in the beginning of this Parliament accepted of one for the Countie of Yorke Gave His People to understand That Hee had awarded the like Commissions into all the Counties of England and Dominion of Wales to provide for and secure them in a legall way lest under a pretence of danger and want of Authority from His Majestie to put them into a Military postuâ—e they should bee drawne and engaged in any opposition against Him or His Just Authority But 21. June 1642. The Lords and Commons in Parliament Declaring The Designe of their Propositions of raising Horse and Moneys was to maintaine the Protestant Religion and the Kings Authoritie and Person and that The Forces already attending His Majestie and His preparations at first coloured under the pretence of a guard being not so great a guard as they themselves had constantly for 6. moneths before did evidently appeare to bee intended for some great and extraordinary designe so as at this time also they doe not charge the King with any manner of action of Warre or any thing done in a way or course of Warre against them and gave just cause of feare and jealousie to the Parliament being never yet by any Law of God or man accounted to be a sufficient cause or ground for Subjects to make a Warre against their Soverainge did forbid all Mayors Sheriffes Bayliffes and other Officers to publish His Majesties said Letter to the Citie of London And declare that if Hee should use any force for the recovery of Hull or suppressing of their Ordinance for the Militia it should bee held a levying Warre against the Parliament and all this done before His Majestie had granted any Commission for the levying or raising of a man and lest the King should have any manner of provision of Warre to defend Himselfe when their Army or Sir John Hotham should come to assault Him Powder and Armes were every where seized on and Cutlers Gun-smiths Sadlers and all Warlike Trades ordered not to send any to Yorke but to give a weekely account what was made or sold by them And an Order made the 24. day of June 1642. That the Horses which should bee sent in for the Service of the Parliament when they came to the number of 60. should bee trayned and so still as the number increased 4. July 1642. The King by His letter under His signe Manuall commanded all the Judges of England in their circuits to use all meanes to suppresse Popery Riots and unlawfull assemblies and to give the People to understand His Resolution to maintaine the Protestant Religion and the Lawes of the Kingdome and not to governe by any Arbitrary way and that if any should give the King or them to understand of any thing wherein they held themselves grieved and desired a just reformation Hee would spedily give them such an answer as they should have cause to thank Him for His Justice and favour But the same day a Declaration was published by both houses of Parliament Commanding That no Sheriffe Mayor Bayliffe Parson Vicar Curate or other Sir Richard Gurney the Lord Mayor of London not many dayes before having beene imprisoned for proclaming the Kings Proclamation against the bringing in of Plate c. should publish or Proclaime any Proclamation Declaration or other Paper in the Kings name which should bee contrary to any Order Ordinance or Declaration of both houses of Parliament or the proceedings thereof and Order That in case any Force should bee brought out of one County into another to disturbe the Peace thereof they should bee suppressed by the Trayned Bands and Voluntiers of the adjacent Counties Shortly after Sir John Hotham fortifieth the Towne of Hull whilest the King is at Yorke seizeth on a Ship comming to Him with provisions for His Houshold takes Mr. Ashburnham one of the Kings Servants Prisoner intercepts Letters sent from the Queene to the King and drowneth part of the Countrey round about the Towne which the Parliament allowes of and promise satisfaction to the owners 5. July 1642. They Order a subscription of Plate and Horse to bee made in every Countey and list the Horse under Commanders and the morrow after Order 2000. men should bee sent to relieve Sir John Hotham in case the King should besiege him to which purpose Drummes were beat up in London and the adjacent parts to Hull The Earle of Warwick Ordered to send Ships to Humber to his assistance instructions drawne up to bee sent to the Deputie-Lievetenants of the severall Counties to tender the Propositions for the raising of Horses Plate and Money Mr. Hastings divers of the Kings Commissioners of Array impeached for supposed high Crimes and misdemeanours and a Committee of five Lords and ten of the house of Commons ordered to meete every morning for the laying out of ten thousand pounds of the Guild-hall moneys for the buying of 700. Horse and that 10000. Foote to bee raised in London and the Countrey bee imployed by dirction of the Parliament and the Lord Brooke is furnished with 6. peeces of Ordnance out of the Tower of London to fortifie the Castle of Warwick And 9. July 1642. Order That in case the Earle of Northampton should come into that County with a Commission of Array they should raise the Militia to suppresse him And that the Common Councell of London should consider of away for the speedy raising of the 10000. Foote and that they should bee listed and put in Pay within foure dayes after 11. July 1642. The King sends to the Parliament to cause the Towne of Hull to bee delivered unto him and desires to have their answer by the 15. of that moneth and as then had used no force against it But the morrow after before that message could come unto them they resolve upon the Question That an Army shall bee forthwith raised for the defence of the Kings Person and both houses of Parliament and those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands in perserving the true Religion the Lawes Liberties and the Peace of the Kingdome and that they would live and dye with the Earle of Essex whom they nominate Generall in that Cause And 12. July 1642. Declare That they will protect all that shall be imployed in their assistance and Militia And 16. July 1642. Petition the King to forbeare any preparations or actions of Warre and to dismisse His extraordinary guards to come neerer to them and harken to their advice but before that Petition could bee answered wherein the King offered when the Towne of Hull should bee delivered to Him hee would no longer have an Army before it and should bee assured that the same pretence which tooke Hull from him may not put a Garrison into Newcastle into which after the Parliaments surprise of Hull Hee was inforced to place a Governour and a small Garrison Hee would also remove that Garrison and so as his Magazine and Navy might bee delivered
Negative voyce The levying of Warre against the Personall commands of the King though accompanied with His presence is not a levying of Warre against the King but a levying Warre against His Lawes and Authority which they have Power to declare is levying of Warre against the King Treason cannot bee committed against his Person otherwise then as Hee was intrusted They have Power to judge whether hee discharge His trust or not that if they should follow the highest precedents of other Parliaments paternes there would bee no cause to complaine of want of modesty or duty in them and that it belonged only to them to Judge of the Law 27 of May The King by his Proclamation forbids all his Subjects and trayned bands of the Kingdome to Rise March or Muster But the Parliament on the same day Command all Sheriffs Justices of Peace and Constables within one hundred and fifty miles of Yorke to seize and make stay of all Armes and Amunition going thither And Declaring the said Proclamation to bee void in Law Command all men to Rise Muster and March and not to Muster or March by any other Authority or Commission and the Sheriffs of all Counties the morrow after Commanded with the posse Commitatus to suppresse any of the Kings Subjects that should bee drawne thither by his Command Secure and seize upon the Magazines of the Counties Protect all that are Delinquents against him make all to bee Delinquents that attend him and censure and put out of the house of Peeres nine Lords at once for obeying the Kings summons and going to him 3. June 1642. The King summoning the Ministery Gentry and Free-holders of the Countie of Yorke declared to them the reasons of providing himselfe a guard and that he had no intention to make a Warre and the morrow after forbad the Lord Willoughby of Parham to Muster and Trayne the Countie of Lincolne who under colour of an Ordinance of Parliament for the Militia had begun to doe it 1â— June 1642. The Parliament by a Declaration signifying That the King intended to make a War against his Parliament invited the Citizens of London all others well affected as they pleased to mis-call them within 80. miles of the City to bring money or plate into the Guild-Hall London and to subscribe for Men Horses and Army to maintaiâ—e the Protestant Religion the Kings Person and Authority â—ree course of Justice Lawes of the Land and priviledges of Parliament and the morrow after send 19. propositions to the King That the great affaires of the Kingdome and Militia may bee mannaged by consent and approbation of Parliament all the great officers of Estate Priâ—y Councell Ambassadors and Ministers of State and Judges bee chosen by them that the Grvernment Education and Marriage of the Kings Children bee by their consent and approbation and all the Forts and Castles of the Kingdome put under the Command and Custody of such as they should approve of and that no Peeres to bee made hereafter should sit or vote in Parliament without the consent of Parliament with severall other demands which if the King should have granted would at once in effect not only have undone and put his Subjects out of his protection but have deposed both himselfe and his posteritie and then they would proceede to regulate his Revenue and deliver up the Towne of Hull into such hands as the King by consent and approbation of Parliament should appoint But the King having the same day before those goodly demands came to his hands being a greater breach of his Royall Priviledges then his demanding of the 5. Members and Kimbolton if it had not beene Lawfull for him so to doe could be of theirs granted a Commission of array for the Countie of Lecester to the Earl of Huntington and by a letter sent along with it directed it for the present only to Muster and Array the Trayned-Bands And 13. June 1642. Declared to the Lords attending Him at York That Hee would not engage them in any Warre against the Parliament unlesse it were for his necessary defence wherupon the L. keeper Litleton who a little before had either beene affrighted or seduced by the Parliament to vote their new Militia The Duke of Richmond Marquis Hartford Earle of Salsbury Lord Gray of Ruthen now Earle of Kent and divers Earles and Barrons engaged not to obey any Order or Ordinance concerning the Militia had not the Royall assent to it And fourteenth of June 1642. Being informed That the Parliament endeavored to borrow great summes of money of the City of London and that there was great labour used to perswade His Subjects to furnish horse and money upon pretence of providing a guard for the Parliament By His letter to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffes of London disavowing any purpose of making a Warre declared That He had not the least thought of raising or using of forces unlesse Hee should bee compelled to doe it for His owne defence and forbiddeth therefore the lending of money or raising of horses And within two dayes after the Lord Keeper Duke of Richmond Marquis Hartford Earle of Salisbury Lord Gray of Ruthen with 17 Earles and 14. Barons the Lord Chiefe-Justice Bancks and sundrie others of eminent qualitie and reputation attest His Majesties Declaration and profession that Hee had no intention to make a Warre but abhorred it and That they perceived no Councells or preparations tending to any such designe and send it with His Majesties Declaration to the Parliament In the meane time the Committee of Parliament appointed to make the propositions to the Cittie of London for the raising of Horse vizt. 15. June 1642. Made report to the house of Commons That the Citizens did very cheerfully accept the same there being for indeede there had beene some designe and Resolution a yeare before concerning the melting of plate to raise monies already great store of plate and monies brought into Guild-Hall for that purpose and an Ordinance of Parliament was made for the Earle of Warwick to bee Lord Admirall and keepe the Navy though the King had commanded him upon payne of Treason to deliver up the Ships to Him And the Lord Brooke sent downe into Warwick-shire to settle the Militia 17. June 1642. A Committee of both Houses was appointed to goe to the Citie of London to enquire what store of Horse Monies and Plate were already raised upon the Propositions 18. June 1642. The King by His Proclamation Disclaiming any intention to make Warre against His Parliament forbiddeth all levies of Forces without His Majesties expresse pleasure signified under His Great-Seale And 20. June 1642. Informing all His Subjects by His Proclamation of the Lawfullnesse of His Commissions of Array That besides many other Warrants and Authorities of the Law Judge Hutton and Judge Crooke in their arguments against the Ship-money agreed them to be Lawfull and the Earle of Essex himselfe had
and thereupon every man of Israell followed after him and forsooke their King David who knew that Moses would not make a Warre upon the Amorites though he had Gods commandement for it without offers of Peace messengers sent first unto them said to Amasa assemble me the men of Judah within three dayes and when hee tarried longer said unto him Take thou thy Lords Servants and pursue after him lest hee get him fenced Citties and escape us For they that would take heede of Cocatrices have ever used to kill them in the shell And diligenticuiquè Imperatori ac magistratui danda est opera saith Bodin ut non tam seditiones tollere quam praeoccupare student For sedition saith hee once kindled like a sparke of fire blown by popular fury may sooner fire a whole City then bee extinguished Et tales igitur pestes opprimere derepenté necesse est Princes and Soveraignes who are bound to protect and desend their Subjects are not to stand still and suffer one to oppresse another and themselves to bee undone by it afterwards But put the case the Parliament could have beene called a Parliament when they had driven away the King which is the head and life of it or could have beene said to have beene two houses of Parliament when there was not at that time above a third part of the house of Peeres nor the halfe of the house of Commons remaining in them and what those few did in their absence was either forced by a Faction of their own or a partie of Seditious Londoners for indeed the Warre rightly considered was not betwixt the Parliament and the King but a Warre made by a Factious and Seditious part of the Parliament against the King and the major part of the Parliament and had beene as it never was nor could bee by the Lawes and constitution of the Kingdome coordinate and equall with the King and joint tenants of the Kingdome it would have â—â—â—ne necessary to make the Warre as just as they could and to hace done all that had beene in order to it and therefore wee hope they which pretend so much to the Justice of the Kingdome will not bee offended to have the Justice of their Warre somthing examined CHAP. IIII. Suppose the Warre to bee made with a neighbour Prince or betweene equalls whether the King or Parliament were in the defensive or justifiable part of it PLaerique saith learned Grotius tres statuunt bellorum just as causas defensionem recuperationem punitionem For any defence the Parliament might pretend a necessitie of The King neither assaulted them nor used any violence to them when they first of all granted out their Propositions and Commissions of Warre unlesse they can turne their jealousies into a Creede and make the Kings demanding the five Members and Kimbolton being done by warrant of the Lawe of the Land and the Records and precedents of their owne houses appeare to bee an assaulting of them Or if any reasonable man knew but how to make that to bee an assault or a necessary cause of Warre for them to revenge it the Kings waving and relinquishing of his charge afterwards against them might have certainly beene enough to have taken away the cause of it if there had beene any howsoever a Warre made only to revenge a bare demand or request of a thing was neither so much as forced or a second time demanded of them but was totally laid aside and retracted can never bee accounted just As for the recovery of things lost or taken away The Parliament it selfe had nothing taken from them for both they and the People were so farre from being loosers at that time by the King as the Remonstrance of the house of Commons made to the People 15. December 1641. of the Kings errours as they please to call them in the government but indeed the errours rather of his Ministers and themselves also in busying him with brawles and quarrells and denying to give him fitting supplies mentions how much and how many beneficiall Lawes the King had granted them And so the Parliament and People being no loosers and the King never denying them any thing could in honour or conscience bee granted them That part of the Justyfying of a Warre will no way also belong to them But if the punishment for offences and injuries past if they could bee bee so properly called being a third cause of justifying a Warre could bee but imagined to bee a cause to justifie the Parliaments Warre against the King Yet they were to remember another Rule or Law of Warre Ne nimis veteres causae accersentur That they doe not pick quarrells by raking up past grievances and that it bee not propter leviusculas injurias or for trifles For when the King who if he had been no more then coordinate with them had called them to councell to advise him followed their advice in every thing hee could finde any reason for taken away all grievances made a large provision to prevent them for the future by granting the Tryenniall Parliament and so large an amends for every thing they could but tell how to complaine of there was so little left to the People and the Parliament to quarrell for as they were much behind in thankfullnesse for what they had got of him already Or if any other causes or provocations should bee imagined as misusing the Parliaments Messengers or the like wee know the King unlesse it were by his patience and often Messages for Peace was guilty of no provocations but on the contrary though hee had all manner of scornes and reproaches cast upon him and his Messengers evill intreated by them could never bee brought to returne or retaliate it to any of theirs But nothing as yet serving to excuse them It will not be amisse to examine the Causes as they are set downe by themselves to justifie their warre and so wee may well suppose there are no other A Warre against the King for safety of his owne Person was needlesse and then it comes within that rule of warre and lawe of Nations Ne leves sint causa belli not to make a warre unnecessary for the King would looke to that himselfe and as they were his Subjects they as well as every honest Subject were bound to defend and assist him but not whether hee would or no and in such a way of defence as would tend to his ruins rather then his safety For surely should any stranger of another Kingdome or Nation have casually passed by Edge-hill when the Kings and the Parliaments Armies were in fight and have beene told that the King shot at them for the safety of his owne Person and that they also shot against him for the safety of his owne Person and being asked which of the two parties hee beleived did really or most of all intend the safety of it wee cannot tell how to think any man such
and his Commissioners at Vxbridge almost petitioned for a cessation in the interim of that Treaty as they had done before in that which was at Oxford it could not be granted nor have a few daies added to it if the King could in honor Conscience have granted all the other parts of the propositions must grant them an act not only to confiscate the Estates of his Friends and those that took armes to save his Life and Estate but to take away their Lives also and not only that but to condemne them of high Treason and attaint their blood when they fought against them were only guiltie of it a thing so unfitting and unusually stood upon as it was never asked in any treaty or pacification among the civilized or more barbarous heathen and amounts to more then Adonibezeks causing the thumbs and great toes of his captive Kings to bee cut off and making them to gather the crumbes from under his table or Benhadads demande of Ahabs silver and gold his wives and Children and whatsoever else was pleasant in his eyes which the elders and People of Israel perswaded Ahab not to consent unto but was a thing purposely contrived and stood upon to hinder a Peace was not to bee asked or granted by any that could but entitle themselves to the least part of reason or humanity a demand Bajazet would not leave his Iron cage to yeild unto a thing nature it selfe would abhorre and the worst of Villaines and reprobates rather loose their lives then yeild to would never bee demanded by any but a Devill nor granted by any but his Equalls And if their desiring of a war more then a peace and to keepe the King out of his owne had not beene the only cause of such unnaturall and barbarous propositions it may well bee wondred why they that have made to themselves for wee cannot beleive they have found any law or warrant to ground it upon a power to take away the Kings life upon a colour or pretence of an unread as well as unheard of peece of Justice should need to strive so hard with the King to give them a power to doe that they are now so busie to doe of themselves and as if they had beene afraid all this would not bee enough to keepe the doores of Janus or the Devill open for feare lest the King should trouble them with any more offers or Messages for peace a vote must bee made in February 1647. that it should be treason in any man to bring or receive any more Messages from him without consent of Parliament But suppose that which is not that the Parliament could have but found any thing but somewhat like a cause or justification of a war against their Soveraign for notwithstanding all their hypocriticall pretences so it was at first intended and so it hath proved to bee ever since to whom their Masters the People wee meane as to the house of Commons had sent them to consult with not to make a Warre against him they might have remembred that saying of Cicero if they had found nothing in the booke of God and their owne Consciences to perswade them to it That duo sunt genera decertandi unum per disceptationem alterum per vim ad hoc confugiendum non est si uti superiori licebit There are other waies to come by pretended rights then by a Warre and wee ought never to make use of a Warre which is the worst of all remedies if wee may obtaine it by a better Hen. 2. King of England was made a Judge betwixt the Kings of Castile and Navarre The Rebellious Barons of England in the raigne of King Hen. 3. referred their controversies to the decision of the king of France and his Parliament at Paris And the blood of this kingdom which ran so plentifully in those unhappy differences was by that meanes only stopped Charles the 4. Emperor was made a Judge of the differences betwixt the English and the French Kings For as Albericus Gentilis saith well Intelligendum eos qui diffugiunt genus hoc decertandi per desceptationem ad alterum quod est per vim currunt illco eos a justitia ab humanitate a probis exemplis refugere et ruere in arma volentes qui subire judicium nullius velint They that rush into a Warre without assaying all other just meanes of deciding the controversie for which it is made and will judge only according to their owne will and opinion doe turne their backs to Justice Humanity and all good Examples And in that also the Parliament will bee found faulty For the French King and the Estates of the united Provinces did by more then one request and embassy severally and earnestly mediate to make an accord betwixt the King and his Parliament and desired to have all things in defference left to their arbitrement but their Ambassadors returned home again with a report how much they found the King inclined to it and how satisfactorily hee had offered and how much the Parliament was averse to their interposition and altogether refused it But wee have tarried long enough among the Parliament partie from thence therefore for it is time to leave the companie of so much wickednesse wee shall remove to the Kings partie and yet that may cause a Sequestration and examine for a fuller satisfaction of that which by the rule of contraries is cleere enough alreadie if hee were not on the defensive and more justifiable part of the businesse The King as hee was defensor et protector subditorum suorum and sworne to see the Law executed had not the sword nor his authority Commited to him in vaine And if hee had had no manner of just cause of feare either in his owne Person or authoritie or no cause given him in relaesae Majestatis the imprisoning of his Subjects and plundring and taking away their estates from them long before he had either armed himselfe or had wherewithall to doe it had beene cause as sufficient as to cause a Hue and Cry to be made after a fellon or raise the posse Commitatus to bring him to Justice and might by the same reason doe it in the case of more and by the same reason hee might doe it by the help of one nothing can hinder but by the same reason hee might doe it by the help of more When Nathan came to David with a parable and told him of the rich man that had taken the poore mans only Sheepe hee that understood well enough the dutie of a King was exceeding wroth against the man and said As sure as the Lord liveth this man shall surely dye And can any man think that the King when hee saw so much Sedition and Treason among the People countenanced and cherished Tumults grow up into outrages outrages to parties and Warlike assemblies proposiâ—ions made to bring in Horse and Money to
King CHARLES the First no Man OF BLOOD BUT A MARTYR FOR HIS PEOPLE OR A sad and impartiall enquiry whether the King or Parliament began the Warre which hath so much ruined and undon the Kingdom of England and who was in the defensive part of it Exoritur aliquod majus è magno malum Nondum ruentis Ilij fatum stetit SENEC Traged in Troade Act 3. Printed in the Yeare 1649. King CHARLES the First No Man of Blood BUT A Martyr for his People THAT there hath beene now almost seaven yeeres spent in Civill-Warres aboundance of Blood-shed and more Ruine and Misery brought upon the Kingdome by it then all the severall Changes Conquests and Civill-Warres it hath endured from the time of Brute or the first Inhabitants of it every mans wofull experience some only excepted who have beene gayners by it will easily assent unto No mervaile therefore that many of those who if all they alledge for themselves that they were not the cause of it could bee granted to be true might eyther have hindred or lessned it would now put the blame of so horrid a businesse from themselves and lay it upon any they can perswade to beare it And that the Conquerours who would binde their Kings in Chaynes and their Princes with fetters of Iron and thinke they have a Commission from Heaven to doe it the guilt of it being necessarily either to bee charged upon the Conquerors or conquered are not willing to have their triumphant Chayres and the glories as they are made beleeve that hang upon their shoulders defiled with it but do all they can to load their Captives with it But howsoever though the successe and power of an Army hath frighted it so farre out of question as to charge it upon the King and take away his life for it by making those that must of necessity bee guilty of the fact if he should have beene as in all reason hee ought to have beene acquited of it the only Judges of him It may well become the judgement and conscience of every man that will bee but eyther a good Subject or a Christian not to lend out his Soule and Salvation so much on trust as to take those that are parties and the most ignorant sort of mens words for it but to enter into a most serious examination of the matter of Fact it selfe and by tracing out the foote-steps of Truth see what a conclusion may be drawn out of it In pursuance wherof for I hope the originall of this Sea of blood will not prove so unsearchable as the head of Nile Wee shall enquire who first of all raysed the Feares and Jelousies Secondly represent and set down the truth of the matter of Fact and proceedings betwixt the King and Parliament from the tumultuous seditious coming of the People to the Parliament and White-hall untill the 25. Aug. 1642. when he set up his Standard at Nottingham from the setting up of his Standard untill the 13 Sep. 1642. when the Parliament by their many acts of hostility a negative Churlish answer to his propositions might well have put him out of hope of any good to be obteined from them by messages of Peace sent unto them Thirdly whether a Prince or other Magistrate labouring to suppresse or punish a rebellion of the People be tied to those rules are necessary to the justifying of a warre if it were made betweene equalls Fourthly suppose the warre to bee made with a neighbour Prince or between equalls whether the King or Parliament were in the defensive or justifiable part of it Fiftly Whether the Parliament in their pretended magistracy have not taken lesser occasions to punish or provide against insurrections treasons rebellions as they are pleased to call them Sixtly Who most desired Peace and offered faireliest for it Seventhly Who laboured to shorten the Warre and who to lengthen it Eightly Whether the Conditions proffered by the King would not have beene more profitable for the People if they had beene accepted and what the Kingdome and People have got insteed of it CHAP. I. Who first of all Raised the Feares and Jealousies THE desiring of a guard for the Parliament because of a tale rather then a plot That the Earle of Crawford had a purpose to take away the Marquis of Hamiltons life in Scotland the refusing of a legall guard offered by the King and His Protestation to bee as carefull of their safety as of the safety of His Wife and Children The dreame of a Taylor lying in a ditch in Finsbury fields of this and the other good Lord and Common-wealths men to be taken away The trayning of horses under ground and a plague plaister or rather a clout taken from a galled horse back sent into the house of Commons to Mr. Pym A Designe of the Inhabitants of Covent-Garden to murther the City of London News from France Italy Spaine and Denmarke of Armies ready to come for England and a supposition or feaverish fancy That the King intended to introduce Popery and alter Religion and take away the Lawes and Liberties of the People and many other the like seditious delusions the People so much as their misery will give them leave have now found out the way to laugh at either came from the Parliament partie or were cherished and turned into advantages by them For they had found the way and lost nothing by it to be ever jealous of the King And whilest he did all he could to shew them that there was no cause for it they who were jealous without a cause could bee so cunning as to make all the haste they could to weaken Him and strengthen themselves by such kind of artifices But hee that could not choose but take notice that there were secret ties and combinations betwixt his English and Scottish Subjects the latter of whom the Earle of Essex and Sir Thomas Fairfax themselves understood to be no better then Rebels and therfore served in places of Command in His Majesties Army against them That Sir Arthur Haselrig had brought in a Bill in Parliament to take the Militia by Sea and Land away from him saw himselfe not long after by a Printed remonstrance or declaration made to the People of all they could but imagine to bee errours in his government arraigned and little lesse then deposed The Bishops and divers great Lords driven from the Parliament by Tumults Was inforced to keepe his gates at Whitehall shut and procure divers Captaines and Commanders to lodge there and to allow them a table to bee a guard for him and had beene fully informed of many Trayterous Speeches used by some seditious mechaniques of London as that It was pitty Hee should raigne and that The Prince would make a better King was yet so farre from being jealous or solicitous to defend himself by the Sword and power which God had intrusted him with as when he had need reason enough to do it he still
a stranger to nature reason or understanding as to think the King should not fight as the Dictates of nature perswaded him to or that the King could tell how to fight against those that fought for him or that if hee should bee so hugely mistaken in that one yeare or Battell hee should bee in severall other yeares and Battells after To sight for the defence of the Religion established as they made also the People believe that was as needlesse when the King offered to doe every thing might help to promote it and they are so little also to bee credited in that pretence as wee know they did all they could from the beginning to ruine it tooke away Episcopacie the hedge and bounds of it brought in Presbitery to preach up and aid their Rebellion and when their owne turnes were served encouraged Conventicles and Tub-preachers to pull down the Presbitery And being demanded at the treaty at Vxbridge by the Kings Commissioners what Religion they would have the King to establish were so unprovided of an answer as they could not resolve what to nominate nor in any of their propositions afterwards sent to the King though often urged and complained of by the Scottish Commissioners could ever find the way to doe it but have now set up an Independent extemporary enthusiastick kinde of worshiping God if there were any such thing in it or rather a religious Chaos or gallimaufrey of all manner of heresies errours blasphemies and opinions put together not any of the owners of which wee can bee confident will subscribe to that opinion that warres may bee made for Religion or that Conscience ought to bee forced by it As for the restrictive part of the Lawes to keepe the People in subjection wee can very well perswade our selves no such Warre was ever made yet in the World nor any People ever found that would engage in a Warre for that they obeyed but against their wills And for that part of the Law that gives them the Kings protection priviledges immunities and certainties of deciding controversies which are more fitly to bee called the Liberties of the People then to have 45. of the house of Commons or a Faction to make daily and hourely Lawes and Religion and Government and vote their estates in and out to pay an Army to force their obedience to it if wee had not outlived the Parliaments disguises and pretences saw them now tearing them up by the roots that there may bee no hope of their growing up again and seting up their owne as well as the ignorant and illiterate fancies of Mechaniques and Souldiers in steede of them wee might have said that also had beene needlesse when the King had done aboundantly enough already and offered to grant any thing more could in reason bee demanded of him And as touching their priviledges of Parliament They that understand but any thing of the Lawes of England or have but looked into the Records and Journalls of Parliament can tell that all priviledges of Parliament as King James said were at first bestowed upon them by the Kings and Princes of this Kingdome That priviledges of Parliament extended not to Treason or Felony or breach of the Peace That 32. Hen. 6. Sir Thomas Thorpe Speaker of the house of Commons being arested in execution in the time of the prorogation of the Parliament the Commons demanded hee might bee set at liberty according to their priviledges whereupon the Judges being asked their Councell therein made answer that generall supersedeas of Parliament there were none but speciall supersedeas there was in which case of speciall supersedeas every member of the house of Commons ought to enjoy the same unlesse in cases of Treason Fellony or breach of the Peace or for a Condemnation before the Parliament After which answer it was determined that the said Sir Thomas Thorpe should ly in excution and the Commons were required on the behalfe of the King to choose a new Speaker which they did and presented to the King accordingly That Queene Elizabeth was assured by her Judges that shee might commit any of her Parliament during the Parliament for any offence committed against her Crowne and dignitie and they shewed her precedents for it and that primo tertio Caroli Regis upon search of precedents in the severall great cases of the Earles of Arundell and Bristoll very much insisted and stood upon the house of Peeres in Parliament allowed of the exception of Treason Fellony and breach of the Peace For indeede it is as impossible to think there can bee any priviledge to commit Treason as to think that a King should priviledge all his Nobility and every one of his Subjects that could get to be elected into the house of Commons in Parliament to commit Treason and to take away his life in the time of Parliament whensoever their revenge or malice or interest should find the oportunity to doe it or that if it could bee so any King or Prince would ever call or summon a Parliament to expose himselfe to such a latitude of danger or give them leave to sit as long as they would to breed it or that priviledges of Treason can bee consistent with the name or being of a Parliament to consult and advise with the King for the defence of him and his Kingdome or that when Felony and breach of Peace are excepted out of their priviledge Treason that is of a farre higher nature consequence and punishment should be allowed them or if there could have beene any such priviledge and a meaner man then their Soveraigne had broke it a small understanding may informe them they could not without breach of the Peace have fought for it against a fellow Subject and then also could not their priviledges have reached to it but the King might have punished them for it and if they cannot upon a breach of priviledge as it was adjudged in Halls case without the Kings writ and the cause first certified in Chancery deliver one of their owne servants arrested It is not likely any warrant can bee found in Law to inforce the King to reparation though hee himselfe should have broken it but to petition the King for an allowance of that or any other priviledge as well in the middle or any other time of their sitting in Parliament as they alwaies doe at the presenting of their Speaker in the beginning of it Wherefore certainly the People never gave the Parliament Commission if they could have given a Commission to make a Warre against their Soveraigne to claime that was never due to them or to fight for that was never yet fought for by any of their forefathers nor ever understood to bee taken from them much lesse for their ayrie innovated pretences rather than priviledges which have since eaten up all the Peoples Lawes and Liberties as well as a good parte of their lives and estates with it and are now become to bee every thing their
maintaine an Army against Him and many of his Subjects daily imprisoned sequestred undone or killed can bee blamed if hee had a great deale sooner gone about to defend both himselfe and his People For who saith St. Jerom did ever rest quietly sleeping neer a viper et lex una perpetua salutem omni ratione defendere haec ratio doctis necessitas Barbaris mos genâ—ibus feris natura ipsa prescripsit et haec non scripta sed nata lex saith Tully that great master of morality Reason Necessity Custome and Nature it selfe have made selfe preservation to bee warrantable Nemo exponere so debet periculis obviam offensiom eundum non modo quae est in actu sed quae est in potentia ad actum justus metus justum facit belium say the Civill Lawes and where there was not unda cogitatio or a bare intention only to ruine the King but so much over and over againe acted as might well occasion more then a feare and apprehension in him of what hath since beene brought to passe against him no man certainly without much blindnesse or partiality can think it to bee a fault in him to seeke to defend himselfe when the Parliament did not only long before hee raised any forces to defend himselfe but at the same time when hee was doing of it make the people beleeve his Person was in so much danger as they must needs take up armes to defend Him And how much more warrantable then must it bee in the Kings case when it was not only an endeavour to defend himselfe but all those that have beene since slaine and undone and ruined for want of power enough to doe it Defence is by the civill Lawyers said to bee either necessary profitable or honest Nec distingui vult Baldus sive se sua suosve defendar sive prope sive posita longé a man is said to defend himselfe when it is but his owne goods estate or People whether neere or furtherof Necessaria defensio ejus est et factum ad necessariam defensionem contra quem veniat armatus inimicus et ejus contra quem inimicus se paravit It must needs bee a necessary defence against whom an armed Enemy is either marching or preparing Vtilis defensio quum nos movemus bellum verentes ne ipsi bello petamur when wee make a Warre to prevent or bee before hand when Warre or mischiefe is threatned or likely to come upon us For as Nicephorus the Historian saith Hee that will live out of danger must occurrere malis impendentibus et autevertere â—ec est cunctandum aut expectandum c. meete and take away growing evills and turne them another way and not to delay and bee â—â—ock in it Honesta defensio quae citra metumâ—ullum periculi nostri nulla utilitate quaesita tantum in gratiam aliorum suscipitur When for no feare of danger to our selves and for no consideration of profit to our selves but meerely in favour or help of others the Warre is undertaken Wherefore certainly when the King may bee justly said to tarâ—y too long before hee made the second and third kindes of defences either to prevent the danger and fury of a Warre against himselfe or to help those that suffered and were undone in seeking to defend him and was so over much in love with Peace as hee utterly lost it and could never again recover it and was so much mistaken in the love and religion of his Subjects and Parliament promises and the impossibilities of such horrid proceedings against him as all his three Kingdomes were in a flame of Warre and strong Combinations made by two of them and the Pulpits every where flaming Seditious exhortations against Him his Navy Magazines Ports Revenues Mint strongest Townes and places seised on Armies marching against him and hee only and a few friends and followers pend up in a corner had an enemy and a strong Towne at his back readie every day to surprize him and severall Armies marching and in action before and round about him before hee granted out any Commission for Warre or liad or could make any preparation for it and had so many to help and defend besides himself It would be too much injury and too great a violence to all manner of reason and understanding to deny him a Justification upon the first sort of defences if the two latter will not reach it for the first cannot by any interpretation goe without For haec est necessitas saith Baldus quae bellum justificat quum in extremo loco ad bellum configitur Or if with Grotius wee looke upon it another way and make the Justice of Warre to consist 1o in defensione 2o in recuperatione rerum 3o in punitione The King before ever hee went to demand Hull or before ever he desired a guard of the County of Yorke had cause enough and enough to doe it and it would be hard if a great deale lesse then that should not bee able to deliver him from the censure or blame of an offensive or unnecessary Warre When that which was made by David upon the Children of Ammon and that of the late glorious King of Sweden against the Emperour of Germany the former for misusing the latter for encroaching upon him and not receiving his Ambassadors found warrant and necessity enough to doe it But what could the King doe more in his endeavours and waiting for a Peace or lesse in his preparations or making of a War when the least or one of the hundred provocations or causes wee dare say plainly here set downe in the matter of fact hath hitherto among the wisest Princes and Common-wealths in the World beene reputed a just and warrantable cause of warre Homicide by the Lawes of England shall bee excused with a se defendendo when the assaulted hath but simply defended himselfe or retired in his owne defence so farre till by some Water or Wall hee bee hindred from going any further Death and destruction marching towards the King Hull fortified kept behind him and all manner of necessities compassing him in on every side could then doe no lesse then rouse him up to make his owne defence and hee must bee as much without his sences as care of his owne preservation if hee should not then think it to bee high time to make reaedy to defend himselfe and necessity enough to excuse him for any thing should bee done in order to it The Parliament and hee as this case stood could not bee both at one and the same time in the defensive parte For they had all the Money Armes Ammunition and strength of the Kingdome in their hands and multitudes of deluded People to assist them and so hunted and pursued him from place to place as it was come to be a saying and a by word among the apprentices and new levied men at London they would goe a King-catching