Holland or Germany and as I went not with the Duke so my return in his Train was purely accident For my Religion as I was born of Protestant Parents so I was all along bred a Member of the Church of England and by the Grace of God will live and die in this Profession for it is not so much owing to the chance of Education as to my choice being satisfi'd by Reason by Scripture and the Laws of my Country no inconsiderable Argument that of all it is the most purely Christian Since I was seventeen years of Age I have gone duly to Church and several times in every Year receiv'd the Sacrament I did so twice while in Fianders as Dr. Lake and Dr. Doughty the Duke's Chaplains and others can witness and I have done so six times since my return thence there are in this Honourable House that can testify some part of this Truth I have taken the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy eleven times am ready to submit to all further injunctions of Law in matters of Religion have in Disputes encounter'd tho unwillingly with many of the several Orders abroad remain'd unshaken in my Principles This at Ghent putting a Jesuit more zealous than the rest into great Passion made him pronounce me obstinate and declare He cou'd sooner bring over ten of the most rigid Phanaticks of England than hope to make me a Proselyte Now if all this be not sufficient to wipe off the imputation of Popery I consess I am to seek for a clefence Among other 't is objected That by my Interest in his R. H. I got my Brother made a Bishop in opposition to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and contrary to Merit To this I answer That my Brother has been as much and as injuriously though not so publickly defam'd as I that he came off with Honour that a peek between two great Lords of that Kingdom and one of the greatest of this did not only prevent his being sooner promoted but was the occasion of his being bespatter'd with many falshoods and calumnies that few in Ireland deserve it better that what he enjoys he obtain'd not in opposition to though without the recommendation of the chief Governour nor by the mediation of the Duke but of a great Minister in the presence of my Lord Bishop of London from the King 's immediate Grace openly shewn in Council and with a particular mark of His Royal Favour I hope 't is no Crime to honour and revere the Duke as he is a Prince or if a private Man to love and value his innate Worth and Qualities or to have said as it is reported I wish nothing else had been with less Truth That I wou'd hazard my Life and Fortune to do him any lawful and just Service If it be a Crime as I can no ways apprehend of the Brother of my King while publickly pray'd for in all the Churches of the three Kingdoms I confess my self guilty But I am not so wedded to his Interests as to espouse or pursue them if he can have any such contrary to the Duty I owe and ever will pay my Soveraign my Country my Religion and my God. And I do here most solemnly protest as I hope for Heaven if I knew him in any instance a Conspirator or a Traytor I wou'd not only detest but endeavour to bring him to publick Justice and if ever he can be prov'd a Criminal of this nature I will have no more respect nor regard but less for him than I wou'd for any common Offender And therefore without the hopes of Reward or the fears of Punishment I cleclare in the presence of the Almighty if I knew any part of the Papish-Plot or the Persons concern'd in 't I wou'd long since have reveal'd the whole Contrivance But none in their senses can believe that a known Protestant cou'd be made privy to such a Conspiracy to which if necessary might be added that I was in a Country remote from that where the Design is said to be hatch'd I own my self of so extensive a Charity as to love the persons of all honest Men notwithstanding their differing from me in opinion about the Modes and Circumstances of Religion and to be for Liberty of Conscience when consistent with the safety of the state to all quiet and peaceable Dissenters But when 't is urg'd and made use of to other ends or as a Cloak for Rebellion or Treachery I abominate all such Indulgence But I will no longer dwell on this Subject than to mind you of Collonel Mansel's mistake or forgetfulness when he informs this Honourable House That in or about July 1678. I din'd at his Treat for a German Lord in or der to a Design of his upon a Forreign Command and that 2 or 3 days after Ishou'd advise him against it telling him the Duke wou'd very soon have occasion for such Officers First I do say to have said so was no Crime But I easily see through this Artifice 't is to serve as an argument that I understood somewhat of the Plot of which I am as ignorant as any man living beyond what I have since learnt from the Prints and publick Fame In the next place I do utterly deny I ever said the words because I do not know the Duke had any such Design and am certain I connot invent Besides by many circumstances needless here to mention that Dinner was after the Courts return from Windsor and consequently after the breaking forth of the Plot. I desire the Gentleman wou'd recollect himself at that time he was very great and intimate with a Roman Catholick H. N. from whom if he heard not the words as I am not apt to imagine I am confident he dream'd them He cannot be ignorant that I knew why he was disbanded in Ireland c. and that I always declin'd not only as having no Interest but as unwilling for other reasons to introduce him to the Duke as he often press'd and therefore he made his application to others but with as ill success And now give me leave I beseech you Mr. Speaker to answer an Objection that I shou'd have prescrib'd a way how the King shou'd live without Parliaments I am so far from entertaining such a thought that I ever esteem'd the Constitutions of England by King Lords and Commons the happiest kind of Government in the world and if the discourse called The Rise and Tower of Parliaments c. be mine of which many will have me the Author the reading it wou'd be of this a sufficient Confutation In that Parliaments are magnifi'd their power rather enlarg'd than lessen'd and their frequent meetings recommended as most convenient In a word whatever Character my Adversaries have given of me I am not a Protestant in Masquerade I can neither Lie nor Dissemble I am really what I profess and as the word is commonly taken no lover of Arbitrary Government in any single or complicated Body As to
Franchise or Free-hold unless he be duly brought in to answer and fore-judged of the same by the Course of the Law. And 28 Edw. 3. c. 3. it is Ordain'd That no Man of what Estate or Condition soever he be shall be put out of his Lands and Tenements nor taken nor imprisoned nor dis-inherited without being brought in to Answer by due Process of Law. 42. Edw. 3.6.3 't is Decreed That no Man be put to Answer without Presentment before Justices or Matter of Record or by due Process and Writ Original according to the Old Law of the Land And if any thing be done to the contrary it shall be void in Law and holden for error Likewise in the Petition of Right 3 Car. 1. c. 1. 't is Complain'd of by the Commons as a great Grievance of the Subject That against the Tenor of the said Statutes and other the good Laws and Statutes of this Realm to that end Provided divers of His Majesties Subjects have been Imprisoned Without any Cause shewed and when for their Deliverance they were brought before Justices by His Majesties * Which by the by were not then Denied though the Laws were not half so full and express as the late Statute Writs of Habeas Corpus there to undergo and receive as the Court should Order and their Keepers Commanded to Certify the Cause of their Detainer no Cause was Certified but that they were Detained by His Majesties Special Command And 37 Edw. 3. c. 18. 't is Enacted That though it be Ordained in the Great Charter that no Man â—e Taken nor Imprisoned nor put out of his Free hold without Process of the Law nevertheless divers People make false Suggestions to the King himself as well for Malice as otherwise where the King is often Grieved and divers of the Realm put in Damage against the Term of the same Charter Wherefore it is Ordained That all they who make such Suggestions shall be sent with the same Suggestions before the Chancellor Treasurer and his Grand Council and that they find there Surety to pursue their Suggestions and incur the same Pain that the others should have had if Attainted in case that his Suggestion be found Evil. Or as it is alter'd in the following Parliament 38 Ed. 3. c. 9. It is Assented that if he that maketh the Complaint cannot prove his intent against the Defendant he shall be Commanded to Prison there to abide till he hath made gree to the Party of his Damages and of the Slander that he hath Suffer'd by such Occasion and after shall make Fine and Ransom to the King. In the Statute 16 Car. 1. c. 10. 't is Declared That the Reasons for putting down the Star-Chamber-Court was not only founded on their Proceeding contrary to former Statutes but that it was also an intollerable Burden to the Subject that the Remedies for all Causes might be had in the ordinary Courts of Justice and that it was the means for introducing Arbitrary Government I say then if the same things are Exercis'd and the Causes remain any where else they are equally to be Discountenanc'd and Explode'd by King and Parliament and all Free-born Subjects And if the King's Officers or Ministers from the Highest to the Lowest do any Illegal Act though by the King 's express Command they themselves become Criminal it cannot be suppos'd that any Officer of any Court whatever or Power inferior to His Majesties can have a greater Latitude but that whoever Executes any unlawful Command to the Prejudice of his Fellow Subject must be Answerable to the Party agriev'd and lyable to make him Satisfaction notwithstanding any Illegal Warrant whatsoever He that Considers the great Charge of One Pound Six Shillings and Eight Pence per Diem Fees to the Serjeant and his Messenger besides Diet and Lodging at Pleasure will believe no Man ought to Suffer under that Punishment but upon good Grounds and in conformity to former Laws without the Accusers giving Security for Prosecution and answering Damages if the Party prove himself Injur'd 'T is known Maxim in our Laws that Carcer it ad custodiendes non ad puniendes homines before Tryal or Conviction which was so far from being Mr. Sheridan's Case that he was Committed During Pleasure to a Chargeable Confinement without Cause Alledg'd or any Information upon Oath which is very Remarkable if we consider Noris's Case which was Voted by the same House that restrain'd Mr. Sheridan in this manner Illegal and Arbitrary because there was neither information upon Oath nor Crime Specifi'd and sure no Man can conclude the Commons may do that against a Subject which the King cannot without some Statute giving the one that Power which is Deny'd by all to the other But as the King can do no Wrong though his Officers may so I am content to admit if they Challenge the same Priviledge that the House of Commons may be always in the Right provided they allow that in the Execution of their Injunctions some of their Members and Ministers may â—â—t though the whole Body may be exempt yet thâ—se do run the hazard of being call'd to an Account I am certain 't was in order to Vindicate the Right of the Subject as well as to retrieve his own Liberty and free himself from Charge Mr. Sheridan attempted the Habeas Corpus a Motion that no doubt offended some though not the disinteressed part of the Nation nothing tending more to the advantage of the People and the opposition of Arbitrary Power at least equally to be contended against in the Commons as in the King by every free born Subject who if necessity makes him a Slave and he have the Liberty to chuse ought and must preser one Master to many And tho it was three several days debated in the House and that some were of opinion the Act was not design'd in favour of any by them Committed the contrary was so plain from the Words that it was never brought to a Vote And I am inform'd that one of the most Eminent and Deservedly Leading men of the House a Manager of my Lord Staffords Tryal Mr. P. advis'd their proceeding according to Law in a Case where the Right of the Subject was so Nicely concern'd and which was indeed or might be every English-man's in which present and future Ages were equally interessed and in which a Vote not having at all the force of a Law nor the exposition of a Statute might not only Reflect but make them Odious to all the World An advice which all the People in the Kingdom ought to acknowledge with Gratitude nothing being more certainly the true Interest of the Nation than to keep all things within their proper Bounds and Channels the King to continue to Both Houses of Parliament what the Lords have by Fundamental Constitutions alwaies enjoy'd and the Commons by their constantly renew'd Petitions have receiv'd from the Kings Favour their accustomed Right and Priviledges and neither Lords nor Commons
perhaps to the Orders and Rules of the whole House yet thereupon they were laid aside Mr. Sheridan having now too much Cause to conclude he was not like to be Releas'd during that Session since it was not in his Power to answer the Expectations or Desires of some Persons resolv'd to seek his Remedy by a Habeas Corpus upon a Statute lately made to prevent Illegal and Arbitrary Imprisonments from which if he cou'd not be freed he hop'd from the Twelve Judges and the Chancellor if refus'd to recover Six Thousand Five Hundred Pounds Penalty to Support and Ease his Expence But the Dread of the House of Commons wou'd not suffer any of the many Counsellors or Sollicitors he consulted to intermeddle in the Matter Nevertheless he was not discourag'd but of himself pursu'd it tho' without Precedent and contrary to the Advice of most of his Friends I am loath to tell you how very Nicely some say Fearfully the Judges proceeded in this Affair most desiring further time and after avoiding being spoken with unwilling to Deny and not daring to Grant. But I were Unjust if I did not let you know that some wanted not courage as my Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Jones Sir Job Charleton and Sir Richard Weston who as oblig'd by Law and Conscience his Oath and a late Statute to his immortal Honour at the first word granting the Writ made further Application to the others unnecessary Sir William Dolben and Baron Gregory were out of Town or unconsulted Of the rest I will say no more at present only tell you Mr. Sheridan is advis'd to bring his Action against several particularly against Sir Francis North and Judge Raymond The last of these two thinking fit to ask the Commons advice in this particular instance of doing that justice to a Subject which all Judges are sworn neither to Deny nor Delay An Act of an extraordinary Nature and without Precedent for a Judge to expect Directions in the Execution of his Trust from the House of Commons who are no Court of Judicature and who if the Case had been dubious as here himself confess'd it was not ought rather to apply himself to the rest of the Judges to His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council or to the House of Lords the last Resort of Appeals in the Kingdom I will pass by this Judge's Servants denying his being within and sending as I am inform'd for Sir Thomas Stringar a Justice of the Peace to examine the Gentleman that Sollicited Mr. Sheridan's Business and the Witnesses whether they were Protestants and wou'd take the Oaths of Allegiance c. which they being Members of the Church of England offer'd to do to his great disappointment At length after Twelve Days strugling with Difficulties not only with the Judges but with inferior Officers the Serjeant at Arms was serv'd with the Habeas Corpus who therewith acquaints the House They after three days Debate and thrice reading over the Statute finding all so plain cou'd not but leave the Serjeant in Obedience to the Writ to carry his Prisoner before the Judge who appearing with Mr. Sheridan the Baron took the Names of three substantial Persons by him produc'd for Bail declaring he wou'd send to the Speaker and Attorney-General and if on Monday following the utmost time allow'd by the Act nothing more appear'd against the Prisoner he shou'd then between three and four a Clock receive the benefit of his Habeas Corpus But the Prorogation in the Morning prevented the Execution of the Baron's intentions and set Mr. Sheridan and his Kinsman Wilson at liberty after almost five Weeks expensive Confinement who in all probability had lain in Custody during that Session how long soever if a Habeas Corpus had not been then procur'd Upon which after Mr. Sheridan had been discharg'd his Kinsman expected likewise his Releasement there being no hopes his Petition wou'd be read since so often oppos'd by Mr. C. tho Mr. Godolphin upon whose account he is said to have been committed sent word he was sorry he shou'd on his score be so great a Sufferer and promis'd upon any others Motion to see and that for his Liberty Of which many of that House thought he had done nothing worthy the Forfeiture And because you have heard by the written Votes that it did not appear to Baron Weston that Mr. Sheridan was committed by the House of Commons when he granted the Writ you have here sub-joyn'd a true Copy of his Petition and Warrant thereunto annex'd and deliver'd to the Baron To Sir Richard Weston Knight One of the Barons of His Majesties Court of Exchequer The Humble Petition or Request of Thomas Sheridan Shewrth THat Your Petitioner was on the Ninth of December last Committed by one and the same Warrant and upon the same Account with Dr. D. who was Releas'd within Two Days after into the Custody of the Serjeant at Arms attending the House of Commons That Your Petitioner humbly conceives he ought to be Bail'd neither Felony nor Treason nor any other Crime nor Breach of Priviledge being laid to his Charge as by the Copy of the Warrant of his Commitment here-unto annexed does appear He therefore Humbly prays to have His Majesties Writ of Habeas Corpus according to the Statute made Tricesfimo Primo of the now KING And Your Petitioner shall Pray c. The Copy of the WARRANT By Vertue of an Order of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament this Day made Thrse are to Will and Require you to keep in safe Custody the Bodies of Mr. Sheridan and Mr. D. separately and apart DURING THE PLEASURE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS And you are not to suffer or admit any Person to them other than such as shall have Occasion to bring them Necessaries And for your so doing this shall be your Warrant Hereof fail you not as you will answer the Contrary at your Peril Given under my Hand the Ninth Day of December 1680. William Williams Speaker To John Topham Esquire Serjeant at Arms c. It is very obvious and natural to observe from recounting to you this Case that the Great Charter of England or Magna Charta was little thought of or that I am much mistaken in its meaning since nothing is more expresly forbid than that any Man shou'd be Imprison'd or Dissâ—iz'd of any part of his Free-held Goods or Chattels among which are to be reckon'd all things a Man is Law fully possest of whether Letters Papers or other Matters without due process of Law. Py 25 Edw. 3. c. 4. it was Enacted That none shall be taken by Petition or Suggestion made to the King or to his * The Parliament is â—â—neâ— the King 's Great Council Council unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful People of the same Neighbourhood where such Deeds be done in due manner or by Process made by Writ Original at the Common Law and that â—â—ne be put out of his
to Entrench upon or offer violation to any of their Soveraigns Prerogatives which as the great Coke sayes are as much the Peoples Safety as the Kings Honour And indeed it were highly preposterous that the King who is the Fountain Spring and Head of Law and Justice should be concluded by this act and the Commons should not who are the Lowest part in the Legislative Power and who have no manner of pretence to Judicature nor by Original Right even their own Members as is consonant to Reason being all equal and as such having no more Power over one another than Hartford-shire has over Essex or Oxford over Cambridge agreeable to that known Maxim in our own and the Laws of all Nations Paribus in pares non datur potestas It plainly appears that the Punishments of breach of Priviledge against any of the Commons was order'd upon their applications by the King or Lords and never any by themselves inflicted before the latter end of King Henry the Eighth's Reign when the case of Ferrers because extraordinary was referr'd to 'um by the Lords as you will see in Cromptâ—n's Jurisdiction of Courts And at this day 't is certain the Commons can force none into the custody of their Serjeant but in the case of Refractory Persons are under a necessity of begging the Kings assistance as is plain not only from Mr. Stowel's refulal to go along with their Messenger but likewise from their printed Votes of the 8th of this instant January concerning Sir John Lloyd c. However since concession or continued usage have given them Power over their own Members or over others guilty of Breach of Priviledge let them in Gods name enjoy it still but let them not Vote any thing they please a Breach of Priviledge since they are known and no other than what they ask at the beginning of every Parliament from the King's Grace and are recorded as first beg'd in Henry the Eighth's days by Sir Thomus Moor then Speaker To act otherwise is to set up an Arbitrary Power never to be endur'd by any English Man unless the most despicable of Cowards and Betrayers of his Country-Liberties For as the Commons are the Representatives of the Nation so they are chosen to defend not invade their own when out of that station as well as the Peoples Priviledges While this Process was on foot Mr. Sheridan had many Addresses and Advices to Petition a second time which he not only refus'd before at the Serjeants instance but after also at that of others and that you may be fully satisfi'd of this Truth read the following Letter on this occasion to one of the Members Sir R. C. SIR HAving been inform'd first by the Serjeant of Your House and after by my old Acquaintance Mr. Fermin of your Favour towards me I cannot without Ingratitude but return you my hearty and humble Acknowledgment for so great an Obligation But having formerly petition'd with great deference and respect to the Honourable House of Commons otherwise against my own judgment and reason and that not being read having no new matter to offer I will not give you the trouble of a second I am apt to think when any Cause is examin'd it will be found amongst the hardest Dr. D. a confest Papist and Author of the Story being discharged without Fees or Petition in two days and I a known Protestant kept Prisoner twenty five tho both committed for one and the same Cause or rather no Cause none being mention'd in the Warrant and for eight of those days kept closer than a Felon or a Traytor Had my first been dislik'd for matter of form I might have preferr'd another which now I think wou'd not be proper Besides my own sufferings my Cosen likewise taken into Custody for Copying a Paper containing no Criminal tho Reflective matter as a Breach of Priviledge because 〈◊〉 Member mention'd and yet four days after a Committee appointed to examine whether or no it was his Writing I hope Sir when these things and the Reflections unjustly thrown upon me are fully consider'd I shall have my liberty for which I will own my self oblig'd to you and on all occasions study to approve any self what I really am SIR Your most humble and very much oblig'd Servant T. S. I have industriously avoided in this Narrative the overtures I have heard were made Mr. S. because not to be mention'd without Reflection on one side or too much Honour on his T is enough that he resisted all manner of Temptations that cou'd betray or discover a Propension to dishonesty or cowardize and that as he had spoken and given it under his hand so he wou'd make his Actions justifie his words that he wou'd by all possible means promote the good and service of his King and Country without making Shipwrack of a good Conscience and that Reputation which though clouded for the present he neither cou'd nor wou'd forfeit I will add no more than to English what a wise French man in such an occasion has Recorded Si vous jegez surles apparences vous seriz souvent trompet Ce qui paeroist n'est presque jamais la verite If you wiâ— not be deceiv'd judge not according to Appearance but judge Righteous judgment He that has liv'd any time in the World ought in passing his Censure upon others to consider whether he himself has never been traduc'd or heard groundless stories if he have not he has had extraordinary good fortune if he have he ought to be very slow in giving credit to Reports which are sometimes rais'd upon very little and ofter without any grounds This has been notoriously Mr. S's Case no man was ever more loudly clamour'd against nor more without cause as appears in that after al scrutinies he is found Innocent insomuch that one may well say Here has been not onely a Great Cry and a Little but no Wool abundance oâ— Smoak without any Fire Though his envious Adversaries will have it that his Cunning only protected him I do not doubt but you will believe the contrary knowing from many years intimate Acquaintance no man is more free and open has less of craft or sebtilty and considering his ten pennone has more cause to study to preserve from danger the simplicity oâ— the Dove by the Wisdome of the Serpent A Caution if ever useful aâ— this time more particulary necessarly Through his Sides 't is well known a very great Person was shot at who perhaps will be found Invulnerable Dog Bark at the Moon in vain Some Spots there may be in that Great and Glorious Body but â—oâ— such as can render it useless or in significant to any man of Sence or Reason Conclude then of all men by your own experience and not upon the Relation of either Friends or Enemles the first are not more Partial then the last malicious I should play the Fool extreamly if I give you Advice who of all the World has the least need of any and therefore not having design'd this to you without begging your Pardon I will take the Liberty without further Apology abruptly to Subscribe my self what I truly am My Lord 〈◊〉 Your Grace's with all imaginable Respect and Sincerity L. C. London January the 20â—â— 1680 / 1. FINIS