put for agreeing with their Committee this Address which passed in the Affirmative without Division of the House Then it was Ordered That those Members of the House who were of his Majestys Privy Counsel should move his Majesty to know his pleasure when the House might wait upon him with their Address Mr. Povvle reported from the Committee Amendments to the Bill for Recalling his Majestys Subjects out of the French Kings Service which were Read and Agreed to by the House and the Bill with the Amendments Ordered to be Ingrossed And then the House Adjourned to the morrow Saturday May 26 1677 in the morn The House being sate had notice by Secretary Coventry That the King would receive their Address at three in the afternoon The Bill for Recalling his Majesties Subjects c. being then Ingrossed was Read the Third time and Passed The effect of the Bill in short was this That all and every of the Natural born Subjects of his Majesty who should continue or be after the first of August next in the Military Service of the French King should be disabled to inherit any Lands Tenements or Hereditaments and be uncapable of any Gift Grant or Legacy or to be Executor or Administrator and being convicted should be adjudged guilty of Felony without benefit of the Clergy and not pardonable by his Majesty his Heirs or Successors except only by Act of Parliament wherein such Offenders should be particularly named The like appointment for such as should continue in the Sea-service of the French King after the first of May 1678. This Act as to the prohibiting the offence and incurring the penalties to continue but for two years but the executeing and proceeding upon it for Offences against the Act might be at any time aswell after as within the two years Then it was Ordered that Mr. Povvle should carry up this Bill to the Lords and withall should put the Lords in mind of a Bill for The better suppressing the grovvth of Popery which they had sent up to their Lordships before Easter which was forth with done accordingly As soon as this was ordered several other Bills were moved for to be Read c. But the Members generally said No. They vvould proceed on nothing but the French and Popery So they Adjourned to the afternoon when they attended the King with their Address at the Banqueting House in White-Hall Which being presented The King Answered That it was long and of great importance that he would consider of it and give them an Answer as soon as he could The House did nothing else but Adjourn till Monday morn Monday May 28 1677. The House being sate they received notice by Secretary Coventry that the King expected them immediately at the Banqueting-House Whether being come The King made a Speech to them on the Subject of their Address Which Speech to prevent mistakes his Majesty read out of his Paper and then delivered the same to the Speaker And his Majesty added a few words about their Adjournment The Kings Speech is as followeth Gentlemen Could I have been Silent I vvould rather have chosen to be so then to call to mind things so unfit for you to meddle vvith as are contained in some parts of your last Addresses vvherein you have entrenched upon so undoubted a Right of the Crovvn that I am confident it vvill appear in no Age vvhen the Svvord vvas not dravvn that the Prerogative of making Peace and War hath been so dangerously invaded You do not content your selves vvith desiring Me to enter into such Leagues as may be for the safety of the Kingdome but you tell Me vvhat sort of Leagues they must be and vvith vvhom and as your Addresse is vvorded it is more liable to be understood to be by your Leave then at your Request that I should make such other Alliances as I please vvith other of the Confederates Should I suffer this fundamental Povver of making Peace and War to be so far invaded though but once as to have the manner and circumstances of Leagues prescribed to Me by Parliament it 's plain that no Prince or State vvould any longer believe that the Soveraignty of England rests in the Crovvn Nor could I think My Self to signifie any more to Foreign Princes then the empty Sound of a King Wherefore you may rest assured that no Condition shall make Me depart from or lessen so essential a part of the Monarchy And I am vvilling to believe so vvell of this House of Commons that I am confident these ill Consequences are not intended by you These are in short the Reasons vvhy I can by no means approve of your Address and yet though you have declined to grans Me that Supply vvhich is necessary to the Ends of it I do again declare to you That as I have done all that lay in my povver since your last Meeting so I vvill still apply my self by all the means I â—…an to let the World see my Care both for the Security and Satisfaction of my People although it may not be vvith those Advantages to them vvhich by your Assistances I might have procured And having said this he signified to them that they should Adjourn till the 16th of July Upon hearing of this Speech read their House is said to have been greatly appalled both in that they were so severely Checked in his Majesties name from whom they had been used to receive so constant Testimones of his Royal Bounty and Affection which they thought they had deserved as also because there are so many Old and fresh Presidents of the same Nature and if there had not yet they were led into this by all the stepps of Necessity in duty to his Majesty and the Nation And several of them offering therefore modestly to have spoken they were interrupted continually by the Speaker contesting that after the Kings pleasure signified for Adjornment there was no further Liberty of speaking And yet it is certain that at the same time in the Lords House the Adjournment was in the 〈◊〉 forme and upon the Question first propounded to that House and allowed by them All Adjournments unlesse made by speciall Commission under his Majesties Broad Seal being and having alwaies been so an Act of the Houses by their own Authority Neverthelesse several of their Members requiring to be heard the Speaker had the confidence without any Question put and of his own motion to pronounce the House Adjourned till the 16th of July and sâ—…pt down in the middle of the floor all the House being astonished at so unheard of a violation of their inherent Priviledge and Constitution And that which more amazed them afterwards was that while none of their own transactions or Addresses for the Publick Good are suffered to be Printed but even all Written Coppies of them with the same care as Libells suppressed Yet they found this severe speech published in 〈◊〉 next days News Book to mark them out to their own and all
is not sufficient vvithout a further Supply to enable your Majesty to Speak or Act those things vvhich are desired by your People We humbly take leave to acquaint your Majesty that many of our Members being upon an expectation of an Adjournment before Easter are gone into their several Countries vve cannot think it Parliamentary in their absence to take upon us the granting of money but do therefore desire your Majesty to be pleased that this House may Adjourn it self for such short time before the sum of 200000 l. can be expended as your Majesty shall think sit and by your Royal Proclamation to command the attendance of all our Members at the day of Meeting by vvhich time vve hope your Majesty may have so formed your Affaires and fixed your Alliances in pursuance of our former Addresses that your Majesty may be gratiously pleased to Impart them to us in Parliament and vve no vvayes doubt but at our next Assembling your Majesty vvill not only meet vvith a Complyance in the Supply your Majesty desires but vvithall such farther Assistance as the posture of your Majesties Affaires shall require in confidence vvhereof vve hope your Majesty vvill be encouraged in the mean time to speak and act such things as your Majesty shall judge necessary for attaining those great ends as ye have formerly represented to your Majesty And now the money Bill being Passed both Houses and the French having by the surrender of Cambray also to them perfected the Conquest of this Campagne as was projected and the mony for further preparations having been asked onely to gain a pretence for refusing their Addresses the Houses were adjourned April the 16th till the 21 of May next And the rather becuase at the same moment of their rising a Grand French Ambassador was coming over For all things betwixt France and England moved with that punctual Regularity that it was like the Harmony of the Spheres so Consonant with themselves although we cannot hear the musick There landed immediately after the Recesse the Duke of Crequy the Arch-Bishop of Rheims Monsieur Barrillon and a Traine of three or four hundred persons of all Qualities so that the Lords Spirituall and Temporall of France with so many of their Commons meeting the King at Nevv-market it looked like another Parliament And that the English had been Adjourned in order to their better Reception But what Addresse they made to his Majesty or what Acts they passed hath not yet been Published But those that have been in discourse were An Act for continuing his Majesties subjests in the service of France An Act of abolition of all Claymes and demandes from the subjests of France on Account of all Prizes made of the English at Sea since the year 1674 till that day and for the future An Act for marring the Children of the Royal Family to Protestants Princes An Act for a further supply of French mony But because it appears not that all these and many others of more secret nature passed the Royall Assent it sufficeth thus far to have mentioned them Onely it is most certain that although the English Parliament was kept aloofe from the businesse of War Peace and Alliance as Improper for their Intermedling Presumptuous Yet with these 3 Estates of France all these things were Negotiated and transacted in the Greatest confidence And so they were Adjourned from Nevv-Market to London and there continued till the return of the English Parliament when they were dismissed home with all the signes and demonstrations of mutuall 〈◊〉 And for better Preparations at home before the Parliament met there was Printed a second Packet of Advice to the men of Shaftsbury the first had been sold up and down the Nation and Transmitted to Scotland where 300 of them were Printed at Edenburgh and 40 Copyes sent from thence to England fariely bound up and Guilded to shew in what great Estmiation it was in that kingdome But this the sale growing heavy was dispersed as a Donative all over England and it was an Incivilty to have enquired from whence they had it but it was a Book though it came from Hell that seemed as if it dropped from Heaven among men some Imagined by the weight and the wit of it that it proceeded from the Two Lords the Black and the White who when their care of the late Sitting was over had given themselves Caviere and after the Triumphs of the Tongue had Establish those Trophes of the Pen over their Imprisoned Adversaries But that had been a thing unworthy of the Frechvvellian Generosity or Trerisian Magnanimity And rather besits the mean malice of the same Vulgar Scribler hired by the Conspirators at so much a shâ—…t or for day wages and when that is spent he shall for lesse mony Blaspheme his God Revile his Prince and Belye his Country if his former Books have Omitted any thing of those Arguments and shall Curse his own Father into the Bargain Monday May 21. 1677. The Parliament met according to their late Adjornment on and from April 16th to May 21 1677. There was no speech from the King to the Parliament but in the House of Commons This Meeting was opened with a verball message from his Majesty delivered by Secretary Coventry wherein his Majesty acquainted the House that having according to their desire in their Answer to his late Message April 16th driected their Adjournment to this time because they did alledge it to be unparliamentary to grant Supplyes when the House was so thin in expectation of a speedy Adjournment and having also Issued out his Proclamation of summons to the end there might be a full House he did now expect they would forthwith enter upon the consideration of his last message and the rather because he did intend there should be a Recesse very quickly Upon this it was moved That the Kings last Message of April 16. And the Answer thereto should be Read and they were read accordingly Thereupon after a long silence a discourse began about their expectation and necessity of Alliances And particularly it was intimated that an Alliance with Holland was most expedient for that we should deceive our selves if we thought we could be defended otherwise we alone could not withstand the French his purse and power was too great Nor could the Dutch withstand him But both together might The general discourse was that they came with an expectation to have Allyances declared and if they were not made so as to be imparted they were not called or come to that purpose they desired and hoped to meet upon and if some few dayes might ripen them they would be content to Adjorn for the mean time The Secretary and others said these Allyances were things of great weight and 〈◊〉 and the time had been short but if they were finisht yet it was not convenient to publish them till the King was in a readinesse and posture to prosecute and maintain them till when his Majesty could
dealt with him in all things most frankly That notwithstanding all the Expressions in my Lord Keeper Bridgmans Speech of the Treaty betvveen France and his Majesty concerning Commerce vvherein his Majesty vvill have a singular regard to the Honour and also to the Trade of this Nation and notwithstanding the intollerable oppressions upon the English Traffick in France ever since the Kings Restauration they had not in all that time made one step towards a Treaty of Commerce or Navigation with him no not even now when the English were so necessary to him that he could not have begun this War without them and might probably therefore in this conjuncture have condescended to some equality But they knew how tender that King was on that point and to preserve and encrease the Trade of his Subjects and that it was by the Diminution of that Beam of his Glory that the Hollanders had raised his Indignation The Conspirators had therefore the more to gratify him made it their constant Maxime to burden the English Merchant here with one hand while the French should load them no less with the other in his Teritories which was a parity of Trade indeed though something an extravagant one but the best that could be hoped from the prudence and integrity of our States-men insomuch that when the Merchants have at any time come down from London to represent their grievances from the French to seek redress or offer their humble adviâ—…e they were Hector'd Brow-beaten Ridiculed and might have found fairer audience even from Monsieur Colbert They knew moreover that as in the matter of Commerce so they had more obliged him in this War That except the irresistable bounties of so great a Prince in their own particular and a frugal Subsistance-money for the Fleet they had put him to no charges but the English Navy Royal serv'd him like so many Privateers No Purchase No Pay That in all things they had acted with him upon the most abstracted Principles of Generosity They had tyed him to no terms had demanded no Partition of Conquests had made no humane Condition but had sold all to him for those two Pearls of price the True Worship and the True Government Which disinteressed proceeding of theirs though suited to Forraine Magnanimity yet should we still lose at Sea as we had hitherto and the French Conquer all at Land as it was in prospect might at one time or other breed some difficulty in answering for it to the King and Kingdom However this were it had so hapned before the arrival of the Plenipotentiaries that whereas here in England all that brought applycations from Holland were treated as Spies and Enemies till the French King should signify his pleasure he on the contrary without any communication here had received Addresses from the Dutch Plenipotentiaries and given in to them the sum of his Demands not once mentioning his Majesty or his Interest which indeed he could not have done unless for mockery having demanded all for himself so that there was no place left to have made the English any satisfaction and the French Ministers therefore did very candidly acquaint those of Holland that upon their accepting those Articles there should be a firm Peace and Amity restored But as for England the States their Masters might use their discretion for that France was not obliged by any Treaty to procure their advantage This manner of dealing might probably have animated as it did warrant the English Plenipotentiaries had they been as full of Resolution as of Power to have closed with the Dutch who out of aversion to the French and their intollerable demands were ready to have thrown themselves into his Majesties Armes or at his Feet upon any reasonable conditions But it wrought clean otherwise For those of the English Plenipotentiaries who were it seems intrusted with a fuller Authority and the deeper Secret gave in also the English Demands to the Hollanders consisting in eight Articles but at last the Ninth saith Although his Majesty contents himself vvith the foregoing Conditions so that they be accepted vvithin ten dayes after vvhich his Majesty understands himself to be no further obliged by them He declares nevertheless precisely that albeit they should all of them be granted by the said States yet they shall be of no force nor vvill his Majesty maâ—…e any Treaty of Peace or Truce unless the Most Christian King shall have received satisfastion from the said States in his particular And by this means they made it impossible for the Dutch however desirous to comply with England excluded us from more advantagious terms than we could at any other time hope for and deprived us of an honest and honourable evasion out of so pernicious a War and from a more dangerous Alliance So that now it appeared by what was done that the Conspirtors securing their own fears at the price of the Publick Interest and Safety had bound us up more strait then ever by a new Treaty to the French Project The rest of this year passed with great successe to the French but none to the English And therefore the hopes upon which the War was begun of the Smyrna and Spanish Fleet and Dutch Prizes being vanished the slender Allowance from the French not sufficing to defray it and the ordinary Revenue of the King with all the former Aides being as was fit to be believed in lesse then one years time exhausted The Parliament by the Conspirators good leave was admitted again to sit at the day appointed the 4th of February 1672. The Warr was then first communicated to them and the Causes the Necessity the Danger so well Painted out that the Dutch abusive Historical Pictures and False Medalls which were not forgot to be mentioned could not be better imitated or revenged Onely there was one great omission of their False Pillars which upheld the whole Fabrick of the England Declarations Upon this signification the House of Commons who had never failed the Crown hitherto upon any occosion of mutual gratuity did now also though in a Warre contrary to former usuage begun without their Advice readily Vote no less a summe than 1250000 l. But for better Colour and least they should own in words what they did in effect they would not say it was for the Warre but for the Kings Extraordinary Occasions And because the Nation began now to be aware of the more true Causes for which the Warre had been undertaken they prepared an Act before the Money-Bill slipt thorrow their Fingers by which the Papists were obliged to pass thorow a new State Purgatory to be capable of any Publick Imployment whereby the House of Commons who seem to have all the Great Offices of the Kingdom in Reversion could not but expect some Wind-falls Upon this Occasion it was that the Earl of Shaftsbury though then Lord Chancellour of England yet Engaged so far in Defence of that ACT and of the PROTESTANT RELIGION that in due
so they might have a Rase Campagne of Religion Government and Propriety or they hoped at least by this means to fright the one party and incourage the other to give hence forward Money at pleasure and that money on what title soever granted with what stamp coyned might be melted down for any other service or uses But there could not have been a greater affront and indignity offerred to those Gentlemen and the best did so resent it then whether these hopes were reall to think them men that might be hired to any base action or whether as hitherto but imaginary that by erecting the late Kings Statue that whole Party might be rewarded in Effigie While these things were upon the Anvill the tenth of November was come for the Parliaments sitting but that was put of till the 13th of April 1675. And in the mean time which fell out most opportune for the Conspirators these Counsells were matured and something further to be contrived that was yet wanting The Parliament accordingly meeting and the House of Lords as well as that of the Commons being in deliberation of severall wholesome Bills such as the present state of the Nation required the great Design came out in a Bill unexpectedly offered one morning in the House of Lords whereby all such as injoyed any beneficiall Office or Imployment Ecclesiastical Civill or Military to which was added Privy Counsellours Justices of the Peace and Members of Parliament were under a Penalty to take the Oath and make the Declaration and Abhorrence insuing I A. B. Do declare That it is not Lavvful upon any pretence vvhatsoever to take up Armes against the King and that I do abhorre that Traiterous position of taking Armes by his Authority against his Person or against those that are Commissioned by him in Pursuance of such Commission And I do svvear that I vvill not at any time Indeavour the Alteration of the Government either in Church or State So help me God This same Oath had been brought into the House of Commons in the Plague year at Oxford to have been imposed upon the Nation but there by the assistance of those very same persons that now introduce it t was thrown out for fear of a General Infection of the Vitales of this Kingdome And though it passed then in a particular Bill Known by the name of the Five-mile Act because it only concerned the Non-conformist Preachers yet even in that it was throughly opposed by the late Earle of Southampton whose Judgement might well have been reckoned for the Standard of Prudence and Loyalty It was indeed happily said by the Lord Keeper in the opening of this Session No Influences of the Starrs no Configuration of the Heavens are to be feared so long as these tvvo Houses stand in a Good Disposition to each other and both of them in a happy Conjunction vvith their Lord and Soveraign But if he had so early this Act in his prospect the same Astrology might have taught him that there is nothing more portentous and of worse Omen then when such an Oath hangs over a Nation like a New Comet forboding the Alteration of Religion or Government Such was the Holy League in France in the Reigne of Henry the third Such in the time of Philip the second the Oath in the Netherlands And so the Oaths in our late Kings time taught the Fanaticks because they could not swear yet to Covenant Such things therefore are if ever not needlessely thought for good fortune sake only to be attempted and when was there any thing lesse necessary No King of England had ever so great a Treasure of this Peoples Affections except what those ill men have as they have done all the rest consumed whom but out of an excesse of Love to his Person the Kingdome would never for it never did formerly so long have suffered The Old Acts of Allegiance and Supremacy were still in their full Vigour unlesse against the Papists and even against them too of late whensoever the way was to be smoothed for a liberall Session of Parliament And moreover to put the Crown in full security this Parliament had by an Act of theirs determined a Question which the wisdome of their Ancestors had never decided that the King hath the sole power of the Militia And therefore my Lord Keeper did by his patronizing this Oath too grossely prevaricate against two very good State Maximes in his Harangue to the Parliament for which he had consulted not the Astrologer but the Historian advising them first That they should not Quieta movere that is said he vvhen men stirre those things or Questions vvhich are and ought to be in peace And secondly That they should not Res parvas magnis motibus agere That is saith he againe vvhen as much vveight is laid upon a nevv and not alvvays necessary Proposition as if the vvhole summe of affaires depended upon it And this Oath it seems was the little thing he meant of being forsooth but a Moderate Security to the Church and Crovvn as he called it but which he and his party layd so much vveight on as if the vvhole sum of Affaires did depend upon it But as to the Quieta movere or stirring of those things or Questions which are and ought to be in Peace was not this so of taking Armes against the King upon any pretence whatsoever And was not that also in Peace of the Trayterous Position of taking Armes by his Authority against his Person Had not the three Acts of Corporations of Militia and the Five Miles sufficiently quieted it Why was it further stirred But being stirred it raises in mens thoughts many things more some les others more to the purpose Sir Walter Tirrells Arrow grazed upon the Deer it was shot at but by that chance kill'd King William Rufus Yet so far was it that Sir Walter should for that chance shot be adjudged of Treason that we do not perceive he underwent any other Tryal like that of Manslaughter But which is more to the point it were difficult to instance a Law either in this or other Country but that a private Man if any king in Christendom assault him may having retreated to the Wall stand upon his Guard and therefore if this matter as to a particular man be dubious it was not so prudent to stirre it in the General being so well setled And as to all other things though since Lord Chancellour he havein his Speech of the 15 of Feb. One thousand six hundred seveny six said to testify his own abhorrency Avvay vvith that ill meant distinstion betvveen the Natural and the Politique Capacity He is too well read to be ignorant that without that Distinction there would be no Law nor Reason of Law left in England To which end it was and to put all out of doubt that it is also required in this Test to declare mens abhorrency as of a Traitorous Position to take Armes against those that
are Commissioned by him in pursuance of such Commission and yet neither is the Tenour or Rule of any such Commission specified nor the Qualification of those that shall be armed with such Commissions expressed or limited Never was so much sence contained in so few words No Conveyancer could ever in more Compendious or binding terms have drawn a Dissettlement of the whole Birth-right of England For as to the Commission if it be to take away any mans Estate or his Life by force Yet it is the Kings Commission Or if the Person Commissionate be under never so many Dissabilities by Acts of Parliament yet his taking this Oath removes all those Incapacities or his Commission makes it not Disputable But if a man stand upon his Defence a good Judge for the purpose finding that the Position is Traitorous will declare that by this Law he is to be Executed for Treason These things are no Nicetyes or remote Considerations though in making of Laws and which must come afterwards under Construction of Judges Durante Bene-placito all Cases are to be put and imagined but there being an Act in Scotland for Tvventy thousand Men to March into England upon Call and so great a Body of English Souldery in France within Summons besides what Forainers may be obliged by Treaty to furnish and it being so fresh in memory what sort of persons had lately been in Commission among us to which add the many Bookes then Printed by Licence Writ some by Men of the Black one of the Green Cloath wherein the Absoluteness of the English Monarchy is against all Law asserted All these Considerations put together were sufficient to make any honest and well-advised man to conceive indeed that upon the passing of this Oath and Declaration the vvhole sum of Affaires depended It grew therefore to the greatest contest that has perhaps ever been in Parliament wherein those Lords that were against this Oath being assured of their own Loyalty and Merit stood up now for the English Liberties with the same Genius Virtue and Courage that their Noble Ancestors had formerly defended the Great Charter of England but with so much greater Commendation in that they had here a fairer Field and the more Civil way of Decision They fought it out under all the disadvantages imaginable They were overlaid by Numbers the noise of the House like the VVind was against them and if not the Sun the Fire-side was allwayes in their Faces nor being so few could they as their Adversaries withdraw to refresh themselves in a whole days Ingagement Yet never was there a clearer Demonstration how dull a thing is humane Eloquence and Greatness how Little when the bright Truth discovers all things in their proper Colours and Dimensions and shining shoots its Beams thorow all their Fallacies It might be injurious where all of them did so excellently well to attribute more to any one of those Lords than another unless because the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shaftsbury have been the more reproached for this brave Action it be requisite by a double proportion of Praise to set them two on equal terms with the rest of their Companions in Honour The particular Relation of this Debate which lasted many dayes with great eagerness on both sides and the Reasons but on one was in the next Session burnt by Order of the Lords but the Sparkes of it will eterually fly in their Adversaries faces Now before this Test could in so vigorous an opposition passe the House of Peers there arose unexpectedly a great Controversy betwixt the two Houses concerning their Priviledges on this occasion The Lords according to their undoubted Right being the Supream Court of Judicature in the Nation had upon Petition of Doctor Shirley taken cognizance of a Cause between him and Sir John Fagg a Member of the House of Commons and of other Appeales from the Court of Chancery which the Commons whether in good earnest which I can hardly believe or rather some crafty Parliament men among them having an eye upon the Test and to prevent the hazard of its coming among them presently took hold of and blew the Coales to such a degree that there was no quenching them In the House of Peers both Partyes as in a point of their own Privilege easily united and were no lesse inflamed against the Commons and to uphold their own ancient Jurisdiction wherein neverthelesse both the Lords for the Test and those against it had their own particular reasons and might have accused each-other perhaps of some artifice The matter in conclusion was so husbanded on all sides that any longer converse betwixt the two Houses grew impracticable and his Majesty Prorogued them therefore till the 13th of October 1675 following And in this manner that fatall Test which had given so great disturbance to the mindes of our Nation dyed the second Death which in the language of the Divines is as much as to say it was Damned The House of Commons had not in that Session been wanting to Vote 300000 l. towards the building of Ships and to draw a Bill for appropriating the Ancient Tunnage and Poundage amounting to 400000 l. yearly to the use of the Navy as it ought in Law already and had been granted formerly upon that special Trust and Confidence but neither did that 300000 l. although Competent at present and but an earnest for future meeting seem considerable and had it been more yet that Bill of appropriating any thing to its true use was a sufficient cause to make them both miscarry but upon pretense of the quarrel between the Lords and Commons in which the Session thus ended The Conspirators had this interval to reflect upon their own affaires They saw that the King of France as they called him was so busy abroad that he could not be of farther use yet to them here then by his directions while his Armyes were by assistance of the English Forces severall times saved from ruines They considered that the Test was defeated by which the Papists hoped to have had Reprisalls for that of Transubstantiation and the Conspirators to have gained Commission as extensive and arbitrary as the malice of their own hearts could dictate That herewith they had missed of a Legality to have raised mony without Consent of Parliament or to imprison or execute whosoever should oppose them in pursuance of such their Commission They knew it was in vaine to expect that his Majesty in that want or rather opinion of want which they had reduced him to should be diverted from holding this Session of Parliament nor were they themselves for this once wholy averse to it For they presumed either way to find their own account that if mony were granted it should be attributed to their influence and remaine much within their disposal but if not granted that by joyning this with other accidents of Parliament they might so represent things to his Majesty as to incense him against them
for the supplying of the said Vacancy and to be placed in such Order as the said Prelates so assembled or the major part of them shall think fit without regard to dignity antiquity or any other form which Writing shall be presented to the King who may thereupon appoint one of the three persous so to be named to succeed in the said Vacancy And the person so appointed or chosen shall by due form of Law according to the course now used be made Bishop of that See But if in 30 days after such presentment of such Names the King or Queen Regnant shall not Elect or appoint which of the said three persons shall succeed in the said vacant See or if after such Election or appointment there shall be any obstruction in pressing of the usual Instruments and formalities of Law in order to his Consecration then such person whose Name shall be first written in the said Instrument of nomination if there be no Election or appointment made by the King within the time aforesaid shal be the Bishop of the vacant See And if there be an Election or appointment made then the person so appointed shall be the Bishop of the vacant See And the Arch-bishop of the Province wherein the said vacancy shall be or such other person or persons who ought by his Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws to Consecrate the said Bishop shall upon reasonable demand and are hereby required to make Consecration accordingly upon pain of forfeiting trebble damages and costs to the party grieved to be recovered in any of his Majesties Courts at Westminster And immediately after such Consecration the person so consecrated shall be and is hereby Enacted to be compleat Bishop of the said vacant See and is hereby vested in the Temporalties of the said Bishop-prick and in actual possession thereof to all intents and purposes and shall have a Seat and Place in Parliament as if he had by due forms of Law been made Bishop and had the Temporalities restored unto him And in case the person so first named in the said Instrument of nomination or the person so Elected by the King or Queen Regnant shall then be a Bishop so that no Consecration be requisite then immediately after default of Election or appointment by the King or immediately after such Election or appointment if any shall be made within the said time and any Obstructions in pressing the Instruments and Formalities in Law in such cases used the Bishop so first Named or Elected and appointed shall thereupon ipso facto be translated and become Bishop of that See to which he was so nominated and appointed and shall be and is hereby vested in the Temporalties and actual possession thereof to all intents and purposes and shall have his Seat and Place in Parliament accordingly and his former See shall become vacant as if he had been by due Forms of Law chosen and confirmed into the same and had the Temporalities restored unto him And be it further Enacted That until the making the said Oath and Declaration in manner aforesaid the respective succeeding Kings and Queens that shall not have made and subscribed the same shall not grant or dispose of any Denary or Arch-Deconary Prebendary Mastership of any Colledge Parsonage Viccarage or any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion whatsoever to any other person but such person as shall be nominated for the same unto the said King or Queen Regnant by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury or Guardians of the Spiritualities of the said Arch-bishop-prick for the time being if the same be within the Province of Canterbury and by the Arch-bishop-prick of York or Guardians of the spiritualities of the said Arch-bishop-prick for the time being if the same be within the Province of York by writing under their respective Hands and Seals and in case any such as shall be accordingly nominated shall not be able to obtein Presentation or grant thereof within 30 dayes next after such nomination then the said person shall and may and is hereby enabled by force of the said nomination to require Institution and Induction from such person and persons unto whom it shall belong to grant the same who shall accordingly make Institution and Induction as if the said person were lawfully presented by the said King or Queen Regnant upon pain to forfeit to the party grieved trebble damages and costs to be recovered in any of his Majesties Courts at VVestminster and in cases where no Institution or Induction is requisite the said person so nominated from and after the end of the said 30 dayes shall be and is hereby actually vested in the possession of such Denary Arch-Deaconary Prebendary Mastership Rectory Parsonage or Vicarage Donative or other Ecclefiastical Benefice or Promotion and shall be full and absolute proprietor and Incumbent thereof to all Intents and Purposes as if he had obteyned possession therof upon a legall grant by the said King or Queen Regnant and proceeding thereupon in due form of Law Provided always and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That it shall and may be lawful for the Lord High Chancellor of England or the Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England for the time being to pass presentations or grants to any Ecclesiastical Benefice under value in the Kings Gift in such manner as hath been accustomed any thing in this present Act to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted That during such time as any King or Queen Regnant shall be under the said fourteen yeares no person that shall be Lord Protector or Regent of this Realme During such minority shall in any wise either in the name of the King or Queen Regnant or in his own name grant confer or dispose of any Arch-Bishop-prick Bishoprik Deanary Prebendary Master-ship of any Colledge Personage Vicarage or other Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion whatsoever but the same shall be disposed of in manner above mentioned during such miniority untill such Lord Protector or Regent shall make and subscribe the said Oath and Declaration mutatis mutandis before such nine or more of the said Prelates as he shall call to Administer the same unto him which Oath and Declaration they are hereby Authorized and required to Administer under the penaltyes aforesaid when they shall be called thereunto by such Lord Protector or Regent for the time being And be it further Enacted That the Children of such succeeding King or Queen Regnant that shall not have made and subscribed the Oath and Declaration in manner aforsaid shall from their respective Ages of seven years untill the respective Ages of fourteen yeares to be under the care and goverment of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York and Bishop of London Durham and VVinchester for the time being who are hereby enjoyned and required to take care that they be well instructed and Educated in the true Protestant Religion as it is now Established by Law and to the Intent that the Arch-Bishops and Bishops for the time being
may effectally have the Care and Government of such Children according to the true intent of this Law Be it Enected That after any such Children shall have attained their respective Ages of fourteen years no person shall have enjoy bear and execute any office service imployment or place of attendment relateing to their persons but such as shall be approved of in writing under the Hands and Seals of the said Arch-Bishops and Bishops in being or the Major part of such of them as are there in being And if any person shall take upon him to Execute any such Office Service Imployment or place of Attendance contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act he shall forfeit the sum of 100 l. for every moneth he shall so Execute the same to be recovered by any person that will sue for the same in any Action of Debt Bill Plaint or Information ' in any of his Majesties Courts at VVestminister shall also suffer Imprisonment for the space of six months without Bayle or Manieprize And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Person born within this Realme or any other of his Majesties Dominions being a Popish Preist Deacon or Ecclesiiastical Person made or deemed or professed by any Authority or Jurisdiction derived challenged or pretended from the See of Rome or any Jesuite whatsoever shall be allowed to attend the person of the Queens Majesty that now is or any Quen Consort or Queen Dowager that shall be hereafter whilst they are within this Realme â—…or by pretence of such service or any other matter shall be Exempted from the penall Laws already made against such persons coming into being or remaining in this Kingdom but shall be and are hereby lyable to the utmost severity thereof Provided alwayes That it shall and may be lawfull for Master John Huddleston being one of the Queens Majesties Domestique servant to attend her said Majesties service any thing in this Act or any other Law to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted That after the Death of the Queens Majesty to whom God grant a long and happy life all lay persons whatsoever born within this Realme or any other of his Majesties Dominions that shall be of the Houshold or in the service or Employment of any succeeding Queen Consort or Queen Dowager shall do and performe all things in a late Act of this Parliament Entituled An Act for preventing Dangers vvhich may happen from Popish Recusants required to be done and performed by any person that shall be admitted into the service or Employment of his Majesty or his Royal Highnesse the Duke of York which if they shall neglect or refuse to do and perform and neverthelesse after such Refusall and execute any Office Service or Employment under any succeeding Queen Consort or Queen Dowager every person so offending shall be lyable to the same penalties and disabilities as by the said Act are may be inflicted upon the breakers of that Law Provided alwayes That all and every person or persons that shallby vertue of this Act have or claym any Arch-Bishoprick Bishoprick Deanry Prebendary Parsonage Vicarage or other Ecclesiastical Benefits with Cure or without Cure shall be and is hereby enjoyned under the like penalties and disabilitys to do and perform all things whatsoever which by Law they ought to have done if they had obteyned the same and by the usuall course and form of Law without the help and benefit of this Act. And be it further Enacted That all and every Arch-Bishops Bishops appointed by this Act to Assemble upon the Demise of his Majesty or any other King or Queen Regnant in order to repaire and make humble tender of the Oath and Declaration aforementioned to any succeeding King or Queen be bound by this Act to Administer the same shall before such tender and Administration thereof and are hereby required to Administer the same Oath and Declaration to one another with such of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops at any time assembled as by the statute 31. H. 8. ought to have precedence of all the rest of them that shall be so assembled is hereby Authorized and required to administer to the rest of them and the next in order to such Prelates is hereby Authorized and required to administer the same to him and the same Oath and Declaration being Engrossed in other peice of Parchment they and every of them are hereby enjoyned to subscribe their names to the same and to return the same into the high Court of Chancery hereafter with their Certificate which they are before by this Act appointed to make And if any of the said Arch-Bishops or Bishops shall be under 〈◊〉 same penalties forfeiture and disabilities as are hereby â—…ointed for such Arch-Bishops and Bishops as neglect or refuse to make any tender of the said Oath and Declaration to any succeeding King or Queen Regnant And be it further Enacted That the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury or Arch-Bishop of York or such other Bishop to whom it shall belong to issue forth summons to all the Bishops of England and Wales requiring to meet and consult concerning the Nomination of fit persons for the supply of any Arch-Bishopprick or Bishopprick according to this Act shall make the said summons in such manner that the time therein mentioned for the meeting the said Arch-Bishops and Bishops shall not be more then forty days distinct from the time of the Date and Issuing out of the said summons And be it further Enacted That in case any person intituled by this Act doth demand Consecration in order to make him Bishop of any vacant See in manner aforesaid shall demand the same of the Arch-Bishop of the Province and such Arch Bishop that shall neglect or refuse to do the same either by himself or by others Commissioned by him by the space of thirty days that then such Arch Bishop shall over and besides the trebble Dammages to the party before appointed forfeit the summe of 1000 l. to any person that will sue for the same in any of his Majesties Courts at Westminster by Action of Debt Bill Plaint or Information wherein no Essoyn Protection or Wager of Law shall be allowed And being thereof lawfully convicted his Arch-Bishopprick shall thereby become Ipso Facto voyd as if he were naturally Dead and he shall be and is hereby made uncapable and disabled to hold have receive the same or any other Bishopprick or Ecclesiastical Benefice whatsoever And be it further Enacted That after such neglect or refusall by the space of thirty dayes after Demand to make such Consecration or in case of the vacancy of the Arch-Bishopprick such Bishop of the said Province for time being who by the Statute of 31. H. 8. ought to have presidents of all the rest calling to his Assistance a sufficient number of Bishops who are likewise required to assist at such time and place as he shall thereunto appoint shall and is hereby required upon reasonable
not so much as speak out insisting on his words That vvithout 600000 l. it vvould not be possible for him to speak or Act those things vvhich should ansvver the ends of their several Addresses vvithout exposing the Kingdom to much greater dangers By others it was observed and said That they met now upon a publick notice by Proclamation which Proclamation was in pursuance of their last Addresse in which Addresse they desire the King they may Adjourn for such time as with in which they hoped Allyances might be fixed so as to be imparted they mentioned not any particular day If his Majesty had not thought this time long enough for the purpose he might have appointed the Adjournment for a longer time or he might have given notice by Proclamation that upon this account they should re-adjourn to a yet longer time But surely the time has been sufficient especially considering the readiness of the Parties to be Allyed with it is five weeks since our 〈◊〉 He that was a minister chiefly imployed in making the Tripple â—…ague has since published in print that that League was made in sive dayes and yet that might well be thought a matter more tedious and long then this For when people are in profound peace as the Dutch then were it was not easy to embark them presently into Leagues They had time and might take it for greater deliberation But here the people are in the distresse of War and need our Allyance and therefore it might be contracted with ease and expidition were we as forward as they Neither is five weeks the limit of the time that has been for this purpose for it is about ten weeks since we first Addressed for these Allyances And as to the Objection That it was not fit to make them known before preparation were made they said the force of that lay in this that the French would be allarmed But they answered that the asking and giving money for this purpose would be no lesse an Allarm For the French could not be ignorant of what Addresses and Answers have passed and if mony be granted to make warlike preperations for the end therein specified it is rather a greater discovery and denouncing of what we intended against the French Grotâ—…us de jure Belli Pacis saies If a Prince make extraordinary preparations a neighbour Prince who may be affected by them may expostulate and demand an account of the purpose for which they are intended and if he receive not satisfaction that they are not to be used against him it is a cause of War on his part so as that Neighbour may begin if he think fit and is not bound to stay till the first preparer first begin actuall Hostility and this is agreeable to reason and the nature of Government Now the French King is a vigilant Prince and has wise Ministers about him upon which general account tho we had not as we have seen an extraordinary French Embassy here dureing our Recesse we should suppose that the French King has demanded an account of our Kings purpose and whether the extraordinary preparations that are begun and to be made are designed against him or not In which case his Majesty could give but one of three answers 1. To say They are not designed against him and then his Majesty may acquaint us with the same and then there is no occasion of our giving money 2. To say They are designed against him in which case his Majesty may very well impart the same to us For it were in vain to conceal it from us to the end that the French might not be allarmd when it is before expresly told the French that the design was against him 3. To give a doubtfull answer But that resolves into the second For when a Prince out of an apprehension that extraordinary preparations may be used against him desires a clear categoricall and satifactory answer concerning the matter as the manner of Princes is a dubious answer does not at all satisfie his inquiry nor allay his jealousy But in that case it is and is used to be taken and understood that the forces are desined against him And if his Majesty have given no answer at all which is not probable it is the same with the last So that this being so by one meanes or other the French have the knowledge of the Kings purpose and if it be known to or but guessed at by hem why is it concealed from his Parliament Why this darknesse towards us Besides we expect not so much good as we would so long as we are afraid the French should know what we are a doing In this state of uncertainty and unâ—…ipeness the House Adjourned to Wednesday Morning nine a cloâ—…k 〈◊〉 first ordred the Committe for the Bill for recalling his Majesties Subjects out of the service of the French King to sit this after-noon which did sit accordingly and went thorough the Bill Wednesday May 23d 1677. His Majesty sent a Message for the House to attend him presently at the Banqueting House in White-Hall where he made the following Speech to them Gentlemen I Have sent for you hither that I might prevent those mistakes and distrusts vvhich I find some are ready to make as if I had called you together only to get money from you for other uses than you vvould have it imployed I do assure you on the Word of a King that you shall not repent any trust you repose in me for the safety of my Kingdoms and I desire you to believe I vvould not break my Credit vvith you but as I have already told you that it vvill not be possible for me to speak or act those things vvhich should ansvver the ends of your several Addresses vvithout exposing my kingdoms to much greater dangers so I declare to you again I vvill neither hazard my ovvn safety nor yours until I be in a better condition than I am able to put my self both to defend my Subjects and offend my Enemies I do further assure you I have not lost one day since your last meeting in doing all I could for your desence and I tell you plainly it shall be your fault and not mine if your Security be not sufficiently provided for The Commons returning to their House and the Speech being there read they presently resolved to consider it and after a little while resolved into a Committee of the whole House for the more full free and regular debate The Secretary and others propounded the supplying the King wherein they said they did not press the House but they might do as they pleased But if it be expected that Allyances be made and made known there must be 600000 l raised to make preperation before for the king had declared that without it it could not be possible for him to speak or Act he could not safely move a step further The king had the right of making Peace War and Leagues as this House has of giving
other Nations as refractory disobedient Persons that had lost all respect to his Majesty Thus were they well rewarded for their Itch of Perpetual Sitting and of Acting the Parliament being grown to that height of Contempt as to be Gazetted among Run-away Servants Lost Doggs Strayed Horses and High-way Robbers In this manner was the second meeting of this whether Convention or Parliament concluded But by what Name soever it is lawfull to call them or how irregular they were in other things yet it must be confessed That this House or Barn of Commons deserved commendations for haveing so far prevented the establishment of Popery by rejecting the Conspiratours two Bills Intituled 1. An Act for further securing the Protestant Religion by educating the Children of the Royal family therein And for the providing for the Continuance of a Protestant Clergy 2. An Act for the more effectual conviction and Prosecution of Popish Recusants And for having in so many Addresses applyed against the French power and 〈◊〉 And their Debates before recited upon this latter subject do sufficently show that there are men of great parts among them who understand the Intrest of the Nation and as long as it is for their purpose can prosecute it For who would not commend Chastity and raile against Whoreing while his Rival injoyes their Mistresse But on the other side that poor desire of Perpetuating themselves those advantages which they have swallowed or do yet gape for renders them so â—…bject that they are become a meer property to the Conspiratours and must in order to their continuance do and suffer such things so much below and contrary to the spirit of the Nation that any honest man would swear that they were no more an English House of Parliament And by this weaknesse of theirs it was that the House of Peers also as it is in contiguous Buildings yeelded and gave way so far even to the shaking of the Government For had the Commons stood firme it had been impossible that ever two men such as the Black and White Lords Trerise and Frechvvel though of so vast fortunes extraordinary understanding and so proportionable Courage should but for speaking against their sense have committed the Four Lords not much their inferiours and thereby brought the whole Peerage of England under their vassalage They met again at the Day appointed the 16 of July The supposed House of Commons were so well appayed and found themselves at such ease under the Protection of these frequent Adjournments which seemed also further to confirme their Title to Parliament that they quite forgot how they had been out-lawed in the Gazette or if any sense or it remaind there was no opportunity to discover it For his Majesty having signified by Mr. Secretary Coventry his pleasure that there should be a further Adjournment their Mr. Seymour the speaker deceased would not suffer any man to proceed But an honourable Member requiring modestly to have the Order Read by which they were before Adjourned he Interrupted him and the Seconder of that motion For he had at the last Meeting gained one President of his own making for Adjourning the House without question by his own Authority and was loath to have it discontinued so that without more ado like an infallible Judge and who had the power over Counsels he declared Ex Cathedra that they were Adjourned till the third of December next And in the same moment stampt down on the floor and went forth trampling upon and treading under foot I had almost said the Priviledges and usage of Parliament but however without shewing that decent respect which is due to a multitude in Order and to whom he was a Menial servant In the mean time the four Lords lay all this while in the Tower looking perhaps to have been set free at least of Course by Prorogation And there was the more reason to have expected one because the Corn Clause which deducted Communibus Annis 55000 I. out of the Kings Customes was by the Act of Parliament to have expired But those frequent Adjournments left no place for Divination but that they must rather have been calculated to give the French more scope for perfecting their Conquests or to keep the Lords closer till the Conspirators Designes were accomplished and it is less probable that one of these was false than that both were the true Causes So that the Lords if they had been taken in War might have been ransomed cheaper than they were Imprisoned When therefore after so long patience they saw no end of their Captivity they began to think that the procuring of their Liberty deserved almost the same care which others took to continue them in Durance and each of them chose the Method he thought most advisable The Earl of Shaftsbury having addressed in vain for his Majesties favour resorted by Habeas Corpus to the Kings Bench the constant Residence of his Justice But the Judges were more true to their Pattents then their Jurisdiction and remanded him Sir Thomas Jones having done him double Justice answering both for himself and his Brother Tvvisden that was absent and had never hard any Argument in the case The Duke of Buckingham the Earle of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton had better Fortune then he in recurring to his Majesty by a Petition upon which they were enlarged making use of an honorable Evasion where no Legal Reparation could be hoped for Ingratefull Persons may censure them for enduring no more not considering how much they had suffered But it is Honour enough for them to have been Confessors nor as yet is the Earl of Shaftsbury a Martyr for the English Liberties and the Protestant Religion but may still live to the Envy of those that maligne him for his Constancy There remaines now only to relate that before the meeting appointed for the third of December his Majesties Proclamation was Issued signifying that he expected not the Members attendance but that those of them about Town may Adjourn themselves till the fourth of April 1678. Wherein it seemed not so strange because often done before as unfortunate that the French should still have so much further leisure allowed him to compleat his design upon Flanders before the Nation should have the last opportunity of interposing their Counsells with his Majesty it cannot now be said to prevent it But these words that the House may Adjourn themselves were very well received by those of the Commons who imagined themselves thereby restored to their Right after Master Seymours Invasion When in reversal of this he probably desiring to retain a Jurisdiction that he had twice usurped and to adde this Flower to the Crown of his own planting Mr. Secretary Coventry delivered a written Message from his Majesty on the 3d. of December of a contrary effect though not of the same validity with the Proclamation to wit That the Houses should be Adjourned only to the 15. of January 1677. Which as soon as read Mr. Seymour