and Authority of the King and some Prosecutors who earnestly pressed the Lords thereunto upon pretence of speedily avenging the blood of the former King and his Uncle So that the judgement was given at the Kings suit in a way not warranted by the Law and Custom of Parliament or any other Law of the Kingdom Surely when the Lords blood was suffered to cool they had reason to desire something might be left upon Record to preserve them for the future from being put upon such shameful work though such a case as the Murder of a King should again happen as it seems they did not fear to be pressed in any other so to violate the Laws But Thirdly There is not a word in the Record that imports a restriction of that lawful Jurisdiction which our Constitution placeth in the Lords to try Commoners when their cases should come before them lawfully at the suit of the Commons by Impeachment There is no mark of an intention to change any part of the ancient Government but to provide against the violation of it and that the Law might stand as before notwithstanding the unlawful Judgment they had lately given So that the question is still the same whether by the Law of the Land that is the Law and Custom of Parliament or any other Law the Lords ought to try Commoners Impeached by the Commons in Parliament as if that Record had never been And we cannot think that any man of sence will from that Record make an argument in this point since it could be no better than to infer that because the Lords are no more to be pressed by the the King or at his suit to give Judgement against Commoners contrary to the Law of the Land when they are not Impeached in Parliament therefore they must give no Judgment against them at the suit of the Commons in Parliament when they are by them Impeached according to the Laws and Customs of Parliament But if such as delight in these cavils had searched into all the Records relating unto that of the 4 Edw. 3. They might have found in the 19 of the same King a Writ issued out to suspend the Execution of the Judgment against Matrevers because it had been illegally passed And the chief reason therein given is that he had not been Impeached and suffered to make his defence But it was never suggested nor imagined that the Lords who judged him had no Jurisdiction over him because he was a Commoner or ought not to have exercised it if he had been Impeached Nor was it pretended that by Magna Charta he ought to have been tryed only by his Peers the Laws of the Land therein mentioned and the Laws and Customs of Parliaments being better known and more reverenced in those dayes than to give way to such a mistake They might also have found by another Record of the 26. of the same King that by undoubted Act of Parliament Matravers was pardon'd and the Judgment is therein agreed by the Lords and Commons to have been illegal and unjustly passed by the violent Prosecution of his Enemies but it is not alledged that it was coram non judice as if the Lords might not have judged him if the proceedings before them had been legal But as the sence and proceedings of all Parliaments have ever been best known by their practice The objectors might have found by all the Records since the 4 Edw. 3. that Commoners as well as Lords might be and have been Impeached before Lords and judged by them to Capital or other punishments as appears undenyably to every man that hath read our Histories or Records And verily the concurrent sence and practice of Parliaments for so many Ages will be admitted to be a better interpretation of their own Acts than the sense that these men have lately put upon them to encrease our Disorders But to silence the most malicious in this point let the famous Act of the 25 of Edw. 3. be considered which hath ever since limited all inferior Courts in their Jurisdiction unto the Tryal of such Treasons only as are therein particularly specified and reserved all other Treasons to the tryal and judgment of Parliament So that if any such be committed by Commoners they must be so Tryed or not at all And if the last should be allowed it will follow that the same fact which in a Peer is Treason and punishable with death in a Commoner is no Crime and Subject to no punishment Nor doth Magna Charta confine all Trials to common Juries for it ordains that they shall be Tryed by the Judgement of Peers or by the Law of the Land And will any man say the Law of Parliament is not the Law of the Land Nor are these words in Magna Charta superfluous or insignificant for then there would be no Tryal before the Constable or Marshal where is no Jury at all There could be no Tryal of a Peer of the Realm upon an Appeal of Murder who according to the Law ought in such cases to be tried by a common Jury and not by his Peers And since the Records of Parliaments are full of Impeachment of Commons and no instance can be given of the rejection of any such Impeachment it is the Commons who have reason to cite Magna Charta upon this occasion which provides expresly against the denyal of Justice And indeed it looks like a denyal of Justice when a Court that hath undoubted Cognisance of a Cause regularly brought before them shall refuse to hear it But most especially when as in this case the Prosecutors could not be so in any other Court so as a final stop was put to their suit though the Lords could not judicially know whether any body else would prosecute else-where This proceeding of the Lords looks the more odly because they rejected the Cause before they knew as Judges what it was and referred it to the ordinary Course of Law without staying to hear whether it were a matter whereof an inferior Court could take Cognisance There are Treasons which can only be adjudged in Parliament and if we may collect the sense of the House of Commons from their debates they thought there was a mixture of those kind of Treasons in Fitz-Harris's case And therefore there was little reason for that severe suggestion that the Impeachment was only designed to delay a Trial since a compleat examination of his Crime could be had no where buâ— in Parliament But it seems somewhat strange that the delaying of a Tryal and that against a professed Papist charged with Treason should be a matter so extreamly sensible For might it not be well retorted by the People that it had been long a matter extreamly sensible to them that so many Prorogations so many Dissolutions so many other Arts had been used to delay the Trials which His majesty had often desired and the Parliament prepared for against five professed Popish Lords charged
a number of fast Friends Men who having first sold themselves would not stick to sell any thing after And we may well suspect they mean very ill at Court when their designs shock't such a Parliament For that very Favourite Parliament no sooner began in good earnest to examin what had been done and what was doing but they were sent away in hast and in a fright though the Ministers know they lost thereby a constant Revenue of extraordinary Supplies And are the Ministers at present more innocent than at that time The same interest hath the ascendant at Court still and they have heightned the Resentments of the Nation by repeated affronts and can we beleive them that they dare suffer a Parliament now to Sit. But we have gain'd at least this one Point by the Declaration that it is own'd to us that Parliaments are the best Method for healing the distempers of the Kingdem and the only means to preserve the Monarchy in credit both at home and abroad Own'd by these very men who have so maliciously rendred many former Parliaments ineffectual and by this Declaration have done their utmost to make those which are to come as fruitless and thereby have confessed that they have no concern for healing the distempers of the Kingdom and preserving the credit of the Monarchy which is in effect to acknowledge themselves to be what the Commons called them Enemies to the King and Kingdom Nothing can be more true then that the Kingdom can never recover it's strength and reputation abroad or its ancient Peace and Settlement at home His Majesty can never be releived from his fears and his domestick wants nor secure from the Affronts which he dayly suffers from abroad till he resolves not only to call Parliaments but to Hearken to them when they are called For without that it is not a Declaration it is not repeated promises nay it is not the frequent calling of Parliaments which will convince the world that the use of them is not intended to be laid aside However we rejoyce that His Majesty seems resolved to have frequent Parliaments and hope he will be just to Himself and us by continuing constant to this Resolution Yet we cannot but doubt in some degree when we remember the Speech made 26 Jan. 1679. to both Houses wherein he told them that he was Vnalterably of an Opinion that long intervals of Parliaments were absolutely necessary for composing quieting the minds of the People Therefore which we ought rather to beleive the Speech or the Declaration or which is likely to last longest a Resolution or an unalterable opinion is a matter too Nice for any but Court Criticks to Decide The effectual performance of the last part of the promise will give us assurance of the first When we see the real fruits of these utmost endeavours to extirpate Popery out of Parliament when we see the D. of York no longer first Minister or rather Protector of these Kingdoms and his Creature 's no longer to have the whole direction of Affairs when we see that Love to our Religion and Laws is no longer a crime at Court no longer a certain forerunner of being Disgrâ—c'd and Remov'd from all Offices and Employments in their Power whâ—n the word Loyal which is faithful to the Law shall be restored to its old meaning no longer signifie one who is for subverting the Laws when we see the Commissions fill'd with hearty Protestants the Laws executed in good earnest against the Papists the Discoverers of the Plot countenanc'd or at least heard and suffered to give their Evidence the Courts of Justice steady and not Avowing a Jurisdiction one day which they Disown the next no more Grand Juries discharg'd least they should hear Witnesses nor Witnesses hurried away least they should inform Grand Juries when we see no more Instruments from Court labouring to raise Jealousies of Protestants at home and some regard had to Protestants abroad when we observe somewhat else to be meant by Governing according to Law then barely to put in Execution against Dissenters the Laws made against Papists then we shall promise our selves not only frequent Parliaments but all the blessed effects of pursuing Parliamentary Counsels the Extirpation of Popery the Redress of Greivances the flourishing of Laws and the perfect Restoring the Monarchy to the Credit which is ought to have but which the Authors of the Declaration confess it wants both at Home and Abroad There needs no time to open the Eyes of His Majesties good Subjects and their Hearts are ready prepared to meet him in Parliaments in order to Perfect all the good Settlement and Peace wanting in Church and State But whilst there are so many little Emissaries imployed to sow and encrease Divisions in the Nation as if the Ministers had a mind to make His Majesty the Head of a Faction and joyn himself to one Party in the Kingdom who has a just right of Governing all which Thuanm lib. 28. says was the notorious folly and occasioned the Destruction of his great Grand Mother Mary Queen of Scots whilst we see the same Dâ—fferences promoted iudustriously by the Court which gave the rise and progress to the late troubles and which were once thought fit to be buried in an Act of Oblivion VVhilst we see the Popish interest so plainly Countenanced which was then done with Caution when every pretence of Pretogative is strained to the utmost Height when Parlaiments are used with contempt and indignity and their judicature all their Highest Priviledges brought in Question in inferior Courts we have buâ— too good cause to believe that though every Loyal and Good man does yet the Ministers and Favourites do but little consider the Rise and Progress of the late Troubles and have little desire or care to preserve their Country from a Relapse And who as they never yet shewed regard to Religion Liberty or Property so they would be little concern'd to see the Monarchy shaken off if they might escape the vengeance of Publick Justice due to them for so long a Course of pernicious Counsels and for Crowning all the rest of their faults by thus Reflecting upon that High Court before which we do not doubt but we shall see them one Day brought to Judgment Thus have we with an English plainness expressed our thoughts of the late Parliaments and their Proceedings as well as of the Court in Relation to them and hope this Freedom will offend no man The Ministers who may be concern'd through their appealing unto the People cannot in Justice deny unto any one of them the Liberty of weighing the reasons which they have thought fit to publish in vindication of their actions But if it should prove otherwise and these few sheets be thought as weak and full of errors as those we endevour to confute or be held injurious unto them we desire only to know in what we transgress and that the Press may be open for our justification Let the People to whom the Appeal is made judge then between them and us and let Reason and the Law be the Rules according unto which the Controversie may be decided But if by denying this they shall like Beasts recurr to force they will thereby acknowledge that they want the Arms which belong to rational Creatures VVhereas if the Liberty of Answering be left us we will give up the Cause and confess that both Reason and Law are wanting unto us if we do not in our Reply satisfie all reasonable and impartial men that nothing is said by us but what is just and necessary to preserve the interests of the King and his People Nor can there be any thing more to the Honour of His Majesty than to give the Nations round about us to understand that the King of England doth neither Reign over a Base servile People who hearing themselves Arraign'd and Condemned dare not speak in their own Defence and Vindication nor over so silly foolish and weak a People as that ill designed and worse supported Paper might occasion the VVorld to think but that there are some Persons in his Dominions not only of true English Courage but of greater intellectuals as well as better Morals than the Advisers unto and Penners of the Declaration have manifested themselves to be FINIS 4 Edw. 3 c. 14. 36 Ed. 3. c. 10. 2 R. 2. Nu. 28. Speech 21 Oct 1680 Speech 30 Apr. 1679 Speech 26 Oct. 1662 Speech 26 Dec. 1662 Speech 6 March 1679 Lord Chancellors Speech 23. May 1678. Address presented 21 Dec. 1680. Address presented 29 Nov. 1680. Rot Part 5. H. 4 Nu. 16. Traitte des droits de la Reine On t cette bien heureuse impuissance de ne pouvoir rien faire contre les Loys de leur Pali Postâ—â—lâ—â— de Rebâ— Turcicis 1. R 3. cap. 2. 12 Car. 2. c4 4. confirm'd 13. Car. 6 7. 12 Car. 2. c. 23. an 33 14 Car. c. 10. Tacit. Cap. 1. Sect. 2. pag. 9. 36 Ed. 3. 10. Rot. Parl. 4 Ed. 3. Nu. 6. Rot. Parl. â—â— Edw. 3. M. 18. Rot Parl. 26 Edw. 3. M. 25. Co. 2. Iust. 29.
King receives a Gift from his People he takes it under such conditions and ought to imploy it in such a manner and for such purposes as they direct We must therefore consult the several Acts by which those Branches were settled if we would Judge rightly whether the Commons had not particular reasons for what they did The Statute 12 Car. 2. c. 4. says That the Commons reposing Trust in his Majesty for Guarding the Seas against all Persons intending the disturbance of Trade and the Invading of the Realm to that intent do give him the Tonnage and Poundage c. This is as direct an Appropriation as Words can make and therefore as it is manifest wrong to the Subiect to divert any part of this Branch to other uses So for the King to Anticipate it is plainly to disable himself to perform the Trust reposed in Him And the late long Parliament thought this matter so clear that about two years before their Dissolution they passed a Vote with Relation to the Customs in all most the same Words The Parliament which gave the Excise were so far from thinking that the King had power to charge or dispose of it as his own that by a special clause in the Act whereby they give it they were careful to Impower him to dispose of it or any part of it by way of Farm and to Enact that such contracts shall be effectual in Law so as they be not for a longer time then three years The Act whereby the Hearth-money was given declares that it was done to the end that the public Revenue might be proportioned to the public Charge and 't is imposible that should ever be whilst it is lyable to be pre-ingag'd and anticipated And the Parliament were so careful to preserve this Tax always clear and uncharg'd that they made it penal for any one so much as to accept of any Pension or Grant for years or any other Estate or any summe of Money out of the Revenue arising by vertue of that Act from the King His Heirs or Successors Surely if the Penners of this Declaration had not been altogether ignorant of ourown Laws and of the Policy of all other Countries Ages they would never have Printed those Votes in hopes thereby to have exposed the Commons to the World They would not have had the face to say that thereby the King was Exposed to Danger deprived of a possibility of supporting the Government and reduc'd to a more helpless condition then the meanest of His Subjects This we are sure of that if the inviolable observing of these Statutes will reduce His Majesty to a more helpless Condition then the meanest of His Subjects he will still be left in a better condition then the Richest and Greatest of his Ancestors none of which were ever Masters of such a Revenue The H. of Commons are in the next place accused of a very high Crime the assuming to themselves a power of suspending Acts of Parliament because they declared that it was their Opinion That the prosecution of Protestant Dissenters upon the penal Laws is at this time grievous to the Subject a weakning of the Protestant interest an incouragement to Popery and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom The Ministers remembred that not many years ago the whole Nation was justly Alarm'd upon the assuming an Arbitrary power of suspending penal Laws therefore they thought it would be very popular to accuse the Commons of such an Attempt But how they could possible misinterpret a Vote at that Rate how they could say the Commons pretended to a power of repealing Laws when they only declare their Opinion of the inconveniency of them will never be understood till the Authors of this are pleased to shew their Causes and Reasons for it in a second Declaration Every impartial man will own that the Commons had reason for this opinion of theirs They had with Great anxiety observed that the present design of the Papists was not against any one sort of Protestants but universal and for extirpating the Reform'd Religion They saw what advantages these Enemies made of our Divisions how cunningly they diverted us from persecuting them by fomenting our jealousies of one anether They saw the strength and nearness of the King of France and Judged of his inclinations by his usage of his own Protestant Subjects They considered the number the Bloody Principles of the Irish and what Conspiracies were form'd there and even Ripe for Execution and that Scotland was already delivered into the hands of a Prince the known head of the Papists in these Kingdomes and the Occasion of all their Plots and Insolencies as more then one Parliament had declared They could not but take notice into what hands the most considerable Trusts both Civil and Military where put and that notwithstanding all Addresses all Proclamations for a strict Execution of the penal Laws against Papists yet their Faction so far prevailed that they were eluded and only the dissenting Protestants smarted under the edge of them In the midst of such circumstances was there not cause to think an Union of all Protestants necessary and could they have any just ground to believe that the Dissenters whilst they lay under the pressures of severe Laws should with such Alacrity and Courage as was requisite undertake the defence of a Countrey where they were so ill treated A long and sad Experience had shew'd how vain the endeavours of former Parliaments had been to force us to be all of one Opinion and therefore the House of Commons resolv'd to take a sure way to make us of one Affection They knew that some busie men would be striking whilst there were weapons at Hand and therefore to make us live at Peace they meant to take away all occasions of provoking or being provoked In order to a general Repeal of these Laws they first came to a Vote declaring the necessity of it to which there was not one Negative in the House A Vote of this nature does for the most part precede the bringing in of a Bill for the Repeal of any General Law And it had been a great presumption in a particular Member to have asked leave to have brought in a Bill for Repealing so many Laws together till the House had first declar'd that in their opinion they were Grievous inconvenient No English man could be so ignorant of our Laws none but a French-man could have confidence to declaim against a proceeding so regular and Parlimentary as this Where was the disregard to the Laws Established for the Commons to attempt the abrogating of a Law that is Grievous to the Subject and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom Is it a suspending Acts of Parliament if they declare a Law to be Grievous and dangerous in their Opinion before they set about the Repeal of it And is there any ground to doubt but that a Bill would have pass'd that