Spaniard not considering the Strength and Glory of every Country consists in the well peopling and governing of it and that Desolation is the End of all God's Judgments upon any Country Here note that no Art or Science comes to pass by Fate Inspiration or Chance but by Education Learning Conversation and Experience in Arts and therefore wherever People are thin they are rude ignorant poor heathenish and idle and of little Use to their Country and also where the generality of the People of any Country be not imployed in Labours to supply other Men they become a Burden to the Country to maintain them so that Spain in this state not only lost their antient Virtue and Military Discipline but the Inhabitants being more religious and idle People than in any other part of the World became hereby not only the feeblest of all other Countries but the poorest and notwithstanding the Millions of Treasure which were yearly imported into Spain yet it could not support the Luxury of the Religious and maintain the poor idle Persons in it But Spain could not contain the bloody Superstitious Rage and Tyranny of Philip but he endeavoured to have brought in the Inquisition and Castilian Government into the Netherlands which were Provinces more rich and abounding with People and had more great and populous Towns than any other part of the known World of like Bigness and the Inhabitants of a warlike Constitution these Countries were made free by Philip's Father from their dependance upon France for after Charles had taken Francis the first Prisoner it was one of the Articles for his Enlargement that he should remit the Fealty which those Countries paid him The Fleming for so the Inhabitants of these Provinces were generally called from Flanders the greatest of them did not as the Moors run out of their Country but stoutly stood upon their Liberties and Privileges and rose up in Arms in defence of them and these Wars continuing above 80 Years not only put the Kings of Spain to a greater Expence than the Revenues of those Provinces and the Returns of the Plate Fleets from America could support but after all above seven of these Provinces rent themselves quite from the Dominion of Spain and erected themselves into a Free-state nor till the Duke of Bavaria became their Governour would the Kings of Spain trust the Inhabitants of those which continued in their Subjection with Arms to defend themselves against the French whereby the Government of those Countries became more chargeable to Spain than it could support yet so weak that they could not resist the Insults of the French nor the revolted Provinces and in this State Spain stood when King James became King of England and so continued except the Truâ—e made in 1609 till the Treaty at Munster in 1648. It hath been observed in the Treatises of the Reason of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also of the equal Danger of the Church and State c. of England how much the State of England resembles that of Spain for if the Excursion of the Spaniards into America so much dispeoples Spain so does the Excursion of the Inhabitants of England into our American Plantations and in repeopling Ireland dispeople England and if the Inquisition in Spain be a Bar to keep out Supplies in Spain for their Expence into America so is the Law against naturalizing of Foreigners here in England It is true no Law or Usage in England forbids Marriage to any for supplying future Generations yet I 'le leave it to the Reader to judg if as the Case stands in England it be not worse than if Marriage were forbidden to the ordinary and meaner sort of People in England for in all the Countries of England more poor Children are born than can be employed in Rural or Country affairs and their poor Parents have not means to bind them Apprentice in Market-Towns and Corporations which exclude all other from Trading with them but those which have been bound Apprentice and served their Apprenticeship nay the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excludes all from being bound Apprentices but the Children of Free-men or such whose Parents had 40 Shill per Ann. and by the Act of Eliz. 31. 7. no Cottages shall be built in Country Villages which shall not have 4 Acres of Ground annexed to them which poor Labourers cannot do so that the poor Children not being permitted to inhabit in Country Villages and excluded out of Market-Towns and Corporations are forced either to fly their Country or to be Tapsters Ostlers and Drawers Alehouse-keepers or Strong-Water-Sellers if they can get a Licence so little was the Interest of the Nation understood heretofore for the Strength and Wealth of every Nation is founded in the Number and Industry of the Natives and therefore to neglect to instruct Youth how to employ themselves or to debar any Man from the Benefit of his honest Imployment is not only unjust but impolitick And as these Corporations in excluding other Men are unjust and impolitick so are they dangerous to the Government otherwise as they are Marks of Faction and Distinction in it and as they make themselves to be the only Free-men in them whereby they exclude the rest of the Nation Now let 's see what a Sort of Men these are which claim these Prerogatives over the rest of the Subjects of the Nation but generally a Sort of Shop-keepers Retailers and whole-sale Men who neither labour nor are otherwise of any Use to the Government but by the Prerogatives of their Freedom set what Price they please upon the Labour of poor Artificers who are the Soul of the Nation and impose what Rates they please to the Buyers of these again of them whereby their Riches arise from the Oppression of the Labourer while they are idle and by imposing upon the Nobility Gentry and others in selling whereas it 's said and I believe it that in Holland a Retailer or if you will a Forestaller is not permitted unless to them who are reputed honest and by Misfortune are fallen into Decay so that as London grows rich by its Freedom of Trade with the Nation so Amsterdam and other Towns in Holland grow rich by foreign Trade The Act 3 Jac. c. 6. is of better Authority than any thing I can say and more livelily describes the manifold Mischiefs and Abuses both to the King and Kingdom which attended our foreign Trades by Companies exclusive to other Subjects of the Nation I 'le only therefore observe this in it which the Act does not That these Companies who manage foreign Trades exclusive to other Men are more tyrannous and injurious to their fellow Subjects than any of their Enemies are as has been shewed in the East-India and African Companies and hereby have no reason to expect any Assistance from the Nation to support them against the Insults of the Dutch and French upon them for why should the Nation assist them
start from and that therein they were the King 's most Dutiful Subjects Things could not long stay here but upon the 20th of August in 1640 the Scots enter England with an Army of about 22000 Men commanded by General Lesley to deliver a Petition for Reformation of Religion and State and to justify their Proceedings and begin as the King did at the opening of all his Parliaments with the Necessity of their Proceedings The King the same day the Scots entred England posts to York having made the Earl of Northumberland General of his Army the Earl of Strafford Lieutenant-General and my Lord Marshal the Earl of Arundel General of his Forces on the South-side of Trent When the King came to York his first Care was to stop the Scots from passing the River Tine and commanded the Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Astly to oppose them but the Scots having the advantage of the Ground and sixfold more in number than the English force their Passage at Newborn about five Miles from Newcastle to the West and take Newcastle and after Durham and tax the Counties of Northumberland and Durham at 850 l. a day but the Rents of the Papists and the Church of Durham they take over and above The King instead of fighting the Scots is encountred with Complaints from the Inhabitants of Yorkshire Durham and Northumberland of the Miseries of their Condition then with Petitions from many of the Nobility the City of London and other Places for a free Parliament upon this the King assembles a great Council of the Nobility to advise what to do Now things are brought to the Point Richlieu had designed them The King in these two Expeditions had spent all the 900000 l. he before had lodged in his Exchequer and now had two Armies to maintain in the Bowels of his Kingdom when he not only had no means to pay either but also without doubt the Scotish Army were Pensioners to France The Lords advise a Truce which is accepted and all agreed but how to pay the Armies till a Parliament meet was a Question the Scots coming for all the English Mens Gudes demand but 40000 l. per Mensem but like their Country Pedlars fall to 25000 l. which is agreed which with the Charge of the English Army would amount to 60000 l. per Mensem to save the Country from Free-quarter In this Treaty the King named the Earl of Traquair to be assistant to the English Peers but the Scots excepted against him as an Incendiary and one to be brought to Punishment the King submits and leaves him out But how to provide Money to pay both Armies till the meeting of the Parliament which was to meet the third of November is the Question The King had not Credit it could not be had but from the City of London which was upon ill Terms with the King for Alderman Atkins Sir Nicholas Ranton and Alderman Geere were by Order of the Council in Prisons in London and the Attorney-General had Orders to draw an Information against them in the Star-Chamber for refusing to return the Names of such as were able to lend upon a Loan of 200000 l. demanded by the King The Lords therefore of the Great Council write to the City of London signifying the King 's gracious Resolution of calling a Parliament wherein he promised all Grievances to be redrest the Miseries of the Country if the Armies were not paid and not less than 200000 l. could prevent them and the Lords would give their Bonds for the City's Security whereupon the City lent the Money and then the Treaty was adjourned from Rippon to London But that we may better see how things stood at the opening of the Parliament let us look back a little After the King had dissolved the Parliament May the 5th he left the Convocation sitting who frame an Oath wherein they swear never to consent to alter the Government of the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-deacons c. as it stands now established and as by right it ought to stand which was interpreted to be Jure Divino They also made sixteen Canons and Goodman Bishop of Glocester for refusing to subscribe the Oath and Canons was suspended Being encouraged by Mountague Bishop of Norwich and Laud ' s Creature who Goodman said had in his Person visited and held Correspondence with the Pope's Nuncio and received his Letters in behalf of his Son who was then travelling to Rome and by his Letters had extraordinary Entertainment there Nor did the Convocation stay here but granted the King a Benevolence of six Subsidies to be paid in six Years the Refusers to be suspended and excommunicated To such an Extremity did the Clergy push things in this techy and disorderly time But any Man may easily guess the Spring which set all these Wheels in motion And it is observable that the Clergy who now taxed their fellow Subjects without Consent of the Commons shall ever hereafter be taxed by the Commons without the Consent of the Clergy CHAP. III. A Continuation of this Reign to the Death of the King UPon the third of November the Parliament met and the Nation which for above fifteen Years had been ridden by a more than French Government now look upon the Parliament I mean the Houses to become their Redeemers and by how much more Honour the Nation gives them so much less they leave to the King And here again you may see the unhappy Fate of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents For the first that forsook the King and run beyond Sea was Canterbury's old Friend Secretary Windebank next after him flies Finch and after the Earl of Arundel and scarce one of his old Favourites I mean before the Scots Troubles stood by him except my Lord Cottington Secretary Cooke was either really or politickly sick Juxton Bishop of London indifferent and in all the Wars lived in the Parliament Quarters but all the rest sided with the Parliament against him Only Laud and Strafford are laid in Prison and after put to Death Nor were the Factions less pliable to entertain these Minions and Favourites than they were forward to join with them I 'll give you one Instance herein In this Parliament all those who would not join them were called Delinquents and upon a Debate in the House of Commons concerning an Order in the Star-Chamber signed by my Lord Privy-Seal Secretary Cooke and others it was moved to send for Secretary Cooke as a Delinquent Another Member my nearest Relation from whom I had this moved That since Sir John Cooke was aged and infirm and above a hundred Miles off and my Lord Privy-Seal in Town therefore that the House should proceed against my Lord To whom Mr. Pym reply'd That whatever my Lord 's ante Acta Vitae were yet since he now went right that all ought to be forgotten Nay so zealous were these new-converted Minions and Favourites
the Goths and gained several signal Victories over them and in the Year 380 entred in Triumph into Constantinople where he found it a much more difficult Task to re-establish the Orthodox Christians than to vanquish the Goths for the Arians above 40 Years had been possessed of the Revenue belonging to the Church their Churches rich and splendid and their Service magnificent and the Orthodox being poor and out of Possession of any Churches or Revenue it was impossible to redress these in an instant but by degrees so that it was ten Years before Theodosius could re-establish the Orthodox Clergy and suppress the Arian In the mean time viz. Ann. 381 the next Year after Theodosius settled at Constantinople Alaricus King of the West Goths who were Arians marched through Maesia now called Hungary Germany and Gaul into Spain and without any Fighting or Siege that we read of took Possession of the greatest part of Spain So much was the antient Roman Warlike Discipline neglected while the Christians were in these Feuds and Discords among themselves so that Spain which held the longest Wars against the Romans of all their Conquered Dominions in Europe was the first that was rent from the Roman Empire without a Sword drawn in its Defence But Spain was too great to be wholly possessed by the Goths so that about 40 Years after Alaricus had possessed himself of the other parts of Spain Gundericus King of the Vandals Anno 410 marched quite through the Body of the Roman Western Empire and without any interruption pierced to the most remote South-West part of Spain called Baetica and there planted themselves and called it Andaluzia or Vandaluzia or the Country of the Vandals I have been a little more particular in setting down the Causes of the Ruin of the Roman Western Empire that the Occasions of the like might be avoided in the other parts of Christendom as well to avoid the like Consequences as the Scandal to Christianity thereby and the rather because that the fond Opinions which are broached in these times are as extravagant and wild as those in the time of Constantine and after and Men as obstinate in them and so conceited of them that they make them the Objects of their Religion and think themselves thereby discharged from joining with other Christians in celebrating Praises and Thanksgiving to God for the publick Benefits they alike partake St. Paul truly calls the Brawls among the different Sects of the Graecian Philosophers vain Philosophy because they tended to no Edification or Benefit but caused endless Contentions and Discords and was never more offended than when the Christians became distracted into Sects I am of Paul another of Apollo a third of Cephas c. whereby the Unity of Christians was rent into endless Feuds and Factions And as the Dogmatizing of these Philosophers or rather Sophisters was vain and tended to no good but ill so are the Analyticks Topicks Physicks and Metaphysicks of Aristotle and all the Disquiâ—tions and Distinctions of the School-men about the Attributes of God Angels and Saints c. and tend to no Edification For I say that by no Rule or Method of Aristotle's Logick was ever any Progression of Learning in any one Proposition in any Art or Science if another can shew it it lies on his part for I deny it and I will be particular herein Clavius in his Scholium upon the first Proposition of Euclid's Elements endeavours to demonstrate it by Aristotle's Logick in three Syllogisms and two Corollaries such as they are and then leaves it not only unconclusive but says by this way it cannot otherwise be done and therefore not only he but all other Mathematicians not only in their Comments upon Euclid but all other Mathematical Learning rejects this way of Reasoning and betakes himself to what he had said before in his Demonstration of it As if all Light of Reasoning were so shut up in Claviu his Brain that because he does not see the rest of Mankind must be blind and what is that way of Reasoning that he betakes himself to but by hudling the Principles of Geometry into Confusion without order or method of Reasoning to make a Conclusion like a Dutch Reckoning of Altem-al From hence it is that there is no Method or Order of reasoning observ'd in Geometry whereby this noble Science is rendred so perplext that of ingenious Men not one in twenty can understand it and no Reason is given of any one Proposition of our most useful Vulgar Arithmetick whereby it becomes crampt up to some few Rules without further possibility of progress And I say if Aristotle's Logick be of no Use in Scientifical and Demonstrative Learning then cannot it be in dialectical and probable for if any of the Premises of a Syllogism be but probable or uncertain the Conclusion will be less probable and more uncertain from whence endless Confusion and Discord will follow but never any rational Knowledg and from hence it is there are so many Sects among the Peripateticks which are derived from Aristotle as Branches from the Trunk of a Tree as Clavius truly observes in his Preface of the Nobility and Excellency of Mathematical Learning and we shall have Occasion to say more hereof hereafter I would not have carped at Aristotle or Clavius herein if I did not understand that not only Geometry and Numbers but all Mathematical Learning might be taught by one Method of Reasoning intelligible by Youth in their early Years and that without Algebra Square or Cube Roots of surd Numbers might be extracted without Error whereby all those surd Propositions in Mathematicks which before could only be resolved Geometrically may be so Numerically and also how in Navigation to find out the Variation of Longitude in any different Latitude if an Account be given of the Sailing which I say is impossible to be done by Trigonometry and the Tables of Sines Secants and Tangents and to find out the Centre of any Circle in any two different Latitudes and variation of Longitude given and the Arch of Distance Nor is this Method of Reasoning restrained to Mathematical Learning but may be in other as hath been shewed in The Reasons of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and The Increase of the Dutch Wealth Strength and Trade c. How much better then were it for the Nobler and better sort of Youth to be instructed in their Mother-Tongues in this Learning wherein every Proposition would beget a new Knowledg which may be useful to them in their future Conversation and Business than to lose their whole Youth in learning Greek and Latin which they rarely ever after make use of which they might if that time had been employed in learning Welsh and Irish and instead of being instructed how to deal and converse justly to be imposed upon by the Sophistry of Aristotle which is of no Use to them in their Conversation and Business and excites them into endless Brawls and
so grave an Author as the Bishop of Litchfield had not reported it in the Bishop of Lincoln's Life See the second Part fol. 138. The Writs for Ship-Money are now issued out the Proceedings against the Officers for not collecting the Assessments as Constables Bayliffs and other Officers were to bind them over to answer at the Council-board and Commitment if any refused to give Bond but if Sheriffs neglect to collect all such Assessments in their Year they shall stand charged with the Arrears Thus things at present stood but the breaking the Bounds of the Forests was but in Embrio yet in a hopeful Production Thus things stood in the State about the end of the Year 1634. In the Church the Arch-Bishop had the sole Supremacy not only in England but in Scotland having got a Warrant from the King to hold Correspondence with the Bishops and also in Ireland being chosen Chancellor of the University of Dublin and having got Sir Thomas Wentworth to be Lieutenant of Ireland who was now as much his intimate Confident as Noy was before In England the Arch-bishop's Injunctions for wearing the Surplice receiving the Sacrament kneeling and placing the Communion-Table Altar-ways and railing it about c. were vehemently prosecuted with the opprobrious Names of Puritan and Schismatick fixed upon Nonconformists with Deprivations and Censures upon Lecturers and Chaplains who refused to come up to them if they did they must forsake their Patrons Patronesses and Flocks who provided them Bread so that they contended pro Aris Focis and otherways no Provision was made for them On the contrary they retorted on the Bishops and promoted Clergy with bitter Terms of Popishly affected and Rags of Superstition and Idolatry so that the Contentions all over the Kingdom were as fierce as in the Universities But it had been happy for this Nation if the Effects of these Contentions had been terminated in the Bounds of it For the Arch-bishop in his Metropolitan Visitation this Year 1634 summoned the Ministers of the Dutch and French Churches to appear before his Vicar-General where all the Natives viz. born in England were enjoined to repair to their several Parish-Churches to hear Divine Service and Sermons and perform all Duties and Payments required in that behalf The Descendants of those Walloons persecuted by Alva and of the French by Henry II. of France had for near ninety Years been allowed their several Congregations by Queen Elizabeth King James I and had the Royal Word of King Charles for enjoying of them But now at once they must be turn'd out of them When these Injunctions were to be put in Execution at Norwich the Dutch and French Congregations petitioned Dr. Matthew Wren that these Injunctions might not be imposed upon them but finding no Relief appealed to the Arch-bishop who return'd a sharp Answer that unless they would submit he would proceed against them according to the Laws and Canons Ecclesiastical Here take notice that as the Spanish Trade was the most enriching Trade to this Nation so the Trade to Hamburg and the Countries and Kingdoms within the Sound with our Woollen Mafactures was the best the English had for Employment of People Shipping and Navigation The Company which traded into the Sound was called the east-East-Country Company and Queen Elizabeth and after her King James to honour them called it the Royal Company This Trade the English enjoyed time out of mind and the Cloths which supplied it were principally made in Suffolk and Yorkshire And Ipswich as it was the finest Town in England and had the Noblest Harbour on the East and most convenient for the Trade of the Northern and Eastern Parts of the World so till this time it was in as flourishing a State as any other in England The Bishop of Norwich straining these Injunctions to the utmost frighted thousands of Families out of Norfolk and Suffolk into New-England and about 140 Families of the Workers of those Woollen Manufactures wherewith Hamburg and the Countries within the Sound were supplied went into Holland where the Dutch as wise as Queen Elizabeth was in entertaining the Walloons persecuted by the Duke of Alva established these English Excise-free and House-Rent free for seven Years and from these the Dutch became instructed in working these Manufactures which before they knew not The Consequence whereof shall be shewn hereafter But the Care of the Arch-bishop for Reformation of the Church of Scotland was not less than for that of England and to that end got the King to sign a Common-Prayer Book for the Use of the Church of Scotland and gave order to the Bishops there to compile certain Canons for the Government of the Church and there to be imposed by Regal and Episcopal Authority and to this end Laud held Correspondence with the Arch-bishop of Saint Andrews and other Bishops of Scotland Whilst these things were brewing in England and Scotland you need not fear Ireland now Sir Thomas Wentworth was Lieutenant there a most dreadful War overspread Germany and Philip the 4th a weak lascivious Prince reigned in Spain so as Richlieu had a fair Opportunity to subdue Monsieur the King's Brother and overthrow the Forces raised by the Duke of Momerancy to assist Monsieur wherein the Duke was unhappily taken Prisoner and had his Head cut off being a young Prince of greatest Hope the most antient of the French Nobility and the last of his Line But the Cardinal did not rest here but built more and better Men of War than had been before in France and Spain shall first find the Force of them in return of their Kindness in joining their Fleet with the French in relieving St. Martins in the Isle of Rhee besieged by the English And this Year 1634 Richlieu trickt Charles Duke of Lorain out of his Dutchy and the next the King of France proclaims open War against Spain by Sea and Land and in 1638 ten Years after the Spaniards joining with the French against the English the French besieged Fontaraby by Land which the Spaniards intending to relieve by Sea the Spanish Fleet is encountred by the French and beaten the French took eleven great Ships whereof six of them were richly laden for the Indies and burnt two Gallions upon the Stocks and six others entirely finished In the Ships taken besides their Equippage and other Ammunition of War the French took an incredible Number of Cannons 100 whereof were Brass with the Arms of the House of Austria upon them Afterward the French and Spanish Fleet fight in the Mediterranean Sea where the Spaniard is again beaten by the French and by Land the French take from the Spaniard Landrecy Beaumont and de la Valette in the Spanish Netherlands Perpignan the Key of Spain on the Foot of the Pyrenean Hills in the Country of Rousillion and Barcelona a good Port and the capital City of Catalonia In England this Year 1635 there was great Contrivance between the Arch-bishop Laud and Bishops of Scotland
Successes Sir Marmaduke Langdale about the Beginning of March routed a great Body of the Parliamentarians in Yorkshire and defeated the Army commanded by my Lord Fairfax which besieg'd Pomfret-Castle and from thence marched into Leicestershire and defeated a great Body of the Parliament's Forces commanded by Colonel Rossiter Anno Reg. 21. Dom. 1645. We begin this Year with the Self-denying Ordinance tho Mr. Whitlock and Sir Richard Baker differ a little in point of time Sir Richard Baker says it was this Year Mr. Whitlock 1644. But the Lords refused to concur with the Commons herein so as this Ordinance began with a Rupture between the two Houses so you 'll see it shall be the Ruin of the Parliament's as well as the King's Designs Mr. Whitlock made a fine and learned Speech against this Ordinance which you may read at large fol. 114 115. of his Memoirs The pretended Reason for this Ordinance was the Thinness of the House which by Employment in the War would render them much thinner To which Mr. Whitlock answered It might be supplied by filling up the Commons by new Elections He objected against the Ordinance the Examples of the Grecians and Romans who had the greatest Offices both of War and Peace conferred upon their Senators because they having greater Interests than others were more capable to do them the greatest Services and that by passing this Ordinance they would lay aside the General Essex the Earls of Warwick Denbigh and Manchester the Lords Willoughby and Roberts and of their own Members the Lords Grey of Growby and Fairfax Sir William Waller Cromwel Mr. Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton Sir William Brereton and Sir John Meyrick Tho the Commons passed the Self-denying Ordinance yet they dispensed with it in reference to Cromwel Skippon and Ireton and Sir William Waller Hereupon the Earls of Essex Denbigh and Manchester lay down their Commissions Here it 's observable That the Earl of Essex as he was the first which headed an Army against the King and whose Authority was so great that 't was believed if he had not done it the Parliament could not have rais'd an Army is now the first discarded by the Commons without giving any Reason In this new Establishment of the English Army Sir Thomas Fairfax was made General Cromwel Lieutenant-General and Skippon Major-General The Royalists conceived Mountains of Advantages to follow and that not improbably from the Divisions in the Parliament's Army which succeeded quite contrary For upon the 3d of April Fairfax having gathered his Army together at Windsor sent Cromwel with a Brigade of Horse and Dragoons to intercept a Convoy of Horse which Prince Rupert had sent from Worcester to fetch off the King from Oxford with a Train of Artillery to take the Field which Cromwel met at Islip and routed them took divers Prisoners and 200 Horse and from thence Cromwel march'd and took Bletchingdon-House commanded by Colonel Windebank Sir Francis's own Son by Surrender upon the first Summons for which Windebank was sentenced by a Court-Martial and shot to Death But Cromwel had not so good Success at Faringdon which he assaulted and was beaten off with the loss of 200 of his Men. The King understanding that Fairfax had a Design to besiege Oxford sent to Prince Rupert and General Goring to fetch him off which they did about the beginning of May and the King marched towards the Relief of Chester then besieged by the Parliament's Forces and Fairfax lays close Siege to Oxford The King relieved Chester and in his Return takes Leicester by Storm This put Fairfax to his Trumps so that if he continued the Siege of Oxford he would leave all the mid-land parts of England to the Mercy of the King So he raises his Siege and marches to fight the King's Army My Lord Astley was Lieutenant-General of the King's Foot whose Nephew was Sir Isaac Astley my Lord's eldest Brother's eldest Son who married a Cousin-German of mine and after the War was over my Lord Astley being at his Nephew 's in Discourse of the Wars my Lord told him That upon the Approach of the Parliament's Army the King called a Council of War where by the Advice of my Lord Astley it was resolved to march Northwards and destroy the Country Provisions and leave the Parliament's Army at their Election whether they would follow the King or besiege Leicester But next Morning quite contrary to the Order of Council Orders were given to prepare to fight the Parliament's Army when there was little time to draw up the Army so inconstant and irresolute was the King in this as of almost all his other Actions and so forward was the King herein that he marched to meet Fairfax's Army near Naseby in Northamptonshire This was upon Saturday June the 14th And if the Resolution to fight was inconsiderate and rash so was the Fight for Prince Rupert who commanded the right Wing of the King's Horse charged the left Wing of the Parliament's commanded by Ireton and routed them and wounded Ireton in the Thigh and as before at Edg-hill and Marston-Moor he pursued the Enemy so far that he left the rest of the Army exposed to the Assaults of the Enemy so here he followed the Chase almost to Naseby leaving the left Wing of the King's Army commanded by Sir Marmaduke Langdale open to be charged by Cromwel That which compleated the Parliament's Victory and the King 's utter Overthrow in this Fight was the not observing the Orders the Day before of the King's Retreat for Yorkshire being opprest by the Parliament's Forces Sir Marmaduke had Expectation of relieving the King's Party there which being cross'd by the Resolution of this Day 's Fight his Brigade as well as himself grew discontented so as he no ways answered the Gallant Actions which before he had atchieved And Cromwel having forced Sir Marmaduke to retreat joining with Fairfax charged the King's Foot who had beaten the Parliament's and got Possession of their Ordnance and thought themselves certain of the Victory but being in Confusion and out of Order and having no Horse to support them were easily over-born by Fairfax and Cromwel and so Fairfax's Army obtain'd a most absolute Victory over the King 's We hear no more of Prince Rupert in this Fight who 't was believed was the first Mover of it till of his Arrival at Bristol In this Fight the Earl of Lindsey the Lord Astley and Colonel Russel were wounded and 20 Colonels Knights and Officers of Note and 600 common Soldiers were slain on the King's side and 6 Colonels and Lieutenant-Colonels 18 Majors 70 Captains 80 Lieutenants 200 Ensigns and other Officers and 4500 common Soldiers were taken Prisoners 12 Pieces of Cannon 8000 Arms 40 Barrels of Powder 200 Carriages with all their Bag and Baggage with store of rich Pillage 3000 Horse one of the King's Coaches with his Cabinets of Letters and Papers And the King fled towards Wales If the King were unfortunate in the
positive Refusal that the Blow came to be eluded which could not otherwise be avoided as Sir William Temple says tho I believe it was intended even when the Prince went out of England However about the latter end of December 1677 the King sent to Sir William Temple to the Foreign Committee and told him he could get no positive Answer from France and therefore resolved to send him into Holland to make a League there with the States for forcing France and Spain into a Peace upon the Terms proposed if either refused To which Sir William told the King what he had agreed was to enter into a War with all the Confederates in case of no direct and immediate Answer from France That this perhaps would satisfy the Prince and Confederates abroad and the People at home But to make such a League with Holland only would satisfy none of them and disoblige both France and Spain Besides it would not have such an Effect or Force as the Triple Alliance had being a great Original of which this seemed an ill Copy And therefore excused himself from going And so the King sent Mr. Thyn with a Draught of the Treaty to Mr. Hide who was then come from Nimeguen to the Hague upon a Visit to the Princess which was done and the Treaty signed the 16th of January tho not without great Dissatisfaction to the Prince This Tergiversation of the Court set fire to the Jealousies in Holland especially at Amsterdam that the Prince by this Marriage had taken Measures with the King as dangerous to the Liberties of Holland and make it there believed that by this Match the King and Duke had wholly drawn the Prince into their Interests and Sentiments The French hereupon proposed other Terms of Peace to the Dutch far short of the King 's and less safe for Flanders restoring only six Towns to the Spaniard and mentioning Lorain but ambiguously which would not have gone down in Holland but for the Suspicions raised by the Prince's Marriage among the People there who had an incurable Jealousy of our Court and thereupon not that Confidence in the Prince that he deserved If we take this Reign as one thing you 'll find it made up of almost infinite Confusions and Disorders and scarce one regular Act in it and now we are come to one which is without any Precedent which was this You heard before how the King to gratify the French Ambassador for not acquainting him with the Marriage with the Prince had prorogued the Parliament to the 8th of April next viz. 1678. And now Mr. Thyn had made this League with the States the King thought this a good occasion to get Money from the Parliament upon it and was loth to stay till the 8th of April for it and therefore by his Proclamation commands the Parliament to meet upon the 15th of January before the 8th of April Prorogations of Parliaments are new and I think were never heard of in England before the Reign of Henry VIII and are said to be the Acts of the King but Adjournments the Acts of the House to a certain Time and Place and both Houses must be sitting and in being when they are either so prorogued or adjourned I remember upon the discovery of Câ—leman's Letters the Court were mightily surprized at it and the Parliament was to have met some few days after upon a Prorogation which the King in that Surprize unwilling they should did therefore call a Council to advise whether he might not prorogue them to a further day without the Houses meeting and 't was said my Lord Chancellor Finch was of Opinion he might and thereupon Sir Edward Seymour Speaker of the House of Commons having Occasions in the Country went out of Town but some body acquainted the King of the Doubtfulness of the Chancellor's Opinion and desired the King to advise with old John Brown who had been Clerk of the Parliament for near forty Years the King did so and John Brown was positive that in case the Houses did not meet at the Time and Place appointed the King by his Proclamation could not prorogue them but it would be a Dissolution of the Parliament Whereupon the Speaker was sent for back again and so many of both Houses met as would make a Parliament which it 's said is forty Commoners and seven Lords and then the King prorogued them But this Consideration was not that I find taken notice of by either House tho both met according to the King's Proclamation The Houses thus met the King acquainted them with the League he had made with Holland and demanded Money of them to carry on the War against France in case France did not comply with the League whereupon the Parliament granted him a Tex by Poll and otherways which amounted to 1200000 l. not for Peace but to enter into an actual War with France But this Tax shall only beget another to disband an Army raised upon that Pretence tho no War was entred into against France But so far was the French King from giving up any Towns notwithstanding the Agreement the King had made with the Prince or the League he had made with Holland that about the latter end of January he had made an Attempt upon Ipre and threatned Ostend and in March following by open Force takes both Ipre and Gaunt yet the French Ambassador here continued his Court and Treaty with all the Fairness that might be The French having now taken Ipre and Gaunt were so far from proceeding in any Treaty either with England the Confederates or Holland or in the Treaty at Nimeguen that about the first of April the French King made publick Declaration of the Terms upon which he resolved to make Peace which tho very different from those agreed upon between the King and Holland and more from the Pretensions of the Allies yet this way of treating the French pursued in the whole Negotiation afterwards declaring such and such were the Conditions which they would admit and no other and upon which the Enemies might chuse either War or Peace and to which France would not be tied longer than the 10th of May after which they would be at Liberty to change or restrain as they should think fit But how imperious soever the French were abroad yet they dreaded a Conjunction of England either with the Dutch or Confederates and therefore thought fit to wheedle our Court till the Affairs of the Confederates should become so desperate as to submit to what Terms the French King should impose upon them And to this purpose Mr. Mountague now Earl sent a Pacquet to my Lord Treasurer giving an account of a large Conference Monsieur Louvoy the French King 's grand Minister of State had with him by the King his Master's Order wherein he represented the Measures they had already taken for a Peace in Holland upon the French Terms and that since they were agreed there they hoped his Majesty would not be
any Consideration of the dreadful Consequences it has brought upon the Nation both within and without or in another Temper than the Parliament was in in the twelfth Year of the King when they passed or confirmed this Law without any consideration of Times whether in War or Peace II. If the Act of Navigation had been in general a good Law yet Times must be distinguished and in War Civil Laws are silent so that for the Preservation of the Publick the King may destroy particular Mens Interest as in case of firing the Suburbs of a City to preserve the City and destroy the Fruits of the Ground rather than these shall sustain an Enemy to the endangering the whole Nation but it was much more reasonable for the King to grant Liberty without any Destruction or Wrong to his Subjects to dispense with the Act of Navigation and give all Foreigners Liberty to import Gunpowder and all sorts of Naval Scores c. for the Nation 's Preservation in the time of War with the Dutch And I say it was Prudence in Oliver tho in time of Peace to dispense with the Act of Navigation in reference to the Trade to Norway and Sweden after the Norway Merchants had represented to him how grievously the Norwegians by this Act imposed upon not only the English Subjects but upon Oliver himself in building and fitting up his Men of War 2. The second better Act of King Charles was his dispensing with the Law against Foreigners partaking the Benefits of the natural-born Subjects of England by permitting Brewer and his Walloons tho Papists after they fled from the Rage of the French Ravages in Flanders in 1667 to plant and settle themselves in the West whereby the English became instructed how to make and dye fine Woollen Cloths 30 per Cent. cheaper than they could before and herein the King imitated two of his most glorious Predecessors that ever reigned in England I mean Edward III. and Queen Elizabeth Princes who no ways affected Tyranny or Arbitrary Power I say the King might justly and legally do this for tho the King cannot dispense with Laws which have a complicated Interest with himself and Subjects to the Wrong of his Subjects yet the King may dispense with those Penalties which properly belong to him even in criminal Cases as to the Life and Estate of an Offender and therefore much more where there is no Offence and the End for the publick Good as in this Case of Brewer and all other Foreigners the Penalty is if they trade they shall pay Strangers Duties but this is to the King and if he pleases he may take to other Duties than his natural-born Subjects pay whereby the Foreign and Fishing Trades which are carried on in Holland might not be carried out of England and thereby the Navigation of England become double or treble to what it now is and the ruined and even desolate Coast-Towns of England flourish as Hamburgh Amsterdam Gottenburgh Diep St. Maloes and other Ports Would not this be not only for the enriching but strengthning the Nation and that in a double Proportion for we should be so much more rich and strong here as other Nations would be less and in a worse state to make War upon us Nay should we only make our Ports free as Leghorn Marseilles and as of late the Pope has Civita Vecchia would not the Nation be so much more enriched as the Goods imported are more I would know from whence else it was that France became so enriched above all other Countries for Mines they have none but from the vast Trades the English Dutch Swedes and Danes drove in France And suppose the King should dispense with Foreigners purchasing Lands in England and not take them as he may do if he pleases whereby Millions of Money would be brought into England the Lands we shall have still and would not the Nation be so much more enriched hereby as the Purchase-Monies are more And would not the Nation be so much more peopled and strengthned as the Purchasers are more and the King's Revenue by Excise and Customs so much more encreased as the Consumption of these and their Descendants shall be more Merchants to enrich themselves and the Nation run great Hazards and are often undone in their Merchandizing whereas the Nation nor any Man else runs any Hazard by Foreigners purchasing Lands in England Ambitious Princes to acquire more Subjects run great Hazard and destroy and make Men miserable and ruin Countries to accomplish their Designs whereas none of these attend the Permission of Foreigners to trade and inhabit among us and when they are once settled theirs and the Nation 's Interest will be the same and both alike obliged to defend them Xenophon in Cyropaedia says That by reason of the Goodness and Justice of Cyrus's Reign many Nations became his Subjects Will any say Cyrus was less a King hereby Or should we be less a Nation if by the Benefit of our many Advantages in Trade we should by others encrease our Trade which we cannot of our selves Nay should we not so much more enrich and strengthen our selves When I consider these things I wonder Foreigners should be at such Charges to purchase their Freedom by an Act of Parliament whenas the King may do it if he pleases unless it be that their Posterity shall not inherit but if the King may permit Foreigners to purchase without taking the Forfeitures or grant them a Licence to purchase he may grant them a Licence to settle their Estates as they please 3. The third good Act of K. Charles was his marrying the late Queen to his present Majesty tho by the manner of it it seems to me he did it by Surprize and I 'm apt to believe if he could well have come off from it again he would as appears by the Story 4. We may add this fourth That he bred up the late Queen and her Sister after the Religion of the Church of England A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England DURING THE REIGN OF King JAMES II c. BOOK V. WHAT before King Charles II. acted in Masquerade King James did bare-fac'd and here you 'll see how plain and easy a Passage the Absolute Will and Pleasure-Men and Passive Obedience-Men had made for this King to overthrow the whole Church and State of England and by what steps he proceeded in it the King's Speeches looking one way and he going quite contrary Upon the 6th of February in 1684 85. the Day of his Brother's Death the King declared in Council That since it had pleased God to place him in that Station to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother that he thinks fit to declare his Endeavours to follow his Brother's Example more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People and make it his Endeavour to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it is by
same to correct amend and alter And also where no Statutes are extant in all or any of the aforesaid Cases to devise and set down such good Orders and Statutes as you or any five or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall think meet and convenient to be by us confirmed ratified allowed and set forth for the better Order and Rule of the said Universities Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Colleges and Grammar-Schools Erections and Foundations and the Possessions and Revenues of the same as may best tend to the Honour of Almighty God Encrease of Vertue Learning and Unity in the said Places and the publick Weal and Tranquillity of this our Realm Moreover our Will Pleasure and Commandment is That our said Commissioners and every of you shall diligently and faithfully execute this our Commission and every Part and Branch thereof in manner and form aforesaid and according to the true Meaning hereof notwithstanding any Appellation Provocation Privilege or Exemption in that behalf to be made pretended or alledged by any Person or Persons resident or dwelling in any Place or Places exempt or not exempt within this our Realm any Law Statutes Proclamations or Grants Privileges or Ordinances which be or may seem to be contrary to the Premises notwithstanding And for the better Credit and more manifest Notice of your doing in Execution of this our Commission our Pleasure and Commandment is That to your Letters missive Processes Decrees Orders and Judgments for or by you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid to be awarded sent forth had made decreed given or pronounced at such certain publick Places as shall be appointed by you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid for the due Execution of this our Commission you or some three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Chancellor to be one shall cause to be put and fixt a Seal engraven with the Rose and Crown and the Letter J. and Figure 2. before and the Letter R. after the same with a Ring or Circumference about the same Seal containing as followeth Sigillum Commissiariorum Regiae Majestatis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas Finally We will and command all and singular other our Ministers and Subjects in all and every place and places exempt and not exempt within our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales upon any Knowledg or Request from you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid to them or any of them given or made to be aiding helping and assisting unto you and to your Commandment in and for the due executing your Precepts Letters and other Processes requisite in and for the due executing of this our Commission as they and every of them tender our Pleasure and Will to answer the contrary at their utmost Perils In witness c. Here I make these Remarks upon this Commission First That the Archbishop of Canterbury who was first named in it refused to act in it so the Bishop of Chester was put in tho not in the first place Secondly How unwarily it was drawn for though I believe every one understands the Design of this Commission was to introduce a Roman Hierarchy which assumes a Power over the temporal in order to the spiritual Good yet here this Commission grants the temporal Power viz. the Chancellor and any other two viz. my Lord Treasurer President or Chief Justice a Power of Excommunication which is a pure spiritual Act. But whilst this Commission was thus in Embrio 't is fit to observe what was done before its coming into Act. You have heard how severely Oates was treated for discovering the Popish Plot Dangerfield's turn comes now to be as severely treated but with a worse Fate for discovering the Meal-tub Plot which was to have thrown the Popish Plot upon the Presbyterians Dangerfield in his Depositions before the Parliament had revealed that he was imployed by the Popish Party chiefly by the Lords in the Tower and Countess of Powis to kill the King and was encouraged and promised Impunity and Reward and part of it given him by the Duke of York for that end Upon this he was tried in Westminster-Hall in Trinity I think or Easter-Term in 1686 upon a Scandalum Magnatum and as Juries went was found Guilty and had the same Sentence of Whipping which Oates had and in his return from his Whipping from Tyburn towards Newgate was run into the Eye with a Tuck at the end of a Cane by one Robert Francis a fierce Papist of which with the Agony of his Whipping he soon after died but his Body was so swoln and martyr'd with his Whipping that 't was a question whether he died of the Whipping or Wound in his Eye You may read the Information at large which was ordered to be printed by the Commons Novem. 10. 1680. and after the Speaker Williams was fined 10000 l. for Licensing it tho by Order of the Commons to be printed The same Term I think Mr. Samuel Johnson commonly known by the Name of Julian Johnson was sentenced by the Court of King's Bench Sir Edward Herbert Chief Justice to stand three times in the Pillory and to be whipped from Newgate to Tyburn which was severely executed for making this humble and hearty Address to all the English Protestants in the Army raised by the King Gentlemen NEXT to the Duty we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hand and often look Death in the Face the second thing which deserves your Consideration is the Service of your Native Country wherein you drew your first Breath and breath a free English Air. Now I desire you to consider how well you comply with these two main Points by engaging in the present Service Is it in the Name of God for his Service that you have joined your selves with Papists who indeed will fight for the Mass Book but burn the Bible and who seek to extirpate the Protestant Religion with your Swords because they cannot do it with their own And will you be aiding and assisting to set up Mass-Houses to erect that Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst us and to train up all our Children in Popery How can you do these things and call your selves Protestants And then what Service can be done your Country by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists and by bringing the Nation under a foreign Yoke Will you help them to make forcible Entry into the Houses of your Countrymen under the Name of Quartering contrary to Magna Charta and Petition of Right Will you be aiding and assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions which were declared Illegal and sufficiently blasted by both Houses of Parliament if there had been any need of it for it was very well known before that a Papist cannot