and Ordered others to be drawn against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas Sir Thomas Jones one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench and Sir Richard Weston one of the Barons of the Exchequer So they were resolved to find themselves work tho they had refused to do the King's Business till that was granted which was impossible to be had this Session of Parliament Thursday the 6th of January A Bill for the more Easie Collecting the Duty of Hearth-Money was read a second time and committed upon the Debate of the House A Bill for Repealing the Act for the Well-Governing of Corporations was read the second time and committed Sir Philip Skippon was Excused from being taken into Custody for his Default in not attending the House in the Call there of the Tuesday before Colonel Birch reporting from the Committee appointed to receive Informations relating to the Popish Plott in Ireland That the Committee having proceeded upon the Matters to them referred had taken several Examinations and received the Answer of Sir John Davis and had also perused several Informations transmitted from the House of Lords relating to the said Plott All which he read in his place and afterwards delivered the same in at the Clerks Table where the same were again read The House then took into Consideration the Message sent from the Lords the Tuesday before wherein they desired the Concurrence of the House and Resolved That the House did agree with the Lords with the addition of these Words That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Expectation of his coming to the Crown hath given the Greatest Countenance and Encouragement thereto as well as to the Horrid Popish Plot in this Kingdome of England And they resolved to deliver the said Vote to the Lords at a Conference and Appointed a Committee to draw up Reasons to be offered at the said Conference Ordered That the several Informations of John Macnamara Maurice Fitz-Gerrald and James Mash that day read to the House relating to the Irish Plot be forthwith Printed Resolved That Rich. Poure Earl of Tyrone in the Kingdom of Ireland be Impeached of High Treason And that the Lord Dursley do go up to the Bar of the Lords and Impeach him c. and pray that he may be Committed to Safe Custody And further Ordered That the Committee appointed to prepare the Evidence against the Popish Lords in the Tower do prepare the said Impeachment Ordered That the further Consideration of the said Report in relation to Arthur Earl of Anglesey and Sir John Davis be Adjourned to Saturday Morning next at Ten of the Clock in a full House When it was Adjourned to Munday following which was their last day and gave them occasion for other Thoughts On Friday the 7th day of January The ingrossed Articles of Impeachment against Sir William Scroggs were Read and sent up to the Lords by the Lord Cavendish A Bill to prevent Vexatious Actions was read the first time and Ordered a second reading A Bill to prevent the Symony of one person from prejudicing another was read the first time and Ordered a second reading The Bill of Discovery of Settlements of Estates for Superstitious Uses was read the second time and committed upon the debate of the House Then the House according to their Order entred into Consideration of his Majesty's Message sent to the House the Tuesday before and Voted as followeth Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That there is no Security or Safety for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the Well Constituted and Established Government of this Kingdom without passing a Bill for disabling James Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging and to rely upon any other means or remedies without such a Bill is not onely Insufficient but dangerous Resolved That his Majesty in his last Message having assured this House of his readiness to Concur in all other means for the preservation of the Protestant Religion this House doth declare That until a Bill be likewise passed for Excluding the Duke of York this House cannot give any Supply to his Majesty without Danger to his Majesties Person Extream Hazard of the Protestant Religion and Vnfaithfulness to Those by whom this House is trusted It seems the loss of Tangier and of all our Alliances abroad did not at all Hazard the Protestant Religion or Endanger his Majesties Person Resolved That all Persons who Advised his Majesty in his last Message to this House to insist upon an Opinion against the Bill for Excluding the Duke of York Have given pernicious Counsel to his Majesty and Are Promoters of Popery and Enemies to the King and Kingdome Resolved That George Earl of Halifax Henry Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Clarendon in the Opinion of this House are persons who Advised his Majesty in his last Message to this House to insist upon an Opinion against the Bill for Excluding the Duke of York and have therein given pernicious Counsel to his Majesty and are Promoters of Popery and Enemies to the King and Kingdom Resolved That an Humble Address be presented to his Majesty to remove Lawrence Hide Esq from his Majesties Councils and Presence and from his Office in the Treasury for ever Resolved That an Humble Address be presented to his Majesty to remove Henry Marquess of Worcester from his Presence and Councils and all the Offices and Imployments of Honour and Profit for ever Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That Lewis Earl of Feversham is a Promoter of Popery and of the French Interest and a Dangerous Enemy to the King and Kingdom Resolved That an Humble Address be made to his Majesty to remove him from all Military Offices and Commands and from all other Publick Offices and Imployments and from his Majesties Councils and Presence for ever But here was no Addresses Voted against George Earl of Halyfax nor Henry Earl of Clarendon A Motion being made also for an Address to his Majesty to remove Edward Seymour Esq from his Majesties Council and Presence it was Adjourned to the Munday following Having taken all this care to Chastise the Great Men who as they believed had opposed them in this great business in the Next place they undertook to Chastise his Majesty Himself and if their design had taken effect as it is to be hoped it Never will his Majesty and all his Successors should have Known what it is to Anger a House of Commons However they meant well for they Resolved That whoever should hereafter Lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Customs Excise or Hearth-Money that is all the principal Branches shall be Adjudged to hinder the Sitting of Parliaments and shall be responsible for the same in Parliament Resolved That whoever shall accept or buy any Tally of Anticipation upon
make a new one they returned and Adjourned till Saturday Morning But not agreeing then they desired a further time which was granted till Tuesday following The King telling the Messengers that as he would not have his Prerogative intrencht upon so he would not do any thing against the Priviledges of the House But then instead of Presenting a new Speaker they Presented a Representation Claiming it as a Right to have that Speaker they chose accepted if he were not excused for some Corporal Disease which hath always heretofore been alleadged either by themselves or some others in their behalf in full Parliament as they said But his Majesty not admitting this neither they Adjourned till Wednesday and drew up another Address to have the former better considered and to this his Majesty replied he would send them an answer the next day And accordingly On Thursday he sent for them up to the House of Lords and Prorogued them for one day and on Saturday morning sent for them again and by the Lord Chancellor Commanded them to proceed to the Choice of a Speaker and Present him on Munday Morning which they accordingly did and then they chose Mr. Sergeant Gregory of whom his Majesty approved on the Monday following It was Ominous thus to stumble at the Threshold and therefore there is no great wonder if after this much of his Majesties and the Lord Chancellors good Counsell relating to calmness in the Management of their Affairs was forgotten Tuesday Wednesday and a great part of Thursday the 20th day of March being spent in the preliminaries and in receiving and reading the shoal of Petitions concerning undue Elections and Returns on the Evening of the last day the Commons sent a Message to the Lords to put them in mind of the Impeachments of High Treason against Thomas Earl of Danby in the names of the Commons of England and to desire he might be Committed to safe Custody And referred it to the Committee of Secrecy to draw up further Articles against him By which it appeared that they were resolved to begin where the former Parliament ended so that men easily conjectured what would follow And some there were that suggested as if his place was his greatest Crime and that the ruin of a Minister of State in order to fright the rest of the Ministers was more sought than the Punishment of any Traytor whether Popish or Protestant In the week following it appearing that the Earl of Danby had a pardon by his Majesties mentioning of it in the House of Lords And a Committee being appointed to search it out returned on Monday the 24th of March that it had not been Regularly sued out but was Sealed in the King's presence by his express Command Upon which the Commons sent up a Message to the Lords to demand Justice against him and ordered an Address to his Majesty to represent the dangerous Consequences of granting Pardons to any persons that lie under an Impeachment of the Commons of England And the same day the Lords sent word to the Commons that they had ordered him to be taken into Custody On Tuesday the 25th of March 1679. the Lords sent a Message to the Commons that the Earl of Danby was not to be sound upon which the Commons ordered a Bill to be brought in to Summon him by a certain day or in default thereof to Attaint him Mr. Edward Sacvile a Member of the House of Commons being accused by Mr. Oats to have called the truth of the Plot and Murder of Sir Edmonberry Godfrey in question was ordered to be committed to the Tower Expelled the House and an Address made to his Majesty for the removing him from all Publick Imployments and Trusts This was a sure way to have the Plot believed On Wednesday there having before been a Complaint brought against one Hills and Edwin for Printing a Pamphlet intituled A Letter from a Jesuite at Paris to his Correpondent in London Shewing the most effectual way to ruin the Government and the Protestant Religion was to promote the Dissenters Interest and to chuse factious men into the House of Commons And it appearing that Dr. John Nalson was the Author of it there being no Law to punish this offence the said Doctor was ordered to be sent for in Custody of the Serjeant at Arms to inform the House touching the said Pamphlet The same day a Bill was sent down from the Lords Intituled an Act for the better discovery and speedy Conviction of Popish Recusants Which had been sent down in the former Session of Parliament time enough to have been passed but was neglected which was read the day following On Thursday the 27th of March the Lords sent down a Bill for the Banishing and Disabling the Earl of Danby which his Majesty had profered to do and desired the Concurrence of the House of Commons which the Commons read and rejected that day But notwithstanding the Commons went on with the Bill of Attainder against him and ordered a Clause to be added for the discovery of all trusts relating to him and that he should be made incapable of receiving pardon but by Act of Parliament wherein he shall be particularly Named The same day the Lords sent down a Bill to disinable any person from Sitting in any of the Houses of Convocation till he hath taken the Oaths and made and subscribed the Declaration therein contained On Friday a Bill was read for better securing the liberty of the Subjects Sir Christopher Calthrop Knight who was returned one of the Knights of the Shire for Norfolk being then sick of the Small-pox desired that the Case in difference betwixt him and Sir John Hobard Baronet which was to be heard on Friday next might be delayed which was denyed Note That Calthrop was of the Court-party and Hobard of the Country-party But to look a little back On Monday the 25th of March the House of Lords sent to examin the five Lords in the Tower concerning a French Book about the Plot the Author of which had it seems endeavoured to invalidate Mr. Oats his testimony but they would not own they knew the Author The same day the Vote mentioned in the former Part of the reality of the Popish Plot which had been renewed by the Commons and sent up to the Lords for their concurrence was Voted by the Lords and ordered to be inserted in the first leaf of the Office to be publickly used on the day * 11 of April appointed by his Majesty for solemn Fasting and Humiliation at the request of both Houses On Saturday the 29th the Lords agreed to have a Bill brought in to expell out of the Inns of Court Doctors Commons the College of Physicians and Heralds office all such persons as shall not give testimony of their being Protestants by going to Church and by taking the Sacrament and such Oaths Tests and Declarations as are appointed by any Law for the distinguishing Protestants from Papists and
that shame and confusion they deserve who through their sides strike at the Lords Anointed and endeavour to ruine both the Church and State by changing the Government from a Monarchy to a Common-wealth as experience taught us once before when the Crown soon followed the Miter and the Temporal Lords the Bishops On Wednesday four of the five Lords in the Tower were brought to the House of Lords and heard the Articles readagainst them and had Copies of them and were assigned their Counsel for matter of Law but not for matter of Fact and had time to answer till the 15th Instant But the Lord Bellasys not being able to appear by reason he was lame of the Gout was excused and had a Copy of the Articles sent him On Monday the 14th of April at a conference the Lords consented to pass the Bill against the Earl of Danby without any amendment Wednesday the 16th of April A Bill for securing the King and Kingdom against the growh and Danger of Popery was read the second time and commttied to a Committee The same day a Message was brought from the Lords that the E. of D. had rendered himself and was sent to the Tower And by another Message word was sent that the four Lords had Appeared had sent in their Answers to the Articles upon which they had been proceeded against which Answers they sent down to the Commons being the Originalls and the Lords desired the return of them with all convenient speed that they might consider of them And then the Commons Voted his Majesty a supply for the Disbanding the rest of the Forces not disbanded by the former Act. To be levied by a Land Tax in six Months By which all Forces raised or brought over from Foreign parts since the 29th of September 1677. were to be disbanded The Commission Officers being to be paid only to the first of this April The next day a debate arising Thursday the 17 of April whether the Mony for Disbanding the Army should be paid into the Exchequer it was carried in the Affirmative by 60 Voices A Committee of Secrecy was appointed to prepare and draw up evidence against the E. of Danby and also further Articles as they should see cause On Friday the 25th of April a Bill for prevention of raising Mony upon the Subjects but by Act of Parliament was read the first time and ordered to be read a second time A Bill for exporting Cloth to Turkie was read a first time and ordered to be read again The same day the E. of D. and John Lord Bellasys appeared at the Bar of the House of Lords and put in their several Answers which were sent down to the Commons with desire they might be returned with all convenient speed On Saturday it was resolved in the House of Commons 26 of April that they would the Friday following take into consideration how to make the law for prohibiting the importation of French Commodities more effectual William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour and William Earl of Powis Appeared this day at the Bar of the House of Lords and retracted their former Plea's and put in their Answers which were by a Message sent down to the Commons which were read and referred to the Committee of Secrecy belonging to the said House This day the House of Commons resolved Nemine Contradicente That this House will sit to morrow to consider of the best means to secure and preserve the Kings person and also the Protestant Religion against the Attempts of the Papists both in the Reign of his Majesty and his Successors And accordingly they did sit and began the day very inauspiciously with reading an Address to his Majesty for the Execution of Pickering who as they said had been imployed by some of the Conspirators to execute their Execrable design of Murdering his Majesty and upon his Tryal was found guilty thereof as also of divers Priests and Jesuits who stood then Condemned by his Majesties Judges at the Old-Bayley and in several of the Circuits Upon which Offenders they humbly desired immediate Execution might be done to the terror of all such wicked persons who by their daily Traiterous practises do justify the prudence of their Ancestors in making such Laws and manifest the necessity of putting them in Execution And though there is nothing to be said for the men yet I wish they had not made this severe motion on a Lord's day it being none of those works of Charity and Mercy 29. Car. Cap. 7. no nor necessity neither which are commendable on that day and this might as well have been done on any other day Then they proceeded to the work appointed and Voted in the first place That a Bill be brought in upon the debate of the House to Banish all Papists or reputed Papists from London and Westminster and twenty Miles of the same for Six Months and to confine all those that live above twenty Miles from London within five Miles of their own Habitations under penalties and referred it to a Committee to draw up the same And then Secondly Resolved Nemine Contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown have given the greatest countenance and encouragement to the present Conspirators and designs of the Papists against the King and the Protestant Religion Resolved That the concurrence of the Lords be desired to this Vote Ordered that the Committee of Secrecy draw up a Narative of all such matters as concern the D. of Y. relating to the present Plot contained in such Papers as they have in their hands and present the same to the House on Wednesday next And then they adjourned the debate till Monday following The next day being Monday the 28th of March the House attended his Majesty with the said Address for the Executing Pickering c. To which his Majesty reply'd Gentlemen I Have always been tender in matters of blood which my Subjects have no reason to take exception at but this is a matter of great weight I shall therefore consider of it and return you an answer So little was this mercifull Prince exasperated by all the practises against him On Wednesday the 30th of April his Majesty sent for the Commons up to the Lords House and made this Speech to the two Houses My Lords and Gentlemen THe Season of the Year advancing so fast I thought it necessary to put you in mind of three particulars 1. Prosecuting the Plot 2. Disbanding the Army 3. Providing a Fleet for our common security And to shew you that whilst you are doing your parts my thoughts have not been misimployed but that it is my constant care to do every thing that may preserve your Religion and secure it for the future in all events I have commanded my Lord Chancellor to mention several particulars which I hope will be an evidence that in all things that concern the Publick security I
that none shall hereafter be Admitted into any of the said Societies that shall not do the same And that an Address should be made to his Majesty that all persons who bring up or suffer their Children to be bred up in the Popish Religion may by his Majesties order be put out of all publick Employments civil and military whereof they are now possessed AND that for the future no person may be put into or continued in any employment civil or military who shall knowingly Marry a Papist These last particulars are most worthy to be passed into an Act of Parliament On Tuesday the first of April the Commons finished the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Danby and sent it up to the Lords After which they passed this Vote Resolved That the continuing of any standing Forces in this Nation other than the Militia is illegal and a great Grievance and Vexation to the people This is the first Vote that was ever made against his Majesties Guards since his return tho there have been Parliaments sitting ever since On Thursday the 3d of April the Articles of Impeachment against William Earl of Powys William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasyse were brought into the House of Commons and received And a Bill about the Convocation sent down by the Lords and another to Regulate the Elections of Members to serve in Parliament were read the first time and ordered a second Reading Friday the 4th of April An Act for the better discovery and more speedy Conviction of Popish Recusants sent down from the Lords was read the second time and Committed to a Committee who were also to bring in a Clause to prevent any of the Royal Family from matching with Popish Recusants Was not this that tacking of things of a different Nature together which his Majesty had resolved against as he told the Houses in these words about a year before One thing more I have to add and that is His Majesties Speech the 23 of May 1678. to let you know that I will never more suffer the course and method of passing Laws to be changed and that if several matters shall ever again be tacked together in one Bill that Bill shall certainly be lost let the importance of it be never so great But it was resolved it seems now to try whether he would be as good as his word and if he were then the clamour should be that he was against the speedy conviction of Popish recusants Besides this was no such trivial thing but that it might have deserved a distinct Bill The same day the Bill against the Earl of Danby being delivered back by the Lords at a Conference with some Amendments the Commons referr'd the consideration of the Amendments to be considered the next day and ordered an Address to be drawn up for a Proclemation for the Apprehending the said Earl with the usual penalties upon such as conceal him and that he should not be permitted to reside with in any of his Majesties places of White-Hall Somerset House and St. James's On Saturday the Bill for Regulating Elections was read the second time and Committed to a Committee 5 of April with liberty to divide the Bill as they see cause On Monday the 7th of April his Majesty by Mr. Secretary Coventry acquainted the House of Commons that Mr. Reading had acquainted him by a letter directed to one Mr. Chiffinch that he had matters of great importance concerning the Prisoners in the Tower and the present Plot but that his Majesty would not meddle with any Prisoners Committed by this House and that he would if the House thought fit not only permit him but lay his Commands on him frankly and freely to impart whatsoever he knew of that affair to the House of Commons or the Committee of Secrecy appointed by them Which so pleased the Commons that they ordered the humble thanks of the House to be returned to his Majesty So far was he from concealing any thing relating to the Plot as he hath been basely and falsely calumniated This day the Commons sent up the Articles against the five Lords in the Tower into the House of Lords The same day it was ordered that a Bill should be brought in for Annexing Tangier to the Imperial Crown of England ☞ upon a report that it was to be sold to the French I should not have taken notice of this Vote but that I shall have occasion to make further use of it hereafter The Ninth day of April the House further Voted ☞ that those who did advise his Majesty to part with Tangier to any Foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be Accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom On Tuesday the eighth of April the Bill relating to the Convocation was read and referr'd to a Committee And then they fell to debate the Reasons against the Amendments of the Lords to the Bill against the E. of D. which chiefly stood upon this point that the Bill was by them changed from a Bill of Attainder to a Bill of Banishment which the Commons could not consent to 1. Because 't was not the legal punishment of Treason 2. That he might make use of the remission as an Argument of their distrust of their proofs against him 3. That it would encourage others to withdraw themselves as he had See the Reasons at large in the Printed Journal The Habeas Corpus Bill was read the third time and passed and sent up to the Lords The same day was a conference betwixt the Lords and Commons about the E. of D. Bill wherein the Lords prayed a Mitigation of the said Bill Which was referred by the Commons to be considered the next day When their desire was denyed April 9. and Reasons ordered to be drawn up against it The next day there was two several Conferences about this Bill But no report of either of them entered that day in the Journalls of the House of Commons but they are entered on Saturday the 12th of April And it appears that the Commons resolved then to stand to the Bill without the Amendments In the House of Lords on Saturday the 5th of April the Lord Bishop of Ely complained that one Mr. Sidway had put an information against himself and some others of the Lord Bishops that was very derogatory to them and thereupon the House commanded the business to be brought before them and stopt the proceedings of their Committee of Secrecy in that and all other things relating to any Member of their House Where the business being heard on the Monday following the said John Sidway was Committed to the Prison of the Gatehouse for bringing a frivolous and untrue accusation against the Lord Bishop of Ely and other Bishops though several Lords dissented So the Bishops were quitted that time with Honour as I wish they always may be and that their enemies may meet with
Danby sending a Petition to the Lords that his Counsel durst not appear to defend his case by reason of the Vote of the Commons the Lords at a Conference desired to know if there were any such Vote to which the Commons would not answer Sir Robert Howard acquainting them there had been paid from our Lady-day 1676 to the 20th of March 1679 the Sum of 252467 lb. 1 s. 9 d. for Secret Services They ordered that Mr. Charles Bertie should be taken into Custody of the Sergeant at Armes attending their House And in the Next place they ordered that all the Members that were of the Long Robe of their house should prepare themselves with Reasons against the pardon pleaded by the E. of Danby Which was very necessary now that no body durst defend it So the Lords Ordered the E. to be returned to the Tower in safety On Sunday the Lords agreed to the demand of the Commons for the appointing a Committee of both Houses to state the Preliminaries of the tryals to be had to meet the next day May 11. And then the Commons proceeded to Vote that a Bill be brought in to disable the Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of this Realm and appointed a Committee to draw the same Which was in pursuance of their former Vote on Sunday the 27th of April Though the Lords who had been twise desired to concur in that vote had given no answer to it Out of an apprehension perhaps that his Majesties Life might be indangered upon this Vote they resolved Nemine Contradicente That in defence of the Kings person and the Protestant Religion this house doth declare that they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty should come by any violent death which God forbid that they will revenge it to the utmost upon the Papists As if it had been impossible his Majesty should be murthered by any other then a Papist or that it had been any consolation to his Majesty to have known that his death should have been revenged to the utmost on them who ever had been the cause or procurers of it This prov'd the occasion of breaking all the following Parliaments to this day and thereby to secure the Popish Lords in the Tower from Tryal and to prevent all the excellent Laws that were then under consideration against Popery from ever being brought to pass And finally it prov'd an obstacle of union between the King and the Houses to the great advantage of our Enemies at home and abroad to the great hazard of the Nation and more especially of the Protestant Religion which was pretended to be secured by it I shall say more of this Vote and the former hereafter when the effects of them will appear better then they did at first On Wednesday his Majesty sent another Message to the Commons to put them again in mind of the Fleet May 14. and let them know he would acquit himself of the evil consequences which the want of a Fleet in such a juncture might produce and that the entering upon it could be no hinderance to the other great affairs on their hands but rather a Security in the dispatch thereof Upon which a debate arising they adjourn'd the Consideration of this Message till Monday Sennight after which had the appearance of a denial On Thursday there arose a Controversy betwixt the two Houses about the Bishops May 15. for the Lords having Voted that the Lords Spiritual have a right to stay and sit in Court till the Court proceed to the Vote of Guilty or not guilty The Commons opposed it and said that the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any proceedings upon impeachments against the Lords in the Tower involving the E. of Danby's case with the other Lords though it was vastly different And indeed from hence arose this contest the Commons imagining that the Bishops would be for the validity of his pardon and so make a major Vote in that House and therefore as they had deprived him of his Counsel before so now the business was to out the most favourable part as they thought of his Judges The same day the Bill to disinherit the D. of York was read the first time and Ordered a second reading On Saturday a Vote of the House of Lords was read in the House of Commons May 17. 16 May 1679. Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled that Thursday next be appointed to begin the Tryals of the five Lords in the Tower viz. the E. of Powis c. After which resolution the Lords Spiritual asked the leave of that house that they might withdraw themselves from the Tryals of the said Lords with the Liberty of entring their usual Protestations Upon which the Commons Resolved That it be given as an instruction to their Committee to insist upon the former Vote of this House That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any vote in any Proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and when that matter shall be setled as they please for the Lords had setled it and the method of proceedings adjusted this House shall then be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the E. of Danby against whom the House hath already demanded judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other five Lords in the Tower So here was the two Houses in their Votes point blank against one another I shall here take notice of some Arguments that passed betwixt the Lords and the Commons as they are expressed in the Lords Journal On Tuesday the 13th of May The Commons desired to know concerning the Bishops being present at the Tryals of the Lords impeached to which the Lords made this Answer That it belonged not to the Commons to be concerned in the Constituting parts of the Court upon such Tryals but that the judgment of this matter belongs entirely to the Lords and when they have adjudged it the Commons cannot alter it and therefore should not debate it Upon which the Commons acknowledged that Judgment after Tryal is in the Lords but their Lordships are not to give judgment unless the Commons demand it and that the Commons desire to know whether the Lords will proceed in these Tryals as their Lordships did anciently for if the Bishops should sit upon these Tryals they should not demand Judgment but being dissatisfied with their being there and it may be the Commons may proceed by Bill To which the Lords made Answer that after the Evidence is fully heard they are bound to give judgment of Condemnation or Acquittal but this being a matter of Judicature the Lords declared that they would impose silence upon themselves and debate it no further The Commons further desired to know whether the Bishops should be allowed to vote upon the Validity of the pardon of the E. of Danby which they account no Preliminary but the very essence of the Tryal On
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
many other such proceedings As the Parliament that is the Commons Courted the City so the City was as kind to them and Calling a Common Councel Voted an Address to his Majesty to declare their Loyalty and to Petition him that the Parliament might Sit until Protestantisme was Secured I believe they might mean innocently tho I am well Secured that this would have perpetuated them to the End of the World if some amongst them might have been Judges of the time when this great work was perfected But this did not Edify with his Majesty who penetrated to the bottom of these little Projects and was not over-pleased with this Correspondency betwixt this and the Commons remembring what ill effects this Conjunction had in the Reign of his Father So he Advised the Common-Councel to meddle with those things that lay before them and assuring them That he would Labour to maintain the Protestant Religion as it was Established by Law which was more than they desired he dismissed them On Munday the 15th day of November A Bill against the Importation of Cattel from Scotland was Read the first time and Ordered a Second Reading the Saturday following at Ten of the Clock This day was delivered the following Message to the Commons CHARLES R. HIS Majesty did in his Speech at the Opening of this Session of Parliament desire your Advice and Assistance in relation to Tangier the Condition and Importance of the Place obliges his Majesty to put this House in mind again That He relies upon them for the Support of it without which it cannot be much longer preserved His Majesty doth therefore Earnestly Recommend Tangier again to the due and speedy Consideration and Care of this House A Debate thereupon arising in the House they Voted That they would proceed in the Consideration of this Message the next Wednesday Morning at Ten of the Clock A Bill sent down from the Lords Intituled An Act for the better Regulating the Tryals of the Peers of England was Read the Second time and Committed upon the Debate of the House This day the Bill for Disabling the Duke of York was Read the first time in the House of Peers and the question being put Whether it should be read again the House divided Noes 63. Yeas 30. So it was Thrown out the Bishops all appearing against the Bill Except three for which some of the Commons Reflected upon them with great Liberty as if no body could be for the Duke but he must be for Popery The House of Commons taking notice of this were so discomposed that they Adjourned themselves on Tuesday Morning and did nothing that day And the day following meeting in a very bad and discontented humour and taking into Consideration the Message about Tangier They Resolved upon an Address to his Majesty upon the Debate of the House Humbly representing to him the dangerous State and Condition of the Kingdom And then it appearing that George Earl of Hallifax had been very Active in the House of Lords against the Bill for Dis-inheriting the Duke they Resolved also upon another Address to his Majesty to remove the Earl from his Majesties Presence and Councils for Ever And this was all they did the Second day after The House being in a perfect Fret and the Country-Party Heating themselves by their Speeches to that height they were scarce able to Consider what was fit to be said or asked And now that the Peers of England have passed their Judgment concerning this Bill I will add some short Reflections upon the Bill which I shall shall submit to my Reader as it is fit I should First Then I do acknowledg it is a great affliction to any Protestant Country to fall into the Hands of a Popish Prince and worse for England then for most other because of the great and implacable Malice the Jesuits and the whole Church of Rome have ever born to the Religion Established amongst us which is more easily defended against them then any other Reformed Church as being founded upon greater Antiquity and more conformable to the Primitive Church of the Three or Four first Centuries then either the Church of Rome or any of the Reformed Churches in these Western Parts of the World and therefore they of the Church of Rome Have left no stone unturned to Subvert her imploying all their own Wit and Power against her ever since the Reign of Queen Elizabeth began and sticking neither at Perjury Treason Murther nor any other Villany that they thought might conduce to that End and when God had by his Gracious Providence defeated all these their Damnable Projects They Transformed themselves into the shapes of our own Protestant Dissenters and so promoted a Rebellion which ended in the seeming Ruine of this Religion and Government to their mighty Content and Satisfaction but tho his Majesty at his Return re-settled this Church yet they did not give over but by a Toleration by spreading Pamphlets written in the Stile of the Dissenters and so very acceptable to them by discouraging all that opposed our Intestine Divisions and a multitude of such other frauds they have in Twenty Years time so shaken her foundations again that his Majesty can hardly now preserve and uphold her against the Popish Party on the one hand and the Dissenters on the other So that if this poor persecuted Church should fall into the hands of a Prince of their Communion She is to Expect whatever the most Enraged Malice armed with his Authority can inflict upon her and She hath all the reason in the world to expect the Dissenters will joyn with them to afflict and ruine her Not out of any Kindness to Popery but out of an implacable hatred they two have Conceived against her So that I must and will Conclude the Church of England hath the greatest reason in the world to dread that day that shall put her into such hands But yet still with this limitation notwithstanding that by Avoiding one Mischief she should not plunge her Self into a greater that is by flying a Persecution from men to fall into a Rebellion against her God and Saviour by whose Providence Kings and Princes of what Religion soever they be rule and by whom they have in all Ages been so Ordered Disposed and Governed as He in his Divine and Holy Wisdom Saw most Expedient for the Prosperity or Chastisement of his Church to the greater encrease of her Glory and Happiness in the world to come Two things I will lay down as Undoubted Rules or Maximes 1. That the Kingdom of England is an Hereditary Kingdom or Monarchy which for many Ages hath gone to the Next Heirs be they Males or Females of the Blood Royal without any Election or Consent of the People otherwise then by acknowledging their Lawful Right derived from God by their Blood to them The Second is That this Hereditary Monarchy was set up at first and hath been since upheld and maintained by the Providence of
No person should be Admitted to come to them but such as should have occasion to bring them Necessaries On Friday the 10th of December Captain Castle was found and Voted guilty of offending against the Rights of the Subject by Obstructing Petitioning to His Majesty for the Sitting of that Parliament The same day the Commons Ordered an Impeachment to be prepared against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas for High Crimes and Misdemeanors viz. for Advising the Proclamation against Tumultuous Petitions Then they Voted That the Imprisonment of one Peter Norris at Dover by the Order of Sir Leoline Jenkins was Illegal and Arbitrary and an Obstruction to the Evidence for the Discovery of the Horrid Popish Plott This was the business for which Sheridon and Day were imprisoned On Munday the 13th A Bill for Exportation of Cloth and other Woollen Manufactures into Turkey being read the second time and a Debate arising thereupon it was Ordered that it should lie upon the Clerks Table They Ordered also That the Committee appointed to look into and prepare Evidence against the Lords in the Tower do Examine the Evidence against all persons concerned in the Popish Plot. And they were to report the Names of such persons together with their Opinions therein to the House upon the Debate And also that Leave should be given to bring in a Bill for Banishing of all Papists and suspected Papists from the Cities of London and Westminster and XX miles of the same with Clauses therein for disarming of all Papists and for Pains and Penalties against all such Papists or suspected Papists as should Ride Go or be Armed And that Lists of them should be brought in by the Members When ever any Law pass against suspected Papists great care ought to be taken to limit that Loose term or great Mischiefs will insue On Tuesday the 14th of December Complaint was made That one Herbert Herring who had been ordered to be taken into Custody for a Breach of Priviledge did abscond himself to avoid the Execution of the said Order whereupon it was Resolved That if he did not render himself by Saturday that House would proceed against him by Bill in Parliament for endeavouring by his absconding to Avoid the Justice of the House This was a way never to want Work if every Fugitive Attorney or Porter that had broke the Priviledge of the House was to be brought in by Bill Sir Robert Peyton a Member of their House was the Next that fell under their displeasure being said to Have had Secret Negotiation with the Duke of Y. by the Means of the Earl of Peterborough Mrs. Cellier and Mr. Gadbury at such time as they were turning the Popish Plot upon the Protestants i. e. the Presbyterians it seems they are THE Protestants For which he was Ordered after his defence to be Expelled the House and to be brought to the Bar to receive the Censure of the House upon his Knees from the Speaker Which was done with so little respect to the Quality of the person that after the Dissolution of the Parliament he sent the Speaker a Challenge for which he was Committed having been before committed to the Serjeant for not being at hand when it should have been first done by the Speaker So he was twice Committed and Expell'd too but by what Law the House of Commons proceeded I know not It is the Interest both of the Members and of Us whom they represent to take care that this be not left to them for here was a Member Expelled not for being a party to that Conspiracy of the Papists but for having Secret Negotiations with the Duke of York at that time and if this be allowed that they may Expel for what cause they please be there Law or be there none then have the greater part of the House an Absolute and Arbitrary power over the lesser part and if either Side do by accident get the Advantage of the other by a Single Vote they may Expel them as they please which must Necessarily end in Confusion and Slavery On Wednesday the 15th of December the House resolved into a Committee of the whole House to Consider of Ways and Means to Secure this Kingdom against Popery and Arbitrary Power and Resolved upon two Votes viz. Resolved Nemine Contradicente That this House doth agree with the Committee That one Means for the Suppressing Popery is That a Bill be brought in to banish immediately all the Considerable Papists of England out of the Kings Dominions Resolved N. C. That this House doth agree with the Committee That a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for the Safety of his Majesties Person * Note here is no mention of his Majesties Government in this Association the Defence of the Protestant Religion and the Preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and Oppositions whatsoever and for preventing the Duke of York or any Papist from Succeeding to the Crown And ordered a Committee to be appointed to prepare and bring in a Bill pursuant to the first of the said Resolves The latter was taken up to Supply the Bill of Exclusion which bad been thrown out by the Lords and was never prosecuted any further for when they came to draw the Bill it was found impracticable without involving us presently in a Civil War For an Association signifies nothing without a Head to govern and direct it if the King be made the Head then we are where we were and it is to no purpose If another person be made So then there is two distinct Governments in the same Kingdom which can never stand together a Month without imbroyling themselves and the People This the Holy League of France proved Experimentally true and the same Event will always follow Besides there was no reason to Expect that either his Majesty or the House of Lords would yield to this way of Exclusion which was worse than the former Tho if that had passed it would have signified nothing without an Association or a Standing Army as the Author of the Seasonable Address to both Houses of Parliament hath well proved This day also His Majesty made a Speech to both the Houses which I will insert when I come to the Answer of the Commons to it On Thursday the 16th of December A Petition of Divers Inhabitants in the County of Surry Complaining of the proceedings in an Ecclesiastical Court against them being read it was referred to a Committee to bring in a Bill or Bills for Regulating the proceedings of such Courts A Petition of Joshua Brook and other Merchants against the African Company was also read and referred to a Committee Mr. Booth reporting from the Committee to whom the Bill for the better Regulating the Tryals of the Peers of England was committed An Amendment to be made and a Clause to be Added and thereupon a Motion being made to bring in a Clause
for himself I know not for the Parliament never brought him to an hearing But upon inquiry I find notwithstanding all this Clamour the Man hath a great and good Report for his Piety Learning and Prudence but his Zeal for the Religion Established drew this Storm upon him from the Exasperated Dissenters who never stick thus to blast the Fame of Good Men when it serves their ill designs But to return from this Digression The Bill for Exempting his Majesties Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of Certain Laws was read a second time and Committed upon a Debate of the House to the Committee to whom the Bill for Vniting of his Majesties Protestant Subjects was Committed upon a Debate of the House Then the Bill for Banishing the Papists out of the King's Dominions was read a second time and committed upon the Debate of the House Then the House adjourned till Thursday the 30th of December That day the House met and Ordered That the Committee appointed to prepare Evidence against the 4. Popish Lords in the Tower should look into the Evidence and Report their Opinions to the House in Order to the further Directions and Proceedings of the House against them Resolved That the several Writings Papers and Proceedings relating to such Members of the late Long Parliament as received Allowances out of the Moneys appointed for Secret Services be produced to this House Resolved N. C. That no Member of this House shall accept of any Office or Place of Profit from the Crown without Leave of the House or any Promise of any such Office or Place of Profit during such time as he shall continue a Member of the House and that the offenders herein shall be Expelled It seems they had discovered that some of their Zealous men were Selling themselves to the Court-Party for Preferment and prepared this Vote to keep the Party together Friday the 31th of December The Bill for prohibiting the importation of Forein Guns was read the second time and rejected Leave was also given to bring in a Bill for Regulating the abuses in making Casks Barrels and other Vessels And A Committee appointed to peruse the Laws relating to Weights and Measures and to report their Opinions in the same and to bring in a Bill or Bills for the better Regulating and Ascertaining the same Ordered also That Leave be given to bring in a Bill for a General Naturalization of Alien-Protestants and allowing them liberty to Exercise their Trades in all Corporations A Bill for Relief of the Subjects against Arbitrary Fines was read a second time and committed Then the House Adjourned till Munday the 3d. of January Which day An Act for limiting the times of Importation of Cattel from Scotland being read the third time passed and was sent up to the Lords Then A Bill for Repealing an Act made in the 13th Year of his Now Majesties Reign intituled An ACT for the Well-Governing and Regulating of Corporations was read the first time and Ordered to be read again A Bill for the better discovery of Settlements to Superstitious Vses was read the first time and Ordered a second reading the Friday following at Ten of the Clock in a full House The same day the Lords sent down a Bill to the Commons Intituled An Act for distinguishing Protestant Dissenters from Popish Recusants To which they desired the Concurrence of the House The Lords sent down another Message to put the Commons in mind of the Bill for the Better regulating of the Tryals of the Peers of England And Another Message to acquaint them That their Lordships had received a Petition from Mr. Seymour for a speedy Tryal Upon which the Commons read his Answer to their Impeachment which had lyen by them some time and ordered a Committee to prepare Evidence against him and Manage it at his Tryal On Tuesday the 4th of January His Majesty sent the Commons another Message which is as followeth CHARLES R. HIS Majesty received the Address of this House with all the disposition they could wish to comply with their reasonable desires but upon perusing it he is Sorry to See their Thoughts so wholly fixed upon the Bill of Exclusion as to determine that all other Remedies for the Suppressing of Popery will be ineffectual His Majesty is Confirmed in his Opinion against that Bill by the Judgment of the House of Lords who rejected it He therefore thinks there remains Nothing more for him to say in answer to the Address of this House but to recommend to them the Consideration of all other Means for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion in which they have no reason to doubt of his Concurrence when ever they shall be presented to him in a Parliamentary way and that they would Consider the present State of the Kingdom as well as the Condition of Christendom in Such a Manner as may inable him to Preserve Tangier and Secure his Alliances abroad and the Peace and Settlement at home This Message being read in the House they Resolved to take into Consideration the Friday following in a full House The same day the Lords sent down a Vote which they made that day Die Martis 4 January 1680. Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That they do declare that they are fully Satisfied that there now is and for divers years last past there hath been a Horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion in Ireland for Massacring the English and Subverting the Protestant Religion and the ancient Established Government of that Kingdom To which their Lordships desired the Concurrence of the Commons On Wednesday the 5th of January Richard Thompson was Ordered upon his Petition to give sufficient Security for his forth-coming to the Serjeant at Arms attending that House to Answer to the Impeachment against him and so was discharged of his Imprisonment I can see No reason why he should be prosecuted by an Impeachment in Parliament It being beneath the Dignity of the Houses to Concern themselves with such a man as Mr. Thompson must needs be who might much better have been proceeded against in the Spiritual or Civil Courts if the Accusations were all True but that his Blaspheming Calvin and the Loyal Presbyterian Protestants would have signified Nothing there as I believe they would not before the Lords if he had been Tryed Formerly the Commons impeached none but such as were too great to be prosecuted any where else and that but rarely and upon great Necessity This made them Venerable and Dreadful but this Course for Small or No faults to impeach and imprison great Numbers of Mean People which they followed in this Session tended to Nothing but the Wasting their time and Hindering greater Affairs to the damage of the King and Kingdome The same day the Commons agreed an Impeachment against Sir William Scroggs Knight Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench
by Civil Wars and Rebellions as in His Majesties Fathers time to make way for the French to Seize these Kingdoms and totally to Ruine their Infantry and Naval Force These are Mr. Oats his Words and whoever had seen the persons Must'red up about the choosing this Parliament would have thought that Forty One had been returned again and that the Jesuits under the shape of Nonconformist Ministers had been turning the Plot that way now God had defeated the close one But though all this Care was taken the Dissenters did not carry the Elections every where nor almost any where without great Resistance For on the other side the Gentry appeared themselves and brought in their Tenants and Dependences and many of the Yeomanry and Free-holders were Zealous for the Church and Government and in Corporations the Magistrates and Free-men had not forgot the old tricks of the Dissenters and were resolved not to be ruin'd twice by the same Arts so that the two Parties were almost equal there and in the Counties the Gentry were certainly the stronger side if Perjury had not been employed against them and in some places they prevailed against that too but not so as to make an equal Party in the House The Persons that stood on this side were Men of Undoubted Loyalty to the King hearty lovers of the Religion Established and great Enemies to Puritanism Faction and Rebellion and for these good qualities were stiled by the contrary Party-men of Arbitrary Principles and favourers of Popery some of these had been Members of the Last Parliament and been of that they call the Court Party who had been guilty of Setling the Monarchy and Suppressing the Rebellion and the Nurseries of it the Conventicles and others were taken in to fill up the vacancies of or very nearly of the same Principles The Elections being thus made the Parliament met the day appointed which was Thursday the sixth of March 1678. and my business is to wait upon them and see how matters went in the Lower House especially and as an Introduction I will take notice of His Majesty's Speech in the first place part of which was as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen I Meet you here with the most earnest desire that man can have to Unite the Minds of all my Subjects both to me and to one another and I resolve it shall be your faults if the Success be not suitable to my desires I have done many great things already in order to that end as the Exclusion of the Popish Lords from their Seats in Parliament the Execution of several men both upon the Score of the Plat and of the Murder of Sir Edmonberry Godfrey and it is apparent that I have not been idle in prosecuting the discovery of both as much further as hath been possible in so short a time I have disbanded as much of the Army as I could get Mony to do and I am ready to disband the rest so soon as you shall reimburse the Mony they have cost me and will inable me to pay off the remainder And above all I have Commanded my Brother to absent himself from me because I would not leave the Malicious Men room to say I had not removed all causes which could be pretended to influence me towards Popish Counsels Besides that end of Union which I am at and which I wish could be extended to Protestants abroad as well as at home I propose by this last great step I have made to discern whether Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom be as truly aimed at by others as they are really intended by me for if they be you will imploy your time upon the great concerns of the Nation and not be drawn to promote private animosities under pretences of the publique your Proceedings will be calm and peaceable in order to those good ends I have recommended to you and you will curb the motions of any unruly Spirits which would endeavour to disturb them I hope there will be none such amongst you because there can be no man that must not see how fatal differences amongst our selves are like to be at this time both at home or abroad I shall not cease my endeavours dayly to find out what more I can both of the Plot and Murder of Sir Edmondberry Godfrey and shall desire the Assistance of both my Houses in that work I have not been wanting in giving orders for putting all the present Laws in Execution against Papists and I am ready to joyn in the making such further Laws as may be necessary for securing of the Kingdom against Popery And after a short discourse of supply's he goes on I will conclude as I begun with my earnest desires to have this a Healing Parliament and I do give you this Assurance that I will with my life defend both the Protestant Religion and the Laws of this Kingdom and I do expect from you to be defended from the Calumny as well as Danger of those worst of men who endeavour to render me and my Government odious to my people By which last passage I believe his Majesty reflected upon the Dissenters and Common wealth Party who as they were more believed so they had been more busie in traducing him and that with a more Mischievous Malice and effect than the worst Jesuits during this short time betwixt the Dissolution of the last and the Election of this present Parliament and therefore his Majesty had reason to tell the Parliament he expected to be defended by them from the Calumny of the Dissenters as well as from the danger of the Papists both which are the worst of men as who did endeavour to render him and his Government Odious to his people The Lord Chancellor's Speech was for the most part but an enlargement upon his Majestie 's as it uses to be and therefore I shall take notice of some passages only in it He advised them not to overdo their business and by being too far transported with the fears of Popery neglect the opportunities they then had of making sober and lasting provisions against it He told them it was a Custom of the Jesuits first to Murder the fame of Princes and then their persons first slandering them to their people as if they favoured Papists and then to assassinate them for being too Zealous Protestants He represented what a joy it would be to them to see us whom they could not destroy by the conspiracy Ruining our selves after the discovery by incurable jealousies and disturbing the Government And that further care might be taken of Regulating the Press from whence there daily stole forth Popish Catechisms Psalters and Books of Controversie and Seditious and Schismatical Libells too We shall now see how these Counsells were pursued by the Parliament The first thing the House of Commons did was to choose Edward Seymour Esquire their former Speaker their Speaker again But the next day the King disliking the choice and Commanding them to