Vice-Roy-ship put to death and massacred â— not so few as 100000 of the Natives amongst which the Counts Egmont and Horn with others of the Nobility were the chief which withstood his Tyranny and stood up in defence of their immunities which the King of Spain by power would have taken from them which was a just cause given to the people to revolt both for safegard of their lives and priviledges which the four great Dukes of Burgandy suffered them to enjoy so that on a right understanding of the Hollanders case which was just and but reason that when they could not obtain right from the King upon their many Petitions and complaints of the Tyranny of his Ministers they could do no less then endeavor the preservation of their lives and fortunes And therefore under the conduct of the Prince of Orange they seized on divers of the strongest Towns and the people unanimously fell in with the Prince and ever since manfully and fortunately have defended themselves But in the late defection of the English with the Parliaments raising of Armies against their Soveraign Lord there is no manner of similitude with that of Holland or any such cause given or ground of the peoples defection since I presume you will confess that not so much as one guiltless man during all the late Kings raign hath been put to death unless you object and instance in those which by the fatality of the late War befel both parties which you know to be no other then fortuna de la guâ—ra not the Kings Tyranny or the least desire of his that a drop of innocent blood should have been spilt and that which was was in his own necessitated defence But I pray take the case as now it stands between the present King and your States then you may soon see the difference for in confirmation of the Collonels assertion I dare affirm the King hath ten friends for one to those on whom the States may rely as firm and fixed to them since his late Majesty was put to death and that major number you may be sure on'â— are all his in body and soul and do utterly detest that his Royal Father and â— himself should be so unjustly cut off and excluded of his birth-right and by whom think you but by an inconsiderable part of the representative the Souldiery and a handful of the people their 's adherents and therefore I say that the King on a right estimate of his party upon the least turn of the wheel will have a surerer and a stronger side then possibly the States here can have Patri Doctor in this your last reply I observe some notable particulars first you approve of the justness of the Hollanders defection yet you say that it parrallels not with this of the States here and change of the Government the reasons you have given for justifying the Hollander I confess are most true self preservation being just and allowable by Gods Law and mans But that now you should defend their cause which none of your said party ever did till of late is somewhat strange unless it be for that as you believe they are secretly engaged in the Scotch Kings Cause and yet you condemn the late Parliament for defending themselves and their liberties against the late Kings Tyranny which you shamefully endevor to excuse and would quit him from all blood-guiltinesâ— To which I answer That had you thought upon your own instance of 100000 of the Natives massacred by the Tyranny of the Spaniard it would have put you in minde of a million of people throughout the three kingdoms slain and murthered by the meer Tyranny Plots and practises of the late King of which you take no notice but after the wonted manner of all Royalists you justisty his innocency so that to the worlds-end you give occasion to the Parliaments party to rip up the faults of the dead and cause them to display all his Falshoods frauds breaches of Oaths and Protestations But as to your assertion That the major number of the people here are for the Scotch Pretender in body and soul is in part granted you yet therein you extremly delude your self for the odds in that major number will little advantage him or his party since the major power lies evidently in the lesser number which are for the States what then will it avail a prince unexperienced to lead a great yet an undisciplin'd Army against a lesser number but well disciplin'd valiant and armed Souldiers though you cannot be ignorant that the States Armies are very strong and numerous in all the three Nations As to your denyall of the similitude and parallel I say on the same reasons that the Hollanders took up The Hollanders case and of the States here alâ—ke parallel arms in defence of their liberties the people here did the same for defence of themselves and their Representative so that the parallel on the actions of both States holds and is alike save only in the â—nanimity and universal promptitude of the Nether Lands in their joyning and uniting of all their Forces with the Princes * Orange retinnâ—e t is most true the parallel in this holds not so fully for I must confess the State of the matter and manner of the revolt of a part of the people from the late King is different remains doubtful what may fall out in the issue in respect that the other major part of the people are conceived still to wish well to his Son the present Pretender and that all the three Nations stand in a kinde of distracted condition in regard that they are divided into parties sides factions fractions fects schisms and opinions which I acknowledge may sooner mar the work of the States now in being then they are aware of But in a word more to the point that the major number of the people are for the Scocth Pretender I say again that that number considered as they are a naked awed and dejected bulk of discontented animals signifies little or nothing compared with that power of which the States here are possest neither in humane reason can we see how or by whom they can be dispossest But let us on all hands suppose that the present Pretender shall land again in England or Scotland as of late he did where you know he was beaten there and at Worcester and forc'â— to flâ—e for his life again suppose he comes in with a nâ—merous Army of French Dutch Lorrainers Germans Sweeds Dants together with all the prescribed Cavaleers and all these united with a good party of Scotch and Irish admit them to be in all 60000 fighting men which will be too great an Army to be transported without a very powerful Navie such numbers you 'l grant cannot stay long there unless they mean to eat one another well then you will say they may instantly march into England as of late they did and not unlikely in two or three several
â—or acknowledgement that any fault was in himself until he was a Prisoner but evermore laid all the blame on the Parliament 6. That in this long persistance he had wearied and beggered all his friends and assistants at home and abroad to the desolation of three flourishing Kingdoms by the continuation of his Hostility to the destruction of a million of poor Innocent souls without any remorse of so much blood spilt more then of one man his wicked * Straford Instrument 7. That when he protested most and to the height of imprecation the Parliament at last found by the Testimony of his own Letters under his hand-writing that he meant nothing less and more contrary then to his usual Protestations 8. That neither all the Honors Mannors and Lands of the Crown or his own blood without true repentance could be a sufficient expiation to God or recompence to his subjects for the infinite bloodshed rapines and dilapidatins made on the Natives of three Kingdoms 9. That such was his insensibility of bloodshed that the many Lords Gentlemen and infinite others of inferiour quality slaughtetered in his bloody quarrel he made no other reckoning of them then this viz. that they suffered no more then of duty they were bound to do for their King which he avouched on the death of the Earl of Northampton 10. That those unjust pretences which he made under the notion of his Royal Prerogatives viz. the Militia power of War Peace Leagues Treaties Array of the people his negative Voyce in all Parliaments pardoning of Murderers and Fellons condemned by the Laws of the Land were all at his only disposure whereas by the known Laws of the Realm they have been onely entrusted and conferr'd on our Kings by the indulgence of the people in their Representatives as hereafter shall manifestly appear 11. That all his Treaties with the Parliament for peace were persidious and his Propositions evermore umbrated under â—pecious pretexts subtilties subtersuges and mental reservations as 't was evident in that at Colebrook and Vxbridge and more apparent by his own Letters to the Duke of * Vide The Kings Letters to the Duke of Rich. mond with others to the Queen Richmond viz. Not to forget to cajole well the Scots and by that at Oxford by Registring in the Councel-books his calling them a Parliament with mental reservations though not ex animo so acknowledged yet summoned by his own Writs and often so esteemed and call'd by himself and acknowledged to be a legal Parliament by his own mungril Conventicle at Oxford 12 That in all his Declarations and Expresses to the Parliament he evermore seemed to have a tender regard both towards them and the people when he onely intended his own interests with the advance of the Soveraignty to absoluteness by the power of the sword and to convey his designs to his Successors as in the instance of the * Vide One of the Kings Expresses where he yeelds the Militia during his own life but not sor his Sons Militia is most perspicuous when he perceived that the Parliament would no longer trust so dangerous weapons in his hands 13. That some of his best friends suspected him to be too much vers't in the Florentine Principles as indoctrinated by a French and Italian party constantly resident in his own Court and stickled on by the inâ—usions of the Queen-Mother the Daughter both which had gained a great interest had chiefest influence on his Concels and as'tis well known was wholy governed as the Queen lifted and at last his inclinations so strictly tyed up as that they were not subject to any other alteration then as she prescribed which was a Rule to whatsoever he undretook 14. That he was not wanting to himself for promoting of his arbitrary designs to make use of Machiavels principle Divide impera evermore to sow divisions and to cherish any dissention arising between the Parliament and their friends thereby to ruine them by themselves Thus Gentlemen according to your desires I have given you an accompt of those Reasons which have been given me wherefore the Parliament enterprized on the change of the Government by cutting off the King and his Posterity the premises being so true and undenyable that they satisfied me and prevailed so sar on my belief that I conceive the Parliament could not otherwise possibly have secured the Nation from farther ruine as also that their resolutions therein were directed by the special hand of God considered together with the and great constant charge incident to Monarchy the often pressures and oppressions of the subject through the Tyranny ambition and prodigalitie of most of our Kings the two last having beggered and impoverished them most of all others on which considerations the Parliament in reason of State and as the state of the controyersie then was between them and the King they found it much better to quit themselves and the people of Regal Government and to change it into a Republick as a more safe and cheaper Government rather then any longer to hazard the common liberty on the Rule of any one Prince whatsoever especially not to trust those of the Sotch Nation all our Histories and the Parliaments sad experience having taught them that of late years the Soveraignty by the ambition and artifices of both the late Kings was strain'd and tentered up to so high a pitch that it would not stoop to a lower power then that of absolutenes Now more particularly to answer your Querie as concerning the King of Scots the two Dukes with the rest of the late Kings loyns it seems likewise that the Parliament knowing them to be the Sons of that father who had more wasted the Land then all of the Norman Race before him they had small hopes left them that any of the same line would be much better being tutor'd afore-hand by the Father and at present residing in a French Academy which if admitted to the Government in all likelyhood would be no other then the cause of more blood more charge trouble misery and sorrow to the people very few of our Kings having given the Nation any great cause to be over-much enamoured with their Governments but most of the best much repentance through their Tyrannies and oppressions Prel Sir I profess you have given me fuller satisfaction then I could expect and I believe that you have taken the right measure of the Parliaments foot with the true reasons wherefore they have not onely cut off the Father but excluded all his Discendants onely in the point of their changing the kingly Government into a Republick as more secure and cheaper for the Nation this is a riddle to me for lamentable experience enforms us that all the oppressions and grievances of the people by all or most of our Kings and those so much upbraided and caft in the face of the late King I dare affirm amounts not to the fisth part of the charge and
Contributions imposed on the Natives by the Parliament if you grant this for truth as I presume you cannot gain-say it doubtless then the State here in being have brought the people to a very bad market since 't is manifest that what by the Monthly Contributions the rigorous exactions of the Officers of the Customs on all Merchandize together with the Excise on all we eat or drink with the free quartering of the Souldiers in most parts of the Land are far beyond all the Taxes Impositions and Subsides which the late King imposed or intended to lay on the people which gives them no great cause to rejoyce and make merry either for their safety or the cheapness of the exchange Answer me to this point and I shall as the Colonel even now said give you fair leave to carry away the bucklers and henceforth acknowledge you for an expert Fencer Thraso God amercy honest Doctor in good faith thou hast now given him a bone to pick that will stick in his teeth if he answers this to any purpose he shall not onely carry away the Bucklers but I shall willingly give him my sword into the bargain and then dam him for me that will ever fight one stroke more in the quarrel Patri Colonel you and your party have gotten such a habit of swearing and in such fearful volleys of Oaths as that had your cause been much better then it was God could not bless it or give you any good success therein but I beseech you leave your prophanation and then have patience a while for you have very good reason to leave fighting when you are so ready to depart with your weapons but lay your sword to the stake and then see what in the end will become of him for whatsoever the Doctor hath objected concerning the present impositions which are confest to be very heavie on the poor people yet when you know all it would have been much better he had said nothing since I perceive none of you all ever sounded the late Kings depth and what he intended or took the least measure of his foot for indeed he was too dark for any of your light to see into his designs and to tell you more he was too cunning for any that he employed though some there are which accounted him for little more then an Iguoramus but one of the shrewdest ones for his reaches to his own ends of any Prince of his time True it is that the Parliament though they suspected him at the first sitting down and before yet knew not a long time what he had in hand otherwise The Juncto and the Kings Letters taken at Nasby the onely means that the Parliament came to the knowledge of his Intentions then at random until the discovery of the Juncto which was the star that guided them to know somewhat more of his designs then they could clearly discern before and by degrees as God would have it more they came both to know and feel when a long time after his private Letters were taken at Nasby wherein more then enough came to light of his pernicious intents or was fitting for a King so much courted and beloved of English Nation to have attempted for their enslaving a design as I have said though long since by some of the more intelligent sort understood yet till that time never publickly known or visible the onely bar to the accomplishment was that Bellum Episcopale the Prelatical was against his Native subjects the Scots which brought it so about that the Kings game which was a fair fore-game became in the end by the Scots resistance and managety to an after and a lost game and the truth is the Scots were too subtile for all the kings Arbitrary Instruments and understood more of his reaches then happily all of us here shall ever know Now Doctor as to your Objections concerning the present Taxes Excises Customs and Free-Quarter I crave leave for a while to lay them aside to which anon I shall particularly make answer In the mean time I think fit to present you with a Preparative whereby to shew you that all changes and alterations of Government are and have evermore been accompanied with innumerable difficulties and hardships especially where the sword begets them who knows not but that the sword is a very chargeable weapon and such charges are most incident to green and new sprung up Governments and cannot be avoyded as in this case and alteration here with us you see cannot possibly be made good without a vast expence which necessarily ought to be defray'd by the people for whose sakes and conservation of the common freedom their Trustees the Parliament thought fit and best for their future indemnity to adventure on the change of the Government and then as the Adage speaks it They which reap the gains ought to indure the pains and 't is most true that although new gotten liberty be a sweet bait yet it often fals out that the enjoyment thereof brings with it a great deal of sufferance and yet must it be born with patience in hope of better times which may give way to the unburthering of the sufferers And so to your Objections which I shall answer in their ordâ—r and first to the Excise wherein I shall shew you the mistake since it seems you look onely at the present Impositions without minding their causes which as the postures of affairs now are were necessitated and insorc't on the Parliament to levie on the Nation neither do you look back to those times wherein during the late king and his Fathers raign there was no cause or a peece of a reason to be given why any Taxes should have been imprest on the people without their consents in Parliament yet for your better learning I shall assure you that the very same House in Broad-Street wherein the Office of the Excise is erected for the States use was 20 Moneths at least before the late Parliaments summons rented by Cottington and purposely for that use design'd by the King himself though protracted by reasons of the Scotch troubles As to the Customs we all know to what a height they were grown in the late Kings time to the great regret of the Marchant but that you may know what farther was much about that time in agitation there was a private * Vide That and other Commissions in the Signet Office Commission issued out under the Great Seal wherein twenty eight Lords and Gentlemen were nominated and Authorized to raise on all the Commodities of the Land what new Customs and Impositions the Commissioners should think sit which was the highest strain of Arbitrary power that ever was attempted by any of our Kings As to free-Quarter it is confest to have bin a very gâ—ievous burthen on the people not only to pay their Monthly Contributions but to be forâ—'t to give the Souldier free-quarter wheresoever he march't But to answer you in a word that
but that constanrly they will be continued if not encreased and of this we have a president in the change of the Government in the Nether-Lands where on their revolt from the Spaniard the States were enforc'd to raise their Excise on all things which the Natives did eat or drink and to impose Customs on all sorts of Merchandize either imported or exported without which they could never have been enabled to pay their Armies and to wage war with so potent a Prince as the King of Spain and that for 80 years endurance at least which shewes out unto us what we are to expect even a continuation of our Taxes and well it would be if we escape so Prela It s a fine liberty and freedom then that the late Parliament and your reformers have procured to the Nation and indeed Patriotus I am of your opinion that the States here as you stile them must of necessity continue if not encrease the Contributions when as all the Kings Lands and goods the Bishops and Delinquents Estates are sold and spent and when the King comes in to multiply their charge and enforce them for payment of their Armies to take any thing as often they have done wheresoever the Souldier can finde it there being but one only way left us to preserve the Nation from utter ruine and a final destruction Neut I beseech you Doctor what one way is that I shall be very thankful unto you to shew me that learning that so we may see an end of our miseries and that such as my self who never bore Arms on either side neither had a hand in shedding of one drop of blood might come at length to know the uttermost of our pain and enjoy our wonted tranquillity Prel In brief Neutralis 't is the admission of the King to his Royal Rights for without a King and the restitution of the Crown-Lands and the Churches Patrimony never expect an end of our calamities but an everlasting war with the continuation of the Taxes and oppressions of the poor people so long as those innocent Princes of the Royal Line are unjustly kept out of their Inheritance the example whereof we may see in Holland very judiciously even now instanced by Patriotus to whose judgement I appeal as the readiest and surest remedy to cure the convulsions of the Land and to settle peace throughout the three Nations which otherwise is impossible to accomplish Patri Doctor give me leave to dissent from your Opinion and in the first place to remember you of that wherewith even now you and the Colonel taxed the Parliament with the oppressions of the people wherein you over-shoot the mark without looking to the original causes and the reasons which have enforc't the States to impose those payments on the Natives which are necessitated for keeping the poor people from farther bloodshed and oppression 'T is in part true that in case the King of Scots could be as readily admitted as you speak it and in a peaceable and safe way for the Nation both in respect of the present and suture security it might haply conduce somewhat toward a present settelment of affairs for a time which would not be either long or lasting but never disburthen us of our payments for as the case now stands on admission of any one of the late Kings Linage he would doubtless on all opportunities have an animum revertendi a minde to the old way viz. to rule at will and pleasure an ambition inseparably united to the Sepâ—ers of all Kings especially to these which claim successively and de jure Coronae so that in a short time we should be in statu quo priùs enforc't to fight over again again the old quarrel foâ— preservation of the common Liberty Therefore I beseech you Doctor consider well of the present condition wherein we are together with the setled resolution of the State here in being which have not onely taken away the late Kings life as the onely remedy left them to settle a firm peace but farther have resolved to exclude his Posterity aâ— not holding the Fathers blood either a sufficient expiation for the infinity of blood spilt throughout the three Nations or the Royalties and Possessions of the Crown neither the Lands of the Bishops which without all question were the grand sticklers and promoters of all our late concussions a competent amends for the injuries and losses suffered by the three Nations but in detestation of Kingly Government whence through all Ages hath proceeded such numberless oppressions and imbroylments never to admit of any more Kings besides you may take it in the way what an essay the States have already made for the settlement oâ— an Aristocratical Government in imâ—â—acion of the Romans afâ—er their cuting of Tarquin us and his Posterity for Tyâ—anny anâ— aâ— of later days the States of Holland have done and prosperously accomphshed I appâ—al to your own judgement whether the King of Scots coming in by sorce of Arms or not at all wâ—ll The destructive consequence of the Scoâ—ch Kings coming in by the sword not plunge the Nation into an irreparable condition yea into ten degrees worse then at present we are in and that of necessity iâ— must be so and can be no other please you to have patience I shail render you many infallible reasons and such as I believe cannot be gainsaid besides 't is well known that the present Pretender is affected haply infected with his Fathers principles of absolute Soveraignty which will never sute with the genius of the States here in being which have the staffe in their hands with the Powers and strengths of all the Land at their only command and for ought I can perceive are both able intentive to uphold the present Government and so to establish it that in mans reason its impossible to divest them otherwise then by a stronger power which I believe lies not within the Scotch Kings reach to compass Prel Doubt not you of that for the King is not so destitute of friends and means to accomplish his designs as you imagine neither am I of your opinion that the Kings coming in will make our condition worse then now it is for worser it cannot be but on the contrary he will out of his innate goodness and compassion towards the poor oppressed people relieve them in what possibly he may and that by an act of Oblivion all old grutches with the late dissentions shall be coffin'd up and forgotten in his gracious and general pardon to all parties And I am cleerly of opinion that there can be no safer and readier way to compose all feuds and differences to ease the people of their Contributions and reestablish an everlasting peace throughout the three Nations then the acceptance of his Majesty to be our King as of right he ought to be and as I doubt not ere long he shall be in spight of all his enemies Patri Doctor I beâ—eech you let
us reason this case amongst our selves in moderation and with patience and let the first Quere be whether the States Government as 't is now setled or shortly may be with our present Contributions for payment of their Armies wil not be more safe and easie for the people then the Scotch Pretenders coming in by force of Arms to assume the Kingly Government Since by a peaceable and conditional way I suppose he will never be admitted So that Doctor without all question he hath no choice left him but that of the sword and then judge you of the issue and into what a lamentable condition the poor Natives will necessarily be reduced when the right of the crown comes again to be disputed on English ground the king as you would have him being personally present And after this Quere Let us compute the hopes helps strengths and assistances whereon both parties may depâ—nd for support of each others cause For one battel either by Sea or Land happily will not determine the controversie as t was conceived by some that one battel as that at Edghill in the begining of the late wars would decide the business which proved to be like the pullulation of the Monster Hidra's head which begot others in infinitum and when the late King was in person in the head of his Aâ—my Of the hopes assistances and Forces which the Scotch King may have to recover the Kingly Government compared with the strengths the States have to maintain the present Government argued on all hands I say then Let us make an â—stimate of the forces and assistances of each party which on a due examination and on consideration of that which must necessarily follow when at once as we may conjecture two four or happily six several Armies may be in the field will be so far from easing or dâ—sburchening of the people that what by free Quartering and inforcing of contributions by one or the other party that the Natives will curse the time that ever your King came amongst them Now Gentlemen do one of you tell me what Forces and Assistances as you conceive the King may have or presume upon for I believe he will come short of his expectation in receiving any considerable Assistance either from the Scotch or Irish and then I will tell you that which all men and your selves do know to be most true what the States here have and may have as well in their present power by Sea and Land as by their Politique managery in fastning friends unto them whereby to make good the present establishment Colonel You being a Souldier and not unlikely having better Intelligence from abroad then any of us what preparations the Scots King hath in forraign parts what friends at home and elsewhere begin you if you please and I will rejoyn Thraso With all my heart In the first place I 'le assure you that since the death of the late King my Royal Master his Majesty that now is whom the States here would exclude hath ten friends for one more then he had before thoughout the three Kingdoms so much your States have gotten by the bargains in Martyring their King neither ought you to believe but that the King hath both in Scotland and Ireland a very considerable party that will joyn with him as soon as he arrives and not a few even in the City of London which expect a good time though they lie still and quiet however the King hath their hearts and will have their hands on all fitting occasions Besides He hath at his devotion all the Catholikes and most of the Clergy of England with all the Lords so lately and Injuriously thrust out of their house together with the better part of the Members of the Commons house pulâ—ed out by the ears by the Independent Souldery all which refused to take the Engagement and when time serves will appear in Arms for him besides all the The Scotch Pretenders hopes in assistance for recovery of the Crown summed up old Royal party Banished the Realm for their fidelity to their old Master Thus much for the ayds and assistances his Majesty may relie on from his own Subjects And as to his forraign assistance you may rest assured that all the Princes through Christendom when the time serves will engage for him since it stands them upon so to do Neither may you doubt but that all the Princes his neer Kinsmen and Allyes will furnish him plentifully with all sorts of Ammunition and the Hollanders with shipping so soon as they have mastered the Seas and made all things ready for an Invasion for believe it as an evident truth that in the present quarrel by Sea between them and this State the Kings Interest is involved and will be pursued notwithstanding their late brush which they reckon not of neither of a few inconsiderable Ships they having enough of others to recrute in a trice so that you may evidently see that as soon as time serves the King cannot want men and for mony good Swords and Pistols will fetch it in with a vengeance Whence you may discern what an unwildy task the late piece of a Parliament and these new sprang-up States have undertaken and what will necessarily befall them through their own divisions when the King appears in power as of that you may be sure he will sooner then you think on then you shall see a world of the Parliaments friends to fall from them for their own sakes will fight for him and probable it is that a good number of the States Souldiers now in their pay on his Majesties landing with another manner of equipage then all of you are aware of will run from them to him with all their hearts as their indubitable Lord Soveraign Partri Colonel you have indeed succinctly summ'd up what Forces as you surmise the King may have and expect both at home and from abroad wherein you are very much mistaken and do reckon without your host you speak rather what you would have then in reason what the King can have still discovering your malignant heart and flattering your self as most of your party use to do with vain and imaginary hopes not considering how the late King notwithstanding all his wyles and attifices fail'd in all his designs and practises and at last brought him self and his friends to utter ruine to the great detriment and desolation of three Kingdoms still soothing up himself with the goodness of his cause which was as bad as bad might be to the last gaspe neither take you the least notice of Gods providence in the disposure of this wonderful work and change of Affairs neither the continued series of the many mitaculous Victories which it hath pleased God to give to the States Armies wherein the very hand of the Almighty is most perspicuous to all good men but to you and your complices hidden and unseen even to obduracy and hardning of your hearts The
in the room of that which hath been so sanguinary so displeasing to him so dolorous grievous to the poor innocent people so improsperous and detrimental to all parties and it shall be my continual sute unto him who is the great King of the World he that makes and unmakes Kings and States at his onely will and pleasure to put a period to our Calamities which I fear cannot be permitted as inconsistent with his Justice or appeased with bare moralities but with the realtie of a true and timely repentance which is the onely sacrifice and propitiation that he loves and the same for which we ought incessantly to pray it may be given unto us all of this sinful Nation Prel Patriotus I beseech you be not so hasty to depart before I have made an acknowledgment that you have convinc't me in sundry particulars especially by your two last Replies which have given me more light and better satisfaction then ever I received from any man living And truly Sir I shall ruminate on that which towards the conclusion of your last Reply you delivered and so shall detain you no longer but onely to give you hearty thanks with assurance that I both love and honout you Patri Doctor in a word more my Endeavors throughout all our conference have been to make use of nothing but plain truth neither to deliver any thing on bare trust or delude you with flams without due proofs and for conclusion I wish you all to review and take the particulars following into your second consideration viz. First with whom the Parliament had to do and into what streights difficulties and Encumbrances they were intoy'ld and engaged which was onely by the continued wiles and practises of the late unfortunate King next into what plunges and necessities they were driven for the preservation of the common interest and safety of the Nation their own persons and the people by whom they were trusted together with those necessitated and forcible reasons which induced them to cut off the late King as the cause of so much innocent blood spilt with the exclusion of his Posterity change of the Government In the next place take the reasons of the continuation of the Contributions for securing thereof and staving off a second war which the Malignant Party endevours by bringing in the Scoth Pretender which should it happen in all probability may be more bloody and more intolerable for the people to bear then the former have been which by many infallible Arguments and demonstrations in our conference is made manifest The premises duly considered cannot be denyed why then the several parties in this great discrepancy of opinion should not close in a cordial conjuncture and unanimous agreement for conservation of their mutual interests seems to me one of the great wonders of the world but that some there are and not a few throughout the Land which are possest with a spirit of error and taken with such an Egyptian blindness that they cannot or will not see Gods high hand and Providence in this Miraculous change of affairs neither their own happiness involved therein but are led captive through their own wilfulness supposing to make their condition better by multiplying their own miseries so fatally besotted they are with their restless desires by bringing in upon themselves and the whole Nation tyranny ruine and desolation It shall therefore be my hearty prayers to Almighty God to open the eyes of their understanding as I hope Gentlemen he will in good time which would be a comfort to all good and honest men to be eye-witnesses of unity and concord between brethren of one faith one language one linage and withal my heart I wish it of one unanimous spirit then by Gods blessing we should be more secure at home and more formidable abroad and so Gentlemen once more I wish you a good-night but with this engagement that you shall God-willing shortly see on what sandy foundations the King built his designs and on what a rotten building your selves framed your hopes with the groundless reasons which induced you to take part with a persidious King and how you have been all deluded by him under the specious pretence of Law and Loyalty and that by the same way he came at last to ruine himself and his Posterity Additionals to the former Discourse for the better satisfaction of Royalists and all others mistaken in their opinions concerning the late Kings Designs the legality of his Prerogatives with their destructive consequences should he have obtained them by the Sword AFter so long a time so often Disputes and so much written of the differences between the late King and Parliament and after the determination of the Controversie and a new Government established to repeat de novo what was acted between both parties known to all of understanding I know must incnr the severe censure of the most intelligent should they not look upon the reasons and take into their second considerations how at this time the present postures of affairs of State are traduced censured and cryed down not onely by the old Royal party but by numbers of other malitious distempered spirirs newly started up since the dissolution of the late Parliament which deny and call into question the verity of most passages acted on the open Theater of the Nation This hath induced me to revive and repeat some things not vulgarly known though others and most of that which I crave leave now to recite are visibly known to all the World and that the enemies to the present Government are more now in number then eyer I held my self bound as a member of this Commonwealth to vindicate truth and to satisfie such as still are diffident of the truth of passages as also to perswade others wavering in their belief to stand fast to their old principles as the bâ—st and most safe for themselves in particular and the common good of all the Nation in general In pursuance whereof having in former the Discourse answered some of the principal objections of Royalists and others against the present Government as they are abruptively discust between the Inter-locutors variously and differently affected We now come to shew not only how the King himself but those of his party have been induced to believe the Soveraignty with those Lawless Perogatives claimed by him as inseparables to the Crown were of right and by the Laws of the Land to be disposed at his onely will and pleasure as king and the supream Governor of this Nation These being the grounds and basis of the late horrid War and the reasons wherefore he pretented to take up Arms to maintain them against the Parliament which as Royalists still constantly aver were invaded by them 'T is most true that the Parliament did and by their trust were bound to oppose him in those irregular claims as inconsistent with the nature constitution of the English Soveraignty contradictory to the Laws and
Ramsey to accept of 3000. l. ready money to to be quit of him Of the Kings assertion that he was not accomptable for his actions to any but to God alone AS to that odious position or rather Tyrannical assertion both of the Fathers and the Sons that they were not accomptable for their actions to any but to God alone doubtless 't is an impious position and in the next degree to blasphemy and cannot be without repentance forgiven of God nor forgotten of men and those of their subjects which felt the effects thereof Should we longer insist on this Theam and produce proofs that Kings for their irregularities and Tyrannies have in divers Kingdoms been call'd to account they would amount to a Volumn The Justice of Arragon the Ephori amongst the Lacedemonians the Senate of Rome the Parliaments of England and Scotland will soon evince and put this question out of doubt for Kings as well as subjects both by Gods Laws and mans are under the Law and in this kingdom and many other well regulated Soveraignties they have been often over-ruled withstood in their exorbitancies sued at Law and evicted and some deposed expeld and sentenced to death and should it not be so Subjects would be no other then inanimate slaves sure we are Almighty God never impowered Kings with such absolute Soveraignty that might enable them to trample on their subjects without controule Saul made a rash vow as a Law to the Isaelites that none should eat any food all the day until the evening but he should die Ionathan being then absent not knowing thereof had dipt his rod in a Honey-comb and tasted it but being told of his Fathers Law he answered the people My Father troubles Israel and indeed such troublers there are amongst kings howsoever Ionathan was sentenced to death but the people withstood the king and swore that a hair of his head should not fall and they rescued him in the face of the king certainly should not there be some one other power in a kingdom to curbe and controule the exorbitancies of irregular kings for few of them are Saints no man should be exempted from their oppressions and therefore Bracton delivers it as the law of the Land that in such cases the Barons or Parliament ought not onely to withstand oppressive kings but to call them to account for their misdemeanors which may suffice to show how much the two late kings were mistaken in this their Tyrannous assertion Now Gentleman Royalists these Soveraign Rights as you would have them so often treated on utterly dissonant to the Laws of the Land whereunto particularly I have briefly made answer are those goodly Prerogatives wherewith you would have invested the late king as his indubitable birth-rights and inseparables of his Crown for which you still constantly aver he was compeld to fight and your selves with him to uphold them where I must by the way remember you of a time when he shamed not to * Vide The Kings Coyn at Oxford divulge it to the whole Nation that he fought for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and Priviledges of Parliaament for he was not to seek wherein to please the people and win them to his cause though never so unjust when as in truth he fought against all those three and so long as untill he could fight no more but by what law or reason other then his own none may better know then your selves which as well as infinite others that opposed him have felt the fruits of your unadvisedness the effects of his obduracy his cunning and crafty fetches to attract friends for backing of an unlimited Soveraignty to which had he attained it would have been no other then too heavie a burthen for him to bear a sting in his own conscience a sore in yours which you will all finde whensoever it shall please God to open the eyes of your understanding and enable you to see how you have bin decoyed in with Oathes Protestations and hopes of preferment made the instruments of your own Invassalage This if you believe not to have been the design yet you may finde it legible not onely in the claims and pretences he made to those illegal and irrational Prerogatives before recited but more apparently figured in that bloody Rubrick of a continued War which he so long waged to be absolute master of them and consequenly over all the free people of England Thus have I shewed you how invalid the grounds are whereon you continue to insist in justifying the late king and your selves how dissonant and contrary to the Laws usuages and Statutes of the land such was the wisedom and providence of our ancient Parliaments in all their enactings evermore to prefer the common interest before the kings though they failed not to gratifie them as they found them compliable to the redress of the publick grievances with many Royal immunities as we may finde them registred in the Statutes at large on the Title of Prerogative some whereof I think fit here to present to your view that so you may judge whether Sir Walter Rawly was not in the right who avoucheth that few of our kings but have gotten ground and improved their Soverainties meerely by their Parliaments as I verily believe none more then the late unfortunate King had he been pleased in imitation of Queen Elizabeth to have complyed with the late Parliament But as to his Prerogative of Wardships and Marriages they were first conferr'd on our Kings 17 of Edw. 2d their primer session 52. Hen. 3d the tuition of Ideots and distracted persons 17. of Edw. 2d 32. of Hen. 8th but with several proviso's of accompts to be made to the next Heirs of Ideots and the children of him that was incompos mentis As to wracks of Sea Whales c. they were given by Parliaament to Edward the Second the 17 of his Raign Felons goods the 9 of Hen. 3. power to make Justices of peace 27. of Hen. 8. the Legitimation of the Kings children born beyond the Seas 25. Edw. 3. Tonage and Pondage to Edw. 4. pro tempore yet granted to every of his Successors by the meer indulgence of their Parliaments though the late King challenged it as his own right I may not omit farther to inform you that this Nation hath not been so much abused and deceived by any one proficient in our Laws as by that false and jugling Judge Ienkins who in his Lex * Lex Terrae a most vile and fraudulent peice Terrae by his accumulation of several Statutes insinuates and endeavors to make the Kings power absolute and consequently the people meeâ— Slaves and Vassals alledging this and that to be the Law of the Land which is not or ever was taking his Authorities and Authors by piece-meals curtaling the Statutes in their sense without the explanation of their meanings and intents whereby on my own knowledge he hath deceived and prevailed on the