the King to part with this Parliament as it is for you to depart from that Loyalty Affection and Dutiful Behaviour you have hitherto shewed towards Him Let us bless the King for taking away all our Fears and leaving no room for Jealousies for those Assurances and Promises He hath made us Let us bless God and the King that our Religion is safe That the CHURCH OF ENGLAND is the Care of our Prince That PARLIAMENTS ARE SAFE That our properties and liberties are safe What more hath a good Englishman to ask but that this King may long Reign and that this triple Alliance of King Parliament and People may never be DISSOLVED All which being spoken of this present Parliament may well serve for an Answer to his Lordships Protestation notwithstanding those Reasons therein contained For surely matters cannot in so short a time be so exceedingly alter'd as to deserve this protesting or the declaimings in that violent manner as throughout this whole Discourse we have seen by reflecting upon the Bishops and against the continuance of the Parliament that were in his Lordships good opinion so sacred about five years ago The old saying is Nemo repente â—it turpissimus and 't is a true one that no man grows as bad as bad may be on a sudden and if there be any weight in what his Lordship hath said on both sides it is more reasonable and probable for us to conclude and understand ill of himself rather than of the Parliament because the Transits of great Assemblies are not so quick and another Proverb saith Great Bodies move but slowly so that their principles purposes and designs cannot vary all points of the Compass at so brisk a rate as one nimble States-man's whose motion is wont to be per Saltum after the manner of Leap-Frog from the Artick to the Antartick in a Trice especially if he happen to fall into foul weather at Court and can ride there no longer but must make use of any wind to set sail into some other Port. Which we hope will be consider'd by the rest of the Lords Protesters And truly their Lordships have the fairer excuse to come off because the thing was done in a heat and in haste as appears first by the printed Title of the Protestation which saith it was on the morning that the Parliament was Prorogued 1675 and the printed words at the end of it are That the Lords in print were all that were in the House early enough to Sign it before the Prorogation So that it seems his Lordship could not be at rest till he had given all the World to understand why it was that he was so warm in his Speeches upon Cross-points which must make a Breach betwixt the Houses all along the Session to hinder all manner of publick Business and then from the non-dispatch of it to inâ—er that this Parliament is not fit for it and then forsooth we are to believe what he dictates and admit a protesting Ergo That there is a necessity of dissolving this and calling a new Parliament For his Lordship and the rest in print do close the Protestation with these three Lines That it is in their humble opinion become altogether unpracticable for the Two Houses as the case stands joyntly to pursue those great and good Ends for which they were called That is as much as to say it will be so if the case shall so stand in the opening of this approching Session as it was in the ending of the last For some say his Lordship hath Dr. Shirley in his pocket and can start him again at pleasure to make the same scuffle about priviledge betwixt the Houses But some think he will be wiserâ— because the Trick being now thus plainly understood it will be too ridiculous to play it over again in an Assembly of so many noble seeing and knowing Men as make up the House of Peers Nor is it probable that the Commons House filled with men of great wisdom insight in Affairs and integrity should meet together without Expedients to prevent further Contests and to carry on the King and Kingdoms business Which they are the rather obliged to do for the Honour of their House in a double respect First because if this House of Commons which began and carried on things so gloriously for the Establishment of the King and Settlement of the Kingdom shall be deprived of opportunity to finish what they began What can be the end but to go out in a Snuff according to the Designs of a busie Rampant Faction who mortally hate them for the good they have done and whose Triumph it would be to transmit the memory of them to posterity with igâ—ominy and this bitter Sarcasm That they began to build but could not make an end Secondly They are exceedingly concerned in point of Honour seeing they are represented in Print to the World as a sort of people that may be easily plaid upon and led by the nose to do what other men please For in a print published at the same time with the other prints since the last Session and by the same hand Entituled The Debate or Arguments for Dissolving this present Parliament and the calling frequent New Ones as they were delivered in the House of Peers Novemb. 20th 1675. I find page 9. it is boasted by the Designers concerning the Commons House that they have a party of Members in that House whom the said print calls Many of the ablest and most worthy Patriots among them whose business it was to second the Protesting Lords by carrying this difference betwixt the Houses to the greatest height that by this means they might deliver the Nation from this Parliament by Dissolution and have a New one called So that Here we have OPEN CONFESSION that it was a Design carried on by a PARTY in both Houses to bring on and carry on their Fellow-Members to such disputes as might Disable them to do the Publick Work and thence to conclude that they ought to be dissolved Which certainly is a Conspiracy of such a Magnitude that none ever exceeded it but the Powder-Treason Especially if we consider what course hath been taken by this kind of Prints spread over the Three Kingdoms to Poison mens minds and render the Government Ridiculous by exposing the Debates and Contestings of Parliament to the Scorn and Contempt of the Vulgar through the Artifice and cunning of that Implacable Party which I have so often mentioned and whose DESIGN is now Manifested to be a BLOWING UP of the Parliament after another manner It cannot be amiss therefore before I dismiss this Point to try the strength of what they have DISCOURSED for a NEW PARLIAMENT as it hath been Printed in the forecited Pamphlet called The Debate and Arguments used in the House of Peers c. There are saith that Pamphlet Two Objections that make a great Sound which have really nothinâ— of weight in them The first Objection is That the Crown is
truly in such case the best-natured Princes in the World if you consider them as Publick Persons cannot avoid it unless you will suppose what is absur'd to conceive that they will relinquish the ends of Government and let all run into confusion So much for the Reason of the Act about Regulating Corporations Now for the next Act about the Militia complained of LETTER 8. THe next step was in the Act of the Militia which went for most of the Chiefest Nobility and Gentry being obliged as Lords Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants c. to Swear to the sâ—â—â— Declaration and Belief with the addition onely of thesâ— words In pursuance of such Milâ—tâ—ry Commissions This Act is of a 〈◊〉 for it Establisheth a Standing Army by a Law and swears us into a Military Government ANIMADVERSION HOw the intent of this Act for ordering the Militia can be wrested to the sence of a Standing Army is a Construction past all Understanding but the blame of this also is laid upon the Bishops It must be said to be their Business though of all Men none are more remote from the Concern of it And as little reason also there is to perswade Men it Establishes a Standing Army or Military Government 〈◊〉 is indeed a constant Force but in whose hands Is it not in the hands of the Nobâ—â—ry and Gentry the persons of the greatest Interest and consequently most concerned in the Maintenance of Civil Government and Laws Liberty and Property Insomuch 〈…〉 as well believe the Men will cut their own Throats as betray either 〈…〉 in the hands of Men most interested by their own Concerns for Universâ—◠〈…〉 as contrary to the nature of a meer Merâ—eâ—ary Army for that he means by 〈…〉 as Fire is to Water so that the one in the very Notion as well as nature of 〈…〉 preventive and privative or exclusive of the other And in the midst of all the idle â—oâ—es that we have had these late years about a design of a Standing Army nothing â—â—s a â—reater stay to sober Mens Minds than this Consideration That as we have a Ring 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 designs and Intrigues one that loves his People wise and confident of his Noâ—ility â—nd Gentry so he knows he cannot need Forces to maintain his Government as long as they have the Power by Law to raise them for him nor can there be the least ground for Male-contents to sow Reports of this kind unless wicked designs of their 〈◊〉 â—gainst the Government shall prompt them to New Commotions and then indeed they may have reason to fear an Army and cry out against it before it is in being because they take mutinous courses to force it on us But another fault here found in the Militia-Act is that the Lords Lieutenants and Deputy-Lieutenants are obliged by Oath to declare against this Traiteroas Position of taking Arms against the King and that Arms may be taken by His Authority against His Person or against those that are Commissioned by Him c. Doubtless this Provision in that Act is a point grounded upon High Reason For that Position and the Coveâ—â—â—t were two Vipers that crawled into the World out of the bowels of Presbytery And out of the bowels of those two crawled all those Monstrous Treasons which afterwards were practised As to the first of them not Mariaâ—a himself nor all the curious Preachers of the Mystery of King-killing among the Jesuites ever invented a more nice and serviceable distinction so to split a hair in point of Allegience betwixt the Person of a King and His Authority that the Subjects might be brought to understand how to kill the Man and not hurt the Authority or which is all one how to destroy a King and Justifie the Fact by His own Authority The fine spinning of such Politicks exceeds all that ever was done by all the fine Spinners in Logick or Metaphysicks and 't is so fine a Folly that it would crack an honest man's brains to consider it or puzzle a wise man how to distinguish it from gross Nonsence in Polity And yet when it shall be told to our Posterity what a world of People such a phantastick Notion as this drew in to side with a piece of a Parliament against the whole and against their King too under the Notion of being for Him and for His Parliament I am perswaded it will to them be almost incredible And therefore it was high Wisdom for the Parliament to provide in this Act of Ordering the Militia that the Arms of the Nation might never come into the hands of such High-Notional Politicians in time to come who when Arms were in their hands heretofore sufficiently tutor'd us in the Arts and Effects of Military Government And ye may remember my good Friends of Shaftsbury this Letter-Man your own Countreyman had a fair share in that Military Government and knows the ready road to conduct you to a New One onely it seems another Parliament is wanting for the purpose to make this King a Glorious King too as not long since it was written to my Lord of Carlisle little I believe to his Lordships content or approbation As to that Second Viper the COVENANT Lerna Malorum From whence sprang Hydra infesting the Three Kingdoms till she returned into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone there to stare in the Faces or rather Consciences of its own Authors and Proselytes It came on in Noâ—iâ—â— Domini but whether in the Dâ—â—'is name more properly time did try For this confirm'd all the miseries that were begun and became as it were the Broad Seal of the Decree of God's Judgments upon these Nations That Solemn League and Covenant came on indeed with great Solemnity of pious Pretence of maintaining us in our former Obligations of Allegiance to the King and His Government and the Security of Religion by Reformation and by this fair fraud I am perswaded it was that abundance of men Conscientious but unwary swallowed the Hook and were caught not dreaming what ought to be consider'd for then they might have found under this Fine 〈◊〉 there was Death in the Pot seeing it had been formed and imposed onely by Fâ—â—â—ow-Subjects without and against the Will of the King for which Reason it was indirect and illegal and so great a stranger to the Right Reformed Protâ—stant Profession that Subjects should presume by Covenanting with Fire and Sword to force on a Reformation that we can find no example for it but out of the Records of Presbytâ—ry Nor is there any thing in those of Popery to be compared with it but onely that Holy League which engaged France into many years of Blood and Misery before it could be extinguished They might also had they had wisdom enough and experience have considered what was then in the heart and foresight of His Majesties Father as we find it expressed in His Writings than the insertion of which in this place nothing can be more to the purpose or more
got in again and then he got in again with the Rump not into the House but into the hearts of some of its principal Members and Actors and â—â—eame a busie man to deâ—â—y them into the reach of their own desâ—â—ry And now you have him thus far on his way you may be so charitable if you please as to imagine that all this variety of changes was meant by him on purpose to bring about His Majesties Happy Restitution Indeed one would think so considering the Bounties hâ— immediately after received from the hand of a most gracious King Honors Offices Profits and Preforments and these in tract of time advanced to the utmost magnitude with many private Favours so that if he was never bought out of his publick Principles yet he was soundly paâ—â— for his private though never satisfied till at the old game of shifting Persons and Parties also at Court he at leâ—gth play'd himself quite out of Play and ever since in the Summer-time you have him a Fox-â—â—â—ting not fâ—r from Shaftsbury in Winter about London-City to strike in with the herd of all Opinions for â—unting out old Principles in this Forest of Chimneys And because we Preâ—byters are ready to start them we pray he may have grace to pursue the chace and never leave us in the luâ—ch any more And that our Brother-Independents may be brought to forget how he helpt to train some of them to the Gallows May they leave off barking when he comes into the City and not do as dogs do at a Pell-monger when he passes through a Country-Town For even those poor Animals are more prudent than to be at peace with any whose Trade it hath been to hang and â—lea them But let their mouths be stopt and may be never serve us as he served them And may this Tale of mine never be told again to the rest of our Brethren Nor this Eâ—l be rosted as the Rump was in the streets of London For truly iâ—â—ad never been told at all if I thought any man could be so foolish and malicious as to think my good Lord Shaftsbury is meant in any part of the Story But 't is brought in here only to show how curiously Contrariâ—s do illustrate each other and what Eels and Serpents some men in the World will appear to be if their qualities and conditions be compared with the Excellencies of that noble Lord who was never bought nor frighted out of his Publick Principles Thus far went the Presbyter with his Tale and desired any man to match it in Chaâ—ceâ— or Boccaâ—e No wonder then if his Lordship went beyond my Lord Clifford And the Iess are we to wonder at all the great things said of my Lord Shaftsbury in this LETTER if it were true which was said at several Coffee-houses when it first came out in Print That his Lordship was no stranger to its compilement though 't is written in the stile of some other person For in the same Paragraph we are told that when the War was to be made with Holland the Lord Clifford advised the King to quiet all Dissenters in Religion at home with granting the Declaration of Indulgence and that the Earl of Shaftsbury though a man of principles and interest opposite to the other presently closed with his Adviâ—â— But he doth not tell us the Reason why the Earl became hot for Indulgence you are to know it was then a time of day that his Lordship had worn out his little Interest in Episcopacy and all affection for it and saw also that many at Court began to be sick of him so that it was high time perceiving an uncertainty of his Court-Station to provide himself a Retreat into some Popular Faction He had long done it before for fear he might in an ill day have need of them therefore ever and anon the sprinklings of his Court-holy-water were bestowed upon many of the Good People and some small good Offices he did for them that the rest of the Persecuted might know where to find a Patron So that with the one hand he swept away as many Court-advantages out of the Publick and was as deep in as any man with the other hand he upheld a Stock going with the Pious Party Lucri bonus odor Ex re qualibet God himself made the World of Discordia Semina Rerum Why then may not men thus build their Fortunes but he never lov'd Linsâ—y-Wolsâ—y to be worn by his Loyal Subjects nor ever liked that men should thus reconcile Christ and 〈◊〉 so as to make their Markets of them both together yet this was the constant Trade since the Kings Restitution Nor is his Lordship without Example and Precedent for it it having been practised by the old Earl of Leicester and other Courtiers in the days of Q. Elizabeth King James c. And many times old fashions will up again among ingenious Tailors who alwayes take their measures in every employment There is Gospel too for this thus did the unjâ—st Stâ—ward provide in case he should be turned out of his Stewardship Wisely then did his Lordship to â—eather himself among the Men of the World so long before-hand that when the time should be over and the Chancellorship be rendred he might with a sure friend Mammon be any where welcome and have all deeds forgotten which were done in darkness being next to begin the World again by setting up anew among the Children of Light the Old Trade of crying out Popery and Priests Bishops Evil Councellours and Grâ—evances and Now also No Parliament but a New One as like the Old One as may be can do the BUSINESS of his Lordship and the Nation There is no remedy to be thought on but one and that is a very pleasant one Call back my Lord to Court then all will do well again and he will save me the labour of teâ—â—ing the whole Intrigue of his Matters Call back my Lord Clifford too and his Lordship shall never more quarrel him about Indulgence Popery Parliament or any thing else Yea and he shall ask him pardon too for so artificially contriving that fine Fiction or Sâ—â—ne of Discourses supposed to have been spoken concerning himself and Lord Clifford when alive but framed to scandalize him after his death not sparing reflections even upon His Maâ—esty also Himself and His affairs that so he might by using the Stile of a Third person act an estentation of his own being the onely Statesman that took care of Indulgenâ—â— Trade Religion Kingdom and All as you may find at large in the 4th and 5th pages of this LETTER But you have been already shewn how long it was before his Loâ—dships Zeal brâ—ke sorth with so bright a flame and what the end of it may be even â—n universal Inflammation if the New practising of the Old Delusions be not prevented But because here hath been mention often made of my Lord Clifford with intent of disadvantage to his memory therefore ere I
Clifford â—â—ll and yet to prevent his ruine this Session had the sooner end As for the Lord Clifford me thinks he might before now have been left at rest in his Grave but there is it seems another Lord in the World is resolved he shall not because while his Lordship tugg'd hard and lay gaping for the Office of Lord Treasurer my Lord Clifford got between and carried it away for which he will never forgive his memory nor any of his Friends Nothing could please after this no not the Great Seal it self though one would have thought that enough to fill the Swallow of any Gnat. But Oh! the Dear Bag was gone the Buâ—t-end of all his hopes and so neither Seal nor Pursâ— could satisfie Nothing now but Revenge for then his Lordship saw plain the Mortality of his own Court-Interest drawing on which had been long before forfeited by many a Juggle Then his Piety began to work when his Covetousness had nothing to work upon and nothing after this could be thought of but Fire and Flames of Zeal to scatter about the Court and Kingdom A loud and sudden Cry must be raised in fear of Popery by pretence of which the old trick the Nation was to be forthwith intoxicated and the Lord Clifford confounded and all Papists also were to be put out of Office because the Maker of this Out-cry was in fear to be so I write not this to plead for their being in Office but only to observe how pat the little Adversary timed all things for his own purpose of commencing the new Game of Popularity He foresaw his own Faâ—e and labour'd hard to get in elsewhere before they had quite thrown him out at White-Hall that so when he went off he might in a new World turn up Trump as the Faith 's great Defender against Popery This was the reason why he spurr'd on that Act so eagerly to run Papists out of Office and why he afterwards appeared so vigorous in putting the Act in execution for in all the time since the King 's Happy Resâ—auration we never heard till this sudden sit of his Lordships having been in any fright before about the Papists or any other sort of Religion whatsoever So that from the time of this first fright we are to reckon the Rise of all the Jealousies and Contests that have ensued lately or which may ensue about the Affairs of the Government and of all the late ill Impressions which have been craftily and most industriously made upon the minds of the people to prepare them if possible for a Mutiny LETTER BUt the Letter goes on thus In this posture matters were found in the Session of Parliament that began Octob. 27. 1673. which being suddenly broken up did nothing ANIMADVERSION 'T is a condition of Affairs much to be lamented that so many Sessions of Parliament have of late been broken Re infecta and we might very much wonder at it considering His Majesties great delight which he hath had in the good Advices and Affections of His Parliament did we not know that some Envious Ones made it their Business to sow Tares and cast Blocks 〈◊〉 the way to impede all happy Proceeding that either House might be Imbroiled in its self and both with one another and so be utterly incapacitated for any dispatch of Publick Business The Instances are too sad to be mentioned and I wish they were for ever in oblivion which necessitated His Majesty for the very Honour of Parliament it self and of His Government to put an end to many strange Debates and Controversies which could by no other means be done but by ending the several Sessions For even in that House whose true Interest is inseparably and more especially annexed to that of the Crown Imperial of this Realm and cannot stand without it there was found a new Lord this last Session whose Speech if we may believe a Paper called a Speech carefully Printed under the Name of the Earl of Shaftsbury vented many strange Passages upon the Debate of appointing a day for the hearing of Dr. Shirley's Cause by the Peers which shew plainly enough who it was which backt and befooled the Doctor to a perpetual attendance on that Business not for any good will to him who poor Man was made a meer Stalking-horse but to catch other ends and create Mischief to King and Kingdom by strangling the great Affairs and Hopes of His Majesty in the mid'st of His many pressing Publick Occasions for Supplies to the want of which Supplies in good time we are to ascribe the late loss of Repute with the other Publick Inconveniences and Damages in our Naval Interests c. which have been complained of Such Men there are as study first how to tye up the Hands of the King and His Ministers with Necessity and then make the People cry out at them for not doing what they were disabled to do And therefore that the Nation may know to what Male-content the King and People do owe those Damages and the fruitlesness of the last Session of Parliament and from thence gâ—â—ess who it was that drave the design of frustrating also the several Sessions that went before it It will not be amiss to give the World some account here of divers Passages of that Speech Printed with the Title of the Earl of Shaftsbury which no Man that reads but would swear it his This Speech confesses the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Bishop of Salisbury had at the same time made Speeches to shew that to set a day to enter upon a Hearing in the Lords House of the Cause of Dr. Shirley before the Great Concerns of the King and Kingdom in Supplies of Money and other Bills should be dispatched would be to induce several Grand Inconveniences As first That seeing both Houses had been highly engaged in Contests with each other about their respective Priviledges occasioned by that Cause the appointing of a short day for their Lordships to hear it would immediately bring on the like Contests again and so cause a Breach betwixt the Houses and Secondly That after such a Breach made for the sake of a private Cause no ordinary way being left for dispatch of the many Publick Bills depending in the Houses or for raising of Moneys the whole Business of Naval Preparations and of other Great Affairs and of the Reputation and Interests of the King and Kingdom at home and abroad would unavoidably fall to ruine And their Lordships were told They could not but be convinced in their Coâ—sâ—iences that if that matter of Shirley were then prosecuted it must cause a Breach This was the Sence also of most other Noble Lords But alass that Printed Speech makes the Earl of Shaftsbury ring another Tune as if his Lordship had other Publick Business or as if it had no longer been Shirley's private Business but his Own so that if we may believe that Print the People need no other Evidence to shew who was the Designer of
in danger if you call a New Parliament This Objection they pretend to answer by saying there 's no fear of danger because Men of Quality of Estates and of the best Understanding and such as will give Money will be chosen But I reply this Argument hath more Malice than Reason to support it because it reflects as if these were not such The Generality of this House of Commons are known to be men of the best Quality and of Estates and of the best understanding All their Fault is in the Opinion of the Conspiring Party that they too well understand them and their Design and what the true interest of the Crown is and that as they ever have been so they still are tight and firm to it and the Government and that the great interest of the Nobles Gentry and Commons of the Land lies in being so This they understand Besides they are men best acquainted and expert in the management of Parliamentary Affairs and therefore more likely than men newly elected to make dispatch of them if the Projectors did not study all ways to impede them for other ends than the â—ase and supply of the Crown And therefore a New Parliament is not now to be called for these following Reasons I. Because it is not for the honour of the King to be as it were Trepann'd thus by Tricks or worried by Clamors and Importunities into a necessity of calling a new Parliament because it will in the judgment of wise men at home and of Princes abroad be no other than an imposing upon him in one main point of his Prerogative which is to use His own discretion and take His own time for the summoning and dissolving of Parliaments II. It cannot be for his safety or advantage because if Money be wanting know he must pay dear for it before the New One will give it and What can they give which may not more readily be had by the present Parliament if the just indignation of His Majesty and His two Houses shall arise against the stratagems oâ— the Prime Projectors and defeat them I cannot forget what mine eyes have seen in the days of His Royal Father therefore since years teach wisâ—om and the experience of like matters in time past gives instruction for the future it cannot but be good to bring them fresh into remembrance Let us therefore remember how it was with King Charles the First It was the cunning of the same Faction having an aking Tooth at the Bishops and consequently a design to alter the Government as now they have again which they could not easily do without clamouring about matters of Religion and against some Errors and Excesses of the Court and the King's Ministers Therefore as they plied that point home in hope to gain the people so in the beginning of His Reign they finding the King in necessity of Money to satisfie His Fathers Debts and for other great occasions at home and abroad and knowing that a Parliament must be called for Raising Money they laid the Plot thus First to work upon that necessity by high popular demands such as must either bow the King to comply with them and then it would be easie for them to pursue their wild projects of alteration in State and Church or else it would constrain him to break them And that they feared not knowing it could not be long before he would have occasion to call a Second Parliament which they by the like demands would bring to nothing as easily as before unless the King would consent to them which they presumed he would never do And it came to pass as they had before contrived that the King was frustrated of the hopes he had of three or four Parliaments by sending them away one after another not getting one peny but he being tired out and having perceived that they entred upon such debates and made such demands as intrenched upon the Interest of His Crown and that a condescension to them would have brought both him and it into contempt he was constrained to shift without Parliaments to his great sorrow and it proved to be the great occasion of the late War enough to shew what it is for a King in want of Money in these days to call a New Parliament of whose kindness he hath had no experience especially when he hath already a Parliament in being most dutiful wise and able to do his and his Kingdoms business if some few persons would please to study peace and leave off contention The truth of the forementioned Plot of the Commons in those days I shall by and by more particularly demonstrate In the mean while you may remember I told you this sort of Game they began in the latter end of the Reign of King James and now you shall see how they plaid it Before that time the Commons never medled at so high a rate but in the Nineteenth year of that King when he called a Parliament about the assistance of the Prince Palatine his Majesty was in great want of Money to relieve the Palatinate and great hopes were given him of a Supply What was the Issue of this necessity of calling it The King had a mind to Adjourn the Parliament but for a little season and for some Reasons which he foresaw required it whereupon the Faction presently interposed and drew the rest of their Fellow-Members to Petition him against Adjournment insomuch that the wise King being Jealous of his Prerogative and not liking that the Commons should so much as meddle with it though in a way but Petitionary he very much resented it and told a Committee which they sent to him about it That he took it very ill the Commons should dispute his Reasons of Adjournment all Power being in him alone to Call Adjourn and Dissolve Parliaments This made the Faction so bold and Mutinous in discourse every where that His Maiesty was fain to put forth a Proclamation against talking of State-affairs with such inordinate liberty The time of the Parliaments Adjournment being expired they came together again and what then The Palatine Cause requiring Supply more than before and the Lord Treasurer having in a Speech laid open the Kings Wants and how empty his Coffers were the Faction thought they should now in his Necessity be able to work him like Wax therefore in stead of Money they immediately salute him with a Catalogue of his Faults the growing Mischiefs of his Government and dictate unto him Remedies and they called it A Petition and Remonstrance The King then by Letter to the Speaker sharply complains of this Indignity imputes it not to the House it self but to the boldness of some fiery and popular Spirits in the House of Commons which were the Predecessors of our present Faction whom he brands with Breach of his Prerogative Royal by debating publickly Matters which were above them Nevertheless having him at a pinch for Money they grew the bolder and hereupon drew up
the Bishops Why have divers Transactions been solely imputed to them and they alone been represented blame-worthy if there had been any cause of blame in things which many times had been first moved by the Temporal Lords if the design were not to exasperate mens minds principally against Bishops Why are they so â—â—â—en slandered as if they drave an Interest as Bishops prejudicial to the Rights and Interest of the people What mean all these suggestions if they meant not to prepare them for ruine by another Parliament seeing they can never do it while this is in being And why so great a zeal against them among the prime drivers of the Faction who can own nothing of Religion or Reformation save what they take up for craâ—ty ends but because they well know there is no way to invade the Throne but by first removing Bishops which seeing this Parliament their defenders will never suffer that is the reason why some have been so vehement in debates to imbroil the Houses to make it impossible for them to do any thing more for the Publick and so by taking away their reputation they may not be able to defend themselves against the plotted out-cries of the People to make the Church and this Parliament fall and sink under the fury of the Faction both together Thus having taken a â—urvey of all the other holds of Reason wherein they fortifie themselves and infest the Government by frequent â—allies forth in print and having reduced them and planted better Reasons in their stead 't is time to return to the mâ—in Fort which I left I mean the LETTER which will now be the more easily and quickly deâ—eated LETTER THe next Session of Parliament which was January 7. following many excellenâ— Voâ—es were in hand in order to a Bill Among the rest one was That the Princes of the Bloud Royal should all marry Protestants ANIMADVERSION T Is rather to be supposed the Lords are here slandered It can hardly be that they should take up a business which was damn'd by King James long ago when the Factions Party in the then House of Commons clamoured against the Prince's Match with Spain and made Addresses to the King about it who in much wrath told them They should meddle with their own business this being above them c. This point also the Faction was so bold to insist on among the rest of their high Demands made to his Son in the Nineteen Propositions 1642. to which his Majesty answered That to debar him of the free Marriage of his Children would be to place him in a condition lower than the meanest of his Subjects This debarring of Princes from marrying where they please would be to hinder them from making those great Advantages which many times they might get thereby for the general Good of the Kingdom Therefore when it was pressed on at the second Reading of the Bill the Vote went in the Negative LETTER IT notes the Duke of Lauderdale 's being a Patron of the Church and that his Coach was filled with Bishops and the Lord Chancellor and Lord Treasurer 's are of a just Size to the same Affair ANIMADVERSION TWo Faults it seems these two Lords have besides their being of a just Size to the true Interest of the Government that is to say Two Good Places crime enough in this Age for Ministers of State for which while one man lives they are sure never to he forgiven I will not swear my Lord of Shaftsbury had a hand in this LETTER but as weak a man as I am may be apt to imagine so because he takes such care those two Noble Lords should not be forgotten nor the Duke of Lauderdale because he keeps all quiet in Scotland so that there is no possibility of beginning again the Ruine of our English Bishops by the way of Scotland nor of getting Friends into a Scotch Parliament to second the fine Speeches made here in England LETTER NOw comes the memorable Session of April 13. 1675. than which never any came with more expectation of the Court or dread and apprehension of the People ANIMADVERSION THey were much beholden then to his Lordship to remove their Fears by taking a course to convert the Houses into Cock-pits to make sport for the Nation The Court indeed were so foolish as to expect better things but this must be imputed to the want of his Lordships Wisdom among them But what was the occasion that his Lordship laid hold on thus to transform them His Pocket-Business of Shirley did not do all the mischief but there was another called The Bill of Test LETTER THis Bill of Test was brought into the House of Lords by the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Chamberlain a Person of great Quality but in this imposed upon ANIMADVERSION BUt others are of opinion his Lordship did it as an Act of high Loyalty answerable to that most Noble Character which his Family justly bears in the opinion of his Majesty and the whole World who can never forget either them or the memory of that great Man the Father of them 〈…〉 Earl of Lindsey who in the first famous Battel of Edge-Hill being Lord General of his Majesties Army most valiantly spilt his Blood in that Service in hope immediately to have restored the Royal Family and to have stopt that Issue of Blood which â—an so many years after about the Kingdom Therefore it was no wonder that this Noble Lord being his Grandson was the Man that brought in a â—ill of Tâ—st He and all his being a Family that can endure a Test in this and all other Concerns of the King the Church and â— the Nation LETTER IT was then Read the first time without much opposition But at the second Reading the Lord Keeper now Lord Chancellor and some other Lords made Elaborate Speeches the Keeper calling it A moderate Security to the Church and Crown and that no Honest Man could refuse it and whoever should would give great suspicion of dangerous and Anti-Monarchical Principles And they shew'd what dangerous Times we are in all Men not having laid aside the Principles of Rebellion ANIMADVERSION CErtainly it was well observed by those Lords and therefore I suppose it was high time to take Pen in hand to manifest the Truth that the late Discourses and practises of some men during several past Sessions of Parliament are no other but the same very courses that were practised with the like heat and violence and with the same method against the King the Church and the whole State both in and out of Parliament as appears through the whole Current of these Animadversions in which I had not been so large but that it was most necessary to present to view the new Transactors of the Faction now drest and acting in the habit principles and posture of the old Masters of the late Rebellion which might lie for ever buried in the Act of Obliâ—ion if these men did not rake all up again