the establishment of this Parliament by a Law during their owne Arbitrement 1. The Charge from the dis-use of Parliament for twelve years Answered To the first particular I answer 1. By way of Concession that Parliaments were under long dis-use But 2. that it might be out of some fore-sight and sense of this tumultuous Spirit in its secret workings of which the King might think by abstinence and diet to correct their Luxuriancy It argues no hate to a Parliament to desire it might contain it self in the bounds of its ancient moderation and so a fair correspondence be maintained between the Crowne and the People And this Judge Hutton in his Argument could not chuse but touch upon if you please to peruse him 3. Notwithstanding this reason for it His Majesty had made an acknowledgement hereof as of an Errour engaging himself to redresse it for the future Nay 4. did apply himself to that particular way which themselves proposed a Trienniall Parliament 5. Further yet when that gave not satisfaction by a law confirmed this present Parliament to the length of their own desires 2.3 That for Breaking up of Parliaments and forbidding all Speech thereof Answered 1. Herein His Majesty did no more then all his Predecessors Look upward and you will find it practised If it were against the words of a law yet usage makes the law of the Kingdome and supersedes the Letter Suppose it an Errour why should it be a Charge upon the King and never objected unto His Father Qu. Elizabeth Qu. Mary K. Edward K. Henry 8. and so upward 2. The King did never Dissolve any but upon their own distempers and for mutinous deportment and then it was providence to cure an evill in the beginning and crush a serpent in the shell 3. This very House of Commons doth at this time entertaine within their walls one Instrument of the dissolution of the last before this I mean Sir Henry Vane whose false suggestions were the occasion of the Kings Breaking it up If you have not heard the story then take here the plain truth of it The Parliament was willing to give the King a summe in consideration of Ship-money and an offer was made so the King would relinquish his title thereunto of six Subsidies His Majesty was willing to comply and in order thereunto gave Sir Hen. Vane and others a command to signifie so much unto the House But Sir Henry contrary to the directions demands and insists on Twelve Whereupon the House is put into some distemper which Sir Henry represents unto His Majesty with the utmost Aggravation and some Addition too whereupon His Majesty Dissolves it Searching of Pockets and afterwards Imprisoning Answered To this we give this accompt 1. That it was no Breach of Priviledge when the Parliament was dissolv'd The Elements are but of ordinary use extra rationem Sacramenti by that time they were reduced to their proper sphear and why may not the King upon reasons of State send to search the Pockets and Closets of any private man when he found the correspondence between his Kingdom and himself to be shaken who could blame him to search the cause of it to the bottome that he might prevent it for the future Though the King did imprison them it was in an Honourable way he made them such an Allowance that Master Long hath professed he spent the King 1500l there after which rate perhaps it might be of a Surfet that those died who are objected 3. Themselves never made dainty of it to imprison their own Members during their Session without any cause exprest in their Warrants and without any Allowance for their subsistance What was Commissary General Coply imprison'd for these six months Some say for nothing but telling what a clock it was at a Committee Others have been for as long a time and for as little reason The Kings charging of the 5 Members answered and retorted 1. This is true indeed that the King did charge or impeach so many of the House but then 2. His Majesty had some reason sure Whosoever reads the Articles and compares the Consequences will find them high enough and be convinced of their truth 3. If you consider the Kings proceedings thereupon his Retractation of his own way and error in the processe if it justled with any unknown Priviledge his desire of their direction and when nothing else would give Content his utter with-drawing of the Charge and if you reflect withall upon what other Princes have done what the Law gives out to wit There is no Protection for Treason you cannot chuse but admire his lenity 4. This is no more then they have suffered if not encouraged the Army their own Servants to doe unto double that number of their Houses and some of the same Members that had been charged by the King and this too upon lesse ground if any at all 5. I could tell them of Doct. Parry a Member of that House in Q. Elizab. time who was not onely charged but taken thence condemned at the Kings-bench for Treason against the Queens Person drawn and hanged before Westminster-Hall-gate at the very time the Members repaired to the House I could tell them of more then this but I passe it over The Kings going to the House answered and retorted 1. Though His Majesty went unto the House there was no assault made or intended by him as far as can appear without their Comment It had been a desperate attempt with so few to set upon so many and those backt by so great a power and had seru'd themselves so far into the affections of the City If any wild expression fell from the mouth of one or two of his retinue why were they not seized on and questioned 2. This hath been so often acknowledged for an Errour by him yet still objected by them that me-thinks they might blush at this mention of it 3. What did he doe therein which themselves had not been guilty of before it and much out-done since We remember the robustious Petition of the Porters and we know at what rates some of them were hired by what devices others were cheated thereinto it being told them it was a Petition that Water-men should be prohibited to carry Burdens The Poasting of Names exposing the Members of different judgment to the fury of the madding Multitude was a kind of Force sure So were the Shoals of Citizens who came upon their Invitation and encouragement to cry for Justice If those were not we are certaine the Reformado's were for many of them smelt ill then and Horrour was seen in the faces of most which the Army taxeth some Members withall And the Petitions Remonstrances Declarations Advance of this Army with their Interposition since are a violence beyond dispute Bringing the Army to London answered and retorted 1. None of those Examinations which we have read over all of them doe hold out clearly that the King did intend to bring them up to London
Paddington upon pretence of businesse of huge Importance but knew not what untill they were come thither and then went on like Geese with the flock Let the Kingdome but seriously consider the Barbarisme herein toward his Majesty and the misery wherein they involve this Nation thereby and I believe there will no more be found to tread in their Steps Imprisonment is the Buriall of a Man alive and that which Private persons hardly endure with patience no Creature will if it be possible to make any Escape And it was formerly a high Charge even in a Subjects case upon the Star-Chamber and other Courts But for a King to be so dealt withall our owne an Innocent and Pious Prince by his owne Subjects to be put under the custody of his desperate implacable Adversaries further to be depriv'd of all Accesse or Entercourse with his Wife Children friends sequestred from all the Comforts of life This is much more then ever was inflicted upon Lilburne Pryn or Bastwick whose hard usages have been thunderd by themselves throughout the Kingdome to be savage barbarous inhumane By the Law of this Land It is Treason to imprison the King though at large 25 Ed. 3. c. 2. What will these men be thought worthy of when that shall recover its own Channell and flow downe our Streets like a Stream when they shall come to their Accounts The Miseries wherein they involve this Nation hereby are obvious to every understanding The Parliament touching the Succession 1 Mariae cap. 1. acknowledgeth That the welfare profit and speciall benefit of the universall people is continu'd and maintain'd in the surety and preservation of the Prince Even in this Parl. in their Declarations they say That the very Safety and Being of both his Kingdomes depends upon His Majesties returne to London Since the King was in their power The very Army could acknowledge There can be no Peace in this Kingdome without a good agreement between the King and his Subjects Now is it possible there should be an Accommodation where there is no Entercourse no Addresses made or entertain'd Those who have felt the Burden of this War need no Admonitour to judge what will be the Burden of another As much as lies in them the Houses have laid a lasting foundation to entaile if not perpetuate the Discord to our Posterity with all the sad Consequences thereof A Collection of all the particular Objections against His Majesty before he came to the Crown Those Objections which are made against His Majesty before his Reign and belongs to the first Classis of his Charges are only soure 1. His Letter to the Pope which he writ in Spaine 2. The Articles of Marriage made with Spaine 3. The Articles of Marriage made with France 4. The Death of King James But because the three first doe relate to that Charge which are against his Majesty as being enclined to Popery we shall give them their answers under that The brief of their Calumny concerning K. James his death is this That when the Duke was charged by the House of Commons of high Misdemeanour and Presumption In that he did contrary to the advice of his Physitians cause a Plaister to be applied and a Drink to be given to K. Iames who was sick but of an Ague and that conceived to be in the Declination by his Physitians whereupon divers distempers and ill symptomes ensued and the King himself did attribute the cause thereof unto the Plaisters That his Majesty who now is took notice of this in the Lords House told them He could be a Witnesse to cleare the Duke in every particular and did interrupt them by frequent Messages in their proceeding afterwards Dissolv'd the Parliament and did imprison Sir I. Eliot and Sir Dudly Diggs and hereupon they desire every one to judge where the guilt lay An Answer to that Calumnie concerning K. James 1. It is known to all that K. James was an aged man and to all the Court that he kept an ill Diet particularly how he was addicted to Excesse of sweet Wines by reason whereof together with ease and want of exercise as also the forbearance of all Physick he grew full of humors corpulent and of an evill constitution For the sicknes he died of it was a kind of Ague mixt of a quotidian and a tertian call'd an Hemitritaea and so determin'd of by all his Physitians six or seven at least Now that Disease though stiled by the name of an Ague is known to be mortall in its owne nature and more to die of it then to recover But in such an Age Constitution and course of Diet as King James was of nothing more certain Especially considering he hated Medicines would conforme to no directions nay was so crosse that when one of his Doctors as the mouth of the rest had told him that he must bleed in a great Rage he ingeminated the Scandal of a Butcher upon him 2. As they agreed this was his Disease so they were convinc'd that his Death was the naturall and genuine effect thereof and they testified the same 3. His Body being opened was found faire and free from any ground of Suspition in the judgment both of his Chyrurgeons of whom Master Hayes is yet living and in the Kings-bench Apothecary's and Physitians There are three of those Physitians yet alive Doctor Hervy Doctor Lister and Doctor Craig all three honest and worthy men the two last resident in the Parliaments quarters about London and in this Breach between the King and them of their party Doctor Craig under a disgust at Court and discharg'd from his Attendance long afore and therefore not likely to be partial to the King Who all doe testifie the truth of this Narrative and I believe are so noble that they will readily give satisfaction to any man that shall but doe his Judgment that right as to informe it 2. Touching the Duke I shall first premise somewhat both about that he administred to K. James and also how far he was accus'd in Parliament then answer the Charge The Duke himselfe had been sick of an Ague and that not long before in which Disease he was attended by three able Physicians but after some wrestling with it by their help the Countesse of Buckingham his Mother shutting them out of dores gives the Duke a Vomit made with Tobacco which wrought violently but recover'd him from his Disease After which finding himself somewhat weak he retires to the Earle of Warwick's house in Essex where either upon change of Aire or some reliques of the disease or what cause soever he suffer'd a relapse and being perswaded by the E. of Warwick sent for one Remington a Physician living thereabout who by a Plaister applyed to his Stomack and Wrists and a Posset-drink taken inwardly recovered him from that Relapse After this K. James being sick his disease an Ague the Duke ignorant of the distinction between Agnes thinking all of the same Nature that
bore the same Name perceiving the Physicians doubtfull other directions unsuccessfull the Kings disposition impatient of many Medicines declareth to the King his owne Cure proposeth to the Physicians to Vomit him with Tobacco But the danger thereof being suggested by reason of the violence of it and the speciall Antipathy of the King against it he forbeares that remedy yet upon the urgent desire of King James himselfe procures for him the aforesaid Plaister and Drinke the one being onely London-Treacle the other no more but Posset-drink boil'd with Harts-horne and Marigold-flowers then sweetned with syrrup of Gilly-flowers which were both discover'd to the Physicians afterwards and obtain'd before not without some assistance of the Earle of Warwick After the application of this whether by the naturall course of the disease or some other cause the King grew worse indeed the Physicians take it not well these Medicines are laid aside Yet the disease not abating upon intermission of the directions the King impatient both of his disease and of his Physicians prescripts importunes again for that Remedy which he had rejected Hereupon a Bed-chamber-man is presently dispatch'd unto the Apothecary Monsieur du Plure Treacle is sent for no tearm of Specification being added he thought it fit to send the best unto his Majesty and by that means sent him Venice-Treacle which as it was better in it selfe so was it worse for the Kings disease This being brought no body there present could order it but the Countesse of Buckingham It was applied again but being hotter then the former Plaister and the Kings hot fit approaching it might somewhat aggravate his Heate whereupon he cryed out That these had done him hurt and were the cause of his Extremity Upon this some one in the roome drank up the Posset-drinke and the Plaister was applied to another who took no manner of hurt but that he was cured of an Ague This is the whole truth concerning that Application and besides others it will be attested by Master Patrick Maule then of the Bed-chamber and in Attendance a Gentleman whom the Parliament hath imployed about the King ever since he hath bin in their hands and therefore one that in all probability would relate nothing to their disadvantage on set purpose For the Duke's Impeachment in Parliament this was the ground of it When that Parliament was summon'd and the Elections were made Sir John Eliot who much honoured the Duke and was reciprocally much esteemed of by him made an addresse unto the Duke in the name of many Members offered him many Arguments to bring him unto their Party made engagements unto him to establish him in all his Places by Parliament and to adde unto his Grandeur But the Duke rejecting these offers and replying with some Scorne according to the Height and perhaps vanity of his Spirit That the King should have that now by no leave of theirs which formerly he would have thanked them for and that the turbulent Spirits were so dasht that there could be no considerable Opposition in their House to his designes and indeed in sight more of the Members of that Election were at the Dukes devotion Whereupon Sir John Eliot like a good Patriot reply'd that he was mistaken in the Spirit of that House the very walls infusing Resolution into them who sate there and rather then the Duke should not be dasht that he himself would break the ice And hereupon was the E. of Bristol countenanced whom in former Parliaments they themselves had cast some frowns upon and threatned with some danger This Impeachment against the Duke is contrived in such a way as that the King must either engage against him or at least stand Neuter or which was worst of all beare the reflection of that Dirt which they would bestow upon the Duke This was the true ground of that Charge and this was the Man who carried it up and did chiefly manage it in the House of Commons and in their Committees 3. These things thus premised I answer First by way of Concession that indeed the Duke was guilty of Imprudence to meddle in an Art he was not Master of And more yet to exhibit any thing that way unto a King so that he was in some measure liable to the Charge against him Secondly by way of Exception 1. This was no cause of the Kings death and so much the very Charge implies which was but of Mis-demeanors and high Presumptions Had it been of his Death it could not have stood on this side High-Treason and therefore it was a malicious intimation to the Kingdome that his Majesty was guilty of what they themselves were ashamed to charge upon the Duke 2. It was done out of a good affection and an intent to recover the King Had he had other Ends he would never have owned the Action as he did He was not so weak a Politician as to doe such a businesse with his owne hands or by those of his Mother or so much above-boord 3. The Medicines of themselves were innocent and could not prejudice I have heard it from learned Physicians that London-Treacle is of a temperate nature and propulsive of Venome from the Heart a Cordial the decoction of Harts-horn with Marygold-flowers and Gilly-flowers is no other Nay this was attested by some of the Physicians upon their Examinations in that Parliament that those Medicines did him no hurt 4. There was a possibility to save the King thereby Experiment is the best Leg and Base of Physick and oftentimes when a learned Doctor hath strugled in vaine a Nurse or a Midwife hath wrought the Cure by an approved Receit How oft hath the Lady of Kent flatter'd her selfe in this kind and the Lady Brooks too or they have done Cures by a Medicine or two which have been blow'd at in vaine by good Physicians 5. It was done by K. James his earnest entreaty and we know how far the Importunity of a great Person a Prince may transport a man his servant even against Reason much more where there was Reason for it We can produce an example of a French K. in a Fever who being prohibited all Wine by his Physicians did so importune his Servants for that liquor as they gave him his fill and that of the strongest too whereby he was not only satisfied but his Fever cured 6. The chief Witnesses against the Duke were Ramsey and Eglisham the first to the Parliament the other to the Kingdome by his pen both of them of so bad a Reputation that their testimony was not to be taken against a private man the former being expell'd or enforced to relinquish the Colledge of London for his ill-behavior who will lie swear flatter do any villany the latter expell'd from his Vniversity a Papist or rather of no Religion and of as little honesty or learning a man of a crackt Braine too 8. For K. James his own Clamour his word that way was no Slander How often hath Treason been
spent their Powder Poor King Charles How is he burdened and even pressed downe upon whom not his own Actions onely are charged but those of his Servants those of his Courts those of Strangers nay and those of meer fortune and Contingency If this expedition of the Spaniard were by the Kings contrivance or privity why did he sit still permitting them to be assaulted within his own Harbours why did he suffer his owne Ships to be idle Spectators of their Ruine How comes it that there never followed thereupon the least expostulation for so great a losse from the King of Spaine It is well knowne the Spaniards were wasted in Flanders the Natives began to know their owne strength and were in hand with a Machination to shake off the Spanish yoake from their necks in emulation of their Brethren of the Vnited Provinces There was but need then of a recruit which could not be compassed without sending a strong Fleet to convey men into Flanders And this was the Fleet which we quietly beheld beaten and scatterd Mean time what miserable shifts are these men at home put unto when they are glad to catch after such shadows thereby to bring an envy and hate upon their King The whole Charge of Tyrannicall Government made good upon Themselves 1. If it be exemption from Accompt which constitutes a Tyrannicall Government the two Houses cannot wash their hands of it by their owne Rules no men pretending to higher Priviledge therein no men seeking to fortifie themselves more against all possibility of being reckoned withall 2. If the Characters which Aristotle in the 4. of his Politicks chap. 10. assigneth and most other States-men unto Tyrannicall Rule be true the Parliament have out-done all Tyrants in all Ages The Badges are these First To acknowledge no Boundary of Law to their Actions besides their own will 2. To rule by violence over their Equals and Superiors 3. To regard mainly their owne private Vtility not the Publick Examine their Proceedings by these Marks and you shall find them sutable to a hairs breadth Is not much of this quarrell for the repeal of Lawes formerly established Doth not the King continually invite provoke them to this Touch-stone Nay what law that stood in their way have they not suspended or annulled Their whole Ecclesiasticall Government is besides nay against clear law Their Secular hath been altogether Arbitrary for what law warrants their Militia their dealing thus with His Majesty their Imprisonments Oppressions Extortions And what law had they for alienating the Bishops lands not only from the Bishops but from the whole Clergy for ever Lastly that I be not infinite what Law to cut off Canterbury's Head to murther Tomkins Challoner c. 2. How could they possibly maintaine their Power without an Army do they not trample and revel it over their Lords and Masters we will say nothing now of His Majesty their Soveraigne whom they insult upon Have not they set their feet upon the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdome ruin'd and undone them whereas themselves for a great part are of the basest among the people Among whom except what they can reckon their Places at a hundred cannot make one thousand pounds by the yeare 3. What have they done for the Publick Though it be a bold I feare it is a true Challenge John Lilburne makes which I am tempted once more to observe I here challenge them to shew me one deed they have done from the beginning of their Convention for the benefit of the people We are sure they have not been wanting to themselves All Places of profit are distributed among their Members Our monies to the summe of 3 or 400000l are put up in their bags Our Persons are at their devotion Their Priviledges are what they list The truth is All the evidences of tyranny against all the Kings of England untill this present age could not amount unto so much as the two Houses have bin guilty of within these very few years Nay it was impossible for all the Kings of England ever to attaine unto it so true a Prophet was even Master Hampden who when some expressed much Impatience at the want of a Parliament wished them to pray for a good one for nothing could undoe England but a Parliament The fourth Personall Charge That he hated Parliaments That he was a Hater of Parliaments they do back with these Proofs 1. That he never called any in twelve years 2. Prohibited all speech of any 3. Dissolved them at his pleasure 4. Searched the Closets and Pockets of the Members after Dissolution 5. Imprisoned others which prov'd the occasion of their death 6. Even in Parliament charged 5 of their Members 7. Offered them violence in his owne Person attended by a Train of Papists and others 8. Endevoured to over-awe them by bringing the Northern Army to London and that when he had declared against it 9. Called a Mock-Parliament at Oxford 10. Raised War against this Parliament which never King did against any but He. 11. Vpbraided his owne at Oxford with the Name of a Mungrell-Parliament The Improbability of this Charge 1. This cannot be easily admitted for a truth That the King should hate a Parliament if you consider 1. That he was an Advocate for them in his Fathers time and by his Endevour procured many good Laws for them in his days which was confessed in the Parliament as you may find in the Journall thereof 2. That to give them satisfaction he pressed his Father against his Resolution and Reason to begin a War with the House of Austria and obtained it though King James like a Prophet told him That it was not their Hate toward the House of Austria nor their Zeale to the Protestant Cause which moved them to put him upon that suit But a designe to bring him into a Noose that being in distresse by reason of it they might desert him and then make their Markets of the Crowne And he did particularly acquaint him with the steps and Gradations which they would proceed in first question and strip him of his Tonnage and Poundage then bind his hands from making other Provision for himself afterwards bring him upon his knees to them 3. Since his Reigne never any King called more Parliaments then He for so short a space notwithstanding those twelve years Intermission 4. All the Kings of England never offered more compliance or performed more Acts of Grace then He did 5. Lastly few Kings have testified a greater desire of correspondence with or of condescention to a Parliament then His Majesty hath done by this 1. In resigning up his faithfull Servants to be disposed of according to their will even against his Conscience 2. In offering them as it were a Blanke Jan. 20. 1640. which is to be seen in their own Book of Declarations 3. In giving up so many Bishops whose Votes for the most part were at his devotion to be expelled the House of Lords 4. Lastly In
onely to put them in a posture for his Service 2. This was limited according to the Fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome and the Liberty of the Subject 3. It amounted but to a Petition which is printed and may be read in the first Vol. of the Decl 4. This came from the Officers unto the King and those Members of Parliament Now in that conjuncture of Affaires wherein was the King too blame when the Soldiers were discontented the Parliament grew high there were visible Symptomes of an intention to model the State anew to cast out the Government of the Church If the King did so far comply with them as to allow nay to countenance them by an humble Petition to represent their sense of the Innovations they feared and of a Breach of the Laws of the Land How happy had it been for us if it had proceeded and taken place Is it not the same which this Army hath accomplished to the destruction of the Law and dissolution of all legall Authority The Raising of War against them Answered The raising of the War will be Answered in another place As for the Aggravation a thing never done but by King Charls it is no wonder since never King needed before to deale with a Parliament by Armes One Breath of his mouth was enough to dissolve them The Mock-Parl at Oxford Answerd and retorted The Mock-Parliament was not to be so slightly thought of Themselves and their owne men the Army appeale to the equitable construction of the Law And if so pray what equity would justifie this Parliament about That The King is confessedly one Estate The Lords with him were two for one twenty or more Earles as many Barous when two Lords made up a House here often and Ten were thought a goodly number Nay the House of Commons there were neer upon the number with those that staied here Did the wals at Westminster make a Parliament surely in the equitable construction those Gentlemen made it much rather who were called together by the Kings Writ and sent by their respective Counties and Burroughs But why do we dispute that Did not many of these men that talke thus flee themselves Did they not eat up an Engagement with the Army Was there not an intention at least of another Mock-Parliament If their Returne to Westminster had not been so quick and easie we cannot forbear to thinke they would actually have done the selfe-same thing themselves which they thus condemn in others The Mungrell Parliament Answered The King hath sufficiently explained himself for that matter that he used that Expression in reference to the Earle of Sussex and his faction who had made a breach in that fair Correspondence that was maintained between them formerly The Charge of Crimes done by his Ministers We proceed from the pretended faults which relate immediately to the Kings owne person before this Rupture with the Parliament unto those done by his Ministers and those especially under this Classis concerne Oppression of us in our Estates Of which sort are the Enforced leaues Privy-Seales Coat-and-Conduct-money Enlarging Forests Enclosing Commons Ingrossing Patents Monopolies c. The Answer to these in generall To these in generall 1. That they were put in execution in times of great necessity The King was engaged in a bloody war and by the incitement encouragement and promise of this faction of men and deserted as soone as he was well entered the best Revenue of the Crown questioned if not with-held The King of Denmarke beaten for want of supply Germany over-run the Protestant cause all over Christendome in a precipice great Preparations made round about Hanibal ad portas What Irregularities might not be excused in such exigencies by that Supreame Law of Necessity which bears out all transgressions 2. None of these were contrived by Himself many of them were by his Counsell at Law many were suggested by Mr. Noy in particular his Attorney a man well versed in the Laws and ancient Records of the Kingdome one who could have given a good accompt of his Actions and was once thought a great Champion of the Laws against Arbitrary Incroachments 3. There was a Redresse offered upon the first Complaint and the Subject fenced by wholsome Laws against any such future Attempts 4. The Instruments who first contrived or abetted and put then in execution are many of them in both Houses more of them in Places of eminent trust None of them all ever punished upon this score but for some other fault In Particular The Privy-Seales Answered His Majesty was so carefull to satisfie his Subjects for what they had lent him this way that he sold unto the City of London Land at 12000. l. rent of Assise and out of the money due thereupon left and secured in the Chamberlain of Londons hand the summe of 216000. l. 15. s. 4. d. to the end that out of this such might be paid as had formerly lent unto the King either by Privy-Seale or otherwise which the City made this advantage of not contented with such a bargain though they paid for the purchase by the very Wood and Timber upon the ground as the King was informed They sent their Emissaries into all Countries where they knew there were any of the Kings Creditors who were ignorant of this Assignment and agreed with them at under-rates nay for little or nothing for the debt they accounted as desperate and by that meanes at once deceived the people of their repayment and the King of the reputation of his Justice Forrests Answered 1. The King herein used and followed the advice of his Counsell at Law and of the Lord of Holland yet was his Lordship their Confident untill this quarrell divided them 2. What was done herein was upon Oath and by due process at Law 3. His Majesty remitted his clear Right where the people were troubled for instance a great part of the County of Essex 4. He allowed them to be bounded by the Countries themselves Enclosing of Commons Answered and retorted 1. It was done by vertue of Law which investeth him with that power 2. It might have been for the benefit not of the Kingdome onely but of the very particular Inhabitants of those respective places if Instruments had done their duty 3. The Parliament keeps those in their possessions still without refunding any Compensation to those they pretend were injured 4. Nay at this time they set upon a worke of Enclosure of more then all the Commons in England which have been enclosed these 100. years I mean the Draining of the Fennes in Lincoln-shire whereby thousands of poor people are bereft of their subsistence The adjacent parts are endammaged by the Torrent of the waters turned upon them to their vast prejudice Engrossing of Patents and Monopolies Answered That I may Answer these I shall lay for a Ground That all Graunts and Letters-Patents of the King of England are not Monopolies though concerning Trade or Manufacture or the labour of the
pretended 2. The Time when when the Scots were hardly setled upon their lees againe and the Parliament of England high flowne already and advanced in their Contestation 3. Their Preparatives to Rebellion by invading new Priviledges as to determine in Cases Capitall and Criminal Charging of Publike Officers banding against Greivances c. and an Itch also to have procured a longer if not a Perpetual Parliament if Possible which is evident in Sir John Temples relation under the Authority whereof it is probable they designed to act afterwards rather then of a Supreame Councell which was done here even to the joynt prosecution of some particular Officers as the Earle of Strafford c. 4. Their Proceedings first to sequester and seize the Goods of those whom they declared Enemies to the State 5. The persons on whom they wreak'd their Malice most Clergy-men and Officers of State 6. The Copy they writ by or at least pretended to write by namely the Scots 7. The backwardnesse of our Parliament to send any reliefe thither which was evidenced by their disputes and Punctilio's with the King and indeed their denials to assist without his perfect resignation of himselfe to them seizing money to the summe of 100000. l. to their owne use though indeed they have paid it since out of the Kingdomes purse upon the Clamour of the people and notice given of it by the King imploying such forces as were raised under that notion here in England against His Majesty Particularly the Regiment of Colonell Bamfield of Chidley and others suspending the Journey of the Earle of Leicester first then of the Lord Lisle thither a man of their owne Election untill his Commission was almost expir'd Pretending to send over succours since but letting them lie upon the Countries untill they become intolerable and then disbanding them as super-numeraries The Miseries they expose their owne Army there to of which they were soundly told by Captaine Cope lately who charged them in the very House with the death of Thousands with the Ruine of more and with streames of Blood which cry'd for vengeance against them in that place To all which if you adde 8. The fierce prosecution of Strafford whose continuance in that place and strict discipline would have prevented that Insurrection or crushed it in the shell 9. Their withstanding the sending of that Army out of the Kingdome which had discharged it of so many instruments of rebellion 10. The Profession of divers of their Confidents especially in the Army That they cannot fight against the Irish with a good Conscience That their quarrel is but to enjoy their Religion and Liberty And 11. a speech which was uttered before this Rupture by a true friend of theirs at Manidowne in Hamp-shire when the Scots first came into England What if this Kingdome should rise for their Property and Liberty and Ireland take that Advantage what will he be King of then a shrewd speech though I beleeve the man had no fore-sight of this Combustion with many other Circumstances One would verily believe the Bustles in England and the Rebellion in Ireland were like Castor and Pollux ovo prognatus eodem hatch'd by a Common-Councell of Parliament Irish and that they were mutually engaged to promote each others Interest But we must be ingenuous and allow them better measure then any they have yet allowed unto their Soveraigne All we aime at is but to open to the world that there may be full as much or rather a great deale more charged on themselves as to that Businesse then upon His Majesty The Charge of Rochel We are now in sight of the shoare and shall conclude with the businesse of Rochel which Towne they say they can fully shew was betraied by the King and so was there a fatall Blow given to the Protestant Cause in France They tell us how he lent divers of the Navy and Merchants ships to the King of France to be imployed against those whom he was engaged to assist And when some Commanders disputed his Commands he gave order to Sir John Penington to put them into the service of that King or else to sinke them That Answered 1. Herein they impose a blinde beleife upon us we have little reason to take their bare word as we hinted before whose Interest is to deceive us and who have done it so oft We never yet could discover in them any such Tendernesse either in blasting the Kings Honour or in covering their owne shame as to conceale any thing which was to their owne Advantage or his disgrace 2. How could his Maj. betray those whom he had never taken into Protection as at that time he had not done by them Are they themselves treacherous too or have they betraied the Hollanders against whom they sent divers of the Kings Souldiers taken at Naseby to be imployed in the Spanish service 3. Though it be acknowledged that there were ships lent unto the King of France yet it was not to that purpose to employ them against the Protestants and the King of England was a stranger to the designe of the King of France therein Q. Elizabeth when that very Towne of Rochel was beseiged by the King of France and some of his Subjects with the Duke of Montgomery had releived it disclaimed the Act called them who did it Pirates professed she would not protect nor afford them any supply Camb. Eliz. 4. King James in his life time had in effect promised assistance unto the French King against any of his Subjects whatsoever were their Religion or their pretence 5. The same thing was done by the States of Holland at the same time who lent unto the King of France twenty saile of ships whereas ours were but seven under the Command of Hauthain their Admiral who did in the same manner demur at the Imployment being charm'd by some pittifull Letters from Rochel untill the Rochellers treacherously and unawares surpris'd and burnt his Vice-Admiral which rouz'd him up in good earnest and made him not onely set upon but wholly discomfit them by the helpe of our and other ships Now it is very improbable the Hollanders would have conspir'd against the Cause of Religion and their owne Church-discipline which the French held forth if there had not been some other just cause of that War 6. We might very well be tender in undertaking the Protection of those Protestants for it is not quite forgotten how Queen Elizabeth sent over a considerable Army to their Assistance and that upon Articles between them which Army of hers was set upon and beseiged by those very men whom they were come to defend and expuls'd out of that Kingdome and out of New-haven by the help of the Protestants who by meanes of their succours had gotten the better Composition with their own King as you may read in Mr. Cambden and others Anno 1563. 7. The King did what was possible toward their releife when he had the advantage of Hostility