affects not to be a God c. Whereas it was not of his Grace but of his Duty and his Oath to grant them But being neither of the King's Duty nor his Oath Chap. 6 Chap. 6. as I have already shewn it remains that they were Acts of Grace for he might have chosen whether he would have granted them or not And yet his Majesty does not as he maliciously says it twit them but in a kind of Soliloquy to his Soul Is this saith he the reward and thanks that I am to receive for those many Acts of Grace I have lately passed and for those many Indignities I have endur'd Is there no way left to make me a glorious King but by my Sufferings It was the common Protestation of all their Addresses but how well they perform'd it the World is not to learn While they were yet in pursuit it was matter of Grace but once obtain'd it turn'd to a loathing Or taking it in a middle Sense not that he twitted but minded them of what he had done a modest way of refreshing their Memories and wherein can it justly be blam'd Especially considering all he had done was but a kind of Limming the Water to them who like Tiberius when one that had been formerly Serviceable to him thus addressed him You may remember Caesar No says Caesar cutting him short I do not remember what I was Nor must there ever better be expected from Ingratitude which like a vitiated Stomach turns the best Nourishment into the Disease CHAP. X. Vpon their seizing the King's Magazines Forts Navy and Militia HOW untruly saith his Majesty I am charg'd with the first raising an Army and the beginning this Civil War the Eyes that only pity me and the loyal Hearts that durst only pray for me at first may Witness My unpreparedness for a War may well dishearten those that would help me while it argues truly my unwillingness to fight yet it testifies for me that I am set on the defensive Part having so little hopes or Power to defend others that I have none to defend my self or preserve what is my own from their prereption To which one Answerer after his wonted way To put the matter soonest out of Controversy who was the first beginner of this Civil War may be discern'd not only by the first Act of Hostility but by the Counsels and Preparations foregoing in all which the King was the foremost But what he means by that first Act of Hostility unless it were the beating off that Club-rabble from before Whitehall I cannot conjecture and if that be all I have spoken to it before and shewn that the King did no more than what any Private Man might have justified the doing of Chap. 4 And for the Counsels c. he instances in the design of German Horse Billetting of Soldiers c. when yet he knew himself it was to no other end but the carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate wherein the Parliament had engag'd the King his Father The Pulpits sounded no other Doctrine than that which gave all Property to the King and Passive Obedience to the Subject And truly if they did the former they were to blame though till I have better Authority that they did so I shall not believe it And for the latter however the London and Westminster Pulpits thumb'd no Text oftner than that of Curse ye Meroz c. and nuzzled the People into a resisting the King they never applied the Doctrine of Non-Resistance to the two Houses And for Exactions and Disarmings The redress of the former was no sooner pray'd than granted and for the latter it seems strange he should tax the King with that which was the constant Modus of that Parliament Not unlike the Woman that beat her Husband and cry'd Murther to raise the Neighbours And for so much concludes That the King was the first beginner of these Civil Wars as in the Treaty of the Isle of Wight he charg'd it upon himself and acquitted the Parliament A bold Assertion and so contrary to all the King's Declarations and every Man's Knowledge that it is not to be believ'd It was hard press'd on him 't is true but that he did it appears no where Yet if he did so what kind of Men were those Commons that threw by their King's Concessions and made those desperate Votes of Non-Addresses and that it should be Treason to receive any Paper or Message from him Nor wanted they Malice to have urg'd such a Confession if any against himself when they Voted 4 Jan. 45. That the King took Arms against the Parliament and ought to expiate it with his own Blood So easie a thing it was to Murther him with his own Sword having as our Answerer confesses Milton p. 55. wrung the Militia out of his Hands CHAP. XI Vpon the Nineteen Propositions first sent to the King and more afterwards OF the Nineteen Propositions saith our Answerer he names none in particular neither shall the Answer but he insists upon the old Plea of his Conscience Honour and Reason and either of them to all honest Men a peremptory Plea This of the King 's was a discourse to himself and therefore to what End should he say more of them than what he does viz. If nothing else will satisfie I must chuse rather to be as Miserable and Inglorious as my Enemies can make or wish me Whereas our Answerer that knew them so well ought first to have told us what they were and then shewn the Unreasonableness of the King's Refusal But that he knew had been to Undeceive the People and therefore slubber'd them under the General Name of the Nineteen Propositions a Word of many Syllables Men have in their Mouths but how few of them are there that know what it means What therefore he so maliciously suppress'd I have with all Faithfulness summ'd and made such Remarks on them as followeth 1. That the Lords c. of the Privy-Council and all Great Officers of State be removed save only such as shall be approv'd by Both Houses and none put in their Places but by like Approbation The Power hereby claimed was either Originally in the People or it was not If it was they ought to have shown it if it was not the Demand was Unjust and consequently not to have been demanded 2. That the Great Affairs of the Kingdom be Transacted only in Parliament and Privy-Council Matters by such as shall be chosen by the Parliament And that no publick Act of Council be esteemed valid as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be sign'd by the major Part of the Council nor vacant Place therein supply'd without the Assent of the Major Part and that also to be void if not confirmed by the next Parliament This was to set the Cipher before the Figure and make the King a kind of Jupiter in Lucian a Thing of a Swelling Name but bound up to Fate 3.
cause them and having all along begg'd the Question as to the first makes the other as a consequence of the former The King saith he having both unwillingly call'd this Parliament and as unwillingly from time to time condescended to their several Acts first tempts the English Army with no less Reward than the Spoil of London to come up and destroy the Parliament But that being discover'd makes the like bait to the Scotch Army with the Addition of four Northern Counties to be made Scottish with Jewels of great value to be given in Pawn the while which they with much Honesty gave notice of to the Parliament Besides this a malignant Party was grown up The Rebellion of Ireland broke out a Conspiracy in Scotland had been made while the King was there against some Chief Members of that Parliament numbers of unknown seditious Persons resorted to the City the King upon his return from Scotland dismisses that Guard the Parliament thought necessary to have about them and appoints another which they discharge the People therefore lest their worthiest and faithful Patriots should want aid came in Multitudes tho' unarm'd to witness their Fidelity to them c. The King sends a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex the King refuses it and the next day comes to the House of Commons and begins to fortifie his Court many are wounded whereof some died and so concludes it was no Tumult Or if it grew to be so the Cause was in the King himself who both by hostile Preparations and an actual assailing the People gave them just cause to defend themselves Which saving the scandal of his wording it is the full substance of his 24th 25th 26th 27th Pages Wherein also how far he has begg'd the Question I appeal to every unbiass'd Reader How willingly the King call'd this Parliament Chap. 1 I have already shewn And why he so unwillingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the willingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford I have not been wanting to it and if he had never condescended to several of the Bills pass'd this Parliament Chap. 2 and since repeal'd he had not with one hand cut off the other But when he calls them their Acts I am to seek what he means The office of the two Houses is Preparative and Consultive but the Character of the Power rests in the final Sanction which is the King The passing a Bill is but the granting a Request the two Houses make the Bill but the King makes the Law and 't is the Stamp not the Matter that makes it currant Then for that ridiculous Sham of the Spoil of the City of London c. He might as well have added the blowing up the Thames and drowning the City and altogether as probable unless he had prov'd at least somewhat towards it The Rebellion of Ireland 't is true was broke out and they had gotten Four Hundred Thousand Pounds towards the reducing it but what they did with those Moneys I have shewn before And for the Conspiracy of Scotland c. A malignant Party growing up unknown seditious Persons resorting to the City c. Why added he not the Pope's Marrying thâ— Great Turk's Sister For who besides himself ever heard of this Scottish Conspiracy against any but the King And for that new coinâ— Word Malignant Party if he means the King Friends they had an Act of Parliament foâ— their Warrant 11 Hen. 7. c. 1. but for those unknown Seditioâ—â— Persons 't is somewhat strange methinks 〈◊〉 should call them Seditious and not know wâ—â— they were unless it were in Contradistinction 〈◊〉 his own Party whom all the World visibly faâ— to be such And for the King 's discharging those Guarâ— the Parliament thought necessary c. And thâ—â— discharging those other that he had appointed the. They were legally conven'd by the King'â— Writ and the same Law was a full Security tâ— them But by what Law they could take Guard to themselves without the King's Coâ—sent I think the best of our Lawyers may bâ— yet to learn And when to gratifie their Inclâ—nations the King had appointed them anotheâ— which they discharg'd what was it but to spâ—â— a defiance in his Face For my part I speaâ—â— plain English and let my Reader judge between this our Answerer and me whether his Therefore the People came in Multitudes c. be a suffâ—cient Justification of those Riots The King saith he forbad those Resorts c. and no doubt justly for it was no more thaâ— what the Law had forbidden to his Hand 〈◊〉 call'd them Riots but take it thus Theâ—â— came to the assistance of that Parliament whâ—â—â— were then compassing and imagining to levâ—â— a War against the King the overt act of which was That they did actually levy it I 'll run it no higher Though I have heard it said Fascinus quos inquinat aequat However the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City c. Which because it falls more naturally under the subsequent Matter I leave it till then and in the mean time ask any Man whether from these Premises he has rightly concluded that they were no Tumults or if they grew to be so the cause was in the King himself c. more than as an honest Man fighting with a Thief in defence of his Purse and is kill'd by him may be said to be the cause of his own death And thus Men like Pythagoras's Scholars take things by the wrong Handle whereas if they took it by the right it would be quite another Matter and as near as I can I 'll open the truth of this The Scottish Invasion had been accommodated at Rippon some Months before this Parliament sate nor had the King yet lost the Reverence he had in the Hearts of his People who all stood waiting what this Parliament would do when instead of healing the Breaches they rather widen'd them in falling upon the old Trade of Grievances Popery and Arbitrary Power and that they might the better single him from his Friends and thereby deprive him of such as had either Wisdom Authority or Courage to prevent or oppose their further Designs they first fall upon those that had either Written or Preach'd in defence of those Rights of the Crown they intended to Usurp and arraign his Actions in his Ministers some of which are Imprison'd others fly And on the other hand set at liberty such as had been sentenc'd for Seditious Writing and Preaching against him and bring them to London in Triumph to trâ—â— how the People would be pleas'd with it anâ— consequently how their endeavours to draw thâ—â— Peoples Affections from the King had already succeeded and the general Applause on this occasion gave them no weak assurance of it And now having gotten from the King thâ—â— Eyes of Argus
Self-will they broke down a Wall CHAP. V. Vpon His Majesty's passing the Bill for the Triennial Parliaments and after settling this during the Pleasure of the two Houses PArliaments saith Sir Robert Cotton are the times in which Kings seem less than they are His Reign of Hen. III. p. 1 and Subjects more than they should be A smart Character whether we respect those Paaliaments of Henry the Third of whom it was spoken or that Parliament of 1640. of which we are now speaking And yet they are become so congenial and as it were bred up and embodied with the English Temper which as it naturally relishes nothing but what comes from them so it rarely disputes any thing that is transacted by them that some have thought this might be one reason that inclin'd His Majesty to pass these Bills though for my part I 'll believe no Man against the King when he says That the World might be confirm'd in my Purposes at first to contribute what in Justice Reason Honour and Conscience I could to the happy Success of this Parliament which had in me no other design but the general good of my Kingdoms I willingly passed the Bill for Triennial Parliaments Which as gentle and seasonable Physick might if well applied prevent any Distempers from getting any head or prevailing especially if the Remedy prov'd not a Disease beyond all Remedy And as to the other for settling this during the Pleasure of the Houses An Act saith the King unparallell'd by any of my Predecessors yet granted on an extream Confidence I had that my Subjects would not make an ill use of an Act by which I declar'd so much to trust them as to deny my self so high a Point of my Prerogative c. Whereas saith our Answerer He attributes the passing of them to his own Act of Grace and willingness as his manner is to make Vertues of his Necessities he gives himself all the Praise and heaps Ingratitude upon the Parliament to whom we owe what we owe for those beneficial Acts but to his granting them neither Praise nor Thanks No! and by what Law I would fain know is the King obliged to pass every Bill that is offered him He swears 't is true to defend the Laws i. e. Such Laws as are then in being but that obliges him to no futurity in granting every thing whether good or bad that shall be offer'd him And therefore unless he had shewn at least some one Act of Parliament that had not the Royal Assent to it he might with more Modesty have acknowledged that it was in the King's Option whether to have passed these Acts or not Sir Ed. Coke 4 â—â—nst 25. because neither of the Houses singly not both of them together can make any binding Law without the King's Concurrence which gives the Embryo Life and quickens it into 〈◊〉 Law But saith he The first Bill granted lesâ— than two former Statutes yet in force by Edward the Third that a Parliament should be called every Year or oftner if need were Very well anâ— there being no more in it it is somewhat strange methinks how the King could be necessitated to the passing it or that the Houses eveâ—â— desired it When all that he says to it is Thaâ— the King conceal'd not his unwillingness in testifying a general dislike of their Actions and told theâ— with a Masterly Brow that by this Act he had obliged them above what they had deserved And truly if the King had said it or given thaâ— Masterly Brow for which yet he brings nâ— Voucher but himself those subsequent Acts oâ— Parliament which repeal'd both these Acts have sufficiently evidenc'd their particular dislike of them also in that they nulled them And how well they were pleas'd with their Persons or their Actions the Statute of the 12th of Charles the Second before-mention'd may satisfie any Man And as to the other Act for settling their sitting c. The King saith he had by his ill Stewardship and to say no worse the needless raising of two Armies intended for a Civil War beggar'd both himself and the Publick Left us in score to his greedy Enemies their Brethren the Scots to dis-engage which great Sums were to be borrow'd which would never have been lent if he who first caused the Malady might when he pleas'd reject the Remedy And from thence and other the like dross meerly thrown in to help out Weight which yet he never gives he comes to this That it was his Fear not his Favour drew that first Act from him lest the Parliament incens'd by his Conspiracies against them should with the People have resented too heinously those his doings if to the suspicion of their danger from him he had also added the denial of this only means to secure themselves And now to examine it a little he charges the King with the needless raising two Armies intended for a Civil War What the Houses then intended was afterwards visible by its Effects a Civil War But that the King should intend it and at the same time divest himself of his Power is manifestly ridiculous For as he says himself 1641. this Bill was pass'd in May whereas the King besides his Journey into Scotland retired not from Whitehall till above half a Year afterwards and when he left it considering their respective Conditions might have as truly said Cum baculo transivi Jordanum istum And how then could he intend a Civil War Having as our Accuser says so beggar'd himself For what concerns the King's Enemies and their dear Brethren I refer it to its proper Place And for what relates to the Sums of Money to be borrow'd besides what I have already shewn how they were dispos'd of Chap. 1 I add this That they could not have put the Kingdom into a Posture of a Defence i. e. â—â—â—'d a Rebellion without it And withal considering that the King set not up his Standard till the August following 1642. he must have been much shorter sighted than our Answerer all along endeavours to make him to have design'd a War without Sir Edward Coke's Materials Firmamentum belli Ornamentum pacis which the Houses having taken his Revenue into their Hands all the World knew he wanted But the 〈◊〉 â—ot yet run to the end of the 〈…〉 King taxes them for undoing what they found well done Yet knows they undid nothing but Lord Bishops Liturgy Ceremonies c. judged worthy by all Protestants to be thrown out of the Church But what Protestants were they that so judg'd it Those of the Church of England were I am sure of another Opinion and the temporal Laws of the Kingdom had sufficiently establish'd them And therefore since Interest had so blinded his Intellect that he world not see were he now living I could tell him wherein they had undone what they found well done And because there are many yet in being who perhaps may be willing enough to be satisfied
That the Lord High-Steward of England Lord High-Constable Lord Chancellor Nine other Principal Officers the Two Chief Justices and Chief Baron be always chosen with the Approbation of Both Houses and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major Part of the Council The same may be said to this as to the First with this farther that though the like had been often attempted it never continued longer than the Rebellion that set it on foot 4. That the Government of the King's Children be committed to such as Both Houses shall approve of and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Privy Council And the Servants then about them against whom the Houses have just Exception to be removed This had been to abridge the King of that Privilege which the meanest of Subjects has in his Family nor had themselves yet try'd it in theirs 5. That no Marriage for any of them be treated or concluded without Consent of Parliament The same also here as to the Fourth 6. That the Law in Force against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put is Execution And where had the King ever refused it 7. That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers be taken away This had been to take away their Birth-right a Right as ancient as any thing but the Monarchy it self 8. The the King will be pleased to reform the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses shall advise This had been already settled by several Acts of Parliament 9. That he would rest satisfied with what they have done for ordering the Militia and recall his Declarations and Proclamations against it This confesses an Usurpation upon the King 's Right and in that who began the War For if it were not so what need was there for the King to recall his Declarations c. when in doing it he had made himself Guilty of the War and all the Blood therein spill'd 10. That such Members as have been put out of any Place or Office since this Parliament began be restored or have Satisfaction But how does this agree with the Self-denying 11. That all Privy Counsellors and Judges take an Oath to be settled by Act of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Petition of Right and certain Statutes made by them The Judges are ex Officio oblig'd to take notice of a General Act of Parliament and such the Petition of Right is but who knew what those Acts of this Parliament might be 12. That all Judges and Officers plac'd by Approbation of the Houses may hold their Places quamdiu se bene gesserint To the intent that if any Confiding Person how Ignorant or Factious soever had been approv'd by them it should not be in the King's Power to remove him without a Sute at Law in which themselves or their Creatures were sure to be Judges 13. That all Delinquents whether within the Kingdom or fled out of it and all Persons cited by either House may appear and abide the Censure of Parliament That is all such Persons as upon an innate Honour according to their Duty and the Statute of the 11th of Henry VII had stood firm and Loyal to the King against their Usurpation 14. That the General Pardon offered by his Majesty be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by Both Houses But who knew what those Exceptions might be Saving this that they intended them not to any of themselves A thing that carried Rancour and Venom in it and which was his Majesty's whole drift to take off 15. That all Forts and Castles be put into such Hands as the King with Approbation of Both Houses shall appoint That is to keep them in their own Hands as they were when yet the Undoubted Right was the King's and the Grant of it had given away the Sovereignty An old Trick which together with the Three first Propositions they borrow'd from Montfort's Rebellion in Henry III.'s Time 16. That the King 's Extraordinary Guards 〈◊〉 discharg'd and none rais'd for the Future but according to Law in Case of actual Rebellion and Invasion Like the Wolves in the Fable that would come to no Terms with the Sheep unless they first discharg'd their Dogs Whereas his Majesty had not rais'd those Guards but according to Law in the Case of an actual Rebellion a◠Home and a then threatning Invasion from the Scots 17. That his Majesty enter into a more strict Alliance with the Vnited Provinces and other Neighbour Protestant Princes and States The King is the only Supream Arbiter of Peace and War and what honourable Alliance with any of them had he ever refus'd 18. That his Majesty be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members If they were Guilty why should they be less brought to Tryal than were Canterbury and Strafford And if they were Innocent what need of an Act of Parliament to clear them 19. That a Bill be passed for restraining Pears made hereafter from sitting or voting in Parliament unless they be admitted with Consent of Both Houses The King is the Fountain of Honour and to have granted this Article had been if not to damm up that Fountain to turn it into another Channel Nor could the King have done it without a manifest Contradiction to himself I have blessed him said Isaac and he shall be blessed Such were these Propositions this at Least the true Substance of them which if his Majesty had conceded to what other were it than as himself says of it As if Sampson should have consented not only to bind his own Hands and cut off his Hair but to put out his own Eyes that the Philistines might with the more Safety Mock and Abuse him He had rendred himself not a half Duke of Venice nor much better than that Inutile lignum of which Horace speaks who Serm. l. 1. Sat. 8. tho' he were God of the Gardens could not keep a Crow from muting upon his Head Nor ought they says his Majesty to have been obtruded upon him with the Point of a Sword nor urg'd with the Injuries of a War To which our Answerer in his bold Way And which of the Propositions were obtruded upon him with the Point of the Sword till he first with the Point of the Sword thrust from him both the Propositions and the Propounders Which how egregiously and scandalously False it is let any Man judge Rush 2. part 307. when these Propositions were not sent the King till the Second of June 1642. Five Months before which they had not only forced him from Whitehall but disposed of the Militia as appears by the Ninth Proposition where they pray the King that he would rest satisfied with what they ordered in it As resolv'd it seems that Will or Nill he should And thence he runs off again to the Coronation Oath and That the Parliament is the King 's Superiour Chap. 6 Touching which I have said so much already and not from any
oâ— which that Parliament was dissolv'd by Commission Whereas this Accuser would peâ—swade the World that the King broke off thâ— Parliament for no other cause than to proteâ—â— the Duke against them who had accused him 〈◊〉 no less than the poisoning his Father And trâ—ly I was once wondring why he said nothing touching the Parliament of the third of King Charles till I considered it was in that Parliament that the King past the Petition of Right with Soit Droit sait come il est desire He found it was not for him and therefore resolv'd iâ— should make nothing against him When oâ—â— the contrary he reproaches the King with illegal Actions to get Money least considering iâ— was the Art of that time to reduce the King to Necessity to the end that being forced to extraordinary means he might attract a popular Odium And here also he quarrels at Straws and rather than not want matter he 'll find a Knot in a Bullrush For what other can he make of those Compulsive Knighthoods Milt p. 2. when the King had the Statute of 1 Edw. 2. De militibus to warrant it In like manner for the Ship-money The Dutch in the Year 1634. had encroach'd upon the Royalty of the Northern Seas upon which the King so loath was He to do any thing that might but seem illegal writes to the Judges and demands their Opinions in Writing whether when the good or safety of the Kingdom in general is concern'd the King may not by Writ under the Great Seal command all His Subjects of this Kingdom to furnish a certain number of Ships and Men for such time as the King shall think fit and by Law compel the doing it in case of refusal And whether in such a case he is not the sole Judge both of the danger of the Kingdom and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided V. The case and all the Arguments on both sides Printed in 4 to As also in the said Annals from p. 550. to p. 600. To which every one of the twelve Judges repeating the very Words of the King's Letter subscribed their names in the Affirmative And though J. Hutton and J. Crooke afterwards fell off yet upon arguing the matter by all the Judges in the Exchequer-Chamber in the Case of Mr. Hambden the majority of them gave their Opinions for the Writs on which the Barons gave Judgment Then for Monopolies every thing is not a Monopoly that may be call'd so and therefore because he gives no particular instance either as to them or the King 's seizing Naboth's Vineyard as he calls it Inheritances under the pretence of Forest and Crown-Lands and Corruption and Bribery compounded for I say no more but this that Generals imply nothing and consequently deserve no particular Answer But this I know that in the Parliament of 44 oâ— Queen Elizabeth a Bill was preferr'd for Explanation of the Common Law in certain cases of Letters Patents V. Sir Simon D'ewe's Journal of the Commons 44. Eliz. viz. touching Monopolies and was strongly bandied on both sides Oâ— this the Queen sends them a Message That a she was not conscious to herself she had granted Letters Patents of any thing that was Maluâ— in se V. Townsend ' s Câ—llections 44. Eliz. so when it should appear that she had made any such Grant it should be revok'd or otherwise redressed on which the Common make her an humble Address of Thanks and a Grant of Subsidies and yet I do not find the Queen ever did any thing in it But what the King did as to the Grievances for that was the Word I shall come to shew presently The next thing he trumps up is The King'â— having the second time levied an injurious War against his Native Country Milt p. 3. Scotland a Waâ— saith he condemned and abominated by the wholâ— Kingdom and which the Parliament judged one oâ— their main Grievances Nor without reason for that was a cover'd Dish and had been long before cooking for their own Tooth They knew it would keep cold for another time and the King was not yet become necessitous enough to have it opened at present But to observe the wording it The King levied an unjust War c. As if a King might not defend himself against the Rebellion of his natural Lieges For such and no other was the case here But the Story is thus The King in the Sixteenth of his Reign had call'd another Parliament which opened 13. April 1640. at which time the Scots with an armed Force lay upon the Borders His Majesty by Sir J. Finch Lord Keeper tells them of the Scots Insurrection the Summer before V. Rushw Coll. 16. Car. 1. which he had pass'd by upon their Protestations of their future Loyalty instead of which they had now address'd to the King of France to put themselves under his Protection and causes an intercepted Letter of theirs signed by the heads of those Covenanters one of whom was then in Custody to be publickly read and therefore demands a Supply The Commons consider of it and pay it with complaints Innovation in Religion Grievances against Liberty Property and Privilege of Parliament The King sends several times to the Houses and presses to them the danger of the Scots Army but the question is which shall have the Precedency The Supply or Grievances The Lords are for the former and that the King ought to be first trusted The Commons are so long a tuning their Instrument that the King in despair of any good Musick from 'em dissolves them the Fifth of May following From which our Accuser thus infers that strong Necessities and the very pangs of State Milt p. 3. not his own Choice and Inclination made him call this Monstrum Horrendum Informe Ingens last Parliament which began the third of November 1640. when yet he brings nothing to back his Assertion but the scurrillous Language of the General Voice of the People almost hissing him and his ill-acted Regality off the Stage That it was impossible be should incline to Parliaments who never was perceived to call them but for the greedy hope of a National Bribe his Subsidies and never lov'd fulfill'd or promoted the true end of Parliaments the redress of Grievances of which himself was indeed the Author Not doubting also to call it a natural Sottishness fit to be abused and ridden And if this be the Reverence due to Majesty this the Respect we pay the Vicegerent of God sure Job was mistaken when he says Is it fit to say to a King Thou art Wicked and to Princes Job 34.18 Ye are ungodly The interrogation is in the Affirmative and concludes in the Negative No certainly it is not fit St. Paul checks a bare slip of his Tongue toward the High Priest Acts 25.5 Jude v. 9. Zach. 3.2 and the Arch-Angel in Jude brought not a railing Accusation even against the Devil And yet when
and to themselves the Hands of Briarius they think themselves able enough to lessen him in his Power and as preparatory to it they first procure an Act of Parliament that they should not be Dissolv'd or Prorogu'd but by Act of Parliament And which is remarkable that very day on which his Majesty Sign'd the Commission for giving his Assent to the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Attainder And having in a manner necessitated him not to deny any thing they get his Assent to those several Bills before mentioned Chap. 1 Concessions one would have thought might have satisfied any sort of Men but those that were Pre-resolv'd not to be satisfied with any thing Nor did the King in the least doubt their being satisfied and therefore makes a Journey into Scotland to satisfie his Subjects there Aâ—â— 1641. as he thought he had done here and they all seem'd to be so especially as to the matter of Episcopacy which they saw was tumbling beyond a Recovery During this His Majesty's absence the Houses adjourn to the 20th of October three days after which the Rebellion of Ireland broke out The 25th of November the King returns to London as yet welcom'd with the full Acclamations of the People tho' he met not any suitable Reception from the Parliament who instead of having swept out the old Leven had prepar'd new However the King having call'd them together the Second of December recommends to them the raising Succours for Ireland and on the Fourteenth again press'd it and withal told them he took notice of a Bill that was then in agitation to assert the power of Levying and Pressing Soldiers to the two Houses which he was content should pass with a Salvo jure to him and then because the present time would not admit the disputing it and one would have thought that when the King came so near they might have met him half way But instead of that they send him a Remonstrance the next day in which they complain of the Designs of a Malignant Party which by their Wisdom had been prevented and running on with the old Cry against Papists Bishops and Evil Counsellors magnifie themselves in what they had done for the good of the Kingdom and cause it to be Printed About this time it was that the King had come to the House and they adjourn'd into London as before when upon their return to Westminster they Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex a Gentleman who upon the account of his Father in Queen Elizabeth's time the business of the Nullity in King James's time and the little notice that had been taken of him at Court till now of late he had been made Lord Chamberlain was a Discontent July 29.1641 and conseâ—uently a Darling of the People as pretending â—â—ey could not otherwise sit it safety Which â—â—e King as well he might thought not fit to â—ant inasmuch as it look'd so like a Force against himself and afterwards prov'd so when they made him their General But withal let them know that if there were any such occasion he would command such a Guard to wait upon them as he would be responsible for to God Almighty On this the Militia of Westminster by Petition to the House of Commons offer them their Service Id. Nalson Part 2. Fol. 839 and 840. when it shall please them to commanâ— it The Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of the City of London by Petition to the King representing amongst other things His going to the House c. Pray thaâ— the Tower may be put into confiding Hands anâ— a Guard be appointed for the Parliament or of the City which was insolently seconded bâ— the disorderly conflux of a Rabble about White hall and Westminster And that the House might not be wanting while the Iron was hoâ— they Petition the King that the Tower 〈◊〉 London all other Forts and the whole Militâ—â— of the Kingdom be put into the Hands of sucâ— Persons as should be recommended to him 〈◊〉 both Houses Which his Majesty as justly bâ— might refused to grant and for the Security of his Person withdrew to Hampton-Court And now from the whole let any indiffereâ— Man say for me first whether these disordeâ—â— Proceedings were not Tumults and next 〈◊〉 they grew to be so how the King can be said to be the cause of them himself For though those hostile Preparations and actual assailiâ— the People which our Answerer says gave the just cause to defend themselves might perhapâ— have been somewhat in the Case if those Peoplâ— had not been the Aggressors yet when as himself confesses the King had sent a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts what made they there Nor can these Hostile Preparations and actual assailing the People be other than what the Lord Mayor c. in their Petition to the King represent viz. His fortifying Whitehall and the wounding some Citizens Which His Majesty thus answers Id Nalson Part 2. Fol. 839 and 840. That as to the former his Person was in danger by such a disorderly conflux of People and withal urges their Seditious Language even at his Palace Gates And for the other that if any were wounded it was through their evil Misdemeanours And therefore to make it no more than the Case of a common Person every Man's House is his Castle and if a confus'd Club-rabble gather about it Cum kickis friskis horribili sonitu the Gentleman of the House commands his Servants to beat them off and in the doing it some of the Assailants are wounded nay put it further kill'd And what can the Law make of it That it was an unlawful Assembly I should not have minc'd it a Rout it is manifest and that what the Servants did was in defence of their Master is also as evident Sir Ed. Coke 3 Inst Let the Rule of Law cut between us Quod quis ob tutelam Corporis sui fecerit id jure fecisse videtur Whatever a Man does in defence of his Person the Law presumes it to have been done Legally O but you 'll say It was not the Master himself A Thief assaults a Gentleman in his House or upon the Road the Gentleman's Servant in defence of his Master kills the Thief he forfeits nothing And if this holds in the case of a common Person how much more then in Case of the King And lastly where he says Instead of Praying for his People as a good King should do he Prays to be deliver'd from them as from wild Beasts Inundations and Raging Seas that had overborn all Loyalty Modesty Laws Justice and Religion God save the People from such Intercessors I think A gente inimica dolosa libera me Domine From an evil and perverse Generation deliver me O God! might have very well become any honest Man's Prayer concerning them For in their Malice they slew their King and in their
Governour and upon the King 's coming before Hull attended only with his own Servants and some Gentlemen of the Country audaciously shut the Gates against Him and standing upon the Wall denied him Entrance Upon which the King as by Law he might proclaim'd him Traytor A Cholerick and revengeful Act says our Answerer to proclaim him Traytor before due process of Law having been convinc'd so lately before of his Illegallity with the five Members Goodly goodly and yet at the same time doubts not to tax the King of a Treasonable Act in borrowing Moneys upon his own Jewels Not unlike the Parliament 41 Hen. 3. who took notice of the Lye given to Montfort Daniel's Hist of Eng. 171. and 175. Earl of Leicester by William of Clarence but not of the Lye given the King by the said Leicester But the Point between us lies narrow A Man with Train'd-Bands holds and defends a place of Strength against the King The question is whether this be a levying of War within the Statute of the 25th of Edward the 3d. Sir Edward Coke shall answer for me 2 Inst 10. If any with Strength and Weapons invasive and defensive doth hold and defend a Castle or Fort against the King and his Power this is levying of War against the King within the Statute of 25 Edward 3. And in the leaf before he says It was High Treason by the Common Law to levy War for no Subject can levy War within the Realm without Authority from the King for to him only it belongeth Le Roy de droit doit saver defender son Realm Fitz. N. B. 113. a. c. And therefore this being the Case wherein may it be said that the King was to blame And lastly for what concerns this Gentleman's Catastrophe and whether Hotham were more infamous at Hull or at Tower-Hill no less ignominiously pretended to be answer'd it may be enough to satisfie any Impartial Man that he repented and came in though it were at the last Hour and for the rest he stood and fell to his own Master CHAP. IX Vpon the Listing and raising Armies against the King I Find saith His Majesty I am at the same Point and Posture I was when they forced me to leave Whitehall What Tumults could not do an Army must which is but Tumults listed and enroll'd to a better order but as bad an end To which our Answerer thus replies It were an endless work to walk side by side with the verbosity of this Chapter only to what already hath not been spoken convenient Answer shall be given But what that Answer is see He begins again with Tumults all the demonstration of the Peoples Love to the Parliament was Tumult their Petitioning Tumult their defensive Armies were but listed Tumults and will take no notice that those about him those in a time of Peace lifted in his own House were the beginners of all these Tumults abusing and assaulting not only such as came peaceably to the Parliament at London but those that came Petitioning to the King himself at York Neither abstaining from doing Violence and Outrage to the Messengers sent from Parliament himself countenancing or conniving at them Which is the Substance of what our Accuser says to this verbose Chapter as he calls it An old Figure in Politicks to Calumniate stoutly till somewhat stick to a Prejudice But where lay this Love of the People that they must needs express it in such a Tumultuary way God Almighty is more pleased with Adverbs than Nouns and respects not so much the Justice or Lawfullness of the thing as that it be Justly and Lawfully done and I think the Case was not such here Three or more gather'd together do breed a disturbance of the Peace Mr. Lambert ' s â—irenarchâ— Lib. 2. c. 5. either by signification of Speech shew of Armour turbulent Gesture or express Violence so that the peaceable sort of Men be disturbed or the lighter sort embolden'd by the Example It is Turba a Rout And it has been said Decem So Kitchen page 20. multitudinem faciunt Ten make a Multitude What then must ten times ten not to say Hundreds and Thousands arm'd with Swords Clubbs Staves as many of these Demonstrators of their Love were Chap. 4 and throwing out Seditious Language as I have shewn before the did O but their Business was Petition The same said the Barons and Commonalty at Running-Mead in the 17th of King John But what came these for What but Matters that no way concern'd them Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Chap. 2 yet the Parliament of the 14th of Char. the 2d calls them arm'd Tumults as before For putting the Tower of London into confiding Hands Chap. 4 A City Guard for the Parliament And the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence c. But still what was this to them As if a Parliament must be beholding to a Fescue And their defensive Armies saith he were but listed Tumults So that now as a last Shift he turns the Question to a Quis prior induit arma When all the World knows That the Defensive part of it was the King's and the Parliament were the Aggressor's in that they had made their Associations rais'd an Army some Months before and made Essex General thereof the 12th of July 1642. Whereas the King set not up his Standard until the August following But stay say the King in defence of his Right had first drawn his Sword what Law of England warranted theirs When besides what Sir Edward Coke of whom so lately says No Subject can levy War without Authority from the King it appears that the ancient Law of England was ever such or the Parliament had never declar'd That both 1 Cat. 2. c. 2 or either of the Houses of Parliament neither can or lawfully may raise or levy War offensive or defensive against the King c. And will take no notice that those about him were the beginners of those Tumults That the King had his Guards about him was no more than what became the Majesty of a King and that the Loyal Gentry made their Appearances at Whitehall when they saw it beset with a kind of Gebal and Ammon and Ameleck a confus'd conflux of People which also the King had forbidden was but the least of their Duty But when he talks of listing and abusing and assaulting such as came peaceably to the Parliament and doing Violence to the Messengers sent from them it is such a Rapsodie of Stuff that no Man can credit upon his single Authority And therefore I leave it as I do the rest of this Matter it being either such as I have before spoken to or such as no Man that had not a hand in those Mischiefs had ever vented Yet before I go off to another I cannot but take notice how he says The King twits them with his Acts of Grace Proud and unself-knowing Words in the Mouth of any King who
would think to have prov'd where when and how at least rendred it probable that there was once some such thing done though the Grant be lost And if they took it themselves it was Unjust in its Original and consequently they had no more Right to chuse their Kings than Children have to chuse their Fathers And yet from this false Position magisterially determines That Kings do no Acts of Grace and Bounty but in discharge of their publick Duty The Sum of the King's Discourse saith he is against settling Religion by violent Means and yet never did thing more eagerly than to molest and persecute the Consciences of most religious Men and made a War and lost all rather than not uphold an Hierarchy of persecuting Bishops That Consciences are not to be forced but to be reduced by force of Truth aid of Time and use of good Means of Instructions and Perswasions was his Principle as well as Queen Elizabeth's but saith Sir Francis Walsingham concerning the Queen's proceedings in the like Cases Causes of Conscience when they exceed their Bounds V. Hist of the Reform Part 2. f. 418. and grow to be matter of Faction lose their Nature and Sovereign Princes ought distinctly to punish their Practices and Contempt though colour'd with the pretences of Conscience and Religion And according to this saith he the Queen proceeded And if the King also did distinguish Faction from Conscience and Tenderness from Singularity blame the Law not him But He obtruded new Ceremonies upon the English and a new Liturgy upon the Scots with his Sword Saving the Reverence of the Thing it is Indifferent whether a Man Preach with his Hat on or hung upon a Pin the Hugonots have one way and the English another The same also may be said of Ceremonies but how indifferent soever they are in themselves when they are once commanded the indifferency ceases in the Law that enjoyns them And for that other of the Liturgy upon the Scots the King obtruded it not on them much less with his Sword because it was sent them at their own Request as I have shown before But admitting their Kirk liked it not what had they to do with a Church that did Or what Authority had Tweed to reform Thames least of all to give Law to their King and that too with beat of Drum and Colours displayed Especially when one of their own Acts of Parliament says Continuation of Sir R. Baker f. 514. That it should be damnable and detestable Treason in the highest Degree to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any pretext whatever without the King 's Royal Commission Nor is this all For their National Covenant oblig'd them to his Defence or else what means this Expression in it Sir W. Dudg his short View f. 132. That whensoever his Majesty's Honour and Interest should be in Danger they would as one Man obliged by the Laws of God and Man apply themselves to his Succour and Defence And the Chancellor and others the Lords of that Kingdom had by their Letter of 1. July 1643. assured his Majesty That no Arms should be raised without his special Commission And after all this and contrary to the Common tye of Nature to run into open Rebellion against him What may it mean I 'll tell ye This Matter had been hatching ever since the Third of his Reign and though the Chick appear'd not till the Year 1637 yet it could run about with the Shell upon its Head and it wanted not Friends in England to keep it alive till it could feed it self and if it liked not one Barn-door take to another The Metaphor is too visible to need Application There was a kind of a Kirk Party in England that finding the King firm to his Principles knew there was no better way to deal with him than by reducing him to Necessities to the end that being forc'd to extraordinary means for Supply he might disgust the People and consequently attract an Odium But what 's a Bow without a Bowman The Scots and they made but one Kirk Money was the Nerve that would keep them together and what need many words among Friends Nor were they long without the occasion of shewing their Fidelity The new Liturgy as before had been sent to Edinburgh The Scots presently take the Alarm are quieted again but lost nothing by it and in return make the King all Protestations of future Loyalty How comes it then you 'll say that it was not long after that they invaded England and after that took Arms for the Parliament against the King The Case is plain the King had no Money the Houses had or at least knew where to get it Nor will it be unworth any Man's while to see what that was They had as a Relief to the Scots for their Losses 17 Car. 1. and a supply of our Brethren of Scotland for so the Act words it 220000 l. rais'd for them by Act of Parliament By an Ordinance of Lords and Commons Vid. Hughes's Abridgement of Acts and Ordinances p. 92. 27 Octob. 43. 66666 13 4. for their Brotherly Assistance in the defence of the common cause of Religion and Liberty By a like Ordinance Feb. 20. 1644. 21000 l. per Mens Id. p. 178. for the maintenance of the Scots Army under the Earl of Leven Further confirm'd Id. p. 197. June 13. 1645. Continued for four Months more Id. p. 220. 25 Aug. 1645. By a like Ordinance Id. p. 201. June 20. 1645. 130000 l. for enabling the Scots Army to advance Southward And by a like Ordinance Decem. 3. 1645. 31000 l. Id. p. 237. for payment of the Scots Army Besides all which I find in the continuation of Sir Richard Baker Fol. 611. Several other Moneys rais'd for the Scots which because they agree neither in Sum nor time I thought fit to transcribe and leave it to my Reader to judge of it as he thinks fit Taxed by them in 16 Car. 1. 350 l. per diem on the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. per diem on the County of Northumberland on the penalty of Plundering In the 20th they were impowered by Parliament to assess for themselves the twentieth part of the North c. In the 21st sent them 30000 l. to induce them to besiege Newark In the 22d 200000 l. more for delivering up the King And another 200000 l. secur'd them out of the publick Faith And 16000 l. allowed them for the charge of their Carriages All which I leave as I said to my Reader to judge and whether notwithstanding all that cry of Religion and Loyalty it far'd not with them like Atalanta in the Fable Declinat cursus Ovidâ—◠〈◊〉 l. 10. Fâ—â— 15. aurumque vâ—luâ—ile tollit And truly considering all if they were not well paid for their Pains I wish they were CHAP. XIV Vpon the Covenant UPON this Theam saith our Answerer his Discourse is long his Matter little
the Power of levying Money to maintain it for twenty Years 2. That the King justifie the Proceedings of the Parliament in the late War and that all Declarations c. against them be declared void 3. That all Titles of Honour conferr'd by the King since the Great Seal was carried to Oxford in May 1642 be taken away 4. That the Parliament might adjourn themselves when where and for what time they pleas'd But the King refusing to grant them the Parliament Vote there should be no more Addresses made him And upon Cromwell's laying his Hand upon his Sword and telling them the People expected their Safety from them and not from a Man whose Heart God had hardned the Vote of Non-Addresses was made into an Ordinance and that it should be High-Treason to receive any Message from him And now Compassion for the King's Sufferings with the discovery of their Hypocrisie had begotten such a general Indignation against the Parliament that all Wales declare for the King The Surrey Men Petition the Parliament for a Personal Treaty the same was Kent coming up to have done but seeing how evilly those of Surrey had been Treated they threw away their Petition and took Arms under the Earl of Norwich The same did others at Maidstone Black-heath Kingstone c. Which though they were all defeated yet the Houses seeing how the Inclinations of the Kingdom went and Cromwell being out of the way in securing Edinburgh they revoke their Ordinance of Non-Addresses and send the King new Propositions not much easier than the former and upon his Answer to them they sent Commissioners to treat with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight Sept. 2. 16â—â— the Treaty to be transacted with Honour Freedom and Safety in which the King made such Concessions Decemb. 5. 16â—â— that it was resolv'd upon the question by the Commons That the King's Answers to the Propositions of both Houses are a ground for the House to proceed upon for the settling the Peace of the Kingdom But it seems they had been so long dodging about Trifles that Cromwell was come to London before any thing was done Nov. 20. 1648. For Fairfax and the General Officers had remonstrated and amongst other things requir'd That the Capital and grand Author of our Troubles the Person of the King be brought to Justice for the Treason Blood and Mischief he is therein guilty of c. But the Presbyterian Party standing strong to the Resolve aforesaid a Guard is set upon the House the major part of the Members are excluded and the King made a closer Prisoner in Carisbrook-Castle which brings me to these His Majesty's Meditations upon Death In which as from the precedent of several of his Predecessors both of England and Scotland well he might he makes this Judgment That there are but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes And now we 'll see what this Accuser says when having lopp'd off more than three quarters of the Title that he may bring the rest to his own Model he goes on All other humane things are disputed and will be variously thought of to the World's end but this business of Death is a plain Case and admits no Controversie Nevertheless since out of those few mortifying Hours he can spare time enough to inveigh bitterly against that Iustice which was done upon him it will be needful to say something in defence of those Proceedings And makes this his Justice the Justification of that horrid Parricide from that universal Law Whosoever sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed And that other of Moses Ye shall not take Satisfaction for the Life of a Murtherer No exception in either of them And well may he call it Iustice when he so often blasphemes God in making him the Favourer of those the before unheard-of Villainies of that Usurpation and Tyranny as here also so wretchedly detorts Scripture to give it a Colour Whereas it was Injustice it self in its very Foundation as being directly contrary to the Law of God the Law of the Land and the Practice of the Jews from whom he draws his Authority To the Law of God whereby we are commanded First Negatively not to think ill of the King Curse not the King Eccles 10.20 no not in thy Thoughts Much less then may we speak it Thou shalt not speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People Exod. 22.18 Least of all may we do him hurt Touch not mine Anointed Secondly Affirmatively Psal 105.25 To Honour him as by the fifth Commandment and that with a Blessing annex'd to it That thy Days may be long in the Land To keep his Commandments Eccles 8.2 4. and that in regard of the Oath of God Neither may we give him any cause of Anger Prov. 20.2 for he that provoketh him sinneth against his own Soul And if thus far be true then I am sure it was Injustice to murther him To the Law of the Land Where besides what I have before said to the Soveraignty of the Crown of England to imagine the King's Death Chap. 6 To levy War against him in his Realm 25 Ed. 3. c. 2. or adhere to such as do so that it proveably appear by some Overt Act is High-Treason 3 Inst 12. The like is the Preparation by some Overt Act to take the King by force and strong hand and imprison him until he hath yielded to certain Demands And what must it then be to sit in Judgment upon him â— Ed. 3.19 who having neither Equal nor Superiour in his Realm cannot be Judged And greater than this what must it be to murther him And lastly contrary to the Practice of the Jews from whom he draws his Authority The Israelites had a hard Bondage under the Egyptians 〈◊〉 12 37. and yet that Moses whom he quotes and Six Hundred Thousand Footmen with him besides Children and a mix'd Multitude fled from Pharaoh 1 Sam 22.2 but did not rebel against him David in the head of an Army and those if we consider the Persons desperate enough fled from Saul And Eliah from Jezabel Seven Thousand Men yet left in Israel who had not bow'd their Knees to Baal 1 Kings 19.18 So that if Scripture Law or Practice have any Authority I think I need not labour the matter to prove it execrable as well as unjust Besides with what common Modesty could he tax the King with Blood when the Houses had form'd an Army so long before him as I have shewn before And therefore who shall be or was ever said to be guilty of the Blood spilt in a War the Aggressor or the Defendant when the Law chiefly regards the Original act Nor will Success more be able to alter the Nature of it than as says His Majesty The prosperous Winds which often â—ill the Sails of Pyrates do justifie their Pyracy and Rapine And were that true saith he which is most false
That all Kings are the Lord 's Anointed it were yet absurd to think that the Anointment of God should be as it were a Charm against Law I know not what he means by that all Kings Saul was David was and particularly laments the fall of Saul As if he had not been anointed with Oil. 2 Sam. 1.11 And I never found any reason to doubt but that all Christian Hereditary Kings are the same too and consequently exempt from the Law forasmuch as concerneth the coactive force of the Law though not forasmuch as concerneth the directive Power of the Law Lord â—leâ—meâ—'s post â—â—ti 106. Subjects are bound to fullfil the Law by necessity of Compulsion but the Prince only by his own Will in regard of the common good For seeing the Law is but a kind of Organ or Instrument of the Power that governeth Hist of the World 29â— it seems saith Sir Walter Rawleigh that it cannot extend it self to bind any one whom no humane power can controul or lay hold of And therefore till I find better Authority for this his Iustice than he has yet given I shall look upon it as I do on the rest of his Book a thing meerly stuffed out to deceive the People If Subjects also by the Law of the Church so much approv'd by this King be invested with a Power of Judicature both without and against their King it will be firm and valid against him though pretending and by them acknowledg'd next and immediately under Christ Supream Head and Governour But what King or Queen of England besides Henry the Eighth Edward the Sixth and Queen Mary for her two first Years ever us'd that word Head Or in what Age was it that the Church of England ever pretended a power of Judicature both without and against their Kings He says if they are invested with such a Power but shews not that they are and instead thereof tells us that St. Ambrose excommunicated Theodosius the Emperour which he calls a Spiritual putting to death The like did St. German by Vortiger And two other Kings of Wales excommunicated by their respective Bishops Subjects of those Kings And admitting it I never heard that any of those Bishops ever perswaded the People that it was lawful to Murther those Kings or how does it make out this his Iustice against the King 'T is a shrewd sign a Man is sinking when he takes hold of Twigs Then he comes up with the particular Laws and Acts of Greece Athens Sparta Rome c. But what 's that to England must we be govern'd as they were Their Laws were for it the Laws of England directly against it Nor is there any Country whatever but has its particular Laws or Customs If a Man steal an Oxe or a Horse in the Isle of Man it is no Felony 4 Inst 285. for having no Woods the Offender cannot hide them but if he steal a Capon or a Pig he shall be hang'd for it But what need we saith he search after the Laws of other Lands for what is so fully and so plainly set down lawful in our own Where antient Books tell us Bracton Fleta and others that the King is under the Law and inferiour to his Parliament As for Bracton the Words that he means may be perhaps these Rex habet Superiorem Deum scilicet Item Legem per quam factus est Rex Item curiam suam viz. Comites Barones The King hath a Superiour to wit God But doth not say Superiours in the Plural Number Also a Law by which he is made King i. e. He hath a Law but says not a word of Punishment Also his Court to wit his Earls and Barons Not a Court as if it were of some others Constitution but a Court of his own Where the word habet in Propriety of Latin is necessarily understood 1 Inst 1. Or otherwise he would be contradictory to himself when he saith Omnis sub Rege Bra. l. 4. c. 24. S. 5. c. Every Man is under the King and he is under none but God He is not inferiour to his Subjects and hath no Peer in his Realm But saith no where that he is under the Law and inferiour to his Parliament which word his sufficiently denotes where the Superiority lies And for Fleta he saith Lib. 1. c. 17. f. 16. None can judge in Temporal Matters but only the King and his Substitutes Id. F. 66. And he hath his Court in his Council in his Parliaments c. And for the Mirrour of Justice a Book written in Edward the First 's time that says Mirâ— 232. Jurisdiction is the chief Dignity that appertains to the King And for what concerns the King's Oath it has been several times altered since that And what this King's Oath was I have particularly shewn before Chap. 6 Those objected Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy we swore not to his Person but as it was invested with his Authority The same said the Spencers in Edward the Second's time but it was condemned for Treason by two Acts of Parliament 7 Coke 11 12. And Sir Edw. Coke calls it a damnable detestable and execrable Treason For Corps natural le Roy politique sont un Corps Plowd 213.234.242 and are inseparable and indivisible for both make but one King 4 Inst 46. The death of the King dissolveâ— a Parliament Now if this referr'd only to his politick Capacity the Parliament would continue after his Death because a Body Politick never dies And now as the Covenant once help'd the Houses at a dead lift it must do our Accuser the like Job at parting or this his Iustice will be little beholding to it Certainly no discreet Person can imagine it should bind us to him in any stricter Sense than those Oaths formerly And truly I must approve him when he deals ingenuously no certainly it did not for they broke all three The intent of the Covenant as it was to extirpate Prelacy to preserve the Rights of Parliament and the Liberties of the Kingdom so they intended so far as it might consist with these to preserve the King's Person and Authority but not otherwise for that had been to swear us into Labirynths and Repugnancies We vow'd farther to bring Delinquents to open Tryal and condign Punishment So that to have done so by the King hath not broke the Covenant but it would have broke the Covenant to have sav'd him the chief Actor as they thought him at the time of taking that Covenant Ye have heard what he says and I leave it to every Man to apply it as he pleases But because this matter has already taken up a whole Chapter between us I referr my Reader to what I have there said Chap. 14 And now to close all and if there be any Man has a Mind to learn how to break Oaths by Providence and forswear himself to the Glory of God To say Grace to the action be it never so ungodly and give Thanks for the Success be it never so wicked To carry on a Design under the name of Publick Good and make the slavery of a Nation the liberty of the People Or in a word to hold forth any useful though notorious Untruth with convenient Obstinacy until he believes it himself and so renders it no Sin let him read this Book of Mr. Milton's and if he does not improve upon it he may thank God for it FINIS
left Complaints of Grievances Innovations in Religion Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Power and single out the Earl of Strafford for an example of their Justice The King I said was got into the matter and had discover'd whose Correspondencies and Engagements they were that had embroil'd his Kingdoms and ordered his Attorney to draw a Charge of High-Treason against the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym Mr. Hanbden Mr. Hollis Sir Ar. Haslerigg and Mr. Strode Which was accordingly done and the substance of it is this That they have Traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Saudeâ—sin's Hist of K.C.I. Fol. 473. and to deprive the King of his Power That they have endeavoured by foul Aspersions to alienate the Peoples affections from the King That they have traiterously invited and encourag'd a foreign Power to invade His Majesties Kingdom of England That for the compleating their traiterous designs they have actually rais'd and countenanc'd Tumults against the King and Parliament And that they have traiterously conspired to levy and actually have levied War against the King Nelson 2d Part F. 811. ad idom On this the King having first demanded them of the House by a Serjeant at Arms a Warrant is granted to apprehend them but missing their Persons Id. Fol. 514. their Trunks are seiz'd and seal'd up While this was yet doing the Commons had notice of it and thereupon Vote That on all like occasions for the future any Member might call a Constable to his assistance defend himself and seize all such Persons The next Morning the King goes to the House with part of his ordinary Guard of Pensioners and orders them to stay without and having rested himself in the Speaker's Chair told them He came to demand five Persons whom he had accused of High Treason Id. Sander Fol. 474. And though no King that ever was in England could be more tender of their Privileges that yet they knew there was no Privilege against Treason So Sir Fâ— Coke a â—â—st 25. And looking round him I see faith he they are gone But assured them in the word of a King that he never intended any force but to proceed against them in a legal fair way and therefore expected the House would send them to him and so went off Nor was he yet out of hearing when the general Cry was Privilege Privilege And the next day they Vote this coming of the King a breach of Privilege and adjourn for a Week into London there to sit as a General Committee pretending they were not safe at Westminster and though the King afterwards wav'd their Prosecution would not be satisfied unless he also discover'd who gave him that Counsel to come to the House as if it were not enough that he for bore his Enemies without he also betray'd his Friends Upon this Tumult upon Petition and Petition upon Tumult daily encreasing the King Queen Prince and Duke retire to Hampton-Court the Members in the mean time passing to and from Westminster with Hundreds of Boats Flags Seamen Rabble and Huzza's as they pass'd by Whitehall And now again judge any sober Man between the King and them The King to avoid the ill consequence of a denial gave his Assent to the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford He demands Justice against the five Members and 't is refus'd him If they were guilty why were they protected against him And if not guilty why did they not clear themselves The King came to the House with an attendance short of his ordinary Guard and it was Voted a Breach of Privilege They had their armed Tumults of Six Thousand at a time to awe the King's Friends and no notice taken of it but rather encourag'd Whereas it is Lex consuetudo Parliamenti That wheresoever the Parliament is holden Sir F. Coke 3 Inst 160. there ought to be no wearing of Armour exercise of Plays games of Men Wothen or Children much less Riots What shall I add They in the Year 1647. submitted eleven of their Members to the impeachment of an Army after that their House to be garbled and when contrary to the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom they had voted themselves the Legislative Power of the Nation as tamely submitted to be turn'd out by their Journey-Men And yet when the safety of the Nation was at stake insolently contend nay mate it with their Sovereign And therefore weighing altogether in a true Balance judge I say wherein the King was to blame or where lay this breach of Privilege And for what His Majesty's Intention in this matter was besides what has been before urg'd take this further from himself where he says If he purpos'd any Violence or Oppression against the Innocent then let the Enemy persecute my Soul tread my Life to the Ground and lay my Honour in the Dust To which this Accuser thus What needs there more disputing He appeal'd to God's Tribunal and behold God hath judged and done to him in the sight of all Men according to the Verdict of his own Mouth Whereas in Common Humanity as a Man Charity as a Christian Reverence to him as a King and Duty as his King he might and that truly have said 2 Sam. 3.34 As a Man falleth before wicked Men so fell'st thou The Breath of our Nostrils Lam. 4.10 the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits of whom we said under His shaddow we shall live among the Heathen CHAP. IV. Vpon the Insolency of the Tumults WHat and how frequent the Tumults of London and Westminster that follow'd the convening of this Parliament were is obvious enough to every Man that knows the least of our own Story and how aptly His Majesty has compar'd them not to a Storm at Sea which yet wants not its Terror but an Earthquake which shakes the very Foundations of all may be also as visible from the too sad effects of them Earthquakes the more general they are do less hurt by reason of the united weight which they offer to subvert whereas narrow and particular Earthquakes have many times overturn'd whole Towns and Cities And such was the Case here The Kingdom as yet stood well enough witness those the Nobility and Gentry who out of a principle of Honour and Honesty adhered to the King Some humours t is true might glow and estuate in the Body but they were not yet got into the Head That Ricketty Head that was already swoll'n too big for the Body But when they once discover'd that Vent all gather'd to it and shook those Foundations which the Wisdom of so many Centuries had been laying and securing as I shall come to show presently In the mean time our Answerer for what concerns the King's Words says The matter here is not whether the King or his Houshold Rhetorician have made a Pithy Declamation against Tumults but first whether they were Tumults or not next if they were whether the King himself did not