the Royal Line of the Plantagenets were left to be Competitors with him yet his Succession could not be Hereditary for his Grand-mother under whom his Father claim'd out-lived her Son and so Henry the Eighth could not claim from her Yet this is observable That as his Father Henry the Seventh entailed the Succession of the Crown of England upon the Heirs of his Body so by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. Henry the Eighth might dispose of the Succession of the Crown by his Will for want of Issue of his Body so little was the inheritable Succession of the Crown of England regarded by these Kings of the British Race It seems the Council in Edward the Sixth's Reign had as little an Opinion of the Hereditary Succession of the Crown as the Parliament had in the Reign of Henry the Eighth for by the Advice of Edward's Council he by his Will disposed of the Succession to his Cousen the Lady Jane Gray Grand-daughter to Edward's Aunt Mary Queen of France contrary to the Will of his Father Henry the Eighth which ordained his Daughter Mary to succeed Edward in case he died without Issue I say that by the Law of Inheritance in England Queen Mary could not inherit the Crown from Edward she being but of half-Blood to him and by the same Reason Queen Elizabeth could not inherit to Queen Mary but Mary the Daughter of James the fifth of Scotland being of the whole Blood to Edward and descended from the elder Daughter of Henry the Seventh could For the Opinion of the Judges after King James came in that the Succession of the Crown of England differs from that of the Inheritance of Subjects in regard of an Alien born and those of half Blood may inherit the Crown it 's Gratis dictum and said to please the King for there never was any such usage in England nor any such Act of Parliament to warrant their Opinion But admit the Crown of England were inheritable from Henry the Seventh and Half-Blood no Bar to the Succession yet Mary and Elizabeth could not both succeed for one of them was Illegitimate Elizabeth being born in the Life of Katherine Queen Mary's Mother If the Parliament in the Reign of Henry the 8th had little or no Opinion of the Inheritable Succession of the Crown of England and therefore impowered the King to dispose of it by Will The Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had less and therefore often petitioned her and that with Importunity to declare her Successor without Consent in Parliament and declared it 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. to be High Treason to affirm that the Crown of England might not be disposed of by Act of Parliament in her Life and a Premunire after her Death Here I make these Remarks upon the Race of the Plantagenets and the Succession of the British Line that as the Plantagenets inherited the Name from Jeffery Duke of Anjou who was never King of England so Henry the 7th if he had any Title derived it from John of Gaunt by an Illegitimate Succession who never was King of England From England we step into Scotland and see how the Hereditary Succession was observed there after the Reign of Alexander the 3d in whom the direct Line of the Race of their Kings failed which was so near as I can compute about the Year 1278 and leave the Succession of their 93 Kings before to the Scrutiny of the Scotish Antiquaries and Heraulds The Scots if they be not clearer in the Genealogy of their 93 Kings before Alexander the 3d than my Author is of retrieving it after the Death of Margaret Daughter of Alexander the 3d do make but a blind Genealogy of their 93 Kings before however we 'll take it as we find it David Brother of William King of Scotland but whether William was Father Brother or Uncle to Alexander the 2d my Author says not and Earl of Huntingdon had Issue by Maud Daughter to the Earl of Chester three Daughters Margaret married to Allen of Galloway the second not named was married to Robert Bruce the third to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Allen of Galloway had a Grand-daughter named Dornagil married to John Baliol. Bruce was Great Grand-child to the second Daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon but being a Male pretended he was to be King before Dornagil a Female though a Degree nearer and descended from the elder Sister Henry Earl of Huntingdon made no claim So the Right between Baliol and Bruce was referred to the Determination of Edward the first King of England who adjudged the Right to be in Baliol and soon after Baliol by Dornagil had a Son named Edward so that Bruce's Pretension of Title as being Son vanished by the Birth of Edward Baliol being descended from the eldest Sister But The Scots or a prevailing Party not liking Baliol's Reign in the Year 1306 crowned Robert Bruce King In the Year 1310 Bruce by Acts of Parliament had the Crown of Scotland entailed upon him and his Heir-male and for want of Issue to his Brother Edward This Robert had Issue a Son named David and a Daughter married to Robert Stuart and by Act of Parliament settled the Crown upon his Son David and for want of Issue by him to Robert Stuart his Grand-child by his Daughter So here is the Succession of the Crown of Scotland twice differently settled by Parliament to the disinheriting of Edward Baliol. But in the Year 1332 Edward Baliol the right Heir was received and crowned King of Scotland After that David Bruce recovered the Kingdom of Scotland and afterwards was taken Prisoner by the Queen of England in the Absence of her Husband Edward the 3d in France and being released he died Ann. 1370. Robert Stuart Grand-son of Robert Bruce by his Daughter succeeded David who married Euphemia Daughter of the Earl of Ross but before he was King had Issue by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine two Sons John and Robert and by the Queen he had Issue Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern yet by Act of Parliament the King disinherited his Legitimate Issue and settled the Crown upon his Issue by Elizabeth Moor from which Issue all the Kings of Scotland have since descended This was the most unaccountable Accident if we consider the Cause and Consequence I think that is recorded in any History That a King and Parliament by the Importunity of a Slut should disinherit his Legitimate Offspring from the Succession to the Crown of Scotland to advance her spurious Issue It 's true for some Reasons of State the right Heir is set aside as Edward Son of Ethelred after the Confessor being young and not a fit Match to oppose the Danes Edmund Ironside tho Illegitimate for his Strength and Courage was said to be chosen King as most likely to withstand the Danish Invasions so Edward the Confessor observing the heavy and slow Nature of Edgar the Grandson of Edmund Ironside not to be a fit
Molestation other than by Censure of the House it self for or concerning any speaking reasoning or declaring any Matter or Matters touching the Parliament or Parliament-business And that if any of the said Members be complained of and questioned for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed to the King by the Advice and Consent of all the Commons assembled in Parliament before the King give Credence to any private Information If the King was alarmed at the Commons Remonstrance this Protestation of the Commons was such an Invasion upon his Sacred Prerogative Royal that neglecting his Pleasures and Health which he took such care to preserve by retiring into the Country up he now comes to London and upon the 30th of December and in a full Assembly of Council and in the Presence of the Judges declares the said Protestation invalid annull'd and void and of none effect Manu sua propria takes the said Protestation out of the Journal-Book of the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament and commanded an Act of Council to be made thereupon and this Act to be entred in the Register of the council-Council-Causes And on the 6th of January the King by his Proclamation dissolved the Parliament Shewing that the meeting continuing and dissolving of Parliaments does so peculiarly belong to him that he needs not give any account thereof to any other yet he thought fit to declare that in the Dissolution of this Parliament he had the Advice and Vniform Consent of his whole Council and that some particular Members of the Commons took inordinate Liberty not only to treat of his High Prerogatives and sundry things not fit to be argued in Parliament but also to speak with less respect of Foreign Princes That they spent their time in disputing Privileges and descanting upon the Words and Syllables of his Letters and Messages and that these evil-temper'd Spirits sowed Tares among the Corn and by their Carriage have imposed upon him a necessity of discontinuing this present Parliament without putting to it the Name or Period of a Session And lastly he declared That tho the Parliament were broken off yet he intended to govern well and shall be glad to lay hold on the first occasion to call another CHAP. IV. A Continuation of this Reign to King James his Death THE first Act the King did to make good his Promise in his Proclamation to govern well was his Commitment of Sir Edward Coke and Sir Robert Philips to the Tower and Mr. Selden Mr. Pym and Mr. Mallery to other Prisons and Sir Dudley Diggs Sir Thomas Crew Sir Nathaniel Rich and Sir James Parrot into Ireland Sir Thomas Overbury had a Cause assigned for his Commitment to the Tower but yet it was observed an Hardship upon him without any Precedent that he should be confined a close Prisoner for a Contempt whereas these were not only confined but close Prisoners for ought I can find I am well assured Sir Edward Coke was not only without any Cause shewed but for performing a publick Trust reposed in them Nor did the Commons only suffer under this Fury of the King for performing their Duty but the Noble Earl of Southampton was imprisoned for his freedom of Speech and for rebuking Buckingham for his disorderly speaking in the House of Lords as you may see in the first Part of Keeper Williams's Life fol. 62. tit 8. But of all others this Storm fell most severely upon Sir Edward Coke and by several ways his Ruin was contrived First By sealing up the Locks and Doors of his Chambers in London and in the Temple Secondly By seizing his Papers by virtue whereof they took away his several Securities for Money as a learned Lawyer Mr. Hawles hath observed Thirdly It was debated in Council when the King would have brought in the General Pardon containing such Points as he should think fittest by what ways they might exclude him from the benefit of it either by preferring a Bill against him before the Publication of it or by excepting him by Name Fourthly If the King's Name were used by Northampton and Somerset to confine Sir Thomas Overbury so close that neither his Father nor Servants should come at him so was the King's Name used here that none of Sir Coke's Children or Servants should come at him and of this I am assured from one of Sir Edward's Sons and his Wife Fifthly In this Confinement the King sued him in the King's-Bench for 30000 l. 2 s. 6 d. for an old Debt pretended to be due from Sir William Hatton to Queen Elizabeth and this was prosecuted by Sir Henry Yelverton with all Severity imaginable but herein the King's Counsel were not all of one piece for when a Brief against Sir Edward was brought to Sir John Walter I think then Attorney-General he returned it again with this Expression Let my Tongue cleave to the Roof of my Mouth whenever I open it against Sir Edward Coke however after the Trial the Verdict was against the King Mr. Selden got his Liberty by the favour of my Lord Keeper Williams but the rest must abide by it till the breaking of the Spanish Match necessitated the King to call another Parliament But lest the King's Word in his Proclamation for governing well should not pass currant and without dispute the King ordered the Judges in their Circuits to give this in their Charges That the King taking notice of the Peoples liberal speaking of Matters far above their reach and also taking notice of their licentious undutiful Speeches touching State and Government notwithstanding several Proclamations to the contrary the King was resolved no longer to pass it without severest Punishment and thereupon to do exemplary Justice where they find any such Offenders The King having in the ninth Year of his Reign borrowed 111046 l. upon Privy-Seals which the Writer of the Historical Narration of the first 14 Years of King James his Reign Tit. Monies raised by him fol. 14. says were unrepay'd Now since he could receive no more Money in Parliament orders the Privy-Council to issue out an Order for raising Money out of Parliament for the Defence of the Palatinate and also sent Letters to the Justices of the Courts in Westminster-Hall and Barons of the Exchequer to move them and perswade others to a liberal Contribution for the Recovery of the Palatinate according to their Qualities and Abilities Nevertheless if any Person shall out of Obstinacy or Disaffection refuse to contribute thereto proportionably to their Estates and Means they are to certify their Names to the Council-Board Letters to the same effect were directed to the High-Sheriffs of Counties and Justices of Peace and to the Mayors and Bayliffs of every City and Corporation within the Kingdom requiring them to summon all before them of known Abilities within their Jurisdictions and to move them to a chearful Contribution according to their Means and Fortunes in some good measure answerable to what others well
Months dead to be made the King's Chaplain in Ordinary to be thereby protected from Justice But if it be asked how it does appear that Laud was concerned in this Act and Promotion of Mountague I answer there is a threefold Reason to induce the Belief of it First the end for which this Book was wrote for Promotion of Arminian Tenets whereof Laud was so great a Stickler Secondly none else but Laud could have such an Ascendant in things of this kind and to cause to early a Promotion for such a piece of Service but Thirdly which clears the Question when the King's Necessities caused him to call another Parliament about six or seven Months after Laud fearing the Commons falling again upon Mountague as they did Laud sounded the King by Buckingham whether the King would leave Mountague to the Parliament and finding the King determined to do it in great Zeal said I seem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God in his Mercy dissipate it as you may read in Rush f. 203. as if the questioning a seditious and a disobedient Fellow to his Superiour in the Church were a Cloud to threaten the Church of England If Laud was the first that sowed Dissension between the King and Parliament upon the Pretence of the Church of England Buckingham shall be the second upon the Account of the Church of Rome and herein you 'll see the Temper of Buckingham to any which should presume to give him good Counsel The Dissension between the King and Commons began with Mountague at London where the Plague than raged and all England over so that most of the Members shrunk away to flee the Danger of it and those that staid were in danger of their Lives This put the King into a marvellous Strait what to do for his Necessities as Buckingham managed Affairs and his being imbroiled in the Spanish War were such as the Subsidies granted the King his Father the last Year and those granted the King now could not support Hereupon the King calling a Council at Hampton-Court what to do the King proposed upon the 10th of July to adjourn the Parliament to Oxford which was mainly favoured by the Duke my Lord Keeper Williams opposed the Proposition for two Reasons First That the Infection had overspread the whole Land so that no Man that travelled from his own Home knew where to lodg in Safety that the Lords and Gentlemen would be so distasted to be carried abroad in so mortal a time that it 's likely when they came together they would vote out of Discontent and Displeasure that his Majesty was ill counselled to give Offences in the Bud of his Reign tho small ones Secondly the Parliament had given two Subsidies at Westminster tho they removed to Oxford it is yet the same Sessions and if they alledg it is not the Use of the House to give twice in a Sessions tho I wish heartily they would yet how shall we plead them out of Custom if they be stiff to maintain it It is not fit for the Reputation of the King to fall upon a probable Hazard of a Denial The Duke which heard this with Impatience said That publick Necessity must sway more than one Man's Jealousy The Keeper hereupon besought the King to hear him in private and acquainted the King That the Duke had Enemies in the House of Commons who had contrived Complaints and made them ready to be preferred and would spend time at Oxford about them And what Folly were it to continue a Sessions that had no other Aim but to bring the Duke upon the Stage But if your Majesty think that this is like an Hectick quickly known but hardly cured my humble Opinion is That the Malady or Malice call it what you will may sleep awhile after Christmas there is no time lost in whetting the Sithe well I hope to give an Account by that time by undertaking with the chief Sticklers that they shall supersede their Bitterness against your great Servant and that Passage to your weighty Counsels may be made smooth and peaceable But why said the King do you conceal this from Buckingham Good Sir said the Keeper fain would I begin at that End but he will not hear me with Moderation And because it was the Mishap of the Keeper to give the first Notice of this Storm that was gathering the Duke in Defiance bid him and his Confederates do their worst and besought the King that the Parliament might be continued and he would confront the Faction tho he looked upon himself in that Innocency that he presumed they durst not question him Buckingham's Will must be a Law so on the 10th of July the Parliament was adjourned to Oxford to meet the first of August But to sweeten them the Keeper in the Presence of both Houses in the King's Name promised them That the Rigour of the Law against Popish Priests should not be deluded Here see the Levity of the King and the Dominion Buckingham had over him for upon the 12th of July the King caused a Warrant to be sealed to pardon six Roman Priests When the Parliament met at Oxford the Speaker had no sooner taken his Chair but a Western Knight enlarges the Sense of his Sorrow that he had seen a Pardon for six Priests bearing test July 12th whereas but the Day before it when they were to part from Westminster the Lord Keeper had promised in the King's Name before them all that the Rigour against the Priests should not be deluded Hereupon the Members were in such a Heat that they strived who should blame it most What! their Hope 's blasted in one Night But for the Lord Keeper that brought the King's Message and knew it best and for a Bishop to set the Seal to such a Warrant for him to do wrong to Religion it was enormous Hereupon Mr. Bembo a Servant to the Clerk of the Crown confess'd he brought the Writ to the Keeper to be sealed but it was stopt Mr. Devike Servant to Sir Edward Conway brought it from his Master but it could not speed It was my Lord of Buckingham's hard Hap to move the King to command the Warrant to be sealed in his Sight at Hampton-Court the Sunday following The Commons hereupon turned about to clear the Keeper and commend him but what pleased the Parliament at Oxford did not please the Court at Woodstock where this had not pleased the King The Commons in this Heat desired a Conference with the Lords in Christ-Church-Hall in the Afternoon where Sir Edward Coke open'd the Complaint sharply against my Lord Conway and like an Orator did slide away with a short Animadversion upon the Duke the Commons enlarged hereon that the Duke that put the King upon this was the highest in the King's Favour and that all the important Places of Honour and Offices by Sea and Land were in his Disposal which you may read at large in the Life of the
that rather than forsake their Seats in Parliament they 'll lose their Places at Court You have heard how my Lord Privy-Seal became Lord Chief-Justice of the King's-Bench after which the King made him Earl of Manchester Lord Privy-Seal and President of the Council my Lord-Keeper Coventry was upright in all his Decrees but my Lord Privy-Seal sets up the Court of Requests to have a concurring Jurisdiction with the Chancery and Men whom my Lord Coventry did not please brought their Causes into the Court of Requests so that in a short time the Practice of this Court swell'd so much that my Lord Privy-Seal made more Clerks and Attorneys than ever was known before King Charles sent to the Bishop of Ely that he the King would have Hatton-House in Holborn for Prince Charles his Court and that the King would be at the Charges for maintaining the Bishop's Title tho the Bishop told me it cost him many a Pound so in the Bishop's Name a Suit was commenced in the Court of Requests for Hatton-House Before the new Buildings were built Hatton-Garden was the â—â—nest and greatest in or about London and my Lady Hatton had planted it with the best Fruit Vines and Flowers which could be got but upon commencing this Suit she destroy'd all the Plantations yet defended her Cause with all Opposition imaginable But at last in 1639 notice was given to my Lady to hear Judgment and at the day my Lady appear'd in Court when my Lord Privy-Seal demanded of my Lady's Counsel If they had any more to say otherwise upon his Honour he must decree against my Lady Hereupon my Lady stood up and said Good my Lord be tender of your Honour for 't is very young and for your Decree I value it not a Rush for your Court is no Court of Record And the Troubles in Scotland growing higher the King had no Benefit of the Decree nor my Lord any Credit in his Court ever after Nor were the Descendants of many of the King's Favourites more faithful to the King than their Fathers as the Lord Kimbolton Sir Henry Vane jun. Sir John Cooke Henry Martin c. Now when it was too late like a Man who begins his Business the last day of the Term the King seems to alter his Countenance and indulge another sort of Men in Church and State who were opposite to the Principles in Bishop Laud's Regency Dr. Williams censured and imprisoned in the Tower has all the Proceedings against him in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission revers'd and taken off the File and Mountague Bishop of Norwich dying in the beginning of the Parliament Dr. Hall is translated from Exeter to Norwich and Dr. Brownrig a most learned and zealous Anti-Arminian is made Bishop of Exeter c. my Lord Chamberlain Pembroke is removed and the Earl of Essex put in his place Sir Robert Holborn made Attorney-General and Oliver St. John Solicitor both which were Mr. Hambden's Counsel against the Legality of Ship-Money But neither these Actions nor the King 's repeated Royal Word could gain Credit with the Parliament I mean the Houses who tho at another time they would have dreaded a standing Army now resolve to maintain two till their Grievances were redrest And sure now it was a lamentable State the King was reduced to he that before rather than hear of what he had done did not care what he did and therefore dissolved four Parliaments now every day hears of what he had done yet cannot help it His Judges which before had refused to bail his Subjects committed by the King without Cause are themselves now committed against the King's Pleasure and no Bail to be taken for them The King's Customers who by the King's Order seized and sold the Merchants Goods for non-payment of Duties not legally imposed are themselves seized and fined more than they are worth Herein the King was only passive but the Houses would not stay here but tho the Commons at first impeached the Earl of Strafford before the Lords in their Judicial Capacity wherein the King's Consent was not actually necessary yet they after proceeded against him by Bill wherein the Attainder must be actually assented to by the King personally or by Commission which the King did my Lord Privy-Seal and the Earl of Arundel I believe very unwillingly being Commissioners and the same day passed an Act That the Parliament should not be Prorogued Adjourned nor Dissolved without their own Consent which proved as great a Grievance as the King 's proroguing and dissolving them at Pleasure And the passing these Laws so frightned my Lord Treasurer Juxton the Master of the Court of Wards and the Governor of the Prince that they all resign'd their Places Besides these the King passed an Act for a Triennial Parliament to meet if not by usual means then by others whether the King would or not And an Act for the utter abolishing the Star-Chamber and High-Commission Courts And to make it a Praemunire in every one of the Privy-Council to determine any Causes cognisable at Common Law An Act to abolish the Court of the Council and President of the North and an Act to rescind the Jurisdiction of the Court of Stanneries An Act to repeal the Branch of a Statute made the first of Eliz. cap. 1. to authorize Ecclesiastical Persons natural born Subjects of England to reform Errors Heresies Schisms c. An Act for declaring Ship-Money and all Proceedings therein void An Act for ascertaining the Bounds and Limits of the Forests as they were in the 20th Year of King James And an Act to prevent the vexatious Proceedings touching the Order of Knighthood These Acts thus passed the Houses thought themselves secure enough and so paid off and disbanded the English and Irish Armies and sent the Scots into their Country again The much greater part of the Gentry and also of the Members of both Houses would have been content to have staid here and many believed if the Parliament had met at York or Oxford they would but this could not be without disgusting the City of London from which only the Loan of 200000 l. could be raised for Payment of the Armies till Provision could be made by Parliament But it was decreed that things should not rest here and that the Faction in the House of Commons might get a Majority at one Vote as they order'd it they voted all those who had been instrumental in Monopolies or in Ship-Money or Collectors of the Customs out of the House and others to be chosen in their Places And the Rabble in the City in Tumults exclaim'd against the Bishops and Popish Lords Votes hereupon the Bishops enter their Protestations against all Proceedings till they might sit and vote freely whereupon they are committed to the Tower and a Law was passed to disable the whole Hierarchy for the future to have any Place in Parliament As the Scots began their Reformation with a Covenant so the Commons began theirs with a
Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King when is was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done I am told that the last Part of this Paragraph is an unjust Charge upon the Parliament in that they acted defensively in this War and that the King first raised Arms and this by the Authority of Mr. May. If I be mistaken I have the Authority of him who could best know I mean the King at his Death who declared That he never did begin the War with the two Houses of Parliament as all the World knows that they began with him it was the Militia they began upon they confest that to be his but they thought fit to have it from him and to be short if any body will look into the Dates of those Commissions theirs and his and likewise to the Declarations they will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not he See Whit. Mem. f. 369. a. and all the Writers of those times If this be not Authority sufficient to shew the Parliament began the War the first Scuffle between the King and Parliament was about the Business of Hull where the Parliament had committed the Charge of the Town and Magazine to Sir John Hotham one of the Members of the Commons who was sent down thither to remove the Magazine to London but the Country of York petitioned it might still remain at Hull for securing the Northern Parts especially the King residing there Hereupon the King taking a Guard of his Servants and some Neighbouring Gentry upon the 23d of April went to Hull but contrary to Expectation found the Gates shut and the Bridges drawn up by Sir John and his Entrance denied though but with 20 Horse which so moved the King that he proclaimed Hotham a Traitor and sends to the Parliament for Justice against him To this the Parliament return no Answer but justify Sir John Hotham and order that the Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace do suppress all Forces which shall be raised or gathered together against Hull or to disturb the Peace nor did they stay here but put the Power of the Militia in Persons nominated by them excluding the King in ordering any thing together with them and authorized Hotham by his Warrants to raise the trained Bands in Yorkshire to march with their Arms into Hull where he disarmed them and turned them home again See Whit. Mem. f. 55 56. So I submit this to Judgment whether this was not raising Arms against the King being done by Subjects and contrary to the King's Command and if the King did encrease his Guards yet this was subsequent to the excluding the King from having Power in the Militia and Hotham's Raising Arms and Disarming the Trained Bands of Yorkshire Mr. May says p. 55. the Parliament being then intent upon settling the Militia by Land took care also to seize the Navy into their Hands and ordered the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral to put this in Execution but the King had chosen Sir John Pennington to that place instead of the Earl of Northumberland and sent a Command to the Earl of Warwick to resign the Place to him Pennington But the Earl chose rather to obey the Ordinance of Parliament and with great Courage and Policy got the Fleet into his Hands tho many of the Captains stood out against him but the Earl deprived them of their Commands and possest himself of the Ships taking shortly after another Ship called the Lyon of great Import coming out of Holland and laden with Gun-power which proved a great Addition to his Strength So here was a double Beginning of the War by the Parliament both in seizing the Fleet and taking the Lyon and this before the King committed any Act of Hostility And for the carrying on this War which Mr. May calls the Cause the Parliament upon the 10th of June made an Order for bringing in Money and Plate to raise Arms for the Cause and the Publick Faith for Repayment to them which brought it in So here the Parliament raised Money as well as Forces for carrying on the War before the King levied any And so I leave it to Judgment who first began the War Objection The Parliament raised Arms for their own Defence and Security of the Nation Answer This is said but of no kin to Truth or Reason for Men defend what they are possest of and the King was possest of the Militia and Fleet when the Parliament ravish'd both from him nor did the King use either against the Parliament when they invaded them Besides the King at least as he declared endeavoured to defend the established Religion and Laws of the Land whereas the Parliament contended to abolish the Established Religion and to exalt themselves above the Laws of the Land Objection 2. That the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and governed so Arbitrarily that the Parliament could have no Security for the future to prevent his so doing again so long as the King was possest of the Militia Answer The Case was not the same then when the King resolved to have no more Parliaments as now when the King had made this Parliament perpetual and had passed the Triennial Bill for Parliaments to meet whether he would or no And tho Favourites and Flatterers instill'd those things into the King when they were without any Fear or Apprehension of being questioned by a Parliament yet now the Parliament had so severely prosecuted and punished such Men and being perpetual or at least to meet Three Years after every Dissolution none would presume to advise the King in things derogatory to his Honour and the Interest of the Nation And now we proceed to the ensuing War The Parliament before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham Aug. 22 Voted That an Army should be raised for the Defence of the King and Parliament that the Earl of Essex should be Captain General of the Army and the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse The War began first between the Marquess of Hartford for the King in the West and the Earl of Bedford for the Parliament the Earl being worsted by the Marquess at Sherborn-Castle Goring got into Portsmouth and held it for the King but could not hold it long for the Country joining with Sir John Meyrick forced him to surrender who thereupon went into Holland and my Lord Say St. Johns and Weemen with Colonel Whitlock enter Oxford and keep it for the Parliament But the Face of Affairs soon changed for the King having made the Earl of Lindsey his General and the Parliament the Earl of Essex upon the 23d of October the Armies met and fought at Edghil with uncertain Victory which both sides claimed the Earl of Lindsey was mortally wounded and taken Prisoner the Right Wing of the King's Horse commanded by Prince Rupert brake the Left
See the Life of General Monk p. 23 24. written by his Chaplain Dr. Gumble The Parliament having recruited the Earl of Essex's Army he forced his Passage and relieved Glocester the King's Army retreat to Newbury where it was charged by Essex and worsted and in the Fight the Ornament of the Age the learned and most ingenious Lord Falkland tho weary of his Life and presaging his own Destiny was slain as were the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarven If the King's Army had such bad Success before Glocester my Lord of New-Castle had worse before Hull for lying in a moorish unhealthy place in a sickly season of the Year viz. September and October the whole Army fell into Fluxes and other Distempers so as they were forced to raise the Siege having done nothing considerable in it besides at this time Lyn-Regis in Norfolk a Place near as considerable as Hull was seized by the Gentry of Norfolk and might have been relieved if New-Castle had not been engaged in besieging Hull Tho the English and Scotish Parliament agreed in their Solemn League and Covenant yet so did not Sir John Hotham and his Son with the Preferment of Sir Thomas Fairfax and others in the North so that Sir John Hotham refused to serve under Fairfax Hereupon the Parliament intended to have displaced Hotham which when he heard of both he and his Son treated with the Marquess of New-Castle to deliver Hull to the King and the Parliament suspecting the Design sent Sir Matthew Bromton Sir John's Brother-in-law to seize both Father and Son which Sir John little suspecting till it was too late fled to Beverly where he was seized by his own Soldiers and carried to Hull from whence Sir Matthew sent both Father and Son to London where soon after both lost their Heads When the Parliament sent Commissioners to invite the Scots to come to their Assistance the King sent Letters to disswade them from it urging the manifold Grants he had given to them when he was in Scotland last which compleated all they could ask and their solemn Protestations to be for ever his Majesty's most obedient Subjects See the Act cited by Sir Rich. Baker fol. 514. That it should be detestable Treason in the highest degree for any of the Scots Nation conjunctly or singly to raise Arms or any military Force upon any Cause whatever without the King's Commission But now unprovoked by the King and against his express Command they in open Hostility enter England a second time against him so little Faith or Honour was to be trusted to from these Covenanters for the Scots having made their Market with the King resolve to improve it with the Parliament and besides their Pay or Wages of Iniquity will have the Covenant and Kirk-Government imposed upon the English as well as Scots Nation and tho the King's Letters were signed by 19 Lords the Scots ordered them to be burnt by the common Hangman and in order hereunto General Lesley now Earl of Leven upon the 16th of January enters into England again with an Army of above 20000 Scots The King to add Reputation to his Arms summoned the Members of Parliament which followed him to meet at Oxford upon the 22d of January where they voted the coming of the Scots to be Treason and Rebellion but because they would not come up to the King's Desire in Voting the Members at Westminster to be no Parliament the King in great Displeasure with them and in his Letters to the Queen calls them his mungrel Parliament such was the Kindness the King shewed those Noble Lords and Gentry for sacrificing their Lives and Fortunes for his Service And to oppose the Scots the King makes a Cessation of Arms with the Irish and draws back into England the English which he sent to oppose the Irish but these were every where beaten 1500 of them cast away by Sea and the greatest Body of them commanded by Sir Michael Ernley Major General Gibson Sir Francis Boteler and Colonel Monk who shall unravel all the Parliament and Scots were now weaving were totally routed and dispersed by Sir Thomas Fairfax joining with Sir William Brereton near Nantwich and all these with Colonel Gibs Harmon Sir Ralph Dawns with 14 Captains 26 Ensigns and other inferiour Officers and 1500 common Soldiers taken Prisoners with the loss of their Cannon and Baggage So that as Serjeant Whitlock observes f. 79. a. these Irish never did the King any considerable Service But to sweeten this Prince Rupert at the close of this Year beat Sir John Meldrum a Scot who besieged Newark and his Army surrendred up their Arms Upon which the Parliament-Garisons in Gainsborow Lincoln and Sleford quitted these Places to the King's Forces And here we will end the Year 1643. and take notice how Mr. Serjeant Whitlock f. 64. b. errs in point of Time where he says the Scots passed the Tyne in 1642 under General Lesley to assist the Parliament and f. 67. a. he says the Queen was brought to Bed at Exeter of the Princess Henrietta Maria which for ought appears was before the Queen landed from Holland for she was born the 20th of June 1644. See Sir Baker's Hist f. 434. a. Anno Reg. 20. Dom. 1644. The Wonders which succeeded these two Years in England will better appear if a View be taken of the present Posture of Affairs as they stood in the beginning of this Year England and Scotland are united in one Solemn League and Covenant in January last Lesley or Leven enter'd England with an Army of 18000 Foot and 3500 Horse and Dragoons and soon after the Earl of Calendar enter'd England with an Army of 10000 Scots more these commanded by old and experienced Officers and the English Parliament's Armies were commanded by as brave and resolute Commanders as were to be found in Europe The Fleet wholly at the Parliament's Devotion and so was the City of London So that if you look upon the Superstructure nothing could appear more strong and lasting And all this time you hear little of Oliver Cromwel more than that he was a Captain of Horse and being of a bold and active Spirit secured the Town of Cambridg for the Parliament and was very diligent in obstructing several Levies for the King in Cambridgshire Essex Suffolk and Norfolk For these Services he had a Commission to be a Colonel of Horse and having an insinuating and canting way of preaching and seeming very Godly raised such a Regiment of Horse as was no where to be found the Riders spirited with Zeal to the Cause yet not of the Scots mode and to secure them without Oliver took care to provide them able Horses and to be well arm'd and accoutred so as every one of them beside Sword and Pistol had Pot Back and Breast Musquet-proof He was Nephew to Sir Oliver Cromwel who had a very great Estate but his Father being a younger Brother had not above 300 l. per Annum as was said Their
deadly Enemies and shall never decline his Majesty's Power and Jurisdiction as they shall answer it to God And all Persons who refuse to take this Oath to be uncapable of any publick Trust and to be look'd upon as Persons disaffected to his Majesty's Authority and Government And the 11th Act of the first Session says That it is the inherent Privilege of the Crown and undoubted Prerogative of the Kings of Scotland to have the sole Power of chusing Officers of State c. and of holding and dissolving Parliaments c. and That it is High Treason in any of the Subjects to make Leagues with Foreigners or among themselves without his Majesty's Authority first had c. And therefore the League and Covenant and all Treaties thereon are not obligatory and that none presume to require or renew the swearing the said League and Covenant The next Act I cannot say of Parliament for it was purely arbitrary was the total rooting out the Presbyterian Government in Scotland and upon this Occasion Mr. James Sharp Mr. Hamilton Mr. Farwel Mr. Leighton but whether sent for by the King or sent by the Kirk-Party I do not find came in 1661 to London and were ordained Deacons and Presbyters and after consecrated Bishops by the Bishop of Winchester and two other Bishops The Acceptance of which was a Renunciation of their Presbyterian Ordination nay it was a Declaration of the Invalidity of their former Ordination and thereupon the King on the 6th of September 1661 issued out a Proclamation declaring his Royal Pleasure to be for the restoring the Government of the Church of Scotland to be by Arch-bishops and Bishops as it was exercised in the Year 1637 and that he had nominated and presented Arch-bishops and Bishops to their several Bishopricks and to have the same Authority they had in the Reign of his Grand-father Thus you see the Presbyterian Government which was set up by such odd swearing without the King is by his sole Authority utterly subverted In Obedience to this Proclamation the Privy-Council the 9th of January following did discharge all Ecclesiastical Meetings in Synods Presbyteries and Sessions until they be authorized by the Arch-bishops and Bishops upon their Entry into the Government of their respective Sees which was to be done speedily Tho this Proclamation and Intimation of the Privy-Council had prevented the Parliament yet to make sure Work of both the Parliament in their second Sessions Redintegrated the Bishops to the Exercise of their Episcopal Function and to all their Privileges Dignities Jurisdictions and Possessions due and formerly belonging thereunto And another Act did ordain all Ministers to repair unto their Diocesan Assembly and concur in all Acts of Church-Discipline as they should be thereunto required by the Arch-bishops or Bishops of the Diocess under pain of being suspended from their Office and Benefice till the next Diocesan Meeting for their first Fault and if they amended not to be deprived and the Church to be declared vacant In the Year 1649 when there was no King in Israel the Parliament at the Instance of the Kirk by the 39th Act Discharge all Patrons and the King not excepted from Presentations to Church-Benefices for that the Estates of Parliament were sensible of the great Obligations that lie upon them by the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant and by many Deliverances and Mercies from God and by the late solemn Engagement unto Duties to preserve the Doctrine and vindicate the Liberties of the Kirk of Scotland and advance the Work of Reformation therein to the utmost of their Power And considering that Patronage and Presentation of Kirks is an Evil and Bondage under which the Lord's People and Ministers of the Land have long groaned and that it hath no Warrant in God's Word but founded on the Common Law and is a Custom Popish and brought into the Kirk in time of Ignorance and Superstition and that the same is contrary to the 2d Book of Discipline in which upon solid and good Grounds it is reckoned among the Abuses that are to be reformed and unto several Acts of the General Assembly and that it 's prejudicial to the Liberties of the People and planting of Kirks and unto the free calling and entring of Ministers unto their Charge This Act did not hold long for next Year Cromwel enter'd Scotland and overturned all the Tables of Presbytery nor was this much mended after the King's Restoration for in the second Session of the first Parliament 1662 the Parliament did ordain All Ministers who had enter'd to the Cure of any Parish within Burgh or Land in or since the Year of God 1649 to have no Right unto or up-lift the Rents of their respective Benefices modified Stipends Marsh or Glebe for this instant Year 1662 nor for the Year following unless they should obtain a Presentation from the lawful Patron and have Collation from the Bishop of the Diocess where he liveth before the 20th of September next Tho the High Commission which Laud so zealously endeavour'd to erect in Scotland was put down by Act of Parliament 1641. in England yet the King by the inherent Right of his Crown and by the Virtue of his Prerogative Royal and supreme Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical erected one in Scotland The Commissioners were partly Ecclesiasticks and partly Lay-men who or five of them whereof one to be a Bishop had a more arbitrary Power over the Clergy than was practised in England under Laud and more than Laud could have expected for a High Commission for Scotland in the King's Father's Reign Thus you see the Kirk which would be a distinct Table and independent upon the Crown of Scotland are by the Prerogative of it committed to the arbitrary Mercy of the Prelates whom for above 24 Years they had been railing against and by many Oaths sware to extirpate But the Tribulations of the Kirk for the time to come do not end here for the Parliament resolve to stigmatize them for their Actions past and therefore upon the 5th of September 1662 they form a Declaration to be subscribed by all who shall have any publick Charge Office and Trust within the Kingdom in these Words I do sincerely affirm and declare That I judg it unlawful for Subjects upon Pretence of Reformation or any other Pretence whatsoever to enter into Leagues and Covenants or to take up Arms against the King or those Commissionated by him and that all these Gatherings Convocations Petitions Protestations and erecting and keeping Counsel-Tables that were used in the beginning and for carrying on the late Troubles were unlawful and seditious and particularly That those Oaths whereof the one is called the National Covenant as it was sworn and explained in the Year 1638 and thereafter and the other entitled A Solemn League and Covenant were and are in themselves unlawful Oaths and were taken by and imposed upon the Subjects of this Kingdom against the Laws and Liberties of the same
Value of the Lands of England Observation VI. Suppose that we had no Act of Navigation but our Western Men might have built and fitted out Ships for the Newfound-Land Fishery as cheap as the French yet by this Act against Importation of Irish Cattel the French being enabled to victual Ships cheaper from the Ports of Ireland than we from the English the French from this only Cause may have the foreign Vent of the Newfound-Land Fishery whilst the English are necessitated to vend theirs only in England which is as much a Grievance as the Importation of Irish Cattel for the Expence of them will as much fall the Price of Flesh as the Importation of the Cattel Observation VII By this Law the English have lost the Benefit of Victualling foreign as well as English Ships from our own Ports and established them in Ireland to the lessening the Value of the Lands of England and this in time of Peace And in time of War by how much cheaper foreign Nations can victual Ships from Ireland than we can from England so much cheaper they may manage War and continue it longer Observation VIII The Wools of Ireland are generally better than those of England I have it by very good Authority and by the 14 Car. II. 18. it's Felony to export any out of England or Ireland The Reason given is it would decay the Woollen Manufactures ruin many Families and be the Destruction of the Navigation and Commerce of England and Ireland And why would it decay the Woollen Manufactures and ruin many Families to export Wool The common Reason given is That the Natives of other Countries would work them cheaper than the English whereby we should lose the Employment of our People If this be a Reason this Irish Act was made in an ill time to make Provisions dearer which will necessarily resolve into a further Dearness because those who work our Woollen Manufactures must live by Food and so much the dearer Food is so much dearer must Mens Labours be But I say this is not the Reason for no People in the World in like Circumstances take so much Pains for so little Profit as the Combers Spinners and Weavers do in our Woollen Manufactures and I 'm sure the Wools and Fullers-Earth in England are cheaper here than can be had elsewhere and an English Man or Woman hath a better Habit of Body and as good a Wit as a French or Dutch Man or Woman and that in Holland they pay as much for Excise for Meat and Drink as in England is paid for them I 'll give the true Reason why if the Dutch or French get our Wools and Fullers-Earth they may vend the Manufactures cheaper in foreign Trade than the English The Wools of Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Leicestarshire Warwickshire Lincolnshire Rutlandshire Northamptonshire Huntingtonshire Hertfordshire c. are in the dead of the Winter brought by Land-Carriage to Norwich and Colchester and even the Wools of the Sheep killed in London are carried to Colchester to be wrought there and then by another Land-Carriage they are brought to London as our Western Cloths are And then none but the Free-men of London must buy them at it may be 20 per Cent. cheaper than they might be sold if the Trade were free then they must be vended abroad in English-built Ships double as dear by the Act of Navigation and these sailed by near double the Hands of foreign Ships of like Dimensions and if any Returns be made they shall pay twofold more Duties than if they were imported into Holland and Hamburgh And upon other Terms ouâ— Poor must not be employed working Woollen Manufactures It 's agreed the vast Riches of France arise by the Trades which the English Dutch Dane Hamburgher Embdener Lubecker and Bremeners drive trading into France for Wines Brandies Salt Paper and the English besides these for Linen Cordage and Sails Suppose then the French King should by Edict ordain that these should be first brought by Land-Carriage to Paris and then none but the Free-men should buy them at what Rates they please and then these should vend them in foreign Trade only in French-built Ships and these sailed by three fourth parts French whether they have Ships or Men or not and the Returns made of them to pay him twofold more than if they were imported into Holland or Hamburgh c. Would not any Man think he were mad Yet what would that differ from our Practice At this rate we have in England more Wools than we can work and by this Act the Irish are forced to breed Sheep upon the Grounds they bred their Cattel before the Act and by the Act of 14 Car. II. 18. it's Felony to export the Wools so as the Irish are necessitated to work them where Provisions are cheaper than in England and where they shall not be at the unnecessary Land-Charges of Carriage of their Wools and Re-carriage of their Cloths where they shall not be restrained to the vending of them to Free-men of Corporations at 20 per Cent. Loss and where their Ports are better and more convenient for foreign Trade than those of England and then the English must condescend to the Terms of the Irish or these will undo more Families and more decay the Trade of our Woollen Manufactures than if Foreigners wrought the Irish or English Wools. Observation IX Ireland is a Kingdom depending upon England and Trade and Commerce create a mutual Correspondence and Interest between Countries so as this Law makes the Correspondency and Interest of Ireland to depend upon other Countries whereas it is the Interest of England that England should have been the Mart or Store-house of all the Wools Hides Tallow c. renewed in Ireland as England is the Store-house of the Product of our Plantations or as Holland is of the Spice-Trade These ruinous and mischievous Consequences this Law has brought upon England and Ireland only that the Northern and Western Men might have a Monopoly of imposing what Rates they pleased upon the Eastern and Southern Parts of England I may safely say to the lessening the Rates and Value of those Lands at 30 per Cent. and I dare say from many less Causes or if this Partial Law had been imposed by any King out of Parliament it might have caused a Rebellion in England and Ireland too Yet it had been the Interest of the Northern and Western Men to have continued the Importation of Irish Cattel for in breeding Cattel they can make but one Return in five Years whereas they might make four Returns in one Year by the Irish Cattel imported Yet in many Land-Taxes the Parliament taxed the Southern and Eastern Parts of England near double more than the Northern and Western But neither the King's Management of Business this Infant-Law the Fire of London the pulling down the Houses upon the Tower-Ditch the Plague nor the Act of Navigation now sixteen Years old could allay the Parliament's Heat from
488. His Success against the French 492 495. Fights the French at Mount Cassel 505 513. Comes into England 507 515. Opposes a separate Peace 507 508 511. Advises concerning the Lady Mary 509. His brave Resolution against the King's Answer at which he 's much disgusted 515. Is married 516. Treats of a Peace with France 516 517. Is suspected by the Confederates and why 518 520. but afterwards clear'd 525. Routs the French before Mons 528. His generous Design to save these Nations from Ruin 648. Orleans Dutchess see Dover Ormond Marquess makes Peace with the Irish 343. His Design for the Prince defeated 402. Ossery Lord his Friendship with the Prince of Orange 508. Overbury Sir Tho. his Story is destroy'd by the King's Favourites 62 64 68 70. His Advice to Rochester 64. His Murder discover'd and how 77 79. Overton Col. conspires against Monk 396. Oxford Parliament see Parliament Treaty there broke off and why 314. P. PApists to be tolerated 674 675. see Popish Parliaments their Constitution Ends c. 48. Ought to be Annual 49. Vsed to redress Grievances before they gave Money 49 97 616. Never dissolved in Anger till the Stuarts 205 267. Endeavour'd to be overthrown by Char. II. 614 630. Parliament in 1640 redress the Nation 's Grievances 276. Enter into a Protestation 277. Charg'd with beginning the War 280 286 296. Take the Militia from the King 293 294. Seize the Fleet 295. Raise an Army 296. Their ill Success the two first Years 296 298. Treat with the Scots for Assistance 298 Take their Covenant 299. Place no Trust in the King 315. Send an Army into Ireland 317. Their Affairs inverted by the Army 319 320. Order the King to London 321. Send Propositions to him 322. Their warm Votes concerning no further Treaty with him 324. See Commons Parliament of Char. II. their first Acts 430 431 439. Address against the King's Indulgence 447. Their Severity to Dissenters 448 458. Prohibit the Importation of Irish Cattle 462. Grant a Tax for the War against Holland 467. for the Triple League 473. for a War against France 475. Pass a Bill against Papists enjoying Places 491. See Commons at Oxford Lords petition against its meeting there 559 560. Sits but 7 days their Proceedings 564 566. K. James's pack'd one 615 616. Scarce deserv'd the Name 616 617 619. Their Acts 617 618. The Commons Address concerning Popish Recusants 628. Remarks upon it 628 629. Passive Obedience unknown to our Fathers 206. It s Inconsistence 531. Peers Jurisdictions in Appeals question'd by the Commons 502 504. Penruddock Col. beheaded after Articles granted him 386. Pensioners in Parliament 490 500. Pentland Scots rise there but are terribly routed 458. Petition of Right oppos'd by Buckingham c. defended by Williams c. 207. The Lords Saving to it oppos'd by the Commons 208 209. Is passed 210 216. but broken by the King 218 227 228 236. Is printed by the King with his Answer to it 228. Philip III. of Spain his Character 36. Philips Sir Rob. against the Court 174 180 229. Plague a great one in 1 Jac. I. 37. A greater in 1 Car. I. 153. A yet greater in II's Reign 458. Pontfract Castle surrendred to the Parliament 327. Popery some of its Antichristian Doctrines 149 150. Is promoted by K. James 642. Pope's Nuncio heads a Rebellion in Ireland 277 343. His Despotick Tyranny there 343. One arrives in England 642. Popish Party conceive great hopes of England from the Match with Moderna 499 500. Have Commissions for raising Souldiers 535. Are favour'd by K. James see James II. Plot the Parliament's Votes concerning it 535 557 587. The Evidence in it justified 539 540. Some Account of it 540 541. It s Discovery supprest and how 546 547. Ports excellent ones in England 658. Portsmouth surrendred to the Parliament 296. Dutchess who she was 474. Prague see Frederick Presbyterians join with the Royalists 409. Printers petition against Laud 231. Privileges of Parliament discust 552 554. Proclamations against talking of State-Affairs 96 97. Prorogations of Parliament not used till Hen. 8. Account of one in Char. 2d's time 520 521 533. Protestants in France suffer by James I. 96. and by Charles I. see Char. I. and Rochel Puritans increase 154. Oppos'd by Laud c. 122 157 227. Persecuted by him 258. Pyrenean Treaty 421 422. Broke by the French K. 427 428 471. Q. QVeen proclaim'd Traitor by the Parliament 298. Arrives in England on some dark Designs 428. Quo Warranto see Charter R. RAcking Men declar'd to be against Law 227. Raleigh Sir Walter his Story 82 85. Is beheaded the he had been pardoned 85. Rents whence their Fall 463. Republicans conspire against Cromwel 386 399. Restore the Rump 408. Revenue of Q. Elizabeth 32. of James II. which see Richlieu some Account of him 141 142 176. Is parallel'd with Laud 239 240. Promotes the Contentions in England and Scotland 265 272 279. Engag'd in the Irish Massacre 277 343. Rochel Fleet subdued by the French English and Dutch 174. Not reliev'd by the English as promis'd 225. Miserably reduc'd 226. Roman Empire the Causes of its Ruin 17 24. Rothes Earl Commissioner in Scotland 454. Rump Parliament their Votes concerning the King with Remarks 332 333. Erect High Courts of Justice one of which takes off the King 333 346 347. Abolish Monarchy 342. Their prodigious Acts ib. Their Success in Ireland 343 344. in Scotland c. 345 347 350. against the Dutch 351 353 356. Propose a Coalition with them 350. Their Demands of them ib. 353. Their Answer to the Dutch Excuses 352 353. Their Letter to the States of Holland 357. to the States General 358. Are turn'd out by Cromwel 362. Their Character c. 363 364. Are restored by the Republicans 408. Turn out Lambert c. and constitute a Council of War 409. Are turn'd out again 410. and put in again by Fleetwood 416. Send to Monk ib. Rupert Prince lost several Battels by his Rashness 297 307 311. Forc'd into France 327. Saves the King's Life at Windsor 541. Rushworth commended 8. Russel Lord murder'd 601. S. SAndwich Earl affronted by the Duke of York is slain 480 481. Scotland Account of its Church-state 260 263 440 441. It s Alteration endeavour'd see Laud. Great Persecution there see Lauderdale Scots oppose Common-Prayer c. and enter into a solemn Covenant against it 263. Vp in Arms propose an Accommodation 265. Declare against Episcopacy 270. Declar'd Traitors enter England 271. Keep not the Articles of Pacification 280 281. Began the War 280 286. Break their Word with the King and join the Parliament 300 331. Murder in cold Blood 316. Sell the King 317. Their Government not lik'd in England ib. Are routed by Cromwel which see Their Government chang'd by the Rump 347. Have four Citadels built to curb them 410. Their happy State under Monk ib. Parliament appoint May 29. an Anniversary Thanksgiving 443 444. Their other Acts abolish Presbytery 444 447. Grant
heard any thing without the prelude of Sacred Peaceful Wise Most Learned c. These made him careless both of his Domestick and Foreign Affairs the Thoughts of which disturbed his Pleasures and if at any time he was thoughtful or pensive his Favourites made it their Business to mimick or ridicule those things especially the Puritans whâ—m the King hated These Courses and the King's Favourites perpetually sucking his Treasures brought the King to great Necessities yet he had not Courage enough to demand the Debt due to him from the States of Holland neither Principal nor Interest so that after five Years interval a Parliament is agreed to be called to supply the King's Occasions and the principal Cause to excite the Parliament to give Money was for the Portion the King had paid for marrying the Princess Elizabeth to the Palsgrave and for his Entertainment whilst he was in England tho the King had collected Aid-Money all over England before But it rarely happens when Grievances be multiplied and the Kings become necessitous that then the King and Parliament attain their Ends the Ends being so different the Parliaments being to redress Grievances and the Kings to get Money and so it fell out in this Parliament for entring upon Grievances and remonstrating them to the King which was Language he was not acquainted with he in great Passion dissolves the Parliament and commits many of the principal Members of the Commons close Prisoners without Bail or Man-prize and though no Law was passed this Parliament nor any Notice had of it in the Statutes printed at large yet this Benefit came of it That the Commons voting Cockaine's Patent for Dressing and Dying English Cloths to be a Monopoly and a Grievance it was recalled and cancelled and the vent of White Cloths left free This was the greatest Violation and Invasion of the Privilege of Parliament that ever was done by any King of England before but though it began it did not end here neither in this King's Reign nor his Son 's after him For after the Dissolution of the Parliament the King extorted a Benevolence from the Subject and those who would not contribute were to have their Names returned to the Council CHAP. III. A further Account of this Reign to the End of the third Parliament in 1620. IF from the Parliament we look into the Court we shall see the King's Affections begin to alter towards his Favourites which began upon this Occasion My Lord of Northampton was Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports and by his Permission Romish Priests in great Numbers swarmed into England this was observed and great Clamours were made upon it which came to the Earl's Ears hereupon the Earl exhibits an Information against some of them these justify the Truth of what they were accused of the Arch-Bishop Abbot at the same time produces a Letter from the Earl to Cardinal Bellarmine wherein he says That however the Condition of the Times compelled him and the King urged him to turn Protestant yet nevertheless his Heart stood for the Catholicks and that he would be ready to further them in any Attempt This procured the King's Frowns and the Prisoners Discharge whereupon 't was said Northampton took such Grief that he made his Will wherein he declared He died in the same Faith wherein he was baptized viz. the Popish and died the 15th of June Now was Somerset left without his chiefest Support and soon after another shall rise up which shall turn him quite out of the King's Favour About this time one Mr. George Villiers appeared in Court the youngest Son of Sir George Villiers of Leicestershire by a second Venter whose Name was Mary Beaumont the Heraulds will tell you she was of the honourable Family of the Beaumonts and I will tell you what a Lady of Quality told me and one who might well know the Truth of what she said her youngest Sister by a second Venter being married to the Eldest Son of Sir George Villiers by Beaumont Mary Beaumont was entertained in Sir George Villiers his Family in a mean Office of the Kitchin but her ragged Habit could not shade the beautiful and excellent Frame of her Person which Sir George taking notice of prevailed with his Lady to remove Mary out of the Kitchin into an Office in her Chamber which with some Importunity on Sir George's part and unwillingness of my Lady at last was done Soon after my Lady died and Sir George became very sweet upon his Lady's Woman which would not admit any Relief without Enjoyment and the more to win Mary to it gave her 20 l. to put her self into so good a Dress as this would procure which she did and then Sir George's Affections became so fired that to allay them he married her In this Coverture Sir George had three Sons John after Viscount Purbeck Christopher after Earl of Anglesey and George and one Daughter after married to the Earl of Denbigh When Sir George died George was very young and Sir George having setled his Estate upon the Children born of his former Lady could leave the Issue by his Widow but very little and her but a Joynture of about 200 l. per Annum which dying with her nothing could come to these Children nor was it possible for her out of so contracted a Joynture to maintain her self and them so as to make scarce any Provision for them after her Death and the Issue of Sir George by his former Lady both envied and hated her so as little could be expected from them To supply these Defects she married one Thomas Compton a rich Country Gentleman whereby she became able to maintain and breed up her Children in a better than ordinary Education and George being of an extraordinary and exact Composition of Person was sent abroad and in France acquired those outward Advantages which more adorned the natural Parts which Nature had given him The King this Year about the Beginning of March 16 14 15 according to his usual Methods went to take his Hunting Pleasures at New-market and the Scholars as they called them of Cambridg who new the King's Humour invited him to a Play called Ignoramus to ridicule at least the Practice of the Common Law Never did any thing so hit the King's Humour as this Play did so that he would have it acted and acted again which was increased with several Additions which yet more pleased the King At this Play it was so contrived that George Villiers should appear with all the Advantages his Mother could set him forth and the King so soon as he had seen him fell into Admiration of him so as he became confounded between his Admiration of Villiers and the Pleasure of the Play which the King did not conceal but gave both Vent upon several Occasions This set the Heads of the Courtiers at work how to get Somerset out of Favour and to bring Villiers in but here it 's fit to look a little back and see
affected have done before them And to make choice of meet Collectors of the Monies and to return a Schedule of the Names of such as shall contribute and the Sums that are offered by them that his Majesty may take notice of the good Inclinations of the Subjects to a Cause of such Importance as likewise of such others if any such be as out of Obstinacy or Disaffection shall refuse to contribute These were the Ways which this pacifick King took in and out of Parliament which I believe except in the Reign of Edward the 4th were never practised by any of our English Kings and all this under the specious Pretence of recovering his Son-in-law's Patrimony prodigally to squander it among his Favourites especially Buckingham whose Avarice could not be supported otherwise by the Revenues of the Crown and Venality of all Places Sacred and Civil These were the Noble Atchievements which this pacifick King obtained over his Parliament which presumed to advise him for his own Honour and the Nation 's Safety this was the Return he made for inverting the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament to pleasure him by granting Subsidies before Grievances were redrest A Prince foreign born to our English Laws and Constitutions A Prince as the noble Nani Anno 1619. fol. 137 138. observes in whom Decorum and want of Power were commonly Opposites he being Scotish by Birth and come to the Crown by Inheritance was the first that governed the two Nations by Natural Antipathy and antient Emulation of Enemies and designing to reclaim the Fierceness of those People with Ease and Idleness had set up his Rest in Peace and avoiding as much as possible the calling of Parliaments without which not having the Power to impose Contributions nor levy Money he contented himself rather to struggle with many Straits and Difficulties than to see them meet with a Jealousy of them or being met be obliged to separate them with the disgust of the People or with the satisfaction of Prejudice to the Superior in Power A Prince so poor before he came to the Crown of England that if he had not been supported by the Pension which Queen Elizabeth allowed him could not have maintained the Garb of many of our English Gentry and being come to the Crown of England not only the Sacred Patrimony of it was squandered and embarassed upon debauched and profane Favourites but the People otherwise oppressed with almost infinite Monopolies and Projects which the Nation never before heard of and as they were new so were they all illegal and all these to make his Favourites rich while he continued the poorest King that ever governed England Justled in his Throne by the Presbytery in Scotland yet nothing less than Sacred would down with him from the Clergy in England tho his dissolute Life and profane Conversation were diametrically contrary These by a twenty Years Habit were so fixed in the King a Prince of all others the most regardless of his Honour and Word that they became natural So that after the Parliament had given him two Subsidies and intended another for carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate and after he had by such means as before said by such Terror raised Benevolences all England over upon pretence of it yet by the Advice of Buckingham and Gundamor he placed the Anchor of his Hope to do it by the Match of his Son with the Infanta of Spain when an unlooked-for Accident reported by Nani in his 5th Book fol. 186. had like to have spoiled all For the King of Bohemia weary of being amused and deluded with the Hopes of his Father-in-law's Treaties which he now saw were mocked by the Spaniards themselves in a Disguise with two Persons only from Holland passes into France by Sea and from thence through Lorrain and through the midst of his Enemies Troops arrives at Landau where Count Mansfield who then made War in the Palatinate in his Right had a Garison where he discovered himself and from thence went to Germersheim where he was received with the general Applause of the whole Army This Escape of the King's Son-in-law confounded all the King's Measures which he had taken for him by the Marriage of the Infanta with his Son so that he was more alarm'd at it than at the Commons Remonstrance and Protestation tho he bore the Affliction with a much better Temper So all Wits were set at work how to get the Elector out of the Hands of Mansfield back again into Holland for now the Proceedings at Brussels upon the Peace were put to a full stop the Spaniards alledging they could not proceed in the Treaty so long as the King's Son-in-law was in the Hands of Mansfield their most inveterate and bitter Enemy It fell out luckily for the King's Designs tho unluckily for his Son-in-law's that Mansfield being worsted by the Spanish Arms in the Palatinate and the Elector Palatine fearing that Mansfield in the Adversity of his Affairs would make him a Sacrifice in giving him up to the Spaniard to make his own Terms the better was the more easily enveagled by the King's Agents to return again into Holland where the first News he heard was that Tilly had taken Heidelburg the Capital Seat of his Ancestors by Storm and Frankendal his next City reduced to Extremity by Cordua so that as Nani says fol. 188. King James who had published that his Son-in-law held that Country under his Protection was laugh'd at by all the World and forced to consent to a Truce for fifteen Months during which Frankendal and the rest of the lower Palatinate should be deposited into the Spaniards Hands to restore them to the King James if within that time there were not a Peace concluded King James having thus deposited his Son-in-law's Patrimony in the Hands of the Spaniards in the Low Countries now by the Direction of Buckingham not only the Dictator over the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but over the King himself and 't was feared more over the Prince upon pretence that the Earl of Bristol was too remiss in prosecuting the Prince's Suit at Madrid resolves to deposite the Prince in the Power of the Court of Spain there to remain as an Hostage till he can procure the Infanta to be his Spouse This was such an Adventure as Don Quixot never dream'd of in any of his that because the King the Prince his Father was poor at home and despised abroad therefore by making his only Son an Hostage in another King's Court where the Maxims both of Religion and State were directly contrary he should think to perswade the King of Spain to overturn all and also get such a Portion as was fourfold more than any Prince before had to enrich himself and to make War against the King of Spain or Emperor which the Spaniard esteemed all as one and also that the King of Spain should restore the Palatinate because the King knew not which way else
to procure a private Audience of the King tho he often desired it but what the Duke assisted at Inoiosa impatient of any longer Delay about the latter end of April 1624 contrived this Expedient to put the following Paper into the King's Hand he and Don Carlo de Colonna came adventurously to White-Hall and whilst Don Carlo held the Prince and Duke in earnest Discourse Inoiosa put this Paper into the King's Hand with a Wink that the King should put it into his Pocket wherein 1. He terrifies the King that he was not or could not be acquainted with the Passages either of his own Court or of the Parliament for he was kept from all faithful Servants that would inform him by the Ministers of the Prince and Duke and that he was a Prisoner as much as King John of France in England or King Francis at Madrid and could not be spoken with but before such as watched him 2. That there was a strong and violent Machination in hand which had turned the Prince a most obedient Son to a quite contrary Course to his Majesty's Intentions 3. That the Council began last Summer at Madrid but was lately resolved on in England to restrain his Majesty from the Exercise of the Government of his Kingdoms and that the Prince and Duke had designed such Commissioners under themselves as should intend great Affairs and the Publick Good 4. That this should be effected by beginning of a War and keeping some Companies on foot in this Land whereby to constrain his Majesty to yield to any thing chiefly being brought into Straits for want of Monies to pay the Souldiers 5. That the Prince and Duke's inclosing his Majesty from the said Ambassador and other of his own Loyal People that they might not come near in private did argue in them a fear and distrust of a good Conscience 6. That the Emissaries of the Duke had brought his Majesty into Contempt with the potent Men of this Realm traducing him for slothful and unactive for addiction to an inglorious Peace while the Inheritance of his Daughter and her Children is in the Hands of his Foes and this appear'd by a Letter which the Duke had writ into Holland and they had intercepted 7. That his Majesty's Honour nay his Crown and Safety did depend upon a sudden Dissolution of the Parliament 8. They loaded the Duke with sundry Misdemeanours in Spain and his violent Opposition to the Match 9. That the Duke had divulged the King's Secrets and the close Designs between his Majesty and their Master King Philip about the States of Holland and their Provinces and laboured to put his Majesty out of the good Opinion of the Hollanders 10. That the Duke was guilty of most corrupt dealing with the Ambassadors of divers Princes 11. That all these things were carried on in the Parliament with an head-strong Violence and that the Duke was the cause of it who courted them only that were of troubled Humours 12. That such Bitterness and Ignominies were vented in Parliament against the King of Spain as were against all good Manners and Honour of the English Nation The 13th is a flat Contradiction to the Precedents wherein they made the Prince privy to dangerous things yet in this they say That the Puritans of whom the Duke was Head did wish they could bring it about that the Succession of the Kingdom might come to the Prince Palatine and his Children in right of the Lady Elizabeth In a Postscript the Paper prayed the King That Don Francisco Carondelet Secretary to the Marquess Inoiosa might be brought to the King when the Prince and Duke were sitting in the Lords House to satisfy such Doubts as the King might raise which was performed by the Earl of Kelly who watch'd a fit Season at one time for Francisco and for Padre Maestro a Jesuit at another time who told their Errand so spitefully that the King was troubled at their Relations How far the Spanish Ambassador Carondelet and the Jesuit Maestro could make good this Paper I cannot tell nor does the Bishop say however the King was apprehensive that the Parliament was solicitous to engage him in a War for the Palatinate which he so dreaded that as the Bishop says he thought scarce any Mischief was so great as was worth a War to mend it wherein the Prince did deviate from him as likewise in his Affection to the Spanish Alliance But he stuck at the Duke more whom â—e defended in one part to one of the Spanish Ministers yet at the same time complaining That he had noted in him a turbuleâ—â— Spirit of late and knew not how to mitigate it so that casting up the Sum he doubted it might come to his turn to pay the Reckoning These Thoughts so wrought upon the King that his Countenance fell suddenly that he mused much in Silence and that he entertained the Prince and Duke with mystical and broken Speeches this nettled them both and enquiring the Reason they could not go further than that they heard the Spanish Secretary and the Jesuit Maestro had been with the King and understood that some in the Ambassador's House had vaunted that they had nettled the Duke and that a Train would take fire shortly to blow up the Parliament In this Perplexity the King prepared to take Coach for Windsor to shift Ground for some better Rest in this Unrest and took Coach at St. James's Gate and the Prince with him and found a slight Errand to leave Buckingham behind as the King was putting his Foot into the Coach the Duke besought him with Tears in his Eyes and humble Prayer that his Majesty would let him know what could be laid to his Charge to offend so good and gracious a Master and vowed by the Name of his Saviour he would purge it or confess it The King did not satisfy him but breathed out his Disgust that he was the unhappiest alive to be forsaken of them that were dearest to him which was uttered and received with Tears from his own Eyes as well as the Prince's and Duke's and made haste to Windsor leaving the Duke behind this was upon Saturday at the end of April The Duke forlorn retires to Wallingford-House and was in such Confusion and Distraction that when my Lord Keeper who had notice of all these things and was more careful of the Duke than he could be of himself came to him he found the Duke lying upon his Couch in that immoveable Posture that he would neither rise up nor speak tho the Keeper invited him to it twice or thrice by courteous Questions The Keeper told him by the Faith of a deep Protestation that he came purposely to prevent more Harm and to bring him out of that Sorrow into the Light of the King's Favour That he verily believ'd God's directing Hand was in it to stir up his Grace to advance him to those Favours which he possessed to do him Service at this Pinch of Extremity
to the Earl that it was his Majesty's Pleasure withal no doubt but by the Advice of his highest Council of State that the Earl should continue in the same Restraint he was so that he forbear his personal Attendance in Parliament But since the Duke could no longer otherways keep the Earl out of the House of Lords the King by my Lord Keeper signified to the Lords that his Pleasure was they should send for the Earl as a Delinquent to answer Offences committed against him before his going into Spain and since his coming back and his scandalizing the Duke of Buckingham immediately and by Reflection upon himself with whose Privity and Direction the Duke guided his Actions and without which he did nothing And now Sir Robert Heath the King's Attorney-General exhibited eleven Articles against the Earl it was thought fit to leave out the other nine which the Earl had answered to King James without any Reply and in the last of these the Earl is charged with giving the King the Lie in offering to falsify that Relation which his Majesty affirmed and thereunto added many things of his own Remembrance to both Houses of Parliament which you may read at large in Rushworth's Collections from fol. 153 to 158. Hereupon the Earl exhibited a Charge of High Treason and Misdemeanours in twelve Articles against the Duke and another against the Lord Conway of High Misdemeanours which you may read at large in Rushworth from fol. 266 to 270. And upon the Delivery of them the Earl desired a Copy of the King's Charge against him in Writing and time allowed to answer and Counsel assigned him and said there was a great Difference between the Duke and him for the Duke was accused of Treason and at large and in the King's Favour and that he being but accused of that which he had long since answered was a Prisoner and therefore moved the Duke might be put in equal Condition which tho the House did not yet were not satisfied to commit the Earl to the Tower and order'd That the King's Charge against the Earl should be first heard and then the Earl's against the Duke yet so that the Earl's Testimony against the Duke be not prevented prejudiced or impeached The King in a Message to the Lords by my Lord Keeper would have blasted the Earl's Articles against the Duke for two Reasons if they may be called so The first was That the Narrative made in the 21 Jac. in Parliament trenches as far upon him as the Duke for that he went therein as far as the Duke But what then Shall not the Earl be heard in his Defence against that Declaration which was designed to blast the Earl's Honour and Integrity and Justice is no Respecter of Persons The other was That all the Earl's Articles have been closed in his Breast now these two Years contrary to his Duty if he had known any Crime of that nature against the Duke and now he vents it by Recrimination against the Duke whom he knows to be a principal Witness to prove his Charge against the Earl This is strange for his Majesty's Reign was scarce yet a Year old and all this while the Earl was under a Restraint and not permitted to come to the Parliament which ended at Oxford and in his Father's Reign after the Earl had answered all the Duke's Articles against him without any Reply King James promised him he should be heard against the Duke as well as he was against him tho he lived not to make good his Promise Now let 's see the Levity of this Prince the necessary Concomitant of Wilfulness and which he pursued in every step of his Reign without any Remorse that I could ever find for the Lodgment of the King's Charge against the Earl in the House of Lords was scarce cold whenas it was endeavoured to take the Earl's Cause out of the House and to proceed against him in the King's-Bench But why must this be at this time of day and while a Parliament was sitting And why was not this done in the King's Father's Life or in this King's Reign And why must two years pass and this way of charging the Earl never thought of which now must be done in all haste But the Lords put a full stop to this and for these Reasons 1. For that in all Causes of moment the Defendants shall have Copies of all Depositions both pro and contra after Publication in convenient time before hearing to prepare themselves and if the Defendants will demand that of the House in due time they shall have learned Counsel to assist them in their Defence And their Lordships declared they would give their Assents thereto because in all Causes as well Civil as Criminal and Capital they hold that all lawful Help could not before just Judges make one that is guilty avoid Justice and on the other side God defend that an Innocent should be condemned 2. The Earl of Bristol by his Petition to the House complained of his Restraint desiring to be heard here as well in point of his Wrongs as in his Accusations against the Duke whereof his Majesty taking Consideration signified his Pleasure by the Lord Keeper April 20 That his Majesty was resolved to put his Cause upon the Honour and Justice of this House and that the Earl should be sent for as a Delinquent to answer the Offences he committed in his Negotiations before his Majesty's going into Spain whilst his Majesty was there and since his Return and that his Majesty would cause these things to be charged upon him in this House so as the House is fully possessed of the Cause as well by the Earl's Petition as the King's Consent and the Earl brought up to the House as a Delinquent to answer his Offences there and Mr. Attorney hath accordingly delivered the Charge against him in the House and the Earl also his Charge against the Duke And now if the Earl be proceeded withal by way of the Kings-Bench these dangerous Inconveniencies will follow 1. He can have no Counsel 2. He can use no Witness against the King 3. He cannot know what the Evidences against him will be in convenient time to prepare for his Defence and so the Innocent may be condemned which may be the Case of any Peer 4. The Liberty of the House will be thereby infringed the Honour and Justice of it declined contrary to the King's Pleasure expresly signified by my Lord Keeper all which are expresly against the Order 5. The Earl being indicted it will not be in the Power of the House to keep him from Arraignment and so he may be disabled to make good his Charge against the Duke Therefore the way to proceed according to the Directions and true Meaning of the Order and the King's Pleasure signified and preserve the Liberties of the House and protect one from Injury will be To have the Charge delivered into the House in Writing and the Earl to set down his
might not another Parliament upon better Information alter what the Parliament 21 Jac. had done Which neither of these Parliaments did but granted and voted him and his Father greater Supplies than ever before were given to any of his Predecessors in three-fold the time But when the King enter'd into a View of his Treasure he found how ill provided he was to proceed effectually with so great an Action It seems by this one Action the King only designed the War against Spain But why does not the King set forth the Causes why his Treasure was so ill provided It was not ten Months before his Father's Death that the Parliament 21 Jac. which gave his Father three Subsidies and three Fifteenths was adjourned and his first Parliament gave him two Subsidies more within two or three Months after his Father's Death And what came of all this but the raising ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse under Mansfield the Expedition against the Rochellers and to Cadiz to neither of which latter he was ever invited by his Father or any Parliament The King makes the â—lague to be the Cause of the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford yet he might as well have secured the Members by a Prorogation as Dissolution And in this Parliament he tells how the House of Commons voted him three Subsidies and three Fifteenths and after four Subsidies and three Fifteenths and of the Letter he sent them the 9th of June to speed the passing these Supplies and how that the House being abused by the violent and ill-advised Passion of a few Members never so much as admitted one Reading to the Bill of Subsidies but voted a Remonstrance or Declaration which they intended to prefer to him tho palliated with glossing Terms containing many dishonourable Aspersions upon his Majesty and upon the sacred Memory of his deceased Father which his Majesty taking for a Denial of the promised Supplies upon mature Advisement he dissolved them But from whence should this mature Advisement come We do not find the Privy Council had any hand in it and the House of Lords petitioned against it But lest the Credit of this Declaration should not find Faith enough against the Commons Representatives the King sends a Proclamation after it wherein he takes notice of a Remonstrance drawn by a Committee of the late Commons to be presented to him wherein are many things to the Dishonour of himself and his Royal Father of blessed Memory and whereby through the sides of a Peer of this Realm they wound their Soveraign's Honour and to vent their Passions against that Peer and prepossess the World with an ill Opinion of him before his Case was heard who hinder'd it had scatter'd Copies of it Wherefore the King to suppress such an unsufferable Wrong upon pain of his Indignation and high Displeasure commanded all who had Copies thereof to burn them But why was not the Duke's Cause heard and who dissolved the Parliament to prevent it Had not the Earl of Bristol answered every Particular of the King 's and Duke's Charge against him And was there not an Order of the House of Lords the Duke should answer the Earl's Charge against him Where is this Answer to be found and why was it not Now see the Justice of this King and how he made good his Promise in his Declaration that he would so order his Actions as should justify him not only in his own Conscience but to the whole World for the very Day the Parliament was dissolved he committed the Earl of Bristol Prisoner to the Tower and left the Duke free to pursue his ungodly Designs Here I 'll stay a little and add this Augmentation of Honour to the Escutcheon of this noble Earl notwithstanding this Usage For when the Long Parliament in 1640 had put a full Stop to the King 's Absolute Will and Pleasure which if it had not God only knows where it would have ended and after that this King's Flatterers and Favourites his Lord Keeper Finch and Secretary Winde-bank had run into other Countries to save themselves from being hanged in this and that the Earl of Manchester after he had flatter'd this King and his Father in all the Shapes of Earl Viscount Baron Lord Chief Justice Lord Privy Seal Lord Treasurer and Lord President of the Council and his Son and the Earls of Pembroke and Holland and both the Sir Henry Vanes Father and Son and Sir Henry Mildmay c. sided with the Parliament against the King yet this noble Earl followed the King in all his Adversity however he had been persecuted by him in his Prosperity The late Keeper as he gave his Opinion against the War with Spain in King James's Reign so did he against the Expedition against Cales in this King's Reign his Reason was which you may read in the second Part of his Life fol. 65. That the King must make himself sure of the Love of his own People at home before he bid War to such a rich and mighty Nation But the Keeper's Counsels were as much feared and hated by the Duke as Bristol's and the Commons Articles were against him and therefore he resolved to be rid of them all and pursue the King 's and his own Designs without any Controul and the very same Day the Parliament was dissolved he caused the Earl of Bristol to be committed to the Tower as you may see in Stow's Chronicle fol. 1042. Nor would he have his Renown and Valour less known abroad than his Justice at home and France shall now be the Theatre upon which he will act it in spight of Spain or the Parliament and Nation of England without whose Assistance he will act Wonders by his own Power and in Vindication of his own Honour however some Cause must be shewed by others since the Duke concealed the true Cause Rushworth fol. 427. makes the Causes of this War to begin between the Priests of the Queen's Family and the Bishops by Articles of Agreement upon the Marriage and that the Pope had declared them Apostates if they should seek for any Establishment from the King being an Heretick and that the Queen sided herein with the Priests against the King and that Unkindnesses hereupon grew between them so as the King informed his Brother of France he could no longer bear them And much to this purpose has Mr. James Howel in the Life of Lewis XIII fol. 75. But these were but Pretences for this War the Cause was of another Complexion And herein we will cite the Authority of the great Nani who had better Means to enquire into the Causes than either Rushworth or Howel and was not biass'd by Interest Affection or Flattery You have heard before of the Emulation between Richlieu and Buckingham and of their Inclinations for the Queen's Favour and of the Queen 's noble Aversions to them both but I think Nani was therein a little mistaken for if I be not misinformed as I think verily I
away the Merchants Ships so that they may not easily catch and light upon the West-India Fleet. A Jesuit and nine Priests were taken with this and many other Papers which were delivered to Sir John Cook Secretary of State the Jesuit was condemn'd but reprieved by the King because Sir John Cook said The King delighted not in Blood and afterward the nine Priests were released by special Warrant from the King and the King in his Reasons for dissolving the Parliament makes the House of Commons Enquiry into this Business to be an exorbitant Encroachment and Usurpation such as was never before attempted by that House By this you may see the Religious care this pious Prince had for the Church of England and how much he regarded the Laws of England or minded the Support of the poor Protestants in France or the Re-establishment of his Brother-in-law in the Palatinate Thus stood things when the Parliament met the 17th of March when the King as Men in a deep Lethargy no ways sensible of their Pain or the dangerous State they are in not considering the dangerous State he was in both abroad and at home Abroad in that he had made War upon the King of Spain without any Declaration of War and that against his Father's Advice and of his Council and upon the King of France wherein himself and his Favourite Buckingham were the Aggressors at Home by his unheard of Invasions upon the Fortunes and Liberties of his Subjects never before done by any King of England in the short Interval of these two Parliaments scarce being 9 Months upon the Opening of the Parliament far unlike his Father in the last Parliament of his Reign when his Case was not near so dangerous as this King's tho their Necessities were equal to get Money by Parliaments when they could get it no other Way begins his Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THese Times are for Action wherefore for Example sake I mean not to spend much Time in Words expecting accordingly that your as I hope good Resolutions will be speedy not spending Time unnecessarily or that I may say dangerously for tedious Consultations at this Conjuncture of Time are as hurtful as ill Resolutions I am sure you now expect from me both to know the Cause of your meeting and what to resolve on yet I think there is none here but knows that common Danger is the Cause of this Parliament and that Supply at this time is the chief End of it so that I need but point to you what to do All this but of Supply is Mysterious and General and had need of an Interpreter The King goes on and says I will use but few Perswasions for if to maintain your own Advices and as the Case now stands for the following thereof the true Religion Laws and Liberties of this State never so violated by any King of England before him and the just Defence of our true Friends and Allies be not sufficient then no Eloquence of Men or Angels will prevail What Parliament or any other Council but that of Buckingham advised him to make War either upon the King of Spain or France search all the Records of the Journals of Parliament of 21 Jac. and Rushworth Franklin and Bishop of Litchfield and see if in any one of them there be one Sentence of making War against the King of Spain but only to break off the Treaty with the Spanish Match and for the Palatinate But admit the Parliament had upon the Misinformation of the King and Duke advised the King to have made War upon the King of Spain yet since the Earl of Bristol so shamefully blasted the whole Story not a Year since in open Parliament without any Reply How was this Parliament obliged to have made good what that had done And since the King dissolved the last Parliament rather than the Duke should be brought to Trial upon the Earl's Charge which was a Failure of Justice sure it had been more to the King's Honour not to have mention'd this to the Parliament than that what he had done was by their Advice Did this Parliament or any other ever advise him to put the Fleet under the Command of Vice-Admiral Pennington into the French King's Power to subdue the poor Rochellers who never did him any wrong to the Ruin of the Reformed Interest in France and to be the Foundation of the French Grandeur by Sea and then on the contrary make War upon the French King when he was the Aggressor Did ever this or any other Parliament advise him to take his Subjects Goods by force without and against Law and imprison their Persons by his Absolute Will and Pleasure denying them the Benefit of their Corpus's the Birth-right of the Subject and to continue them Prisoners during his Will without allowing them a Trial by the Laws whether they were guilty of any Crime or not Or to execute Martial Law impose new Oaths and give Free-Quarter to Soldiers in his own Kingdom in time of Peace However the King goes on and says Only let me remember you that my Duty most of all and every one of yours according to his Degree is to seek the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth and certainly there never was a time in which this Duty was more necessarily required than now Was the Discharge of the Pack of Jesuits conspiring the Ruin of Church and State with Impunity for the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth Or was the Commission which the King granted the next Day after the Writs for the Assembling the Parliament to raise Monies by Imposition in the nature of Excise to be levied throughout the Nation for the Maintenance of the Church and State And at the same time to order my Lord Treasurer to pay 30000 l. to Philip Burlemac a Dutch Merchant in London to be by him returned into the Low-Countries by Bill of Exchange to Sir William Balfour and John Dalbier for the raising of 1000 Horse with Arms both for Horse and Foot for the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth of England And also to call a Council for levying Ship-Money now he had by his own Will taken the Customs without any Grant of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Church and State I therefore judging a Parliament to be the antient speediest and best way in this time of Common Danger to give such Supply as to secure our selves and save our Friends from imminent Ruin have called you together Every Man must do according to his Conscience wherefore if you as God forbid should not do your Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs I must in Discharge of my Conscience use those other means which God has put into my hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may otherwise hazard to lose It 's certain a Parliament is the best way in time of Common Danger to give Supplies and secure the Nation from imminent Ruin the Nation being most
may be drawn into the Body of a Remonstrance and therein humbly exprest with a Prayer to his Majesty for the Safety of himself and for the Safety of the Kingdom and for the Safety of Religion that he would be pleased to give the House time to make perfect Inquisitions thereof or to take it into his own Wisdom and there give them such timely Reformation as the necessity of the Cause and his Justice does import Sir Edward Coke seconded Sir John Elliot 's Motion and propounded that a humble Remonstrance be presented to the King touching the Dangers and Means of the Safety of the King and Kingdom which was agreed to by the House and thereupon the House turned themselves into a grand Committee and the Committee for the Bill of Subsidies was ordered to expedite the said Remonstrance But this King rather than hear of what he had done did not care what he did and therefore the Speaker brought a Message from the King That his Majesty having upon the Petition exhibited by both Houses given an Answer so full of Justice and Grace for which we and our Posterity have just cause to bless his Majesty it is now time to draw to a Conclusion of the Session and therefore his Majesty thinks fit to let them know That he does resolve to abide by that Answer without further Change or Alteration and so he will Royally and Really perform unto them what he had thereby promised And further That he resolves to end this Session upon Wednesday the 11th of this Month and that this House should seriously attend those Businesses which may bring the Session to a happy Conclusion without entertaining new Matters and so to husband the time that his Majesty may with more Comfort bring them speedily together again at which time if there be any further Grievances not contained or expressed in the Petition they may be more maturely considered than the time will now permit But this did not disturb the Commons but they proceeded in their Declaration against Dr Manwaring and the same day presented it to the Lords at a Conference which was managed by Mr. Pym. The Commons impeached the Doctor upon these three Points in his Sermons of Allegiance and Religion 1. That he affirmed that the King is not bound to keep and observe the good Laws and Customs of this Realm concerning the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and that his Royal Will and Command in imposing Loans Taxes and other Aids upon his People without common Consent in Parliament does so far bind the Consciences of the Subjects of this Kingdom that they cannot refuse the same without peril of Eternal Damnation 2. That those of his Majesty's Subjects that refused the Loan did therein offend against the Law of God and against his Majesty's Supream Authority and by so doing became guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion and Disobedience and liable to many other Taxes and Censures which he in the several Parts of his Book does most falsly and maliciously lay upon them 3. That the Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies that the slow Proceedings of such Assemblies are not fit to supply the urgent Necessities of State but rather apt to produce sundry Impediments to the just Design of Princes and to give them occasion of Displeasure and Discontent Whereupon the Commons demanded Judgment against the Doctor not accounting his Submission with Tears and Grief a Satisfaction for the Offence charged upon him and the Lords gave this Sentence 1. That he should be imprisoned during the Pleasure of the House 2. That he should be fined 1000 l. to the King 3. That he should make such Submission and Acknowledgment of his Offences as shall be set down by a Committee in Writing both at this Bar and the House of Commons 4. That he shall be suspended for the Term of three Years from the Exercise of the Ministry and in the mean time a sufficient preaching Minister shall be provided to serve the Cure out of his Livings this Suspension and Provision to be done by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 5. That he shall be disabled hereafter to have any Ecclesiastical Dignity or Secular Office 6. That he shall be disabled hereafter ever to preach at Court 7. That his Book is worthy to be burnt and that for the better effecting of this his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be burnt accordingly in London both the Vniversities and for the inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great Penalty This Censure immediately succeeding Sir Elliot's Representation of Grievances startled Laud as much as Sir John's Representation did the Duke of Buckingham and the King that he might not hear of any more Business of this kind upon the 5th of June commanded the Speaker to let the House know that he will certainly hold to the day fixed for ending the Session viz. the 11th and therefore requires them that they enter not into nor proceed in any new Business which may spend greater time or which may lay any Scandal or Aspersion upon the State-Government or the Ministers thereof This put the House into a fearful Consternation whereupon the House declared That every Member of the House is free from any undutiful Speech from the beginning of the Parliament to that day and ordered the House to be turned into a Committee to consider what was to be done for the Safety of the Kingdom and that no Man go out of the House upon pain of being committed to the Tower But before the Speaker left the Chair he desired leave to go forth which the House granted Then Sir Edward Coke spake freely We have dealt with that Duty and Moderation that never was the like Rebus sic stantibus after such a Violation upon the Liberties of the Subjects let us take this to Heart In 30 Edw. 3. were they then in any doubt to name Men that mislead the King They accused John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevilâ—or â—or misadvising the King and they went to the Tower for it now when there is such a downfal of the State shall we hold our Tongues How shall we answer our Duty to God and Men 7 Hen. 4. Parl. Rot. 31 32. 11 Hen. 4. Numb 13. there the Council are complained of and removed from the King they mewed up the King and disswaded him from the common Good and why are we turned from that way we were in Why may not we name those that are the Cause of all our Evils In the 4 H. 3. 21 E. 3. 13 R. 2. the Parliament moderated the King's Prerogative and nothing grows to Abuse but this House hath Power to treat thereof What shall we do Let us palliate no longer if we do God will not prosper us I think the Duke of Bucks is the Cause of all our Miseries and till the King be informed thereof we shall neither go out with
Honour nor sit with Honour here That Man is the Grievance of Grievances let us set down the Causes of all our Disasters and all will reflect on him As for going to the Lords that is not via Regia our Liberties are now impeached we are concerned it is not via Regia the Lords are not participant with our Liberties Mr. Selden advised That a Declaration be drawn under four Heads First To express the House's dutiful Carriage to the King Secondly To tender the Liberties violated Thirdly To present what the House was to have dealt in Fourthly That that great Person viz. the Duke fearing to be questioned did interpose this Distraction All this time said he we have cast a Mantle on what was done last Parliament But now being driven again to look on that Man let us proceed with that which was then well begun and let the Charge be renewed that was last Parliament against him to which he made an Answer but the Particulars were sufficient that we may demand Judgment upon that Answer only In Conclusion the House agreed upon several Heads concerning Innovations in Religion the Safety of the King and Kingdom Misgovernment Misfortune of our late Designs with the Causes of them and when the Question was putting that it should be instanced that the Duke was the principal and chief Cause of all those Evils the Speaker came in and said that the King commands for the present that the House adjourn till to Morrow and that all Committees cease which was done accordingly And upon the 7th of June the King in Parliament passed the Petition of Right whereupon there was an universal Joy all over the City and the Commons returned to their own House with unspeakable Joy and resolved so to proceed as might express their Thankfulness and order the grand Committees for Religion Trade Grievances and Courts of Justice to sit no longer but that the House proceed only in Consideration of Grievances of most moment which was their Remonstrance to the King of the weak distracted and dangerous State of the Kingdom which was done in the most pathetick and humble manner which could be expressed and presented to the King in the Banqueting-House upon the 17th of June It 's very long and consisted of these six Branches 1. The Danger of the Innovation and Alteration of Religion This occasioned by First The great Esteem and Favour many of the Professors of the Romish Religion receive at Court Secondly Their publick Resort to Mass at Denmark-House contrary to his Majesty's Answer to the Parliament's Petition at Oxford Thirdly Letters to stay Proceedings against them Lastly The daily Growth of the Arminian Faction favoured and protected by Neal Bishop of Winchester and Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells whilst the Orthodox Party are silenced or discountenanced 2. Dangers of Innovation and Alteration in Government occasioned by Billeting Soldiers by Commission of procuring 1000 German Horse and Riders for the Defence of the Kingdom by a standing Commission granted to the Duke to be General at Land in time of Peace 3. Disasters of our Designs as the Expedition to the Isle of Rhee and that lately to Rochel wherein the English have purchased their Dishonour with the waste of a Million of Treasure 4. The Want of Ammunition occasioned by the selling 36 lasts of Gun-powder at low Rates 5. The Decay of Trade by the Loss of 300 Ships taken by the Dunkirkers and other Pirates within the three last Years 6. The not guarding the narrow Seas whereby his Majesty has almost lost the Regality Here note That none of these except Billeting of Soldiers which was yet continued were contained in the Petition of Right Of all which Evil and Dangers the principal Cause is the Duke of Buckingham his excessive Power and Abuse of that Power and therefore humbly submit it to his Majesty's Wisdom whether it can be safe for himself and Kingdom that so great Power should be trusted in the hands of any one Subject whatsoever It 's observable how cross the King set himself against the Commons in this Remonstrance for in the last Parliament when the Commons impeached the Duke and the Earl of Bristol exhibited Articles against him the King ordered the Attorney-General to exhibit an Information against the Duke in the Star-Chamber for the great Misdemeanours and Offences complained of against him by the Commons and Earl thereby to have stopt their Proceeding against the Duke in Parliament as he would have taken the Earl's Cause out of Parliament and proceeded against him by Indictment But the King hearing of this Remonstrance of the Commons against the Duke the Day before the Commons presented it viz. upon the 16th of June caused the Attorney-General to take the said Information and all the Proceedings to be taken off the File for that his Majesty was fully satisfied of the Duke's Innocency in all those things mentioned in the Information as well by his own certain Knowledg as by the Proofs taken in the Cause This was the first Fruit the Parliament and Nation reaped by the Petition of Right Now let 's see the next and whether the Commons deserved such a Censure as the King made upon them at the Prorogation of the Parliament After the Commons had presented a Remonstrance of their other Grievances to the King they then took into Consideration the preparing a Bill for granting his Majesty a Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage as might uphold the King's Profit and Revenue in as ample a manner as their just Care and Respect of Trade would permit But this being a Work of Time and would require much Time and Conference with Merchants and others and being often interrupted by Messages from the King and the Shortness of Time limited by the King for concluding this Sessions and fearing the King might be misinformed of this Particular they were forced by the Duty which they owed to his Majesty to declare That there ought not any Imposition to be laid upon Goods of Merchants exported or imported without Common Consent by Act of Parliament For Manifestation whereof they desired his Majesty to understand That tho the Kings of this Realm had often Subsidies granted them upon divers Occasions especially for guarding the Seas and Safeguard of Merchants yet the Subjects have been ever careful to use such Cautions and Limitations in these Grants that they did proceed not from Duty but the free Gift of the Subjects and that heretofore they used to limit a time for such Grants and for the most part but short as for a Year or two and at other times it has been granted upon occasion of War with Proviso that if the War ended in the mean time then the Grant should cease and of course it has been sequestred into the hand of some Subject to be employed for Guarding of the Seas very few of the King's Predecessors had it for Life until the Reign of Hen. VII who was so far from conceiving he had any Right
leaving a Horse alive still in hopes of the Relief promised from England they held out so long till but 4000 of 15000 were left alive most of them died of Famine and when they began to be pinch'd with Extremity of Hunger they died so fast that they usually carried their Coffins into the Church-yard and other Places and therein laid themselves and died great Numbers of them being unburied and many Corps eaten with Vermin Ravens and Birds when the French Army entred the Town The Outrages committed against the Reformed Churches in France were so high as constrained them to implore King Charles his Aid in these Expressions That what they wrote was with their Tears and Blood But how unhappy soever this Prince's Fate was in War abroad yet it had been happy for him if he had not made his Fate worse at home and now let us see what Steps he made towards it even in this short Recess of the Parliament's Meeting Upon the 15th of July the King made Sir Richard Weston who died a declared Papist Lord Treasurer of England and the same Day translated Laud the Firebrand of the Arminian Faction to the Bishoprick of London whose next Step was Arch-bishop of Canterbury who that he might testify his Zeal to this Cause which after set all these Nations on Fire got Richard Mountague to be consecrated Bishop of Chichester the 24th of August following This Mountague was fierce for Arminianism and wrote a Book call'd A new Gag for an old Goose for which he was questioned in the Parliament of 23 Jac. and the Cause was committed to Arch-bishop Abbot which then ended in an Admonition and though the Arch-bishop disallowed the Book and sought to suppress it yet it was reprinted and dedicated to King Charles under the Title of Appello Caesarem Hereupon the Commons 1 Car. questioned Mountague for this and gave Thanks to the Arch-bishop for what he had done but this displeased the King who took the Business out of the Commons Hands but they had taken Bond of Mountague to appear I desire to be more particular herein because Arminianism was not only turn'd up Trump for the flattering Clergy to play their Game but for the Popish Party to undermine the Church of England as it was established by Law and the Canons Doctrine and Homilies of it and now Mountague's Cause was recommended to the Duke of Buckingham by the Bishops of Rochester Oxford and Laud Bishop of St. Davids as the Cause of the Church of England Thus this Cause stood when the King dissolved the first Parliament the 12th of August 1625. But the King's Necessities as he managed Business forcing him to call another before assembled Laud procured the Duke to sound the King whether he would leave Mountague to a Trial in Parliament which the King intended to do whereupon this pious Man Laud said I seem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God of his Mercy dissipate it Note that all those who were not of this Faction of Arminianism were stiled by them Puritans these Mountague treats with bitter Railing and injurious Speeches and inserts divers passages in his Appeal dishonourable to King James the Commons therefore prayed that the said Mountague might be exemplarily punished and his Books supprest and burnt Yet this is the Saint that Laud in the first Act of his Regency as it may be called after he became Bishop of London must have made Bishop of Chichester and after Bishop of Norwich But this is observable that while Neal and Laud were consecrating Mountague News came of the Duke's being stabb'd This was the first step after Laud's Preferment the next was a Pardon for Mountague and Manwaring of all Errors by speaking writing and printing and you cannot believe that Laud would be less kind to Manwaring than to Mountague and therefore notwithstanding Manwaring's Censure he procured Manwaring the fat Rectory of Stamford Rivers in Essex and a Dispensation to hold it with the Rectory of St. Giles in the Fields That you may see the Kindness of this Bishop of London to our Laws in the very Infancy of his Power When Felton was brought before the Lords of the Council for murdering the Duke Laud threatned Felton with the Rack unless he would confess his Inducement for murdering the Duke but the King then in Council refused till the Judges were consulted and said if it could be done by Law he would not use his Prerogative but though the Judges determined he could not be put to the Rack by Law the King was graciously pleased not to use his Prerogative yet this was no thanks to the Bishop of London Now let 's see the Fruits of the Petition of Right and the manifold-Declarations of the King for maintaining the Laws of the Land and the just Rights and Liberties of the Subject but here you may understand that though he had taken the Customs not granted by Parliament yet by virtue of his Prerogative Royal he had enhanced the Rates such as were never granted by any Parliament and declared it his absolute Will and Pleasure besides that of Wines that the 2 s. and 2 d. Duties upon every Hundred of Currants by the Book of Rates should be advanced to 5 s. and 6 d. in the Hundred The first that suffer'd under the King 's absolute Will and Pleasure was Mr. Chambers who was committed by the Lords of the Council this Michaelmass-Term and was bailed by the Court of King's-Bench for which the Judges were check'd having done it without due Respect to the Privy-Council Next Mr. Vassal's Goods were seized for not paying the 5 s. 6 d. upon every hundred pound Weight of Currants upon which the Attorney General Sir Robert Heath exhibited an Information against him in the Exchequer to which Mr. Vassal pleaded the Statute De Tallagio non concedendo and that this was neither Antiqua seu Recta Consuetudo to which the Attorney demurred and Mr. Vassal joined in the Demurrer but the Court would not hear Mr. Vassal's Counsel and said the King was in Possession and they would keep him so and imprisoned Mr. Vassal for not paying the Duty thus imposed About the same time the said Mr. Chambers's Goods were seized by the Customers for not paying such Customs as were demanded by the Farmers Mr. Chambers sues a Writ of Replevin the Barons grant an Injunction against it Mr. Chambers offers to give Security for Payment of such Duties as the Court should direct which the Court refused unless he should pay such Customs as demanded by the Farmers which Chambers refusing the Court ordered the Officers to detain double the Value of Chambers's Goods demanded by them The same Course was taken with Mr. Rolls's Goods though a Parliament-Man one of the Commissioners saying Privilege of Parliament extended only to Persons not Goods another more boldly told Mr. Rolls if all the Parliament were in you we would take your Goods These Proceedings so ill sorting with the Petition
see what Fruits the Petition of Right passed but the Year before had and the King 's repeated Declarations to maintain the Laws of the Land and the Liberty and Property of the Subject But if this Prince has not kept his Word for the time past he will keep it he says for the time to come in the Declaration he made for the Dissolution of this last Parliament I do not find the Date of it yet it begins with the usual Prologue However Princes are not bound to give an account of their Actions but only to God In this the King says nothing of the Eyes of all Christendom being upon him but tells how the Aids granted this last Parliament were for Payment of his Fleet and Army and that with part of those Monies he began to supply his Magazines and Stores and to put his Navy into a constant Form and Order and that notwithstanding the Provocations of evil Men whose Punishment he reserves to a due time he will maintain the Established Religion and Doctrine of the Church of England and the antient and just Rights and Liberties of the Subject Yet as he will maintain the Subjects Rights so he expects that they yield as much Submission and Duty to his Royal Prerogative and as ready Obedience to his Authority and Command as had been performed to any of his Predecessors Then wills his Ministers not to be terrified by the harsh Proceedings strained against them for as he will support them by his Authority and Prerogative so he expects they should obey him and that he will receive the Customs and the Duty of Five in the 100 and if any factious Merchants refuse to pay they shall be assured he will find honourable and just means to support his Estate and Soveraignty and preserve the Authority God had put into his Hands and for this his Subjects ought to acknowledg their own Blessedness and for the same to be thankful to God the Author of all Goodness For this you must take the Prince's Word for the next twelve Years But being thus great and happy at Home let 's see what is doing Abroad The War against France was not more inconsiderately begun about two Years before than the Peace made with it was secret The first time it was made known was when the French King besieged Privas he proclaimed the Peace with his good Brother of England The Reformed were astonished and confounded that the King of England who brought them into the War should leave them out of the Peace Hereupon Privas surrenders so does Castres and Nismes the great Rohan is forced to submit and disband The Power of the Reformed thus rooted up and while the King of England is making War against the Members of Parliament Richlieu marches with an Army into Italy and takes Salusses and Pignerol from the Duke of Savoy Richlieu having thus secured the King of England took no less care that the Empire should not put a stop to the swelling Ambition of his Master and to this purpose enters into a Confederacy with the Protestant Princes of Germany to call the King of Sweden in to Germany who next Year entred into it where for eighteen Years the French Protestant Princes joining the Swede a most dreadful War was raised all over Germany so as the French had no cause to fear any Danger thence on the contrary they took Brisac and other Places and had opportunity to wrest Lorain from that Duke But King Charles prospering as he thought in his Domestick War having taken more Prisoners in it I mean the Members of Parliament and Constables of Hertfordshire than his Father and he had done in all their Wars against France Spain and the Empire for the recovery of the Palatinate was very unwilling to enter into a Foreign and therefore in a kind of petitioning way sends Sir Henry Vane his Ambassador to the King of Sweden to take care of the Patrimony of his Brother but with no better Success yet in a more rough scornful and dishonourable manner than his Father's Ambassadors had with the Emperor But that he might seem to do something the King sent Marquess Hamilton with 6000 Men to assist the Swede who tho every-where else victorious yet this Army under Hamilton had worse Success than that under Mansfield being starved and mouldred away almost to nothing and yet fought not at all and being reduced to two Regiments the King of Sweden would not permit King Charles to name the Officers See Whitlock's M. f. 15. and Franklin's Anno 1630. The ill Success of Hamilton's Army put the King out of all Conceit of prosecuting any Foreign War and therefore wholly makes it his Business to make himself more Absolute at Home There is but one Rub in the way viz. the great Prop of the Church the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Abbot a Prelate of most eminent Learning whose upright Integrity stood as an unshaken Rock against the Innovations both in Church and State which were now so fiercely push'd on by the Arminians I find but little Action in this Year 1631 things were only preparing to what followed yet altho Arch-bishop Abbot was living the Torrent run so high in the University of Oxford that several of the Members were proceeded against and censured for Sermons preach'd against Arminianism and expell'd the University and the Book of Sports and Pastimes upon the Lord's-day was republished Judg Richardson was so hardy as to repress them but the Bishops took this as an intruding upon the Ecclesiastical Power and Bishop Laud complained thereof to the King and the Judg was check'd for it See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 16 17. But in the Year 1632 this Reverend Prelate died and thereby left room for Laud the Fire-brand of Arminianism to take Possession Before we see what follows let 's look back upon what went before He being of a restless aspiring Temper in the beginning of King James his Reign got to be Chaplain to Mountjoy Earl of Devonshire and to shew he would be great upon any account he marries the Earl to the Lady Rich tho her Husband was then alive and had many Children by her viz. Robert then Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Holland which Act so displeased King James that the Earl fell into his Displeasure and tho Laud hanker'd near twenty Years after the Court to get Preferment principally under the Countenance of Neal Bishop of Winchester yet the King would never endure to hear of it But at last by the Importunity of Neal and others Williams Bishop of Lincoln and Lord-Keeper was prevailed upon to intercede for him without any Success till at length the Keeper told the King It would be hard to serve a King who could not forgive one Fault At last he got the King to prefer Laud to the Bishoprick of St. Davids but he had not been scarce one Year in his Bishoprick before he became Williams his bitter Enemy and Prosecutor as you may read in the second Part
Protestation wherein they Promise Vow and Protest in the Presence of God to maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Power and Privilege of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union and Peace between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but herein was the Difference between the Scots and English the Scots would improve their Covenant and establish it in England but the English scarce ever after care for their Protestation However the Commons prevail with the Lords to take it and then impose it upon the Nation upon the Penalty of being deemed Malignants and Disaffected The King little pleased with what he had done and less with what the Houses had done without him follows the Scots into Scotland and there cajoles the Covenanters with all Courtship imaginable makes Lesley the Scots General Earl of Leven and confers other Honours upon the Covenanters calls a Parliament and consents to the Extirpation of the Hierarchy and establishes Presbytery as fully as the Kirk of Scotland could desire The Scots at present promise all Duty and Obedience to him but how well the King found it in a short time will appear Whilst the King was thus busied in Scotland a horrible and hellish Massacre was perpetrated in Ireland by the Irish upon the English wherein it 's computed above 200000 Protestants Men Women and Children were butcher'd after which followed an universal Rebellion excepting in Dublin Londonderry and Inniskillen which was headed by the Pope's Nuncio a most proper Head for such a Body Yet so intent were the Factions in England and Scotland in establishing their Designs that little care was had of the miserable Relicks of the Protestants in Ireland It appears evident to me that Richlieu's Scarlet was deep dy'd in the Blood of the poor English in this Massacre for these Reasons 1. That the Scots who at this time were Pensioners to France were not medled with in their Lives and Fortunes as you may see in Sir Richard Baker f. 315. a b. 2. The King being in Scotland when he heard of the Massacre of the English and Rebellion of the Irish he moved the Parliament of Scotland then sitting for a speedy Relief to the English which they refus'd And it 's strangely observable That tho the Massacre and Rebellion in Ireland brake out the 23d of October yet the King did not proclaim them Rebels till the first of January and then by Proclamation gave a strict Command that no more than forty of them should be printed and that none of them should be published till his Majesty's Pleasure was further signified Upon the King's going into Scotland the Parliament prorogued themselves to a certain Day But the Commons appointed a Committee to prepare Business against their next Meeting yet send Spies to observe all the King's Actions and after the King 's Return to London which was upon the 25th of November 1641 the House of Commons upon the 5th of December make a Remonstrance of all the King's Miscarriages abroad and of the Grievances and Illegalities of his Ministers at home from the beginning of his Reign and that the King might be sure to see it as well as hear of it they print and publish it The King not being used to such Language was stung to the quick by the Commons Declaration and to retaliate it in Act upon the third of January enters the House of Commons and demands five of their Members to be tried for High Treason for holding Correspondence with the Scots Than which he could not have done a more imprudent Act for by it he unravelled all that he had done in Scotland by involving the Scots in the same Crime But the Members had their Agents in the King 's most secret Councils and had notice of the King 's coming before and so the five Members were withdrawn This Act of the King did not only set the House in a Flame and put the City into Tumults but brought Petitions from Buckingham-shire where Mr. Hambden one of the Five Members was Knight that the Privileges of Parliament might be secured and Delinquents brought to condign Punishment All this while poor Ireland lay bleeding The King as unstable in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions retracts all he had done and promises not to do so again But to no purpose for the Members resolve not to trust his Royal Word Prerogative and absolute Will and Pleasure and therefore will tear the Power of the Militia from him Rather than suffer this tho upon the Pretence of Tumults the King resolves to leave London But before the King left London my Lord Mayor Sir Richard Gurney Sir George Whitmore Sir Henry Garoway and other principal Citizens waited upon the King and engaged if he would stay they would guard him with 10000 Men if occasion were and told him If he went he would leave the City open for the Members to do as they pleased and that they were sure to be first undone the King told them he was resolved Then Sir Henry Garoway said Sir I shall never see you again However his Eldest Son Mr. William Garoway a worthy Gentleman who yet lives went with the King and followed him in all his Wars The worthy Citizens proved true Prophets for soon after the King left London the Members imprisoned my Lord Mayor Sir Henry Garoway Sir George Whitmore and all others whom they suspected would be faithful to the King and then in London began to assume the Power of the Militia After the King left London he went to York and from thence went towards Hull but is shut out of the Town by Sir John Hotham whom the King proclaims Traitor and now before it came to Sword and Pistol Men began a War with their Pens And herein it is observable that the Writers for the King chiefly maintained his Cause out of Sir Coke's Pleas of the Crown which by Order of the King's Council was upon Sir Edward's Death-Bed seized as dangerous and seditious and I do not find any who wrote for the Parliament ever used any one Topick out of it to justify their Cause tho it and Sir Edward's other Books of the Comment upon Magna Charta and Jurisdiction of Courts were printed by Order of the House of Commons and by them petitioned that the King would deliver the Originals to Sir Robert Coke Sir Edward's Heir Whilst things were in this Hurly-burly in England Portugal and Catalonia revolt from the Spaniard which as it was a mighty Blow to Spain so it much conduced to the Advancing the Designs of Cardinal Richlieu in France In England things could not hold long at this Stay but upon the 22d of August the King comes to Nottingham and hastily sets up his Standard there and invites all his loving Subjects to come to his Assistance against the Rebels
Never was Nation shuffled into such unhappy Circumstances for to join the King was to return to his Prerogative Royal and Absolute Will and Pleasure and I have oft heard several of those who followed the King in the War say They as much dreaded the King's overcoming the Parliament-Party as they feared to be overcome by them And the Houses had broken the Fundamental Constitution of the Nation so as no Man could tell where they would stay Now are things brought to that pass Richlieu design'd them viz. England and Ireland in Civil Wars and Scotland Pensioners to France so as he might now securely carry on his Designs of advancing the Grandeur of France without any Fear of Disturbance from hence And now you may see the miserable Condition the King's Minions and Favourites had brought upon the King and all his Kingdoms Yet it is observable how great the Loyalty of the Nobility and Gentry was to the King that from so low Beginnings in all Appearance they would have subdued the Parliament-party if the Scots next Year had not come to their Assistance whereas in the Reigns of Edward the 2d and Richard the 2d though the Grievances of the Nation were more in one Year of this King's Reign than in both their Reigns yet both were expelled and lost their Lives their Subjects not drawing a Sword in their Defence An Apology BEfore we enter upon the War between the King and Parliament it will not be amiss to enquire into the Causes of it and who first began it and whether the King or Parliament or both designed it And I am the rather induced hereto because I am told that I have unjustly charged the Parliament with beginning the War and that the contrary appears by a Treatise written by Tho. May Esq of the Causes and Beginning of the Civil Wars in England So that the Question between us is not who first designed the War but who began it But because Designations and Intentions precede Action I will begin so far as appears to me Whether the King or Parliament first designed this War or whether it were not intended by both And give me leave to shew a little of Mr. May's Partiality in the Business I say Mr. May is partial where page 13 he says after the Pacification made with the Scots 1639 that when the King came to London his Heart was again estranged from the Scots and Thoughts of Peace he commanded by Proclamation that Paper which the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of the Pacification to be disavowed and burnt by the Hands of the common Hangman So that he makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Case without mentioning the Articles of the Pacification or what the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of it We will therefore set forth the Articles of the Pacification and let another Judg whether the Scots observed them or had any Thoughts of Peace The Articles were 1. The Forces of Scotland to be disbanded within 24 Hours after the Agreement 2. The King's Castles Ammunition c. to be delivered up 3. His Ships to depart after the Delivery of the Castles 4. All Persons Ships and Goods detained by the King to be restored 5. No Meetings Treaties or Consultations to be by the Scots but such as shall be warranted by Act of Parliament 6. All Fortifications to desist and be remitted to the King's Pleasure 7. To restore to every Man their Liberties Lands Houses Goods and Means The Articles were signed by the Scots Commissioners and a present Performance of them on their Parts promised and expected The King justly performed the Articles on his part but the Scots kept part of their Forces in being and all their Officers in pay and the Covenanters kept up their Fortification at Leith and their Meetings and Councils and inforce Subscriptions to the late Assembly at Glasgow contrary to the King's Declaration they brand those who had taken Arms for the King as Incendiaries and Traitors and null all the Acts of the College of Justice as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs f. 29. So that tho the King performed all the Articles of Pacification on his Part the Scots performed not one on their Part. Nor did the Scots stay here but published a Paper very seditious against the Treaty which is that which Mr. May speaks of I do not find the Copy of it but even Mr. Whitlock no great Friend to the King's Cause calls it so Nor did the Scots stay here but levied Taxes at ten Marks per Cent. and made Provision for Arms as you may read in Sir Baker's History f. 408. and more at large in the second part of Rushworth's Collections and all this before the King commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the Common Hangman And therefore the King justly commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the common Hangman And Mr. May says The honest People of both Nations began to fear another War But why does Mr. May say the honest People began to fear another War Was it honest in the Scots to break all the Articles of the Pacification to keep their Forces in a Body and their Officers in Pay contrary to the Pacification to raise Taxes and make Provision of Arms and after all these honest Men to begin to fear another War Mr. May goes on and says The King in December told the Council he intended to call a Parliament in England in April following But rational Men did not like it that it was deferred so long and that the Preparations for a War in Scotland went on in the mean time The last part is gratis dictum by Mr. May nor does he mention any Preparation for a War in any one particular nor do I find this said by any other But admit the King had made Preparation for a War with Scotland yet by all Laws of God and Man the King might justly have done it after the Scots had broken all the Articles of Pacification kept an Army on foot against it levied Taxes by their own Authority and made Provision of Arms without the King's Authority which besides the Perfidiousness of the Scots is Treason in the highest degree And I would be glad to be informed by what other means the King could vindicate his Honour or relieve his oppressed Subjects otherwise than by a War Mr. May goes on and says They these rational Men were likewise troubled that the Earl of Strafford Deputy of Ireland a Man of deep Policy but suspected Honesty one whom the King then used as a bosom Counsellor was first to go into Ireland and call a Parliament in that Kingdom And what then Why might not the King call a Parliament in Ireland as well as in England or Scotland And if these rational Men did not like it as he says that a Parliament should be deferred so long in England why should these rational Men be so troubled that the King
should call a Parliament in Ireland Nor does Mr. May give any Reason why they should be so troubled Besides Mr. May says The King at that time had broken up the Parliament in Scotland which the Scots complained of the Business of State depending as a great Breach of their Liberties and against the Laws of that Kingdom So here again Mr. May makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Cause and is not ingenuous in thus charging the King at random and not shewing what Business of State was then depending It 's fit therefore to shew what Business of State was then depending before Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled at the King 's breaking up the Parliament The Scots having as before said violated all the Articles of Pacification on their part and persecuted the Loyal Scots expresly contrary to the Pacification as Incendiaries and Traitors levied Taxes provided Ammunition of War and kept an Army on foot The Parliament over and above these formed these Demands to be made to the King 1. That Coin be not medled with but by Advice in Parliament 2. That no Stranger be to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's but by their Advice 3. That no Honour be granted to any Stranger but such as have a competency of Land-Rent in Scotland 4. No Commissioner or Lieutenancy but for a limited time And next they protest against the Precedency of the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal as not warranted by any positive Law See Baker 408. These were the Businesses of State which Mr. May speaks of which added to what the Scots usurped before I would know what Regality would be left for the King and a Reason why Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled for the King 's dissolving the Parliament Mr. May drives on and says Upon which they sent some Lords into England to intreat the King for a Redress of such Injuries as they had received since the Pacification which were that the Parliament was broken up before any Business done If they made it their Business to divest the King as they did of his Rightful Regalities the King had reason therefore to break them up That Edinburgh Castle was garison'd with far more Soldiers than was needful So here the Scots are Parties and Judges in their own Cause and you need not doubt but that so many Soldiers as shall be able to defend the Castle shall be judged by the Scots to be more than is needful That Dunbritton Castle was garison'd by English Soldiers And why might not the King do it for the English as well as Scots were his Subjects But I dare say if these had been the honest rational English-men May speaks of neither he nor the Scots would ever have complain'd of it That the Scots which traded to England and Ireland sure they mean Pedlars prohibited by Law were enforced to take new Oaths contrary to their Covenant and altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification Whereas their Covenant is a new Oath contrary to their Allegiance And if there were any such new Oaths why do neither the Scots nor Mr. May name them or if any such were imposed that was so far from being altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification that I say they were not contrary to any one Article of the Pacification unless the Scots or Mr. May could make new Articles of Pacification and other than those before mentioned The King Mr. May says imprisoned those Lords sending one of them the Earl of Lowden to the Tower and commanded a Charge of High Treason to be drawn against him concerning a Letter which the Scotish Covenanters had written to the King of France French King had been as well for his Assistance and Lowden had subscribed it But the Accusation was frivolous easily answered and came to nothing because these Letters were not sent at all and besides it was before the Pacification upon which an Oblivion of all things were agreed So here are two impertinent and frivolous Answers to excuse a most treasonable and rebellious Conspiracy to bring in a foreign Power into Scotland for it was subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesley Marre Montgomery Lowden and Forrester under the Title of Au Roy or our King to Lewis 13. The first is That those Letters were not sent at all because they were intercepted by the Earl of Traquair the King's Commissioner in Scotland If Mr. May had not been a Christian yet the very Heathen by the Light of Humane Nature could have informed him that Scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum Facti Crimen habet And if Conspiracies of Rebellion and Treason against Princes shall be esteemed frivolous unless they evade into Actions Princes and States too would be in a very unsecure state and all Counsel and Endeavours to prevent them would be vain and frivolous and I say here was a double Overt-Act in this Conspiracy one the Conspirators Meeting the other the Subscribing the Paper The other Answer That the Pacification was after the Subscription and so there was an Oblivion upon it But the Pacification was reciprocal between the King and Scots and if the Scots first broke the Pacification as they did let them take all that followed and therefore the King had no Reason to perform his Part nor the Scots to complain if the King had hanged and quartered Lowden The War Mr. May says p. 16. went on the Earl of Strafford commanding in Chief the Earl of Northumberland not being in Health who was appointed General But if Mr. May had been ingenuous and impartial he should have told on which Side the War began which he does not but only says the Scots had not been backward for having been debarred of their Trade and lost their Ships by Seizure they entred England with an Army expressing their Intentions in writing to the English and bringing with them a Petition to the King Admit all this to be true the Scots should first have represented this to the King and what was their Loss by being debarred of their Trade and the Value of their Ships so seized and upon Denial to have granted Letters of Reprizal till they had recovered Satisfaction but of this Mr. May says not one Word nor do I find or believe the Scots ever did demand Satisfaction before they entred England in open Hostility and in Defiance of the King and English Nation and for the Manner of bringing their Petition to the King it was without Precedent or such as never was done by any other People for they entred England and maintained their Army by Plunder and Rapine upon the English and when Lesley came to Newborn upon Tine he craves leave of my Lord Conway ordered by the King to guard the Pass there to pass with his Petition to the King which my Lord Conway granted with a considerable Number but not with his Army Hereupon Lesley who had the Night before planted nine Pieces of Cannon on
Name originally was not Cromwel but Williams and the Name of Cromwel was by this Accident When Cromwel Earl of Essex fell in the Reign of Hen. 8. he had Cromwel's Ancestor in his Service who was a Person of lively Parts and industrious in Business which Hen. 8. observing took him into his Sereice but upon all occasions call'd him Cromwel and the King being ask'd the Reason answer'd He call'd him so in Cromwel's time and would continue to call him so still and this continued down to Sir Oliver's and our Cromwel's time Our Oliver being of a turbulent and aspiring Disposition his Father 's contracted Fortunes could not support his Extravagancies whereby he was like to have fallen into those Troubles which usually attend such Follies and to prevent them he sets up for New-England where he becomes a most zealous Promoter of their Cause But this could not long continue him there for in their first planting themselves they were poor so as he could not find Means and Opportunity to support his Extravagancies and so back he came again into England About the Year 1638 the Undertakers to drain the Fen-Lands in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely set up this Undertaking was mainly opposed by the Town of Cambridg fearing it would spoil their Navigation between Cambridg and Lyn-Regis whence Cambridg was supplied with Sea-Coal Wine and other Provisions When the Writs were issued out for calling the second Parliament in 1640 Oliver sets up to be chosen Burgess for the Town of Cambridg assuring them that if he were chosen he would make it his Business to overthrow the Project of draining the Fens But tho by this Project he got to be chosen yet after he became Protector he most industriously promoted the Project of draining the Fens But tho Cromwel was of a turbulent and aspiring Spirit yet before the Civil Wars broke out in England he was not conversant in any Military Discipline nor indeed of any other Learning or just or lawful Calling His Person was of a robust and coarse Complexion his Face red so was his Nose I fancy like the Roman General Sylla's great and straked with blew Veins In promoting his Cause and Interest he was most industrious and indefatigable These Qualities were observed and feared by some both of the King 's and Parliament's Party before they came to be publickly known and put in Execution I 'll give an Instance or two hereof When the King summoned the Members of Parliament of his Party to meet at Oxford in January last Williams Arch-bishop of York was likewise summoned with whom the King privately consulted what Course was best to be taken in the present Circumstances of his Affairs the Arch-bishop advised him by all means to come to an Agreement with the Parliament for since the Scots were come into England in such numerous Armies and the English of the Parliament's Party in these two last Years having acquired a Military Knowledg it would in all appearance be impossible for the King long to withstand their Forces but above all he advised the King to get Cromwel over to his side if possible otherways to take him off by any means or he would be the King's Ruin as you may read more at large in the second Part of the Bishop of Litchfield's Life of Williams Nor was Cromwel less terrible to the Earl of Essex and the Scots Commissioners than to the King's Party so that one Evening the Earl and several of his Confidents viz. Mr. Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir John Meyrick and others with the Scots Commissioners were in Consultation how to get rid of Cromwel and sent to Serjeant Whitlock and Maynard about it who came and Essex told them that he sent for them to have their Advice and Counsel upon a Matter of great Importance concerning both Kingdoms in which the Lords Commissioners of Scotland are concerned for their Kingdom as we for ours and they as well as we know your Abilities and Integrity and are desirous of your Counsel in this great Business which both the Serjeants promised faithfully to give But here take notice That as the English Parliament call'd those who were opposite to them Malignants so the Scots call'd those opposite to them Incendiaries At the Desire of Essex the Chancellor of Scotland Lowden spake as followeth Mr. Maynard and Mr. Whitlock I Can assure you of the great Opinion both my Brethren and self have of your Worth and Abilities else we should not have desired this Meeting with you And since it is his Excellency's Essex his Pleasure that I should acquaint you with the Matter upon whilk your Counsel is desired I shall obey his Commands and briefly recite the Business to you You ken vary wee le that Gen. Lieutenant Cromwel is no Friend of ours and since the Advance of our Army into England he has used all under-hand and cunning Means to take off from our Honour and the Merits of this Kingdom an evil Requital of all our Hazards and Services but so it is and we are nevertheless fully satisfied of the Affections and Gratitude of the gude People of the Nation in general It is thought requisite for us and for carrying on the Cause of the twa Kingdoms that this Obstacle or Remora be removed out of the way whom we foresee will be no small Impediment to us in the gude Design we have undertaken He not only is no Friend to us and the Government of our Church but he is also no well-willer to his Excellency whom you and we have all Cause to love and honour and if he be permitted to go on this way it may I fear endanger the whole Business therefore we are to advise of some Course to be taken for Prevention of this Mischief You ken vary wee le the Accord betwixt the twa Nations and the Vnion by the solemn League and Covenant and if any be an Incendiary between the twa Nations how he is to be proceeded against Now the Matter is wherein we desire your Opinions what you take the meaning of the Word Incendiary to be and whether the Lieutenant General be not sike an Incendiary as is meant thereby and whilk Way wad be best to proceed against him if he be proved sike an Incendiary and that we may clepe his Wings from soaring to the Prejudice of our Case Now you may ken That by our Law in Scotland we clepe him an Incendiary wha kindleth Coals of Contention and raiseth Differences in the State to the Publick Damage and he is Tanquam Publicus Hostis Patriae Whether your Law be the same or not you ken best who are mickle learned therein and therefore we desire your Judgment in these Points Mr. Whitlock answered first and after a short Preface said The Sense of the Word Incendiary is the same with us as your Lordship has expressed to be by the Law of Scotland One that raiseth the Fire of Contention in a State that kindleth burning hot Flames
Lesley gave all for lost But the Prince as he did before at Edghill pursuing the Enemy too far gave an Opportunity to Sir Thomas Fairfax to rally his Men and joining with Cromwel's Regiment of Lobsters armed with Pot Back and Brest fell upon the Right Wing of the King's Army and routed them and also the rest of the King's Foot destitute of Horse and obtain'd a compleat Victory In this Fight above 7000 were slain 3000 of the King's part taken Prisoners and 25 Ordnance 47 Colours 10000 Arms two Waggons laden with Carabines and Pistols 130 Barrels of Powder with all the Bag and Baggage After this the Parliament's Generals returned to the Siege of York and summoned it which was delivered up to them by Sir Thomas Glenham and the Marquess of Newcastle went beyond Sea Thus was all the North reduced to the Parliament by the fatal Rashness of the Prince who might have avoided the Fight and joined with the Marquess of Montross and Col. Clavering who were with 6000 Foot within two Days march of him The North thus subdued upon the Matter Essex by the Perswasion of my Lord Roberts marches into the West but a different Fate attended him For the King followed him and joining with Prince Maurice followed Essex into Cornwal where he block'd up all the Avenues so as Essex must either fight or be starv'd but in regard that the King had possest himself of all the Passages Essex could not fight without an apparent Hazard of the Loss of his Army However Sir William Balfour with 2300 Horse brake through the King's Army and got to Salt-Ash and from thence to Plimouth which held for the Parliament Now were the Parliament's Foot in a wretched State the King closely pursuing them and the Countrey People rising upon them Hereupon Essex deserts them and with divers of his Officers by Sea got to Plimouth leaving Skippon to take care of the rest who upon the 2d of September capitulated to deliver up to the King all their Artillery with all the Bag and Baggage no Person under a Corporal to wear any kind of Weapon all Officers above to wear only Sword and Pistol And so Skippon marched to Pool which was in the Parliament's Power The Ill Success of Essex in this Expedition was the Cause of Essex his Fall tho the Parliament at present seemed to be otherwise disposed and of the Rise of Cromwel as we shall observe Whilst these things were doing in the North and West other Actions of less Consequence happened Sir Thomas Middleton having taken Mountgomery-Castle the King's Forces advanced in a much greater Body to retake it whereupon Sir Thomas retreated But being joined with Sir William Brereton Sir John Meldrum a Scot and Sir William Fairfax returned and charged the King's Party and took Prisoner M. G. Broughton Lt. Col. Bludwel M. Williams nine Captains many inferiour Officers and 1500 common Soldiers Of the Parliament's Party Sir William Fairfax was slain with Eleven Wounds Maj. Fitz-Symons and about 40 Souldiers and 60 wounded Monmouth Town and Castle were surprized by Massey with the Loss only of Six Men. Lieut. Gen. Lesley in the North fell upon the Forces commanded by Sir Philip Musgrave kill'd divers upon the Place and took 100 Prisoners My Lord Herbert Son of the Earl of Worcester was beaten by Massey who killed 50 and took 60 Prisoners and Massey fell upon a Party of the King 's near Beachy killed 70 and took 170 Prisoners and Col. Charles Fleetwood took two Troops of the King's Horse near Belvoir Castle From these lesser Actions we now advance to tell of Greater The Parliament's Army every where victorious in the North Lesley had now an Opportunity to return to New-Castle which he summoned to yield which being refused he stormed and took it by Force whereupon Sir John Marlay the Mayor and others fled to the Castle and would have capitulated but were denied and so were forced to surrender at Discretion But how successful soever the Parliament's Forces were in the North after the Fight at Marslon-Moor the King reaped but little after the Parliament's Foot had delivered up their Arms in the West for Essex having joined Manchester and Waller resolved to hinder the King's Return to Oxford and upon the 23d of October rendezvouz'd the Army at Aldermaston-Park and next Night privately passed the Water at a Ford near Padworth and next Morning to Bucklebury-Heath near Newberry where the King then was and about 12 a Clock drew down their whole Army between Thatcham and Shaw and skirmished with the King's Horse Manchester's Troops and the London Train'd-Bands crossed the River Kennet between Newberry and the Hill and forced the King's Party which kept the Pass from thence with some Execution but Sir Bernard Astley Son of Sir Jacob or the Lord Astley coming to their Rescue forced the Parliamentarians back again In the Afternoon 4000 of Essex and Waller's Horse and Dragoons with 500 Foot charged the King's Forces on the West of Newberry and forced them to retreat in some Disorder and some of the King's Field-Pieces were taken Essex followed the Success and charged the King's Life-Guard whom he overpowered and had much more endamaged if the Lord Bernard Stuart had not come to their Assistance and secured their Retreat but the Parliamentarians every way advancing beat the King's Army out of the Field with the Loss of many Colours and two Pieces of Cannon Sir Anthony St. Leger Lieutenant-Colonel Leak Lieutenant-Colonel Topping and Captain Catclyne elder Brother of Sir Nevil Catclyne my worthy Friend were killed and the Earl of Cleveland and some few others taken Prisoners If the King's Affairs succeeded so ill in the West they did worse in the North for Leverpool submitted to the Parliament and Lesley had Tinmouth-Castle a Place which hereafter he shall be better acquainted with tho not in the Quality of a General of an Army but a Prisoner surrender'd upon Articles After this Janus's Temple was shut this Year if you begin it at January And now a Treaty of Peace at Vxbridg is set on foot at the Desire of the King but no Success attended it This Year tho the Princes Rupert and Maurice followed the King in his Wars against the Parliament yet the Elector Palatine Frederick their elder Brother petitioned the Parliament that he might come over and take the Covenant which tho at first they refused yet afterwards they admitted him and allowed him 8000 l. per Annum out of my Lord Petres and other Delinquents Estates and so he continued till after the Treaty at Munster 1648 where he led a Life not becoming a Prince in Adversity The Treaty of Peace at Vxbridg not succeeding the Parliament took the Town of Shrewsbury which as it is one of the most famous of all the Towns of England so it stopt on that part the Entercourse of Wales with the Counties of Salop Chester and Worcester But to throw a little Water into the Wine of the Parliament's
writing and out of these and Leo ab Aitzma a most faithful Collector of the Treaties of Peace and War and Commerce between the Princes and States of his time and sometimes before Dr. Stubbe hath I believe faithfully set out this Treaty of Peace between the English and Dutch and therefore tho but in Epitâ—me I shall take him for my Guide herein The Rump did not refuse to treat of a Peace upon just and honourable Terms but not in Holland or any Neutral Place nor would they condescend to any Treaty before Holland made the first Overtures in Writing Whereupon the States of Holland upon the 18th of March by their Secretary Herbert Van Beaumont sent the Rump a canting and equivocal Letter wherein I cannot find one Categorical Proposition and wherein the sacred Name of God is more rent and torn than I can find in any of our Enthusiasts of their Zeal for the Reformed Religion much endanger'd by this War and the Joys the Enemies of it conceived thereby and of their Desire of preventing the further Effusion of Christian Blood and carried on by a pious Zeal and in no wise constrained by any other Consideration That Consideration may be had what may be done for the Honour and Glory of God and the good of each State whereupon without doubt the good God for his Name sake and by the Inspiration of proper and fit Expedients will give his Blessing c. Which Letter you may read at large in Stubbe's Vindication p. 78 79. and in Leo ab Aitzma p. 816 817. The Rump having got this Letter and to make a further Distraction in the States General sent an Answer the first of April 1653 to the States of Holland and a Letter to the States General that to the States of Holland was That the Inconveniences to Religion in general and to the Trade and Liberties of each Nation were such as any man might have foreseen and that none could be ignorant how requisite it was for both Nations to preserve a good Correspondence and Amity together that the English had not omitted any thing on their parts but the Dutch had assaulted them in the midst of a Treaty for a strict Vnion and their Ambassadors had used such Tergiversation as made them justly imagine that their sense of things was different from what they now professed That the good Endeavours of the Parliament were answered with unusual Preparations Acts of Hostility and other extraordinary Proceedings thereupon That they had this Comfort and Satisfaction in their own Minds amidst the Troubles and Calamities of War that they had with all Sincerity done what lay in their Power to obviate all the Evils specified That they did look upon the Overtures of Holland if approved by the States General to be an effectual means for composing this unwelcom War however the Parliament having discharged their Duty would with Patience acquiesce in the Issue of Providence whereof they had so gracious Experience That to the States General was That there could be no doubt of the sincere Affection and good Will which the English did bear to the United Provinces so that it might be well imagined that they were really inclined by just and honourable means to extinguish the Fire of War stop the Effussion of Christian Blood and restore Amity between the two Nations That as they had not been wanting in the Beginning to prevent the ensuing Calamities so they were not altered with Successes from their former good Intentions That they were ready upon the Grounds expressed in the Letter from the Provincial States of Holland and Friezland friendly to compose Differences c. This Letter had the desired Effect of the Rump for the rest of the Provinces complained that Holland had broke the Union which that State would have salved by a manifest Lie in denying they ever wrote such a Letter However the rest of the Provinces fearing the Calamity would be common to them all if the War continued did consent to a Treaty of Peace with the Rump However the Rump in their Letter to the States refused to give them any other Title than the States General notwithstanding the Title of High and Mighty obtained at the Treaty of Munster not five Years before nor did they assume this Title when they returned their Answer to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England To these Letters the States General returned this Answer to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England That they always endeavoured with a good and sincere Intention not only to keep but to augment more and more all manner of Friendship and Correspondence with the said Parliament and would now do any thing that might contribute to so pious and Christian an Vnion desiring a Neutral Place and Plenipotentiaries might be appointed forthwith on both sides But before this Answer was returned a new face of things happen'd in England for Oliver had turn'd out the Rump and set up for himself How this came about and what Steps Cromwel took to do this is now fit to be enquired into Herein I take the Confidence to say that as the Covenanters subduing the Royalists was the Cause of the Ruin of the Covenanting Parliament so was Cromwel's Victory over the King at Worcester the Ruin of the Rump for Cromwel after that Fight having nothing to do set his whole Thoughts how he might tho not under the Title of King usurp the Dominion of these Kingdoms already subdued by the Rump and the Rump improvidently enabled him to do it when upon the 16th of June 1650 they constituted Cromwel Captain-General and Commander in chief within Ireland as well as England which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs pag. 511. a. You have heard how Cromwel felt the Pulse of the Lawyers and Soldiers for the Establishment of the Nation and how the Lawyers were of Opinion that no Settlement could be made without some mixture of Monarchy and that it was â—it that the Duke of Glocester should be intrusted with something of a mixt Monarchy and that Cromwel's Opinion was really that a Settlement with somewhat of a mixt Monarchy would be very effectual but this somewhat of a Settlement of mixt Monarchy he reserved for himself but herein he found three Rubs and Rump the Duke of Glocester and Monk in Scotland who I verily believe had a great Awe upon Cromwel whereupon to remove these two latter in February 1652 he got the Duke of Glocester to be sent beyond Sea and about the same time or a little before sent for Monk into England and found him pliable to Cromwel's Design of setting up himself but to cover this he made Monk one of the three Admirals at Sea with Blake and Dean tho Monk was wholly ignorant of Sea Affairs These two Rubs thus removed only the Rump stood in Oliver's way to set up himself but before he discover'd this openly he enter'd into a long Dialogue with Commissioner Whitlock which you may read at large in
sit out a greater Fleet of Men of War than ever any French King did before Nor were the Dutch behind-hand but made proportionable Advances not doubting but the King would make good his Proportion according to the League so lately made between the King and them in case the French King made any Attempt upon them Upon the 24th of October 1670 the Parliament met again and notwithstanding all the Aids granted the King in April before my Lord-Keeper Bridgman told the Parliament the great Care his Majesty had of them and the Kingdom since their last Recess and that besides the triple Alliance he had made many advantagious Alliances both for Security and Profit of Trade with the Swede Dane Spaniard and Duke of Savoy But since the Dutch and French made such vast Naval Preparations it was necessary for the Safety and Honour of the Nation that the King should at least keep equal Pace with them which could not be done without great Supplies which must be speedily granted for the King intended to put an End of this Session before Christmas but the Success of this Speech so ill agreeing with the Premises it was not permitted to be printed yet you may read it at large in Mr. Marvel's Growth of Popery But whatever Treaties of Commerce were made with other Princes the Keeper finds none with France where neither the advantagious Treaty made by Oliver was observed nor any new one made but the French King did use the English with all imaginable Oppressions without any Redress from the King However this Speech wrought so pathetically with the Parliament that they gave the King one Shilling in the Pound of the real Value of all the Lands of England for one Year and an Additional Excise upon Beer and Ale for six Years and the Law-Bill for nine Years which three Bills were computed at two Millions and a half And now this dark Design founded in such deep Dissimulation Hypocrisy and Perfidiousness as Oliver Cromwel would have been ashamed of and blush'd at begins to receive Light For the Parliament having granted the King the Aids were in Consequence prorogued and did not meet to act till the fourth of February 167 1 2. But in regard that not only the extirpating the Protestant Religion but the Subversion of the Western Parts of Europe was now designed which extended as far as the Baltick Sea and the Bounds of the Turkish and Tartar Empires we will be a little particular in it But what is most amazing is that the King in appearance a Protestant and a free independent King so used by the French King in his Exile and since his Restoration should be so forward in joining with a Faithless and Boundless Ambitious Neighbouring Prince which if his Design had succeeded had involved the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland in the same Condition with the rest of Christendom The Vizard-Mask under which the Popish Party covered their Hypocrisy in propagating their Catholick Cause for plain-dealing must never be expected in it in King Charles the First 's time was Arminianism which then had the Ascendant in Laud's Regency but since the King's Restoration the Protestant Dissenters being so fiercely prosecuted by the Parliament it was judged that the dispensing with Penal Laws against Dissenters from the Church of England would conjoin the Protestant Dissenters Interest with the Popish and this not only appeared by Practice but by Design in Coleman's Letters to Father Ferier and La Chaise the French King's Confessors As before the first Dutch War the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws in Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Interval of the sitting of the Parliament so did he before the second War It seems to me that the Designers of this War got some secret Oath or Promise from the King that he should not do the like again for the King told the House of Commons he would stand by his Declaration of Indulgence and sure nothing but Queen Money would have got him off However these Conspirators were more zealous than politick for before the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence in England upon the 26th of February 1671 he issued out his Proclamation in Ireland wherein he granted general Licence to all Papists to live in Corporations exercise Trades there and enjoy the same Privileges as other Subjects ought to do which was a greater Privilege than his Protestant Subjects had for by their Charter all who were not free of the Corporations could not have the Benefit of their Privileges But that the Catholick Design might take deeper Root and Continuance the Duke of York's Sons being dead and the Princesses his Daughters being bred up in the Protestant Religion Care must be taken to establish the Popish for the time to come for which it was expedient the Duke should marry some Popish Princess and to this end the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck was propounded and a Treaty entred into upon it But tho the Princess's Religion pleased the French King yet the Interest this Marriage would bring with it did not So that tho the Treaty were far advanced yet the French King who ruled all the Roast propounded the Princess of Modena the Daughter of a little Italian Prince and a Dependant of the French King's yet had a great Interest in the Court of Rome and this against all Endeavours of the Parliament and to the Dishonour of the Treaty with the Arch-Dutchess prevailed the French King having adopted her a Daughter of France and given her a Portion But while these Designs are laid in the dark here in England the French King bare-faced by his Ambassador at Vienna in a solemn Speech declared that his Master had undertaken the War against Holland for propagating the Catholick Cause and that all good Christians were bound to join with him to extirpate Heresy and that he would restore all his Conquests to re-establish the true Worship banish'd out of the Holland's meaning the Vnited Netherlands Territories which you may read more at large in Mr. Secretary Trevor's Appeal c. Now let 's see how agreeable these Mens Morals were to their Religious Pretences in laying the Scene for this designed Dutch War The Treasury since the Death of my Lord Treasurer Southampton was managed by Commissioners and if the Aids granted by the Parliament were not sufficient for carrying on the King's Designs the French King is to supply him further but things were not ripe enough yet for these Monies to be returned into the Exchequer lest they might give cause of Suspicion and therefore between six and seven hundred thousand Pounds were received by Mr. Chiffins he to have two Pence in the Pound to be disposed of as the King shall order If you doubt this you may examine Mr. Chiffins's Accounts when he was advised to pass them and take his Quietus out of the Exchequer Tho by the Defensive League between the King and States when the Triple League
January and the same Day issued out Writs for a new one to meet at Westminster the 6th of March following which was just 40 Days between the Test and Return In this Interval the Blaze of the Parliament's Vote of their Apprehensions of a damnable and hellish Popish Plot had taken deep Impressions in the Minds of Men in general and the Whigs taking Advantage of it in this short Interval run down the Tories without Opposition nay even the King himself apprehended there could be no Hopes of attaining his Ends in the next Parliament but by seeming zealous in the prosecuting the Discovery of the Popish Plot and that he would not longer be governed by Favourites and single Councils There had been several Debates in the House of Commons of the dangerous Consequences in reference to the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown and that the Bottom of the Popish Plot centred in the Duke's being a Papist and the presumptive Heir to the Crown but I do not find they came to any Vote upon it yet resolved upon the 8th of November to make an Address to the King That the Duke might withdraw himself from his Person and Councils and in Conformity therewith the Duke went or was sent into Holland and upon the meeting of the Parliament the King acquainted them how great things he had already done for the preventing the Progress of the Popish Plot as the Exclusion of the Popish Lords from their Seats in Parliament and the Execution of several Men upon the Score of the Plot as well as the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but above all that he had commanded his Brother from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him toward Popish Counsels and tells That as he had not been slack in putting the present Laws in Execution against Papists so he was ready to join in making such further Laws as may be necessary for the securing the Kingdom against Popery and then demands a Supply and concludes with his Desires to have this a healing Parliament The House chose Mr. Seymour the Speaker of the last Parliament to be their Speaker in this but the King rejected him which was no good Presage of a healing Parliament and so the Commons chose Mr. Serjeant Gregory and the King accepted him The Commons began where the last Parliament left in prosecuting their Impeachments against the Earl of Danby and the Popish Lords in the Tower but who should be first tried and what were the Jurisdiction of the Bishops Right of Voting in their Impeachments and their Judgments in Cases of Blood run quite through this Sessions wherein the Lords and Commons seldom agreed There were two things which made the Earl of Danby's Case more favourably spoken of one That tho he was prosecuted several Weeks after the Popish Lords were committed yet the Commons would not proceed in their Impeachments against the Popish Lords before the Lords had given their Judgments upon the Earl's Plea The other was a Vote of the Commons upon the 9th of May That no Commoner whatsoever should presume to maintain the Validity of the Earl of Danby ' s Pardon without Leave of the House first obtained and that the Persons so doing shall be accounted Betrayers of England and there was no Nobleman a profest Lawyer so that tho the Earl's Plea upon his Pardon was Matter of Law yet no Commoner must presume to plead his Cause The King besides his sending the Duke of York beyond Sea that the World might now see how otherways he was become a new Man for the future upon the 20th of April 1679 made this Declaration in Council and in Parliament and after publish'd it to the whole Nation how sensible he was of the ill Posture of his Affairs and the great Dissatisfaction and Jealousies of his good Subjects whereby the Crown and Government were become too weak to preserve it self which proceeded from his use of a single Ministry and of private Advices and therefore professed his Resolution to lay them aside for the future and be advised by those whom he had then chosen for his Council in all his weighty and important Affairs together with the frequent Advice of his great Council in Parliament and indeed in this Council were many worthy Members my Lord of Shaftsbury was President of it and the then Sir Henry Capel and Sir William Temple Members of it But this Declaration of the King 's added to the sending the Duke of York into Holland had not the King 's desired Effect the Commons besides the Dread of the Popish Plot as well at present but more in consequence after the King had declared he would not alter the Succession of the Crown in the right Line were no ways satisfied with the Disbursements of the Money nor the disbanding the Army yet were resolved it should be done and voted another Sum of 26462 l. for it but it was not carried without some Difficulty that these Monies should be paid into the Exchequer but Chamber of London however the Commons carried That the Money so raised should be appropriated to that Use and to that End appointed Commissioners to disband the new-rais'd Army and so voted That the Continuance of any standing Forces in this Nation other than the Militia to be illegal and a great Grievance and Vexation to the People hereby meaning the King's Guards They also ordered a Bill to be brought in for annexing Tangier to the Imperial Crown of England and voted That those who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom But how jealous soever the Commons were of the King yet they conceived it was his Life which secured them from the Fears they dreaded of the Duke's coming to the Crown and therefore upon the 11th of May voted Nemine contradicente That in Defence of the King's Person and the Protestant Religion this House does declare that they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty shall come to an untimely End which God forbid they will revenge it upon the Papists It seems the Commons had more Care of the King than he had of himself for he not only countenanced the Plotters but ridiculed the Plot. In his Speech at the opening this Parliament he told them he had not been idle in discovering the Plot and in the last he told Sir William Temple he was displeased with the Earl of Danby for bringing the Popish Plot into Parliament against his absolute Command Oliver's Professions and Actions never appeared so hypocritical and deceitful as this King 's and all this after the Parliament had voted there was a hellish Conspiracy by the Papists against his Life and this proved by a Cloud of Witnesses agreeing in the Manner and Circumstances of it as Oates
Speech that they would not deign to debate it or one Paragraph in it Neither the Baâ—t of Tangier nor the King 's making Alliances with the Dutch and Spaniard if any such were in his Ramble of Prorogations of this Parliament would make the Commons give more Money This Parliament met in a contrary Humour to that of the Long Parliament and that from contrary Causes for that Parliament adored him as their Deliverer from the Rage and Persecution of the late times whereas this Parliament met in Dread and Terror of the Nation at present and were frighted at the Prospect of the Consequence of it after the King's Death The Commons heated by the Dissolutions of the two last Parliaments when they were searching into the Discovery of the Popish Plot and exasperated against the Tories for ridiculing the Popish Plot and for abhorring petitioning the King to let the Parliament sit in order to prosecute and secure the Nation against it c. proceeded in another Temper I think than any other ever before and in Truth I do not desire the Prosecution of the Commons in the Long Parliament in the first ten Years against the Protestant Dissenters and of the Commons of this Parliament against the Tories should be taken for Precedents by any Parliament in time to come When Parliaments met annually or at least frequently I think a Complaint cannot be found against any Man for Breach of Privilege but when there were long Intervals of Parliaments from whence the Consequence resolved into long Sittings of Parliaments which began in the Reign of Henry VIII then the Inconvenience I may say of Privilege of Parliament first began nor do I find any before the latter end of Henry VIII nor does Mr. Petit in his Precedents from Arrests and other Privileges of Parliament-men cite any before the Thirty fourth of Henry VIII in Case of Mr. George Ferrers Burgess for the Town of Plimouth being arrested for Debt and this was taken for such a Novelty that he takes up near seven Pages to recite the Proceedings of the Commons upon it and how the King being advertised thereof called the Chancellour the Judges the Speaker of the Commons and the gravest Persons of them wherein he commended the Wisdom of the Commons in maintaining their Privileges which he would not in any Point have infringed and that the Privileges of Parliament extend to the Servants of the Commons from Arrests as well as to the Persons of the Commons It 's worthy Observation with what Sobriety and Justice the Commons proceeded herein They ordered their Serjeant forthwith to repair to the Compter in Breadstreet wherein Mr. Ferrers was committed with his Mace to demand his Delivery which the Serjeant did to the Officers of the Compter who notwithstanding refused to do it and beat and hurt some of the Serjeant's Officers and broke his Mace and during the Brawl the Sheriffs of London came in who countenanced the Officers of the Compter and refused to deliver Mr. Ferrers and gave the Serjeant proud Language and contemptuously rejected his Message Hereupon the Commons commanded the Serjeant to demand the Sheriffs of London to deliver Mr. Ferrers by shewing them his Mace which was his Warrant for so doing whereupon the Sheriffs delivered him accordingly but then the Serjeant having further Command from the Commons charged the Sheriffs to appear personally on the Morrow by eight of the Clock before the Speaker in the nether House or of the Commons to bring thither the Clerks of the Compter and such other of their Officers as were Parties in the Fray and to take into Custody one White who had wittingly procured the said Arrest in contempt of the Privilege of Parliament The next day the two Sheriffs with one of the Clerks of the Compter and the said White appeared in the Commons House where the Speaker charging them with their Contempt and Misdemeanour they were compelled to make immediate Answer without being admitted to Counsel and in conclusion the Sheriffs and the said White were committed to the Tower and the Clerk which was the Occasion of the Fray to a place called Little Ease and the Officer which did the Arrest called Taylor with four other Officers to Newgate where they remained from the Twenty eighth to the Thirty first of March and then were delivered at the humble Suit of the Mayor and their other Friends The next Breach of Privilege reported by Petit is eight Years after viz. the fourth of Edward VI by one Withrington who made an Assault upon the Person of one Brandling Burgess of New-castle but the Parliament drawing towards an End the Commons sent Withrington to the Privy Council but the Council would not meddle in it and sent the Bill of Mr. Brandling's Complaint back again to the Commons according to the antient Custom of the House whereupon the Bill was sent to the Lords from the Commons when Withrington confest he began the Fray upon Dr. Brandling upon which he was committed to the Tower This was in the Year 1550. Mr. Petit finds not another Breach of Privilege till the Fourteenth of Elizabeth twenty one Years after which was done by one Arthur Hall for sundry lewd Speeches used as well in the Commons House as abroad who was warned by the Serjeant to appear before the Bar of the Commons to answer for the same and upon his Speech upon the humble Confession of his Folly he was remitted with a good Exhortation given him by the Speaker Here I observe these three Particulars 1. The Rarity of these Breaches of Privileges of Parliament in former times 2. The Justice of the Commons in their Proceedings of Breach of Privilege to cite the Person or Persons to appear before them to answer for themselves before the House passed any Censure upon them 3. That in none of these Censures they enjoined the Delinquent to pay their Fees to their Serjeant for the Serjeant is the King's Officer and by the 26th West 1. no Officer of the King 's shall take any Fee or Reward for doing his Office but what he receives from the King upon Penalty of rendring double to the Plaintiff and be further punished at the Will of the King And Sir Edward Coke in his first Inst Lib. 3. Sect. 701. Tit. Extortioners says this was the antient common Law and the Penalties added by the Statute and that tho some Statutes since have allowed the King's Officers in some Cases to take Fees for executing their Offices yet none other can be taken but what such Statutes allow and that all Officers of the King who take Fees otherwise are guilty of Perjury I would know by what Law the Commons Serjeant takes his Fees and how the Commons can absolve him from Perjury for taking such Fees Whereas in this Parliament rarely a Day passed wherein Men upon bare Suggestions and absent were not judged and Execution ordered for high Breaches and notorious Breaches of the Commons Privileges yet most of these
for repealing the said Act of 35 Eliz. which passed the Commons upon the 26th of November and was sent up to the Lords who agreed to it As the Lords joined with the Commons in passing this Repeal so did the Commons join with the Lords in their Vote the 4th of January viz. Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That they do declare that they are fully satisfied that there now is and for divers Years last past there hath been an horrid and treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion in Ireland for massacring the English and subverting the Protestant Religion and antient established Government of that Kingdom To which the Commons added That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Expectation that Party had of his coming to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement to the Popish Plot as well in Ireland as here But the Lords ran counter to the Commons in the Bill intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging for after the Reading it the first time in the House of Lords and the Question being put whether it should be read a second time it was resolv'd in the Negative by above a double Majority of Votes If the Lords and Commons ran counter in some things the King and Commons ran counter almost in every thing The King 's main End in calling this Parliament was to get Money for the Preservation of Tangier and in perfecting the Alliance he had made with Spain The Commons would not give any Money upon the Account of Tangier for three Reasons One was For that as the state of the Nation stood it might augment the Strength of the Popish Party and encrease the Danger of the Nation Another was There were several Regiments besides the Guards in pay in England which might be transported to Tangier with little Charge and be maintained there as cheap as here And the third was That that Garison was the Nursery of Popish Officers and Soldiers The Commons would not give Money for the pretended Alliance of mutual Obligations of Succour and Defence with Spain for three Reasons 1. The Jealousy they had of the King's Sincerity in this Alliance and the more because the King did not declare to them what manner of Alliance this was and it might be more to the Prejudice than Benefit of this Kingdom or if it should have been to the Benefit of the Kingdom they could have no more Assurance of the Performance of it than they had of the Triple League that made with the Prince of Orange or that made between the King and States of Holland by Mr. Thyn on the King's Part which were all broken almost as soon as made 2. The Impossibility of any Benefit which could arise to England and Spain by such an Alliance for if all Christendom after the separate Peace which the King joined with the Dutch Faction in could not uphold Spain and the Spanish Netherlands from falling under the Dominion of the French how could the King in the feeble and distracted state of the Nation be in a condition to support it without them 3. The Unreasonableness of giving Money upon this Account for tho oftentimes the Kings of England have demanded Supplies for maintaining vast Wars yet never any King of England before demanded Supplies for making Alliances and not declare what such Alliances were But if any such mutual Alliances of Succour and Defence were made between our King and the King of Spain I 'm sure they were ill observed by the King for two Years after viz. 1682 the French blocked up the City of Luxemburgh and the next Year took Courtray one of the six Towns delivered back to the Spaniard by Beverning's separate Treaty from the Confederates and keeps it to this Day and so the French King does Luxemburgh which he took by plain Force from the Spaniard the next Year after viz. 1684. I wish I could find any mutual Succour of Defence the King gave the King of Spain in any of these either by this Alliance or as the King was Guarantee in the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle which in his Proclamation against the Dutch in the second Dutch War he declared he would maintain Nor did the Commons only run counter to the King's Designs of getting Money but considering the dangerous and weak state of the Kingdom as by the Debt the King had contracted by shutting up the Exchequer and his squandring away almost all the antient Revenues of the Crown and to prevent the like upon the Revenue settled upon the King since his Restoration upon the 7th of January resolved 1. That whosoever shall lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Customs Excise or Hearth-money shall be adjudged a Hinderer of the Sitting of Parliaments and be responsible for the same 2. That whosoever shall accept or buy any Tally or Anticipation upon any part of the King's Revenue or whosoever shall pay such Tally hereafter to be struck shall be adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and be responsible therefore in Parliament Now let 's see wherein the King run counter to both Lords and Commons After the Lords had agreed with the Commons in the Repeal of 35 Eliz. the Bill was taken from the Lords Table and never heard of after which no Man durst have done without the King's Command at least Privity Herein you may observe the Insincerity of the King's Indulgences for dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters when he nourished those Ends by them which the Parliament dreaded and now the Parliament would have legally eased them the Bill must be ravished away Here is a greater Wonder yet to be told of this Parliament for notwithstanding all these Discords between the Lords and Commons and the King and the Lords and Commons yet they all reconciled in making the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel c. perpetual thereby to perpetuate the Discords between the Kingdoms of England and Ireland as much as those between Whig and Tory. And in this posture of Affairs the King prorogu'd the Parliament from the 10th to the 20th of January 1681 and upon the 18th dissolved them This Dissolution caused a great Amazement in the Nation but in some measure to allay it the King summons another to meet the 21st of March following at Oxford This rais'd a Jealousy in the Nation and many of the Nobility that there was some hidden Design nourished in the Court which might have dangerous Influences upon the Nation and the Parliament too Hereupon 16 of the Nobility petitioned the King against the Meeting of the Parliament at Oxford and my Lord of Essex upon the Delivery of it made a short Speech which I believe was not forgotten afterwards The
Indulgence to be read in Churches 644. Jefferies the Commons Votes against him 556. Releases the impeached Lords 611. His savage Cruelty in the West c. 613 620 621. Is made Lord Chancellor 630. Jesuits their Projects in England 200 201. for which some were taken yet releas'd by the King 201. Ignoramus the Play 74. Ingoldsby sent against Lambert 420. Inoiosa Spanish Ambassador presents the King a Paper against the Prince and Buckingham 130 132. which much perplexes him 132 133. Johnson Mr. Samuel whipt for writing an honest Address to the English Army 638 639. Jones Sir Tho. his Thoughts of a Dispensing Power 630. Sir Will. put out and for what 546. Ireland how bounded c. 12. A horrible Massacre there 277 343. Another design'd 448. and a Rebellion in Conjunction with the French 472 533. K. James's Proceedings there 624 625 632 641. Irish Cattle Act to prohibit their Importation with 9 Observations upon it 462 467. Is made perpetual 559. Judges their Opinion for Ship-Money 258. Those made by Char. II. 501. Juries hated by Cromwel 400 401. Are pack'd to murder honest Men 601 602 611. Jurisdiction of Parliaments discust in relation to Fitz-harris 588 590. Jus Divinum 330 332 544. Juxton Bishop of London made Lord-Treasurer 265. K. KIngs their divided Will against Law 5. Never parted with Parliaments in Disgust till the Stuarts 205 267. Not wont to be present at Debates in Parliament 502. Never speak but in Parliament or under the Great-Seal 568. Kirk Maj. General his barbarous Inhumanity at Taunton 622. Kirk-Party strict with James VI. 34. Mind the King of his Covenant 443. See Scots L. LAmbert turns against Cromwel 399. After against his Son 406. Is made Lieutenant-General 408. Petitions the Rump 409. Is turn'd out by them ib. and after turns them out 410. Marches against Monk 412 414. Is sent to the Tower 416. Is routed and taken Prisoner 421. Langdale Sir Marmad his Success for the King 309. Is discontented 311. Laud his Rise and Character 122 123. Puts the King on altering Religion in Scotland 122 123 242 255 256 260. Gets a Bishoprick by playing the Spaniel 123. His ways to ruin Bishop Williams 124 239. Proves a Firebrand c. 157 166 167 226 239 242. Is made Bp of London 226. Favours Popery 231. His great Care of the Church 167 227 241 242. Prosecutes his Injunctions concerning Ceremonies with great Severity 254 255 257 258. Quarrels with the King about visiting the Vniversities 256 257. Procures an Alteration in the Church of Scotland 262 263. Lauderdale some account of him 441 442 454. Is bitter against the Presbyterians in Scotland his Highland Government there 490 491. Laws c. ought to be in the Mother-Tongue 363 404 405 665. Lenthal made General by the Rump 408. Lestrange Roger Champion of the Tory-Cause 500. Is employ'd to ridicule the Popish Plot 545. Levellers in the Army 318. Liberty of Conscience to be continued 662. See Dissenters and James II. Lindsey Earl sent to relieve Rochel but in vain 225. Lisle Lady her unparallel'd Case is basely murder'd 620. London on ill Terms with the King 272. yet lend him Money 273. Raise Souldiers under Waller c. 321. In Confusion 414. Join with Monk for a Free Parliament 419. Is set on fire 461. See Hubert Long Mr. sentenc'd in Star-Chamber 234. Lorain Duke basely dealt with by the French King 474. Lords five impeach'd by the Commons 535. See Jefferies Lowden Chancellor of Scotland his Speech concerning Cromwel 303 304. Ludlow deposes Henry in Ireland 408. M. MAckenzy Sir Geo. pleads against the Earl of Argyle 584 585. Magdalen-College Story 640. Mansfield denied landing at Calais contrary to Agreement 146. Manwaring for the King 's absolute Power 197. Impeach'd by the Commons and sentenc'd by the Lords 214 215. Is promoted by Laud 227 256. Marriage with France see Charles I. Marsilly murder'd at Paris to the Dishonour of K. Charles 479. Marston-Moor Fight 307. Maurice Prince for the King 298. Is lost in the W Indies 327. May Tho. Esq his Treatise of the Civil Wars disprov'd 280 295. Mazarine turns K. Charles c. out of France 383. His Success against the Pr. of Conde 388 389. and Loss at Ostend 402. Opposes K. Charles's Restoration 421 422. Meal-tub-Plot discover'd 546. Militia who shou'd have the Power of it the chief Cause of the War 296. Whether it belongs to King or Parliament ib. 329. Mombas betrays the Dutch 484 486. Monk takes Sterling-Castle and Dundee 347. Complies with Cromwel 359. Engages the Dutch 356 371 372. Is caress'd on his Victory 373. Sent to Scotland 383. His Pedigree and Story 384 385. His Regency in Scotland 410. Is much courâ—ed secures Berwick 411. His ill Success treats with the Committee of Safety but displeas'd with the Agreement with a Story of him 412 413. Sends to Fleetwood summons a great Assembly at Edinburgh abjures K. Charles 413. His Success 412 416. Is declar'd for in Ireland 412. Marches to London is addrest for a Free Parliament 416. Is carest by the Rump his Speech to them 417. Pulls down the Gates of the City sends an angry Message to the Rump 418. Declares for a Free Parliament at Guild-hall and restores the secluded Members 419. Meets the King at Dover and is made Knight of the Garter 426. Monmouth Duke sent against the Covenanters 543. 'T was believ'd his Mother was married to the King and why 544. Is unjustly put to Death 619. Monopolies injurious 55 56 65. Montross for the King 313 315 316. Is routed and executed 344. Morley Col. Herbert secures the Tower for Monk 418. Mountague accus'd by the Commons of Arminianism 166. Is favour'd by the King 166 167 171 226. Impeach'd by the Commons for favouring Popery 180 183 226. Made Bp of Chichester 226. and after of Norwich 227. Holds Correspondence with the Pope 273. Muscovy the Czar revokes the English Privileges on K. Charles's Death 350. N. NAseby Fight 311 312. Navigation-Act made by the Rump 350. Its Inconveniences 364 367 391 455 653 658. Nayloâ— James his Blasphemy 396 Newberry first Fight 299. Second Fight 308. Newfoundland Fishery how the French got it from us 390 391. North Sir Francis a Tool in the late Times 592. Promoted 603. Northampton Earl concern'd in Overbury's Death see Carr and Overbury Yet in favour with the King tho a Papist 72 73 Incourages the Irish Papists 74. November 5. appointed an Anniversary Thanksgiving 58. Noy Mr. against the Court 208. Is taken off by being made Attorney-General 243. His Pretence for Ship-money c. 252. O. OAtes Dr. first discovers the Popish Plot 532. His excessive Fine 610. Indicted of two pretended Perjuries 610 613. His barbarous and illegal Punishment 613. Oaths Remarks on that of the Scots Covenant 368 438. on the Convocation-Oath 369 438. on the Corporation-Oath 431 439. Orange Prince General for the Dutch 486. Declar'd Stadtholder is courted by the French King his noble Answer to his Proposals
the Revenues of the Crown and Aids given in Parliament and these being of both Nations Scotch as well as English made them to be the more intolerable All things being at Peace Abroad Publick Affairs were neglected or scarce thought of whilst the Dutch still grew more powerful at Sea and without any Aid from the King were Matches for the King of Spain by Land and Henry the 4th of France was accumulating incredible Treasure at Home and laying the Foundation of vast Designs Abroad whereof the King took no notice his Genius lying another way In these Debates at Home and Lethargy of State of Foreign Affairs the Prerogative-Clergy swelled the High Commission to such an height that it was complained of as a Grievance in Parliament as you may read in Wilson's History of Great Britain â—ol 46. Nay Bancroft this Year notwithstanding the Judges Answer to the Articles exhibited to the King against granting Prohibitions and that the Parliament was still sitting repeated his Exhibitions But however the King inclined to favour Bancroft he had not Courage enough to over-rule the Judges Answer to them it may be for fear the Parliament should interpose or indispose them to grant him more Money whereof already he stood in great need But the Parliament however they gratified the King for their Deliverance from the Popish Conspiracy did not think fit to pour it forth so plentifully now in times of Peace to be profusely thrown upon Favourites and Minions who were no more Friends to them than they to the established Church of England To supply the King's Necessities as he made them one Doctor Cowell no doubt set upon by Bancroft and those called the Church the next Year after published his Interpreter wherein he premises these three Principles First That the King was Solutus a Legibus not bound by his Coronation-Oath Secondly That it was not ex Necessitate that the King should call a Parliament to make Laws but might do it by his Absolute Power Thirdly It was a Favour to admit the Consent of the Subjects in giving Subsidies Cowell's Interpeter approved by the King as the Civil Law was highly extolled by the King See Wilson fol. 46. was not only printed but publickly sold without Impunity and this gave Encouragement to the publishing many others to the same purpose among which one Blackwood published one which concluded that we were all Slaves by reason of the Conquest The Commons tho they took no notice of Bancroft and his Articles against Prohibitions took Fire at these and intended to have proceeded severely against him but the King interposed and promised to call in these Books by Proclamation as he did but they were out and the Proclamation could not call them in but only served to make them more taken notice of But this had not the desired Effect of getting more Money than one Subâ—dy and one Tenth whereupon the King by Proclamation dissolved them the 31st of December 1609 after they had sat near seven Years wherein the King set forth that he had proposed many things far differing and surpassing the Graces and Favours of former times both in Nature and Value 〈◊〉 â—â—pectation of a good Conclusion of some weighty Cause which had been there in Deliberation not only for the Supply of the Necessities of his Majesty's Estate but for the Ease and Freedom of his Subjects but these being the two last Sessions little taken notice of and that the Members by reason of the length of the Parliament were debarred from the Hospitality they kept in the Country and that divers Shires Cities and Boroughs had been burdened with Expence of maintaining their Members for these Reasons he dissolved them so that they should not need to meet at the Day set by their Prorogation CHAP. II. A Continuation of this Reign to the Dissolution of the Second Parliament 1614. BUT how precarious soever the King was to get Money of the Parliament he had not Courage enough to demand the 100000 l. per Annum by the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Dutch States in 1598 whereby Eleven hundred thousand Pounds was due to him much less to demand the principal Debt viz. two Millions and also two Millions and two hundred thousand Pounds due for eleven Years Interest at 10 l. per Cent. Now by the Mediation of several Princes but especially by King James this Year a Truce or Peace for twelve Years was concluded between the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes Albert and Isabel and the Dutch wherein the Dutch were declared Free States and independent upon the Crown of Spain or Arch-Dukes But tho the King had not Courage enough to demand the Monies due to him from the Dutch by the Treaty with Queen Elizabeth he had so much as to enter into a Treaty with the Dutch for a Tribute to be paid to him for License to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland but the Dutch observed this no better than that with the Queen and the King got less by it Long Parliaments beget long Intervals in which Grievances become so multiplied and fixed that they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Intervals are And since the King could not get Money of the Parliament and was afraid to demand any of the Dutch let 's see what Courses he took to get Money during the Interval from this Parliament to the meeting of the next which was five Years and how the Case stood with them In the opening of the first Parliament the King tells them that he was so far from encreasing their Burden with Rehoboam as that he had so much as either Time Occasion or Law could permit lightned them and at that time had been careful to revise and consider deeply upon the Laws made against them that some Overture may be proposed in Parliament for clearing those Laws by Reason which is the Soul of the Law in case they have been in times past further or more rigorously executed by Judges than the meaning of the Law was or might tend to the Hurt as well of the innocent as guilty Persons At the Dissolution of the Parliament the King 's principal Favourites were Henry Howard Brother to the Duke of Norfolk whom Queen Elizabeth beheaded tho a Papist yet Lord Privy-Seal Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Treasurer Philip Earl of Mountgomery for a certain Reason Thomas Lord Walden Son of the Duke of Norfolk after created Earl of Suffolk and Sir Henry Rich after Earl of Holland English the Earl of Dunbar Sir Alexander Hay and Sir Robert Carr who in a short time shall overtop them all Scotish There was a Story current in those Times which I have heard from some credible Persons which did live in that time That King James having given Sir Robert Carr a Boon of 20000 l. my Lord Treasurer Salisbury that he might make the King sensible of what he had done invited the King to an Entertainment and so
as the Marriage of his Daughter with the Elector Palatine was the cause of his calling the last Parliament so the Consequence of this Marriage put him upon the necessity of calling another But because Mr. Rushworth Franklin and all other our Writers at home have either mistaken the Cause or taken it too short we will look into it from abroad Before Ferdinand the first of that Name Emperor of Germany and younger Brother of Charles the 5th the Kingdom of Bohemia was elective and tho they often chose the German Emperors their Kings after the Turks became great in Europe as Charles the 4th Wenceslaus his Son Sigismund and Albert the first of the Family of the House of Austria yet in the Year 1440 they chose Vladislaus King of Hungary who was a Polander to be their King who being slain at the great Battel of Varna against Amurath the 2d 1444 they chose his Son Vladislaus an Infant King of Hungary whose Guardian in his Minority was John Huniades the famous Champion against the Turks After Vladislaus who died without Issue the Bohemians in 1456 chose George Bogebracius After him in 1470 they chose Vladislaus the Son of Casimir King of Poland who had Issue a Son named Lewis and a Daughter named Ann married to Ferdinand Brother of Charles the 5th Emperor of Germany this Vladislaus was likewise chosen King of Hungary and died in the Year 1516. his Son Lewis being then an Infant was chosen King of Bohemia and Hungary and ten Years after viz. 1526 Lewis was overthrown and slain by Solyman the Great Turk at the Fight at Mohatz With Lewis fell the Glory and Majesty of Hungary the Paradise of the World of a sweet and temperate Climate a most healthful Air the Soil exceeding fruitful yet reserving Mines of Gold and Silver in its Bowels abounding with Cattel of a larger size than elsewhere which it supplied Germany Italy and Turkey with watered with the noblest Rivers of Europe the Danube the Drave Save Tibiscus c. as fruitful with Fish as the Land was with Cattel excelling the Countries in manifold and fair built Cities and Towns Hungary at the Death of Lewis from the time when Matthias the Son of the famous Huniades began to reign over them for 70 Years enjoyed perfect Peace within and abroad had the Reputation of the most Warlike Nation and of all other the best Frontier to stop the further Rage of the Turkish Arms in Europe But in this long Peace the People especially the Clergy became excessive rich accompanied with intolerable Pride and all other Vices which accompany Luxury and Ease In this high Conceit of themselves the Clergy especially Tomerius put the King with an Army of 25000 Men only to fight with Solyman with 300000 Turks twelve to one wherein not only the King but also Tomerius and the Flower of all the Nobility of Hungary fell here the Fate of Hungary began but did not end here For Ferdinand having married Lewis his Sister and assisted by his Brother Charles set up for himself to be King of Hungary in right of his Wife which the major part of the Nobility not slain in the Battel of Mohatz refuse to submit to and chose John Sepuce Vaivod of Transilvania to be their King and John being too weak to oppose Ferdinand flies to Solyman for his Assistance so that Hungary which before was the Barrier against the Progress of the Turkish Power in Europe now opens her Gates to let it in however the Turk being engaged in Wars against the Persians Ferdinand prevailed against both and John and Ferdinand came to this Agreement That John should enjoy that part of Hungary whereof he was possest during Life and Ferdinand the whole after his Death Soon after John died leaving the Queen with Child which proved a Son and the Nobility which before chose the Father King now chuse the Son and joining with the Queen call in Solyman for their Assistance who by this Call enters Buda the Regal City of Hungary and turns the Queen and her Son out giving him only the Title of Vaivod of Transilvania Now was Hungary become the Theatre for above 150 Years of all those Calamities which both Civil and Foreign Wars bring upon a Country so that of the most fruitful and best inhabited Kingdom in Europe it became the most desolate and uninhabited the Inhabitants being made use of only to be Slaves either to imperious Souldiers or lazy and idle Clergy-men If Hungary were the Paradise of the World Bohemia was not less of Germany and as an Island is encompassed with Waters so is Bohemia environed with Mountains which like a Garden with Walls encompassed a most rich pleasant and healthful Kingdom and to this Kingdom as well as that of Hungary does Ferdinand lay Claim in right of his Wife and being assisted by his Brother Charles and further from the Assistance of the Turks he forced the Bohemians to submit to his Empire but this was not only during his and his Wife's Life and her Heirs but to his Heirs Male tho he claimed in right of his Wife And herein you must observe That the Bohemians at this time as well as their Ancestors before were Enemies to the Popish Tyranny and Heresies so that Zisca the famous Captain of the Hussites about one hundred Years before in many Battels in Opposition to the Popish Tyranny overthrew the Emperor Sigismond and Ferdinand was a zealous Maintainer of the Popish Supremacy and Usurpations in Religion as well as Tyranny Ferdinand had Issue two Sons Maximilian who succeeded him in the Empire as well as in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary and Charles the first Arch-Duke of Austria Maximilian had Issue Maximilian Rodolph Matthias and Albert Governour and Prince of the Spanish Netherlands with whom King James in the second Year of his Reign made the League before spoken of Rodolph in 1576 succeeded Maximilian in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary as well as in the Empire This Rodolph Helvicus says was a Prince most worthy of all Praise the Refuge of good Learning Ensign of Peace and Clemency and in the Year 1609 granted Liberty of Conscience to the Bohemians and Austrians Rodolph's Brother succeeded him in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Empire in 1614 but Matthias having no Issue and the Issue Male of Maximilian ending in him a Question might arise about the Succession to the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia for admitting the Succession were hereditary then by the Laws of Inheritance these Crowns would devolve upon the King of Spain Philip the Third whose Mother Anna was Daughter to Maximilian the Second and therefore to be preferred before Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Austria descended from Maximilian's younger Brother To prevent this the Popish Party jealous of the Consequences prevail upon or rather forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia to his Cousin Ferdinand a zealous Assertor of the Supremacy of the Church of
Lord Keeper par 2. fol. 14 15. tit 14 15. The Lord Keeper at Woodstock was censured by the Duke and his Creatures for this the Keeper therefore unsent for comes to Woodstoock and thus applies himself to the Duke My Lord I am come unsent for and I fear to displease you yet because your Grace made me I must and will serve you though you are one that will destroy that which you made let me perish yet I deserve to perish ten times if I were not as earnest as any Friend your Grace hath to save you from perishing The Sword is the Cause of a Wound but the Buckler is in fault if it do not defend the Body You brought the two Houses hither my Lord against my Counsel my Suspicion is confirmed that your Grace will suffer for it What 's now to be done but to wind up a Session quickly The Occasion is for you because two Colleges in the Vniversity and eight Houses in the Town are visited with the Plague Let the Members be promised fairly and friendly that they may meet again after Christmas requite the Injuries done to you with Benefits not Revenge for no Man that is wise will shew himself angry with the People of England I have more to say but no more than I have said to your Grace above a Year past at White-hall confer one or two of your great Places upon your fastest Friends so shall you go less in Envy and not less in Power Great Necessities will excuse hard Proposals and horrid Counsels St. Austin says it was a Punick Proverb in his Country Ut habeas quietum tempus perde aliquid At the Close of the Sessions declare your self to be forwardest to serve the King and Commonwealth and to give the Parliament Satisfaction Fear them not when they meet again in the same Body whose ill Affections I expect to mitigate but if you proceed trust me with your Cause when it comes into the House of Lords and I will lay my Life upon it I will preserve you from Sentence or the least Dishonour This is my Advice my Lord if you like it not Truth in the end will find an Advocate to defend it The Duke replied no more but I will look to whom I trust and flung out of the Chamber with Menaces in his Countenance Mr. Rushworth fol. 202. says that the Keeper told the Duke in Christ-Church when the Duke rebuked him for siding against him in that he engaged with William Earl of Pembroke to labour the Redress of Grievances That he was resolved to stand upon his own Legs and that the Duke should answer If that be your Resolution look you stand fast Where Mr. Rushworth had this I cannot tell but this being so unlike the Keeper's Carriage to the Duke both in King James's time and after and also to the Narrative before set forth by the Bishop of Litchfield who being the Keeper's Chaplain could have a better Inspection herein than Mr. Rushworth could have had but especially since the Reasons which the Keeper put into the King's hands which you may read in the Life of the Keeper par 2. tit 18. to satisfy the King of his Carriage while the Parliament sate at Oxford being so contrary to what Mr. Rushworth says I incline rather to believe the Bishop However the Commons presuming to enquire into Buckingham's Actions are censured at Woodstock for spiteful and seditious and therefore not fit to continue but to be dissolved which being understood by the Keeper with Tears and Supplications he implored the King to consider there was a time when his Father charged him in the Keeper's Hearing to call Parliaments often and to continue them though their Rashness might sometimes offend him that by his own Experience he never got good by falling out with them But chiefly Sir said he let it never be said that you kept not good correspondence with your first Parliament do not disseminate so much Unkindness through all the Counties and Boroughs of your Realm The Love of your People is the Palladium of your Crown Continue this Assembly together to another Session and expect Alteration for the better if you do not the next Swarm will come out of the same Hive The Lords of the Council did almost all concur with the Keeper but it wanted Buckingham's Suffrage who was secure that the King's Judgment would follow him against all the Table Thus far the Bishop But there was another Cause which the Bishop does not mention but Mr. Rushworth does fol. 336. which caused the hasty Dissolution of this Parliament Captain Pennington was come to Oxford from delivering the Fleet into the French Power to give an Account of the Reason of it but by the Duke's means was drawn to conceal himself and not to publish in due time his Knowledg of the Premises as it shortly after appeared and if this should have been made known it would not have been in the Power of the Keeper to have brought off the Duke from Sentence or the least Dishonour so upon the 12th of August the Parliament was dissolved but before their Dissolution the Commons made this following Declaration WE the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament being the Representative Body of the whole Commons of this Realm abundantly comforted in his Majesty's late gracious Answer touching our Religion and his Message for the Care of our Health do solemnly vow and protest before God and the World with one Heart and Voice that we are resolved and do hereby declare that we will ever continue most Loyal and Obedient Subjects to our most Gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles and that we will in a convenient time and in a Parliamentary way freely and dutifully do our utmost Endeavours to discover and reform the Abuses and Grievances of this Realm and State and in like sort to afford all necessary Supply to his most excellent Majesty upon his present Occasions and Designs Most humbly beseeching our said dear and dread Soveraign in his Princely Wisdom and Goodness to rest assured of the true and hearty Affections of his poor Commons and to esteem the same to be as we conceive it is indeed the greatest worldly Reputation and Security that a just King can have and to account all such as Slanderers of the Peoples Affections and Enemies to the Commonwealth that shall dare say the contrary But the mighty Buckingham shall not only dare to say but dare to do the contrary so much easier is it in such a Reign for a Favourite to ruine a Nation than for a Nation to have Justice against a Favourite Here let 's stay a little and see what state the King had brought himself to within less than five Months after he became King First he took Mountague to be his Chaplain a virulent seditious ill-natur'd Fellow to protect him from his Contempt against his Metropolitan and the Parliament for publishing new-fangl'd Opinions to the Disturbance of the Peace
Memory but a more peculiar Charge of their Friends and that it may be admitted that some Saints have a peculiar Patronage Custody Protection and Power as Angels also have over certain Persons and Countries by special Deputation and that it is not Impiety so to believe And whereas in the 17th Article it is resolved That God has certainly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose working in due season they through Grace obeying the Calling they be justified freely walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy attain to everlasting Felicity He the said Mountague in his Book called The Appeal does maintain That Men justified may fall away and depart from the State they once had and may again arise and become new Men possibly but not certainly nor necessarily And the better to countenance this Opinion he hath in the same Book wilfully added and falsly charged divers Words in the said 16th Article and in the Book of Common-Prayer and so misrecited and changed the said Places he does alledg in his said Appeal endeavouring thereby to lay a most malicious and wicked Scandal upon the Church of England as if he did herein differ from the Reformed Church of England and from the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and did consent to those pernicious Errors which are commonly called Arminianism and which the late famous Queen Elizabeth and King James of happy Memory did so piously and diligently labour to suppress That he had contrary to his Duty and Allegiance endeavoured to raise Factions and Divisions in the Commonwealth by casting the odious and scandalous Name of Furitans upon such as conform themselves to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church of England under that Name laying upon them divers false and malicious Imputations so to bring them into Jealousy and Displeasure with the King and Ignominy and Reproach of the People to the great danger of Sedition and disturbance of the State if it be not timely prevented That the Scope and End of his Books is to give Encouragement to Popery and to withdraw the King's Subjects from the true Established Religion to the Roman Superstition and consequently to be reconciled to the Church of Rome whereby God's true Religion has been scandaliz'd those Mischiefs introduced which the Wisdom of many Laws hath endeavoured to prevent the Devices of his Majesty's Enemies furthered and advanced to the great danger of the King and all his loving Subjects That he has inserted in his Book called The Appeal divers Passages dishonourable to the late King full of Bitterness Railing and injurious Speeches to other Persons disgraceful and contemptible to many worthy Divines of this Kingdom and other Reformed Churches beyond the Seas impious and profane in scoffing at Preaching Meditating and Conferring Pulpits Bibles and all shew of Religion all which do aggravate his former Offences having proceeded from malicious and enormous Heat against the Peace of the Church and the Sincerity of the Reformed Religion publickly professed and by Law established in this Kingdom All which Offences being to the Dishonour of God and of most mischievous Effect and Consequence against the Church and Commonwealth of England and other of his Majesty's Realms and Dominions the Commons assembled in Parliament do hereby pray that the said Richard Mountague may be punished according to his Demerits in such exemplary mannner as may deter others from attempting so presumptuously to disturb the Peace of the Church and State and that the Books aforesaid may be suppressed and burnt This was that special Stick of Wood which Laud in the beginning of this young King's Reign put into his Hand to support him in the establish'd Religion of the Church of England and afterwards planted him to be one of the Cedars of our Church by having him made first Bishop of Chichester and after of Norwich However Laud was so nettled with the Votes of the Commons I do not find Buckingham concerned himself in them it may be believing this might divert the Storm from him but it was impossible for the Commons in looking into the Grievances of the Nation but to meet Buckingham in the Front of every one of them And when they began their Debates concerning the Duke they received a Message from the King of the pressing State of Christendom and with what Care and Patience he expected their Resolutions of Supplies and to let them know he look'd for a full and perfect Answer of what they would give for his Supply according to his Expectation and their Promises and that he would not accept of less than was proportionable for the Greatness and Goodness of the Cause and that it was not fit to depend any longer upon Uncertainties whereby the whole Weight of the Affairs of Christendom may break in upon us upon the sudden as well to his Dishonour as the Shame of the Nation and when this is done they may continue longer and apply themselves to the Redress of Grievances so they do it in a dutiful and mannerly Way without throwing an ill Odor upon his present Government or upon the Government of his late blessed Father You will hear further of the Care he took of Buckingham in his Reply to the Commons Address upon this The Commons in answer beseech the King to rest assured that no King was ever dearer to his People than his Majesty no People more zealous to maintain and advance his Honour and Greatness and especially to support that Cause wherein his Majesty and Allies are now engaged and beseech his Majesty to accept the Advice of his Parliament which can have no other end but the Service of his Majesty and the Safety of his Realm in discovering the Causes and proposing the Remedies of those great Evils which have occasioned his Majesty's Wants and his Peoples Griefs And therefore in Assurance of Redress herein they really intend to assist his Majesty in such a way and in so ample a Measure as may make him safe at home and feared abroad and for dispatch whereof they will use such Diligence as his urgent and Pressing Occasions require The King in answer to the Commons tells them he takes the Cause of their presenting Grievances to be a Parenthesis and not a Condition and will be willing to hear their Grievances so as they apply themselves to redress Grievances and not enquire after Grievances That he will not allow any of his Servants to be question'd by them much less such as are of eminent Place about him that the old question was What shall be done to the Man whom the King honours But now it hath been the Labour of some to seek what may be done against him whom the King thinks fit to honour he saw they specially aimed
the narrow Passages between the Salt-pits those that escaped were lost in the Salt-Pits and Ditches and the Crowd was so great in passing a Bridg that many were drown'd in the River yet in this Confusion and Adversity the Bravery of the English appear'd for a few having past the Bridg the French following the English rallied and faced about to charge the French who cowardly retreated over the Bridg. Except this little Action yet as great in Fame as any other the English Nation never received like Dishonour as in this loose and unguided Conduct of this lascivious Duke in this Expedition of whom it may be truly said he was Mars ad Opus Veneris Martis ad Arma Venus Home he comes and finds things as much in Disorder here as he had left them in Dishonour abroad the Prisons full of the most eminent Gentry of England by a special Warrant from the King for refusing to lend as they were assess'd by the Commissioners for the Loan and Bail denied them upon return of their Corpus's An Army was kept on foot when this Expedition had consumed all that which should have paid them which had not been done in 80 Years before the People fearing this was more to enslave than defend them In this Confusion Sir Cotton's Advice is called for by the King and Council what 's to be done who in a long and well composed Speech beginning at Charles the 5th sets forth the Design of the House of Austria to attain an universal Monarchy in these Western Parts of Europe How the Design was first check'd by Henry the 8th against Charles but more by Queen Elizabeth against his Son Philip the 2d they following a free Council and thereby winning the Hearts of a loving People ever found Hands and Money for all Occasions That the only way to raise Money speedily and securely was the Via Regia by Parliament other ways were unknown untrodden rough tedious and never succeeded well That Religion lies nearest the Conscience of the Subject and that there was a Jealousy of some Practices against it and that tho the Duke of Bucks had broken the Spanish Match out of a Religious Care that the Articles demanded might endanger the State of the Reformed Religion yet being an Actor in the French Match as hard if not worse passed than those of Spain Sir Robert goes on and enumerates the Miscarriages in these two last Years the Waste of the King's Revenue the Pressures upon the publick Liberty of the Subjects in commanding their Goods without Consent in Parliament imprisoning their Persons without special Cause shewed and this made good against them by the Judges How to obviate these he leaves to the prudent Consideration of the Council but like old Sir Charles Harboard he wishes that the Duke might appear to be the first Adviser for calling a Parliament so that the People may be satisfied this Parliament should be called by the zealous Care and Industry of the Duke Now the Hopes of getting Money by calling the Parliament works more than the Laws of God or sacred Justice could do for upon the 29th of January Writs are issued out for the Assembling of a Parliament to meet the 17th of March following the Prison-Doors are opened for the imprisoned Gentry to go abroad the Arch-bishop the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Lincoln who tho now in Disgrace was the first Raiser of Laud after Bishop of London and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury have Writs to 〈◊〉 in Parliament But see the Unstability of Resolutions not founded in Truth Justice or Prudence for the next Day after the Writs for summoning the Parliament were agreed the King January the 30th granted a Privy-Seal to Burlemach for 30000 l. to be returned to Sir William Balfour and John Daâ—bier for raising a thousand German Hâ—rse with Arms both for Horse and Foot to be sent into England February the 28th where was an Army already upon free Quarter and after grants a Commission to 23 Lords and others to raise Money upon Impositions or otherwise Thus things stood in the State before the Meeting of the Parliament Now let 's see how they stood in the Church Barnevelt having headed a Faction in Holland which called themselves Arminians and designing by them to have deposed the Prince of Orange lost his Head for it about four Years before now on the contrary the Arminian Faction here which called themselves the Church of England ascribed all Dominion to the absolute Power of the King The Principals of this Faction were Neal Bishop of Wâ—â—chester Laud Bishop of Bath and Welâ—s and Richard Mountague afterwards advanced to the Bishopricks of Chichester and Norwich this Faction was headed by the Duke At this time the Jesuits had taken a House at Clarkenwell designing to make a College of it who in a Letter to the Father Rector of the Jesuits at Brussels boast that they had planted the soveraign Drug Arminianism which they hoped would purge the Protestants from their Heresy and that it flourished and bore Fruit in a due Season and they proceeded by Counsel and Consideration how and when to work upon the Duke's Jealousy and Revenge and in that they gave the Honour to those who merit it which were the Church Catholicks they assured themselves they had made the Duke and the Parliament irreconcilable and that they have those of their Religion who stand continually at the Duke's Chamber to see who comes in and who goes out They glory how admirably in their Speech and Gestures they act the Puritans and the Cambridg Scholars shall find by woful Experience they can act the Puritans better than they have done the Jesuits That their Foundation is Arminianism that the Arminians and Projectors affect Mutation Having thus laid the Foundation for propagating their Religion the Jesuits next Care was for the State and in the first place they consider the King's Honour and Necessities and shew how the King may free himself of his Word as Lewis the 11th did and for greater Splendor and Lustre how he may raise a great Revenue and not be beholden to his Subjects which was by way of Excise which must be by a mercenary Army of Horse and Foot For the Horse they had made sure they should be Foreigners and Germans who would eat up the King's Revenue and spoil the Countries wheresoever they came tho they should be paid What Havock then will they make there when they get no Pay or are not duly paid they will do more Mischief than we hope the Army will do This mercenary Army of 2000 Horse and 20000 Foot was to be taken into pay before the Excise be settled In forming the Excise the Country is most likely to rise if the Mercenary Army subjugate the Country the Soldiers are to be paid out of the Confiscations they hope instantly to dissolve Trade and hinder the Building of Ships by devising probable Designs and putting the State upon Expeditions as that of Cadiz and in taking
told them that the King of his Grace and Favour upon their granting 12 Subsidies to be paid in three Years would forbear levying Ship-Money and abolish it and for their Grievances they should rely upon his Royal Promise and give as much time now as may be and after at Michaelmas next and that the King expected a positive Answer Hereupon the House was turned into a grand Committee and spent the whole Day upon the Message but came to no Resolution and desired Sir Henry Vane to acquaint the King that the House would next day proceed upon the King's Supply But next Morning early Secretary Windebank in actual Correspondence and Conspiracy with Richlieu's Chaplain for subverting our Religion and introducing Popery commanded the Speaker to Whitehall and the same Day the King dissolved the Parliament and the next Day the Lord Brook's Study Cabinet and Pockets were searched for Papers and Mr. Bellasis and Sir John Hotham were convened before the Council to answer concerning Passages in Parliament and giving no satisfactory Answer were committed Prisoners to the Fleet till further Order from the King and Council and Mr. Crew was committed close Prisoner to the Tower till further Order from the Council and no Cause shewed in either of these Warrants The greatest Objection against Hereditary Monarchy is that Princes Ears are always open to Minions Flatterers and Sycophants whereby they rarely understand the state of their own Affairs or of their Subjects To attemper this the Wisdom of our Constitution ordains That Parliaments be frequently held to represent to the King the state of the Nation and so to inform him of Grievances that they may be redressed And so inviolably has this mutual Correspondence between the King and Parliament been observed in all Ages that I do not believe any King or Queen of England and of the English Race since Henry 3. ever dissolved one Parliament in Displeasure before King James whereas of eight Parliaments these two Kings of the Scotish Race dissolved seven in Displeasure Yet never did Parliaments in any Reign demean themselves more chearfully to any King than to these two and I challenge any one to shew that in any one respect they intrenched upon any just Prerogative of either of these Kings or did any Act not warranted by former Precedents It 's true Queen Elizabeth would not endure to have the Parliament to meddle with the state of the Church as 't was established nor hear of declaring a Successor and when either of these were moved contrary to her express Order she would commit the Members but easily dismiss them otherwise I believe in no Age any Member of Parliament was ever committed or censured by any King of England before King James for debating or reasoning of the state of the Nation or Church In the 20th of Edward 3. John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevil were accused in Parliament for misadvising the King and were sent to the Tower for it and Henry 4. Rot. Parl. 5. upon the Complaint of the Commons against four of his Servants and Counsellors that they might be removed declared openly That tho he knew nothing against them in particular yet he was assured that what the Lords and Commons required of him was for the Good of himself and Kingdom and therefore he banish'd them and at the same time declared he would do so by any other who should be near his Royal Person if they were so unhappy as to fall under the Hatred of his People Whereas this King tho the Duke of Buckingham were accused of more Crimes in Parliament than is recorded of Pierce Gaveston and the Spencers in 2d's time and of the Duke of Ireland Tresilian and Belknap in 2d's time and of the Death of this King's Father to boot yet rather than the Duke shall be brought to Trial the King dissolves the second Parliament of his Reign And in his Declaration for dissolving the three Parliaments calls the questioning his Ministers an Invasion upon his Prerogative and that through them they endeavoured to wound their Soveraign's Honour and Government Since the Statute De Tallagio non Concedendo in the Reign of Edward the I I think no mention has been made that ever any King of England taxed the Subject before this King and his Father except Edward the IV by Benevolence for which his Memory is bitterly stained in the Parliament-Roll of the second Chapter of Richard the III tho it be not in the printed Statutes and by a Loan demanded in the Reign of Henry the VIII by Cardinal Wolsey the raising of which had near raised a Rebellion which when it came to the King's Ear he laid the Blame upon the Cardinal and said he would not rend his Subjects from the Law and forbid further proceeding in it Arch-bishop Abbot excepts against his Licensing Sybthorp's Sermons for that the King 's taxing Loans by his own Authority was neither by the Laws nor Customs of England the King in his Answer says He did not stand upon the Laws and Customs of England for he had a Precedent for it and would insist upon it The Arch-bishop replied He thought it was a Mistake and feared there was no such Precedent and that Henry the VIII desired but the sixth part of Mens Estates but the King required the full six Parts so much as the Men are set at in the Subsidy-Book And when the Commons in the third Year of his Reign made a Remonstrance against the King's taking Tunnage and Poundage not granted by Parliament the King calls this a detracting from their Soveraign and commands all who have or shall have any Copies of it to burn them upon Pain of his Indignation and high Displeasure The King for Causes of dissolving this Parliament the last he shall ever dissolve begins with the usual Stile That he well knows that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to his Imperial Crown of which he is not bound to give any Account but to God alone no more than of his other Regal Actions But quid gloriaris Did ever any King of England say this before his Father and himself Or in what common-Law or Acts of Parliament is this to be found Or if he had such Power Why does the King so often boast of it Sure it had been better done by another than himself Is this a time of day when this Prince had lost all his Honour abroad to magnify himself that he has Power to dissolve Parliaments at home and thereby obstruct those Ways by which he might unite himself to his Subjects and then glory that he is only accountable to God for all his Actions Nebuchadnezzar's Boast Is not this the Babel which I have built was but a Bauble to this He said this but once and God sent him seven Years among Wild Beasts and he saw his Pride and he repented This King upon all Occasions makes his Boasts but I do not
Northumberland side by force of them passed the Tine and killed and took 300 English Prisoners and after took New-Castle and seized four great Ships of the English laden with Corn and imposed a Tax of 350 l. a day upon the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. a day upon the County of Northumberland upon pain of Plundering and the Scots committed many Injuries and Insolencies upon the English where the Scots quartered as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 34 35. Thus was the state of things altered Mr. May says pag. 34. it should be pag. 18. And that War which was intended for an Enslavement of both the Nations truly said but untruly intended became the Bond of Concord between them God defend the Nation for time to come of such Concord or such Causes of it The Parliament Mr. May says began with Matters of Religion divers Ministers who had been of good Lives and Conversations conscientious in their ways and diligent in their Preaching and had by the Bishops and those in Authority been motested and imprisoned for not conforming to some Ceremonies which were imposed on them were now by the Parliament relieved and recompensed for their Suffering and others who had been scandalous either for loose wicked living or else Offenders in way of Superstition both which to discountenance the Puritans had been frequently preferred were censured and removed Here Mr. May is right but yet partial in that he does not tell how that the Orthodox Clergy as the Bishops of Lincoln Williams Dr. Hall of Norwich Dr. Prideaux of Worcester Dr. Brownrig of Exeter Dr. Morton of Durham c. and all the Orthodox Anti-Arminian Heads of both Universities and also Dr. Saunderson Dr. Featly and many others underwent the same Fate with those Ministers which Mr. May speaks of Pag. 38. which should have been 24. Mr. May says That the Parliament ordered that the Scots should be recompensed for all their Charges and Loss by that mischievous War which the King had raised against them Here Mr. May is not only partial and unsincere but the contrary hereof is true for the Scots in the former War took up Arms and seized the Regalia at Sterlin took Towns in Scotland and other ways committed Acts of Hostility before the King raised Arms to suppress them as is before and so they did in this latter raise Arms in Scotland before they invaded England before the King raised any Army See Whitlock's Mem. fol. 276. Where Mr. May had this unless framed by himself I cannot tell but Sir Richard Baker recites the Demand at large and the Commons Answer to them And this Mr. May speaks of is the sixth Demand Wherein they desire from the Justice and Kindness of the Kingdom of England Reparations concerning the Losses which the Kingdom of Scotland hath sustained and the vast Charges they have been put unto by occasion of the late Troubles To which the Commons answer That the House thinks fit that a Friendly Assistance and Relief shall be given towards the Supply of the Loss of the Scots and that the Parliament did declare that they did conceive that the Sum of 300000 l. is a fit Proportion for their Friendly Assistance and Relief formerly thought fit to be given towards the Supply of the Loss and Necessities of their Brethren of Scotland and that the Houses would in due time take into Consideration the Manner how and when the same shall be raised Now let any Man shew out of Mr. May where that mischievous War which the King had raised against them is to be found If Mr. May had been a faithful Historian he should have made Truth and not the Distempers of a distracted Time nor the Clamours of his prejudic'd Brain to have been the Measures of his Story He should have set forth how like Pedlars they treated the English in their Particulars in their 8th Demand of 514128 l. 9 s. besides the Loss of their Nation to 440000 l. Yet they did not give in that Account with an Intent to demand a total Reparation of all their Charges and Losses but were content good Men in some measure to bear a Remnant Mr. May should have set forth how perfidiously the Scots dealt with the English Nation when in their Remonstrance at their first coming in they professed that they would take nothing of the English but for Money or Security whereas they plundered and taxed Northumberland New-Castle and the Bishoprick of Durham so that those Places could not recover their Losses in 20 Years as Sir Benjamin Rudyard in open Parliament charged them and that the English formerly established the Scots Reformation at their own bare Charges whereas the Scots presumed to require a greater Sum than was ever given the King Which you may read more at large in Sir Rich. Baker fol. 417. These are the Parliament's Brethren for whose Brotherly Assistance they voted 300000 l. towards a Supply of the Losses and Necessities note that of our Brethren of Scotland and that the Parliament would in due time take into Consideration the Manner of raising and Days of Payment and in the mean time leave New-Castle Northumberland and Durham a Prey to these devouring Scots But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake this Fraternity and that by no visible Power at present but what shall arise from among themselves I could add many more Particulars of Mr. May's Partiality and Insincerity but this already said is sufficient And now it 's time to enquire whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War and who first designed it tho the Distemper of the Times was so distracted and variable that it 's hard to judg of Intentions by Actions The Royalists excuse the King from any Intention of a Civil War in England in that he protected no Man from the Justice of the Parliament and that he had put away all those which the Parliament called Evil Counsellors both in Church and State having made Mr. St. John his Attorney and Mr. Holborn his Solicitor both which were his Antagonists in imposing Ship-Money and upon his going into Scotland made the Earl of Essex Chamberlain and General of his Forces on this side Trent and in the Church reversed all the Proceedings in the Star-Chamber against the Bishop of Lincoln and preferred Dr. Hall from Exeter to the Bishoprick of Norwich and made Dr. Brownrig Bishop of Exeter and Dr. Prideaux Bishop of Worcester who were the most Learned of the Church of England and most opposite to the Arminian Tenets and of most exemplary Life and Piety and before his going into Scotland passed all Bills presented to him by the Houses even that of not dissolving the Parliament without their Consent which he would never have done if he had had any Intention of raising a War against them or a Civil War in England Mr. May p. 43. it should be p. 25. tells us of a twofold Treason against the Parliament if you 'll take his word and that the
King was knowing of both one was to have delivered the Earl of Strafford out of the Tower but Sir William Balfour the Lieutenant would not consent to it Here note The King made Balfour a Scot Lieutenant of the Tower one of the greatest Places of Trust in England without any Complaint of the Parliament whenas the Parliament of Scotland in their second Demand made to the King would have no Stranger to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's without their Consent The other part of this Treason chief of all the rest But why all when but two Mr. May says was a Design to bring up the English Army which was in the North and not yet disbanded this Army they had dealt with to engage against the Parliament's sitting and as they alledg to maintain the King's Prerogative Episcopacy and other things against the Parliament it self This Charge is so false as well as partial as no Man who had any regard to Truth Honesty or Fairness would have so expos'd himself for if the King's Prerogative be not maintain'd he can neither govern his Subjects nor protect them from Foreign Enemies and Episcopacy is one of the Constitutions of the Nation and how the maintaining these can be against the Parliament had need of a wiser Head than Mr. May's to shew But these two are not all Mr. May says but there were other things against the Parliament if there had been other things I do not think Mr. May would in Modesty have conceal'd them but since Mr. May has not given the Causes of this chief Treason I will do it and not follow Sir Richard Baker nor Franklin lest they should be deemed to be partial to the King's Cause but Mr. Whitlock whom no Man believes to be so who fol. 44. b. says June 19th It was voted that the Scots should receive 100000 l. of the 300000 l. the Scots by a Paper pretended Necessity for 125000 l. in present the Parliament took off 10000 l. of 50000 l. which they had appointed for the English Army and order'd it for the Scots The Lord Piercy Commissary Wilmot and Ashburnham Members of Parliament sitting together and murmuring at it Wilmo◠stept up and said That if such Papers of the Scots could procure Monies he doubted not but the Officers of the English Army would soon do the like and this caused the English Army to say The Parliament had disobliged them The Officers put themselves into a Juncto of sworn Secrecy and drew up some Heads by way of Petition to the King and Parliament for Money for the Army and not to disband before the Scots to preserve the Bishops Votes and Functions and to settle the King's Revenue The Army tainted from hence met and drew up a Letter or Petition which was shewed to the King approv'd and signed by him with C. R. and a Direction to Captain Leg that none should see it but Sir Jacob Ashley it should have been Astly the main drift was That the Army might be call'd up to attend the Safety of the King's Person and Parliament's Security or that both Armies might be disbanded Where is this chief Treason lodg'd unless in Mr. May's Brain Or where is the King's Prerogative mention'd But as the Times then went Mr. May took liberty to say what he list to humour them the Scots must be obey'd in whatsoever they demand and it must be chief Treason in the English to petition Mr. May p. 32 33. will have the King 's going into Scotland to be a Design to raise War against the Parliament of England and to that end tells a Story of a Scots Writer that published that it was to engage the Scots against the Parliament of England with large Promises of Spoil and offering Jewels of great Value for Performance of it but he names not the Scot and leaves it uncertain for the Reader to judg by what fell out afterward But if he the King did it was a matter of great Falshood Mr. May says having as yet declar'd no Enmity against the English Parliament From the same Author he says it was to make sure of those Noblemen of that Kingdom he doubted of as not willing to serve his turn against England and true it is that about September Letters came to the standing Committee at Westminster that a Treasonable Plot was discovered there against the greatest Peers of the Kingdom but says not which Kingdom upon which the standing Committee fearing some Mischief from the same Spring placed strong Guards in divers Places of the City of London But in all this the Fox is the Finder and Mr. May as partial and false as in all he said before The truth was Jealousies and Fears were fomented by the Parliamentarians and even by the Members themselves against the King and Royalists But Mr. Whitlock tho of like Affection with Mr. May yet a much more impartial Representer of the Actions of those Times fol. 49. a. represents it thus The Marquesses of Hamilton and Argyle withdrew from the Parliament in Scotland upon Jealousy of some Design against their Persons but upon Examination of that matter by the Parliament there it was found to be a Misinformation yet the same took fire in our Parliament upon the Surmises of some whereupon the Parliament here appointed Guards for London and Westminster and some spake 〈◊〉 without Reflection upon the King The Royalists charge the Parliament at least the Commons with a Design to raise War against the King and to make him odious to the People after he had granted all the Parliament desired of him and given up those whom they call'd evil Counsellors to their Justice for their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom after the King's return out of Scotland which because of the Extraordinariness of it we will recite it verbatim as is said by Mr. Whitlock f. 49. b. The House of Commons prepared a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom wherein they mentioned All the Mistakes Misfortunes Illegalities and Defaults in Government since the King 's coming to the Crown the evil Counsels and Counsellors and a malignant Party that they have no hopes of settling the Distractions of this Kingdom for want of a Concurrence with the Lords This Remonstrance was somewhat roughly penn'd both for the Matter and Expressions in it and met with great Opposition in the House insomuch as the Debate of it lasted from three a Clock in the Afternoon till ten next Morning and the sitting up all Night caused many of the Members through Weakness or Weariness to leave the House and Sir B. R. I think he means Sir Benj. Rudyard to compare it to the Verdict of a starv'd Jury When the Vote was carried tho not by many to pass the Remonstrance Mr. Palmer and two or three more made their Protestation against this Remonstrance for which they were sent to the Tower This Remonstrance was presently printed and published by the Parliament contrary to the King's Desire
haughty Spirit could not bend to submit to the Cardinal but served the King of Spain in Flanders when in the Year I think 1653 he destroy'd and took half the French Army which besieged Valenciennes In these Commotions tho the French in the Year 1646 took Dunkirk and Graveling from the Spaniard yet in the Year 1652 the Spaniard retook them both from the French and the Spaniard was enabled to do this by the English for tho the Rump could not or would not assist the Prince of Conde in Bourdeaux yet having a Squadron of Men of War in the Downs when a great French Fleet under a Convoy of Men of War were going to relieve Dunkirk besieged by the Spaniards these were set upon by the English and the whole French Fleet destroy'd or scatter'd and so Dunkirk soon after surrendred as did Mardike and Graveling Nor were the Spaniards less successful in Catalonia for having expell'd the French out of it in the Year 1652 they reduced Barcelona the Metropolis of that Province and one of the best Ports in all Spain but these Successes will not long continue and if the Spaniards were beholden to the Rump for reducing Dunkirk and Graveling they may ascribe the loss of them and of many more Towns and Dominions to Cromwel In our Trades to Spain we were as much Gainers by them as Losers by the French so as we could better sustain the Losses wherein we debauched our selves by drinking Spanish Wines whereas in this War with Spain and Peace with France we doubly debauched our selves in drinking French Wines which became so much more as Spanish could not be had King James and Charles the First except in the business of Rochel were only Lookers on whilst this French King's Father rooted out the Power of the Reformed in France expell'd the Duke of Lorain out of his Country supported Portugal and Catalonia in their Rebellion against Spain tam'd the Duke of Savoy and took Pignerol the Key of his Country and other Places from him as also Brisac from the Empire and Landreshy and other Places from the Spaniard Whereas Cromwel actually joined with the French in an offensive War against the Spaniard whereby he first made the French so formidable that it 's a Question whether it be in the Power of Christendom to restrain his boundless Ambition by Land for besides the routing of the Spanish Army near Dunkirk by the English and French or rather by the English without the French they took from the Spaniard Winixburgh Furnes Bourbock Dunkirk Mardike Graveling Montmeily Ipre and other Places But the Land could put no Bounds to the French Ambition and therefore Mazarine made use of this Conjuncture to enlarge the French Dominion by Sea without which all the French Grandure by Land could not protect France from the Insults and Invasions which the English and Dutch might make upon it by Sea And herein Mazarine wisely considered that the Dominion of the Sea could not be attained but by Navigation nor could Navigation be had but by Trade to support it Of all Trades the Fishing-Trade most increases Navigation both my Mariners and Ships For in other Trades by Navigation as to Turkey Miscovy the East and West-Indies it may be we imploy a thousand Men in making Cloths c. to ten Mariners in the Foreign Vent of them whereas in the Fishing Trade every Man becomes a Mariner Add hereunto in the Fishing Trade the Mariners are always at hand for the Publick Service of their Country and lusty active and strong whereas in the long Sea Voyages especially to the East-Indies the Mariners are long absent and in the Diversities of Climates and by salt Meats and sowr Drinks become subject to infinite Distempers so that it may be a Question Whether in these Voyages we do not lose more Men than make Mariners And of those which survive one Fisherman shall by his Health and Strength beat three of them Besides in our Foreign Trades by Navigation we employ only Men in them whereas in the Fishing Trade we employ all sorts of People Men Women and Children in curing and drying Fish and in making Cordage Nets and Sails for the Fishing-Trade The Fishing-Trade upon the Coast of England and Scotland the French could not hope to drive the Dutch out of but the New-found-land Fishery was too remote from the Dutch and the French should only have the English to contest with in it Here let 's see how the Case stood between the English and French in this Contest The New-found-land Fishery was carried on by the Inhabitants of the Port-Towns of Cornwal Devon and Dorsetshire these Ports were all Corporations which excluded all other Men from carrying on this Trade and these Corporation-Men being few and Beggars could not enlarge their Fishing-Trade beyound their Men and Stock Whereas Havre de Grace St. Malo's Morlaix Brest Blavet Rochford Bayon and other Western Ports of France are not only manifoldly bigger and better peopled than the Ports of the Western and Southern Parts of England but the French King contributed three hundred thousand Pistols for carrying on the New-found-land Fishery and for further Encouragement gave half Pay to lusty young Men above their Wages for two or three Voyages for the increase of Mariners and in all the Ports of France erected Schools for instructing Youth in Mathematical Learning gratis The Fish caught in the New-found-land Fishery cost nothing but the catching and curing so that they who can catch and cure them cheapest are sure of a Foreign Market in their vending And this creates another Navigation and Employment of Mariners And here let 's see if the Act of Navigation be not as much a Cause of enabling the French in carrying on this Fishery as it is eternally of fixing the Fishing-Trade upon the Coast of England and Scotland and the Green-land Trade upon the Dutch and Hamburghers The French have upon the Coast of France I dare say near twenty-fold more Timber to build Vessels for the New-found-land Fishery than can be had at like distance from the Ports of Cornwal Devon and Dorset and I believe as cheap as the English pay for the Carriage of theirs to the Ports and when it comes there the French Timber is wrought much easier than the English and Vessels made of French Timber draw less Water and are sailed with fewer Hands Besides the French encourage all Foreigners to build their Vessels more conveniently for this Trade than the English understand And as the French have much more manifoldly the Advantage above the English in building Ships so have they more in Plenty of Hemp and Flax for fitting up Ships for this Trade wherein I suppose they do not restrain the French from curing Flax and Hemp in standing Waters and in Proportion as much cheaper than the English can fetch Foreign Hemp and Flax in English-built Ships and sailed by three fourths English So that to the Poverty of these beggarly Corporations this wise Law of
was sitting might be dangerous since the Parliament had so lately recognized him and so many thousands of the People had congratulated his Assumption into the Protectorate And to begin at the Parliament might be as dangerous for this they thought would disgust the Nation in general neither did they know whether the Parliament would be disbanded by them they therefore resolve they 'll make Richard dissolve them and take the Odium upon himself and when that 's done they 'll do well enough with Richard To this end the Officers urge Richard to make good their Proposals but the Protectorian Officers advised him to seize the Heads of the Republican which tho Richard durst not come to yet he spake high and threatned the Officers to cashier them This had a double Effect for the Protectorian Officers the Lord Falconbridg Captain Philip Howard Colonel Ingoldsby Whaley Goff and others seeing the meanness of Richard's Spirit in neglecting their Advice leave him and the Republicans were not to be quelled with Words but exasperated by them so that upon the 22d of April they beset White-hall and sent Desborough and Fleetwood to beseech him to dissolve the Parliament and if 't were not speedily done they would set fire to the House and kill all who should resist which so frightned Richard that he forthwith signs a Proclamation for dissolving the Parliament The Parliament thus dissolved Richard's Turn was next to be deposed not one of the manifold thousands of the ninety Congratulatory Addresses who promised to stand by Richard with their Lives and Fortunes speaking one word in his behalf and so shall such another Turn about thirty Years after be served on King James the Second Tho Richard and his Parliament were out yet something else must be in yet before they would put in any thing else the Republican Officers send Ingoldsby Goff Whaley my Lord Falconbridg and Howard after Earl of Carlisle after Richard and his Parliament and take in Lambert Harrison Rich Parker Okey and others whom Cromwel turn'd out But before they would set up any thing instead of Protector they make Fleetwood General by Sea and Land and Lambert Lieut. General To prepare the way for what was to be set up the Officers prepare a Remonstrance inveighing bitterly against the Malignants for so they call'â— the Royalists that they had printed Lists and marked for Destruction the Godly especially the King's Judges and therefore they would revive the Good Old Cause and restore the Rump Parliament but William Pryn according to his rude way of writing answered them That their Cause was neither Good nor Old and bitterly charges them with Treachery and Ingratitude But all to no purpose for since no better was to be had these Officers awake the Rump out of their Lethargy wherein they had been above five Years asleep and now were become so miserably lean that none but the Officers could abide the sight of them they could get but forty two together and these looked so wretchedly that they had much ado to get Lenthal to be Head again to it But how nasty soever the Rump was the first secluded Members would have sat with them but the Rump would none of that but set Guards at the Door of the House to keep them out Thus got together they again depose Richard and send Ludlow to do the same by Henry in Ireland and thus you see what Security can be had by relying upon a Mercenary Army one part of it exalted the Father and another part of the same Army deposed both the Sons But in Scotland they let Monk alone who promised to be true to them Yet these were not the Halâ—yon Days the Republican Officers expected by restoring the Rump for the Rump tho it had been long asleep yet remembred they were before tuned out by the Officers of the Army and that they shall do so no more they make Lenthal General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland by Sea and Land The Rump being contemptible to all the Nation and the Officers of the Army being thus divided and subdued and like Virginal-Jacks when one was up the other was down raised the Expectation of the Royalists That a sudden Change would be which could end in nothing but restoring the King And the Presbyterians exasperated by the Rump's Repulse again resolve not to sit quiet under it and therefore a Correspondence is held between them and the Royalists to depose the Rump whatever came of it To this end Sir George Booth rises in Cheshire with whom Sir Thomas Middleton joined but was ill seconded by the Royalists This alarm'd the Rump for they expected no better from the Presbyterians than the Royalists And now the Rump not well knowing the Man had so little Wit as to send Lambert against Sir George and you 'll soon see Lambert shall do that by the Rump which the Presbyterians and Royalists both together could not do For Lambert having overthrown Booth and taken him Prisoner tho the Rump were mightily joy'd at it and voted Lambert a Gratuity of a Thousand Pounds yet this no ways alter'd the Designs of Lambert which ever since the Death of Cromwel he had been hatching For Lambert after the Defeat of the Cheshire-men in his return for London at Derby the 16th of September procured a Petition from the Officers to the Rump that Fleetwood might be General of the Army and himself Lieutenant-General He was content to give Fleetwood the first Place as Cromwel had given Fairfax for he knew himself to be too hard for Fleetwood and a much better Souldier and so would do what he list And the greater part of the Officers in London join with Lambert in his Petition The Rump was more alarm'd at this Petition than at Sir Booth's Insurrection so as all Prosecution against him and the Cheshire-Men was at a stand nor were the Rump of one piece among themselves for Sir Arthur Haslerig a hot-headed Man was violently against the Army and said they made the Parliament a precarious thing and that Lambert trod Cromwel's Steps and his seeming Modesty in preferring Fleetwood was but a Decoy But young Sir Henry now become old Sir Henry Vane with much more cunning endeavour'd to carry on the Designs of Lambert and his Faction However the Majority of the Members rather than be deposed depose Lambert Desborough Berry Kelsey Ashfield Cobbet Creed Parker and Barrow and make a Council of War without naming a General of Fleetwood Monk Haslerig Ludlow Morley and Overton And to starve Lambert and his Officers the Rump vote That no Money shall be raised without Consent in Parliament and he that shall do it shall be guilty of High-Treason against the Commonwealth And the Nation to whom the Rump and Army were alike hateful took this for a very good Law However before this Infant Council of War should be warm in their Seats Lambert resolves to beat up their Quarters and marches directly to London but the
Fireships do not take Fire at first as the English do but first raise a Smoak incredibly stinking and so thick as nothing can be seen at the least distance so as it could not be seen where the Fireship's Grappling-Irons were fixed but upon the Fireship's taking Fire Sir John's Boatswain swung himself into the Fireship and by the Light of the Fire found where the Grappling-Irons were fixed in the Fireship and let them loose and got on board again But another Fireship grappled the Henry on her Larboard Quarter-Deck and took Fire and Sir John's Chaplain and about 50 more skipped into the Sea whereupon Sir John ran among the Mariners and threatned to kill any other who did not assist in quenching the Fire whereupon Sir John's Cabbin-Boy seeing the Sails on fire with wet Cloths encounter'd and put it out but the Cordage being burnt the Cross-beam fell upon Sir John's Leg and broke it By this the third Fireship made towards the Henry but 4 Pieces of Cannon laden with Cross-shot disabled her so that Sir John set up Jury-Masts and brought the Ship into Harwich and the next Day after fitted her up and tho his Leg was broke went out to Sea again to have fought but the Fight was over before he could come up to the Fleet. In this Day 's mad Fight wherein the English could make no use of their lower Tire of Guns and therefore Sir Thomas Tiddiman Rear-Admiral of the Red refused to engage the English were much damnified in their Rigging yet next Day the Duke engaged the Dutch again tho above double his Number of Ships and the Dutch hourly receiving fresh Supplies so he did the Day after the 3d of June when the Duke caused several of his most disabled Ships after he had taken out their Men to be burnt and had but 16 Ships left able to fight with which he retreated putting them between the Dutch and his unburnt disabled Ships Towards the Evening the English espied the White Squadron making up towards them but the English engaged with the Dutch striving to make their nearest Way to meet the White Squadron The Prince Royal it may be the best Man of War in the World and best gunn'd commanded by Sir George Askew run on a Sand and was lost and Sir George made Prisoner yet next Day the Fleets fought again and by the help of the White Squadron the English Fleet with much ado got into Harbour again leaving it a Problem whether it were a greater Treachery to divide the Fleet or Madness to fight the Dutch with the rest when they could not use their lower Tire of Guns The English and Dutch thus engaged at Wars at home the French King instead of sending his invisible Fleet into the Channel to assist the Dutch sends a visible Fleet to the subduing the English in their Plantations in the Leeward Islands and almost totally expell'd the English out of St. Christophers and interrupted them in their Trade to their other Islands and assumed a Soveraignty in those Seas where at present we leave him and return to England The Loss and Damage which the English sustained in the last Fight gave the Dutch an Opportunity to put out to Sea and ride braving upon our Coasts 3 Weeks or a Month before we could repair and fit out another Fleet but upon the 17th of July the English put to Sea again whereupon the Dutch retreat to their own Coasts where the English again engage them upon the 25th and where they beat the Dutch and forced them into their Harbours In the Fight Everts Brother to Everts killed by Sir John Harman Admiral of the Zealand Squadron Tirich Hides of the Friezland Squadron Vice-Admiral Conder and 6 Captains and Vice-Admiral Banker's Ship and the best Ship of Harlem were taken and burnt The English lost but one Ship commanded by Captain Haiman The Dutch thus driven in gave the English an Opportunity to burn the Village of Brandaris in Schelling and fire above 150 Sail of the Dutch within the Fly Upon the 16th of August the Dutch put to Sea again and now the English had 10 or 12 Men of War more than the Dutch which was the only time in this and the other Dutch War the English had so many Men of War as the Dutch and to the Amazement of Standers-by the Dutch forsook their own Coast and sailed towards the French for which no other Reason could be given but that the French King who equally loved the Dutch and English had decoyed the Dutch to join that invisible Fleet which we divided ours to fight with The English pursued the Dutch through the Straits between Dover and Calice and were ready to engage them when by a terrible Storm the Wind drove the English to an Anchor at Helen's Point where in the Passage the St. Andrew a second Rate Ship broke her Back upon a Sand and the Dutch came to an Anchor in the Bay of Bulloigne and the Wind about the 8th of September turning brought the Dutch home before the English could engage them And in that instant September the 2d as near as could be conjectured that this Storm arose which saved the Dutch Fleet the City of London flew on Fire nor did the Desolation made by the Fire end in it but when it was over by Order of Council all the Houses upon the Tower Ditch to the number of about 200 were pull'd down to preserve the Tower from the Danger of another Conflagration now the City was burnt The Firing of the City of London so soon succeeding the Division of the Fleet caused a strange Consternation not only in Mens Minds in London but all the Nation over That there were Designs to ruin the Nation as well on Shore as at Sea whereupon infinite varieties of idle Tales and Stories were printed as well as said so as tho a general Fear of Plots against the Nation was evident yet in this Confusion the Cause from whence the City of London became fired was not only smothered but the Means of searching into it prevented Herein I will take notice of only two Particulars both which are mentioned in Sir C's Speech in the third Westminster Parliament which met the 21st of October 1680. In April 1666 next before the Fire of London several Persons confessed they had been treated with and had treated with others to burn the City of London in September following tho the Parliament were then sitting and this a Matter of State proper to be enquired into by Parliament yet these Men were hanged so as no further Enquiry could be made into it and all those who were taken in carrying on the Work discharged except one Hubert a Papist who confessed that he and others set the City on Fire Upon this Hubert was condemned but I do not find he was examined who those other were who joined with him in it or who set him on work but this I find that Mr. Hawles in his Remarks upon
made out the Popish Faction would lose the Tories and Passive-Obedience-Men who at present were their dearest Joys and without them they had not Means to carry on their Design of propagating the Catholick Cause they were sure of the King tho it 's believed he loved not the Duke of York and therefore the King made three Declarations the first of the second of June 1679 wherein he calls the Report of his Marriage or Contract with Mrs. Walters alias Barrow the Duke of Monmouth's Mother false and scandalous and upon the sixth of January following declared that they who should say he was married or contracted to the Duke of Monmouth's Mother were neither his nor the Duke's Friends and declared in the Presence of Almighty God that he was never married nor contracted to any other Woman but his Wife Queen Catherine and upon the third of March following declared in Council and entred it into the Council-Books in the Presence of Almighty God that he was never contracted or married to any other Woman but his Wife Queen Catherine and the Popish Party were sure enough no Issue would spring from thence to the Prejudice of their Cause And that the King might gratify this Faction as well as he had done the Nation in sending the Duke of York out of it he sends the Duke of Monmouth after him but the Duke being informed that Banishment is a Punishment which the King cannot inflict upon any Man unless he be convicted of some Crime the Duke of Monmouth returns again and the Duke of York followes him with this different Success that the Duke of Monmouth had all his Places of Profit and Trust taken from him and the Duke of York was sent High Commissioner into Scotland where the Duke of Monmouth's Victory at Blackborn had left a clear Field in Scotland for the Duke of York to play what Game he pleased but how well this agreed with the King's Speech at the opening of the Parliament That he had commanded his Brother to absent himself from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say that he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him to Popish Councils a little time will shew but before we take a View of the Duke of York's Actions in Scotland it 's fit to see how things were carried on in England between the Dissolution of the Parliament and the meeting of the next or third Westminster-Parliament of this Reign The King by Proclamation dissolved the Parliament upon the 12th of July 1679 and issued out Writs for the meeting of another the 17th of October following but like the usual Methods of other things in this Reign when they met he prorogued them to the 26th of January following and then prorogued them to the 5th of April following viz. 1680 and from thence to the next 17th of May And when they then met prorogued them to the first of July and from thence to the 21st of October when he graciously declared they should then sit And now let 's see what 's doing in the mean while for the discovery and suppressing of the Popish Plot. To humour the Court the Tory Party set their Wits to work to ridicule the Popish Plot and Roger L'Estrange as Pensioner of the Party comes weekly or oftner out in defiance of it who is Party Judg Licenser and Rifler of the Press whilst his Antagonist Care who wrote The Weekly Packet of Advice from Rome wherein he discovered the Frauds and Superstitions of that Court and Church is not only thereupon arraigned convicted and sentenced for printing illicite or without Licence but by an Order of the Court of King's Bench it was ordained That the Book intâ—led The Weekly Advice from the Church of Rome or the History of Popery shall not from thenceforth be printed or published by any Person whatsoever Then a Design was set on foot to throw the Popish Plot upon the Presbyterians by leaving Papers of a Plot in the Lodgings of the principal Persons who were active in the discovery of the Popish Plot and then to search their Houses and prosecute them upon it and these Papers to be given in Evidence against them Mrs. Cellier was a principal Agent herein and Dangerfield as her Instrument at first made an Attempt herein upon Colonel Mansel who was prosecuted upon it but the Examination of it was referred to Sir William Jones then Attorney General upon whose Report of it to the Council they thereupon voted Colonel Mansel innocent and Dangerfield guilty and that this was a Design of the Papists to lay the Plot upon the Dissenters Charge and a further Proâ— of the Popish Plot. But this was such a Crime in Sir William Jones that he was soon after put out of his Place and Sir Robert Sawyâ—â— put in who would not venture the loss of his Place for such another Report By this time my Lord Chief Justice's Zeal which he professed for discovery of the Popish Plot was inverted into the quite contrary and he was not of the Opinion of the Council For after this Dangerfield procured his Pardon and then discovered the whole Plot which he printed hereupon Mrs. Cellier was prosecuted and tried before my Lord Chief Justice Scroggs upon the eleventh of June 1680. and Mrs. Cellier excepting against Dangerfield's Evidence he having his Pardon the Case was sent to the Court of Common-Pleas for their Judgment upon it who gave it that Dangerfield's Evidence was good yet let any Man read the Trial and see how the Chief Justice rated and vilified him so as Mrs. Cellier was quit and after the Trial committed Dangerfield to Prison upon the account there was a Defect in his Pardon though it was not then before him whether there was any Defect in his Pardon or not Then the Popish Party set another Design on foot to suborn the Discoverers of the Popish Plot for which Mr. Reading was tried and committed and also to suborn defame and scandalize the King's Evidence in the Discovery of the Popish Plot for which Thomas Knox and John Lane were convicted upon the twenty fifth of November 1679 and John Tasborough and Ann Price upon the third of February following Another Step towards the Discovery of the Popish Plot and Subversion of Popery was to discharge those in Prison upon it and in order to it you may read in the Trial of Sir George Wakeman Corker and Marshal what a Stress my Lord Chief Justice Scroggs put upon Oates his not accusing Sir George Wakeman upon his Letter before the Council when Oates was so tired weak and confounded with his other Evidence that he was scarce able to stand and how the Chief Justice repeats this and bids the Jury weigh it well and not be amazed or affrighted at the noise of Plots and that Sir Wakeman's Corker's and Marshal's Blood lie at Stake as did his and the Juries Souls c. And in my Lord Castlemain's Trial how he undervalued
make no Alterations in either it will not be long before you shall see Alterations made in both without you And I promise and swear to maintain the King's Jurisdictions against all deadly as I shall answer it before God Why this again For before you sware to maintain all the King 's Rights and Prerogatives and what does the King's Jurisdiction add to them However you are very prodigal of your Swearing and if his Highness will not believe you for your Swearing before you 'll try how far he 'll believe you now And that I take this Oath in the plain and genuine Sense and Meaning of the Words without any Equivocation Mental Reservation or Evasion and never to accept of any Dispensation from any Creature So God help me This is well sworn to interpret your Truth and Sincerity especially when the whole Oath is Confusion Equivocation or Contradiction and not one plain and intelligible Sentence in it In the Debates in Parliament for passing this Test the Earl of Argyle declared his Opinion That as few Oaths as could be should be imposed and that the Oath of Allegiance and Declaration had effectually debarred all Fanaticks of getting into any Places of Trust and though some Papists had swallowed the Oath yet a Word or two of Addition to guard against them was all he judged necessary The Earl opposed the dispensing with the King's Sons and Brother's taking the Test for that the King and People were of one Religion and hoped the Parliament would do nothing to loose what was fast nor open a Gap for the Royal Family to differ in Religion for their Example if it once appeared to the People to be honourable would have more Followers than a Thousand others would have and therefore wished if any Exception were it might be particular to his Highness which the Duke opposing the Earl concluded if it did pass it would do more hurt to the Protestant Religion than all the rest of the Acts and many other Acts would do good This Plainness of the Earl was the Cause of all that befel him as he was afterwards told by the Bishop of Edinburgh but the first Appearance of the Duke's Displeasure was two Bills given in against him one by the Earl of Errol the other by the King's Advocate who acknowledged it to be done by Commandment otherwise it was without his Line These struck at the Earl's Estate and Honours only that of Errol was that the Earl's Estate might be liable to pay him and others for the Debts contracted by his Father The Advocate 's Claim was to all his Heritable Offices But the Duke being informed that a Judgment in this Case would have exposed the Marquess of Huntley's Estate who was a zealous Papist the Duke of his own Accord put a full Stop to it for he found he said it did plainly impugn the King's Prerogative and might be of ill Consequence After this the Parliament was adjourned and a new Design was to get a Commission from the King to review all the Earl's Rights and heritable Offices and to charge his Estate for more than 't was worth Hereupon the Earl applied himself to the Duke against such a Commission and intreated him that if any quarreled his Right his Case might be remitted to the ordinary Judicatories according to the established Laws of the Land but this was not granted yet the Duke was pleased to allow the Earl time to go into the Country to bring his Evidence with a Promise no Commission should pass till the Earl's Return But you 'll see something more than the Earl's Estate was designed For the Earl was no sooner gone but he and the President of the Sessions were turned out of it Hereupon the Earl wrote to the Earl of Murray the King's Secretary praying leave to wait upon the King which he was pleased readily to grant and upon his Return to Edinburgh begg'd the same Favour of the Duke who told him he might not kiss the King's Hand till he had taken the Test Here you may observe the Test was not to be taken by any but those who bear Office nor to be imposed upon any before the First of January 1680 and this was about the Beginning of November before and the Earl being acquainted that one of the Clerks of the Council was appointed to summon the Earl to the Council the next Day which he conceived to be to take the Test he asked the Duke if with his Favour he might not have the Allowance by the Act The Duke told him no and the Earl urged it again in vain all the Delay he could obtain was but till Thursday the third of November the next Council-Day of Course Then the Earl said he was the less fond of the Test because he found some who had refused it were still in Favour and others as the Register who had taken it were turned out at which his Highness laught But how comes your Highness said the Earl to press the Test so hastily Sure there are some things in it which your Highness does not overmuch like To which the Duke answered angerly and in a Passion most true that the Test was brought into Parliament without the Confession of Faith but the late President caused put in the Confession which makes it such as no honest Man can take it which is a greater Contravention and depraving the Test than the Perjury and Treason charged upon the Earl for them then the Earl replied he had the more Reason to advise In this Interval the Earl spake with the Bishop of Edinburgh and saw his Explanation of the Test and that of the Bishop of Aberdeen and the Synod's Explanation of the Test and the Explanation of it by the Synod and Clergy of Perth and that of the Earl of Queensberry which as they differ all from one another so were they printed and made publick and which you may read at large in the Earl of Argyle's Case It 's observable that tho by the Test they swear the Confession of Faith recorded in the first of King James the sixth To be founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God and that they will never consent to any Change or Alteration thereto and at last swear they take it in the plain and genuine Sense and Meaning of the Words without any Equivocation yet the Bishop of Aberdeen and the Synod in the 2d Article of their Explanation say We do not hereby prejudg the Churches Right to and Power of making an Alteration in the said Confession as to the Ambiguity and obscure Expressions thereof or of making a more unexceptionable Frame and having made several other Exceptions the Sixth Article concludes When we swear that we take the Test in the plain and genuine Sense of the Words c. we understand it only so far as it does not contradict the Exceptions And the Synod of Perth makes four explanatory Exceptions to the Test and the fifth concludes When we swear in the
were undone by it yet little of the Money levied upon them was brought into the Exchequer and you may be sure the Prosecutors would take their own share and it was no difficult Matter to get a Grant or at least a Pardon for the King 's Among the rest of the Worthies in this pious Business one Jenner a Lawyer was one who for this and other meritorious Acts was after knighted and made one of the honourable Barons of the Exchequer and Sir Dudly North the Keeper's own Brother was another and though these Men were excepted out of the Act of Indemnity made by this King and Informations against them in the Exchequer and among the rest against this Jenner yet upon pleading their Pardons I do find no great matttr came of them And now since the Meal-Tub Plot and that of Fitz-Harris had no better Effect the Court sets up another to throw the Popish Plot upon the Nonconformists You have heard before how there appeared to be a Popish Plot carried on in Ireland ever since the Year 1665 for establishing the Popish Religion and that several Witnesses were brought out of Ireland to prove it and how that the Lords in Parliament having throughly enquired into it did upon the sixth of January last viz. 1680-81 send this Message to the Commons Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled that they do declare that they are fully satisfied that there now is and for divers Years last past hath been an horrid and treasonable Plot continued and carried on by those of the Popish Religion in Ireland for massacring the English and subverting the Protestant Religion and the antient Government of that Kingdom to which they desire the Concurrence of this House to which the Commons agreed The Evidence by which the Lords discovered this Plot were generally Irish and of the Popish Religion and it 's probable were Partakers of the Design of this Massacre and had not their Pardons or if they had they were poor and had no means to subsist now the Oxford Parliament was dissolved and no Prospect of another especially having now lost their Friends and Dependance for having given their Evidence of the Discovery of the Plot and were in a strange Country In this state the Court imployed a sort of Men partly by Terror and partly by their Necessities to work upon the Irish to pervert their Evidence another way And the Cause being the same it had the same Effect upon others as well as the Irish for the Oxford Parliament being dissolved and all Hopes of Enquiry further into the Popish Plot growing desperate Dugdale Turbervile and Smith not having that I can find gotten their Pardons and having lost their Dependances upon their having given their Evidence and being reduced to the same Necessities the Irish Witnesses were were easily wrought upon to smother the Popish Plot and to swear another upon the principal Inquirers into the Popish nay even my Lord H tho not in the like Circumstances could not procure his Pardon till his Drudgery of Swearing was over The Foundation thus laid now we proceed to shew how the King made good his Declaration for calling frequent Parliaments and in using his utmost Endeavours of extirpating Papacy and it is without any Precedent that ever any King before did truckle to such vile and mean things to invert his Declaration and his manifold repeated Promises to the Parliament The 28th of March the Parliament at Oxford was dissolved and upon the 27th of April following an Indictment of High Treason was preferred against Edward Fitz-Harris to the Grand Jury at Westminster for the Hundred of Oswalst but the Grand Jury having the Vote of the Commons of the 27th of March so fresh in their Memories desired the Opinion of the Court whether they might safely proceed upon it and you need not doubt but the Court gave their Opinion they might So the Grand Jury found the Bill From the time that Fitz-Harris was removed from Newgate to the Tower which was 10 Weeks before this Indictment he was kept so close Prisoner that his Wife nor any others were permitted to come at him whereas the Lords impeached in Parliament had the Liberty of the Tower and for any Man to visit them Yet Fitz-Harris's Wife foreseeing the Design of the Trial of her Husband had gone to Counsel and had a Plea drawn to the Jurisdiction of the Court to which the Attorney-General demurred and Fitz-Harris's Counsel joined in the Demurrer It were Vanity and extream Arrogance in me to judg of the nice Pleadings on both sides concerning the Form and Substance or to give a Reason why the Court over-ruled Fitz-Harris's Plea since the Court did not Yet I say the Reports of Coke Dier Plowden and others would have proved dry Businesses if the Courts of Westminster-Hall had given such Judgments as the King's Bench did in Fitz-Harris's Case And I say also That no Man lives out of Society and Commerce and that in every Country there are Laws for the Preservation of Mens Lives and to protect them in Society and Commerce and that in every Country there is a Power which is loose from these Laws and gives Laws to all the Subjects of those Countries But because all Laws are vain unless they be executed every Country has Judicatories wherein these Laws are executed which differ in different Countries The supreme Power of this Nation resides in a Parliament whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons are the Body These Courts of Judicature have their distinct Jurisdictions and are restrained to certain Rules and Methods the highest of these Courts are the Body of the Parliament viz. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons which have distinct Jurisdictions but are not bound up in their Judicatories by such strict Rules as other Courts are Other Courts take Cognizance of civil and criminal Cases between particular Men but these Courts of Parliament take Cognizance of the State and Grievances of the Nation where only they find Relief and tho no other Courts take Cognizance of Matters transacted in Parliament yet either of these Courts take Cognizance of all Proceedings in other Courts and not only reverse all illegal Proceedings in them but punish the Judges of all other Courts for any Errors or Abuses committed by them so if any Person or Person shall grow so great as to be dangerous to the Publick tho they be out of the Reach of other Courts yet they are subject to these Courts of Parliament and by these Courts the English Nation have preserved their Liberties and Laws now France and Spain have lost them which before had their Assemblies of the States all one with our Parliaments and in losing them have lost their Liberty and Laws to the Arbitrary Will of their Princes The Jurisdiction of Parliaments hath been in all Ages in England esteemed sacred so that other Courts rarely
presumed to take Cognizance of Cases which were in the Jurisdiction of or depending in Parliament for this was to depose the Parliament and usurp their Jurisdiction nor do we read that ever any other Court assumed this Authority but in the Reigns of Kings affecting Tyranny and Arbitrary Power The first Judges which I think gave their Opinion That the Courts in Westminster Hall might take Cognizance of Causes determinable in Parliament were Tresilian and Belknap in 11 Rich. II. for which they were impeached by the Commons in Parliament of no less than High Treason and for which by Judgment of the Lords in Parliament Tresilian was hanged and Belknap banished Mr. Williams in his Pleadings for Fitz-Harris cites another Case in 20 Rich. II. of a Person who exhibited a Petition in Parliament which suggested something which amounted to High Treason which it may be was determinable by Common Law This Person was after indicted at Common Law found guilty and pardoned but because the Business was depending in Parliament the Prosecution and Judgment were made void in Parliament The next Case I think but of an higher Nature for Tresilian and Belknap only gave their Opinion was that of Sir John Elliot my Lord Hollis c. 5 Car. I. when an Information was exhibited against them in the King's Bench they pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court being for Matters transacted in Parliament the Court over-ruled their Plea and gave Judgment against them and Reasons such as they were for their Judgment but in the 19 Car. I. upon a solemn Debate in the Commons House and upon their Reasons given at a Conference with the Lords the Judgment of the King's Bench Reasons and all were reversed by a Writ of Error in the Lords House and after the Judges who gave the Judgment were impeach'd of High-Treason by the Commons for endeavouring to subvert the fundamental Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom This Case of Fitz-Harris I take to be the fourth of this kind yet shall open a Gap for a fifth but that this Case may be better understood it will be necessary to distinguish between an Indictment or Information and an Indictment by the Commons in Parliament An Indictment or Information is at the Suit of the King and the Judges and Jury are tied up to some single Issue as in this Case of Fitz-Harris the Trial was whether he was guilty or not of the Treason whereof he was indicted But an Impeachment of the Commons is at their Suit and of all the Commons of England nor are they tied up to one single Issue but impeach for Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours in the same Impeachment they assume to themselves That all the Commons in England have a Right in the King and all the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and therefore can impeach where none of the Courts of Westminster-hall can take any Cognizance at the Suit of the King either by Indictment or Information After Fitz-Harris was committed to Newgate he was examined by the Earls of Essex and Shaftsbury Sir Robert Clayton and Sheriff Cornish who found in him a Disposition to discover the bottom of the Popish Plot and also to make a further Discovery of the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but the next Day Fitz-Harris was carried to the Tower and kept close Prisoner and out of their Power to whom Fitz-Harris promised to make a Discovery The Commons conceiving themselves and all the Commons of England concerned in this Plot wherein the French Ambassador his Confessor my Lord H the Dutchess of Portsmouth and her Woman Wall and even the King himself for Fitz-Harris had several times acquainted the King with it and the King gave him Money and countenanced it were Agents impeached Fitz-Harris thereby to enquire into the Bottom of this Business which no Court in Westminster-Hall could do and this I take to be the Reason of the Commons Vote of the 27th of March 1681 That if any inferiour Courts shall proceed upon Fitz-Harris and he be found Guilty the House will declare them guilty of Murder and Betrayers of the Rights of the Commons of England And so it fell out that Fitz-Harris being indicted upon the single Issue of contriving and publishing the Libel was convicted and executed upon it tho he desired to proceed upon the Discovery of this Plot to the Earls of Essex Shaftsbury and to Sir Robert Clayton and to make an End of his Evidence against my Lord H which was denied So that whether Fitz-Harris was murder'd in his Person or not it 's no Question but his Evidence for further Discovery of this and the Popish Plot was murder'd by this Trial. I will make these Remarks more upon this Trial that in the Case of Tresilian and Belknap the Nation was in no other Danger than the Courts of Westminster-Hall's invading the Jurisdiction of Parliament and the Case of my Lord Hollis Sir John Elliot Mr. Selden c. was only for Misdemeanour whereas the King's Person and the Safety of the Nation were concerned in the Discovery which Fitz-Harris might have made see Mr. Hawles's fine Remarks upon the Practices and Illegalities of the Judgment of the Court not warranted by the Common or any Statute Law and that the Consequences of this Trial were manifoldly more mischievous to the Nation than if Fitz-Harris's Design had taken Effect The Fright of Fitz-Harris's Discovery of this new Popish Plot being seemingly allayed by his Death Revenge with winged Haste pursues the Discoverers of the old It was in Trinity-Term that Fitz-Harris was tried and executed and after this Term an Indictment of High Treason was exhibited to the Grand Jury of London against Stephen Colledge a mean Fellow but a great Talker against the Popish Plot who was more known by the Name of Protestant Joiner than Stephen Colledge The Fore-man was one Wilmer This Indictment would not down but the Grand Jury returned an Ignoramus upon it for which Wilmer was forced to fly his Country The Design not succeeding in London the Scene against Colledge is laid at Oxford the Judges were Chief Justice North Justice Jones Justice Raimond and Justice Levins To make sure of a Bill to be found there against Colledge the King's Counsel had prepared Witnesses at the Assizes to post thither and there to make sure Work the King's Counsel are privately shut up with the Jury till they had found the Bill which Mr. Hawles says was a most unjustifiable and unsufferable Practice Whilst these things were contriving Colledge had the Honour as well as Fitz-Harris to be committed and continued a close Prisoner in the Tower yet the Lords impeached in Parliament had the Liberty of it and free Access was permitted to them it 's true indeed Colledge was permitted to have a Solicitor and Counsel which was Mr. West I think a Plotter or Setter in the Rye-Plot as dark as Fitz-Harris's and as like it as two Apples are one to the other But this was
heard Sir William Booth say he had seen in one Year above 100 Sail of great French Vessels of 20 and 30 Guns sail into the Straits from their Newfound-Land Fishery besides supplying France with them and also their Trades to Spain and Portugal Before the Act of Navigation the English from London and Yarmouth drove considerable Trades to Greenland for Whales which Trades as they are wholly lost to the English so are they driven by the Dutch and Hamburghers and in a great measure carried on by the French I remember that the next Year after this Revolution the English took 14 of these French Vessels in their Return from the Whale Fishery and as this Fishery is wholly lost to the English which will never be retrieved by making it a Monopoly so is that of the Town of Great Yarmouth into France upon the account of the Iseland and Westmony Fishery and the rest of the Trades of the English in that Fishery not one tenth of what it was before the Act of Navigation nor from the Western Ports to the Newfound-Land Fishery one fifth of what it was before the Act of Navigation and I wish the Parliament at their next sitting would enquire into the Truth hereof to prove me a Liar I say That the Fishing Trades above all others encrease Navigation and Mariners and if the Causes of the Cadency of our Fisheries and Navigation be not removed the Loss of both will be inevitable the Consequences whereof will be so dreadful to the Nation that I tremble to think of them for as we decline both French and Dutch will raise themselves out of our Ruin Every Ship is made of her Hull Masts and Rigging which are her Sails and Cables Timber for the Hull or Hulk of a Ship we have in England but I have shewed elsewhere how improper our English Timber is in all our Navigations except the New-Castle Trade and so dear in the Carriage and Working that the Dutch build the Hulks of Ships of like Dimensions for less than the English can and by their great Experience in Building build Ships for all sorts of Trades more conveniently so that a Ship of like Dimensions Dutch built shall carry near one sixth more Fraight than an English Pitch Tar and Masts we have not of our own but trade generally to Norway for them and as we order the curing of our Hemp in England it 's not only dearer here than it may be had from Liefland and Prussia but so spalt as they call it that Cables made of it will not endure the Stress of Weather when Ships ride at Anchor as foreign Hemp will Before the Act of Navigation the English traded to Norway in Dutch Vessels or Bottoms and then imported Masts Raff Pitch Tar and this the English might do by the Act of 1 Eliz. cap. 13. and then the English imported them so cheap that the Norwegians could build but six small Vessels to trade into England but after the Act of Navigation when the Norway Trade was restrained to the Norwegians and English in their inconvenient dear-built Ships in little more than two Years the Norwegians encreased their Ships from six to above sixty and those of double Dimensions than the former were but after Oliver dispensed with the Act of Navigation the English Norway Merchants imported Goods so cheap that the Norwegians were forced to sell their Vessels for want of Employment This Mr. Lee and Mr. Smith Norway Merchants were ready to have testified before a Committee of the Commons when Endeavours were used in 1667 for the free Importation of Timber Board and Raff after the burning of the City of London Tho these be dead yet I am assured Sir William Warren and Mr. John Hammond Norway Merchants know this to be true But the Inhabitants of Liefland and Prussia trade not with us and the Dutch by the Cheapness of their Navigation and full Fraight of their Vessels import rough Hemp and Flax from Liefland and Prussia one third cheaper than the English can and when these are converted into Manufacture of the Cordage and Sails it 's free for the Dutch to import them into England by the Act of Navigation whereby we do not only lose the Employment of manifold thousands of poor People and depend upon the Dutch but pay one fourth more for these than if rough Hemp and Flax were freely imported From hence it was and I speak this of my own Knowledg that in the Year 1651 I was part Owner of a Vessel built at Walderswick before the Act of Navigation and of another built by the same Builder in 1655 and this latter cost near one sixth in proportion more than the former and the Reason the Builder gave was the Dearness of Masts Cordage and Sails and I have no Reason to believe the Case is now any better the Reasons being the same and our Timber much dearer and Carriage farther so that I do believe the Carriage of our Timber to the Rivers where Ships are built costs more than the Dutch pay for their Timber where they build Ships Add hereto That our Fishing and other Vessels in Navigation require one third more Hands to navigate them than the Dutch and for ought I know than the French of like Dimensions Now consider the Fish in all Fisheries costs nothing but the Catching and Curing and that Nation which can catch them cheap and cure them best are sure of a foreign Trade for them against any other and the English by the Act being obliged to fish in double dearer Vessels and more inconveniently built and sail'd by one third more hands than the Dutch or French either for ought I know have eternally fixed the Fishing Trade upon the Coast of England and Scotland to the Dutch lost the Greenland Trade and retain not one fifth of the Trades we had to Iseland and Newfound-Land before the Act of Navigation After the Dissolution of the Rump Oliver ruled and tho for about two Years before his Death he gave the English some Benefit in building Vessels by dispensing with the Act of Navigation in reference to the Norway Trade yet he took no care to relieve them by dispensing with it for the free Importation of rough Hemp and Flax from Liefland and Prussia for fitting up our Vessels and Employment of our poor People Men Women and Children and tho he did well in so far dispensing with the Navigation I 'm sure he did ill by his frantick breaking with Spain and joining with the French against it to the irreparable Loss of the English and not only to the endangering the Safety of England but of Christendom It is not foreign to this Design if Notice be taken that after King James I. became King of England to the Restoration of King Charles II. only Philip III. and Philip IV. were Kings of Spain and both zealous bigotted Princes to the Romish Superstition and both weak and effeminate Princes wholly govern'd by Favourites and Philip IV. a