Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n
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A48287
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A brief character of Englands distraction being the copy of a letter sent into the country by a gentleman of the Middle-Temple / by Th. Le. Wh.
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Le White, Thomas.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing L1833A; ESTC R29471
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4,803
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8
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A BRIEF CHARACTER OF Englands Distraction BEING The Copy of a Letter sent into the Country by a Gentleman of the Middle-Temple By Th. Le. Wh. Gent. LONDON Printed in the Year 1660. A BRIEF CHARACTER OF ENGLANDS Destractions SIR HAppily amidst these our late Distractions here at London you may expect some other News either from hence or from abroad which in all the intercourses between us you know I have evermore avoided and left that to Diurnals and such as delight to tell of Novelties Only to that which is I presume long since known to you and all the three Nations I send you this as it is the grounds of the present and late differences between the Army Officers and remnant of the old Legal Parliament for so I stile it in respect that it was summoned by the late King As to all the other Assemblâ—es or ratheâ— Conventickles they both came together and sate to little other purpose than to assume to themselves the name of a Parliament without the Essence Summons and due form of our Antient gâ—eat Councels The relicts of the long Parliament being fiâ—st put down by the Army and of late sat up and again â—â—shlerâ—d by the power of the Sword and likewise the Protector divested of his power as a Partener with the Parliament in the late estâ—blished Government upon this Reason and Ground that the Grandees would nor admit of any single Person as also for that the Parliament as 't is alleaged acted irregularly and not according to the humor of the Souldier This is generally conceived to be the ground of the present Destractions in the mean time judge you where we are the Legislative power being laid a side and the Nation left without any Government but that of the Sword 'T is true it is in common discourse that there is a Government informing but what that is or will be God knows you know Kings single Persons Peers and Parliaments are not now in rerum natura neither any Settlement in any of the Courts of Judicature that may rightly and legally determine meum et tuum Some there are that say the Grandees will pitch on that frame which hath been so happily established by the Hollanders and indeed their case and ours 〈◊〉 of so near a Kin in discarding Kings and single Persons that I confesse it may invite our great Masters to follow their pattern Others there are that propose a Government answerable to that of the Romans on their putting down Tarquinius Superbus their last King when as the Senate assumed the sole power of Government to themselves as the best and most dâ—â—â—able though this soft look not back to those interruptions which often befel them by the Tribunes of the people their Censors Dictators and at last that of their Armies in the election of their Emperors without either the consent or approbation of the Senate to speak in tearms of truth our case and theirs are much alike Others there are that propose the Venetian Government were their Duke as a single Person rules no otherwise than as their Grand Councel shall admit and approve But the Major part of the people are for Charls Stuarts Interest hoping that these our Destractions conduce to the bringing him in though the wiser sort would have him ty'd up to such conditions that happily will neither become the propounders or his acceptance This sort not foreseeing the future and that in case he comes in otherwise it must necessarily be by the Swords of Strangers and a party here at home then 't is most perspicuous that he wâ—ll come in with a revengeful heart and then no man can expect from him other measure than a reseisure of all the Crown Lands the Royal Houses with their rich Ornaments the Regaliâ— and what not that may right him as well for the Crown Lands aâ— his Fathers Blood Woe than to such purchasors as have â—nriched themselves by buying the Crown Lands at under rates neither must such as have not been guilty of getting those good bargains beleive to escape scot-free for all mens Estates will be then liable to his conquering Sword neither will this be the worst of such a turn of fortune for our Religion Laws and immunities of every free born Subject must vayl the Bonnet to that prevailing power All this is too plain and manifest which necessarily will befall the Universal Nation wherein not only the Nocent but the Innocent will be in a like condition Now Sir there 's another sort that say we are too much English in relation to the old Proverb which you know is that an English man knows not when he is well and that there was a Government set up by old Oliver between him and a Parliament as also that during his time they lived in peace and quietness as also that the Laws and Justice had a free and open current and many tedious sutes ended by his means by way of reference and that he kept a Court answerable to the State and honour of the English Nation entertained all Ambassadours of forein Princes and Stares with his Guards of Horse and Foot with his Controller Stewards Master of Requests and Master of the Ceremonies and that he was courted and admired by most of the Princes and States of Europe whereas now there is no Person no place whereunto any Addresses are to be made from abroad to the dishonour and scorn of the Nation They farther say and allege our blessed Saviours Oracles ut â—emâ—ntem feceris ita ut metes for that the same person was after his death vilified and his Son shamefully disgraced and set at nought by those which the Souldiers so lately hath put down in retribucion of the ingratitude shewed to him whom the whole Nation knows was the prime instrument of reducing the three Nations to peace and quietness and that in a trise to the wonder of the world The premises rightly considered where are we now otherwise than as Slaves of a new edition But seâ—ting aside this our sad condition as it relates to our temporal estates let us alittle look back to that of our spiritual condition and the obliquies of the Church where instead of Reformation of which God knows there was need enough at the sitting down of the long Parliament too many learned and Orthodox Ministers have been put out of their Livings and mechanick ignorant and illiterate Sectaries prefer'd and many Congregations and Parishes both in Englâ—nd and Wales left without any pious or able Minister either to read pray or preach as it becomes one that hath Cura animâ—rum Sectaries and Sciâ—â—â—â—cks bearing the sway and trampling on the Orthodox and true Pâ—otestant Religion without any Reformation Again if we look back to our National Laws as the case stands who now shall eithâ—r make new ones or abolish old and useless ones since Parliameâ—nts are set at nought and laid afide Nay where is now â—hat Authority that may Legally Summon them of enable
the Mâ—mbers to sit longer than the Souldier will suffer them Hence you may behold the sad Condition wherein the Nation stands withâ—ut any due reformation in the Church without Laws Government Setlemâ—nt or Security in any thing we have formerly enjoy'd 'T is consest the Nation cannot be secured as the case stands without our Armies both by Sea and Land either from Invasions from abroad or Insurrections at hâ—me but if our Armies shall or will be the first that will invade us and assume to themselves the Sole and absolute power of Government doubtlesse then we are in a remedilesse Condition whâ—n our Servants shall become our Masters On the other side in case our Parliaments shall act alone and do what thâ—y please without any controule then we are in the same Condition as if the Army ruled alone without any other Partnership 〈…〉 e Government Me thinks our Gâ—anâ— Mâ—steâ—s of either side should both of them have bethought themselves of sâ—mâ— one Mâ—dium or other rather than either of them should assume to themselves the sole and supreme power of Government for that wheresoever Soveraignty or any other power of Government shall act alone and without any Partnership it instantly turns into Tyrannâ— On this consideration let them both lay this to heart that when either Parliaments or our wrongs shall assume to â—ct alone the natures of necessitie will become Slaves or no better â—han so many Asses assigned to bear the burthen of that single and unruly power for 't is without diâ—pute that the most lasting and best Government is and must be of a mixt nature or constitution It s Bellarmins opinion de Romanâ— Pontâ—ficâ— who after he had so much mignified absolute Monarchy yet at last concludes Attamen Monarchiam mixtam et temporatam inter Aristâ—craciam et Democraciam semper meliorem esse puto You may remember that the Lacedemonian Kings had their Ephori that contrould them whensoever they took upon them Transire and to go beyond the bounds of Lawfull Soveraignty It was the grand Court of Aâ—ragon supprest by Ferdinandâ— that kept their Kings for many hundred years from Tyranny and the Natives from Slavery To come nearer to the poynt I do not conceive that either the late Protectors Oliver and Richard as single persons were absolute for they had a Parliament and in the intermissions of Parliaments an able Councel of State that carried on the affairs of the Common-wealth as joynt Copartners with them If it be abjected that Oliver was the first that dissolved the long Parliament the answer to this is soon made for that they began to call into question the new Goverment under which the universall Natives lived in peace and security without any disturbance which to preserve the Protector perceiving the Ends and Aims dissolved them You may remember how the late King made it his common practice to call Parliaments and Dissolve them without their due Effects at will and pleasure Is it therefore of necessity that some few of the Army Officers should do the like as they have often done and destroy the most Essentiall part of the old English Government the old security of all the free born Subjects of this Nation and that Court which in all Ages hath stopt the currant of the Incroachment of the Royal Prerogative and prevented that Inundation which would have swallowed up all the Subjects Freedoms and Liberties But the report goes that they will resolve to call a Parliament speedily if that be their resolution In Gods name then let it be a Free and Legal one an the Election of the Members left to the Free-holders and not too much tyed up to the rack of their wills and pleasures otherwise where will they be found that will sit when they shall be chosen since 't is already in common discourse and the question put why should any either accept theâ— Election or sit when as the Souldier at his will and pleasure shall send them home as wise as they came to the House SIR To conclude without doubt there is somewhat if not much amisse in the mannagery of this work of darknesse for so I call it not pleasing to Almighty God 'T is most true that all along our many sad and often changes we have had frequent Fastings Prayers and Preachings but whither they have been rightly addrest rests the doubt the Apostle St. Jâ—mes tels us we pray and ask but receive not because we petition amiss I fear me this is our case and therefore let us all more fervently pray unto Almighty God and heartily beseach him that our Prayers and addresses may be more pleasing to him who alone must help and free us from these our Devisions otherwise we are all lost It is Unity and Concord that must set us all aright and in our right Wits If a Kingdom City or House devided cannot stand needs must our devisions ruine us Concordia res parvae crescunt discordia dilabuntur Therefore let our great Masters lay aside their Ambition and Self-ends then by Gods good grace the cure of these our sad distractions will be soon perfected Therefore it behoves us all to pray unto God that Unity and Concord may be preserved amongst us for without it the Nation cannot be in safety since as now the case stands we are all in the highway of Confusion and never more subject and open to forraign Invasions then at present we wish that they which now sit at the Healm will bethink themselves and take it into their serious and timely consideration that the new Amity and Friendship contracted between the two greatest and neighbouring Princes of Christendome presageth no good Omen to England and that they will call to mimd the late passages and causes at Paris as also to bethink themselves that all things are not so safe at home as it should be and might be remota causa tollitur effectus then the cure will by Gods good grace be soon perfected but as now affairs are carried off we can expect no other rate to befall us than dissolation The Armies divided amongst themselves the Ciâ— and the Armies divided and in Combustion no due settlement either in the Church or State and the Courts of Indicature but all in confusion Sectaries and Scâ—maticks suffered to discard the Peace of the Church â—nd State by the Pl 〈…〉 of Jesuits without any care of redresse Thâ—â— Sir yâ—u may see in what a â—â—d condition wee all stand Gâ—d in his great mercy look upon us and give us all the grace of a true and hearty repentance and avert those heavy Iudgements which now threaten this sinfull Nation with utter Ruine and Defolation Your very Loving And Constant Friend Tho. Le. Wh. From the Middle Temple this 15. of December 1659. FINIS