Interpreters both Antient and Later expounded to be the Bishops of those Cities 6. Eusebius and other Ecclesiastical Writers affirm none contradicting them that the Apostles themselves chose James Bishop of Jerusalem and that in all the Apostolique Sees there succeeded Bishops which continued in all the Christian World and no other Government heard of in the Church for 1500 Years and more then by the Bishops and the Canons of Councils both General and Provincial which consisted of Bishops 7. That so many Acts of Parliament and Laws of the Kingdom and Statutes of Colledges of both Vniversities have relation to Bishops that the removing of them especially there having been never no other Government settled in this Kingdom will breed and make Confusion and no Reformation but rather a Deformation in the Church yet it were to be wished That in some things our Government might be reduced to the Constitutions and Practice of the Primitive Church especially in these Particulars 1. That Bishops did ordinarily and constantly Preach either in the Metropolitan Church or in the Parochial Church in their Visitations 2. That they might not Ordain any Ministers without the Consent of 3. or 4. at the least Grave and Learned Presbyters 3. That they might not suspend any Minister ab Officio et Beneficio at their Pleasures by their sole Authority but only with a necessary Consent of some Assistants and that for such Causes and Crimes only as the ancient Canons or the Laws of the Kingdom appointed 4. That none may be Excommunicated but by the Bishop himself with the Consent of the Pastor whose Parish the Delinquent dwelleth in and that for heynous and scandalous Crimes joyned with obstinate and wilful Contempts of the Churches Authority and that for non-Appearances or Ordinances upon ordinary occasions some Lesser punishments might be inflicted and that approved by Law 5. That Bishops might not demand Benevolence for the Clergy nor exact Allowance for their Dyet at the Visitations nor suffer their Servants to exact undue Fees at Ordinations and Institutions 6. That Bishops and Chancellors and Officials may be subject to the Censures of Provincial Synods and Convocations A Bill was Read the first and second time for the speedy raising Mony for Disbanding the Armies Tuesday June 22. Disbanding Bill read twice and Committed to a Committee of the whole House A most Excellent Petition from the University of Oxon for the retaining and Establishing of Episcopacy but alas they did but surdis Canere these Serpents were not to be charmed by their Sovereign much less by the Muses though they could have charmed ten thousand times more powerfully and wisely than they did However it will be for their Immortal Glory That in the worst of Times and even when the Storm was in its most blustring Rage they durst oppose the Tempest and Defend the Truth The Petition was as follows To the High and Honourable Court of Parliament The Humble Petition of the University of Oxford Sheweth THAT whereas the Vniversity hath been informed of several Petitions concerning the present Government of this Church The Petition of the University of Oxon for Episcopacy June 22. 1641. and maintenance of the Clergy which have of late been exhibited to this Honourable Assembly We could not but think our Selves bound in Duty to God and this whole Nation in charity to our Selves and Successors who have and are like to have more than ordinary interest in any Resolution that shall be taken concerning Church-Affairs in all humility to desire the continuance of that Form of Government which is now Established here and hath been preserved in some of the Eastern and Western Churches in a continued Succession of Bishops down from the very Apostles to this present time the like whereof cannot be affirmed of any other Form of Government in any Church Upon which Consideration and such other Motives as have been already represented to this Honourable Parliament from other Persons and Places with whom we concur in behalf of Episcopacy We earnestly desire That you would Protect that Ancient and Apostolical Order from Ruine or Diminution And become farther Suiters for the Continuance of those Pious Foundations of Cathedral Churches with their Lands and Revenues As dedicate to the Service and Honour of God soon after the plantation of Christianity in the English Nation As thought fit and Useful to be preserved for that end when the Nurseries of Superstition were demolished and so continued in the last and best Times since the Blessed Reformation under King Edw. 6. Q. Elizabeth and King James Princes Renowned through the World for their Piety and Wisdome As approved and confirmed by the Laws of this Land Ancient and Modern As the principal outward Motive and Encouragement of all Students especially in Divinity and the fittest Reward of some deep and eminent Scholars As producing or nourishing in all Ages many Godly and Learned Men who have most strongly asserted the Truth of that Religion we profess against the many fierce Oppositions of our Adversaries of Rome As affording a competent Portion in an ingenuous way to many Younger Brothers of good Parentage who devote themselves to the Ministery of the Gospel As the only means of Subsistence to a multitude of Officers and other Ministers who with their Families depend upon them and are wholly maintained by them As the main Authors or Upholders of divers Schools Hospitals High-wayes Bridges and other Publique and Pious Works As special Causes of much Profit and Advantage to those Cities where they are situate not only by relieving their Poor and keeping convenient Hospitality but by occasioning a frequent resort of Strangers from other Parts to the great benefit of all Tradesmen and most Inhabitants in those places As the goodly Monuments of our Predecessors Piety and present Honour of this Kingdom in the Eye of Forreign Nations As the chief Support of many Thousand Families of the Laity who enjoy fair Estates from them in a free way As yielding a constant and ample Revenue to the Crown And as by which many of the Learned Professours in our Vniversity are maintained The Subversion or Alienation whereof must as we conceive not only be attended with such consequences as will redound to the scandal of many well affected to our Religion but open the mouths of our Adversaries and of Posterity against us and is likely in time to draw after it harder conditions upon a considerable part of the Laity an universal cheapness and contempt upon the Clergy a lamentable drooping and defection of Industry and Knowledg in the Vniversities which is easie to foresee but will be hard to remedy May it therefore please this Honourable Assembly upon these and such other Considerations as Your great Wisdomes shall suggest to take such Pious Care for the Continuance of these Religious Houses and their Revenues according to the best Intentions of their Founders as may be to the most furtherance of God's Glory and Service the Honour
then a Peer of the said Realm to Imprison him unless he would surcease his suit and said That he would have neither Law nor Lawyers dispute or question any of his orders And the 20. day of March in the said 11. year the said Earl of Strafford speaking of an order of the said Councel Table of that Realm in the time of King James which concerned a Lease which the said Earl of Cork claimed in certain Rectories or Tithes which the said Earl of Cork alledged to be of no force said That he would make the said Earl and all Ireland know so long as he had the Government there any Act of State there made or to be made should be as binding to the Subjects of that Kingdome as an Act of Parliament And did question the said Earl of Corke in the Castle Chamber upon pretence of the breach of the said order of Councel Table and did sundry other times and upon sundry other occasions by his words and speeches arrogate to himself a power above the fundamental Laws and Established Government of that Kingdom and scorned the said Laws and established Government 5 That according to such his Declarations and Speeches the said Earl of Strafford did use and exercise a power above and against and to the Subversion of the said fundamental Laws and established Government of the said Realm of Ireland extending such his power to the Goods Free-holds Inheritances Liberties and Lives of his Majesties Subjects in the said Realm viz. The said Earl of Strafford the twtefth day of December Anno Domini 1635. in the time of full peace did in the said Realm of Ireland give and procure to be given against the Lord Mount Norris then and yet a Peer of Ireland and then Vice-Treasurer and receiver general of the Realm of Ireland and one of the principal Secretaries of State and Keeper of the Privy Signet of the said Kingdom a Sentence of death by a Councel of War called together by the said Earl of Strafford without any Warrant or Authority of Law or offence deserving any such punishment And he the said Earl did also at Dublin within the said Realm of Ireland in the Month of March in the fourteenth year of his Majesties Reign without any legal or due proceedings or Tryal give or cause to be given a Sentence of death against one other of his Majesties Subjects whose name is yet unknown and caused him to be put to death in execution of the said Sentence 6 That the said Earl of Strafford without any legal proceedings and upon a paper Petition of Richard Rolstone did cause the said Lord Mount-Norris to be disseized and put out of possession of his free-hold and inheritance of his Mannor and Tymore in the Countrey of Armagh in the Kingdom of Ireland the said Lord Mount-Norris having been two years before in quiet possession thereof 7. That the said Earl of Strafford in the Term of holy Trinity in the thirteenth year of his now Majesties Reign did cause a case commonly called the case of Tenures upon defective Titles to be made and drawn up without any Jury or Trial or other legal process and without the consent of parties and did then procure the Judges of the said Realm of Ireland to deliver their opinions and resolutions to that case and by colour of such opinion did without any legal proceeding cause Thomas Lord Dillon a Peer of the said Realm of Ireland to be put out of possession of divers Lands and Tenements being his Free-hold in the Countrey of Mago and Rosecomen in the said Kingdome and divers other of his Majesties Subjects to be also put out of Possession and Disseised of their Freehold by colour of the same resolution without legal proceedings whereby many hundreds of his Majesties Subjects were undone and their Families utterly ruinated 8. That the said Earl of Strafford upon a Petition of Sir John Gifford Knight the first day of February in the said Thirteenth Year of his Majesties Reign without any legal Process made a Decree or Order against Adam Viscount Loftus of Ely a Peer of the said Realm of Ireland and Lord Chancellor of Ireland and did cause the said Viscount to be Imprisoned and kept close Prisoner on pretence of Disobedience to the said Decree or Order And the said Earl without any Authority and contrary to his Commission required and commanded the said Lord Viscount to yield unto him the Great Seal of the Realm of Ireland which was then in his custody by his Majesties Command and Imprisoned the said Chancellour for not obeying such his Command And without any Legal Proceedings did in the same Thirteenth Year Imprison George Earl of Kildare a Peer of Ireland against Law thereby to enforce him to submit his Title to the Mannor and Lordship of Castle Leigh in the Queens County being of great yearly value to the said Earl of Strafford's Will and Pleasure and kept him a year prisoner for the said cause two moneths whereof he kept him close Prisoner and refused to enlarge him notwithstanding his Majesties Letters for his enlargement to the said Earl of Strafford directed And upon a Petition exhibited in October 1635. by Thomas Hibbots against Dame Mary Hibbots Widow to him the said Earl of Strafford the said Earl of Strafford recommended the said Petition to the Councel Table of Ireland where the most part of the Councel gave their Vote and Opinion for the said Lady but the said Earl finding fault herewith caused an Order to be entred against the said Lady and threatned her that if she refused to submit thereunto he would Imprison her and Fine her five hundred pounds that if she continued obstinate he would continue her Imprisonment and double her Fine every Moneth by means whereof she was enforced to relinquish her Estate in the Lands questioned in the said Petition which shortly was conveyed to Sir Robert Meredith to the use of the said Earl of Strafford And the said Earl in like manner did Imprison divers others of his Majesties Subjects upon pretence of Disobedience to his Orders and Decrees and other illegal Commands by him made for pretended Debts Titles of Lands and other Causes in an Arbitrary and Extrajudicial course upon Paper Petitions to him preferred and no other cause legally depending 9. That the said Earl of Strafford the Sixteenth day of February in the Twelfth Year of his now Majesties Reign assuming to himself a power above and against Law took upon him by a general Warrant under his hand to give power to the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor his Chancellor or Chancellors to their several Officers thereto to be appointed to attach and arrest the Bodies of all such of the meaner and poorer sort who after Citation should either refuse to appear before them or appearing should omit or deny to perform or undergoe all lawful Decrees Sentences and orders issued imposed or given out against them and them to commit and keep in the next
Corruptives of Judgment Mr. Speaker I do before God discharge my self to the uttermost of my Power And do with a clear Conscience wash my hands of this mans blood by this solemn Protestation That my Vote goes not to the taking of the Earl of Strafford 's Life Exceptions were taken at this Speech upon Friday following and the Lord Digby Explained himself but for the present there was nothing done in it though afterwards the sleeping Revenge roused it self to some purpose for upon the 15th of July to do him all the infamy they could this Speech was by Order of the House burnt by the hand of the Common Hangman in Smithfield Palace Yard and in the Royal Exchange The Lords made no great hast in dispatching the Bill of Attainder Saturday April 24. and therefore the Faction fell upon other Methods of quickening them one of which was a Petition from many Thousands of the City which was upon Saturday presented by them to both Houses thereby to make it appear the Desire of the City and to speak truth they had strangely Exasperated the City against him as will appear by the Petition which follows To the most Honourable Assembly of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament The humble Petition of divers Citizens of London SHEWETH THat notwithstanding His Majesties Gracious Answer The first Petition of the Citizens against the Earl of Strafford April 24. to the humble Petition of his Loyal Subjects in Summoning this Parliament with the great Care and Endeavoured pains taken by both Houses for the removing the heavy Grievances in Church and Common-wealth whereof the Petitioners have already received some Fruit for which they desire to return their most humble and utmost Thanks yet nevertheless they are enforced with all Humility to represent to this most Honourable Assembly some of those Obstructions which do still hinder that freedom and fulness of Trade in this City they have formerly had and which considering the numerous multitude thereupon depending they conceive it not able comfortably to subsist As the unsetled Condition of the Kingdom even since the Troubles in Scotland hath caused both Strangers and also some of our own who did furnish great summs of money to use to call it in and remit much of it by Exchange into Forraign Parts and stand now in expectation of what the Issue of things may be The stopping Money in the Mint which till then was accounted the safest place and surest Staple in these parts of the World still doth hinder the Importation of Bullion the Scots now disabled to pay such Debts as they owe to the Petitioners and others in the City and by reason of the Oppressions exercised in Ireland their Debts also are detained there The English Trade by reason of our general Distractions and Fears is so much decayed that Country Trades-men cannot pay their Debts in London as formerly The great Sums of Money unduly taken by His Majesties Officers and Farmers for Impositions upon Merchandize Exported and imported and the want of Relief in Courts of Justice against them The drawing out from the City great Sums of Money which is the Life and Spirit of Trade for His Majesties Service in the North and being there employed is not yet returned Besides all which from what strong and secret Opposition the Petitioners know not they have not received what so much time and pains might give and cause to hope but still Incendiaries of the Kingdoms and other Notorious Offenders remain unpunished The Affairs of the Church notwithstanding many Petitions concerning it and long Debate about it remains unsetled the Papists still Armed the Laws against them not Executed some of the most Active of them still at Court Priests and Jesuits not yet Banished the Irish Popish-Army not yet Disbanded Courts of Justice not yet reformed and the Earl of Strafford who as now appears hath Counselled the Plundring of this City and putting it to Fine and Ransom and said It would never be well till some of the Aldermen were hang'd up because they would not yield to Illegal Levies of Monies had so drawn out and spent this time in his business to the very great Charge of the whole Kingdom and his endeavour to obtain yet more all which makes us fear there may be practices now in hand to hinder the Birth of your great endeavours and that we lie under some more dangerous Plot than we can discover All which Premisses with their Fears and Distractions growing there-from and from things of the like nature the Petitioners humbly offer to the most grave Consideration of this most Honourable Assembly as being the true Causes of decay of Trade discouragement of Trades-men and of the great scarcity of Monies with the Consequences they labour under And do humbly pray That their sad Grievances may be Redressed the Causes of their Fears removed Justice executed upon the said Earl and other Incendiaries and Offenders the rather in regard till then the Petitioners humbly conceive neither Religion nor their Lives Liberties or Estates can be secured And as in Duty bound they shall ever pray c. But all they could do notwithstanding the frequent Conferences and Debates the Lords resolved to hear what the Councel would first say upon the Legality of the Bill upon which this Message was sent to the Commons by Judge Foster and Judge Heath That their Lordships will be ready to meet at a Conference by a Committee of both Houses at Nine of the Clock upon Thursday Morning in Westminster-Hall there to hear this House according to their own Offers when they brought up the Bill of Attainder of the Earl of Strafford Mr. Hide was this Day sent up to the Lords Widnesday April 28. to acquaint them with the Fears they have that the Earl of Strafford may design to Escape That he hath Ships at Sea at Command and the Guards weak and to desire he may be made a close Prisoner and the Guards strengthened To which the Lords answered They would take it into Examination and give Directions accordingly Upon Thursday the Houses being met at the Hall Thursday April 29. the King Prince and Queen being present Mr. St. Johns to whom that Province was consigned by the Commons made his Argument of the Legallity of the Bill of Attainder as followeth My Lords THE Knights Mr. St. John's Argument at Law for passing the Bill of Attainder April 29. Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament have passed a Bill for the Attainting of Thomas Earl of Strafford of High-Treason The Bill hath been transmitted from them to your Lordships it concerns not him alone but your Lordships and the Commons too though in different respects It concerns his Lordship the highest that can be in the Penal Part so it doth on the other side as highly concern your Lordships and the Commons in that which ought to be the tend'rest the Judicatory within that that Judge not them who Judge
might be secured lest the same Design might be intended by them here which they have cause to fear Next That there were divers Laws and good Motions sent up to the Lords for the good of this Church and Common-wealth and that the great Impediment which did arise there that they passed not was from the Bishops and they did conceive that so long as their Votes was in the Parliament it would be a hindrance to the Progress of all good Laws and Motions and therefore they desired a further endeavour to take away their Votes This being thus said by them they put it to the Vote for lending Money and not one Hand or Vote against it And they did further declare That if the Lord Mayor would send to every Ward they would presently pay the Money or subscribe to do it in a short time The Reader may now observe That the City began to Dance after the Pipe of the Faction at Westminster and to load the poor Bishops with being the Cause of the stoppage of the intended Reformation They had wrested the Lord Mayor's Prerogative from him in the Election of one of the Sheriffs as before was shewn and did with great industry endeavour to get the Government of the City out of the hands of those who were of known Loyalty to the Crown and Affection to the Church The Faction in the Commons House needed not this Spur to quicken the Career of their Animosity against the Lords the Bishops however it was extream welcome to them and an usual Artifice by their Agents to put both the City and Country upon Directing and Petitioning what they had a mind to bring to pass this gave a great colour to their proceedings as being agreeable to the desire of the Nation the mind of the People of England and the wishes of the City for those of their Tribe though not the 40th part of the City Nation or People yet they took upon them these great Names And this Arrogant Usurpation of making themselves the Representatives of the good People of England was a vanity which was inseparable to the Party and which we shall find them making Use of upon all occasions The House of Commons thereupon fell briskly upon the Plea and Demurrer of the Bishops which was read twice The Bishops Plea and Demurrer voted Dilatory and then it was Resolved c. That this Plea and Demurrer of the Bishops is Dilatory and insufficient This Vote seems to be given at all adventure for after the Vote a Committee was appointed to consider of the Plea and Demurrer and to present their Opinion what they think fit to be done upon it and after some time Serjeant Wild Reported That after a long Debate in the Committee and variety of Opinions they came at last to this Conclusion That this Plea and Demurrer is Dilatory and insufficient just as the House had Voted before and without shewing any Reasons why but that these 12 Bishops have made no Answer and therefore to desire the Lords That they may put in a peremptory Answer such as they will stand unto There is not the meanest Freeholder in England but by the Common Law of England ought to have had the Liberty to have a Demurrer argued and unless it could be over-ruled by sound Reason and Law it must have been allowed a good Plea and yet these venerable Men who had all the security that the Magna Charta the Common and Statute Law could afford them for their Right of Peerage and Voting in Parliament could not be allowed that Common Right but without the least shadow or Error in the Plea and Demurrer assigned must be obliged to give another Answer This was the Justice of those Men and Times But it was no wonder to see them violate the Laws of Reason Religion and their own Nation for even the Law of Nations as you have seen before in the Venetian Ambassadador's Case whose Letters were opened at their Instance and Direction was not able to preserve its Sacred Power For a Complaint was brought to the Commons House by Segnior Amerigo the Agent of the Duke of Florence that under pretence of searching for Priests his House was broken open by Persons who shewed their Authority for it And hereupon even shame The Agent of Florence outraged lest Foreign Nations should withdraw all Commerce and Correspondence from them who violate the Common Law of all Nations obliged them to appoint a Committee To consider of the Outrages these are the words of their own Journal offered to Segnior Amerigo Agent to the Duke of Florence and likewise to consider of the Abuses of those Men that are imployed by this House for apprehending of Priests and they are to consider of some fit way of Reparation to be made to Segnior Amerigo and to present them to the House This day a Petition of the City of London was read Monday Novemb. 15. Touching the abuse of many Protections which was to the stopping of Trade c. but because the Petition was too General it was agreed it should be delivered back again to be mended and then their Lordships will consider further of it A Message was sent from the House of Commons to desire That the Examinations taken by the Lords Committees concerning the Plot of the Army may be sent down to the House of Commons to be made use of The Examinations were delivered Sealed to the Clerk of the Parliament and it was Debated Whether they should be openly read in the Lords House before they were sent down and upon the Question it was Resolved That they should and thereupon they were opened and read acccordingly They had now a Necessity to revive the Business of the Design of bringing up the Army that by the Assistance of that which they made a mighty Plot they might inforce the great Necessity of the King 's parting with all his Friends in Power and Trust under the Notion of Evil Counsellors with which Debate the House of Commons was in a manner now wholly taken up but sure they were the most Fortunate Persons in the World to be upon all Occasions furnished with the discovery of fresh Plots to carry on their Designs and give them countenance among the Amazed and Affrighted People and one lies under the Temptation of believing that they were the Contrivances of the Faction rather than Realities when it is observed how luckily the Discoveries happened to fall in with their other Designs For in the very nick of time when they were at a dead-lift to get the House of Lords purged of the Popish Beal's Plot. and Popishly Affected Lords and Bishops up starts one Beal a Taylor and Discovers a mighty Plot. For this Day a Message was brought from the House of Commons by John Hampden Esq to let their Lordships know That this Day there came a Man to the Door of the House of Commons and sent in Word That he had Matters of a high
then in taking a true Prospect and Exact Survey of the Transactions and Events of former Times And of all the Historical Landscapes which have been delineated to the Life by the Exactest Hands of the most able Masters those which represent the violent Tempests of State and the dreadful Shipwracks of Kingdoms and Governments afford the most profitable Entertainment The Glorious days of Peace slide Easily and without Noise down the Stream of Time into the Immense Ocean of Eternity and leave behind them very few Traces of any thing uncommon or Extraordinary more then the Remembrance of their happiness and the Emulous Wishes of Posterity to see the return of such Golden Ages But the sullen and lowring Times of Commotions and Disorders the dreadful Inundations of Popular Fury the Dismal Events of Civil Rage Unnatural Rebellions and unexampled Revolutions produce such infinite variety of strange Actions and Prodigious Occurrences as must of necessity bring both the Temptations of Pleasure and Advantage to entertain the Curious and to recompence the Industrious Time is a Magnificent Structure upon which every Age still builds something higher and from the lofty Battlements of this growing Pile every Age has the opportunity of the vast Prospect upon the two Immense Tracts of past and future and by comparing the several Events of distant Times those of the Present are enabled to employ themselves in a very necessary comendable and advantageous Curiosity and Research into the Causes and Effects the Methods and Movements the curious Artifices and cunning Intrigues the outward Pretensions and the inward Designs which produced such remarkable Alterations of Humane Affairs and such wondrous Turns and Changes in Laws Religion and Government and from thence not only to make probable and Rational Conjectures of what is past but to draw prudent necessary and useful Deductions and Inferences and to prepare suitable Antidotes and Precautions against the like dangerous Distempers of the Body-Politick for the Future since nothing carries more clear Evidence and Demonstration along with it then this Aphorisme which has been justified by a thousand Instances and Precedents of most undeniable Matter of Fact That all the Great Changes which have been made in the World by the Violent Methods of Commotions Seditions and Rebellion have ever been mannaged and Carried on by the Specious and Deluding Pretensions of Liberty of the People Redress of Grievances and Reformation either of the Civil or Religious Frame of Government And that it is no less certain That the same Arts Principles and Methods which have been so Successful in former Ages to accomplish the most wicked and infamous Enterprizes must necessarily lead Men to the same Designs and naturally and unavoidably terminate and Centre in the same Ends unless prevented by the timely Application of Suitable and Effectual Remedies And since nothing contributes more certainly to the Cure of a Distemper then the certain knowledg of the Nature and Causes of the Disease and that no Method can be more accomodate to the gaining that necessary knowledg then the Understanding of the true Symptoms and infallible Diagnosticks which are always the fore-runners of the Indispositions in the Body-Politique there can be nothing found more conducing to the attaining this necessary and useful Art then for such Persons whose Birth Quality Station or Ability must certainly command their Service in the Affairs of their Prince and Country throughly to Understand the Nature and Circumstances of such Men and Times Actions and Events as have formerly been the most considerable of their Age. There is nothing generally more inviting and agreeable to the very Genius and Inclinations of humane Nature then variety and consequently nothing that affords a more satisfactory Pleasure insomuch that not only those gay and splendid Scenes of Peace and Tranquility which have Crowned the Smiling Brows of some happy Ages of the World but even the more Cloudy and Tempestuous Turbulent and Tragical Acts which have had their Turn upon the Stage present a delightful and pleasing consideration either that they have had the happiness not to have been then in being when those miserable Revolutions happened or to such as were to have survived the fury of the Storm and the common Shipwrack And certainly among all the Famous Revolutions which have happened in the World no Age or Story is able to parallel those dreadful Overturnings which happened in these Nations of England Scotland and Ireland Never was any Time stored with stranger Events or any Events accompanied with Circumstances more Dreadful and Surprizing Never was any Tragedy Acted more Barbarously or in less time the Raging Flames of Civil Dissention were violently fann'd with the furious Blasts of a Whirlwind of Faction and to that Extremity that such incredible things were Acted in so short a space so many sharp encounters and Bloody Battels so many places before the Wars pleasant as the Garden of God turned into perfect Desart and Wilderness stately Houses into Ruinous heaps and in short the whole Frame of the Government and the Face of Affairs both Civil and Religious so wholly altered and destroyed that it seems absolutely necessary to confirm the truth of them from Unquestionable Monuments and Authentique Records and Remains of those Persons and Times lest Posterity should be apt to suspect such incredible Relations as coming nearer to Fiction and Romance then Reality The Seeds of Discontent and Jealousie which were now ripened into this miserable Harvest of a most Violent Rebellion had been long Sown and industriously Cultivated between the Prince and the People by some Zealous pretenders to a Publick Spirit whose restless industry was continually imployed to set up the Popular Pretence of Liberty against the Royal Prerogative and of Reformation and Piety and Religion against the Established Order and Government in the Church This Fiery Spirit began to appear and to be very Turbulent in the days of Queen Elizabeth and so Formidable and Numerous was the Party then grown that that Princess who is wont to be Magnified by the present State and Church Dissenters of our time with such high Elogies and Encomiums found her self under the absolute necessity of repressing their Insolencies by the severity of Laws and the putting the Laws in Execution as is evident by that Statute of the 35th of Eliz. Enacted as the words of the Statute Expresly declare against Seditious Sectaries and to retain the Queens Subjects in their due Obedience This sharp procedure of the Queens who now found by Experience that the Crown was beset by two dangerous though opposite Factions of Papists and as they were then stiled Puritans did for the Remainder of her Reign Extremely cool the Courage of the Party and Retard their Designs for she found by Experience that their temper was such as was Manageable by Legal Severities but insolent daring and unsatisfiable by Connivence Indulgence and slackning of the Reigns of Government But this sort of People who are wont to Supply what
Strafford The House of Commons in their own Name and in the Name of the whole Commons of England have this day accused your Lordship to the Lords of the Higher House of Parliament of High Treason the Articles they will in a few dayes produce in the mean time they have Resolved That your Lordship shall be Committed into Safe Custody to the Gentleman Vsher and be Sequestred from the House till your Lordship shall clear your self of the Accusations that shall be laid against you Whereupon he was immediately taken into Custody by James Maxwell Usher of the Black Rod. And that the Commons might Disable him of the Testimony and Assistance of Sir George Radcliff his great Friend and Confident it was resolved to make him a Party and accuse him of High Treason and Confederacy with the Earl which was accordingly done as is more at large related before to which the Reader is referred only a Debate worth the Observation arose upon his being a Member of the Parliament in Ireland Whether he could without Breach of Priviledge be sent for Upon which it was Resolved as a thing out of all Doubt That in case of High Treason Priviledg of Parliament neither here nor there doth reach to Protect him Notwithstanding which when afterwards his Majestie accused the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members of High Treason and Exhibited Articles against them they did not only protect them but arraigned that proceeding as the Highest Violation of the Priviledges of Parliament making it one of the main Foundations upon which they built the Justice of the succeeding Rebellion and their taking up Arms against his Majesty It was Ordered Wednesday Novemb. 18. That no Member of the House of Commons shall visit the Earl of Strafford during his restraint without Licence first obtained from the House And the same Order was taken in the House of Peers and all the time of his Imprisonment the Lieutenant of the Tower brought in a Weekly account of the Names of those persons who visited him and by whose Order Upon Munday Munday Nov. 23. Novemb. 23. Mr. Pym presented a draught of Articles to the House which being referred to the Committee who were to prepare a Charge against the Earl were by them reported and agreed to by the House and Mr. Pym ordered to go up with them to the Lords which upon Wednesday following he did accordingly Wednesday Nov. 25. and before their Lordships laid out his Talent of Speech-making upon that subject as follows The Articles being first tendred and Read which were these I. THat he the said Thomas Earl of Strafford Articles of Impeachment against the Earl of Strafford Nov. 25. hath Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Realms of England and Ireland and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which he hath declared by Trayterous Words Counsels and Actions and by giving his Majesty advice by force of Armes to compel his Loyal Subjects to submit thereunto 2. That he hath Trayterously assumed to himself Regal power over the Lives Liberties Persons Lands and Goods of his Majesties Subjects in England and Ireland and hath exercised the same Tyrannically to the subversion and undoing of many both of Peers and others of his Majesties Liege people 3. That the better to enrich and enable himself to go thorow with his Trayterous Designs he hath detained a great part of his Majesties Revenue without giving legal account and hath taken great Summes out of the Exchequer converting them to his own use when his Majesty was necessitated for his own urgent occasions and his Army had been a long time unpaid 4. That he hath Trayterously abused the power and authority of his Government to the encreasing countenancing and encouraging of Papists that so he might settle a mutual dependance and confidence betwixt himself and that Party and by their help prosecute and accomplish his malicious and tyrannical designs 5. That he hath maliciously endeavoured to stir up enmity and hostility between his Majesties Subjects of England and those of Scotland 6. That he hath Trayterously broken the great Trust reposed in him by his Majesty of Lieutenant General of his Army by wilfully betraying divers of his Majesties Subjects to death his Army to a dishonourable defeat by the Scots at Newborn and the Town of New-Castle into their hands to the end that by the effusion of blood by dishonour and so great a loss of New-Castle his Majesties Realm of England might be engaged in a National and Irreconciliable quarrel with the Scots 7. That to preserve himself from being questioned for those and other his Trayterous Courses he laboured to subvert the Right of Parliaments and the ancient course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by false and malicious slanders to incense his Majesty against Parliaments By which Words Counsels and Actions he hath Trayterously and contrary to his allegiance laboured to alienate the hearts of the Kings Liege people from his Majesty to set a division between them and to ruin and destroy his Majesties Kingdoms for which they impeach him of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity 8. And he the said Earl of Strafford was Lord Deputy of Ireland and Lieutenant General of the Army there viz. His most excellent Majesty for his Kingdoms both of England and Ireland and the Lord President of the North during the time that all and every the Crimes and Offences before set forth were done and committed and he the said Earl was Lieutenant General of all his Majesties Army in the North parts of England during the time that the Crimes and Offences in the fifth and sixth Articles set forth were done and committed 9. And the said Commons by protestations saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Earl and also of replying to the Answers that he the said Earl shall make unto the said Articles or to any of them and of offering proofes also of the premisses or any of them or any other impeachment or accusation that shall be exhibited by them as the cause shall according to the course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Earl may be put to answer for all and every the premisses that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every of them had and used as it is agreeable to Law and Justice My Lords THese Articles have exprest the Character of a great and dangerous Treason Mr. Pym's Speech after the Reading the Articles against the Earl of Strafford Nov. 25. such a one as is advanced to the highest degree of Malice and of Mischief It is enlarged beyond the limits of any description or definition it is so hainous in it self as that it is capable of no aggravation a Treason against God betraying his Truth and Worship against the King obscuring the Glory and weakning the foundation
time had a Petition depending in the House of Lords delivered Jan. 12 craving to be discharged of the Fine of Three thousand pounds imposed upon him by Decree of the Star-Chamber for Scandalous words against the Earl of Strafford Upon the 30th of Jan. a Day so Fatal to King Charles the First Saturday Jan. 30. the further Impeachment of the Earl of Strafford consisting in 28 Articles was by Mr. Pym carried up to the Lords which were as follow Articles of the Commons Assembled in Parliament The further Impeachment of the Earl of Strafford Jan. 30. against Thomas Earl of Strafford in maintenance of their Accusation whereby he stands Charged with High Treason WHereas the said Commons have already Exhibited Articles against the said Earl in haec verba c. Now the said Commons do further Impeach the said Earl as followeth That is to say I. That the said Earl of Strafford the 21 day of March in the Eighth Year of his Majesties Reign was President of the Kings Council in the Northern Parts of England That the said Earl being President of the said Council on the 21 of March a Commission under the Great Seal of England with certain Schedules of Instructions thereunto annexed was directed to the said Earl or others of the Commissioners therein named whereby among other things Power and Authority is limited to the said Earl and others the Commissioners therein named to hear and determine all Offences and Misdemeanors Suits Debates Controversies and Demands Causes Things and Matters whatsoever therein contained and within certain Precincts in the said Northern Parts therein specified and in such manner as by the said Schedule is limited and appointed That among other things in the said Instructions it is directed That the said President and others therein appointed shall hear and determine according to the Course of Proceedings in the Court of Star-Chamber divers Offences Deceits and Falsities therein mentioned Whether the same be provided for by Acts of Parliament or not so that the Fines imposed be not less than by the Act or Acts of Parliament provided against those offences is appointed That also amongst other things in the said Instructions it is directed that the said President and others therein appointed have power to examine hear and determine according to the course of proceedings in the Court of Chancery all manner of Complaints for any matter within the said Precincts as well concerning Lands Tenements and Hereditaments either Free-hold Customary or Copy-hold as Leases and other things therein mentioned and to stay proceedings in the Court of Common Law by Injunction or otherwise by all wayes and means as is used in the Court of Chancery And although the former Presidents of the said Councel had never put in practice such Instructions nor had they any such Instructions yet the said Earl in the Moneth of May in the said 8th Year and divers Years following did put in practice exercise and use and caused to be used and put in practice the said Commission and Instructions and did direct and exercise an exorbitant and unlawful power and jurisdiction on the persons and estates of his Majesties Subjects in those parts and did Disin-herit divers of his Majesties Subjects in those parts of their Inheritances sequestred their Possessions and did fine ransome punish and imprison them and caused them to be fined ransomed punished and imprisoned to their ruine and destruction and namely Sir Coniers Darcy Sir John Bourcher and divers others against the Laws and in subversion of the same And the said Commission and Instructions were procured and issued by the advice of the said Earl And he the said Earl to the intent that such illegal and unjust power might be exercised with the greater licence and will did advise Counsel procure further directions in and by the said instructions to be given that no prohibition be granted at all but in cases where the said Councel shall exceed the limits of the said instructions And that if any Writ of Habeas Corpus be granted the party be not discharged till the party perform the Decree and Order of the said Councel And the said Earl in the 13. year of his now Majesties Reign did procure a new Commission to himself and others therein appointed with the said Instructions and other unlawful additions That the said Commission and Instructions were procured by the solicitation and advice of the said Earl of Strafford 2. That shortly after the obtaining of the said Commission dated the 21 of March in the 8 year of his now Majesties Reign to wit the last day of August then next following he the said Earl to bring his Majesties liege People into a dislike of his Majesty and of his Government and to terrifie the Justices of the Peace from executing of the Laws He the said Earl being then President as aforesaid and a Justice of Peace did publickly at the Assizes held for the County of York in the City of York in and upon the said last day of August declare and publish before the People there attending for the administration of Justice according to the Law and in the presence of the Justices sitting That some of the Justices were all for Law but they should find that the Kings little finger should be heavier then the loyns of the Law 3. That the Realm of Ireland having been time out of mind annexed to the Imperial Crown of England and governed by the same Laws The said Earl being Lord Deputy of that Realm to bring his Majesties liege People of that Kingdom likewise into dislike of his Majesties Government and intending the Subversion of the Fundamental Laws and settled government of that Realm and the destruction of his Majesties liege People there did upon the 30. day of September in the ninth year of his now Majesties Reign in the City of Dublin the chief City of that Kingdom where his Majesties Privy Councel and Courts of Justice do ordinarily reside and whither the Nobility and Gentry of that Realm do usually resort for Justice in a publick Speech before divers of the Nobility and Gentry and before the Mayor Aldermen and Recorder and many Citizens of Dublin and other his Majesties Liege People declare and publish that Ireland was a conquered Nation and that the King might do with them what he pleased and speaking of the Charters of the former Kings of England made to that City he further said that their Charters were nothing worth and did bind the King no further then he pleased 4. That Richard Earl of Cork having sued out process in course of Law for recovery of his Possessions from which he was put by colour of an order made by the said Earl of Strafford and the Councel Table of the said Realm of Ireland The said Earl of Strafford upon a paper Petition without legal proceeding did the 20. day of February in the 11. year of his now Majesties Reign threaten the said Earl of Cork being
House of Commons by whom the rest might the better be guided Mr. Secretary Windebank said He feared the House would first be Answered of their Grievances and Voted for a Breach of the Parliament Mr. Secretary Vane in opposite terms said That there was no hope that they would give the King a Penny and therefore absolutely Voted for a Breach And the Earl of Strafford conceiving His Majesties Pleasure to have accepted Eight Subsidies had been delivered to the House of Commons by Mr. Secretary Vane did in His Majesties turn deliver his Vote for Breach of the Parliament which otherwise he would not have done it being contrary to what he Resolved when he came thither and like Opinion was delivered by the rest of the Lords being about twenty except two or three at the most The Parliament being Dissolved His Majesty desired Advice of His Council How money might be raised affirming That the Scotch Army was ready to enter into the Kingdom The said Earl in presence of others in the Council delivered his Opinion That in a Case of absolute and unavoidable necessity which neither would nor could be prevented by ordinary remedies provided by the Laws nor all His Majesties other means sufficient to defend the Common-wealth Himself or their Lives and Estates from an Enemy without force of Arms either actually entred or daily expected to Invade the Realm He conceived that His Majesty was absolved from ordinary Rules and might use in as moderate a way the necessity of the Cause would permit all ways and means for defence of Himself and Kingdom for that he conceived in such extremity Salus Populi was Suprema Lex provided it were not colourable nor any thing demanded imployed to other use nor drawn into Example when Law and Justice might take place and that when Peace was settled Reparation was to be given to particular men otherwise it would be unjust This was not officiously declared but in Council forced by the duty of the Oath of a Counsellor which is that he shall in all things to be moved treated and debated in Council faithfully and truly declare his Mind and Opinion according to his Heart and Conscience which Oath the said Earl took and humbly prays their Lordships Consideration thereof He denieth the words in the Article or any words to the intent thereby expressed To the 24th he saith He delivered his Opinion with such Cautions and Restrictions as in the Answer to the Precedent Article and is well assured his Discourse at all times hath been without ill Intentions to either of the Houses of Parliament which he ever did and shall think and speak of with all Reverence He denies that he knew of the Publishing or Printing of the Book nor who caused it to be Printed or Published for at that time he was sick in his Bed more like to die than to live To the 25th he saith Ship-Money was levied and adjudged to be due before his coming over Sheriffs were then called up as before and not otherwise If any were sued in Star-Chamber it was without any particular indeavour of his It appearing at the Board That the Mayor and Sheriffs of London had been slow in Collecting Ship-Money he said They were but Ministerial and ought to Exact and not dispute the King's Writs and that if through their remisness the King should be less able to provide for the Publick Safety when any Forreign Army was ready to enter the Kingdom they might deserve to be Fined and Ransomed which he spake more to hasten them than of purpose to advise any such Prosecution but denies the other words being under favour such Expressions as he is not accustomed unto To the 26th he saith He advised not either of those Projects being then sick in Bed but it being debated at the Council-Table Whether it were better for the King to raise Gold and Silver or Coin base Money He for the Reasons then given delivered his Opinion for the latter Sundry Merchants Adventurers coming to his house desired him to move His Majesty then at Oatlands to Release the Bullion or Money he told them He knew of no such thing and would not meddle with it nor would his Health permit him to go abroad and said That if their denying the King in such a Publick Danger the Loan of 100000 l. upon good Security the King were constrained for the Preservation of the Land to stay the Bullion they might thank themselves and the City receiving so great a benefit by Residing amongst them they made but an unthankful acknowledgment in such a Straight to refuse the Loan of that Sum. The Officers of the Mint came to the Council-Board and the Earl then shewed a Letter he received from the Earl of Leicester wherein was related That the Cardinal had appointed Commissioners to go into the Merchants houses at Paris to peruse their Shop-Books and Accompts and to Cess every man according to his Ability towards the payment of the King's Army and then said That it was but just for Us here in England to bless God for being under a King which could not think upon such a Pressing upon the People But the words in the Article or words to any such intent he did not speak and cannot sufficiently bemoan himself to have been in all his words so ill understood or so untruly Reported as he hath been To the 27th he saith He perswaded the Gentry of that Country to allow the Trained-Band a months Pay which they yielded and His Majesty graciously accepted It was by Council of War His Majesty being present thought fit the Trained-Bands should return save the two Regiments under the Command of Sir William Pennyman and Sir Thomas Danby It was assented unto by His Majesty and the great Councel of the Peers then Assembled That those spared should Contribute and the said Earl was Commanded by them to see it done which was done accordingly by Warrants from him and from his Deputy-Lieutenants which was much less Charge to the Countries than otherwise and denies the other particular in the Article mentioned To the 28th he saith He was Lieutenant-General to the Earl of Northumberland about the 24th of August of 10 or 12000 Foot and 2000 Horse being at New-Castle under the Command of the Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Ashley and the rest of the Army at York the said Earl went from London and the 26th of August notwithstanding his extream weakness and came to York and having received a Letter from Sir Jacob Ashley that New-Castle was Fortified and that they must be Infamous Beasts to lose it and that it was fully Secured and being acquainted with several Dispatches sent by Mr. Secretary Vane by His Majesties Directions to the Lord Conway General of the Horse to oppose the Passage of the Scots over the River of Tyne the one dated 22. Augusti the other 23. Augusti another 24. Augusti another 26. Augusti the substance of which Letters are particularly mentioned in the
Behaviour and Eloquence between the Extremes of Baseness and Dejection and the vanity of Disdain or Ostentation as raised an admiration of him even in his very Enemies The first Witness that was produced was Sir Pierce Crosby Witnesses Sir Pierce Crosby set aside for the present against whom the Earl excepted as having been sentenced in the Star-Chamber in Ireland for Conspiring to take away his Life for breaking Prison and making his Escape from which Circumstances it was probable he might be Transported by the desire of private revenge beyond the bounds of Truth and Publick Justice so that for the present he was set aside Then Sir John Clotworthy was sworn Sir John Clotworthy all that he deposed was that Sir George Radcliff being a teller of the No's in a Vote of Parliament to which he had given his Negative contrary to the Mind of the Earl who had a desire the Bill should pass Sir George asked him if he had not a Lease in such a place to which he answering yes Sir George replyed remember that That as to Sir Pierce Crosby's imprisonment he did apprehend it was for giving his Vote contrary to the Lord Lieutenant's mind for that he heard Sir George say to him after he had Voted this is not Privy Counsellor like or to that Effect The Lord Ranulagh deposed that Sir Pierce Crosby was by the Opinion of the Board sequestred from the Privy-Council for Voting against a Bill transmitted by the Lord Deputy and Council to the Parliament Lord Ranulagh The Lord Mountnorris deposed to the same Effect Lord Mountnorris and that he was Sequestred from the Council by the Voices of the Board among which the Earl gave his Mr Nicholas Barnwell deposed that for his differing in Opinion in the Parliament from Sir George Radcliff Nic. Barnwell Sir George asked him if his House would hold 500 Men to which he smiling answered you know how many my house will hold whereupon Sir George replyed it was no laughing matter and that he should have 500 men laid upon him but this upon the Earl's Question he said was spoken when the Earl was out of the Kingdom upon which Mr. Pym made this prity Observation That the Spirit of my Lord Strafford could move in Sir George Radcliff wheresoever it was spoken as if a man could commit Treason had it been such by his Proxie The next thing was about oppressing the Subjects of Ireland Mr. Egor a Witness and particularly the City of Dublin by quartering Soldiers upon them to which Mr. Egor was sworn deposed that the City of Dublin is put to 55 l. per mensem for billetting of Horse which the Earl avoided by the Practice of his Predecessors in the like Case which the Witness confessed as to Foot Guards The Managers then desired the Remonstrance from Ireland might be read which the Earl opposed as being New matter and not in the Charge but come over since his Impeachment to which they replyed that the Subverting of Laws and Corruption of Government was in general laid and they produce this to prove his answer Untrue as to his Integrity in the Administration whereupon the Lord Baltinglass and Lord Digby of Ireland vouching the Truth of the Copy it was read in haec Verba To the Right Honourable the Lord-Deputy The Humble and just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Parliament Assembled Shewing THat in all Ages since the happy Subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England The Irish Remonstrance it was and is a Principal Study and Princely Care of his Majesty and His Noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood that their Loyal and Dutiful people of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from British Ancestors should be Governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England that the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other Laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared That by the means thereof and of the most Prudent and Benign Government of His Majesty and His Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a Flourishing Estate whereby the said people were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural desires to comply with His Majesties Princely and Royal Occasions by their free Gift of 150 Thousand Pounds Sterling and likewise by another free Gift of 120 Thousand Pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the Gift of 40 Thousand Pounds and their free and chearful Gift of Six entire Subsidies in the 10th Year of His Majesties Reign which to comply with His Majesties then Occasions signified to the then House of Commons They did allow should amount in the Collections unto 250 Thousand Pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have amounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the four intire Subsidies granted in this present Parliament So it is May it please Your Lordship by the occasion of the insuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to His Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that extream and universal Poverty that the same is less able to pay Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before recited great Payments And His Majesties most Faithful people of the Land do conceive great fears that the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Presidents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great Hopes and strong Beliefs they are perswaded is contrary to His Royal and Princely intention towards His said people some of which said Grievances are as followeth 1. The general apparent decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities Exported and Imported by reason whereof and of extream Vsage and Censures Merchants are beggered and both disinabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the honourable Persons who gain thereby are often Judges and Parties and that in the conclusion His Majesties Profit thereby is not considerably advanced 2. The Arbitrary decision of all civil Causes and Controversies by Paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and the Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon reference from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain time cause season or thing whatsoever And the consequences of such proceedings by receiving immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clerks Pursevants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of Proceedings His Majesty loseth a considerable part of his Revenue upon Original Writs and otherwise and the Subject loseth the benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversal Vouchers and other Legal and just Advantages and
the ordinary Course and Courts of Justice declined 3. The proceedings in Civil Causes at Council-Board contrary to the Law and great Charter not limited to any certain time or season 4. That the Subject is in all the material parts thereof denied the benefit of the Princely Graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 21 of Jac. granted by his Majesty in the Fourth Year of His Reign upon great Advice of the Councils of England and Ireland and for great Consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all Persons do take notice That contrary to His Majesties Pious Intentions His Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the benefit of His Majesties Princely Promise thereby made 5. The extrajudicial avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of His Majesties Subjects under the Great Seal the Publick Faith of the King dom by private Opinions delivered at the Council-Board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to Law and without President or Example of any former Age. 6. The Proclamation for the sole emption and uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low Rates and uttered at high and excessive Rates by means whereof thousands of Families within this Kingdom and of His Majesties Subjects in several Islands and other parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coin of this Kingdom is ingrossed into particular Hands insomuch that your Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and ingrossed thereby doth surmount His Majesties Revenue certain or casual within this Kingdom and yet his Majesty receiveth but very little profit by the same 7. The universal and unlawful encreasing of Monopolies to the advantage of a few the disprofit of His Majesty and impoverishment of His people 8. And the extream cruel Vsage of certain late Commissioners and other Stewards of the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Ulster to the great weakning of the Kingdom in this time of danger the said Plantation being the Principal Strength of those parts 9. The late Erection of the Court of High Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in these necessitous Times the Proceedings of the said Court in many Causes without legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the encroaching of the same upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom 10. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship 11. The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesties Service and Profit are much more impaired than advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much encreased His Majesties Revenue by the buying of Grants and otherwise And that all His Majesties Debts then due in this Kingdom were satisfied out of the said Subsidies and yet his Majesty is of late as the Petitioners have been informed in the House of Commons become indebted in this Kingdom in great Sums And they do therefore humbly beseech That an exact Account may be sent to His Majesty how and in what manner His Treasure is issued 12. The Petitioners do humbly conceive just and great fears at a Proclamation published in this Kingdom in Anno Domini 1635. prohibiting men of Quality or Estates to depart this Kingdom into England without the Lord-Deputie's Licence whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom are hindred and interrupted from free access to address to His Sacred Majesty and Privy-Council of England to declare their just Grievances or to obtain Remedies for them in such sort as their Ancestors have done in all Ages since the Reign of King Henry the Second and great Fees exacted for every of the said Licences 13. That of late His Majesties Attorney-General hath exhibited Informations against many ancient Burroughs of this Kingdom into His Majesties Court of Exchequer to shew cause by what Warrant the said Burgesses who heretofore sent Burgesses to Parliament should send the Burgesses to the Parliament and thereupon for want of an Answer the said Priviledges of sending Burgesses was seized by the said Court which Proceedings were altogether Coram non Judice and contrary to the Laws and Priviledges of the House of Parliament and if way should be given thereunto would tend to the Subversion of Parliaments and by Consequence to the Ruin and Destruction of the Common-wealth And that the House of Commons hath hitherto in this present Parliament been deprived of the Advice and Counsel of many profitable and good Members by means thereof 14. By the Powerfulness of some Ministers of State in this Kingdom the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not its natural Freedom 15. And lastly That the Gentry and Merchants and other His Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom are of late by the Grievances and Pressures before said and other the like brought very near to Ruin and Destruction And the Farmers of Customs Customers Waiters Searchers Clerks of Vnwarrantable Proceedings Pursevants and Goalers and sundry others very much enriched whereby and by the slow Redress of the Petitioners Grievances His Majesties most Faithful and Dutiful People of this Kingdom do conceive great fears that their readiness approved upon all occasions hath not been of late rightly represented to his Sacred Majesty For Remedy whereof the said Petitioners do humbly and of right beseech your Lordships That the said Grievances and Pressures may be speedily Redressed and if your Lordship shall not think fit to afford present Relief that your Lordship might admit a Select Committee of this House of Persons uninteressed in the benefit arising of the aforesaid Grievances to be licensed by your Lordship to repair to His Sacred Majesty in England for to pursue the same and to obtain fitting remedy for their aforesaid and other just Grievances and Oppressions and upon all just and Honourable Occasions they will without respect of particular Interest or Profit to be raised thereby most humbly and readily in Parliament extend their utmost endeavour to serve His Majesty and comply with His Royal and Princely Occasions and shall pray c. To this the Earl replyed that their Lordships might observe that it bore Date Feb. 22 1640. which was since his Impeachment and that it is followed by Faction and Confederacy and a strong Conspiracy against him as if he had time and opportunity he could make it appear And indeed the Complaints of the Irish Nation against him who had in all things endeavoured to promote and
Subjects of the Scotish Nation inhabiting in Ireland for the Covenant sworn by some of their Countrey-men in Scotland without His Majesties Authority and Consent Their dislike thereof and the consideration that their causes of that action may be understood to reflect on the Petitioners though innocent They crave leave to vindicate themselves from so great a Contagion and desire his Lordship to prescribe a way by Oath or otherwise to free themselves from these proceedings to declare their acknowledgment of the King 's Regal Power and their dislike of that Covenant and of all other Covenants entred into c. without His Majesties Regal Authority which they are desirous to manifest by offering their Lives and Fortunes to vindicate the Honor c. of their Sovereign which they are ready to do in equal manner and measure with other His Majesties Subjects c. and divers names were to the said Petition subscribed In consideration of which Petition we cannot but commend the Wisdom of the Petitioners which we will not fail humbly to represent to His Majesty and for that we know many of this Kingdom have expressed good Affection to His Majesty and His Service and dislike those Disorders We hold it fit c. to free them the better from the Crimes and Scandals which their Countrey-men have gone into as also to free them from all prejudice and to approve to the King and to the whole World their Allegiance to him and his Regal Power and the dislike of that unlawful Oath and Covenant We do therefore Ordain That all and every Person of the Scotch Nation that inhabit or have Estates or any Houses Lands Tenements or Hereditaments within Ireland shall take the Oath herein expressed on the Holy Evangelists on pain of His Majesties High Displeasure The tenor of which Oath follows c. To several select persons c. Authorizing them to call before them and administer the Oath to every person of the Scotch Nation c. At such time and place c. And such Instructions as shall be in that behalf given by the Deputy and Council c. And to certifie the Names of all that take the Oath and if any refuse to certifie their Names Quality and Residences to the Lord Deputy c. And there is a Command That all of the Scotch Nation do appear before the said Commissioners at times by them to be appointed and to take the said Oath before them and that all persons may have due notice we think fit this be published Dated May 1639. To prove the Design of betraying Knockfergus Slingsby Mr. Slingsby Examined attested That it was Advertized that when the King was at Berwick one Trueman had writ a Letter for betraying the Castle there he was sent to Dublin and Examined remanded back Tryed found Guilty Condemned and Executed for the Fact My Lord added further That at the same time there was the like Oath and proceedings in England That what he did was for securing the Peace of Ireland and had it been done by himself solely as Deputy he humbly conceives it no Treason but he had the King's Letter of his own hand-writing which he produced as followeth WENTWORTH COnsidering the great number of Scots that are in Ireland The King's Letter to the Lord-Deputy about the Oath and the dangerous consequences may follow if they should joyn with the Covenanters in Scotland I hold it necessary you should use your best Endeavour to try them by an Oath not only to disclaim their Countreymens Proceedings but likewise never to joyn with any in Covenant or otherwise against Me To which purpose I Command you to frame and administer such an Oath to the abovesaid intent to my Scotish Subjects of that Kingdom that I may know the well from the ill-affected of that Nation of which fail not as you love my Service And so I rest Your assured Friend Ch. R. Dated 16 Jan. 1638. Whitehall That therefore having his Majesties Warrant he conceives doth justifie him and that he had rather suffer by his Obedience then dispute his Majestie 's Command As to the Fining of Stuart c. it was the Act of the whole Court of Castle-Chamber where he had but one Vote the greatness of the Fine was to shew the greatness of the Crime and that little of it was paid that to refuse the Oath of Allegiance is Praemunire in comparison of which this was a moderate Fine That there is nothing of Ecclesiastical concern but temporal Allegiance in the Oath To the words about the Scottish Nation he absolutely denied he ever spake them or thought them he owes more Honour to His Majestie 's Native Countrey and from his Soul wisheth it all Prosperity that he must be out of his Witts to call a whole Nation Traytors knowing many of them to be faithful Loyal Subjects whatever he spake was concerning the Faction in it as to the multitudes going away Sir John Clotworthy names not one of that multitude and if they did go rather then give that Pledg of their Allegiance who could help it As to the Schoolmaster 's Testimony he is positive that my Lord spoke the rancorous Words against the Scottish Nation Octob. 10. 1639. but he proved by Mr. Little and Mr. Ralton that he came from Ireland Sept. 12. 1639. a month before and was in London Sept. 21. 1639. and therefore being a single Witness and Evidently swearing false in the first part he hopes their Lordships will credit him accordingly As to the last he having not yet learned his Lesson perfectly that Loftus makes it another thing swearing the Earl said He hoped to root c. such as would not submit to the Ecclesiastical Orders whereas there are few of the Scottish Nation that do not submit He then produced Sir Philip Manwaring who attested Sir Philip Manwaring That he heard the whole Speech and that my Lord spoke only against a Faction of the Scottish Nation whom he would endeavour to bring to Obedience and that he Explained himself to speak of those of Ireland not of Scotland whose Laws and Customs he did not understand and that he heard not one word of Root and Branch or Stock and Branch but that he heard Mr. Wainsford Master of the Rolls commend my Lord for his Caution that he had reflected on the Faction not on the Nation Then my Lord concluded That he hoped nothing was proved against him of Treason for if Obeying Commands in this Case be so he confessed being not better informed if it were to do again he should be that Traitor over again Mr. Whitlock presently laid hold of this and said Managers Reply This justifying his Offence against Law in that Great Presence was a great aggravation of his Crime That it is well known a new Oath cannot be imposed without Assent in Parliament it is Legislativa Potestas That he obtained the King's Letter upon Mis-information As to Steward 's Sentence his fault is the
had been done before my coming into the Kingdom For the words that they deserved Fine and Ransome I confess them in my Answer just in the same manner as my Lord of Berkshire was pleased to testify them the other day that is That if they should not do the thing desired they might in my opinion be liable to Fine and Ransome And my Lords admit I were mistaken in my opinion shall it be a Treason to be mistaken I say in my opinion they might be lyable to Fine and Ransome but what is this to Treason Under favour nothing at all as I conceive For the other part That it would never be well till some of the Aldermen be hanged it proves to be testified by Mr. Alderman Garroway and he owns it only for himself for it was not that some of the Aldermen should be hanged but he said at the Bar till he himself were hanged My Lords This is a single Testimony and these words as he sayes were by me spoken to the King at the Council-Board That it would never be well till some of them were hanged meaning himself Truly my Lords I thank God I never spake such unmannerly Language all the dayes of my life I have had more regard to my words than to say such things to my Master and your Lordships must needs be many of you by and I am very confident there is not one among you that can remember any such words were spoke for in good faith I did not speak them And my Lords before this misfortune did befall me I should with modesty have thought my self a person on equal terms to have been believed as well as Mr. Garraway and I speak it with as great confidence as he that I never spake the words My Lords The next is the 26th Article and that is that I should say the City of London dealt undutifully with the King and they were more ready to help the Rebels than to help His Majesty and if any hurt came to them they might thank themselves My Lords I am in the first part of this Article charged to have counselled and approved two dangerous and wicked Projects the one concerning the stay of the Bullion in the Tower the other concerning Copper-Coyn and no proof hath been offered that I either counselled or approved either of those two Projects And my Lords it is proved to your Lordships that when the Merchants came I told them I knew nothing of the business as to the Bullion neither indeed did I ever know there was any Bullion nor any thing of that nature in the Tower But for the words I conceive it had been no Treason for me to think at that time that the Londoners had dealt unthankfully with His Majesty I thought I might have said it freely without danger of such a thought as might conduce to the convicting me of Treason But whatsoever I then thought or on what grounds soever it may be remembred that then I alledged and now I speak it when News was brought to York that the City had lent the King Two hundred thousand pounds I took notice that notwithstanding all I had thought formerly they had now made such recompence and so cleared their Faith and Duty to the King that I should be their Servant and lay my hand under their feet as those that heard me are able to speak for though at first I said they had dealt unthankfully with the King yet afterwards I was ready and willing upon all occasions to testify the contrary of them and to profess that I was ready to serve them upon all occasions just and honest and honourable As for my saying that they were readier to help the Rebels than the King In truth I am a man that cannot justify a thing I do not approve I must needs say it was an unadvised Speech and I wish I had not spoke it it seems I did speak it for I have reason to believe honest men when they Swear though in truth I remember it not but I have no reason or cause to think they would take an Oath otherwise than truth I have no exception to the Men and therefore upon their words I must Credit them before my own memory but it was an unadvised Speech and he is a wise man and much wiser then my self that some time offends not with his Tongue And in truth my Lords though there be no Treason in it they are the most unwarranted words that appear in the whole Proof made against me In the 26th there are some words that I should speak to my Lord Cottington concerning a Foolish Pamphlet or Gazette which I then had in my hand and it is such a Toy in it self and all the Circumstances of it that I hold it not worth the mentioning but only that I would not forget any thing in the Proofs as near as I could and the Proof is uncertain for onely one Man sayes it and the very words he cannot express Now he that shall Swear when he cannot express the Words his Testimony is but of small value and he is but a Single Proof at best to disprove what is deposed by Sir William Parkhurst who sayes he was by yet heard not the Words And Cogam sayes he remembers not the words and so upon the matter there are two against one and the whole being so uncertain I conceive it is of very little moment in your Lordships Judgments My Lords These are as near as I can gather all that are charged as unto Words spoken either in England or Ireland Councils other then these I am not charged withall and so there remains nothing but my Actions and if I can free them as well as I have freed the Words I conceive then under favour I have fully Answered all that hath been objected against me My Lords The first of these is the Fifth Article in the Case of Sentence of the Council of War against my Lord Mountnorris and the Sentence of the Council of War against Denwit For that of my Lord Mountnorris I have shewed plainly and clearly to your Lordships that I was no Judge in the Cause but a Party and therefore not Responsible for any Judgment given against his Lordship I gave no Vote and so consequently am not to Answer for any Guilt if there were any which under favour I conceive since all Martial Law is Adjudged to be against the Law I may be of another Opinion but formerly conceiving that that might have stood with the Law I might say something more for the Justification of it then now I do but however I was no Party They say he was a Peer and it is very true but as he was a Peer so he was a Captain of the Army and in this Case we consider Men as Members of the Army not as Peers And if a Peer will not submit himself to an Officer of the Army he must submit himself to the Order of the Army Besides I say it
Causes for a man can scarce think of a Cause which is not comprehended within the Instructions obtained after his coming thither but I shall put your Lordship in mind of two clauses of the Instructions procured in the Eighth year of this King and after he was President that is the Clause of Habeas Corpus and Prohibitions that no man should obtain a Prohibition to stay any Suit that should be commenced before him in the Council of York That if any man should be imprisoned by any Process out of that Court he must have no Habeas Corpus A Prohibition is the only means to vindicate the estate of the Subject if it be questioned without Authority A Habeas Corpus is the only means to vindicate his Liberty if he be detained without Law but these doors must be shut against the King's Subjects that if either they be questioned or restrained before him there must be no relief How far he could go further I am to seek there being no means for the Subject to relieve himself if he be questioned for his Estate without Authority no means to redeem himself if his person be imprisoned without Law And he had so incircled himself about that if the Judges should find the party that returns not the Habeas Corpus according to Law there was a Power and a Warrant by the Instructions to the Barons to discharge the Officers of that Fine And now I refer it to your Lordships judgments Whether this be not to draw an Arbitrary Power to himself For the execution of this Power it is true it is proved to be before the Instructions in the Eighth year of the King but then it riseth the more in judgement against him for your Lordships have heard how he went into a grave Judge's Chamber blaming him for giving way to a Prohibition granting Attachments against one that moved for a Prohibition and though this was done before the Instructions were granted yet the Instructions coming at the heels of it sheweth his disposition and resolution more clearly for he acts it first and then procures this colour to protect it and though he pretends there was no proof yet I must put your Lordships in mind that when these things were in question concerning the apprehension of a Knight by a Sergeant at Arms he kneels to His Majesty That this defect might be supplyed and this jurisdiction maintained else he might go to his own Cottage And here being the just commencement of his greatness if you look to the second it follows That at the publick Assizes he declared That some were all for Law but they should find the King 's little finger heavier than the loins of the Law He did not say it was so but he infused it as much as he could into the hearts of the King's People that they should find it so and so he reflects upon the King and upon his People the words are proved And to speak them in such a presence and at such a time before the Judges and Countrey assembled they were so dangerous and so high expressions of an intention to counsel the King or act it himself to exercise an Arbitrary Government above the weight of the Law as possibly could be exprest by words And this is proved by five Witnesses and not disproved nor is any colour of disproof offered but only by Sir William Pennyman who says he heard other words but not that he heard not these words If he doth he must give me leave not to believe him for five affirmations will weigh down the proof of a thousand negatives He stays not long in England with this Power though while he stays you hear how he vexes the Subject but then he goes into Ireland and as his authority increases so he ampliates his design and no sooner is he there but the third Article is laid to his charge That when the City and Recorder of Dublin the principal City of Ireland presented the Mayor upon a solemn Speech and Discourse concerning the Laws and Liberties as your Lordships know that is the subject matter of a Speech at such presentments as when the Lord Mayor of London is presented to the King I beseech your Lordships observe the words he then used They were a Conquered Nation and that we lay not to his charge but they were to be governed as the King pleases their Charters were nothing worth and bind but during the King's pleasure I am to seek if I were to express an Arbitrary Power and Tyrannical Government how to express it in finer words and more significant terms than these That the People shall be governed at the King's Will that their Charters the sinews and ligatures of their Liberties Lands and Estates should be nothing worth and bind no longer than the King's pleasure especially being spoken upon such an occasion and the words proved by two or three Witnesses of Credit and Quality From thence we descend to Articles that shew the execution of his purpose There are three things a man enjoys by the protection of the Law that is his Life his Liberty and his Estate And now my Lords observe how he invades and exercises a Tyrannical Jurisdiction and Arbitrary Government over them all three I shall begin with the fifth Article that is concerning my Lord Mountnorris and Denwit My Lord Mountnorris a Peer of that Realm was sentenced to death by procurement of my Lord of Strafford who howsoever he pretends himself not to be a Judge in the cause yet how far he was an Abettor and Procurer and Countenancer and drawer on of that Sentence your Lordships very well remember he was sentenced to death without Law for speaking words at a private Table God knows of no manner of consequence in the World concerning the treading upon my Lord of Strafford 's Toe the Sentence procured seven months after the words spoken and contrary to Law and himself being put in mind of it my Lord Mountnorris desiring to have the benefit of the Law and yet he refusing it And then it was in time of Peace when all the Courts of Justice were open and to sentence a man to death of that Quality my Lord of Strafford himself being present an author a drawer on of it makes it very hainous Your Lordships remember this Article was fully proved and though he pretends His Authority by a Letter from His Majesty I shall in due time give a full answer to that so that it shall rise up in Judgment against him to aggravate his offence and that in a great measure Here he exercises a power over Life his excuse was That he procured a Pardon for my Lord Mountnorris but the Power was exercised and the Tyranny appeared to be the more He would first sentence him to death and then rejoyce in his Power that he might say There remains no more but my Command to the Provost Marshal to do execution To exercise a power over his life and to abuse him
afterwards is very high but no thanks to him that the Sentence of Death was not executed it was the Grace and Goodness of His Majesty that would not suffer my Lord Mountnorris a Person of that Eminence to be put to death against Law But the other was hanged and as appears against Law and though my Lord pretends the party was burnt in the hand yet that was not proved nor material and for him to do this in time of Peace when the Courts of Justice were open it argues a desire in his Breast to arrogate a Power above Law And in truth I may not omit some observations that my Lord made this day He hopes His Majesty would be pleased to grant him a Pardon I perceive he harboured in his thoughts that he might hang the King's Subjects when he would and then get a Pardon of course for it The Lord bless me from his Jurisdiction My Lords give me leave to go back again here is Power over the Lives and Liberties of the Subject but he exercised likewise a Tyrannical Power over his Estate Your Lordships may be pleased to remember the fourth Article where he judges my Lord of Cork's Estate in neither Church-land nor Plantation-land and therefore had no pretence of a Jurisdiction for it is a Lay Fee devolved by Act of Parliament to the Crown yet he deprives him of his possession which he had continued for Twenty nine years upon a Paper-Petition without Rules of Law And whereas my Lord of Cork went about to redeem himself the Law being every man's Inheritance and that which he ought to enjoy he tells him He will lay him by the heels if he withdraw not his Process and so when he hath judged him against an express Act of Parliament and Instructions and bound up a great Peer of the Realm he will not suffer him to redeem that wrong without a threat of laying him by the heels and he will not have Law nor Lawyers question his Orders and would have them all know an Act of State should be equal to an Act of Parliament which are words of that nature that higher cannot be spoken to declare an intention to proceed in an Arbitrary way The next was my Lord Mountnorris his Case and Rolstone And here I must touch my Lord with misrepetition Rolstone preferred a Petition to my Lord-Deputy my Lord-Deputy himself Judges his Estate and deprived him of his possession though he cannot produce so much as one example or precedent though if he had it would not have warranted an illegal action but he cannot produce a precedent that ever any Deputy did determine concerning a man's private Estate and if he hath affirmed it he proved it not some Petitions have been preferred to him but what they be non constat But though never any knew the Deputy alone to determine matters of Land yet he did it To the Seventh Article was produce no Evidence but my Lord of Strafford cannot be content with that but he must take upon him to make defence for that which is not insisted upon as a charge but since he will do so I refer it to the Book in Print where he determines the Inheritance of a Nobleman in that Kingdom that is my Lord Dillon by a Case falsly drawn and contrary to his consent and though he deprives him not of his possession yet he causes the Land to be measured out and it is a danger that hangs over his head to this day And had we not known that we had matter enough against my Lord of Strafford this should have risen in judgment against him but I had not mentioned it now if he had not mentioned it himself The Eighth Article contains several charges as that of my Lord Chancellor How he imprisoned him upon a Judgment before himself and the Council how he inforced the Seal from him when he had no Authority nay though it were excepted by his Patent that he should no way dispose of it but he looked not to Authority further than might make way to his Will Another concerns the prime Earl of that Kingdom my Lord of Kildare whom he imprisoned and kept close prisoner contrary to the King 's express command for his deliverance and in his answer my Lord acknowledges it but sayes That that Command was obtained from the King upon a mis-information These things I would not have mentioned if he had passed them over but since he gives them in give me leave to mention and say we had a ground to put them into Charge and could have proved them if there had been need punctually and expresly and I believe little to my Lord's advantage But your Lordships I think do remember my Lady Hibbots Case where the Lady Hibbots contracts with Thomas Hibbots for his Inheritance for 2500 l. executes the Contract by a Deed and Fine levied deposits part of the Money and when a Petition was exhibited to the Lord-Deputy and Council for the very Estate your Lordships remember how this came in Judgment before my Lord-Deputy there was but a Petition delivered there was an answer made and all the suggestions of the Petition denyed yet my Lord spake to Hibbots himself that was willing to accept the Money not to decline the way that he was in by Petition Five hundred pound more will do him no hurt to carry into England with him and yet without examination of a Witness a Decree was made to deprive this Lady of her Estate and the purchasing of this Land by my Lord of Strafford was proved by two Witnesses though not absolutely yet by confession of Sir Robert Meredith and others whose names were used in Trust for my Lord of Strafford and that it proved according to my Lord of Strafford's Prophecy for the man had five hundred pounds gain above the Contract with my Lady Hibbots But after the Lands were sold for Seven Thousand Pounds so that the Lady Hibbots offence was her making of a bargain whereby to gain Five hundred pounds but there was no offence in my Lord to make a bargain for Three thousand pounds and to gain Four thousand pounds presently this you see proved by Hibbots the party and by Mr. Hoy the Son of the Lady Hibbots So that here is a determination of a Cause before the Council-Table touching Land which was neither Plantation nor Church-Land without colour of the Instructions contrary to Law to Statute to Practice and if this be not an exercising of an unlawful jurisdiction over the Land and Estates of the Subject I know not what is In his answer to this Case he did open it yet whether he mistook or no I know not that he had a Letter from the King but he produces none in evidence and that is another misrecital I am sorry he should mis-recite and fix it upon the Person of His Soveraign in a case of this nature Now he falls more immediately upon the Liberty of the Subject and that is by the Warrant
operation upon the courage of a Nation by embasing the hearts of the People A servile condition does for the most part beget in men a slavish temper and disposition Those that live so much under the Whip and the Pillory and such servile Engines as were frequently used by the Earl of Strafford they may have the dregs of Valour Sullenness and Stubborness which may make them prone to mutinies and discontents But those Noble and Gallant affections which put men to brave designs and attempts for the preservation or enlargement of a Kingdom they are hardly capable of Shall it be Treason to embase the King's Coin though but a piece of Twelve-pence or Six-pence and must it not needs be the effect of a greater Treason to embase the Spirits of his Subjects and to set a Stamp and character of Servitude upon them whereby they shall be disabled to do any thing for the Service of the King and Commonwealth The Fifth Consideration is this that the exercise of this Arbitrary Government in times of suddain danger by the invasion of an enemy will disable His Majesty to preserve himself and His Subjects from that danger This is the only pretence by which the Earl of Strafford and such other mischievous Counsellors would induce his Majesty to make use of it and if it be unfit for such an occasion I know nothing that can be alledged in maintainance of it When War threatens a Kingdom by the coming of a Forraign Enemy it is no time then to discontent the people to make them weary of the present Government and more inclinable to a change The supplies which are to come in this way will be unready uncertain there can be no assurance of them no dependance upon them either for time or proportion And if some Money be gotten in such a way the distractions divisions distempers which this course is apt to produce will be more prejudicial to the publique safety than the Supply can be advantagious to it and of this we have had sufficient experience the last Summer The Sixth That this crime of Subverting the Laws and introducing an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government is contrary to the Pact and Covenant betwixt the King and his People that which was spoken of before was the legal union of Allegiance and Protection this is a personal union by mutual agreement and stipulation confirmed by Oath on both sides The King and his People are obliged to one another in the nearest relations he is a Father and a Child is called in Law pars patris He is the Husband of the Commonwealth they have the same interests they are inseparable in their condition be it good or evil he is the Head they are the Body there is such an incorporation as cannot be dissolved without the destruction of both When Justice Thorp in Edward the III. time was by the Parliament condemned to death for bribery the reason of that Judgment is given because he had broke the King's Oath not that he had broke his own Oath but he had broken the King's Oath that solemn and great Obligation which is the security of the whole Kingdom If for a Judge to take a small summ in a private Cause was adjudged capital how much greater was this offence whereby the Earl of Strafford hath broken the King's Oath in the whole course of his Government in Ireland to the prejudice of so many of his Majesties Subjects in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to the danger of all the rest The Doctrine of the Papists Fides non est servanda cum Haereticis is an abominable Doctrine yet that other Tenet more peculiar to the Jesuits is more pernicious whereby Subjects are discharged from their Oath of Allegiance to their Prince whensoever the Pope pleaseth This may be added to make the third no less mischievous and destructive to humane Society than either of the rest That the King is not bound by that Oath which he hath taken to observe the Laws of the Kingdom but may when he sees cause lay Taxes and Burthens upon them without their consent contrary to the Laws and Liberties if the Kingdom This hath been Preached and published by divers And this is that which bath been practised in Ireland by the Earl of Strafford in his Government there and endeavoured to be brought into England by his Counsel here The Seventh is this It is an offence that is contrary to the end of Government The end of Government was to prevent oppressions to limit and restrain the excessive power and violence of great men to open the passages of Justice with indifferency towards all This Arbitrary Power is apt to induce and encourage all kind of insolencies Another end of the Government is to preserve men in their Estates to secure them in their Lives and Liberties but if this design had taken effect and could have been setled in England as it was practised in Ireland no man would have had more certainty in his own then Power would have allowed him but these two have been spoken of before there are two behind more important which have not yet been touched It is the end of Government that Vertue should be cherish'd Vice supprest but where this Arbitrary and unlimited Power is set up a way is open not only for the security but for the advancement and encouragement of evil such men as are apt for the execution and maintenance of this Power are only capable of preferment and others who will not be instruments of any unjust commands who make a conscience to do nothing against the Laws of the Kingdom and Liberties of the Subject are not only not passable for employment but subject to much jealousie and danger It is the end of Government that all Accidents and Events all Counfels and Designs should be improved to the publique good But this Arbitrary Power is apt to dispose all to the maintainance of it self The wisdom of the Council-Table The authority of the Courts of Justice The industry of all the Officers of the Crown have been most carefully exercised in this the Learning of our Divines the Jurisdiction of our Bishops have been moulded and disposed to the same effect which though it were begun before the Earl of Strafford's imployment yet it hath been exceedingly furthered and advanced by him Under this colour and pretence of maintaining the King's Power and Prerogative many dangerous practises against the peace and safety of the Kingdom have been undertaken and promoted The increase of Popery and the favours and encouragement of papists have been and still are a great grievance and danger to the Kingdom The innovation in matters of Religion the Usurpations of the Clergy the manifold burthens and taxations upon the people have been a great cause of our present distempers and disorders and yet those who have been chief furtherers and actors of such mischiefs have had their Credit and Authority from this that they were forward to maintain this
and the other High Constable that this was done in destruction of the Estates of the Realm and of the Laws of the Kingdom and therefore adjudged Treason and the Judgment sent down into the King's Bench as appears Easter Term in the 17th year of R. 2. in the King's-Bench Rot. 16th These two Lords had appeared in the 11th of R. 2. in maintainance of the Act of Parliament made in the year before one of them was of the Commissioners appointed by Parliament and one of the Appealors of those who would have overthrown it The Duke of Lancaster likewise was one of the Lords that was to have been Indicted of Treason for endeavouring the maintenance of it and therefore conspiring of their deaths is said to be in destruction of their Laws This there is declared to be Treason that concerned the Person of the King and Common-wealth In that great insurrection of the Villains and meaner People in Richard the II. time they took an Oath Quod Regi Communibus fidelitatem servarent to be true to the King and Commons and that they would take nothing but what they paid for punished all theft with death here 's no Intendment against the Person of the King The intent was to establish the Laws of Villanage and Servitude to burn all the Records to kill the Judges This in the Parliament of the 5th year of R. 2. No 31 32. the First Part is declared to be Treason against the King and against the Law In the 11th year of R. 2. in Parliament the raising of Forces against the Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament the year before adjudged Treason by the Judges The Statute Jmo Mary Cap. 12. Enacts That if 12 or more shall endeavour by force to alter any of the Laws or Statutes of the Kingdom he shall from such a time there limited be adjudged only as a Felon This Act was to continue but to the next Parliament it is expired it shews by the words only that the offence was higher before the making it My Lords In Queen Elizabeths time Grant and divers Apprentices of London to the number of 200. rose and assembled at Tower-hill carried a Cloak upon a Pole instead of a Banner their intent was to deliver divers Apprentices out of Prison that had been committed upon a Sentence in the Star-Chamber for Riots to kill the Lord Major of London and for setting prizes on Victuals In Trinity Term 37 Eliz. divers of the Judges were consulted withal and resolved That this was a Levying of War against the Queen being intended against the Government and Officers of the Queen and therefore Grant and others were executed as Traytors Afterwards in that Queens time divers of the County of Oxford consulted to go together from House to House in that County and thence to London and other parts to excite them to take up Arms for the throwing in of all inclosures throughout England Nothing was done nor no assembly Yet the Statute of 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. during the Queens Life made it Treason to intend or advise to Levy War against the Queen In Easter Term 39 of Eliz. all the Judges of England met about the Case it was resolved by them that this was a War intended against the Queen they agreed That if it had been of one Township or more upon private interest and claim of right of Common it had not been Treason but this was to throw in all Inclosures through the Kingdom whereunto these parties should pretend no claim That it was against the Law in regard that the Statute of Merton gave power of Inclosures in many Cases upon this resolution Bradsaw and Burton were executed at Aynestowhill in Oxfordshire the place where they intended the first Rendezvous So that my Lords if the end of it be to overthrow any of the Statutes any part of the Law and setled Government or any of the great Officers intrusted with the execution of them This is a War against the King My Lords It will be further considerable what shall be accounted a Levying of War in respect of the Actions and things done there 's a design to alter some part of the Laws and present Government for the effecting thereof People be provided of Arms gathered together into Troops but afterwards march not with Banners displayed nor do Bellum percutere whether the Army themselves and gathering together upon this design be a War or such prosecution of the Design with force as makes it Treason within the Statute First If this be not a War in respect that it necessarily occasions hostile preparations on the other side Secondly From the words of the Statute shall Levy War and be thereof probably Attainted of open Deed by People of their condition although the bare conspiring be not an open Deed yet whether the Arming and drawing of men together be not an open Declaration of War In Sir Thomas Talbot's Case before cited in the Seventeenth year of R. II. the Acts of Force are expressed in the Parliament Roll That he caused divers of the People of the County of Chester to be Armed in a Warlike manner in Assemblies here is no Marching no Banners displayed In the Eighth year of Hen. VIII William Bell and Thomas Lacy in Com. Kanc. conspired with Thomas Cheyney called the Hermet of the Queen of Faries to overthrow the Law and Customs of the Realm and for the effecting of it they with Two hundred more met together and concluded upon a course of raising greater Forces in the County of Kent and the adjacent Shires This adjudged Treason these were open Acts. My Lords For the application of both these to the case in question First In respect of the end of it here was a War against the King it was to subvert the Laws this being the design for the effecting of it he assumed to his own Person an Arbitrary Power over the Lives Liberties and Estates of His Majesties Subjects and determined Causes upon Paper-Petitions at his own Will and Pleasure Obedience must be forced by the Army this is declared by the Warrant My Lords If it be said that the Warrant expresseth not any intent of subverting the Laws It expresseth fully one of the principal means whereby this was to be done that is obedience to his Arbitrary Orders upon Paper-Petitions This was done in reference to the main design In the cases of the Town of Cambridge and Sir William Cogan they have formerly been cited to your Lordships upon other occasions the things in themselves were not Treason they were not a Levying of War In that of Cambridge the Town met together and in a forcible manner broke up the University-Treasury and took of it the Records and Evidences of the Liberties of the University over the Town In the other they of Bridgewater marched to the Hospital and compelled the Master of the Hospital to deliver unto them certain Evidences that concerned the Town and forced him to enter into a Bond of
between the Chair of State and the Lord Keeper's Woolsack and the House of Commons with their Speaker being come up the Clerk of the Parliament delivered the Commission whereunto the Bills were annexed upon his knee Then the Lord Privy-Seal declared to both Houses that his Majesty had an intent to have come himself this Day to have given his Royal Assent to these two Bills but some important Occasions had prevented him and so his Majesty had granted a Commission for giving the Royal Assent which was delivered to the Clerk of the Parliament who carried it to his Table and read it this being done the Clerk of the Crown read the Titles of the Bills and the Clerk of the Parliament pronounced the Royal Assent to them both severally The Bill of Attainder was as follows WHereas the Knights Citizens The Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford passed May the 10th and Burgesses of the House of Commons in this present Parliament assembled have in the name of themselves and of all the Commons of England impeached Thomas Earl of Strafford of High-Treason for endeavouring to subvert the ancient and Fundamental Laws and Government of his Majesties Realms of England and Ireland and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law in the said Kingdoms and for exercising a Tyrannous and exorbitant power over and against the Laws of the said Kingdoms over the Liberties Estates and Lives of his Majesties Subjects and likewise for having by his own Authority commanded the laying and asseising of Soldiers upon his Majesties Subjects in Ireland against their consents to compel them to obey his unlawful Commands and Orders made upon Paper-Petitions in causes between Party and Party which accordingly was executed upon divers of his Majesties Subjects in a Warlike manner within the said Realm of Ireland and in so doing did levy War against the Kings Majesty and his liege people in that Kingdom And also for that he upon the unhappy Dissolution of the last Parliament did slander the House of Commons to his Majesty and did counsel and advise his Majesty that he was loose and absolved from the rules of Government and that he had an Army in Ireland by which he might reduce this Kingdom for which he deserves to undergo the pains and forfeitures of High-Treason And the said Earl hath been also an incendiary of the Wars between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland all which offences have been sufficiently proved against the said Earl upon his impeachment Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty and by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by authority of the same That the said Earl of Strafford for the haynous crimes and offences aforesaid stand and be adjudged and attainted of High-Treason and shall suffer such pain of Death and incur the forfeitures of his Goods and Chattels Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of any estate of Free-hold or Inheritance in the said Kingdoms of England and Ireland which the said Earl or any other to his use or in trust for him have or had the day of the first sitting of this present Parliament or at any time since Provided that no Judge or Judges Justice or Justices whatsoever shall adjudge or interpret any Act or thing to be Treason nor in any other manner than he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been had or made Saving alwayes unto all and singular persons and bodies politick and corporal their Heirs and Successors others than the said Earl and his Heirs and such as claim by from or under him all such right title and interest of in and to all and singular such of the said Lands Tenements and Hereditaments as he they or any of them had before the first day of this present Parliament any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided that the passing of this present Act and his Majesties Assent thereunto shall not be any determination of this present Sessions of Parliament but that this present Sessions of Parliament and all Bills and matter whatsoever depending in Parliament and not fully enacted or determined And all Statutes and Acts of Parliament which have their continuance until the end of this present Session of Parliament shall remain continue and be in full force as if this Act had not been The Earl understanding that the Bill was passed did humbly Petition the House as follows SEeing it is the good Will and Pleasure of God The Earl of Strafford's Petition to the House of Peers that your Petitioner is now shortly to pay that Duty which we all owe to our frail Nature he shall in all Christian Patience and Charity conform and submit himself to your Justice in a comfortable assurance of the great hope laid up for us in the Mercy and Merits of our Saviour blessed for ever only he humbly craves to return your Lordships most humble thanks for your Noble Compassion towards those innocent Children whom now with his last blessing he must commit to the protection of Almighty God beseeching your Lordships to finish his Pious intention towards them and desiring that the Reward thereof may be fulfilled in you by him that is able to give above all that we are able ask or think wherein I trust the Honourable House of Commons will afford their Christian Assistance And so beseeching your Lordships charitably to forgive all his Omissions and infirmities he doth very heartily and truely recommend your Lordships to the Mercies of our Heavenly Father and that for his goodness he may perfect you in every good work Amen The next day being Tuesday May 11. Tuesday May 11. the King sent this Passionate Letter to the Lords in behalf of the Earl My Lords I Did yesterday satisfie the Justice of the Kingdom The Kings Letter to the Lords concerning the E. of Strafford by passing the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford but Mercy being as inherent and inseperable to a King as Justice I desire at this time in some measure to shew that likewise by suffering that unfortunate Man to fulfil the Natural Course of his Life in a Close Imprisonment Yet so if ever he make the least offer to escape or offer directly or indirectly to meddle in any sort of publick business especially with me either by Message or Letter it shall cost him his Life without further Process This if it may be done without the Discontentment of my People will be an unspeakable contentment to me to which end as in the first place I by this Letter do earnestly desire your Approbation and to endear it more have chosen him to carry it that of all your House is most dear to me So I desire that by a Conference you will endeavour to give the House of Commons Contentment assuring you that the Exercise of Mercy is no more pleasing to me than to see
Barcock George Ewer George Pitcher Tho. Low The Names of those that committed the Disorder in the Church of St. Olaves in Southwark in time of administring the Communion Robert Wainman _____ Bonace Hugh Evans John Moor. Ordered That the persons aforenamed be sent for to appear before this House as Delinquents to answer their several Offences The Commons fell this Day upon the Root and Branch Bill Friday June 11. Debate about the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy c. and the House being resolved into a Grand Committee of the whole House the Title of the Bill was first Voted and many Speeches and Arguments were on both sides Urged for and against it but it is my Misfortune as I must always complain as well as the Reader 's loss that he can hear little of the matter but Ex parte for such was then the prevalency of the Faction that what Ever was spoken in the behalf of Episcopacy was stifled discouraged and suppressed and in this small Tract of time since the Revolution utterly lost and forgotten whereas all the Speeches of the Leading Men of the Faction were either by their own or by the Order of the House Printed Published and Dispersed throughout the Kingdom by which Art they did not only then persuade the Nation who saw nothing in Answer to these Libellous Speeches that their Reasons were unanswerable but they came by falling into so many hands to be preserved I hope as Eternal Monuments of Infamy to their Authors and Excellent Cautions to future Ages who will Easily be able to Judge when they hear of the like Speeches what a kind of Reformation and what defences of Liberty and Property they are to Expect from such pretended Patriots and Speech-makers who pull up the very Foundations of the Government under the pretence that it is Unsound and Rotten And indeed were it not that these Collections are generally like to fall into such Judicious hands as will be able to separate the insinuating Malice and Poison from them and thereby make them Useful by framing Arguments against them and winnowing the Chaffy part of their reasoning from them I could not judge it Expedient to transmit these four Grapes to Posterity nor to revive them did I not believe they might serve as useful precautions to preserve their Teeth from being set on Edge Upon this subject Sir Henry Vane who was now become not only the Proselyte but Favourite of the Faction for the Famous Blow he had given the Earl of Strafford made this insuing Speech at the Committee of the whole House Mr. Hide being in the Chair Mr. Hide THE Debate we are now upon is Sir Henry Vane's Speech against Episcopal Government June 11. 1641. Whether the Government by Archbishops Bishops Chancellors c. should be taken away out of the Church and Kingdom of England For the right stating whereof we must remember the Vote which passed Yesterday not only by this Committee but the House which was to this Effect That this Government hath been found by long Experience to be a great impediment to the perfect Reformation and Growth of Religion and very Prejudicial to the Civil State So that then the Question will lie thus before us Whether a Government which long Experience hath set so ill a Character upon importing Danger not only to our Religion but the Civil State should be any longer continued amongst us or be utterly abolished For my own part I am of the Opinion of those who conceive that the strength of Reason already set down in the Preamble to this Bill by Yesterdays Vote is a necessary decision of this Question For one of the main Ends for which Church-Government is set up is to advance and further the perfect Reformation and Growth of Religion which we have already Voted this Government doth contradict so that it is destructive to the very end for which it should be and is most necessary and desireable in which respect certainly we have cause enough to lay it aside not onely as useless in that it attains not its end but as dangerous in that it destroyes and contradicts it In the second place we have Voted it prejudicial to the Civil State as having so powerful and ill an influence upon our Laws the Prerogative of the King and Liberties of the Subject that it is like a spreading Leprosie which leaves nothing untainted and uninfected which it comes near May we not therefore well say of this Government as our Saviour in the Fifth of Matthew speaks of Salt give me leave upon this occasion to make use of Scripture as well as others have done in this Debate where it is said that Salt is good But if the Salt hath lost its savour wherewith will you season it It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men So Church-Government in the general is good and that which is necessary and which we all desire but when any particular Form of it hath once lost its savour by being destructive to its own ends for which it is set up as by our Vote already passed we say this hath then surely Sir we have no more to do but to cast it out and endeavour the best we can to provide our selves a better But to this it hath been said That the Government now in question may be so amended and reformed that it needs not be pulled quite down or abolished because it is conceived it hath no original sin or evil in it or if it have it is said regeneration will take that away Unto which I answer I do consent that we should do with this Government as we are done by in regeneration in which all old things are to pass away and all things are to become new and this we must do if we desire a perfect Reformation and growth of our Religion or good to our Civil State For the whole Fabrick of this Building is so rotten and corrupt from the very Foundation of it to the top that if we pull it not down now it will fall about the Ears of all those that endeavour it within a very few years The universal rottenness or corruption of this Government will most evidently appear by a disquisition into these ensuing particulars First Let us consider in what Soil this root grows Is it not in the Pope's Paradise do not one and the same Principles and Grounds maintain the Papacy or universal Bishop as do our Diocesan or Metropolitan Bishops All those authorities which have been brought us out of the Fathers and Antiquity will they not as well if not better support the Popedome as the Order of our Bishops So likewise all these Arguments for its agreeableness to Monarchy and cure of Schisme do they not much more strongly hold for the acknowledgment of the Pope than for our Bishops And yet have Monarchies been ever a whit the more absolute for the Pope's universal Monarchy or their Kingdoms less
the right Way It behoves us therefore and is expedient that we should add a Period to these Irregular ways that the Vulgar may no longer wander ill in these distracted parts Master Speaker I have now unloaded my mind of her weary burthen and I beseech you digest my words with your serious considerations in this respect of establishing the Church-Government in true sincere perfect and unpoluted Religion which if we do perform and fully effect we shall do great Honour to God get great Credit to our Selves and give great Satisfaction to the whole Kingdom This is my Opinion this is my Expectation this is my Prayer and lastly this is my Hope A Message was sent this Morning from the House of Commons by the Lord Viscount Wainman Message about a Bill for Clerk of the Market c. who said he was Commanded to deliver to their Lordships Three Bills which had passed the House of Commons 1. Entituled An Act for the better ordering the Office of Clerk of the Market allowed and confirmed by this Statute and for the Reformation of the false Weights and Measures 2. An Act against divers Encroachments and Oppressions in the Stannery Courts 3. An Act for the Confirmation of his Majesty's Letters Patents to the Town of Plymouth and for dividing the Parish and building of a new Church And he was further to desire a dispatch of some Bills brought up formerly as the Bill against Pluralities and that their Lordships would appoint some time when their Lordships shall be at leisure that the Commons may come up with the Impeachment against the Judges The Answer which was returned to the Message was The Lords Answer That their Lordships will give a dispatch to these Bills now brought up with all convenient speed and will in a short time give a dispatch to the Bill against Pluralities And further it was told them That their Lordships have appointed great business this Morning concerning the safety of the Kingdom but will Sit this Afternoon at Three of the Clock at which time they will give the House of Commons a meeting concerning the Impeachments of the Judges The House of Commons this Day fell upon the matter of their Priviledges in the Case of Mr. Hollis and others 3 Car. Tuesday July 6. and upon the Debate of the House came to these following Votes Votes about Priviledge in the Case of Hollis c. 3 Car. Resolved c. That the Warrants of the Lords and others of the Privy Council compelling Mr. Hollis and others to appear before them during that Parliament is a Breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That the Committing of Mr. Hollis and others by the Lords and others of the Privy Council 3 Car. during that Parliament is a Breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That the Searching and Sealing of the Chambers Studies and Papers of Mr. Hollis Mr. Selden and Sir John Eliot being Members of Parliament and issuing out Warrants for that purpose is a breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That the Exhibiting an Information in the Court of Star-Chamber against Mr. Hollis and others for Matters done by them in Parliament being Members of Parliament is a breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That Sir Robert Heath Sir Humphrey Davenport Sir Heneage Finch Mr. Hudson and Sir Robert Berkley that subscribed the said Informations are guilty of the breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That there was a Delay of Justice towards Mr. Hollis and others upon the Habeas Corpora in that they were not Bayled in Easter or Trinity Term 5 Car. Resolved c. That Sir Nicholas Hide then Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench is guilty of this Delay Resolved c. That Sir William Jones one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench is guilty of this Delay Resolved c. That Sir James Whitlock Knight one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench is guilty of this Delay A Conference was had with the Lords in the Painted Chamber at the transmitting of the Impeachments of the Judges at which time Mr. William Perpoint upon the reading the Articles against Sir Robert Berkley Knight one of the Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench made this Speech in aggravation of their Crimes My Lords I Am Commanded to present to your Lordships these Articles Mr. William Perpoint's Speech at the Impeachment of Sir Robert Berkley July 6. 1641. with which the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament in their own Name and in the Name of all the Commons of England Impeach Sir Robert Berkley Knight one of the Justices of his Majesties Court of Kings-Bench in maintenance of their Accusation of High Treason and other great Misdemeanours The Articles they desire may be read The Articles were read by Mr. Newport The High Treason is in the first Article in his Endeavours to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Realm and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government which hath been lately adjudged Treason in the Cause of the Earl of Strafford The other Articles prove the first By his Opinions Certificates Judgments by his denials of the benefits of our Laws which have been read to your Lordships No Fundamental Law to the Subject is left our Goods our Lands our Bodies the peace of a good Conscience are by him given up to Arbitrary Tyrannical Government Nothing hath been omitted to make a Judge know the Lawes to make him Just or fear him from being Evil We have Inns of Court peculiar to that Study Judges from thence onely chosen seldom any but what have been Twenty Years there Honours and Revenues are given to Judges Encouragements to do well this Judge had these Judges are sworn according to Law to serve the King and his People according to Law to Counsel the King and for not so doing to be at his Will for Body Lands and Goods this Judge took that Oath The Lawes the Judges study impose the greatest punishments upon unjust Judges shew that these punishments have been inflicted more could not be done to perswade or fear a Judge His Offences shew in him great Ambition yet he was most timorous of displeasing the Great in Power He did not only forbear doing what he was sworn to do but was most active against our Laws and in opposing and punishing any that did maintain them To have only received Bribes though they blind the Eyes and though the Desire to get Money encreaseth with Age that hainous Crime in a Judge had been in comparison with his Offences a tolerable Vice for from such a Judge Justice is also to be had for money Ambition is violent and ruines whilst Covetousness is making a Bargain The words of his Opinion and Judgment are for the King's Power It is pleasing to the Nature of Man that others should obey his Will and well framed dispositions of Princes may easily be perswaded their Power is unlimited when they are also put in mind that therefore they have
more cause to do well and for doing well are more renowned for the most oppressive designs which we have suffered under the pretences of his Majesty have ever bin the good of his Subjects His is the sin that is to judge by the Laws and knows the Laws are to the contrary yet puts and confirms such thoughts in his Prince He that incites another to Arbitrary Government when his self-ends are thereby compassed hates him for taking that Power he perswaded him unto The Writs those Monsters of Necessity to provide Ships to prevent Imminent Danger that could not stay 40 dayes for the Calling of a Parliament were therefore to go out in September to have Ships ready in March This hath bin adjudged by your Lordships to be destructive to the Fundamental Laws of this Realm and to the Subjects right of Property and Liberty c. that I shall say but this concerning them That this Judge published them to be inseparable Flowers of the Crown And that we have lived to see for five years together imminent Danger and thus to be prevented This Judge did advise to such a Government as future Kings here might exercise the highest Tyranny and the Subjects want the benefit of restraints known to the most Slavish Eastern Nations where if their Prince do unjustly he hath hatred for it and the Dangers that follow that This Judge will have that hatred to go to our good Laws No such Bondage as when Laws of Freedom are mis-interpreted by Judges to make men Slaves What can be considered of in a Judge of Law to give his Opinion and Advice to his Prince how the Laws the mutual Covenants of Kings and Subjects are to be broken but that his intentions are to have his Prince do ill by making his evil Servants to study and to be pleaâ—â—d with their wicked designs because they see means to put them in execution by making them to perswade their Prince because in imminent Danger his Subjects Goods are at his Will that there is such danger when there is not and they only have some by-end of their own A Judge to deliver his Opinion That if the King should intend to give up his People to be destroyed by Forraign Forces for the Safety of the people in that imminent Danger once by the Law might take away the King there could be no greater Offence This Judge will have our Law to be what to him seems reason the reason limited to him to judge of is what the Common Law saith is so what a Statute hath so Enacted For him to judge this or that is Law else a mischief shall follow is at best for him but this because the Law in such a thing is imperfect therefore he will make a Law to supply it or because that the Law written in such particulars is against his reason therefore his reasons to be Laws then must follow as often as a Judge's Reason changes or Judges change our Laws change also Our Liberties are in our Laws where a Subject may read or hear read this is his this he may do and be safe and that thus the Judge ought to give Judgment he is free The Excessive growth of Courts of Reason Conscience came from great and cunning persons and though not the most sudden yet the most dangerous and sure ways to eat out our Laws our Liberties Unlimited power must be in some to make and repeal Laws to fit the dispositions of Times and Persons Nature placeth this in common consent onely and where all cannot conveniently meet instructeth them to give their consents to some they know or believe so well of as to be bound to what they agree on His Majesty your Lordships and the Commons are thus met in Parliament and so long as we are often reduced to this main Foundation our King and we shall prosper This Judge will not allow us our Knowledg or any Reason he will have our Minds our Souls Slaves A Grand-Jury-man gave his Fellows true Information they present an Innovation in the Church are threatned and reviled for it he that told this Truth is charged I shall use this Judge's own words to sin in that and that he made others forswear themselves This Judge sent him to the Common Goal where he is laid in Irons and all this because he and they durst meddle with Church-Matters He is forced to tear the Presentment in pieces in open Court Our Laws provide for the peace of our Consciences many Acts of Parliament are for it and the Trust by those Acts set to Juries this Judge well knew all this Your Lordships have heard what he did to the Jury at Hartford He would have us know no more Divinity then to obey what the Great of the Clergy directed no more Law than what he said was so Judges in former times but only such as were Examples of punishment as of injustice in cases of great and publick concernment forbare proceedings till the next Parliament This necessitated the Calling of Parliaments This Judge had as many such Causes before him as ever any had yet he never desired the Resolution of Parliament in any one for the ways he went the necessity was never to have a Parliament he would pull up that Root of our Safeties and Liberties which whilst we enjoy the Malice or Injustice of all other Courts and Persons can never ruine and when near to Ruin as most near of late this only sure Remedy will help us nothing can ruine a Parliament but it Self The Evils which we have suffered under they were committed by the Judges month June 1641. or by them ought to have been and might have been prevented This Judge assisted in causing the Miseries we suffered in the Star-Chamber and at the Councel-Table he denyed the known Rights which he ought to have granted us to stop our Grievances in the Ecclesiastical Courts he was the causer of our Sufferings in other Courts The best Lovers of their Laws and Liberties the most Honest suffer most by an unjust Judge they most oppose his Vices dishonest persons find such a Judge to fit their purposes the Judge finds them for his the bond of iniquity confederates them He that will do no wrong will suffer none which he can help the man that knows himself born free will do his utmost to live so and to leave Freedom to his Posterity were he in Slavery when by outward gesture thought to be most delighted were his mind then known there would be found vexation and his busie thoughts employed to redeem himself and his Posterity from Thraldom But to say Could this Judge intend to make himself and his own Posterity Slaves What he did was through errour of Judgment only No my Lords what his Ayms and Endeavours were is apparent To consider Man in the general we shall find in every Age he will be a Slave to some few that many may be Slaves to him he looks to himself only this he would do or
Indictments where the Matter in Issue being that the said Brook refused to Administer the said Sacrament because the said Ingram and Carter would not receive Tickets with their Sur-Names before their Christen-Names which was a Course never used amongst them but by the said Brook He the said Sir Robert Berkley did then much discourage the said Ingram's Councel and over-rule the Cause for matter of Law so as the Jury never went from the Bar but there found for the said Brook And the said Sir Robert Berkley bound the said Ingram to the good Behaviour for the prosecuting the said Indictments and ordered him to pay Costs to the said Brook for wrongfully inditing him And whereas the said Carter not expecting the Tryal at the same Assizes he preferred his Indictment was then absent whereupon the said Sir Robert Berkley did cause to be entred upon the said Indictment a vacat quia non sufficiens in lege and ordered an Attachment against the said Carter which said proceedings against the said Ingram and Carter by the said Sir Robert Berkley were contrary to Law and Justice and to his own knowledge 10. That the said Sir Robert Berkley being one of the Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench and duly sworn as aforesaid in Trinity Term 1637. deferred to discharge or bail Alexander Jenings Prisoner in the Fleet brought by Habeas Corpus to the Bar of the said Court the return of his Commitment being that he was committed by two several Warrants from the Lords of the Councel dated the fifth of November 1636. The first being only read in Court expressing no cause the other for not paying Messengers Fees and until he should bring a Certificate that he had paid his Assessment for Ship-Money in the County of Bucks but remitted him And in Michaelmas Term after the said Jenings being brought by another Habeas Corpus before him as aforesaid and the same returned yet he the said Sir Robert Berkley refused to discharge or bail him but remitted him And in Easter Term after several Rules were given for His Majesties Councel to shew Cause why the said Jenings should not be Bailed a fourth Rule was made for the said Jenings to let His Majesties Attorney General have notice thereof and notice was given accordingly and the said Jenings by another Habeas Corpus brought to the Bar in Trinity Term after and the same return with this addition of a new Commitment of the Fourth of May suggesting he the said Jenings had used divers scandalous Words in derogation and disparagement of His Majesties Government He the said Jenings after several Rules in the end of the said Trinity Term was again remitted to Prison And he the said Sir Robert Berkley did on the fifth of June last defer to grant His Majesties Writs of Habeas Corpus for William Pargiter and Samuel Danvers Esquires Prisoners in the Gate-House and in the Fleet And afterwards having granted the said Writ of Habeas Corpus the said Pargiter and Danvers were on the eighth of June last brought to the Bar of the said Court where the Returns of their Commitments were several Warrants from the Lords of the Councel not expressing any Cause yet he the said Sir Robert Berkley then sitting in the said Court deferred to Bail the said Pargiter and Danvers and the eighteenth of June last made a Rule for a new return to be received which were returned the 25th of June last in haec verba Whereas His Majesty finding that his Subjects of Scotland have in Rebellious and Hostile manner Assembled themselves together and intend not only to shake off their Obedience unto His Majesty but also as Enemies to invade and infest this His Kingdom of England to the danger of his Royal Person c. For prevention whereof His Majesty hath by the Advice of his Councel-Board given special Commandment to all the Lord-Lieutenants of the Counties of this Realm appointed for their Rendezvouz in their several and respective Counties there to be conducted and drawn together into a Body for this Service And whereas His Majesty according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and the constant Custom of his Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm hath Power for the defence of this Kingdom and resisting the force of the Enemies thereof to grant forth Commissions under His Great Seal to such fit Persons as he shall make choice of to Array and Arm the Subjects of this Kingdom and to compel those who are of able Body and of able Estates to arm themselves and such as should not be of able Bodies but of Ability in Estate to Assess them according to their Estates to contribute towards the Charge of arraying others being able of Body and not able in Estate to arm themselves And such Persons as should be contrariant to commit to Prison there to remain untill the King should take further Order therein And whereas the Earl of Exeter by vertue of His Majesties Commission to him directed for the Arraying and Arming of a certain number of Persons in the County of Northampton hath assest William Pargiter being a Man unfit of Body for that Service but being of Estate and Ability to contribute amongst others to pay the Sum of five Shillings towards the arraying and arming of others of able Bodies and wanting Ability to Array and Arm themselves And whereas we have received Information from the said Earl that the said William Pargiter hath not only in a wilful and disobedient Manner refused to pay the said Money assessed upon him towards so important a Service to the disturbance and hindrance of the necessary defence of this Kingdom but also by his ill example hath mis-led many others and as we have just cause to believe hath practiced to seduce others from that ready obedience which they owe and would otherwise have yielded to His Majesties just command for the publick defence of His person and Kingdom which we purpose with all convenient speed to enquire further of and examin These are therefore to will and require you to take into your Custody the Persons of the said William Pargiter and Samuel Danvers and them safely to keep Prisoners till further order from this Board or until by due course of Law they shall be delivered Yet he the said Sir Robert Berkley being desired to Bail the said Pargiter and Danvers remitted them where they remained Prisoners till the Ninth of November last or thereabouts although the said Jenings Pargiter and Danvers on all and every the said returns were clearly Bailable by Law and the Council of the said Jenings Pargiter and Danvers offered in Court very sufficient Bail And he the said Sir Robert Berkley being one of the Justices of the Court of the Kings Bench denied to grant his Majesties Writs of Habeas Corpus to very many others his Majesties Subjects and when he had granted the said Writs of Habeas Corpus to very many others his Majesties Subjects and on the return
no cause appeared or such only as was clearly Bailable by Law yet he remanded them where they remained Prisoners very long Which said deferring to grant the said Writs of Habeas Corpus and refusals and delays to discharge Prisoners or suffer them to be Bailed contained in this Article are destructive to the Fundamental Laws of this Realm and contrary to former resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right which said Resolutions and Petition of Right were well known to him the said Sir Robert Berkley and were Resolved on and Enacted when he was the Kings Serjeant at Law and attendant in the Lords House in Parliament 11. That whereas there was a Cause depending in the Court-Christian at Norwich between Samuel Booty Clerk and Collard for two Shillings in the Pound for Tithes for Rents and Houses in Norwich and the said Collard moved by his Council in the Court of Kings Bench for a Prohibition to stay proceedings in the Court Christian at Norwich and delivered into the said Court of Kings Bench his suggestions that the said Cause in the said Court Christian was only for Tithes for Rents of Houses in Norwich which was determinable by the Common Law only yet he the said Sir Robert Berkley being one of the Justices of the said Court of Kings Bench and sitting in the said Court deferred to grant a Prohibition to the said Court Christian in the said Cause although the Council did move in the said Court many several times and several Terms for a Prohibition And he the said Sir Robert Berkley deferred to grant his Majesties Writ of Prohibition to several other Courts on the motions of divers others of His Majesties Subjects where the same by the Laws of this Realm ought to have been granted contrary to the Laws of this Realm and his own knowledge All which Words Opinions and Actions were so spoken and done by him the said Sir Robert Berkley Traiterously and Wickedly to Alienate the Hearts of His Majesties Liege People from His Majesty and to set a division betwixt them and to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Established Government of His Majesties Realm of England for which they do Impeach him the said Sir Robert Berkley one of the Justices of the Court of Kings Bench of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King His Crown and Dignity and of the misdemeanors above mentioned And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves only the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir Robert Berkley and also of replying to the answer that he the said Sir Robert Berkley shall make to the said Articles or any of them or of offering Proof of the Premises or any other Impeachments or Accusations that shall be Exhibited by them as the case shall according to the course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Sir Robert Berkley one of the Justices of the Court of Kings Bench may be put to answer to all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals Judgments and Executions may be upon every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice Upon the Articles of Impeachments of the Lord Chief Baron Davenport Mr. Baron Trevor and Mr. Baron Weston Mr. Hide by the Command of the Commons spake as follows My Lords THere cannot be a greater instance of a sick and languishing Commonwealth than the business of this day Good God! Mr. Hide 's Speech at the delivering of the Articles of Impeachment of the L. Chief Baron Davenport Mr. Baron Trevor and Mr. Baron Weston July 6. 1641. how have the guilty these late years been punished when the Judges themselves have been such Delinquents 'T is no marvel that an Irregular Extravagant Arbitrary Power like a Torrent hath broke in upon us when our Banks and our Bulworks the Laws were in the custody of such Persons Men who had lost their Innocence could not preserve their Courage nor could we look that they who had so visibly undone us themselves should have the Vertue or Credit to Rescue us from the Oppression of other Men. 'T was said by one who always spoke excellently That the Twelve Judges were like the Twelve Lions under the Throne of Solomon under the Throne in Obedience but yet Lions Your Lordships shall this day hear of Six who be they what they will be else were no Lions who upon vulgar fears delivered up the precious Forts they were trusted with almost without assault and in a tame easie Trance of flattery and servitude lost and forfeited shamefully forfeited that Reputation Awe and Reverence which the Wisdom Courage and Gravity of their Venerable Predecessors had contracted and fastned to the places they now hold and even rendred that study and profession which in all Ages hath been and I hope now shall be of an honourable Estimation so Contemptible and Vile that had not this blessed day come all Men would have had that quarrel to the Law it self which Marius had to the Greek Tongue who thought it a mockery to learn that Language the Masters whereof lived in bondage under others And I appeal to these unhappy Gentlemen themselves with what a strange negligence scorn and indignation the faces of all men even of the meanest have been directed towards them since to call it no worse that fatal declension of their understandings in those Judgments of which they stand here charged before your Lordships But my Lords the work of this day is the greatest instance of a growing and thriving Common-wealth too and is as the dawning of a fair and lasting day of happiness to this Kingdom 'T is in your Lordships power and I am sure 't is in your Lordships will to restore the dejected broken people of this Island to their former joy and security the Successors of these Men to their old Priviledge and Veneration sepultas propè leges revocare My Lords the iniquity of Judges is infectious and their craftiest Combination to leave us as few innocent as may be Your Lordships have heard of the justice of Two of the greatest Courts of Westminster and that you may know how little advantage the other of his Majesties Revenue the Court of Exchequer hath of its fellows in the Administration of Right I am commanded by the House of Commons to present to your Lordships Three several Charges against three Judges of that Court my Lord Chief Baron Davenport Mr. Baron Trever and Mr. Baron Weston Your Lordships will please to hear them read Here the several Articles were read Your Lordships observe that the great Resolution in Ship-mony was a Crime of so Prodigious a Nature that it could not be easily swallowed and digested by the Consciences even of these Men but as they who are to Wrestle or run a Race by degrees prepare themselves by Diet and lesser Essays for the main Exercise so these Judges enter themselves and harden their hearts by more
Michaelmas-Term in the said fourth Year of His Majesties Reign His Majesties then Attorney General exhibited an Information by English Bill in the Exchequer against the said Samuel Vassal setting forth that King James by his Letters-Patents dated Tertio Novembr in the second Year of His Reign did command the said Imposition of five Shillings six Pence upon every hundred weight of Currants should be demanded and received And that His Majesty that now is by His Letters-Patents dated the six and twentieth Day of July in the second Year of His Reign did by advice of his Privy-Councel declare his Will and Pleasure to be That Subsidies Customs and Impost should be levyed in such manner as they were in the Time of King James and the same and the Farmers thereof to continue until it might receive a setling by Parliament and commanded the levying and receiving the same accordingly and that the said Samuel Vassal before the first Day of October then last before the said Information exhibited did bring into the Port of London in Ships four Thousand six Hundred thirty eight Hundred Weight of Currants Richard Carmarthen Surveyor in the said Port of London the said first Day of October demanded of the said Samuel Vassal the said Imposition of five Shillings six Pence for every hundred Weight of the said Currants and that the said Samuel Vassal refused to pay the said Imposition and unjustly detained it from the King To which Information the said Samuel Vassal appeared and pleaded the Statute of Magna Charta and the Statute of de Tallagio non concedendo and that he was a Subject born under the Kings Allegiance and a Merchant of London using that Trade and that the said Summ of five Shillings six Pence upon every hundred Weight of Currants was and is malum talentum and not antiqua seu recta consuetudo and that it was imposed without Assent of Parliament to which Plea the said Attorney General demurred in Law and the said Samuel Vassal joyned in Demurrer with him and when the said Cause came to be argued viz. in Trinity Term in the sixth Year of His Majesties Reign the said Sir Humphrey Davenport being then Lord Chief Baron of His Majesties said Court of Exchequer did contrary to his Oath and contrary to the Laws of this Realm and to the great impoverishment of the said Samuel Vassal publickly deny to hear the Councel of the said Samuel Vassal to argue for him and said that the Case of the said Samuel Vassal would fall under the same Rule with the Case of one Bates and therefore was already judged and when the Councel of the said Samuel Vassal answering that they had nothing to do with Bates his Case but desired to argue for Master Vassall the said Sir Humphrey Davenport replyed that they knew the Opinion of the Court and should be heard no further and said that the King was in Possession and that they meaning the said Court of Exchequer would keep him in Possession And the said Sir Humphrey Davenport shortly after did together with the rest of the then Barons of the said Court of Exchequer imprison the said Samuel Vassal for not paying such Summs of Money as were pretended by the said Officers of the Custom-House to be due to His Majesty and did delay the said Samuel Vassal from time to time from having restitution of his said Goods being often in Court moved thereto with intention to force the said Samuel Vassal to pay the said unlawful Imposition and did also give his Opinion and Judgment upon the said Information for the King and against the said Samuel Vassal and by several Orders for that purpose made did continue the Possession of the said Goods in the King and the said Samuel Vassal could never obtain any restitution at all of his said Goods 1. That whereas it was commanded to the Sheriff of the County of York by Writ under the Seal of His Majesties Court of Exchequer dated the sixteenth Day of May in the seventh Year of His Majesties Reign that now is That he should destrain James Maleverer Esquire to appear before the Barons of his Majesties said Court of Exchequer in the Octaves of the Holy Trinity then next following to make fine to the King for his Trespass and Contempt in not coming to the Presence of the King before the one and thirtieth Day of January in the first Year of his said Majesties Reign to take upon him the Order of Knighthood according to the Form of a Proclamation in that behalf formerly made at which Day of the said Octaves of the Holy Trinity the said James Maleverer did appear and pleaded to the said Writs that although His said Majesty the said one and thirtieth Day of January and for three Days next before the said one and thirtieth Day of January was resident and remaining at his Pallace at White-Hall in the County of Middlesex and that the said James Maleverer the said one and thirtieth Day of January and three Days next before the said one and thirtieth Day of January was resident and remaining at Ancliff in the said County of York which is distant from the said Pallace of White-Hall the space of one Hundred and fourscore Miles and that the said James Maleverer the said one and thirtieth Day of January aforesaid or at any time before had no Lands nor Rents in his own Hands or in the Hands of Feoffees to his use out of the said County of York and that that part of the said County of York which is nearest to the said Pallace of White-Hall is distant from the said Pallace of White-Hall the space of one hundred and thirty Miles and that no Proclamation by vertue of any Writ of Proclamation for the appearance of any Persons whatsoever to take the said Order of Knighthood was made in any Part of the said County of York before the thirtieth Day of January in the said first Year of His Majesties Reign by reason whereof the said James Maleverer could not personally come to the Presence of His said Majesty to take the said Order of Knighthood before the said one and thirtieth Day of January in the said first Year of His Majesties said Reign yet the said James Maleverer for his Fine in the Premisses did humbly submit himself to the said Court and demanded to be discharged of the said Issues returned and imposed upon him by reason of the Premisses yet notwithstanding the said Plea and Submission of the said James Maleverer and after the same was made as aforesaid and entred upon Record in His Majesties said Court of Exchequer and the said Court moved for stay of the Process and discharge of the Issues the said Sir Humphrey Davenport being then Lord Chief Baron of the said Court of Exchequer contrary to his Oath and contrary to the Laws of this Realm and to the great impoverishing of the said James Maleverer did together with the rest of the then Barons of the said
Humphrey Davenport did then also without any cause Imprison the said Robert Hoblins and bound him to the good behaviour That whereas in the Month of April Decimo sexto Caroli the Officers of the Custom-House having Seized a Ship of one Samuel Warner Laden with Tobacco being the Goods of the said Warner the Bulk of the said Ship not being broken and no Information Exhibited for the King according to the course of the Exchequer for any Duty the Barons were moved that the said Ship might be restored to the Proprietors giving security to pay such duties as did belong to the King but upon the allegation of the Kings Attorney that there needed no information because there was no penalty the said Sir Humphrey Davenport being then Lord Chief Baron of His Majesties Court of Exchequer together with the rest of the then Barons of the said Court did contrary to his Oath and contrary to the Laws of this Realm deny the restitution of the said Ship unless all the duties demanded by the Farmers of the Custom-House were first paid Hereupon the said Warner brought an Action of Trover in the Office of Pleas in the Exchequer against the said Officers that Seized his Ship and Goods Whereupon the Kings Attorney General exhibited an Information by English Bill in the Exchequer Chamber against the said Warner setting forth that Customs and Subsidies upon Merchandise were a great part of the Kings Revenue and payable to him And that the said Ship was Seized for non-payment of the aforesaid duties notwithstanding the said Warner then Proprietor Prosecuted the Officers upon a Suit at Law and prayes that he may answer the said Information before any further proceedings be had at Law Thereupon the said Sir Humphrey Davenport together with the rest of the then Barons of the said Court of Exchequer ordered that the Proprietor moving for the delivery of the said Goods should first answer to the Information after which the said Warner demurred to the said Information in regard no Title for any certain duty was set forth by the Information which demurrer yet remains not over-ruled but the said Sir Humphrey Davenport with the said other Barons without over-ruling the demurrer Ordered because Warner had put in a demurrer and not answered to the said Information that he should not proceed upon the Action of Trover The Proprietor being thus prevented of his remedy by Action at Law sued forth a Replevin and upon pretence of viewing the said Goods caused them to be brought forth of a Cellar hired by a Deputy to the Farmers to that use and being brought forth they were taken by the Sheriffs of London by vertue of the said Replevin and upon Oath made of the manner of the taking as aforesaid before the Barons and upon view of the President Inrolls the Case the said Sir Humphrey Davenport with the said other Barons adjudged that the said Goods were not Replevisable and granted an Injunction to maintain Possession of them as they were before And the said House of Commons by Protestation saving to themselves only the Liberties of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir Humphrey Davenport and also of replying to the answer that he the said Sir Humphrey Davenport shall make unto the said Articles or any of them or of offering proof of the Premisses or any of their Impeachments or Accusations that shall be Exhibited by them as the Case shall according to the course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Sir Humphrey Davenport Lord Chief Baron of His Majesties Court of Exchequer may be put to answer to all and every the Premisses and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice The ARTICLES against Mr. Justice Trevor were as followeth Articles of the House of Commons in the Name of themselves and of all the Commons of England against Sir Thomas Trevor Knight one of the Barons of His Majesties Court of Exchequer Impeaching him as followeth 1. THat in or about November 4. Car. divers Goods and Merchandises whereof John Rolls George Moore and other Merchants of London were Proprietors being Seized and conveyed into certain Store-Houses at the Custom-House by Sir John Worstenham Abraham Dawes and other the Farmers and Officers of the Customs and by them there detained because the said Proprietors refused to pay the Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage pretended to be due and demanded by the said Farmers and Officers on His Majesties behalf for the said Merchandises whereas no such Subsidy or Duty of Tonnage or Poundage was due or payable for the same no Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage having been granted by Parliament to His Majesty The said John Rolls and others the Proprietors of the said Goods having by reason of such unlawful Seizure and Detainer as aforesaid Sued forth one or more Writ or Writs of Replevin directed to the Sheriffs of London being the proper remedy provided by the Law to regain the Possession of Goods taken and with-held from the Owners contrary to Law the said Sir Thomas Trevor Knight then and yet one of the Barons of His Majesties said Court of Exchequer together with the rest of the then Barons of the said Court upon Information to them given That the said Proprietors or some of them had Sued forth and did Prosecute such Writ or Writs of Replevin for the delivery of the said Goods did order an Injunction under Seal of the said Court to Issue forth directed to the Sheriffs of London commanding them thereby not to Execute the said Writ or Writs of Replevin or any like Writ thereafter to be Sued forth by any Person or Persons for the delivery of any Goods in the like nature detained And it did declare and order publickly in the said Court of Exchequer that the said Goods by Law were not Replevisable alledging for cause that the said Goods were in the Kings own Possession whereas the same did not judicially appear to them and they did well know that the said Goods were at that time in the Possession of the Farmers and Lessees of the said Customs and no Lawful cause to them appearing or suggested of the taking and detaining of the said Goods which Injunctions and Declaration so granted and made were and are against the Laws of this Realm and in subversion of the common right and remedy of the Subject for regaining the Possession of his Goods being taken and with-holden from him without Lawful cause That the Sheriffs of London for the time being served with the said injunction did forbear to execute the said Writ or Writsof Replevin by means whereof the said Goods continued so detained as aforesaid contrary to Law from the Month of November till the Month of June following That the said Sir Thomas Trevor and other the Barons aforesaid knowing the said Goods to be unlawfully Seized and Detained for the pretended Duties and
be made acquainted by the Lords of the Council why they Committed and therefore Remitted him And in Michaelmass Term after the said Jenings being brought by another Habeas Corpus as aforesaid and the same returned yet he the said Sir John Brampston refused to Discharge or Bail him but remitted him And in Easter Term next after several Rules for His Majesties Council to shew cause why he the said Jenings should not be Bailed a fourth Rule made for the said Jenings to let His Majesties Attorney have notice which notice was given accordingly yet he remitted him And the said Jenings by another Habeas Corpus brought to the Barr as aforesaid in Trinity Term after and the same return with the addition of a new Commitment of the fourth of May 1638. suggested that he the said Jenings had used divers scandalous words in derogation and disparagement of his Majesties Government After several Rules in the end of the said Trinity Term he again remitted him to Prison And he the said Sir John Brampston about the ninth of July after at his Chamber in Serjeants-Inn being desired by Mr. Meawtis one of the Clerks of the Council-Board to discharge the said Jenings for that he the said Jenings had entred into a Bond of 1000 l. to appear before the Lords of the Council the next Michaelmas Term after and to attend de die in diem yet the said Sir John Brampston refused to discharge the said Jenings until he entred into Recognisance to appear the next Term and in the mean time to be of his good behaviour And the said Jenings was continued on his said Recognisance till Easter Term after And the said Sir John Brampston did on the fifth of June 1640. deferr to grant His Majesties Writ of Habeas Corpus for Samuel Danvers and William Pargiter Esquires Prisoners in the Gate-House and in the Fleet and when he had granted the said Writ the said eighth Day of June after the return being the Order of the Council-Table not expressing any cause he the said Sir John Brampston deferred to Bail the said Pargiter And the eighteenth of June after made a Rule for a new return to be received which was returned the five and twentieth of the said June in haec verba Whereas His Majesty finding that His Subjects of Scotland have in Rebellious and Hostile manner Assembled themselves together and intend not only to shake off their obedience unto His Majesty but also as Enemies to Invade and Infest this His Kingdom of England to the danger of His Royal Person c. For prevention whereof His Majesty hath by the Advice of His Council-Board given special Commandment to all the Lord Lieutenants of all the Counties of this Realm with expedition to Arm and Array a certain number of able Men in each County to be prepared ready to be conducted to such places as should be appointed for their Rendezvouz in their several and respective Counties there to be conducted and drawn together in a Body for this Service And whereas His Majesty according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and the constant Custom of His Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm hath Power for the defence of this Kingdom and resisting the Force of the Enemies thereof to grant forth Commissions under His great Seal to such fit Persons as he shall make choice of to Array and Arm the Subjects of this Kingdom and to compel those who are of able Body and of able Estates to Arm themselves and such as should not be able of Bodies but of Ability in Estate to Assess them according to their Estates to contribute towards the charge of Arraying and Arming others able of Body and not being able in Estate to Arm themselves And such Persons as should be contrariant to commit to Prison there to remain untill the King should take further order therein And whereas the Earl of Exceter by vertue of His Majesties Commission to him directed for the Arraying and Arming of a certain number of Persons in the County of Northampton hath assest William Pargiter being a Man unfit of Body for that Service but being of Estate and Ability fit to contribute amongst others to pay the Summ of five Shillings towards the Arraying and Arming of others of able Bodies and wanting Ability to Array themselves And whereas we have received Information from the said Earl that the said William Pargiter hath not only in a willful and disobedient manner refused to pay the said Money assessed upon him towards so Important a Service to the disturbance and hinderance of the necessary defence of this Kingdom but also by His ill example hath misled many others and as we have just cause to believe hath practised to seduce others from that ready obedience which they owe and would otherwise have yielded to His Majesties just command for the publick defence of His Person and Kingdom which we purpose with all convenient speed to enquire further of and examin These are therefore to will and require you to take into your Custody the Person of the said William Pargiter and him safely to keep Prisoner till further Order from this Board or untill by due Course of Law he shall be delivered And the like return was then made in all things mutatis mutandis concerning the said Danvers for not paying a Summ of Money assessed upon him Yet he the said Sir John Brampston deferred to Bail the said Danvers and Pargiter but remitted the said Danvers to the Fleet where he remained till the 12 of July 1640. and the said Pargiter to the Gate-House where he remained till the Ninth of November last although the said Jenings Danvers and Pargiter upon all and every the said Returns ought to have been discharged or bailed by Law and the Councel of the said Jenings Danvers and Pargiter offered in Court very sufficient Bail And he the said Sir John Brampston being Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench denyed to grant His Majesties Writ of Habeas Corpus to very many other His Majesties Subjects and when he had granted the said Writs of Habeas Corpus to very many others His Majesties Subjects and on the return no Cause appeared or such Cause only as was clearly bailable by Law yet he remanded them where they remained Prisoners very long which said deferring to grant the said Writs of Habeas Corpus and refusals and delays to discharge Prisoners or suffer them to be Bailed contained in this Article are destructive to the Fundamental Laws of this Realm and contrary to former resolutions in Parliament and to the Petition of Right which said Resolutions and Petition of Right were well known to him the said Sir John Brampston 4. That whereas there was a Cause depending in the Court Christian at Norwich between Samuel Booty Clerk and Collard for two Shillings in the Pound for Tythes for Rents of Houses in Norwich and the said Collard moved by his Councel in the Court of Kings-Bench
for a Prohibition to stay Proceedings in the Court Christian at Norwich and delivered into the said Court of Kings-Bench his Suggestions that the said Cause in the said Court Christian was for Tythes for Rents of Houses in Norwich which was determinable by the Common Law only yet he the said Sir John Brampston being Chief Justice of the said Court of Kings-Bench and sitting the said Court deferred to grant a Prohibition to the said Court Christian in the said Cause although the Councel did move in the said Court several Times and several Terms for a Prohibition And he the said Sir John Brampston deferred to grant His Majesties Writs of Prohibition to several Courts on the Motions of divers others of His Majesties Subjects where the same by Laws of this Realm ought to have been granted contrary to the Laws of this Realm and his own knowledg And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves only the Liberties of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir John Brampston and also of replying to the Answer that he the said Sir John Brampston shall make unto the said Articles or any of them or of offering Proofs of the Premisses or any of their Impeachments or Accusations that shall be exhibited by them as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliament require do pray that the said Sir John Brampston Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench may be put to answer to all and every the Premisses and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice Mr. Hollis also according to the Order of the House of Commons at this Conference made application to their Lordships in the behalf of Sir Randal Crew in this manner My Lords THese Gentlemen have represented unto your Lordships the sad object of Justice perverted Liberty oppressed Mr. Denzil Hollis his Speech about Sir Randal Crew July 6. 1641. of Judgment turned into Worm-wood the Laws which should be the Bars of our Gates to protect us keep us and all that is ours in safety made weak and impotent to betray us unto the hands of violence instead of Props to support us become broken Reeds to deceive us and run into our sides when we lean upon them even so many snares to entrap and entangle us And all this by the perfidiousness of those who are entrusted with our Laws who call themselves the Guardians and the Interpreters of the Law but by their accursed Glosses have confounded the Text and made it speak another Language and another Sense than ever our Ancestors the Law-makers intended Our Ancestors made Laws to keep themselves their posterity after them in the possession of their Estates these Judges could make the Law it self rob us and despoil us of our Estates Were we invaded and persecuted at any time for pretended Crimes or rather because they were free from Crime And did we put our selves upon a legal defence and shelter our selves under the Buckler of the Law use those Lawful Weapons which Justice and Truth and the Common Right of the Subject did put into our hands would this avail us No these Judges would make the Law wrest our Weapons from us disarm us take away all our defence expunge our Answers even bind us hand and foot and so expose us naked and bound to the mercilesness of our Oppressors were our Persons forced and imprisoned by an Act of Power would the Law relieve us when we appealed unto it No it would joyn hands with violence and add bitterness to our sorrow these Judges would not hear us when we did cry no importunity could get a Habeas Corpus Nay our cryes would displease them and they would beat us for crying and over-do the unjust Judge in the Gospel with whom yet importunity could prevail My Lords The Commons of England finding themselves in this lamentable condition by the wickedness of these Judges It is no wonder that we complain of them it is no wonder if the Knights Citizens and Burgesses Assembled in Parliament have sent up some of their Members to stand upon Mount Ebal to Curse these Judges to denounce a Curse upon them who have removed our Land-marks have taken away the Bound-stones of the Propriety of the Subject have left no Meum Tuum but he that had most might had most right and the Law was sure to be on his side It hath been the part of these Gentlemen who have spoken before me to pray for justice upon those men who would not do justice to others My Lords I come upon another Errand and yet for justice too for there is justice upon Mount Gerezim as well as upon Mount Ebal It is as great a point of justice to give a blessing a reward where it is due as punishment where punishment is due For reward and punishment Praemium poena be the two legs that Justice walks on and reward is her right leg the more noble and the more glorius Supporter of that Sacred and Divine Body that which God himself the Foundation of Justice doth more delight in Tradior ad poenas Deus est ad praemia velox Punishment is good as Physick in the Consequence Reward as wholesome and nourishing Food in the Essence the one we do because we must do it as necessary the other because we love to do it as being pleasing and delightful Your Lordships then I doubt not will as willingly joyn with the Commons in doing good to a good Judge as in punishing of the bad My Lords We honour them and reckon them Martyrs for the Common-wealth who suffer any thing by defending the Common Right of the Subject when they will not part with their own Goods contrary to Law when indeed their private interest goes along with it or rather before it and the publick Concernment seems to come but in a second place such were those many whom these Judges have oppressed yet these Men we magnifie and judge worthy of Praise and Reward But what honour then is he worthy of who meerly for the publick hath suffered himself to be divested and deprived of his particular such a Judge as would lose his place rather than do that which his Conscience told him was prejudicial to the Common-wealth Is not he worthy of double honour And this did that Worthy Reverend Judge the chief Judge of England at that time Sir Randol Crew because he would not by subscribing countenance the Loan in the first year of the King contrary to his Oath and Conscience he drew upon himself the displeasure of some great Persons about his Majesty who put on that project which was afterwards condemned by the Petition of Right in the Parliament of Tertio as unjust and unlawful and by that means he lost his place of Chief Justice of the King's-Bench and hath these fourteen years by keeping his innocency lost the
Parochial Churches That in all Parochial Churches of England and Wales where there is on the Lords Day no Preaching in the Afternoon if the Ministers will maintain a Conformable Lecturer at their own Charge the Parson or Vicar shall give way to it unless he will Preach himself Ordered That this House doth Assent That the Speaker of the House of Lords shall present unto his Majesty in the Name of both Houses the humble Advice of both Houses concerning the Manifesto His Majesty having appointed both Houses to attend him at the Banquetting-House in Whitehall at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon they accordingly attended where the Manifesto and the Parliaments proceedings upon it were read which were as follows The King 's Manifesto about the Palatinate CHARLES By the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all to whom this present Manifesto shall come Greeting TO the end that the Endeavours of Our late Dear Father King James of Blessed Memory and Our Own Proceedings since his Death in the Cause of Our Dear and Onely Sister Brother in Law and Nephews Electors and Princes Palatine of the Rhine may not be forgotten or pretendedly unknown wherein We have studied and laboured nothing more than Peace of Christendom and the avoiding the effusion of Innocent Blood by seeking the Restitution and Re-Establishment of the Electoral House Palatine in their Ancient Rights Dignities and Possessions within the Empire out of which they have been by Violence and Force of Arms and other undue Proceedings expelled and banished contrary to the Ancient Laws and Constitutions of the Sacred Empire We have thought fit for the Vindication of Our Own Honour to call to mind and to publish to all the World both a Summary Relation of Our Actions and Endeavours past and Our present Resolutions in the same Cause IT cannot be unknown to all the Princes and Estates of Europe and more particularly to those who have had any interest or relation to the Publick Affairs of Germany how both Our Self and Our Father have during these Twenty Years past by many and several Ambassages Treaties and other Negotiations to Our great Expence and Charges both with the late Emperour Ferdinand the King of Spain and other Princes and Estates of the Empire endeavoured by all Friendly and Treatable means to procure the Restitution and Re-Establishment of Our said Dear Sister Brother-in-Law and Nephews in their Ancient Rights and Possessions as the only and possible way to settle a good and firm Peace in the Empire and consequently with all Princes interessed therein without which it is impossible to expect or hope for a good durable and honest Pacification of those Troubles which have already almost rent and consumed and involved all the Princes of Christendome in a most Bloody and Destructive War And for a clear Demonstration of Our sincere Intentions not only Our own Pious Inclination and Care of the Publick Peace hath induced Us to omit divers Occasions whereby we might by such Power as God hath put into Our Hands have prevented the Violences and Oppressions used to Our said Sister and Nephews But We have been led on and invited thereunto by divers Promises Assurances and Reversal Letters both from the late Emperor and King of Spain and other Usurpers of the Inheritance of the Electoral House Palatine that they would at last in Contemplation of Our Mediation hearken and incline to a Just and Honest Peace by the Restitution of the Estates and Dignities of Our dear Sister and Nephews whereby we have been drawn not only to pass by Our own and the Publick Interest and to forbear to Engage Our Arms in so just a Cause but also have procured by Our Fathers and Our Authority the withdrawing and disbanding of the Forces of Count Mansfelt out of the Palatinate and advanced divers Truces and Cessations of Hostility or Defence only to prepare the Way of amiable Composition according to the Hopes and Promises to that end given Us and particularly have caused the Surrender and Deposition of some Places of Strength into the Hands of the late Infanta of Spain upon reciprocal Assurances of a final Pacification or Restitution But what Effects all these Our Peaceable and Christian Endeavours have produced and how all Our Pious Negotiations have been either delayed or deluded thereby and by process of Time to root and Establish the Usurpations of the House Palatine and Our Patience and Piety thereby abused is so manifest by the continual Oppression of Our said dear Sister and Nephews that We are forced to Protest that there hath nothing succeeded either to Our Desires or Hopes but a Resolution of Despair of ever obtaining by the Ways of Justice Treaty or Amity that which hath been so often promised to and expected of the Lovers of Christian Peace Notwithstanding We having lately received Advice from Our dear Uncle the King of Denmark that at last by his Mediation and Procurement the present Emperour and Duke of Bavaria have condescended to a Treaty to be held at the Diet at Ratisbone upon the sixth Day of May last past for the Reviewing and the Resetling of the Controversies of the House Palatine as a Preparation and Inducement to a General Peace and Amnestia through the whole Empire And that he with some of the Electors of the Empire is accepted as Mediator of the said Cause and hath received strong and pregnant Assurances of a better Inclination and Disposition toward the re-establishment of the Electoral Eamily in their Rights and Dignities And to that end hath procured convenient safe Conduct from the Emperor to Our Nephew and His Brethren freely to come in Person or to send their Deputies to that Diet at the Time and Place appointed with all other Clauses requisite for their Safeties Going Abiding or Coming from thence and there to plead the Justice of their own Cause and that in Prosecution thereof he hath Instructed and Dispatched His Ambassadors to assist either in Person or by the Deputies of Our Nephews at the said Treaty of Pacification and hath desired Us herein to Comply with him by sending Our Ambassadours Qualified and Instructed to the same Purpose of procuring a Good and Setled Peace within the Empire according to the Intimation of the Princes Electors signified to Him by their Letters thereby desiring Us to Assist in the present Assembly at Ratisbone To which end Our Nephew the Prince Elector Palatine having resolved by Our Counsell and Advice to send his Deputies according to the Invitation and Hopes intimated of a good Issue to be expected by the amiable way of Treaty and Composure We have also thought fit not to be wanting to so good a Design so concurrent to Our own and the Desires of so many Princes and in some Hope of better Fruits then hitherto all Our Endeavours have produced Have resolved to make this Our last Tryal by the way of Treaties and to send
a Conference by the Earl of Bath to the Commons THese are to signifie to this House That whereas He sent an Answer this day to both Houses concerning the Third Head lest there should be any mistake upon the word Slander His Majesty declares he did not mean all of either House of Parliament or any Members thereof Upon the Reading of the Petition of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury concerning his payment of Poll-mony It was Ordered Order of the Lords about the Arch-Bishops paying Poll-Money To be left to be paid according to the Act of Parliament The House for freer Debate was put into a Committee to consider of the Court of York and to give judgment herein and after much Debate the House was reassumed and it was Resolved upon the Question by the Major Part Resolves of the Lords concerning the Court at York That the Commission and Instructions whereby the President and Council of the North exercise a Jurisdiction is Illegal both in the Creation and Execution Resolved c. That this Commission and Instructions is unprofitable to His Majesty Resolved upon the Question Nemine Contradicente That this Commission and Instructions is inconvenient and grievous to His Majesties Subjects of those Parts Resolved upon the Question Nemine Contradicente That this House doth joyn with the House of Commons in beseeching His Majesty that the Present Commission and Instructions may be revoked and no such granted for the Future MEmorandum A Salvo for the Judges of the Court of York This House doth declare seeing the Commission and Instructions of the Court of York is Illegal in the Creation and Execution that the former Judges in the Court of York who have given Judgement and proceeded as they thought in their Consciences upon True and Legal Grounds shall not be liable to be Questioned but in case of Injustice and that none in that Case shall be barred of their Appeal And if it appear that there is a Necessity for the Ease of that Country to have a Court this House will advise with the House of Commons how one may be Established by Law for the Ease of those Parts And the Earl of Essex Earl of Bristol Viscount Say and Seal Bishop of Lincoln Lord Wharton Lord Kimbolton were appointed to prepare Heads for a Conference with the Commons concerning the aforesaid Particulars that so the Persons that were Judges and the Acts of that Court may have a Saving for them If humane Bodies and Minds are subject to the secret Influences of the Heavenly Bodies certainly England and the rest of the Brittish Dominions were at this time under the Aspects of some Violent and Malignant Configurations and there seemed to be an Universal Inclination in the People every where to Tumults Mutinies Violence and Injustice the Lords House was full of Complaints of the Disorders of this Nature throwing up Inclosures and disturbing the Possessions of others and that not singly but by Multitudes and with such Arms as Rusticks are wont to make Use of upon such Occasions of their Madness And of this the Lords were so sensible that they made this following Order WHereas daily Complaints are made unto this House of violent breaking into Possessions Order of the Lords concerning Violent and Tumultuous breaking into Possessions July 13. 1641. and Inclosures in Riotous and Tumultuous manner in several parts of this Kingdom without any due proceedings by Course of Law to warrant the same which hath been observed to have been more frequently done since this Parliament began then formerly it is thought fit and so Ordered by the Lords in Parliament That no Inclosure or Possession shall be Violently and in a Tumultuous manner disturbed or taken away from any man which was in Possession the first Day of this Parliament or before but by due Course and Form of Law and that such Possessions of all men shall continue and remain unto them as they were on the first Day of this Meeting of Parliament unless it have been or shall be by some Legal way of proceeding in some of His Majesties Courts of Law or Equity or by some Act or Order of the Parliament determined or ordered to the Contrary And in all such Cases where any such unlawful disturbance of the quiet Possession of any man hath happened or shall happen the High Sheriff of the County shall have Power by virtue of this Order together with two of the Justices of the Peace of the said County next or near to the place and such other or others as he or they shall think fit to take with him or them to repair unto the place where such Tumults happen to be and appease and quiet the Possession of the said Lands and Inclosures so disturbed as aforesaid and shall see to and cause that the Possession be continued unto the present Owners as aforesaid until by a Legal Course in some Court of Law or Equity or by order of Parliament it be determined or Ordered to the contrary The Lord Bishop of Lincoln Reported Report about the Officers of the Star-Chamber That the Lords Committees appointed to Consider of the Petition of the Officers of the Star-Chamber have fully heard their Cause and they are of Opinion and do not conceive of any fitter way of Relief for these Poor Officers the King's Servants then to remit them to the King's Mercy that His Majesty would be Graciously pleased to allow a Proportionable Relief for these Poor men out of such Fines as may accrue unto His Majesty in the High Court of Parliament to be apportioned by the Lords of the Committees or otherwise as their Lordships shall be pleased to approve thereof and Order it Upon Report this Day made unto the House by the Right Honourable the Lord Seymour that the difference between the Parishioners of St. Report about the Rioters at St. Thomas the Apostle's in pulling down the Rails Thomas the Apostle complained of to the Lords in Parliament was composed by his Lordship to whom the business was referred It is Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the High Court of Parliament Assembled that the said difference together with the Cause depending before their Lordships shall by virtue of this Order be fully ended and determined and Lastly that John Blackwell shall for himself others Petitioned against forthwith pay unto the Overseers of the Poor of that Parish upon sight hereof to the use of the said Poor the full Summ of ten Pounds of Lawful Money of England and hereof they are not to fail as they will answer to the contrary There being a Report spread abroad that His Majesty intended to send the Lord Digby abroad under some honourable Character Tuesday July 13. and as was said Ambassadour into France his Enemies in the House of Commons being extreamly nettled at it were resolved if possible to set a brand of Infamy upon his Lordship and therefore not content to have disgracefully Expelled him
of Winchester's House the Commons desired a Conference with the Lords about it which Conference was thus Reported by Mr. Pym. That the Earl of Warwick said That whereas this House had propounded the Disarming of Recusants their Lordships agreed with them in the matter but desired a free Conference concerning the manner but it was remembred by another Lord that the manner was likewise propounded which was to send down Commissioners into all Counties to see it done upon which the Lords desired of this House to consider what men to send down and they did fully agree to the manner This Day the Lord Keeper signified to the House A Message from the King about Soldiers for the Spanish Ambassador That His Majesty hath Commanded Mr. Nicholas the Clerk of the Council to let their Lordships know That His Majesty is so far now engaged to the Spanish Ambassador for four Regiments of Irish That His Majesty cannot go back now and that it was assured His Majesty before he went from London that both Houses were content only it wanted the formality of Voting whereupon His Majesty gave an absolute Order for the Levying and Transporting of those Men and reiterated His Majesties promises to the Ambassador wherefore His Majesty would have the Houses acquainted herewith that those Levies may not be stopt Which was afterwards at a Conference communicated to the House of Commons Monday August 23. Letters from the E. of Holland and Sir William Udal about disbanding A Letter from the Lord General the Earl of Holland was this Day Read informing the Lords That he had not been wanting in diligence to fulfil their Orders and Commands in Disbanding the Army and that it was an affliction to him that the best Service he was able to perform was not better accepted by their Lordships That he had done all that lay in his Power and that as soon as the Accounts for Billetting could be stated they should be discharged but till Money came to them they could not do it This was seconded by a Letter from Sir William Vdal informing That they can proceed no further in the Disbanding till there be a Supply of Money and that he hath not above 200 l. in his hands Tuesday August 24. Whereupon It was Ordered That the Gentlemen that serve for the City of London shall endeavour to Borrow 40000 l. of the City upon the Credit of the Two last Bills of 4 Subsidies and the Poll-Bill without which the Army cannot be Disbanded The Speaker of the House of Commons was likewise Ordered to write a Letter in the Name of the House to those Sheriffs who were thought deficient in gathering the Poll-Money to quicken them in the Collecting and sending of it to the Army The Copy of which Letter was thus SIR THE House of Commons did hope The Speakers Letter to the Sheriffs about the Poll Mony that in so great a time and so visible a Necessity of present Money no private person much less any Publique Officers would have been so slow in contributing their Assistance to the getting in of the Poll-Money but by the not coming in of this from the slow and slender coming of it from others together with more particular Informations this House is forced to believe that both Payers Assessors Collectors and Returners are in fault concerning it I am therefore Commanded to let you know from the House That as you tender your Own or the Publique Good you make all possible hast in returning such Money as you have ready and that you will make known to the Commissoners That if we be not by them prevented the House intends to make a review of the Assessments to the End that wherein the Assessors through partiality shall be found either to have left any uncharged whom the Act chargeth or to have charged any lower than they are charged by the Act those that shall be found faulty may incur both the ill Opinion and severe Punishment of Parliament as Contemners of the greatest Authority in a time of greatest Necessity and by that Contempt being Causes of the Armies less speedy Disbanding to the Danger as well as the unsupportable and unnecessary Expence of the Kingdom An Order was likewise drawn up and presented to the Lords at a Conference by Mr. Pym with the Reasons of it the Necessity of present Money for the several Counties therein mentioned to pay in their Poll-Money at York See the Order it self August 24. 1641. An Order of the Lords and Commons in Parliament The Order of both Houses for paying in the Poll-Mony at York to Expedite the Disbanding Aug. 24. 1641. concerning the more speedy Transportation of the Poll-Mony to York for Disbanding of His Majesties Army WHereas it is Enacted that the Sheriffs of the Counties and Cities hereafter named shall amongst others pay such Summs of money as they shall receive for Poll-money to the Treasurer in the Act named in the Chamberlains Office within the City of London Now forasmuch as their long delay and slow payment is very burthensom and dangerous to the Kingdom because the Kings Army in the North by this means remains un-disbanded to the insupportable Charge of the Common-wealth For the more speedy relief of the Kingdom the Lords and Commons in this Parliament assembled do hereby order and ordain that the several Sheriffs of Worcester Cambridge Huntington Leicester Northampton Rutland Warwick and of the Cities that are Counties within those Countries and every of them respectively shall forthwith on notice of this Order send such Monies now in their hands or shall come to his Hand or any of their Hands respectively or to the Hands of his Under-Sheriff or Deputy or to the Hands of any of their Under-Sheriffs or Deputies respectively under a sufficient Guard and Convoy to the City of York to pay the same to Sir William Vdall Knight Treasurer of His Majesties Army now there residing takeing his acquittance for the same which acquittance the said several Sheriffs respectively shall send to the Chamber of London and that the said Treasurer in the Act named shall accept of the same as if so much Money were paid in specie and shall deliver an Acquittance or Acquittances for the same which shall be as sufficient a discharge to the said several Sheriffs as if the Mony had been paid there And the said Treasurer of the Army is hereby required that he shall as speedily as he may after the receipt of any such Summs from any of the Sheriffs afore-mentioned send up to the said Treasurer of the Chamber of London present and distinct Certificates of the same It is further Ordered that the several Sheriffs of the Counties through which these Moneys do pass shall provide a sufficient Convoy to Guard the same through the several Counties and that the Sheriffs under whose charge the Money is shall have allowance for Transportation thereof in their several Accounts Lastly it is ordered that a strict account
He brings several undeniable Presidents and Instances In the 21 of R. 2. a Repeal of a former Sentence against the Spencers being Petitioned for in Parliament Rot. 55.56.21 R. 2. these Errors were assigned Because the Prelats Who are Peers of the Realm did not Assent to the Judgment and because it was made only by the Earls and Barons Peers of the Realm c. And because it was made against the Great Charter of England in which it is contained that no man shall be exiled or destroyed but by the Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land By which it appears that the Judgment of that Parliament was That it was a Breach of the Magna Charta for the Temporal Lords to condemn a Peer without the Assent of the Bishops who are expresly declared to be Peers of the Realm Rot. 55. To be Peers in Parliament Rot. 56. and to be Peers of the Realm in Parliament Rot. 61. And all this too in the Case of Treason which is as a full Declaration of their Peerage as it is possible to make To the Second Position That they have a Right to Sit and Vote in Parliament in all Causes whatsoever even in Causa Sanguinis in Capital Cases which he proves by Reason and Presidents That by the Magna Charta a Law of the Highest value Confirmed by Thirty Acts of Parliament and with the most Solemn and dreadful Imprecations upon whosever of them or their Posterity should go about to violate it in any particular the Bishops have an equal Right with the Temporal Lords That they Sit in Parliament by the virtue of the same Writs of Summons that the other Barons do they are Summoned to Advise and Debate about the great and difficult Affairs of the Kingdom cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostri Angliae colloquium habere tractatum Of all things indefinitely that shall be brought before them in that High and Honourable Court the Supream Judicature of the Nation and that there cannot be any Instance produced of a Writ of Summons with a Limitation or Restriction upon the Bishops excluding them from any matter of Debate Consultation Vote or Judicature belonging to the House of Lords The Temporal Barons also are Summoned indefinitely to Debate Handle and Consult with the Prelats in all things there to be done which would be impossible if in some of the most Important matters in point of Judicature the Lords the Bishops must be Totally Excluded That though the Constitution of Clarenden be urged as designed for a Limitation of the Bishops exercising Jurisdiction in the Case of Life or Mutilation of Members yet it is evident both from the Words and the occasion of that Law that they ought to be present for that this Constitution of Clarendon was made perfectly to oblige the Bishops to serve the King in the Capacity of their Temporal Baronies sicut caeteri Barones the Tenure being the same Et sicut Barones caeteri debent interesse Judiciis Curiae Regis cum Baronibus usque perveniatur in Judicio ad diminutionem Membrorum vel ad mortem the plain Sense of which words is that they ought to be present not only till such Causes of Life or Limb came before the rest of the Lords but at all preliminary Debates usque perveniatur not ad Judicium but in Judicio which supposes a Trial preceding till the Sentence came to be pronounced Now the occasion of this was the Papacy was then erecting their fifth Monarchy and indeavouring to set up an Independent Jurisdiction of the Church in all Kingdoms which the Kings very well perceiving were resolved to oppose and therefore to oblige them to this Service by vertue of the Tenures of their Temporal Baronies And this giving them a Concession to withdraw when the Sentence â—â—as pronounced was a particular favour of the King Thomas Becket a great Saint and Martyr in the Roman Calendar stoutly opposed this as an inchroachment upon the Liberties of the Church and indeed the Bishops who had all along the Saxon Government sate in the great Councils by virtue of their Spiritual Capacity there being then no Temporal Baronies they thought the Conquerors imposing this Tenure upon their Estates a very hard Servitude and Badge of Slavery to the Secular Power but that notwithstanding their Reluctancy this Salvo seemed a little to qualify the matter so that they did Vote in such Cases till the Sentence came to be pronounced appears from Petrus Blesensis who taxes them of Collusion for submitting to this Constitution of Clarendon Principes sacerdotum saith he Seniores Populi Pet. Blesen de Inst Epic. p. 454. licet non dictent Judicia Sanguinis eadem tamen tractant disputando disceptando de illis seque ideo imnunes à Culpa reputant quod Mortis aut truncation is membrorum judicium decernentes á pronuntiatione duntaxat Executione Penalis Sententiae se abstinent Although saith he they do not give Judgment in Cases of Blood yet do they handle treat and debate about them and think themselves innocent because in the determinations of Cases of Life and Limb they absent themselves at the pronouncing or execution of the Penal Sentence This Statute of Clarendon was made in February and in the October following the King Summons a Parliament to Northampton Fitz. Steph. vit Tho. Becket de Concil apud Clarendon Mss in Bibliotheca Cottoniana in which Becket in which Becket was for opposing this Constitution wasting the Kings Treasure and other Crimes accused of Treason in the Debate whereof the Bishops Sate with the other Barons and because the matter did not come to a Sentence of Death after great Debate between the other Lords the Bishops about pronouncing the Sentence the Bishop of Winchester did it But Becket making an Appeal to the Pope the Bishops being afraid of him they endeavoured to persuade the King to desist his further prosecution till that matter was determined But the King being resolute pressed them to their Duty notwithstanding Beckets Prohibition to them to the contrary from the obligation of the Statute of Clarendon to which they had Sworn Asserens quod non teneat haec ejus simplex Prohibitio contra hoc quod Clarendoniae factum initum fuerat affirming that this single Prohibition of Beckets could not bind them against what was done and agreed to at Clarendon From all which it is plain that in fact the Bishops did Debate and Vote in a Capital Case and were obliged by this Statute so to do and it was a Favour indulged them to be absent at the giving of the final Judgment or Sentence of Death or loss of Limbs In the 5. H. 4. The Earl of Northumberland was in Parliament Impeached of Treason Rot. Par. n. 17.5 H. 4. and after Examination of the whole matter he clearly acquitted himself of the charge upon which it is said in the Record Et
disguising himself yet he could not get forth of the City so surely Guarded were all the Gates There was found at his Lodging hidden some Hatchets with the Helves newly cut off close to the Hatchets and many Skenes and some Hammers In the end the Sheriffs of the City who were imployed in a strict search of his Lordship found him hidden in a Cock-loft in an obscure House far from his Lodging where they apprehended him and brought him before us He denied all yet so as he could not deny but he had heard of it in the Country though he would not tell us when or from whom and confessed that he had not advertised us thereof as in duty he ought to have done But we were so well satisfied of his Guilt by all Circumstances as we doubted not upon further Examination when we could be able to spare time for it to find it apparent Wherefore we held it of absolute necessity to commit him close Prisoner as we had formerly done Mac-Mahon and others where we left them on the 23 of this Month in the morning about the same hour they intended to have been Masters of that Place and the City That morning we laid wait for all those strangers that came the night before to Town and so many were apprehended whom we find reason to believe to have hands in this Conspiracy that we were forced to disperse them into several Goals and since we found that there came many Horsemen into the Suburbs that night who finding the Plot discovered dispersed themselves immediately When the hour approached which was designed for the surprising the Castle great numbers of Strangers were observed to come to the Town in great Parties several Ways who not finding admittance at the Gates stayed in the Suburbs and there grew so numerous to the Terror of the Inhabitants We therefore to help that drew up and instantly Signed a Proclamation Commanding all Men not dwellers in the City or Suburbs to depart within an hour upon pain of Death and made it Paenal to those that should harbour them which Proclamation the Sheriffs immediately Proclaimed in all the Suburbs by our Commandment which being accompanied with the Committal of those two Eminent Men and others occasioned the departure of these multitudes and in this case all our Lives and Fortunes and above all His Majesties Regal Power and Authority being still at stake we must vary from ordinary Proceedings not only in Executing Martial Law as we see Cause but also in putting some to the Rack to find out the Bottom of this Treason and the contrivers thereof which we foresee will not otherwise be done On that 23 of this Month we conceiving that as soon as it should be known that the Plot for seizing the Castle of Dublin was disappointed all the Conspirators in remote Parts might be somewhat disheartned as on the other side the good Subjects would be comforted and would then with the more Confidence stand on their Guard did prepare to send abroad to all Parts of the Kingdom this Proclamation which we send you here inclosed and so having provided that the City and Castle should be so well Guarded as upon the sudden we could we concluded that long Council On Saturday Twelve of the Clock at night the Lord Blaney came to Town and brought us the ill news of the Rebels seizing with two hundred Men his House at Castle-Blaney in the County of Monoghan as also a House of the Earl of Essex's called Carrick-Macross with 200 Men and a House of Sir Henry Spotwood's in the same County with 200 Men where there being a little Plantation of British they plundered the Town and burnt divers Houses and since it appears that they burnt divers other Villages and robbed and spoiled many English and none but Protestants leaving the English Papists untouched as well as the Irish On Sunday morning at three of the Clock we had intelligence from Sir Arthur Terringham that the Irish in the Town had that day also broken up the King's Store of Arms and Munition at Newry where the Store for Arms hath been ever since the Peace where they found 70 Barrels of Powder and Armed themselves and put them under the Command of Sir Con Magenis Knight and one Creedly a Monk and plundered the English there and disarmed the Garrison And this though too much is all that we yet hear is done by them However we shall stand upon our Guard the best we may to defend the Castle and City principally those being the places of most importance But if the Conspiracy be so universal as Mr. Mahon saith in his Examination it is namely That all the Counties of the Kingdom have Conspired in it which we admire should so fall out in this time of universal Peace and carried with that secresie that none of the English could have any Friend among them to disclose it then indeed we shall be in high Extremity and the Kingdom in the greatest danger that ever it underwent considering our want of Men Mony and Arms to enable us to encounter so great multitudes as they can make if all should so joyn against us the rather because we have pregnant cause to doubt that the Combination hath taken force by the incitement of the Jesuits Priests and Friars All the hope we have here is That the English of the Pale and some other Parts will continue constant to the King in their Fidelity as they did in former Rebellions And now in these straits we must under God depend on Aid forth of England for our present supply with all speed especially Mony we having none and Arms which we shall exceedingly want without which we are very doubtful what account we shall give to the King of this Kingdom But if the Conspiracy be only of Maguire and some other Irish of the Kindred and Friends of the Rebel Tyrone and other Irish of the Counties of Down Monogham Cavan Fermanagh and Armagh and no general Revolt following thereupon we hope then to make Head against them in a reasonable Measure if we be inabled with Money against them in a reasonable Measure if we be inabled with Money from thence without which we can raise no Forces so great is our want of Mony as we formerly have Written and our Debt so great to the Army nor is Money to be borrowed here and if it were we would Engage all our Estates for it neither have we any hope to get in his Majesties Rents and Subsidies in these Disturbances which adds extremely to our Necessities On Sunday Morning the 24th we met again in Council and sent to all parts of the Kingdom the inclosed Proclamation and Issued Patents to draw hither seven Horse Troops as a further strength to this Place and to be with us in case the Rebels shall make Head and march hitherward so as we may be necessitated to give them Battel We also then sent away our Letters to the Presidents of both the
Brown Thomas Bourk Esquires Vlster Sir William Cole Sir James Montgomery The Remonstrance was as followeth addressed first to the L. Deputy Wendesford The humble and just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled Shewing THat in all Ages since the happy subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England The Irish Remonstrance it was and is a principal study and Princely Care of his Majesty and his most noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood That their Loyal and Dutiful People of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from Brittish Ancestors should be governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England That the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared that by the means thereof and the most Prudent and Benign Government of his Majesty and his Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a flourishing Estate whereby the said People were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural Desires to comply with his Majesties Princely and Royal Occasions by their free gift of 150 Thousand pounds sterling And likewise by another free gift of 120 Thousand pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the gift of 40 Thousand pounds and their free and cheerful gift of Six intire Subsidies in the Tenth Year of his Majesties Reign which to comply with his Majesties then Occasions signified to the then House of Commons they did allow should amount in the Collections unto a Hundred and fifty Thousand pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have mounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the Four intire Subsidies granted in this present Parliament So it is may it please your Lordship by the occasion of infuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to his Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that Extream and Universal Poverty that the same is less able to pay Two Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before-recited great Payments and his Majesties most Faithful People of the Land do conceive great Fears That the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Presidents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great hopes and strong belief they are perswaded is contrary to his Royal and Princely Intention towards his said People of which Grievances are as followeth 1. First The general apparent decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities Exported and Imported by reason whereof and of extream Usage and Censures Merchants are beggered both and dis-inabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the Honorable Persons who gain thereby often Judges and Parties And that in the conclusion his Majesties Profit thereby is not considerably advanced 2. The Arbitrary decision of all Civil Causes and Controversies by paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon references from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain time cause season or thing whatsoever And the consequences of such exceeding by immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clarks Pursivants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of proceedings his Majesty looseth a considerable part of his Revenue upon original Writs and otherwise and the Subject looseth the benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversal Vouchees and other Legal and just advantages and the ordinary course and Courts of Justice declined 3. The proceedings in Civil Causes at Council Board contrary to the Law and Great Charter not limited to any certain time or season 4. That the Subject is in all the material parts thereof denyed the benefit of the Princely graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 21 Jac. Granted by his Majesty in the Fourth year of his Reign upon great advice of Council of England and Ireland and for great consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all persons do take notice That contrary to his Majesties Pious Intentions his Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the benefit of his Majesties Princely Promise thereby made 5. The Extrajudicial avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of his Majesties Subjects under the Great Seal the Publique Faith of the Kingdom by private Opinions delivered at the Council-Board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to the Law and without president or example of any former Age. 6. The Proclamation for the sole Emption and uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low rates and uttered at high and excessive rates by means whereof Thousands of Families within this Kingdome and of his Majesties Subjects in several Islands and other parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coyn of this Kingdom is ingrossed into particular hands Insomuch as the Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and engrossed thereby doth surmount his Majesty's Revenue certain or casual within this Kingdom and yet his Majesty receiveth but very little Profit by the same 7. The universal and unlawful increasing of Monopolies to the advantage of a few to the disprofit of his Majesty and Impoverishment of his People 8. The extream and cruel usage of certain late Commissioners and other Stewards the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Vlster to the great weakening of the Kingdom in this time of danger the said Plantation being the principal strength of those Parts 9. The late erection of the Court of High-Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in those necessitous times the proceedings of the said Court in many Causes without Legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the encroaching of the same upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom 10. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship 11. The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesties service and profit are much more impaired then advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much increased His Majesties Revenue by the buying of
Parliament Assembled not for any Doubt or Ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concerning the Premisses nor of the ensuing Questions But for the manifestation and declaration of the Clear Truth and of the said Laws and Statutes already planted and for many Ages past settled in this Kingdom the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do therefore pray That the House of the Lords may be pleased to Command the Judges of this Kingdom forthwith to declare in Writing their Resolutions of and unto the ensuing Questions and subscribe to the same Quest 1. WHether the Subjects of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be Governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom 2. Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Governor or Governors of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases And whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit Judgment or Execution thereupon what Punishment did they incur for their deviation or transgression therein 3. Whether the Kings Majesties Privy Council either with the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom or without him or them be a Place of Judicature by the Common Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accompts Possessions or Title of Lands or any of them And which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law And of what Force is their Order or Decree in such Cases or any of them 4. The Like of the Chief Governor alone 5. Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by the Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended Transgressors against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine Mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and Forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them 6. In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom and Council may punish by Fine Imprisonment Mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise And whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what punishment do they incur that Vote for them 7. Of what Force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberties Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by Infringing any such Act of State or Proclamation or both And what punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy Councellors incur that Vote for such Act and Execution thereof 8. Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to the Martial Law And whether any man in time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be Sentenced to death If so by whom and in what Cases If not What Punishments do they incur that in time of Peace execute Martial Law 9. Whether Voluntary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for Affirmance or Disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore 10. Why and by what Law or by what Rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to Reducement of Fines or other Penalties in the Castle-Chamber or Council Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is Censured when as Revera he might be innocent thereof tho suborned Proofs or Circumstances might induce the Censure 11. Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judge of Gaol-Delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny Copies of Indictment of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to Law 12. What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the Respite of Homage arbitrarily to what Rate they please to what Value they may raise it by what Law they may distinguish between the Respit of Homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are apportionable by Parliament 13. Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries or other Lawful Occasions If so why and in what Condition of Persons and by what Law 14. Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de Mero jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so Why and by what Law And whether the Confirmation of a Dean de Facto of the Bishops Grant be good or valid in Law or no If not by what Law 15. Whether the issuing of Quo Warranto's out of the Kings-Bench or Exchequer against Boroughs that antiently and recently sent Burgesses to the Parliament to shew Cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament be Legal If not what punishment ought to be inflicted upon those that are or have been the Occasioners Procurers and Judges of and in such Quo Warranto's 16. By what Law are Jurors that give Verdict according to their Conscience and are the sole Judges of the Fact Censured in the Castle-Chamber in great Fines and sometime Pillored with loss of Ears and bored through the Tongue and marked sometimes in the Forehead with an Hot Iron and other like Infamous Punishments 17. By what Law are men Censurable in the Castle-Chamber with the Mutilation of Members or any other Brand of Infamy and in what Cases and what punishment in each Case there is due without Respect to the quality of the Person or Persons 18. Whether in the Censure in the Castle-Chamber Regard be to be had to the words of the Great Charter viz. Salvo Contenemento c. 19. Whether if one that steals a Sheep or commits any other Felony and after flyeth the Course of Justice or lyeth in Woods or Mountains upon his keeping be a Traytor If not whether a Proclamation can make him so 20. Whether the Testimony or Evidence of Rebels Traytors Protected Thieves or other infamous Persons be good Evidence in Law to be pressed upon the Tryals of Men for their Lives or whether the Judge or Jurors ought to be Judge of the matter in Fact 21. By what Law are Fairs and Markets to be held in Capite when no other express Tenure is mentioned in his Majesties Letters Patents or Grants of the same Fairs and Markets Altho the Rent or Yearly Sum be reserved thereout 22. Whether it stands with the Integrity of the
come in further Agitation and discussion in this Honourable House 9. Lastly The Judges Opinions are not usually call'd upon in Parliament but when upon Debate great and difficult Points in Law do arise where this most Honourable doth think fit to Command their Opinions but no Resolutions do belong unto the said Judges in Parliament but unto your Lordships yet in the Front and Preamble of the said Questions the Resolution of the said Questions by the Judges is forthwith desired to be required by your Lordships in Writing Although the first Question Viz. Whether the Subjects of this Kingdom c. be positively resolved by the Preamble to the said Questions in which it is likewise declared That the said Judges Answers thereunto are not desired For any Doubt or Ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concerning the Premisses nor of the said Questions but for Manifestation and Declaration of a clear Truth and of the Laws and Statutes already planted and setled in this Kingdom And they conceive it is impossible to make any Manifestation or Declaration of Law or Statutes which may hold or be useful upon such general Questions as most of these are namely by what Laws in what Cases of what Power of what Force How Where and Why by Whom Wherefore what punishment by what Rule of Policy in what Condition of Persons In regard that the next succeeding Judges may be of another Opinion and that a Circumstance may alter the Reason of the Law in many particular Cases which the Wit of Man is not able to foresee or give a general Rule in And they say That to give any satisfaction to your Lordships or the Honourable House of Commons would make up a great Volume and require far more time then your Lordships have afforded unto the said Judges considering their great Toyl in the Circuits the last long Vacation their other Employments in the Common-wealth at their daily Attendance on your Lordships in Parliaments and in ordering Courts of Justice and yet lest they may seem to come any way short in performance of that Duty which they confess to be due unto your Lordships or be wanting in promoting and advancing the Good of the Common-wealth which they believe to be aimed at by the said Questions though it may seem to draw Damage or Prejudice upon their Particulars They do in all humbleness present unto your Lordships the ensuing Answers unto the said Questions which is as much as by their Oaths or in their Duty they owe unto His Sacred Majesty before his Princely pleasure be therein signified they can answer thereunto TO the First they Answer That the Subjects of this Kingdom are a Free People and are for the general to be Govern'd only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom yet they say That as in England many Statutes are grown obsolete and out of use and some particular Ancient Laws as well in Criminal as Civil Causes have been changed by Interpretation of the Judges there as they found it most agreeable for the general Good of the Common-wealth and as the Times did require it so our Predecessors the Judges of this Kingdom as the Necessity of the Times did move them did declare the Law in some particular Cases otherwise then the same is practised in England which the now Judges cannot alter without apparent diminution of a great part of His Majesties standing Revenue and opening a Gap for the shaking and questioning the Estates of many of His Majesties Subjects and the overthrowing of several Judgments Orders and Decrees which depend thereupon For Example If it be found by Office of Record sufficient for Form That a Man was killed in actual Rebellion and at the time of his Death he was seised of Lands Hereditaments Goods or Chattels by the constant Declaration of Law and Practise in former times here the Crown was Intitled to such Lands Goods and Chattels and many Mens Estates depend thereupon and yet the Law is not so taken in England So If one or more commit Felony and then stand out upon his or their keeping and he or they will not submit themselves to be tryed by the Law but being in that Case do rob or spoil and terrifie His Majesties People whereby the Country is disquieted This by the constant Opinion of our Predecessors in this Kingdom hath been adjudged a Levying of War within the Statute of 25 E. 3. and so consequently Treason Also by the common received Opinion and Practice of this Kingdom the Wife is to have a Third of all the Goods and Chattels and Credits of her Husband the Debts being paid although he dispose of all by his Will from her And yet the constant Practise is otherwise in England And other Instances of that kind might be made so that that word Only must receive a benign Exposition before the first Question can receive a general Answer in the Affirmative Secondly Many Causes of great Weight and Consequence in this Kingdom are to be Decreed and Ordered by Equity in the proper Courts of Equity and in Course of State at the Council Board and by particular Customes not contrary to Law for which the Common Law and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom gave no Remedy Thirdly There are several other Laws of Force in England and Ireland so far as they have been received which though some would have to be part of the Common Law of England yet we find them particularly distinguished from it in our Printed Books and Parliament Rolls in England As Lex Consuetudo Parliamenti jura Belli Ecclesiastical or Canon Law in certain Cases Civil Law in some Cases not only in Ecclesiastical Courts but in the Courts of Constable and Marshal and of the Admiralty and upon particular occasions in other Courts Lex Mercatoria c. 2. To the Second they say That the Judges of this Kingdom do take the Oath of Judges which Oath is specified amongst the Statutes in 18 E. 3. And is afterwards explained by the Stat. of 20 E. 3. And that they may not stay hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon otherwise than according to the Law and Course of the Court when they Sit under pretence of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governors of this Kingdom most of which doth appear by their Oath expressed in the Statutes and the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 8. And the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 2. as to the Barons of the Exchequer And that as they know no Punishments due to Judges for their Deviations and Transgressions without other Aggravation so they know no punishment laid down by any Law against them for their Deviations and Transgressions in hindering staying or delaying of Justice contrary to their said Oath
and the Statute of 20 E. 3. 3. To the Third they say That it is part of their said Oath as Judges that they shall not Counsel or assent to any thing that may turn to the damage or disherison of our Soveraign Lord the Kings most Excellent Majesty by any manner of way or colour And that they give no Advice or Counsel to any man great or small in no Case wherein the King is a Party And that they shall do and procure the Profit of the King and his Crown in all Things where they may reasonably do the same And that in the Explanation of their said Oaths by the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 1. It is declared That they shall give no Counsel to great Men nor small in case where the King is Party or which doth or may touch the King in any point And as your Lordships have been honourably pleased by an Order of this Honourable House bearing date the first of March Anno Domini 1640. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli 16. to give way That they should not be Compelled to Answer any part of the said Questions which did concern his Majesties Prerogative or were against their Oaths so they humbly represent unto your Lordships That they conceive that the Answering of the Particulars of this Question doth concern both for that the King 's Privy Council as the Questions terms it or Council Board is a Court of his Majesties high Prerogative where all Proceedings are before him and his Council or before his Governor who immediately to many Purposes represent his Majesties Person and the Council And where the great Affairs of State concerning his Majesties Honor Government Profit and of great Persons and Causes concerning the Common-Wealth which may not be conveniently remedied by the ordinary Rules of the common-Common-Law and many other Cases have been Treated of and managed And as his Majesty is the Fountain of all Justice within this Kingdom and may grant Cognizances of Pleas unto his Subjects and Corporations and may by his Commissions Authorize whom he shall think fit to Execute many Branches of his Authority so We humbly conceive That it doth not stand with our Oathes or Duties of our Places who are but Judges of the ordinary Courts of Justice before his Majesties Pleasure signified in that behalf to seek into the Commissions or Instructions of the Chief Governor and Council or to give any Opinion concerning the Limits Jurisdictions Orders Decrees Proceedings or Members of that High Court And that the King hath a Prerogative for hearing some of the Matters in this Question specified before his Chief Governor We beseech your Lordships to cast your Eyes on the Statute of 28 H. 6. c. 2. in this Kingdom where after Matters are directed to be sent to the Ordinary Courts yet the King's Prerogative is expresly saved notwithstanding all which his Gracious Majesty for whom it is most proper hath of late been pleased to Limit the Proceedings of that Board by his Instructions in Print 4. To the fourth they Answer as to the Third 5. To the fifth they say That generally all Grants of Monopolies whereby Trading Manufacture or Commerce is restrained and the Profit which should go to many is hindred and brought into a few Hands are against Law and the Liberty of the Subject and the Good of the Commonwealth tho they carry never so fair a pretence of Reforming Abuses And that the pretended Transgressors against such Grants are not at all punishable by any Rule of Law that they know of And yet they say That they conceive That his Majesty that is the Head and Father of the Commonwealth may restrain the Use and Importation and Exportation of certain Commodities or restrain the same into a few Hands for a time where there may be a likelyhood of his Majesties Profit which is the profit of the Commonwealth and no apparent prejudice to the Commonwealth doth appear And that when time shall discover such Prejudice then such Restraint ought to Cease So if a man by his own Invention at home or Travel Observation or Charge abroad doth introduce a new profitable or useful Trade or Profession into the Commonwealth in such Cases his Majesty may lawfully Grant and License the only making of such Commodity or teaching or using of such Trade for a certain time and the Transgressors against such Warrantable Grants may be punished by paying of Damages unto the Patentee in an ordinary Course of Justice or otherwise as the nature of the Offence and Matter doth deserve and as the Consequence and Importance of the matter may be to the King State or Commonwealth And they say That the Matter Manner Restrictions Limitations Reservations and other Clauses contained in such Grants or Licenses and the Commissions or Proclamations thereupon and undue Execution thereof and several Circumstances may make the same Lawful or Unlawful whereof they are not able to give any Certain Resolution before some Particular comes in Judgment before them neither are they otherwise able to answer the Generals in the Particulars of the said Question Of what in what Cases how where and by whom or which of them wherein whosoever desires further satisfaction he may please to have Recourse to the known Cases of Monopolies in printed Authorities and written Records and unto the Statute of 21 Jac. in Engl. concerning Monopolies and their several Exceptions and Limitations therein 6. To the Sixth they say They can no otherwise answer then they have already in their Answer to the Third Question for the Reasons therein set forth 7. To the Seventh they say That a Proclamation or Act of State cannot alter the Common Law and that Proclamations are Acts of his Majesties Prerogative and are and always have been of great use and that the Contemners of such of them as are not against the Law are and by the constant Practise of the Star-Chamber in England have been punished according to the Nature of the Contempt and Course of the said Court And although Acts of State are not of Force to bind the Goods Possessions and Inheritance of the Subject yet they have been of great use for setling of the Estates of very many Subjects in this Kingdom as may appear in the Report of the Case of Irish Gavil-Kind in Print And further to that Question they cannot Answer for the Reasons in their Answer unto the third Question set forth 8. To the Eighth they say That they know no ordinary Rule of Law by the which the Subjects of this Kingdom are made Subject to Martial Law in time of Peace and that they find the use thereof in the time of Peace in England complained of in the Petition of Right exhibited unto his Majesty in the third year of his Reign and that they conceive That the Granting of Authority and Commission for execution thereof is derived out of his Majesties Regal and Prerogative Power for suppressing of sudden and great Insolencies Insurrections among
Armies or Multitudes of Armed Men lawfully or unlawfully convented together the right use whereof in all times hath been found most necessary in this Kingdom And further to that Question they cannot Answer for that as they conceive it doth concern his Majesties Regal Power and that the Answer of the other Part of the Question doth properly belong to another Profession whereof they have no Cognizance 9. To the Ninth they say That as the taking of any Oath before any but such Judges or Persons as have Power to give or Demand an Oath for decision of Controversies is by most Divines in most Cases counted to be a rash Oath and so an Offence against God within the third Commandment so the perscribing or demanding of a set Oath by any that cannot derive Power so to do from the Crown where the Fountain of Justice under God doth reside Is an Offence against the Law of the Land and as for Voluntary and Extrajudicial Oaths altho freely taken before Arbitrators or others they say as this Kingdom is Composed in many Particulars as the Nature and Consequence of the Course or the Quality of the Person who taketh or before whom the same is taken may concern the Common-Wealth or the Members thereof such taking of such Oaths or Proceeding or Grounding on such Oath in deciding of Differences according to the several Circumstances that may occur therein or the Prejudice it may introduce to the Common-Wealth may be punishable by the Common Law or if it grow unto an height or general Inconvenience to the Common-Wealth or Members thereof in the Castle-Chamber for thô such an Oath be Voluntary yet in most Cases it is received by him that doth intend to ground his Judgment thereon and after the Oath is taken the Arbitrator or he that intends to yield Faith to the Party that took the Oath doth examine him upon one or more Questions upon the said Oath unto the Answer whereof he doth give Faith and Assent trusting on the said Oath And whereas Oaths by God's Institution were chiefly allowed to be taken before lawful Magistrates for ending Controversies yet common Experience doth teach in this Kingdom That oftentimes Orders and Acts grounded on such Voluntary Oaths beget Strife and Suits and commonly such Orders when they come to be measured by the Rules of Law or Equity in the King's Courts become void after much expence of Time and Charge that we say nothing of that that thereby many Causes proper for the King's Courts are drawn ad aliud examen are thereby the Justice and Courts often defrauded and declined 10. To the Tenth they say That they are not Judges of Rules of Policy but of Law and that they know no certain Rule of Law concerning Reducement of Fines the same being Matters of his Majesties meer Grace after a Man is censured for an Offence And that they know no Law that none shall be admitted to Reducement of his Fines or other Penalties in the Courts in the Question specified until he confess the Fact for which he was Censured But forasmuch as the admittance or Reducement after Conviction for an Offence is Matter of Grace and not Justice It hath been the constant Course of those Courts both here and in England for clearing of his Majesties Justice where the Party will not go about to clear himself by reverfal of the Censure or Decree not to admit him to that Grace until he hath confessed the justness of the Censure pronounced by the Court against him and that the rather for that commonly the Ability or disability of the Party doth not appear in Judgment before them but the Nature and Circumstances of the Offence according to which they gave Sentence against him or them in Terrorem after which when the Party shall make the weakness of his Estate to appear or that the Court is otherwise ascertained thereof they do of Course proportion the Censure or Penalty having regard to his Estate 11. To the Eleventh they say That neither the Judges of the King's Bench as they inform us that are of that Court or Justices of Goal-Delivery or of any other Court do or can by any Law they know deny the Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the Party only Accused as by the said Question is demanded 12. To the Twelfth they say That where Lands are holden of the King by Knights-Service in Capite the Tenant by the strict Course of Law ought in Person to do his Homage to the King And until he hath done his Homage the Ancient Course of the Exchequer hath been and yet is to issue Process of Distringas out of the second Remembrancers Office to distrain the Tenants ad faciendum Homagium or ad faciendum finem pro Homagio suo respectuando upon which Process the Sheriff returneth Issues and if the Tenants do not thereupon appear and compound with the King to give a Fine for Respit of Homage then the Issues are forfeited to the King for the Contempt But if he appear then the Court of Exchequer doth agree with him to Respite his Homage for a small Fine wherein they regulate themselves under the Rate expressed and set down in England by Virtue of a Privy Seal in the 15th year of Queen Elizabeth wherein the Rates are particularly set down according to the yearly value of the Lands which Rates are confirmed by Act of Parliament in the first of King James c. 26. in England before which time there was not any such certainty but the same rested in the discretion of the Court by the Rule of Common Law and so it doth at this day in Ireland Howbeit we conceive that the Court of Exchequer here do well to regulate their discretions by those Rates in England and rather to be under then to exceed the same which the Barons there do as they do inform us that are Judges of the other Courts 13. To the 13th they say That they know no Rule of Law or Statute by which it should be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to Repair and Appeal unto His Majesty for Redress of Injuries or for other their Lawful occasions unless they be prohibited by His Majesties Writ or Proclamation or other his Command But they find that by the Statute of 5 R. 2. that the passage of the Subjects out of the Realm is prohibited without special License excepting Noblemen and others in the said Statute specially excepted and some inference to that purpose may be made upon that Statute of 25 H. 6. c. 2. in this Kingdom 14. To the Fourteenth they say That some Deanries and Dignities not Deans or Dignitaries as the Question propounds it are properly Et de mero Jure Donative by the King some Elective and some Collative according to the first Foundation and Usage of those Churches And they humbly desire that they may not be required to give any further Answer to this Question for that it may concern many Mens
Estates which may come Judicially before them 15. To the Fifteenth they say That they conceive that where Priviledges are claimed by any Body Politic or other the King's Council may exhibit a Quo Warranto to cause the Parties claiming such Priviledges to set forth and shew by what Warrant they claim the same and that the Court cannot hinder the issuing of Process at the Instance of the King's Attorney to exhibit such Information But when the Case shall upon the Proceedings be brought to Judgment then and not before the Court is to take notice and give Judgment upon the Merit and Circumstances of the Cause as upon due consideration shall be conceived to be according to Law in which Case the Judges nor the King's Attorney as they conceive ought to be punished by any ordinary Rule of Law or Statute that they know But for this particular Question of Quo Warranto for that it hath been a great Question in this present Parliament and concerns the highest Court of Justice in this Kingdom and also concerns two other of His Majesties Courts of Justice and therein His Majesties Prerogative in those Courts they cannot safely deliver any Opinion therein before it comes Judicially before them and that they hear it argued and debated by Learned Councel on both sides 16. To the Sixteenth they say That although the Jurors be the sole Judges of the matter of Fact yet the Judges of the Court are Judges of the Validity of the Evidence and of the matters of Law arising out of the same wherein the Jury ought to be guided by them And if the Jury in any Criminal Cause between the King and Party give their Verdict contrary to clear and apparent Evidence delivered in Court they have been constantly and still ought to be Censured in the Star-Chamber in England and Castle-Chamber here for this misdemeanour in perverting the right Course of Justice in such Fines and other punishment as the Merits and Circumstances of the Cause doth deserve according to the Course of the said Courts For that their Consciences ought to be directed by the Evidence and not be misguided by their Wills and Affections and if the Jury know any matter of Fact which may either better or blemish their Evidence they may take advantage thereof but they ought to discover the same to the Judges And they say That this proceeding in the Court of Castle-Chamber is out of the same ground that Writs of Attaint are against a Jury that gives a false Verdict in a Court of Record at the Common Law betwixt Party and Party which false Verdict being found by a Jury of 24 notwithstanding that the first Jurors were Judges of the Fact yet that infamous Judgment was pronounced against the first Jury which is next or rather worse then Judgment of Death and lay a perpetual brand of Perjury upon them for which reason it was Antiently called the Villainous Judgment And they say That the Law to direct the punishment for such Offence is the course of the said Court which is a Law as to that purpose and the Statute of 3 H. 7. cap. 1 2. and other Statutes of Force in this Kingdom 17. To the Seventeenth they say They can answer no otherwise then they have in their Answer to the next precedent Question 18. To the Eighteenth they say That in a Legal Construction the Statute of Magna Charta in which the words of Salvo Contenemento are mentioned is only to be understood of Amerciaments and not of Fines Yet where great Fines are imposed in Terrorem upon the reducement of them regard is to be had to the Ability of the Persons 19. To the Nineteenth they say That if one doth steal a Sheep or commit other Felony and after flyeth the Course of Justice or lyeth in Woods or Mountains upon his Keeping Yet he doth not thereby become a Traytor neither doth a Proclamation make him so the Chief use whereof in such a case is to invite the Party so standing out to submit himself to Justice or to forewarn others of the danger they may run into by Keeping him Company or giving him Maintenance or Relief whereby he may the Rather submit to Justice 20. To the Twentieth they say That the Testimony or Evidence of Rebels or Traytors under Protection or Thieves or other Infamous persons is not to be used or pressed as Convincing Evidence upon the Tryal of any man for his Life And so is his Majesties printed Instructions as to persons Condemned or under Protection yet the Testimony of such persons not condemned may be given in Evidence at the Tryal and being fortified with other Concurring Proof or Apparent Circumstances may be pressed upon any Tryal and for discovering their Fellows or Abettors or Relievers as the Circumstances may offer themselves in their Examination especially if before they Confess themselves guilty of the Offence in Imitation of the Approver at the Common Law whereof no Certain Rule may be given And it needs not be made a Question here Whether the Jurors or Judges ought to be Judges of the matter of Fact It being positively laid down in the 16th Question that they are and tho their false Verdict doth convince or not convince the Prisoner yet they may be questioned and punish'd for a false Verdict as in their Answer to the 16th is already declared 21. To the Twenty first they say That that Question is now judicially depending and hath been already solemnly argued in his Majesties Court of Wards in which Court their Assistance for declaration of the Law therein is already required And therefore they humbly desire they may not be compelled to give any Opinion touching that Point until it be resolved there 22. To the Two and twentieth they say That they do conceive there is no matter of Law contained in the said Question yet for further satisfaction of your Lordships they say That upon View of an Act of State bearing date at his Majesties Castle of Dublin the 24th of December 1636. grounded upon his Majesties Letters of the 5th of July last past it appears unto them that Four shillings in the pound as of his Majesties free Gift and Reward out of the first payment of the Increase of Rent reserved to his Majesty was allow'd unto the Judges that were Commissioners and attended that Service And they humbly conceive That the receiving of that Four shillings in the pound of his Majesties Bounty stands well with the Integrity of a Judge And those Judges did inform them That they did not avoid any Letters Patents upon those Commissions of Defective Titles but receive such to Compound as submitted for the strengthening of their defective Patents and Titles And such as would stand upon the Validity of their Grants were left to the Tryal of Law And that the Compositions made after the said Grants of 4 s. in the pound were made according to Rules and Rates agreed upon by all the Commissioners before his
Majesty's said Letters or the said Act of State and not otherwise The Commons not being satisfied with these Sober and Calm Resolutions of the Judges fell to Voting their own Sense and to make Declarations of the Law upon their former Queries as followeth Questions propounded in Parliament And Declarations of the Law thereupon in Parliament Quest 1. The Declaration of the Commons in Ireland upon the Queries propounded to the Judges WHether the Subjects of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be Governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom Declarat The Subjects of this his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland are a free People and to be Governed only according the Common Law of England and Statutes made and established by Parliament in this Kingdom of Ireland and according to the Lawful Customs used in the same 2. Quest Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Seal or Privy Seal Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases And whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit or Judgment or Execution thereupon what Punishment do they incur for their deviation and transgression therein Declarat That Judges in Ireland ought to take the Oath of the Justices or Judges declared and established in several Parliaments of Force in this Kingdom and the said Judges or any of them by Color or under Pretext of any Act of State or Proclamation or under Color or Protext of any Writ Letter or Direction under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Privy Signet from the King 's Most Excellent Majesty or by Color or Pretext of any Letter or Commandment from the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom ought not to hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon and if any Letters Writs or Commands come from his Majesty or from any other or for any other Cause to the Justices or to the other deputed to do the Law and right according to the Usage of the Realm in disturbance of the Law or of the Execution of the same or of Right to the Party the Justices and others aforesaid ought to proceed and hold their Courts and Processes where the Pleas and Matters be depending before them as if no such Letters Writs or Commandments were come to them And in case any Judge or Judges Justice or Justices be found in default therein he or they so found in default ought to incur and undergo due Punishment according to the Law and former Declarations and Provisions in Parliament in that Case made and of Force in this Kingdom or as shall be Ordered Adjudged or Declared in Parliament And the Barons of the Exchequer Justices of the Assize and Goal-delivery if they be found in default as aforesaid It is hereby declared That they ought to undergo the Punishment aforesaid 3. Quest Whether the Kings Majesties Privy Council either with the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom or without him or them be a Place of Judicature by the Commons Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accompts Possessions or Title of Lands or any of them or which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law And of what Force is their Order or Decree in such Cases or any of them Declarat The Council Table of this Realm either with the Chief Governor or Governors or without the Chief Governor or Governors is no Judicatory wherein any Action Real Personal Popular or Mixt or any Suit in the Nature of the said Actions or any of them can or ought to be Commenced Heard or Determined and all Proceedings at the Council Table in any Suit in the nature of any of the said Actions are void especially Causes particularly provided for by express Acts of Parliament of Force in this Kingdom only excepted 4. Quest The Like of the Chief Governor alone Declarat The Proceedings before the Chief Governor or Governors alone in any Action Real Personal Popular or Mixt or in any Suit in the Nature of any of the said Actions are Coram non Judice and void 5. Quest Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by the Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended Transgressors against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine Mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and Forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them Declarat All Grants of Monopolies are contrary to the Laws of this Realm and therefore void and no Subject of the said Realm ought to be Fined Imprisoned or otherwise Punished for exercising or using the Lawful Liberty of a Subject contrary to such Grants 6. Quest In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom and Council may punish by Fine Imprisonment Mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise And whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what punishment do they incur that Vote for the same Declarat The Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors and Council of this Realm or any of them ought not to imprison any of his Majesties Subjects but only in Cases where the Common Laws or Statutes of the Realm do inable and warrant them so to do and they ought not to Fine or to Consure any Subject in mutilation of Member standing on the Pillory or other shameful Punishment in any Case at the Council Table and no Subject ought to be Imprisoned Fined or otherwise Punished for Infringing any Commands or Proclamation for the support or Countenance of Monopolies and if in any Case any Person or Persons shall be committed by the Command or Warrant of the Chief Governor or Governors and Privy Council of this Realm or any of them That in every such Case every Person or Persons so Committed restrained of his or their Liberty or suffering Imprisonment upon Demand or Motion made by his or their Counsel or other imployed by him or them for that purpose unto the Judges of the Court of Kings-Bench or Common-Pleas in open Court shall without delay upon any Pretence whatsoever for the ordinary Fees usually paid for the same have forthwith granted unto him or them a Writ or Writs of Habeas Corpus to be directed generally unto all and every Sheriff Goaler Minister Officer or other Person in whose Custody the Party or Parties so Committed or Restrained shall be shall at the Return of the said Writ or Writs and
according to the Command thereof upon due and convenient notice thereof given to him at the Charge of the Party or Parties who requireth or procureth such Writ or Writs and upon Security by his or their own Bond or Bonds given to pay the Charge of carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners if he or they shall be commanded by the Court to which he or they shall be brought as in like Cases has been used such Charges of bringing up and carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners to be always ordered by the Court if any Difference shall arise there about bringing or cause to be brought the Body or Bodies of the said Party or Parties so committed or restrained unto and before the Judges and Justices of the said Court from whence the same Writ or Writs shall issue in open Court and shall then likewise certify the true Cause of such his or their Deteinors or Imprisonment and thereupon the Court after such Return made and delivered in open Court shall proceed to examine and determine whether the Cause of such Commitment appearing upon the said Return be just and legal or not and shall thereupon do what to Justice shall appertain either by Delivering Bailing or remanding the Prisoner or Prisoners 7. Quest Of what Force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberty Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether they or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by Infringing any such Act of State Proclamation or both And what punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy Councellors incur that Vote for such Acts and Execution thereof Declarat An Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom cannot bind the Liberty Inheritance Possession or Goods of the Subjects of the said Kingdom nor alter the Common Law and the Infringers of any such Act of State or Proclamation ought not to forfeit Lands Leases Goods or Chattels for the infringing of any such Act of State or Proclamation and the Judges of the Law who do vote for such Acts of State or Proclamation are punishable as Breakers and Violators of their Oaths of Judges 8. Quest Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to the Martial Law And whether any man in the time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be Sentenced to death If so by whom and in what Cases If not What Punishments do they incur that in time of Peace execute Martial Law Declarat No Subject of this Kingdom ought to be Sentenced to Death or Executed by Marshal Law in time of Peace and if any Subject be so Sentenced or Executed by Marshal Law in time of Peace the Authors and Actors of any such Sentence or Execution are punishable by the Law of the Land for their so doing as Doers of their own Wrong and contrary to the said Law of the Land 9. Quest Whether Volantary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for Affirmance or Disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore Declarat No Man ought to be punished in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court for taking a Voluntary Oath before Arbitrators for affirmance or disaffirmance of any Thing or the true Performance of any thing in Civil Causes nor are the Arbitrators before such Voluntary Oath shall be taken Punishble 10. Quest Why and by what Law or by what Rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to Reducement of Fines and other Penalty in the Castle-Chamber or Council Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is Censured when as Revera he might be innocent thereof tho suborned Proofs or Circumstance might induce a Censure Declarat By the Laws and Statutes of the Realm no Man is bound or ought to be compelled to acknowledg the Offence laid to his Charge or the justness of any Censure past against him in the Castle-Chamber or at the Council Table nor ought to be deteined in Prison or abridged of his Liberty or the Reducement of his Fine stayed or delayed until he doth acknowledg such Offence or the justness of such Censure And it is further declared That no such inforced or wrested Confession or Acknowledgment can or ought to debar or hinder any Subject from his Bill of Reversal or Review of any Sentence or Decree past or conceived against him in the Castle-Chamber or in any other Court 11. Quest Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judges of Goal-Delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny the Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to the Law Declarat The Judges of the Kings-Bench or Justices of Goal-Delivery or the Judges of any other Court ought not to deny Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the Parties indicted 12. Quest What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the Respite of Homage arbitrarily to what Rate they please to what Value they may raise it by what Law they distinguish between the Respit of Homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are apportionable by Parliament Declarat The Barons of the Exchequer ought to raise the Respite of Homage above the usual Rates appearing in and by the Course and Precedents of the Court continued until the year of our Lord God 1637 and the raising thereof since that time was Arbitrary and against the Law And the Barons of the Exchequer ought not to distinguish between the Respite of Homage upon any diversity of the true values of the Knight's Fees 13. Quest Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries or for other Lawful Occasions If so for why and in what Condition of Persons and by what Law Declarat The Subjects of this Kingdom may lawfully repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries and for other their Lawful Occasions and for their so doing ought not to be punished or questioned upon the Statute of 5 R. 2. nor by any other Law or Statute of Force in this Kingdom eminent Officers and Ministers of State Commanders and Soldiers of his Majesties Army the Judges and Ministers of his Majesties Courts of Justice and of his Highness Revenue and Customs whose Attendance is necessarily requisite by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm only excepted 14. Quest Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de Mero jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so Why and by what Law And whether the Confirmation of a Dean de Facto of the Bishops Grant be good or valid in Law and no If not by what Law
Officers as to me shall seem expedient for the Levying of Forces for the Defence of the said Kingdom of Ireland of such Persons as shall voluntarily undertake the said Service I do hereby Constitute and Appoint you Collonel of a Regiment of Foot-men to serve in this present Expedition which Regiment you shall by Virtue of this Commission forthwith Levy in such parts of His Majestie 's Kingdom of England as you shall think fit for His Majestie 's Service in this urgent occasion And this Regiment being Levied you shall receive it into your Charge as Collonel and conduct it to the City of Chester where you shall Embarque it and Transport it with all possible speed unto the City of Dublin in His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland and diligently Exercise your Regiment Commanding all Officers and Soldiers of the said Regiment to obey you as their Collonel for His Majestie 's Service according to the Commission given you And you are likewise to observe and obey such Orders and Directions as you shall receive from my self and the superior Officers of the Army according to the Discipline of War Given c. After which the House entred upon the Debate of the Ordinance Ordinance to raise the Train Bands Assented to by the Lords for Enabling the Earl of Essex and Holland to raise the Trained-Bands And after a long Debate it was Assented to with some little Alterations and so sent down to the Commons It was this day Ordered That the Justices of Peace Order to put the Laws in Execution against Recusants and Depaty-Lieutenants and all other His Majestie 's Officers and Ministers in every County shall take Care to put the Laws in Execution against those Recusants That do not observe and obey the Order of this House made the 16th of this Instant November The Order was to Command them to depart from London to their several Places of abode in their respective Countries Mr. Wiseman the Remembrancer of the City of London No Priests to be found in the City gave the House an Account That there hath been a search made in London for Priests and Jesuits and they could find none but have Apprehended four Persons who refuse to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy Whereupon it was Ordered That the Recorder of the City of the said City shall Proceed against those Persons according to Law In the House of Commons Commons Vote a second Plot of the Army they fell upon the Business of the Plot of the Army and the several Examinations being read which were taken by the Deputed Lords were transmitted to the Commons The Examinations were Mr. Daniel O Neal's taken November 13. Sir Jacob Asteleys Examination Sir John Conyer's his Examination Sir Charles Lucas his Examination October 29. A Second Examination of Sir John Conyer's which was taken October 30 which was twice read as was also that of Captain William Legg taken the same day The Examination of Sir Foulk Huncks taken 29 of October upon which the House proceeded to this Vote Resolved c. That upon the Examinations now read there is sufficient Evidence for this House to believe That there was a second Design to bring up the Army against the Parliament and an Intention to make the Scotch Army stand as Neutrals It was Ordered That Sir John Hippeslley and Sir John Franklyn shall appoint some Guards with Halberts to stand in places most convenient for the safety of this place It was also Ordered That Mr. Oneal shall be allowed 5 l. per Week out of the Arrears of his pay from the time of his Committment for his present maintenance That Sir Simon Harcourt shall have 20 s. per diem above his ordinary pay as Commander of the Forces in Dublin and that 457.6.8 being a months pay shall be advanced for his Officers and 101 l. for providing of Halberts Ensigns and Partisans Orders were also issued from this House to the Sergeant at Arms attending the House to search for Priests and Jesuits as also to the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London to search diligently in the City this night The Lord Keeper did this day Report the Conference with the Commons Thursday Novemb. 18. That the House of Commons were of Opinion That there was reason enough for the Lords to joyn with them for securing the Persons of Popish Recusants and that they were not satisfied with their Lordships Answer at this time touching that business 1. Because they conceive the Popish Recusants are of as much danger The Commons Reasons for securing PoPish Recusants in the Country among their Friends and Neighbours of their Religion as they are here at this time especially when they have liberty to go abroad 2. That the Penalty is only against Convicted Recusants and the House of Commons desires it may be against suspected Persons and Favourers of Recusants 3. It would ask too much time to stay for the putting of the Laws in Execution at this time therefore the House of Commons desired that they may be secured by Imprisoning of their Persons and that for these Reasons 1. They always take security against the breach of the Peace if it concern only a private Person this is concerning the security of the whole Kingdom none is so fitting to be given as the Imprisonment of their Persons 2 That at this time they had reason to suspect the Papists and to secure them upon these Grounds 1 The Tye that lies upon their Consciences to secure the Kingdom when it is in so much danger 2 Considering the Rebellion now in Ireland for the Cause of Religion 3 Considering the Informations and Relations from sundry Parts of the danger of Recusants here and the Correspondency is conceived they have with the Business in Ireland 4 Considering both Houses had joyned by Ordinance to disarm Recusants according to Law This the House of Commons said had been done formerly upon Suspition of Danger as in 88. The House of Commons intend this should extend to the most Chief and Active Recusants of the greatest Quality and Danger a List of such Names as they desire may be secured they will bring up very speedily and they intend they should be as Hostages for the Peace and Security of the Kingdom no hurt being meant to their Persons If this were not done the House of Commons said They could not Answer for the Safety of the Kingdom Next was reported the Reasons of the Commons why they desired that the Government of the Isle of Wight being of so great Importance to this Kingdom may be Sequestred for the present into another Hand Because the Earl of Portland 's Father Mother and Wife were and are Recusants and that a Sister of his married a Recusant and if these Reasons did not satisfy their Lordships The Commons Reasons for removing the E. of Portland from the Government of the Isle of Wight The E. of Portland's defence they desired Liberty to bring up other
held by Bishops the greatest Fires and Pests of Christendom the Old Heresies were by their Industry extinct Church Discipline and Pious Constitutions by them Established many Nations by them converted many Miracles done for the Confirmation of the Christian Faith one of the Gospels written by a Bishop St. Mark of Alexandria if we believe as authentick Records as any are extant Three of the Epistles of St. Paul written to Bishops seven Epistles by the Holy Ghost himself recorded in the Revelation and sent to the Seven Asian Bishops as all ancient Fathers accord * * Timotheus Titus Clemens Limus Marcus Dyonisius Onesimus Caius Epaphroditus Jacobus Hierosolimit Euodias Simeon the Names of twelve Men besides Apostles mentioned in Holy Scripture which all Antiquity reports to have been Bishops most of the Fathers whose Works all Posterity embraces with much Zeal and Admiration were Bishops these also in our Apprehensions advance that Holy Function to a high and unalterable Estimation 17. Very many of the fairest Churches and Colleges and Places of Religion were built by Bishops which are fair Characters to shew their prompiness to do Publick Acts of Piety and that Persons so well qualified as they were that is Governors and Clergy and fairly endowed is an excellent Composition to advance publick Designs for the Honor of God in the Promotion of Publick Piety 18. Since it hath pleased this Honorable Court of late to commend a Protestation to Vs which We by solemn Vow engaged our selves to Attest with our Lives and Fortunes the established Doctrine of the Church of England We consider that since the 36 Article hath approved and established the Book of Consecration of Bishops the Abolition of Bishops would nullifie that Article and should We not make humble Remonstrance to the contrary we should suddenly recede from our great and solemn Protestation for maintenance of our Church Doctrine But may it please this Honorable Assembly We consider on the other side 19. The introducing of Lay Elders must bring an insupportable Burthen to all Parishes by maintaining them at the Parish Charge for they must be maintained or else a Transgression is made against the Apostolical Rule Tim. 5. for the principal and indeed only colourable pretended Place for Lay-Elders injoyns their Maintenances so that either the People must be Oppressed with so great a Burthen or else St. Paul's Rule not obeyed or else there is no Authority for Lay Elders as indeed there is not 20. And also there can be no less fear of Vsurpation upon the Temporal Power by the Presbytery then is pretended from Episcopacy since that Presbytery challenges Cognisance of more Causes and Persons then the Episcopacy does so making a dangerous Entrenchment upon the Supremacy and derives its Pretence from Divine Institution with more Confidence and more immediate derivation then Episcopacy though indeed more vainly as We conceive 21. We crave leave also to add this That these two viz. Episcopacy and Presbytery being the only two in contestation if any new Design should justle Episcopacy we are confident that as it hitherto wants a Name so it will want a Face or Form of Reason in case of Conscience when it shall appear Signed by Knights Justices Gentry and Free-Holders about 800 By Ministers about the Number of 40. Though this Number seem but small yet the County is so too and certainly the Reasons which they offered were great and altogether unanswerable But the Word of the Faction was Delenda est Carthago Root and Branch must up though the 12 Apostles themselves had Petitioned them and remonstrated against this Violent and Anti-Christian Enterprize as in reality both they and all Apostolick Men as is well urged in this Petition did This day a Petition was read in the House of Lords Friday Novemb. 19. Officers of the late Army Petition for their Pay Presented by the Colonels and Chief Commanders in the late King's Army shewing That whereas there was a Trust desired by the Parliament of the said Officers for part of their Pay and thereupon an Act was made for their satisfaction to be given positively on the 10th of this Instant November They therefore desire That the Parliament may be moved to make good their Act. Whereupon it was Ordered to be propounded to the Commons at a Conference The Press breaks loose against Church and State The Press now began to break loose as indeed every thing that looked like Order seemed to be wholly Abandoned to Libertinisme both in Church and State for daily Complaints were made of abusive Pamphlets against both particular Persons and the Government Civil and Ecclesiastical Complaint had been some time before made to the House of a Libel against the Earl of Worcester another against the French Ambassador a third for Printing and Publishing a Book Intituled Leicester's Commonwealth upon all which the Honourable House of Lords who had not yet ejected the Bishops and others of the Loyal Nobility had animadverted and this Day it was Ordered That Lewis Hughs a Minister be sent for to attend this House to see if he will avow the making of a Book Intituled The Grievances and Errors of the Service-Book and that the Company of the Stationers do take Care to find out the Printer of the same Ordered Wall restored to his Place That Thomas Wall shall be restored to his former Imployment about the Vpper House of Parliament which although it is in the Gentleman Vshers disposure yet the Lords do presume that he will give way unto it by reason that his Dismission from the Imployment was by Order of this House for the reglect of his Duty to their Lordships only and the Business that concerned the House The Commons were still busy with the Declaration which having been the Work of many Daies and some Nights the Faction watching the opportunity of a thin House when most of the Loyal Party were tired and risen was at last brought to that perfection that it was Ordered to be Ingrossed A Motion was made for encouraging voluntary Contributions for the Relief of the poor English in the Kingdom of Ireland to which Sir John Packer presently gave 100 l. The Lord Brooks acquainted the Lord Thursday Novemb. 20. That he had informed the Venetian Ambassador with the Order of this House concerning Priests and Jesuits and the Ambassador saith he hath none that are the King 's Native Subjects if he had any such he would discharge them as for Father Jones and Father Andrews he saith he knows none such The Petition of Robert Philips the Priest was read Philips the Priest Petitions to be released from the Tower Craving Pardon for having presented formerly to their Lordships such Petitions as have not afforded expected Satisfaction which he humbly beseecheth may not be imputed to his backwardness but rather unto want of Experience in forming Petitions of that Nature And further he beseecheth their Lordships to believe that from his Heart he is
out of the Kingdom some into New England and other parts of America others into Holland where they have transported their Manufactures of Cloth which is not only a loss by diminishing the present stock of the Kingdom but a great mischief by impairing and endangering the loss of that peculiar Trade of Cloathing which hath beâ—n a plentiful Fountain of Wealth and Honour to this Nation Those were fittest for Ecclesiastical preferment and soonest obtained it who were most officious in promoting superstition most virulent in railing against Godliness and Honesty The most Publick and Solemn Sermons before his Majesty were either to advance Prerogative above Law and decry the Property of the Subject or full of such kind of Invectives whereby they might make those odious who sought to maintain the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and such Men were sure to be weeded out of the Commission of the Peace and out of all other Imployments of Power in the Government of the Country Many noble Personages were Counsellors in Name but the Power and Authority remained in a few of such as were most addicted to this Party whose Resolutions and Determinations were brought to the Table for Countenance and Execution and not for Debate and Deliberation and no Man could offer to oppose them without Disgrace and Hazard to himself Nay all those that did not wholly Concur and Actively Contribute to the furtherance of their Designs though otherwise Persons of never so great Honor and Abilities were so far from being Imployed in any Place of Trust and Power that they were Neglected Discountenanced and upon all Occasions Injured and Oppressed This Faction was grown to that Hight and Intireness of Power that now they began to think of Finishing their Work which confisted of these three Parts 1. The Government must be set free from all restraint of Laws concerning our Persons and States 2. There must be a Conjunction betwixt Papists and Protestants in Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies only it must not yet be called Popery 3. The Puritans under which Name they include all those that desire to preserve the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to maintain Religion in the Power of it must be either rooted out of the Kingdom with force or driven out with fear For the effecting of this it was thought necessary to reduce Scotland to such Popish Superstitions and Innovations as might make them apt to joyn with England in that great Change which was intended Whereupon new Canons and a new Liturgy were prest upon them and when they refused to admit of them an Army was raised to force them to it towards which the Clergy and the Papists were very forward in their Contribution The Scots likewise raised an Army for their Defence And when both Armies were come together and ready for a bloody Encounter His Majesties own gracious Disposition and the Councel of the English Nobility and dutiful Submission of the Scots did so far prevail against the Evil Counsel of others that a Pacification was made and His Majesty returned with Peace and much Honor to London The unexpected reconciliation was most acceptable to all the Kingdom except to the Malignant Party whereof the Archbishop and the Earl of Strafford being Heads they and their Faction begun to inveigh against the Peace and to aggravate the Proceeding of the States which so incensed his Majesty that he forthwith prepared again for War And such was their Confidence that having corrupted and distempered the whole Frame and Government of the Kingdom they did now hope to corrupt that which was the only Means to restore all to a right frame and temper again to which end they perswaded His Majesty to call a Parliament not to seek Counsel and Advice of them but to draw Countenance and Supply from them and engage the whole Kingdom in their Quarrel and in the mean time continued all their unjust Levies of Money resolving either to make the Parliament pliant to their Will and to establish Mischief by a Law or else to break it and with more Color to go on by Violence to take what they could not obtain by Consent The Ground alledged for the Justification of this War was this That the undutiful Demand of the Parliament of Scotland was a sufficient Reason for His Majesty to take Arms against them without hearing the Reason of those Demands And thereupon a new Army was prepared against them their Ships were seized in all Ports both of England and Ireland and at Sea their Petitions rejected their Commissioners refused Audience This whole Kingdom most miserably distempered with Levies of Men and Money and Imprisonments of those who denied to submit to those Levies The Earl of Strafford past into Ireland caused the Parliament there to declare against the Scots to give four Subsidies towards that War and to ingage themselves their Lives and Fortunes for the Prosecution of it and gave Directions for an Army of eight thousand Foot and one thousand Horse to be levied there which were for the most part Papists The Parliament met upon the thirteenth of April one Thousand six Hundred and Forty The Earl of Strafford and Archbishop of Canterbury with their Party so prevailed with His Majesty that the House of Commons was prest to yield to a Supply for maintenance of the War with Scotland before they had provided any Relief for the great and pressing Grievances of the People which being against the Fundamental Privilege and Proceeding of Parliament was yet in humble Respect to his Majesty so far admitted as that they agreed to take the Matter of Supply into Consideration and two several Days it was debated Twelve Subsidies were demanded for the release of Ship-Money alone A third Day was appointed for Conclusion when the Heads of that Party begun to fear the People might close with the King in satisfying his desire of Money But that withal they were like to blast their malicious Designs against Scotland finding them very much indisposed to give any Countenance to that War Thereupon they wickedly advised the King to break off the Parliament and to return to the Ways of Confusion in which their own evil Intentions were most like to prosper and succeed After the Parliament ended the Fifth of May one thousand six hundred and forty this Party grew so bold as to counsel the King to Supply Himself out of His Subjects States by his own Power at his own Will without their consent The very next day some Members of both Houses had their Studies and Cabinets yea their Pockets searched Another of them not long after was committed close Prisoner for not delivering some Petitions which he received by Authority of that House and if harsher Courses were intended as was reported it is very probable that the sickness of the Earl of Strafford and the Tumultuous rising in Southwark and about Lambeth were the Causes that such violent Intentions were not brought to Execution A false and scandalous
not to tender a thing called a Plea and Demurrer As also that the Commons conceive they ought to have been called in this Case for that they have desired it in both their Charges to be present at their Answer and that it was their Right to have been called Further They observe the long delay to the Commons for that they having charged these 13 Bishops long since for meer matter of Fact to be brought so late to Answer may introduce great inconveniencies in this particular and in the Consequences and is not Exampled by former Precedents That therefore upon these Grounds the Commons desire the Lords they may be admitted to make good their proof against these 13 Bishops and that they may be brought to Judgment It was this day Ordered by the Lords Tuesday Decemb. 7. Some Causes in Parliament determinable in no other Court That Forasmuch as the Cause between Smith and Busby in a Writ of Error decidable in no other Court but in Parliament in regard the Suit was Commenced by Original Writ and depending long before the Lords here it having been sundry days attended for Argument with Counsel And being it is a matter in Law the presence of the Judges is thought needful and so cannot be heard in the Term without prejudice to the several Courts of Westminster-Hall It is therefore Ordered by this House That the said Case shall be argued at this Bar on Thursday Sevennight next being the 16th of this Instant December and the Judges are desired to be present at the said Argument And further That the Parties of either side or their Council are to attend and come prepared for arguing and debating the Points in the said Case at their perils The following Commission to give Power to the English Commissioners of both Houses to Treat with the Scots Commissioners touching the Affairs of Ireland was read viz. CHARLES by the Grace of God The King's Commission to several Lords and Commons to treat with the Scots Commissioners concerning assistance for Ireland c. To Our right Trusty and right Well-beloved Cousin William Earl of Bedford and to Our right Trusty and right Well-beloved Cousin and Councellor Robert Earl of Leicester Lieutenant General and Governor General of Our Realm of Ireland as also to Our Trusty and right Well-beloved Edward Lord Howard of Escrick and likewise to Our Trusty and right Well-beloved Nathanael Fines Esq Sir William Armyn Baronet Sir Philip Stapleton Knight John Hampden Esq Greeting Know ye That We reposing assured Trust and Confidence in your approved Wisdoms Fidelities and great Abilities have Nominated Constituted and Appointed you to be our Commissioners and by these presents do give full Power and Authority unto you or any Three or more of you whereof the said Earl of Bedford Earl of Leicester or Lord Howard to be one to Treat and Consult with Our Right Trusty and Right Well beloved Cosins William Earl of Lothian and John Earl of Lindsay Our Commissioners of Our Scottish Nation of and concerning Our Irish Affairs for the quieting and suppressing of all Tumults Insurrections and Rebellions moved and raised in Our Realm of Ireland and settling Peace and Tranquillity therein according to such Instructions and Directions as you shall hereafter from time to time receive from Vs in that behalf Wherefore We Will Require and Command you or any three or more of you whereof the said Earl of Bedford Earl of Leicester and Lord Howard to be one forthwith with all diligence to attend the Execution of this Our Commission accordingly And whatsoever you shall do in this behalf according to the Tenor hereof this Our Commission shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge for the same Witness Our Self at Westminster the 7th day of December in the 17th Year of Our Reign c. The late Bishop of Lincoln now Archbishop of York Late Bishop of Lincoln now Archbishop of York Reports the Conference concerning the Bishops Impeached Reported the Conference with the Commons Yesterday concerning the Impeached Bishops which because it differs from the Heads Reported for that purpose by Mr. Glyn in the Commons Journal I thought it not amiss to insert His Grace Reported That Mr. Glyn said That the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons having lately received a Message from their Lordships that their Lordships had appointed this day to hear the Plea and Demurrer of the Bishops and that such of the House of Commons might be there as they thought fitting commanded him to deliver unto their Lordships these Particulars That the Canons and Constitutions in Question were voted by both Houses to contain Matters contrary to the King's Prerogative the Laws of the Land the Right of Parliament the Propriety and Liberty of the Subject and many matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence That thereupon the House of Commons to the intent to bring this Matter to Judgment brought up their Impeachment of the 13 Bishops 4th Augusti last which was read verbatim This was all that was acted 4o. Augusti But least this Impeachment might prove too general they brought up a second Charge or Impeachment 13 Augusti which was read in haec verba Whereas the Knights Citizens c. which to avoid Tautologies the Reader may see before in the Transactions of the 13 August By the bringing of this second Impeachment the House of Commons conceive they had satisfied two main Objections 1. That the Book of Canons and Constitutions was not particularly instanced upon in the first which now they punctually deliver with the Impeachment 2. That they had not before charged any thing in particular but now they did That all and every the said Canons and Constitutions and Grants of Benevolence c. were and are contrary c. as in the Vote And hereupon they desired the 13 Bishops might be put to their Answers and yet for all this Desire of the Commons 13. Augusti they had several times which spent almost a Quarter of a Year given them to answer in Their last and peremptory day was the 10th of November last and then they put in no Answer at all but a certain Writing which they are pleased to call a Plea and Demurrer Vpon notice hereof the House of Commons returned an Answer That whereas they had impeached 13 Bishops whereof one of them had pleaded Not Guilty and the rest had neither confessed nor denyed the Impeachment they desired a prefixed day to descend to Proofs and make good the Charge Soon after they received a Message from their Lordships That their Lordships had appointed this day to hear the Demurrer argued Hence it appears That notwithstanding divers daies are given to the Bishops to answer nothing is brought in but a Plea and Demurrer which was not to be admitted for two several Reasons 1. No Defence ought to be made to an Impeachment brought in by the Commons but in the presence of the Commons and it ought to be
this Kingdom and as yet nothing in their Doctrine generally taught dissonant from the Word of God or the Articles ratified by Law In this Case to call their Government a perpetual Vassallage an intollerable Bondage and prima facie inauditâ alterâ parte to pray the present removal of them or as in some of their Petitions to seek the utter Dissolution and Ruin of their Offices as Anti-Christian We cannot conceive to relish of Justice or Charity nor can We joyn with them But on the contrary when We consider the Tenor of such Writings as in the name of Petitions are spread among the Common People the Tenents Preached Publickly in Pulpits and the Contents of many Printed Pamphlets swarming among us all of them dangerously exciting a disobedience to the Established Form of Government and their several intimations of the desire of the Power of the Keys and that their Congregations may Execute Ecclesiastical Censures within themselves We cannot but express our just Fears that their desire is to introduce an absolute Innovation of Presbyterial Government whereby We who are now governed by the Canon and Civil Laws dispensed by Twenty six Ordinaries easily responsible to Parliaments for any deviation from the Rule of the Law conceive we should become exposed to the meer Arbitrary Government of a numerous Presbytery who together with their Ruling Elders will arise to near forty thousand Church Governors and with their adherents must needs bear so great a sway in the Common-wealth that if future inconvenience shall be found in that Government we humbly offer to consideration how these shall be reducible by Parliaments how consistent with Monarchy and how dangerously conducible to Anarchy which We have just cause to pray against as fearing the Consequences would prove the utter loss of Learning and Laws which must necessarily produce an Extermination of Nobility Gentry and Order if not of Religion With what vehemency of Spirit these things are prosecuted and how plausible such Popular Infusions spread as incline to a Parity we held it our Duty to represent to this Honourable Assembly and humbly pray That some such present Course be taken as in your Wisdoms shall be thought fit to suppress the future dispersing of such dangerous discontents among the Common People We having great Cause to fear That of all the Distempers that at present threaten the welfare of this State there is none more worthy the mature and grave Consideration of this Honourable Assembly then to stop the Torrent of such Spirits before they swell beyond the bound of Government Then We doubt not but His Majesty persevering in his gracious Inclination to hear the Complaints and relieve the Grievances of his Subjects in frequent Parliaments it will so Vnite the Head and the Body so indissolubly Cement the Affections of his People to our Royal Soveraign that without any other Change of Government He can never want Revenue nor Wee Justice We have presumed to annex a Copy of a Petition or Libel dispersed and certain positions Preacht in this County which We conceive imply Matter of a dangerous Consequence to the Peace both of Church and State All which We humbly submit to your great Judgments Praying they may be read And shall ever Pray c. Subscribed to this Petition Four Noblemen Knights Baronets Knights and Esquires fourscore and odd Divines threescore and ten Gentlemen three hundred and odd Free-Holders and other Inhabitants above six thousand All of the same County It was this Day moved E. of Salisbury hath leave to follow some Business in the Commons House That the Earl of Salisbury having some business depending in the House of Commons and his Lordship desires being a Peer he may have leave of this House to follow it which the House Granted Then the Lords Commissioners Reported That this Morning they met with the Scots Commissioners who delivered them this Paper following with a desire that they might have a speedy Answer therein for that they are to send Letters away presently to Scotland The Paper was this It is now 20 Daies since We came hither A Scottish Paper complaining of Delayes in the Treaty for Relief for Ireland and a Forthnight since We begun this Treaty and there is no one of our Propositions answered therefore lest those that sent us and expected an Answer from us against the 8th of this Month should impute it to us we earnestly desire and expect an Answer to our Propositions given that we may give in the rest and be at a point this Day or to morrow and in Case of further Delay we demand that since the 8th of this Month at which time we should have sent Answer into Scotland to the end of the Treaty we may have Entertainment for the 2500 Men we have kept up for this Service otherwise we must send into Scotland that they may be disbanded A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Hollis A Message to the Lords by Mr. Hollis to press them to expedite the Affairs of Ireland to desire a Conference by a Committee of both Houses touching the Declaration the Propositions from the Scots the Bill for pressing of Soldiers for Ireland without which they say Men cannot be raised for that Service And further he said That the House of Commons do make this Declaration that they have done what they can to further the Relieving of the miserable and distressed Estate of the Protestants in Ireland and they do clear themselves of the Blood and Miseries which will follow if Expedition be not done speedily to those means that may relieve them To which their Lordships answered That they would give a present Meeting touching the 2 first Propositions and will consider of the rest and expedite them with all speed Next a Letter was read from Sir John Temple at Dublin The contents of Sir John Temple's Letter from Ireland to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the principal Matters of which were That Succors come so slowly out of England That the whole State of Ireland suffers and the Kingdom is likely to be lost by the slow Proceedings of sending over Men Arms and Money That the Lords of the Pale refuse to come to the Council That the Rebels are in a Body within 6 Miles of Dublin and that the Lords Gormanston Slane and Lowth have Correspondency with the Rebels That Provisions will be cut off from them at Dublin therefore they desire speedy Succors from England After which the King 's Answer to the Petition and Remonstrance was read as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen IN answer to your Petition concerning Our Speech to the two Houses of Parliament the 14th of December The King's Answer to the petition concerning breach of Privilege by his Speech First We do declare That We had no Thought or Intention of breaking the Privileges of Parliament neither are We satisfied That Our being informed of any Bill transmitted by the House of Commons to
Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament The Humble Petition of sundry Ministers intrusted to Sollicite the Petition and Remonstrance formerly Exhibited to this Honourable House and many of their Brethren Most Humbly Sheweth THat the Petitioners do most thankfully value The Petition of the Remonstrating Ministers Dec. 20. 1641. and heartily acknowledge the indefatigable Pains and Piety of this Honorable Assembly manifested in very many things of high Concernment for the Glory of God the Honor of the King the Purging of the Church and the Safety and Prosperity of this and the rest of His Majesties Kingdoms but more especially in procuring that publick Fast at your first Sitting which hath prevented many Mischiefs and drawn down many Blessings upon the Kingdom ever since in your Zeal and Courage for the True Religion professed among us against all Popish Idolatry and Superstitious Innovations expressed by your Religious Protestation and Vow * * And discountenancing the publick Liturgy and the most indispensible Duty of Praying to make room for this Seditious Preaching In countenancing the Sacred Ordinance of Preaching after long and deep contempt cast upon it by too many who had almost Exiled it from divers Parts of this Kingdom In incouraging painful and godly Ministers formerly set aside and now again profitably imployed in many Congregations greatly needing them In discountenancing bold and unmeet Men that without sufficient calling have presumptuously intruded into that Holy Office as also of all Vnworthy and Scandalous Ministers that have been Convented before you In accepting a former Petition and Remonstrance from the Petitioners taking the same into your grave Consideration and vigorously prosecuting some part thereof In freeing divers godly Ministers out of Prison and Exile and many others from heavy Censures unjustly inflicted In preventing the utter Ruin of the Petitioners and of many more by breaking that wicked Yoak of the late pernicious Oath and Canons justly branded by both Houses of Parliament and by taking away the late dreadful Tyranny of the High-Commission Court and other illegal heavy pressures of the rest of the Courts Ecclesiastical In your worthy Orders for removing of all Illegal Rites and Ceremonies superstitious and scandalous Images and Pictures and other Innovations out of all Churches and Chappels In your prudent happy and timely re-uniting without spilling of Christian Blood the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland in a firm and Religious Peace unhappily disturbed to the apparent endangering of both in your honourable endeavours to relieve and rescue our distressed Brethren in Ireland from the barbarous Outrages and Butcheries of the Popish Rebels there In your constant Vigilancy to discover and defeat the many desperate and devilish Conspiracies against the King Parliament and the Kingdom plotted by Papists and their Malignant adherents implacable Enemies to our Religion and Peace together with all your excellent Labours for Reforming and settling the Affairs of the Common-wealth whereof the Petitioners do also with others Enjoy the comfort and the large and blessed Hopes given to the Petitioners of your further indeavours for perfecting the Reformation of Religion and the Church according to the necessity thereof in a Way best becoming the Honour of such a Grave and Religious Body All of which do much Encourage them to pour out their Souls in all possible thankfulness to God for you and to put up more fervent Prayers publiquely and privately upon all occasions in your behalf at the Throne of Grace But so it is That whereas your Petitioners did in their former Petitions represent unto you divers unsufferable Grievances arising from sundry Invasions made upon the publick Doctrine of this Church from some mixtures and blemishes in the publick Worship of God by Law Established as well as from sundry gross Innovations and Superstitions iâ— Rites and Ceremonies without Law introduced from many Exorbitancies and unsupportable Vsurpations in Ecclesiastical Government and from the scandalous defect of Ministers maintenance in too many places All of which do yet remain in greatest part unremoved by reason of your many necessitated diversions from this great work for the preservation of the very Being of this Kingdom and by means hereof many distractions and disorders about matters of Religion and the Church have to the great scandal and grief of the Petitioners happen'd and are still continued which puts them upon a necessity of renewing their former Suit for redress of the aforesaid Evils and for removing whatever shall appear to your Wisdom to be the Root and Cause of them And whereas further the Petitioners and very many others in whose name and behalf they now humbly supplicate desirous in all things to submit to the Laws so far as possibly they may yet meerly out of tenderness and scruple of Conscience dare not continue as formerly they did the Vse and Exercise of some things as now they-stand injoyned not only because they have more seriously weighed the Nature and Scandal of them and that sundry Bishops and other grave Divines called to their assistance by Order of the House of Peers have as they are informed discovered divers particulars needing alteration in the Liturgy and the Vse thereof and that there is not as they humbly conceive at this day commonly extant any Book of Common Prayer without so many Variations Alterations and Additions as render it in many Parts another thing from that which was by Law Established but chiefly because you also have vouchsafed to be so far sensible of the Defects thereof and of the just Scruples of the Petitioners thereabout as to take the Reformation thereof under Consideration which they hoped would be some shelter against the strict pressing the Vse of it till your pleasure upon the full Debate thereof had been declared in a Parliamentary Way for that it seems most equal that the Consciences of Men should not be forced upon that which a Parliament it self holds needful to consider the Reformation of and give Order in till the same be accordingly done And the Petitioners having been comfortably assured of some ease therein do now to their great sorrow apprehend that the same things are anew reinforced which contrary to the blessed Inclination and Intention of His Gracious Majesty may occasion much trouble and vexation to sundry worthy and peaceable Ministers which the Petitioners have more cause to fear because sundry of their Brethren have since the beginning of this Parliament been Indicted upon the Statute of 1 Eliz. 2. And others threatned for bare omissions of some things complained of to this High Court and still depending before you whiles in divers places your Religious Orders necessarily made and published for removing of things illegal are not observed and in other places where superstitious Rites and Practices had by virtue thereof been laid aside the same are again called back and re-practised without any Check or Animadversion And because the Premisses are of extraordinary Consequence and cannot receive a perfect Cure
and disorders about the Houses of Parliament 2. To joyn with them in a Petition to his Majesty that the Houses of Parliament may have a Guard But the Faction of the Commons had other imployment for these Tumults Favoured by the Faction of the Commons and were so far from thinking fit to discourage them that some of these insolent People being laid hold on and Committed to the Gate-house their Friends in the Commons House receiving quick advertisement of it immediately dispatched Sir Robert Pye Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Glyn to inquire upon what Grounds those Citizens are Committed to the Gate-house and by whose Authority and to discharge them if they shall see Cause And when this Conference was reported by Mr. Hollis they were not at leisure to consider of it that night it was too late and therefore it was deferred till the next day and the next day when it was moved the Question being put whether the Question shall be put at this present concerning the joyning with the Lords in a Declaration as is desired it past in the Negative they being it seems so unwilling to disoblige the Rabble that they would not so much as permit the Question to be put concerning it and it is easie to conjecture with what courage this inspired those Rude and Insolent People Porters Watermen c. when they saw themselves out of the reach of the Law the only thing those mean and sordid spirits are capable of being kept in order with and that they had nothing to fear when their Guardians of the Commons House would not suffer the tenderest part of the Law a Proclamation to be awarded against them Sir Thomas Barrington this day Reported in the House of Commons ' That according to the Command of the House E. of Newport discharged from being Constable of the Tower not being able to meet with the Constable of the Tower he wrote a Letter unto him that yesterday he came to him and told him that his Majesty was pleased to discharge him of the Constableship of the Tower and to tell him he did it because it was cause of Jealousie The Reader will from hence gain a clear Light into the Mystery of all this Bustle about the Scandal which took up so great a part of this and the following Days Debate and will easily perceive the displeasure of this Lords being displaced raised all this Dust which however blanched as a Scandal upon him and others yet is so like the sayings of some in that Company at Kensington that one can difficultly be perswaded to believe but that with all this Smoak there was some Fire that the King spake what he did upon good assurance but that such was the Fury and Violence of the headstrong Faction that to have produced any Witness in a matter which concerned them so nearly and would have exposed their Designs would have been to have thrown a Man into a Den of half starved Lyons and it had been impossible to have escaped their fury without the help of Daniels Miracle in the Sacred Story The Lord Dillon and Col. L. Dillon and Colonel Taaf Imprisoned Taaf having by Order of the House been taken into Custody their Papers were searched and ordered by a Committee to be perused and they to remain in Custody till the House takes further Order therein It was also Ordered That Col. Lunsford summoned to the Commons House Lunsford be summoned to attend this House to morrow morning at 10 of the Clock and that Mr. Thraile be required to be here at the same time as also Capt. Hide Capt. Scrimshire Mr. Butler Mr. Brooks and Mr. Moore and that the Citizens who gave the Information at the Bar against Colonel Lunsford be required to be here at the same time The Reader may here see the terrible Army under Colonel Lunsford which frighted the Citizens as they pretended in Excuse to the Lords that they durst not go through Westminster-Hall A Committee was appointed to joyn with the Lords Committee for the Petition concerning L. Newport to draw the Petition concerning the Lord Newport viz. Sir Henry Vane Senior Mr. Glyn Sir Edward Hungerford Sir Gilbert Gerrard Sir John Culpeper Sir Thomas Barrington Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Robert Cooke Mr. Strode Mr. Long Sir Benjamin Rudyard and Mr. Hollis The Tumults as the Reader may have observed Tuesday Decemb. 28. begun now to be Frequent Dangerous and Insolent which occasioned his Majesty this Day to Issue out his Royal Proclamation against them as followeth By the KING HIs Majesty taking into His Princely Consideration A Proclamation against Tumults the manifold Inconveniencies and Mischiefs that may arise and happen by the Riotous and Tumultuous Assemblies in and about the Cities of London and Westminster not only to the violation of His Majesties Peace and Scandal of Government but to the Disturbance of His Houses of Parliament now Assembled doth strictly Charge and Command all the Inhabitants of His Cities of London and Westminster and the Liberties thereof and also of the Suburbs and Confines of the said Cities and Places adjoyning that upon no Occasion they do not Assemble themselves in any Tumultuous or Riotous manner in any Part or Place in or near the said Cities or Liberties and that all Perlons now Assembled in any Numbers without his Majesties Authority do forthwith upon Publishing this His Majesties Proclamation dissolve their Assemblies and Companies and repair to their Dwellings or Places of aboad upon their Perils of being proceéded against as Violaters of the Publick Peace of this his Majesties Kingdom and of being punished according to the Severity of the Laws and Statutes of the same Given at Our Court at White-Hall this 28th day of December in the Seventeenth Year of Our Reign God save the King The Lord Keeper was this Day ordered to wait on the King The King to be moved for a Monthly Fast for Ireland and move his Majesty from both Houses of Parliament that a Monthly Fast may be kept throughout the whole Kingdom during the Troubles of Ireland and that his Majesty will be pleased that a Proclamation may issue forth for this purpose and likewise for the keeping of the 20th of January next as a Fast throughout the whole Kingdom except London and Westminster where it hath been already Solemnized Then the Lord Admiral reported the draught of the Petition drawn up by the Committee of both Houses in the Kensington business which was read as follows To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled WHereas The Petition of the Lords and Commons about the Kensington business during Your Majesties last being in Scotland the Queens Majesty received Information that at a meeting in Kensington where the Earl of Essex the Earl of Newport and Lord Viscount Say and Seal the Lord Mandevile the Lord Wharton Members of the Lords House the Lord Dungaruen
Soams Alderman Pennington and Mr. Venn do repair to the Common-Council of the City of London when they are sitting and to acquaint them with the Information this House received what Practices have been used to the Inns of Court and those other Informations of the like Nature that have been given to this House of the Preparations of Armed Men about White-Hall and those other Preparations at the Tower And to inform them in what danger the Parliament the Kingdom and the City is in It was also Ordered That Mr. Whittaker Sir Robert Pye and Mr. Pury do presently repair to the House of the Marquess de Neuf-ville and see if his House be furnished with Warlike Ammunition as the House is informed Memorandum Mr. Hollis Mr. Pym Sir Arthur Haslerigg Mr. The 5 Members appearance Entred in the Journal Hampden and Mr. Strode appeared to day according to the Injunction of the House And I find among the Prints of that time a Speech of Mr. Hampden's upon the occasion of his Impeachment which confirms this Memorandum which was as followeth Mr. Speaker IT is a true Saying of the Wise Man That all things happen alike to all Men Mr. Hampden's Speech in Vindication of himself against his Impeachment Jan. 4. 1641. as well to the good Man as to the bad There is no state or condition whatsoever either of Prosperity or Adversity but all sorts of Men are sharers in the same no man can be discerned truly by the outward appearance whether he be a good Subject either to his God his Prince or his Country until he be tryed by the Touchstone of Loyalty Give me leave I beseech you to parallel the Lives of either sort that we may in some measure discern Truth from Falshood and in speaking I shall similize their Lives 1. In Religion towards God 2. In Loyalty and due Subjection to their Soveraign in their Affection towards the Safety of their Country 1. Concerning Religion the best means to discern between the True and False Religion is by searching the Sacred Writings of the Old and New Testament which is of it self pure indited by the Spirit of God and written by Holy Men unspotted in their Lives and Conversations and by this Sacred Word may we prove whether our Religion be of God or no and by looking in this Glass we may discern whether we are in the Right Way or no. And looking into the same I find that by this Truth of God that there is but one God one Christ one Faith one Religion which is the Gospel of Christ and the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles In these two Testaments is contained all things necessary to Salvation if that our Religion doth hang upon this Doctrine and no other secondary Means then it is true to which comes nearest the Protestant Religion which we profess as I really and verily believe and consequently that Religion which joyneth with this Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the Traditions and Inventions of Men Prayers to the Virgin Mary Angels Saints that are Used in the Exercise of their Religion strange and Superstitious Worshipping cringing bowing creeping to the Altar using Pictures Dirges and such like cannot be true but Erroneous nay devillish and all this is used and maintained in the Church of Rome as necessary as the Scripture to Salvation therefore is a false and Erroneous Church both in Doctrine and Discipline and all other Sects and Schisms that leans not only on the Scripture though never so contrary to the Church of Rome is a false worshipping of God and not the true Religion And thus much concerning Religion to discern the truth and falshood thereof 2 I come now Mr. Speaker to the second thing intimated unto you which was how to discern in a state between good Subjects and bad by their Loyalty and due Subjection to their Lawful Sovereign in which I shall under favour observe two things 1. Lawful Subjection to a King in his own Person and the Commands Edicts and Proclamations of the Prince and his Privy Council 2. Lawful Obedience to the Laws Statutes and Ordinances made Enacted by the King and the Lords with the Free Consent of his Great Council of State assembled in Parliament For the First To deny a willing and dutiful Obedience to a Lawful Soveraign and his Privy Council for as Cambden truly saith The Commands of the Lords Privy Councellors and the Edicts of the Prince is all one for they are inseparable the one never without the other either to defend his Royal Person and Kingdoms against the Enemies of the same either publique or private or to defend the Antient Priviledges and Prerogatives of the King pertaining and belonging of Right to his Royal Crown and the maintenance of his Honor and Dignity or to defend and maintain true Religion Established in the Land according to the truth of God is one sign of an Evil and Bad Subject Secondly To yield Obedience to the Commands of a King if against the true Religion against the Ancient and Fundamental Laws of the Land is another sign of an ill Subject Thirdly To resist the Lawful Power of the King to raise Insurrection against the King admit him adverse in his Religion to Conspire against his Sacred Person or any wayes to Rebel thô Commanding things against our Consciences in Exercising Religion or against the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject is an absolute sign of a Disaffected and Trayterous Subject And now having given the Signs of discerning Evil and Disloyal Subjects I shall only give you in a word or two the Signs of discerning which are Loyal and Good Subjects only by turning these Three Signs already shewed on the contrary side 1. He that willingly and chearfully endeavoureth himself to obey his Soveraign's Commands for the Defence of his own Person and Kingdoms for the Defence of True Religion for the Defence of the Laws of his Country is a Loyal and good Subject 2. To deny Obedience to a King commanding any thing against Gods true Worship and Religion against the Ancient and Fundamental Laws of the Land in endeavouring to perform the same is a good Subject 3. Not to resist the Lawful and Royal Power of the King to raise Sedition or Insurrection against his Person or to set Division between the King and his good Subjects by Rebellion although commanding things against Conscience in the Exercise of Religion or against the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject but patiently for the same to undergo his Prince's Displeasure whether it be to his Imprisonment Confiscation of Goods Banishment or any other Punishment whatsoever without Murmuring Grudging or Reviling against his Soveraign or his Proceedings but submitting willingly and chearfully himself and his Cause to Almighty God is the only sign of an Obedient and Loyal Subject I come now to the Second Means to know the difference between a good Subject and a bad by their Obedience to the Laws Statutes and Ordinances made
for though it cost him his life he that is in possession thinks it as well worth the keeping John Sparhank in King Henry the Fourth's time meeting two men upon the way amongst other talk said That the King was no rightful King but the Earl of March and that the Pope would grant Indulgencies to all that could assist the Earl's Title and that within half a year there would be no Liveries nor Cognizances of the King that the King had not kept promise with the People but had laid Taxes upon them In Easter-Term in the third year of Henry the Fourth in the Kings Bench Rot. 12. this adjudged Treason this denying the Title with Motives though not implyedly of Action against it adjudged Treason this is a compassing the Kings death How this was a compassing of the Kings Death is declared in the Reasons of the Judgment that the words were spoken with an intent to withdraw the affections of the people from the King and to excite them against him that in the end they might rise up against him in mortem destructionem of the King My Lords in this Judgment and others which I shall cite to your Lordships it appears that it is a compassing the Kings death by Words to endeavour to draw the Peoples hearts from the King to set discord between the King and them whereby the People should leave the King should rise up against him to the death and destruction of the King The Cases that I shall cite prove not only that it is Treason but what is sufficient Evidence to make this good Upon a Commission held the 18th year of Ed. 4. in Kent before the Marquess of Dorset and others an Indictment was preferred against John Awater of High-Treason in the Form before-mentioned for Words which are entred in the Indictment Sub hac forma That he had been servant to the Earl of Warwick that though he were dead the Earl of Oxford was alive and should have the Government of part of that Country That Edward whom you call King of England was a false Man and had by Art and Subtilty slain the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clare his Brother without any cause who before had been both of them attainted of High-Treason My Lords This Indictment was Returned into the Kings-Bench in Trinity Term in the Eighteenth year of Edward the Fourth and in Easter-Term the Two and twentieth of Edward the Fourth he was outlawed by the stay of the outlawry so long as it seems the Judges had well advised before whether it were Treason or not At the same Session Thomas Heber was Indicted of Treason for these words That the last Parliament was the most simple and insufficient Parliament that ever had been in England That the King was gone to live in Kent because that for the present he had not the love of the Citizens of London nor should he have it for the future That if the Bishop of Bath and Wells were dead the Archbishop of Canterbury being Cardinal of England would immediately lose his head This Indictment was returned into the Kings-Bench in Trinity-Term in the 18th year of Edward the 4th afterwards there came a Privy-Seal to the Judge to respit the Proceedings which as it should seem was to the intent the Judges might advise of the Case for afterwards he is outlawed of High-Treason upon this Indictment These words are thought sufficient evidence to prove these several Indictments that they were spoken to withdraw the Peoples Affections from the King to excite them against him to cause Risings against him by the People in mortem destructionem of the King Your Lordships are pleased to consider That in all these Cases the Treason was for words only words by private Persons and in a more private manner but once spoken and no more only amongst the People to excite them against the King My Lords here are Words Counsels more then Words and Actions too not only to disaffect the people to the King but the King likewise towards the People not once but often not in private but in places most Publick not by a private person but by a Counsellor of State a Lord-Lieutenant a Lord-President a Lord-Deputy of Ireland 1. To His Majesty that the Parliament had denyed to supply Him a Slander upon all the Commons of England in their Affections to the King and Kingdom in refusing to yield timely supply for the necessities of the King and Kingdom 2. From thence that the King was loose and absolved from Rules of Government and was to do every thing that Power would admit My Lords more cannot be said they cannot be aggravated whatever I should say would be in Diminution 3. Thence you have an Army in Ireland you may employ to reduce this Kingdom To Counsel a King not to Love His People is very Unnatural it goes higher to hate them to Malice them in his heart the highest expressions of Malice to destroy them by War These Coals they were cast upon his Majesty they were blown they could not kindle in that Breast Thence my Lords having done the utmost to the King he goes to the people At York the Country being met together for Justice at the Open Assises upon the Bench he tells them speaking of the Justices of the Peace that they were all for Law nothing but Law but they should find that the Kings Little Finger should be heavier then the Loyns of the Law as they shall find My Lords Who speaks this to the People a Privy-Counsellor this must be either to traduce His Majesty to the People as spoken from him or from himself who was Lord-Lieutenant of the County and President intrusted with the Forces and Justice of those parts that he would Employ both this way Add my Lords to his Words there the Exercising of an Arbitrary and Vast Jurisdiction before he had so much as Instructions or Colour of Warrant Thence we carry him into Ireland there he Represented by his place the Sacred Person of his Majesty First There at Dublin the Principal City of that Kingdom whither the Subjects of that Country came for Justice in an Assembly of Peers and others of greatest Rank upon occasion of a Speech of the Recorder of that City touching their Franchises and Regal Rights he tells them That Ireland was a Conquered Nation and that the King might do with them what he pleased Secondly Not long after in the Parliament 10 Car. in the Chair of State in full Parliament again That they were a Conquer'd Nation and that they were to expect Laws as from a Conqueror before the King might do with them what he would now they were to expect it that he would put this Power of a Conqueror in Execution The Circumstances are very Considerable in full Parliament from himself in Cathedra to the Representative Body of the whole Kingdom The Occasion adds much when they desir'd the Benefit of the Laws and that their Causes and Suits
might be determined according to Law and not by himself at his Will and Pleasure upon Paper-Petitions Thirdly Upon like occasion of Pressing the Laws and Statutes that he would make an Act of Council-Board in that Kingdom as Binding as an Act of Parliament Fourthly He made his Words good by his Actions Assumed and Exercised a Boundless and Lawless Jurisdiction over the Lives Persons and Estates of His Majesties Subjects procured Judgment of Death against a Peer of that Realm Commanded another to be Hanged this was accordingly Executed both in times of High Peace without any Process or Colour of Law Fifthly By Force of a long time he Seized the Yarn and Flax of the Subjects to the Starving and undoing of many thousands besides the Tobacco business and many Monopolies and Unlawful Taxes forced a New Oath not to dispute His Majesties Royal Commands determined Mens Estates at his own Will and Pleasure upon Paper-Petitions to himself forced Obedience to these not only by Fines and Imprisonment but likewise by the Army sessed Soldiers upon the Refusers in an Hostile manner Sixthly Was an Incendiary of the War between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland My Lords We shall leave it to your Lordships Judgments whether these words Counsels and Actions would not have been a sufficient Evidence to have Proved an Indictment drawn up against him as those before mentioned and many others are That they were spoken and done to the Intent to draw the King's heart from the People and the Affections of the People from the King that they might leave the King and afterwards rise up against him to the destruction of the King if so here is a Compassing of the King's Death within the Words of the Statute of 25th year of Edward the Third and that Warranted by many former Judgments My Lords I have now done with the Three Treasons within the Statute of the Twenty fifth of Edward the 3d. I proceed unto the 4th upon the Statute of the Eighteenth year of Henry the 6th Chapter the third in Ireland and I shall make bold to read the words to your Lordships That no Lord nor any other of what condition soever he be shall bring or lead Hoblers Kernes or Hooded Men nor any other People nor Horses to lye 〈◊〉 Horseback or on Foot upon the King's Subjects without their good wills and consent but upon their own Costs and without hurt doing to the Commons and if any so do he shall be adjudged as a Traytor 1. The Argument that hath been made concerning the Person that it extends not to the King and therefore not to him weighs nothing with your Lordships Rex non habet in Regno parem from the greatness of his Office to argue himself into the same inpossibility with His Sacred Majesty of being incapable of High-Treason it 's an Offence no Treason The words in the Statute No Lord nor any other of what condition soever he be include every Subject In Trinity Term in the Three and thirtieth year of Henry the Eighth in the King's-Bench Leonard Lord Gray having immediately before been Lord-Deputy of Ireland is Attainted of High-Treason and Judgment given against him for letting diverse Rebels out of the Castle of Dublin and discharging Irish Hostages and Pledges that had been given for securing the Peace for not punishing one that said That the King was an Heretick I have read the whole Record there 's not one thing laid to his Charge but was done by him as Lord Lieutenant He had the same Plea with my Lord of Strafford That these things were no adhering to the King's Enemies but were done for Reasons of State that he was not within those words of the Statute of the 25 of Edw. 3. himself being Lord-Lieutenant there Object It hath been said That the Soldiers sessed upon the Subjects by him were not such persons as are intended by that Statute Hoblers Kernes and Hooded Men those Rascally people Answ My Lords they were the names given to the Soldiery of those times Hoblers Horsemen the other the Foot But the words of the Statute go further Nor any other People neither Horse nor Foot His Lordship sessed upon them both Horse and Foot Object The Statute extends only to those that lead or bring Savil led them my Lord only gave the Warrant Answ To this I shall only say thus Plus peccat author quam Actor by the rule of the Law Agentes consentientes pari plectuntur poena if consent much more a Command to do it makes the Commander a Traytor If there be any Treason within this Statute my Lord of Strafford is Guilty It hath been therefore said That this Statute like Goliah's Sword hath been wrapt up in a Cloath and laid behind the door that it hath never been put in Execution My Lords if the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland hath certified your Lordships upon search of the Judgments of Attainders in Ireland he could not find that any man had been attainted upon this Statute your Lordships had had some ground to believe it Yet it 's only my Lord of Strafford's Affirmation besides your Lordships know that an Act of Parliament binds until it be repealed It hath been therefore said That this Statute is repealed by the Statute of the 8 Ed. 4. Cap. 1. and of the 10th of Hen. 7. Cap. 22. because by these two Statutes the English Statutes are brought into Ireland The Argument if I mistook it not stood thus That the Statute of the First of Henry the 4th the 10th Chap. saith That in no time to come Treason shall be adjudged otherwise then it was ordained by the Statute of the 25 E. 3. that the reason mentioned in the Eighteenth year of Henry the Sixth in the Irish Statute is not contained in the 25 Edw. 3. and therefore contrary to the Statute of the 1 Hen. 4. it must needs be void If this were Law then all the Statutes that made any new Treason after the First of Henry the 4th were void in the very Fabrick and at the time when they were made hence likewise it would follow that the Parliament now upon what occasion soever have no Power to make any thing Treason not declared to be so in the Statute 25 Edw. 3. This your Lordships easily see would make much for the Lord of Strafford's advantage but why the Law should be so your Lordships have only as yet heard an Affirmation of it no reason But some touch was given that the Statute of the Tenth year of Henry the Seventh in words makes all the Irish Statutes void which are contrary to the English The Answer to this is a denial that there are any such words in the Statute The Statute declares that the English Statutes shall be effectual and confirmed in Ireland and that all the Statutes made before-time to the contrary shall be revoked This repeals only the Irish Statutes of the Tenth year of Henry the Fourth and the Nine and twentieth
his Lordships great Care and Diligence in disbanding the said Army so happily for the preservation of the Safety and Quiet of the Kingdom which accordingly was done immediately by the Lord Keeper in the Name of the House Upon the reading of the Bill against Pluralities and Non-Residence after the debate of the House Proviso for Kings Chaplains Noblemen c. in the Bill against Pluralities these Lords Committees following were appointed to take into Consideration the King's Chaplains the Priviledges of Noblemen and the Heads of Colledges in the two Universities and also to consider of a Proviso That every Parson or Vicar that lives from his Living shall provide an able Curate to supply the Living allowing him a Moiety thereof clear of all Charges and the Parson to Nominate the Curate with the Consent of the Patron Committed to the Lord Privy Seal Marquiss of Hartford Lord Admiral Lord Chamberlain E. Southampton c. Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Mr. Justice Heath Mr. Justice Mallet Assistants their Lord ships or any Seven of them to meetat Nine a Clock to Morrow Morning in the Painted Chamber Upon a Motion made by Mr. Pym Monday October 25. Order to provide Match Bullets for the Guard A Plot against Mr. Pym. it was Ordered That the Burgesses of Westminster and the Knights for Middlesex shall take Care for the providing of Bullets and Match for the Soldiers and a convenient Place for them to stand dry in Mr. Pym declares That he received a Letter from a Porter at the Door of the House and upon the opening of it a Plaister which came from a Wound full of Corrupt Matter dropt out of it and that the Letter contained many Menaces and much railing against him The Porter being examined said a Gentleman on Horse-back in a Gray Coat gave him twelve Pence for the speedy delivery of it What ever the Matter was it made a mighty Noise both in the House and out of the House in the City and Country for Mr. Pym was then one of the greatest Idols of the Faction All the Art imaginable was used to find out the Author of this dangerous Attempt to infect Mr. Pym with the Plague but to no purpose for many Persons believed it to be only a Plot of his own inventing against himself However one Mordant was taken upon Suspition and Examined but there being no Proof against him he was acquitted Captain Ven brought in the Complaints of the Godly and Well-Affected Party Tuesday October 26. against Mr. Hutton Curate of St. Giles Cripple-Gate For that on the Day of Thanksgiving he would not suffer any one to Preach but himself 2ly That instead of Preaching in the Afternoon he only read the Bishop of Lincoln's Prayer 3. That he refused Mr. Sedgewick to preach there as Lecturer Whereupon it was Ordered That Mr. Hutton Curate of Cripple-Gate be taken into Custody for Contemptuous Speeches against the Orders of the House The House then fell upon the debate of the Impeachment of the Thirteen Bishops and great bandying of the Matter there was for the difficulty was The Commons in great perplexity what name to give the Crime of the Bishops for making the new Canons by what Name this Heinous Offence of the Bishops should be called and many of the Lawyers being in Westminster Hall it was Ordered That the Serjeant should immediately give Notice to all the Lawyers and others in Westminster Hall to attend the House Mr. Hollis thought fit that the Bishops should be charged with High Treason but some of the most Eminent of the long Robe affirmed they might as well Call it Adultery as Treason and after all that could be said upon the Subject it was Resolved upon the Question That the Debate concerning the naming of the Crime of the Bishops in making the last New Canons shall be at this time laid aside Resolved c. That no certain time shall be now appointed for the further Debate of the Business concerning the Naming of the Crime in the Bishops for the making of the last new Canons Mr. Pym Reports the Conference with the Lords Conference about a Letter from the King The Lord Keeper declared that he had received a Letter from his Majesty wherein he signified That though extraordinary Occasions had kept him there longer then he expected so that he was forced not to be so good as his Promise and Intention yet he did assure them he would make all the hast back to them that he could The King's Letter was in these Words My Lord Keeper SInce that by the Necessity of My Affairs I am detained here so long The King's Letter to the L. Keeper that I cannot be at the Down-Sitting of the Parliament I have thought it fit by these Lines to direct you to tell both Houses in My Name that as this My long Absence is beyond My Expectation so it is against My Desire and that I will make all the Dillgence that the Weightiness of these Affairs will possibly permit to return and so I rest Edenborough the 20th of October 1641. Your Assured Friend Charles R. This day Sir Robert Berkley Knight Judge Berkley at the Bar of the Lords one of the Judges of the King's Bench was brought as a Delinquent to the Bar of the Lords House and the Lord Keeper told him that he was now to hear the Impeachment of High-Treason brought up against him from the House of Commons read which being done He gave their Lordships Humble Thanks for their Justice in calling him to make his Answer and acknowledged the Justice of the House of Commons that they have desired he might make his Answer to his Charge and be Proceeded in according to Justice And withal he made it his earnest Request to their Lordships that they would permit him a little time now to speak somewhat to the Particulars of his Charge and having obtained Leave of the House so to do he made a long Relation upon the particular Articles of his Impeachment and concluded with this his Plea and Answer That he is not Guilty in Manner nor Form as is laid against him in his Impeachment After which he humbly presented to the House a Petition desiring their Lordships to take their Particulars into Consideration Hereupon he withdrew and his Petition was read in haec verba To the Right Honorable the Lords Assembled in Parliament The Humble Petition of Sir Robert Berkley one of the Judges of his Majesties Court of Kings-Bench YOur Lordships having The Petition of Judge Berkley to the Lords October 26. 1641. as your Petitioner conceiveth appointed Tuesday the next Week being the second of November next for your Petitioners Tryal he most humbly prayeth That your Lordships will be pleased to grant unto him your Lordships present Warrant for such Witnesses as he shall have Cause to use at his Tryal That your Lordships will be pleased to admit and if need be to assign him
Councel for his necessary Defence in Point of Law which may happen upon the Matter of High Treason of which he is impeached and in Point of Law and Fact upon the Matters of Misdemeanors of which he is Impeached That for the few Daies until the time of his Tryal he may remain in the Custody of the Sheriff of London where he hath remained a true Prisoner for almost three Quarters of a Year in whose House all his Collections and Papers are for his Defence And that he may have your Lordships License to go with a Keeper to Serjeants Inn to look out some Papers which he hath there and shall have Occasion to produce at his Tryal as also there to Confer and Advise with such Councel as your Lordships shall please to admit or Assign unto him And your Petitioner according to his bounden Duty shall allways pray for the continuance of your Lordships Honor and Happiness c. The Names of such Councel as your Petitioner most humbly desires are The Princes Attorney Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Herne Mr. Thorp Mr. Fountain Mr. Bierley Mr. Lightfoot Mr. Brome Subscribed Robert Berkley Before the House resolved of any Answer herein The Bishops withdraw being a mixt Charge the House was Adjourned into a Committee to consider whether the Bishops should not withdraw during the Agitation of this Business it being a mixt Charge of Treason as well as Misdemeanor after a long Debate the House was resumed and it was agreed That the Matter of Treason should be first Ordered at which the Bishops are to withdraw and when the Matter of Misdemanor come into Agitation they are to come into this House again to their Places Hereupon the Bishops withdrew themselves and after a long Debate it was Ordered That Mr. Justice Berkley shall have a Warrant for to bring such Witnesses as he shall have Occasion for to testifie for him at his Trial in Matters of Misdemeanors but not in Matters of Treason Then the Lords the Bishops were called in and the Lord Keeper declaring unto them the Sense of this Order they gave their Consents thereunto And further it was Ordered That the Princes Attorney Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Herne Mr. Bierly Mr. Thorp shall be assigned of Council for Mr. Justice Berkley in Point of Law which may happen upon the Matter of Treason and in Point of Law and Fact upon the Matters of Misdemeanor at his Trial the second of November next And that the said Justice Berkley shall still remain in the Custody of George Clerk Esquire one of the Sheriffs of the City of London where he is now and that he have Liberty to go to Serjeants Inn in Fleet Street one Day when he shall think good with his Keeper to look out some Papers which he hath there and shall have Occasion to use at his Tryal Then Mr. Justice Berkley was called in and the Lord Keeper pronounced the aforesaid Order to him for which he gave their Lordships most humble Thanks Mr. Warwick Reports Five Conge de Estires for new Bishops to be petitioned to be stayed That there were Directions given from his Majesty for the drawing up of Five Conge d' Eslires for the making of Five New Bishops viz. Dr. Prideaux Dr. Brownrick Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Winniff and Doctor King Upon which Mr. Strode moves the House to send up a Message to the Lords to desire them to joyn in Petitioning his Majesty for the staying the making of these new Bishops till the Charge against the other Bishops was dispatched This day Information was given into the House of Lords that since the Act for bounding the Forrest many Riots were committed upon the occasion of killing of Deer pretending they were not within the Bounds of the Forrest and that in Oxfordshire in one of those Fraies a Keeper was killed It was also moved that the Bill for disabling Persons in Holy Orders from exercising Temporal Jurisdiction might not be read at present it having been voted against as to the Substance in a former Bill this Sessions but it was Ordered to be read a second time to morrow Morning peremptorily Mr. Pym Reports the Reasons for Excluding the Thirteen Bishops Wednesday October 27 in Order to the delivering them at a Conference with the Lords and desires that Mr Solicitor may have the mannaging of the Business On the other Side Mr. Solicitor excused himself and desired that Mr. Pym might manage it whereupon it was to end the Contest Ordered That Mr. Pym and Mr. Solicitor should have the mannaging of the whole Business concerning the Bishops and accordingly they did so at a Conference with the Lords upon this Subject The Lord Privy Seal Reported the Conference yesterday with the House of Commons concerning Bishops viz. Mr. Mr. Pym's Speech at the Conference about Excluding the Bishops from Voting in the Case of the 13 Bishops impeached Oct. 27. 1641. Pym declared from the House of Commons That there is nothing of greater importance to the safety and good of the Kingdom then that this High Court of Parliament which is the Fountain of Justice and Government should be kept pure and uncorrupted from Corruption free from Partiality and by-respects this will not only add Lustre and Reputation but Strength and Authority to all our Actions Herein he said your Lordships are specially interessed as you are a Third Estate by Inheritance and Birth-right so the Commons are publickly interessed by Representation of the whole Body of the Commons of this Kingdom whose Lives Fortunes and Liberties are deposited under the Custody and Trust of the Parliament He said The Commons have commanded him and his Colleague Mr. Solicitor General to present to your Lordships two Propositions which they thought very necessary to be observed and put in Execution at this time 1. That the 13 Bishops which stand accused before your Lordships for making the late pretended Canons and Constitutions may be Excluded from their Votes in Parliament 2. That all the Bishops may be suspended from their Votes upon that Bill intituled An Act to disable all Persons in Holy Orders to exercise any Jurisdiction or Authority Temporal The first of these is committed to his Charge and he said he was commanded to support it with three Reasons First That the 13 Bishops have broken that Trust to which every Member of Parliament is obliged which Trust is to maintain 1. The Prerogative of the King 2. The Priviledge of Parliaments 3. The Propriety of the Subject 4. The Peace of the Kingdom And this Trust they have broken not by one Transient Act but by setting up Canons in Nature of Laws to bind the Kingdom for ever That the Canons are of this Nature appears by the Votes of both Houses and that they were all Parties to the making thereof appears by the Acts of that Synod The Book it self the Commons cannot tender to your Lordships because they sent for it but he that hath the Book in Custody
Affections therein and shall desire you to frame your Councels and to give such Expedition to the Work as the Nature thereof and the pressures in point of Time requires and whereof you are put in Mind by the daily insolence and increase of those Rebels For Conclusion your promise to apply your selves to such Courses as may support Our Royal Estate with Honor and Plenty at Home and with Power and Reputation abroad is that which We have ever promised Our Self both from your Loyalties and Affections and also for what We have already done and shall daily go adding unto for the Comfort and Happiness of Our People His Majesties Declaration to all His Loving SUBJECTS Published with the advice of His Privy-Council ALthough We do not believe that Our House of Commons intended by their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom to put Vs to any Apology either for Our past or present Actions Notwithstanding since they have thought it so very necessary upon their Observation of the present Distemper to publish the same for the satisfaction of all Our Loving Subjects We have thought it very suitable to the duty of Our place with which God hath trusted Vs to do Our part to so good a Work in which We shall not think it below our Kingly Dignity to descend to any particular which may compose and settle the Affections of Our meanest Subjects since we are so conscious to Our Self of such Vpright Intentions and Endeavours and only of such for which We give God thanks for the Peace and Happiness of Our Kingdom in which the prosperity of Our Subjects must be included that We wish from Our bears that even Our most Secret thoughts were published to their View and Examination Though We must confess We cannot but be very sorry in this Conjuncture of time when the unhappiness of this Kingdom is so generally understood abroad there should be such a necessity of publishing so many particulars from which We pray no inconveniencies may ensue that were not intended We shall in few words pass over that part of the Narrative wherein the Misfortunes of this Kingdom from Our first entring to the Crown to the beginning of this Parliament are remembred in so sensible Expressions And that other which acknowledgeth the many good Laws passed by Our Grace and Favour this Parliament for the Security of Our People of which We shall only say thus much That as We have not refused to pass any Bill presented to Vs by Our Parliament for redress of those Grievances mentioned in the Remonstrance so We have not had a greater Motive for the passing those Laws then Our own Resolution grounded upon Our Observation and understanding the State of Our Kingdom to have freed Our Subjects for the future from those Pressures which were grievous to them if those Laws had not been propounded which therefore We shall as inviolably maintain as We look to have Our own Rights preserved not doubting but all Our Loving Subjects will look on those Remedies with that full gratitude and affection that even the memory of what they have formerly undergone by the Accidents and Necessities of those Times will not be unpleasant to them And possibly in a Pious Sence of Gods Blessing upon this Nation how little share soever We shall have of the acknowledgment they will confess they have enjoyed a great measure of Happiness even these last sixteen years both in Peace and Plenty not only comparatively in respect of their Neighbours but even of those times which were justly accounted Fortunate The Fears and Jealousies which may make some Impression in the minds of Our People We will suppose may be of two sorts either for Religion or Liberty and their civil Interests The Fears for Religion may haply be not only as Ours here Established may be invaded by the Romish Party but as it is accompanied with some Ceremonies at which some tender Consciences really are or pretend to be Scandalized for of any other which have been used without any legal Warrant or Injunction and already are or speedily may be abolished we shall not speak Concerning Religion as there may be any suspicion of favour or inclination to the Papists We are willing to Declare to all the World That as We have been from Our Child-hood brought up in and practised the Religion now Established in this Kingdom so it is well known We have not contented simply with the Principles of Our Education given a good proportion of Our time and pains to the Examination of the Grounds of this Religion as it is different from that of Rome and are from our Soul so fully satisfied and assured that it is the most pure and agreeable to the Sacred Word of God of any Religion now practised in the Christian World That as We believe We can maintain the same by unanswerable Reasons so We hope We should readily Seal to it by the Effusion of Our Blood if it pleased God to call Vs to that Sacrifice And therefore nothing can be so acceptable unto Vs as any proposition which may contribute to the advancement of it here or the propagation of it abroad being the only means to draw down a Blessing from God upon Our Selves and this Nation And We have been extreamly unfortunate if this profession of Ours be wanting to Our People Our constant practice in Our own Person having always been without ostentation as much to the Evidence of Our Care and Duty herein as We could possibly tell how to express For differences amongst Our Selves for matters indifferent in their own Nature concerning Religion We shall in tenderness to any number of Our Loving Subjects very willingly comply with the advice of Our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such cases which by the judgment of most Men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided that this ease be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the peace and quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the decency and comeliness of Gods Service discountenanced nor the Pious Sober and Devout actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first Labourers in the blessed Reformation or of that time be scandal'd and defamed For We cannot without grief of heart and without some Tax upon Our Self and Our Ministers for the not Execution of Our Laws look upon the bold Licence of some Men in Printing of Pamphlets in Preaching and Printing of Sermons so full of bitterness and malice against the present Government against the Laws Established so full of Sedition against Our Self and the peace of the Kingdom that we are many times amazed to consider by what Eyes these things are seen and by what Ears they are heard And therefore We have good cause to Command as We have done and hereby do all Our Judges and Ministers of Justice
Our Attorney and Sollicitor General and the rest of Our Learned Councel to proceed with all speed against such and their Abettors who either by writing or words have so boldly and maliciously violated the Laws disturbed the Peace of the Common-wealth and as much as in them lies shaken the very Foundation upon which that peace and happiness is Founded and Constituted And we doubt not but all Our Loving Subjects will be very sensible that this busie virulent demeanour is a fit Prologue to nothing but Confusion and if not very Seasonably punished and prevented will not only be a blemish to that wholsome accommodation We intend but an unspeakable Scandal and Imputation even upon the Profession and Religion of this Our Kingdom of England Concerning the Civil Liberties and Interest of Our Subjects We shall need to say the less having erected so many lasting Monuments of Our Princely and Fatherly Care of Our People in whose many excellent Laws passed by Vs this Parliament which in truth with very much Content to Our Self We conceive to be so large and ample that very many sober Men have very little left to wish for We understood well the Right and Pretences of Right We departed from in the consenting to the Bills of the Triennial Parliament for the continuance of this present Parliament and in the preamble to the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage the Matter of which having begot so many Disturbances in late Parliaments We were willing to remove that no Interest of Ours might hereafter break that Correspondence abundantly contenting Our Self with an Assurance which We still have that We should be repaired and supplied by a just proportion of Confidence Bounty and Obedience of Our People In the Bills for the taking away the High Commission and Star-Chamber Courts We believed We had given that real Satisfaction that all Jealousies and Apprehensions of Abitrary Pressures under the Civil or Ecclesiastical State would easily have been abandoned especially when they saw all possible Doubts secured by the Visitation of a Triennial Parliament These and others of no mean Consideration We had rather should be valued in the Hearts and Affections of Our People then in any mention of Our own not doubting but as We have taken all these Occasions to render their Condition most comfortable and happy so they will always in a grateful and dutiful relation be ready with equal tenderness and alacrity to advance Our Rights and preserve Our Honor upon which their own Security and Subsistence so much depends And We will be so careful that no particular shall be Presented unto Vs for the Compleating and Establishing that Security to which We will not with the same readiness contribute Our best Assistance If these Resolutions be the Effects of Our present Councels and We take God to witness that they are such and that all Our loving Subjects may confidently expect the benefit of them from Vs Certainly no ill Design upon the Publick can accompany such Resolution neither will there be greater Cause of suspition of any Persons preferred by Vs to degrees of Honor and Places of Trust and Imployment since this Parliament And We must confess That amongst Our Misfortunes We reckon it not the least That having not retained in Our Service nor protected any one Person against whom Our Parliament hath excepted during the whole sitting of it and having in all that time scarce vouchsafed to any Man an instance of Our Grace and Favor but to such who were under some eminent Character of Estimation among Our People there should so soon be any mis-understanding or jealousy of their Fidelity and Vprightness especially in a time when We take all Occasions to declare That We conceive Our Self only capable of being served by Honest Men and in honest Ways However if in Truth We have bin mistaken in such Our Election the Particular shall be no sooner discovered to Vs either by Our own Observation or other certain Information then We will leave them to publick Justice under the Marks of Our Displeasure If notwithstanding this any Malignant Party shall take Heart and be willing to Sacrifice the Peace and Happiness of their Country to their own sinister Ends and Ambitions under what pretence of Religion and Conscience soever If they shall endeavor to lessen Our Reputation and Interest and to weaken Our lawful Power and Authority with Our good Subjects if they shall go about by discountenancing the present Laws to loosen the Bonds of Government that all Disorder and Confusion may break in upon Vs We doubt not but God in his good time will discover them unto Vs and the wisdom and courage of Our High Court of Parliament joyn with Vs in their Suppression and Punishment Having now said all that We can to express the cleerness and uprightness of Our Intentions to Our People and done all We can to manifest those Intentions We cannot but confidently believe all Our good Subjects will acknowledg Our part to be fully performed both in Deeds past and present Resolutions to do whatsoever with Justice may be required of Vs and that their quiet and prosperity depends now wholly upon themselves and is in their own power by yielding all Obedience and due Reverence to the Law which is the Inheritance of every Subject and the only security he can have for his Life Liberty or Estate and the which being neglected or dis-esteemed under what specious shews soever a very great measure of Infelicity if not an irreparable confusion must without doubt fall upon them And We doubt not it will be the most acceptable Declaration a King can make to His Subjects that for Our part We are resolved not only duly to observe the Laws of Our Self but to maintain them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of Our being And Our hope is that not only the Loyalty and good Affections of all Our loving Subjects will concur with Vs in the constant preserving a good understanding between Vs and Our People but at this time their own and Our interest and compassion of the lamentable Condition of our poor Protestant Subjects in Ireland will invite them to a fair Intelligence and Vnity amongst themselves that so We may with one Heart intend the relieving and recovering that unhappy Kingdom where those barbarous Rebels practice such Inhumane and unheard of Outrages upon Our miserable People that no Christian Ear can hear without horror nor story parallel And as We look upon this as the greatest affliction it hath pleased God to lay upon Vs so Our unhappiness is increased in that by the Distempers at home so early Remedies have not bin applyed to those growing Evils as the Expectation and necessity there requires though for Our part as We did upon the first Notice acquaint Our Parliament of Scotland where We then were with that Rebellion requiring their Aid and Assistance and gave like speedy Intimation and Recommendation to Our Parliament here so since Our Return