and make no haste into the Boat they called to him to come away Gentlemen said he I intreat you to excuse my going with you for I now call to mind some extraordinary business which obliges me to stay in Town But his company was too pleasant to be so easily relinquish'd wherefore one of them stepping out of the Boat endeavoured by his importunity to alter his resolution and perswade him to go with them according to his first intention but being not able to prevail he protested he would carry him into the Boat if he would not go willingly so that being unwilling to disoblige them he adventur'd to go although with much reluctancy As they were shooting the Bridge it being low Water the force of the Ebb carried their Boat with such violence against a Loyter that was just gone through before them that she sunk but several Boats presently making towards them they were all sav'd however their design for Bowling at Greenwich was spoiled for that day Having spent some considerable time in the Inns of Court his Relations began to think of disposing of him in Marriage and a suitable Match was enquired after that might answer the largeness of his Fortune At length a Marriage is agreed by the consent of both Families between him and Margaret Daughter to Thomas Lord Coventry sometime Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England whose agreeable Conversation render'd his Life the more pleasant and delightful He had no Issue by this Wife His second Wife was the Lady Frances Daughter to the Earl of Exeter by whom he had Issue his only Son and Heir Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftesbury who married the virtuous and ingenious Lady the Lady Dorothy Daughter to John Earl of Rutland by whom he hath Issue two Sons Anthony a Youth of about Twelve years of Age extreamly like his Grandfather both for Person and Parts for which reason he was so dear to him that his Life seemed to be bound up in this Grandsons as Jacobs was said to be in his Son Benjamin's His last Wife was Margaret Daughter to William Lord Spencer a most accomplished and Virtuous Lady whose exemplary Piety is so extraordinary that she may very well be proposed as a pattern for other Noble Personages to imitate her constant custom being to rise by Five of the Clock in the Morning and she usually spends two or three hours there in her private Devotions No sooner did the Fame of his great Abilities reach the Royal Ear but his late Majesty cast a favourable Eye upon him employing him in several eminent Services which he performed with an exact Loyalty to the satisfaction of his Majesty from whose Interest he never departed otherwise then as Hushai from King David when the Tribes of Israel revolted from him in order to the using his Interest for the Service of his Prince and endeavour by his Wisdom and Counsel so to order and influence the Councils and Designs of the Conspirators that they might be the less hurtful to his Soveraign and tend to the overthrow of themselves And it is admirable to contemplate with what dexterous Skill and exquisite Policy he so managed all their Councils as to make them run directly towards and naturally tend to swell the Royal Stream which immediately upon their Ebb flowed so suddenly and swiftly that like a swelling Sea it easily overflowed all those Banks which were cast up to impede its Flux and by its irresistable force bore down all before it until at last it terminated in the full Tide of his Majesties Restoration Like the Generous Hushai never resting until he saw his Ejected Soveraign like the glorious Sun newly escaped from a total Eclipse return to the possession of his Crown and Kingdom His Majesty having December 5. 1639. upon the advice of the Earl of Strafford and Marquess of Hamilton and Doctor Land Archbishop of Canterbury declared his resolution for the calling a Parliament After 11 years interval he was by the unanimous consent of the Inhabitants of the Borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucester-shire chosen to serve as Burgess for that Town Sir Edward Alford being chosen for the other On Monday April 13. 1640. this Parliament opened and were acquainted by his Majesty That he thought never any King had greater cause to call his People together nor more weighty Affairs to confer with them about then himself the particulars whereof he referred to the Lord Keeper By whom they were recommended to the Parliament in an elegant Speech The Parliament sate in debate of those things recommended to them till the fifth of May when his Majesty concluding they were too slow in giving those Supplies he demanded Dissolved them publishing a Declaration thereupon containing an account of his Reasons for that Dissolution This was the fourth Parliament which had been Dissolved by his Majesty In the beginning of our unhappy Troubles he raised a Regiment for the Service of his Majesty and was by him upon the Rupture with the Parliament made Governour of Waymouth being at the same time High Sheriff of the County of Dorset And when he saw that the War would unavoidably break out he summoned by virtue of his Pesse Contitatus the whole County from sixteen years old to meet at Dorchester which is the County Town thereby to engage them to stand by his Majesty But before that day appointed for their Meeting his Majesty sent down Colonel William Ashburnham with a Commission to be Governour of the County of Dorset whereupon he repaired presently to Dorchester and shewed his Commission to the High Sheriff At which time the Sheriff acquainted the Colonel with what he had done in reference to his Majesties Interest by summoning the County wherewith the Colonel was very well pleased But Sir Anthony concluding that the Colonel's being sent to command as Governour of the County notwithstanding his being Governour of Weymouth and high Sheriff of Dorset-shire proceeded from some secret suspition which his Majesty had conceiv'd of his Fidelity perhaps occasioned by the malicious whisperings of some about the King who grew Jealous of him lest the greatness of his Parts should in time have raised him higher in his Majesties Favour and good Opinion then would have consisted with their Interest took Horse the next Morning and went to his own House about 20 Miles from thence the next day he went to his Brothers and from thence to London The day being come for the Counties Meeting they flocked in vast numbers to Dorchester there being scarce a Man in the whole County wanting whereupon the Colonel being informed that the High Sheriff was not in Town went up to the Guild-Hall being accompanied with several of the chief of the Town and told the People That he was glad to see so great an appearance and that they yielded so ready Obedience to the Summons of their Sheriff who was at that time absent telling them that the occasioning of Summoning of them was to engage them to
delightful view of the languishing Spectators wherein they plainly law the happy Issue of those Policies and Councils that were before Riddles too mysterious for vulgar understandings to unfold or once imagine whither they tended or where they would terminate by the following Resolves of both Houses Resolved by the House of Peers That they do own and declare That according to the Ancient and Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom the Government is and ought to be by King Lords and Commons Resolved That a Committee of Eight Lords do joyn with a Committee of the House of Commons to consider of an Answer to His Majesties gracious Letter and Declaration Resolved by the House of Commons That a Committee be appointed to prepare an Answer to His Majesties Letter expressing the Great and Joyfid sense of this House for his Gracious Offers and their humble and hearty Thanks to His Majesty for the same and with professions of their Loyalty and Duty to His Majesty And that this House will give a speedy Answer to His Majesties Gracious Proposals Resolved That the sum of 50000 1. be Presented His Majesty from this House The receiving those Letters and the Parliaments compliance therewith was no sooner reported to the City but the Citizens were almost overwhelmed with Joy the harmony of the Bells and the flaming Piles which inlightened every Street surrounded with incredible Shouts and Acclamations of Joy were sufficient demonstrations of the infinite pleasure and satisfaction they took in this no less wonderful then happy Revolution and the several Counties taking the Alarm from London contended which should out-vie each other in expressions of Loyalty and Joy Then the Parliament proceeded to draw up a Letter in Answer to His Majesties subscribing it to the Kings most Excellent Majesty desiring him speedily to return to the Exercises of his Kingly Office appointing Commissioners to go over to Holland and attend His Majesty during the remainder of his stay there and in his return to England Of these Commissioners there were six for the House of Lords for the House of Commons Twelve whereof our great Patriot was one and Twenty for the City of London Instructions being delivered to the Commissioners they set Sail for Holland in several Frigats appointed by the Parliament to attend them and after some danger by bad Weather they Landed at the Hague whither His Majesty was then removed from Breda where he had resided some time before as being a place nearer and more convenient for his Shipping the disposal whereof and of the whole Fleet was remitted to His Majesties pleasure General Montague having received Orders from the Parliament to Obey His Majesties Orders and Directions therein The Commissioners were no sooner arrived but they went and waited on His Majesty and with all imaginable Respect and Veneration delivered their respective Messages and behaved themselves according to the Instructions they received from their Principals beseeching His Majesty in the name of his Parliament and People to return and re-assume the Scepter assuring him That he should be infinitely welcome without any terms They were received by his Majesty with a Port and Grace like himself and entertain'd with extraordinary Favour and Magnificence In the mean time the Parliament Proclaim'd the King which was perform'd with all the Joy Splendour and Magnificence that Love or Loyalty could inspire The chief Lords of the House of Peers and the most eminent of the House of Commons the Lord General together with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen all in their Coaches attended by the whole Militia of the City waited upon and assisted in the Ceremony and the Shouts and Acclamations of the crouding Multitudes was so extraordinary that although all the Bells throughout the City and Suburbs were at that time Ringing yet their noise was not to be heard The King preparing for his Return was magnisicently Treated by the Dutch and highly Complimented by all the Forraign Ambassadours And the Dutch knowing that they should thereby very much please the King enlarg'd their Civilities to our great Patriot and the rest of the Commissioners from the Parliament and City treating them by their Deputies to their great content and satisfaction Whilst this great Adventurer for the Royal Cause continued in Holland one day as he was doing his Duty in waiting on his Soveraign had the unhappiness to be overthrown in a Carravan whereby he received an unfortunate Wound in his side between the Ribs which in time came to an Exulceration and was in the year 1672. when he was Lord Chancellour forc'd to be opened The Operation was performed by Mr. Knolls the Chyrurgeon by the Advice and Direction of the famous Doctor Willis and supposed to be the greatest Cure that ever was done upon the Body of Man From whence we may learn the hard Fate which sometimes attend the most commendable Actions since this which was the greatest mark and ensign of Loyalty should be made the matter of the greatest Obloquy and Reproach most of those malicious Pamphlets that have been written against him being filled with Invectives grounded upon the Story of the Tap. Oh monstrous Ingratitude His Majesty having prepared all things in readiness Embarqued for England the Royal Charles being appointed for that purpose And was attended by the Commissioners and a numerous Company of English Gentry and waited on by General Mountague with the whole Fleet and having a fair and gentle Gale Landed at Dover May 25. where he was met by the General and chief Nobility and so conducted to Canterbury Rochester and Darkford and from thence to London where His Majesty found the Lord Mayor and Aldermen ready in a Tent which was pitcht in St. Georges Fields to receive him the several Regiments being there placed in Order made a Lane for his Majesty to pass through the Sword being delivered him according to Custom he re-delivered it and after a splendid Treat proceeded into London by Southwark from the Bridge to Temple-Bar the Streets were Railed on one side with Standings for the Liveries and on the other with the Train'd Bands and sevefal Companies of Gentlemen Volunteers in White Doublets under the Command of Sir John Staywell through which His Majesty passed in a Splendid and Triumphant manner being bravely attended by Sir Anthony and the rest of the Commissioners of the Parliament and City together with all the principal Nobility and Gentry of England with innumerable others and so he passed to White-hall where both Houses of Parliament waited his Arrival whose Speakers in elegant Speeches acquainted him with the Felicity and Happiness they conceiv'd in this happy Revolution The Friday following His Majesty went the private way to the House of Lords and after having made a short Speech signed those Acts which were ready for the Royal Assent And not long after proceeded to the choice of his Privy-Council and in consideration of the great Esteem he had for Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper nominated him for one of them Wisely considering
and Affection Duty and Loyalty to His Majesty's Person and Government humbly requesting that the Parliament summoned to meet at Oxford might be Graciously permitted to meet and sit at Westminster It was presented to His Majesty by the Earl of Essex who acquainted the King with the design and intent of their Petition in the following words May it please Your Majesty THe Lords here present together with divers other Peers of the Realm taking notice that by your late Proclamation Your Majesty hath Declared an Intention of calling a Parliament at Oxford and observing from Histories and Records how unfortunate many such Assemblies have been when called at a place remote from the Capital City as particularly the Congress in Henry the Seconds time at Clarendon Three several Parliaments at Oxford in Henry the Thirds time and at Coventry in Henry the Sixths time with divers others which have proved very fatal to those Kings and have been followed with great mischief to the whole Kingdom And considering the present posture of Affairs the many Jealousies and Discontents which are among the People we have great cause to apprehend that the Consequences of the sitting of a Parliament now at Oxford may be as fatal to Your Majesty and the Nation as those others mentioned have been to the then Reigning Kings and therefore we do conceive that we cannot answer it to God to Your Majesty or to the People if we being Peers of the Realm should not on so important an occasion humbly offer our Advise to Your Majesty that if possible Your Majesty may be prevailed with to alter this as we apprehend unseasonable Resolution The Grounds and Reasons of our Opinion are contained in this our Petition which we humbly present to Your Majesty To the Kings most excellent Majesty The humble Petition and Advice of the Lords undernamed Peers of the Realm Humbly sheweth THat whereas Your Majesty hath been pleased by divers Spechees and Messages to Your Houses of Parliament rightly to present to them the dangers that threaten Your Majesties Person and the whole Kingdom from the mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the suddain growth of a forreign Power unto which no stop or remedy could be provided unless it were by Parliament and an Vnion of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects in one Mind and one Interest And the Lord Chancellor in pursuance of Your Majesties Commands having more at large demonstrated the said dangers to be as great as we in the midst of our fears could imagine them and so pressing that our Liberties Religion Lives and the whole Kingdom would certainly be lost if a speedy provision was not made against them And Your Majesty on the 21st of April 1679. having called unto Your Council many Honourable and Worthy Persons and Declared to them and to the whole Kingdom That being sensible of the Evil Effects of a single Ministry or private Advice or forreign Committee for the general Direction of Your Affairs Your Majesty would for the future refer all things unto that Council and by the constant Advice of them together with the frequent use of Your great Council the Parliament Your Majesty was hereafter resolved to govern the Kingdom We began to hope we should see an end of our Miseries But to our unspeakable grief and sorrow we soon found our expectations frustrated the Parliament then subsisting was Prorogued and Dissolved before it could perfect what was intended for our relief and security And tho' another was thereupon called yet by many Prorogations it was put off till the 21st of October past and notwithstanding Your Majesty was then again pleased to acknowledge that neither your Person nor your Kingdom could be safe till the Matter of the Plot was gone through It was unexpectedly Prorogued on the 10th of this Month before any sufficient Order could be taken therein All their just and pious endeavours to save the Nation were overthrown the good Bills they had been industriously preparing to Vnite Your Majesties Protestant Subjects brought to nought The discovery of the Irish Plots stifled The Witnesses that came in frequently more fully to Declare that both of England and Ireland discouraged Those forreign Kingdoms and States who by a happy Conjunction with us might give a check to the French Powers disheartned even to such a despair of their own security against the growing greatness of that Monarch as we fear may enduce them to take New Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to Vs the Strength and Courage of our Enemies both at home and abroad encreased and our selves left in the utmost danger of seeing our Country brought into utter desolation In these extremities we had nothing under God to comfort us but the hopes that Your Majesty being touched with the groans of your perishing People would have suffered Your Parliament to meet at the day unto which it was Prorogued and that no further interruption should have been given to their proceedings in order to their saving of the Nation But that failed us too so then we heard that Your Majesty had been prevailed with to Dissolve it and to call another to meet at Oxford where neither Lords nor Commons can be in safety but will be dayly exposed to the Swords of the Papists and their Adherents of whom too many are crept into Your Majesties Guards The Liberty of speaking according to their Consciences will be thereby destroyed and the validity of all their Acts and Proceedings consisting in it left disputable The straitness of the place no way admits of such a concourse of persons as now follows every Parliament The Witnesses which are necessary to give Evidence against the Popish Lords such Judges or others whom the Commons have impeached or had resolved to impeach can neither bear the charge of going thither nor trust themselves under the Protection of a Parliament that is it self evidently under the power of Guards and Souldiers The Premises considered We Your Majesties Petitioners out of a just abhorrence of such a dangerous and pernicious Council which the Authors have not dared to avow and the direful apprehensions of the calamities and miseries that may ensue thereupon do make it our most humble Prayer and Advice that the Parliament may not sit at a place where it will not be able to Act with that freedom which is necessary and especially to give unto their Acts and Proceedings that Authority which they ought to have amongst the people and have ever had unless impaired by some Awe upon them of which there wants not presidents and that Your Majesty would be Graciously pleased to order it to sit at Westminster it being the usual place and where they may consult with Safety and Freedom And Your Petitioners c. Monmouth Kent Huntingdon Bedford Salisbury Clare Stamford Essex Shaftsbury Mordent Ewers Paget Grey Herbert Howard Delamer BUt His Majesty resolving not to alter His Resolution for the Parliaments setting at Oxford and the time of their metting
That he whose Counsels had been so successful in contriving His Restoration might be highly necessary and very much conduce to the Establishment of Him in His Kingdom and to shew the extraordinary Esteem he had for his Parts and Abilities he advanced him to be one of the first Rank in the Council placing him above his Royal Brother the Duke of Gloncester and even General Monke himself whom his Majesty use to 〈◊〉 Political Father And having in sundry respects saith Sir William Dugdale in his History of the Baronage of England whom we cannot suspect of Partiality manifested his Loyalty to Charles the First and his great Affection to his Country in the late perilous and difficult Times and likewise to our present Soveraign by his prudent and seasonable Advice and Consultation with General Monke in order to His Majesties Restoration in consideration of these his acceptable Services he was by Letters Patents bearing date at Westminster upon the 20th day of April in the Thirteenth Year of His Majesties Raign advanced to the Degree and Dignity of a Baron of this Realm by the Title of Lord Ashly of Wimbourne St. Giles and to the Heirs Males of his Body This Honour was conferred upon him in the Banqueting-House at White-hall three days before His Majesties Coronation in order to his assisting in the performance of that splendid Ceremony And when his Majesty was pleased to issue out the Grand Commission of Oyer and Terminer for the Trial of the Regicides directed to several Noble Persons choice was made of this Honourable Lord to be of the number of that Court his Majesty deeming him to be a Person whose Prudence and Loyalty render'd him as deserving of the Honour to which his Majesty therein preferred him as any other contained in that Commission And as if his Majesty had so high a Valuation for his Lordship that he thought his profound Parts and exemplary Loyalty merited a perpetual confluence of Royal Favours he raised him at several times to higher degrees of Honour making him Chancellor of his Exchequer Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer Lord Lieutenant of the County of Dorset and one of the Lord Commissioners of the Treasury But all these being too small to compensate his Merits and demonstrate the Royal Bounty and Princely Gratitude of his Soveraign whose Generous Nature inclines him to delight in nothing more then to reward like a King He was advanced to the Title and Dignity of an Earl being in the year 1672. created Earl of Shaftesbury and Lord Cooper of Paulet to him and the Heirs Males of his Body by Letters Patents bearing date at Westminster upon the 23 d. day of April in the Twenty Fourth Year of his Majesties Raign And in November following upon the Resignation of Sir Orlando Bridgeman his Majesty to gratifie the uninterrupted good Services of the Earl of Shaftesbury Chancellor of his Exchequer and one of the Lord Commissioners of the Treasury was pleased to give unto him the Keeping of the said Great Seal with the Title of Lord High Chancellor of England these are the words of the Gazette being the second Person that had enjoyed that Title since his Majesties Raign Whereby he was placed by his Great Master in the highest Orb that any Subject could possibly move in The Kings Conscience being as it were committed to his Care and Management And with what Prudence and Candour Honour and Integrity he acquitted himself in that great and weighty Imployment the Transactions of the Court of Chancery during the time of his Chancellorship will best testisie Justice then run in an equal Channel so that the Cause of the Rich was not suffer'd to swallow up the Rights of the Poor nor was the strong or cunning Oppressor permitted to devour the weak or unskilful Opposer but the abused found Relief suitable to their Distress and those by whom they were abused a severe Reprehension answerable to their Crimes The mischievous Consequences which commonly arise from the delays and other practices of that Court were by his ingenious and judicious Management very much abated and every thing weighed and determined with such an exact Judgment and Equity that it almost exceeds all possibility of belief And because the Traducers of this Lords Loyalty not only reproach him with the Tap which was an unquestionable Mark of Loyalty and Honour it being got in conducting his Majesty to his Crown and Kingdom but have likewise quarrel'd at his constant Faithfulness to the Royal Interest and endeavour'd to abuse every thing he did for his Majesties Service as they have done the speech he made to the Parliament upon the account of the Dutch War And that the World may see the temper of the Men and upon what ground it is they were his Enemies I have set down the Speech verbatim as follows My Lords and you the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commous THe King hath spoken so fully so excellently well and so like Himself that you are not to expect much from me There is not a word in His Speech that hath not its full weight And I dare with assurance say will have its effect with you His Majesty had called you sooner and His Affairs required it but that He was resolved to give you all the ease and vacancy to your own private Concerns and the People as much respit from Payments and Taxes as the necessity of His Business or their Preservation would permit And yet which I cannot but here mention to you by the Crafty insinuations of some ill affected persons there have been spread strange and desperate Rumours which your Meeting together this day hath sufficiently proved both malicious and false His Majesty hath told you that He is now engaged in an important very expensive and indeed a War absolutely necessary and unavoidable He hath referred you to His Declaration where you will find the Personal indignities by Pictures and Medals and other publique affronts His Majesty hath received from the States their Breach of Treaties both in the Surinam and East-India business and at last they came to that heighth of Insolence as to deny the honour and right of the Flag though an undoubted Jewel of this Crown never to be parted with and by them particularly owned in the late Treaty of Breda and never contested in any Age. And whilest the King first long expected and then solemnly demanded Satisfaction they disputed His Title to it in all the Courts of Christendom and made great Offers to the French King if he would stand by them against us But the most Christian King too well remembred what they did at Munster contrary to so many Treaties and solemn Ingagements and how dangerous a Neighbour they were to all Crowned heads The King and His Ministers had here a hard time and lay every day under new Obloquies Sometimes they were represented as selling all to France to make this War Portsmouth Plymouth and Hull were to be given into the
thrown down or some such like ominous accident had happened and with abundance of earnestness renewed the motion for calling the Duke to the Bar but there were too many Lords between for that motion to succeed and advice was brought every moment from the House of Commons that the things was yet in agitation among them which gave his Lordship an opportunity to appear with extraordinary vigour in defence of the Duke's Person and his Proposal so that the Earl seem'd more properly another Principle than the Duke's Second Whereupon the Lord Chancellor therefore undertook on the contrary to make the Prorogation look very formidable laying the best colour upon it and the worst upon his Opponants Thus for five or six hours it grew to be a fixed Debate many arguing it on both sides in a regular method until they received the welcome News that the Commons were risen without doing any thing whereupon the greater number called for the Question and had it in the affirmative that the Debate should be laid aside And thus being flasht but not satisfied with their Victory they fell desperately upon them who had affirmed the dissolution the same night and the next day voted his Lordship with the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton to be commited to the Tower under the Notion of Contempt during his Majesties and the Houses pleasures The Contempt for which they were committed was their refusing to recant their Opinions and ask pardon of the King and the House of Lords notwithstanding the liberty and freedom of Speech which His Majesty verbally and of course allows them at the opening of every Parliament The Warrant for the committing his Lordship together with the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton ran Thus ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Constable of his Majesties Tower of London his Deputies shall reserve the Bodies of James Earl of Salisbury Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury and Philip Lord Wharton Members of this House and keep them in safe Custody within the said Tower during his Majesties Pleasure and the Pleasure of this House for their high Contempts committed against this House And this shall be your sufficient Warrant on that behalf J. Brown Cler. Par. To the Constable of the Tower THE four Lords continued in the Tower so long that the Parliament was several times Adjourned during their Confinement which his Lordship bore with abundance of patience and incredible chearfulness considering the many weaknesses and infirmities of Body he then laboured under They expected to have been Released at least of course by Prorogation but Adjournments was so much in use at that time that it made them despair of being releived that way wherefore finding no end of their Captivity they looked upon the procuring their Liberty to deserve as much care as others took to retain them in durance to which end they each of them chose the method he judged most proper The Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton upon their application to His Majesty by a Petition were enlarged But Shaftsbury could not come off so for having made his Addresses to His Majesty in an humble Petition to be restored to his Liberty and the Favour of his Majesty he found the Royal Earl deaf to his Sute and no relief to be obtained that way Whereupon his Lordship applied himself to the Court of Kings-Bench the constant Residence of His Majesties Justice whether he was brought Wednesday Jan. 27. 1677. upon the Return of an Alias Habeas Corpus directed to the Constable of the Tower and there being some dispute about the sufficiency of the Return his Council prays to have the Return filled and Friday appointed to debate the sufficiency of it which being granted the Earl was re-manded back again unto the Tower On Friday morning his Lordship was brought up again and then the Case was strongly and learnedly argued on both sides and after the discussing the Point about the sufficiency of the Return then Mr. Williams Mr. Wallop and Mr. Smith who were Council for his Lordship gave divers weighty Reasons in the Earls behalf that the Court might and ought to relieve him The Attorney and Solicitor Generals argued the contrary shewing divers Causes why that Court could not relieve a person committed by Parliament So soon as they had done the Earl stood up and in an Elegant Speech spake for himself and directing him self to the Court delivered himself to this Effect MY LORDS I Did not intend to have spoken one word in this business but something hath been objected and laid to my charge by the Kings Council Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor that inforces me to say something for your better satisfaction They have told you that my Council in their Arguments said That this Court was greater than the House of Peers which I dare to appeal to your Lordships and the whole Court that it was never spoken by them I am sure it was not spoken by any direction of mine What is done by my Council and by me is That this Court is the most proper place to resort unto in those Cases where the Liberty of the Subject is concerned The Lords House is the Supream Court of Judicature in the Kingdom but yet there is a Jurisdiction which the Lords House do not meddle with The Kings Council mentioned as a wonder that a Member of the Lords House should come hither and thereby diminish the Jurisdiction of that Court I acknowledg them to be superiour to this or any Court in England To whom all Appeals and Writs of Error are brought and yet there is a Jurisdiction that they do not challenge and which is not natural to them or proper for them They claim not to meddle in Original Cases and so I might mention in other things And I do not think it a kindness to any Power or Body of Men to give them a Power or Jurisdiction which is not natural or proper to their Constitutions I do not think it would be any kindness to the Lords to make them absolute and above the Law for so I humbly conceive this must do if it be adjudged that they by a general Warrant or without any particular Cause assigned do commit me or any man to a perpetual and indefinite Imprisonment And my Lords I am not so inconsiderable a person but what you do in my Case must be Law for every man in England Mr. Attorney is pleased to say I am a Member of the Lords House and to lay wait on the word Member It 's true I am one of them and no man hath a greater reverence and esteem for the Lords than my self But I hope my being a Peer or a Member of either House shall not lose my priviledg of being an English-man or make me to have the less Title to Magna Charta or the other Laws of English Liberty My Opinion is not with one of my
to kill the Earl of Shaftsbury as being the great encourager and influencer of the rest not long after which Matteson pull'd a Pistol out of his Pocket in Mr. Prance's Shop affirming he would therewith do Shaftsbury's business having provided the same for that purpose several others also assures Mr. Prance that he would speedily be destroyed But after this their rage was heigthned and they supposed themselves obliged to a greater vigilancy in accomplishing his ruine upon the account of a Speech which was said to be spoken by him in the House of Lords March 25. 1679. upon occasion of the Houses Resolving it self into State of England which was to the following Effect MY LORDS YOV are now appointing the consideration of the State of England to be taken up in a Committee of the whole House some day the next Week I do not know how well what I have to say may be received for I never study either to make my Court well or to be popular I alwaies speak what I am commanded by the dictates of the Spirit within me There are some other considerations that concern England so nearly that without them you will come far short of Safety and Quiet at home We have a little Sister and she hath no Breasts what shall we do for our Sister in the day when she shall be spoken for If she be a Wall we will build on her a Palace of Silver if she be a Door we will inclose her with Boards of Caedar We have several little Sisters without Breasts the French Protestant Churches the two Kingdoms of Ireland and Scotland the forraign Protestants are a Wall the only Wall and Defence to England upon it you may build Palaces of Silver glorious Palaces The protection of the Protestants abroad is the greatest power and security the Crown of England can attain to and which can only help us to give check to the growing greatness of France Scotland and Ireland are two Doors either to let in good or mischief upon us they are much weakned by the Artifice of our cunning Enemies and we ought to enclose them with Boards of Caedar Popery and Slavery like two Sisters go hand in hand sometimes the one goes first sometimes the other but wherever the one enters the other is always following close at the Heels In England Popery was to have brought in Slavery in Scotland Slavery went before and Popery was to follow I do not think your Lordships or the Parliament have Jurisdiction there It is a Noble and Ancient Kingdom they have an Illustrious Nobility a Gallant Gentry a Learned Clergy and an understanding worthy People but yet we cannot think of England as we ought without reflecting on the condition thereof They are under the same Prince and the influence of the same Favourites and Councils When they are hardly dealt with can we that are Richer expect better usuage For 't is certain that in all absolute Governments the poorest Countries are most favourably dealt with When the Ancient Nobility there cannot enjoy their Royalties their Shrievaldoms and their Stewardies which they and their Ancestors have possessed for several hundred of years but that now they are enjoyn'd by the Lords of the Council to make Deputations of their Authorities to such as are their known Enemies can we expect to enjoy our Magna Charta long under the same persons and Administration of Affairs If the Council-Table there can imprison any Nobleman or Gentleman for several years without bringing him to Tryal or giving the least Reason for what they do can we expect the same men will preserve the Liberty of the Subject here My Lords I will confess that I am not very well vers'd in the particular Laws of Scotland but this I do know that all the Northern Countries have by their Laws an undoubted and inviolable Right to their Liberties and Properties yet Scotland hath out-done all the Eastern and Southern Countries in having their Lives Liberties and Estates subjected to the Arbitrary Will and Pleasure of those that govern They have lately plundered and harassed the richest and wealthiest Countries of that Kingdom and brought down the barbarous Highlanders to devour them and all this almost without a colourable pretence to do it Nor can there be found a Reason of State for what they have done but that those wicked Ministers designed to procure a Rebellion at any Rate which as they managed it was only prevented by the miraculous hand of God or otherwise all the Papists in England would have been armed and the fairest opportunity given in the nick of time for the execution of that wicked and bloody Design the Papists had and it is not possible for any man that duly considers it to think other but that those Ministers that acted that were as guilty of the Plot as any of the Lords that are in Question for it My Lords I am forced to speak this the plainer because till the pressure be fully and clearly taken off from Scotland 't is not possible for me or any thinking man to believe that good is meant us here We must still be upon our guard apprehending that the Principle is not changed at Court and that those men that are still in place and Authority have that influence upon the mind of Our Excellent Prince that he is not nor cannot be that to us that his own Nature and Goodness would incline him to I know your Lordships can order nothing in this but there are those that hear me which can put a perfect cure to it until that be done the Scottish Weed is like Death in the pot Mors in Olla But there is something too now I consider that most immediately concerns us their Act of Twenty two Thousand Men to be ready to invade us upon all occasions This I hear that the Lords of the Council there have treated as they do all other Laws and expounded it into a standing Army of Six Thousand Men. I am sure we have Reason and Right to beseech the King that that Act may be better considered in the next Parliament there I shall say no more for Scotland at this time I am afraid your Lordships will think I have said too much having no concern there but if a French Nobleman should come to dwell in my House and Family I should think it concerned me to ask what he did in France for if we were there a Felon a Rogue a Plunderer I should desire him to live elsewhere and I hope your Lordships will do the same thing for the Nation if you find Cause My Lords Give me leave to speak two or three words concerning our other Sister Ireland Thither I hear is sent Douglas's Regiment to secure us against the French Besides I am credibly informed that the Papists have their Arms restor'd and the Protestants are not many of them yet recovered from being the suspected Party The Sea-Towns as well as the In-land are full of Papists That Kingdom