Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	great_a	lord_n	5,077	5	3.6205	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37771	A narrative of the cause and manner of the imprisonment of the lords now close prisoners in the Tower of London.	J. E.	1677 (1677)	Wing E15; ESTC R874	13,864	24

convinced by any Reason could be urged for their Defence And the World judges this to be the Reason viz. That they thought four such Lords as had so great Reputation for Wisdom Interest and Courage suffering on this account would give too great a Credit to the thing they had proposed their induring Imprisonment rather than Recant their Opinions would make the World examine it too narrowly and so the Question which they endeavoured to smother would grow more publick and the People would be made sensible that what those Lords urged was only to assert the Rights and Liberties of the People of England in having frequent Nevv Parliaments and Freedom of Speech in Parliament And therefore though they had singled those Four out of all the rest of the Lords that had maintained the same thing Yet some of the Court Lords not out of love to any of the Four but to avoid this Rock and to prevent having so strong a Testimony of their Illegal Proceedings as the Interest and Reputation of those Four Lords would give did labour if possible to single out the Duke of Bucks and the Lord Shaftsbury from the other two nay some seem'd to desire the Duke of Bucks alone might be Questioned as being the first mover in this matter which he perceiving withdrew and went away and immediately after the Vote passed for all their with wrawing and though the Duke's going gave some disappointment to their Design yet still they pursu'd it by endeavouring if it were possible to separate my Lord Shaftsbury from the other two But in this also they were disappointed for my Lord of Sailsbury being call'd in first soon shew'd them by his prudent and g●llant Resolution that all endeavours of theirs to divide him from so good a Cause and truly Noble Company were but in vain And the Lord Wharton tho in so great an Age and under Circumstances as might some what have excus'd him yet bore it with so much Honour and Resolution as wholly frustrated their design of that kind for though my Lord Salisbury was not called to the 〈◊〉 but to his place in the House and there told by my ●●rd Chancellor That the House did observe that he did 〈…〉 that the Prorogation is Illegal at which the House had 〈◊〉 great Offence and lookt upon it not only as an offence to the House but also to the King and therefore required him to ask pardon of the King and the House This his Lordship refusing to do after he was again withdrawn the House judged this to be a Contempt and that he should kneel at the Bar as a Delinquent and be committed to the Tower during the pleasure of the King and the House Next my Lord of Shaftsbury was called not to his Place but to the Bar and not only required to ask pardon but to make his acknowledgment in these very words Viz. I do acknovvledge my endeavouring to maintain this Parliament is Dissolved vvas an ill advised Action for vvhich I humbly beg Pardon of the King and this most honourable House Which his Lordship refusing to do the House judged it a Contempt and that he should kneel at the Bar as a Delinquent and be committed to the Tower during the pleasure of the King and the House The Earl of Shaftsbury and Earl of Salisbury both desiring they might have their own Cooks The 〈…〉 was called not to the Bar but to his Place in the 〈◊〉 and the same words said by the Lord Chancellor to him as before to my Lord of Salisbury but he also refusing to make his acknowledgment was likewise called to the Bar and committed to the Tower By which different manner of proceedings It is manifest that they would gladly have lessened the Testimony of those Lord had they not been persons that knew not how to consult their particular conveniencies before their own Honour and the Publick Interest Next morning the House sitting the Duke of Buckingham came in and took his Place but was immediately call'd upon to withdraw He earnestly pressed to be first heard but that not being suffered he withdrew and was immediately ordered to be brought to the Bar by the Gentleman-Usher of the Black-Rod which accordingly was done where he spake to this purpose My Lords Yesterday vvhen I vvent avvay I vvas ill and besides I thought I had sufficiently tyred your Lordships vvith my Discourse but since I hear you have committed the Earl of Salisbury Earl of Shaftsbury and my Lord Wharton to the Tower I am come hither to pray your Lordships to Discharge them or if not to Send me to bear them Company for I conceive they have done nothing but vvhat I have done as much they only Arguing for vvhat I first moved After which the Lord Chancellor spake to the Duke of Bucks as follows My Lord I am to tell you in what Condition your Affairs stand here My Lords find you highly guilty in Asserting That this Parliament is Dissolved and very active in maintaining it and therefore have Ordered that you make this acknowledgment at the Bar which I shall read to you viz. I do acknovvledge that my endeavouring to maintain That this Parliament is Dissolved vvas an ill advised Action for vvhich I humbly beg the Pardon of the Kings Majesty and of this most honourable House To which the Duke replyed That if he had been unmannerly in his Behaviour or if he had let fall any foolish or undecent expression he vvas ready to ask Pardon But there vvere tvvo things for vvhich he never could ask Pardon The first vvas for Thinking for that no man can help The next vvas for declaring to their Lordships vvhat he did Think to be for his Majesty's Service their Lordships Henour and the Good and Safety of the People of England For if I should not do this I vvere not an honest Man nor vvorthy to sit in this House as a Peer of the Realm Upon which his refusal the Lord Chancellor pronounced this Sentence upon him That for his Contempt to his Majesty and this House he shall stand committed to the Tovver of London during the pleasure of the King and this House Then the Duke of Bucks desired That he might have his own Cook and Butler and so withdrew And immediately upon the Motion of the Lord Treasurer and the Duke of York this further Order was made Whereas George Duke of Bucks James Earl of Salisbury Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury and Philip Lord Wharton stand committed Prisoners to the Tower of London by Order of this House It is this Day further Ordered by c. That the said Lords remaining Prisoners be kept severally apart and that they be not suffered to meet together unless it be at Church and that no Persons be suffered to Visit them without the leave of this House except their necessary Servants and Attendants For which this shall be a sufficient Warrant To the Constable of the Tovver of London c. Thus Sir I have given

A NARRATIVE OF THE Cause and Manner OF THE Imprisonment OF THE LORDS NOW Close Prisoners in the Tower Of LONDON PSAL. 37 Fret not thy self because of him vvho prospereth in his vvay because of the man vvho bringeth vvicked devices to pass For yet a little vvhile and the vvicked shall not be yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be Amsterdam 1677. A NARRATIVE OF THE Cause and Manner of the Imprisonment of the LORDS Now Close Prisoners in the Tower of London c SIR IN your last you commanded me to give you an enact account of the opening and proceeding of the Parliament You knovv you may freely command me to serve you in any thing I am able but you likevise knovv that I am no Courtier nor Member of Parliament and therefore I Wonder you should apply your self to me on this occasion since you have so many Friends as vvell at White-Hall as in both Houses vvhich could give you a more particular Relation But lest you should think I say this to excuse my self from serving you I shall as vvell as I can give you an account both of vvhat I my self have observed in this matter and vvhat I have received from common Fame ON Thursday the 15th of February the Parliament as they call themselves or the Convention as I hear others generally call them Met And at the same time a vast number of People filled Westminster Hall the Court of Requests the Painted Chamber the Lobbies and all places near the Parliament House that the like was never before seen upon the Meeting of This or any Other Parliament in our Memory I being one of the Number was more than ordinarily curious to find out and observe the temper of that great Body of People and what it was they did desire or expect and upon the strictest Enquiry I could make I found that except a few Persons who were engaged thereto by their Interest or Dependance they did earnestly desire and expect they should declare themselves to be No Parliament When the King was come the Commons were sent for up to the Lords House Where I made a shift to crowd in and hear The King and my Lord Chancellour made each of them a Speech worthy your Consideration Copies whereof I have hear sent you As soon as the Speeches were made and the Commons withdrawn a Bill was offered to be Read But the Duke of Buckingham desired to be heard first who after a most ingenious and modest Preface told their Lordships That in his Opinion the Question before their Lordships was not what they were to do but Whether they could do any thing as a Parliament It being very clear to him that the Parliament was Dissolved For which Opinion he gave his Reasons which because they are the Sum of all that was said to prove the Dissolution I shall give you as good and as brief an account of them as I can He spake to this purpose Viz. That the last Prorogation being for 15 Months was contrary to two Printed Statutes the 4th and 36th of Ed. 3 which he proved to be in force at this time that require Annual Parliaments and being so was illegal and that they could not meet by virtue of an illegal Prorogation and therefore were Dissolved For there being no legal Day for their Meeting they could never Meet unless it were by chance and an accidental Meeting of the King Lords and 500 Commons could not make a Parliament nor could the Kings Proclamation help the matter For a Proclamation was not of more force than a Prorogation and if a thing were illegal when first commanded it could not be made legal by a second Command And he said No body could pretend that the Kings Proclamation could make that a legal Parliament which was not so before And having answered all Objections of the Kings power to dispence with some Laws and such other as seemed to carry any colour of making the Prorogation legal and having shew'd the great Inconveniencies that did arise from the long Sitting of Parliaments how the very Nature of this House of Commons was changed for now they did not look upon themselves as a Assembly that are to return to their own Homes and become private men again as by the Laws of the Land and the antient Constitution of Parliaments they ought to be but they look upon themselves as a standing Senate and a number of men pickt out to be Legislators for the rest of their whole Lives He told their Lordships The matter was now brought to this Dilemma Either the Kings of England were bound by those Statutes mentioned of Ed. 3. Or else the whole Government of England by Parliaments and by Law is absolutely at an End For if the kings of England have Power by an Order of theirs to invalidate an Act made for the Maintainance of Magna Charta they have also Power by another Order of theirs to invalidate Magna Charta it self And if they have Power by an Order of theirs to invalidate an Act made for the maintainance of the Statute De tallagio non concedendo they have Power also when they please by an Order of theirs to invalidate the Statute it self De Tallagio non concedendo and then they may not only without the help of a Parliament raise what Money they please but also take away any man's Estate when they please deprive every one of his Liberty or Life as they please This he told their Lordships was a Power which no Judge nor Lawyer will pretend the kings of England have and yet this Power must be allowed them or else they that were met there that day could not act as a Parliament For they were then met by virtue of the last Prorogation and that prorogation is an Order of the king's point blank contrary to the two Acts of Edvv. 3. for the Acts say That a Parliament shall be holden once vvithin a year And the Prorogation sayes A Parliament shall not be held within a year but some months after And this I conceive is a plain contradiction and consequently the Prorogation is void He further added That noting could be more dangerous to a king or a people than that Laws should be made by an Assembly of which there can be a doubt whether they have power to make Laws or no And said It would be unexcusable in them because there is for it so easie a Remedy a Remedy which the Law requiers and the Nation longs for The Calling of a Nevv Parliament And he shew'd the great Advantages that would acrue to the King their Lordships and the People by frequent and successive Nevv Parliaments That without this all they could do would be in vain the Nation might languish a while but must perish at last they should become a burthen to themselves and a prey to their neighbours and therefore mov'd That their Lordships would humbly address themselves to the king to Call a Nevv