most exorbitantly fined Thirty thousand Pound and imprisoned for a Trivial Matter And the Lord Lovelase was treated as a Criminal only for saying that the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of the Peace SIR I am the more brief in setting down the Matters charged upon the late King the same being yet fresh in the Memories of all Men but I shall be something more particular and large in representing the Father's Tyranny in regard Time has placed us at a greater Distance from it That King Charles the Second went off by Poisoned Chocolate to make way for his Brother when Matters were well prepared to set up the Romish Idolatry is a thing generally believed And so it was that King James the First was so dispatch'd as they may see who will turn to the Earl of Bristol's Speech in Parliament and his Articles against the Duke of Buckingham and to Sir Dudly Diggs his Speech at the Delivery of the Impeachment against the Duke at a Conference with the Lords and also to the thirteenth Article of that Impeachment which charged the Duke with a very suspicious Plaister and Potion administred to that King Well right or wrong King Charles ascended the Throne upon the twenty seventh of March 1625 and at the first gave the World a Prospect what was to be expected from him for he instantly took the Duke of Buckingham and Laud then Bishop of Bath and Wells into admired Intimacy and Dearness and made them the Chief Conductors of all Affairs in State and Church and that aspiring Prelate had the Guidance of his Conscience The Duke's Mother and many near about him were Papists and he advanced Men Popishly devoted to places of the Chief Command in the Court and Camp The Good Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Abbot speaks thus of him He was talented but as a common Person yet got that Interest that in a sort all the Keys of England hung at his Girdle and it appeared that he had a Purpose to turn upside down the Laws and the whole Fundamental Liberties of the Subject and to leave us not under the Statutes and Customs which our Progenitors enjoyed but to the Pleasure of Princes Three Parliaments in the beginning of this Reign found and declared this Duke the Cause of all our Miseries and Disasters The Grievance of Grievances The Character of Laud by the same Great Man Archbishop Abbot was this He was the inward Counseller with Buckingham and fed his Humour with Malice and Spight His Life in Oxford was to pick quarrels in the Lectures of the Publick Readers and to fill the Ears of King James with Discontent against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that took pains in their places and 〈◊〉 the Truth which he called 〈◊〉 in their Auditors It was an Observation what a sweet Man this was like to be that the first observable Act he did was the Marrying the Earl of D. to the Lady K. when it was notoriously known that she had another Husband who had divers Children living by her The Bishop of 〈◊〉 Dr. Williams procured for him at the first the 〈◊〉 of St. 〈◊〉 which he had not long enjoyed but he began to undermine his Benefactor and verily such is his aspiring Nature that he will underwork any Man in the World so he may gain by it This Man after the Death of the Duke of B. was the sole Favourite and was preferr'd to the Bishoprick of London in his way to Canterbury But to return to our King He obliged himself as yours did by his 〈◊〉 Oath to observe keep and 〈◊〉 the Laws Customs and Franchises of the Realm Which had he 〈◊〉 says Archbishop Abbot all things had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 But he broke the Oath of Protection and Justice which he took to his People as the whole History of His Reigh shews To give you some few of the Innumerable Instances which may brought therein In the beginning of his Reign he married Henrietta Maria of France Besides the General 〈◊〉 upon that Marriage he agreed to Private Articles in favour of Papists viz. that those who had been imprisoned as well Ecclesiasticks as Temporal should be released That Papists should be no more molested for their Religion c. Hereby a Toleration little less was instantly granted to Papists who without fear of Laws fell to their Practice of Idolatry and scoffed at Parliaments at Law and all Their Numbers Power and Insolence daily increased in all parts of the Kingdom especially in the City of London which seem'd to be overflowed with Swarms of 〈◊〉 This King wrote to the Pope and by his Letter saluted Antichrist with the Title of 〈◊〉 Pater Most Holy Father He procured the Pope's Dispensation for his Marriage which was solemnized by Proxy according to the Ceremonies of the Romish Church Pursuant to his Private Articles with France he instantly granted a Special Pardon to twenty Popish Priests of all Offences against the Laws and he built a Chappel at Sommerset-House with Conveniencies for Friers who were permitted to walk abroad in their Habits The Lords and Commons percieving the Protestant Religion to be undermined and all things apparently tending to an Innovation and Change of Religion in the Kingdom They presented to the King a Petition for advancing true Religion and for suppressing Popery He by his Answer assured them of performance yet the very next day after that promise made He assumed to himself a Power to dispense with the Laws of the Twenty first and Twenty seventh of Queen Elizabeth and of the third of King James in granting Pardons to Baker a Jesuite and many other Papists which passed by immediate Warrant and were recommended by the Lord Conway Secretary of State without the Payment of the Ordinary Fees The Secretary being called to answer this in Parliament very boldly said that he never hated the Popish Religion That the King commanded the granting the Pardons and that no Fees should be taken This King as well as yours made Papists Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Justices of the Peace c. As you may see by the Petition of the House of Commons wherein they complained of the increase and countenancing of Papists and named about One hundred Popish Lords Baronets Knights Esquires c. who held Places of 〈◊〉 and Trust in England and Wales And I shall here remember you that as his Secretary of State did not hate Popery so Weston whom he made Lord Treasurer of England died a Papist He granted a Commission to certain Commissioners to compound with Papists for all Forfeitures for Recusancy from the Tenth Year of King James whereby they made their Compositions upon very easie Terms And he inhibited and restrained both Ecclesiastical and Temporal Courts and Officers to intermeddle with Papists which amounted to no less than a Toleration In Ireland the Popish Religion was openly 〈◊〉 without control and practised in every part thereof Popish Jurisdiction being there generally exercised and avowed Monasteries
way of Loan and the Commissioners were ordered to certifie to the Council-Board the Names of all Rcfractory Persons particularly He demanded One hundred thousand Pounds of the City of London and the Magistrates representing the People's Excuses the Council commanded them to proceed therein threatning that upon their Failure His Majesty would frame his Counsels as appertained to a King in such extreme and important Occasions He also required the City to set forth Twenty Ships Manned and Victualled for three Months The Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council petitioned for Abatement of the Number of Ships demanded but were answered That Petitions and Pleadings were not to be received That as the Commanded was to all in general and every particular of the City so the King would require an Account both of the City in General and of every particular That the Precedents of former Times were Obedience not Direction and that Precedents were not wanting for the Punishment of those that disobey the King's Commands The Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of Dorsetshire being commanded to set forth Ships insisted That the Case was without Precedent but they were severely checked for that instead of Conformity they disputed and were told That State Occasions were not to be guided by ordinary Precedents The Persons of Quality who refused to subscribe to the Loan were put out of the Commissions of the Lieutenancy and Peace as they were who refused to comply with your King's Humour and were bound to appear at the Council-Table where as Refractory Persons they were committed to Prisons or put under 〈◊〉 these were Persons both of Note and Number as the Prisons in London demonstrated and as you must conclude when you read these following Names and know they were of that Number viz. Sir John Elliot Sir John Heveningham Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston Sir John Strangwayes Sir Walter Earle Sir Thomas Grantham Sir Thomas Wentworth Sir Harbottle Grimston Sir Edward Hambden Sir Thomas Darnel Sir John Corbet Sir William Armin Sir William Masham Sir William Wilmer Sir Erasmus Drayton Sir Edward Ayscough Sir Robert 〈◊〉 Sir Boauchamp Saint-John Sir Oliver Luke Sir Maurice Berkley Sir John Wray Sir William Constable Sir John Hotham Sir John Pickering Sir Francis Barrington Sir William Chancey George Ratclif Richard Knightly John 〈◊〉 William Anderson Terringham Norwood John Tregonwell Thomas Godfrey Thomas Nicholas John Dutton Henry Poole Nathaniel Coxwell Robert Hatley Thomas Elmes William Coriton and George Catesby Esquires besides above twenty Eminent Citizens of London and many other Gentlemen of good Note Sir Peter Hayman upon his refusal of the Loan was commanded to go upon the King's Service beyond the Seas others of a meaner Rank were either bound to appear before 〈◊〉 Lieutenant of the Tower to be enrolled for Soldiers to be sent for Denmark or were impress'd to serve in the King's Ships Now can it be imagined that there could be found a Man so hardened in Wickedness as to avow these unheard of Violences which trenched into all we had Yes there were in that as in every Age Pellings and 〈◊〉 amongst the Clergy Base Sycophants Aspiring Time-servers the Vile Descendents of Cambyses's Judges who being demanded Whether it were not lawful for him to do what in it self was unlawful they to please him answered That the Persian 〈◊〉 might do what they listed at that Rate those lying Prophets our slattering Gentlemen of the Cassock to scandalize the Laws and subvert Parliaments prated to this King They told him All we had was his JURE DIVINO and perswaded him who was most ready to believe it That the Right of Empires was to take away by strong Hand Of these Doctor Manwaring in two Sermons before the King printèd under the Title of Religion and Allegiance inculcated this Doctrin 1. That the King is not bound to observe the Laws concerning the Subjects Rights but that his Will in imposing Loans and Taxes without Consent in Parliament doth oblige the Subjects Conscience upon pain of Eternal Damnation 2. That they who refused the Loan did offend against the Law of God and against the King's Supreme Authority and thereby became Guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion c. 3. That Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies And Doctor Sibthorp Vicar of Brackley printed a Sermon which he preached at the Assizes at Northampton and dedicated to the King wherein he obliged his Country with these Positions 1. That it is the Princes Duty to direct and make Laws his Text by the way was Rom. 13. 7. Render therefore to all their dues he justified this by that apposite Proof Eccl. 8. 3 4. He doth whatsoever pleases him Who may say unto him What doest thou him I shall not be afraid of any Evil Tidings for my heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. But the Bishop of London appeared more plyable and gave Licence to this Sermon and it came out approved by my Lord of London as a Sermon learnedly and discreetly preached The King instantly suspended the Archbishop and also confined him and committed the Archtepiscopal Jurisdiction to five Bishops all of the New Church of England and Sibehorp's Patrons viz. London Durham 〈◊〉 Oxford and honest Laud of Bath and Wells The Commons Impeached Manwaring for his Sermons and by the Judgment of the House of Lords amongst other Penalties he was disabled from holding any future Ecclesiastical Preferment or Secular office The King granted him a Pardon of all 〈◊〉 and he was presented to the Rectory of Stamford Rivers in Essex and had a Dispensation to hold it together with the 〈◊〉 of S. Giles in the Fields I shall in this Place remember you That 〈◊〉 Bishop Doctor Williams of Lincoln as well as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heavy 〈◊〉 of this your 〈◊〉 King In the 〈◊〉 Year of his Reign the Bishop of Lincoln was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal but upon his appearing in Parliament against the Kingdom 's great Grievance the Duke of Buckingham he was Disgraced and Sequestred from the King's Presence and the 〈◊〉 Table In his Second Year he was 〈◊〉 for speaking publickly against the Loan and also for 〈◊〉 to give way to Proceedings in his Courts against the Puritans and Doctor 〈◊〉 charged him that he should say He was sure the Puritans would carry all at last The King now imprisoned him in the Tower and so the 〈◊〉 King was not without a Presidont when he sent seven Bishops thither Well this Good Bishop out-living his 〈◊〉 when upon the King's 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 we came to a Tryal of Skill for the Old English 〈◊〉 he resolutely said NOLUMUS LEGES ANGLIAE MUTARI and took a Command in our Army and bravely asserted his 〈◊〉 Liberties with his Sword Having thus Sir shewed you that the King which I Abdicated made no more Bones of Pious 〈◊〉 Bishops when he found them standing in the way of his Tyranny than he did to whose 〈◊〉 you lent your Hand I shall now proceed to
of Parliament so were they now deprived of the Fruit of the Habeas Corpus and of the Benefit of Freeborn Subjects for obtaining their Liberty and were long deteined in Prison and the brave Sir John Elliot ended his days in the Tower not without Suspicion of foul Play But why have I deteined you so long in recounting these particular Violations of the Priviledges of Parliament when 't is so evident that this King struck at the very being of Parliaments as many Instances fully demonstrate Sir Dudly Carleton his Vice-Chamberlain and a Privy-Counsellor whom he soon after created a Lord warned the Commons to take heed of bringing the King out of love with Parliaments and said that in all Christian Kingdoms Parliaments were anciently in use until the Monarchs began to know their own Strength and at last overthrew Parliaments throughout Christendom except here only with us He proceeded setting forth the wretched Condition of Subjects in Foreign Countries and said This is a Misery which yet We are free from Let us then be careful to preserve the King' s good Opinion of Parliaments lest 〈◊〉 lose the repute of a Freeborn Nation by our Turbulency in Parliaments The King himself sent a threatning Message to the Commons that if he had not a timely Supply he would betake himself to New Counsels Which could only mean the putting an End to the use of Parliaments At another time speaking to the Lords and Commons he said Remember that Parliaments are altogether in my Power therefore as I find the Fruits of them good or evil They are to continue or not to be At the opening of the Parliament the 17 th of March 1627. he told them if they should not contribute what the State needed he must use those other Means which God and Laud Sibthorp and Manwaring c. had put into his hands To this the Lord Keeper added that if the King found the readiness of their Supplies he might the better forbear the Use of his Prerogative That the King chose that way of Parliament not as the only way but as the 〈◊〉 Not as destitute of others but as most agreeable to his Disposition Thus Sir have I as I promised run through the first four Years of this King and shew'd you how our Liberties and Properties were invaded How our Religion and Government were undermined How an Army was raised to subject our Fortunes to the Will of Power and to make good the Breaches upon our Liberties And how Parliaments were contemned and cast off so that it was well and truly said in the House of Commons that the Subject suffered more in the first three Years of this King in Violation of Ancient Liberties than in three hundred Years before It remains now That I recal into your Memory what the Carriage of our Parliaments was under this Universal Oppression Why their Temper Mildness and Moderation was incredible as their Speeches Petitions and even Remonstrances do evince They dealt long with the King with no other Weapons but Sweetness Trust and Confidence and 't was their only Endeavour and End to make up all Rents and Breaches between the King and his Subjects but they found in him A sowerness of Temper Fierceness of Disposition and Pride joyned with a peevishness of Humour not to bear the having his Will disputed or 〈◊〉 by the established known Laws He was wilful and inexorable and knew not the things of his Peace Having Abdicated Parliaments for from this Time We had eleven Years Interval of Parliament He as idle Boys say when they act Mischief began to play absolute Reaks instead of Rex 'T is a certain Rule Nemo repente 〈◊〉 turpissimus and I have here given you but a Tast of the Miserable and Calamitous State under which he laid us as you must conclude when you remember how after the Dissolution of his third Parliament he betook himself to New Counsels and exerted his Sovereign Absolute Power and how despotically he used and exercised them Were I to continue his History as I may in another Letter if you accept this when I lead you into Westminster Hall you would see the Illegal and Wicked Judgments of the Courts there to the compleat Overthrow of the Liberty of our Persons and the Property of our Goods and in opening to you his accursed Star-Chamber and High Commission Courts I should shew you his most Cruel and Barbarous 〈◊〉 Pilloryings Stigmatizings c. His Suspending Excommunicating Depriving and Imprisoning the Conforming Clergy of the Church of England for Preaching against Popery for not Reading his Book for Sports on the Lord's Day and for not Making Corporal Reverence at the Name of Jesus I should not forget to lay before you his Billeting of Soldiers and his most Arbitrary Imposing and Exacting of Ship Money against the known Laws and contrary to his Late Promise in the Petition of Right and which is never to be forgotten his Accession to the Horrid Murders of those many Thousands of Miserable Protestants who fell in Ireland But To conclude your present Trouble We long bore our Heavy Burdens and the Yoke of this 〈◊〉 with Patience even almost to the Breaking of our Backs at length no other Moans availing to rescue Us from Utter Ruin We strugled to continue the English Liberties to our selves and to the Generations that should come after us and to leave our Posterity as free as our Ancestors left us And had we not so done and that in the way we did it where had your English Liberties been at this Day The Great Lord Hollis told you the Truth therein in his Letter to Van 〈◊〉 in the Year 1676 when he said That had not We in the Parliament of 1640 interposed the English Government must have sunk e're now for save what we did Not one true Stroke had been struck since Queen Elizabeth SIR Having now made an End with my Tyrant and by the Particulars which I have presented to your View set it beyond all possibility of rational Controul That the Tyrants of whom I have treated were at least Parallels I shall now offer one Word for my self which is That in whatsoever I have said I have had a Due and Faithful Regard to Truth and do challenge even Pelling himself who ought for his own Vindication to do it if he can to convict me of Falshood in any one Particular here charged upon his In comparable Prince and if you shall esteem me over-tart in any of my Expressions I say That if to call a Spade a Spade be unbecoming I have transgressed if not I cannot see how I ought to have expressed the Despotick and Arbitrary Pranks I have mentioned by any other Name than Tyranny nor to have stilled him who acted them other than a Tyrant And as to my Reverend Doctor it seems a Difficulty to me to find Words proper and severe enough whereby to brand and stamp a Character of Infamy upon him who with such Loathsome