Thursday the Votes I have mentioned before being communicated by the Lords to the Commons the Commons answered That if the pardon of the E. of Danby infer Life and Death it is the same with Guilty or not Guilty and desired again to know whether the Lords Spiritual should Vote upon the E. of D. Pardon in answer to which the Lords said they had no Instructions in that point but would acquaint the House with it On Friday the Commons insisted that the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any of the proceedings upon the impeachments against the Lords in the Tower and the Commons declared that they knew not how to proceed in Capital matters before a new Court to which the Lords would not reply So the Lords voted that Thursday next should be appointed to begin the Tryals of the five Popish Lords After which the Lords Spiritual desired leave of the House that they might withdraw themselves from the Tryals of the said Lords with the liberty of entering their usual Protestations as I have formerly said And it was Ordered that the Resolution of the Lords House and the desire of the Lords Spiritual should be communicated to the Committee of the House of Commons the next Morning This being so done the Commons insisted that their Vote extended to the E. of Danby as well as the five Lords whereas the Lords Vote relate only to the five Lords and therefore they desired to know what answer the Lords would give as to the E. of Danby they further objected that they conceived that their vote was as to the Right of the thing and that the Bishops have no right to be at any Vote in any capital cases And they conceived the E. of Ds. to be a Capital case as well as the cases of the other five Lords and that if the Bishops may have leave to withdraw it implies a right which if they have it is a new Court which the Commons cannot admit of The Lords reply'd there is no day yet appointed for the tryal of the E. of D. and that the Lords Spiritual will be absent at all the parts of the Tryals of the five Lords and that the Protestations they now desire to enter will be the same as in the Earl of Strafford 's case Then the Commons said they could not proceed to treat of any other Proposals till such time as the business about the Court be setled On Munday the 19th of May the Commons further insisted that the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in the proceeding against the Lords in the Tower and when that matter shall be setled and the Method of proceedings adjusted their House would be then ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Pardon of the E. of Danby against whom the Commons had already demanded judgment and afterwards to the tryal of the five Lords in the Tower Upon which the Lords told them they had no Authority to debate this Matter Note that the tryal of the E. of D. was render'd impossible by Voting no Commoner of England should be of Counsel with him or defend the validity of his pardon 2ly That all this contest about the Bishops was only in relation to the Earl's case 3ly That they insinuate they would proceed by Bill all which were Declarations they meant to force the Lords as much as in them lay to condemn the E. one way or another as the Long Parliament forced his Majesties Father and the House of Lords against their declared judgments to condemn the E. of Strafford But to go on The Commons then further said that the Lords resolution which was offered was no answer to their proposition which comprehended the E. of D. as well as the five Lords besides the Lords answer was doubtful for it appears that the Bishops asked leave to be absent but it appeared not that it was granted then consequently the Bishops must sit in Court at the Tryals that the Commons conceived that the Bishops absenting themselves by way of Leave is a strong implication of a right asserted which they cannot allow can ever be maintained yet this they were told let it imply what it will was allowed them in the case of the E. of Strafford in Parliament by a house of Commons that were no great Friends to Bishops and why could not the Commons now be contented with what was practised then and at all other times and the Commons did think they said there was the same reason for the Bishops being absent from the Tryal upon the pardon as from the tryal of the other five Lords and that the naming of a day for the tryal of the five Lords before the tryal of the pardon of the E. of Danby against whom the Commons had already demanded Judgment as the putting that last which they desired should be first To which the Lords told them they were not impowered to debate but would impart these Matters to the House The Commons hereupon replied they were ready to go on and that for want of these trials all publick business stood still but the Lords seem'd to lay the stop at the Commons door by naming a day which they conceived ought not to have been appointed before the Methods were considered for the Lords had not answered the Commons in matter of Right which never was nor it may be will be answered which was necessary first to be adjusted and they desired their resolution as to that matter for they conceived they the Bishops had no right which whether they had or no there was no more necessity of determining it then then heretofore and the Lords might as well make the Judges part of their Court as the Bishops in this point As they said And they said the Commons would give no disturbance to the Ancient judicature for they own'd that to be sacred and they conceived they had a right to know before what Court they shall appear and they hoped the Lords would consider of their having appointed a day before the Methods were considered and would give them leave to wonder at it It is as likely the Lords took leave all this time to wonder at the Commons too and it is likely posterity will wonder that all this Controversy should be banded thus when it was thought to have been full time at least to have been trying the five Lords and dispatching the Bills against Popery On Tuesday the 25th of May the Lords having again considered of all this in a Committee of the whole House gave further day for the Tryal of the five Lords till that day sennight The same day the Commons read the Bill for freeing the City of London and parts adjacent from Popish Inhabitants with the Amendments the third time and having added two clauses return'd it to the Lords from whom it came The Bill for disabling the D. of York to inherit the imperial Crown of this Realm being read the second time and the question put whether
York Onely and that Committee was appointed on the next Munday Morning at Ten of the Clock And accordingly it was that day Debated and some Clauses added to it On Tuesday the Ninth of November his Majesty sent the Commons another Message by Mr. Secretary Jenkins which was as followeth CHARLES R. HIS Majesty desires this House as well for the Satisfaction of his People as of Himself to Expedite such Matters as are depending before them relating to Popery and the Plot and would have them rest assured That all Remedies they can tender to his Majesty conducing to those Ends shall be very acceptable to him Provided they be such as may Consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its Due and Legal Course of Descent On Wednesday the 10th of November A Bill for Regulating the Elections of Members to Serve in Parliament for the House of Commons was read the first time and ordered to be read the second time And the same day the Bill for prohibiting the Importation of Irish Cattel was read the third time and passed and sent up to the Lords Now let the Reader observe there was not one Publick Bill passed through the House of Commons in all this time but this and yet no Bill was more opposed than this but here the priyate Concerns of the North and West Country Gentlemen were Engaged and therefore they carried it on Might and Main against all opposition but as for any Bills against Popery they took no care or thought for that against the Duke of York may perhaps be made to appear to be of another Nature then was pretended and rather against any thing then Popery The same day the Lords sent down to the Commons a Bill which they had passed for Freeing the City of London and his Majesty's Court and the Parts adjacent from Popish Inhabitants and providing against other Dangers which may arise from Papists To which they desired their Concurrence Note That this Bill had been sent down from the Lords before and the Commons had lost the opportunity of passing it as you will see they will in this Session also tho there were Tragical representations made of the Danger the City and Nation were in from the Vast Numbers of them which were Seated in and about the City of London The truth is it was not convenient to loose any thing that might serve to fright the People and much better to have Papists in London for that purpose than to have them sent elsewhere and loose the means of Fermenting the Rabble But if men were not as willing to be or at least seem to be cheated as others are to delude them they would soon perceive whose interest it is to keep them in Fears and Jealousies and after discharge their Bug-bears or turn their rage another way The same day they Voted an Address to his Majesty in answer to his last Message And that they would proceed in the prosecution of the Lords in the Tower beginning with William Viscount Stafford On Thursday the 11th of November 1680. A Bill to prevent the offences of Bribery and Debauchery in Elections of Members to Serve in the Commons House of Parliament was Read the first time and ordered to be read again the Monday following with the Bill for Regulating Elections of Members to Serve in the said House formerly mentioned This day the Bill against the Duke of York was read the third time and passed The Title whereof was resolved to be An Act for Securing of the Protestant Religion by Disabling James Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging And it was ordered that the Lord Russel should carry it up to the Lords for their Concurrence The Bill sent down by the Lords for Freeing the City of London from Popish Recusants was read the first time on Friday 12. Nov. and Ordered a second reading in a full House This day the Commons sent a Message to the Lords to Acquaint them with their Intentions to begin with the Viscount Stafford and to desire them to appoint a Convenient time for the Tryal and that the Lords in the Tower might be Confined and kept from holding Correspondence with one another as persons impeached and committed for High Treason by Law ought to be The Lords answered As to the latter part of this Message They had taken Care already in it and as to the former They appointed Tuesday the Thirtieth day of the same Moneth And they further resolved to Address to his Majesty for a Sum of Money for defraying the Charges of Summoning of Witnesses and other Expences Incident to the Prosecution and Tryals of the Lords in the Tower and appointed Mr. Charles Clare to Receive and Expend the same for which purpose his Majesty gave Order that 100 l. should be Issued out of the Exchequer On Saturday the 13th of November Sir Robert Yeomans being upon his own Petition called to the Bar he Acknowledged his offence and was ordered to receive the Censure of the House upon his Knees to which he submitted and was discharged paying his Fees The Lords returned the Bill against Importing of Irish Cattel agreed to Commons the same day The City of London having Petitioned the House against Sir George Jeffereys their Recorder and it being referred to a Committee they passed this Vote Resolved That this Committee is of Opinion That by the Evidence given to this Committee it does appear that Sir George Jeffereys Recorder of the City of London by traducing and obstructing Petitioning for the Sitting of This Parliament hath betrayed the Rights of the Subject To which the House agreed and Ordered That an Humble Address be made to his Majesty to remove him out of all Publick Offices and appointed a Committee to draw up the same As if it had been likely his Majesty would have so far complyed with them as to have punished the Recorder for obeying his Laws and Proclamation against a Tumultuous and Seditious Sort of men But however his Majesty might Act they had another aim in this for they Voted That the Members of their House that Served for the City of London should communicate this Vote and Resolution of their House to the Court of Aldermen for the City of London This was a sure way to bespeak a Party in the City to Joyn with the House against the Abhorrers They further Ordered That this Committee should enquire into all such persons as have been Advising or Promoting of the late Proclamation stiled A Proclamation against Tumultuous Petitioning Thus having passed thus far without any check from any person they thought they might proceed as far further as they pleased And it is very probable that they were spurred on to this by their Friends and Enemies the one designing to make them Terrible and the other being willing to make them Hated However I am sure they they became more hated than feared by this and
any part of the King's Revenue or whosoever shall pay such Tally hereafter to be struck shall be adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and shall be responsable therefore in Parliament First they Resolve they would give nothing themselves and then they terrify all others as much as in them lyeth from Lending or Advancing any Money to him which was not according to their Writ of Election to Advise his Majesty but by duress to force and compel him to Submit to their better Judgment as became Loyal and Dutiful Subjects So that his Majesty might well say of these Votes That instead of giving him assistance to Support his Allies or enabling him to Preserve Tangier they tended rather to disable him from contributing towards either by his own Revenue or Credit not only exposing him to all Dangers that might happen either at home or abroad but endeavouring to deprive him of the possibility of Supporting the Government it Self and to reduce him to a more helpless condition than the meanest of his Subjects A Sad and a very Just Complaint and Accordingly resented by that vast Number of People that have since Addressed to thank his Majesty for that Declaration On Saturday the 8th of January The Lords sent a Message to the Commons to acquaint them that their Lordships had appointed that day Sevennight for hearing the Cause upon the Impeachment of Mr. Seymour and that their House might reply if they thought fit but they had no leisure to take notice of it Information being given to the House by the Serjeant at Arms that Sir John Lloyd Sir Edward Philips Herbert Herring Miles Baspole _____ Iles and Arthur Yeomans who for divers great Misdemeanors by them committed as was pretended against the Priviledge of their House were Ordered to be taken in Custody of the said Serjeant did Abscond themselves that the said Order could not be put in Execution against them hereupon they Ordered That an Humble Application should be made to his Majesty from their House by Such Members thereof as were of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council desiring his Majesty to Issue out his Royal Proclamation for the Apprehending the said several persons in case they should not render themselves to the Serjeant by a certain day therein to be limited The same day they Ordered That a Committee should be Appointed to inspect the Journals of their House and of the House of Lords and Precedents to Justify and Maintain That the Lords ought to Commit Persons to Safe Custody when Impeached for High Treason by the Commons in Parliament and to make report thereof to the House Which Vote had relation to Sir William Scroggs And so we are come to the day that finally put an End to all their Proceedings which was Munday the 10th day of January and a great Wonder it was that his Majesty could endure them so long They began the day with a Vote which shews the Meaning and Tendance of all the rest Resolved That whosoever Advised his Majesty to Prorogue this Parliament to any other purpose than in order to the passing of a Bill for the Exclusion of James Duke of York is a betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and of the Kingdom of England A Promoter of the French Interest and a Pensioner to France They Knew then that they were to be Prorogued but they Knew not by whose Advice and so if his Majesty did it without any Advice then all these Hard words were thrown at him but by whomsoever it were done this Vote could have no good meaning or effect and must end in Smoke or Tumults and Confusion 2. Resolved That the Thanks of this House be given to the City of London for their Manifest Loyalty to the King their Care Charge and Vigilancy for the Preservation of his Majesties Person and of the Protestant Religion Ordered That the Members that Serve for the City of London do accordingly give them the Thanks of the House Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That the City of London was Burnt in the Year 1666 by the Papists designing thereby to Introduce Arbitrary Power and Popery into the Kingdom Resolved That the Commissioners of the Customes and other Officers of the Custom-House have Wilfully broken the Law prohibiting the Importation of French Wines and other Commodities and that if they shall hereafter Wilfully or Negligently break that Law they shall be questioned therefore in Parliament Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That James Duke of Monmouth hath been removed from his Offices and Commands by the Influence of the Duke of York Ordered That an humble Application be made to his Majesty from this House by such Members thereof as are of his Majesties Honourable Privy-Council to desire his Majesty to restore the said James Duke of Monmouth to his said Offices and Commands This was excellently timed and they had so obliged his Majesty they might be sure he would not deny them Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters upon the Penal Laws is at this time Grievous to the Subject a weakning of the Protestant Interest and incouragement to Popery and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom Here their Mouths were stopt by a Message from the King by Edward Carteret Usher of the Black-Rod Acquainting them that the King Commanded them to Attend him immediately in the House of Peers And there his Majesty Prorogued them to the Thursday Sevennight being the 20th of that Instant January 1680. 1. His Majesty gave his Royal Assent to the Act Prohiting the Importation of Cattle from Ireland 2. To the Act for Supplying the late Act for Burying in Woollen 3. And to an Act To rectifie Errors in Sir Charles Houghton 's Settlement There was another Act for Repeal of the Act of the 35 of Elizabeth ready to be passed and it was Lost No body knew how and was never tendred to his Majesty Soon after this Parliament was Dissolved by Proclamation to the great Satisfaction of all but the Dissenters who if they had been able to consider things Aright had as little reason to be pleased with their Proceedings as any of the rest for they did them no other Service then to Exasperate the King and the Government against them and have made them to be more prosecuted and less pitied than they were before The Popish Party received almost as little damage by them as the Dissenters did Advantage for they bending their force Equally against the Succession and Popery all their Designs if they had any beyond clamour against the Papists were broken Their Arbitrary and Illegal Proceedings against the Abhorrers of the Tumultuous Petitions for the Sitting of the Parliament procured more Friends to the Duke of York then perhaps he would otherwise have had and gave the English Gentry an Excellent Prospect what they might Expect from these Warm Gentlemen if ever they fell into their hands The King had
this Prince gratified them in one thing they started another Game hoping at last to ruine this Excellent Prince by his own Concessions as at length they did for these sober Protestants were resolved never to leave asking till they had brought their King to be their Equal first and at last under them This procedure did in part discover the Design and necessitated him to stretch his Prerogative to find some small Relief for his urgent and pressing Necessities by Monopolies Knight-mony Loans upon Privy Seals and at last Ship-money great parts of which Moneys were employed upon the Building Ships for the encrease of the Royal Navy which he did to that height that it was so Invincible to any Humane Power that though Sir William Batten in 1648. carried a very Considerable part of it to his Now Majesty yet the remainder of it with a small Addition beat the Dutch for all their many years Preparations Yet first all those that signalized themselves by opposing the King in these Levies most were chosen into the following Parliaments as the best Patriots and Common-wealth-men and these again made it their business in Parliament by joyning with the Rebellious Scots to involve us in that accursed War which endangered not only the ruine of our Government and Trade but our very Being In the beginning of that War the Parliament-side went down and in likelihood the King and his Party had finally prevailed if the Scots had not broke out again upon the solicitation of the English Parliament without the least cause given them by the King And during this time and afterwards too * Page 12. Sect. 19. Of the Relations and Observations upon the Parliament begun in 1640. pag. 143. Sect. 5. And in the Remonstrance of many Thousands in and about the City of London dated Mar. 22. 1648. to the Army is this Passage Then shall those faithful Persons who hazarded all for the Parliament and many of them lent more than their whole Estates and now live in Prison nay starve for want of it not be put to devour Cathedrals and ransack the Monuments of the Dead but be honestly paid with thanks and requitals then shall not the Publick Faith be out pawned and so little care taken to Redeem it whilst Millions of Treasure have been conveyed beyond the Seas Pag. 3. I suppose this was not all private Treasures though the loss is the same to the Nation if it were so Walker in his History of Presbytery and Independency hath acquainted us That many of the Parliament Grandees who besides their own Wealth which was great had drawn in most of the Treasure and Plate of the Nation on specious pretences and the Publick Faith sent huge sums over to the Banks in Holland and the Western Plantations that in case the King should finally prevail they might have a place of Retreat where they might enjoy the Blood and Tears of the poor deluded People in safety and security But this was not all during this War the English Trade both at home and abroad was almost totally Ruin'd many Thousands of Tradesmen were either Undone or Killed and Destroyed or forced to seek quieter Habitations beyond the Seas above one half of the Nation the West and the North were almost totally ruined and depopulated by the War and the other half by excessive Taxes Excise Sequestrations c. by all which ways I have seen an Account Printed Relation of the Parliament begun 1640. p. 8. Sect. 14. That there was about Forty Millions of Money Collected and Spent within the space of a few years by that Parliament side only not one farthing of which turned to any account to the Nation But in the interim the wise Dutch drive on the Trade of almost the whole World and only furnished the King with Armes and Ammunition for the Jewels of the Crown and dealt with the Parliament for Timber The last cited Remonstrance to the Army p. 4. which they sold of the Crown-Lands Church-Lands and the Sequestred Estates of the Gentry and Nobility which Timber the Dutch wisely employed in Building Ships to ruine the prevailing side when the War was done and then they did not question but to be the Soveraigns of the Ocean and of all the Trade and Commerce that is exercised on it and to speak the truth they had then some reason to hope it might have happened so For if England had once been brought under no other State could have disputed the point with them and England was then preparing it self for ruine by giving the Hollanders more advantages than their Modesty could have wished for And the Dutch were so confident that the Success would answer their Expectations that they grew impatient to have Possession of their almost assured Mastery and before our Internal Broyls were over and the Nation setled any way in the Year 1652. set upon our Fleet in the Downs and if the Advantage of almost two to one and an unexpected Assault had not been over-ruled by the Providence of God and the unparallell'd Valour of the English they had certainly destroyed them as they did the Spanish Fleet in the same place about Ten Years before and although the English fortune and Courage prevailed then and in the whole Course of that War and brought down the Craft Treachery and Pride of the Hollanders yet was the whole Glory of these Victories in which the Rump boasted so much next Gods Mercy to these poor Nations owing solely to the Providence of that Prince they had but a little before so basely Murdered as an Enemy to God and his People and then stiled the Tyrant As Mr. Coke hath well observed in his Preface to the fourth Treatise Of the Improvement of England To which excellent Discourses I refer my Reader All that I shall infer from hence is that I hope the Nation will never run the same hazard of losing all their Foreign Trade again by siding with factious Men against the Monarchy The Rump having beaten the Dutch found a more dangerous Enemy at home and being generally now hated by the People were without any difficulty turned out by Oliver Cromwel their Hypocritical Servant 1654. who to secure himself in his ill gotten Possession of the Government made an unsetled and dishonourable Peace with the Dutch Which they imployed in Building much larger and more Men of War than they had before to prevent the Ruine of their States by another English War which could not be concealed from Oliver who likewise encreased the English Fleet with many more and considerable Men of War as the last Cited Author tells us As O. C. lost the English the Advantage of their Naval Victories by that Peace he made with the Dutch which left the English nothing but a little unprofitable Glory and the blows they had received from the Hollanders whilst it gave them opportunity to grow rich and prepare for another Attempt So our Tyrant fell soon after into another
Wherefore we your Majesties Loyal Subjects could not but be sensibly affected with trouble to find such a Person notwithstanding the repeated Addresses of the last Parliament continued in your Counsels at this time when the affaires of your Kingdom require none to be put into such imployments but such as are men of known abilities Interest and esteem in the Nation without all suspition of either mistaking or betraying the true interest of the Kingdom and consequently of advising your Majesty ill We do therefore most humbly beseech your most sacred Majesty for the taking away the great Jealousies Dissatisfactions and Fears amongst your good Subjects that your Majesty will gratiously be pleased to remove the Duke of Lauderdale from your Majesties Counsels in your Majesties Kingdoms of England and Scotland and from all offices imployments and places of trust and from your Majesties Presence for ever This Address they presented to his Majesty the day following to which his Majesty replyed he would consider of it and return an Answer But in the mean time it was doubtless sent after the Speech into Scotland where it found all things rather necessitated to a Rebellion than disposed the Murther of so illustrious a Person as the Primate of that Kingdom and one of his Majesties Privy Counsel there was a Villany not to be smothered And the Proclamation published the day after the fact for the discovery and apprehending of the Assassines representing the Act as it deserved with great detestation had further allarm'd the whole Party who had as they thought no other way to escape the deserved revenge but by justifying the Murther with a Rebellion And finding by this Address that the House of Commons in England were in this critical moment pressing upon their dreadful Enemy the Duke of Lauderdale they took it for granted God had espoused their cause and if they could make a head in Scotland they should be seconded out of England hoping perhaps to be as well rewarded for this as they were for beginning the former Rebellion and so being pushed forward by their destiny and desperation on they went On Tuesday the 27th of May 1679 The Parliament was prorogued and the Thursday following which was the 29th of the same month the Scotch Covenanters who knew nothing of it began their Rebellion at Ragland in Scotland to which place about fourscore men well mounted and armed came and proclaimed the Covenant and burnt several Acts of Parliament and affixed this following Declaration on the Market Cross As the Lord had been pleased still to keep and preserve his Interest in the Land by the Testimony of some faithful Witnesses from the beginning so in our days some have not been wanting who through the greatest of Hazards had added their Testimonies to these who have gone before them by suffering death Banishment Torturings Finings Forfeitures imprisonments c. Flowing from cruel and perfidious Adversaries to the Church and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Land Therefore we owning the Interest of Christ according to the word of the Lord and the National and Solemn League and Covenant desire to add our Testamony to the Testimonies of the Worthies that has gone before though unworthy yet hoping as true Members of the Church of Christ in Scotland and that against all things that has been done prejudicial to his interest from the beginning of the work of Reformation in Scotland especially from the year 1648 to the year 1660 against these following Acts. 1. The Act of Supremacy 2. The Declaration whereby the Covenants are condemned 3. The Act for Eversion of the established Government of the Church and for establishing Prelacy and for the Outing of Christs Ministers who could not conform thereto by an Act Rescissory of all Acts of Parliament and Assemblies for the Establishment of the Covernment of the Church of Scotland according to the Word 4. As likewise the Act of Council at Glasgow putting that Act recissory in execution where at one time were violently cast out above three hundred Ministers without any Legal procedures 5. As likewise the Act appointing a Holy Anniversary Day to be kept upon the 29th of May for giving thanks for the upsetting of an usurping Power destroying the Interest of the Church in the Land which is to set up the Creature to be worshipped in the room of our Great Redeemer and to consent to the assuming of the power that is proper to the Lord alone for the appointing Ordinances in his Church as particularly the Government thereof and the keeping of Holy-days and all other sinful and unlawful Acts Emitted and Executed by them And for Confirmation of this our Testimony we do hereby this day being the 29th day of May 1679 Publickly burn them at the Cross of Ragland most Justly as they perfidiously and Blasphemously had burnt our Holy Covenants through several Cities of the Covenanted Kingdoms We judge none will take exception at our not subscribing this our Testimony being so solemnly gone about for we are ready always to do it if judged necessary with all the faithful suffering Brethren in the Land They intended to have affixed this Declaration at Glasgow too but were prevented by the Kings Forces there On the Sunday following they Rendevoused upon London Hill being then 14 or 1500 men well armed and in good order the foot commanded by one Weir and the Horse by Robert Hamilton one Patron Balfour and Hackston these two last being of the number of them that murthered the Arch-bishop and consequently most concerned to carry the Rebellion as far as they could being thus disposed and Ordered one Captain Graham of Claver House marched against them with a troop of Horse and a Company of Dragoons upon whose approach the Rebels sent out two Parties to Skirmish with him which he beat into their main body and then they advanced with their whole force upon him So that after a considerable slaughter of them and the loss of his Cornet two Brigadiers and about eight Horse and twenty Dragoons his own horse being killed under him and he mounting another being so much over-powered in number he made his retreat towards Glasgow being in his way forced to fight his way through the Townsmen of Streuin who were got together to oppose it leaving ten or twelve of them dead upon the place On Munday the Second day of June the Rebells in the morning attacked the City of Glasgow at two several times but all the Streets were so well Barracadoed by the Lord Ross and the Souldiers there put into so good a posture that they were beat off with considerable loss besides many Prisoners that were taken and thereupon the Horse and Dragoons in the Town sallied out and pursued them upon their drawing off In the Interim the Council of Scotland having first given an account of this Rebellion to his Majesty published a Proclamation for the suppression of it and that failing Levied what forces they could to oppose them
represent all those Gentlemen of the House of Commons who had Voted against the Bill for Excluding his Royal Highness the Duke of York as Papists or at least Popishly affected and for my part I believe it was the principal Motive of bringing in that Bill for it is scarce possible but that they must see after that Second Declaration that his Majesty made in that very Session concerning the Succession and the House of Lords refusing to joyn with them in the first of these Votes that introduced that Bill that they should never be able to get it pass into an Act but then they might easily foresee however it would be a powerful means of inciting the People against all that should oppose it and prevail with them to pass a Sentence upon them as Popishly affected at least if not down-right Arrant Papists and herein they had great part of their design and there was no Motive more frequently used than this and for the most part it was driven a little higher and urged against his Majesty too as by the bye thus What will you give your Voice for who is a Papist and Voted for the Duke of York in the last Parliament who is an Arrant Papist and the King is little better Which words were actually spoken by one of that Party and Sworn upon him at his Majesty's Suit and for which the party was Fined Five hundred Marks in the Kings-Bench And by this Sole Argument they prevailed to Exclude almost all those Gentlemen and to fill up their places with men of their own principles and traduced his Majesty the Court and all the Ministers of State and almost all the Gentry and Loyal Clergy too for endeavouring to have these men chosen again The Second Thing that they made great advantage of was the pretended discovery of Sir S. Fox of the Pensioners in the Long Loyal Parliament which discovery being hastily made and No Record of it being entred they took the Confidence to Add to it whomsoever they were pleased to have so thought by the small Free-men and Free-holders and that was a Number it may be double and treble to that Sir S. mentioned however I am sure that the Written Lists that were then spread abroad and which were all of Equal Authority or pretended to be so did not agree some having more Names than other and I am well assured that some Persons Named were not Pensioners nor could be so and therefore I believe Sir S. never said they were but they were added by the Transcribers according to their private Interests or Passions but they made the People believe they knew who would be Pensioners too which was somewhat difficult and led the diffidence to that height as to Exclude as far as they could possibly not onely all the Courtiers and other Persons who had any Places of Profit and Advantage under his Majesty but their Relations too and Wanted not much that they had Excluded all those who bore any honorary Imployments or Offices such as Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace So that nothing now recommended a man so effectually for a Parliament-man as that he had not been thought fit to be trusted in the least by his Majesty or their Neighbour Gentry or having been so had been turned out all which were applauded as Men not to be bought Enemies to the Court and Ministers and therefore true Friends to the Protestant Religion and the Country All which tended as they said to the Advancement of his Majesties Service and to the increasing the Love of the People towards him and the Government and he was a hard-hearted man who called the Sincerity of their Loyal intentions in question These two being added to all the Ill ways they had made use of in the former Election no wonder if his Majesty was not Satisfied with the Returns when he faw by them what men he was to meet in his next House of Commons Whereupon his Majesty Prorogued them at the day of their meeting till a further time and so kept them from meeting to Sit till the 21th of October 1680. And now let us see how they behaved themselves in this Interval Wherein I shall desire the Reader 's Excuse if I do not relate things in that precise order they fell out it being nothing material to my purpose His Majesties Intentions of Proroguing the Parliament from time to time so as not to permit a Session till the time he had designed which was a Year being once known the great Contrivers of all our Disturbances who met and ordered all things in Clubbs and close Cabals fell into the greatest Passion imaginable they had carried things to that height out of design to force the King to Dissolve that Parliament or yield more than he could either spare or recall but then they had made their count he could not continue long without another Parliament and the quick choyce and the temper of the Men generally Returned was Appeal from the Country to the City as they gave out in their Pamphlets according to their hearts desire But then if they might be dissolved or prorogued when ever they came to Redress the Grievances of the People that is when ever his Majesty pleased to think it Expedient and especially for so long a time the heat the People were then in might cool other thoughts might arise the fears of an immediate Execution of the Plot upon them might appear as they knew they were vain and salse His Majesty might Recover his Estimation with his People and shew he was able to Subsist without present Supplies from a Parliament and which grieved them most of all he might in this time Root up the Reliques of the Scotch Rebellion in such manner that no assistance would afterwards be to be had from those Northern Brethren what need soever they might have of them which is as good as confest by the Author of the Appeal to the City To prevent these and several other dreadful Consequences of this Nature they cast their heads what course they should take the way of Pamphlets was slow and uncertain and they had almost Cloyed the Appetite of the Nation with that Crude sort of Rebellious and Disloyal Discourses which served rather for the divertisement to Idle men then gave them any great Advantage at least for the present and they had need in this affair of some very quick and powerful Expedient that might work upward upon the King and downward upon the People Neither could they then bethink themselves of any better remedy than to revive the old way of Tumultuous Petitions signed by all sorts of people and that in vast Numbers The first of which sort as I believe An. 1603. C. His Book 9. Pag. 7. was the Mille manus Petition Presented to King James Tho as Fuller acquaints us there was onely 750 * But after this the Author saith other Petitions were set a foot about the same time for
a fair Warning also to look to Himself and the Religion by Law Established when he saw with how little Reverence these Protestants at Large treated him while his Prerogatives were intire and wholly in his Own Hands and had he but yielded to them in the Point of the Duke of York they would Soon have taught him how little was to be gotten by Complying with men of their temper The only Service they did was to the French King for our Allies beyond Seas seeing that No Assistance was to be Expected from England Surrendred their strongest Towns to him for the Asking and so suffered the worst effects of War in Peace The City of London Lost the hopes of having any more Parliaments amongst them till Times be better and more Settled by their grateful Applications to them for their Loyalty and Care of the Protestant Religion at Large The Trade of a Considerable part of the Nation is ruined not for want of Laws but by too many which have restrained that intercourse and freedom that ought to be betwixt Us and our Neighbour Nations yet I cannot say that this Parliament would have relieved the Nation in that point if they had Continued Longer when it is considered with what care and industry the Act for the prohibition of Irish Cattel was carried against all opposition tho it is damageable to a very considerable part of the Nation if not to the whole and had these Gentlemen been equally concerned for the Suppressing of Popery as they were for this ACT Some of those Bills at least that were sent down from the Lords or began by the Commons might have been ready as well as this for the Royal Assent Yet they had some very good Bills relating to Trade under consideration but they were not so Zealous in that Concern as they ought to have been but rather seemed to fear the State of the People on that account should be made too easie before they had obtained their other Ends of his Majesty and the Government Of this their Vote about the Act for prohibition of the French Trade may be an instance for however that Act might be of great use if the Dutch would consent to prohibit all Trade with them as well as We yet as Long as they go on to Trade with them and we do not it onely tends to impoverish the King and Us and Inrich them and therefore ought to have been left at liberty till they and we can mutually agree to stop it Nor did the Protestant Religion by Law established fare any better for that being equally opposed by the Dissenters on one hand and the Papists on the other under pretence of Uniting us against the latter the former were encouraged by their Votes and Bills to endeavour her ruine The Bill for Uniting his Majesties Protestant Subjects is a perfect Toleration of almost all other Religions which are or shall be amongst us except Popery and had it and the other Bill for Exempting them from the Penalties of the Laws made against the Popish Recusants passed it would not have been possible to have Executed them or any other against the Papists For it cannot be imagined that the Papists could not have been able to have got themselves Listed amongst some of our Dissenters or other and then upon making the Declaration and producing two Persons as Witness that they believed them to be Protestant Dissenters they would have had the liberty to have inflamed both those Dissenters that were Comprehended and those that were Tolerated against the entire Conformists and these again against them And so both Popery should have gone unpunished and the Feuds amongst our selves would have grown to that height that nothing but a standing Army would have been able to have kept us in any tolerable quiet If the Ministers of the Church of England had been part of them entire Conformists and part of them Presbyterians those that were of the first sort would have kept up the Religion Established as high or higher then now and the other Party must have laid aside totally the use of the Common-Prayer as well as the Surplice Cross and Kneeling at the Lords Supper or else their whole Party which now follow them would have all left them and so another Faction would have risen in the Church of Semi-Conformists and all those that are without the Church would have continued as now they are under other Teachers only more insolent and more turbulent and so instead of uniting us against the Papists and Popery which is the pretended cause of the Act we should have been more divided and Animated against each other then now we are It was one of the Rules prescribed by that Bill That no person should be admitted to take the Declaration who refused the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy when tendred unto him Now this would have left all the Quakers Anabaptists and several other Sects in the same state of Persecution as they call it as they now are and great Numbers of the Other Sects too when they had considered of it would have Scrupled it as well as they in Scotland have done and so those that were totally Excluded would have been enraged against those that had been tolerated as having betrayed them first and then left them to the Severity of the Law and by that time all these Parties viz. the Rigid Conformists 2. Semi-Conformists 3. Tolerated and Non-Tolerated Protestants all enraged against each other had for some time been fermented by the Jesuits and Popish Party a man may guess what kind of Vnion there would have been amongst Protestants in England And when they had gained all this what Security could have been given that they would have rested here that Act which one Parliament makes another may Repeal and they would never have been Secure of Keeping what they had gained but by taking care to fill the House of Commons in every Parliament with the most Factious men they could pick out and they could never have maintained their reputation with the Party but by pushing things forward and so every Sessions something more must have been granted for the better Security of the Union and removing of Fears and Jealousies till at last we had been brought to the same state of Confusion his Majesty found us in at his Return That a considerable number of these Dissenters are as much against Monarchy as Conformity is Apparent by their Books discourses and former practice Now what Security should his Majesty have had that when this Party had by impunity and time been strong enough to have dealt with the Loyal Party they would not have endeavoured to be dispensed with from obeying him or any other King but Christ Jesus and then Nothing could have united Protestants and Secured us against Popery but the Laying aside the Kingly Government and the Setting up a Common-wealth and of this they have already given some Notable hints in their Pamphlets and when they are told the
the great Pains which he hath taken With and Among them Lastly In Testimony of the High Esteem that the Inhabitants of That City had of This Gentleman they Met him with a great many Horsemen at his Return from his Persecution in London and bad him Wellcom again to the Place of his Residence with the Highest Expressions of Joy and Acclamation Sir John Lloyd's Certificate concerning Mr. Thompson under the Seal of the Office of his Majoralty WHereas Richard Thompson Vicar of St. Mary Redcliff and St. Thomas two Eminent Churches within the City of Bristol even from the time of his first appearance to officiate in those Churches hath been privily traduced and now of late openly and maliciously branded by the multiforme Fanaticks of this City for a Church-Papist and Jesuite for the Rector of St. Omers so Nick-naming St. Thomas and with many like Terms of Obloquy and Slander the Invention whereof may be reckon'd upon as the very first and peculiar gift of that Party whose great and only Master-piece it hath been and still is by like Maliciously Witty and Wicked Methods and Artifices to expose alike His Loyalty and Ministry and to lessen that Esteem and Reputation he hath thereby gained in the Hearts and Affections of all the Kings Majesties Loyal Loving Subjects within this City These are therefore at the Request of and just Due to the said Richard Thompson to Certifie unto all unto whom these Presents shall come that the said Richard Thompson is well known to me John Lloyd Knight and Major of the said City and to all the Kings Majesties Loyal and Loving Subjects therein to be a Person of most Innocent and Exemplary Life and Conversation a most Constant and Careful Dispenser of God's most Holy Word unto the People under his Charge a most Diligent and Zealous Assertor of the Kings Majesties Supremacy in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil in opposition to all Schismatical and Factious Persons and Principles under what Names soever they pass or prevail amongst us and also of all the Christian Doctrines together with the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England as they are now Owned and Established by Law In Testimony whereof I have caused the Seal of my Office of Majoralty to be affixed Dated the Eighteenth Day of September Anno Dom. 1679 John Lloyd Major The Dean and Chapter of Sarum their Certificate OMnibus quorum interest innotescat per Praesentes Ricardum Thompson in Artibus Magistrum Vicarium de Bedminster juxta Bristoliam quamdiu apud nos commoratus est pie vitam sobrieque laudabiliter tradâ—xisse In concionibus saepe habendis sedulo curam adhibuisse strenue studiis Theologicis navasse operam Nec unquam quod scimus docuisse quicquam vel tenuisse quod Ecclesia Anglicana non etiam appobut atque tuetur Cujus praesertim Disciplinae superioribus quibuscunque ab omni parte conformem morigerumque se praestit it In quorum omnium Testimonium fidem iisdem faciendam nomina nostra cognomina plane ex animo apposuimus Sept. 13. Annoque Salutis reparatae 1679. Thomas Pierce Dec. Sarum Daniel Whitby Praecentor Sarum Ricardus Drake Cancellarius Sarum Ricardus Hill Can. Resid Sarum Franciscus Horton Can. Resid Sarum A Certificate Signed by several of his Auditors upon the Thirtieth of January 1679. being Persons of great Reputation for Loyalty as well as Fortune THese are to Certifie all whom it may concern That we whose Names are hereunto Subscribed were present at the Parish Church of St. Thomas within the City of Bristol on the Thirtieth Day of January 1679. where we then heard Mr. Richard Thompson Preach very solemnly on the Occasion of that Days Fast To which Sermon every one of us for himself doth Declare he was very attentive And we do all hereby Certifie and Declare that we do not remember that the said Mr. Thompson did then say in his Prayer or Sermon That there was no Popish Plot but a Presbyterian Plot or any thing to that or the like effect And we are ready to make Oath of the same if required But on the contrary we have heard him detest and abhor the Popish Plot. And we do further Certifie That the said Mr. Thompson is and by all the time we have known him hath been a True and Loyal Subject to our Most Gracious Soveraign and of a very Sober and Pious Life and Conversation amongst us every way suitable to his Function Witness Our Hands this Thirteenth day of November 1680. John Hicks Alderman Sir Richard Crump Ald. Sir John Knight Kt. George Morgan Thomas Davidge Edmond Brand John Broadway Walter Gunter John Hellier John Oliff John Yeomans John Combes Sheriff George Boucher Thomas Turner George Hart Sheriff James Millerd Ralph Oliff James Twyford Daniel Pym Thomas Hartwell Edmund Arundel Richard Benson Francis Yeomans Thomas Durbin Charles Allen. THE END