dismiss this part of the LETTER it cannot be amiss to shew you a better Picture of him as it was drawn also by the lucky hand of the good Earl of Shaftsbury but it was in a time when his Lordship had a Being in Whitehall and was willing to Court him that was his Rival in the Treasuâ—â—â— rather than not hold on his new Office of Chancellor The precise time was when his Lordship gave the Lord Clifford the Oath of Lord Treasurer in the Exchequer-Chamber 5 Decemâ— 1672 where in his Speech he began with my Lord Clifford's Integrity Ability and Experience in Affairs and that therefore the King â—ad chosen him to be His Lord Treasurer A Place that requires such a man as our Greâ— Master's Wisdom found fit for it from whose Natural Temper we may expect Courage Quicknesâ— and Resolution from whose Education Wisdom and Experience and from whose Exâ—ractâ—â— that Noble and Illustrious House of the Cliffords an Heroick Mind a Large Soul and an unshaken Fidelity to the Crown And when he comes to conclude he adds to him these words I wish or rather prophâ—sie your exceâ—ding all your Predâ—â—â—ssors in this Plaâ— The Abilities and Fidelity of the Renowned Lord Burleigh The Sagacity Quickness and great Dispatch of his Son the Lord Salisbury and the Uprightnâ—ss Integrity and Wisdom of that great Man that went last before you the Earl of Southampton Now Gentlemen you that are Friends of Lord Shaftsbury if you have any care of his Reputation advise him to desire the Printer to blot out all the Characters of my Lord Clifford in the Second Edition of this LETTER and put in these or at least for his Lordâ—hips sake have not so hard an opinion of Clifford or else be pleased to do my Lord Clifford and your selves this Right as to suspend your opinion of this Lord till you are sure iâ— can be a good one But if then you find no cause to believe all the Outcries which were at the time of Clifford's Fall hold on still if you can the humour of believing all the other Devices of his little Lordship till he at length serve you as he hath served all the rest of his Believers LETTER THe next Contents of the Letter are these Viz. That the Penner thereof wishes The Declaration for Indulgence Vight have had a longer continuance and a better reception But saith he the Bishops took offence at it ANIMADVERSION ANy thing to lay load of Envy upon the Bishops That is a main design of the LETTER At that Corner of the Monarchy its old Enemies are to make the new On-set and then what follows The Annals of the late Reign of Presbytery will tell you nothing but Violent Persecution Not a word in those days of Indulgence â—â—ynot so much as to the Brother-Independents whose true Interest it is as much as the Epis oparians to preserve the present Government by Episcopacy For let the Presbyter up with his Throne again and both the other will be alike exposed to his mercy Suppose the worst you can of one Bishop in a County yet past experience hath told us we had better have him there than a mean upstart Insulter over both to play the Devil for Gods sake in every Parish The rest of the Dissenters are therefore to conâ—â—der That as the Episcoparian's greatest Jealousie is at the Presbyter because the Aims of them both being at a National Form they cannot both stand together but the one must of necessity deprive the other so forasmuch as all other Nonconformers lay no claim to a Church-National but in Spiritual Matters seek only Toleration and Indulgence They cannot if they please to lay aside old animosities give any Ombrage or Jealousie to the Episcâ—parian because in their way of Churching they design only a private Rule over one another Their only Concern then is by a total quitting of all Intrigues or correspondence in Counsels with that false Brother the Presbyter the natural common Enemy of their way of Churching as well as of the National which being cordially done in suture and all cause of Jealousie on their parts being thereby removed from the Governours there can be no doubt but they may be induced to allow them a fair and lasting Indulgence Moreover it ought to be consider'd though the Bishops be charged by our Letter-Man as the Undoers of the Indulgent Dâ—â—laration it was not They but the Parliament that undid it it being by both Houses judged inconvenient to be continued by reason it was thought prejudicial to some Laws made for an Uniformity in Matters of Publick Worship and consequently an Intrenchment upon Law so that the Parliament was therein led by Reâ—son of State when they besought His Majesty for the cancelling of it the Lords Spiritual were concerned in it no otherwise than the Lords Temporal and it was upon the Joint-Application of both Lords and Commons recalled The Inference then which I would offer at from these Discourses is That if those aforesaid Dissenters would by Overt-Acts of Behaviour in future make it evident to the Parliament that they are in heart alienated and departed from the Presbyter the great common Enemy of the Crown as well as of the Church 't is not impossible yea perhaps not improbable but that the same Parliament may then come to see it Reason of State also to find out some Expedient to make a difference in execution of Law betwixt Them and the Irreconcileable Presbyter notwithstanding the severity of Laws at present especially if the Houses once see cause given them to apprehend That such Dissenters are resolved to become as loyal and serviceable to his Majesty and the Government here as Dissenters were heretofore in France unto King Henry the Fourth And truly seeing there is this difference betwixt the ordinary Dissenters and the Presbyters that the latter is e directo inconsistent with all Monarchy because Presbytery claims to be underivative from any Secular Monarch and in ordâ—â—ad Spiritualiae doth as it were usurp his Power and seeing the former while they seek only an Indulgence may well enough consist with our English Monarchy there is no question but they may in due time if they behave themselves wisely obtain their desired Liberty For in the very following Lines of the LETTER our Author signifies That at the next meeting of the Parliament the Bishops promoted the Protestant Interest so high that an Act came up from the Commons to the House of Lords in favour of the dissenting Protestants and had passed the Lords but for want of time What hath been may be so that if the ordinary Dissenters shall be so wise as to mind their true Interest which really lies in a hearty complaisance with the Interest of the Government the like may soon be done in favour of them again Next he tells us There was another Act then passed the Royal Assent for the excluding all Papists from Office in the opposition of which the Lord Treasurer
seasonable especially in a time wherein many of the Old Kindlers are visibly blowing this Old Coal again to revive it and with it to over-heat the Brains and Consciences of men into a zeal of the same Obligation in stead of repentance that ever they took it But hear what the King said of it and 't is enough to forewarn and advise men of any Conscience or discretion in the future That saith he which makes such Confederations by way of Solemn Leagues and Covenaâ—ts the more to be suspected is That they are the common Road used in all Factions Perturbations of State or Church Where Formalities of extraordinary zeal and piety are never more studied and elaborate than when Politicians aâ—itate most desperate designs against all that is setled or sacred in Religion and Laws which by such skrues are cunningly yet forcibly wrested by secret stâ—ps and less sensible degrees from their known Rule and wonted practice to comply with the humors of those men who aim to subdue all to their own will and power under the disguises of Holy Combinations Wisdom and Truth greater than this or more Divine never was uttered by any Prince since the days of Solomon And it ought to be for ever written in the hearts of Subjects because we can seal to it upon the sad experience we had in our late Civil Wars to the utter ruine of all Religious Profession which men ought to take care by sincerity and integrity of life to hold up in the height of Reputation as the most sacred thing in the World Otherwise what we may expect of the pretences and disguises of the most Sanctimonious Combinations the same king tells us in the following words They are Cords and â—ythes will hold mens Consciences no longer than force aâ—tends and twists them for every man soon grows his own Pope and easily absolves himself of those Ties which not the command of Gods Word or the Laws of the Land but only the subtilty and terror of a Party casts upon him Indeed such illegal ways seldom or never intend the engaging of men more to Duties but only to Parties therefore 't is not regarded how they keep their Covenants in point of Piety pretended provided they adhere firmly to the Party and design intended The Imposers of such a League will admit of any mens sences of it though divers or contrary with any Salvoes Cautions and Reservations so as they cross not the chief design against the Church and their King There are many thousands yet living who can witness to the truth of it that they had no sooner involved the several Parliamentary Parties in the guilt of that Covenant but they all fastened several Sences and Constructions upon it such as might best suit with the several ends and designs of their particular Parties They like Samson's Foxes had their heads looking divers ways but were tied together by the Tails had one common Interest which tied them fast to each other in Agreement for the destruction of King and Bishops They easily absolved one another and each man himself from the seeming obligations of the Covenant to Loyalty and Government as fast as their particular occasions called them off to other Resolutions And if we may believe Sir Henry Vaâ—e it was in the penning so worded that the Noose might not be too strict and narrow for Conscience to escape out of it when occasion should require For when that Gentleman came to Tower-hill to dye he told us to this purpose that himself had been one of the Commissioners that went out of England into Scotland and was present there in those Councils then on Foot betwixt both Kingdoms which contrived that Covenant And when it was objected by some that if the Terms of the Covenant should run so high for preservation of the King and His Family as they seemed to be the King perhaps might notwithstanding be utterly hardened against it and frustrate all the good intents of it towards himself And in such case it was propounded in Council what then should be done At last it was concluded an Addition should be made to it of that ominous Clause In the preservation and defence of the Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms A Clause which was made use of afterwards to prove that the Nation might be established in a Government without any regard to the King or His Family For manifestation of this Truth there needs no more but to cast an eye back upon that fatal Remonstrance of the Army dated at St. Albans 20th November 1648. penned by Ireton Cromwel's Son-in-law the main scope whereof was â—o prove That they ought to take away the Kings Life with a pretence and form of Justice and extirpate His Family And truly I have the greater cause to remember this having at that time read the Arguments contained in several Prints against it to manifest unto the Authors of such Counsels and all the world that such a Course of proceeding against the King of England is Irrational Monstrous and in consequence pernicious to the three Kingdoms Nevertheless the Argumentation of Colonel Ireton carried it And whosoever pleases to consult the Contents of that Army Remonstrance shall find that the best Arguments he had except the Sword were all fished out of several Topicks contained in the Covenant among which the main one fetcht from that afore cited Clause was like the Sword of Goliah noâ— like it to cut asunder all Obligations both Sacred and Civil and was improved to this point That seeing these Nations were brought to such a pass as the Argumentator wâ—s pleased to say That the ends of the Covenant could not be attained by a Government with â—â— King and his Family Therefore those ends being the Principal Considerations of Mens Covenanting ought to be made good by another Government without any regard of Him or His who were but of a Secondary consideration And thus out of the Belly of that Trojan-Horse the Covenant sprang that Hobby-horse of a Republick with Cromwell on the back of it who himself at length convinced in Judgment about forms of Government saw and confessed by making himself the sole single person in Authority that no Rest is to be â—ad by Government in this Nation but by a Monarchy After this my good Friends of Shaftsbury I suppose you will not venture to gainsay but that it was well done of the Parliament and Bishops too since you will have them nam'd in particular to pass two such Acts as might keep men out of Magistracy in Corporations and out of Command in the King's Militia whose Consciences can yet relish and not abhor such a Covenant or such a Treasonous Maxim in State That the King's Authority may be made use of or turn'd against his Person And yet anon before the end of this Letter the Author will tell you of very strong Instances and Cases Somebody cited in the House of Peers wherein it was and may be lawful again so to do
Clifford â—â—ll and yet to prevent his ruine this Session had the sooner end As for the Lord Clifford me thinks he might before now have been left at rest in his Grave but there is it seems another Lord in the World is resolved he shall not because while his Lordship tugg'd hard and lay gaping for the Office of Lord Treasurer my Lord Clifford got between and carried it away for which he will never forgive his memory nor any of his Friends Nothing could please after this no not the Great Seal it self though one would have thought that enough to fill the Swallow of any Gnat. But Oh! the Dear Bag was gone the Buâ—t-end of all his hopes and so neither Seal nor Pursâ— could satisfie Nothing now but Revenge for then his Lordship saw plain the Mortality of his own Court-Interest drawing on which had been long before forfeited by many a Juggle Then his Piety began to work when his Covetousness had nothing to work upon and nothing after this could be thought of but Fire and Flames of Zeal to scatter about the Court and Kingdom A loud and sudden Cry must be raised in fear of Popery by pretence of which the old trick the Nation was to be forthwith intoxicated and the Lord Clifford confounded and all Papists also were to be put out of Office because the Maker of this Out-cry was in fear to be so I write not this to plead for their being in Office but only to observe how pat the little Adversary timed all things for his own purpose of commencing the new Game of Popularity He foresaw his own Faâ—e and labour'd hard to get in elsewhere before they had quite thrown him out at White-Hall that so when he went off he might in a new World turn up Trump as the Faith 's great Defender against Popery This was the reason why he spurr'd on that Act so eagerly to run Papists out of Office and why he afterwards appeared so vigorous in putting the Act in execution for in all the time since the King 's Happy Resâ—auration we never heard till this sudden sit of his Lordships having been in any fright before about the Papists or any other sort of Religion whatsoever So that from the time of this first fright we are to reckon the Rise of all the Jealousies and Contests that have ensued lately or which may ensue about the Affairs of the Government and of all the late ill Impressions which have been craftily and most industriously made upon the minds of the people to prepare them if possible for a Mutiny LETTER BUt the Letter goes on thus In this posture matters were found in the Session of Parliament that began Octob. 27. 1673. which being suddenly broken up did nothing ANIMADVERSION 'T is a condition of Affairs much to be lamented that so many Sessions of Parliament have of late been broken Re infecta and we might very much wonder at it considering His Majesties great delight which he hath had in the good Advices and Affections of His Parliament did we not know that some Envious Ones made it their Business to sow Tares and cast Blocks 〈◊〉 the way to impede all happy Proceeding that either House might be Imbroiled in its self and both with one another and so be utterly incapacitated for any dispatch of Publick Business The Instances are too sad to be mentioned and I wish they were for ever in oblivion which necessitated His Majesty for the very Honour of Parliament it self and of His Government to put an end to many strange Debates and Controversies which could by no other means be done but by ending the several Sessions For even in that House whose true Interest is inseparably and more especially annexed to that of the Crown Imperial of this Realm and cannot stand without it there was found a new Lord this last Session whose Speech if we may believe a Paper called a Speech carefully Printed under the Name of the Earl of Shaftsbury vented many strange Passages upon the Debate of appointing a day for the hearing of Dr. Shirley's Cause by the Peers which shew plainly enough who it was which backt and befooled the Doctor to a perpetual attendance on that Business not for any good will to him who poor Man was made a meer Stalking-horse but to catch other ends and create Mischief to King and Kingdom by strangling the great Affairs and Hopes of His Majesty in the mid'st of His many pressing Publick Occasions for Supplies to the want of which Supplies in good time we are to ascribe the late loss of Repute with the other Publick Inconveniences and Damages in our Naval Interests c. which have been complained of Such Men there are as study first how to tye up the Hands of the King and His Ministers with Necessity and then make the People cry out at them for not doing what they were disabled to do And therefore that the Nation may know to what Male-content the King and People do owe those Damages and the fruitlesness of the last Session of Parliament and from thence gâ—â—ess who it was that drave the design of frustrating also the several Sessions that went before it It will not be amiss to give the World some account here of divers Passages of that Speech Printed with the Title of the Earl of Shaftsbury which no Man that reads but would swear it his This Speech confesses the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Bishop of Salisbury had at the same time made Speeches to shew that to set a day to enter upon a Hearing in the Lords House of the Cause of Dr. Shirley before the Great Concerns of the King and Kingdom in Supplies of Money and other Bills should be dispatched would be to induce several Grand Inconveniences As first That seeing both Houses had been highly engaged in Contests with each other about their respective Priviledges occasioned by that Cause the appointing of a short day for their Lordships to hear it would immediately bring on the like Contests again and so cause a Breach betwixt the Houses and Secondly That after such a Breach made for the sake of a private Cause no ordinary way being left for dispatch of the many Publick Bills depending in the Houses or for raising of Moneys the whole Business of Naval Preparations and of other Great Affairs and of the Reputation and Interests of the King and Kingdom at home and abroad would unavoidably fall to ruine And their Lordships were told They could not but be convinced in their Coâ—sâ—iences that if that matter of Shirley were then prosecuted it must cause a Breach This was the Sence also of most other Noble Lords But alass that Printed Speech makes the Earl of Shaftsbury ring another Tune as if his Lordship had other Publick Business or as if it had no longer been Shirley's private Business but his Own so that if we may believe that Print the People need no other Evidence to shew who was the Designer of
and Liberty of Parliaments to Inspect the Actions and Behaviour of the great Officers of Trust and call them to account if faulty it being confessed a good advantage and security to the King and Kingdom and necessary to be continued but my purpose here is onely to note when and how the Abuse of that Parliamentary Power and by what Faction it was first made so extravagant that no sooner could a Favourite or Minister of State be warm in his Office or in the Kings Favour and had resolved to look strictly to a maintaining the Rights and Constitution of Government in Church and State but immediately they fell upon the Back of him and gave out the word for his Displacing or his Destruction No doubt but the best of Men in great place will have Errours and Faults being more then other Men distracted with many Businesses and exposed to many Temptations as the Earl of Strafford said at his Tryal but that they should by Popular Breath and Faction be blown up to the degree of high Crime or Treason when they have perhaps in the Judgment of Men moderate and wise onely served the King with the best of their â—kill this is both uncharitable and cruel or the effect of Faction or Envy and it is this onely that I redargue for it is in a factious time the great Interest of the Crown to see to it and to nip this Grand Abuse whenever it shall be practised always taking due measure between a just or conscionable and a factious prosecution Else these Inconveniences will follow As 't is in the Nature of Man to be well-conâ—eited of himself otherwise most Men would even hang themselves so generally a secret Envy arises in him at the preferment of another because he thinks he deserves better than he and the King presently gets his ill-will for passing him by This Man then meets with many other of his own sence and humour and so by rubbing each others Sores till they smart they resolve presently that the Preferree is a Common Enemy and as such to fall upon him And so the Issue at last shall be this when the course of Accusation grows customary that the King shall never be free of his own Choice nor secure of his Ministers when he hath chosen them Moreover â—hen to be preferr'd shall be to be exposed and shot at by all the Darts of Envy and Danger what Man of Wisdom or Fortune will be willing to accept of Preferment or be true and tight to the Kings Concern and Interest in the Government if he do accept it Or will he not rather be tempted through fear of that Accusatory Faction to serve the Regal Interest but by halves or perhaps to betray his Masters Government in Church and State as sâ—me did in the time of the Kings Father when they saw him forced to leave Strafford to make a Friend of that Faction For thus Men will be too apt to do when they cannot be sure of their Masters So that if Kings once quit their Constancy in this particular nothing brings greater hazard to their own Interest of Government and their Persons nor greater diminution to the Kingly Dignity and Power in the opinion of other Princes while his Ministers and himself shall remain liable to be baited at every turn of humour by so busie and impetuous a Faction as if himself were not wise enough to chuse or as if we had none but Knaves in the Kingdom to be chosen Finally 'T is and ought ever to be an Arcanum kept as the Jewels are in the Royal Cabinet to preserve all places which are nigh the Throne so sacred as not to be easily invaded for that draws a Reverence to the Throne it self which should be religiously fenced about not only as the Sacrary of Royalty but as the Sanctuary also of other Princes for such are his great Men and high Officers of State in their places They are as the Lyons about the Throne of Solomon to beget a dread and sence of Majesty in all that approach to it and those are not Beasts for Sacrifice nor to be offer'd up as such nor to be pull'd down without very great cause of Justice require it because the frequency of pulling down the Fence hardens Men and renders them by custom so hardy as to make bold with the Throne it self This licentious Abuse of criminating the Kings Ministers hath by the same Faction which first began it been carried of late times to such a height that were a Man before reputed never so honest yet no sooner doth the King make him one of his great Officers but that if he sticks close to his Masters Interest of Government he presently becomes a publick Enemy and as such they brand him and teaze him and seek to tire out his Majesty with Importunities and Addresses to be rid of him This sort of Behaviour was the reason which made his Majesties Grandfather and Father not so frequent in calling Parliaments and the Protesting Lords may do well to consider how little reason their Son His present Majesty is like to have to become fond of New Parliaments till he can have some good ground to believe that they will return to the like temper and moderation as they had in old time when those ancient Laws and Statutes for frequent calling them were made or until the people see their errour at Elections in suffering Men of that implacable Faction which first poyson'd the fair stream of Parliamentary Duty still to creep into the House to shelter themselves in acting their mischievous Designs under the Covert of Priviledge of Parliament and publick good So I have done with their Lordships First Reason in the Protestation and proceed to the Second which is this Secondly It seems not reasonable that any particular number of men should for many years ingross so great a trust of the People as to be their Representatives in the House of Commons and as good men as these Members of the Counties and Corporporations be so long excluded This kind of reasoning I never expected from the mouths of such Noble Lords Nay then methinks I see John Lilburn putting on Robes and uttering his old Oracles of State What! Is there no Smith to be found in Israel to whet Arguments for their Lordships that they are fain to go down to him and his Philistines the Levellers for thus they argued nigh Thirty years ago against the then House of Commons and good my Lords remember that the same Argument being but a very little altered served also at that time against the House of Peers Be informed my noble Lords you whose names I find in a Catalogue Printed at the end of this Protestation for ye cannot I suppose remember because when I read your Names I perceive that none of you were then Sitters in the Lords House except one whose name I forbear as I do the names of all the rest beside my good Lord of Shaftsbury who in
is not ignorant how this Protestation came on nor can the World be ignorant how far his Hand went in promoting it care having been taken by some Body during the time his Lordship was in the Country before the last Session of Parliament to employ certain Emissaries and Agents to carry up and down not only to many Lords in and about this City but likewise to all the most noted Coffeâ—-houses Copies of a Letter said in the Superscription of it to have been first written to the Earl of Carlisle and to have been subscribed Your Lordships humble Servant SHAFTSBURY My Lord of Carlisle is a very noble Person and I would not by any means mis-represent him he having seen too many Experiments of Male-contented Demagogues and their little Tricks to be caught by them or to countenance them 'T is rather to be supposed the Penner made bold with him It was necessary to direct it to some Body and easie to send Copies along with it at the same time to be communicated to every Body for there was no fear but among the Coffee-hâ—unters there would be found Copiers enough to furnish both City and Kingdom the Design being laid now by this new Epistle to prepare Mens Minds for a crying down the present Parliament seeing there are too many Wise Men in it and too Loyal to be shaken by a Shuttlecock and for crying out for a New Parliament while in the mean time matters are so labour'd in the Old One as we have abundantly seen the last Session that no Business should be done by them and then there may thence arise as is imagined an unanswerable Argument for a Trial of Skill in Electing a New for his Tool the Presbyter despairing to get Dominion by the way of the King wants only opportunity to be Canvasing and Tugging for another Forty-One-Parliament and would never be at rest till he hath gotten both Houses over his Head again at Westminster So that if the other Nonconformists will well apprehend the improvement of their own Interest let them know that as they have reason to decline them being their worst Enemies by principle so they have the fairest opportunity in shewing themselves firm henceforth to the Crown to stand most fair in the good opinion and favour of His Majesty as a Party much more tolerable in the Constitution of the Government And then there can be no fear of that they call Persecution because the reason and occasion of it will be gone No Creditor but will be kind when he hath gotten Security Even so it is with Kings and other Governours they grieve no Party more than other when they are once secured they will pay the Debt of Obedience and Loyalty for 't is their Interest to cherish and see every Party thriâ—e and flourish if it be not dangerous Arguments in that Epistle his Lordship offers none having long since arrived to that Noble Confidence as to think his own word sufficient warrant for any Assertion therefore he boldly saith 't is the Interest of the King the Lords and the Commons to have a New Parliament without any more ado But for his Reasons we must have recourse to the Protestation it self which are first for the Dissolution of this Parliament and they are but these few following First The Protestation saith It is according to the ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm that there should be frequent and new Parliaments and that the practise of several years hath been accordingly 'T is true the Kings of this Realm have formerly had cause to delight in calling them and our Chronicles tell us also that till the Barons Wars came and after the Barons Wars were ended down to the time of King James Parliaments were modest in their station and easie to the King so that the Business of the Kingdom went on current without long Speeches and hot Disputes But in King James his time the Presbyter or Puritaâ— as Men then called him whom Queen Elizabeth in her time not without much ado kept down began to spread his Wings grew numerous and headstrong so that they were able to furnish the Commons House with a Canvasing Party and did it constantly at every Election and divers Members of the House of Peers who in those days affected Preferment at Court and wanted it and envied others that had it or were otherwise male-content or intoxicated with mistaken Zeal of new Phantsies about Religion or Church-Government were not wanting to make a Party of Lords to second that fiery part of the Commons who carried matters divers times so high that That King was necessitated towards the latter end of his Reign for the Honour of his Crown and Preservation of the Government in qâ—iet often to dissolve them Of which the Puritan that is the Presbyter always made advantage by exceeding Clamour against the Court to gain the ignorant and unwary part of the people to his party And so you see to what sort of Men we owe the new invention of Frustrating Parliaments After this comes King Charles the First to the Government upon whom they perpetually practis'd it in all Parliaments that he called and at length you know that working upon the Kings Necessities in the year 1641. they in a manner constraâ—ned him to perpetuate them in Power which was the ruine of the Royal Government and at length of all Government it self It is to be noted also that it was not till the beginning of his Reign that they took up the other New Trick of State which was seeing they durst not yet be so bold as to strike at the King himself for supposed defaults in Government they resolved to strike as near him as they could and so they began to make it constant work to fall upon his Chief Ministers of State and always in the Intervals of Parliament made it their Business to fill the Kingdom with Clamours against them so preparing them thereby as a Sacrifice to their own ends and cruelty and to the Peoples folly against every call of a Parliament Thus it was from the time of the old Duke of Buckingham who by a brave Defence in Parliament made good his Station to the time of that most brave though most unfortunate Man the Earl of Strafford whom they worried to death by Popular Tumults after he had bastled them at the Bar in defending himself most gloriously As they did also Archbishop Laâ—d a Man of high design for the Honour of the King and Glory of the Church which they charged on him to be for introducing of Slavery and Popery so that all the rest of the King's Ministers were glad to flee for safety of their Lives Nay they stopt not here but being flusht drew up Articles of High Treason against the Queens Majesty And then we too sadly remember how easily afterwards they passed on to a Charge against the King himself I write not this as if I meant to scandalize or cast an Odium upon that ancient Right
in danger if you call a New Parliament This Objection they pretend to answer by saying there 's no fear of danger because Men of Quality of Estates and of the best Understanding and such as will give Money will be chosen But I reply this Argument hath more Malice than Reason to support it because it reflects as if these were not such The Generality of this House of Commons are known to be men of the best Quality and of Estates and of the best understanding All their Fault is in the Opinion of the Conspiring Party that they too well understand them and their Design and what the true interest of the Crown is and that as they ever have been so they still are tight and firm to it and the Government and that the great interest of the Nobles Gentry and Commons of the Land lies in being so This they understand Besides they are men best acquainted and expert in the management of Parliamentary Affairs and therefore more likely than men newly elected to make dispatch of them if the Projectors did not study all ways to impede them for other ends than the â—ase and supply of the Crown And therefore a New Parliament is not now to be called for these following Reasons I. Because it is not for the honour of the King to be as it were Trepann'd thus by Tricks or worried by Clamors and Importunities into a necessity of calling a new Parliament because it will in the judgment of wise men at home and of Princes abroad be no other than an imposing upon him in one main point of his Prerogative which is to use His own discretion and take His own time for the summoning and dissolving of Parliaments II. It cannot be for his safety or advantage because if Money be wanting know he must pay dear for it before the New One will give it and What can they give which may not more readily be had by the present Parliament if the just indignation of His Majesty and His two Houses shall arise against the stratagems oâ— the Prime Projectors and defeat them I cannot forget what mine eyes have seen in the days of His Royal Father therefore since years teach wisâ—om and the experience of like matters in time past gives instruction for the future it cannot but be good to bring them fresh into remembrance Let us therefore remember how it was with King Charles the First It was the cunning of the same Faction having an aking Tooth at the Bishops and consequently a design to alter the Government as now they have again which they could not easily do without clamouring about matters of Religion and against some Errors and Excesses of the Court and the King's Ministers Therefore as they plied that point home in hope to gain the people so in the beginning of His Reign they finding the King in necessity of Money to satisfie His Fathers Debts and for other great occasions at home and abroad and knowing that a Parliament must be called for Raising Money they laid the Plot thus First to work upon that necessity by high popular demands such as must either bow the King to comply with them and then it would be easie for them to pursue their wild projects of alteration in State and Church or else it would constrain him to break them And that they feared not knowing it could not be long before he would have occasion to call a Second Parliament which they by the like demands would bring to nothing as easily as before unless the King would consent to them which they presumed he would never do And it came to pass as they had before contrived that the King was frustrated of the hopes he had of three or four Parliaments by sending them away one after another not getting one peny but he being tired out and having perceived that they entred upon such debates and made such demands as intrenched upon the Interest of His Crown and that a condescension to them would have brought both him and it into contempt he was constrained to shift without Parliaments to his great sorrow and it proved to be the great occasion of the late War enough to shew what it is for a King in want of Money in these days to call a New Parliament of whose kindness he hath had no experience especially when he hath already a Parliament in being most dutiful wise and able to do his and his Kingdoms business if some few persons would please to study peace and leave off contention The truth of the forementioned Plot of the Commons in those days I shall by and by more particularly demonstrate In the mean while you may remember I told you this sort of Game they began in the latter end of the Reign of King James and now you shall see how they plaid it Before that time the Commons never medled at so high a rate but in the Nineteenth year of that King when he called a Parliament about the assistance of the Prince Palatine his Majesty was in great want of Money to relieve the Palatinate and great hopes were given him of a Supply What was the Issue of this necessity of calling it The King had a mind to Adjourn the Parliament but for a little season and for some Reasons which he foresaw required it whereupon the Faction presently interposed and drew the rest of their Fellow-Members to Petition him against Adjournment insomuch that the wise King being Jealous of his Prerogative and not liking that the Commons should so much as meddle with it though in a way but Petitionary he very much resented it and told a Committee which they sent to him about it That he took it very ill the Commons should dispute his Reasons of Adjournment all Power being in him alone to Call Adjourn and Dissolve Parliaments This made the Faction so bold and Mutinous in discourse every where that His Maiesty was fain to put forth a Proclamation against talking of State-affairs with such inordinate liberty The time of the Parliaments Adjournment being expired they came together again and what then The Palatine Cause requiring Supply more than before and the Lord Treasurer having in a Speech laid open the Kings Wants and how empty his Coffers were the Faction thought they should now in his Necessity be able to work him like Wax therefore in stead of Money they immediately salute him with a Catalogue of his Faults the growing Mischiefs of his Government and dictate unto him Remedies and they called it A Petition and Remonstrance The King then by Letter to the Speaker sharply complains of this Indignity imputes it not to the House it self but to the boldness of some fiery and popular Spirits in the House of Commons which were the Predecessors of our present Faction whom he brands with Breach of his Prerogative Royal by debating publickly Matters which were above them Nevertheless having him at a pinch for Money they grew the bolder and hereupon drew up
another Petition and sent it to back their former Remonstrance To which his Majesty gave a smart Answer taxing the Faction and desiring the Commons henceforth not to give car to those Tribunitial Orators among them advising them also to keep within their Bounds and that the way to preserve their Priviledges was not to pare his Prerogative and pull the Flowers of the Crown Then to shew it was indeed a Fiery Faction they blew the Flame yet higher and by Speech-making got the Major Vote to come to a Protestation that they ought to debate high Matters and it was their Priviledge c. But this was done by the Faction by surprise the Third part of the House not present This so moved the King that to preserve his Prerogative he was forced to send for the Clerk of the House of Commons to bring his Journal-Book to Whitehall and produce it in the Pricy Council where his Majesty thought fit that the Protestation should be razed out of all Memorials and utterly to be annihilated both in respect of the manner by which it was gained and of the Matter therein contained and he did in full Council and in the presence of the Judges declare it void and of none effect because it was Penned in such general and ambiguous words as might serve for future Times to invade most of the Rights and Prerogatives annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm For his Majesty did not deny but that the House might Treat and Debate De Arduis Regni which words said the King were cunningly mentioned in that Protestation but they ought to have remember'd also the word Quibusdam which restraineth the generality of the other words Arduous Affairs of the Kingdom to such particular Cases as his Majesty pleaseth to consult with them upon Therefore the King did further Mann propria take the said Protestation out of the Journal-Book of the Cemmons and made an Act of Council thereupon And in six days after he was necessitated to Dissolve them having got not one Peny of Money for his Extream Occasions For it was the Arcanum of the Faction even in those days to make High Demands and raise Quarrels about Priviledges and other Matters intrenching upon the Rights of the Crown that as oft as they got the Parliament-House over their Heads they took the same Method of working upon want of Money to brave the King and by not supplying him to held his Nâ—sâ— to the Grindstone They clamour'd ever for Parliaments lured the King in witâ— Hopes of Money to call them and then in stead of Money they fell to disputing with him so that the Parliaments in the latter end of King James's Reign were of no use to him except the last a little before he died For in his last appearance with them he complained how the Faction had made him Break the Necks of Three Parliaments together by which he meant the Three Preceding Parliaments King James being gone now let us see more at large how they used his Son King Charles in his first Parliament Annâ— 1625. which by reason of the Plague at London was Adjourned to Oxford The Supplies for carrying on the Palatine Cause had been pressed by the Lord Keeper before at westminster and now at Oxford the Kings Secretaries of State Report to both Houses the Kings great Occasions for Money and the great Debts left upon him by his Father Thereupon the Faction having a Young King to deal with and in Necessity for Money began to Rant more than ever with High Debates reflecting upon his Ministers as Evil Counsellors and upon himself upbraiding him that his Necessities arose from Improvidence and a world of such like stuff they â—witted him with and cried out also on Popery as if it had been just coming in but in the mean time they neglected the Palatine Cause the supplying whereof ought to have been speedy and afterwards Scandalized the King and his Ministers in having the blune of it upon them Next they sell upon High Demands from the King before they would think of a Peny The same 〈◊〉 as before in King James's days So the King perceiving they were resolved against Supplies unless they might have their will upon himself and tear his Ministers and some of his Counsellors in pieces He after three Moneths sitting was forced to Dissolve them About five Moneths after that Dissolution his Majesties great Necessities urged him to the calling of a Second Parliament which was done and no sooner 〈◊〉 but the Faction resumed the very same Courses again onely in one particular they alter'd from calumniating the Kings Ministers in general they now began to fall in stead of Money upon the Duke of Beâ—â—kingham though the King in his Speech willed them rather to remember it was not long since in his Fathers time that They did so much 〈◊〉 anâ— Reâ—pâ—â—him that all the Honour â—â—ferred on him wâ—â—s too little Many hot and high Debates passed nevertheless in despight of the Faction the Loyal part of the Commons made a shift to get a Vote for Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens for the King but it came to nothing for though the King after wards wrote a Letter to them and otherwise also importuned them to bring him that Bill of Subsidy to pass telling them he should look upon Longer delay as a denial yet the Faction so disturbed the House with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Debates that nothing was done the King got not a Eâ—â—thing and was constrained after Four Moneths sitting to Dissolve them a Second time The next year after a Third Parliament was callâ—d and though the 〈◊〉 in it laboured hard in their wonted way yet for meer shame at length a Subsidy was Voted and passed by the Industry of the Loyal Party But on the other hand the Faction stomaching the Matter contrived how to shew their Malice another way and drave on a Remonstrance to take away Tonnage and Poundage one of the chiefest Maintenances of the Crown Which to prevent the King was fain to go Himself in Person to Prorogue them for Four Moneths time and that being â—igh expired it was by Proclamation Prorogued for Three Moneths more after which being Re-assembled the Faction flew out into high Fits about Priests and Popery and Grievances and were so tumultuary that the Speaker was leaving the Chair but that they held him in by force till they had passed Resolves against payment of the Kings Tonnage and Poâ—ndage And so what Money they had given with one hand they took away with another So that nothing being likely but Mischief to the Crown by longer Siâ—ting 〈◊〉 King was glad to Dissolve them by Proclamation afterwards and to acquaint the World with their Behaviour by putting forth a Declaration of the Causes of their Dissâ—â—â—ion Thereupon his Majesty was necesâ—itated to have recourse unto extraordinary ways for Supply to carry on the Government without Parliaments for almost Twelve Years after for by the violent and unreasonable proceedings