addresses were to passe to make a Declaration to the whole world declaring THE LEGAL RIGHT OF THE LORDS HOUSE THEIR FIXED RESOLUTION TO MAINTIAN UPHOLD IT which was sent by the Generall to the Lords by Sir Hardresse Waller and to indear himself the more unto the Lords in whose House without all doubt he intended to have sate himself he requited me evill for good and became my enemy to keep me in Prison out of which I must not stirre unlesse I would stoop and acknowledge the Lords jurisdiction over Commoners and for that end he sets his agents and instruments at work to get me to do it yet now they have suppressed them Whence it is most apparent 1. That the General Liutenant General Cromwel Ireton Harrison and other Officers of the Army now sitting as Members and over-ruling all the rest have willingly acted against their own knowledges Declarations Judgments Consciences in suppressing the Lords House and depriving them of their Legislative and Jurisdictive Right and power by presuming to make Acts pass sentences and impose Taxes without them or their assents in Parliament 2. That this Tax enforced upon the Commons and Kingdom for their own particular advantage pay and enrichment is in their own judgment and conscience both unjust and directly contrary to the Laws of the Realm being not assented to by the Lords and therefore to be unanimously and strenuously opposed by all who love their own or Countries Liberty or have any Nobility or Generosity in them Thirdly he e there asserts in positive terms in his own behalf and his confederates That the purged Parliament now sitting is but a pretended Parliament a mock-Parliament yea and in plain English NO PARLIAMENT AT ALL but the shadow of a Parliament That those company of men at Westminster that gave Commission to the High Court of Justice to try and behead the King c. were no more a Parliament by Law or Representatives of the people by the rules of Justice and Reason then such a company of men are a Parliament or Representative of the People that a company of armed Theeves choose and set apart to try judge condemn hang or behead any man that they please or can prevail over by the power of their swords to bring before them by force of arms to have their lives taken away by pretence of Justice grounded upon rules meerly flowing from their wills and swords That no Law in England authoriseth a company of servants to punish and correct their Masters or to give a Law unto them or to throw them at their pleasure out of their power and set themselves down in it which is the Armies case with the Parliament especially at Thomas Pride's late purge which was an absolute dissolution of the very Essence and being of the House of Commons to set up indeed a MOCK-POWER and a MOCK-PARLIAMENT by purging out all those that they were any way jealous of would not Vote as they would have them and suffering and permitting none to sit but for the major part of them a company of absolute School-boys that will like good Boys say their Lessons after them their Lords and Masters and vote what they would have them and so be a skreen betwixt them and the people with the name of Parliament and the shadow and imperfect image of legall and just Authority to pick their pockets for them by Assessments and Taxations and by their arbitrary and tyrannicall Courts and Committees the best of which is now become a perfect Star-chamber High-Commission and Councel-board make them their perfect slaves and vassals With much more to this purpose If then their Principall admirers who confederated with the Army and those now sitting in all their late proceedings and cryed them up most of any as the Parliament and supreme Authority of England before at and since the late force upon the House and its violent purgation doe thus in print professedly disclaim them for being any reall Parliament or House of Commons to make Acts or impose Taxes upon the people the secluded Members Presbyterians Royallists and all others have much more cause and ground to disavow and oppose their usurped Parliamentary authority and illegall Taxes Acts as not made by any true English Parliament but a mock-Mock-Parliament only Fourthly He therein further averrs f That the death of the King in Law indisputably dissolves this Parliament ipso facto though it had been all the time before never so intire and unquestionable to that very houre That no Necessity can be pretended for the continuance of it the rather because the men that would have it continue so long as they please are those who have created these necessities on purpose that by the colour thereof they may make themselves great and potent That the main end wherefore the Members of the Commons house were chosen and sent thither was To hear and conferr with King Charles and the House of Peers about the great affairs of the Nation c. And therefore are but a third part or third estate of that Parliament to which they were to come and joyn with and who were legally to make paramount and binding Laws for the people of the Nation And therefore having taken away two of the three Estates that they were chosen on purpose to joyn with to make Laws the end both in reason and Law of the peoples trust is ceased for a Minor joyned with a Major for one and the same end cannot play Lord paramount over the Major and then do what it please no more can the Minor or a Major viz. one Estate of three legally or justly destroy two of three without their own assent c. That the House of Commons sitting freely within it's limited time in all its splendor of glory without the awe of armed men neither in Law nor in the intention of their Choosers were a Parliament and therefore of themselves alone have no pretence in Law to alter the Constitution of Parliaments c. concluding thus For shame let no man be so audaciously or sottishly void of reason as to call Tho. Prides pittifull Junto A PARLIAMENT especially those that called avowed protested and declared again again those TO BE NONE that sate at Westminster the 26 27. c. of July 1647. when a few of their Members were scared away to the Army by a few hours tumult of a company of a few disorderly Apprentices And being no representative of the People much less A PARLIAMENT what pretence of Law Reason Justice or Nature can there be for you to alter the constitution of Parliaments and force upon the people the shew of their own wills lusts and pleasures for Lawes and Rules of Government made by a PRETENDED EVERLASTING NULLED PARLIAMENT a Councel of State or Star chamber and a Councel of War or rather by Fairfax Cromwel and Ireton Now if their own late confederates and creatures argue thus in print against their continuing a Parliament
ceased to be Members by the Parliaments dissolution through the Kings beheading Neither were they ever invested with any legall power to seclude or expell any of their fellow-Members especially if duly elected for any Vote wherein the Majority of the House concurred with them or differing in their consciences and judgments from them nor for any other cause without the Kings and Lords concurrence in whom the ordinary judicial power of the Parliament resides as I have undenyably proved by presidents and reasons in my Plea for the Lords p. 47. to 53. and Ardua Regni which is further evident by Claus. Dors. 7. R. 2. m. 27. and Mr. Seldens Titles of Honour p. 737. Baronet Camoyes Case discharged from being Knight of the Shire by the Kings Writ and Judgment because a Peer of the Realm the practice of sequestring and expelling Commons by their fellow-Commons onely being a late dangerous unparliamentary usurpation unknown to our Ancestors destructive to the priviledges and freedom of Parliaments and injurious to those Counties Cities Burroughs whose Trustees are secluded the House of Commons it self being no Court of Justice to give either an Oath or finall Sentence and having no more Authority to dismember their fellow-Members then any Judges Justices of Peace or Committees have to dis-judge dis-justice or dis-committee their fellow Judges Justices and Committee-men being all of equall authority and made Members onely by the Kings Writ and Peoples Election not by the Houses or other Members Votes who yet now presume both to make and unmake seclude and recall expell and restore their fellow-Members at their pleasure contrary to the practice and resolution of former ages to patch up a factious Conventicle in stead of an English Parliament Therefore this Objection no ways invalids this first Reason why I neither can nor dare submit to this illegall Tax in Conscience Law or Prudence which engage me to oppose it in all these respects Secondly Should I voluntarily submit to pay this Tax and that by vertue of an Act of Parliament made by those now sitting some of whose Elections have been voted voyd others of them elected by new illegall Writs under a new kind of Seal since the Kings beheading as the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Edward Howard uncapable of being Knights or Burgesses by the Common Law and Custome of Parliament being Peers of the Realm if now worthy such a Title as was adjudged long since in the Lord Camoyes case Claus. Dors. 7. R. 2. m. 32. and asserted by Master Selden in his Titles of Honour part 2. cha. 5. p. 737. Seconded by Sir Edward Cook in his 4. Institutes p. 1.4 5 46 47 49. As I should admit these lawfull Members so I should therby tacitly admit ex post facto assent to some particulars against my knowledg judgment conscience Oaths of Supremacy Allegiance Protestation and Solemn League and Covenant taken in the presence of Gyd himselfe with a sincere heart and reall intention to performâ— the same and persevere therein all the dayes of my life without suffering my selfe directly or indirectly by whatsoever Combination perswasion or terrour to be withdrawne therefrom As First That there may be and now is a lawfull Parliament of England actually in being and legally continuing after the Kings death consisting only of a few late Members of the Commons House without either King Lords or most of their fellow Commons which the very Consciences and judgments of all now sitting that know any thing of Parliaments and the whole Kingdome if they durst speak their knowledg know and beleeve to be false yea against their Oaths and Covenant Secondly That this Parliament so unduly constituted and packed by power of an Army combining with them hath a just and lawfull Authority to violate the Priviledges Rights Freedoms Customes and alter the constitution of our Parliaments themselves imprison seclude expell most of their fellow Members for voting according to their consciences to repeal all Votes Ordinances and Acts of Parliament they please erect new Arbitrary Courts of war and Justice to arraign condemn execute the King himself with the Peers and Commons of this Realm by a new kind of Martiall Law contrary to Magna Charta the Petition of Right and Law of the Land disinherit the Kings Posterity of the Crowne extirpate Monarchy and the whole House of Peers change and subvert the ancient Government Seals Laws Writs Legall proceedings Courts and coyne of the the Kingdome sell and dispose of all the Lands Revenues Jewels goods of the Crowne with the Lands of Deans and Chapters as they think meet absolve themselves like so many antichristian Popes with all the Subjects of England and Ireland from all the Oaths and engagements they have made TO THE KINGS MAJESTY HIS HEIRS AND SUCCESSORS yea from their very Oath of Allegiance notwithstanding this express clause in it which I desire may be seriously and conscienciously considered by all who have sworne it I do â—eleive and in Conscience am resolved that neither the Pope NOR ANY PERSON WHATSOEVER HATH POWER TO ABSOLVE ME OF THIS OATH OR ANY PART THEREOF which I acknowledge by good and full Authority to be lawfully ministred unto me and DO RENOUNCE ALL PARDONS AND DISPENSATIONS TO THE CONTRARY dispense with our Protestations Solemn League and Covenant so lately zealously uâ—ged and injoyned by both Houses on Members Officers Ministers and all sorts of People throughout the Realme dispose of the Forts Ships Forces Officers and Places of Honour Power Trust or profit within the Kingdom to whom they please to displace and remove whom they please from their Offices Trusts Pensions Callings at their pleasures without any legall cause or tryall to make what new Acts Lawes and reverse what old ones they think meet to insnare inthrall our Consciences Estates Liberties Lives to create new monstrous Treasons never heard of in the world before and declare reall treasons against King Kingdome Parliament to be no treasons and Loyalty Allegiance due obedience to our knowne Lawes and consciencious observing of our Oaths and Covenant the breach whereof would render us actuall Traytors and pernicious persons to be no lesse then High Treason for which they may justly imprison dismember disfranchise displace and fine us at their wills as they have done some of late and confiscate our persons and lives to the Gallowes and our estates to their new Exchequer a Tyranny beyond all Tyrannies ever heard of in our Nation repealing Magna Charta c. 29.5 E. 3. c. 6.25 Edw. 3. cap. 4.28 Ed. 3. c. 3.37 E. c. 18.42 E. 3. cap. 3.25 Ed. 3. cap. 2.11 R. 2. c. 4.1 H. 4 c. 10.2 H. 4. Rot. Par. 11. N. 60. 1. E. 6. c. 12.1 m. c. 1. The Petition of Right 3 Caroli and laying all our Laws Liberties Estates Lives in the very dust after so many bloody and costly years wars to defend them against the Kings invasions rayse and keep up what force they will by Sea and Land to impose what
ever breathed by how much more under the pretence of friendship and brotherly kindness they have done all the mischeife they have done in destroying our Lawes and liberties there being no Treason like Judas his Treason who betrayed his Lord and Master with a kisse c. Seventhly He there asserts k That whosoever stoops to their new change of Government and Tyranny and supports it is as absolute a Traytor both by Law and Reason as ever was in the world If not against the King PRINCE CHARLES heir apparent to his Fathers Crown and Throne yet against the peoples Majesty and Soveraignty And if this be true as it is That this purg'd Parliament IS NO PARLIAMENT AT ALL then there is neither legal Judges nor Justices of Peace in England And if so then all those that are executed at Tiburne c. by their Sentence of condemnation are meerly murthered and the Judges and Justices that condemned them are liable in time to be hanged and that justly therefore for acting without a just and legal Commission either from TRVE REGAL OR TRVE PARLIAMENTARY POWER except in corporations only where they proceed by ancient Charters in the antient Legal form And if this be Law and l Gospel as no doubt it is then by the same reason not only all legal proceedings Indictments Judgments Verdicts writs Trials Fines Recoveries Recognisances and the like before any of our new created Judges and Justices since the Kings be heading in any Courts at Westminster or in their Circuits Assisses or quarter Sessions held by new Commissions with all Commissions and Proceedings of Sheriffs ate not only meerly void illegal coram non judice to all intents with all Bills Decrees and Proceedings in Chancery or the Rolls and all Judges Justices Sheriffs now acting and Lawyers practising before them in apparent danger of High-Treason both against King Kingdom they neithver taking the Oathes of Judges Supremacy or Allegiance as they ought by Law but only to be true and faithfull to the new erected State but likewise all votes and proceedings before the pretended House or any of their Committees or Sub-Committees in the Country with all their grants and Offices Moneys Salaries Sequestrations Sales of Lands or goods Compositions c. meer Nullities and illegal acts and the proceedings of all active Commissioners Assessors Collectors Treasurers c. and all other Officers imployed to leavy and to collect this illegal tax to support that usurped Parliamentary Authority and Army which have beheaded the late King dis-inherited his undoubted Heire levyed war against and dissolved the late Houses of Parliament subverted the ancient Government of this Realm the Constitution and Liberties of our Parliaments the Lawes of the Kingdom with the liberty and property of the people of England no less then High Treason in all these respects as is fully proved by Sir Edward Cook in his 3. Institutes ch. 1.2 and by Mr. St. John in his Argument at Law at the attainder of the Earl of Strafford both published by the late Commons House Order which I desire all who are thus imployed to consider especially such Commissioners who take upon them to administer a new unlawful Ex Officio Oath to any to survey their Neighbours and their own estates in every parish and return the true values thereof to them upon the new prov'd rate for the 3 last months contribution and to fine those who refuse to do it a meer diabolical invention to multiply perjuries to damne mens souls invented by Cardinal Woolsy much inveighed against by Father Latymer in his Sermons condemned by the expresse words of the Petition of Right providing against such Oahes and a snare to enthrall the wealthier sort of people by discovering their estates to subject them to what future Taxes they think fit when as the whole House of Commons in no age had any power to administer an Oath in any case whatsoever much less then to conferr any authority on others to give such illegal Oathes and fine those who refuse them the highest kinde of Arbitrary Tyranny both over mens Consciences Properties Liberties to which those who voluntarily submit deserve not only the name of Traytors to their Country but to be m boared through the ear and they and their posterities to be made Slaves for ever to these new Tax-masters and their Successors and those who are any ways active in imposing or administring such Oathes and levying illegal Taxes by distress or otherwise may and will undoubtedly smart for it at last not only by Actions of Trespasse false imprisonment Accompt c. brought against them at the Common Law when there wil be no Committee of Indemnity to protect them from such suits but likewise by inditements of High Treason to the deserved loss of their Estates Lives and ruin of their families when there will be no Parliament of purged Commoners nor Army to secure nor legal plea to acquit them from the guilt and punishment of Traytors both to their King and Country pretended present sordid fears of loss of Liberty Estate or the like being no n excuse in such a case and time as this but an higher aggravation of their crime the o FEARFUL being the first in that dismall List of Malefactors who shall have part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death even by Christs own sentence John 18. vers. 38. To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnesse unto the truth FINIS Objection IF any object that true it is the Parliament by the Common Law and custome of the Realm determines by the Kings death but by the Statute of 17. Caroli which enaâ—ts That this present Parliament now assembled shall not be dissolved unlesse it be by Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose continues this Parliament stil in being notwithstanding the Kings beheading since no Act of Parliament is passed for its dissolution The only pretext for to support the continuance of the Parliament since the Kings violent death To this I Answer that it is a Maxime in Law That every Statue ought to be expounded according to the intent of those that made it and the mischiefs it intended only to prevent as is resolved in 4. Ed. 4.12 12. Ed. 4.18 1. Hen. 7.12.13 Plowd Com. f. 369. and Cooks 4. Instit. p. 329.330 Now the intent of the Makers of this act and the end of enacting it was not to prevent the dissolution of this Parliament by the Kings death no ways intimated or insinuated in any clause thereof being a clear unavoidable dissolution of it to all intents not provided for by this Law but by any writ or Proclamation of the King by his Regal power without consent of both Houses which I shall manifest by these ensuing reasons First from the principal occasion of making this act The King as the Commons in their *