Accommodation Cordially DESIRED AND REALLY INTENDED A MODERATE DISCOVRSE TENDING To the satisfaction of all such who do either Wilfully or Ignorantly Conceive that the PARLIAMENT is Disaffected to PEACE WRITTEN Upon occasion of a late Pamphlet pretended to be Printed at Oxford entituled a REPLY to the Answer of the LONDON PETITION for PEACE LONDON 1642. ACCOMMODATION Cordially DESIRED AND REALLY INTENDED A Moderate Discourse tending to the satisfaction of all such who c. A Petition for Peace is presented to the Parliament by some thousands of Citizens the Petition findes a peaceable answer and that Answer as I shall now set forth is opposed by an unpeaceable Reply but that time may be the better husbanded and indifferent Readers the better satisfied before I undertake the Replication it selfe I desire all men to be preadvertised of some few things Schollars have been very active in this unnaturall warre both in raysing and fomenting it the tongue hath made some wounds as well as the hand and the sword had never bin so keene had it not been whetted by the Pen but Schollars are not actvie on both sides alike to shew their partiality interest in this cause 't is only on the Kings side where the Pen and the Launce are both brandisht in the same hand And it is wisely ordered for the Kings interest wil be the more hopefully pursu'd when Schollars second it with their Arts and the Schollars Interests will be the easier gained when the King seconds them with his Armes But of all kindes of Learning Oratory is most relyed on and of a'l kinds of Oratory that is most made use of which is most wantonly painted and dressed and borrowes most from ostentatious Art and is therefore most unfit for businesse either of Law or State because it is most fit to inveagle and deceive with its false graces and flourishes The tongue of Cyneas was very advantageous to Pyrrhus in subduing Townes and Cities but 't is likely more of manly Logick then of effeminate Rhetorick flow'd from that tongue of his or else Townes and Cities in those dayes were governed by very illiterate men None but the duller sort of people are to be catcht by pure oratory the wiser sort are wel enough instructed that when the Fowlers pipe playes most melodiously the snare is coucht most pernitiously That man is very unworthy to judge of Papers that cannot distiguish betweene foundations and superstructions reasons and Assumptions that cannot discerne between prooving of premises and pursuing of conclusions and yet the chiefest fraud of the Orator is to passe over that part of the businesse which requires most proofe without proofe at all that which is most darke without light at all and that which is most important without mention at all 'T is enongh for the Orator to blazon the bloudy shield of war in general when 't is his sole charge to dispute who are theguilty causers promoters of this particular War 'T is enough for him to take it for graÌ„ted or at most upon his own credit to affieme it That the Kings party of Papists and Arminian Clergy men and delinquents were first assayled by this Parliament without cause or danger and so presaltum to proceed to veÌ„emous invectives cursed censures against the Parliament when his main task is to proove either that a Parliament may in no case whatsoever defend it selfe or that this warre in the Parliament is not defensive If wee peruse all the papers which have come out in the Kings behalfe under his name or otherwise we shall find nothing proper to be insisted on but these two points That defensive warre is unlawfull in Parliaments or that this warre in the Parliament is not defensive and yet nothing lesse hath been insisted on nay though the Fabricke bee vast that is built and raised thereupon yet that which ought to support all the fabrick is utterly neglected so in this reply now to be examined if much be affirmed yet little is prooved and if any proofe be made 't is of sequels not of premisses 't is of assumptions deduced not of Theses deducing and 't is plaine and obvious to al that the Replicant here pleads not as if hestood at the barre but pronounces sentence as if he sate on the Bench We may justly therefore suspect that he aymes not at the satisfying of wise men but the dazelling of simple men and that he would not daube with his fucusses every line embellish with his Caressing Phrases every sentence if he did not affect the pompe of Mr Rhombus the Pedant rather then the gravitie of a Statist The next Art of our Replicant is to impose those his nude averments which are most false and improbable with most boldnesse and assurance assâ—ling as it were thereby the beliefe of other men with armed violence That it may passe for currant that Franham Castle was surprized contrary to the faith and Treaty of Sir William Waller with whom no Treaty was ever entertained nor spoken of it must be further averred That our side was false at Winchecter false in York shire false every where but these things eadem facilitate negantur quâ affirmantur Another advantage of the Kings party is by multitude of writings invective and Satyricall both the Universities are become mints of defamatory disgracefull papers the Regiments of the Kings Pen-and-Inkhorne men are more and fuller then of his sword-men and though too many papers are scattered of both sides yet those of the Kings are most of them serious and done by able men whereas those of the Parliaments side for the most part are ridiculous done by Sots or prevaricators to the disadvantage of the partie After these premonitions I come to the Replication it selfe The substance of the Petition was That the Parliament would tender such Propositions for Accommodation as might be accepted with honour to his Maiesty and safety to the Kingdome The substance of the Answer was that the Parliament was truly and heartily desirous of a safe and honourable Accommodation and for an instance of that their desire would seeke nothing from the King but to enjoy the due essentiall Priviledges of his highest Court of Law and policie which priviledge must needs qualifie and fit them rather to judge then to be judged by any other inferiour partie That a totall submission to the King he being so farre addicted to a faction of Papists and haters of Parliaments could neither be safe nor honourable That to submit to the Kings party were to submit to the foes of Religion and Libertie foes irreconcileable and such as ever had been dangerous and were now made more furious by bloud against the Parliament That if the Petitioners being but a part of London and that but a part of England should in stead of an honourable safe Accommodation presse the Parliament to a dishonourable unsafe submission to the Kings party it were a breach of publike trust in the Parliament to yeeld therein
the Parliament being trusted by the whole Kingdome that if a just fit Accommodation be intended the King ought to trust the Parliament in part as well as the Parliament ought in part to trust the King That both parties being equally disarmed the Protestants being lesse countenanced by the King and more obliged in Conscience by oathes and agreements would be more obnoxious to disadvantages then that party where in so many Papists are predominant That though the Parliament might submit yet a faire Accommodation it could not obtaine except the King would equally condescend thereunto That if the Petitioners had found out a more safe and honourable Accommodation then the Parliament had yet discovered for that was possible the Parliament would embrace it That if none such could be found out the affections and judgements of the Parliament ought not to be censur'd or distrusted That it behooved the Petitioners to addresse themselves by the like petition to the King if no want of affection to peace were apparent in the Parliament as certainly none was In contradiction and opposition to all the severall poynts in this Analysis what the Replicant hath set forth wee shall now see in the same order 1. The great contrivers of our sad divisions which abuse the weake reason of the people to keepe up an unfortunate misunderstanding between King and Subject are not named by the Replicant but they are clearely pointed out to be the Chiefe Lords and Commons in Parliament for he saith Every new Vote of late hath been a new affliction and he makes Pennington and the Citty Lecturers to be but Iourney-men Rebels under them and even this Hellish slander he venteth under the name of the Petitioners whom he stiles the most considerable persons of the Citty and at the same time affirmeth that the people generally are of honest affections And the Answer to the Petition in which the words he saies are softer then oyle though the matter of it be poison of Aspes he attributes only to some Chiefe Engineers of mischiefe in the House though it carry in it the Authority of the whole House Here is a wonder beyond all wonders A few factious persons in Parliament over-awe the major better and wiser part in Parliament and by a few factious Instruments in Citty and Countrey abuse the major better and wiser part there also into the most miserable distempers and calamities that ever were and though the honest generality begin to grow wiser and are instructed by the sence of their miseries and by other advertisements from loyall Papists and Prelates and other pious Courtiers and souldiers to shake off their few Tormentors Nay and though the King himself has not onely publisht the most eloquent and subtill Declarations to disabuse the people that ever were himselfe being the most beloved and honoured Prince that ever was for his indulgence to Liberty and Religion but hath also advanced a most puissant and victorious Army to releeve these undeceived wretches yet the incantation holds no humane force either of Armes or Arts can dissolve it The miracles of Moses had an impression of divine vertue upon them and did therefore triumph over all the Egyptians spels but in this case Mr Pym with I know not what infernall engines distorts and wrests all the Orbes of a Kingdome from their naturall motions and yet no divine Art can resist him 'T was never beleev'd before that any but God could work contrary to nature but now it must be beleeved But is it so apparent that the Parliament is averse from peace yet saies the Replicant For withdraw the fuell and the fire is soon extinguisht Let the Parliament not soment the ill humour by supplyes of men Armes and Ammunition and the wound will heale of it selfe In the petition nothing but an Accommodation safe and honourable was pretended but now we see a meere submission is intended in this replication T is not prooved That the Armes of the Parliament are unjust 't is not prooved that it may be safe for the Kingdome to prostrate and subject Parliaments to the discretion of that faction which now has bereav'd us of the Kings presence and favour yet because the Replicant will take upon him to condemne Parliaments we must also allow of his Judgement But ' its further say'd by the Replicant that even Accommodation it selfe is not pleasing in Parliament witness◠that speech 〈◊〉 one I like not danbing and that of another I hate the name of Accommodation Hee which hates the name of an Accommodation as it has been used of late to signifie a totall submission may love a true Accommodation in it selfe and he that likes not the daubing of those which under the colour of Accommodation a yme at nothing but division and dissention amongst the people may more heartily affect a safe and honourable agreement then the Replicant himselfe Can the Parliament expresse zeale to peace better then by contracting all its right and priviledges into one compendious proposition for the setling of union To purchase true peace the Parliament desires nothing but to retain the meere being of Parliament that is to be the supreme Court of King and Kingdome And if it can stand with the essence of such a Court to be arraign'd tryed and sentenced by a faction of Papists Prelates Delinquents and Souldiers the Parliament will submit to that Condition also 2. When we expresse our feares of the King party and therefore deny submission thereunto as dangerous and dishonourable the Replicant tels us further we are required not to submit to our fellow subiects but to the King only and he tels us further that the Lawes are the best security and those we shall enioy and to claime any higher securitie is to assume the power of Kings How farre the Lawes of the Land have been sufficient to preserve to Parliaments and the better part of loyall Protestant subjects their rightfull portion and interest in the Kings favour for these 17. yeares last past is knowne to all The Lawes of Scotland could not secure the better and greater part there The Lawes of Ireland have not saved the Brittaines and Protestants from Massacres there and yet certainly both those Kingdomes are intitled to Lawes of as ample benefit and vigour as ours now is But what speake we of Common Lawes when even at this instant such a free subjects house is burnt and plundered by the Kings party in derision and despight of the Kings owne Proclamation and particular Placard granted for the safegard of himselfe and his family As our Judges preyed upon us heretofore in matters of State and Divines oppressed us in matters of Religion so our Martialists now have a power of spoyling above the generall Law or any particular protection If the King thinke fit to grant safety to such a person or such a Towne it must be provided alwayes that such a Dutch or Scotch Commander who conceives himselfe more skilfull in war then the King
unlesse they can prescribe to their vertues also Queene Elizabeth might with safety and expedience be trusted further then King Iames even in those things where the Law did not trust her but this is the misery of subjects all goes from them but nothing must returne The Court of a Prince is like the Lions den in the Fable all the beasts leave prints and steps advorsum but none retrorsum But the Replicant further assures us That t is very easie to assigne the bounds of these severall trusts for the Lawes and Customes of the Land determine both nor will his Maiestie he saies require any new trust to himselfe or deny any old trust to us Our great Divines were to bee admited for their profound knowledge in the mysteries of Law were they not Courtiers but now the King is presum'd to comprehend omnia jurd in scrinio Pectoris and so they by their residence at Court discerne all the secrets of Law and State in specule Imperii just as our heavenly Saints doe read all things else in speculo Trinitatis Our gravest Sages of the Law are much divided in points of lesse moment and intricacie and as for the precise metes and bounds where Soveraignty and Liberty are sever'd and the direct degrees of publike trust in all cases and at all times they looke upon them as grand difficulties scarce fit to be debated but in the sacred Court of Parliament and yet Clergie-men think them but the first rudiments of all knowledge obvious to very A. B. C-Darians C-Darians They alwayes boast of the knowne Lawes of the Kingdome in all disputes they referre us to the knowne Lawes and Customes of the Land as if Judges were things utterly needlesse and the study of Law meerely superfluous The Treshault Court of Parliament of whose determination our learnedst Judges will not thinke dishonourably cannot pierce into these known obvious Lawes and yet every Sophister can the Fountaines of Justice are now exhausted and yet the Cisternes remaine full But saies the Replicant If you seeke further security then the knowne Lawes the people will see that under the name of free subiects you take upon you the power of Kings Sir we desire to have our Lawes themselves secured to us which you may turne like our owne Canons against our selves if righteous and prudent Iudges be not granted us and all over-awing violence so prevented as that the fruit of their Iudgements be clearely and intirely conveyed to us And such securance is not incompatible with Monarchy for it is no more impeachment to Monarchy that the people should injoy then make lawes that they should be sharers in the power of declaring and executing then in the power of passing framing lawes but it is ou the contrary an evident impeachment to liberty if an equality of these three Priviledges be not at least shared with the people 3. As for the diametricall opposition in Religion and State betwixt us and our irreconcilable enemies of the Kings party The Replicant maintaines divers things and of the Papists and Delinquents he sayes That we have nothing against them but State Calumnies That the same justice may governe both if wee will submit to Law He beseeches us to tell what Religion we would have if that which the Martyrs scaled with their blood our Adversaries practise it and desire severe punishment upon all such as transgresse it he imputes to us a new Grced he sayes the King is to look upon friends or enemies in a Law notion only that Subjects must not give Lawes to Princes courtesies That our enemies if they be Traytors are to be tried at the Kings Bench the house of Commons having no right of Judicature The major part of our enemies are certainly either Papists or else such as are either over-awed or out witted by Papists T is true some part of our enemies knowes the truth of the Protestant Religion and the desperate antipathy of Papistry yet having in them the true power of no Religion but serving Mammon only for their worldly interests sake with which severity of Parliaments will not square they adhere to Papists little regarding what Religion stands or what falls Another part out of meere ignorance is carried away with the name King and the Professions of the King not at all looking into reason of State nor being able to judge of the same but the last sort of men are not so considerable either for their number or power or malice and therefore I shall not insist upon them The maine Engineers in this Civill Warre are Papists the most poysonous serpentine Iesuited Papists of the world All the Papists in Europe either pray for the prosperity of this designe or have contributed some other influence and assistance to it This warre was not the production of these two last yeares nor was England alone the field wherein the Dragons teeth were sowd Scotland was first attempted but the Protestant party there was too strong for the Papists and such of the English as joyned with them The conspiracies next broke out in Ireland where the Popish party being too strong for the Protestants the Tragedy has been beseeming Papists it has proved beyond all parallel bloody and if shipping were not wanting they might spare some aids for their fellow Conspirators here in England England is now in its agony bleeding and sweating under the sad conflict of two parties equally almost poized in force and courage The Papists themselves in England amount not to the twentieth arithmeticall part of Protestants and yet one papist in geometricall proportion may stand against twenty Protestants considering the papists with together with their adherents and considering also what they are that act over them and who they are that act under them What power the Romish Vice-god has in the Queen is known what power the Queen has in the King and what power the King and Queen have in the prelaticall Clergy and the Clergy in them reciprocally and what power the King Queen and Clergy have on a great number of irreligious or luke-warm protestants now made Delinquents and so further engaged as also upon all papists how all these have interests divided intwined how restlesly active they al are in pursuing their interests is not unkown Besides Ireland is a weakness Scotland is no strength to us all popish countries France Spain c. are likely to annoy us and the protestants in Denmark Holland c. have not power to restrain their Princes from combining further against us In this deplorable condition we have no friends to complain to and yet this Replicant tels us we have no enemies to complain of our very condoling against papists and delinquents he tearms State calumnies and slanders that have lost their credit by time and are confuted by experience O thou black mouth more black then thy coat hast thou no more remorse for all that pretetaut blood which delinquents have enabled papists
as has been set forth and every rationall and naturall thing loveth its own off-spring and that love is rather ascending then descending it is liker the sap of the root then of the branch viz. The people are more inclinable to love Princes then Princes to love the ' People There is likewise a neare consanguinity and reflexive benevolence of aspects between Lawes and Princes they are both of the same descent and tend to the same end and both are inviolable whilst they are assistant each to other the enemy of both has no hope to prevaile Si attribuat Rex legi quod lex attribuit ei T is retrograde also to nature that Princes whom God has set to feed his people and not without the creation of the people should think themselves more valuable then that people or that they should confine their thoughts to themselves as Gods despising the universality when God has called particular subjects their brethren and forbidden them to lift up their hearts above any of them Lastly that Princes which have as other men sinfull affections and are subject more then other men to sinfull temptations and are accountable to God therefore in a higher degree then other men should think it inglorious to deny their own irregular wills and to submit to Lawes Parliaments and the Publike prayers and advice of their subjects 't is a thing scarce credible The most expert Navigator preferres the guidance of his Needle before his own conceit the most tried Engineer wholly relies upon the certainty of his rule All Artists how rare soever apply themselves to their Instruments absolutely renouncing their skill and experience in comparison of Mechanick directions Only Princes chuse rather to erre with their own fancies and fancy feeding flatterers then to go right with publick advice and no mischiefe which can happen to themselves and millions of others by their error seems so unkingly to be suffered as a retractation from error But our Replicant has more particular objections against Parliaments As first That they have no cognizance of matters of State secondly That in matters of grace and pardon they have no power or right the King in those has an Arbitary sole authority Lawes ayme at Iustice Reason of state aimes at safety Law secures one subject from another Law protects subjects from insolence of Princes and Princes from sedition of Subjects so far as certaine rules may be given and written but reason of State goes beyond all particular formes and pacts and looks rather to the being then well-being of a State and seeks to prevent mischiefe forraign as well as Domestick by emergent Counsels and un-written resolutions Reason of State is something more sublime and imperiall then Law it may be rightly said that the Statesman begins where the Lawyer ceaseth for when warre has silenced Law as it often does Policy is to bee observed as the only true Law a kind of a dictatorian power is to be allowed to her whatsoeever has any right to defend it selfe in time of danger is to resort to policy in stead of Law and it is the same thing in the Replicant To deny to Parliaments recourse to reason of State in these miserable times of warre and danger as to deny them self-defence Many men especially Lawyers would fain have Law alone take place in all times but for my part I think it equally destructive to renounce reason of State and adhere to Law in times of great extremity as to renounce Law adhere to Policy in times of tranquillity Nothing has done us more harme of late then this opinion of adhering to Law only for our preservation the King and his party though they are too wise themselves to observe Law at all yet have wrought much upon the simpler sort of our side by objecting against us neglect of Law Certainly as our dangers now are it would bee good for us to adde more power to the Earle of Essex if he be thought the worthiest man of Trust amongst us as he has deserved no lesse estimation for till I see him lookt upon and served as a temporary Dictator and the bounds of his Commission to bee only this ne quid detrimenti capiat Respublica cavere I shall never think the Parliaments safety sufficiently provided for To frame any Arguments or reasons or to offer proofes that the Representative body of the Kingdome is a Counsell of State rather then a Court of Justice would shew me as foolish as the Replicants 't is impossible any man should doubt of it that does think the being is to bee preferred before the well being or that whole Nations have any interests either in their owne being or well being Let our Adversaries triumph in their owne conceits and when in the same case there is both matter of Law and State as in the case of Hull when the King had an interest rather in State then Law let them upbraid us for declining of Law I shall like that best which they dislike most in us I wish we had not observed Law too farre for they would never so-farrere commend it to us did they not know it might be sometimes unseasonable As for acts of grace and pardon I shall not much quarrel thereabout the Parliament can best advise the King how far it is fit to passe a Law of oblivion in these generall times of confusion And the Answerer of the London Petition affirmed nothing but that their advise therein was likely to be most wholsome which can hardly be contradicted And the Law is cleare enough that though the execution of Law be farre intrusted to the King and there is a dispensing power in Him so farre as he is supposed to be damnified or to be interested in the penalty yet where crimes have been committed against the whole State the King ought not and where particular men have been injured the King cannot suffocate frustrate or deny Justice 'T is against his Oath 't is against publike Liberty to deny satisfaction by stopping execution 4. But London is the most confiderable part of the Kingdome and the Petitioners the best part of London and the most to bee valued in other parts are inclined to the same request for peace therefore the Parliament ought to yeeld When our Adversaries please they can alledge numbers for their advantage as if the Major part of the people were cordially on the Kings side when they please they can give you reasons why the major part of the people are inchanted and therfore cannot be on the Kings side yet we all know the major part cannot be both for and against the King at the same time in the same case Besides divide England into 3. parts and we doe not allow London to be the major of those three and divide London into 3. parts and the Petitioners cannot make it appear that they are full one third part this must be attributed to our Replicants boldnesse meerly That which is manifest is
that most of the faulty and decayed Nobility and Gentry are of the Kings party and so are the Lees of the people but almost all of the Yeomenry which is the most considerable ranke of any Nation and a very choyse part both of Nobility and Gentry at this time side against the King and the Papists And it is impossible for any rationall man to imagine that the King has not infinite advantages against the Parliament if his cause be generally apprehended as the more just But sense teaches us the contrary that no King in the unjustest cause that ever was had a weaker party then this King considering what courses he has taken The King has an Army and such an Army as is able to force and overawe all places where they lye with swords drawne over the Pesants but cursed be that man for my part that next after God would not referre the arbitration of this difference to the publike vote of the people And yet we know that there is a great deal of servilty in the people and that for the most part they looke no further then to present grievances like Esau in his Pottage bargain chusing rather to dy for ever of a Lethargy then to sweat for a time under a Feaver 5. All Controversies are determined either by the Dye of Force and chance of War for so Nations have ever censur'd that kind of tryall or else they are concluded by Lawes justly interpreted or else there is a middle way which we call Accommodation and that is commonly when to avoid the mischiefe of the Sword and the uncertaine intricacie of Judgement both parties by mutuall agreement condiscend equally to depart from the rigor of their demands on either side and so comply accommodate and meet together upon termes as equall as may be Whersoever then the word Accommodation is pressed as it is now with us in the London Petition for the word Submission is not at all used 't is most absurd and contradictory to exclude a yeelding and compliance of both sides See then the manifest unjustice of our Replicant who when the matter of Accommodation onely is in Treaty yet urges us to a meere submission and taking it for granted that he is Judge and that he has determined the matter for the King therfore the King ought not to condiscend or comply at all or leave any thing to the Parliaments trust but must wholly be trusted in every point 6. The King requires to have preserved to him for the future that compasse of Royall power which his Progenitors have been invested with and without which he cannot give protection to his Subjects The Parliament desires to have preserved to the Subject peace safetie and all those priviledges which their Ancestors have enjoyed without which they cannot be a Nation much lesse a free Nation Now the Militia and Posse of the Kingdome must be so placed and concredited and that the King may be as equally assured of it as the Parliament or else without all Accommodation the King must be left to the Fidelity and duty of Parliament or else the Parliament must be wholly left to the Kings discretion or rather to the Kings party In this case what shall be done the Parliament pleads that the King has resigned himselfe too far into the hands of Papists and Malignants from whom nothing can be expected but perfidie and cruelty The King objects that the Parliament is besotted with Anabaptists Brownists Familists and Impostors from whom nothing can be expected but disloyalty and confusion If the King here will grant any security against Papists and Malignants the question is what security he will give and if hee will give none the question is how he can be said to sâ—eke an Accommodation so on the contrary if the Parliament will undertake to secure the King as that is granted then what must that securance be I will now take it for granted that the King ought to abjure for the future the giving of countenance to Papists or being counseiled or led by them in State matters as also to disband his Forces and that the Parliament will doe the like and abjure all dangerous Schismaticks and Hereticks But for a further tye to strengthen this abjuration and for a securance against Malignants who are not yet so perfectly distinguisht on either side what shall be the reciprocall caution or ingagement Shall the King have all Forts Ships Armes and Offices in his dispose Shall the King assigne to what Judges he pleases the division of our quarrels or shall be trust his Parliament in the choise and Approbation of persons intrusted I will not dispute this I will onely say that the nature of an Accommodation requires some condescending on both sides and it is manifest injustice in the Replicant to prejudge the same as unbeseeming the King more then the Parliament and in all probability the Parliament is likely to condiscend upon more disadvantageous terms then the King and is lesse lyable to be missed and lesse apt to break a trust then any one man 7. To shew that the Parliament is disaffected to an Accommodation and the King not that therefore a Petition to the Parliament is more proper seasonable then to the King The Replicant bitterly reviles the Parliament as having punished some for seeking peace and as having rejected the Kings gracious offers of peace with termes of incivility below the respect due to a King What more damnable crimes can any man load the Parliament with then with rebelling against the King first after rejecting officers of peace with foule and scandalous language Yet this the Replicant freely grants to himselfe and as if hee were placed in some tribunall above the Parliament where all allegations and proofes were utterly super fluous he proceeds to sentence very imperiously For ought I know I am as venerable and unquestionable a judge in this case as hee is yet I dare condemn nothing but rash and presumptuous condemning of authority without prooses and for that I have Scripture it selfe for my proofe As for the Kings comming to Brainford in a mist and during a Treaty and there surprising men unprepared and retiring againe upon the drawing up of our forces that these are instances of seeking peace and shewing favour to the city is not so cleare to my understanding as to the Replicants 8. But sayes the Replicant you grant that the people may perhaps find out a better way of Accommodation then you have done and you allow them to petition when you faile of your duty And this must needs overthrow the strongest and most popular argument of your innocence and authority The Parliament did never assume to have an absolute freedome from all failes or Errors nor does detract from other mens knowledge it vindicates nothing more then to bee lesse obnoxicus to deceit and perversenesse then other Courts and that the rather because it disdaines not any advise or reason from any
parties whatsoever 9. The Answerer demanded from the Petitioners a modell of an Accommodation to bee framed by them for the better help and instruction of the Parliament The Replicant satisfies that Demand Hee makes two propositions thus 1 That the Parliament shall as readily consent to the Kings Rights as the King consents to theirs 2. That the Reigne of Queen Elizabeth may be the measure to determine those rights In this the Replicant is very reasonable for we freely submit to both his propositions but he is not so Politick as he thinks for a submission to these generall propositions will not determine any one of our Particular debates Let us be safe as wee were in Queen Elizabeths dayes and let us be secured of our safety by the same meanes as Queen Elizabeth secured us That is by shewing no countenance to Papists much lesse admitting them as Counsellors least of all as Governors in her highest Councells let wise men generally loved and revered sit at the Councell Table and let the Publick advise of Parliament sway above all private let our Lawes be in the Custody of learned and uncorrupt Iudges and let our Militia be under the Command of such renowned Patriots as shee preferred in her dayes and our Accommodation is more ample and beneficiall then any we have yet desired But our Replicant will suggest Be you such Subjects as Queen Elizabeth ruled and King Charles will treat you as Queen Elizabeth did her Subjects doe you right first to the King and the King will not faile to doe right to you Here is now the maine Question indeed which rightly solved would solve all whether these deplorable miseries which have of late vexed and grieved our three Nations have rather hapned from the Change of the People or from the Change of the Prince And most certaine it is future Ages will conceive no great doubt or difficulty to be in this Question but now it is mortall to dispute it it is scarce lawfull to suppose any thing herein Though supponere be not ponere but by way of supposition I will only plead thus if the three Nations have by I know not what fatall posture and Congresse of stars or superior Causes declined from their allegiance and degenerated into unnaturall obstinacy and turned recreant and contrary to the sweet Genius which was ever in their Ancestors they are bound to submit to the King to put in him as full and absolute a Trust as our Parents did in Queen Elizabeth but on the contrary if miscarriages in government and the pernicious Counsells whereby our Princes have been guided have overwhelmed us in these inundations of blood and mischiefes the Alteration and Reformation ought to begin first in the King and He cannot expect that we should trust him so farre as we did Queen Elizabeth untill we are assured as fully of his protection as we were of Queen Elizabeths but suppose there have been faults on both sides can nothing but the sword rectifie our faults I never yet heard that any Prince was forced to a warre with any considerable part of his own Subjects but that he had an unjust cause or might have determined the strife without bloud by some Politick Complyance if he pleased It is not so common or probable in nature for Nations causlesly to rebell as for Princes wickedly to oppresse and when armes are taken up on both sides it is not so safe for Subjects to yeeld as for Kings nor can Subjects so easily reduce Kings to a peaceable agreement and cessation of Armes as Kings may Subjects for the sparing of blood Kings can make no composition almost dishonourable or disadvantagious but Subjects being falne into the indignation of revengfull Princes are necessitated commonly to this choyce either to come forth with halters about their necks or to fight upon great disadvantages as Rebellious as the Subjects of Rehoboam were a kind may a Civill Answer might have retayned them in their allegiance and yet if their termes had been full of insolence and their Capitulations more unreasonable yet Salomon's Councellors would have perswaded Rehoboam to yeild to necessity and to master that multitude by some finenesse of wit which he could not Tame for the present by violence And certainly he shewed not himself the Son of Salomon that would not purchase an hereditary Empire over a gallant Nation by being a Servant for one day that would quit his own policy because the multitude had quitted their civilstie that thought that Complyance which should gaine a scepter more dishonourable than that Contestation which should absolutly forfeit one How easy had it been for the great the wise the terrible Philip of Spaine to have prevented the totall defection of so many goodly Provinces in the Netherlands and if it could not have been done without something which is ordinarily accounted below a K. would not that have been more honourably done by him then the casting away also brave a Dominion and the casting after that so much blood â—â—â—sure That King of France was far wiser and sped better which satisfied himselfe in his strugling through many difficulties with this Maxime That a Prince can loose no honour by any Treaty which addes to his Dominion Infinite instances might here bee alleadged but they are needlesse God send our King truly to represent these things to himselfe and rather to trust plain then pleasing advice God open his eyes that he may see how honorably and easily he might heve preuented these calamities and may yet stanch our bleeding wounds and how much more difficult it is and unsafe for the Parliament to compose things unlesse he or rather his Party be equally disposed to hearken to peace Hen. the 4. was as wise as valiant and as just a Prince as ever was Crowned in England and no Prince ever had by experience a more perfect understanding of the English Geâ—ius yet he in his death bed where dissimulation uses to be laid aside in his last advice to his own son and heire whom it was not likely he would willingly deceive deciphered the English Nation to be generally observant of their Princes and whilst they were well treated and preserved in Peace and plenty most incomparable for their perfect inviolable loyalty but of all nations the most unquiet under such a harsh rule which should render them servile poore and miserable This he had abundantly prooved and found true by the wofull deposition of his unpolitick Kinsman and predecessor Rich. the 2. and his own prosperous and glorious Raigne and many strange traverses of Fortune which throughout his whole Raigne He was forced to encounter withall His scope therefore was to recommend to his sons charge this Nation both as dutiful and as generous of whose loyalty he needs not to doubt so long as his Iustice was not to be doubted O that this most Excellent Prince could bee againe summoned from his peacefull Monument to repeate the same advertissements in our
Soveraignes cares and to justle out of his presence these bloud thirsty Papists and Malignants which use all possible art to staine the peoplâ—s loyalty and to candy over all his actions intending thereby not to reconcile the people by procuring grace from the King but to confound both King and people by fostering enmity between both I will only adde this by such instigations as our Replicant and his fellow Courtiers use the King cannot be happy but by the uncertainty of war that is by making his subjects miserable but such Traytors as I am if our advise bee entertained propose to the King a more certaine way to happinesse by Peace that is by making his subjects yet more happy but our Replicant sith the King is willing to condescend to any thing but you will admit of no reconciliation except the King will remove those servants whom he had found must honest and faithfull in his afflictions and prefer you undeserving in their place Here is the grand knot indeed we oppose such as have been the Counsellors or instruments of such and such designes the King saith they are his friends and he cannot abandon his friends 't is confest the King ought not to abandon his friends but the King may erre in the knowledge of friends and as he ought to protâ—ct his friends in whom he cannot err so he is not bound to protect such as he meerly thinks his friends and in whom if he will beleeve the voyce of the people he is very much deceived We have as much interest in the Kings friends and Counsellors as we have in our Laws Liberties lifes any thing for we know we can enjoy nothing if the King shall owne those for his friends whom we know to be our enemies and account of these as good Counseils which we know to be treasons against the State that Prince that will be arbitrary and rely upon his owne meer opinion and discretion in the imployment of Counsellors and Ministers of State having no regard to publique approbation therein is as injurious altogether as he that will admit of no other Law judge nor rule in the propriety and liberty of his subjects but his owne brest only It will be replyed not fancy but sense teaches this that he that obeyes the Kings commands and fights under the Kings Standart is more a friend than he that disobeyes and fight against the King this is demonstration no error can be in it I answer no 't is most false Scripture and reason manifest it to be most false Doeg did obey Saul when all his other servants denyed obedience yet even in that obedience he made himselfe culpable and his master abominable whereas the other servants of Saul were dutifull in withholding an unlawfull duty So those 3000 Souldiers which marched out after Saul to take away the life of just and uncondemned David they were instruments in a base disservice to Saul they are not to be justified for this service whereas those 600 valiant men which accompanied David in his dangers and afflictions and were ready with their sword drawn to guard that innocence which Saul himself should have guarded are not to be accounted false to Saul but true to David And the meere presence of Saul on the one side did not make the cause unjust on the other side nor if himself had fallen by rushing oftentimes upon defensive weapons could that horrid guilt of his death have been imputed to any but to himself Cursed therefore yea thrice cursed be these miscreants which ingage the King in this war against the Parliam not without hazard of his sacred Person if they be private persons and have not sufficiency to decide this great controversie betwixt the King and Parliament For my part I dare not pronounce sentence neither for nor against the Parliament as the Replicant without all scruples doth in all places but I may safely say that if the King does though in person unjustly wage war against the Parliament the E of Essex and his Army may far more lawfully fight in defence of that supreame Court than David and his followers did for the protection of one innocent private man And taking the controversie as undecided 't is not apparent who fight for or against the King and the King may himself as lawfully claime to be sole supreme judge over all single and universal persons and over all Laws and Courts and in all cases whatsoever as to claime any man a Traitor for serving the Parliament in this war and this if he claimes what Priviledge remaines to Parliament what limits remaine to the Prince what liberty remainâ—s to the Subjects 'T is not only then trayterous but ridiculous in the Replicant to assume that supremacy to himself which is denyed to the King by condemning the Parliament and justifying the Kings party in all passages of this War we whâ—n we except against the Kings party asperse not at all the Kings person and the Law it â—elf makes ever a distinction betwixt the King and his agents though our Replicant will not allow any such severance but betwixt the Pâ—rlâ—am and its instruments no such severance is except for the worse for there pejor est author quam actor but sayes the Replicant 'T is the unhappinesse of the King that he hath a party 't is the fault of the Parliament he desires and ought to have the whole See here 't is the Parliaments fault that Percy Digby Winter Mountague Crofts Killegrew and many other of the Queens devoted Creatures are preferred in the Kings favour before the Parliament And 't is the Parliaments fault that Rivers King and the Titular Court of the Palatinate with some other Irish Papists latly come over have the honour of the Court command of the Camp and spoyle of the Kingdom to reward them whilst Manchester Hambden Hellis Pim Strod Haselrig are designed for the â—lock and that upon such charges as shall intangle almost all the most eminent Gentry and Nobility as well as them That this is the Kings unhappinesse is aggreed but that this is the Parliaments fault is not proved by the Replicant and we are not bound alwayes to abate him proofes in matters of this consequence Doubtlesse we are likely to expect great performances from Parliaments here after if it shall be guilt in them that they are rejected and if they shall be rejected only because other more favoring Courtiers pretend better affection to the Kings private advantage The actions of Popish and Malignant Courtyers cannot represent them more friendly to the K. than the Parliaments No honour or prosperity has followed hitherto therupon all their difference is that their single professions of Love are more credited than such as are credited by the Votes of the Generality and attestations of Parliament Howsoever though many men do think private advise and testimony to be more valuable and fit for Princes to hearken too then publick I never till now heard that it was
a fault or blame in Parliaments to be lesse valued or accepted then private persons To what purpose is it said that the King ought to have the whole it is our complaint that the King will not accept of the whole and it is the Replicants complaint that the King is not suffered to injoy the whole This shall reconcile all let the whole be received as the whole and every part as it is Major or Minor be entertained in grace and equipage proportionably and this difference is composed 10 But sayes the Replicant the Kings party is the more just and therefore to be preferred and this is to be judged of by rule as thus the Parliament intrenches upon our Liberty by imprisoning without cause according to pleasure and claimes to be unquestionable therein The Parliament intrenches upon Religion by committing our best Professors and planting Sectaries in their stead the Parliament proceeds according to reason of State not Law and this places an arbitrary power in them and makes ordinances equall to acts of Parliament Heare in a breif summe all that ever has been spoken or can be spoken against the Parliament and all this is grounded upon an ungranted proposition that the Parliament has no right to defend it self For if it be lawfull for both Houses of Parliament to defend themselves it must of necessity follow that they may and must imprison levye moneyes suppresse seditious preachers and make use of an arbitrary power according to reason of State and not confine themselves to meere expedients of Law Enough has been said of this 't is impossible that any wise man should be opposite herein and the Kings party have more recourse to reason of State and arbitrary power by far than we have But if it be said that the Houses abuse arbitrary power in imprisoning levying moneyes c. causelesly this is a false calumny and not to be granted without particular and pregnant proofes of which the Replicant produces none at all were it not for this great noise and boast of Arbitrary power our Academians would want matter to stuffe their in numerable pamphlets withall and the sillyer sort of Malignants would want fuell to feed their enmity And yet we know Arbitrary power is only dangerous in one man or in a few men and cannot be so in Parliaments at any time much lesse in times of publick distresse for then it is not only harmlesse but necessary The House of Commons without the other States hath had an arbitrary power at all times to dispose of the treasure of the Kingdome and where they give away one subsidy they may give 20 and where they give 50000l at one subsidy they may give fifty times so much and all this whether war or peace be Yet when did either King or Subject complaine of this arbitrary power Nay if any parts of the Kingdom have repined at the abuse of this arbitrary power and refused to pay subsidys assessed by the house of Commons what Kings would suffer it when was it not held a good ground of War so both Houses have an arbitrary power to abridge the freedom of the Subject and to inlarge the Kings prerogative beyond a measure they may repeale our great Charter the Charter of Forrests and the petition of right if they please they may if they please subject the whole Kingdom for ever to the same arbitrary rule as France grones under nay they have often been with force and all manner of sollicitations almost violented into it and yet not withstanding all this we are neither terrifyed nor indangered at all by this arbitrary power in both houses To have then an arbitrary power placed in the Peers and Comm. is naturall and expedient at all times but the very use of this arbitrary power according to reason of State and warlick policy in times of generall dangers and distresse is absolutely necessary and inevitable but 't is a great offence that both Houses should make ordinances generally binding They which would take from us all meanes of defence if they could dispute us out of the power of making temporary Ordinances had their wils upon us for defence without some obliging power to preserve order and to regulate the method of defence would be vaine and absurd but this is but one branch of arbitrary power and reason of State and to wast time in proving it necessary in times of extremity if defence be granted lawfull were childish and ridiculous I have now done with the Replicant so far as he hath spoken to the matter I shall now come to his emergent strange calumnious speeches against the persons of such and such men but this were Caninos rodere dentes I forbeare it only rehearsing some raylings which need no answer but themselves The two houses are generally railed at as guilty of Rebellion against the King All adherents to Parliament are railed at as Anabaptists Separatists c. The Lord Major is railed at for preventing bloudshed in the City when the Petitioners under the pretence of seeking for Peace had many of them plotted diffention and this his Office is stiled the stiffling of peace in the womb The City Preachers are railed at for satisfying our Consciences in the justifiablenesse of a defensive war for this they are charged to fight against the King in the feare of God and to turn the spirituall Militia into weapons of the flesh The framer of the Answer is rayled at for giving the Petitioners just satisfaction in peaceable language Though his words be confessed to be sofier than oyle yet 'ts said that the poyson of Aspes is under his lips he is called a Cataline the firebrand of his Countrey whose sophistry and eloquence was fit to disturbe a State but unable to compose or setle it The judgment of all these things is now submitted to the world what the intent of the Petition was in some master-plotters and contrivers of it will appeare by the arguments of this fell Replicant Whereby it is now seconded That the name of an Accomodation was pretended to force the two Houses under colour therof to cast themselves upon a meer submission or to be made odious and lookt upon as foes to peace which was a Scilla on one side and Charybdis on the other is here manifested Whether the Answer to the Petition savour of so much malice and enmity to peace as this Replication does let indifferent men censure Lastly whether the soule of that man which thirsts for a firme Peace may not dislike these practises of pretending to it and the soule of that man which hates peace may not make advantage of the name of peace let all wise men proved and examine FINIS