of State of Scotland and as Runnagadoes from Christianity become the greatest Persecutors of Christians so was Lauderdale of the Kirk and Presbyterian Government However Lauderdale seemed zealous for calling a Parliament in Scotland and demolishing the Forts thaâ— bridled the Scots which Monk opposed and hereby Lauderdale became popular in Scotland so that all Applications to the King from thence was by Lauderdale In this state it was not easily determined who should be Commissioner in Scotland in case a Parliament should be called for Affairs were not yet ripe enough to make a Popish one nor would the Court trust a Presbyterian one and Lauderdale would not forsake his Post at Court where he govern'd all but continue it that all the Motions in Parliament might receive their Life from him At last it was agreed That Middleton who first served the Kirk against King Charles I. and after changing Sides made some Bustle in Scotland after the King left it should be created an Earl and made Commissioner and a Parliament should be called in Scotland The Nobility and Gentry of Scotland clearly saw there was no other way to redeem Scotland from being a conquered Nation and a Province to England but by an entire Submission to the King Lauderdale knew this as well as they and therefore resolved to make them pay dear for their Deliverance and now you shall see the Nobility and Gentry which with the Kirk united against King Charles I. divide under his Son and sacrifice the Kirk and all their Discipline to make an Atonement for themselves The first Act which was shewed herein was upon this Occasion The firy Zeal of the Kirk-men burnt up all Rules of Prudence or the Consideration of the present State of Scotland so that even in this state Crowns and Scepters must submit to the Kirk And that the King might know his Duty a Company of them met together and drew up a Supplication as they said but in nature of a Remonstrance to the King setting forth the Calamities they groaned under in the Time of the Usurpers by their impious Incroachments upon the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the Liberties thereof which of themselves they were not able to suppress and overcome and the Danger of the Popish and Prelatical Party now beginning again to lift up their Head they press him to mind his â—aths and Covenant with God c. The Committee of Estates well knowing how ungrateful this would be to the King upon the 23d of August 1660. sent a Party and apprehended these Men whereof one Mr. James Guthry was the chief of whom you 'll hear more hereafter and committed them Prisoners to Edinburgh-Castle and from thence Guthry was sent Prisoner to Dundee for treasonable and seditious reflecting on his Majesty and on the Government of England and the Constitution of the Committee of State and tending to raise new Tumults and kindling a new Civil War among his Majesty's good Subjects This was the first Spark which soon burnt into such a Flame as totally consumed the whole Kirk-Party in Scotland and left them in a much worse plight than before when they suffered under the Usurpation as they called it of the English For during the late Usurpations the Kirk enjoyed a Liberty of Conscience but it 's the Nature of some Men that unless they may persecute other Men they 'll exclaim they are persecuted themselves and therefore since they were not able to do it themselves they minded the King of his Covenant with God to extirpate Heresy Schism and Profaneness and to remove the stumbling which the King had given them in admitting Prelacy Ceremonies and Service-Book in the King's Chappel and other Places of his Dominions But these Men were mistaken in their Measures for after the King was expelled from Scotland by Cromwel he little I may say never observed the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechisms in his Family according to the National and Solemn League and Covenant as he repeated in his Coronation-Oath and less the establishing Presbyterian Government in England and Ireland and least of all in Scotland For one of the first Acts of the first Sessions was an Anniversary Thanksgiving to be observed on every May 29 with this Proem The States of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland taking into their Consideration the sad Condition Slavery and Bondage this antient Kingdom has groaned under these twenty three Years the time when the Troubles arose in K. Charles the First 's Reign in which under very specious Pretences of Reformation a publick Rebellion has been by the Treachery of some and Misperswasion of others violently carried on against sacred Authority to the Ruin and Destruction so far as was possible of Religion this King's Majesty and his Royal Government the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and all the publick and private Interests of the Kingdom so that Religion it self hath been prostituted for the Warrant of all these treasonable Invasions made upon the Royal Authority and disloyal Limitations upon the Allegiance of the Subjects Therefore upon the 29th of May be set apart for an Holy Day c. Yet soon after the King's Restoration he wrote to the Presbytery of Edinburgh promising to countenance the Church as by Law established But Lauderdale knew his Mind better Here it 's observable That in 1638 when the Kirk were so zealous with lifted-up Hands in the Presence of the Eternal God to swear to establish their National Covenant there was not one of the Nobility but the Popish except the Marquess of Hamilton and the Earl of Traquair but joined with the Kirk expresly against the King's Command Traquair the Kirk-Party proceeded against as an Incendiary and after Hamilton secretly joined with the Covenanters for which King Charles I. made him Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle from whence he was discharged when Fairfax had it surrender'd And not one of the Nobility except Argile and Cassels but declare this and all the Kirk-Proceedings since Treasonable Rebellion against the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and Prostitution of Religion and this Declaration was celebrated with a double Sacrifice the Marquess of Argile being executed as a Traitor for holding Correspondence with Cromwel and his Head set where Montross's stood on the Monday before and Mr. Guthry on Saturday after for refusing to own the Jurisdiction of the Judges in Ecclesiastical Affairs had his Head set upon one of the Ports of Edinburgh This was a sad Presage to the Kirk of what followed For as they without the King would impose their Solemn League and Covenant upon England now by the King and Parliament an Oath of Allegiance in the very Nature if not the Words of the Oath of Supremacy in England is imposed upon them wherein they are to swear That the King is the supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes c. and That they will maintain defend and assist his Majesty's Jurisdiction aforesaid against all
A DETECTION OF THE Court and State OF ENGLAND DURING The Four Last REIGNS And the INTER-REGNUM Consisting of Private Memoirs c. With Observations and Reflections AND AN APPENDIX discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many SECRETS never before made publick As also a more impartial Account of the CIVIL WARS in England than has yet been given In Two Volumes By ROGER COKE Esquire The Third Edition very much corrected With an Alphabetical Table London Printed for Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhill MDCXCVII AN APOLOGY TO THE READER THAT Man has lived long enough who has out-lived the Love and Piety he owes to his Native Country by my Native Country I do not mean the fertile and pleasant Soil of Britain nor the sweet and temperate Climate of it nor the manifold Varieties which it naturally abounds with for the use and conveniencies of humane Life nor yet the pleasant and excelling Rivers which water it nor the noble Havens and abundance of most open Ports from which it supplies other Parts of this our habitable Globe with the super-abundance of those Commodities wherein it excels and whereof the Inhabitants of those Parts stand in need and where the Waters flow as well as ebb as if they invited the World to trade with us as well as we with them But by my Native Country I mean the Constitutions and Laws of the English Monarchy which have continued for near Nine hundred Years viz. since King Egbert made a Decree that laying aside the Names of Britains and Saxons the whole Nation of that part of Britain under his Dominion should be called England Vnder these Constitutions and Laws have all English Men ever since without any Act of their own Will been born in Subjection and by them have been protected in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to govern by these Constitutions and Laws have been the Claims of our Hereditary Monarchs who have ever since governed England and though the Succession of the Kings of England have been often changed in the Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings yet these Laws and Constitutions have been ever since preserved notwithstanding the Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and I may say of the Scotish Race too to have subverted them which I believe is more than can be said of any other Monarchy in the World out of Britain So that in our English Government the Constitution and Laws of it are as well the Rules of the King's Dominion as of the Subject's Allegiance to the King and when the Majesty of the King is arrayed in Judgment Justice and Mercy then for his Subjects to resist him is High Treason in this World and Damnation in that to come and I think I may truly say no People in the World are more Honourers of their Kings yet more jealous of preserving their Constitutions and Laws than the English whereby they have preserved their Government now France and Spain whose Government was like ours have lost theirs But when the Kings of England will not make the Laws and Constitutions of England to be their Will but their Will differing from these to be the Laws and Constitutions of it then a divided Dominion will necessarily follow and it will be impossible for the Subject to obey both The King hereby puts himself out of God's Protection whose Vice-Gerent he is in governing by the Laws and misplaces his Majesty which is founded in the Honour Love and Obedience of his Subjects upon Minions and Favorites whose Servant he makes himself and these shall be the first who shall forsake him when any Adversity shall come upon him Our Chronicles give Instances hereof in the Reigns of King John Hen. 3. Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. And the design of this Treatise is to shew the Consequences that have been produced hereby in the Reigns of the Kings of the Scotish Race In this regular Monarchy the Kings of England do not abrogate old Laws or impose new or raise Monies from the Subject above the Revenues of the Crown without Consent in Parliament and hereby the Kings of England reign in the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and are freed from the Imputation of Tyranny in Sanguinary Laws and from Oppression in the Taxes granted in Parliament which no absolute Monarch is and are more absolutely obeyed in both than any absolute Monarch who makes his Will the Law of his Subjects The Division of the Will of a King of England does not only distract the Allegiance of his Subjects so that the divided Will of the King must necessarily prevail over the Laws and Constitutions of it or these prevail against the divided Will for both are incompatible and cannot subsist together But this Distraction gives Life and Motion to the ambitious Humour of Male-contents who are impatient as well of Regal Government as of submitting to the Laws and Constitutions of it And I submit my self to the Judgment of any Impartial Reader if this Divided Will in the Prince did not give that Life and Motion to the Ambition of the Factions in England Scotland and Ireland which not only raised Civil Wars in all of them but brought destruction upon K. Charles the First as well as the Laws and Constitutions of them However I will take Notice of the Loyalty of the English Nation both to K. James the first and K. Charles the first that tho these Kings were foreign born to our Laws and Constitutions yet it patiently submitted to their Vsurpations for above 35 Years whereas when King Charles the first thought he had wholly subdued this Kingdom to his Will and endeavoured to have done the same in Scotland his Native Country the Scots would not endure it so many Weeks as the English had done Years but rose against it first in Tumults after in open Arms and the discontented Parties in England joining with them however disjoined from one another brought on those Civil Wars in all the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which procur'd Destruction to the King as well as the Kingdoms In writing this History I cannot say with the noble Baptista Nani I have any Command from my Prince or any other to do it neither will I pretend to such great Advantages as he had gratis by a free access to the Records and most secret Counsels of my Country tho I must not say I have been wholly destitute of some for else such an Vndertaking would render me guilty of the highest Arrogance but what those have been I judg not pertinent here to relate they will best appear by the Work it self Yet I can say with Nani that I have not suffered my self to be defiled with Partiality which hath so prevailed in all the Writers of the late and present Times that I have seen but passing by the Privilege of venerable Antiquity which to a face of Truth hath another close adjoining that of Falshood I have chosen to expose my self
Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and State With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyrrel Esq Fol. A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion c. 8o. All sold by Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhil INTRODUCTION WHEN King James became King of England the Kingdom of France was bounded on the North with the British Sea from la Bresle on the East where this River which parts Normandy from Boloignois discharges it self into the Sea and in the Latitude of 50 Deg. North and 5 Min. from whence West and by South it extends it self to Portsal in Bretaign about 340 Miles distance and in the Latitude of 48 Degrees and North and by East from la Bresle to Calais which lies in the Latitude of 50 Degrees 40 Minutes From Portsal to the South inclining into the East upon the Bay of Biscay France extended it self to St. Jean de Luz which is the Frontier to Spain in the Latitude of 44 Degrees and from St. Jean de Luz East and by South it extended it self along the Pyrenean Hills to Perpignian in the Country of Rosillion in the Latitude of 42 Deg. 30 Min. From Perpignian on the South to Piedmont on the East towards the North it was bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and from Calais on the North the Eastern parts of France to the South were bounded by the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Alsace the State of Geneva Savoy and Piedmont The Continent was near threefold more than England including Wales Before the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Year 1474. Spain was divided into six Kingdoms whereof four were Christian viz. the Kingdoms of Castile and Leons Arragon Navarre and Portugal and two Mahometan viz. Granada and Murcia But when K. James came to be King of England all these Kingdoms were united under Philip the 3d King of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella having conquered the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia after Isabella's death Ferdinand conquered Navarre and Philip the 2d claimed and conquered Portugal in 1584. after the Death of Don Sebastian who was overthrown and slain by the King of Fez and Morocco in 1580. All these Kingdoms thus united were greater than France by about â…“ Spain thus united is a Peninsula having on the North-East and South-East the Pyrenean Hills on the North-East is Fontarabia and on the South-East Cape de Creux the rest of Spain is environed by the Bay of Biscay on the North by the Atlantick Ocean on the West and South to Gibralter and to the North-East by the Mediterranean Sea from Gibralter to Cape de Creux The North of Spain viz. the North of Biscay and Galicia is in the Latitude of 44 Degrees North and the South parts of Andaluzia and Granada in the Latitude of 36 Degrees 30 Minutes but the extent of Spain about the middle Region of it from East to West is more than from North to South being near 14 Degrees 20 Minutes in Longitude The Isle of Britain is the greatest of Europe it may be of the World for ought is certainly known at least none comparable to it except Madagascar or St. Laurence and Japan if it be an Island The North of it is in the Latitude of 58 Degrees North the South-East in 51 Degrees and towards the West inclines into the Latitude of 50 Degrees It 's bounded on the South by the Channel or British Sea on the East by the German Ocean on the North by the Deucaledonian Ocean and on the West by the Verguvian Britain is divided into two Kingdoms England and Scotland England including Wales above â…“ greater but incomparably a better and more fertile Soil and a more temperate Climate in a Northern Climate lying South of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland hath several Islands depending upon it on the North and West on the North is a Knot of Islands or Rocks called The Orcades I cannot tell whether they be distinguished by Names but on the North of these in the Latitude from 60 Degrees to 61 Degrees lies Shetland or Shotland which the Romans called Vltima Thule and on the West are the Hebrides the most considerable of them are the Isles of Mul Sky and Lewis Besides Ireland and the Isles of our Western Plantations the Isle of Man which lies between Lancashire and Ireland the Isle of Anglesey which lies between Wales and Ireland the Isles of Wight Garnsey and Jersey which lie in the British Sea between England and France and the Sorlings or Isles of Silly a Knot of Islands about a Degree West of the Lands-end of Cornwal are in the Dominion of the Kingdom of England Ireland is a Kingdom and Island depending upon the Kingdom of England greater than Scotland and near as big as England excluding Wales and is near of an Oblong Figure unless the Province of Munster inclines towards the West near a Degree into the South The North of Ireland lies in the Latitude of 55 Degrees 30 Minutes North and the South-East in the Latitude of 52 Degrees 30 Minutes and the South-West in the Latitude of 51 Degrees 40 Minutes the breadth from East to West is near 4 Degrees 20 Minutes Longitude Ireland on the North is bounded by the Deucaledonian Ocean on the East by St. George's Channel on the South by the Atlantick Ocean and on the West by the Verguvian Ocean It will much conduce to open the Design of the ensuing Treatise if we look back to the Dissolution of the Roman Western Empire and see what Kind of Government succeeded in the Kingdoms of Spain France and England and so take a view of the Causes of the Ruin of the Western Empire and herein I shall follow Helvicus his Christian Vulgar Aera As Britain was the first Country which received the Christian Faith so Constantine the Great the first of all the Christian Roman Emperors was born a Britain and became Emperor in the year of Christ 306. A Prince who as he excelled in Christian Piety so was he adorned with all Moral Vertues requisite in so great a Prince and being zealously addicted to propagate the Christian Faith and Religion he chiefly intended these above all other things but herein he met with great Opposition nor could he attain these Ends without shaking the Strength and Foundation of the Constitutions of the Empire For in propagating the Christian Faith and Religion Constantine was not only opposed by Dioclesian Maxentius and Maximin who were Emperours
who have rent themselves from the Nation and are more Enemies to it than any other But over and above these unhappy Accidents which so highly contributed to the weakning of the Spanish Monarchy we may add another that proved no less fatal and destructive and that was Queen Elizabeth's destroying their invincible Armada in the Year 1588. and her sacking and Burning of Cales in 1595. wherein was destroyed such an incredible Mass of Wealth that the Spaniards never after were formidable either by Sea or Land and this was so much the more by how much Philip the 3d proved to be a weak effeminate Prince wholly governed by Favourites Having taken a View of England and Spain and compared the State of them we 'll see how they stand in reference to France which lies between them and so becomes a neighbouring Nation to them both France tho it be not threefold greater than England yet it is manifoldly more peopled in that Proportion and more abounding with great rich and populous Towns and tho it be not an Island yet it has the British Sea on the North the Atlantick Ocean on the West and the Mediterranean Sea on the South so that in its Situation it 's better placed for Trade than if it had been an Island having Spain the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Germany Savoy and Italy to trade to by Land Henry the 4th of France after he had subdued the Popish League and made a Peace with the Spaniard at Vervins in 1597 secured the Murmurs of the Reformed by the famous Edict of Nants and being a Prince not less prudent in Counsel than victorious in War as well to divert the French from their mutinous and quarrelling Humour as to increase the Riches of France gave all imaginable Incouragement to the Inhabitants in Manufactures the Principles whereof abound more in France than any other Country except England yet added to them the breeding Silk-worms and by the lively Ingenuity of the French improved Silk-Manufactures above any other Country Here take notice of the Benefit which arises to any Nation by the Imployment of People in Manufactures above other Countries where the Inhabitants are not employed For suppose a Million of People in France were thus employed and those yearly earned 20 l. per Ann. the Employment of these People are twenty Millions Benefit yearly to France and this Money generally distributed among the Workmen and whatever of these Manufactures are vended in foreign Trade these will be so much an enriching to it whereas if these had not been employed they would have been at least five Millions a Year burden to it and France would have been in so much a worse State to have supported them whereas if the People be not employed as in Spain the Distribution of the Treasure out of the Indies is not only unequally distributed but the Charge of maintaining the Religious and idle Persons most miserable and intolerable Let 's now see the State of England by the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excluding the English Natives not Free-men from working in Market-Towns and Corporations we 'll take a very modest Estimate herein and suppose but 10000 yearly scarce one in a Parish be excluded so that hereby the Nation loses their Imployment this at 20 l. per Ann. will be 200000 pounds a Year loss to the Nation besides the Charge of maintaining them if they do not fly out of the Kingdom for want of Subsistence in it and I pray what does the wholesale and Retail Trades of Shop-keepers in them contribute to the Support of this or of what Benefit are they otherwise to the Nation Henry the 4th having thus imployed the Natives of France and having few Plantations to exhaust it tho France drove no foreign Trade by Sea yet by permitting the English Dutch Swedes Danes and Hamburghers to trade into France by Sea and the Germans by Land it 's scarce credible after the long Civil Wars in France in the Space of but 13 Years for it was no longer between the Peace at Vervins in 1597 and his Death what incredible Treasure he amassed if so great an Author as Messeray did not affirm it whereupon he nourished a Design of new modelling all the Western Parts of Christendom except Britain and Ireland which he knew would not hinder him in it and Messeray did not doubt but he had means enough to have accomplish'd it if he had lived but when his Foot was in the Stirrup to have accomplished this Ravillac put a full Stop to his Career Yet France had in it no Mines of Gold or Silver no more than England hath and the Treasure which England acquires is by the Vent of our Woollen Manufactures and our Lead and Tin and so much more as the Natives are less employed in these and these are less in foreign Trade by restraining the Vent to English Men and more to English Companies so much less Treasure will the Nation acquire and the Natives be less employed As France thus abounds in People more than either England or Spain whereby they acquire such vast Wealth above them by permitting Foreigners to trade with them so are the French Nobility which include the Gentry of a warlike and aspiring Temper and if this had not usually excited them into intestine Broils and Tumults as Secretary Trevor observes all their Neighbour Nations could not have set bounds to their ambitious Humour But the Prosperity of France no ways daunted Queen Elizabeth so that Henry the 4th designing to build some great Men of War at Brest she forbid the King 's making any further Progress in it or she would fire all the Ships in his Harbours whereupon this great Hero desisted nor would she permit the Dutch to build any great Ships but she would have an account of them and so having the Brill Ramakins and Flushing the Keys of the Rivers of the Maes and Scheld in her Hands she died with an uncontrouled Dominion of the Seas and Arbitress of Christendom and in this State King James took Possession of the Crown of England with all its Dependences to which he added that of Scotland whose Reign is now ripe to be exposed A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King JAMES I. c. BOOK I. CHAP. I. A Better View may appear of this Reign if we look back to the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and compare it with that of this King's Reign when he came to join the Crowns of England and Ireland to that of Scotland and thereby became the greatest Monarch that governed England since King John except it was in the Reign of Henry the Fifth and some time of the Reign of Henry the Sixth when Normandy and so great a part of France was subdued to the Dominion of the Crown of England This Kingdom was never in so low an Ebb of Reputation and so dangerous a State both at home and abroad as when Queen Elizabeth came to
the Crown her Father Brother and Sister in debt and the Navy Royal neglected and out of Repair yet the Revenues of the Crown besides the Court of Wards and the Dutchy of Lancaster I say the Profits of the Kingdom were but 188179 l. 4 s. See Sir Robert Cotton ' s Means of the Kings of England p. 3. the Kingdom imbroiled in intestine Heats in Religion and Philip the second of Spain aspiring to an unlimited Dominion in and out of Europe Calais notwithstanding the united Interest of England with Spain but some Months before lost to the French and Francis the Dauphin of France in right of his Wife Mary Queen of Scotland laying claim to the Crown of England Whereas when King James came to be King of England the Kingdom was in intire Peace within and in a Martial State and full of Honour and Reputation abroad the Royal Navy not only Superior to any other in the World in Strength but in good Repair few Debts left charged upon the Crown yet if the Exchequer were not replenished with Money the King received Three entire Subsidies and six fifteens of the 4 Subsidies and eight Fifteens granted to the Queen for suppressing the Irish Rebellion and carrying on the War against Spain some Months before though both the Rebellion and War with Spain ceased that Year he became King the Customs for supporting the Navy more than fivefold they were in the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and above two Millions and four hundred Thousand Pounds due from the States of Holland or the Vnited Netherlands but how the States became discharged of it it 's fit to premise it there and how it became due to Queen Elizabeth and so to the Crown of England Queen Elizabeth though she refused to accept of the Sovereignty of the Vnited Provinces when she took them into Protection after the Expulsion of the Duke of Anjou and the Death of the Prince of Orange yet she entred into a Treaty with the States Anno 1585. wherein it was agreed That the Dutch should repay her all the Monies which she should expend for their Preservation with Interest at 10 per Cent. when the War was ended with Spain and that two English whom the Queen should name should be admitted into their Council of State and for Security whereof the Dutch should deliver up to her Flushing Rammekins and the Brill which were the Keys of their Country Upon this Agreement the Queen for the Dutch's further Encouragement gave them Licence to fish upon the Coast of England which she denied them when they continued in their subjection to King Philip and removed the Staple of the English Woollen Manufactures from Antwerp in the Power of the King of Spain to Delf in the Dutch Power and it is scarce credible how in so short a time after viz. scarce thirteen Years the Dutch entertaining all sorts of People who were persecuted upon the Account of not submitting to the Papal Usurpations called Religion swelled their Trade and Navigation not only in Europe but in the East and West-Indies The Queen considering this Encrease of the Dutch Trade and Navigation was as much to the lessening of the English and being provoked by the Ingratitude of the Lovestein Faction whereof one Olden Barnevelt was the Head a Fellow as factious and turbulent as ungrateful by whose Counsel another Assembly was erected at Amsterdam called The Convention of the States General wherein they managed all the secret and important Affairs of their State and out of which they excluded the English The Queen I say highly incensed at the Ingratitude of this Faction which now governed all in Holland and yet continuing to support them at the Charge of 120000 l. per Ann. as Camden observes in his Eliz. Reg. Ann. 1598 signified to the States her Intention of making Peace with the King of Spain which if she did it would be impossible for them to continue their War with Spain and recover their Cautionary-Towns from the Queen Hereupon the States sent my Lord Warmond as they called him as their humble Supplicant to the Queen and in the lowest Posture of Humility acknowledged themselves obliged to her for infinite Benefits and that as her Majesty excelled the Glory of her Ancestors in Power so she excelled them in Acts of Piety and Mercy but pleaded Poverty for not repayment of the Money the Queen had expended for their Preservation they might have said their Exaltation The Queen in Answer to them said she had been often deceived by their deceitful Supplications and ungrateful Actions and Pretence of Poverty when their Power and Riches confuted them and that she hoped God would not suffer her to be a Pattern to other Princes to help such a People who bear no Reverence to Superiors nor take care for the Advantage Reputation or Safety of any but themselves The Dutch were confounded at the Queen's Answer submitted themselves to such Terms as the Queen should lay upon them and the Queen wisely considering if she should cast them off Henry the 4th of France who the last Year viz. 1597 had concluded a Peace with Spain at Vervins by the Interposition of the Pope's Nuncio and sought to be Protector of the States whereby the Queen would not only be in danger to lose their Dependance but the Monies she had expended in their Support they the Queen and States came to this Agreeement 1. That upon an Account stated there was eight Millions of Crowns or two Millions Sterling due to the Queen for which they were to pay Ten per Cent. so long as the War lasted 2. That during the War they should pay the Queen one hundred thousand Pounds yearly and the Remainder when Peace with Spain was concluded and then to have their Cautionary Towns surrendred back to them 3. That till this Agreement was performed the States were to pay Fifteen hundred English in Garison in them We leave this Agreement here till we hear more of it hereafter There were but thirteen Months between this King's Birth and Reign his Mother being deposed to make Room for his coming to be King and by this Title he reigned twenty Years in his Mother's Life and during that time he never made use of her Name in the Coin of Scotland nor in any Proclamation or Law and after her Death continued his Reign by this Title to his dying Day which was inconsistent with the Flatteries which his Favourites buz'd continually in his Ears That he was King by inherent Birth-right and that he held his Crown from God alone and so pleasing was this Doctrine to him that above all other things he set himself upon it not only in magnifying himself herein in his Speeches in Parliament but in his Writings against Bellarmine and Peron against the Pope's deposing Kings In his Infancy and Minority the Regents and Nobility made Havock of the Crown and Church Revenues so as when he came to Age he had but little left
Gaunt's elder Brother So that of the Succession of 14 Kings after the Conqueror there were but four viz. Richard the First Edward the First and Second and Richard the Second which succeeded as Heirs to the Conqueror or his Heirs Admit Edward the 4th succeeded right as Heir to Phillippa Daughter of the Duke of Clarence yet if it be true which Richard the 3d says and which is confirmed by the Authority of the Act of Parliament 1 Rich. 3. that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before he married Elizabeth then did not Edward the 5th if it may be called a Succession succeed right nor could Henry the 7th claim any Right to the Crown of England in Right of his Wife Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth But whether it be true or not that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before his Marriage yet Richard the 3d succeeded not as Heir Edward Earl of Warwick the Son of George Duke of Richard's elder Brother being then alive Of all the Kings of England that succeeded the Conqueror Henry the 7th had the least Pretension to any Title to the Crown for tho he were supposed to have been descended from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet it was the Duke's Paramour Katherine Swinford whose Issue by the Duke tho by Act of Parliament they were legitimated to all other purposes yet were not capacitated to succeed to the Crown of England but if the Title of Lancaster had been preferable to that of York and Henry had been of the legitimate Line yet could not he have succeeded as Heir his Mother under whom he claimed being then alive and out-lived her Son Nor did the King's Marriage with Elizabeth eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th improve his Title to his Succession the Marriage being subsequent to it and before it the Crown by Act of Parliament was entailed upon Henry the 7th and the Heirs of his Body and after Marriage he never used her Name in calling any Parliament or in any Proclamation or the Coin or passing any Act of Parliament and as he reigned without her before Marriage so he did after her Death for he out-lived her tho she left two Sons Arthur and Henry after Henry the Eighth and two Daughters Elizabeth Queen of Scotland and Mary after Queen of France It seems to me that Ferdinand King of Castile and Arragon had the same Opinion which Richard the 3d and the Parliament had that the Issue of Edward the 4th were not legitimate for he would not assent to the Marriage of his Daughter Katherine with Arthur Prince of Wales so long as the Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence lived and there a fine Trick was found out to put the poor Prince to Death for endeavouring to make his Escape out of the Tower with Perkin Warbeck and in him ended the Masculine Line of the Race of the Plantagenets who had governed the English Nation after Stephen to Henry the 7th above 340 Years So that from the Conqueror to Henry the 8th scarce one of four of the Kings of England succeeded in a right Line as Heirs to the Conqueror As the Saxon Dynasty ended in Edward the Confessor and the Norman began in the Conqueror so it seems to me that the Norman ended in Richard the 3d and another of the British was erected in Henry the 7th who was the Son of Edmund of Hadham the Son of Owen Tudor by Katherine Daughter of Charles the 6th of France Wife of Henry the 5th of England and Mother of Henry the 6th So that Henry the 7th's Title to the Crown of France was better than that to the Crown of England for that of England was from a Maternal Ancestor Margaret Countess of Richmond no otherwise related to the Crown of England than descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Paramour Tho I do not find that Henry the 7th or any of his Descendants ever assumed the Sirname of Tudor So that tho the Crown of England neither in the Saxon nor Norman Race of Kings was always Hereditary so neither was the Succession to the Crown elective For in elective Kingdoms after the Death of one King there is an Establishment of the manner of Elections and in the mean time there are Custodes Regni appointed whose Power ceases upon the Election of a King but neither of these were ever heard of in either of the Saxon or Norman Race and tho sometimes it 's said the Kings were chosen as of Edward the Son of Alfred by the Nobles and so of Athelstan and so in the Norman Race Henry the First was said to be chosen for that he promised to abrogate all the Oppressions and Errors brought into the Government by his Father and Brother tho his eldest Brother Robert was then alive and restore the good Laws of Edward the Confessor and Stephen was chosen by the Clergy and Londoners yet this was rather a form of Speaking in those days than any formal Election and the manner differed according to the different Humours of the Times Nor do we read that ever the Parliament meddled with the Succession of the Crown before Henry the Fourth for tho the first Parliament of Edward the Third renounced their Allegiance to Edward the Second and are said to have chosen Edward the Third yet they went no further and such an Election was no more than a Declaration of their Submission as when the Council declared James the Second King But whether the Crown of England was Hereditary in the Saxon and Norman Race it 's evident it was not so in this British Race for as it began in Henry the Seventh so it was entailed by Act of Parment upon him and Heirs of his Body before his Marriage with Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth So the inheritable Right of Edward's Issue and all the Norman Race was barred by this Act. Before we proceed in the Succession of the British Race we 'll take a view of the Genealogy of it John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford had Issue John created Earl of Somerset who had Issue John created Duke of Somerset who had Issue Margaret After the Death of Henry the Fifth Katherine his Wife Sister of Charles the Sixth of France married Owen Tudor a Welch Gentleman who had Issue Edmund of Hadham created Earl of Richmond who married Margaret Daughter and Heir of John Duke of Somerset who had Issue Henry the Seventh Henry the Eighth succeeded his Father without any Contradiction for the Wars between the houses of York and Lancaster had destroyed the whole legitimate Lancastrian Line and Richard the Third after the Murder of his Brother Clarence and Death of Edward the Fourth had murdered his two Nephews Edward and Richard Sons of Edward the Fourth and himself was killed in the Fight in Bosworth-fields and after that Henry the Seventh had put Edward Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence to Death none of all
one the 4th of Edw. the 3d c. 14. the other 36 Edward 3. c. 10. and when Parliaments thus frequently met Grievances were nipt in the Bud the Courts of Law kept to the Administration of Justice uprightly the Ambition of great Men restrained Factions and Innovations suppressed and when the Parliament met thus frequently the King had an Account of the State of the Nation and upon Redress of Grievances if any were the Parliament in acknowledgment of their Duty gave the King a Gratuity sometimes a Fifteenth other times a Subsidy and at other times a Subsidy and a Fifteenth and sometimes a Subsidy and two Fifteenths but never more before the 35 of Eliz. and the King in return granted a general Pardon to his Subjects with such Exceptions as the Parliament pleased and thus a mutual Love and Understanding between the King and his Subjects was nourished and encreased Whereas by the long discontinuance of Parliaments Grievances multiply and take Root so as they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Discontinuances last The Favourites by their flattering the Prince not only keep him in Ignorance of the State of his Subjects but fix the Prince so to their Will that it becomes so habitual in him that the Prince prefers them before his Subjects and their Flatteries before the Advice of his Parliament and often takes their parts before that of the Parliament and Nation These long Intervals of Parliaments you 'll see will beget long Parliaments and the Members get to be chosen by the Favour of great Men and vast Expence so that the Grievances with the Parliament should redress become diffused into the Body of the Parliament than which nothing can be more dangerous to the Constitution of Parliament Besides that the publick Business may not be interrupted during the Sessions of Parliament the Members of both Houses have Privileges whereof they are the only Judges both in their own Persons and of their Servants whereby they are exempted from Arrests or any Process at Law which is not only grievous to the Subjects but oft the Ruine of them But now it 's time to see what the King's Proclamation for calling his first Parliament tended to Before King James his coming to the Crown of England the Election of Members in the House of Commons was so free that the Letters of the King or any Noble Man to chuse a Member was judged Cause sufficient to render the Election void but the King by this Proclamation gives order what Sorts of Men and how Qualified should be chosen by the Commons and concludes We Notify by these Presents That all Returns and Certificates of Knights Citizens and Burgesses ought and are to be brought to the Court of Chancery and there to be filed upon Record and if any be found to be made contrary to this Proclamation the same is to be rejected as unlawful and insufficient and the City or Borough to be fined for the same and if it be found that they have committed any gross or wilful Default or Contempt in the Election Return or Certificate that then their Liberties according to the Law are to be seized as forfeited And if any Person take upon him the Place of a Knight Citizen or Burgess not being duly elected and sworn according to the Laws and Statutes in that behalf provided and according to the Purport Effect and true Meaning of this our Proclamation then every Person so offending to be fined and imprisoned for the same Never was such a Prelude to the Meeting of a Parliament by any of the Kings of England either of the Saxon Danish Norman or British Race and if the King in the Beginning thus extends his first Note above ELA to what Pitch will he strain his Prerogative hereafter However since Forfeitures of Charters Fining and Imprisoning of Members not elected and returned according to this Proclamation were the Penalties imposed by it for the better Execution it might have been declared who should judg of these Elections and Returns or by what Law It fell out unluckily I think I may say designedly that upon the opening of the Parliament several of the House of Commons one of which was Sir Herbert Crofts coming to hear the King's Speech in the House of Lords had the Door shut upon them and were repulsed by a Yeoman of the Guard one Bryant Cash with the uncivil and contemptible Terms of Goodman Burgess you come not here The King in a long and tedious Speech which you may read at large in Stow's Chronicle after he had expressed his Thanks to the whole Nation for their Universal Acclamations in receiving him for their undoubted Sovereign which so much conduced to their Happiness in the Union of all Claims in his Person being the undoubted Heir of Hen. 7 and Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th wherein the Titles of the Houses of York and Lancaster were reconciled He tells them the Wonders which he will do both in reference to the inward and outward Peace of the Kingdom which how well he performed you will hear hereafter But as to the Glory which he ascribes to himself of being King by inherent Birthright from Hen. 7. and his Queen I think he could not have taken a worse Topick for what he so much gloried in For no hereditary Monarch has a better Title to his Crown than the Ancestor from whom he first claims had and it is evident Henry the 7th had no Colour of Title to the Crown of England by Inheritance being only descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Concubine when John of Gaunt's Wife was alive nor could the King claim any Title from the Wife of Henry the 7th for Henry himself would never own she had any reigning not only during her Life without naming her in the Coins Proclamations or Laws but after her Death and was not only crowned without her but called a Parliament without her ere he was married to her and had the Crown entailed upon him and the Heirs of his Body before he married her Besides there is no Averment against an Act of Parliament and the Act of the first of Richard the 3d declares all the Issue of Edward the 4th by the Lady Grey the Mother of Henry the 7th's Wife to be Illegitimate and so uncapable of any Inheritance to the Crown of England But how edified soever the Commons were with the King's Speech they were little pleased with the Yeomen of the Guards usage of their Members which in due time the King shall hear of However the King who since his coming in had been acquainted only with Flatteries introduced with the Epithet of most sacred which I find rarely applied to any of his Predecessors and how properly applied to him giving himself up to a dissolute and prophane Life let another judg was buoyed up with a mighty Expectation of the Success of his Proclamation and Speech which did not succeed
Angely Gergeau Sancerre and Saumur which were all the Cautionary Places which the Reformed had upon the Loire and also Suilly Merac and Caumont King James that he might as much appear for the Reformed as he had done for his Son-in-law sent Sir Edward Herbert after Baron Herbert of Cherberry his Ambassadour into France to mediate a Peace between the King and the Reformed and in Case of Refusal to use Menaces which Sir Edward bravely performed to Luynes and after to the French King himself which being misrepresented to King James Sir Edward was recalled and the Earl of Carlisle was sent Ambassadour into France in his room and the Earl finding the Truth to be otherwise than was represented by Luynes acquainted the King with it Hereupon Sir Edward kneeled to the King and humbly besought him that since the Business between Luynes and him was become publick that a Trumpeter if not an Herald on Sir Edward's Part might be sent to Luynes to tell him That he had made a false Relation to the King of the Passages between them and that Sir Edward would demand Reasons of him with Sword in Hand on that Point but the King was not pleased to grant it and here began the Downfal of the Power of the Reformed in France and the Rise of the French Grandeur by Land In this rotten and teachy State of Affairs before the Meeting of the Parliament the King issued out a Proclamation of which he was as prodigal as bountiful to his Favourites forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs as if his Favourite Buckingham who governed all was so mindful of them nor was the King less jealous of the Parliament's meddling with State-Affairs than of the Peoples talking of them out of Parliament so that the King upon the opening of the Parliament the 30th of January told them of the Constituting Parts of a Parliament and how it was twelve Years since he had received any Aids from Parliaments and how that though he had prosecuted a Treaty of Marriage between the Prince and Infanta of Spain which if it were not for the Benefit of the Established Religion in England and of the Reformed abroad he was not worthy to be their King and though he had refused to assist his Son-in-law in his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia being a matter of Religion contrary to what he had wrote against the Jesuits yet that he could not sit still and see the Patrimony of his Children torn from them by the Emperor and therefore was resolved to raise an Army next Summer and that he would engage his Crown his Blood and Soul for the Recovery of the Palatinate And having before told the Commons of their Duty to petition the King and acquaint him with their Grievances but not to meddle with his Prerogative he after tells them that who shall hasten after Grievances and desire to make himself popular has the Spirit of Satan The Parliament notwithstanding the violation of their Privileges the last Parliament by the King 's imprisoning their Members yet being zealous to assist the King against the Emperor and King of Spain in favour of the Palsgrave and though the Nation at no time before so much abounded in Corruption and Grievances yet to humour the King inverted the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament and the Commons granted the King two entire Subsidies and the Clergy three before they entred upon Grievances which so pleased the King that in a Speech in the House of Lords he declared it was more acceptable to him than Millions it shewing he reigned in the Love and Affections of his Subjects but he did not long hold in this Mind At this Sessions of Parliament if it may be called so no Act but that of the Subsidies passing Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis Michel were sentenced and degraded for erecting new Inns and Ale-houses and exacting great Sums of Money by pretence of Letters Patents granted for that purpose Sir Giles fled and so escaped a farther Punishment but Sir Francis was condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in Finsbury Goal Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Verulam and Lord Chancellor was likewise censured deposed fined and committed Prisoner to the Tower for Bribery and Bacon's Fall was Doctor Williams's Rise Dean of Westminster to be Lord Keeper of the Great Seal But the Commons debating the Growth of Popery and the dangerous Consequences of the Spanish Match contrary to the King's Speech and Inclinations he upon the Fourth of June which the Commons took to be an Invasion upon their Privileges by Commission adjourned them to the 14th of November and by a Proclamation forbid the talking of State-Affairs In this recess the Spaniards took Stein in the lower Palatinate and the Duke of Bavaria all the Upper Palatinate and the Arms of Lewis prevailed more upon the Reformed in France yet none of these prevailed upon the King further than to mediate a Suspension of Arms in order to treat an Accommodation between the Emperor and his Son-in-law and the French King and the Reformed which had no other Effect but to make the King contemptible in Germany as well as France his Power and Authority being bounded up only in Words and Messages which the King's ill-Willers blazing abroad cost the King more than would have recovered the Palatinate However the King abated nothing of his Pleasure and dissolute Life but according to the usual Methods of his Life in the Autumn went to New-Market to divert himself with Hunting from the trouble of Affairs either foreign or domestick leaving his Favourite Buckingham Dictator of all his Affairs when the Parliament met again But how remiss soever the King was of his Affairs the Commons were not perhaps heated by their Adjournment and alarmed at the Progress of Lewis against the Reformed in France and of the Emperor and King of Spain not only in the Palatinate but all over the Empire against the Protestants and also with the Liberty which the Popish Party took upon the hopes they conceived would accrue to them by the Spanish Match still as fervently pursued by the King and Prince as ever the King being encouraged hereto by the Earl of Bristol the King's Ambassador in Spain but more by the Spanish Ambassador Gundamor here A Person as Nâ—ni observes who with a stupendous Acuteness of Wit so confounded pleasant things with serious that it was not easy to be discerned when he spoke of Business and when he rallied he had so insinuated himself into the Mind of the King that he need not take any further care of restoring his Son-in-law to the Palatinate but by Prince Charles his marrying with the Infanta the Treaty whereof now is 8 Years old being brought to Maturity and Perfection so soon as the Pope should grant a Dispensation The House of Commons hereupon being ill satisfied with the Distribution of the Subsidies before granted to the King resolve to proceed upon Grievance before they granted more Supplies and to that end drew up
the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Principality of Wales and of the Dominions and Islands of the same of the Town of Calais and of the Marches of the same and of Normandy Gascoign and Guienne General Governor of the Seas and Ships of the Kingdom Master of the Horse to the King Lord Warden Chancellor and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and of the Members of the same Constable of Dover-Castle Justice in Eyre of all the Forests and Chases on this side of Trent Constable of the Castle of Windsor Gentleman of his Majesty's Bed-Chamber one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council in his Realms of England Scotland and Ireland and Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter But tho all others worshipped this prodigious Favourite yet Arch-bishop Abbot a Prelate of Primitive Sanctity and Integrity would not flatter neither the King nor his Favourite in their Courses so dangerous to the Church and State and dishonourable to the King and tho in Disgrace he wrote this following Letter to the King which you may read in Rushworth fol. 85. May it please your Majesty M I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my Silence I have neglected the Duty of the Place it has pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in But now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my Duty to your Majesty and therefore freely to give me leave to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you to take into your Consideration what that Act is what the Consequence may be By your Act you labour to set up the most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How hateful will it be to God and grievous to your Subjects the Professors of the Gospel that your Majesty who hath so often and learnedly disputed and written against those Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those wicked Doctrines which your Pen hath to the World and your Conscience tells your self are superstitious idolatrous and detestable and hereto I add what you have done by sending the Prince into Spain without the Consent of your Council the Privity or Approbation of your People and altho you have a Charge and Interest in the Prince as the Son of your Flesh yet the People have a greater as Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty are their Eyes fixed and their Welfare depends and so tenderly is his going apprehended as I believe however his Return may be safe yet the Drawers of him into this Action so dangerous to himself so desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestion'd and unpunished Besides the Toleration which you endeavour to set up by your Proclamation cannot be without a Parliament unless your Majesty will let your Subjects see that you will take to your self the Ability to throw down the Laws of the Land at your Pleasure What dread Consequence these things may draw afterwards I beseech your Majesty to consider and above all lest by this Toleration and discountenancing the true Profession of the Gospel wherewith God hath blest us and this Kingdom hath so long flourished under it your Majesty doth not draw upon this Kingdom in general and your self in particular God's Wrath and Indignation I have heard my Father say that King James kept a Fool called Archy if he were not more Knave whom the Courtiers when the King was at any time thoughtful or serious would bring in with his antick Gestures and Sayings to put him out of it In one of these Modes of the King in comes Archy and tells the King he must change Caps with him Why says the King Why who replies Archy sent the Prince into Spain But what said the King wilt thou say if the Prince comes back again Why then said Archy I will take my Cap from thy Head and send it to the King of Spain which was said troubled the King sore But if we look back into Spain we shall see things of another Complection than when Buckingham came into it For now he is disgusted he put the Prince quite out of the Match as that tho all things were agreed upon the coming of the Dispensation from Rome so as King James said all the Devils in Hell could not break the Match yet his Disciple and Scholar could tho the Duke had certified the King the Match was brought to a happy Conclusion and the Match publickly declar'd in Spain and the Prince permitted Access to the Infanta in the Presence of the King and the Infanta was generally stiled the Princess of England and in England a Chappel was building for her at St. James's and the King had prepared a Fleet to fetch her into England which only proved to bring back his Son How things especially actuated by Love should stay here may seem strange yet such an Ascendant had Buckingham over the Prince that the Affront put upon him Buckingham must quite deface the Prince's vowed Love and Affection to the Infanta but how to prevail with King James to comply might have an appearance of some Difficulty since the King had set his Rest upon it and had quarelled with the Parliament and dissolv'd them in great Anger and Fury for but mentioning it After the Duke had gained the Prince to break or at least not to observe the Conditions of the Treaty of the Marriage with the Infanta so solemnly sworn to by both the Kings and the Prince let 's now see how he behaved himself to King James afterwards but this will be better understood if we look back and see how things stood before the Prince's and Duke's Arrival in Spain The Prince's going into Spain was not only kept secret from King James ' s Council but from my Lord Keeper Williams tho the King confided in his Abilities above all the other of his Council but when it had taken vent the King asked the Keeper what he thought Whether the Knight Errant's Pilgrimage meaning the Prince's would prove lucky to win the Spanish Lady and to convey her shortly into England Sir answered my Lord Keeper If my Lord Marquess will give Honour to Conde Duke Olivares and remember he is the Favourite of Spain or if Olivares will shew honourable Civility to my Lord Marquess remembring he is a Favourite of England the Wooing may be prosperous but if my Lord Marquess should forget where he is and not stoop to Olivares or if Olivares forgetting what Guest he hath received with the Prince bear himself haughtily and like a Castilian to my Lord Marquess the Provocation may be dangerous to cross your Majesty's good Intentions and I pray God that either one or both do not run into that Error The Answer of the Keeper took such Impression upon the King that he asked the Keeper if he had wrote to his Son and the
concerned in it yet what Parliamentary Advice did the King take the last nine Months If the Nation and the King's Friends be in such imminent Ruin the King should have declared who those Friends were and who they were which threatned this Ruin When his Father died he was at Peace with all the World and it was his own Wilfulness that without any other Counsel but that of Buckingham he made War upon France and Spain and let any Man read the Passages of the short time of his Reign and judg if the imminent Ruin of the Nation were not from himself within as well as without and if the granting him further Supplies would not more endanger the Nation in carrying on his Designs in both Here note Tho the King had made no Conscience of what he had done yet he now tells the Parliament If they shall not do their Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs he must in Discharge of his Conscience use those other Means which God hath put into his hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may other ways hazard to lose The King should have explained what other ways God put into his hands to govern his Subjects than by Justice Judgment and Righteousness for all other ways are unjust and wicked And how any Man how great soever can plead Conscience to perpetrate Injustice and Wickedness must be unfolded by Laud Neal Sibthorp Manwaring Mountague Wren Heylin c. The King proceeds and says Take not this for a Threatning for I scorn to threaten any but my Equals but an Admonition from him that both out of Nature and Duty has most Care of your Preservations and Prosperities This is Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam What a Monster does the King here make a Parliament the Head so incomprehensively big and the Body so scornful and little But if it ill becomes any Man to glory in his own Actions it worse becomes him to glory in that which he himself had not done So that admit the King had been so superlatively great as to scorn all the World besides yet it would better have become any other to have said it than the King A Parliament is a Political Body whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons the Body and What is the Head without the Body Are not all the Members of every Body of Use for the Head And does not the Head stand in need of every Member of the Body But if the Head be overgrown and too big and the Body too scornful and lean is not this not only monstrous but a Symptom of the Imperfection of the whole and that it is in a declining and dangerous State Yet the King tells them The End of calling this Parliament was for Supply And did ever King or other Man before him tell those from whom he expected Supply or any other Benefit that he scorn'd them and if they do not their Duties he would use other Means which God had put in his hands without telling what those other Means were and call them Fools and particular Men if they do not their Duties to save what they may otherwise hazard to lose whereas heretofore the Kings of England ever thank'd the Parliament upon a Bill for Aids But after all this the Parliament must not take it for a Threatning but an Admonition An Admonition may be taken in a double Sense either to instruct another in his Duty or to menace or threaten another if he continues obstinate in some Fault or Crime committed by that other But this Admonition of the King 's in the Parliament must not be taken for a Threatning of them therefore it must be for their Instruction ignorant of their Duties A Parliament was called by the Saxons Wittenage-Mote or the Conventus Sapientum the Meeting of Wise Men who met together to deliberate of the arduous and urgent Businesses of the Kingdom and concerning the State and Defence of the Kingdom and Church of England and is called the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Council of the Kingdom and the Council of the Kingdom See 4th Institute 2. And tho the Writ of Summons of Parliaments be Ad Tractandum Deliberandum de certis arduis Regni negotiis pro statu defensiâ—e Regni Ecclesiae Angliae concernentibus yet the Parliaments of England unlike the Convention of the State of Scotland are not tied up to those things only which the King propounds but are free to treat and deliberate of all things which other ways concern the Kingdom and Church of England So that the great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is to advise the King And all our Saxon Norman and British Kings had ever Parliaments in so high an Esteem that we do not read any where before these two Kings of the Scotish Race came to reign over us that ever any King and Parliament parted in Disgust whereas since King James came to be King five or six parted in Disgust and God knows what would have become of the other if King James had not died before the Parliament met again Did ever any King of England before tho he scorn'd to threaten the Parliament yet admonish them of their Duties or otherwise he would use those other means than by Parliament which God had put into his hands But Quorsum haec or where will the Designs of this young King stop However you may see by this Speech of the King 's that those who govern'd him were as little Politicians as Orators But good Laws often arise from corrupt Times and bad Manners for Magna Charta did arise from the Usurpations of K. John and Henry III. above the Laws and Liberties of this Nation so did the Petition of Right the Magna Charta of this Age from the Usurpations of this King since the Dissolution of the last Parliament to the Meeting of this little more than nine Months And as the old Magna Charta was no new Law but a Declaration of the old restored by Henry II. King John's Father called the Avitae Leges so neither was the Petition of Right which enumerates the Breaches the King had made of Magna Charta and manifold other Laws before it prays Relief against them But these Charta's were obtained after different manners the old by cruel Wars The Doctrines of Passive Obedience and submitting to the Absolute Will and Pleasure of the King were Strangers to those Days and the Bishops were so far from those Doctrines that they were the chief Promoters of Magna Charta and stigmatized the Infringers of it the King himself not excepted with a dreadful Anathema Whereas neither Rome nor Athens could ever glory in such an Assembly as the Commons of this Parliament were for their Vertue and Learning nor any Age produce such a number of Men of the like Integrity to their Country and humble Obedience to
the Commons ask any Grant of it to them or any other To conclude I command you all that are here to take notice of â—hat I have spoken at this time to be the true Intent and Meaning of â—hat I have granted you in your Petition especially you my Lords the Judges for to you only under me belongs the Interpretation of the Laws for none of the Houses of Parliament either joint or separate what new Doctrine soever may be raised have any Power either to â—ake or declare a Law without my Consent And you need not doubt but these shall be placito-men all who shall not scruple to make the King's Will to be the Subjects Law and those that will not shall be none of this King's Judges I do not find that the King before he prorogued them gave the Parliament any Thanks for the Bill of Subsidies tho greater than ever was given to any King as his Predecessors ever did or if he did it ill sorted with the Speech he made before But before we proceed to take a View of this King's Actions in the Interval of this Recess of Parliament let 's a little consider the present State of the King and Kingdom and herein who it was the King quarrelled with and upon what Account and for whose sake It was with the Representatives of the Kingdom who had so obsequiously and unanimously gratified him above what any other House of Commons ever did to any King of England before The Crimes for which the King inveighed so against them were for representing their Grievances and the dangerous and feeble State of himself and the Kingdom and to represent to him the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by taking the Customs as he did yet declaring their Readiness to relieve him therein and to reconcile him to his Subjects And for whom was it the King thus contended but for a Favourite who against the King's Father's Will and Advice of his Council without a Declaration or Reason shee l the next Day after the King's Father's Death as the Bishop of Litchfield observes excited him to make War against the King of Spain and after made the King to dissolve the Parliament to save himself from being impeached in it And so he did the second Parliament and then engaged the King in a War against France wherein he himself was the Aggressor and put the King upon those unheard-of ways to support these Wars that never were practised by any King of England before and in the ill Management of them brought greater Loss and Dishonour to the Nation than ever was before A Favourite who besides these brought the Crown to extream Poverty to support his intolerable Ambition and Avarice Here again I cannot but note the miserable State of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and their Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents above other Men for other Mens Enemies are but few and the rest of Mankind their Friends but the Majesty Glory and Honour of a Prince is founded in the Love and Obedience of his Subjects and if this be lost whereto then can a Prince betake himself What became of Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. tho two of those four Hereditary Princes of ten after the Conquest when they had lost the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and this Prince and his Sons after him made haste to overtake their Fate Not one many hundreds of private Men but die a natural Death but Sine Caede Sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges But above all those of this Scotish Race of Kings descended from Elizabeth More which 't is a question whether any one of Nine of them in a continued Succession died a Natural Death The Duke of Buckingham upon his Retreat from the Isle of Rhee promised the Rochellers to send them speedy Relief and to make good his Word sent the Earl of Denbigh his Brother-in-law with a Fleet to relieve it now close besieged by the French King the Earl came before Rochel the first of May 1628 where he found the French Fleet of 20 Sail had blockt up Rochel by Sea upon the Approach of the Earl the French retired towards their Fortifications and anchored within two Cannon shot of the Fleet and so continued till the 8th of May the Earl promised the Rochellers to sink the French Fleet when the Waters encreased and the Wind came Westerly it being then neap Tides but two Days after the Waters did encrease and the Wind became Westerly then the Earl being intreated to fight the French Fleet did not but weighed Anchor and came away only four of the French Fleet at a distance pursuing the English Fleet. Thus was the Duke's Expedition to the Isle of Rhee seconded by this of his Brother-in-law for the Relief of Rochel I do not find the Parliament took notice of this but if they had it had been to no purpose for soon after the Earl's Return the King resolving not to hear of the Commons Remonstranceâ— against his taking the Customs not granted by Parliament to which he said he must have given a harsh Answer upon the 26th of June prorogues the Parliament to the 20th of October following and after by Proclamation to the 20th of January To redeem his Brother-in-law's Miscarriage the Duke in this Recess goes to Portsmouth to command the Fleet there to relieve Rochel but at Portsmouth he is stabb'd by Felton the 23d of August yet was the Design pursued under the Command of the Earl of Lindsey who several times attempted to force the Barricadoes of the River before Rochel but all in vain or if he had it had been to no purpose for the Victuals wherewith the Rochellers should have been relieved were all tainted and 't was well the French had no Fleet there for the English Tackle and other Materials were all defective This was the last Attempt this unhappy â—ing made either for the Relief of the poor Protestants in France or for the Recovery of the Palatinate for now Buckingham was dead who put him upon making War with Spain and France the King as secretly as before he had done suddenly made Peace with both Spain and France What 's now become of the twelve Subsidies and three Fifteenths granted to this King's Father and himself in less than eight years time by Parliament for Recovery of the Palatinate besides Loans Benevolences Coat and Conduct Money raised by his Father and himself without Consent of Parliament Let any Man shew in any Records of time that half so much in like time was raised by any of our Kings upon any Occasions except the Dissolution of Abbeys in Henry the VIII's time Search all Histories and find any one Prince so wilfully set to be govern'd by such loose vain wild and negligent Councils as either of these Princes Father or Son Now let 's see the Condition of these poor Rochellers trusting to this Prince and his Favourite they lived long upon Horse-flesh Hides Leather Dogs and Cats hardly
write a Mercenary Treatise called Mare Liberum wherein he will not allow the King to have any Title to the Soveraignty of the British Seas or his Subjects any more Right to fish in them than the Dutch or any other Nation But how consistible this Treatise is to Truth Antiquity the sacred Scriptures or to Grotius himself or to the Practice of his Country-Men is now fit to be enquired into And since I have as well as I can asserted the Laws and Constitutions of my Country at home I will with that Sincerity that becomes an English-man endeavour to vindicate the Honour of it abroad especially in our King's Soveraignty of the British Seas which Grotius so absurdly in his Mare Liberum endeavours to rob them of An Answer to Grotius his Mare Liberum wherein is shewed how often he contradicts himself how ignorant he is in all Principles and Methods in Reasoning and how impossibly contrary his pretended Arguments are to Sacred History and all antient Authority But before we enter hereupon it 's fit to see how the Case stood before Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum as well in reference to the King of England's Claim as how the Case stood between the King and Dutch when Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum And that we may avoid the endless Confusions which Grotius above all other Writers abounds in I require these Premises First That God made all things in the Waters as well as upon the Earth for the Use of Man Secondly That no Man upon the Waters as well as on the Earth did live out of Society Thirdly That in Society the Offices of commanding and obeying are necessary Fourthly That Anarchy is as abhorrent among Men upon the Waters as upon the firm Land and as impossible for Men to subsist in the one as in the other Fifthly Piracy by Sea is a Crime equal to Theft by Land Sixthly Killing a Man by Sea without lawful Authority is a Crime equal to Murder by Land Note Grotius answers not one of these Principles nor shews by any Authority when or where the Dominion of the Seas was by Usurpation Whereas the contrary has been practised by Kings and States as old as there are Records of any times but only feigns Premises not only contrary to the Authority of sacred History and all Antiquity but such as are absurd blasphemous and impossible considering the Nature of Man But these are not said in his Mare Liberum but in his Preface and Treatise of War and Peace So that to have answered these in this Treatise would have swelled it to a much greater Bulk than intended but if God please I shall hereafter answer these in a Treatise by it self The Principles thus premised we proceed to enquire what Soveraignty the Kings of England have claimed in the British Seas bordering upon England and Ireland since that Kingdom became subject to the Crown of England and leave it to unbiassed Readers whether the Kings of England claimed any thing contrary to any of these Premises The Claims which the Kings of England make to the Soveraignty of the British Seas are threefold 1. To protect their Subjects in all their just Employments upon the British Seas from all Hostility by Enemies whereof the Fishing in these Seas are the chief 2. To prevent Hostility by other Nations in these Seas 3. To receive an Acknowledgment from all Nations for their Protection in these Seas by striking their Flag in Submission to the King's Men of War which protect them By this Dominion of the British Seas the Kings of England more secure their Subjects from foreign Invasion than any other Potentates in the World how great soever their Territories are can do I will not swell this Treatise with what Mr. Selden Sir John Burroughs Mr. Camden and others have written of the Kings of England being possest of these Rights by immemorial Prescription and of the Maritime Laws they have made as well in reference to their Subjects as Foreigners nor of the Treaties they have made with Foreign Princes and the Compositions they have made for Licence to fish in the British Seas before the Dutch Government was formed into States nor was ever these Rights disputed by any of them before Grotius did this Year Nor is this Dominion in the Seas new in the World but as old is any Records of Time for of old the Egyptians Phenicians and Athenians enjoyed it and set Bounds to other Nations how far they would permit Nations to trade in them Sir Walter Rawleigh in his History of the World at large sets forth the long Wars between the Romans and Carthaginians in the first Punick War for this Dominion and the Romans being often beaten by the Carthaginians resolved to desist further Contention herein till they found that it was to little purpose to strive to extend their Dominion by Land if the Carthaginians were Masters at Sea So that the Dominions of the Seas which beat upon the Shores of Princes are not new or only usurped by the Kings of England but used by other Princes and States of old From more antient to descend to more recent times the Veâ—etians claim the Soveraignty in the Adriatick Gulf tho the Venetian Territories on either side of it are not one sixth part of it and cause all Ships even of the King of Spain and Great Turk whose Territories on both sides the Gulf are fivefold more than the Veâ—etians to pay Customs and other Duties In the Year 1630 Mary the Sister of the Queen of Spain being espoused to the Son of the Emperor Ferdinand the Vice-Roy of Naples provided a great Fleet to transport her to Triesti but tho the Venetians were involved in a War abroad and infected with a Plague at home they would not permit it but conveyed her by a Fleet of their own See Jo. Palatius de Dom. Maris l. 2. c. 6. In the Year 1638 a Turkish Fleet entring the Gulf without Licence was assaulted by the Venetian Admiral who sunk divers of their Vessels and forced the rest to fly to Valona and there besieged them tho the City and Port were in the Dominion of the Great Turk yet tho a dangerous War was like to have ensued hereon the Venetians rather than lose their Dominion insisted on their Right and concluded an honourable Peace with the Turk wherein it was agreed That as often as any Turkish Vessels did without Licence enter the Gulf it should be lawful for the Venetians to seize upon them by force if they would not otherwise obey see the Justification of the second Dutch War by K. Charles II. pag. 58 and the Grand Signior prohibits all Nations except his Vassals to enter the Euxine or Black Sea as also the Red Sea Dr. Stubbe in his Justification of King Charles the Second's Dutch War pag. 126. says the Danes and Norwegians would not permit either Fleming or English to fish near Schetland without Licence previously obtained and if any presumed
Protestation wherein they Promise Vow and Protest in the Presence of God to maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Power and Privilege of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union and Peace between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but herein was the Difference between the Scots and English the Scots would improve their Covenant and establish it in England but the English scarce ever after care for their Protestation However the Commons prevail with the Lords to take it and then impose it upon the Nation upon the Penalty of being deemed Malignants and Disaffected The King little pleased with what he had done and less with what the Houses had done without him follows the Scots into Scotland and there cajoles the Covenanters with all Courtship imaginable makes Lesley the Scots General Earl of Leven and confers other Honours upon the Covenanters calls a Parliament and consents to the Extirpation of the Hierarchy and establishes Presbytery as fully as the Kirk of Scotland could desire The Scots at present promise all Duty and Obedience to him but how well the King found it in a short time will appear Whilst the King was thus busied in Scotland a horrible and hellish Massacre was perpetrated in Ireland by the Irish upon the English wherein it 's computed above 200000 Protestants Men Women and Children were butcher'd after which followed an universal Rebellion excepting in Dublin Londonderry and Inniskillen which was headed by the Pope's Nuncio a most proper Head for such a Body Yet so intent were the Factions in England and Scotland in establishing their Designs that little care was had of the miserable Relicks of the Protestants in Ireland It appears evident to me that Richlieu's Scarlet was deep dy'd in the Blood of the poor English in this Massacre for these Reasons 1. That the Scots who at this time were Pensioners to France were not medled with in their Lives and Fortunes as you may see in Sir Richard Baker f. 315. a b. 2. The King being in Scotland when he heard of the Massacre of the English and Rebellion of the Irish he moved the Parliament of Scotland then sitting for a speedy Relief to the English which they refus'd And it 's strangely observable That tho the Massacre and Rebellion in Ireland brake out the 23d of October yet the King did not proclaim them Rebels till the first of January and then by Proclamation gave a strict Command that no more than forty of them should be printed and that none of them should be published till his Majesty's Pleasure was further signified Upon the King's going into Scotland the Parliament prorogued themselves to a certain Day But the Commons appointed a Committee to prepare Business against their next Meeting yet send Spies to observe all the King's Actions and after the King 's Return to London which was upon the 25th of November 1641 the House of Commons upon the 5th of December make a Remonstrance of all the King's Miscarriages abroad and of the Grievances and Illegalities of his Ministers at home from the beginning of his Reign and that the King might be sure to see it as well as hear of it they print and publish it The King not being used to such Language was stung to the quick by the Commons Declaration and to retaliate it in Act upon the third of January enters the House of Commons and demands five of their Members to be tried for High Treason for holding Correspondence with the Scots Than which he could not have done a more imprudent Act for by it he unravelled all that he had done in Scotland by involving the Scots in the same Crime But the Members had their Agents in the King 's most secret Councils and had notice of the King 's coming before and so the five Members were withdrawn This Act of the King did not only set the House in a Flame and put the City into Tumults but brought Petitions from Buckingham-shire where Mr. Hambden one of the Five Members was Knight that the Privileges of Parliament might be secured and Delinquents brought to condign Punishment All this while poor Ireland lay bleeding The King as unstable in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions retracts all he had done and promises not to do so again But to no purpose for the Members resolve not to trust his Royal Word Prerogative and absolute Will and Pleasure and therefore will tear the Power of the Militia from him Rather than suffer this tho upon the Pretence of Tumults the King resolves to leave London But before the King left London my Lord Mayor Sir Richard Gurney Sir George Whitmore Sir Henry Garoway and other principal Citizens waited upon the King and engaged if he would stay they would guard him with 10000 Men if occasion were and told him If he went he would leave the City open for the Members to do as they pleased and that they were sure to be first undone the King told them he was resolved Then Sir Henry Garoway said Sir I shall never see you again However his Eldest Son Mr. William Garoway a worthy Gentleman who yet lives went with the King and followed him in all his Wars The worthy Citizens proved true Prophets for soon after the King left London the Members imprisoned my Lord Mayor Sir Henry Garoway Sir George Whitmore and all others whom they suspected would be faithful to the King and then in London began to assume the Power of the Militia After the King left London he went to York and from thence went towards Hull but is shut out of the Town by Sir John Hotham whom the King proclaims Traitor and now before it came to Sword and Pistol Men began a War with their Pens And herein it is observable that the Writers for the King chiefly maintained his Cause out of Sir Coke's Pleas of the Crown which by Order of the King's Council was upon Sir Edward's Death-Bed seized as dangerous and seditious and I do not find any who wrote for the Parliament ever used any one Topick out of it to justify their Cause tho it and Sir Edward's other Books of the Comment upon Magna Charta and Jurisdiction of Courts were printed by Order of the House of Commons and by them petitioned that the King would deliver the Originals to Sir Robert Coke Sir Edward's Heir Whilst things were in this Hurly-burly in England Portugal and Catalonia revolt from the Spaniard which as it was a mighty Blow to Spain so it much conduced to the Advancing the Designs of Cardinal Richlieu in France In England things could not hold long at this Stay but upon the 22d of August the King comes to Nottingham and hastily sets up his Standard there and invites all his loving Subjects to come to his Assistance against the Rebels
ensue upon such tumultuous Concourse of Men. And why was not this a reasonable Excuse for the King to leave the Parliament and City when they countenanced these Tumults and the King had not Power to suppress them Mr. May goes on and says Vpon this ground twelve Bishops at that time absenting themselves entred a Protestation against all Laws Votes and Orders as Null which in their Absence should pass by reason they durst not for fear of their Lives come to perform their Duties in the House having been rudely menaced and assaulted And why might not the Bishops enter such Protestation for if it be a Maxim in all Assemblies that Plus valet contemptus unius quam consensus omnium then does the Contempt and Affront of a whole Order of Men who have a Right of Suffrage much more render the Actions of the rest invalid However Mr. May goes on and says Whereupon it was agreed by both Lords and Commons that this Protestation of the Bishops was of dangerous Consequence and deeply entrenched upon the Privilege and Being of Parliaments they were therefore accused of High-Treason apprehended and committed Prisoners to the Tower And I say a time shall come when in Parliament these Men who run thus high against the Bishops and established Church of England shall be prosecuted by a contrary Extream and the Church by Law exalted higher than it was before Mr. May goes on and says Thus was the Parliament daily troubled with ill Work whereby the Relief of Ireland was hindred If they were thus troubled they may thank themselves for beginning these Troubles as well by the Commons Remonstrance against the King and Lords as by their countenancing the Tumults By this time things were so envenom'd as would admit of no Lenitives especially by the Commons and the King went from London to Hampton-Court and sent a Message to the Parliament and advises them To digest into one Body all the Grievances of the Kingdom and send them to him promising his favourable Assent to those Means which should be found most effectual for Redress wherein he would not only equal but excel the most indulgent Princes The Parliament thank'd him but nothing but having the Militia at their Disposal would secure their Fears and Jealousies This was as new in England as the perpetuating the sitting of the Parliament and if the King should grant it it would be a total Subversion of the Monarchy For the Parliament being perpetual and having the Power of the Militia the Government must be either a Commonwealth or an Oligarchy and the King insignificant in it yet have it the Parliament would notwithstanding other Grievances and the deplorable State of Ireland And therefore upon the 26th of February they tell the King plainly That the settling the Business of the Militia will admit no more Delay and if his Majesty shall still refuse to agree with his two Houses of Parliament in that Business and shall not be pleased upon their humble Advice to do what they desire therein that then for the Safety of his Majesty of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent future Fears and Jealousies they shall be constrained of themselves without his Majesty to settle that necessary Business of the Militia See Whit. M. f. 54. a. Here 't is observable That as the King feigned a Necessity to raise Ship-money for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general when the whole Kingdom is in danger the Judges gave their Opinion That the King may by his Writ under the Broad Seal of England command all his Subjects of this Kingdom to provide and furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as the King shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger and that by Law the King may compel the doing thereof in Case of Refusal and Refractoriness and that in such Case the King is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same may be prevented and avoided So now the Parliament pretending a Necessity for the Safety of the King and of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof will tear the Militia from him In this State things could not stand long at a Stay Mr. May p. 47. will have the Queen 's going into Holland with her Daughter and carrying with her the Crown-Jewels of England and pawning them there whereby she bought Arms for the War which ensued that it was then designed by the King against the Parliament but if Mr. May had been sincere he should have told too as Mr. Whitlock does f. 59. a. how the Parliament took 100000 l. of the 400000 l. they voted to be raised for Ireland and whether this was not for the War which ensued in England Mr. May p. 48. recites three Votes of Parliament 1. That the King's Absence so far remote being then at York from his Parliament is not only an Obstruction but may be a Destruction to the Affairs in Ireland 2. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall declare what the Law of the Land is to have this not only questioned and controverted but contradicted and a Command that it should not be obeyed is a high Breach of the Privilege of Parliament 3. That they who advised the King to absent himself from the Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourites of the Rebellion in Ireland But Mr. May should have added that it is not the King's Presence in London or any other Place but his assenting to Bills presented to him which he may do by Commission as well as Personally that enacts them into Laws and that the King after he went from London passed the Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament and that no Clergy-Man should exercise any Temporal Jurisdiction which the King did with remorse enough and only to humour and appease the Temporal Lords and Commons in Parliament and the Bishops in Parliament are one of the 3 States of England The King moreover in his Absence upon a Motion by the Parliament put Sir John Byron from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir John Conniers to succeed him and refers the Consideration of the Government and Liturgy of the Church wholly to the two Houses see Whitlock's M. f. 53. b. But nothing less than the King 's parting with the Militia would satisfy the Parliament which the King would not part from so now it 's left fair for indifferent Men to judg whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War And to proceed to set forth who began it I have said in the first Page of this King's Reign or p. 153 That the first Fifteen Years of it were perfectly French and such as were never before seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the Three
Wing of Horse of the Parliament's which Prince Rupert pursued too far tho with great Slaughter but the King 's left Wing of Horse was broken by Sir William Balfour Sir Philip Stapleton and the Lord Fielding However the Victory was uncertain the Success was not so for the King took Banbury Town and Castle and Oxford and Prince Rupert took my Lord Say's House at Brought and made Excursions near London whereupon the Parliament recalled Essex to defend themselves And it was time for the King was marching towards London having taken Reading and Henley and at Brentford both Armies fought Essex being assisted by the Trained Bands and Apprentices of London and the King was forced to retreat and if Essex had followed in all Appearance the King would have lost his Army not having Bullet enough to have maintained one quarter of an Hour's Fight and towards the latter end of the Year Prince Rupert storms Cirencester and puts many of my Lord Stamford's Regiment to the Sword and took 1100 Prisoners which were used with great Barbarity and Colonel Nathaniel Fines in the West was routed by Prince Rupert and in the North Sir John Hotham was beaten by the Forces commanded by the Earl of Cumberland Sir Fran. Worsley Sir Marm. Langdale and Sir Thomas Glenham This Year there was a Treaty of Peace at Oxford the Parliament's Propositions were That the King should disband his Army return to the Parliament leave Delinquents to Trial and Papists to be disbanded That a Bill be brought in for abolishing Episcopacy c. and such other Bills as should be presented for Reformation Recusants to abjure Papacy to remove malignant Counsellors to settle the Militia as the Parliament desired to prefer to Offices such as the Parliament should name and to take in all that were put out of Commissions of the Peace A Bill to vindicate the Lord Kimbolton and five Members to enter into Alliances for the Palatinate and to grant a general Pardon excepting to the Earl of New-Castle Digby and others To restore Parliament-Members to their Offices and to restore their Losses The King proposed That his Revenue Magazines Ships and Forts be restored That what had been done contrary to Law and the King 's Right may be recalled That all illegal Power claimed or acted by Order of Parliament be disclaimed And as the King will consent to the Execution of all Laws concerning Popery and Reformation so he desires a Bill for preserving the Common-Prayer against Sectaries that all Persons excepted against by this Treaty may be tried per Pares with a Cessation of Arms and a free Trade This Treaty began March 4. 1642 and broke off April 15. following viz. 1643. But this is observable in this fickle King that four Days before the Treaty broke off the King said he was fully satisfied and promised to give the Parliament-Commissioners his Answer in Writing according to their Desires but because it was past Midnight he would have it drawn up in Writing and give it them in the Morning but instead thereof the King gave them a Paper quite contrary to what was concluded the Night before Whitlock's Mem. fol. 65. a. The Treaty of Peace thus broke off both sides proceed in War The Queen this Year about the beginning of May landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire from Holland having avoided a Squadron of Men of War designed by the Parliament to intercept her and brought abundance of Arms and about 3000 Soldiers and was proclaimed Traitor by the Parliament and after joined with the King and his Army at Edg-Hill in Warwickshire And if the Parliament prospered so ill last Year they succeeded worse this for the Earl of Northampton enters Litchfield and drives the Parliament's Forces into the Close and after that defeats Sir John Gell and Sir W. Brereton but the Earl was slain at the Head of his Forces and the Earl of New-Castle in the North overthrew the Parliament's Forces commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax at Bradforth and Sir William Waller is defeated in the West Prince Rupert takes Bristol and Prince Maurice Exeter Biddiford Barnstable Appleford and Dartmouth The great Hambden is routed and mortally wounded at Chalgrave Field by Prince Rupert And now the King had two conquering Armies in the North and West and the Parliament none considerable to oppose either so that if either the King or the Marquess of New-Castle had marched to London in all Appearance either Army would have found little Opposition but instead hereof the King sits down and besieges Glocester and the Marquess of New-Castle comes before Hull This gave the Parliament an Opportunity to recruit Essex's Army and to enter into a Treaty to procure the Scots to bring an Army into England again for to assist the Parliament In this Treaty a double Consideration is remarkable first The Instability of humane Actions which are founded in Passion and Prejudice for there was but one Year between this Treaty and the National Protestation by the Parliament to Maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England which Passage Mr. Whitlock in his Memoirs fol. 43. has left out and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and this to be taken by all English-men but now the Scots would not stir one Step unless the Parliament of England would join with them in their Covenant which ill agreed with their Protestation which the Parliament submitted to The other was a Discovery of a Spark which soon after broke out into such a Flame as consumed the Covenant Presbytery the Parliament King and Church and State of England for tho during the Prosperity of the King's Affairs this Fire was covered yet when young Sir Henry Vane who was one of the Parliament's Commissioners and one who loved the Presbyterian Government no better than the Episcopal saw that the Parliament would submit to the Scotish Covenant and Discipline he stifly opposed it singly and at last carry'd it that the Nations should join in a Solemn League and the Scots would have Church-Government to be according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches but Sir Henry Vane insisted to have it according to the Word of God only and carried both points Afterwards one of Sir Henry's Fellows expostulated with him why he should put them to so much Trouble about such needless Trifles Sir Henry answer'd He was mistaken and did not see far enough into the matter for a League shewed it was between two Nations and might be broken upon just Reasons but not a Covenant and that Church-Government according to the Word of God by the Difference of Divines and Expositors would be long enough before it were determined for the learnedst held it clearly for Episcopacy so that when all agreed we may take in the Scots Presbytery
has not now one Ship to command One would think the Covenanters had their Game sure enough now those in Scotland had got rid of Montross and full of Money and those in England had got the King in their Power and the King's Army utterly subdued and both Kingdoms united into one solemn League and Covenant so that both may sing their Requiem for many Years But see the Instability of Human Affairs where they are not founded in Truth and Righteousness for the Scots Directory Catechism and Government sorted as ill with the English Genius as Laud's Liturgy Canons and High Commission did with the Scots and the rigid Execution of them as insolent and tyrannical as the Proceedings in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission and these being general equally offended all and tho the Cavalier Party being under the Hatches said little yet the Brawls and Invectives between the Presbyterians and other Parties were as fierce as between the Arminians and Orthodox in Laud's time so that things were not like to continue long at this rate The Parliament having the King now in their Power the Scots gone yet Ireland I mean the English Interest in it in a very deplorable State and being apprehensive of the Temper of the Army whose Principles were Anti-Presbyterian and that they might in some measure ease the Countrey of maintaining the whole Army resolved that 12000 of the Army should be sent over into Ireland to be commanded by Major General Skippon and 6000 Horse 2000 Dragoons and 6000 Foot to be kept up in England and commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax Cromwel was aware of what the Members designed and the Members were as jealous of Cromwel and therefore would not dispense with the Self-denying Ordinance that he should be in the Army however Cromwel had his Agents in it and by the Ministers and other zealous Independants foment their Jealousies that the Parliament designed to disband them without Payment of their Arrears and in this Ferment they chose two out of every Regiment which they called Adjutators to whom they gave Power to hold Councils and judg what was fit to be done for the common Good These Adjutators were called Levellers who cried up Liberty and the Power of the People and assumed to themselves a Power in their Councils above what the Colonels claimed The Proceedings of the Adjutators startled the Parliament and in a great measure the Colonels and Officers of the Army so that unless Cromwel did appear in the Army and by his Authority did restrain the Licence which the Adjutators assumed they sat very loose in their Places Cromwel knew this as well as they and that the Adjutators struck at his Authority as well as the Officers so that when there was a Debate in the House of Commons how to suppress the Adjutators Cromwel professed and called God to witness That he was certain the Souldiers would at the first word of his Command if he were among them throw down their Arms at the Parliament's Feet and solemnly swore that he rather wished himself and his whole Family burnt than that the Army should break out into Sedition And the House had so little Wit as to believe him and so sent him down to appease the Army Hereupon Cromwel order'd a general Muster of the Army upon Hownslow-Heath where the Army was divided and the Levelling Party refused to come under Cromwel's Command whereupon Cromwel sent to the Levellers to send some to treat of their Grievances which they did and when they came Cromwel with an undaunted Boldness pistoll'd three of the most forward of them and seized the rest and then the Levelling Part of the Army submitted The Sectaries of which the Army was composed tho they had the Sword in their Hands yet had no face of Authority to recur to the Presbyterian Members in both Houses being three to one they therefore send Cornet Joyce with a Party of Horse to Holdenby who the 4th of June 1647 which was in less than four Months after the Members had brought the King thither take the King out of the Parliament-Commissioners Power and keep him in the Army And now this poor Prince for so he may be truly called since he who before by his absolute Will and Pleasure would take his Subjects Estates has now no Power to get his own is fallen into the Hands of another sort of Flatterers than in the former yet these intended him no more good than the former viz. only to gratify their Ambition Avarice and Treachery by making use of the King's Name These seem to lament the hard Conditions the Members impose upon him not only in his Liberty but in keeping him from his Children and Friends and allow him both professing they would never lay down Arms until they had put the Scepter into his Hands and procured better Conditions for his Friends In order hereunto they seem to join the King's Interest with theirs and in their Declaration for Redress of Grievances declare for the King and People and that the Members prefix a certain time for their sitting so that a new Parliament may be called and thereby the Nation settled upon sure Foundations Here you may observe a new Face of the Parliament's Affairs quite inverted for the Army were as much in love with their being so as the Parliament was of their sitting And now the Army which was rais'd only to do the Parliament's Journey-work would only allow the Members a certain time for their sitting And because Denzil Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton Sir William Lewis Sir John Clotworthy Sir William Waller Sir John Maynard Major General Massey Mr. Glyn Colonel Walter Long Colonel Edward Harley and Mr. Ant. Nichols were the leading Men in the House of Commons for establishing the Covenant and disbanding the Army the Army charge them with High-Treason the Charge against them was Cant after the Mode of the Times That they obstructed the Business of Ireland to have acted against the Army and against the Laws and Liberties of the Subject and were Obstructers of Justice Here you may see into what a Labyrinth of Distraction and Confusion Men run when they forsake the ways of Justice and Righteousness For when Mr. Hollis and Colonel Long 4 Car. were imprisoned for performing the Trust reposed in them by their Country they had the Testimony of a good Conscience for their Support and the known Laws for their Protection and here they knew what to trust to and so they insisted upon the Laws and by them in due time were delivered from their Imprisonment but now the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation were broken down and they charged at random by the Army they had no Defence to recur to but for Safeguard fled beyond Sea What became of Colonel Long I cannot tell but Mr. Hollis never return'd till after King Charles the Second's Restoration and Sir Philip Stapleton being suspected to have the Plague was shut out of Calais and 't was said dy'd in a Ditch
7. would have justified all his Subjects who fought for him But the Members would not submit to this being to divest themselves of the Power they thought they had in their hands nor the Scots because their Solemn League and Covenant was enacted by no Law in England nor least of all would it please the Army who nourished Designs against the King Members and Scots To such a deplorable state is this poor King and Kingdom fall'n past all humane Relief yet it 's admirable to consider how Divine Justice pursued the Causers of it even in the Series by which they were promoted The King who would not have the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation to be the Rules of his Subjects Obedience but his Prerogative and Absolute Will and Pleasure cannot now by it command one Servant He who before against Law committed so many of his best Subjects close Prisoners whereof several died in Prison for asserting his Subjects Rights without any Benefit of Law is now by his Subjects made close Prisoner against Law and without any Benefit of it He who before dissolved four Parliaments because they in all dutiful Ways would have addressed unto him to be reconciled to his Subjects is now denied under Penalty of High Treason to have any Address made to him by any of his Subjects He who before had so many Forests for his Pleasure yet not contented with what the Law and his Ancestors had left but would break the Bounds of them that his Subjects Inheritance might become a Prey to wild Beasts has not now a Horse Hound or Beast to take Pleasure in But these things will not stay here for it is the unhappy Fate of Princes rarely in their declining state to stay till they fall to the bottom And here we end the Year 1647 and hereafter shall observe the Divine Justice overtaking the other Promoters of the Miseries both in England Scotland and Ireland And if I shall ill perform it yet it may be a Ground-work for another to do it better In this Confusion the Nation began to forget the times under the King's Government now they saw no end of these And tho the Essex-Men who had the Bounds of their Forests broke down and were the first who petition'd the Parliament to redress Grievances and bring Delinquents to condign Punishment yet they are now the first who petition the Commons for a Personal Treaty with the King and then the Surrey-Men but were differently received and some of the Surrey-Men kill'd This was in May 1648. The Scots too offended that they and their Solemn League and Covenant were not taken notice of in the Preliminary Treaty with the King call a Parliament and order the Raising an Army to deliver the King out of Prison The rude Entertainment of the Essex and Surrey-Men was so far from quelling them that they rise in Arms in Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Wales and the North and declare for the King and People Sir William Batton too who was Vice-Admiral of the English Fleet goes over to Prince Charles with 17 Men of War and declare for the King having set Rainsborough made Admiral by the Army on Shore This was in May and June and soon after viz. in June the Surrey-Men rise being headed by the Duke of Buckingham and his Brother the Lord Francis with the Earl of Holland But it was decreed that this Prince who for 15 Years had violated the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation and without any Law or just Reason had so often imprisoned his best Subjects for endeavouring to reconcile him to his Subjects should now himself being made a Prisoner against Law find no Relief by Law or Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects For Cromwel sends Horton into Wales against Major-General Laughorn and Colonel Poyer who headed the Welch and had seized Pembrook and Tenby-Castles Fairfax marches into Kent and Rainsborough into the North where the Northern-Men had seized Pontfract-Castle and the Members restore the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral and fit out a Fleet under him to suppress that which joined the Prince of Wales Horton beats the Welch and took Laughorn and Poyer Prisoners and besieges and takes Pembrook and Tenby but whilst he besieged these Hamilton who the Year before was released from being a Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle by the King for holding Correspondence with the Covenanters while he was Commissioner now comes into England to discharge the King from his Imprisonment with a numerous Army of Scots which Sir Marmaduke Langdale Major-General Massey and many English join against these Cromwel after the Surrender of Pembrook and Tenby marches and utterly routs them and takes Hamilton Prisoner Nor were the Fate of the Kentish Essex and Suffolk Men better for Fairfax fights and beats the Kentish Men at Maidstone the Remainder under my Lord Goring whom the King had made Earl of Norwich cross the Thames at Greenwich and join the Essex Men headed by Sir Charles Lucas and march to Colchester where my Lord Capel and many Suffolk Men joined them Fairfax pursues them and after a stubborn Siege of 11 Weeks forces it to surrender being reduced to extream Famine and after caused Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle to be shot to Death Equal to this was the Success of the Surrey-Men for they were routed by Sir Michael Lewesly and my Lord Francis killed near Kingston But the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland with those which were escaped fled over Kingston-bridg and were pursued by Colonel Scroop and overtaken at St. Neots where Major-General Dolbier is killed the Earl of Holland taken Prisoner but the Duke of Buckingham escaped But the Northern-Men besieged in Pontfract Castle are not so easily subdued on the contrary a Party of about 30 Horse break through the Besiegers and surprize Rainsborough in his Bed at Doncaster about 12 Miles from Pontfract and kill him because he refused to be carried off a Prisoner but Pure Famine at last forced the Besieged to surrender The revolted Fleet now commanded by the Princes Rupert and Maurice partly cajol'd by the Earl of Warwick their former Admiral and unwilling to forsake their Country Wives and Children in great part return to the Parliament the rest were after pursued by Blake and Popham to Ireland from thence to Portugal from whence they were forced by Blake to Carthagena where Blake run the Princes Ships on shore yet the Princes having then but three Ships left and having no Port in Europe to protect them seek for one in the West-Indies where Prince Maurice is lost in a Hurricane and Prince Rupert after got into France and sold the Remainder of this miserable Fleet being two tatter'd Ships to Mazarine to fit out himself for other Adventures Whilst the Army was thus busied abroad the Members having got possession of the Fleet and the City of London being well affected to them they join with the Scotish Commissioners and rescind the Votes of Non-Addresses to the King
being 12 a Clock at Night it could not then be reduced to Writing but he promised it should next Morning when the King gave them a Paper quite contrary whereupon the Treaty broke off See Whitlock's Memoirs f. 65. a. b. For in the next Treaty at Vxbridg which was in December 1644 the Parliament not only insisted that the King's Nephews Rupert and Maurice though Princes Foreign born and so no Subjects to the King of England but many of the principal Lords and Gentry who assisted the King in this War and who by the 11 Hen. 7. 18. were protected for assisting the King should be excepted out of Pardon by an Act of Indempnity which if they had had no Law to have protected them yet the King could not in Conscience have offered them up a Sacrifice for assisting him But another Difficulty arose in this Treaty which the Parliament would have imposed upon the King contrary to the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation viz. To extirpate Episcopacy and to impose the Scots Covenant and Directory upon the Nation though the Bishops were excluded their Sitting in the House of Lords by an Act in 1641 and none in Orders to exercise any Civil Office So that the Houses not content with what had been already granted but grasping at more they lost all for in the first Parliament Car. 2. they were restored to their Seats in Parliament again Objection But if Episcopacy were Jure Divino as the King was informed by his English Bishops and therefore the King could not in Conscience submit to the abolishing of it then it is Jure Divino in Scotland as well as England and if the King of his own Accord could go out of England to abolish it in Scotland Why should the King against the Advice of both Nations not do the same in England Answer He that shall answer for all the Actions of this Prince shall have a great Task Nor can I give any other Answer to it than that because a Man has done an ill Act it shall be a Precedent to him to do it again But if the King should have consented to abolish Episcopacy in England and set up Presbytery I do not see any Benefit the King could have reaped by it according to the Covenanters Practice and Principles For if the Scots after the King had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland and set up Presbytery there and that the Scots had thereupon promised all Obedience to the King in time to come and declared by Act of Parliament That it was detestable and damnable Treason in the highest Degree for any of the Scots Nation either conjunctly or singly to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any Pretence whatsoever without the King's Command could raise Arms unprovoked by the King and against his express Command and invade England why should the English Covenanters after the King should have abolished Episcopacy in England be more obliged to perform any Agreement they made with the King in England then the Scots Covenanters were in Scotland When the King desired the Scots Parliament upon the breaking out of the Irish Massacre and Rebellion to assist him against the Irish they refused because Ireland was not subject to Scotland and tho England be not subject to Scotland yet the Scots against the King's Command can assist by Arms the Parliament against him So that if the Covenant could entitle the Scots to be so false perfidious and treacherous to the King after he had abolished Episcopacy in Scotland Why should not this be a Precedent for the English Covenanters to be so in England after the King should abolish Episcopacy in it and establish Presbytery The Overtures for a Treaty at Oxford in November 1644 preceded that at Vxbridg whence upon the King's Desire it was adjourned and Passes reciprocally of safe Conduct were granted to Commissioners on both sides to meet the 29th of January wherein the Commissioners from Scotland were included The Scots Commissioners being included in this Treaty you need not doubt but their principal Care shall be to establish their Solemn League and Covenant and the Presbyterian Government as firm in England as in Scotland and to this end the three first days were set apart for Religion three other Days for the Militia and three other days for the Settlement of Ireland How humble soever the Scots were if you 'll take their Word yet the first Debate arose between the English and Scots Commissioners concerning Precedence which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs f. 122. a. b. But when the Business concerning Religion came to be debated nothing less than that Presbytery was Jure Divino would down with the Scots nor was Episcopacy less Jure Divino by the English Commissioners for Religion But both these Assertions are false and blasphemous for Jus Divinum is so inseparably inherent in God as cannot be communicated to any Creature and though God by Divine Law or Institution did impower Bishops and Priests with Episcopal and Priestly Power to perform their Offices designed by God for the planting and continuing the Gospel yet the Jus Divinum from whence these Institutions were derived remains the same in God as before As God by the Law of Nature gives Parents a Dominion over their Children and Husbands over their Wives yet the Divine Right which gives these Powers is the same as before and Parents and Husbands have no Divine Right hereby but a Temporal Right by Nature or the Law of Nature so Bishops and Priests have no Divine Right to exercise their Ghostly Powers but a Spiritual Right given them by God's Law or Institution supernaturally or extraordinarily given If Bishops and Priests had a Divine Right they might create Divine Laws which in Terminis I believe none of them will affirm However you may see how the Theologues as they call themselves impose by this Cant upon the World and what endless Discords Factions and Wars have been raised hereby no Man conversant in History can be ignorant of The Principal whereof was Dr. Steward and Mr. Henderson and Marshall for Presbytery but the Zeal on both Parts being so obstinate as well as contradictory would have taken up more than all their Time in these Broils if a Stop had not been put to them upon the Motion of the Marquess of Hartford on the King's Part and the Earl of Pembrook Mr. Hollis and other Commissioners on the Parliament's that they might proceed upon the other Points of the Militia and Ireland In both these there was as little Agreement as in that of Religion not any one Point being agreed to by the King's Commissioners so the Treaty ended and nothing concluded The other Treaties at New-Castle Hampton-Court and the Isle of Wight we have taken notice of before So that the King was as unsuccessful in his Treaties as in his Arms. The Catastrophe of this Tragedy resolves into the King himself for this Juncto after called the Rump-Parliament having thus purged the House
assume to themselves the Supream Power of Ordering the English Affairs confirm the Vote of Non-Addresses to the King and raze the Votes of having a Conference with the King and the Declaration that the King's Concessions were a sufficient Ground for a Peace out of the Journals of the House And vote first that all Power resides in the People Secondly That the Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the Force of a Law without the King Fourthly That to take Arms against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament is High-Treason Fifthly That the King himself took up Arms against the Parliament and therefore is guilty of all the Blood shed in this Civil War and ought by his own Blood to expiate it The Nation was astonished at these Votes for the Person of the King of England was ever esteemed Sacred and therefore tho his Ministers were always accountable in Parliament for using or abusing the Name of the King to gratify their Ambition and wicked Designs against the King or Kingdom yet in no time was any King of England arraigned and judged to die by his own Subjects and tho Edward the Second Richard the Second Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fifth were murdered by wicked Men yet none of these suffered upon pretence of Justice But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake both Rump and Army and as they both joined by Force to impose these upon the King and Nation so both without Force or any Man kill'd in their Defence shall be cashier'd with all imaginable Ignominy and Reproach These Men whom nothing but the King 's and his Loyal Subjects Blood could satiate against Law shall by Law have their own Blood shed in the most terrible manner the Law can inflict these Men who would have the Crown and Church-Lands for their Avarice shall either die or be hang'd as a Company of Beggars Oliver's Heir being undone to pay the Charge of his Father's Funeral or those who had Estates shall forfeit them to encrease the Revenues of the Crown The Regicides to put the best Face they could upon this audacious Act send the Bill for Trial of the King up to the Lords for their Concurrence but so far were the Lords from concurring that they threw the Bill over the Bar Hereupon the Rump vote the Lords dangerous and useless yet Henry Martin said they were useless but not dangerous Then the Rumpers advise with the Judges about the Trial of the King who unanimously declare it against Law and the Scots Commissioners protest against it But neither Authority Law nor Reason would take place with those Men so they erect a new Court never heard of before called a High Court of Justice for the Trial of the King to consist of I think Seventy two thirds of which were Souldiers who by putting the King to Death expected the Reward of the Inheritance both of the Crown and Church If it be Misery to have been happy to what a miserable State have these cursed Minions Flatterers and Sycophants brought one of the greatest and most high-born Princes in the Western World to gratify their Ambition Lust and Avarice for this Prince whom they would have to rend his Subjects from their Laws has now no Subjects who dare protect him by the Laws He who before so often gloried that to him alone belonged the Power of Proroguing Adjourning and Dissolving Parliaments who never did him Wrong but met to assist him against those who wronged him and to have reconciled him to his Subjects has now no Power to dissolve this Rump of a Parliament which will not be reconciled to him He who before so often called his truly Loyal Subjects Undutiful Seditious and Vipers Terms unusual in Princes shall hear himself call'd Tyrant Murderer and Traitor by his implacable Subjects He who before so often gloried he was only accountable to God for all his Actions shall be now called to an Account by a company of Men for Actions whereof they themselves were much more guilty and be sent to God to pass his Accounts there also For upon the 20th of January the King was haled before this Assembly where he was charged of Treason Tyranny and Murder for raising War against the Parliament and People of England Tho it 's evident the Members seiz'd the Militia the Tower of London and Fleet which Powers were inherent in the King and shut him out of Hull and granted Commissions for levying Souldiers before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham But admit the King did first raise Arms to have forced the Parliament and first actually set up his Standard against them and that was a Crime yet was the Regicides Crime greater who had forced the Parliament and set up themselves instead of it The King now too late flies to the Laws of the Land for his Protection protests against the Jurisdiction of the Court as established by no Legal Authority and declares his Life was not so dear to him as his Honour and Conscience and the Laws and Liberties of his People and that he will lose his Life rather than submit to such a Tyrannical Court And at last the King desired to be heard before the Lords and Commons in some things which concerned the Peace of the Kingdom and Liberty of the Subjects but this too was denied And so the 4th day after this Appearance Bradshaw the President gave Sentence upon him to lose his Head all the Court to the number of 67 owning it by standing up Which Sentence was executed the 30th of January The Character of King Charles the First THus fell one of the greatest and most high-born Princes of the Western World In his Person he was somewhat more than ordinarily tall and the Composition of it was framed in most exact natural Proportion of Parts so that he was very active and of a fine Mein in his Motion which was commonly more than ordinarily fast yet he appeared best on Horse-back and excelled in managing his Horse so that when he was in Spain in sight of the King Queen the Infanta's and the Infanta Maria whom he courted or at least seemed to do so and innumerable other Spectators he took the Ring in his first Course His Visage was long and appeared best when he did not speak for he had a natural Impediment in his Speech and would often stutter in it especially when he was in Passion To these Natural Endowments may be added a Temperance in Eating and Drinking and Chastity tho his Enemies unjustly traduced him otherways rarely to be found in Princes He was born in Scotland about two Years before his Father became King of England and being bred from his Infancy in a most luxurious and flattering Court tho he avoided the Luxury of it yet the Flattery of it took such deep Root in him that he would never permit free Counsel to take any Impression in him In his Nature
had gained him before and he discovered all to Cromwel and that he had no Concern for them nor Obligation to them as you may see in Dr. Gumble's History of Monk ' s Life pag. 73. So that Monk was not now of the same Mind as he was afterward when Lambert turn'd the Rump out of doors All other Obstacles thus removed and Cromwel heightned in his frantick Resolutions by the Expectation of Mountains of Gold from the Dutch upon the 20th of April with a Party of Soldiers with him marched to the House and led a File of Musqueteers in with him and the rest he placed at the Door of the House in the Lobby and entring the House in furious manner bid the Speaker leave the Chair and told the House That they had sat long enough unless they had done more Good I could have told him they had done two good Deeds for him one in taking away the King's Life to let him into his Throne the other that they had made him General to enable him to turn them out of doors That some of them were Whore-masters looking towards Henry Martin and Sir Peter Wentworth That others of them were Drunkards and some corrupt and unjust Men and scandalous to the Profession of the Gospel and that it was not fit they should sit any longer as a Parliament and desired them to go away But the Speaker not stirring from his Seat Col. Harrison took him by the Arm to remove him from his Seat which when the Speaker saw he left the Chair Some of the Members rose up to answer Cromwel but he would suffer none to speak but himself He bid one of the Soldiers Take away that Fool 's Bawble the Mace and stay'd himself till all the Members were out and then caused the Doors to be shut up We will look upon this Act in a threefold Consideration viz. In the Doers to whom done and in the Manner of it 1. The Doers were the Rump ' s Servants raised by the Rump and no ways provoked by the Rump So little do Benefits received by ill Men create any Obligation of Gratitude in those who receive them 2. The Rump were a Parliament which were impowered to make War or Peace or were not if they were not then Cromwel and his Assistants Commission from the Rump to judg the King to Death and all the Acts of Hostility which they did during these Wars were Murder or Rapine but if they were a Parliament who might grant Commissions in War and make Laws then Cromwel and his Assistants were greater Rebels and Violators of the Liberties of the Nation than either the Irish or Scots were against the King or the Royalists against the Parliament for the Irish and Scots pretended Grievances and Oppressions against the present Powers whereas Cromwel and his Assistants pretended not one categorical Complaint against the Rump and the Royalists foâ—ght to preserve the Establish'd Laws and Constitutions of the Nation which Cromwel and his Assistants did not Besides herein Cromwel and his Assistants assumed a Power above Regal in deposing the Rump if it were a Rightful Parliament which the King could not do without their Consent 3. For the Manner of Cromwel's Deposing the Rump it was so barbarous and rude as I do not think you will find the like among the most Savage People unless it were when Cromwel and his Agents deposed the Secluded Members Yet sure there was a Divine Justice in both for as the Covenanting Members expelled the Royalists for not taking the Covenant or joining with them in the Innovations which the Covenanters brought into the Church and State so Cromwel and the Rump expelled them for their Covenanting and set up themselves instead of them and now Cromwel does the like by the Rump to exalt himself Thus by their own mercenary Servants and not a Sword drawn in their Defence fell the Haughty and Victorious Rump whose mighty Actions will scarcely find Belief in future Generations and to say the Truth they were a Race of Men most indefatigably industrious in Business always seeking for Men fit for it and never preferring any for Favour nor by Importunity You scarce ever heard of any revolting from them in England Scotland or Ireland during their time except by the Levellers 1649. See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 385 386 387. No Murmur or Complaint of Sea-men or Soldiers employ'd by them either by Sea or Land for want of Pay In all the Ports of England during the Dutch War Money or Credit was found to pay off the Sea-men whenever their Ships were designed to be laid up Nor do I find they ever press'd either Soldiers or Seamen in all their Wars And as they excelled thus in their Management of Civil Affairs so it must be owned they exercised in Matters Ecclesiastick no such Severities as either the Covenanters or others before them did upon such as dissented from them And as the Rump were thus industrious and victorious in War so were they not negligent in reforming the Abuses in the Practice of the Common Laws and to that end in October 1650 order'd that all the Books of the Laws be put into English and that all Writs Process and Returns thereof and all Patents Commissions Indictments Judgments Records and all Proceedings in Courts of Justice shall be in the English Tongue and not in the Latin or French or any other Language See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 459. a. The Rump further ordered a Committee for regulating the Law and the Committee reported the Draughts of several Laws viz. 1. The taking away Fines upon Bills Declarations and Original Writs 2. Against Customary Oaths of Fealty and Homage to the Lords of Mannors 3. For taking away common Recoveries and unnecessary Charge of Fines and to pass and charge Land intailed as Lands in Fee Simple 4. For more speedy Recovery of Rents 5. Touching Pleaders and their Fees 6. For more speedy regulating and easy Discovery of Debts and Damages not exceeding 4 l. and under See Whitlock ' s Mem. fol. 504. a. Whether the Rump passed these into Laws I do not find but if they did not they might have done if Cromwel had let them alone and they sat not four Years and three Months But how industrious and victorious soever the Rump was in War they were not so wise in Counsel by making the Act of Navigation and tho we have before demonstrated the manifold Mischiefs and Inconveniences which this Law has brought upon this Nation and shall more particularly hereafter if God pleases in Answer to those Reasons which Sir Josiah Child and Sir Francis Brewsier pretend in Defence of it yet it 's fit that we here shew how that the Rump was mistaken as well in the End as Causes of this Law If we look upon Britain it is an Island and divided into two Kingdoms England and Scotland and both these Kingdoms before they were united under one King viz. James I. by immâ—morial Prescriptions were possessed of
sent a Squadron under Sir John Lawson to that end And the Dutch sent another commanded by De Ruiter seemingly but not designedly for to join Sir John against the Algerines For De Ruiter after he had entred the Straits abandoned Sir John Lawson and sailed to Cape Verd and dispossessed the English of their Factories nor did he stay there but sailing thence he attempted Barbadoes but was beaten off with loss But with better Success he sailed to Long-Island where he made great Depradations This Double-dealing of the Dutch alarm'd the Parliament so as they petitioned the King to make War upon the Dutch and the King was well disposed to it having before designed it as many thought and so took this Occasion for it nor were the City of London less forward than the Parliament for promoting this War and upon that Account furnished the King with several Sums of Money for which both Houses gave the City Thanks upon the Twenty Fifth of November 1665. The King the Day before made this Speech to the Commons Mr. Speaker and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons I know not whether it be worth my Pains to endeavour to remove a vile Jealousy which some ill Men scatter abroad and which I am sure will never sink into the Breast of any Man who is worthy to sit upon your Benches that when you have given me a Noble and Proportionable Supply for the Support of a War I may be induced by some evil Counsellors for they will be thought to think very respectfully of my Person to make a sudden Peace and get all the Money for my own Private Occasions But let me tell you and you may be confident of it That when I am compelled to enter into a War for the Protection Honour and Benefit of my Subjects I will God willing not make a Peace but upon the obtaining and securing those Ends for which the War is entred into and when that can be done no good Man will be sorry for the Determination of it But the War was not declared till the 22d of February following But here I observe that neither my Lord Chancellor Hide nor my Lord Treasurer Southampton were present in Council at it It may seem strange to any Man conversant in our Government that the King in less than four Years and a half after his Restoration should be in such a Necessity of borrowing such Sums of Money of the City for the disbanding of the Army was paid by the Convention and Parliament and the Parliament had settled the Excise on him which was cessed at 500000 l. per Annum and the Customs at 600000 l. and Chimney-Money worth 150000 l. per Annum and 12 Car. 2. c. 26. granted the King the Arrears of twelve Months Assessment commencing the 25th of December 1659 and C. 29. gave the King 70000 l. and C. 34. also the Post-Office worth 50000 l. per Annum and in the 13 Car. 2. cap. 3. vested in the King the Arrears of the Excise and new Imposts and in the second Session Cap. 3. the Parliament gave the King 1270000 l. and Cap. 5. a voluntary Contribution and C. 8. gave the poor Cavaliers 60000 l. that the King might never hear more of them and C. 9. granted a further Relief for the poor and maimed Officers which had served the King's Father and also Cap. 15. four intire Subsidies by the Laity and four by the Clergy besides all the forfeited Estates both in England and Ireland So that the Excise Customs Chimney-Money Post-Office and forfeited Estates at a moderate Computation may be computed at 1600000 l. per Annum a new Addition to the Crown which Queen Elizabeth had not only the Court of Wards was exchanged for part of the Hereditary Excise And if you compute but six Months Arrear of the twelve Months Assessment at 70000 l. per Mensem beginning at Christmass 1659 this will amount to 420000 l. and the Arrears of the Excise and new Impost at 300000 l. and 70000 l. granted the King 12 Car. I. 29. and the 1270000 l. 13 Car. II. 3. and the voluntary Contribution at 300000 l. and the four Subsidies granted by the Clergy and Laity at 400000 l. besides the new added Revenue of 1600000 l. per Annum to the Crown the King in less than four Years and a half received 2860000 l. or two Millions eight hundred and sixty thousand Pounds Yet the King paid no Debts of his Father's nor do I find he built any new Men of War nor made any War except that last Year against the Algerines It 's true he married his Sister but had twice her Portion of the French King for the Sale of Dunkirk and also 400000 l. Portion with the Queen Now let 's see how things stood in Scotland During the Earl of Middleton's Commission the Parliament of Scotland granted the King so great a Revenue that the King signified his Pleasure not to raise any more but tho Middleton in the general Opinion had done more in Scotland than could have been expected yet Lauderdale thought he had not done enough and therefore got the Parliament to be dissolved and a new one to be called in 1663 and the Earl of Rothes the Ring-leader of the Presbyterians in the Reign of Charles the First and was the first that subscribed the Letter to Lewis the XIII th for his Aid by the Appellation of Au Roy to be made Commissioner The King's Supremacy in all Ecclesiastial and Civil Matters and so great a Revenue as the King could ask being settled by Middleton one would have thought no more could be done yet another Law must be passed intituled the Humble Tender Whereby the Kingdom of Scotland is obliged to raise the King twenty thousand Foot and two thousand Horse sufficiently armed and furnished with forty days Provision to be in a readiness at his Majesty's Call And also that all Scots-Men from sixteen to sixty if the King should have further use of them should hazard their Lives and Fortunes as they shall he called by his Majesty for the Safety and Preservation of his Sacred Person Authority and Government to march into any part of Scotland England or Ireland for the suppressing any Foreign Invasion or Intestine Troubles or any other Service wherein his Majesty's Honour c. was concerned And this Law it may be was the Equivalent for which the Forts were demolished Tho Rothes was Commissioner when the Act passed yet Lauderdale assumed to himself the Glory of it and it 's observable this Act passed the same Year and about the same time the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence to the Dissenters in England Thus you see as the Parliament of Scotland outrun the Parliament of England in Loyalty to the King so at least they went hand in hand with them in grauting the King more Aids than he would ask of the Subjects of his antient Kingdom Never had Kings of England or Scotland their Debts so easily
of his Majesty's Subjects who are Dissenters in Matters of Religion from the Church of England And a Bill passed the House accordingly but was stopt in the House of Lords Causa patet the dead Weight joining with the Caballing Party But whatever the Commons thought of the King 's Dispensing Power in England Lauderdale the fifth in the Cabal in England was of another Opinion in Scotland for in the second Parliament c. 1. held by him he gets an Act declaring That by Virtue of the King's Supremacy the ordering the Government of the Church does properly belong to his Majesty and Successors as an inherent Right of the Crown and that he may enact and emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Church-Administrations Persons Meetings and Matters as he in his Royal Wisdom shall think fit c. any Law Act or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding And that he might not be less active in Scotland than his Brother Clifford was in England and Buckingham and Arlington were in Holland being armed with these other Powers he made all sorts of People depose upon Oath their Knowledg of the Persons of Dissenters not Popish Meetings in the Exercise of their Worship upon Penalty of Fining Imprisonment Banishment and Transportation to be sold for Slaves imprisoning all outed Ministers who shall preach out of their Families till they give Security of 5000 Marks Scot not to do the same again every Hearer being a Tenant to pay 25l Scot and Cotter 12 toties quoties they shall offend and that it shall be Death for any to preach in Fields or Houses where any are without doors and 500 Marks Reward for any to secure such dead or alive and gave Orders That every Man for himself and all under him should give Bond not to go to Field-Meetings and to inform against pursue and deliver up all outed Ministers to Judgment The Execution of these Orders was not by legal Officers but by an Army of Highland Robbers who quartered upon the Country so that it may be a Question whether the French King did not take his Measures in his Dragoon-Reformation by the ground-work laid by Lauderdale But his Grace which it seems did work irresistibly did not stay here for his Highland Army which consisted of eight or nine thousand Men not only lived upon Free Quarter upon all sorts of the King 's peaceable Subjects but in most places levied great Sums of Money under the Notion of Dry Quarters they had only regard to the Duke 's private Animosities for the most part of the Places where they quartered and destroyed had not been guilty of Field-Conventicles The King's Subjects were denounced Rebels and Captions issued out for seizing their Persons for not entring into Bond That neither they nor any under them shall go to Field-Conventicles and the Nobility and Gentry were disarmed who had ever been faithful to the King and assisted in suppressing Field-Conventicles Indictments were delivered in by the King's Advocate in the Evening to be answered next Morning upon Oath otherwise they were to be reputed guilty These and many more of this kind in the Matters relating to Lauderdale's Administration of Affairs in Scotland were represented to the King and that by his Command and are in Lauderdale's and his Lady's Impeachment which are all in Print Notwithstanding all this it was this Lauderdale who had procured an Act of Parliament to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse to march into England to serve the King upon all Occasions And tho the Duke to prevent the Fame of his Actions arriving in England had by a Proclamation forbid all Subjects to depart the Kingdom without Licence yet the Noise of his Actions flew every where in England not less than the Censures of the Star-Chamber and High Commission in Laud's Regency did in Scotland and in due time the Duke shall hear of them Can any Man now believe That the King by his Declaration of Indulgence intended any Benefit to the Dissenters in England whilst Lauderdale without doubt by his Order was acting these things in Scotland The House of Commons could not at first step forget all the Loyalty they before profest to the King nor yet would they own the Dutch War and therefore they voted the King 1238750 l. to supply the King 's extraordinary Occasions but before they would let this Bill slip through their Fingers they tack'd a Bill to it by which no Papist should have any publick Employment This Bill catch'd my Lord Treasurer Clifford the first in the Cabal who was forced to resign his Treasurer's Place or renounce Popery which he would not do his Pensioners not being against it hoping thereby to get the Places which the Popish Party held and even my Lord Chancellor Ashley from Delenda Carthago now sets up for the Country Party against the Designs of the Cabal so moultry are all Designs which are not cemented in Justice and Honour The King having got the Bill for the Money the further Sitting of the Parliament became uneasy to him whereupon the Parliament was adjourned till the 20th and after to the 27th of October viz. 1673. During this Recess there were three Sea-Fights between the English French and Dutch Prince Rupert Admiral in all which the French stood aloof looking on whilst the English and Dutch battered one another only Monsieur de Martell for engaging was recalled checked and dismissed As the English thrived no better by Sea so neither did the French by Land for first the Elector of Brandenburg then the Emperour and at last the King or Queen Regent of Spain apprehensive of the Danger common to them all of the French subduing the Dutch Provinces entred into a mutual League for their Defence and by their Conjunction the Prince of Orange recovered many of the Vpland Towns in almost as little Time as the French had taken them In this state the Swede now broke loose from the Triple League whereby he opened the Gap to let in this Confusion and became a Pensioner to France and proposes a Treaty of Peace to be held at Cologn and thither the King the Emperor the French King and the King of Spain send their Plenipotentiaries to treat of it The French King's Propositions were so insolent that if granted our King could have nothing yet the King pudet haec insisted That tho he was contented with such Propositions as he required so as accepted in ten Days yet if granted by the States they should be of no force nor will he enter into any Treaty of Peace unless his most Christian Majesty shall receive Satisfaction from the States in his Particular After the French King should have all the King's Demands were a Regulation of the Trade to the East-Indies a Settlement of the Freedom of Navigation in Europe the Arrears for the Fishing-Trade upon the English Coast to assert a settled Revenue to the Crown for every Buss or Dogger-boat for the future and to make Satisfaction for the Damages
January and the same Day issued out Writs for a new one to meet at Westminster the 6th of March following which was just 40 Days between the Test and Return In this Interval the Blaze of the Parliament's Vote of their Apprehensions of a damnable and hellish Popish Plot had taken deep Impressions in the Minds of Men in general and the Whigs taking Advantage of it in this short Interval run down the Tories without Opposition nay even the King himself apprehended there could be no Hopes of attaining his Ends in the next Parliament but by seeming zealous in the prosecuting the Discovery of the Popish Plot and that he would not longer be governed by Favourites and single Councils There had been several Debates in the House of Commons of the dangerous Consequences in reference to the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown and that the Bottom of the Popish Plot centred in the Duke's being a Papist and the presumptive Heir to the Crown but I do not find they came to any Vote upon it yet resolved upon the 8th of November to make an Address to the King That the Duke might withdraw himself from his Person and Councils and in Conformity therewith the Duke went or was sent into Holland and upon the meeting of the Parliament the King acquainted them how great things he had already done for the preventing the Progress of the Popish Plot as the Exclusion of the Popish Lords from their Seats in Parliament and the Execution of several Men upon the Score of the Plot as well as the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but above all that he had commanded his Brother from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him toward Popish Counsels and tells That as he had not been slack in putting the present Laws in Execution against Papists so he was ready to join in making such further Laws as may be necessary for the securing the Kingdom against Popery and then demands a Supply and concludes with his Desires to have this a healing Parliament The House chose Mr. Seymour the Speaker of the last Parliament to be their Speaker in this but the King rejected him which was no good Presage of a healing Parliament and so the Commons chose Mr. Serjeant Gregory and the King accepted him The Commons began where the last Parliament left in prosecuting their Impeachments against the Earl of Danby and the Popish Lords in the Tower but who should be first tried and what were the Jurisdiction of the Bishops Right of Voting in their Impeachments and their Judgments in Cases of Blood run quite through this Sessions wherein the Lords and Commons seldom agreed There were two things which made the Earl of Danby's Case more favourably spoken of one That tho he was prosecuted several Weeks after the Popish Lords were committed yet the Commons would not proceed in their Impeachments against the Popish Lords before the Lords had given their Judgments upon the Earl's Plea The other was a Vote of the Commons upon the 9th of May That no Commoner whatsoever should presume to maintain the Validity of the Earl of Danby ' s Pardon without Leave of the House first obtained and that the Persons so doing shall be accounted Betrayers of England and there was no Nobleman a profest Lawyer so that tho the Earl's Plea upon his Pardon was Matter of Law yet no Commoner must presume to plead his Cause The King besides his sending the Duke of York beyond Sea that the World might now see how otherways he was become a new Man for the future upon the 20th of April 1679 made this Declaration in Council and in Parliament and after publish'd it to the whole Nation how sensible he was of the ill Posture of his Affairs and the great Dissatisfaction and Jealousies of his good Subjects whereby the Crown and Government were become too weak to preserve it self which proceeded from his use of a single Ministry and of private Advices and therefore professed his Resolution to lay them aside for the future and be advised by those whom he had then chosen for his Council in all his weighty and important Affairs together with the frequent Advice of his great Council in Parliament and indeed in this Council were many worthy Members my Lord of Shaftsbury was President of it and the then Sir Henry Capel and Sir William Temple Members of it But this Declaration of the King 's added to the sending the Duke of York into Holland had not the King 's desired Effect the Commons besides the Dread of the Popish Plot as well at present but more in consequence after the King had declared he would not alter the Succession of the Crown in the right Line were no ways satisfied with the Disbursements of the Money nor the disbanding the Army yet were resolved it should be done and voted another Sum of 26462 l. for it but it was not carried without some Difficulty that these Monies should be paid into the Exchequer but Chamber of London however the Commons carried That the Money so raised should be appropriated to that Use and to that End appointed Commissioners to disband the new-rais'd Army and so voted That the Continuance of any standing Forces in this Nation other than the Militia to be illegal and a great Grievance and Vexation to the People hereby meaning the King's Guards They also ordered a Bill to be brought in for annexing Tangier to the Imperial Crown of England and voted That those who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom But how jealous soever the Commons were of the King yet they conceived it was his Life which secured them from the Fears they dreaded of the Duke's coming to the Crown and therefore upon the 11th of May voted Nemine contradicente That in Defence of the King's Person and the Protestant Religion this House does declare that they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty shall come to an untimely End which God forbid they will revenge it upon the Papists It seems the Commons had more Care of the King than he had of himself for he not only countenanced the Plotters but ridiculed the Plot. In his Speech at the opening this Parliament he told them he had not been idle in discovering the Plot and in the last he told Sir William Temple he was displeased with the Earl of Danby for bringing the Popish Plot into Parliament against his absolute Command Oliver's Professions and Actions never appeared so hypocritical and deceitful as this King 's and all this after the Parliament had voted there was a hellish Conspiracy by the Papists against his Life and this proved by a Cloud of Witnesses agreeing in the Manner and Circumstances of it as Oates
be kept with Hereticks which he esteemed all others in England but those of his own Romish Faction to be Could the King believe that the Duke's Succession could be any Security to the Protestant Religion as the King calls it which the Duke esteemed Heresy and to be rooted out by Fire and Sword or that any other but the Duke's Faction could be protected by him when he esteemed them Hereticks Schismaticks Church-Robbers and no Christians It 's true at this time the King of Portugal was made a Prisoner to restrain him from his immoral and wicked Actions whilst his Brother in his Imprisonment acted as Regent of Portugal in his Brother's Name But upon the Duke's Succession how could a Regent act when the King was not a Minor but of full Age double and at large in the King's Name and contrary to his Will and Pleasure and this to consist with the Security of the Protestant Religion or Laws In the Debates in the House of Commons many Expedients were propounded how the established Government in Church and State could be preserved and none could be found in case the Duke succeeded so the Country Party moved that the Court Party would propound Expedients herein but either they could not or had no Instructions from the Court to warrant such Expedients as they should propound But if the due and legal Descent of the Crown must be preserved though to the Destruction of the Church and State they who advised the King to be so positive herein should have done well to have declared what Law in England declares the Descent of the Crown of England or how this becomes due I am sure the Act of the first of Henry the IV intailed the Crown upon the King and the Heirs of his Body and so did that of the first of Henry VII before he married the Lady Elizabeth Edward the Fourth's Daughter and if Henry the seventh's Title to the Crown had been good by inherent Birth-right yet he had been an Usurper For his Mother under whom he claimed lived all his Reign and so she did some time after Henry the VIII became King as you may read in Stow's History p. 487. And how was the due and Legal Succession of the Crown of England observed in the Reign of Henry the VIII when by his Will he might name what Successor he pleased as has been said or in Queen Elizabeth's Reign when it was in Parliament declared Treason to affirm the Parliament might not dispose of the Succession of the Crown in her Reign and a Premunire at this Day And let any Man shew that ever there were three Kings before these of the Scotish Race in the Saxon Danish or Norman Race which succeeded successively by inherent Birth-right I will submit that all I have said is not true and why then must such a Stress be put for the preserving the Descent of the Crown in its due and legal Course without declaring what is that due and legal Course to endanger the Subversion of the Church and State of England Then the King recommends to the Parliament a Strict Enquiry into the Popish Plot and that the Lords in the Tower be brought to a speedy Trial without which he did not think himself or the Parliament safe The constant Vogue was That the King dissolved the two last Parliaments to preserve the Lords in the Tower from being brought to Trial and I am sure that you will soon hear that the King did not believe his and the Nation 's Safety did consist in the Trial of the Lords in the Tower Then the King tells the Parliament what Danger Tangier was in and what vast Expence he must be at to keep it And the Commons last Parliament drew up an Act to settle it upon the Imperial Crown of England and that they who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any Foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom And what Care the King took to keep it will soon appear tho 't was said the Parliament I think it was out of the Chimney-Bill gave him 40000 l. per Annum towards the Preservation of it to the Crown of England The King goes on and says That above all the Treasure in the World which he was sure would give him greater Strength both at home and abroad than any Treasure can do is a perfect Union among our selves yet says not wherein we should unite Truth and Unity are one and consist in intire Parts but Falshood and Discord are infinite What Truth or Unity could be in the King 's loose and irregular Actions so confounding and every day varying from what he had promised before Or how is it possible for the Nation to unite under Terms which are inconsistible and impossible viz. Unite to preserve the Constitutions of the Kingdom and yet be at no Discord with the King who they were morally certain would make it his Business to subvert them If we should be so unhappy the King says as to fall into such Misunderstanding among our selves as would render our Friendship unsafe to trust to it will not be wondred at if our Allies shall begin to take up new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us and advised them not to gratify our Enemies and dishearten our Friends by any unreasonable Disputes viz. to take all by an implicit Faith I do not understand what the King means by Misunderstanding among our selves which may render our Friendship to our or his Allies unsafe nor does he say wherein such Misunderstanding consists I 'm sure the Parliament misunderstood him when they gave him 1200000 l. to enter into an actual War against the French King in the Defence of these Allies and when he had got the Money to make a separate Peace with a Faction of the Dutch to the Ruine of his Allies and take French Money for it and to get the Parliament twice over to disband this Army for fear he should turn it against them and the Nation and now 't was disbanded to give Money to raise another upon Pretence of assisting these Allies now they were forced to such a dishonourable Peace with the French or that our Allies as the King calls them would ever trust to any more of his Alliances If any should so happen the King says the World will see it is no Fault of his for he had done all that was possible for him to do to keep us in Peace while he lived and to leave us so when he died Can any Man believe the King believed himself herein Or that any Man will be his Voucher for it Even my Lord C. F. out of the Field of his sweet lisping Eloquence could not gather one Rhetorical Flower to make a Flourish upon this Speech nor assure the Parliament upon his Veracity that Now Now was the time to secure their Religion and Properties nay the Commons gave so little Credit to this
of Indulgence was an unlawful Act and that if they had submitted to the King's Will to have enjoined it to have been read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses it had been an unlawful Act which was one Reason they could not comply with the King's Will and that this Declaration was not intended a Favour to the Protestant Dissenters but a Design to ruin the established Religion and Church of England and the enjoining the Bishops to have read was a Design upon their Persons as well as the Declaration was upon the Church and that the King professed himself to be of the Popish Religion which they believed and declared to be Idolatry in the worshipping Images and derogatory to God's Honour by Invocation of Saints whereby they grant to Creatures an Omniscience which is inseparable from God and only to be ascribed to him and that the King had owned the Papal Power which not only claims a Dominion over all Kings and Kingdoms to be at the Pope's disposal and who had declared the Church of England to be Heretical Schismatical and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept but had assumed a Power equal or superiour to God himself in dispensing with God's Laws and setting its own above them by sending his Ambassador to the Pope and receiving his Nuncio With what Conscience then could the Bishops approach God's Altars in their highest Acts of Devotion and in the Prayer for the Parliament declare to God that he is their most religious King and in the Litany to pray to God to keep and strengthen the King in the Worship of God or Religion which the King profest And how could they delare to God he is their most gracious Sovereign when he had imprisoned them for not submitting to his unlawful Will and had owned a Power which had declared them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons who were by all ways and means to be extirpated from the Face of the Earth Yet the Bishops by their Canonical Obedience were as much obliged hereto and to enjoin the Clergy in their respective Diocesses to offer these Praises to God as they were not to obey the King's Will by enjoining the King's Declaration of Indulgence to be read by all the Clergy in their Diocesses To this Dilemma had the flattering Church and State in King Charles the II's Reign tho intending it against the Presbyterians by their Act of Vniformity brought the Church and State too in the Reign of King James But lest this establishing of Popery should have no longer support than in the King's Life a new Miracle is to be added to the Legend for the next day after the Bishops were committed to the Tower the Queen was brought to Bed of a Prince of Wales so that now they had got a Prince of Wales and the Queen received the Consecrated Clouts and the Pope by his Nuncio is become God-father a Foundation so infallible is laid for exalting the Papal Chair and extirpating the Pestilent Northern Heresy that it's Heresy to doubt it But Man purposes and God disposes and in truth without God's special Assistance not only these Dominions of England Scotland and Ireland but all the Western Parts of Europe were not to be retrieved out of I may say even a desperate State for in England the King had a standing Army of above 20000 Men and the Whigs were but too forward to congratulate the King in his Designs and in humouring him in giving him up their Charters as the Tories in King Charles his Reign in their Abhorrences of the King 's calling a Parliament and as forward then as the Whigs now in surrendring their Charters The Protestant Army in Ireland not only disbanded by Tyrconnel and a Popish Army set up but the Protestants disarmed and Scotland so perfectly subdued that there the King 's Absolute Will without reserve must pass for Law The King of Spain so weak as not able to defend himself much less relieve others the Empire engaged in a War against the Turks in the East so as the Western Parts were in no Condition to repel the Impression the French should make upon it The Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark remote and at such natural Enmity with one another that if one should side with France or England the other would engage against it and tho Holland were considerable elsewhere at Sea yet their Strength at Sea was inferiour to the English but much more in Conjunction of the French with the English However something must be done for Modesty in this State had been the highest Crime and of all Foreign Princes the Prince of Orange was most immediately concerned not only in the Oppression of the French King upon his Principality of Orange and the Dangers which threatned the Vnited Provinces by the swelling Grandeur of the French but by the King 's Arbitrary Proceedings in England for the Princess was the Presumptive Heir to the Crown of England and Scotland And since it is the Laws and Constitutions which erect these Nations into Kingdoms whereof the King is the Head then if the King destroys the Laws and Constitutions he is neither King nor the Princess of Orange Presumptive Heir to them besides since the King had assumed a Power of Dispensing with the Laws he might as well in Dispensing with the Succession and the Prince was well assured neither those about the King nor the Pope would much favour his or his Lady's Title to the Crown nor was the introducing the Prince of Wales into the World intended to have either the Prince or Princess come to the Crown of England The Prince of Orange thus injured by both these Kings and being denied the Benefit of any Humane Laws for redress has recourse to God and his Sword for relief and opposes the Justice of his Cause against the Potency of his Adversaries Nor does he take up his Sword to vindicate his own Rights only but for restoring the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to their antient Rights Laws and Privileges invaded by King James and to put a stop to the French King 's boundless Ambition and Tyranny in Murdering Ravaging and Destroying rather than making a War upon all his neighbouring Princes not dispossest and ruined by him A Design so great by so little a Prince as no less than a Divine Power could inspire him to such an Undertaking The Prince these two last years had several Conferences with the Electors of Brandenburg Saxony and the Princes of the House of Lunenburg and other Princes of Germany it 's believed in concerting Measures how to behave themselves against the Designs of these two Kings but the Results were so secret that I find no mention of them But how secret soever these Results were yet the Preparations to put them in Execution could be no Secret especially the Naval Preparations by Sea though the Dutch Ambassador assured the King they were not intended against him yet refused to communicate
Laws and Constitutions of it and to have maintained the Honour of it abroad made it their Business to have subverted them and being thereby always at Variance and Contentions with their Subjects lost their own and the Nation 's Honour abroad and by taking no Care of the foreign Concerns of the Nation became contemptible to other Nations Nay the last three Kings instead of restraining the French Ambition and Tyranny joined with them in advancing of them as if they designed to make the French King an Universal Monarch as well as to destroy the Constitutions of England And I would know a Reason why now his Majesty King William has by God's Blessing redeemed this Nation from the imminent Danger which the French King in conjunction with King James designed upon the Western Parts of Christendom as well as these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland any Christian should endeavour or desire the Restitution of King James any more than the Primitive Christians did Dioclesian Maximi◠and Maxentius after God had freed them from their Rage and Persecution by Constantine APPENDIX MY Lord Bacon compares Times to Ways some more plain and easy to pass others more rugged and more hard to pass the former is better for him who lives in them the latter is better for the Reader not only in the Pleasure of reading the Variety of Accidents in them but because in their Contests fine Notions arise which otherwise might have been concealed and which may be beneficial to the Readers in succeeding Times and also in shewing the Causes of these Distempers succeeding Generations may be admonished hereby to prevent them in time to come In these Treatises we have given an Account of the manifold Varieties of Accidents which have hapned for above 80 Years in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland France Spain and the States of the Vnited Netherlands and though the Roman and Grecian Histories may give Instances of the like by Land yet none of them can shew the like of the French Grandeur by Sea in little more than forty Years but more especially in that this was acquired in the Face of two neighbouring Nations either of which could have prescribed Laws to all the World besides herein the one claiming the Dominion of the British Seas the other of the Indian and Southern Ocean On the other Side Spain which in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was both the Envy and Dread of these Western parts of Christendom is now fallen into that abject State as it is scarce in the Power of Christendom to uphold it from falling under the Dominion of the French and this History in some Measure hath shewn the Causes both of the Grandeur of France and the Cadency of Spain To the natural Advantages which the French had above other Nations after the Death of Queen Elizabeth was added that James the first and Charles the first of England whose Interest it was to have restrained the ambitious and aspiring Humour of the French were degenerous Princes wholly given up to be governed by Flatterers and Favourites and made it their Business to usurp another Jurisdiction over the Nation than they could claim by their Inherent Birth-right so that if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a Stop to Charles his Career no mortal Creature could have foreseen where it would have ended King James not to disturb his licentious and voluptuous Pleasures stood only still and looking on whilst Lewis the 13th had near broke the Interest of the Reformed in France but Charles in the first Act of his Reign lent the French a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers at that time superior to Lewis by Sea and as inconsiderately in the second Year of his Reign made War with France having in the first Year made War against the Spaniard whereby both Spain and France joining against the English brought that Loss and Dishonour upon the English in the Expedition of the Isle of Rhee and Charles being as loose in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions after the Death of the Duke of Buckingham who had engaged him in both these Wars made a secret Peace with the French and left the Reformed out of it though he engaged them to join with him in the War whereby the whole Interest of the Reformed was rooted out So that the Original of the French Grandeur by Sea and Land may be truly ascribed to these two Hereditary Princes James and Charles After the Tyranny of Charles his Reign had degenerated into the Usurpations of the Rump they thinking to prejudice the Dutch made the Act of Navigation which crampt up all the foreign Trades of England and the fishing Trade which above all others is the Nursery of Seamen and encrease of Navigation to English-built Ships and sail'd with ¾ English whether there be Ships or Mariners or not and without any Consideration of Times whether of War or Peace Though we have in this History and in The Reasons of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also in the View of the Act of Navigation in reference to the Laws which yet stand unrepealed to the Trades for Masts Rafters Boards foreign Oak Timber Pitch and Tar and to the Trades for rough Hemp and Flax and to the fishing Trades and also to the Safety of the Nation against Foreign Powers at large demonstrated the Iniquity of this Law and the dangerous Consequences of it yet it is fit even here to take some Notice of it and of the Navigation of the Nation before the Act and how the Case stands now by reason of it Before the Rump contrived the Act of Navigation the English as the Traders told me alone fished upon the Coasts of Iseland and Westmony for Ling and the Cod-fish called Haberdin and at that time the Town of Alborough in Suffolk as I was informed fished yearly to those Seas with 35 Sail of Vessels called Iselands-Barks and the Town of Sould or Southold with 15 and Great Yarmouth with manifold more the Number I cannot tell but this I can tell That besides London and other parts of Norfolk and Suffolk which they supplied with this sort of Fish as also the Navy Royal and other Ships with this sort of Provision the Town of Yarmouth yearly exported to Calice St. Valery Diep Havre de Grace St. Maloes Brest and other parts of France 150000 Haberdin and Ling and by their Trades with these returned Sails and Nets for their Navigation and Fisheries Wells and Lyn in Norfolk too drove Trades into these Seas but I am not informed in how many Vessels but I have heard the Inhabitants of Wells complain that they have almost lost their Trades and I belive Lyn wholly Before the Act of Navigation the English from the Western Ports drove threefold a greater Trade in the Newfound-Land Fishery than the French whereas the French now drive above twenty-fold more the Trade to Newfound-Land Fishery than the English do And I have
all other imaginable Advantages they would not be of further use to the Nation than they had Hands to carry them on The Commons in the third Westminster Parliament upon the 31st of December in 1680 Gave leave to bring in a Bill for a General Naturalization of Alien Protestants and allowing them Liberty to exercise their Trades in all Corporations But why was this leave to be given only to Protestant Foreigners Let 's see how the Case stands and what Benefit the Nation can reap from it now the French King has expelled the Reformed out of France As the Case stands Holland France and Flanders are the Places from whence we can expect any Benefit by this Liberty In Holland Protestant Artificers are as free and easy as in England but in Flanders though they be an industrious and honest Sort of People yet are they all Popish and I am confident if they thought they might freely exercise their Religion in England Multitudes of them would seek an Asilum in England to be freed from the Insults and Tyranny they are always subject to from the French and it may be reasonably expected that Multitudes of People in the French Conquests would flee the French Tyranny in them if they might be free in their Religion in England and it is not unlike but upon Advantages given the French we might procure many of them to fish from our Western Ports if they were free in their Religion Object But this Permission would disturb the Peace and endanger the Safety of the Church of England Answ Good Men are scarce and so these Men had need of taking care for themselves and these Men are as careful of the Church as the Free-men are of their Privileges and rather suffer the Nation to sink than they any ways endangered Is not the Church of England in the Kingdom of England and protected by it so that if the Kingdom falls the Church cannot stand Did not our Saviour send his Apostles to propagate the Gospel in this World though they suffered Persecution and Martyrdom for it Yet these good Men are fearful of themselves and the Church of England if others come to support the Kingdom and enrich them When any Foreigners are planted here have not the Church-men if they will make it their Business an Opportunity of winning them to the Church of England and have Reason and the Authority of the Kingdom to do it and if these will not prevail the Fault is others not theirs For my part I detest the Roman Superstition and Idolatry as much as any Man and am as fearful of the Tyranny which the Pope claims as well over Princes as Mens Consciences yet I apprehend no Danger of either by this Liberty granted to Popish Artificers for it is one thing for Jesuits and Popish Priests to make it their Business to pervert Men to their Sentiments and another thing for poor Popish People to make it their Business how to subsist which will take up their whole time especially where they are in a strange Place and Strangers to the People unless by accident in their Dealings for their Support and also to the Language of the People where they live I would know what Inconvenience has followed for permitting Brewer and his Followers which were all Papists to instruct our Natives in making and dying fine Woollen Cloths and in all the Disturbances and Tumults of the late Times after 1640 let any Man shew me one Instance wherein the Walloons and their Descendants planted in London Norwich Colchester or Canterbury contributed to any of them however they had been sufficiently provoked thereto both by Arch-Bishop Laud and Bishop Wren Expedient XX. That it be free for all Foreigners to purchase Lands and Tenements in England The Reason hereof is because where Men purchase Lands and Tenements they design a Habitation whereby the Nation will be so much more peopled as Purchasers are more and the Kingdom so much strengthned and the King's Revenues so much increased as these Purchasers and their Families consume more excizable Goods or foreign which pay Customs and so much more as the Purchase-Money shall be more so much more will the Nation be enriched for the Lands and Houses we retain still and the Purchase-Money is an Addition to the Treasure of the Nation and this is so much an Advantage to the Nation because no Man in it runs any Hazard or Venture of Loss by it whereas in all the Wealth which Merchants acquire by Foreign Trades they run not only the Hazard of Loss but of being undone Expedient XXI That a publick Encouragement be given to all Foreigners which shall carry on the Fishing Trade from the Ports of England in the New-found-land Fishery and to Greenland Iseland Westmony and upon the Coasts of England and Scotland for the taking and curing White-Herring and Cod-fish The Reasons hereof are manifold for above all other Trades the Fishing-Trade encreases Mariners and Navigation for every Man in the Fishing-Trade becomes a Mariner whereas in the East-India and other Trades it may be a thousand Artificers do not employ one Mariner and in the East-India Trade it may be a Question whether we do not lose more Sea-men or make more Mariners and those which survive by reason of the Diversities of the Climates and their feeding upon salted Meats and drinking sour Drinks are so feeble that a Fisherman is able to fight and beat two of them Add hereto the Fishermen are always at home and so at hand upon all Occasions to serve the Nation whereas in the East-India Trade you scarce hear of one in two Years and not in a Year from those to Turkey and our American Plantations Besides these Fishing-Trades above all others employ all sorts of poor People at home in making Ropes Sails and Nets for it If ever these Fisheries be retrieved it will be with great Difficulty and a Work of Time considering the Poverty of the Coast-Towns of England and the Potency of the Dutch and French in opposing us who are possessed of them and it is more difficult to retrieve a lost Game than not to be able to play it before it be lost yet this Benefit we have by it that we have discovered how we lost our Game and how the Dutch and French won theirs In the Fisheries upon the Coast of England and Scotland besides the King 's indubitable Right whatever Grotius in his Mare Liberum says to the contrary the English may take in fresh Water and Provisions and dry their Nets upon the Shore which the King may forbid Foreigners to do in their Fisheries which may be of great Advantage to the English for the Dutch begin their Fisheries of White Herring upon the Coast of Schotland or Schetland upon the Rising Grounds as they call them and follow that Fishery four Months in the Year before the Herrings come to the Coast of Norfolk and Suffolk where we begin ours which Fishery we enjoy no longer than
Peace between England and Spain whereto both Kings were equally disposed more smooth and easy Yet Philip the 3d before he would openly seek it by an Ambassador from the Arch-Duke Albert Governor of Flanders felt the Pulse of the Court how it stood affected to a Peace with Spain which beat high towards it so as soon after it followed which as it was most beneficial to the English Nation so it had been to Spain if it had been as sincerely observed by King James as it was by Philip. Henry the 4th of France tho spited as 't was said that King James should not only come so peaceably but with universal Acclamations to the Crown of England whereas he laboured with such difficulty above seven Years to attain that of France and at last was forced to a dishonourable Submission to the Pope Clement VIII Yet being a Prince of great Prudence in Peace as well as fortunate and victorious in War sent Monsieur de Rosny Great Treasurer of France to renew the Treaty of Peace and Commerce formerly made between Queen Elizabeth and him which was without any difficulty done The King being thus at Peace Abroad and at Home not only in England but in Ireland as if the Wars expired there with Queen Elizabeth he not only pardoned the Earl of Tyrone the Head of that Rebellion but by Proclamation declar'd he was restor'd to the King's Favour and to be honourably used of all Men. But how pleasing soever the King 's coming to the Crown of England was to the English Nation it seems it was not so or something else to God for an horrible Plague greater than any since that in the Reign of Edward the 3d accompanied his coming in There were two Factions in England when the King came to the Crown distinguished by the Names of Puritans and Papists both dissenting from the Religion established in the Church of England the King hated those and wrote against these chiefly for their Doctrine of the Pope's Power of deposing Kings These received the King after different manners the Puritans had a huge Expectation of his Favour because he was bred up in their Doctrine and Discipline but were much deceived in it for he rarely mentioned them but with Detestation which he did not those of the Popish Religion However in January they obtained a Conference with the Church-Party at Hampton-Court where the King himself would be Moderator whilst most of the Nobility and Bishops were Spectators You need not doubt which Party prevail'd the Nobility and Bishops not only giving the King the Victory with the Epithets of The Solomon of the Age The most Learned but of being inspired But what Expectation soever the Puritans had of the King 's coming to the Crown the Papists had another Lesson taught them for tho the Popish Conspiracy against the Person of Queen Elizabeth ceased upon the Death of the Queen of Scots yet did not the Pope's Designs upon the Kingdom of England do so but Clement VIII in the Year 1600 sent Orders to his Emissaries in England that the Catholicks should admit none to succeed the Queen but one obedient to the Holy See and in Conformity hereunto Watson and Clark two Romish Priests joined in Cobhant's Conspiracy to have kept the King from coming to the Crown and were executed for it as Traitors but the Effects of the Pope's Instructions did not die with Clark and Watson as you 'll soon hear and upon the 24th of October 1603 a Proclamation was made for Quietness to be observed in Matters of Religion Notwithstanding the Rage of the Pestilence the first nine Months after the King 's coming to London all were Halcion-days Proclamations Pageants Feastings Creation of Lords and Knights Reception of Foreign Ambassadors erecting a Master of the Ceremonies after the Mode of France c. and in this time the Dignified Clergy and those who courted to be so with the Favourites at Court with whom the Civilians chimed in had so rooted their Doctrine of the King 's Absolute Power and that notwithstanding his Succession to the Crown of Scotland in the Life of his Mother he succeeded by inherent Birth-right and that Primogeniture is the Gift of God by the Law of Nature and that in his Person was reconciled all the Titles of our Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings that being propensly disposed to receive the Impressions they took such deep root in him that in all his Life after he would never with Patience hear any thing to the contrary however it was not long before he heard of it as you shall hear But we will stay a little and see how inconsistently these Flatterers jumbled an Absolute and Hereditary Monarchy together and how this King reconciled the Titles of the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles to the Crown For no Hereditary Monarch that ever reigned in this World but derived his Title from an Ancestor who had no Hereditary Right nor did ever any Hereditary King succeed but to govern by Laws and Constitutions which were established before he became King So however Absolute may be applicable to Conquerors yet it is inconsistent with Hereditary Kings especially in a Regular Monarchy as that of England is and those of old as of the Medes and Persians where the Will of the King alone could not alter the Laws and Constitutions of them And now let us see how King James came to claim his Crown by inherent Birth-right and how all the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles came to be reconciled in his Person It 's evident to me that tho only God can make an Heir and that tho Primogeniture be natural yet God in disposing Kingdoms is not obliged to it tho Grotius lib. 1. Tit. 11. de Jure Belli Pacis is pleased to say the Law of Nature is immutable by God himself but reserves unto himself the Prerogative of disposing Kingdoms without restraining the Succession of the King to Primogeniture or Hereditary Succession Here let us see in Epitome which you may read at large in Sir William Jones his History of the Succession of the Kings of England before and after the Conquest and the History of the Succession of the Crown of England from King Egbert to Henry the 8th printed in the Year 1690 where you will see that tho the Kings of England both before and after the Conquest succeeded in their Royal Families yet many more were not in the right Line than in it and tho before Caesar invaded Britain there was no other Government but Kingly yet Britain was divided into so many petty Kingdoms that tho it had not been barbarous it would have been as difficult to have wrote the History of the Succession of their Kings as to have wrote the History of the Succession of the Kings immediately after the Flood After the Roman Empire oppressed by its own Weight by the Division into Eastern and Western its intestine Jars and the over-flowing of barbarous Nations was so torn
and shaken that the Legions which governed Britain were recalled by Ecius the Roman General under Honorius and Valentinian the 3d to make Head against Attila the poor Britains disarmed and only made use of to serve their imperious Masters and so utterly destitute of Martial Discipline easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots not subject to the Romans who treated them more intolerably and tyrannically than the Romans had done For Redress whereof the Britains sought Succours from the English Saxons who came to their Relief in the Year 409 as Bede says lib. 1. cap. 15. of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation but these Saxons used the poor Britains worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of the Island now called England Tho the Saxons had their Wills of the Britains they were before the Heptarchy at continual Variance among themselves and so after that it is almost as unaccountable to give a History of the Succession of their Kings as it was of the Britains before Julius Caesar Egbert about the Year 800 viz. 391 Years after the Saxon Invasion was called the first of the Saxon Monarchs tho the Kingdom of the Mercians was not united to his Monarchy who by Merit as well as Birth obtained the Dignity and succeeded Brithric Ethelwolph succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Westsax but not to those of Kent Sussex and Eastsax or Essex these being given by Egbert to Egbert's younger Son Ethelwolph by his Will divided his Kingdoms between his two eldest Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert to Ethelbald he gave the Kingdom of the West Saxons to Ethelbert the Kingdom of Kent and the Eastern Southern and middle Angles But there were two other Sons Ethelred and Alfred Ethelbert after the Death of Ethelbald succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and after the Death of Ethelbert Ethelred succeeded in the whole viz. of the West Saxons and of the Kingdoms of Kent the Eastern Southern and Middle Angles Alfred after the Death of Ethelred by universal Applause the famous the youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded Edward Son of Alfred was chosen by the Nobles on Whit-sunday in 901. Athelstan after the Death of Alfred tho a Bastard was elected by the Nobles of whom 't was said there was nothing ignoble in him But Athelstan dying without Issue his younger Brother Edmund succeeded him without any Opposition and tho he left two Sons Edwy and Edgar yet Edmund's younger Brother succeeded him Edwy after Edred's Death Edred's elder Brother 's elder Son succeeded but being a vicious Prince the Mercians and Northumbrians chose Edgar his younger Brother King in the Life of Edwy and Edgar after the Death of Edwy became King of the whole Nation Edward Son of Edgar after his Death was chosen by the Bishops and Nobles by the Command of his Father Edgar but he being murdered by his Step-mother Edward's younger Brother Ethelred succeeded And after his Death the Saxon Monarchy being rent in pieces by the Danes and Saxons Edmund Ironside Son of Etheldred by an obscure mean Woman tho he had two half-legitimate younger Brothers Edward and Alfred born of Etheldred's Wife was chosen King by one part of the Nobility and Canutus the Dane by another Thus the whole legitimate Race of the Saxon Kings were excluded one part chusing Ironside a Bastard the other Canutus a Stranger to the Saxon Royal Race Edmund Ironside being treacherously murdered by his Brother-in-law Edric Edmund leaving two Sons Edwy and Edward Canutus the Dane became sole Monarch of the Saxon Monarchy So that this was the beginning of the Danish Dynasty which lasted not long Harold Son of Canutus succeeded him and Hardicanute his Brother succeeded Harold neither the Issue of Etheldred Edward or Alfred nor Edwy or Edward the Sons of Edmund Ironside so much as taken notice of with this Hardicanute ended the Danish Rule with the Slaughter and Expulsion of the Danes Edward Son of Etheldred called the Confessor Uncle to Edwy and Edward Sons of Edmund Ironside after Hardicanute was advanced to the Royal Dignity principally by means of Earl Goodwin a powerful and imperious Lord upon the account of Edward's marrying the Earl's Daughter so little was the Hereditary Succession of the Saxon Kings regarded And that Edward's Reign might be more secure this Earl Goodwin caused the Eyes of Alfred the King's Brother to be put out and some say took away his Life Edward the Confessor growing old having no Issue and the Family of the wicked Earl Goodwin growing not only insolent but intolerable to him declared Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside his Cousin his Heir And to the end he might better succeed the King sent to the King of Hungary to return his Nephew Edward whom the King of Hungary had married to his Niece Agatha Daughter to Henry Emperor of Germany which the King of Hungary did and upon Edward's return the Confessor declared that he or his Sons should succeed in his Hereditary Kingdom of England But the Confessor did not long hold in this Mind for his Nephew Edward soon after dying and leaving a Son Edgar unfit for Government either as to his Body or Courage he decreed that his Kinsman William Duke of Normandy tho a Bastard should succeed him in the Kingdom of England which came to pass and so a new Race of Kings have succeeded in England of the Norman Race whose original Title was from a Grant of a King of the Saxon Race and so the beginning creates little Title to an Hereditary Succession in the Norman Race And now we 'll see how an Hereditary Succession was observed in it yet as in the Saxon so in the Norman Kings none succeeded who was not of the Royal Blood as all the Kings of Judah were of the Family or Tribe of Judah William Rufus the second Son of the Conqueror succeeded his elder Brother Robert then alive So did Henry the First his elder Brother Robert living Stephen the Son of the Conqueror's Sister succeeded Henry tho Henry left a Daughter Maud or Matilda Henry the Second succeeded Henry's Mother yet living so his Succession was not Hereditary for Haeres non est viventis Richard the First succeeded Henry the Second John succeeded Richard Arthur the Son of John's elder Brother then alive Henry the Third succeeded Arthur's Sister then alive who was Heir before him So that of seven Successions after the Conqueror but one Richard the First succeeded as Heir to his Father or the Conqueror Admit Edward the First succeeded as Heir to Henry the 3d and Edward the 2d as Heir to Edward the First yet Edward the 3d did not succeed as Heir to Edward the 2d he being then alive Admit Richard the 2d was Heir to Edward the Black Prince eldest Son to Edward the 3d yet neither Henry the 4th 5th or 6th were Heirs from Edward the 3d but the Descendants of Phillippa the Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence John of
to procure a private Audience of the King tho he often desired it but what the Duke assisted at Inoiosa impatient of any longer Delay about the latter end of April 1624 contrived this Expedient to put the following Paper into the King's Hand he and Don Carlo de Colonna came adventurously to White-Hall and whilst Don Carlo held the Prince and Duke in earnest Discourse Inoiosa put this Paper into the King's Hand with a Wink that the King should put it into his Pocket wherein 1. He terrifies the King that he was not or could not be acquainted with the Passages either of his own Court or of the Parliament for he was kept from all faithful Servants that would inform him by the Ministers of the Prince and Duke and that he was a Prisoner as much as King John of France in England or King Francis at Madrid and could not be spoken with but before such as watched him 2. That there was a strong and violent Machination in hand which had turned the Prince a most obedient Son to a quite contrary Course to his Majesty's Intentions 3. That the Council began last Summer at Madrid but was lately resolved on in England to restrain his Majesty from the Exercise of the Government of his Kingdoms and that the Prince and Duke had designed such Commissioners under themselves as should intend great Affairs and the Publick Good 4. That this should be effected by beginning of a War and keeping some Companies on foot in this Land whereby to constrain his Majesty to yield to any thing chiefly being brought into Straits for want of Monies to pay the Souldiers 5. That the Prince and Duke's inclosing his Majesty from the said Ambassador and other of his own Loyal People that they might not come near in private did argue in them a fear and distrust of a good Conscience 6. That the Emissaries of the Duke had brought his Majesty into Contempt with the potent Men of this Realm traducing him for slothful and unactive for addiction to an inglorious Peace while the Inheritance of his Daughter and her Children is in the Hands of his Foes and this appear'd by a Letter which the Duke had writ into Holland and they had intercepted 7. That his Majesty's Honour nay his Crown and Safety did depend upon a sudden Dissolution of the Parliament 8. They loaded the Duke with sundry Misdemeanours in Spain and his violent Opposition to the Match 9. That the Duke had divulged the King's Secrets and the close Designs between his Majesty and their Master King Philip about the States of Holland and their Provinces and laboured to put his Majesty out of the good Opinion of the Hollanders 10. That the Duke was guilty of most corrupt dealing with the Ambassadors of divers Princes 11. That all these things were carried on in the Parliament with an head-strong Violence and that the Duke was the cause of it who courted them only that were of troubled Humours 12. That such Bitterness and Ignominies were vented in Parliament against the King of Spain as were against all good Manners and Honour of the English Nation The 13th is a flat Contradiction to the Precedents wherein they made the Prince privy to dangerous things yet in this they say That the Puritans of whom the Duke was Head did wish they could bring it about that the Succession of the Kingdom might come to the Prince Palatine and his Children in right of the Lady Elizabeth In a Postscript the Paper prayed the King That Don Francisco Carondelet Secretary to the Marquess Inoiosa might be brought to the King when the Prince and Duke were sitting in the Lords House to satisfy such Doubts as the King might raise which was performed by the Earl of Kelly who watch'd a fit Season at one time for Francisco and for Padre Maestro a Jesuit at another time who told their Errand so spitefully that the King was troubled at their Relations How far the Spanish Ambassador Carondelet and the Jesuit Maestro could make good this Paper I cannot tell nor does the Bishop say however the King was apprehensive that the Parliament was solicitous to engage him in a War for the Palatinate which he so dreaded that as the Bishop says he thought scarce any Mischief was so great as was worth a War to mend it wherein the Prince did deviate from him as likewise in his Affection to the Spanish Alliance But he stuck at the Duke more whom â—e defended in one part to one of the Spanish Ministers yet at the same time complaining That he had noted in him a turbuleâ—â— Spirit of late and knew not how to mitigate it so that casting up the Sum he doubted it might come to his turn to pay the Reckoning These Thoughts so wrought upon the King that his Countenance fell suddenly that he mused much in Silence and that he entertained the Prince and Duke with mystical and broken Speeches this nettled them both and enquiring the Reason they could not go further than that they heard the Spanish Secretary and the Jesuit Maestro had been with the King and understood that some in the Ambassador's House had vaunted that they had nettled the Duke and that a Train would take fire shortly to blow up the Parliament In this Perplexity the King prepared to take Coach for Windsor to shift Ground for some better Rest in this Unrest and took Coach at St. James's Gate and the Prince with him and found a slight Errand to leave Buckingham behind as the King was putting his Foot into the Coach the Duke besought him with Tears in his Eyes and humble Prayer that his Majesty would let him know what could be laid to his Charge to offend so good and gracious a Master and vowed by the Name of his Saviour he would purge it or confess it The King did not satisfy him but breathed out his Disgust that he was the unhappiest alive to be forsaken of them that were dearest to him which was uttered and received with Tears from his own Eyes as well as the Prince's and Duke's and made haste to Windsor leaving the Duke behind this was upon Saturday at the end of April The Duke forlorn retires to Wallingford-House and was in such Confusion and Distraction that when my Lord Keeper who had notice of all these things and was more careful of the Duke than he could be of himself came to him he found the Duke lying upon his Couch in that immoveable Posture that he would neither rise up nor speak tho the Keeper invited him to it twice or thrice by courteous Questions The Keeper told him by the Faith of a deep Protestation that he came purposely to prevent more Harm and to bring him out of that Sorrow into the Light of the King's Favour That he verily believ'd God's directing Hand was in it to stir up his Grace to advance him to those Favours which he possessed to do him Service at this Pinch of Extremity
how to erect a High Commission Court in Scotland by the King's Authority without Consent in Parliament for proceeding against such as would not submit to the Common-Prayer Book and Canons enjoined by the King and Bishops of Scotland and upon the 28th of February the Arch-bishop consecrated Dr. Manwaring Bishop of St. Davids a worthy Successor to so Saint-like and pious a Predecessor for this Bishoprick was Laud's first Preferment You have seen his Grace of Canterbury's Temper towards the King's Subjects now see how it was towards the King His Grace being as high as England could admit viz. Metropolitan and first Peer thereof would visit both Universities by his Metropolitan Right and not by Commission from the King and signified so much to both to which both answered That to admit it without a Warrant from the King was a Wrong to the Vniversities his Grace was Chancellour of Oxford and the Earl of Holland of Cambridg The Cause came to a hearing before the King and Council the 21st of June 1634 where the Attorney General Banks was for his Grace against the King Mr. Gardener the Recorder of London â—or Cambridg and Serjeant Thyn for Oxford the Cause was shortly this Both sides agreed in this that both Universities were of the King's Foundation and so might be visited as they had often been by Commission from the King But this would not do with his Grace he would to use his own Words visit by his own Right Serjeant Thyn urged against this the King's Foundation of the University of Oxford and that never any Arch-bishop so visited But the Recorder could not say so of Cambridg which happened upon this Occasion In the Reign of Richard the Wickliff's Doctrine prevailed much in both Universities and Arundel then Arch-bishop of Canterbury as zealous to suppress the Wicklevites as Laud was the Puritans to suppress them did visit Jure Metropolitano but Oxford opposed him forti Manu Upon this Arundel appeals to the King who being a weak Prince and as zealous for the then Church as King Charles was for Laud's declares the Right to be in the Bishop so did Henry the 4th the Current running against Wickliff which was after confirmed in Parliament but Cambridg was not in it Yet never before did any Arch-bishop visit Oxford nor Cambridg since the Year 1404 Jure Metropolitano as his Grace would do and so the Cause went for the Arch-bishop Plum'd thus in his own Feathers all black and white without one borrowed from Caesar whereby the more he assumes to himself the less he leaves the King he now soars higher the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury in their own Names enjoin the Removal of the Communion Table in the Parish-Churches and Universities from the Body of the Church or Chancel to the East of the Chancel and cause Rails to be set about the Table and refuse to administer the Sacrament to such as shall not come up to the Rails and receive it kneeling that the Book of Sports on Sundays be read in Churches and enjoin Adoration I do not find that Adoration was ever enjoined before nor any of the fore-named Injunctions in any Canon of the Church sure I am they were never publickly put in Execution so that whether these were any of the Canons of the Church or not was not understood by one of 10000 and the Lecturers Chaplains and School-masters who had no Maintenance from the Church being principally struck at by these Injunctions make all the sinister and worst Constructions they could invent against them so that though those Injunctions had been founded in the Canons of the Church yet the contrary was believed and so had the same Effect as if they had not been founded in the Church-Canons Here I cannot omit one Passage That several were deprived by the Bishop's Authority for refusing to read the Book of Sports on Sunday Whereas King James the 2d allowed the seven Bishops a legal Trial for refusing to enjoin the Clergy to read his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops were acquitted That the Legality of these Proceedings might be manifest a Proclamation was issued out that it was the Opinion of the Judges that the Act of the 1 Edw. 6. 2. which ordains that Bishops should hold their Ecclesiastical Courts in the King's Name or by Commission from him was repealed by the 1st of Queen Mary though this Act was repealed by the 1 Jac. 25. and so the Act 1 Edw. 6. 2. was revived and so resolved upon a full Debate in Parliament 7 Jacobi The Thunder of those Canons the terrible and unheard of Execution of them in the Star-Chamber against all Opposers by Speech or Writing so terrified the Puritans which would not submit that incredible Numbers of them left the Kingdom to inhabit in foreign Plantations especially in New-England where these Ecclesiastical Canons could not well play upon them But to restrain the further Evasion of them the King by Proclamation the 30th of April 1638 stops all the Ports of England to keep them in it The Reason was no doubt that they might be better instructed in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England here than elsewhere But Ship-Money notwithstanding my Lord Keeper Coventry's Charge to the Judges last Year that in their Circuits they should give Charge how justly the King required Ship-Money for the common Defence and with what Alacrity and Chearfulness they the Subjects are bound in Duty to contribute yet this did not pass-for true Doctrine with all for Mr. Hambden upon Advice with Holborn St. John and Whitlock denied the Payment whereupon several other Gentlemen refused also Hereupon the King was advised by the Lord Chief Justice Finch to require the Opinion of his Judges which he did in a Letter to them and after much Solicitation by the Chief Justice promising Preferment to some and highly threatning others whom he found doubting he got from them in Answer to the King's Letter and Case their Opinion in these Words We are of Opinion that when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger you may by your Writ under the Great Seal of England command all your Subjects of this your Kingdom at their Charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from Peril and Danger And that your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion that in such Case your Majesty is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided This Opinion was signed by Davenport Denham Hutton Croke Trevor Bramston Finch Vernon Berkly Crawley and Weston See Whitlock ' s Memoirs f. 24. The King having previously extorted the Judges Opinions exparte gave order for the Proceedings against Mr. Hambden in the
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
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
Northumberland side by force of them passed the Tine and killed and took 300 English Prisoners and after took New-Castle and seized four great Ships of the English laden with Corn and imposed a Tax of 350 l. a day upon the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. a day upon the County of Northumberland upon pain of Plundering and the Scots committed many Injuries and Insolencies upon the English where the Scots quartered as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 34 35. Thus was the state of things altered Mr. May says pag. 34. it should be pag. 18. And that War which was intended for an Enslavement of both the Nations truly said but untruly intended became the Bond of Concord between them God defend the Nation for time to come of such Concord or such Causes of it The Parliament Mr. May says began with Matters of Religion divers Ministers who had been of good Lives and Conversations conscientious in their ways and diligent in their Preaching and had by the Bishops and those in Authority been motested and imprisoned for not conforming to some Ceremonies which were imposed on them were now by the Parliament relieved and recompensed for their Suffering and others who had been scandalous either for loose wicked living or else Offenders in way of Superstition both which to discountenance the Puritans had been frequently preferred were censured and removed Here Mr. May is right but yet partial in that he does not tell how that the Orthodox Clergy as the Bishops of Lincoln Williams Dr. Hall of Norwich Dr. Prideaux of Worcester Dr. Brownrig of Exeter Dr. Morton of Durham c. and all the Orthodox Anti-Arminian Heads of both Universities and also Dr. Saunderson Dr. Featly and many others underwent the same Fate with those Ministers which Mr. May speaks of Pag. 38. which should have been 24. Mr. May says That the Parliament ordered that the Scots should be recompensed for all their Charges and Loss by that mischievous War which the King had raised against them Here Mr. May is not only partial and unsincere but the contrary hereof is true for the Scots in the former War took up Arms and seized the Regalia at Sterlin took Towns in Scotland and other ways committed Acts of Hostility before the King raised Arms to suppress them as is before and so they did in this latter raise Arms in Scotland before they invaded England before the King raised any Army See Whitlock's Mem. fol. 276. Where Mr. May had this unless framed by himself I cannot tell but Sir Richard Baker recites the Demand at large and the Commons Answer to them And this Mr. May speaks of is the sixth Demand Wherein they desire from the Justice and Kindness of the Kingdom of England Reparations concerning the Losses which the Kingdom of Scotland hath sustained and the vast Charges they have been put unto by occasion of the late Troubles To which the Commons answer That the House thinks fit that a Friendly Assistance and Relief shall be given towards the Supply of the Loss of the Scots and that the Parliament did declare that they did conceive that the Sum of 300000 l. is a fit Proportion for their Friendly Assistance and Relief formerly thought fit to be given towards the Supply of the Loss and Necessities of their Brethren of Scotland and that the Houses would in due time take into Consideration the Manner how and when the same shall be raised Now let any Man shew out of Mr. May where that mischievous War which the King had raised against them is to be found If Mr. May had been a faithful Historian he should have made Truth and not the Distempers of a distracted Time nor the Clamours of his prejudic'd Brain to have been the Measures of his Story He should have set forth how like Pedlars they treated the English in their Particulars in their 8th Demand of 514128 l. 9 s. besides the Loss of their Nation to 440000 l. Yet they did not give in that Account with an Intent to demand a total Reparation of all their Charges and Losses but were content good Men in some measure to bear a Remnant Mr. May should have set forth how perfidiously the Scots dealt with the English Nation when in their Remonstrance at their first coming in they professed that they would take nothing of the English but for Money or Security whereas they plundered and taxed Northumberland New-Castle and the Bishoprick of Durham so that those Places could not recover their Losses in 20 Years as Sir Benjamin Rudyard in open Parliament charged them and that the English formerly established the Scots Reformation at their own bare Charges whereas the Scots presumed to require a greater Sum than was ever given the King Which you may read more at large in Sir Rich. Baker fol. 417. These are the Parliament's Brethren for whose Brotherly Assistance they voted 300000 l. towards a Supply of the Losses and Necessities note that of our Brethren of Scotland and that the Parliament would in due time take into Consideration the Manner of raising and Days of Payment and in the mean time leave New-Castle Northumberland and Durham a Prey to these devouring Scots But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake this Fraternity and that by no visible Power at present but what shall arise from among themselves I could add many more Particulars of Mr. May's Partiality and Insincerity but this already said is sufficient And now it 's time to enquire whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War and who first designed it tho the Distemper of the Times was so distracted and variable that it 's hard to judg of Intentions by Actions The Royalists excuse the King from any Intention of a Civil War in England in that he protected no Man from the Justice of the Parliament and that he had put away all those which the Parliament called Evil Counsellors both in Church and State having made Mr. St. John his Attorney and Mr. Holborn his Solicitor both which were his Antagonists in imposing Ship-Money and upon his going into Scotland made the Earl of Essex Chamberlain and General of his Forces on this side Trent and in the Church reversed all the Proceedings in the Star-Chamber against the Bishop of Lincoln and preferred Dr. Hall from Exeter to the Bishoprick of Norwich and made Dr. Brownrig Bishop of Exeter and Dr. Prideaux Bishop of Worcester who were the most Learned of the Church of England and most opposite to the Arminian Tenets and of most exemplary Life and Piety and before his going into Scotland passed all Bills presented to him by the Houses even that of not dissolving the Parliament without their Consent which he would never have done if he had had any Intention of raising a War against them or a Civil War in England Mr. May p. 43. it should be p. 25. tells us of a twofold Treason against the Parliament if you 'll take his word and that the
King was knowing of both one was to have delivered the Earl of Strafford out of the Tower but Sir William Balfour the Lieutenant would not consent to it Here note The King made Balfour a Scot Lieutenant of the Tower one of the greatest Places of Trust in England without any Complaint of the Parliament whenas the Parliament of Scotland in their second Demand made to the King would have no Stranger to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's without their Consent The other part of this Treason chief of all the rest But why all when but two Mr. May says was a Design to bring up the English Army which was in the North and not yet disbanded this Army they had dealt with to engage against the Parliament's sitting and as they alledg to maintain the King's Prerogative Episcopacy and other things against the Parliament it self This Charge is so false as well as partial as no Man who had any regard to Truth Honesty or Fairness would have so expos'd himself for if the King's Prerogative be not maintain'd he can neither govern his Subjects nor protect them from Foreign Enemies and Episcopacy is one of the Constitutions of the Nation and how the maintaining these can be against the Parliament had need of a wiser Head than Mr. May's to shew But these two are not all Mr. May says but there were other things against the Parliament if there had been other things I do not think Mr. May would in Modesty have conceal'd them but since Mr. May has not given the Causes of this chief Treason I will do it and not follow Sir Richard Baker nor Franklin lest they should be deemed to be partial to the King's Cause but Mr. Whitlock whom no Man believes to be so who fol. 44. b. says June 19th It was voted that the Scots should receive 100000 l. of the 300000 l. the Scots by a Paper pretended Necessity for 125000 l. in present the Parliament took off 10000 l. of 50000 l. which they had appointed for the English Army and order'd it for the Scots The Lord Piercy Commissary Wilmot and Ashburnham Members of Parliament sitting together and murmuring at it Wilmo◠stept up and said That if such Papers of the Scots could procure Monies he doubted not but the Officers of the English Army would soon do the like and this caused the English Army to say The Parliament had disobliged them The Officers put themselves into a Juncto of sworn Secrecy and drew up some Heads by way of Petition to the King and Parliament for Money for the Army and not to disband before the Scots to preserve the Bishops Votes and Functions and to settle the King's Revenue The Army tainted from hence met and drew up a Letter or Petition which was shewed to the King approv'd and signed by him with C. R. and a Direction to Captain Leg that none should see it but Sir Jacob Ashley it should have been Astly the main drift was That the Army might be call'd up to attend the Safety of the King's Person and Parliament's Security or that both Armies might be disbanded Where is this chief Treason lodg'd unless in Mr. May's Brain Or where is the King's Prerogative mention'd But as the Times then went Mr. May took liberty to say what he list to humour them the Scots must be obey'd in whatsoever they demand and it must be chief Treason in the English to petition Mr. May p. 32 33. will have the King 's going into Scotland to be a Design to raise War against the Parliament of England and to that end tells a Story of a Scots Writer that published that it was to engage the Scots against the Parliament of England with large Promises of Spoil and offering Jewels of great Value for Performance of it but he names not the Scot and leaves it uncertain for the Reader to judg by what fell out afterward But if he the King did it was a matter of great Falshood Mr. May says having as yet declar'd no Enmity against the English Parliament From the same Author he says it was to make sure of those Noblemen of that Kingdom he doubted of as not willing to serve his turn against England and true it is that about September Letters came to the standing Committee at Westminster that a Treasonable Plot was discovered there against the greatest Peers of the Kingdom but says not which Kingdom upon which the standing Committee fearing some Mischief from the same Spring placed strong Guards in divers Places of the City of London But in all this the Fox is the Finder and Mr. May as partial and false as in all he said before The truth was Jealousies and Fears were fomented by the Parliamentarians and even by the Members themselves against the King and Royalists But Mr. Whitlock tho of like Affection with Mr. May yet a much more impartial Representer of the Actions of those Times fol. 49. a. represents it thus The Marquesses of Hamilton and Argyle withdrew from the Parliament in Scotland upon Jealousy of some Design against their Persons but upon Examination of that matter by the Parliament there it was found to be a Misinformation yet the same took fire in our Parliament upon the Surmises of some whereupon the Parliament here appointed Guards for London and Westminster and some spake 〈◊〉 without Reflection upon the King The Royalists charge the Parliament at least the Commons with a Design to raise War against the King and to make him odious to the People after he had granted all the Parliament desired of him and given up those whom they call'd evil Counsellors to their Justice for their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom after the King's return out of Scotland which because of the Extraordinariness of it we will recite it verbatim as is said by Mr. Whitlock f. 49. b. The House of Commons prepared a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom wherein they mentioned All the Mistakes Misfortunes Illegalities and Defaults in Government since the King 's coming to the Crown the evil Counsels and Counsellors and a malignant Party that they have no hopes of settling the Distractions of this Kingdom for want of a Concurrence with the Lords This Remonstrance was somewhat roughly penn'd both for the Matter and Expressions in it and met with great Opposition in the House insomuch as the Debate of it lasted from three a Clock in the Afternoon till ten next Morning and the sitting up all Night caused many of the Members through Weakness or Weariness to leave the House and Sir B. R. I think he means Sir Benj. Rudyard to compare it to the Verdict of a starv'd Jury When the Vote was carried tho not by many to pass the Remonstrance Mr. Palmer and two or three more made their Protestation against this Remonstrance for which they were sent to the Tower This Remonstrance was presently printed and published by the Parliament contrary to the King's Desire
Name originally was not Cromwel but Williams and the Name of Cromwel was by this Accident When Cromwel Earl of Essex fell in the Reign of Hen. 8. he had Cromwel's Ancestor in his Service who was a Person of lively Parts and industrious in Business which Hen. 8. observing took him into his Sereice but upon all occasions call'd him Cromwel and the King being ask'd the Reason answer'd He call'd him so in Cromwel's time and would continue to call him so still and this continued down to Sir Oliver's and our Cromwel's time Our Oliver being of a turbulent and aspiring Disposition his Father 's contracted Fortunes could not support his Extravagancies whereby he was like to have fallen into those Troubles which usually attend such Follies and to prevent them he sets up for New-England where he becomes a most zealous Promoter of their Cause But this could not long continue him there for in their first planting themselves they were poor so as he could not find Means and Opportunity to support his Extravagancies and so back he came again into England About the Year 1638 the Undertakers to drain the Fen-Lands in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely set up this Undertaking was mainly opposed by the Town of Cambridg fearing it would spoil their Navigation between Cambridg and Lyn-Regis whence Cambridg was supplied with Sea-Coal Wine and other Provisions When the Writs were issued out for calling the second Parliament in 1640 Oliver sets up to be chosen Burgess for the Town of Cambridg assuring them that if he were chosen he would make it his Business to overthrow the Project of draining the Fens But tho by this Project he got to be chosen yet after he became Protector he most industriously promoted the Project of draining the Fens But tho Cromwel was of a turbulent and aspiring Spirit yet before the Civil Wars broke out in England he was not conversant in any Military Discipline nor indeed of any other Learning or just or lawful Calling His Person was of a robust and coarse Complexion his Face red so was his Nose I fancy like the Roman General Sylla's great and straked with blew Veins In promoting his Cause and Interest he was most industrious and indefatigable These Qualities were observed and feared by some both of the King 's and Parliament's Party before they came to be publickly known and put in Execution I 'll give an Instance or two hereof When the King summoned the Members of Parliament of his Party to meet at Oxford in January last Williams Arch-bishop of York was likewise summoned with whom the King privately consulted what Course was best to be taken in the present Circumstances of his Affairs the Arch-bishop advised him by all means to come to an Agreement with the Parliament for since the Scots were come into England in such numerous Armies and the English of the Parliament's Party in these two last Years having acquired a Military Knowledg it would in all appearance be impossible for the King long to withstand their Forces but above all he advised the King to get Cromwel over to his side if possible otherways to take him off by any means or he would be the King's Ruin as you may read more at large in the second Part of the Bishop of Litchfield's Life of Williams Nor was Cromwel less terrible to the Earl of Essex and the Scots Commissioners than to the King's Party so that one Evening the Earl and several of his Confidents viz. Mr. Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir John Meyrick and others with the Scots Commissioners were in Consultation how to get rid of Cromwel and sent to Serjeant Whitlock and Maynard about it who came and Essex told them that he sent for them to have their Advice and Counsel upon a Matter of great Importance concerning both Kingdoms in which the Lords Commissioners of Scotland are concerned for their Kingdom as we for ours and they as well as we know your Abilities and Integrity and are desirous of your Counsel in this great Business which both the Serjeants promised faithfully to give But here take notice That as the English Parliament call'd those who were opposite to them Malignants so the Scots call'd those opposite to them Incendiaries At the Desire of Essex the Chancellor of Scotland Lowden spake as followeth Mr. Maynard and Mr. Whitlock I Can assure you of the great Opinion both my Brethren and self have of your Worth and Abilities else we should not have desired this Meeting with you And since it is his Excellency's Essex his Pleasure that I should acquaint you with the Matter upon whilk your Counsel is desired I shall obey his Commands and briefly recite the Business to you You ken vary wee le that Gen. Lieutenant Cromwel is no Friend of ours and since the Advance of our Army into England he has used all under-hand and cunning Means to take off from our Honour and the Merits of this Kingdom an evil Requital of all our Hazards and Services but so it is and we are nevertheless fully satisfied of the Affections and Gratitude of the gude People of the Nation in general It is thought requisite for us and for carrying on the Cause of the twa Kingdoms that this Obstacle or Remora be removed out of the way whom we foresee will be no small Impediment to us in the gude Design we have undertaken He not only is no Friend to us and the Government of our Church but he is also no well-willer to his Excellency whom you and we have all Cause to love and honour and if he be permitted to go on this way it may I fear endanger the whole Business therefore we are to advise of some Course to be taken for Prevention of this Mischief You ken vary wee le the Accord betwixt the twa Nations and the Vnion by the solemn League and Covenant and if any be an Incendiary between the twa Nations how he is to be proceeded against Now the Matter is wherein we desire your Opinions what you take the meaning of the Word Incendiary to be and whether the Lieutenant General be not sike an Incendiary as is meant thereby and whilk Way wad be best to proceed against him if he be proved sike an Incendiary and that we may clepe his Wings from soaring to the Prejudice of our Case Now you may ken That by our Law in Scotland we clepe him an Incendiary wha kindleth Coals of Contention and raiseth Differences in the State to the Publick Damage and he is Tanquam Publicus Hostis Patriae Whether your Law be the same or not you ken best who are mickle learned therein and therefore we desire your Judgment in these Points Mr. Whitlock answered first and after a short Preface said The Sense of the Word Incendiary is the same with us as your Lordship has expressed to be by the Law of Scotland One that raiseth the Fire of Contention in a State that kindleth burning hot Flames
the Lords during their Absence and soon after the King passed a Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament so little Success had the Clergy in their Convocation-Oath As the Clergy without Consent in Parliament imposed the Convocation-Oath upon the rest of the Clergy So the Parliament I mean the Lords and Commons without the Consent of the King imposed upon the Subjects a Vow and Protestation to maintain and defend so far as lawfully may be the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to the Duty of the Allegiance to his Majesty's Royal Person Honour and Estate to defend the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject and by all just and honourable Ways endeavour to preserve the Union and Peace of the Three Kingdoms and neither for fear nor other respect relinquish the Promise Vow and Protestation See Baker's History fol. 508. b. But the Lords and Commons were not constant to their Vow for within less than two Years after they impose their Solemn League and Covenant being basely imposed upon them by the Scots upon the rest of their Fellow-Subjects with all the Scotish Cant and c. too and this is observable that the Presbyterians who so bitterly inveighed against the c. in the Convocation-Oath without any scruple swallowed the c. in their Solemn League and Covenant It 's scarce credible by what Severity this Covenant was after the Scots Temper imposed upon all other sorts of Men as well Dissenters from the Church of England as those of the Church This Temper was too hot to last long for about three Years after the Independents outed the Presbyterians and set up the Engagement to be true to the Rump without King or House of Lords nor did this Engagement last five Years but was outed when Cromwel set up himself and imposed the Recognition for establishing himself Now let any shew how in any Nation since the Creation in less than 13 Years time Men so often swear and forswear Governments which were so often changed and he shall be my great Apoâ—â—â— The Secluded Members and the Rump if you 'll take their Words were the Representatives of the People but without a Head and could not be dissolved by the King without their Consent yet O. Cromwel and his Myrmidons without their Consent dissolved them both And as these were Bodies without a Head so Cromwel and his Army like that of the Egyptian Mamalukes were a Monstrous Head without any Body of the Nation yet with this Difference the Mamalukes chose their Sultan but Cromwel exalted himself without the Army's Choice The first Manifesto that Cromwel made known to the Nation was this I Oliver Cromwel Captain General and Commander in Chief of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth c. So here Cromwel by his own Authority makes the Army perpetual having deposed the Parliament which were made perpetual by Act of Parliament I have often admired upon what Bottom Cromwel stood when he presumed to do these things for the Sectaries and Monarchy-Men who were the Creatures whom he at first most relied upon when they perceived his Ambition then became his utter Enemies the Presbyterians and Independents hated him for the Violences he put upon them and the Royalists both dreaded and hated him All Kings of England in their Coronation-Oath before sware to govern by the received Laws and Constitutions of the Nation but Cromwel having subverted these neither says nor swears by what Laws or Rules he 'll govern and tho both in the Saxon and Nâ—rman Dynasties the Hereditary Succession of the Kings was often changed yet none succeeded which was not of the Royal Blood which cannot be said of the Caroline and Capusian Lines of France nor in the Succession of the Race of the Kings of Spain yet Cromwel without Law or being of the Royal Blood made himself more absolute than any of our Kings before him Now Terras I am sure Britannias Astraea reliquit Justice Truth and Plain-dealing is fled the Land and Dissimulation Hypocrisy Intriguing and Designs rove all England over and Cromwel to support his ill-establish'd Greatness sets all his Agents and Sycophants on work to congratulate and approve his Actions and to stand by and assist him One of the first of these was from the Officers of the English Army in Scotland no doubt but excited by Monk in the State he stood then with Cromwel So that as from Scotland our Civil Wars first began and from thence their solemn League and Covenant was so rigidly imposed in England so from thence now come Congratulatory Addresses to Cromwel for overturning all they had done and a time shall come when a Storm shall come from Scotland which shall disperse and unravel all that the Covenanters Rump and Cromwel had done thus you 'll see how lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake them all Having seen how Cromwel established himself we 'll proceed to see the Success The Dutch above all things dreading the Rump animated Cromwel to dissolve them promising greater things to him than they had done to the Rump in case he would do it which being done the Dutch not unreasonably hoped by the Disorders which would arise in England by it they should be better able to deal with Cromwel than the Rump and notwithstanding their calling God to witness of their sincere Love and Affection to the English Nation and desire of propagating the true Reformed Protestant Religion with all imaginable Diligence set out a greater Fleet to Sea than they had done before and Trump gave out he would fire the English Ships in their Harbours and the Downs before the English Fleet should get out But the Rump who well understood what Faith or Credit was to be given to the Dutch Protestations were not behind-hand with the Dutch in their Naval Preparations which Cromwel found ready to fight with the Dutch and sooner than the Dutch look'd for the English Fleet commanded by Monk and Dean Penn Vice-Admiral and Lawson Rear-Admiral upon the second of June engaged the Dutch and at the beginning Dean was kill'd by a Cannon-Ball but the Dutch sore pressed upon by the English bore away and made a running Fight having a Ship of 42 Guns sunk by Lawson and 140 Men in her but the Winds blowing cross the English could not that day do much more Execution Next day Monk engaged the Dutch Fleet again and sunk six of their best Ships two were blown up and eleven taken one Vice-Admiral and two Rear-Admirals with two of their Hoys and thirteen hundred and fifty Prisoners and of the English not one Ship was lost or disabled and besides Admiral Dean but one Captain killed The Dutch thus balk'd of their Expectation of firing the English Ships in their Harbours and in the Downs send Beverning Newport Vande Parro and Jonstal to Cromwel and the new Council of State for Cromwel had discharged
Value of the Lands of England Observation VI. Suppose that we had no Act of Navigation but our Western Men might have built and fitted out Ships for the Newfound-Land Fishery as cheap as the French yet by this Act against Importation of Irish Cattel the French being enabled to victual Ships cheaper from the Ports of Ireland than we from the English the French from this only Cause may have the foreign Vent of the Newfound-Land Fishery whilst the English are necessitated to vend theirs only in England which is as much a Grievance as the Importation of Irish Cattel for the Expence of them will as much fall the Price of Flesh as the Importation of the Cattel Observation VII By this Law the English have lost the Benefit of Victualling foreign as well as English Ships from our own Ports and established them in Ireland to the lessening the Value of the Lands of England and this in time of Peace And in time of War by how much cheaper foreign Nations can victual Ships from Ireland than we can from England so much cheaper they may manage War and continue it longer Observation VIII The Wools of Ireland are generally better than those of England I have it by very good Authority and by the 14 Car. II. 18. it's Felony to export any out of England or Ireland The Reason given is it would decay the Woollen Manufactures ruin many Families and be the Destruction of the Navigation and Commerce of England and Ireland And why would it decay the Woollen Manufactures and ruin many Families to export Wool The common Reason given is That the Natives of other Countries would work them cheaper than the English whereby we should lose the Employment of our People If this be a Reason this Irish Act was made in an ill time to make Provisions dearer which will necessarily resolve into a further Dearness because those who work our Woollen Manufactures must live by Food and so much the dearer Food is so much dearer must Mens Labours be But I say this is not the Reason for no People in the World in like Circumstances take so much Pains for so little Profit as the Combers Spinners and Weavers do in our Woollen Manufactures and I 'm sure the Wools and Fullers-Earth in England are cheaper here than can be had elsewhere and an English Man or Woman hath a better Habit of Body and as good a Wit as a French or Dutch Man or Woman and that in Holland they pay as much for Excise for Meat and Drink as in England is paid for them I 'll give the true Reason why if the Dutch or French get our Wools and Fullers-Earth they may vend the Manufactures cheaper in foreign Trade than the English The Wools of Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Leicestarshire Warwickshire Lincolnshire Rutlandshire Northamptonshire Huntingtonshire Hertfordshire c. are in the dead of the Winter brought by Land-Carriage to Norwich and Colchester and even the Wools of the Sheep killed in London are carried to Colchester to be wrought there and then by another Land-Carriage they are brought to London as our Western Cloths are And then none but the Free-men of London must buy them at it may be 20 per Cent. cheaper than they might be sold if the Trade were free then they must be vended abroad in English-built Ships double as dear by the Act of Navigation and these sailed by near double the Hands of foreign Ships of like Dimensions and if any Returns be made they shall pay twofold more Duties than if they were imported into Holland and Hamburgh And upon other Terms ouâ— Poor must not be employed working Woollen Manufactures It 's agreed the vast Riches of France arise by the Trades which the English Dutch Dane Hamburgher Embdener Lubecker and Bremeners drive trading into France for Wines Brandies Salt Paper and the English besides these for Linen Cordage and Sails Suppose then the French King should by Edict ordain that these should be first brought by Land-Carriage to Paris and then none but the Free-men should buy them at what Rates they please and then these should vend them in foreign Trade only in French-built Ships and these sailed by three fourth parts French whether they have Ships or Men or not and the Returns made of them to pay him twofold more than if they were imported into Holland or Hamburgh c. Would not any Man think he were mad Yet what would that differ from our Practice At this rate we have in England more Wools than we can work and by this Act the Irish are forced to breed Sheep upon the Grounds they bred their Cattel before the Act and by the Act of 14 Car. II. 18. it's Felony to export the Wools so as the Irish are necessitated to work them where Provisions are cheaper than in England and where they shall not be at the unnecessary Land-Charges of Carriage of their Wools and Re-carriage of their Cloths where they shall not be restrained to the vending of them to Free-men of Corporations at 20 per Cent. Loss and where their Ports are better and more convenient for foreign Trade than those of England and then the English must condescend to the Terms of the Irish or these will undo more Families and more decay the Trade of our Woollen Manufactures than if Foreigners wrought the Irish or English Wools. Observation IX Ireland is a Kingdom depending upon England and Trade and Commerce create a mutual Correspondence and Interest between Countries so as this Law makes the Correspondency and Interest of Ireland to depend upon other Countries whereas it is the Interest of England that England should have been the Mart or Store-house of all the Wools Hides Tallow c. renewed in Ireland as England is the Store-house of the Product of our Plantations or as Holland is of the Spice-Trade These ruinous and mischievous Consequences this Law has brought upon England and Ireland only that the Northern and Western Men might have a Monopoly of imposing what Rates they pleased upon the Eastern and Southern Parts of England I may safely say to the lessening the Rates and Value of those Lands at 30 per Cent. and I dare say from many less Causes or if this Partial Law had been imposed by any King out of Parliament it might have caused a Rebellion in England and Ireland too Yet it had been the Interest of the Northern and Western Men to have continued the Importation of Irish Cattel for in breeding Cattel they can make but one Return in five Years whereas they might make four Returns in one Year by the Irish Cattel imported Yet in many Land-Taxes the Parliament taxed the Southern and Eastern Parts of England near double more than the Northern and Western But neither the King's Management of Business this Infant-Law the Fire of London the pulling down the Houses upon the Tower-Ditch the Plague nor the Act of Navigation now sixteen Years old could allay the Parliament's Heat from
infinitely progressive and if the means for carrying on Arts be restrained or denied this will not only cramp the Improvement of this Art but make the present Performance of it more difficult and no Man that is less conversant in any Art or Business understands how to manage them so well as those Men who make it their Business and are more conversant in them It is therefore extream Arrogance and Injustice in any one to prescribe to another how and by what means he shall manage his Business and by no other every Man in his Profession ought to use such just means for carrying on his Business as he shall find most convenient and not be restrained to such means as another shall impose upon him and therefore whatever my Opinion or any Man 's else be of carrying on the New-Castle Trade in English built Ships yet it 's not fit to impose it so upon others Negatively that they shall use no others Trade and all Arts flourishing most where they are more free and have more means to improve them and tho I believe our Turkey and Italian Trades are better carried on in English built Ships than others because they being more Warlike and double better Mann'd than Foreign they will fight their Passage against the Algerin Tunis and Tripoli Pirates when other Foreign Vessels easily become a Prey to them yet I think it unjust to forbid the English to trade in any other Ships into the Straits Expedient III. Since the Strength and Trade of every Nation begins at the Inhabitants it will be the Interest of the Nation to continue the Inhabitants in it and how these Inhabitants may be imployed to the Benefit of the Nation is the next Consideration And therefore it is expedient that the Liberty which at present is granted to Dissenters from the Church be continued lest by proceeding against them by severe means as was done of late for five years together viz. from the year 1635 to 1640 and since they flee out of England into our Foreign Plantations or into Holland as they then did and taught the Dutch the Woollen Manufactures wrought in Suffolk and Essex which was one principal Cause that the English have almost lost all their Trades of Woollen Manufactures in the Kingdoms and Countries within the Sound and thereby the Dutch Trade for these is vastly encreased and also lest they be provoked into intestine Broils as succeeded in the Year 1640. Nor has Holland had the Benefit of the Persecution of the Dissenters in England only but I do assuredly affirm that the raging Persecution of the Protestants by Philip the II. in the Spanish Netherlands and by Henry the II. in France who found an Asylum in Holland against these Persecutionâ— was the Original of the Dutch Greatness and it may be a Problem whether the now French King has not lost more by his revoking the Edict of Nants and by his Dragooning Reformation of the Reformed than he has got by all his Conquests in the Spanish Netherlands the Empire Savoy and Spain and after all he is not sure but in acquiring these he has endangered the safety of his Kingdom of France Expedient IV. In the Imployment of the Natives there is a twofold Consideration First That the poorer sort of Youth be instructed how to be employed And secondly That no Man be excluded out of any Place from having the Benefit of his Breeding and Labours I see no reason why Men should merit their Freedom in any Art or Mystery by their being bound Apprentice to it for seven Years for if they have any Benefit by it let them enjoy it but to exclude any other from exercising his Trade because though a better Artist than one bound Apprentice to it he has not served seven Years in it is not only Tyranny and Injustice but of publick Detriment I say it is Tyranny and Injustice for the generality of Mankind eat their Bread in the sweat of their Brows and Cares of Mind and have no other Subsistence but by their Labours and therefore to take from another his honest means of Labour and Living is a greater wrong than to have robbed him for this hinders him but in his present Condition whereas it is worse to take a Man's means of Living than to take away his Life for this puts a Man upon the ungodly Courses of Thieving Sherking and Deceit and with what Justice can a Man be punished for doing ill who is not permitted to do well I say the denying a Man the benefit of his Labours is a publick Detriment for all Countries flourish by the Inhabitants Labour and Industry in Living and every Man's Labour being a Benefit to another hereby the Publick becomes injured as well as the Man that is denied the Benefit of his Labours Object By the Act of the 5 Eliz. 4. it is unlawful for any to work in any Trade in any Corporation or Market Town but he who has been bound Apprentice to it seven Years Answ All Men by the Law of Nature are obliged to get their Livings by honest Callings and to be helpful to other Men and Humane Laws ought to aid the Law of Nature herein and to punish those who hinder Men from their Labour and Imployment and whenever Humane Laws are contrary to the Law of Nature the Execution of them is practising Iniquity by a Law If a Man has been bound Apprentice seven Years to any Profession it may be he has thereby a Benefit above another not bound seven years but shall this other therefore not subsist or be of any Benefit to the Nation because that was bound Apprentice This is such a Topick in Reasoning as I never desire to be conversant in But why must being bound Apprentice seven Years entitle a Man to a Freedom of working in any Art or Mystery Suppose one is bound and is a Block-head and another more ingenious in it not so bound is there any Reason that shall be free and this other not imployed I am assur'd it is otherwise in Holland where Men in purchasing their Freedom are not questioned how long they have been bound Apprentice but how well they can work in any Art or Mystery I agree there are some Professions which depend chiefly upon bodily Labour as Black-smiths Carpenters Shipwrights Husbandmen c. which cannot be well acquired but by being bound Apprentices to them for some Time or Years but I see no reason why in others which do not so much depend upon bodily Labour Youth should be bound Apprentice at all but may be better instructed without it for as in all scientifical Learning Youth bred up together will better be instructed in Company and learn by one another than where one single Youth is instructed by one Man so in the Arts of Combing Spinning Weaving and Knitting in Woollen Manufactures and Silkthrowing Weaving and in many others Youth will be much better instructed in Consort and Company than when alone There is one
the King a great Revenue and pass the humble Tender 454. Scroggs Chief Justice illegally discharges the Grand Inquest 547. Is impeach'd of High-Treason 556. Sea its Dominion maintain'd by Navigation 660. Sea-men refuse to fight against Rochel 159 162. Are increas'd by the Fishing Trade 390 654. Secluded Members restor'd summon a Free Parliament 419 421. Selden Mr. for the Petition of Right 209. His Speech concerning Grievances 216. Self-denying Ordinance 309 310. Seymour Mr. invades the Commons Privilege 507. Is impeach'd by 'em 555. Shaftsbury see Ashley Cooper Sham-plots of the Court for which good Men are murder'd 601 602. Sharp ABp of St. Andrews murder'd 541 542. Sheriffs instrumental to save honest Mens Lives 590 600. Illegally chosen in London 600 611. Siâ—thorp for the King 's absolute Will 197. Slingsby Sir Henry beheaded 403. Sobiez his Success at Sea on behalf of the Reformed 146. Somerset see Carr. Southampton Lord Treasurer his Death and Character 470. Spain how bounded 1 Jac. I. 11 25. It s Barrenness in People and its Causes 25. Never recover'd its great Loss in 1588 c. 28. It s low State 428 471 472 652. Spaniards their Success against France 389. Spanish Trade tho beneficial forbid by Charles I. 174. Standing Army a Grievance 539. Kept up by K. James 642 643. States of England Three not King Lords and Commons 8. but Nobles Commonalty and Clergy 57. Strasburgh treacherously seiz'd by the French 604. Succession to the Crown in England 38 47 550. Surinam taken by the Dutch 467. but regain'd 468. Surrey-Men rise for the King but are routed 326 327. Sweeds join with the French at War against Brandenburg 499 511. T. TAlbot his Barbarity and Falshood in Ireland 624 625. Is made Lord Lieutenant 641. Tangier the Commons Votes concerning it 539 557. Temple Sir William employ'd in the Treaty at Nimeguen 472 478. in the Peace with the Dutch 495. His Conference with the King 498. Treats of a Peace with the French and Confederates 499. Is highly complimented by the French 509 510. His Thoughts of the Protestation against a separate Peace 512. Is admitted to the Debates with the King concerning the Peace 516 517. His going to France prevented 518. Test in England reflected on 501. In Scotl. with Remarks 570 575. Tiddiman Sir Tho. his Neglect at Bergen 457. Tories charge the Whigs with a Design to kill the King 532. Promote the Popish Designs 544 586. Their Impudence 562. Tour De la Count his Heroick Speech to the Bohemians 91 92. Trade in Market-Towns 27. To Spain gainful 165 387 389 463. to France prejudicial 166 389 463 672. In Wool how we lost it 338 339 662. To Greenland Newfoundland Norway c. 653 656. To America Newcastle 661. To Ireland 656 666. In Timber 669. In Companies and to East-India c. 670. Ought to be free 663 670 674 679. Traquair Lord Treasurer in Scotland 264 266. Prorogues the Parliament there which is protested against 267. Treason made a Stalking Horse 322. Treaty at Munster 339 340. Treaties Account of all between the K. and Parliament 328 332. Treâ—or Secretary his Queries concerning Buckingh c. 489. Triple League 472. Trump Van Admiral for the Dutch see Dutch Tunnage and Poundage see Charles I. and Commons V. VAne Sir Henry opposes the Scots Covenant 299. Promotes Lambert's Interest 409. Villiers his Descent comes into favour 73. Advanc'd by Somerset's Fall 74. His affable Carriage at first 76. Is promoted 77 86 111. Marries the greatest Fortune in England 88. His great Titles 111. Disswades the Prince from his Match with the Infanta 113. Sets up to be popular 115 118 125. His base Dissimulation in Spain 116 117 158. Charg'd with being a Papist and endeavouring to seduce the Prince 118. His Narrative of Proceedings in Spain with Remarks 127 129. Loses the King's Favour by means of the Spanish Ambassador 132 133. Restor'd to it again by the Keeper's fine Contrivance 133 134. Eager for a War with Spain 155. His base dealing with the Rochellers and the Merchants whose Ships he hired 159 163. His Behaviour at Paris 157 163. Is impeach'd by the Commons 189 190. Procures a War with France 193 196 198. His false Steps therein 198. Is routed 198 199. Is stabb'd 225. Vsurer a Story of one 555. Utrecht surrendred to the French 487. W. WAgstaff Sir Jos seizes the Judges at Salisbury 386 Wales its pretended Prince 647. Waller Sir William for the Parliament 298 306. See Fitz-harris Walloons persecuted by Laud 254 255. Settle in Holland 255. Come again into England and encourag'd by Char. II. 472 473 607. Walter Sir Joh. dissents from the Judges and is discharged 236. War with Holland projected by the French 450 473 478 484. War and Peace-making claim'd by the King 506. Warwick Earl Admiral for the Parliament 295. Wenthworth Sir Tho. a true Patriot 209 212. but made President of the North to his Ruin 243. and Lieutenant of Ireland 254 260. Weston Sir Rich. made Lord Treasurer tho a Papist 226. Whigs and Tories 531 532. Compar'd with the Prerogative-men and Puritans in Laud's time 560 561. Whitlock Serjeant his Thoughts of Cromwel c. 304 305 348 349 359 361. Advises to bring in the King 415. Wilkinson Capt. his Story his noble Constancy 596 598. Williams Lord-Keeper his Thoughts of the Spanish Match 113. His Ruin intended by Laud c. 124 179 253. Stops the King's Prohibition to the Judges and Bishops 126. His curious Contrivance on Buckingham's behalf 133 c. Is commended by the King for it 135. Ill requited by Buckingham 136 155. His Reasons against a War with Spain 155. His Advices to the King 168 170 302. to Buckingham 169. His Character 176 177. His Requests to the King c. 177 178. Is fin'd and imprisoned by Laud 239. Willis Sir Cromwel's Spy 393 402. Windebank Sir Fr. seizes Sir Coke's Papers favours Popery 253. Woollen Manufactures the Inconveniences they labour under 666. Worcester Fight 346. Workhouses 665 677. FINIS BOOKS sold by Andrew Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhil THE General History of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William Taken from the most Antient Records Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and State With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyrrel Esq Fol. A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion wherein all the Arguments for Persecution and against Toleration are examin'd and refuted With the most proper Method of destroying all Schisms Heresies c. A Detection of the Court and State of England during the four last Reigns and the Interregnum Consisting of Private Memoirs c. with Observations and Reflections And an Appendix discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many Secrets never before made publick as also a more impartial Account of the Civil Wars in England than has yet been given By Rog. Coke Esq The third Edition much corrected with an Alphabetical Table Scotland's Soveraignty asserted Being a Dispute concerning Homage against those who maintain that Scotland is a Fee Liege of England and that the K. of Scots owes Homage to the K. of England By Sir Tho. Craig Translated from the Latin Manuscript with a Preface containing a Confutation of that Homage said to be performed by Malcom III. to Edward the Confessor and published by Mr. Rymer By Geo. Ridpath Ridpath his Shorthand yet shorter or the Art of Short-writing advanc'd in a more swift easy regular and natural Method than hitherto The second Edition A Discourse on the late Funds of the Million Act Lottery-Act and Bank of England Shewing that they are injurious to the Nobility and Gentry and ruinous to the Trade of the Kingdom By J. Briscoe The third Edition Mr. John Asgil his Plagiarism detected c. Emblems by Fra. Quarles with the Hieroglyphicks All the Cuts being newly illustrated The History of Genesis illustrated with 40 Copper Plates Advice to the Young or the Reasonableness and Advantages of an Early Conversion In three Sermons on Eccles 12. 1. By Joseph Stennett The Groans of a Saint under the Burden of a Mortal Body A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. John Belcher late Minister of the Gospel from 2 Cor. 5. 4. By the same Author Several Practical Pieces of Mr. Daniel Burgess viz. Rules for hearing the Word of God The Sure Way to Wealth The most difficult Duty made easy Foolish Talking and Jesting describ'd and condemn'd The Christian Decalogue or the Gospel's ten Commandments The Church's Triumph over Death a Funeral Sermon on Mr. Robert Fleming A Funeral Sermon from Job 14. 14. on Mrs. Sarah Bull. Holy Union and Holy Contention describ'd and press'd In single Tracts or bound up together Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture Rutherford's Letters An Exposition with Practical Observations on the Book of Ecclesiastes By Alexander Nisbet A Directory of Prayer being a Commentary on the 20th Psalm By R. Campbel Chamberlen's Midwifery the third Edition Artamenes or the Grandâ—Cyrus In 10 Vol. A Birchen Rod for Dr. Birch being an Answer to his Sermon before the Commons Jan. 30. A Defence of the Arch-bishop's Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen and of the Sermons of the late ABp Bp of Lichfield and Coventry Bp of Ely Bp of Salisbury Dr. Sherlock c. on that and other Solemn Occasions against the Aspersions of two Jacobite Pamphlets A Tragedy called the Popish Plot reviv'd Wherein are several Letters c. of Dr. Oates to the Late Kings and other Great Men. The Rye-house Travestie The History of the Late Jacobite Plot in a Letter to the Bp of Rochester by T. Percival * Aesar in the Tuscan Tongue is a God See Suet. c. 97. in the Life of Augustus
to do it Yet this Adventure must be run because Buckingham would have it so so pur-blind nay stark-blind does Poverty and Covetousness make Man's Understanding and Reason But that we may take all before us let 's see in what Esteem King James was with the Spaniards which might encourage him to pursue this Adventure In their Comedies in Flanders they imitated Messengers bringing News in haste that the Palatinate was likely to have a numerous Army shortly on foot For the King of Denmark would shortly furnish them with a thousand Pickled-Herrings the Hollanders with one hundred thousand Butter-Boxes and England with one hundred thousand Ambassadors They pictured King James in one place with a Scabbard without a Sword in another with a Sword which no body could draw out tho divers Persons stood pulling at it In Brussels they painted him with his Pockets hanging out and not one Penny in them and his Purse turned upside down In Antwerp they pictured the Queen of Bohemia like a poor Irish Mantler with her Hair hanging about her Ears with her Child at her Back and the King James carrying the Cradle after her and every one of the Pictures had several Motto's expressing their Malice Such Scorns and Contempts were put upon the King James and in him the whole Nation See the Preface to the History of the first 14 Years of the Reign of King James and Wilson fol. 192. But tho Buckingham pursued this Match with such Eagerness yet when it came to his Management in Spain where the King's Proclamations forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs had no effect he proceeded wrong in every step of it and to gratify his Ambition and Personal Disgusts was the first and principal Instrument to break it off but that we may not insist upon Generals 1. The Prince's coming to Spain and thereby putting himself into the King of Spain's Power brake all the Earl of Bristol's Measures whereupon the Negotiation and all the Particulars of the Marriage was settled and the Negotiation was put into a new Form See Rushw Collect. fol. 286. Objection This was but a Charge by the Earl of Bristol against the Duke who prosecuted the Earl of High Misdemeanors and therefore no Proof against the Duke Answer Yet the Honour of so great a Statesman and faithful a Counsellor as the Earl was who had so honourably served the King in seven foreign Embassies and had by the Expence of 10000 l. saved Heidelburg from falling into the Hands of the Spaniard and having upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament given the King 500 l. upon the Benevolence and never received a Check from the King in all his Negotiations but always honourable Testimonies from him for his faithful Services before Buckingham broke in upon him may go a great way But it seems to me to be a clear Proof upon Buckingham for Bristol twice answered Articles preferred against him without any Reply whereas rather than Buckingham should answer Bristol's Charge King Charles dissolved his second Parliament 2. Buckingham had not learned the Verse which is taught to every School-boy Quum fueris Romae Romano vivito more for being French bred he appeared in a French Garb most hateful to the Spaniards and by his Familiarity with the Prince he seemed rather the Prince's Guardian and Companion than Follower which disrelished the Court of Spain and the Spaniards in general who are grave sober and wary 3. He by contrary Methods opposed all the Earl of Bristol's Methods nay fell at odds with him tho without Comparison he was the ablest Statesman in all King James his Councils 4. Whereas all other Ambassadors and Statesmen in all great Affairs make their Court to the King's Council and prime Ministers of State to attain their Ends Buckingham fell at open Defiance with Olivares prime Minister of State in Spain and 't was generally said made his Court to the Countess which she acquainted her Husband with and instead of the Countess put a tainted Whore to Bed with him 5. The Earl of Bristol in the 9th Article of his Charge against him shews what a Scandal Buckingham gave by his Personal Behaviour in Spain and also employing his Power with the King of Spain for procuring Favours and Offices which he bestowed upon base and unworthy Persons for the Recompence and Hire of his Lust These things as fit neither for the Earl of Bristol to speak nor the Lords to hear he left to their Lordships Wisdom how far they please to have them examined It having been a great Infamy to this Nation that a Person of the Duke 's great Quality and Employments a Privy-Counsellor and Ambassador eminent in his Majesty's Favour and solely in Trust with the Prince should leave behind him in a Foreign Court so much Scandal as he did by his ill Behaviour 6. The Earl of Bristol's sixth Article against Buckingham is That his Behaviour in Spain was such that he thereby so incensed the King of Spain and his Ministers that they would admit of no Reconciliation nor farther Dealings with him Whereupon he seeing the said Match would be to his Prejudice he endeavoured to break it not for any Service to the Kingdom nor of the Match it self nor for that he had found as since he pretended the Spaniards did not really intend the said Match but out of his particular Ends and Indignation And the 7th Article says 7. That after he intended to cross the said Match he put in practice divers undue Courses as making use of the Prince's Letters to his own Ends and not as they were intended as likewise of concealing things of high Importance to the King James and thereby to overthrow the King's Purposes and advance his own Ends. Nor had my Lord Keeper Williams any better luck in this Adventure of Buckingham's than the Earl of Bristol or Olivares for tho the Prince's going into Spain was concealed from the Keeper as well as Council yet after the Duke was gone the Keeper's Letters followed him to Madrid wherein the Keeper advised him to be circumspect in all his Actions that no Offence might be taken at any of them by the King and Ministers of Spain and to be advised by the Earl of Bristol not only as a most able Statesman but above all others the most experienced in the Manners of the Spaniards and Court of Spain but this Buckingham took as ill Manners in the Keeper and was an occasion of his quarrelling with him as you may read in the Life of the Lord Keeper written by the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry But neither the danger of the Prince in Spain nor the cross-grain'd going of the Match any way abated the King's Favour to his beloved Scholar and Disciple Buckingham but he sent after him the Patent of being created a Duke there being not another of England So that now he is become Duke Marquess and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villiers Baron of Whaddon Great Admiral of
find he ever repented of any of them But admit the King had this Power and also that the Opening Adjourning and Proroguing Terms and granting Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and times of their Sitting and Continuance for Executing Justice be Prerogatives inseparable to the Imperial Crown of which he is accountable to God only Yet if he shall not open the Terms or grant Commissions of Oyer and Terminer or if he does refuse to have Justice done between himself and Subjects or between his Subjects but instead thereof prorogue or adjourn Terms and withcall his Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and declare to Him only belongs the Power of opening the Terms and of granting Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and that he is only accountable to God for all his Actions would not this be a Failure of Justice and can any Man believe that he would be God's Vicegerent herein for the Good and Benefit of his Subjects The Act of the 25 of Edward the III determines what Treasons are cognisable by the King's Judges but the other Treasons at Common-Law are only determinable in Parliament and one of the chiefest Ends in calling Parliaments is when the Judges themselves or Ministers of State becoming corrupt and too great for the ordinary Courts of Justice they may be punished in Parliament it is therefore greater Injustice and infinitely more dangerous to the King and Subjects to deny the Nation this Right than to deny Justice to particular Subjects The King is Head of the Common-wealth and the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation unite them into one Body which if they cease there is neither King nor Common-wealth and by the 4 Edw. 3. c. 4. Parliaments shall be holden every Year and by 36 Edw. 3. c. 10. Parliaments shall be holden once a Year and oftner if need be that Grievances and Mischiefs be redrest How then does it become the King to glory that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to the Imperial Crown which in plain English is to say It is a Prerogative inseparable to the Imperial Crown to rend himself from his Subjects and to make himself neither King nor the Nation his Subjects But if the King be accountable only to God for his Actions how comes it that he so often appeals to the People by these Declarations against their Representatives or rather against the People and their Representatives to his own Minions and Flatterers which are worse than any other Rebels and Traitors for these appear barefac'd what they are whereas those steal away the Love and Obedience of his Subjects and provoke them either to be Rebels and Traitors or careless to assist him against such as are And this was the Case of Edward the 2d and Richard the 2d and now it comes fast upon this unhappy King for so hereafter he will ever be In September this Year the Dutch fell upon a Fleet of the Spaniards in the Downs so furiously as being 53 in Number made them cut their Cables and run 23 of them on Shoar whereof 3 were burnt 2 perished on the Shoar the Remainder of the other 23 were deserted by the Spaniards and mann'd by the English to save them from the Dutch the other 30 put to Sea of which only 10 escaped Yet the King however he gloried in being stiled Soveraign of the British Seas took no Care to vindicate this against the Dutch to whom he was now become as contemptible as to his Scotish Subjects Now let 's see how things stood in Scotland After the Pacification between the English and Scots yet full of Jealousy on either Part the King sent for 14 of the principal Covenanters to come to him at Berwick which the Scots refused and only sent Montross Lowden and Lowthian these three Lords seemed much mollified by what the King had granted and promised all Obedience to the King The King urged Hamilton to be his Commissioner which he refusing he made Traquair but tied him up to close Instructions and in August he indicts a General Assembly the Bishops protest against it and the Covenanters supplicate the Commissioners and Council that Episcopacy be declared unlawful and the Covenant subscribed by all the Scotish Nation which the Commissioners verbally consented to Here you must understand that the Covenanters make the Kirk a distinct Table or Body from the Civil of which Christ Jesus is the only Head and that the Parliament is obliged to pass all the Acts of a General Assembly so that though by many Acts of Parliament the Bishops Sitting and Voting in Parliament is ordained and confirmed yet the voting Episcopacy to be unlawful hath rescinded all those Acts of Parliament for Sublata Causa tollitur effectus Upon the 30th of October in 1639 the Parliament met but upon the Difference between the Houses and the Earl of Traquair about naming Lords of the Articles the Earl prorogues them to the 14th of November which the Parliament protest against and declare all Proceedings in Parliament to be as valid as if no Prorogation had been The Parliament hereupon appoint a Committee to represent this to the King and in the mean time to expect the King's Answer and make the Earl of Dumfermling and the Lord Lowden their Deputies to do it who coming without Warrant from the Earl of Traquair were commanded back again without Audience Then the King commands the Commissioner Traquair to prorogue the Parliament to the second of June in 1640 and that Traquair should come and give an account of the Matters proposed in Parliament and Traquair having gotten one of the Letters which the Covenanters had sent to the French King for his Protection and Assistance of the Covenanters subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesley Mountgomery Lowden and Forester brings this with him and delivers it to the King for which the Scots would never forgive the Earl but ever after deemed him an Incendiary This yet being unknown to the Covenanters they petition the King to permit them to send some of their Members to vindicate their Proceedings which the King did and they sent the Earl of Dumfermling and Lowden again The King when they came to London claps Lowden close Prisoner in the Tower and expected that this Confederacy between the Scots and French would be a means to procure the Parliament to assist him more powerfully against the Scots but the King having dissolved the Parliament he as suddenly dismist him as before he had committed him which did the King no good This unhappy King would as easily be excited to give harsh language as be put upon sudden Actions and as soon leave them and often proceed quite contrary And now the King taxes the Scots Proceedings to be Traiterous and Rebellious and causes a Paper published by the Scots after the Pacification to be burnt by the Hand of the common Hangman but the Scots insisted their Proceedings to be according to the Covenant which they could not