AN EXAMINATION OF THE IMPARTIAL State of the CASE OF THE EARL of DANBY IN A LETTER TO A Member of the House of Commons LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Walter Davis Bookbinder in Amen-Corner neer Paternoster-Row 1680. AN EXAMINATION Of the pretended Impartial State of the CASE Of the EARL of DANBY c. THough I have little curiosity to read the Pamphlets that swarm at this time and think it almost as great an Errour to mix with the Crowd of Writers as to mingle with any other Riot yet I was drawn from my own Inclinations by so specious a Title as An Impartial State of the Case of the Earl of DANBY having been conversant in many Affairs that relate to that Lord. At the first Reading of it I was not a little surpriz'd to find as I then thought a thing Publisht with such a Title and confirmed with such confident promises of Truth and yet to be composed of Three things so far from Impartiality The First is the manner of Arguing which is most upon Questions begg'd The Second is of many Untruths which I presum'd were easie to make appear by matter of Fact The Third is an endeavour to fix upon the King most of the Errours and Crimes that were Charged on him Yet with this first Nation I was not satisfy'd but read it more carefully the second time and being then convinced it was subject to these Errours I thought it my Duty to my King and Countrey to let them not be ignorant of any Information that I could give since some particular knowledge that I am furnisht withal makes me more capable to present them with some Observations than others though of greater Abilities then I cou'd have done I therefore apply'd my self to Examine this sharp Censure upon the Parliament for so ill Rewarding the Merits of this Deserving Lord as to let Malice have too great a share in his Prosecution And in the same place there is an assurance that nothing should be related but what may be depended upon for Truth Who the Authour of this is I cannot tell but if it were not the Lord himself 't is a Friend more passionate than usual and one that gives him so large a Character and in whose Cause he condemns both King and Country that it seems hardly credible that one man should be so extravagantly kind for another but rather the production of Self-Interest and Conceit and comparing the Stile and Arguments with this Lords Speech in the House of Peers when he was Charg'd it helps to confirm my Opinion that this Lord was the Friend that Writ it and 't is more probable that he is so much a Friend to himself than that any other should be so to him I shall now proceed to particular Remarks and begin with the first matter of Fact The faithful Discharge of this Lords Trust as Treasurer of the Navy to the satisfaction of His Majesty and the great content of the Sea-men 'T is fit to observe That this Office depends on the directions of the Commissioners of the Navy what to pay and on the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners of the Treasury for Money to pay so that if this Lord gave content it seems he was supplyed to make himself capable of the performance But his Impartial Friend attributes all this to his Lordship as he does other things to his Management with so much Prudence and Success But yet it will appear he has but ill-luck in his first Assertions for since the Treasury of the Navy is so confin'd the great Trust that remains in him is onely in Sums of Money which can be violated by no ways but falsely disposing it or applying some to his own private use the last of which has been counted a high Crime for the King's Treasures have ever been taken to be Sacra Patrimonia and none were to use any of it but were liable to great punishments But this Lord ventur'd to apply Two thousand seven hundred forty seven pounds five shillings and eleven pence of the Kings Money to his own use and was short so much in his Account for his Faithful Discharge of Treasurer of the Navy and was forgiven it by a Privy-Seal bearing date the 21 of February 1676. which was about three years after he was Lord Treasurer A seasonable time to pass such an Account to be forgiven for some Money when he had gotten the Command of all the rest but I shall not dispute whether this fault hinder'd His Majesty from being satisfy'd with his performance in that employment since his bounty and goodness was in other things much more extended to this Lord but how well returned will appear by the following Observations After this stumble in the Threshold he proceeds to his advancement in 73. to the place of Lord Treasurer which he says he managed with so great Prudence and Success that contrary to all Mens expectations but especially of his Enemies who assured themselves of his immediate ruine by that Preferment he supported for near six years that condition of his Master which it was not then thought cou'd have been made to subsist for so many Months without any Supplies or Burthens laid upon the People in all his time Here his Impartial Friend begins boldly to assert and as confidently to beg the Question That this Lord supported the Kings Condition for six years that was thought cou'd not have been made subsist six Months I believe 't would puzzle the Author to name the Persons that were of this Opinion for they cou'd find no subject-matter for their Judgment but must be guided by Flattery or Ignorance And 't were very uncharitable if not malicious to believe that those that Managed the Revenue before this Lord should be so weak and dishonest for less than such a Conjunction cou'd not reduce such a Revenue to so deplorable a condition as to give any a just ground to believe they had not left a subsistance for six Months This heavy Charge on his Predecessours seems not onely very partial but very extravagant which will be best discerned by examining the great Success and Prudence of this Lord and perhaps it will appear that Men shou'd rather have judg'd and his Enemies have apprehended that the Kings Revenue was left in such a condition to this Lord that it might easily have been supported for much a longer time than six years and if any Calculation was made for his Ruine it must have been from other causes As to that of Supplies it is very true that there were none given directly to the Kings sole use in his time but the Eighteen Months Tax for 1238750 l. which was given in the Lord Cliffords time was all paid in this Lord's half of which viz. the last three Quarters was solely disposed by him and the first three by the Lord Clifford for Publick Uses which contributed to leave the Kings condition in a better posture than is here acknowledged which will be shewn in
Truth any that doubts it may be resolved by Sir Stephen Fox or Mr. Richard Kent And to shew also that the Condition of the Customs was truely presented and the Lord Clifford in his Paper guess'd right that the return of the last Fleet would clear it I have obtained a Copy of a Letter written from Mr. Mounteney who was then Cashier of the Customes to Sir Robert Howard the then Secretary to the Treasury COPY SIR I Have a List signed by the Lord Treasurer Clifford and Confirmed by the present Lord Treasurer the said List being wholly paid onely Eight thousand four hundred pounds payable to the Treasurer o the Navy I do hear there are several Talleys struck on the Customes but I know not of what value nor to whom payable I understand the persons have made their applications to my Lord Treasurer and that my Lord intends to make a new list which is all I can say to this Affair Custom-house London the 10th of Nov. 1673. Sir Your very humble Servant Rich. Mounteney It now remains to shew on the other side the effect of the great Prudence and Success so boasted of by as faithfully presenting the State of the Revenue at Lady-day 1679. when this Lord left it and to be as clear in this as I was in the other I have obtained likewise a Copy of it as it was presented to these present Lords Commissioners of the Treasury The Charge upon the Three great Branches of the Kings Revenue Computed to remain Lady-day 1672. Remains unpaid of Tallies Charged on the Customs 435106 01 00 Of Tallies Charg'd on the Excise 550464 15 04 To repay the Advance 250000 00 00 The Charge on the Hearth-Duty by Tallies and the Advance-Money 250000 00 00 Total 1485570 16 04 And now the equal Reader is left able to judge though the Impartial Author says he is not whether this Lord or the People of England be most unhappy in his Misfortunes but to those that will not take the pains to examine this and are not convinced there never was a better Officer in this station he proposes a new sort of Evidence from Coffee-houses themselves who have complained of the good Husbandry this Lord used for his Master for fear it should keep off the use of Parliaments I will not wonder at such a proof for the Writer uses always great liberty but I will onely do the same and desire those persons also that will not take pains to examine this to receive the Evidences now in the Coffee-houses for his Lordships Character I am almost perswaded that if Ballads had been sung in his favour they would have been urged as Evidences of his Innocency but I dare not take the liberty to urge those that are sung on the contrary for Testimonies of his guilt but after such Evidences as Coffee-houses introduced the next may probably be Ballads I have now finisht my Observations on that part of this Lords Ministry which belonged to the Treasury and shall now proceed to State-Affairs in which other Sphere for 't was not enough to shine in one the Impartial Author presents him as great a Minister as he has done a Treasurer concluding as he begun That what he had said concerning this Lords Administration in his Office as Lord High Treasurer he spoke upon certain knowledge and what he shall say in relation to his Transactions in the Affairs of State are partly so and the rest upon such assurances that he is no less confident of the Truth of them Thus he tells us that he builds upon some assurances by him received as firmly as on his own certain knowledge This I suppose he might do without any Compliment to those from whom he received them for by the Examinations of all compared 't will I suppose appear their Credits ought to have no preheminence He first introduces his Discourse with a Complaint he heard this Lord make that it was an infinite Misfortune to him that His Majesty did take him so much from the business of the Treasury whereby he could not make those improvements in his Revenue and give those dispatches that were necessary and exprest his regret that he was employed in any other business than the Treasury As to the improving of the Revenue it has been discours'd already but for Dispatches I suppose he did not believe much time was necessary if it be true as I have heard That he endeavoured to gain a belief in His Majesty that no man could be a good Treasurer that was easie of access As for that regret this Lord had for the increase of business and consequently power in the Kings Affairs I shall onely make some Observations upon this Lords Temper and Proceedings which will shew he rather desired to engross all Affairs than share any The assurance of a modest and consin'd nature would have best appeared by the easie and friendly carrying on the Kings business with such Ministers and Officers as were of good repute but instead of that this Lord shewed a Temper of a contrary nature by attempting the removal of every one that was not prostrate enough to him he began with Sir John Duncomb and Sir Stephen Fox men of most unquestioned worth in their Employments then brought a Charge in the Council against Sir Robert Howard Auditor of the Receipt the success of which is publickly known and might questionless have been very well guessed by this Lord but there were two great causes that blinded his Reason his Son the Lord Dunblain had the Reversion of the Auditors place and the removal of him with the others had reduced the Exchequer into his uncontradicted power The Ministers in State-Affairs that did not submit implicitely found him not less ambitious my Lord Arlington and Mr. Secretary Coventry seemed to have Writs of Ease in Forreign Affairs and very often were reports and expectations of their leaving their places and those that were upon better terms with him were obeyers of his power and not sharers in any and I am confident whoever throughly examines this Lords Temper and Carriage amongst Men and business he will hardly conclude it probable that any regret could spring from his encrease of power rather the Character of a very great Man may be applicable to him as to our part of the World Aestuat infelix angusto limite Regni Juv. Sat. 10. The reasons why this Lord entered unwillingly into Forreign Transactions was because he always shew'd himself averse to the Counsels wherein he found His Majesty engaged and reckons up The breach of the Triple League a War with the Dutch a League with France and an Army of English then in France These Particulars will not concern my Observations if any did amiss let it be examined when there is such an Impartial Account as this pretended to be given but upon this depends the following Paragraph which ought not to be let pass without some Reflections He complains there that the Nation was too hasty and did
he that knows something knows all things In that Letter also 't is fit to observe that the King was sufficiently inform'd that the French desired Peace upon the Terms sent by the Secretary but thinks it not fit to stay till the Desire was formally receiv'd and the Embassadour as formally impower'd to propose for fear the time should be lost of effecting the Peace that is for fear the Market should be miss'd of contracting for so much Money as might secure against the Troubles of Parliaments for some years And if Adjournments and Prorogations have been the usual prudence certainly a well-bought Dissolution for three years at least must needs be thought admirable Politiques The second is That the Propositions were not originally the Kings but the Confederates so that the King was to gain nothing by making the Market either higher or lower and the French had often experience that his Majesty would not do otherways This second way of Arguing is as strenuous as the former and bears equal resemblance to the reason and nature of it for 't is still grounded upon the Propositions That they were originally the Confederates who at that time were too much discourag'd to hope or propose any thing equal to the Common Interest And therefore the Market was to be made up in the preventing that which might raise their spirits the meeting of Parliaments Which Mr. Coleman whose policy agreed with this Lords declares to be the Fountain of their Resolutions So that the Logick appears this There was no Markets to be made of the Propositions Ergo there was no Market to be made of Parliaments The third continues in the same Method which is laid down as a full justification of his Majesties Honour in that point and that he had no designe of getting the Money for the purposes suggested against the Earl of Danby for in that case he would not have considered the gain or loss of the Confederates And Mr. Mountague is expresly forbidden in the Letter to mention the Money at all in case the French King did not accept those very Propositions of the Confederates and in the Terms as his Majesty recelv'd them from his Embassadour at the Hague This Argument also is like the rest grounded upon the Propositions and is made to prove that the Money was not designed for ill purposes because there was so great a care expressed of sticking entirely to the Propositions Sure he forgets that but a little before he says That this Lord in his Letter assures him that they were sufficiently inform'd the French desired Peace upon those Propositions It seems strange then that the justness of sticking to them should be so insisted upon when the French had given their permission by the approbation of them I wish that in this Paragraph the Argument and respect for his Majesties Honour had been better defended or wholly let alone but first to bring the Kings Honour in question and then to argue so ill in the defence of it was two great though not equal Crimes for no guilt but Treason can exceed or equal that of too boldly medling with that sacred Subject The Fourth is a new sort of Argument from the last words of the Letter where the Earl tells Mr. Mountague That he believes that would be the last time any Proposals of Peace would be made and that he is confident they will not be accepted wherefore he might accordingly take the Kings Measures and his own How to apply this Argument for any use to this Lord I know not it onely expresses an apprehension or opinion That the Proposals would not be accepted sure he cannot mean the Proposals that he says were received from the Confederates for those he was informed were desir'd by the French it could be onely the Propositions for the Money that probably gave the apprehensions of the refusal After these four Observations he proceeds to that expression about the Parliament which he supposes has been a principal Cause of giving them offence and plainly avows that he has heard this Lord say That His Majesty caused that expression to be used onely for a Motive to perswade the King of France to give a greater Sum than Six Millins of Livers which then had been offered and because otherways in the ill posture things then stood betwixt the two Kings the French King might suspect whether the King of England would agree to any Peace at all And these being the whole Contents of the Letter and it being writ by His Majesties express Order you will easily conclude this Lord could not be so hardly prosecuted for that onely were there no other Causes for it when in truth he believes there are very few Subjects but would take it ill not to be obeyed by their Servants and their Servants might as justly expect their Masters protection for their Obedience Before I enter upon the Argument of this Paragraph 't is fit that I should first avoid the Crime that I presume to Condemn in this Lord for if I should endeavour to prove the thing to be ill in its own nature and by silence leave the King entituled to it I should share the guilt so common to this Lord I will therefore first endeavour to do my self that Justice which the law does the Nation to separate the King from wrong or dishonour and I will after in a more proper place examine the Argument drawn from Obedience I need not go about to prove the well-known Maxime of the Law That the King can do no wrong and if he cannot be liable to do wrong none can entitle him to be the Author of wrong done and this is not onely matter of Law but grounded upon Prudence and Necessity for to allow it to be possible that a King could do wrong and yet that he is accountable to none but God were to grant there is a mischief without the Compass of the Laws and 't were rational if the King could commit the offence that he should be subject to Men to judge the punishment therefore justly 't is said of the Antient Lawyer Bracton who wrote in Hen. 3. time Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo c. and by the same reason the Kings Honour is as little subject to Men as his person accordingly the Act of the 13th of the King expresses a care of the Preservation of His Majesty by declaring That in his Honour and Happiness consisted the good and welfare of his people so that of consequence any one that attributes dishonour to the King is an Offender against the good and welfare of the people On the other side if any Favourite or Councellor should be discharged from ill Actions or Counsels by charging the King with the allowance or knowledge of them what an encouragement might this be for guilty men and what an Asylum to fly too when the guilt is committed In the same Act there is a heavy sentence on any that shall
Money was lent on the credit of the Fifth part of Excise he hindred it from coming in which was often complained of publickly at the Exchequer by the Lenders of the Money and diverted it to other uses Nor can the late Commissioners of the Excise deny this if they should the Lenders will prove it who daily solicited them to bring it in A second instance is in the Poll-Bill which was given for an actual War with France upon which many Eastland Merchants were promised payment for Hemp and Masts and other Furniture for Ships which were taken up of them but no care taken to reserve Money for them out of the Act but are now before the present Lords Commissioners who are contriving Securities or Payments for them so that it seems this Lord observed just Rules where he could not violate them and broke them where he had power or opportunity In the same Paragraph this Lords Industry is set forth in the Improving the Kings Revenue but this was no peculiar Industry in this Lord that was unpresidented for the Customs were once let for 300000 l. per Annum and improved to 600000 l. just before his time and the Excise was likewise improved but this is more the Industry of private men than of a Treasurer for by their desire of gain they bid upon one another which a Treasurer must receive or put out the Candle they bid by as they say was done in the Case of Mr. George Pitt and Mr. Brett c. Nor was the Art new which he there bragg'd of to break a Bargain and resume the Farm of the Excise for the Kings advantage for the Lord Clifford made him a President for the like trick by re-suming the Farm of the Customs which he had let to Sir William Bucknall and others for 600000 l. per Annum so that I can neither say the Art is new or good Lastly if this Lord so improved the Revenue he has also improved the Argument against himself if he has not used it with that Success and Prudence which is so boasted of in the beginning For the Revenue of Ireland I can say little to it onely the Charge that my Lord Ranelagh lyes under and the protection always shew'd in keeping that business from a strict Examination does not seem to make out any advantage that the King has found by the disposition of that Farm The next Honour that is attributed to this Lord is that he paid rarely more than Eight per Cent. for Money borrowed notwithstanding the shakes lately given to Credit c. I hope this knowing Man in the Exchequer would not for proof appeal to the weekly Certificates for this if he does he will sind nothing there of the payment of any such Interest at all for this Lord practic'd most upon Tallies of Anticipation the way that has been the great destroyer of the Revenue which is done by a fictitious Bill thrown down by a Teller for Money when really he has it not and he discharged by a Tally instead of an Issue which Issue is removed from being vouch'd by Record in the Exchequer so that when 't is paid or when the Interest is paid or what Interest is paid never appears there so that all the vouching lyes among those that deal in Money and if they can but agree well there is no sence against their Combinations This I set down as briefly as I can onely to shew that this Lord could not know what Interest he paid though he might know what he agreed for for if a Tally is to be paid a year after the Interest may commence with the date of the Tally if they be but pleased to agree and when the Farmers or Contracters of the Excise have advanced great Sums the Commissioners have by their Acquittances given Vouchers instead of Records for the Commencement of the Interest and I have heard nor is it improbable that they were all very well acquainted The next Paragraph is of greater moment answering the scandal that the Revenue has been squandred under the name of Secret Service and upon this shews from the Certificates of the Pells that there has been accounted from Easter 73 to March 79 Eight Millions sixty two hundred seventy six thousand seven hundred sixty seven pounds besides the Interest of the Goldsmiths and divers other particulars which are not included in that Account and then desires it may be computed what could possibly remain to have been laid out extravagantly and 't would appear a very inconsiderable Sum. First 't is to be observed That 't is confest there are divers particulars which are not included in that Account of the Exchequer but the Argument that is here offered is drawn from the Comparison of what that Account is and what the Revenue may amount to in that time which infers that onely the Revenue is brought to that Account but since he desires a Computation I will furnish him with one more particular than perhaps he desires and then the vail being pull'd off this fallacie among others will be discovered First The Revenue in that time may indeed amount to about that Sum but in the Account of the great Sum he sets down there are these Particulars contained viz. The Eighteen Months Tax amounting to 1238750 l. The Tax for Building the Thirty Ships 584978 l. On the Fifth part of the Excise 200000 l. The Poll-Act 252900 l. The first Act for Disbanding the Army and other Uses c. 619388 l. This had appeared an Argument of some moment if it had been stated upon the Account wholly of the Revenue and that it had been left uncharged by this Lord but without searching into the fallacies of it the condition of the Revenue as it was left by this Lord will best determine his Prudence and Success The next thing insisted on is Secret Service which he says those that are versed in the Exchequer know that many Sums are included in that way of Payment that are either for Publick Service upon Expedition for sudden occasions or to save greater Fees where His Majesty is pleased to let it be so as in the Case of the Lord Treasurer and Chancellor of the Exchequers Salaries c. This is a compound of Mistakes for there are none in the Exchequer that can know what any Secret Service Money is applyed to for the Orders are in a us'd name and no Service mentioned but the words betray themselves for if it be for saving of great Fees 't is of consequence that the Exchequer knows not what 't is for or else they would have their Fees accordingly but for this very cause because those that were versed in the Exchequer did not nor could not know what such Monies were for the passing of such Orders was stopt by the Officers till the certain Fees were agreed for otherwise they took it as free gift and rather than it should be known what it was for a proportion of Fees were consented to But
first might be the Adviser and Obeyer both which the last could not be But perhaps the meaning of this is that the Embassadour had been in the greatest fault if he had believed this Lord that it was the Kings Order But Mr. Mountague did not seem guilty of such an Errour as to believe so much in this Lord or so well of the business yet in his Speech in the House as well as in his letter he affirms He could produce the Kings Hand for the most material things and particularly for the Letters now made use of against him I know not what Papers such a one so great in the Kings Trust and who usually presented him with so many might get sign'd but he had shewed the same respect to the King to have published them as to own he had them After this he winds up all upon this sure bottom in these words In short it would be ill for Ministers of State and worse for their Masters if the one may not Command and the others be obliged to Obey c. Though this Argument of Obedience has been often us'd I thought here would be the properest place to take notice of it remembring a little before he says There are very few Subjects but would take it ill not to be obeyed by their Servants and their Servants might as justly expect their Masters protection for their Obedience I desire any Reader more Impartial than this Author to consider the falseness of this in every particular First sure there are few Masters that would expect Obedience from their Servants in unlawful things and the Servants could less expect protection unless their Masters were above the Law The great Master of the Nation can give no more protection nor require more Obedience than the Laws of God and man allow If Obedience is the excuse of ill acts it ceases to be a good Duty and if Absolution be fixt to Obedience all Crimes have lost their natures and Counsellors should onely be sworn to a Princes Will and not his Interest If a Prince of another Religion should command a Change in me would the Obedience be a good Plea at the last Tribunal And the reason holds the same in every lesser Crime but this Argument of such an Implicite Obedience is onely put into the disguise of Conscience to prevent the true Obedience of Christianity rather to suffer than do ill but such a notion of Conscience is much more pleasant that shelters Interest and Ambition rather than the other that exposes them to hazard I have now gone through this Lords performances in the Treasury and State-Affairs and as for that which follows about the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey I easily agree them to be Libels that Charge this Lord with it and think it must be an accusation against the Witnesses Judges and Jury and I for my part must confess that the matter appeared to me clearly and fully prov'd As to what relates to the Popish Plot I leave it to others that know more not pretending to meddle with any thing that I have not had some particular knowledge in and therefore shall say little to his concluding Argument upon an Objection raised by himself Why an Innocent man should withdraw from his Tryal and then upon his Appearance quit all Defences and betake himself to a Pardon But this particular of making a Defence or relying upon a Pardon belongs onely to the Lord himself and to draw Arguments from thence to imply a guilt would rather shew a desire to find a Crime than prove it Nor will I meddle with the nature of his Pardon by what means obtained or how valid that must be considered in a more proper place and 't were too much confidence in any single Writer to Anticipate a Parliaments Judgment but this Impartial Writer taking it for granted that he has made it evident that this Lord was a good Minister and a good Englishman he concludes that it may be reasonably objected from thence Why a man so qualified to defend himself should quit all Defences but his Pardon but if by the Observations that I have made the contrary does appear his Pardon was certainly the best Defence to insist on The Conclusion of this whole matter brings me to my last Observation upon the Complaint made That Innocence is no Protection to Prince or Subject for one he instances the last blessed King for the other this Lord and makes the severity of their Cases equal This indeed if true is a sufficient answer for Pleading his Pardon when his Innocency could be no Protection and agrees with the foundation laid down in the beginning That Malice had too great a share in his Prosecution so that he returns a Charge upon his Prosecutors the Commons for Malice and against his Judges and Jury the Peers as no regarders of Innocency though in this Lords Case arguing against the Libellers that would fix Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's death on him he says in that they did accuse the Witnesses Judge and Jury that Condemned others for it but now it seems he argues another way not allowing so much favour to Lords and Commons as to the others Nor does he deal less boldly with all Kings and their Reputations that come in his way upon this King he endeavours to fix many of the Crimes charg'd on him and with his Fathers Sufferings and Virtues compares his own the excellent nature and bounty of the first as little merited the return as the Case of the last did the Comparison I have not wanted Reflections That it seems severe to endeavour to adde weight to the Unfortunate and were there no cause given I should censure it as a want of generosity to say any thing though true that might adde to Affliction but since 't is charged upon all That Malice may have too great a share in the Prosecution of this Lord I preferred my Duty to the Publick before any particular consideration in presenting these Observations to inform them of those Truths which by so many disguises are turned into Masquerade and needed some that were well acquainted with them to make the discovery of every particular and the Reader is now left to judge whether they are well used in the promise of so much Truth in this Impartial Case of the Earl of DANBY FINIS