts I am to seek what he means The office of the two Houses is Preparative and Consultive but the Character of the Power rests in the final Sanction which is the King The passing a Bill is but the granting a Request the two Houses make the Bill but the King makes the Law and 't is the Stamp not the Matter that makes it currant Then for that ridiculous Sham of the Spoil of the City of London c. He might as well have added the blowing up the Thames and drowning the City and altogether as probable unless he had prov'd at least somewhat towards it The Rebellion of Ireland 't is true was broke out and they had gotten Four Hundred Thousand Pounds towards the reducing it but what they did with those Moneys I have shewn before And for the Conspiracy of Scotland c. A malignant Party growing up unknown seditious Persons resorting to the City c. Why added he not the Pope's Marrying thâ— Great Turk's Sister For who besides himself ever heard of this Scottish Conspiracy against any but the King And for that new coinâ— Word Malignant Party if he means the King Friends they had an Act of Parliament foâ— their Warrant 11 Hen. 7. c. 1. but for those unknown Seditioâ—â— Persons 't is somewhat strange methinks 〈◊〉 should call them Seditious and not know wâ—â— they were unless it were in Contradistinction 〈◊〉 his own Party whom all the World visibly faâ— to be such And for the King 's discharging those Guarâ— the Parliament thought necessary c. And thâ—â— discharging those other that he had appointed the. They were legally conven'd by the King'â— Writ and the same Law was a full Security tâ— them But by what Law they could take Guard to themselves without the King's Coâ—sent I think the best of our Lawyers may bâ— yet to learn And when to gratifie their Inclâ—nations the King had appointed them anotheâ— which they discharg'd what was it but to spâ—â— a defiance in his Face For my part I speaâ—â— plain English and let my Reader judge between this our Answerer and me whether his Therefore the People came in Multitudes c. be a suffâ—cient Justification of those Riots The King saith he forbad those Resorts c. and no doubt justly for it was no more thaâ— what the Law had forbidden to his Hand 〈◊〉 call'd them Riots but take it thus Theâ—â— came to the assistance of that Parliament whâ—â—â— were then compassing and imagining to levâ—â— a War against the King the overt act of which was That they did actually levy it I 'll run it no higher Though I have heard it said Fascinus quos inquinat aequat However the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City c. Which because it falls more naturally under the subsequent Matter I leave it till then and in the mean time ask any Man whether from these Premises he has rightly concluded that they were no Tumults or if they grew to be so the cause was in the King himself c. more than as an honest Man fighting with a Thief in defence of his Purse and is kill'd by him may be said to be the cause of his own death And thus Men like Pythagoras's Scholars take things by the wrong Handle whereas if they took it by the right it would be quite another Matter and as near as I can I 'll open the truth of this The Scottish Invasion had been accommodated at Rippon some Months before this Parliament sate nor had the King yet lost the Reverence he had in the Hearts of his People who all stood waiting what this Parliament would do when instead of healing the Breaches they rather widen'd them in falling upon the old Trade of Grievances Popery and Arbitrary Power and that they might the better single him from his Friends and thereby deprive him of such as had either Wisdom Authority or Courage to prevent or oppose their further Designs they first fall upon those that had either Written or Preach'd in defence of those Rights of the Crown they intended to Usurp and arraign his Actions in his Ministers some of which are Imprison'd others fly And on the other hand set at liberty such as had been sentenc'd for Seditious Writing and Preaching against him and bring them to London in Triumph to trâ—â— how the People would be pleas'd with it anâ— consequently how their endeavours to draw thâ—â— Peoples Affections from the King had already succeeded and the general Applause on this occasion gave them no weak assurance of it And now having gotten from the King thâ—â— Eyes of Argus
His Majesty says He hop'd by his Freedom and their Moderation to prevent Mis understandings See how Spider-like he draws Poison from what the Beâ— would have suck'd Honey And wherefore saith he not by their Freedom and his Moderation But Freedom he thought too high a Word for them and Moderation too mean a Word for him Insolence and if this as it seems to be were the early Moderation of his Masters I the less wonder how they broke down that Wall which at once adorn'd and defended their way However for reply to it the Kingdom was fallen into a Distemper that required a Cordiaâ— more than a Corrosive somewhat to cool not heighten the Fever And if His Majesty did not contribute his part to it let any Man judge When besides his granting The Petition of Right of which before he denied this Parliament nothing they had the confidence to ask him Witness his passing the Bill for a Triennial Parliament Vid. Scobel's Collection of Acts and Ordinances from 1640. and the Statutes at large 16 and 17 Car. 1. For the continuance of this Parliament during the Pleasure of both Houses than which what more could they have demanded but the Kingdom also For the raising Moneys for the disbanding of the Armies of England and Scotland It was but a modest disarming the King and for the Scots they wanted not the Bait to get them together again The taking away the several Courts of the Star-chamber the Presidencies of Wales and the North Dutchy of Lancaster and the Exchequer of the County Palatine of Chester The High Commission and Oath Ex Officio Limiting the Stannary Courts Setting Bounds to Forests The Bill against Ship-Money And what our Answerer calls compulsive Knighthoods Add to this his Consent to a Bill for Two Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds for the Supply of the Occasions of our Brethren of Scotland For pressing Soldiers for Ireland Borrowing Four Hundred Thousand Pounds for the necessary defence and great affairs of England and Ireland And another for the encouragement of Adventurers for Ireland So that in effect there remain'd little more for them to ask or His Majesty to grant And now to use the Parable of the Prophet touching his Vineyard Isa 1. v. 1. to v. 8. A Vineyard in a very fruitful Soil He fenced it and gathered out the Stones thereof and planted it with the choicest Vine c. And he looked that it should bring forth Grapes and it brought forth Wild Grapes Judge I pray between the King and his Vineyard the Kingdom What could have been done more to it thaâ— he had not done in it And he look'd foâ— Judgment but behold Oppression for Righteousness but behold a Cry Judge I say between the King and them when they had no sooner gotten an Army anâ— Money together and that for the reducement 〈◊〉 Ireland Vid. His Majesty's Answer to their Irish Papers as was pretended than they drove thâ— King from While hall by Tumults and fought hiâ— at Edge-Hill with those individual Forces They tax'd the King of illegal exactions anâ— grievances which he readily redressed Weâ— see now how they mended it themselves Shiâ— Money which was about Ten Shillings a Month out of a Thousand Pounds a Year was a greaâ— Burthen to the Country and the King took it of They set up the Excise in the room of it whicâ— was Two Hundred Thousand and Ninety fiâ—â— Pounds for one Year besides Eight Thousand Sixty three Pounds paid in the Country to thâ— Army The Country groan'd under Coat aâ—â— Conduct-Money See more of this chap. 13.15 They brought in an Army oâ— One and Twenty Thousand Scots instead oâ— ' em The King granted that Right be donâ— They secur'd Property in Sequestring Mens Estates In a word the Court went awaâ— in the City's Debt They made an Ordinancâ— for the Publick Faith of the Kingdom for the repayment of publick Debts that is such Moneys as they had borrow'd for the carrying oâ— of their Rebellion And for fear the King lightning their Burthens should make the People grow wanton they began with an Assesâ—ment for the twentieth part of their Estates and all this too for the Ease of the Nation And lastly to consider what return they made him Quis talia fando Temperet They first stripp'd him of his Royal Authority and having dealt with the Monarchy it self like Gold-beaters beaten it so thin that there remain'd no more of the Substance than the empty appearance They accuse him in the name of all the Commons of England in which case how could any of them be as Witness when they were both Accusers and Judges Try him with a ridiculous Pageantry that had neither Equal nor Superiour in his Realm Traiterously sentence him and as ignominiously murther him before his own Palace And to fill up the measure of their Wickedness abolish Kingly Government and proscribe his Posterity And so judge also whoever he be that reads me whether they deserv'd not what the Prophet says he will do to his Vineyard I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the Wall thereof and it shall be trodden down I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up Briars and Thorns I will also command the Clouds that they rain no Rain upon it But to return to our Answerer The King in his wonted Sincerity says The Odium and Offences which some Mens rigour or remissness in Church and State had contracted upon his Government he resolved to have expiated with better Laws and Regulations A healing Proposition one would have thought and a fair step to an Accommodation A King said it nor is it for Princes that they should Lye and therefore could not but be credited by every Honest Man for he that is Vertuous himself believes the same of another But this Answerer according to the fullness of his Heart vomits out these and the like Expressions And yet saith he the work of Misdemeanours committed by the worst of all his Favourites he hath from time to time continued owned and taken upon himself by publick Declarations as often as any of his Instruments felt themselveâ— over-burthen'd with the Peoples Hatred And ye as publick as they are he instances not in any one Particular by which to have examin'd it A Favourite is the same to a King that a Friend is to a Private Man he may unburthen himself to him and it is not the Crowd but agreement makes the Company Nor are all Men of like Merit more than they are of Face and therefore if a King say Euge bone Serve must our Answerer's Eye be evil because the King 's is good But the point lies not there They are not piqu'd that the King might have Favourites but that themselves are not those Favourites and consequently wanting Vertue in themselves not only envy it in others but strike at the Prince through the Sides
and to themselves the Hands of Briarius they think themselves able enough to lessen him in his Power and as preparatory to it they first procure an Act of Parliament that they should not be Dissolv'd or Prorogu'd but by Act of Parliament And which is remarkable that very day on which his Majesty Sign'd the Commission for giving his Assent to the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Attainder And having in a manner necessitated him not to deny any thing they get his Assent to those several Bills before mentioned Chap. 1 Concessions one would have thought might have satisfied any sort of Men but those that were Pre-resolv'd not to be satisfied with any thing Nor did the King in the least doubt their being satisfied and therefore makes a Journey into Scotland to satisfie his Subjects there Aâ—â— 1641. as he thought he had done here and they all seem'd to be so especially as to the matter of Episcopacy which they saw was tumbling beyond a Recovery During this His Majesty's absence the Houses adjourn to the 20th of October three days after which the Rebellion of Ireland broke out The 25th of November the King returns to London as yet welcom'd with the full Acclamations of the People tho' he met not any suitable Reception from the Parliament who instead of having swept out the old Leven had prepar'd new However the King having call'd them together the Second of December recommends to them the raising Succours for Ireland and on the Fourteenth again press'd it and withal told them he took notice of a Bill that was then in agitation to assert the power of Levying and Pressing Soldiers to the two Houses which he was content should pass with a Salvo jure to him and then because the present time would not admit the disputing it and one would have thought that when the King came so near they might have met him half way But instead of that they send him a Remonstrance the next day in which they complain of the Designs of a Malignant Party which by their Wisdom had been prevented and running on with the old Cry against Papists Bishops and Evil Counsellors magnifie themselves in what they had done for the good of the Kingdom and cause it to be Printed About this time it was that the King had come to the House and they adjourn'd into London as before when upon their return to Westminster they Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex a Gentleman who upon the account of his Father in Queen Elizabeth's time the business of the Nullity in King James's time and the little notice that had been taken of him at Court till now of late he had been made Lord Chamberlain was a Discontent July 29.1641 and conseâ—uently a Darling of the People as pretending â—â—ey could not otherwise sit it safety Which â—â—e King as well he might thought not fit to â—ant inasmuch as it look'd so like a Force against himself and afterwards prov'd so when they made him their General But withal let them know that if there were any such occasion he would command such a Guard to wait upon them as he would be responsible for to God Almighty On this the Militia of Westminster by Petition to the House of Commons offer them their Service Id. Nalson Part 2. Fol. 839 and 840. when it shall please them to commanâ— it The Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of the City of London by Petition to the King representing amongst other things His going to the House c. Pray thaâ— the Tower may be put into confiding Hands anâ— a Guard be appointed for the Parliament or of the City which was insolently seconded bâ— the disorderly conflux of a Rabble about White hall and Westminster And that the House might not be wanting while the Iron was hoâ— they Petition the King that the Tower 〈◊〉 London all other Forts and the whole Militâ—â— of the Kingdom be put into the Hands of sucâ— Persons as should be recommended to him 〈◊〉 both Houses Which his Majesty as justly bâ— might refused to grant and for the Security of his Person withdrew to Hampton-Court And now from the whole let any indiffereâ— Man say for me first whether these disordeâ—â— Proceedings were not Tumults and next 〈◊〉 they grew to be so how the King can be said to be the cause of them himself For though those hostile Preparations and actual assailiâ— the People which our Answerer says gave the just cause to defend themselves might perhapâ— have been somewhat in the Case if those Peoplâ— had not been the Aggressors yet when as himself confesses the King had sent a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts what made they there Nor can these Hostile Preparations and actual assailing the People be other than what the Lord Mayor c. in their Petition to the King represent viz. His fortifying Whitehall and the wounding some Citizens Which His Majesty thus answers Id Nalson Part 2. Fol. 839 and 840. That as to the former his Person was in danger by such a disorderly conflux of People and withal urges their Seditious Language even at his Palace Gates And for the other that if any were wounded it was through their evil Misdemeanours And therefore to make it no more than the Case of a common Person every Man's House is his Castle and if a confus'd Club-rabble gather about it Cum kickis friskis horribili sonitu the Gentleman of the House commands his Servants to beat them off and in the doing it some of the Assailants are wounded nay put it further kill'd And what can the Law make of it That it was an unlawful Assembly I should not have minc'd it a Rout it is manifest and that what the Servants did was in defence of their Master is also as evident Sir Ed. Coke 3 Inst Let the Rule of Law cut between us Quod quis ob tutelam Corporis sui fecerit id jure fecisse videtur Whatever a Man does in defence of his Person the Law presumes it to have been done Legally O but you 'll say It was not the Master himself A Thief assaults a Gentleman in his House or upon the Road the Gentleman's Servant in defence of his Master kills the Thief he forfeits nothing And if this holds in the case of a common Person how much more then in Case of the King And lastly where he says Instead of Praying for his People as a good King should do he Prays to be deliver'd from them as from wild Beasts Inundations and Raging Seas that had overborn all Loyalty Modesty Laws Justice and Religion God save the People from such Intercessors I think A gente inimica dolosa libera me Domine From an evil and perverse Generation deliver me O God! might have very well become any honest Man's Prayer concerning them For in their Malice they slew their King and in their
single Opinion of my own but the Authority of the Law that I think it needless actum agere Only when he says The Noblest Romans when they stood for that which was a kind of Regal Honour the Consulship were wont in a submissive manner 〈◊〉 go about and beg that Highest Dignity of the Meanest Plebeians which was call'd Petitio Consulatûs He would have done well to have cover'd his Hook a little better if he ever expected to catch any Fish If he had said they chuse their Consuls as we do our Knights of the Shire he that has most Voices carries it bating the Ambitus it had been well enough But when he speaks of a King of England what Mischief brought it into his Head to confound the Irregular Practices of a Democratical State with the settled Constitutions of an Hereditary Imperial Monarchy which this of England is or those several Statutes as well as Common Law of which before are grosly mistaken And therefore for the rest it bring but mere catching at Words whereby to wrest the Sence I had as good leave it and go to somewhat else CHAP. XII Vpon the Rebellion and Troubles in Ireland IT is the Nature of Flies to be ever buzzing and blowing upon any thing that is raw and has been the only design of our Answerer throughout his whole Book not to deliver Things as they truly were but to rake together old exploded Forgeries that having dress'd up the King as like a Tyrant as he can he may have the more to say in Defence of the Parricide It is the Way of Witches to foretell those Storms themselves intend to move Nor had the Contrivers of ours been wanting to that Part of it but the Earl of Strafford's Watchful Eye lay so close for them that nothing could be done unless they first brought his Masts by the Board And having gotten that Point of him and the Rebellion of Ireland falling close upon it they only make an advantage of it and buzze the People that it was done with the King's Privity at least if not by his Commission Whereby to represent him to the World as the more Inhumane and Barbarous Nor is this our Accuser less wanting to insinuate it over again when he says That it cannot be imaginable that the Irish guided by so many Italian Heads should have so far lost the Vse of Reason and common Sense as not supported with other Strength than their own to begin a War so desperate and irreconcilable against both England and Scotland at once without some Authority from England or great Assistance promised them and assurance which they had in private that no remedy should be apply'd against them All which being merely conjectural by the same Reason it may be true by the same Reason also it may be false without there were somewhat more than Words to evince the Truth of it And so taking that for granted which should have been first proved he audaciously Charges the King as the Prime Author of that Rebellion though both here and elsewhere he denies it with many Imprecations but no solid Evidence And how solid his on the other hand are may be worth the viewing It is most certain saith he that the King was ever friendly to the Irish Papists and in his Third Year against the plain Advice of Parliament sold them Indulgences for Money and engaged them in a War against the Scotch Protestants What he means by that Sale of Indulgences I know not nor does any History of ours that I yet met direct me to it The Irish were his Majesty's Subjects as well as the Scots and if he was friendly to them though Papists he did but the part of a prudent Father who seldom chucks one Child more than another for fear of breeding a Quarrel in the Family And besides though the Scots were Protestants there is not any one English Law against Papists i◠Force in Ireland and Sanguinary Law none◠But that the King engaged them in a War against the Scots wants Proof and as such I pass it To this he adds That several of the most active Papists all since in the Head of that Rebellion were in great Favour at Whitehall and in Private Consultations with the King and Queen and that he gave them more than Five Irish Counties at an inconsiderable Rent And for the Proof of all this quotes a Scotch Author but says not a Word who or what this Author was Tho' if he had call'd him Squire Meldrum the Cherry and the Sloe or David Lindsey against Side-Tails it had past not a Jot the worse with the People If they were in great Favour at Court it was no more than what the Scots also were if they had private Consultations c. Charity would have presum'd the best and that it was in order to the Quiet and Peace of that Kingdom and if the King gave them Five Counties he gave but his own which if he had shared among the Five Members we had not perhaps heard a Word of the Story But that they should ungratefully rebel against him how could he more foresee it of them than he did of the Scots And after this if any Vnderstanding Man yet doubts who was the Author and Instigator of that Rebellion I referr them saith he to that Declaration of July 1643 concerning this Matter Very good The Word of a King is but the bare denial of one Man and what is one Man against the Credit of Both Houses though they were Judges Witnesses and Parties I offerred saith his Majesty to go my self in Person upon that Expedition But happy it was that his going into Ireland was not consented to saith the other for certainly he had turn'd his intended Forces against the Parliament Whereas it seems more probable that without this Rebellion in Ireland they could never have rais'd their Rebellion in England For upon the Credit of the Acts for the borrowing of 400000 l. for the necessary Defence of England and Ireland Both of them 17 Car. 1. and for the Encouragement of Adventurers for the reducing the Rebels in Ireland they got ready Moneys into their Hands V. His Majesty's Answer to their Irish Papers In his Large Book f. 537. and rais'd Forces as was pretended for the Relief of that Kingdom but in truth fought the King with them at Edge-hill But enough of this Matter CHAP. XIII Vpon the Calling in of the Scots and their coming AND here again our Answerer lays his Foundation to this Chapter upon what he has so often run off to before and been by me and I hope fully answered That the first Original and Institution of Kings was by the Consent and Suffrage of the People and calls them the entrusted Servants of the Commonwealth but in his wonted way says not a Word how they came by this Power of choosing i. e. whether it were given them by God or they took it themselves If God gave it them he ought one
it the better which was as much as if they had been bidden to tell no body but Folk of it This Foundation thus laid they suppress the Vertue and lay open the defects of the Government The dissolution of Parliaments The Cales Expedition The Peace with Spain Loan-Money Ship-Money Enlargement of Forests Fines Imprisonments c. by the Star-Chamber Acts of Council-Table Selling of Offices Insolence of Bishops and muzzling the Mouths of painful Teachers and what not So that where lay the difficulty of raising what Super structure they pleas'd or wonder as it is said of Absalom's Rebellion that the People went with them in their Simplicity â— Sam. 15.11 and knew not any thing Till from one thing to another they came at last to devolve the pretended faults of the Officer upon the Office Nor was the matter yet come from Words to Blows when his Majesty had gratified them in most of those Particulars but now that they had gotten an Army it is not what the King would grant but what the Houses will be pleased to accept The King also begins to have an Army which because it appear'd more considerable than they imagin'd Loyalty without Money could have ever brought together they take up another Artifice and clamour it to the People That the King made use of Papists against them That all might be at Peace if it were not for Evil Counsellors And for themselves that their Intentions were the liberties of the Kingdom as the King in this Chapter particularly takes notice of and our Answerer in his wonted Scurrility runs off to other matter yet e're he was aware confesses The Sum is they thought to regulate and limit his Negative Voice and share with him in the Militia which in the Eighty fifth Page of his Book he owns to have been wrung out of his Hands And yet while they thus charge the King with making use of Papists against them they stifle that Army of Sectaries themselves brought against him An Army so diversified in Opinion that had any one Regiment of them been to have entred the Ark the Flood might have sooner come than Noah suited them into Pairs And now Clodius accusat Moechos Does Simeon accuse Levi I should think he ought not especially if we come to the order of the House that admits no Man to criminate another till he shall have first clear'd himself But allowing it to be true Those Papists were the King's Subjects and by the Law of the Land equally oblig'd to serve the King as well as Protestants who yet fought against him But did the Houses never make use of Papists I am sure they would have done it or otherwise what means that Declaration of theirs That if any Papists would bring in any considerable Sums of Money upon the Propositions Oct. 6. 1642. it should be receiv'd and for matter of Fact that they did so They hired Owen Roe O Neal to raise the Siege of London-Derry in Ireland then beleagur'd by His Majesty's Forces And then for his hearkning to Evil Counsellors a thing so often charg'd upon him by the Parliament But who were these Evil Counsellors during His Majesty's Imprisonment and when they lock'd him up so that no-body could come at him and yet still the same Man But we are off the Scent Themselves were not those Counsellors and if they had been perhaps we had heard no more of it The Lord Cottington was a desperate Delinquent but had the Grace to know where his Delinquency lay He gave up his Mastership of the Court of Wards to a confiding Lord and for that time Cantavit vacuus The Beast Castor takes his Name a Castrando and when the Hunters have gotten what they Hunted him for they take off their Dogs And lastly for what concerns their own so much boasted Preservation of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom it may be much doubted whether they did so or not but this I dare say if they merited Heaven by it it was by an Antiperistasis for how strong soever they found the Blessing of Judah upon this Land they brought it down to that other of Issachar As besides what I have said before witness their Committees in every County under their Power for the seizing and imprisoning Malignants i. e. Such as refused to give them the 25th part of their Estates and because the County Gaols were too few to hold them erecting others in most Cities and throwing the most considerable of them on Ship-board Their Sequestring the Estates of the Royal Party and denying them the benefit of the Statute that indempnified them 11 Hen. 7. c. 1. Forcing some to Compound and selling the Estates of such as refus'd it Their frequent Headings and Gibbettings Their Sale of King's Queen's Princes Church-Lands c. Add to this those heavy Burthens which without any Authority and contrary to Law they laid upon the People with a saving nevertheless to the Members of either House and the almost incredible Sums of Money they rais'd thereby Contin of R. Baker Fol. 610. See the Ordin of both Houses Mar. 1642. As witness that their Weekly Assessment of Thirty three Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty one Pounds Thirteen Shillings upon England and Wales which for the Year came to One Million Seven Hundred Sixty Seven Thousand Forty five Pounds Sixteen Shillings The vast Sums of Money they made of the Plate Rings nay even Sir W. Dugd. Short View Fol. 96. Bodkins and Thimbles brought into Goldsmiths-Hall which in London Essex and Middlesex came to eleven Millions The Moneys lent upon publick Faith The Profits of those Lands and Estates so seiz'd and the many Millions they got by the Sale of them Besides those By-jobbs through most Counties for the raising Horse Foot and Dragoons See Hughes 's Abridg. for the years 1643 1644 1645. the maintaining of them the defence of some Garrisons and the reducing of others And all this for the preserving the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom which puts me in mind of that of Tully Nomina rerum perdidimus Ad Attiâ—um Licentia Libertas vocatur we have lost saith he the names of things and Licentiousness is call'd Liberty And yet the Tabernacle of the Robbers prosper'd Job 12.6 and those that provok'd God were secure CHAP XVI Vpon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer-Book IT is no News saith his Majesty to have all Innovations usher'd in with the name of Reformations in Church and State by those who seeking to gain Reputation with the Vulgar for their extraordinary Parts or Piety must needs undo whatever was formerly settled never so well and wisely And less News it is saith our Answerer to have all Reformation censur'd and oppos'd under the name of Innovation by those who being exalted in high Places above their Merit fear all change though of things never so ill or so unwisely settled Which is no more than so many Words stitch'd together without he had
to say no Answer belongs to it He knew there was none to be given and therefore Magisterially slighted it He holds it also neither wise nor comely that the falling out of Brethren be debated before a Common Enemy and tacitly implies his Reason least the Uncircumcised rejoice But I think I can tell ye a better When Presbytery rode the fore-Horse no one kept up with it more than himself but when he found it began to faulter he was loth to lose Company and jogg'd on with the rest The first leading Men that carried on the War were Presbyterians and their General upon the New-Model was as right as they could wish to have had him And yet he was in the Hands of the Army and that Army in the Hands of his Lieutenant-General Cromwell A grand mistake of theirs in thinking to Settle Presbytery with an Army of Anabaptists Independents Fifth-Monarchy-Men and what not Bone of their Bone and Flesh of their Flesh 't is true but as Mortal Enemies to them as were the Jews to the Samaritans and yet both of them had Abraham to their Father And for Cromwell though no one could say of what Religion he was besides that he ever match'd the Colour that was in Fashion he still protested Obedience and Fidelity to the Parliament and by that Means got his Ends of the King and them And whether our Answerer took it not right judge when he says Some of the former Army touch'd with Envy to be out-done by a New Model and being prevalent in the House of Commons took advantage of Presbyterian and Independant Names and the War being ended thought slightly to have discarded them without their due Pay and the reward of their invincible Valour But they i. e. the Independants who had the Sword yet in their hands disdaining to be made the first Objects of Ingratitude and Oppression after all that Expence of their Blood for Justice and the Common Liberty seiz'd the King their Prisoner whom nothing but their matchâ—ess Deeds had brought so low as to surrender his Person By which we see the Bottom of this Good Old Cause when the only quarrel was about dividing the Spoil And truly when they that once had it could not keep it what had our Answerer to do to gape after them any longer And brings into my Head that Story of the Friars Crucifixus est etiam pro nobis But to go on with the Matter The King is now in the Army's Hands but our Answerer thinks not fit to say a Word to the Distractions in the Two Houses the Army and the City that ensued it but has left it out of his Title And why but that it must not be spoken in Gath when yet every Man here is not a Dweller of Askalon Cromwell found that the Parliament out-carded him as having gotten the King their Prisoner May 4 1646. and put the Militia of London into the Hands of a Committee of Citizens whereof the Lord Mayor for the time being to be One and therefore unless he could give them the Cross-bite and bring the Army to mutiny against their Masters he knew he must expect no better of them than what Essex had found from them To this purpose he and Ireton his Son-in-Law take advantage of a Vote of theirs 25. May 1647. for Disbanding the whole Army excepting Five Thousand Horse and One Thousand Dragoons and some Fire-locks to be kept up for the Safety of the Kingdom and some to be sent for Ireland and spread a Whisper through the Army that the Parliament now they had the King intended to Disband them to cheat them of their Arrears and send them into Ireland to be destroy'd by the Irish And it ran like Wild-fire for the Army were so inrag'd at it that they set up a new Council among themselves of Two Private Soldiers out of every Troop and Foot Company to consult for the Good of the Army and to assist at the Council of War and advise for the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom And these they called Agitators or Adjutators it matters not which for whatever Cromwell who yet stood unsuspected by the Houses had a mind to be done there needed no more but putting it into these Agitators Heads And the Effect of their first Consultation was to take the King from Holmby where upon his being deliver'd up by the Scots Feb. 16. 1646. the Parliament had lodged him with Colonel Graves and bring him to the Army Amongst these there was one Joyce a stubbed bold ignorant Enthusiastick Journey-man Taylor who from the Service of Denys Bond had gone out to the Assistance of the Lord against the Mighty and much about this time made a Cornet of Horse And however the matter was contriv'd for Commission he had none he went off by Night in the Head of a Thousand Horse and having surpriz'd the Parliament-Guards at Holmby early in the Morning importunately demands admittance into the King's Bed-Chamber as from the Army and was hardly prevail'd upon to stay so long as till the King could get up but being come in told his Majesty he was sent by the Lieutenant-General to secure his Person from his Enemies and bring him to the Army On which the King demanding to see his Commission Joyce opens a Window and points to the Body of Horse that stood drawn up on the Side of the Hill before the House An undeniable Argument says his Majesty and so went with him who brought him to the Head-quarters at New-Market Cromwell seems no less surpriz'd at it than the King however since he was among them assur'd him he should have no Cause to repent it and in a seeming passionate Manner promis'd him to restore him to his Right against the Parliament On this the Parliament send to the General to have the King redeliver'd to their Commissioners and this the rather for that the General by his Letters to them had excus'd himself and Cromwell and the Body of the Army as ignorant of the Fact and that the King came away willingly with those Souldiers that brought him And yet instead of giving them an Answer Jun. 23. 1647. the Army send a Charge against Eleven of their Members all active leading Men and require them to appoint a Day to determine this Parliament and in the mean time to suspend the Eleven Members sitting in the House to which last they only answer and say they could not do it by Law till the Particulars of the Charge were produced and were soon replied to with their own Proceedings against the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury The London Militia had been yet in the Cities Hands till Cromwell taking the opportunity of a thin House Jul. 26. 1647. procures the Ordinance of the Fourth of May aforesaid to be revok'd and the Militia put into other Hands more favourable to the Army On which a Rabble of Apprentices and Disbanded Soldiers headed by the Sheriffs under the