in plain English most deliberate wilful and wicked Murders being committed under Colour and Pretence of Law of most of which Judgment hath been reversed by Authority of Parliament and that I think it differs not much in the fight of God whether a Man have his Hand or his Tongue dip'd therein And I doubt not but the great and good Sir Matthew Hale would have been of the same Opinion which this Gentleman who gives him those deserved Characters will find some Reason to believe if he please to peruse but The Account of the Good Steward concerning the Gift of Elocution But to the business The Votes of 23 Jan. have enumerated thirteen Heads of Crimes for every one of which some Persons may be excepted out of the Bill of Indemnity Against all Punishments of these our Lawyer takes Exception as Punishments never declared or promulged and which by the Standing Laws and Common Justice of the Realm could not be inflicted That is to say They are neither Treason Felony nor Misdemeanours For for all those there are Punishments declared and to be inflicted by the Standing Laws and Common Justice of the Realm I must add Nor Crimes punishable by any Statute And this is the least that these Words can imply So that we must suppose that they are nothing like any of those we meet with in the Impeachments Indictment Articles c. against those Flatterers and Evil Counsellors and Instruments of Princes which my Lord Coke mentions in his Chapter of Flattery or any others to be found in our Records Books of Entries Reports or Statutes not so much as those concerning the High-Commission Court 17 Car. I. But the contrary of all this is so well known to all who have looked into the Records and Books aforesaid that it is as needless as improper for this Paper to offer to recite them But in stead of that I will shew him that which is more that is That the Parliament may declare those things to be Treason the punishment whereof is sufficiently known which never were nor can now by the Ordinary Judges though in the late Reigns they are believ'd to have exceeded their Bounds be judged such and that by the express Words of the Statute 25 E. 3. And because that many other like Cases of Treason may happen in time to come which a man cannot think or declare at this present time it is accorded That if any other Case supposed Treason which is not above specified doth happen before any Justices the Justices shall tarry without any going to Judgment of the Treason till the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be adjudged Treason or other Felony Besides for such Crimes as are of their own Nature great Crimes and not meerly by some positive Law of the State there is neither Law nor Reason why the Legislative Authority in any State should not order and inflict such Punishments as they deserve And among those may doubtless be reckoned all such as have a direct tendency to the Subversion of the Laws and Government of any Stateâ— But Treason against the Kingdom as well as against the King may be found in our Books of Law and History And now I know not what most to admire in this Gentleman his profound Skill in the Law the Modesty of his Assertions or his Honesty and Conscience I cannot but think him a very proper Person to have been one of the Servants of former Crowns one of the last Kings Ministers Officers or Instruments of Justice He was certainly well qualify'd for lit and his Zeal for their Vindication discovers that he had some concern of his own in it And so confident a Gentleman and so qualify'd one would think should get in somewhere now at least into the Parliament and no doubt but set up by the Faction and a great stickler there one of those who are recommended by our Vindicators not only for Pardon and Indemnity but for Favour and Employment to our present King And no doubt but he will be well served by them as well as he was the last Year I cannot let this pass without some further Reflection It is not at all besides the Design of my Writing and no great Digression from that particular matter I am now upon Our other Vindicator tells us that His Majesty came a Stranger to England and but darkly informed of the true Arcana of the last two Reigns and of the Practices and Principles of particular Men it being so much their interest to vail them from his View Whence it is to be suppos'd that at his coming to the Government the Representation made him of Persons and Things could not but receive a Tincture of the many different Principles and Interests of those who made them Considering which it 's no wonder that in such a Maze of Business and Mist of various Representations his Majesty's Bounty might happen to to be misplac'd in some one or other page 29. I know not any thing more truly and reasonably said by that Writer It was indeed a great Disadvantage his Majesty was under being unacquainted with the Principles and Interests of Persons And as that was just Cause both of Caution in the Choice and of Excuse of him from any ill Choice upon the recommendation of others so doth it aggravate the Fault of such recommendations and recommend the Service of such as detect them I shall therefore for the more comple at Detection of some ill Men to what I have before observed add this for Confirmation 1. That the Persons concerned in these Vindications are Men of dangerour Principles in respect of the present Government For if these Crimes be not punishable by Law then are all they who invited the Prince of Orange to come in with an Army and all that associated with him Traytors and he himself an Invader and Usurper 2. They are Men of Arbitrary Principles and so dangerous to the Nation and the true ancient Constitution of this Government For if these Crimes be not punishable by Law our English Monarchy is gone and we are already fallen into a French or Turkish Tyranny 3. They are dangerous Persons to be employed or trusted in respect of their Genius Men of smooth voluble Tongues and of Confidence to impose any thing Of which I could add divers Instances to those I have noted before But I will add only this because it may serve also for another purpose He tells us If the thirteen Heads c. had been reduced into a Law one third at least of the Nation had been involved who with their disoblig'd Relations and Dependents is not so contemptible a Flock c. Now if every one of this third part had but one Relative or Dependent they would make two thirds if two they would make the compleat number of the Nation but if many of them have 10 20 100 as many certainly have they would far exceed the number of
This made them easie to be perswaded to believe that it was their Prerogative to Call and Prorogue and Dissolve Parliaments at their own Pleasure and accordingly to do it in effect at the pleasure that is at the perswasion of those Favourites Whereas not only the Notion is false and set up only for the Advantage of Favourites and Criminals but the Practice was doubly mischievous to the Kings themselves For 1. It was a great cause of Discontent heightned the Differences between the King and the People and made the Kings Cause so much the worse in those Differences and unjustifiable being often times a wilful and obstinate refusal of Justice and Protection of Criminals against the whole Nation 2. It deprived the King as well as the People of the proper Remedy of those Mischiefs For Parliaments are the great Security under God of Kings from Abuses as well as of the People from Oppression and the Persons were either Guilty or Not Guilty If Guilty they ought to be try'd and either suffer according to their Crimes or if there were any special reason for it be pardon'd If not Guilty yet ought they to be try'd that their Innocence might be cleared and the Nation satisfy'd Fifthly The same may be observ'd concerning the great Noise that was made of the Monarchy and the Church as if both were design'd to be presently destroyed which were nothing but false Clamours to incense People and raise a Faction by the Instigation of those evil Men for their own support and defence against Justice The just Punishment of Criminals who betrayed both King and People was the Destruction of Monarchy and Reformation of the manners of the Clergy the Subversion of the Church in their account But by these means were a great many honest well-meaning People impos'd upon and a mighty Faction rais'd Whereas it is certain that the English Monarchy being not meerly an Honorary matter but of great Use and Advantage to the whole Nation both at home and abroad if it be not abused the People and their Representatives in Parliament have always so well understood their Interest therein and do so at this day that nothing but some extraordinary matter ever could or can alienate their Affections from it This is plain in the case of King Charles I. when notwithstanding the great Provocations which are set out in the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom 15 Dec. 1642. and some others that Parliament would neither have destroyed the Monarchy nor hurt the King though out of those Confusions a violent Party was rais'd which did both nor would the Nation after be quiet till his Son was restored And for the Church the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Courts might have been quiet had they been truly Christian as they would be called But that which moved the Indignation of most understanding and honest Men against them was to see Christianity prophan'd and Offices of Religion sought and used as Secular Employments to see Formality encouraged sincere Piety though perhaps mixt with some unnecessary Scrupulosity oppressed and the Ministers of the Righteous Kingdom of Christ turn Promoters of Arbitrariness and Tyranny And it is no wonder if such Causes produce such Effects Sixthly It was the raising and heightning of that Faction by the Favourites and Criminal Party that brought things to that Extremity of a War which otherwise might have been composed and all satisfy'd with the Removal of a few Evil Men from about the King the Punishment of a few Criminals and the Reformation of a few necessary things But while these Evil Counsellors and Favourites raised that Faction for the security of themselves under the pretence of the King and the Church they thereby laid the Foundation of the real Destruction of both for some time And I wish all honest Men may take warning by it now and not suffer themselves to be impos'd upon again after such an Example For there is Just such another Faction which hath gone very high of late especially in the business of Elections under the same Pretences of the Monarchy and the Church wherein the greatest Sticklers were those sort of Persons which the Vindicators of the last years Transactions recommend to Favour that is the Criminals of the two last Reigns the Counsellors Agents and Accomplices of King James and the Regency-men and Haesitators who refuse to act under King William with whom the Papists joyned under-hand And their greatest Opposition was for the most part against such as were most Cordial and Active for the present King and Queen I have but one thing more to observe which comes now into my mind and hath not been so well considered as it ought and that is the great and mischievous Influence which such prodigal and unadvised conferring of Honours as was begun by King James I. and has been continued fince is apt to have in the producing of such Troubles Honor and Riches are things which may be of good use for the Benefit of others when they fall to the share of Good Men who have Hearts to make use of them for that purpose But I very much doubt whether ever any Man was the better for them On the contrary it is apparent that many nay most are the worse for them if they be raised much above their own Rank And it is certain that they are no good Men who are very greedy of either but such as will comply with the Means whereby they are to be obtained be they what they will If the Prince who hath the disposing of Honors and Preferments be wise and vertuous be sparing and prudent in conferring them only upon consideration of Worth and Merit it will be an effectual means to incline the People to apply themselves to such means which will be of great advantage to the Commonwealth But if he be prodigal and inconsiderate in the disposing of them he will not fail to attract to him many ill Men of no vertue who will certainly flatter and deceive him make it their business to please him for their own advantage at any rate rather than faithfully serve him And the more Honours he confers upon such the greater Burden he thereby brings upon himself He must provide for his own Creatures and if he hath not good and lawful means to provide for them they will not fail of Projects even of indirect means by him to provide for themselves Besides the Appetite is unsatiable The Man 's no more satisfy'd when made a Lord than when but a Knight I 'm sure not more happy nor when made an Earl than when but a Baron nor when made a Marques than when but an Earl but a Baron but a Knight but a private Gentleman But he needs more his Needs are increased and must be supplied one way or other And from this Root did spring many of those Illegal Projects in the Reigns of King James I. and King Charles I. which in the end produced those bitter Fruits we have been
wicked Courses hereafter But above all the Judges and Bishops who betray'd also their own Professions ought to be made Examples What special Reasons there may be to mitigate any part of the Punishment in any of them they being not many belongs to the Parliament to consider But in general they ought to be good and weighty On the other side when the Offenders are many and the Grime and Punishment Capital it is usual and reasonable to punish only the Principals and most notorious and to pardon all the rest as in cases of Rebellion and Insurrections because of the Evil Consequence of taking away the Lives of so many Persons whereof perhaps many were missed by the Principal of them and might prove good Men afterward In such cases they are all to be looked upon as one Body and the taking off the Heads and Principals of them is a kind of a capital Punishment of that Body of Men. But when the Crime and Punishment are of a lower Nature as Misdemeanors which being very various the Punishment is more discretionary as Fine or Fine and Imprisonment both according to the nature of the Crime it is not so nor is there any reason it should For a Pecuniary Punishment may be inflicted on many without any Inconvenience And in the present Cases it may be proportioned according to the Rates assessed upon the Criminals in some of the late Taxes and some Disabilities might very properly be made part of the Punishment But in these discretionary Punishments divers things are to be taken into consideration And one or two I will mention on the side of Mercy 1. The Example of our Heavenly father now in our own ease who hath shewed Mercy and sent so great a Deliverance notwithstanding the sinful and wicked state of the Nation 2. The Papists and the wicked Examples of those late Popish Kings have been the principal Corrupters of the Manners of the Nations and therefore if they who have been mislead by them suffer not so deep as otherwise they ought it is but reasonable So much for Punishment of Criminals and now for Preferment The Vindicators think it an Invasion upon the Kings own Liberty to deny him the use of such Persons as through the Temptations and Snares of a Court were guilty of Compliance in things blamable c. if their great Parts and Acquaintance with Affairs of State make them necessary I have known some persons cry'd up for notable cunning and shrew'd Men whom when I have hapned to understand more neerly I have found to be Men of Craft indeed but such as did consist not so much in greater Knowledge of Business than other Men had as in the use of a greater Latitude in Acting than some other Men would use And such Persons may be so far from being necessary to a Prince that they may be dangerous As I remember one of those cunning Men I mention'd being apply'd to by three Persons then of good Credit for his Advice in a Cause easie to have been relieved in Chancery as it was afterwards by his Cunning involv'd them all and some others for Witnesses in a notorious Forgery Subornation and Perjury Parts without Fidelity which is inconsistent with Compliance in Blamable things ought not to recommend any Man to a Prince's Service This I say to shew the Insufficiency of his Argument in that part Nor am I so rigorous as not to agree with him in the former as he states the Case only the person ought to be very necessary and the Prince to be very cautious how far he relies upon him Nay I will go further with him and suppose the Person stand accused or even impeach'd in Parliament I would not deny him the use of such a person in due time that is when he hath been try'd and either cleared and acquitted or for some special good cause legally pardon'd Otherwise that which those persons say is an Invasion upon the Kings Liberty to deny him is an affront to the Government tends to the Subversion of the Constitution and to the disparagement of the present Cause both of the King and Kingdom makes it look like a matter of Trick and Violence and not as I take it to be of clear and necessary Justice The Protection and Employment of Criminals being one of the great Grievances of former Reigns and as pernicious to the Kings as to the People And if this be the Case of any person now employed he cannot be a a good Man or worthy of any Favour at all if he would desire his own Security at the rate of so great an Inconvenience both to the King and to the Government and especially under our present Circumstances and not rather willingly retire for some time and if innocent modestly put himself upon a fair Tryal or if Guilty of any thing considerable humbly submit and beg Pardon And this is the truest Wisdom in such case For they who obstinately stand out in such cases do usually bring mischief to themselves or the King and the more highly they carry it out among Men the more they provoke the Judgments of God upon themselves of Excision or in some remarkable manner according to the Nature of the Crime All Courts and Judicatures ought to maintain their Authority and so much the more when notoriously violated or when there are any attempts to evade or oppose it And especially at this time when we are either doing Justice and Equity against the late King himself or plainly playing Tricks with him and exposing the Iniquity of our own Hearts There is but one thing more which I think worth my taking notice of in this Pamphlet for Trifles I have passed over good store all along and that is what he saith pag. 32. that The Calling or Dissolving of Parliaments is ordinarily one of the most mysterious Problems of State and one of the truest Touchstones of Skill in the Art of Government To Men of ill Designs or who understand not the true Constitution of this Government it may be so indeed But to honest and understanding Men nothing is more easie It was the Law of this Nation before Magna Charta or any Statute now in Force was made and it is still the Law That Parliaments be held once a year or oftner if need be And I will tell this Gentleman in the Words of King James I. that which will effectually explain this Mystery and solve the Problem A King says he governing in a setled Kingdom leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to rule according to his Laws And a little after Therefore all Kings that are not Tyrants or Perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the Limits of their Laws And they who perswade them the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth Speech 21. March 1609. This most ancient Institution is not more ancient than wise useful and necessary and of a just proportion to the other parts of the Constitution The Commons in the Counties are represented by the Grand Jury who are to enquire and present what is amiss there and the Lords by the Free-holders who are the Judges And as the Counties have their Court once in a Month the Kingdom their Courts of Common Law for private and ordinary matters four times in the year that is in effect once in a Quarter so the whole State had and still ought to have their Session for Publick and Extraordinary matters concerning the whole Kingdom once in the year The great business of this is to enquire into and inspect the Actions of the Great Officers Privy Counsellors and Judges c. and of the King himself if he do any thing contrary to Law and the common Interest of the Nation to interpret their own Laws where there is occasion and resolve other Difficulties to receive and hear Petitions redress Grievances and give Relief c. And this is an Institution as much for the Honour Safety and Ease of the Prince as for the Security and Commodity of the People For if the Prince act as he ought to do by Advice of Privy Council and of such persons as in their several Places are by Law to advise him The Parliament being to convene within the year must needs be such a Check to them that they will rarely dare to propose any thing mischievous or illegal and more rarely be able to bring it to effect and whatever it be the King is secure and the Counsellor or Officer to answer for it Now an Institution of so great Antiquity so agreeable to the other parts of our Constitution of so great Importance in the Government secured by two several Acts of Parliament in the Reign of that wise and magnanimous Prince Edw. 3. still in force besides others ought not certainly to be eluded with vain Pretences of Reason of State and abused as it hath been by the whole last Race of our Kings to their own hurt and to the great disturbance and almost Dissolution of a most Noble Constitution to gratifie ill Men by long Intermissions abrupt Prorogations and Dissolutions and by long Continuances for no other reason but to corrupt the Members to betray their Trust As by Law they ought to be assembled once a year so ought they also by Law to fit effectually till all Grievances be redressed and business dispatch'd before their Departure v. 4. Inst p. 11. For if our Kings by their Oath be obliged to Govern according to Law they are certainly obliged to it in this particular it being the chief part of the Government Parliamentum departiri non debet dummode aliqua Petitio pendeat indiscussa vel ad minus ad quam non fit determinatum Responsum Et si Rex contrarium permittat perjurus est saith the Ancient Modus tenendi Parliament of which Mr. Selden allows some Copies he had seen to be as ancient as Edw. 3. Tit. of Hon. p. 611. But this is not a place to insist more largely upon this matter nor indeed doth it need it FINIS
be more fully detected to prevent greater mischief for the future I shall endeavour to explain some of those Mysterious practices which are used at this day from their very Original in the days of King James the First and then return to what is necessary to be further observed upon this Vindication When that King after that horrid Plot of the Gunpowder Treason being more terrified with the Danger he had escaped than animated by so great a Deliverance to dependance upon the Providence of God who preserved him which that Deliverance in a special manner obliged him to deserting that great Duty and relying upon his own craft sought to secure himself and his own Posterity by Compliance and Alliances with his Enemies the Papists like those who have recourse to Witches and Conjurers instead of that Security he expected he involved himself and his Posterity in such Snares as were the real cause of all those Evils which afterward befel them and out of which they could never after extricate themselves During the long and happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth who generously performing that great Duty kept them at a distance all they could do was only to contrive secret Plots against her Person and Foreign Invasions and to sow Seeds of Division in secret Meetings all which that Providence of God in which she confided dissipated and turned to their own Confusion But when afterward they were favoured and admitted to a nearer Converse with our Princes Statesmen and Bishops they presently found their Advantage to put in practice other Policies of a more deep subtile and dangerous Nature and under the cover of very plausible Pretences whereby they and their Venome might insinuate the deeper These were principally Three 1. To change the Government and make it Arbitrary and Absolute in the Prince 2. To raise and heighten Divisions 3. To corrupt the Manners of the Nation 1. To endeavour a Change of the Government they saw several Reasons 1. They plainly saw it to be utterly unpracticable to deal with the other two Estates to introduce their Religion 2. They also understood very well that such endeavours might be so managed as to ingratiate them with the Prince and many of the Courtiers Ministers of State and of the aspiring Clergy 3. They also foresaw that by slighly insinuating into the Prince and his Favourites and Flatterers such matters as tended to this they should also by the same means promote their other design of raising Divisions between the Prince and the People 2. To raise and heighten Divisions they easily saw would not only weaken and dissolve the strength of the Nation but would also give them a fair opportunity to shelter themselves under one Party or other as they should see occasion These Advantages they might expect by Civil Dissentions and these and some more by Divisions also about matters of Religion and therefore they industriously promoted both 3. And to corrupt the manners of the Nation they might expect would give them these Advantages 1. It would weaken the strength of the Nation making men more inconsiderate and careless of any Publick Concern and indisposing them for either Prudent Counsel or Generous Action 2. It would make them more indifferent in matters of Religion and less apt to give them any disturbance in the prosecution of their Designs 3. And this indifference would dispose them to the more easie admission of theirs when it should be seasonably and prudently proposed to them under some plausible pretences These were the Principal of their Policies and the Grounds of them which were rational enough though it pleased God who hath the Hearts of all Men at his disposal by his over-ruling Providence in his own time to defeat them all But the Contrivances Methods and particular Practices which they used for the promotion of these Policies and Designs were too many to be here discovered nor is that my business at this time I shall therefore only take notice of such as are pertinent to the present occasion that is such as aspiring Courtiers and Clergymen joyned with them in though for different ends of their own and such as we have still reason to beware of Such as these 1. Magnifying the Regal Power upon false Principles beyond its true bounds according to the English Constitution and Vilifying our Laws in general as rude and barbarous and the Fundamentals of our Constitution which limit and restrain the Excesses of Regal Power as encroachments of the People upon Prerogative and so possessing the King and many honest welmeaning People not sufficiently acquainted with the Excellence of our Laws and Constitutions with False Dangerous and Pernicious Notions concerning our Government And having by this means prepared the way and insinuated themselves into Favour they never failed of some Project for their own ends though never so illegal to put the King upon encouraging him to despise the just complaints of the People as clamours and that which was below his Majesty to be aw'd by And because this could not but move all truly Loyal honest and understanding Men who saw the dangerous Consequences to the King as well as to the People of such Courses it was very natural and easie to them to represent all such as Persons of Antimonarchical and Republican Principles And always by how much the more notorious and illegal were their Practices by so much the greater and lowder were the clamours against the Commonwealth Principles and the noise of the Dangers threatning the Monarchy And by this means were our Kings kept in continual Jealousie and ill Opinion of many of their best most honest Loyal and most faithful Subjects But they could never have proceeded so far in these things had they not by inculcating false Notions concerning one branch of the Regal Office the Calling Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments and suggesting false Fears and Dangers of the consequence of their Sitting often prevailed with those Kings to abuse the Trust in that respect reposed in them contrary to the Constitution of this Government to the most ancient Laws of this Nation to the true intent and meaning of the Statutes then and still in Force and to their own true interest and safety as I shall shew hereafter By these means were our Civil Dissentions begun and by degrees continually heightened till by these Practices and the like in matters of Religion in the Year Forty one they involved the King in a Civil War to make good those illegal Practices which they before had engaged him in and by consequence in an ill Cause against as good a Parliament as perhaps this Nation ever had This will seem strange to some to come from me who was from my Youth on the Kings side and at Fifteen Years of Age ventured my life for his Service But I know what I say and will presently make it clear The King might have trusted that Parliament they would never have hurt him or diminished any thing of his true Prerogative but
the People of this Nation This I the rather mention because I doubt not but they do greatly impose upon some Persons with this Pretence of their Number which is false and would be much less than it is if they had not somewhere met with more Encouragement than they expected 4. They are of the very same kind and Genius with those Forty-One Mea I mentioned before who by their Flatteries to raise themselves imposed upon King Charles I. and so occasioned that Bloody War And again in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles II. to cover the Illegal Actions of themselves or their Friends imposed upon the whole Parliament being then in a Transport those Declarations and Clauses in some Acts which are the occasions of the Mistakes and Dissatisfaction of divers honest well-meaning Men now and of such Dissention an very much discompose and interrupt our compleat Settlement These being so dangerous Persons both to the King and Kingdom and having many though not so many as is pretended of their Party and Principles it cannot but be necessary that not only the King he cautious not to employ or entrust them in any great matters but that some good Provision be made also by Parliament to secure both against them And what less can that be than an Act of Recognition that the present King and Queen are rightful and lawful King and Queen and to disable all Persons from sitting in Parliament or to hold any Place or Office of Authority or Trust who do not believe the same and upon Oath declare such their Relief and Recognitions accordingly And now for Bunishments In all Punishments two things are to be considered The Proportion in respect of the Crime and the Consequence And as to the Crimes it may be fit to be considered in our Case Whether besides the Thirteen Heads of Crimes committed in the last Reigns expressed in the Votes there have not been some of like nature already committed in this for which some Persons may justly be excepted out of such Bill of Indemnity viz. Such as these 1. The publishing of such Libels as by denying the Justice of punishing the Crimes aforesaid de manifestly undermine the very Grounds of our present Settlement and the true Constitution of the English Government 2. The advising the present King to such things as being done by the former Kings contrary to Law seems to justifie their Illegal Actions prejudice his own Cause and tend to the disturbance of the Government again And it may be some others As to the Punishment Proportion and good Consequence are always to be regarded And therefore 1. When the Punishment is less in Proportion than the Crime and the Consequence of Necessity or great Importance for a future Security of other publick Good it is not Mercy but Injustice and Imprudence to forbear it and a greater kindness to Criminals than to the Innocent Such is the Excluding and disabling such Persons from Trusts and Employments is by former Violations and Misdemeanors have shewed themselves unfit to be further trusted This hath indeed something Penal in it but so little that it is nor properly a Punishment but a necessary provident Provision This is the Case of the late King of which more in the Apology for Mr. St. and of his Counsellors and Agents They who betray'd their Country and himself too by Evil Counsel or Compliance ought not presently to be admitted to Employments and Offices of Trust or to sit in Parliament Neither ought they to be returned for they are not in truth beni legates homines I speak not of all his Counsellors c. without distinction as the mercenary Writer falsly suggests but Evil Counsellors c. who betrayed him as well as their Country It will be a Blot and Mark of Ignominy upon this Generation to all Posterity to suffer those persons to sit as judges where those Crimes are to be considered whereof they themselves are notoriously guilty And upon this occasion I must say farther That it is a Dishonourable and an unreasonable thing to suffer persons who have rashly to say no more foul'd their Hands in Innocent Blood to fit in that Assembly to suffer their Counsels which should be Sacred to be profaned by such Company Dishonourable and unreasonable are too soft Words for that but I may very well use them concerning the permitting of Minors who are disable diary Law to dispose of their own Estates to sit there The Honour and Dignity of Parliaments ought to be preserved And therefore also they who did presume to Elect the same person to serve in this who was expelled the House the last Parliament for their Affront to the House ought to be corrected at least by turning out Their Member again and allowing them no new Writ For they deserve not to have a Representative in such an Assembly which they would presume so factiously to affront nor he to have a place there who had so little regard to the Honour of it and so little consideration of what did become those who chose him I write not this out of any Ill Will to any person but out of great Good Will for the Honour and Service of my King and Country In such as are obnoxious certainly Modesty to abstain and retire for some time would be the greatest Prudence But such as will impudently threst themselves in ought deservedly to be thrust out The Honour of a Government ought not to be prostituted for the sake of particular persons be their Quality what it will Nor are they Men of Vertue or Worth who would serve themselves at that rate The Kingdom wants not Men of unspotted and untainted Honesty and Fidelity to be employed But usually the worst are most forward Secondly When the Punishment bears a just proportion to the Crimes it ought generally speaking to be inflicted for the Maintenance of Justice and Restraint of Evil. But there may be special Reasons in respect of the Consequence either to inflict the Punishment or pardon the Offenders Amongst the Thirteen Heads of Crimes there are two at least which I take to be Treason and ought to be adjudged so by Parliament viz. The first concerning the Dispensing Power and the third concerning the Commission for Ecclesiastical Causes I know there is another Punishment of this last by the Statute of 17 Car. I. ch 11. But in this Case the manifest Intention and Design of the King and the Conspirators by those means to subvert the Government and the Laws make them both Treason These Crimes are of so high a Nature and the King himself having already suffer'd for the same Cause both Justice and Prudence require that all the Criminals by whose Unfaithfulness and Compliance the King was encouraged to those Evil Courses be brought to Tryal and have Sentence Not only Justice but Prudence doth require this to assort a just and honest Cause and to terrifie such as should dare to be concerned in such base and