SOME FEW OBSERVATIONS upon his Majesties late Answer to the Declaration or Remonstance of the Lords and Commons of the 19. of May 1642. Pag. 1. Or of following the advise of our Councell of Scotland OUr case is not as Scotlands was in all points though in many it be very like for our malignant party here is far greater and stronger and more inraged against us by their owne greatnesse and more animated by our weaknesse Yet we desire but the same satisfaction which Scotland had without so much reluctance given them by the King For their Militia and all other subordinate power in that Kingdome is setled in such hands as are publikely confided in and yet this is utterly denyed us And our holding Hull is not like their holding Newcastle yet their Honour is saved whilst we are called unpararalel'd Traitors and they are restored to all demanded rights and securances whilst we are charged of unpardonable Rebellion and satisfaction is not offered to us but required from us in the most approbrious language that can be yet still we will not refuse the Councell of the Scots Lords in yeelding to a pacification nor depart from the example of them in the manner of securing the same Pag. 2. That we should fancy and create dangers to Our Selfe We have little cause to think that the same malignant party which hath shed so much Protestant blood in Ireland and about the same time plotted a villanous massacre in Edenborough hath been supinely snorting in England all this Parliament since their vigilance is more concerned here then in either of these Kingdomes and since they have advantages to doe mischifes in England far greater than in Scotland and almost as great as in Ireland and for the Plots themselves divers of them have not been invisible and yet if the King had not concealed and did not yet conceale some passages as being below him they had been more visible but iealousie in such cases is not unpolitique and the lesse iealous the King is the more we have cause to be so Ireland a few dayes before its ruine had lesse ground of feare then we have had some of our Treasons here have not been planted in Traines and Mines so deep and dark nor so much resembled the Cockatrice eye as that of Ireland and if the King be not privy to the Plots yet as long as the Plotters having aymes beyond him plow with his heifer and act by his power our condition is the more desperate and remedilesse and since the King cannot see into the breasts of those his followers whom we suspect hee ought not so far to despise the publique iealousies of whole Nations or the distractions or insecurity of such considerable multitudes as he doth but the King appeales to Gods all-searching eye and we doe the same imploring of him to be the more vindicative in this case the more destitute we all are of any other recourse or redresse upon earth Pag. 5. Wherein they usurp the word Parliament The King frequently vowes to maintaine Parliaments in their Priviledges yet his Papers many wayes derogate from them For first if hee please to sever himselfe those great Councels are not to bee named Parliaments Secondly whatsoever name is due the vertue of publique representation is denyed them they are not to bee lookt upon as the whole Kingdome and this is destructive to the essence of Parliaments Thirdly if the concurrence of both Houses Nullo contradicente be of some sanctity and authority yet the maior part of both Houses is not so vigorous as the totall and here is another devise to frustrate all Parliaments Fourthly if the maiority shall binde and the minority acquiesce therein yet if it bee obiected that some few factious spirits mislead and befoole the majority all is void Parliaments thus are made ridiculous Assemblies and all Justice at the last resort is to be expected from the Kings sole breast or else no where for if the King will withdraw himselfe all Courts as well as Parliaments are thus defeated and disabled and then if the King assumes not sole power to himselfe all Government is expired and no way is left for the Kingdome to preserve it selfe and what can be more unnaturall In policy then if wee are growne weaty of Parliaments and will dissolve them into nothing we ought to erect some other Court above them or in their stead or else to resigne all into the Kings sole boundlesse discretion for any forme of Rule is better then none at all and before we demolish old structures we ought to be advised of the fashions of new Pag. 6. And whose advise we are resolved to follow But what if the major and better part of the privy Councell concurre with the King if Parliaments must down that Rule is better then Anarchy But hitherto neither both Houses nor the Judges nor the Lords of the Councell have concurred but if the concurrence of Parliaments be not necessary how can any other seeme but unnecessary and at meere discretion hath not the King the same right to shake off inferiour Councels as that which is supreame or shall he have cause to confide in the knowledge of lesse Honourable Courts more then of that which is the quintessence of all his Subiects which is indeed the very Throne it selfe whereon he sits so sure and whose consent and councell is that very Diadem which inriches his Temples and that Mace which armes his hands who would have thought in time of Parliament to have heard the name of Privy Councellor cited to the lessening of Parliaments yet here nothing but the very name too is cited nor no compsiance promised but arbitrary so many wayes are Parliaments blowne away like bubbles yet none is so much insisted on as that which seemes most incredible that Master Pym and foure or five of his consorts should besot and stupifie two or three hundred Gentlemen chosen out of the flowâ—e of the Kingdome when as the King hath in Parliament some spirits as Mercuriall and heads as watchfull and hearts as resolute without some extreamly violent Magicke may seeme incredible nay were it certaine that Master Pym were the greatest Nigromancer living and the deepest read in black infernall arts I should hardly trust the efficacy of his spells in such expedients Pag. 8. That those Rebels publiquely threaten the rooting out of the name of the English That the Irish Rebels by their successe are now intentive to roote out the English is probable but their first ayme and cause of commotion might be some other more particular inducement for the English Government was long before in the same manner irksome to them as now but some other invitation now happened of shaking it off and not before Ibidem As they have invaded that power of ours over the Militia The Question is not to be put indefinitely whether or no the King ought to order the Militia in times of no extraordinary danger our case is now upon
supposition if the King in extraordinary danger will not yeeld to such a Posture as the Kingdome thinkes most safe whether the Parliament may not order that Posture of themselves so the Parliament puts it But the King puts it thus If the Parliament invades his power over the Militia causelesly whether they may not as well seize any Subiects estates That question then which must decide all is this whether that Posture which the Parliament chuses or that of the Kings be most safe for the Kingdome at this time and who shall iudge thereof most properly Till now that the ancient Pillars of Law and Policy were taken away and the State set upon a new basis no evill was to be presumed of the representative body of the Kingdome nor no Justice expected from a King deserting his grand Councell but now every man may arraign Parliaments they which understand no reason must have reason not authority to rely upon no King was ever yet so just but that Parliaments have in some things reduced them from error nor no Kings so unjust that Parliaments did seduce into errour yet Parliaments are now charged of being enemies to Religion laws liberties And the King to preserve these absents himselfe from Parliaments but since we must dispute for Parliaments first we say they must in probabilitie be more knowing then any other privadoes Secondly in regard of their publike interest they are more responsible then any other and lesse to be complayned of in case of errour Thirdly they have no private interest to deprave them nothing can square with the Common Councell but the common good and if 500. of the Nobilitie and Gentrey should ayme at an Aristocraticall usurpation or any other power of oppression they could never compasse their ends it were folly in them Some such objections have beene made against this Parliament but finding little credit at last some few of the Parliament are pitcht upon as if it were credible that all the kingdome in whose hands all reall naturall power consists would inslave themselves to 500. or those 500. voluntarily become slaves to five men good God the King is presum'd to have the hearts of the majority and to bee trampled upon by some few and yet the magicall incantation is so strong that neither the Kings Authoritie nor the justice of his cause nor the oppressed Commonaltie can prevaile against the Parliament or the Parliament it selfe against such an inconsiderable number in Parliament O that some Mercury would reconcile my understanding in this Court Logick or give me some clew of thread to disingage me out of this blind Labarinth but to come more particularly to the Militia it selfe now setled by the Parliament the King excepts against the Parliaments ordinance for two reasons first because it excludes him for the disposing of it and secondly from determining it at his pleasure but we must know that the Kingdome trusts the King with Armes as it doth with the Lawes and no otherwise and since the King in Person is not most fit alwayes nor can in all places be present to execute either military or judiciall offices therefore the maine execution in both is intrusted to substitutes the end of all Authority in substitutes is that the kingdom may be duely and safely served not that the Kings meere fancy may be satisfied and that end is more likely to be accomplished where the Kingdome then where the King chuses but whosoever chuses the substitutes the King is not excluded thereby for the King hath more cause to confide in men recommended by his highest Court then the people have in men preferred meerely by the King against the consent of his highest Court and if it were not so vet the confidence and assurance of the people in times of distractions is more requisite then the Kings but in this new Militia the King is not so much excluded from his generall superintendance and supreame influence as he is in subordinate Courts of Justice and yet even in the Kings Bench where the King in Pleas of the Crowne may not sit as Judge he may not bee said to be excluded neither is it any prejudice to the King in the second place that he cannot determine these new Commissions at his pleasure without publik consent except upon misdemeanour for though all men naturally desire absolute command and to be uncontroleable in things that are bad as well as things that are good yet this is but the exorbitant desire of corrupted nature and wise men doe not seeke alwayes to satisfie it but rather to suppresse it In case of misdemeanor no mans commission shall justifie him agains the King and where no misdemeanour is what would the meere power of determining the commission availe the King For wee see in divers Monarchies and free States some Princes which are limited from evill are not the more disabled from good and if they be sometimes that nation is perhaps happier which intrusts Princes too little then that which intrusts them two farre and yet neverthelesse I desire to see no innovation in our English Monarchy neither if this King shall upon this or that emergent occasion yeeld to some temporall restraint would I wish to see it perpetuall except in things onely tending to evill for example the King had a Prerogative to discontinue and dissolve Parliaments at pleasure and the abuse of this Prerogative was the cause of all our late sufferings but this Prerogative being restrayned what injury is likely to follow eyther to the King or State for in such restrictions wch are from greater evills but from lesse good the King ought not to be difficult and in such restrictions which may disable from good as well as evill the people ought not to be importunate but it is further obiected that by the same power Parliaments may disseise both the King and Subiects from their estates as they make ordinances for the Militia but in truth is not this a strange result the Parliament have power to doe good offices by the consent of the people therefore they may have power to doe ill offices against the consent both of King and People it is of dangerous consequence to suppose that Parliaments will do any iniustice it looseth one of the firmest â—inewes of Law to admit it but to conclude that Parliaments can doe such iniustice as may oppresse both King and People from whom all their power is derived is unnaturall and whereas the King claymes an interest in the Militia as legall and proper as ours are in our Lands or Tenements we must avoyd mistakes herein for in our goods and inheritances we have not so pure and unconditionall a right but that it is inconsistant with the common right also and in this respect the Kings possessions are not priviledged more then a subiect for the States proprietie cannot bee excluded out of eyther the same man also may have severall proprieties in severall things for that propriety which the
King hath in a Subiect is not the same nor so intire as that which he hath in his horse for that right which he hath as a Prince is by way of trust and all trust is commonly limited more for the use of the party trusting then the partie trusted in some cases also there are mutuall proprieties and so the King ownes us as his Subiects and wee owne him as our King but that ownership which we have in him as our King is of a farre more excellent and high nature then that ownership which the King hath in us as his Subiects that occasionall interest which the Scots had in Newcastle or the Parliament in Hull did not wholly drowne the Kings interest nor the Particular owners such temporary possessions may sometimes happen without the utter disseisin or dissinherison of each other and we see in a breach of peace the Constable by force takes my sword from me and in such manner as hee may not take my cloake although my interest in my Sword is as good as in my cloake and yet my property in my Sword is not altered by that propertie which the officer seises to himselfe and doubtlesse had the same arguments beene pressed against disseisin of Lesley as have beene since against Sir Iohn Hotham they would have beene held much more impertinent then now they are so much more are wee vilipended and harder treated then other nations are let not common sence then bee so much baffled as to make this temporary possession of Hull taken by Sir John Hotham upon an extraordinary necessity of State so declared by the Judgement of Parliament for the preventing of civill Warre and consequently for the preventing of great dis-service both to King and State the same thing as the violent intrusion of a private dis-seizor upon the just inheritance of his Neighbour he which confesses That the King hath a true and perfect interest in the Kingdom doth not deny That the Kingdom hath a more worthy and transcendent interest in it self and in the King too This is so far from contradiction that he is farre from reason that so conceives it And he which doth not conceive that that which is the judgement of the major part in Parliament is the sence of the whole Parliament and that which is the sence of the whole Parliament is the judgement of the whole Kingdom and that which is the judgement of the whole Kingdom is more vigorous and sacred and unquestionable and further beyond all appeal then that which is the judgement of the King alone without all Councell or of the King with any other inferiour Clandestine Councell most raze those rocky Foundations upon which this State hath been so happily settled for so many ages now past As to the impeachment of the fix Members of Parliament the King pleads retractation satisfaction his retractation is an acknowledgement that it was a casuall single mistake yet in forme only for the grounds of his charge when they shall be published he assures us will satisfie the world But in the mean time these grounds are kept unpublished contrary to the desire of the Parliament and the whole Kingdom and till that publication the world remains unsatisfied nay it is most wonderfull that so desperate and horrid a plot as that yet seems to be should be so long neglected to the Kings vast dis-advantage and the peoples miserable disquiet if cleer satisfaction could be so easily given every man sees that the charge if it had not good grounds did stab furiously at the heart of all Parliaments and at all Liberties in Parliament but till publication of these grounds be no man will presume to judge yet it is of great concernment to His Majesties honour and the Kingdoms peace that it be not too long delayed But in the next place the King conceives That the Parliament hath been injurious to him in Vindication of Parliament priviledges and therefore ought to be satisfied the Parliament still begs for that publication for nothing else can make them appear to have been injurious and till they appear to have been injurious they ought not to be condemned as injurious for de non entibus de non apparentibus eadem est ratio As for the Kings coming into the House of Commons so armed till publication of the cause of that coming the circumstances cannot be duely waighed By this Law the Subjects of England might not use any defensive force against an Officer in any case though of the most undoubted priviledges or rights by a kinde of after game he must seek remedy in the future but for the present he is remedilesse But if this be Law I think every man sees that the English mans liberty and share in the grand Charter is a thing easily deseasable for it is as likely That the King may justifie and protect His Ministers after the execution of unjust commands as to urge them by undue Warrants to the same and if so then where is the Subjects of England freedom and Patrimâ—â—â— what is it still but held upon the Kings meer courtesie It s known to the King who hath incensed Him against His Parliament and who have given Councell derogatory to the honour and destructive to the essence of all Parliaments and to the Parliament this is utterly unknown yet the King desires evidence of these things from the Parliament Nay though he disavow the sheltring of ill Ministers yet he conceals such as have traduced and slandered the Parliament in some things notoriously false and yet to an ordinary understanding it is the same thing to conceal as to shelter a Delinquent and if it be below a King to reveal a trayterous Incendiary that hath abused His ear with pernitious calumnies It is below him too to leave him to justice being otherwayes revealed He which will not accuse the King for want of zeal against the Irish Rebels yet may truly say there is not the same zeal exprest as was against the Scots though the case be farre different for the Scots were Protestants and had been greatly agrieved and were not imbrued willingly in bloud and yet the English Nation against their wills were most rigorously hastned and inforced to Arm against them but now when the English Nation and Scots too were moved to indignation and horrour against the most bloudy perfidious ingratefull villaines in the world their proffered supplyes are retarded and opportunities are neglected and nice exceptions framed and the cursed reproaches of the Rebels themselves calling the Parliament disloyall and Traytors are countenanced and seconded The depositions taken concerning bringing up of the Army do not evince beyond all doubt that any such agitation was with the Kings privity but according to humane judgement which do not alwayes proceed upon certain appearances of things Some such things were in agitation and some presumption there is of the Kings privity and if in other cases such presumptions as