the now Lord Chancellor and the Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas upon the Proofs in the Chancery decreed for the Plaintiff to which he refers himself and it may be the Lord Mountnorris was thereupon put out of his Possession To the Seventh he saith His Majesty being Intituled to divers Lands Lord Dillon his Patent questioned upon an Inquisition found Proclamation was made That such as Claimed by Patent should come in by a day and have their Patents allowed as if they had been found in the Inquisition and accordingly divers were allowed The Lord Dillon produced His Patent which being questionable he consented and desired that a Case might be drawn which was drawn by Counsel and argued and the Judges delivered their Opinions but the Lord Dillon nor any other were bound thereby or put out of Possession but might have traversed the Office or otherwise legally have proceeded that Case or Opinion notwithstanding To the Eighth he saith That upon Sir John Gifford's Petition to the King The Lord Loftus close Prisoner not delivering the Great Seal His Majesty referred it to the Deputy and Council of Ireland where the matter proceeding legally to a Decree against the Lord Loftus and upon his Appeal that Decree by his Majesty and his Council of England was confirmed to which Decree and Order he refers himself believing the Lord Loftus was committed for disobeying that Decree and for continuance in contempt committed close Prisoner He saith That the Lord Loftus having committed divers Contempts the Council by Warrant required him to appear at the Board and to bring the Great Seal with him which Order he disobeyed and was shortly after Committed and the Great Seal was delivered up by his Majesties express Command and not otherwise And an Information was exhibited in the Star-Chamber for grievous Oppressions done by the Lord Loftus as Chancellor whereof he was so far from justifying as that he submitted desiring to be an Object of his Majesties Mercy and not of his Justice The Earl of Kildare for not performing of an Award made by King James The Earl of Kildare Committed and of an Award made in pursuance thereof by the said Earl of Strafford upon a Reference from His Majesty was by the Deputy and Council Committed and a Letter being unduly obtained he did not thereupon enlarge him but upon another Letter and submission to the Orders as by the King was directed he was enlarged The Lady Hibbots and one Hoy her Son having upon a Petition Answer Examination of Witnesses and other Proceedings at Council-Board been found to have committed foul abuses by Fraud and Circumvention to have made a Bargain with the Petitioner Hibbots for Lands of a great value for a small sum of Money was Ordered to deliver up the Writing no Assurances being perfected or Money paid and it 's like he threatned her with Commitment if she obeyed not that Order but denieth that the Lands were after sold to Sir Robert Meredith to his use or that by any Order by himself made any one hath been Imprisoned concerning Freeholds but for debts and personal things as some have been used by all his Predecessors in like Causes To the Ninth he saith Warrants to such Effects have been usually granted to the Bishops in Ireland in the times of all former Deputies but the Earl not satisfied with the conveniency thereof refused to give any such Warrants in general to the Bishops as had been formerly done but being informed that divers in the Diocess of Down gave not fitting Obedience he granted a Warrant to that Bishop whereto he referreth which was the only Warrant he granted of that Nature and hearing of some Complaints of the Execution thereof he recalled it To the Tenth he saith The Lord Treasurer Portland offered the Farm of the Customs for 13000 l. per annum in some particular Species but the Earl of Strafford advanced the same Customs to 15500 l. per annum and 8000 l. Fine and by His Majesties Command became a Farmer at those Rates proposed without addition to those Rates as by the printed Books 7 Car. Regis may appear he disswaded the advance of Rates lately proposed by Sir Abraham Dawes so as it was declined the Rates of Hydes and Wooll are moderate consideration being had of their true value and of the Places whereto they are to be transported and of the Statute made in the time of Queen Elizabeth and there in force prohibiting the Exportation of Wooll unless they pay to the Crown 5 s. the Stone the Trade and Shipping of that Kingdom are exceedingly increased To the Eleventh he saith Pipe-staves were prohibited in King James's Time and not Exported but by Licence from the Lord Treasurer of England or Lord-Deputy of Ireland who had 6 s. 8 d. a 1000 and his Secretary 3 s. 4 d. for the Licence but to restrain that destruction of Timber by Command of His Majesty and Advice of His Council for His Revenue in Ireland first 30 s. then 3 l. the money was paid to His Majesty who hath thereby about 1500 l. per annum and his Lordship lost about 4 or 500 l. per annum which his Predecessors had for such Licences This is paid by the Transporter not by the Natives whose Commodity nevertheless appears by the Article to be very much increased To the Twelfth he saith The Subsidies there are an Inheritance in the Crown by Act of Parliament 6 d. was paid for Subsidy and 1 s. 6. d. for Impost upon every pound of Tobacco and Farmed 10 or 20 l. per annum the Commons in Parliament 10 Car. Regis finding the Revenue to be short of the Expence of that Kingdom 24000 l. per annum Petitioned those Grants might be applied to increase His Majesties Revenue without calling upon the Subject but upon urgent Occasions Hereupon upon the Advice of the Committee of the Revenue and in consideration of a Proclamation made in England several Proclamations were made and this settled in a way till it could be confirmed by Parliament for which purpose a Bill is transmitted according to the desire of the Commons and the Impost of Tobacco is Let to Contractors for eleven years at 5000 l. per annum for the first five years and 10000 l. per annum for the other six years and the Earl hath lent money to forward the business and by His Majesties Allowance is a Partner but hath not as yet in two years last past had any Accompts thereof or made benefit thereby He knoweth of no whipping or other punishment the Farmes of the Customs are better than formerly 2000 l. per annum five 8 parts whereof is yearly paid unto His Majesty the prices of Tobacco exceed not 2 s. or 2 s. 4 d. the pound the settling of that Revenue according to the Petition of the Commons he hath not raised or countenanced any Monopolies but opposed the same To the Thirteenth he saith He endeavoured to advance the Manufacture of
Altarwise and place them in some convenient place of the Church or Chancel and to take away the Rails and level the Chancels as heretofore they were before the late Innovations These high Pretences against Innovations Popery and Superstition were the Witchcrafts with which they insensibly drew on the undiscerning People into the most desperate and horrid Sin of Rebellion and amongst the rest of these frightful Crimes with which they blackned the Archbishop and the Clergy this horrible Sin of Innovation was one of the most terrible when the truth is this was so false and far from being an Innovation that whoever has travelled into the Early Regions of Antiquity will both find the Name and Thing of Alter very frequent among the Ecclesiastical Writers and the Holy Fathers of those Ages and that ever since Christianity came from under the Rod of Persecution and that Temples were erected for the Publick Worship of Almighty God they were built after the same Manner and Form with our Churches and the Holy Table was placed at the East end of them and the indeavor of the Archbishop and Regular Clergy to bring in this Piece of Uniformity into the Church of England was so far from being a Novelty or Innovation that the Design of it was to reduce them to this Primitive Custom and Usage of the Primitive Christians so Ancient and Primitive that Nicephorus and Socrates in the Ecclesiastical History make mention of two Altars placed in the West end of two Churches which was then accounted a strange Innovation Wednesday Septem 1 and directly contrary to the constant Custom of the Church The House being now shortly to be Adjourned for some time by Reason the Plague begun to encrease several Persons Petitioned the Commons to be admitted to Bail upon which It was Ordered That Alderman Abel Mr. Kilvert Thomas Powlet Diverse Persons Bailed Charles Cotton Edward Watkins Lewis Kirk shall be Bailed the Principals at 1000 l. and the Sureties each 500 l. Bail Ferris also who was in Custody for Breach of Priviledg for Arresting a Servant of one of the Members and the Post-Master of Ware who was committed to the Serjeant at the complaint of Mr. Rushworth Debate about Religion about Post-Horses were Ordered to be Bailed upon reasonable Bail The House also fell upon the Church-work again which was to be Swept with their beesom of Reformation by abolishing Order Decency and Government as Superstition and Innovation to this purpose it was moved that they might consider of what alterations and additions were to be made in the Book of Common-Prayer whereupon Sir John Culpeper stood up and moved that the Book of Common-Prayer might be continued and remain without alteration or addition and that it might be observed and used with all due Reverence throughout the Kingdom Upon which the Question being put whether they should proceed to the farther consideration of this matter the House was divided upon it with the Yeas were 55 with the Noes 60 so it was for the present laid by This was always one great Artifice of the Party That when there was a thin House and any thing was moved which they perceived they should not be able to Carry to get it put off till either the contrary Party being tired with long Sitting were gone out of the House or that they found their own Party strong enough to carry the Vote And this the Reader shall find verified in a few days and that they not only proceeded to Vote but Authoritatively to Enact this their pretended Abolition of Innovations without the consent of either the King or House of Lords The House being very thin many of the Members being gone into the Country by reason of the spreading of the Contagion It was Ordered That lest the House should fall for want of Forty of the Members to be present at the Adjournment that there should at least Sixty meet the next Week to agree about the Recess upon which the House was Adjourned till Monday next Upon hearing the matter concerning the affront put upon the French Ambassador It was this day Ordered by the Lords as follows WHereas it appears by the Certificate of the Justices of Peace and by Proof of Witnesses Viva voce this Day at the Barr The Order about those who assaulted the French Ambassadors House upon full Examination of the business That Christopher Cook John Symons Richard Clarke John Bird Gyles Philips and Roger Gardner were principal Actors in committing of the great Outrage and Assault upon the French Ambassadors House in Lincolns Inn Fields as flinging of Stones and Assaulting the said House to the great molestation and dishonor of the said Ambassador which this House is very tender of It is Ordered that the Delinquents aforesaid shall forthwith stand committed to New Bride-well there to remain until their Masters or some others shall be Sureties for their Good Behaviour and that they appear at the next Sessions for Middlesex furthermore that the aforesaid Offenders shall stand on Pillories on Wednesday next in the morning for an hours space before the said Ambassadors House without being Vailed and shall publickly ask forgiveness upon their Knees of the Ambassador after which they shall be whipped before the said Ambassadors Door and along the Fields and Streets thereabout And Lastly it is Ordered that Mr. Long Mr. Sheppard Mr. Whittaker and Mr. Hooker Justices of the Peace together with the Sheriff of Middlesex who is to put this Order in Execution shall take special Care that there be a sufficient Guard about the Ambassadors House to prevent such Tumults that so the Peace may be kept during the time of the Execution of this Order The Ambassador being acquainted with this Order did by the Lord Chamberlain return his humble Thanks to the House for the same but desired That the Execution of it might be spared Whereupon it was Ordered That the Whipping be spared and that it be signified to the Offenders that it is remitted at the request of the said Ambassador And afterwards upon his request the Sentence was wholly remitted they asking him Pardon upon their Knees and they were released from their Imprisonment The Bishop of Lincoln who had formerly been so great a Favourite of the Commons Monday Septem 6. yet was a Bishop still and therefore upon any little false step contrary to their Sense more liable than another person to fall under their displeasure which happened to be upon this Occasion The Commons it seems had a great mind to try the Extempore Talent of Marshal and Burgess being men of Renown in that way of treating God Almighty and their Auditors with Prayers that were not tied to any Set Form whereby the Spirit was stinted and the Candle of mens Parts put under a bushel as the phrase of the Times went Now my Lord of Lincoln had it seems compiled a set Office as had been Usual upon the like Occasions for the Service of the Day of
whatever opinion others may have of such half-faced Historians I cannot conceive but that even the Cause of Protestancy which these Persons pretend so much to Patronize does extremely suffer by their manifest Partiality There is not any one particular which hath been Exaggerated with more vehemence then the Cruelty of the Rebels by Sir John Temple Dr. Borlase and others and doubtless their Cruelty was strange and barbarous but then on the other side there is not the least mention of any Cruelty exercised upon the Irish or of the hard measure they received from some of the Board in Ireland who were of the Parliamentarian Faction and Scottish Religion which rendred them desperate and made the Rebellion Universal they take no notice of the Severities of the Provost Martials nor of the Barbarism of the Soldiers to the Irish which was such that I have heard a Relation of my own who was a Captain in that Service Relate that no manner of Compassion or Discrimination was shewed either to Age or Sex but that the little Children were promiscuously Sufferers with the Guilty and that if any who had some grains of Compassion reprehended the Soldiers for this unchristian Inhumanity they would scoffingly reply Why Nits will be Lice and so would dispatch them And certainly as to acknowledge an undeniable Truth does in no manner Excuse the barbarous Cruelty of the Rebels so to deny or smother Matters of Fact so easily to be proved even by many Protestants still alive has given the Papists the advantage to bring into Question especially in Foreign Courts and Countries the truth of all those inhumane Cruelties which are charged upon them by such Writers as are found Guilty of such manifest Partiality It is most evident that the Lords Justices Parsons and Borlase did by their Authority Command many things which did not only Exasperate but render the Irish Desperate as will appear by several of their own Letters and publick Acts of State and that in the first Eruption of the Rebellion they had a greater Eye to the Forfeitures of the Rebels Estates then to use such means as might by the hopes of Pardon induce the better sort of the Nobility Gentry and Freeholders to hear Reason and to come in and submit themselves to His Majesties mercy though they had express direction from the King and the Two Houses so to do and it is no less notorious that Sir John Temple in writing his History was bound by Confederacy to assert the proceedings of the then Lords Justices and I cannot find him high in Reputation with the prevailing Usurpers of the Parliamentarian Faction and by them impowered as a Commissioner to impose upon the Protestant Subjects of Ireland that Traiterous Disloyal and Detestable Solemn League and Covenant which was a direct Oath of Confederacy not only against but purposely to Ruin and Destroy the King the Church and the Loyal Party I cannot observe his Book to be Printed in London by publick Allowance in the Year 1646 at a time when no Books were licensed but such as made Court to the prevailing Faction of the Usurpers or which might be helpful to support their Calumnies against His Majesty especially as to the Irish Rebellion I cannot find him decrying the Cessation of 1643 without too just a suspition of his Integrity and that his Biass was too strong to that Party to which he was a Confederate to expect from him an account of those Affairs without the apparent Guilt of prejudice and partiality The late Earl of Orrery cannot escape the like suspition with any Person that considers him Exercising the Talent of his Eloquence in perswading the notorious Rebel Cromwel to Establish his Usurpation by fixing the Royal Diadem the Imperial Crown of these Realms upon his infamous Head nor is it possible to look upon him as an impartial Writer who in the blackest of times rendred himself by his Services to the Usurper so notoriously Conspicuous to the Three Kingdoms being during that gloomy Scene of our Gracious Sovereign's Banishment Lord President of Munster in Ireland President of the Council of Scotland and in England a Lord of the other House in one of the Usurpers mock-Parliaments and to instance in another of his Titles thô not so Illustrious he was Agent for the Fanatiques Established by Cromwel in the Estates of the Irish who repenting of their folly had served His Majesty against the English Rebels at that time when he writ that Treatise which is so warmly answered by Peter Walch As for Dr. Borlase besides the nearness of his Relation to one of the Lords Justices and his being openly and avowedly a favourer of the Faction and the Men and Actions of those times he is an Author of such strange inconsistency that his Book is rather a Paradox then a History and it must needs be so for I know not by what accident the Copy of a Manuscript written by the Right Honorable the late Earl of Clarendon happening to fall into his hands he has very unartfully blended it with his own rough and unpolished heap of Matter so that his Book looks like a curious Imbroidery sowed with coarse thread upon a piece of Sackwebb And truly had he no other Crime but that of a Plagiary it is such a sort of Theft to steal the Child of anothers Brain that may very well render him suspected not to be overstockt with Honesty and Justice so necessary to the Reputation of an unblemished Historian but it is far more unpardonable to castrate the Lawful Issue of another Man's Pen and thereby disable it from propagating Truth and to teach it to speak a Language which the Parent never intended And yet this is the exact Case of Dr. Borlase's History in which he has taken great Pains to expunge some and alter many Passages which he thought were too poignant against his Favourites or spoke too much in Vindication of his late Majesty and his Ministers as in divers particulars hereafter the Reader will observe The World is threatned with a History from another hand which when ever it comes will lie under the same disadvantages with these former Authors and if it may be prejudged by a Specimen already made Publick it will not be very fortunate in the World nor fail of being Sifted and Exposed if it does deserve it by straying from the Road of Truth and leading the World into the Crooked Meanders of Erroneous Partiality And now having given an account how sensible I am of the mistakes and failings of those who have travailed before me in these Irish Transactions I am to acquaint the Reader that my Intention is to Winnow the truth out of their Writings but not to follow them further then good Authority concurring with them shall incourage me and that I have no intention to disclaim any thing in them but such things as are either mistaken or misrepresented in matter of Fact or Written with the strong bent of Partiality purposely
House of Commons by whom the rest might the better be guided Mr. Secretary Windebank said He feared the House would first be Answered of their Grievances and Voted for a Breach of the Parliament Mr. Secretary Vane in opposite terms said That there was no hope that they would give the King a Penny and therefore absolutely Voted for a Breach And the Earl of Strafford conceiving His Majesties Pleasure to have accepted Eight Subsidies had been delivered to the House of Commons by Mr. Secretary Vane did in His Majesties turn deliver his Vote for Breach of the Parliament which otherwise he would not have done it being contrary to what he Resolved when he came thither and like Opinion was delivered by the rest of the Lords being about twenty except two or three at the most The Parliament being Dissolved His Majesty desired Advice of His Council How money might be raised affirming That the Scotch Army was ready to enter into the Kingdom The said Earl in presence of others in the Council delivered his Opinion That in a Case of absolute and unavoidable necessity which neither would nor could be prevented by ordinary remedies provided by the Laws nor all His Majesties other means sufficient to defend the Common-wealth Himself or their Lives and Estates from an Enemy without force of Arms either actually entred or daily expected to Invade the Realm He conceived that His Majesty was absolved from ordinary Rules and might use in as moderate a way the necessity of the Cause would permit all ways and means for defence of Himself and Kingdom for that he conceived in such extremity Salus Populi was Suprema Lex provided it were not colourable nor any thing demanded imployed to other use nor drawn into Example when Law and Justice might take place and that when Peace was settled Reparation was to be given to particular men otherwise it would be unjust This was not officiously declared but in Council forced by the duty of the Oath of a Counsellor which is that he shall in all things to be moved treated and debated in Council faithfully and truly declare his Mind and Opinion according to his Heart and Conscience which Oath the said Earl took and humbly prays their Lordships Consideration thereof He denieth the words in the Article or any words to the intent thereby expressed To the 24th he saith He delivered his Opinion with such Cautions and Restrictions as in the Answer to the Precedent Article and is well assured his Discourse at all times hath been without ill Intentions to either of the Houses of Parliament which he ever did and shall think and speak of with all Reverence He denies that he knew of the Publishing or Printing of the Book nor who caused it to be Printed or Published for at that time he was sick in his Bed more like to die than to live To the 25th he saith Ship-Money was levied and adjudged to be due before his coming over Sheriffs were then called up as before and not otherwise If any were sued in Star-Chamber it was without any particular indeavour of his It appearing at the Board That the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had been slow in Collecting Ship-Money he said They were but Ministerial and ought to Exact and not dispute the King's Writs and that if through their remisness the King should be less able to provide for the Publick Safety when any Forreign Army was ready to enter the Kingdom they might deserve to be Fined and Ransomed which he spake more to hasten them than of purpose to advise any such Prosecution but denies the other words being under favour such Expressions as he is not accustomed unto To the 26th he saith He advised not either of those Projects being then sick in Bed but it being debated at the Council-Table Whether it were better for the King to raise Gold and Silver or Coin base Money He for the Reasons then given delivered his Opinion for the latter Sundry Merchants Adventurers coming to his house desired him to move His Majesty then at Oatlands to Release the Bullion or Money he told them He knew of no such thing and would not meddle with it nor would his Health permit him to go abroad and said That if their denying the King in such a Publick Danger the Loan of 100000 l. upon good Security the King were constrained for the Preservation of the Land to stay the Bullion they might thank themselves and the City receiving so great a benefit by Residing amongst them they made but an unthankful acknowledgment in such a Straight to refuse the Loan of that Sum. The Officers of the Mint came to the Council-Board and the Earl then shewed a Letter he received from the Earl of Leicester wherein was related That the Cardinal had appointed Commissioners to go into the Merchants houses at Paris to peruse their Shop-Books and Accompts and to Cess every man according to his Ability towards the payment of the King's Army and then said That it was but just for Us here in England to bless God for being under a King which could not think upon such a Pressing upon the People But the words in the Article or words to any such intent he did not speak and cannot sufficiently bemoan himself to have been in all his words so ill understood or so untruly Reported as he hath been To the 27th he saith He perswaded the Gentry of that Country to allow the Trained-Band a months Pay which they yielded and His Majesty graciously accepted It was by Council of War His Majesty being present thought fit the Trained-Bands should return save the two Regiments under the Command of Sir William Pennyman and Sir Thomas Danby It was assented unto by His Majesty and the great Councel of the Peers then Assembled That those spared should Contribute and the said Earl was Commanded by them to see it done which was done accordingly by Warrants from him and from his Deputy-Lieutenants which was much less Charge to the Countries than otherwise and denies the other particular in the Article mentioned To the 28th he saith He was Lieutenant-General to the Earl of Northumberland about the 24th of August of 10 or 12000 Foot and 2000 Horse being at New-Castle under the Command of the Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Ashley and the rest of the Army at York the said Earl went from London and the 26th of August notwithstanding his extream weakness and came to York and having received a Letter from Sir Jacob Ashley that New-Castle was Fortified and that they must be Infamous Beasts to lose it and that it was fully Secured and being acquainted with several Dispatches sent by Mr. Secretary Vane by His Majesties Directions to the Lord Conway General of the Horse to oppose the Passage of the Scots over the River of Tyne the one dated 22. Augusti the other 23. Augusti another 24. Augusti another 26. Augusti the substance of which Letters are particularly mentioned in the
accordingly yea their Houses broke open and their Goods taken away and brought to my Lord of Strafford 's House where they were employed in his works The like we shall instance in Tobacco 15. Next we shall shew to Your Lordships how he hath levied War upon the King's Subjects We opened in the beginning what an Arbitrary Jurisdiction he set up here we shall shew how he used it by a meer course of Enmity and Hostility For My Lords this was the course If a Decree or Order were made by him and not obeyed he issues a Warrant to the Serjeant at Arms to go to the next Garrison and take Soldiers with an Officer and carry them to the House of the party in question it is no matter where it was but to the House of them that were pretended to be disobedient they were to go If the Decree had been to raise so much money or to put parties in possession In plain terms the Soldiers were to lye like Free-booters and Enemies on the King's People to eat them up They have killed their Sheep their Oxen and they have lain not on the parties only but on their Tenants till the party comes in and renders himself They have burnt their Houses taken their Wives and Friends and carried them away till Obedience was rendered and this is a levying of War upon the King For the King and the People are both so united in Affection and Right of Law that there cannot be Violence offered to the King but it redounds to the People nor can any Oppress the People in this sort but it redounds to His Majesty Besides it is contrary to a Law of that Kingdom whereby it is Enacted That if any person shall assess Horse or Foot on any of the King's People without their consent it is High Treason The next thing we shall go to is the Favour he shewed to the Papists in their Compositions and Exemptions from all penalties of Law for they were expresly not to be proceeded against nor to be Convicted and so that which hath influence into Religion and Reformation is quite taken away and nothing but matter of Profit is left The next Article is that that concerns the Kingdom of Scotland First he begins with them in Ireland contrives an Oath which is set forth in the Articles That they shall obey the King's Royal Commands without exception This he enforceth by Fining and Imprisoning them that disobeyed him And so in all the other particulars when his Proclamations were broken his course was by Fine and Imprisonment to enforce an Obedience My Lords He doth not only press them in their Estates but strives to infuse into His Majesty an ill Opinion of them he provokes and incites Him by all his Arguments to lay down his Mercy and Goodness and Justice and to fall into an offensive War against that Kingdom He gives out that the Nation of them not this or that man are Rebels and Traytors And if it please the King to bring him back to the Sword indeed he is fit for that it is a violent weapon he will root out the Scottish Nation Branch and Root some few excepted of those that had taken the Oath When he comes into England he finds that His Majesty with great Wisdom had pacified those Storms and Troubles that threatned us there Yet he doth incense the King still to follow this to an Offensive War and prevails He plots to call a Parliament but with an intention if it furnished not his design it should be broken and he would set up other ways of force to raise Moneys of the Kingdom and this fell out unhappily For thus far his project took the Parliament was broken and broken at the very time when the Subject was in debate and consideration how to have yielded Supply to His Majesty But that he might break it he falsly informs the King That the Parliament had denied to Supply him there is his Counsel that the Parliament had forsaken the King and now the King having tryed his People might use all other ways for the procuring and raising of moneys and the same day wherein that Parliament was unhappily Dissolved he gives his further Counsel to His Majesty which because no man can put such a Spirit of Malice into the words besides himself I shall take the boldness to read That having tryed the Affections of his People he was loose and absolved from all Rules of Government and he was to do every thing that Power would admit And that His Majesty had tryed all ways and was refused and should be acquitted both of God and Man And that His Majesty had an Army in Ireland which he might employ to reduce this Kingdom It is added in the printed Book to reduce them to Obedience I know not who Printed it but the Charge is only to reduce this Kingdom And My Lords you may please to consider what a sad time this man took to reflect upon these bad Councels when our Hearts were swoln with Sorrow for that unhappy breach of the last Parliament And what doth he advise the King what positions offers he That he was absolved from all Rules of Government If there be no Rule of Government My Lords where is the Rule of Obedience for how shall the People know to obey when there is no Rule to direct them what to obey He tells the King he was refused which was untrue for he was not refused to the last breath we had in Parliament but we spake in that point how to supply the King and to prefer it at that time before the Complaints of our just Grievances But what doth he fall into that which in another Article we charge him with a Plot and Conspiracy betwixt him and Sir George Ratcliffe to bring in the Irish Army for our Confusion to root out our Laws and Government a pernicious Counsel He says not you shall do it but he that perswades it doth as much as if in express terms he had counselled the acting of it Doth he mean that we should be to his Irish Pattern for speaking of the Irish Army consisting of Papists and his Adherents he said that he would make it a Pattern for all the Kingdoms did he mean to reduce us to the Pattern that he hath placed in Ireland Surely he meant to reduce us to a Chaos and Confusion He would have us without all Rules of Government and these be the means wicked and cruel Councels and the Cruelty of an Army inspired with his Spirit and consisting of Papists Enemies of our Religion And what Mercy could we of this Religion expect from Popish Enemies with Swords in their hands That cannot but strike all English Hearts with Horrour and Dread that an Irish Army should be brought into England to reduce the Subjects of England I hope we never were so far gone in any thing as that we should need an Army to reduce us I cannot but say here is the Counsel of
of Bucks affects not him That the Book of Rates was raised in the 7th of Car. which was before his Lease and was done by the King's Officers what he is charged with is 9 Car. whereas the Book of Rates was made in the Lord Portland 's time Whether the Rates were reasonable or not was not to be charged to him as a Crime much less a Treason That Tonnage and Poundage is the King's Inheritance in Ireland by 15 H. 4. That nothing is taken but by that Book And if the Merchants were to set the Rates the Customs would be little That he came not in to the Farm upon his own Suit but was commanded to do the King Service and if it prove a bargain of advantage he never knew the making a good bargain turned upon a man as Treason To this the Lord Cottington Examined affirmed That the Earl was brought in as Partner with Sir Arthur Ingram and others by the Lord Treasurer Portland Sir Arthur Ingram affirmed to the same Effect That a Letter was writ from the King who was informed the Rates were too low and a new Book of Rates sent over and that though he had then a ¼ part of the Farm yet he proposed it to the Council Board and by the Whole Board the said Book was disadvised which the Lord Dillon affirmed to be true Mr. Maynard replyed That though this or that was not Treason Managers reply yet the whole tended to subvert the Liberties properties of the Subjects the Fundamental Laws and that was Treason That it was a hard Case for the Subjects of Ireland to have a Governour take a Bargain which all others refused who must in Appeals of Oppression be both Judge and Party As for the Letter it was the Opinion of the Board and to be attributed to them and it is to be wondred he submitted to it and did not rather take them down That it appears if Depositions be true that he and his Partners have gained 300000 l. and that here is not only an inhauncement of Rates on the Subject by way of Extortion but this is soaked out of the King's Purse The Committee for the present waved the Eleventh Article Artic. 12. and proceeded to the Twelfth concerning his Monopolizing Tobacco whereby he made 100000 l. profit to himself imposing Sealing upon Tobacco and punishing the Refusers by Fines Pillory Prison and Whipping To prove the Restraint and Sealing two Proclamations were read which were as followeth By the Lord-Deputy and Council A Proclamation concerning the Importing of TOBACCO By which Proclamation is set forth in Substance as followeth THat whereas unsound Tobacco is brought in 2 Proclamations concerning Tobacco by the Earl of Strafford c. by the Vnlimited Liberty of divers to Import c. and being no Vsual Commodity c. a strict Charge is given That none presume from the First of May next to Import any Tobacco without Special Licence from Vs on pain of incurring His Majestie 's high Displeasure and the Punishments due for such Contempts The Proclamation concerning Sealing of Tobacco was next Read the 23 d. of Feb. 13 Car. By the Deputy and Council Wherein THe former Proclamation is Recited And to prevent Secret Wayes of Importation a Charge is given from the last of May next no Tobacco be put to Whole-sale unless it be in compleat Rolls which may be conveniently Seal'd and to be Sold with two Seals one to be affixed at each end which Seal order is taken to be provided for that purpose That what Tobacco shall be found without those Seals the King's Officers may search for and seize and convey to the next Port which Course shall be taken that every Seizor shall have 6 d. for every Pound as an Encouragement and that the Officers shall commit the Persons of such in whose hands such Tobacco shall be found till Security shall be given to appear before the Deputy and Council and not to depart without Leave c. To prove the Restraint Witnesses Tim. Crosby Timothy Crosby deposed That several Ships were prohibited to land Tobacco That the John of Kingsale being not suffered to unlade at Lymerick because not of the Magazine was cast away going to another Port That before the Restraint Tobacco was at 6 d. 7 d. other times 14 d. 16 d. the Pound on Shipboard and since some at 9 d. some 6 d. that the Ships were not suffered to land unless they paid 2 s. the pound 18 d. Custom 6 d. Impost Patrick Allen deposed That a Ship not suffered to land at Youghall Patrick Allen. was forced to go to St. Maloes in France that before the Proclamation he bought Tobacco at 6 d. and 7 d. a pound since they pay 2 s. 2 s. 4 d. 2 s. 8 d. 3 s. That the Patentees pay the Merchant 6 d. or 7 d. a pound John Welsh deposed to the same Effect John Welsh and that Ireland consumes 500 Tun of Tobacco per annum which at 2 s. 6 d. per pound 140000 l. As to Sentencing he saw Patrick Wells Merchant and Richard Whitwick stand on the Pillory for selling unsealed Tobacco and had heard of more That he thinks the Book of Censures made in the Castle-Chamber was sent into England which Patrick Gough said the same Patrick Gough but the Book was not offered in Evidence but he hath heard of divers Sentenced 60 at a time committed for unsealed Tobacco 3 of Waterford one sentenced to Fine 100 l. and lose his Place of Waiter the other 100 l. and the Merchant 100 but reduced to 20 l. a piece That they were Fined at the Board and he thinks my Lord Strafford was present Then the Sixth Article of the Remonstrance was read to prove that the value is more than all the King's Revenue certain and uncertain in Ireland After some little respite the Earl made his Defence The Earl's Defence That he hopes he hath little to answer for as Treason and wisheth he had so much Profit to answer for as is pretended Then he produced a Petition of the Commons House attested for a true Copy by Mr. Gybson wherein they desired this Lease of the Impost of Tobacco might be taken in and compounded for and converted to the King's benefit so that it was on their own Petition settled as a Revenue of the Crown Which was attested by Mr. Slingsby a Member of that House Then he shewed the Grant of 13 Jac. where the Impost of Tobacco was let at 10 l. per annum at 18 d. per pound Impost to William Massam and John Pitt for 7. Years Then he offered a Lease 8. Feb. 19 Jac. to Mr. Lyne for 21 Years at 20 l per annum which was admitted Next the King's Letter 18 July 12 Car. for settling the business which was his warrant for the Proclamation requiring him with the Advice of the Council to settle the preemption by what Limitations and Conditions he should
who am this day to Answer before you For if you take away the Power of the Deputy you shall not have that Kingdom long depend upon this Crown for it rests under God and His Majesty and must principally rest upon the care of him that is intrusted with that Charge And therefore give me leave on the behalf of the Crown of England to beseech you to be wary of lessening the Deputie's Power too much for if you do I fear you will find it a great Disservice to the Crown My Lords the next thing I am Charged with is the 9th Article That is a Warrant of Assistance to the Bishop of Down and Connor and for that your Lordships see there was but one of them and have heard it proved that before my time such Warrants were frequent indeed no man was denyed them But my Lords it must likewise be remembred that of my own accord I did recall it before I was ever questioned for it and it is very hard if he that mends his Faults should be afterward punished for it for it is a degree of Repentance and it is hard that a man should be finally Condemned after Repentance and therefore my Lords I trust seeing there was but one of them seeing I did my self recall it so willingly as soon as I found the Inconvenience I hope that will be easier remitted to me The next is the 10th Article that concerns the Customes and that is rather to be looked on as a Fraud then as a Treason as I conceive it there is no Treason in the Business sure But I have proved the Bargain was honestly made That there was more offered for it by me then any other That I had it upon no other Terms then it was formerly let to others That I was constrain'd to it whether I would or no And then My Lords if the Bargain by the Increase of that Kingdom prove a good and profitable Bargain it is a very hard Case that if it be increased through the King's Wisdom and Goodness and the Kingdoms Growth Trade and Traffick that this should be turned upon me as an Argument to make me Guilty of Treason I never found a good Bargain should be so charged so long as it was honest and fair But whereas they press That I have gained Three Hundred Thousand Pounds Estate by it it is a very strange mistake For the King has out of it his Rent of 15 or 16 Thousand Pounds a year and Five entire parts of Eight clear to Himself and therefore it was a strange Calculation and much mistaken by them that that gave the Information of it to the Gentlemen For the book of Rates it was none of mine but was agreed on before my time I had nothing to do with it and therefore have nothing to Answer for it And when it shall come to be proved it will appear that the Rates were set fairly and justly and equal betwixt King and People according to the Law whatsoever hath been said to the contrary The next is the 11th Article concerning Pipe-Staves and that is by them waved and well they may for the plain truth is if it had been proceeded in it would have appeared that there is come Fifteen hundred pounds gain to the King and Four hundred pounds loss to my self and preserving of Woods and that is all that would be made from that Article The next is the business of the Tobacco which is not applyable to Treason in any kind but because I would be clear in every Man's Judgment that hears me I beseech your Lordships to call to mind it was the Petition of the Commons-House of Ireland That the Grant of Impost on the Tobacco should be taken in and converted to the King's use so that whatsoever was done was pursuing their intention and desire That there was no way but this to make benefit and profit of it is most manifestly shewed that there was a Proclamation in England of the like nature and a Command of the King to proceed in it accordingly and an Act of Parliament Transmitted here for passing it to the Crown according to the intention of the Commons-House and for the greatness of the Bargain no Proof hath been offered to your Lordships but only the Estimate of a Merchant and how far your Lordships would be guided by the Estimate of a Merchant I know not but I have had Trial of some of them and their Estimates never hold for they have alwayes told me I shall gain much and when I came to the point I gained nothing and if Sir George Ratcliff should be sworn to the Point he should say confidently that we are Fourscore and six thousand out of Pursâ— and when he came out of Ireland but Fourscore thousand pounds received and this is the Profit Estimated by the great Merchants at a Hundred and Forty Thousand Pounds a year But at the worst it is but a Monopoly and a Monopoly of the best condition because it was begun by a Parliament I have seen many Monopolies question'd in Parliament and many overthrown in Parliament but I never heard a Monopoly charged for a Treason My Lords The next is the 13th Article and that is concerning the Flax business For that my Lords if I had thought it any way concerning me I could have cleared it in a very great measure But I had no private Interest in the business much less of private profit but only an endeavour and desire to bring in the Trade of Linnen-Cloth to that Kingdom which would be much advantage to both Kingdoms and no prejudice to this Kingdom which a Woollen Trade would have been if set up there And the Proclamation when it was found not so well liking to the People was called in of our own accord before it was question'd and so laid aside given over For any matter of private Benefit you have no Witness but Crokay a Fellow brought out of Prison Here is but a single Witness and a sorry one a Fellow who by mis-behaving and mis-using the trust committed to him was turned out and upon the turning of him out the Proclamation was absolutely called in and now he comes to be a Witness being himself the only offender in the Cause But I beseech your Lordships to think I have not lived with so mean a heart in the World that I should look to gain Four Nobles more or less upon a Cart Load of Flax It is very well known my thoughts have carried me free enough from gaining so poor and petty a matter as that is I know nothing in the World of it no more than the man in the Moon but when it comes to be heard your Lordships will find me extreme pure in that for I thank God I have clear hands I assure you The 14th is waved by them concerning an unlawful Oath given to Masters and Officers or Ships and it might very well be waved for I conceive it to be Warranted by the Law
inhumanely put out lived not long after in torment and grief Some say he died by a more horrible Kind of Cruelty as his Belly was opened Will. Caxton and one end of his Bowels fastned to a Stake his Body pricked with sharp Ponyards till all his Entrails were extracted in which most Savage Torture he ended his innocent Life These Bishops little regarded Ecclesiastical Vocation or Function but Worldly Pomp and Courtly Rule They cannot be at Assemblies of States and Parliaments but their neglected Flock must be starved These feed not their hungry Sheep but hunger to feed on them and this Care of the World volves them in a world of Cares What hath been spoken of those Bishops I wish had not been delivered of other Latter Prelats wherein I crave Leave to speak what others write That they are grown to that Height of Idleness the Mother of Ignorance and Luxury within themselves and by reason thereof in contempt and base estimation with the People that it is thought high time that blood should be drawn from their swelling Veins I will not though perhaps I might say with them that the Commonwealth hath little use of such I mean of our Lordly Bishops but for that they are so far degenerated from the Primitive institution I wish there were reformation I speak not of demolishing but of Amendment and Restitution and until it appear that the whole is unsound I shall not assent to utter extirpation or eradication Thus much I have made bold to deliver though not in due place nor in any purpose to plead against those or any of them that have declared themselves to be of contrary Opinion I am not ignorant of my disability to enter the Lists with any or to contend with such Worthies in this or other Argument but I hope there will not be denyed to me Leave and Liberty to declare the Cause and Reason of my Vote in this House in which I have the honour to sit as a Member And if I have erred I have been mis-led not only by Learned Fathers and Divines by Synods and General Councils but by great Lords and Barons yea by the whole Peerage of these Kingdoms of England and France Peter Lord Primandy and Barree who writ the French Academy and dedicated the same to Henry the Third King of France and Poland in that Book and Chapter of the Causes that bred Change saith That Bishops and Prelates neglecting their Charge to bestow their times in worldly Affairs grew to Misliking and Contempt have procured great Offences and marvellous Trouble which may more easily be lamented then taken away or reformed being such Abuses as have taken deep Root And what he affirmeth did the Peers of France unitely deliver That Bishops should follow St. Peter 's steps to win Souls and not to meddle with Wars and Murder of Mens Bodies But to come neer and to speak of England Let us hear what the English Lords did declare We read that they did Decree in the time and Reign of King John That Bishops should not intermeddle in Civil Affairs or Rule as Princes over their Vassals and the reason is rendred for Peter say they received no power but only in matters pertaining to the Church and further inlarging themselves use these words It appertains not to Bishops to deal in Secular Affairs since Peter only received of our Saviour a power in matters Ecclesiastical what say they hath the Prelates to intermeddle with Wars such are Constantine's Successors not Peter's whom as they represent not in good Actions so neither do they in Authority fie on such Rascal Ribaulds the words in Paris are Marcidi Ribaldi how unlike are they to Peter that usurp Peter's place But this point of intermedling in Secular Affairs though I have often digressed and intermingled with the former parts is proved in its proper place to be unlawful viz. in that part that treateth thereof Craving pardon for this Deviation I will pursue the present Argument the obnoxiousness of their Sitting in Parliament and to come to the points I intended to insist on viz. The entrance of Bishops into the Parliament House and by what means they came there and continued That they have sate there from the first Parliament to this is not denyed But as we are not now to consider an fuerunt but an profuerunt so are we not to debate and discuss an factum but an fieri debuit for it was the Argument of a Pagan viz. Symmachus to the Emperor Theodosius recorded by St. Ambrose servanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt Majores nostri qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos Our Religion which hath continued so many years is still to be retained and our Ancestors are to be followed by us who happily traced the steps of their Fore-fathers but with Tertullian nullam velo consuetudinem defendas if good no matter how short since if bad the longer the worse Antiquity without truth as saith Cyprian is but ancient Error The first Parliament as I read began 1116 or thereabouts and in the Sixteenth or Seventeenth year of King Henry the First who being an Usurper brought in by the Bishops to the disherison of Robert his elder Brother admitted the said Bishops to be Members of the said High Court partly in gratefulness but rather for that he durst not do otherwise for was not Ralph the then Archbishop of Canterbury so proud and insolent a Prelate that we read of him that when Roger Bishop of Salisbury was to Celebrate the Kings Coronation by reason of the Palsie of the Archbishop this cholerick outdaring Prelate could hardly be intreated by the Lords to with-hold his hands from striking the Crown from the Kings Head Eadmerus of such Spirits were those spiritual Prelates and the Jealousie to lose their pompous preheminence of Honours Math. Paris Anno 1119. yet had he no other reason for this his sauciness and bold Attempt but for that Roger did not this by his appointment At the same time Thurstan was Archbishop of York who though a disloyal and perjured Man by breach of his Oath to the King Polichron l. 7. c. 18. yet was he highly favoured and countenanced by the Pope and put into that See by him in despite of the said King And as he so the rest of the Bishops not less guilty nor much less potent were likewise admitted Members of that high Court and to speak plainly how could he spare their being in that House who were to justifie his Title to the Crown Now pass we to King Stephen King Stephen another Usurper Nephew to the former King Henry him though he had an Elder Brother and before them both the Title of Anjou by his Wife Maud the Empress as also of his Son Henry to precede the Bishops did advance to the Royal Throne no less perfidiously then trayterously having formerly sworn to Maud the Empress We are also to understand
et Successores Eorum usque ad nos qui nihil tale docuerunt neque cognoverunt quale ab his deliratur Iren. advers haeres Lib. 3. Cap. 3. We are able to number those who by the Apostles were Ordained Bishops in the Churches and their Successors unto our days c. Tertullian in his Book de Praescrip advers haeret Cap. 32. p. 118. Sicut Smyrnaeorum Ecclesia Polycarpum ab Johanne conlocatum refert sicut Romanorum Clementem à Petro ordinatum edit perinde utique et Caeterae exhibent quos ab Apostolis in Episcopatum constitutos Apostolici seminis traduces habent As the Church of Smyrna had Polycarpus placed there by John and the Church at Rome Clement Ordained by Peter so the rest of the Churches did also shew what Bishops they had received by the appointment of the Apostles to propagate the Apostolical Seed Thus far the Reverend Primate From whence it is as clear as the Brightest day that ever enlightned the World That Episcopacy is a Government Instituted in the Church by Apostolical Command and how that should be Unlawful or Anti-Christian without charging the Holy Apostles the Pillars and Foundations of the Church with the horrible Guilt of setting up Antichrist and his Kingdom I think is impossible to be avoided And indeed so Great so Universal and so Powerful is the Truth in this particular that even the greatest Propugnators of Presbyterian Government and Parity have been forced to confess it Petrus Molinaeus in his Book de Munere Pastorali purposely written to defend the Presbyterian Government acknowledges That presently after the Apostles time or even in their time as Ecclesiastical History witnesseth it was Ordained That in every City one of the Presbytery should be called a Bishop who should have preheminence over his Colleagues to avoid Confusion which frequently ariseth from Equality and that truly this Form of Government all Churches every where received And Theodore Beza in Tractatu de triplici Episcopatus genere which he saith was of three kinds Divine Humane and Satanical attributing to the second which he calls Humane but as before is proved plainly is Apostolical at least not only a priority of Order but a superiority of Power and Authority over other Presbyters yet bounded by Laws and Canons provided against Tyranny yet is forced to acknowledg That of this kind of Episcopacy is to be understood whatsoever we read concerning the authority of Bishops in Ignatius and other Antient Writers And to any person that will deliberately and without prejudice debate the matter with himself it will appear either that the very Apostles were of the Confederacy to set up Antichristian Government over the whole World and where ever they founded Churches and Converted Pagans to bring them into Spiritual Sodom and Egypt and Antichristian bondage Or that the Government is Innocent Lawful and agreeable to the Will of God which must of Necessity be best known to those Miraculously inspired Men upon whom the Cloven Tongues of fire descended which were to lead them into all Truth and whether this will not bring in Question the truth of the Promise and of Him who made it and by Consequence such a Chain of Atheism and Impieties as are not fit to be named among Christians I leave to all men to consider and Judge Besides it is perfectly impossible to considering Men and thinking Minds to apprehend that for so many Hundred Years as from the Apostles Age till of late among all the Churches of Christians in the World and among all the Presbyteries that in all those Ages have yielded subjection and been in subordination to this Government of Bishops there should be none found whom either Conscience of Duty the Natural Love of Liberty or that Aversion which all Mankind have to Pride and the Usurpations of others over them should not once prevail with them to oppose this General Defection and Apostacy and Invasion of the Kingdom of Christ and Liberty of Christians The Ingenuous will I hope Excuse this Excursion which though it may appear out of my Road is not out of my Profession nor I hope of any Disadvantage to the Reader Long-winded Mr. Thomas also took the Cudgels in this Quarrel against Church-Government and shot his Bolt as follows I Have heretofore delivered the Reasons that induced me to yield my several Votes Mr. William Thomas his Speech against Deans and Chapters June 11. 1641. touching the Corruption and unsoundness of the present Episcopacy and Church Government so for the unlawfulness of their intermedling in Secular affairs and using Civil Power as also the harm and noxiousness of their Sitting as Members in the Lords House and Judges in that most Honourable and High Court Now I crave leave to do the like in shewing the Reasons of my Vote concerning Deans and their Office I say that my Opinion then was and now is that as the Office is unnecessary themselves useless so the substance of the one and continuance of the other needless nay rather as I will declare most hurtful therefore may easily be spared nay rather ought to be abolished my reasons are these that the Office of Deans doth neither tend or conduce as some have alledged to the honour of God the propagation of Piety the advancement of Learning or benefit of the Common-weal but è contra that they occasion the dishonour and disservice of God the hinderance if not destruction of Piety the suppression and discouragement of Learning and Learned Men and the detriment and prejudice of Church and Common-weal this I conceive I shall make most apparent if time and your patience will permit But first I humbly crave leave and I think it will not be impertinent to declare what Deans were Originally in their first Birth Secondly what in their encrease and further growth and Lastly their present condition being at their full and as I think their final period As to their Original it is not to be denyed but themselves and Office are of great Antiquity Saint Augustine declaring both but I do not say that it is an ancient Office in the Church but what Officers Deans then were be pleased to hear from Saint Augustin's own delivery in his Book de Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae if that Book as also that of Monachorum be his which Erasmus and others have doubted The Monks saith he for their more retiredness and better contemplation appointed Officers which they called Decanos the Office of them and why they were so called he delivereth in these words as near as I remember Opus autem tradunt illis quos Decanos vocant eo quod sunt denis praepositi ut neminem illorum cura sui corporis tangat neque in cibo neque in vestimento neque si quid aliud vel quotidiana necessitate vel mutata ut assolet valetudine hi autem Decani magna sollicitudine omnia disponentes presto facientes quicquid illa vita propter imbecillitatem
Brothers and the Head of his House the Spanish King Adopts Ferdinand of Gratz for his Son so to prepare a way to make him the Successor of his Scepter Crown and Purple Then were the Sacred Dyets of the Empire the Ancient means to reconcile Differences and prevent Jealousies as often dissolved abortively as called insincerely Rumours were spread of Practices and Designs against the Protestant Princes and Cities And that those Rumours might not vanish in Smoak the Liberties of the Great and Ancient City of Strasburg were opprest The Protestant Princes seeing Materials and Engines on every side prepar'd for their Ruine were necessitated to meet at Heilburn and there to conclude an union amongst themselves This gave the Jesuits an assured hope of making Germany speedily miserable by a Calamitous War for not only the Pontifician Princes took the opportunity to settle a Catholique League as they call'd it amongst themselves But also the Elector of Saxony like a true Pseudo-Lutheran neither Protestant nor Papist shews as good an Affection to the Catholic League as the Evangelick Union The old Emperor Matthias begins now to act his part and the Jesuits spur on their ready Scholar Ferdinand of Gratz to ascend the bloody Theatre they had so long designed him Through the old Emperor's intercession abusing the Bohemian Protestants Credulity with sugared Flatteries and large Promises he is admitted to the Crown of that rich Kingdom which soon after made way for him unto the Crown of Hungary also The Jesuits and the Spaniards did now only want a fair occasion to begin a War in Germany The Emperour Matthias labours with the Protestant Princes to dissolve their Union which not taking effect the Bishop of Spiers is encouraged underhand to pick a Quarrel with the Prince Elector Palatine and to build a strong Fortress upon his neighbours Territories pretending he had right to that Plot of Ground upon which the said Fortress was raised But an higher Providence did not suffer this Spark to set Germany on Fire though it had been kindled at the Prince Elector's own door to affront and provoke him for he by an incredible celerity did cause the said Fortress to be demolished before the Enemy could fit and furnish it for his intended use which made him sit still and study for a new occasion which that it might not be long wanting the Liberties and Priviledges of the Protestants in Bohemia contrary to their new King Ferdinand's Oath were temerated and by that means in the year 1619 the greater part of the Estates of that Kingdom were necessitated after mature deliberation to abdicate him and to Elect Frederick Prince Elector Palatine for their King And thus are we arrived at that sad period of time upon which so many fatalities have ensued in which we may see evidently That the Prince Elector Palatine was not causally guilty of any part of that Ocean of Blood that hath been since spilt in Germany as the Pontifician side pretend he was The Scene was long before prepared by the Enemies of the Truth and the Kingdom of Bohemia was filled with Arms and Hostilities divers Months before his accepting of that Crown when himself laboured by an earnest mediation to have given a peaceable Issue to those bloody beginnings It was the Honour and Greatness of that Matchless Princess that he gained here and the considerable Succours they expected from hence that especially drew the Bohemians to that Choice It therefore concerns us now at length to provide that the Prince Elector himself and the other Princely Branches of that great Family being the second without question if not the first and most Ancient of the Empire extracted by their last match from the Royal Line of Great Britain should not under colour of their Father's accepting that Crown to which they now pretend no Title be for ever despoyled of their Ancient Inheritance and Electoral Dignity To which Calamity they had never been reduced had not the French King at that time forgotten the old Maxime of his Predecessors which was To keep even the Ballance of Germany to which also did most fatally concur the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition betraying his own Blood and the Duke of Saxony's taking Arms against the Evangelical Party By this means and the advancing of Spinola with the Spanish Army out of the Netherlands was not only the Kingdom of Bohemia lost in a few months but the Palatinate also excepting some few Places of strength invested by the Enemy and that poor people left to slaughter calamity and desolation The Correspondence of some ill Ministers of this State abroad with those of Forreign States here assisted by some fatal Instruments at home furthered all this mischief at the instant putting this State in hope of a match when Supplies should rather have been sent from hence to have preserved at least the Electoral Territories from an Invading Power It is true that the Spanish Match had been generally treated of some 5 or 6 years before this fatal Fire kindled in Germany being first set on foot by the Duke of Lerma under Philip of Austria late King of Spain But now it was effectually advanced and fortified with a conjoyned Treaty of accommodating the Palatine Cause without effusion of Blood This and much more appears in the Original journal-Journal-Books of the Two Houses of Parliament in Anno 21 Jacobi Regis which I have so far perused as so short a time would give leave and though that matters are there set down at large especially in the Records out of the House of Peers yet I have abstracted it into so narrow a compass as may well sort with the little spare time of this House to hear it The Relation was first made at White-hall during that Parliament in the presence of the greater part of both the said Houses on Tuesday February 24. And it was afterwards reported upon Friday the 27th day of the same Month next ensuing in the Lords House by the then Lord Keeper and in the House of Commons by Sir Richard Weston at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer It is there at large set forth That His Majesty's Royal Father having had several fair promises from the Emperour Ferdinand the Second and the King of Spain of a peaceable Restitution of the Palatinate caused not only such considerable Forces as were then remaining in Germany under the Prince Elector's Ensignes to disband but procured also some Places of strength in the Palatinate it self to be Surrendred and Consigned over to the late Infanta of Spain But in the year 1622. our late Royal Sovereign King James upon his Ambassadors return from Bruxels having discovered the Emperors intentions to be full of insincerity and deceit wrote his Princely Letters bearing Date at Hampton-Court October 3. 1622. to the then and still Earl of Bristol His Majesty's Extraordinary Ambassadour in Spain to let him know That he now perceived little sincerity in all the Spanish King's promises for the peaceable Restitution
do as the Moors did return with the Sword in their Hand to carve out their own Revenge and therefore pressed to have them universally cut off the Debate lasted long but at the last some were for a middle way neither to Banish nor Kill and the Event justified all these Intentions for in some Places all were put to the Sword or other more barbarous Executions in others some were imprisoned but with the extremity and hardest Circumstances of that miserable Condition and in other Places they were dismissed with their Lives Stript and Dispoil'd of all and exposed to the deplorable Companions of Cold and Hunger which proved often to be their lingring Executioners This put the English every where into so great a Terror Amazement and Consternation that it deprived them of those Succors of Reason which might have been of Advantage towards their Preservation for generally where they did any thing for their own Defence they did it singly without Uniting and Arming themselves for the common safety and even where they did as in some Places stand upon their Guard yet were they so apt to give Credit to the Promises and Oaths of the Irish to give them Quarter and safe Conduct into such Places as they should please that many were Circumvented by this Stratagem who were afterwards basely Murthered or at best Imprisoned Stript and Exposed Naked to all the Extremities which attend helpless Nature insomuch that great Numbers of those especially the Women and Children who escaped to Dublin and other Places in the North did not long out-live the hardships of their Passage but either Oppressed with Grief and the Terrors they had suffered by the Tragical Losses of their Husbands Children Friends and Dearest Relations or wearied with their Travail and Hunger contracted such Diseases as shortly after put a Period to their miserable Lives But amongst all these Unchristian and even Inhumane Cruelties which were committed generally by the Northern or as they are usually called to distinguish them from the Irish of the English Extraction meer Irish Truth and Justice exacts it from me to Record the Mercy and Compassion of some as well as the Cruelty and Barbarism of others It is very possible I may for this fall under the Displeasure of some Persons who though their own Hands still retain the Purple Dye of the Blood of their fellow Subjects Murdered by them in the English Rebellion yet think every thing an Excuse of their Brethren in Iniquity the Irish Rebels which does not involve the whole Nation in a Common Guilt But I cannot but disvalue all Censures which may pass upon me whilest like a Christian I indeavor to immitate his Example who always discriminates between the Innocent and Culpable and who renders to every Man according to his Works and next to the horrid Crime of Murdering Mens Persons certainly the Assasinating of an Innocent Reputation must with good and rational Men be a most odious Sin and I cannot but condemn it as partiality much unbecoming a Just Writer that I have not observed that the Bishop of Meath or Sir John Temple or Dr. Borlase take notice of any or at least very few English saved or protected by any of the Irish but in all probability contrary to their own Knowledg they seem to involve all the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland in the common Guilt of the Plunderings Robberies Murders and Massacres which were committed as if the whole Nation had together with their Loyalty put off all manner of Compassion and common Humanity and what I condemn in them as a Fault against Truth and Justice I cannot think will pass with Posterity who will judge with less partial and more disinterested Thoughts for a Virtue in me Several English Protestants preserved by the Irish Nobility and Gentry And it is most certain that several English Protestants were preserved by the Irish Nobility and Gentry and particularly one of the Relyes preserved many and conveyed them safe to Dublin amongst which the Bishop of Elphin then Minister of Belsurbert as also the late Bishop of Meath Nephew to Primate Vsher then Mr Henry Jones and divers others One Bourk preserved many in Connaght Fed and Clothed such as were Strip'd and by the Marquiss of Clanricard's Directions and Assistance they were safe conveyed to Gallaway Sir Edward Fisher Sir Richard Everard and others preserved several in Munster Dr. Pullen was preserved at Cashel as Sir James Ware in his Book de Presulibus Hiberniae takes notice and several others by Joseph Everard and Redmond English two Franciscan Friers as was proved at their Trials at Clonmel in Cromwel's time upon which they were not only acquitted but had Liberty to stay in the Country and the Persons so preserved were convoyed from Cashel to Cork several of the Convoy being wounded in the Way by some Irish who met them in the Mountains James Lord of Dunboyn sent Mr. Hamilton with his Family safe to Carrick to the now Lady Dutchess of Ormond who soon after took them with her to Dublin But the fairest Character in this particular that I have seen is that of the Lord and Lady Muskery being a whole Jury of Depositions taken before the Irish Commissioners for the Revenue in 1654 which follows The Deposition of Robert Farnam of Bandon in the County of Cork an English Protestant aged about 63 years taken upon Oath as followeth HE Deposeth That in the beginning of the late Rebellion Depositions in behalf of the Lord and Lady Muskery for preserving of the English coming in another Company consisting of 150 Souls as by James Burrel 's List appeared to Mocromp in the said County in a most miserable condition the Lord of Muskery came in person to meet them near Mocromp aforesaid and most compassionately looking upon them said Alas poor Christians I am extreme sorry you have been so dealt with and in this Deponants hearing gave charge to his Steward to see all that Company drawn by the Pole and to each a like allowance to be given which immediately was done and this Deponant faith That he saw 4 Barrels of Oatmeal with Beef and Pork proportionable brought to them and the best accommodation the place could afford provided And this Deponant further saith That he is fully satisfied all that Company for the most part had perished that night not only for want of Provision but also by reason of the extream foulness of the day with Rain and Snow the Company being stripped had not they met with such a bountiful Reliever whose care of their preservation continued until he safely conveyed them to such Garrisons as they pleased And this Deponant saith That the Lady of Muskery was very solicitous of them and the said Lord and Lady were very careful that no injury or violence should be offered to this Deporant or his Company in their throughfare to the said Garrisons all which being nothing but truth this Deponant upon Oath doth affirm and in
and with all giving him in Charge that in his Name he should return his Thanks to the whole City One would be apt to think by this Days Solemnity that there was not a more Loyal City or a more happy Prince in the whole Universe and to say the Truth it may be the better part of the City was never more sincere in their Affections to this most Excellent Prince and could they have kept the Governing Power in their Hands they would have given other Testimonies of their Loyalty then this Entertainment tho possibly one of the most Splendid Magnificent and well Managed that ever was given to a King of England But the prevailing Faction at Westminster who knew it would be impossible to carry on their Designs against the Monarchy without the Assistance of London the Magazine of Men and Money never ceased to actuate the Rabble and inferior Ranks of People and to Incense them against the Loyal and Governing Part till by Tumults Outrages and Violences they had wrested the Power wholly out of the Loyal Hands and vested it in such Persons as they were assured would be serviceable to their Interest and Designs as hereafter in the subsequent Relation we shall see And now possibly it will be expected that I should gratify the Reader with an Account of the Transactions of that Parliament in Scotland during his Majestie 's Presence among them and if I cannot herein Answer the Expectation of the Inquisitive I have this to plead in my own justification that the defect is not occasioned by my want of Industry For during the late aboad of his Royal Highness the Illustrious Prince James Duke of York in that Country to whose prudent Conduct not only Scotland owes so much for its present Peace Establishment and Tranquility but even England is as sensible of the good Effects of his Presence there as formerly it has been of the ill Influence the Counsels and Actions of that Nation have had upon the Affairs of this I writ to my very Worthy Friend Francis Turner Doctor in Divinity one of his Royal Highnesses Chaplains to procure me an Authentick Account of those Transactions from the Original Records of the Parliament of Scotland Who in Answer to my Request informed me how willing he was to oblige the Publick in that particular but that all those Records were irrecoverably lost for it seems in the time when that Scourge of God's Anger the late Usurper and Execrable Regicide Cromwel made his inroad into Scotland that he might set all the Marks of Slavery upon a Nation that had the Misfortune to fall under the Power of his Sword he brought along with him all the Publick Records of Scotland and deposited them in the Tower of London and when upon his most Gracious Majesties happy Restauration the King was pleased to command the restoring of them to that his Ancient Kingdom as a mark of his Favor and their regained Liberty the Ship which was imployed for their Transportation was unfortunately lost and Perished in her Voyage thither and though I did not the least doubt of the Truth of this Account from a Person of my Authors Integrity and Honor yet so Industrious was I to present the World with something that might look like an Indeavor to satisfie in this particular that hoping at least that the Titles of the Acts and Graces which then passed were not also Shipwrack't I had recourse to the Collection of the Scottish Laws and Statutes made by Sir Thomas Murray of Glendook and now lately Printed by his Majesties special Warrant but to my great disappointment from the Parliament holden in the Year 1633 in the Reign of the Royal Martyr till the year 1661 in the first Parliament holden in Scotland after his Majesties happy Restauration I find a Breach and Interruption and not so much as the Titles of any of those Acts which passed during the time of those dismal Revolutions Providence it self seeming concerned to Erase and obliterate the Records and Remembrance of the Disloyalty of that Generation of Men that so their Actions might not remain upon Record as ill Presidents to Posterity and indeed the Loyalty of the present Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom has in a great measure expiated the Crimes and Errors of their Predecessors as will evidently appear both by their late firme adherence to the Interests of the Crown during the Commotions raised by the Presbyterian Faction in that Kingdom in the Year 1678. and by their annulling all the Proceedings of the Conventions Assemblies and Parliaments from the Year 1640 till the Year 1661. I have met with one Particular however in a little Book written as was supposed by Mr. James Howel concerning the Transactions of those Times where he mentions a Law which then passed which was very remarkable which he saith was the reviving of an old Statute to the same Effect Part of an Act of the Scottish Parliament 1641. making it Treason to levy Forces without the King's Commission which they caused to be Published throughout the whole Realm of Scotland by which it was Statute and Ordained That it should be detestable and damnable Treason in the highest Degree for any of the Scots Nation conjunctly or singly to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any Pretext whatsoever without the King 's Royal Commission which I also find mentioned in the Continuation of Baker pag. 514. But it seems Presbyterians and Papists agree in this particular That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks for they shortly after proved their own Popes and absolved themselves and the Nation from the Obligation of this Law by raising of Men and joyning with the English Rebels as in due time we shall see It is most certain that at this time the King complied to the utmost with the Desires of the Scottish Parliament insomuch that they could scarce Request so fast as he Granted his Majesty being resolved to put one of his Kingdoms if possible into a Posture of Peace and Quietness Several Honors were likewise then Conferred among the rest the Marquiss of Hamilton was created a Duke and General Leshly Earl of Leven of whom I meet with these two remarkable Particulars Leshly was so transported at this extraordinary Bounty and unexpected as well as unmerited Honor that he often protested and once particularly at Perth upon his Knees in the House of the Earl of Kenoul that he would never again bear Arms against the King but he not long after made the Poet a Prophet verifying the Verse Nulla Fides Pietasve viris qui Castra sequuntur And for Duke Hamilton there having been a pretended Conspiracy against him and Argyle which though the Proof amounted to nothing at all yet the Information had some oblique Reflections upon his Majesty the King who could not conceal his resentment of this Carriage in Hamilton which he had so little merited from him when he delivered him his Patent of Duke in Parliament according
sway in all their determinations and if they be not prevented are likely to devour the rest or to turn them into their own nature In the beginning of his Majesties Reign the Party begun to revive and flourish again having been somewhat dampt by the breach with Spain in the last year of King James and by his Majesties Marriage with France the Interest and Counsels of that State being not so contrary to the good of Religion and the Prosperity of this Kingdom as those of Spain and the Papists of England having been ever more addicted to Spain then France yet they still retained a Purpose and Resolution to weaken the Protestant Parties in all Parts and even in France whereby to make way for the Change of Religion which they intended at Home The first Effect and Evidence of their Recovery and Strength was the dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford after there had been given two Subsidies to his Majesty and before they received Relief in any one Grievance many other more miserable Effects followed The loss of the Rochel Fleet by the help of our Shipping set forth and delivered over to the French in opposition to the Advice of Parliament which left that Town without Defence by Sea and made way not only to the loss of that important Place but likewise to the loss of all the Strength and Security of the Protestant Religion in France The diverting of his Majesties course of Wars from the West-Indies which was the most facile and hopeful way for this Kingdom to prevail against the Spaniard to an expenceful and unsuccessful Attempt upon Cales which was so ordered as if it had rather bin intended to make us weary of War then to prosper in it The precipitate breach with France by taking their Ships to a great value without making recompence to the English whose Goods were thereupon imbar'd and confiscate in that Kingdom The Peace with Spain without Consent of Parliament contrary to the promise of King James to both Houses whereby the Palatine Cause was deserted and left to Chargeable and Hopeless Treaties which for the most part were Managed by those who might justly be suspected to be no Friends to that Cause The charging of the Kingdom with Billeted Soldiers in all Parts of it and that Concomitant Design of German Horse that the Land might either submit with Fear or be inforced with Rigour to such Arbitrary Contributions as should be required of them The dissolving of the Parliament in the second Year of his Majesties Reign after a Declaration of their Intent to grant five Subsidies The exacting of the like proportion of five Subsidies after the Parliament dissolved by Commission of Loan and divers Gentlemen and others imprisoned for not yeilding to pay that Loan whereby many of them contracted such sicknesses as cost them their Lives Great Summs of Money required and raised by Privy Seals An unjust and pernicious attempt to extort great Payments from the Subject by way of Excise and a Commission issued under Seal to that purpose The Petition of Right which was granted in full Parliament blasted with an illegal Declaration to make it destructive to it self to the Power of Parliament to the Liberty of the Subject and to that purpose printed with it and the Petition made of no use but to shew the bold and presumptuous injustice of such Ministers as durst break the Laws and suppress the Liberties of the Kingdom after they had been so Solemnly and evidently declared Another Parliament dissolved 4 Car. the Privilege of Parliament broken by imprisoning divers Members of the House detaining them close Prisoners for many Months together without the Liberty of using Books Pen Ink or Paper denying them all the Comforts of Life all Means of preservation of Health not permitting their Wives to come unto them even in time of their Sickness And for the compleating of that Cruelty after Years spent in such miserable durance depriving them of the necessary means of Spiritual Consolation not suffering them to go abroad to enjoy God's Ordinances in God's House or God's Ministers to come to them to administer Comfort unto them in their private Chambers and to keep them still in this oppressed Condition not admitting them to be bailed according to Law yet vexing them with Informations in inferior Courts Sentencing and Fining some of them for Matters done in Parliament and Extorting the Payments of those Fines from them inforcing others to put in Security of good Behaviour before they could be released The Imprisonment of the rest which refused to be bound still continued which might have been perpetual if necessity had not the last year brought another Parliament to relieve them of whom one died by the cruelty and harshness of his Imprisonment which would admit of no relaxation notwithstanding the Imminent Danger of his Life did sufficiently appear by the Declaration of his Physician And his release or at least his refreshment was sought by many humble Petitions And his Blood still cryes either for Vengeance or Repentance of those Ministers of State who have at once obstructed the course both of his Majesties Justice and Mercy Upon the Dissolution of both these Parliaments untrue and scandalous Declarations Published to asperse their Proceedings and some of their Members unjustly to make them odious and colour the Violence which was used against them Proclamations set out to the same purpose and to the great dejecting of the hearts of the People forbidding them to speak of Parliaments After the Breach of Parliament in the fourth year of his Majesty Injustice Oppression and Violence broke in upon us without any restraint or moderation and yet the first project was the great Sums exacted thorough the whole Kingdom for default of Knighthood which seemed to have some colour and shadow of a Law yet if it be rightly examined by that obsolete Law which was pretended for it it would be found to be against all the Rules of Justice both in respect of the persons charged the proportion of the Fines demanded and the absurd and unreasonable manner of their Proceedings Tonnage and Poundage hath been received without colour or pretence of Law many other heavy impositions continued against Law and some so unreasonable that the sum of the Charge exceeds the value of the Goods The Book of Rates lately inhansed to a high proportion and such Merchants as would not submit to their Illegal and unreasonable Payments were vexed and oppressed above measure and the ordinary course of Justice the common Birth-right of the Subject of England wholly obstructed unto them And although all this was taken upon pretence of Guarding the Sea yet a new and unheard of Tax of Ship-money was devised upon the same pretence By both which there was charged upon the Subject near 700000 Pounds some years and yet the Merchants have been left so naked to the violence of the Turkish Pirates that many great Ships of value and thousands of his Majesties Subjects
for the present being not very welcome These People notwithstanding the rebuke which Sir Thomas Aston had met with for a Petition of this Nature yet in the midst of these wicked Times durst be honest and publickly avow themselves so which was far more The Petition as I find it in a Collection of Petitions printed afterwards by his Majesties Command at York to let the World see that a very considerable Part of the Nation was utterly against the pretended Reformation was as follows To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty and to the Right Honorable the Lords and the Honorable the House of Commons Assembled in Parliament The Humble Petition of divers of the Nobility Justices Gentry Ministers Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County Palatine of Chester whose Names are contained in the Schedule Annexed YOur Petitioners with all Cheerfulness and Contentation The Cheshire Petition for the Common Prayer and suppression of Schismaticks c. affying in the happy settlement of the Distractions both of Church and State by his Majesties pious Care and the prudent and religious Indeavors of this Honorable Assembly and with due Humility and Obedience submitting to the unanimous Conclusions thereof yet conceive themselves bound in Duty Humbly to represent to your mature Considerations That the present Disorders of many Turbulent and Ill-disposed Spirits are such as give not only Occasion of present discontent to your Petitioners but seem to import some ill event without early prevention The pure Seed of our Faith the Doctrine of the Reformed Protestant Religion Established by so many Acts of Parliament and so harmoniously concurring with the Confessions of all other Reformed Churches being tainted with the Tares of divers Sects and Schismes lately sprung up amongst Vs Our Pious Laudable and Ancient Form of Divine Service composed by the Holy Martyrs and worthy Instruments of Reformation Established by the prudent Sages of State your religious Predecessors honored by the Approbation of many learned Foreign Divines subscribed by the Ministry of the whole Kingdom and with such general Content received by all the Laity that scarce any Family or Person that can read but are furnished with the Books of Common Prayer in the conscionable Vse whereof many Christian Hearts have found unspeakable Joy and Comfort wherein the famous Church of England our dear Mother hath just Cause to Glory and may She long flourish in the Practise of so blessed a Liturgy * * This the Reader will see presently in a Petition by Dr. Burgess c. of this Day Yet it is now not only depraved by many of those who should teach Conformity to Established Laws but in Contempt thereof in many Places wholly neglected All these dayly practised with Confidence without Punishment to the great dejection of many sound Protestants and occasioning so great insultation and rejoycing in some Separatists * * The true temper of the Separatists and Schismaticks from their first original to this Day as they not only seem to portend but menace some great Alteration and not containing themselves within the Bounds of Civil-Government do commit many tumultuous if not Sacrilegious Violences both by Day and Night upon divers Churches Therefore your Petitioners being all very apprehensive of the dangerous Consequences of Innovation and much scandalized at the present Disorders Do all unanimously Pray That there be admitted no Innovation of Doctrine or Liturgy that Holy Publick Service being so fast rooted by a long setled continuance in this Church that in Our Opinion and Judgments it cannot be altered unless by the Advice and Consent of some National Synod without an universal Discontent and that some speedy Course be taken to suppress such Schismaticks and Separatists whose factious Spirits do evidently indanger the Peace both of Church and State And Your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. Signed by Lords Knights Justices of the Peace and Esquires 94 By Gentlemen of Quality 440 By Divines 86 By Free-holders and others in all 8936 In all 9556 And in regard their Piety and Loyalty deserves a place in the Records of time and that in these Petitions the Reader will see the Temper and Genius of these Seditious and Turbulent Sectaries and Schismaticks the very Pests of Church and State the main Occasioners Managers Promoters Contrivers Encouragers Supporters and Conductors of this most Execrable Rebellion from its first Original till its last fatal Period most accurately pointed out in the just and too modest complaints of these Petitions for the Times and Persons would not bear truth unless apparelled in the most submissive Garb and Posture I will here subjoyn Sir Thomas Ashton's Petition which was presented to the Lords and for which he received a smart rebuke and narrowly escaped a Prison which I should have done in its proper place had this Collection of Petitions then come to my hands The Petition was as follows To the High and Honorable Court of Parliament The Nobility Knights Gentry Minsters Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County Palatine of Chester whose Names are Subscribed in several Schedules hereunto Annexed Humbly Shew THat whereas divers Petitions have lately been carried about this County against the present Form of Church Government The Cheshire Petition delivered to the House of Lords by Sir Thomas Ashton and the hands of many Persons of ordinary Quality sollicited to the same with pretence to be presented to this Honourable Assembly which we conceive not so much to aim at Reformation as absolute Innovation of Government and such as must give a great advantage to the Adversaries of our Religion We held it our Duty to disavow them all and humbly pray That we incur no mis-censure if any such Clamours have without our privity assumed the Name of the County We as others are sensible of the common Grievances of the Kingdom and have just cause to rejoyce at and acknowledge with thankfulness the pious Care which is already taken for the suppressing of the Growth of Popery the better to supply able Ministers and the removing of all Innovation and we doubt not but in your great Wisdoms you will regulate the Rigor of the Ecclesiastical Courts to suit with the Temper of our Laws and the Nature of Free-men Yet when we consider That Bishops were instituted in the time of the Apostles that they were the great Lights of the Church in all the first General Councils that so many of them sowed the Seeds of Religion in their Bloods and rescued Christianity from utter Extirpation in the Primitive Heathen Persecutions That to them we ow the Redemption of the purity of the Gospel we now profess from Romish Corruption that many of them for the propagation of the Truth became such Glorious Martyrs that divers of them lately and yet living with us have been so great Assertors of our Religion against the Common Enemy of Rome and that their Government hath been so long approved so oft Established by the Common and Statute Laws of
to apprehend the Persons there or in any other place Information was also given of Arms at Fox-Hall which being the Lord Herberts he was willing they should be disposed of as the Parliament thinks fit and therefore Sir John Evelyn was appointed to go with a Message to desire the Lords to joyn with the Commons for the removing them from thence to the City of London to be there securely kept in regard of the Danger of these times and the weakness of that Place the Situation of it so near the Houses of Parliament and the conveniency of Water and the Forces that are now Assembled at Kingston Thus did they amass a multitude of Informations searched all corners for Arms and Ammunition to countenance the Noise of a Plot against the Parliament but truly with very little success most of these hopeful Plot Eggs proving Addle and Dwindling into nothing more then serving the present turn of keeping up the People in a belief of this Horrible Plot against the Parliament The House of Lords being informed that one James Hanham a Recusant of Holle-Well in Sommerset-shire Thursday Jan. 13. had Arms for 40. Foot and 20. Horse and three Pieces of Brass Ordnance which causeth great terror to his Majesties good Subjects It was Ordered that the Sheriff of that County and the two next Justices of the Peace should Seize and take into their Custody the Arms and Ordnance that they shall find in the House of the said Hanham and keep them for his Majesties Use and Service A Message was then brought from the House of Commons by the Lord Grey of Grooby to let their Lordships know That they find abroad under the hand of the Clerk of this House Articles of High Treason and of other Misdemeanors against the Lord Kymbolton and five of the Members of the House of Commons and they desire to know how those Articles came into this House To which the Answer was That these Articles were brought into this House by Mr. Attorney General The Lord Keeper next Reported to the House That he had waited on the King and according to their Lordships command he had moved his Majesty from both Houses that he would be pleased to give his Royal Assent to the three Bills lately passed both Houses and likewise hath acquainted his Majesty with the Order made concerning the putting of Sir John Hotham into Hull for the securing of the Town and the Magazines there And his Majesty returns this Answer 1. The Kings answer concerning the three Bills passed Concerning the Bill for pressing of Marriners and concerning the Captives of Algier his Majesty is content to pass his Royal Assent for them for that purpose he hath given Warrant for a Commission But for the Bill of giving Power to the Houses to Adjourn into London his Majesty says in regard neither he nor any of his Council hath seen it he will take some time to consider of it before he resolves any thing therein 2. For the Fears concerning Hull his Majesty hath formerly considered the same and hath already taken Special care for the security of that Place from the adjoyning Papists Likewise his Lordship Reported That his Majesty had commanded him to deliver this answer to both Houses touching the Lord Kymbolton and the five Members of the House of Commons That his Majesty taking notice The Kings Message concerning the Lord Kymbolton and the 5 Members that some conceive it disputable whether the Proceedings against the Lord Kymbolton Mr. Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr. Pym Mr. Hambden and Mr. Strode be Legal and Agreeable to the Priviledges of Parliament and being very desirous to give Satisfaction to all Men in all matters that may seem to have relation to Priviledges is pleased to wave his former Proceedings and all doubts being by this means settled when the Minds of Men are composed his Majesty will proceed thereupon in an unquestionable Way and assures his Parliament that upon all occasions he will be as careful of their Priviledges as of his Life and his Crown Whereupon it was Ordered That this Answer be Communicated to the House of Commons Upon this occasion I find a Speech of the Earl of Monmouth's made this day in the House of Lords which because it takes notice that the King did not think himself safe at White-Hall I have here inserted and I find this also confirmed in a little Book written by Mr. Howel Howells Inspections into the Carriage and Consults of the long Parliament pag. 97. and Dedicated to the late Usurper where recounting the Transactions of those times he said That the King rather then Expose himself to such bare Indignities as were offered to him during these Popular Riots and there being Dark Whispers of an attempt upon his Person He Retired to Hampton Court and thence to Windsor Castle c. The Earles Speech was as follows My Lords I Shall desire to be heard speak a few Words The Earl of Monmouth's Speech in the Lords House January 13. 1641. which I would much rather have heard spoken by any of your Lordships that so they might have a happier and a more handsome Expression though with a better Heart and clearer Intentious they could not have been spoken The sad Condition we are now in My Lords is such as is too apparent to any man who hath but half an Eye the City of London is full of Jealousies and Apprehensions we sit not here free from Fears the King hath with-drawn himself from hence together with his Queen and Children out of a belief as I conceive that his Majesties Person was not safe here While things continue in this Posture My Lords we may well fear an impairing we can hardly hope for the bettering of Affairs God hath plac'd us My Lords in the Medium betwixt the King and his People Let us play our Parts My Lords Let us do our Duties and discharge our Consciences Let us really prove what we are by Name Noblemen Let us indeavor to work a perfect and a true Vnderstanding between the King and his People Let us freely unbosome our selves to his Majesty and desire that his Majesty will be pleased to do so to us and to this end My Lords which is the end of my Motion if it shall be approved of by your Lordships I do humbly move that by way of Conference or any other way we may desire the House of Commons to joyn with us first in an humble Petition to his Majesty that he would be graciously pleased to return to his good City of London as the safest Place we conceive for his sacred Person in these distemper'd Times and then that they will likewise joyn with us in a Profession or Protestation that we will do what in us lies to free his Majesty from his Fears to take from the Citizens of London and his Majesties other Subjects their Jealousies and Apprehensions and that we will Live and Dye his Majesties faithful Advisors
the said 500 Men and keeping them there till their first Muster Resolved c. That 432 l. 13 s. 4 d. being for a Months Pay shall be paid to the Officers of a Regiment of 1000 Men in Nine Companies for Munster Resolved c. That 1000 l. shall be imprested for the Levying Conducting and Transporting into Ireland 500 of those Men which are to be raised here in England for the said Province of Munster and for the keeping them together till the first Muster Resolved c. That 543 l. 4 s. shall be paid to the Officers of the Troops of the 300 Carabins being for a Months Pay Resolved c. That the Sum of 4128 l. shall be paid for the Levying of the 300 Carabins and for the 44 Horses for the Officers of the 4 Troops reckoning to every Troop eleven Horses which makes in all 344 Horses at 12 l. a Horse and for the Conducting the said Horses to Chester and keeping them there till they are Muster'd and that so soon as they are Muster'd they shall enter into Pay and that a Commissary do go along with them to Muster them so soon as they come there and likewise that a Commissary continue there and Muster them when they go into the Ship The Saddles to be furnished out of his Majesties Stores Resolved c. That 179 l. 4 s. being for one Months Pay shall be paid to the Officers of the 300 Dragoons in three Companies Resolved c. That 5 l. a Horse shall be allowed for the 300 Dragoons and for the 33 Horses for the Officers allowing to every Company 11 Horses for the buying of them and bringing them upon the Place of Muster and then to enter into Pay Resolved c. That 200 l. more shall be forthwith imprested upon account to the Officers of the Ordnance for the carrying down the Arms to Chester out of the 50000 l. lent by the City of London for the Affairs of Ireland Resolved c. That 186 l. 13 s. 4 d. being one Months Pay shall be paid to the Officers which are to Command the five hundred Men in the Province of Connaght being Officers of five single Companies Resolved c. That a Months Pay for Sir Simon Harcourt 's Regiment of 1100 Men viz. For the Officers 470 l. and for the 1100 Men 1026 l. shall be likewise paid Ordered That Owen O Connelly be from this House recommended to the L. Lieutenant of Ireland to have the Command of one of the Companies of Dragooners The House of Commons having by Vote assented to the time of the Fast Mr. Calamy and Mr. Marshal are desired to preach on that Day at St. Saturday Decemb. 18. Margarets Westminster before the House of Commons and Sir Robert Harlow undertook to give Mr. Calamy notice and Sir Thomas Barrington to Mr. Marshal The Lord Steward acquainted the House That the King assented to the Desires of both Houses concerning the Fast and the Dayes they have agreed upon The E. of Bristol Reported a Paper containing the Sense of the House yesterday concerning the first Proposition of the Scots Commissioners which was read in haec verba That the House of Peers will assent to the sending 10000 Scots but under this Condition that it be presently voted in both Houses and assented unto by his Majesty that 10000 English be likewise sent with all the possible speed as may be and that all such Monies as shall be raised and assigned for this expedition be equally divided and that proportion as belongeth to the English be not meddled withal upon any Occasion but be wholly imployed for the raising and sending away 10000 English and this is likewise to be understood besides the 2000 English Horse which have been in Proposition to be desired A Message was then brought up from the House of Commons by Arthur Goodwin Esquire Mr. Daniel O Neal impeached of High Treason and committed to the Gate-House to let their Lordships know That he was Commanded by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses for the Commons now Assembled in Parliament to accuse and in the Name of the House of Commons and of all the Commons of England did accuse Daniel O Neal of High Treason and further he was to desire That their Lordships would send for the said Daniel O Neal and commit him to safe Custody and in convenient time the House of Commons will bring up the particular Charge against him Whereupon a Warrant was sent to bring Daniel O Neal before the Lords which being done and he being brought to the Bar as a Delinquent the Lord Keeper by the Command of the House told him That he is accused by the House of Commons in the Name of the House of Commons and of all the Commons of England of High Treason and that this House doth commit him to the Prison of the Gatehouse in Westminster there to remain until the Pleasure of this House be further known After this the House fell upon the Bill for pressing of Soldiers and it was moved That before it be debated by this House Mr. Attorney General may be heard what he can say for the King therein if he desires it Hereupon Mr. Attorney General desired the House to give him leave to be heard for the King concerning the said Bill which the House gave way unto and then presently Mr. Attorney made a long Argument in the King's behalf which being done the House Ordered that the debate of the said Bill for pressing of Soldiers should be upon Munday next In the Commons House among other things the Consideration of the Navy came under Debate and it was Ordered That the Committee formerly appointed to consider of the Affairs of the Navy do draw an Order according to the Debate this Day about the disposing of the Monies for Tunnage and Poundage and likewise to consider what Way is fit for this House to take for the Continuance of Sir Henry Vane in the Place of Treasurer for the Navy Then the Humble Petition of the Officers of the late Army was read The Officers Petition for their Arrears and are answered smoothly and some of the Officers that presented it were called in and Mr. Speaker told them That it was the great necessities of this Kingdom that had unexpectedly fallen upon them which hath prevented the full Satisfaction which the House much desired to give them that within a very small time they hope they shall be able to do it This Day the King sends by the Lord Keeper a Message Monday Decemb. 20. to let the House of Lords know That he would send his Answer to the Petition this Afternoon so soon as the Committees of both Houses do attend him which was immediately by a Messenger communicated to the Commons Next a Petition was delivered into the House by the Lord Keeper by Command of the King from the County of Chester concerning Church Government and the Book of Common Prayer but it it was laid aside