any that hath such Letters â—f Mark or Reprisal from any foreign â—rince or State whatsoever nor otherwise â—mploy themselves in any warlike serâ—ices of any foreign State upon the Sea â—ithout special license obtained from our â—elf or from our High Admiral as they will answer the contrary at their perils And for as much as although we are in peace with all Christian Princes and States yet during the continuance oâ— the War between the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes on the one side and the United Provinces of the Lowâ— Countries on the other side many chances may happen as some already have hapned of difficult interpretation to our Officers and Subjects how to behave themselves in such Cases unless they be explained unto them We have thought it convenient to make anâ— open Declaration how our said Officers and Subjects shall demean themselves toward the Subjects as well of the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes as also of the States united in the Cases following First our pleasure is that within our Ports Havens Roads Creeks or other places of our Dominions or so near to any of our said Ports or Havens as may be reasonably construed to be within that Title limit or precinct there shall be no force violence surprise or offence suffered to be done either from man of War to man of War or man of War to Merchant or Merchant to Merchant of either party but that all of â—hat Nation soever so long as they â—all be within those our Ports and plaâ—s of our Jurisdiction or where our â—fficers may prohibit violence shall be â—nderstood to be under our protectiâ—n to be ordered by course of Justice â—nd be at peace each with other And whereas some of the men of War of each side have used of late and â—â— is like will use in time to come though â—ot to come within our Ports because â—here they know we can restrain vioâ—ence yet to hover and hang about the â—kirts of our Ports somewhat to Seaâ—oard but yet so near our Coasts and â—he entry of our Harbours as in reason â—s to be construed to be within the exâ—ent of the same and there to await the Merchant of the adverse part and do â—eize and take them at their going out of our Ports which is all one in a manner as if they took them within our Port and will be no less hindrance to the trade of Merchants Our pleasure therefore and commandment is to all our Officers and Subjects by Sea and Land that they shall prohibit as muâ—â— as in them lieth all such hovering 〈◊〉 men of War of either side so neâ—â— the entry of any of our Havens 〈◊〉 our Coasts and that they shall receiâ—â— and succour all Merchants and other that shall fall within the danger of anâ— such as shall await our Coasts in so neaâ— places to the hindrance of Trade anâ— Traffique outward and homeward from and to our Kingdomes And foâ— the better instructions of our Officeâ— in the execution of these two Articleâ— We have caused to be sent to theâ— plats of those limits within which 〈◊〉 are resolved that these Orders shall bâ— observed And where it hath happened and 〈◊〉 like to do often that a ship of War 〈◊〉 the one side may come into some of ouâ— Ports where there â—â—all be a Merchanâ— of the other side In such Case for thâ— benefit and preservation of the lawfuâ—â— Trade of Merchants our pleasure is that all Merchants ships if they will require it shall be suffered to depart ouâ— of the said Port two or three Tide before the man of War to the intent that the Merchant may be free from the pursuit of his Adversary and it it so happen that any ship or ships of War of the one side do find any ship or ships of War of the other side in any our Ports or Roads aforesaid like as our pleasure is that during there abode there all violence be forborn so do we likewise command our said Officers and Subjects both on Sea and Land that the ship of War which came in first be suffered to depart a Tide or two before the other which came in last and that for so long time they shall stay and detain any ship of War that would offer to pursue another out of any of our Ports immediately And where we are informed that notwithstanding the severity of our Laws against Receivers of Pyrates goods many of our Officers of our Ports and other Inhabitants within and near unto them do receive daily goods brought in from Sea by such as are indeed Pyrates if they and the getting of their Goods were well examined we do hereby admonish them all to avoid the receiving or buying of any goodâ— from sea coming not into the Realm by lawful course of merchandize for that they shall find we are resolved so to prevent all occasion and encouragement of Pyrates to be used by any ouâ— Subjects as we will cause our Laws to be fully executed according to their true meaning both against the Pyrates and all Receivers and Abettors of them and their goods Given at Thetford the first day of March in the second year of our Reign of Great Britain c. Anno Dom 1605. in An. Reg. Jac. 3. An Act for the granting of three entire Subsidies and six Fisteenths and Tenths granted by the Temporaltie to His Majesty with the reasons why granted and the great advantages his Majesty hath been to this Kingdom MOst Gracious Soveraign as at the first entrance of your Majesty into this Kingdom there appeared universally in all your Loving Subjects greater demonstrations of affection towards your Royal person than ever hath been observed towards any former King upon a joyful and foreruning expectation of your Majesties Religious Just and Gracious Government so finding by the grounded experience of three years now compleat of the same your happy Government that your Majesty hath turned our hopes into sensible and actual benefits we cannot but still settle and increase in Love Zeal and Duty towards you which we think fit more and more to make manifest to your Majesty not by externe showes but by real effects And therefore We your most Loving and Loyal Subjects being by your Royal Authority assembled in Parliament to consult of the great and important causes of this your Kingdom have entred into due consideration both of your Majesties great Benefit and of your present estate in the support whereof the continuance of these benefits doth principally consist wherein we do in the first place call to mind that by Gods great mercies and blessing and your Majesties Religious care in execution of the good Laws for that purpose ordained the true Religion of Almighty God freed and delivered from the servitude of blind and Forrain superstition is continued unto us and that in such sort as considering your Majesties constant and Judicial profession thereof and the Religious Education of your Children we rest assured that
they assail me in my Strength and shall find my Deeds as ready and confident Justifications as my Words But it is not my Faith or Aspiring they here would bring in doubt they have a further Strain For as before they made my Name a Fume to disquiet the Head now they make it a Poyson to carry Infection into the Body For What is the Parliament but the Body of the Kingdom And why do they stain it with the hateful Name of Puritan but to make it odious to the King Indeed such Names help the Jesuits in Disputes of Religion when they are driven from all real Defences and would they practice this deploâ—able Art in the Matters of State if they were not in his Case that called Christ Galilean when he was vanquished by his Power For who knoweth not the Upper House of Parliament consisteth of all the Preâ—ates and Peers and the Nether House of near 500 Knights and Burgesses Elected and sent out of all Parts of â—he Kingdom And are all these Puâ—itans Do my Plots receive better Enâ—ertainment amongst them than with â—he Council of State And doth this reâ—roachful Comparison honour or disâ—onour those Able and Wise Men who are here presented to be well â—ffected to their Cause but their end â—as no Man's Honour It was to break â—he Parliament by setting Faction aâ—ongst the Members of both Houâ—es as well as with the Head and their â—and is most evident in misrepresenting the Case For where they say that almost every one of the Council both liked and allowed of the Propositions of the Catholick King and found therein no Cause to dissolve the Treaty They conceal that the Proposition was then made for the Palatinate alone supposing the Treaty of the Marriage should proceed And in that Case it mighâ— seem reasonable to very Wise Menâ— that the other Treaty should not bâ— broken off But in Parliament where both Parties come in Question together not one of those Able and Wise Men for they were all Memberâ— of the one House or the other dissented from the Council of dissolving them both The Altars of Provocation may then be objected to Worshippers of Saints or to them that appeal to their Idol at Rome and noâ— to Us who acknowledge no Sovereign upon Earth but our King to whom both Council of State and Parliament yield Odedience in all things How then may it be said thaâ— the Parliament is now above the King Or how can they hope that such shameless and impious Suggestions can make a prudent and good King jealous and doubtful of a most obsequious and dutiful People Especially at this time when it may truly be said That the Spirit of Wisdom in the Heart of the King hath wrought the Spirit of Unity in the Hearts of his Subjects which made the Success more happy than former Parliaments have had And this indeed is the matter which the Devil and they storm at For who can doubt that they and their Faction cannot endure without much trouble of Mind as they confess to see the weightiest Affairs and of greatest Moment to be now referred to the Censure of the Parliament when their fair Promises and Pretences can no longer prevail Yet let them tell us what greater and more Honourable Senate they have seen in Spain or elsewhere Besides Do not the very Writs for the Summons of Parliament express That is for the great and weighty Affairs of the Kingdom And have not our greatest and wisest Kings heretofore referred Treaties of Leagues of Marriages of Peace and War and of Religion it self to the Consultations of their Parliaments Those then that take upon them to undervalue this High Court do but expose their own Judgments to Censure and Contempt not knowing that Parliaments as they are the Honour and Support so they are the Hand-maids and Creatures of our Kings inspired formed and governed by their Power And if Charles the Fifth oâ— France by his Parliament of Paris recovered a great part of that Kingdom from this Crown and if Succeeding Kings there by the Assistance of that Court redeemed the Church from the Tyranny of the Pope We have no cause to doubt that our King by the Faithful Advice Assistance and Service of his Parliament shall be able both to recover the Palatinate which they here make so difficult and to protect our Neighbours and Allies and either to settle such a Peace as we really desire or to execute such Vengeance as God's Justice and their Sins shall for their Ambition assuredly draw upon them But they proceed and tell the King that it is said I have propounded many things to the Parliament in his Name without his Advice or Consent nay contrary to his Will And is not this to abuse the Ears and patience of a Prince to tell him many things are said and yet neither specifie the Matters nor the Men Or is not this to dally with my Name by Hear-says when with a harsh and incoherent Transition they suddenly fall upon â—he Prince who is the next true Mark their Malice shooteth at And when Malice it self cannot but acknowledge his Ingenuity and great Gifts and that in all things he shewâ—th himself an obedient and good â—on yet these Attributes they will â—eeds qualifie with a Nevertheless which cannot charge me as with a â—ault that I am confident in his Favour Or that I therefore despise all men to which Vice of all other my Nature is least inclin'd but indeed taxeth the Prince at least with participation of my ill Intentions by suffering me to make those persons subject to my Will which are most conformable to His. Whom they mean I know not but pray God that those Men they thus recommend to his Highness's neareâ— Trust prove not more dangerous to his Person than I have hitherto been refractory to his Will But having shot this Bolt they come back again to me as to their Stalking-horse to chuse a new Mark. And first for a preparative to the Prince Attention they wish that my Action were directed to his Good Then tâ— give at least some Varnish to theiâ— Work they tell him that good me believe meaning such as believe theâ— with an implicite Faith that I whâ— have imbroiled the Match with Spain will not be less able to break any other his Highness should affect iâ— which Speech if a Man will dive tâ— the Bottom of their Malice he must descend into Hell But for the Match with Spain can any man believe that his Majesty sent his Son that he went in Person that he both trusted Spain so far and did that Kingdom so much Honour and yielded to such Conditions or that I underwent that Hazard and Charge and pressed their King importuned his Favorite and Council and subjected my self to so many Indignities or that so great a Fleet even into their own Ports with Minds to interrupt or embroil or not rather to remove all Impediments to â—asten the Marriage and to bring â—ome
Respect and Affection his Majesty ever bore to the most Illustrious House of Austria the former motion for the Marriage of Prince Henry who is with God did proceed But that brake as the World knoweth by incongruous Propositions on either part Since then an Overture being entertain'd in France for Prince Charles that succeeded And Notice thereof being gotten in Spain both the Duke of Lerma and their Ambassador the now Count Gondomer were imploy'd to divert that Match by negotiating a Second Treatie for a Daughter of that Kingdom And that with such Protestations for the accommodating of all former differences of Religion and State and for so great a Portion and with so Royal Conditions that his Majesty therupon was persuaded to give Instructions to that purpose to his Ambassador in Spain wherupon they proceeded not only to Treat and to Article but even to the granting of Commissions and powers to contract And all this while no Stop no Difficulty was proposed which they made not light and easie to pass over Nay the Ingagements were so potent that the Wars of Bohemia then happening upon confidence that their Forces should not attempt the Palatinate his Majesty forbore to assist or countenance his own Son-in-law And thereupon ensued the loss of the Battle of Prague the disbanding of the Union and under colour of restoring the Conquest of that Country and the disposing of the Electorate to another Prince and in the mean time to add Scorn to Loss his Majesty was drawn with great Charge to send Ambassadors to Prague to Vienna to Heidelbergh to Bruxels to mediate for Truce for Cessation of Arms or for Peace as best suited for their Advantage whilst by cross Letters or secret Intelligences they cooled or kindled their promised Mediation and kept us still in appetite and hope by our own Ministers and their assuring us of the Match At length the Treaty at Brussels gave the first Jealousie that their Intentions were indirect And thereupon his Majesty sent Porter into Spain with a peremptory Direction to return in ten days and to bring express Answer from the King whether according to the promise made by his Ministers he would cause the Palatinate to be restored Or if by Mediation he could not prevail whether he would joyn in Arms to recover it by force or at least give Passage for the King's Forces thither The Return brought by Porter was cold and unsatisfactory and withal delayed longer than here was expected And this moved the Prince more seriously to consider how by holding us in Treaty they had gotten full Possession of his Sisters Estates they had scattered and broken most of our Allies they would in short time eat out our Neighbours And every day gained upon us in matter of Religion And this wrought in him that Princly and Heroical Resolution to go in person into Spain either with Honour and Contentment of both Nations to consummate that Marriage which his Heart was so constantly set upon or else to free both his Father and Himself from being any longer abused with delays This Counsel his Highness was pleased to communicate with me and to make me his Servant to break it to the King which I did accordingly And His Majesty after long and deep deliberation was contented to give way and commanded me to wait upon him in his Journey So we undertook it with that Adventure Charge Danger and Travel both of Body and Mind which I need not speak of and yet with that Courage and Alacrity and with that Constancy which the confidence of Love and the hope of good Success do usually bring forth in young men And to shew how great this demonstration was of His Majesty and the Princes affections and desires to settle a sure interest and correspondency with that Royal House I know not how to express by any parallel on Earth I must do it by looking up to a Transcendent in Heaven whence the Father sent his Son and his Son gave himself for their love to Mankind So at the first the great Obligation put hereby upon all Spain was acknowledged and magnified by their Oracle Conde d' Olivares who in thankfulness concluded it must needs be a Match and that the two Kings of Great Britain and Spain must part the world betwixt them But this was the flourish of a mind which found it self surprized and was not yet resolved in what mould to cast it self For the very next day upon second thoughts he mixed a specious welcome with a great deal more strangeness and with a disavowing of all that was past spake of the match as of a new thing forgetting even the Laws of Hospitality and Honour propounded an uncouth Condition to the Prince of changing his Religion as if all former agreed Articles by the Advantage of this honour done unto them had been utterly disanull'd And when the Prince's brave constancy put them from this hold then they cast all upon the Popes Dispensation which must be expected before any thing could be done But in the mean time the Prince being in their power what Difficulties what Jealousies what Fâ—ars were raised up what Arts of Divines what Councels what Persuasions and what Engines were used to batter a young but well resolved Heart were too long to repeat At length the Dispensation came clogg'd both in matter and manner contrary to agreement and new Conditions were also stood upon either to draw the Prince by accepting them under their yoke or by refusing to make him the Author of the breach Notwithstanding by his care wisdom and patience and also with some resentment and shew of Resolution to depart unsatisfied their expectation was gone beyond and thereupon the Match brought again to some tollerable terms tho' advantageous on their part yeâ— such as thereupon the sending away oâ— the Infanta with the Prince a Blank for the restoring the Palatinate were again promised and assured if these Conditions might be ratified in England which was all they now required Insomuch that even in Spain it was then believed and much rejoyced at that the Match was fully concluded on all parts But it is to be noted that this fair shew was made whilst Mansfieldâ— and Brownsweek stood entire in the field for after they were broken tho' all was done in England according to their desires yet then they found it too late to send the Infanta till the Spring they complained that their Rebels in the Low-Countryes were served by our men they required our assistance to reduce them to obedience and the matter of Religion was meanly insisted on so that now the Prince could not but understand that he was but juggled with as himself has declared and therefore he began to make way for his return which was all the hope left him to make â—his a good Voyage And because they â—till bare him in hand that they intenâ—ed that Maâ—ch he was still contented â—o pursue the Treaty so as the restiâ—ution of the
under Gods favour we shall comfortably enjoy the same to us and our posterity for ever Next to Religion and peace with God we will Remember that Universal peace of State both at home and abroade which under your Christian and prudent Government we enjoy whereof we have the less reason to doubt any interruption when we behold the Greatness and reputation of your Majesties power and the goodness and Excellency of your Royal disposition whereof the latter is not like â—o give the cause or occasion and the â—ormer is likely to abate the Courage â—nd forces of any hostile attempts And â—astly we cannot but with unspeakable â—oy of heart consider of that blessing which having respect to later times in â—his state is rare and unwonted which â—s the blessed fruit and Royal Issue of â—ingular towardness and comfort which God hath given your Majesty with â—reat hope of many the like these being â—ndeed as arrows in the hand of the Mighty able to dant your Enemies â—nd to assure your loving subjects and â—o safe-guard your Royal person and to sheild and protect each other and to be a pledge to us and our posterity of future and perdurable felicity The benefits and blessings dread Soveraign amongst many others as we gladly acknowledge to your Majesties great honour and our great comfort So nevertheless having upon mature advice concluded to present to your Majesty a gift in proportion and speed of payment exceeding all former presidents of Parliament and the times of Peace considered we do further think fit to add and express those reasons special and extraordinary which have moved us hereunto lest the same our doing may be drawn into President to the prejudice of the State of our Countrey and our posterity A first and principal reason is thaâ— late and monstrous attempt of that cursed crew of desperate Papists to have destroyed your Excellent Majesty the Queen and your Royal Progeny together with the Reverend Prelates Nobility and Commons of this Land â—ssembled in Parliament to the great confusion if not subversion of this Kingdom the barbarous malice in â—ome unnatural subjects we have â—hought fit to check and encounter with the certain demonstration of the â—niversal and undoubted Love of your Loyal and Faithful Subjects not only for the present to breed in your Maâ—esty a more confident assurance of our uttermost aides in proceeding with a princely resolution to repress them and to furnish your Majesty against hostile attempts both by Sea and Land out also for the future times to give â—heir Patrons and partakers to understand that your Majesty can never want in this Kingdom meanes of defence of your rights revenge of your wrongs and support of your estate A second reason is that memorable benefice wherewith it hath pleased the Divine providence in great grace and favour to bless this Nation in your Majesties person by addition of another Kingdom whereby both ancient hostilities are quite extinguished and all footing and approaches of any For rainer in this Island are excluded and your Majesties other Dominions the more secured which happy event was nevertheless attended with sundry rare and necessary circumstances of charge now at your Majesties first entrance and setling such as the like hath not been in former times nor is like to be in suceeding ages A third and most urgent reason is the great and excessive charge which the unnatural Wars of Ireland newly finished before our late Renowned Queens decease did necessarily impose upon your Majesty by drawing with it a long traine of after expences even in your Majesties time till the peace thereof were throughly setled and assured which Kingdom is now since your Majesties time become in the vastest Province thereof capable of the plantation of Religion Justice Civilty and Population and may in longer time arise to be a most profitable and opulent member of your Imperial Crown A fourth reason ariseth from the great contentment and joye which we have in the remembrance of your Majestiâ— most gracious disposition to the good of your people testified as well at your first entrance into this Kingdom by your Princely care you took out of your own Royal mind to free them by your Proclamation from any burdens of Monopolies and other unlawful things which then remained in use as also of late your comfortable messages sent unto us dureing this Session of Parliament purporting the continuance of like gracious intention towards them where just occasion of grief should appear which joye of ours hath bred a desire in us to express in more then ordinary manner our extraordinary and humble thankes unto your Majesty for the same and to make it appear on our parts that we will at no time omit any Testimonies of Love and Duty toward your Majesty that may procure or deserve the perfecting and accomplishing of so Princely a work so well begun of Grace and favor towards us it being far from our dispositions to entertain any such unthankfulness into our hearts as not chearfully to assist with our goods and substance and all other duties of Subjects such a Soveraign by whom we find our selves so tenderly regarded Thus Gracious Soveraign out of those extraordinary Reasons and considerations as also out of our great Love and affection towards your Majesties person vertues and felicities we do with all humble and chearful affections present to your Majesty three subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths and we do most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted by Authority of this present Parliament in manner and form following Anno. Dom. 1605. An. Reg. Jac. 3. The Declarations of the opinions of the Non-conformists as it was delivered to King James himself on their behalf in the third year of his Reign 1. WE hold and maintain the same Authority and Supremacy in all causes and over all persons Civil or Ecclesiastical granted by Statute to Queen Elizabeth and expressed and declared in the Book of Advertisements and Injunctions and in Mr. Bilson against the Jesuites to be due in full and ample manner without any Limitation or Qualification to the King and his Heirs and Successors for ever neither is there to our knowledge any one of us but is and ever hath been most willing to subcribe and Swear unto the same according to form of Statute And desire that those that shall refuse the same may bear their own iniquitie That 2. We are so far from Judging the said Supremacy to be unlawful that we are perswaded that the King should sin highly against God if he should not assume the same unto himself and that the Churches within his Dominions should sin damnably if they should deny to yield the same unto him yea though the Statutes of the Kingdom should deny it unto him 3. We hold it plain Anti-Christianism for any Church or Church-Officers whatsoever either to arrogate or assume unto themselves any part or parcel thereof and utterly unlawful for the King to give away or
to deliver their Minds to the King if they durst And such only are worthy their Nomination and his Majesties Audience in Matters of this Weight His Majesty therefore to go beyond Craft and Malice hath in his Royal Wisdom and Justice by a new Example permitted even the great men which by their ordinary Access might be subject to this Scandal to be examined upon Oath And what the Accusers gained thereby let them boast and shew reason if they can why the Honour done me in their Answer should not give both his Majesty and the World Satisfaction on my behalf and why they themselves till they produce other Authors should not be reputed the Inventors of these Scandals and Reports And whereas they say in in the end that there wanteth not means to free these honest Men as they call them from Fear and Distrust Indeed the Inquisition of Spain is said to have found the way First to Imprison and keep close and so encourage Accusers if such be not ready found then to force men by Extremities to be Accusers of themselves But howsoever this way hath prevailed to Exterminate from their Country that which they call Heresie and we True Religion Yet considering no other Nation approveth it as Lawful and Just I hope I shall not be the first Example of planting it amongst us But they say further though his Subjects durst not yet the Ambassadors would have informed his Majesty against me if any free Audience could in my Absence have been obtained And why in my Absence Or why should not the Ambassador of so Great a King accuse me to my Face Or how could they without Dishonour to their Master and themselves traduce me behind my Back And why did my Industrious seeking to be present argue my Fear and Diffidence of Conscience and not rather an assured Confidence in my Truth But this say they is not to be done save only where the King is of small Experience or under Age or of no Judgment and the Favorite wise circumspect and of great Judgment and Experience and not in this Case where every thing is contrary Whereunto I answer that I am most willing to lay my Honour at my Master's Feet in the Dust so as the World be sensible with greater Indignation of this Jesuit-school-wit that by the Figure of Opposing my Master to me and him to other Princes seemingly flattereth really staineth the Honour both of our and their Kings For ours the Freedom of Access Discourse Conversation and Entertainment he giveth to all Ambassadors is such a Singular Glory to all his Royal Abilities and Gracious Disposition as no Favourite can Eclipse no Carper can blemish And for theirs whaâ— Power Favourites have had in their Accesses and all Affairs every Maâ— knoweth that knoweth ought oâ— Spain And must we therefore apply the Use and Honour of their Favourites to the disabling of their King As unexperienced and precipitate as they make me I know my Duty better and do well understand that Favourites do then vanish when their Masters Greatness by them becometh less Yet this is not all for they tell us that his Majesty is Most Wise oâ— Great Experience and the best King in the World And this they repeat that with the Sugar of these Epithites they may cover their Bitter Pills For they forbear not withal to say that he suffereth a Precipitate Novice to be too Powerful with him that his Most Faithful Subjects dare not deliver their Minds unto him And that thereby he is brought into Great Extremities and doth many unfit things And are these Figures to be used to Princes Did the Ministers of Great Monarchs thus by Deeds confute Words And am I the Cat they whip to make the King believe I draw him over the Pool This savoureth not of that Modesty which I may challenge to my self if I acknowledge those defects they charge me withal And yet when they have laid me as low as they please they shall find my weak Understanding supported sufficiently with my Master's Wisdom And for my Experience though I may assume somewhat by so many Years Trust and Imployment under him yet somewhat more I have learnt in Spain to be put in practise when my Service shall be commanded in those Parts Notwithstanding I confess ingeniously that what I do amiss proceedeth from my own Precipitation and Error And what I do well is by my Master's Wisdom and Instruction for which I owe him more than for his great Favour and the Fortunes I enjoy But for these Actions which under the Veil of my Name they endeavour to make odious to their Party I profess that as they are really his Majesties or the Princes so they are well approved by the chiefest and best part of Christendom as tending to the Honour of his Wisdom the Good of the Prince the Happiness oâ— the People and the Settling of this State in their Posterity for ever For the better clearing whereof I will proceed to a particular Examination of those Extremities to which they say his Majesty is now brought The First is the Enmity of their most powerful King by my industrious Procurement And why his Enmity Because the Treaties are dissolved And is this a necessary Consequence that either we must suffer them by Treaties to undermine and compass all their ends or else undergo their Enmity and as they afterwards interpret it a most cruel War And is not this a Proclamation to all the World that they aspire to such an absolute Monarchy as so many Books Stories Discourses and the general Complaints of all Princes and States have long charged them with And indeed as the true Character of their Religion is Persecution and Blood so the true mark of their Empire is Oppression and War Yet connot these Threatnings amuse or disturb the Religious and peaceable Resolutions of our King Prince and People They hate War they pray against it they love Peace they prosper by it and therefore endeavour by all means to preserve it But if they be assailed they cannot but remember how God's Mighty Hand by a Late Queen of peace brought down her Enemies greatness and pride to acknowledge the Sovereignty of a despised people which ever since hath resisted and ballanced their power And therefore they cannot but hope that the same Arm by a King of peace shall in the end prevail with them to entertain a safe peace upon more equal Terms and then all men shall have cause to applaud that Wisdom and Resolution which these men are troubled with and therefore speak against The next Extremity they complain of is the calling of a Parliament by my procurement and to my ends wherein the Honour they do me is more than I am capable of And for the Jealousie they would raise of making my self Head of that Council or the Puritan Faction my Master will laugh at it and thereby know they want probable Matter to object against my Faith which when they question
the Infanta which was promised with as great Assurance as words could express But they will say that â—his Earnestness and Haste was it that disturbed all the Business and so I â—hink it did And I confess withal â—hat it was our End and Endeavour â—o put them from their Shifts and to â—ring to an Issue that Treaty under â—he Delay whereof we had suffered so â—uch And I profess further that the Honour and good Success of this Intention do properly belong to his Majesty and the Prince by whose Wisdom and Resolution a desperate Remedy was so well applied to a desperate Disease But they say That howsoever my Endeavours might at first concur to hasten the Match yet after the Princess Palatine had written Letters unto me and had sent her Secretary to confirm a Marriage betwixt her Soâ— and my Daughter Then I instantly caused the Prince to revoke his Procuration and turn'd all upside down And here is revealed another mysticaâ— Use they would make of my Name to divide Father and Daughter Brother and Sister Master and Servant and to break all the Bonds of Naturâ— and Affection by Jealousie of Statâ— And can the Devil attempt more But what Proof Nay what Appearance do they shaddow this withal Forsooth by telling that they knoâ— in Spain that the same day thoâ— Letters were delivered the Revocâ—tion was pronounced but how knew they that Or do they not know in Spain that the Prince himself opened and read all the Letters and heard all Addresses And by what Inspection could they know more than the Prince Except those innocent Letters were like indented Pictures which shew to one's view a fair and to another's a foul Face Is it not strange that Malice it self is not satiated with the Distresses of those Worthy Princes except it bereave them not only of necessary Support and Relief but also of that Love and good Opinion whereby they must subsist And to what other End tendeth that careful Admonition to the King to takeheed both to himself and to the Prince My Precipitation my Ambition and my Popularity are but the Fringe and Shadow The supplanting of these Princes the Diversion of the Affection of their Father and Brother the bereaving them of all Assistance and Comfort and finally the Disturbing of all our Affairs are the true Ends of these Fore-warnings and false pretended Fears For my Ambition and Popularity how appeared it in Parliament by casting say they all Odious Matters upon the King and arrogating the thanks of all things acceptable to my self and by the Title given me to be Redeemer of my Country Such Generalities are ever the Subterfuges of deceit But let them instance in any Particular either of odious Matter there propounded and cast upon the King or of plausible whereof all the Honour was not his and that with greater Demonstration of Reverence and Thankfulness than in former Parliaments hath been seen For the Title it is true that by our Journey into Spain we were brought out of Darkness into Light and the Discovery of former Inconveniencies and future Dangers of the Treaties was applauded in Parliament as no less than a Work of Redemption to the State But therein all that I assumed or was attributed to me was the Happiness to have been under the Prince's Government whose Wisdom in discovering the Insincerity of their Pretences in refusing those things which were utterly inconvenient in yielding to such as being prejudicial were corrigible afterwards and in qualifying the rest to a tolerable Construction was the only means of redeeming our Safety and settling our Affairs And for his Majesty who hath heard of his Name that can doubt that his deep Understanding and Experience was the true Fountain from which all our Directions did proceed Then how can I be charged with Envy against the great Good of Christendom and especially of England and Spain When all the World shall understand that the King and Prince under God and by his Blessings are the chief means to rescue all Christendom especially England from the Usurpation of that pretended Empire which they call the Good but is truly the Bondage and Misery of both Having thus served their Turns with my Name against his Majesty against the Prince against the Parliament against his Royal Daughter and her Race who could think it possible their Malice could strain higher Yet their Master-piece is behind And whereas their former Suggestions were grounded upon they say here They know in Spain and such Shaddows of Testimonies at large For this they now hatch because it is monstrous in it self and hath nothing in Being possible to ground upon They lay a strange Foundation upon a bare Pretence that many speak ominously fearing the worst but withal knowing that his Majesties Wisdom cannot be wrought upon by Popular Apprehensions they say farther that he that told it did the Office of a good Man both to God his Majesty and the Prince Yet surely this was not the good Man of David that imagineth no Evil and telleth no Untruth but such an one as St. John calleth the Accuser of the Brethren or as Doeg the Edomite that told the King how David his Son-in-law and the Priest of Abimelech had conspired against him For what saith this good man Forsooth that the Puritans if they do desire a King which willingly they do not do not at all desire the Most Illustrious Prince but the Prince Palatine whose Scout Mansfield is whatsoever he pretends And lest any man might imagine that they mean Factious Puritans which are now no considerable Number amongst us In the next Clause for Explanation they mention the Fury of the Parliament and soon after the Reproach of the whole English Nation But why then do they not call us by the old name of Protestants Because that is now a Name of too much allay and could have bred no distaste in the King but knowing what he suffered by Puritans elsewhere to make the whole Nation odious both to King and Prince they turn us Puritans all at once though that Faction be more hated and supprest amongst us than in all the World besides And what is then our Ruin First In General That we are not willing to be subject unto Kings Secondly In Particular That we desire not the Prince but the Palsgrave to succeed For the First Let them know that these Kingdoms of Great Britain are beyond Comparison more Antient than the Kingdoms of Spain and yet no Story reputeth that they ever had or desired or were capable of any Government but Regal And the Religion we profess binds our Consciences more firmly to obey honour support and defend our Kings against all hteir Enemies than Popish Religion can do And this they will find to be true when they attempt ought against us For the Second I will not be so vain as to discourse of the Prince or his Interest in the good Opinion of the People This only I say for his Religion
they made him a Confessor in Spain as their Faction long since made his Royal Father in his Honor a Martyr And for his Carriage he converseth with us daily and knoweth us much better than any stranger can and therefore we trust his own Experience and good Opinion of us against all they can suggest And for the Prince Palatine we love his Nation from which we were extracted and we love his Religion which was the Ground of the Alliance with him and we much esteem that Noble Princess by whom he participateth with that Duty and Affection which from the King as the Root in due proportion disperseth it self in all the Branches yet so as whensoever they shall divide from the Head or the Body they cannot but know that their Moisture will dry up And for Count Mansfield it is worth the observing how they labour to dissemble and divert that Fear of him which they cannot have for us but indeed for themselves least he who hath already so troubled them in Germany should disturb them elsewhere Now whereas they conjure King and Prince to foresee the Vengeance of God provoked by my Practises and the Fury of Parliament for Testimonies and Libels against the Honour of Spain How much more Cause have they both and we all to consider and praise God's Miraculous Goodness in preserving their Persons and blessing their Endeavours in so happy a Discovery and Prevention of those Dangers which the Treaties would have brought upon our Religion and State And thereby rest assured that he will still bless where they curse and establish the Scepters of the Defenders of his Faith and in powring his Vengeance upon the Beast and the Enemies of his Truth And if the Testimonies published against Spain and believed in Parliament were not true why do they not convince them and satisfie them and satisfie the World And for those bitter and ignominious Libels they mention why can they not be read without Ignominy to our Nation as well as Pasquin's in Rome and like Libels in France Germany and other Nations with their Reproach Especially considering as the Spaniards of all People are most pursued with Writing of this kind so the English of all other do punish Libels with most Severity and Rigour But that which followeth is yet more remarkable It is apparent say they that the League is broken and Histories will witness it Surely those Histories must be of their Writing for true histories cannot record any breach on our part The Treaties are indeed dissolved First materially by them and then formally by us But are those Treaties any Articles of the League Or is it in the Power of any Subject be he never so willful to break the Leagues of Princes without due Justice demanded and refused But now the Ambassadors publick Ministers of State have made such Declaration How far that extendeth his Majesty may consider and wheâ—her it be not an Advantage cunningly â—ought to countenance the first blow And the rather because immediately after this peremptory Declaration which may seem a degree to a Denunciation of War they use all the Oratory to lull his Majesty asleep and to persuade both him and the Prince to prefer Peace and Quiet ever before their Kingdoms which thereby may be lost And what Confidence is this Do they think their Learning sufficient to teach my Master to understand his own Note who can much better teach them that Pacifici beati are not passive but Active And that the Sworâ— maketh Peace both in Governmenâ— and in War by supporting Justice wherein the happiness of all Society doth consist But whosoever construeth the Speeches of these men by the litteral sence cometh short oâ— their meaning For what are all these specious Adornings of his Majesty and the Prince in the Long Robes oâ— Peace but a Figurative menacing them with the Consequences of War And to see what the Love of the one or fear of the other may happily work by Peace i. e. by a quiet submitting the Marriage of the Palatinate and the safety of the Kingdoms and Allies to the Devotion of Spain First His Majesty may believe his Symbol as they say is verified in his Person and that he is extolled and admired through the World Or that otherwise he shall enjoy neither Happiness nor Honour And Secondly That the Prince can no other way succeed peaceably into the Hereditary Possession of these Kingdoms or the Honour of his Father or shew that he is indeed of his Blood or beareth him Love as if all these should be questioned if he do not entertain the same Peace with those Princes whose Alliances his Majesty hath so well procured and deserved meaning by giving them way to work out all their Ends And this being the sence clouded up in their unjointed Applications all they gain thereby is to give these due Acknowledgments to his Majesty and the Prince First That their Royal Dispositions and Endeavours ever tended to peace Secondly That of themselves they intended no alteration without violent Motions on the other part And Thirdly Those which force them if at the very Entrance into War they want a just Cause as the Jews called for Vengeance against themselves so these men truly prophesie that they shall have their Success Hitherto I have been brought upon the Stage to play other mens parts Now followeth my own Indictment in more particular Terms First Concerning my Carriage of the Negotiation in Spain And Secondly For my Personal Actions and Behaviour For the Spanish Business because greater Persons are still involved in their Censure they make their way as Poets do in Tragedies by raising me as a Ghost to possess King and Prince and to terrifie all men that oppose my Designs Surely I think they smiled when they writ this passage For they cannot think me so predominant nor so terrible a Creature But to satisfie the World in those four first Questions which contain the Substance of all the Business in Spain I will briefly as I can repeat the Proceedings which have been related in Parliament more at large and justified by Letters and Records and allowed not only by the most temperate men they speak of but by general and unanimons Votes from which no one did dissent But First having the honour to be of my Master 's inward Council in these things I must testifie to the Renown of his Wisdom and especially of his Goodness that as in the Marriage of his Daughter his chief Intention was to settle and corroborate the Party of our Religion where it is most improved so by the Marriage of his Son in some powerful House of the other Religion he sought not only the strengthening and assuring is own Peace and Succession but the Universal Good of all Christendome and a means to qualifie by the Cooperation of those Princes the Spiritual Usurpations whereby in time some better accord in the Differences of Religion might be made From these Intentions and that special