Law and presidents he was enabled to do is an assertion so irrational as that I wonder not so much at their ignorance as their audacious language since 't is the known Law of the Land and by two Statutes of near 400 years standing ordained That Parliaments shall be call'd once every year and oftner as the emergency of affairs may give occasion why then it should rest in the kings onely power to call them and that his assent to a Triennial Parliament should be such a boon bestowed on the people surely may encrease the wonder since by our old Laws and the usuages of former times they ought not to be dissolved until all grievances be heard and redrest otherwise to what end or use were Parliaments Instituted which as one calls them are the Beasoms that sweep clean all the nasty corners of the Common-Wealth But observe the sad consequences of this absurdity for suppose the King would not call any Parliament in ten or twelve years together till his necessities inforc't him how then should the publick grievances be redrest and by whom shall the disorders and obliquities of the Church and Commonwealth be rectified Royalists Answer by the king alone or his Councel of State as the suprem Magistrate within his own Dominions A strange task surely for one man to undergo and more then that active Magistrate Moses was able to perform as we may see by * Exo. 18. Iethro's Counsel who advised to take into his assistance the Princes and best of the people to ayd him in the Administration of Justice to the Israelites and all that with the least in a populous Nation Well then let it be considered how many grievous enormities and disorders during that interval of ten years discontinuance at least of Parliaments were crept into the Church and State meerly through their disuse we have sorry cause to remember when through the pangs of the kings necessities the ill managery of the publick affairs the prodigality of the Court the corruption of all Courts of Justice the Judicature with the licentiousness of a dissolute Clergy inforc't him at last to cal the late Parliament yet how soon he endevoured by his many wiles practises to annihilate it nay by all possible means he could invent hindred their endeavors in reducing the Church and Common-wealth into order never ceasing to interrupt their consultations purposly to disorder and thrust all into a Chaos of confusion insomuch as to this day the Parliament have had their hands full to finde out the means how to reduce and settle things in that order as at first they might have been had not the publick affairs been obstructed and all reformation hindred by his onely means so to render them as odious to the future and as contemptible to the people as heretofore they were boloved and desired of them notwithstanding that at their first sitting down he promised to contribute his own Authority to theirs and to leave the re-ordering of all things amiss to their onely managery an overture so acceptable unto them as that in retribution thereof how willing and intentively bent they were in the midst and heat of their distractions to make him rich and glorious and how indulgently ready to cover his faults in the recovery of his honour at home and his reputation abroad none unless blinde men or besotted but may remember But the truth was he could not brook any Rival with himself in the Government pursuing to the last his design of absoluteness so long that in the end the Parliament was inforc't not to retain any longer such a Rival as a King amongst them but rather chose to estate the people in the same peaceable Government as we see it now established then to imagine themselves able to better it by retaining of Kingship Of the Kings Prerogative in granting of Pardons to Murtherers and Fellons WE now come to that Prerogative or rather lawless usuage of our Kings in granting their Charters of pardon to Murtherers and Fellons condemn'd by the Laws of the Land 'T is confest that it hath been practised by all or most of our Kings though as it may be supposed rather permissively then by vertue of any Law extant but by what warrant in Justice they have assumed such a Soveraign power to themselves will be the question for by Gods Law 't is absolutely forbidden Yee shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murtherer which is guilty of death but he shall be surely put to death Numb 35. 31. and vers 33. Ye shall not pollute the Land wherein ye dwell for blood defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it Thus much briefly may suffice as to Gods Law Now as to the Laws of England the King cannot pardon a Murtherer or Fellon condemn'd by the Laws of the Land without a plain breach of those Laws and his Coronation Oath for Anno 2d Edward the Third it was by Act of Parliament ordain'd that Charters of pardon should not be granted but onely where the King may do it by his Oath And further amongst this Kings often breaches of the Laws this very particular of his frequent granting of pardons to Murtherers was complained of in open Parliament and the King by three several * 4. Edw. 3. I dem 16. Acts was restrained in those cases but how faulty both the late Kings were in pardoning both Murtherers Fellons condemn'd by the Laws is too well known and how guilty and insensible the late King was of shedding of innocent blood three Kingdoms have lamentable cause to remember Of Wards Ideots and Mad men AS to the Kings Prerogative in taking of Wards and their Marrages it hath been granted him by Statute Law as hereafter shall appear and as to Ideots incompos mentis and madmen or such as have by accident fallen into destraction for the king to assume to himself their estates doubtless there is no Law for it as I can remember extant otherwise to dispose of their estates but an accompt to be given to the next Heir at Law and this of late years was resolved by Mr. Calthrop his own Aturney in the Court of Wards in the case of the Widdow of whose husband being burnt with powder at a muster in Moorfields dyed his wife for grief falling distracted the King gave her estate to one of his * Mr. Ramsey servants a Scotch-man but she having many children and good friends they petitioned the King therein and in the end he was pleased to retract his grant as to the whole of the estate but with this proviso that Ramsey should have the use thereof during the Widows life in case she continued incompos giving security for the repayment to the children but the Gentlewomans friends found it unsafe to trust so great an estate as 30000. l. in Ramseys hands and therefore with great difficulty they drew
Vice-Roy-ship put to death and massacred â— not so few as 100000 of the Natives amongst which the Counts Egmont and Horn with others of the Nobility were the chief which withstood his Tyranny and stood up in defence of their immunities which the King of Spain by power would have taken from them which was a just cause given to the people to revolt both for safegard of their lives and priviledges which the four great Dukes of Burgandy suffered them to enjoy so that on a right understanding of the Hollanders case which was just and but reason that when they could not obtain right from the King upon their many Petitions and complaints of the Tyranny of his Ministers they could do no less then endeavor the preservation of their lives and fortunes And therefore under the conduct of the Prince of Orange they seized on divers of the strongest Towns and the people unanimously fell in with the Prince and ever since manfully and fortunately have defended themselves But in the late defection of the English with the Parliaments raising of Armies against their Soveraign Lord there is no manner of similitude with that of Holland or any such cause given or ground of the peoples defection since I presume you will confess that not so much as one guiltless man during all the late Kings raign hath been put to death unless you object and instance in those which by the fatality of the late War befel both parties which you know to be no other then fortuna de la guâ—ra not the Kings Tyranny or the least desire of his that a drop of innocent blood should have been spilt and that which was was in his own necessitated defence But I pray take the case as now it stands between the present King and your States then you may soon see the difference for in confirmation of the Collonels assertion I dare affirm the King hath ten friends for one to those on whom the States may rely as firm and fixed to them since his late Majesty was put to death and that major number you may be sure on'â— are all his in body and soul and do utterly detest that his Royal Father and â— himself should be so unjustly cut off and excluded of his birth-right and by whom think you but by an inconsiderable part of the representative the Souldiery and a handful of the people their 's adherents and therefore I say that the King on a right estimate of his party upon the least turn of the wheel will have a surerer and a stronger side then possibly the States here can have Patri Doctor in this your last reply I observe some notable particulars first you approve of the justness of the Hollanders defection yet you say that it parrallels not with this of the States here and change of the Government the reasons you have given for justifying the Hollander I confess are most true self preservation being just and allowable by Gods Law and mans But that now you should defend their cause which none of your said party ever did till of late is somewhat strange unless it be for that as you believe they are secretly engaged in the Scotch Kings Cause and yet you condemn the late Parliament for defending themselves and their liberties against the late Kings Tyranny which you shamefully endevor to excuse and would quit him from all blood-guiltinesâ— To which I answer That had you thought upon your own instance of 100000 of the Natives massacred by the Tyranny of the Spaniard it would have put you in minde of a million of people throughout the three kingdoms slain and murthered by the meer Tyranny Plots and practises of the late King of which you take no notice but after the wonted manner of all Royalists you justisty his innocency so that to the worlds-end you give occasion to the Parliaments party to rip up the faults of the dead and cause them to display all his Falshoods frauds breaches of Oaths and Protestations But as to your assertion That the major number of the people here are for the Scotch Pretender in body and soul is in part granted you yet therein you extremly delude your self for the odds in that major number will little advantage him or his party since the major power lies evidently in the lesser number which are for the States what then will it avail a prince unexperienced to lead a great yet an undisciplin'd Army against a lesser number but well disciplin'd valiant and armed Souldiers though you cannot be ignorant that the States Armies are very strong and numerous in all the three Nations As to your denyall of the similitude and parallel I say on the same reasons that the Hollanders took up The Hollanders case and of the States here alâ—ke parallel arms in defence of their liberties the people here did the same for defence of themselves and their Representative so that the parallel on the actions of both States holds and is alike save only in the â—nanimity and universal promptitude of the Nether Lands in their joyning and uniting of all their Forces with the Princes * Orange retinnâ—e t is most true the parallel in this holds not so fully for I must confess the State of the matter and manner of the revolt of a part of the people from the late King is different remains doubtful what may fall out in the issue in respect that the other major part of the people are conceived still to wish well to his Son the present Pretender and that all the three Nations stand in a kinde of distracted condition in regard that they are divided into parties sides factions fractions fects schisms and opinions which I acknowledge may sooner mar the work of the States now in being then they are aware of But in a word more to the point that the major number of the people are for the Scocth Pretender I say again that that number considered as they are a naked awed and dejected bulk of discontented animals signifies little or nothing compared with that power of which the States here are possest neither in humane reason can we see how or by whom they can be dispossest But let us on all hands suppose that the present Pretender shall land again in England or Scotland as of late he did where you know he was beaten there and at Worcester and forc'â— to flâ—e for his life again suppose he comes in with a nâ—merous Army of French Dutch Lorrainers Germans Sweeds Dants together with all the prescribed Cavaleers and all these united with a good party of Scotch and Irish admit them to be in all 60000 fighting men which will be too great an Army to be transported without a very powerful Navie such numbers you 'l grant cannot stay long there unless they mean to eat one another well then you will say they may instantly march into England as of late they did and not unlikely in two or three several
Contributions imposed on the Natives by the Parliament if you grant this for truth as I presume you cannot gain-say it doubtless then the State here in being have brought the people to a very bad market since 't is manifest that what by the Monthly Contributions the rigorous exactions of the Officers of the Customs on all Merchandize together with the Excise on all we eat or drink with the free quartering of the Souldiers in most parts of the Land are far beyond all the Taxes Impositions and Subsides which the late King imposed or intended to lay on the people which gives them no great cause to rejoyce and make merry either for their safety or the cheapness of the exchange Answer me to this point and I shall as the Colonel even now said give you fair leave to carry away the bucklers and henceforth acknowledge you for an expert Fencer Thraso God amercy honest Doctor in good faith thou hast now given him a bone to pick that will stick in his teeth if he answers this to any purpose he shall not onely carry away the Bucklers but I shall willingly give him my sword into the bargain and then dam him for me that will ever fight one stroke more in the quarrel Patri Colonel you and your party have gotten such a habit of swearing and in such fearful volleys of Oaths as that had your cause been much better then it was God could not bless it or give you any good success therein but I beseech you leave your prophanation and then have patience a while for you have very good reason to leave fighting when you are so ready to depart with your weapons but lay your sword to the stake and then see what in the end will become of him for whatsoever the Doctor hath objected concerning the present impositions which are confest to be very heavie on the poor people yet when you know all it would have been much better he had said nothing since I perceive none of you all ever sounded the late Kings depth and what he intended or took the least measure of his foot for indeed he was too dark for any of your light to see into his designs and to tell you more he was too cunning for any that he employed though some there are which accounted him for little more then an Iguoramus but one of the shrewdest ones for his reaches to his own ends of any Prince of his time True it is that the Parliament though they suspected him at the first sitting down and before yet knew not a long time what he had in hand otherwise The Juncto and the Kings Letters taken at Nasby the onely means that the Parliament came to the knowledge of his Intentions then at random until the discovery of the Juncto which was the star that guided them to know somewhat more of his designs then they could clearly discern before and by degrees as God would have it more they came both to know and feel when a long time after his private Letters were taken at Nasby wherein more then enough came to light of his pernicious intents or was fitting for a King so much courted and beloved of English Nation to have attempted for their enslaving a design as I have said though long since by some of the more intelligent sort understood yet till that time never publickly known or visible the onely bar to the accomplishment was that Bellum Episcopale the Prelatical was against his Native subjects the Scots which brought it so about that the Kings game which was a fair fore-game became in the end by the Scots resistance and managety to an after and a lost game and the truth is the Scots were too subtile for all the kings Arbitrary Instruments and understood more of his reaches then happily all of us here shall ever know Now Doctor as to your Objections concerning the present Taxes Excises Customs and Free-Quarter I crave leave for a while to lay them aside to which anon I shall particularly make answer In the mean time I think fit to present you with a Preparative whereby to shew you that all changes and alterations of Government are and have evermore been accompanied with innumerable difficulties and hardships especially where the sword begets them who knows not but that the sword is a very chargeable weapon and such charges are most incident to green and new sprung up Governments and cannot be avoyded as in this case and alteration here with us you see cannot possibly be made good without a vast expence which necessarily ought to be defray'd by the people for whose sakes and conservation of the common freedom their Trustees the Parliament thought fit and best for their future indemnity to adventure on the change of the Government and then as the Adage speaks it They which reap the gains ought to indure the pains and 't is most true that although new gotten liberty be a sweet bait yet it often fals out that the enjoyment thereof brings with it a great deal of sufferance and yet must it be born with patience in hope of better times which may give way to the unburthering of the sufferers And so to your Objections which I shall answer in their ordâ—r and first to the Excise wherein I shall shew you the mistake since it seems you look onely at the present Impositions without minding their causes which as the postures of affairs now are were necessitated and insorc't on the Parliament to levie on the Nation neither do you look back to those times wherein during the late king and his Fathers raign there was no cause or a peece of a reason to be given why any Taxes should have been imprest on the people without their consents in Parliament yet for your better learning I shall assure you that the very same House in Broad-Street wherein the Office of the Excise is erected for the States use was 20 Moneths at least before the late Parliaments summons rented by Cottington and purposely for that use design'd by the King himself though protracted by reasons of the Scotch troubles As to the Customs we all know to what a height they were grown in the late Kings time to the great regret of the Marchant but that you may know what farther was much about that time in agitation there was a private * Vide That and other Commissions in the Signet Office Commission issued out under the Great Seal wherein twenty eight Lords and Gentlemen were nominated and Authorized to raise on all the Commodities of the Land what new Customs and Impositions the Commissioners should think sit which was the highest strain of Arbitrary power that ever was attempted by any of our Kings As to free-Quarter it is confest to have bin a very gâ—ievous burthen on the people not only to pay their Monthly Contributions but to be forâ—'t to give the Souldier free-quarter wheresoever he march't But to answer you in a word that
time to send out his Commissions of Array was doubtless such a breach of Trust and a Treachery of so deep a die as that in all our Histories we finde it not parrallel'd amongst all our kings but onely in that Tyrant of Tyrants king Iohn who indeed invaded the Land and ruined the Castles and Houses of the Barons Gentry that opposed his Tyrany and came not to his assistance at a call and in this kinde of Tyranny it cannot be gainsaid the late king came not behind him if not exceeding that irregular king as 't was evident by this instance that immediately after the sending forth of his Commissions of Array on the heels of those issued out his Commissions of Oyer Terminer to hang all those which adhered to the Parliament But in a little more to the illegality of the kings Commissions of Array both before and after the setting up of his Standard surely those Lawyers that waited on him first at York and after at Oxford were doubtless those which misâ—ed him and with such artifices and pains drew up his Answer to the Parliaments Declaration of the first of Iuly 1642 against the legality of the Commissions of Array He that will take the pains to examine that Declaration compared with the kings Answer may soon perceive that the Contrivers and Penners thereof were not so honest as they should have bin neither as it seems so wel read in the Laws or so expert workmen as to avouch the Statute of the 4. 5. of Hen. the 4. 150 times over in that Answer and notstanding all their endeavors to entrust the King with a legal power to send forth his Commissions for arraying of the people at his own will and pleasure without consent of Parliament yet those fine Iohns for the king have not neither could they produce any scrap of Law or piece of Statute that enables the king to Array the people against themselves to engage English against English and to set so many as came into his assistance together by the ears with those which adhered to the Parliament and at a time when there was not the least fear or expectation of an invading Enemy more then of those which the Parliament feared should be sent him out of France Lorrain and Denmark but to what other ends then to ruine the Parliament let any impartial Royalist make his own judgement 't is true that in case of Forraign invasions the king by Law hath been evermore trusted as Generalissimo to command the Forceâ— of the Kingdom for defence and safety of the people and to no other end and so was the Law expounded in Parliament the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth but never so wrested before by any of our Lawyers as by those that waited on the King would have enforc't thereby to impower him at pleasure to command the strength of the Kingdom against it self and surely it appears to me and thousands more that forty Judges Serjeants and Lawyers then in both Houses of Parliament should better understand and know more of the Law in the case of Commissions of Array then those eight or ten * Littleton Banks Lane Heath the Atturney Herbert Palmer c. sycophant fellows that followed and animated the King in such irregular motions onely in hopes of preferment and to form him into such a posture of absolute power that when he pleased he might destroy himself and the Kingdom as that to our grief we may remember they had taught him and put him in the high-way of the accomplishment I remember a pertinent passage related in our Histories how that the Earls of Warwick and Leycester being peremptorily summoned to attend Edward the First into France the Earls in plain English told him that by the Laws of the Land they were not bound to wait on him out of the Land at his pleasure but onely within the Realm and for the defence thereof and that onely on Invasions of Forraign Enemies which agrees with that before recited of his taking the Train-men out of their respective Counties by his Commissions to serve him in Gascoyn Gwyn and other places beyond the Seas contrary to the Laws of the Land which grievance the King then redrest neither could I ever yet finde any one express Law or Statute that enables any of our Kings by their sole power without consent of Parliament to Array the people but onely in the case of Forraign Invasions and coming in of strange Enemies howsoever the Penners of the Kings Answer to the Parliaments Declaration have laboured though to no purpose to prove it otherwise however 't is worth the observation what fruitless pains they have taken in their frequent recitals of the Statutes of the 4. 5. of Hen. 4th the 13. of Edw. the 1o. 1. Ed 2d. 25. of Edw. the 3d. 9. of Edw. 2d. the 4. 5. of Phil. and Mary 1º Iacobi with divers others all of them principally tending to the Assize of Arming the Subject secundum facultates according to his ability those Assizes having been almost in every Raign altered and the Statutes according to the vicissitudes of times change of Arms and invention of Guns for the most part of them repealed and new Statutes made in their rooms with power of Commissions to be issued as the exigency of affairs should require on Invasions from abroad home defence on Insurrections c. All which so often and so much prest in the Kings Answer made nothing to the matter in question between him and the Parliament 1642. The point in question was not then concerning the old Commissions of assizing Armes or Commissions of Lieutenancies in every County but the reasons of the Parliaments Declaration and the exceptions they took were against that exorbitant power the King assumed to himself under pretext of Law to Array the people one against the other and against their Representative as that sure enough he failed not to put in practise howsoever disguised under an elaborate and ridiculous Answer when as we have noted before there is not one Statute or scrap of Law to be found in all our Law-books that legally enables the King to raise war against a Court of Parliament and raise combuston in the bowels of the Kingdom which I trust may satisfie all Royalists that the Parliament had then good cause to complain when in times of Peace he made them times of war and desolation by sending out those his illegal and destructive Commissions which whether they were so or not doubtless the Parliament was better able to judge and determine then the King or his Minions then attending his Person Of the Kings Prerogative to call and dissolve Parliaments at his own will and pleasure AS to the Kings power to call and dissolve Parliaments at his will pleasure to summon a Parliament with one breath and blow it away with another blast of his mouth as 't is still frequently maintained by Royalists and others newly started up that by
houses wherein to put their heads and that had his power been answerable to his will how much worse it would have been with the whole Nation had the Danes French Lorraâ—nres Scots and Irish came to his Assistance all which how earnestly he solicited their coming over his own Instructions to Cockrans his Letters to the Queen Montross and Ormond sufficiently declare Yet there are of you that dâ—re publickly say that you are not ashamed to own his cause and disown the Parliaments which is no good sign of your eternal being when you are known to glory in evil and stand fixed in the defence of him and a cause that was most unjust in the beginning bloody beyond example throughout the whole managery tragical in the end to himself loss of honor estate and fortunes of most that sided with him and should the Scotch Pretender come in how much worse and more oppressive and more bloody it must be I leave to your own consideration For a close I wish you all better to bethink your selves and take this into your more serious thoughts of the wisest of men He that justifieth the wicked and condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord Prov. 17. 15. Then as you please read on and haply you may finde somewhat that will terrifie your consciences or rectifie your judgements in your erroneous principles and turn the torrent of your depraved affections to a hearty compliance with the present Powers as they are set over us by the hand of the Almighty which doubtless is the best and safest course you can take for your future happiness Which that you may enjoy are the hearty wishes of an unknown yet your unfained friend The principal Contents of the following Discourse 1. OF the necessity of continuing the Contributions on the people with the Reasons thereof 2. Of the hopes wherewith Royalists flatter themselves in mending their fortunes by bringing in the Scotch Pretender 3. Of the States Power and strength for upholding the present Government 4. Of the difficulties which attend the Scotch Kings coming in being to invade by Sea 5. Of the parallel between the Hollanders case and this of the States here in their first establishment 6. Of the miserable condition that of necessity must befal this Nation especially the City of London in case the Scotch King comes in by the sword with the consequences of changing the Laws and constitutions of the old Soveraignty 7. Of King James his plot for abating the power of Parliaments and improvement of the Soveraignty by disowning them furthered by the Bishops and pursued by the late King 8. Of the necessitated Reasons that induced the Parliament to cut off the late King and to exclude his Posterity 9. Whether the present establishment in the nature of a Republick accompanied with the Taxes imposed on on the people will not be more safe and less chargeable to them thâ—n tâ—e admittance of the Scotch Pretender to the Regal Government 10. Of the grand objection of Royalists that the late Parliament was not a legal Representative of the people after it was lamed lessned by want of the King the Lords Prelates and major part of the Commons excluded Answered 11. That the Parliaments after the comming of the Norman the Witengagomentâ— of the Saxons and those magna Consilia of the old Britains were not always of one form but one and the same in substance 12. Of the various alterations and changes of Governments throughout all Ages of the World and that all Powers had their original by the sword which once obtained Whether by right or wrong ought to be obeyed submitted unto as the Ordinance of God Refractoria Disputatio OR The Thawrting Conference Thraso GEntlemen you are all well met I perceive you are as good as your words but now Signiour Patriotus tell me what is become of your late piece of a Parliament have they not enacted hand somely to Act themselves out of their usurped powers by their injustice and self ends without any respect either to the publick good or any poor mans private interest hath not God in his justice dealt with them as they did with the late innocent King and all of us of his serâ—ants Tell me I beseech you what will be the issue of this inter-meddly of Government and whether in the end confusion will not necessarily follow these strange mutations and accompt taken of them for their extortions and corrupt dâ—meanors towards the whole Nation Patriotus I finde you are still in your old â—one but as in our last conference and elsewhere I have often told you so now I shal not take upon me to justifie every of their actions for they are men made up and composed of flesh and blood subject to sin and error and that the same God who gave them the power they have had would as soon divest them of it as beyond all expectation he bequeathed it unto them in case they carried not themselves with an upright heart As to those your Prophetical issues to follow in confusion and of after-reckonings may it befall them that deserve it for my hope it and I doubt not but that Almighty God iâ— his providence on this great change of affairs hath another manner of work in hand then lies within your kenning to discern and will raise us up such unbyassed Governors as shall set straight all obliquities both in the Church and State to his own glory and the comfort of all good men therefore let me advise yâ—u not to be too rash in your censure on that whereof you are not able to judge neither deâ—cant on his judgements which are inâ—crutable and past your finding out Nâ—us But Patriotus I remember at our last conâ—erence you also were pleased to vent your self in the way of predictions intimating that we must expect worse calamities then heretofore we have endured which as you then supposed would of necessity befal the universal Nation not onely in the continuation of the Contributions and Taxes imposed on the people but in other grievous afflictions which I prosess have ever since very much troubled my cogitations for God knows we have all suffered too much already and more then the ability of poor people can longer endure though I confess for any thing I can as yet discern out of the motions of the State the Contributions must of necessity be continued if not encreas'd for maintenance of their Armies both by Land and Sea and not unlikely will be long lived and continued for a Prentiship haply of seven years endurance Patri Yes Neutralis and longer then you imagine for considering the work the States at present have in hand within our in-works to suppress the malignant Party and in our out-works for defending the Dominion of our Seas against the invading and ingrateful Hollander we The necessity of the continuation of the Contributions of the people cannot in any reason expect any cessation or remission of our Taxes
â—or acknowledgement that any fault was in himself until he was a Prisoner but evermore laid all the blame on the Parliament 6. That in this long persistance he had wearied and beggered all his friends and assistants at home and abroad to the desolation of three flourishing Kingdoms by the continuation of his Hostility to the destruction of a million of poor Innocent souls without any remorse of so much blood spilt more then of one man his wicked * Straford Instrument 7. That when he protested most and to the height of imprecation the Parliament at last found by the Testimony of his own Letters under his hand-writing that he meant nothing less and more contrary then to his usual Protestations 8. That neither all the Honors Mannors and Lands of the Crown or his own blood without true repentance could be a sufficient expiation to God or recompence to his subjects for the infinite bloodshed rapines and dilapidatins made on the Natives of three Kingdoms 9. That such was his insensibility of bloodshed that the many Lords Gentlemen and infinite others of inferiour quality slaughtetered in his bloody quarrel he made no other reckoning of them then this viz. that they suffered no more then of duty they were bound to do for their King which he avouched on the death of the Earl of Northampton 10. That those unjust pretences which he made under the notion of his Royal Prerogatives viz. the Militia power of War Peace Leagues Treaties Array of the people his negative Voyce in all Parliaments pardoning of Murderers and Fellons condemned by the Laws of the Land were all at his only disposure whereas by the known Laws of the Realm they have been onely entrusted and conferr'd on our Kings by the indulgence of the people in their Representatives as hereafter shall manifestly appear 11. That all his Treaties with the Parliament for peace were persidious and his Propositions evermore umbrated under â—pecious pretexts subtilties subtersuges and mental reservations as 't was evident in that at Colebrook and Vxbridge and more apparent by his own Letters to the Duke of * Vide The Kings Letters to the Duke of Rich. mond with others to the Queen Richmond viz. Not to forget to cajole well the Scots and by that at Oxford by Registring in the Councel-books his calling them a Parliament with mental reservations though not ex animo so acknowledged yet summoned by his own Writs and often so esteemed and call'd by himself and acknowledged to be a legal Parliament by his own mungril Conventicle at Oxford 12 That in all his Declarations and Expresses to the Parliament he evermore seemed to have a tender regard both towards them and the people when he onely intended his own interests with the advance of the Soveraignty to absoluteness by the power of the sword and to convey his designs to his Successors as in the instance of the * Vide One of the Kings Expresses where he yeelds the Militia during his own life but not sor his Sons Militia is most perspicuous when he perceived that the Parliament would no longer trust so dangerous weapons in his hands 13. That some of his best friends suspected him to be too much vers't in the Florentine Principles as indoctrinated by a French and Italian party constantly resident in his own Court and stickled on by the inâ—usions of the Queen-Mother the Daughter both which had gained a great interest had chiefest influence on his Concels and as'tis well known was wholy governed as the Queen lifted and at last his inclinations so strictly tyed up as that they were not subject to any other alteration then as she prescribed which was a Rule to whatsoever he undretook 14. That he was not wanting to himself for promoting of his arbitrary designs to make use of Machiavels principle Divide impera evermore to sow divisions and to cherish any dissention arising between the Parliament and their friends thereby to ruine them by themselves Thus Gentlemen according to your desires I have given you an accompt of those Reasons which have been given me wherefore the Parliament enterprized on the change of the Government by cutting off the King and his Posterity the premises being so true and undenyable that they satisfied me and prevailed so sar on my belief that I conceive the Parliament could not otherwise possibly have secured the Nation from farther ruine as also that their resolutions therein were directed by the special hand of God considered together with the and great constant charge incident to Monarchy the often pressures and oppressions of the subject through the Tyranny ambition and prodigalitie of most of our Kings the two last having beggered and impoverished them most of all others on which considerations the Parliament in reason of State and as the state of the controyersie then was between them and the King they found it much better to quit themselves and the people of Regal Government and to change it into a Republick as a more safe and cheaper Government rather then any longer to hazard the common liberty on the Rule of any one Prince whatsoever especially not to trust those of the Sotch Nation all our Histories and the Parliaments sad experience having taught them that of late years the Soveraignty by the ambition and artifices of both the late Kings was strain'd and tentered up to so high a pitch that it would not stoop to a lower power then that of absolutenes Now more particularly to answer your Querie as concerning the King of Scots the two Dukes with the rest of the late Kings loyns it seems likewise that the Parliament knowing them to be the Sons of that father who had more wasted the Land then all of the Norman Race before him they had small hopes left them that any of the same line would be much better being tutor'd afore-hand by the Father and at present residing in a French Academy which if admitted to the Government in all likelyhood would be no other then the cause of more blood more charge trouble misery and sorrow to the people very few of our Kings having given the Nation any great cause to be over-much enamoured with their Governments but most of the best much repentance through their Tyrannies and oppressions Prel Sir I profess you have given me fuller satisfaction then I could expect and I believe that you have taken the right measure of the Parliaments foot with the true reasons wherefore they have not onely cut off the Father but excluded all his Discendants onely in the point of their changing the kingly Government into a Republick as more secure and cheaper for the Nation this is a riddle to me for lamentable experience enforms us that all the oppressions and grievances of the people by all or most of our Kings and those so much upbraided and caft in the face of the late King I dare affirm amounts not to the fisth part of the charge and
grievance hath been a good space since taken away and the Souldier wheresoever he now Quarters pays both for horse and mans meat moreover the States have very much lessned their Forces onely retaining such numbers of horse and foot as may keep in awe such as you Collonel of the Royal Party which if not secured it may happily be more hurtful to the Nation then the not securing of our out-works against the ingrateful Dutch on whom the Malignant party which are still rotten at the heart looks upon with a pleasing eye in hopes so to order their designs as at last to bring in the Scotch Pretender though to their own particular ruine and the general destruction of the poor innocent people but in farther answer to your Objections suffer me to put you in remembrance what long since and before the late War began was projected by the late king when he was in peace and amity with all the Princes of Europe you shall finde it most true that in so great a calm of quietness divers Regiments of Germane horse were designed to be transpotted hither to keep all the Natives in awe and under the whip and in order to that the Deputy Straford in as calm a time of quietness as ever Ireland enjoyed had raised there an Army of near ten thousand Papists which for many Moneths and some years together were there both disciplined quartered and paid for the most part at the charge of private men and such as were averse to his Tyranous courses and in addition to those grievances on the Irish Scotch and English the imperious Deputy having taken to farm the Customs of that Kingdom at an excessive under-value he imposed on all the Commodities of the Land an incredible surplusage above the Rent he payd to the King Happily you may here ask the Question to what end such an Army was there raised and quartered on the Irish and so great Taxes impâ—sed on all the Commodities of that kingdom I answer The Deputy himself tells you the reason as you may see it in the * Vide. The Juncto Juncto You have an Army says he to the King in Ireland to reduce this Kingdom If you put the Question farther Why to reduce this kingdom being in peace I shall tell you that Army of foot with the Germane horse were all to be Garrisoned in England on free-quarter to amuse and keep the people in subjection whilst the king playd his game for the reducing the Scots to the Enslaving of all the three Nations If again you demand What the King would have done with so vast a Treasure as he intended to raise on both Kingdom the Deputy could have yeelded you a reason and president for this too viz. to erect Castles and Forts in both Kingdoms * Witness his great Structure not far from Dublin Houses of pleasure as capacious as Towns Parks of as large an extent as whole Parishes Masks Friscals Comedies Tragedies for the Saboth Banquets Junkets and such-like petulancies wherewith to please the Queen and the Court Ladies to gratifie Madam Nurse her Fidlers and Dancing-Masters for rest assured that the King meant not longer to depend on Parliamentary assistance for defraying of the Court expences neither to be controld for any irregularity he pleased to put in execution and this as tenacious as he was had often dropt from his own mouth and Cottington could openly say at his own Table 1638 when a Gentleman of honour told him That the best way for the King to fill his Coffers would be by the ayds of Parliament What needs that replies Cottington the King hath other ways in hand to supply his wants without Parliaments And indeed gentlemen as it seems you know not what the King had then in agitation some what more I shall tell you that there were certain odd * Dangerous Papers of the Duputies discovered Papers of the Deputies which I finde not were in question at his Arrainment for the Parliament had proof enough wherewith to charge him of his intention to alter the Government but those Papers intimate that the design was laid that no man was to stir above ten miles from his Habitation without leave and shewing his occasion and that no man was to be master of his own Train Arms either for his Domestick use or the Publick defence but that every Particulars mans Arms were to be deposited in one Magazin and in one place throughout all the Countries of England and Wales neither was any Houshoulder to be permitted to have the use of so much as a Pitch-forke without special license such a strange change of Soverainty was not only in hatching but in the high way of execution had it not been put by and obstructed as already is declared by the refractory Scot who marr'd all the Kings work the Deputies Archbishops and Cottingtons endevours to have accomplisht the whole design but how Almighty God iâ— his Justice hath disappointed and disposed of them all I leave to your second considerations Now Doctor if I have not given you a full Answer to all your Objections would my leisure permit my longer stay I could give you a little better satisfaction but for the present I say no more but examine well the case as the King before the Wars began was carrying on his designs and at a time when he had no cause at all to attempt as he did and then take into your more serious consideration the Parliaments case and condition which inforc't them for safeguard of themselves and those that trusted them to leavie men and money and since of necessity to Impose Contributions on the the people for support of the common Interest and then you will finde a great difference between one and the others case onely for a close of our Conference and in farther proof of the premises I beseech you tell me wherefore the King at this last Expedition against the Scoâ—s 1640 Commissioned Cottington Lord-Warden of the Tower with injunction to see that place well Fortified and man'd which in obedience to his Majestie in commands was presently put Execution but with such a refuse of Bankrupt * Billingsly and Suckling Colonels and Souldiers as could not be match't in all the Kingdom then to mount near upon twenty great Guns on the White Tower with their mussels turned against the City if you cannot tell the the reason I le tell it you That it was to awe the Citizens out of fear and jealousie that some one or other insurrection which the Projectors own guilty consciences suggested to themselves might fall out during the Kings absence in the North and to mar the work he had then in design before it came to maturity to be put in execution Why then and at the very same time the King should Commission the late Earl of Worcester a profest Papist as Cottington was no better as Lord President of the Welch-Marches commanding the Earl of Bridge-water a sound