regret the Hard Usage which the Protestants meet with in other Countries and wish they were but as well treated there as the Roman-Catholicks are here Before I have done I beg leave to take notice of a Pamphlet that came out last Summer call'd Cursory Remarks upon the Proceedings of the Last Session of Parliament The Gentleman that wrote it had not only the Honesty to publish an Answer to his own Book but in that Answer to insinuate that I was the Author of it All the Use I shall make of this unusual Liberty of the Press is to declare That I have not publish'd any one Paper Pamphlet or Book these Six Years And though I have but little Leisure and yet less Inclination to appear again in Print yet if ever I alter my Resolution and publish any thing hereafter I will certainly put my Name to it as I have done to these Memoirs THE CONTENTS THE Excellencies of the English Constitution and the various Changes that have happen'd in it Page 1 The State of England under Queen Elizabeth 3 Her Character 5 The Character of her Ministers particularly of Walsingham Cecil c. and of the Members of the House of Commons in her time 8 Her Conduct towards Mary Queen of Scots 15 King James the First 's Accession to the Crown and the Condition of England under his Reign 19 His Character 20 The Character and Deathof Prince Henry 23 The Character of the Queen of Bohemia and King James's Conduct in the Business of the Palatinate 27 The Fate of Sir Walter Raleigh 28 King James's Conduct in teh Interdict of Venice 34 King Charles the First 's Accession to the Crown and the Condition of England at that time 37 The Breach betwixt Archbishop Abbot and Bishop Laud 38 The Rise of King Charles's Troubles and the first and second War with the Scots 41 The meeting of the Parliament November 1640. 45 The Fall and Character of Wentworth Earl of Strafford 47 The Fall and Character of Archbishop Laud 55 The Famous Petition and Remonstrance of the state of the Nation and the King's Answer 61 His coming to the House of Commons in Person to demand the Five Members and the Consequences of it 63 His Leaving the Parliament and the beginning of the Civil Wars and who began it 66 The Treaty of Uxbridge how unsuccesful and the Marquis of Montrose's fatal Letter the Cause 63 The Character and Fall of King Charles the First 74 His Opinion of Defensive Arms in the bisiness of Rochel 79 The Character of his Favourite Buckingham 84 The true Cause of the Scot's coming into England being a forg'd Letter 91 King Charles's design beâ—ore his Death to Resign the Crown And the Army 's to set up the Duke of Gloucester 98 His Consulting the Sortes Virgilianae 100 The Vsurpation and Character of Oliver Cromwell 102 The Restoration of King Charles the Second and the Manner of it with Monk's part in it and the Risk Monk ran in Scotland 114 One of the true Causes of the Fall of Chancellor Clarendon 122 The discovery of the Popish Plot and its Consequences 123 The Bill of Exclusion the design of it and how manag'd 125 The Disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth and the Consequences of it 131 The Protestant Plot and the Effects of it 133 The Death of King Charles the Second and the Suspicions about the Manner of it discuss'd 135 His Character 143 The Reign of King James the Second 148 The Advantages and Examples he might have maâ—e use of 150 His Brother's and Pope Innocent II.'s Advice to him 152 His first Speech to his Privy Council 153 His first Speech to his Parliament 156 His Second Memorable Speech to his Parliament 157 Two Letters from a Foreign Minister to their Ambassador in England upon the occasion of this Speech 159 Monmouth's Invasion and the Grounds of it 160 Some Passages out of Monmouth's Pocket-Book 166 Monmouth's Character 167 His Letter in his Retirement 169 King James's Speech to the Parliament upon Monmouth's Defeat 171 The Parliament's Address thereupon 173 The Sense of a Foreign Minister of this last Speech 175 The Advances made to the Subversion of the English Constitution 177 King James's Ambassy to Rome and how received 178 The Panegyricks of King James upon that occasion 182 The Manner how King James had been treated by another Pope in his Marriage with the Princess of Modena 187 King James grants a Toleration of Religion 191 He assumes a dispensing Power 194 He sets up an Ecclesiastical Commission 197 The Suspension of the Bishop of London 198 The Proceedings against Magdalen-College 201 His Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience 206 The Affair of the Seven Bishops 208 The Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales 212 A new Parliament design'd and to what end 213 The Prince and Princess of Orange's Opinion about the Penal Laws and Test and how obtain'd 215 The Army Modell'd 220 The Methods us'd in Ireland and Tyrconel's Advancement 222 The Regulating of the Corporations and the Severities against the Protestants 228 The Act of Attainder there 232 The Interest that Foreign States had in England 234 The Emperor's Letter to King James 236 The Interest of the Prince of Orange 237 The bad Circumstances of the House of Orange at the Birth of the Present Prince of Orange now King of England 238 How he came to be Restored in Holland 240 The Desolation of Holland in 1672 242 The Reasons of that Desolation 244 The Difficulty the Prince of Orange had to grapple with 247 The Duke of Luxemburgh's Cruelties at Swammerdam 249 The Affair of Overall's Convocation and how resented by King James 255 His Letter to Dr. Abbot on that Occasion 257 ERRATA PAGE 62. Line 14 15. for the King's Answer to it at its delivery read Answer to them at their delivery MEMOIRS Of the most Material Transactions in England c. THERE is not a Natiâ—n in Europe that from the Constitution of its Government might have promis'd it self a more firm and lasting Repâ—se than England And yet scarce any Kingdom we know upon Earth has suffered so many and various Convulsions As if some malevolent Planet had over-rul'd one of the best of Human Constitutions and by an unaccountable Fatality had render'd ineffectual all the Endeavours of our Ancestors to make themselves and their Posterity happy under a Limited Monarchy A Monarchy in which the Prerogative of the Prince and the Liberty of the People are so equally temper'd that there seems nothing wanting that may tend to the Happiness of either The King of England has the Glory to Rule over a Free People The Excellency of the English Constitution and the People of England that of being subject to a Monarch who by the Laws of the Countrey is invested with as much Power and Greatness as a Wise and Beneficent Prince can reasonably wish for To compleat all the Crown of England has been for many Ages Hereditary and fix'd in
egregiously imposâ—d upon for there was no way to come at the Town but through Parts of Germany that were in the hands of Spain and so the Spaniards continued Masters of Frankendale When several other Princes were some time after upon entring into a League for Restitution of the Palatinate and the House of Austria was beginning to doubt the Success Gundomar play'd another Engine to break their Measures by proposing a Match with the Infanta of Spain for the Prince of Wales as the easiest and surest way to restore the Palatine Family which like all the rest was only to amuse King Iames and was equally unsuccessful It were too long to give the Detail of King Iames's Conduct in this Affair which was all of a piece The Author sums up the ills that attended it in this That thereby the Protestant Religion was entirely rooted out of Bohemia the Electoral Dignity transferr'd from the Palatine Family the Palatinate it self lost the Liberty of Germany overthrown and which he mentions with a sensible Regret the famous Library of Heidelburgh was carried to Rome to the irreparable Prejudice of Learning So that Gundomar had good reason to say in one of his Letters to the Duke of Lerma printed in the History of that Duke's Life That he had lull'd King James so fast asleep that he hop'd neither the Cries of his Daughter nor her Children nor the repeated Sollicitations of his Parliament and Subjects in their behalf should be able to awaken him There are two Passages more very observable in this Author The Court of Spain finding King Iames had broke off the Spanish Match and was brought to see how egregiously he had been abus'd in it they ventur'd upon a bold Attempt to trouble his Affairs by whispering in his Ears some things to make him jealous of his Son And that a good while after when King Charles and his Parliament were entring upon vigorous Measures to espouse the Palatine Cause they found ways to sow Divisions between him and his People that in progress of time broke out into a Civil War The latter needs no Commentary and the former is sufficiently explain'd Hacket's Life of Bâ— William by what a late Author has writ in the Life of Bishop Williams concerning that Prelate's being instrumental in making up some secret differences betwixt King Iames and his Son the Prince of Wales a little before King Iames's Death Spanhemius sums up what relates to this Affair with this Remark That never Prince was more oblig'd to a Sister than King Charles the First was to the Queen of Bohemia since it was only the Consideration of her and her Children who were then the next Heirs to the Crown of England that prevail'd with the Court of Spain to permit him to see England again As in most Foreign Transactions King Iames was unhappy In the Interdict of Venice so more particularly in the difference between Pope Paul V. and the Venetians There appear'd at that time a wonderful Disposition in that State to work a Reformation in the Church and throw off the Papal Yoke In order to advance it King Iames dispatch'd Sir Henry Wotton his Ambassador to Venice and hearing that Spain had declar'd for the Pope he declar'd for the Venetians and acquainted Iustiniani their Ambassador in England That he would not only assist Them with all the Forces of his Kingdom but engage all his Allies in their Defence At Sir Henry Wotton's Arrival the Breach between the Pope and the Republick was brought very near a Crisis so that a total Separation was expected not only from the Court but the Church of Rome which was set on by the Learned Padre Paulo and the Seven Divines of the State with much Zeal and conducted with as great Prudence The Ambassador at his Audience offer'd all possible Assistance in his Master's Name and accus'd the Pope and Papacy of being the chief Authors of all the Mischiefs in Christendom This was receiv'd with great Deference and Respect to King Iames And when the Pope's Nuncio objected That King Iames was not a Catholick and so was not to be rely'd upon the Doge took him up briskly and told him That the King of England believ'd in Iesus Christ but he did not know in whom some others believ'd King Iames had sent with Wotton his Premonition to all Christian Princes and States translated into Latin to be presented to the Senate which Padre Paulo and the other Divines press'd might be done at his first Audience telling him they were confident it would have a very good effect The Ambassador could not be prevail'd with alledging he had positive Orders to wait till St. Iames's Day which was not far off This Conceit of presenting K. Iames's Book on St. Iames's Day spoil'd all for before that day came the Difference was made up and that happy Opportunity lost So that when he had his Audience on St. Iames's Day and had presented the Book all the Answer he got was That they thank'd the King of England for his good will but they were now reconcil'd to the Pope and that therefore they were resolv'd not to admit of any Change in their Religion according to their Agreement with the Court of Rome How little Reputation he acquir'd in the Matter of the Venetian Interdict appears yet more plainly in this That in all the numerous Collections we have of Letters that pass'd on that Subject between the Cardinals of Ioyeuse and Perron the Marquis de Fresnes and Henry IV. there is not the least notice taken of King Iames or his Embassy To have done with King Iames it was said That he divided his time betwixt his Standish his Bottle and his Hunting The last had his fair Weather the two former his dull and cloudy and therefore that it was no wonder his Writings were so variable and that after he had pleaded for Witchcraft and the Pope's being Antichrist Somerset's Affair and the Spanish Match cur'd him of both After having enjoy'd for the most part of his Life a firm Health he died of a Quartan Ague in the Fifty ninth Year of his Age and with such suspicious Circumstances as gave occasion of Enquiry into the manner of his Death in the two first Parliaments that were call'd by his Son all which came to nothing by reason of their sudden Dissolutions King Charles the First came to the Crown under all the Disadvantages that have been mention'd The Reign of King Charlâ—s I. and yet the Nation might have hop'd that their Condition would be mended under a Prince of so much Virtue as indeed he was if the Seeds of Discontent which were sown in his Father's time had not every day taken deeper Root and acquir'd new Growth through the Ill Management of his Ministers rather than any Wilful Errors of his own Some of them drove so fast that it was no wonder the Wheels and Chariot broke And it was in great part to the indiscreet Zeal of a
the State not much lamented and left in Legacy to his Son a discontented People an unnecessary expensive War an incumbred Revenue and an exhausted Treasury together with the Charge of his Grand-children by the Queen of Bohemia that were now divested of a large Patrimony deriv'd to them by a long Series of Illustrious Ancestors In fine he entail'd upon his Son all the Miseries that befel him and left in the minds of his Subjects those Sparks of Discontent that broke out some Years after into a Flame of Civil War which ended in the Ruin of King Charles and of the Monarchy with him This Prince His Character though his Father and Mother were esteemed the Handsomest Couple of the Age they liv'd in was himself but a Homely Person nor in any of his Features was to be found the least Resemblance of the Beautiful Mary Stuart or Lord Darnly No Prince had a more Liberal Education And it could not well be otherwise having the Celebrated Buchanan for his Tutor He was acquainted with most parts of Learning but valued himself upon his Knowledge in Divinity above the rest in which he writ some things that were much esteem'd at that time He writ and spoke well but in a Stile that border'd too much upon Pedantry which was indeed the common Fault of that Age. As to his Religion notwithstanding all his Advances to the Pope and Papists upon the account first of the Spanish and afterwards the French Match he was really Calvinist in most Points but that of Church-Government witness some of his Books and his Zeal for the Synod of Dort But as to Episcopacy he shew'd so much Learning and Reading in his Arguments for it at the Conference of Hampton-Court that Archbishop Whitgift said He was verily persuaded the King spake by the Spirit of God Notwithstanding his Mother was dethron'd to make room for him and consequently he could have no Right but the Consent of the People while she liv'd yet upon all occasions he was fond of being thought to have a Divine Right to the Crown His Courage was much suspected and some would ascribe his want of it to the Fright his Mother was in upon the Death of David Rizio The Troubles of his Youth were various occasion'd chiefly by Factions of Great Men that strove who should have the Management of him But when he came of Age he sought all occasions to be reveng'd upon such of them as were living and the Posterity of those that were dead Goury's Conspiracy being in it self so improbable a thing and attended with so many inconsistent Circumstances was disbeliev'd at the time it was said to have been attempted And Posterity has swallow'd down for a Truth what their Ancestors took for a mere Fiction He came to the Crown of England by Lineal Descent and the Verbal Designation of Queen Elizabeth upon her Death-bed And the Conspiracy wherewith Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh were charged to set him by the English Throne was no less Mystery than that of Goury's had been before The only uncontroverted Treason that happen'd in his Reign was the Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot. and yet the Letter to the Lord Mounteagle that pretended to discover it was but a Contrivance of his own the thing being discover'd to him before by Henry the Fourth of France through the means of Monsieur de Rhony after Duke of Sully King Henry paid dear for his Friendship to King Iames and there is reason to believe that it was upon this account among others that a Party of the Church of Rome employ'd Ravillac to murther that Great Man King Iames was equally happy and unhappy in every one of his Children The Character of Pr. Henry Prince Henry was the Darling of Mankind and a Youth of vast Hopes and wonderful Virtues but was too soon Man to be long-liv'd The Duke of Sully being in England to congratulate King Iames upon his Accession to the Crown laid the Foundation of a strict Friendship betwixt his Master and Prince Henry which was afterwards carried on by Letters and Messages till the Death of that King Though it 's a Secret to this day what was the real Design of all those vast Preparations that were made by Henry the Fourth for some time before his Death yet certain it is those Preparations were such as kept all Europe in suspense And I have seen some Papers that make it more than probable that Prince Henry was not only acquainted with the Secret but was engag'd in the Design But whatever it was it prov'd abortive by the Murther of that Excellent King just at the time when it was to have been declar'd his Army being ready to march Prince Henry surviv'd him but two years and dy'd universally lamented The World is very often willing to attribute the Untimely Death of Princes to unfair Practices and it was the general Rumour at that time that this Prince was poison'd Whatever was in it there is yet in Print a Sermon preach'd at St. Iames's upon the Dissolution of his Family that boldly insinuated some such thing And also Sir Francis Bacon Lord Chancellor of England in his Speech at the Trial of the Earl of Somerset had some Reflections upon the Intimacy of that Lord with Sir Thomas Overbury which seem to point that way insomuch that there were several Expressions left out of the printed Copy that were in the Speech But after all there is an Account in Print of what was observable upon the Opening of Prince Henry's Body under the Hand of Sir Theodore Mayerne and Five other Physicians Appendix Numb 5. from which there can be no Inference drawn that he was poyson'd The Second of King Iames's Children was the Princess Elizabeth Of Queen of Bohemia married to the Elector Palatine who was afterwards to his Ruin elected King of Bohemia It is hard to say whether the Virtues of this Lady or her Misfortunes were greater for as she was one of the best of Women she may be likewise reckon'd in the number of the most unfortunate King Iames thought to retrieve his Son-in-law's lost Fortune by the way of Treaty but in that and in every thing else the House of Austria outwitted him so that the poor Prince Palatine gain'd nothing by his Alliance with England but the hard Fate to be abandon'd by those whose Honour and Interest it was to support him Nor had the Crown of England any share in the Honour of re-establishing the Palatine Family which happen'd Thirty Years after for at the time of the Treaty of Munster when that matter was setled King Charles the First was so far from being in a condition to mediate for his Friends that he was himself a Prisoner to those very Enemies that in a few Months after the signing of that Treaty took his Life Of whom being the Youngest of King Iames's Children and of his Misfortunes there will be too much occasion to speak in the following
fully acquainted with the Native Strength and peculiar Interest of the Nation I mean the Affairs of the Navy in which he had acquir'd deservedly a great Reputation He had met with but too many occasions to understand the Genius and Temper of the People he was to govern and to know how far it was impracticable to overturn the Establish'd Religion or to introduce a New one for he had wrestled through a great many Difficulties upon the account of his own He could not but have a true value for hâ—s Brother's great Parts and Abilities and be acquainted with the Arts by which he gain'd and preserv'd the Affections of his People notwithstanding all the Hardships he had been induc'd sometimes to put upon them And he had seen how fearful and averse he had been to push things too far or to drive his Subjects to Extremitities He had before him the Fatal Example of a Father who though he was a Protestant yet upon a false Suspicion of having a Design to introduce Popery was sent to his Grave by a violont Death and he was almost a Man when that Tragedy happen'd and had suffer'd Ten Years Banishment among other Consequences that attended it He had been acquainted abroad with a Princess fam'd for Parts and Learning who Resign'd her Crown apprehending she might be divested of it for embracing the Romish Religion by those very Subjects that held her before in the greatest Veneration both upon her own account and that of a Father who had rais'd them to the highest Pitch of Glory that ever the Suedish Nation arriv'd to And he might have remembred what his Mother said upon her Return to Somerset-house after the Restoration That if she had known the Temper of the People of England some Years past as well as she did then she had never been oblig'd to leave that House But the History of his Ancestors might have more fully inform'd him Tâ—at those that grasp'd at Immoderate Power or a Prerogative above the Law were always Unfortunate and their Reigns Inglorious There was also a Passage at his Father's Death which he would have done well to have observ'd He deliver'd his George to Dr. Iuxon upon the Scaffold and bid him Remember without saying more The Council of State was willing to know the meaning of that Expression and call'd the Doctor before them to give them an Account of it who told them That the King immediately before his coming out to the Place of Execution had charg'd him to carry to the Prince his Son his George with these his Two last Commands That he should forgive his Murtherers And That if he ever came to the Crown he should so govern his Subjects as not to force them upon Extremities Over and above all this one of the best Historians of the Age Puffendorf ut supra who had the advantage of all the late Elector of Brandenburgh's Papers and Memoirs acquaints us That King Charles the Second delivering to King Iames at his Death the Key of his Strong Box advis'd him not to think upon introducing the Romish Religion into England it being a thing that was both dangerous and impracticable And that the late Don Pedro Ronquillor the Spanish Ambassador at his first Audience after the Death of King Charles having ask'd leave to speak his mind freely upon that occasion made bold to tell him That he saw several Priests about him that he knew would importune him to alter the Establish'd Religion in England but he wish'd his Majesty would not give Ear to their Advice for if he did he was afraid his Majesty would have reason to repent of it when it was too late This Author tells us That King Iames took ill the Freedom of the Spanish Ambassador and ask'd him in Passion Whether in Spain they advis'd with their Confessors Yes Sir answer'd Ronquillor we do and that 's the reason our Affairs go so ill The same Historian does likewise inform us but he does not tell us upon what grounds Pope Innocent XI th's Letter to K Iames. That Pope Innocent XI writ a Letter to King Iames upon his Accession to the Crown to this purpose That he was highly pleas'd with his Majesty's Zeal for the Catholick Religion but he was afraid his Majesty might push it too far and instead of contributing to his own Greatness and to the Advancement of the Catholick Church he might come to do both It and himself the greatest Prejudice by attempting that which his Holiness was well assur'd from long Experience could not succeed This Letter does very well agree with what I shall have occasion to mention afterwards concerning the Earl of Castlemain's Embassy to Rome How far he profited by all these Advantages on the one hand and Examples and Advices on the other will appear in the Sequel The first Speech he made as King the day his Brother died gave hopes of a Happy Reign and even those that had appear'd with the greatest Warmth against him before were willing now to own themselves to have been mistaken and were ready to express their Repentance for what was past For he told them That since it had pleas'd Almighty God to place him in that Station and that he was now to succeed to so good and gracious a King as well as so very kind a Brother he thought fit to declare to them That he would endeavour to follow his Example and especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People And that though he had been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power yet he was resolv'd to make it his Endeavour to preserve the Government of England both in Church and State as it was then Establish'd by Law That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had show'd themselves good and Loyal Subjeâ—ts therefore he would always take care of it and defend and support it That he knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as Great a Monarch as he could wish And that as he would never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so he would never invade any manâ—s Property Concluding That as he had often hitherto ventur'd his Life in defence of this Nation so he was resolv'd to go as far as any man in preserving it in all its just Rights and Liberties If a Trajan or an Antoninus had been to lay down a Scheme of Government to make their People happy they could not have done it in better Terms nor could the Nation well desire or in reason wish for more If his subsequent Actions had come up to it he had eterniz'd his Name and might have reviv'd in himself the Memory of those of his Ancestors who have deservedly given them by Posterity the Character of Good and Great This promising Speech was not many days old nor King Charles's Ashes well cold when the Nation was alarm'd with a Proclamation
me and having formerly serv'd me on several Occasions and always approv'd the Loyalty of their Principles by their Practices I think them now fit to be Employ'd under me and will deal plainly with you That after having had the benefit of their Services in such time of need and danger I will neither expose them to Disgrace nor my self to the Want of them if there should be another Rebellion to make them necessary to me And at last he tells them That he was afraid some may hope that a difference might happen betwixt Him and his Parliament on that occasion which he cannot apprehend can befal him or that any thing can shake them in their Loyalty to him who will ever make all returns of kindness and protection and venture his Life in the Defence of the true Interest of the Nation It was no wonder That this Speech surpriz'd a people who valu'd themselves so much upon their Liberties and thought themselves secure of them both from the Constitution of their Government and the solemn repeated promises of their Prince They found too late that their fears in the former Reign of a Popish Successor were too well grounded and how inconsistent a Roman Catholick King is with a Protestant Kingdom The Parliament did in humble manner represent the inconvenience that might attend such Measures The Parliaments Address to K. Iames upon that Speech at least to render him inexcusable for what might Ensue And that they might not be wanting to themselves and their Posterity they Voted an Address wherein they told him That they had with all duty and readiness taken into Consideration His Majesty's Gracious Speech And as to that part of it relating to the Officers of the Army not qualified for their Employment according to the Act of Parliament they did out of their bounden duty humbly Represent to His Majesty That these Officers could not by Law be capable of their Employments and that the Incapacities they bring upon themselves that way could no ways be taken off but by an Act of Parliament Therefore out of that great Reverence and Duty they ow'd to His Majesty they were preparing a Bill to indemnify them from the inconveniences they had now incurr'd And because the continuing them in their Employments may be taken to be a dispensing with Law without an Act of Parliament the consequence of which was of the greatest concern to the Rights of all his Subjects and to all the Laws made for the security of their Religion Therefore they most humbly beseech His Majesty That he would be graciously pleas'd to give such Directions therein that no Apprehensions or Iealousies might remain in the hearts of his Subjects Over and above what was contain'd in this Address the House of Commons were willing to capacitate by an Act of Parliament such a Number of the Roman Catholick Officers as King Iames should give a List of But both this Offer and the Address was highly resented and notwithstanding that they were preparing a Bill for a considerable Supply to Answer his extraordinary Occasions and had sent to the Tower one of their Members for speaking indecently of his Speech King Iames was influenc'd to part with this his first and only Parliament in displeasure upon the Fourth day after they presented the Address As his former Speeches to his Council and Parliament had put a Foreign Court to a Stand what to think of him so this last put them out of pain and convinc'd them he was intirely Theirs Their sense of it can hardly be better express'd than in a Letter from Abroad contain'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 17. which by its Stile though in another Hand seems to be from the same Minister that writ the two former In which he tells the Ambassador here That he needed not a surer Character of King James and his Intentions than this last Speech to the Parliament by which they were convinc'd of his former Resolution to throw off the Fetters which Hereticks would impose upon him and to act for the time to come En Maistre as Master A word till then altogether Foreign to the English Constitution What other Effects this Speech had upon the Minds of People at Home and Abroad may be easily guess'd from the different Interests they had in it Nor is it to be pass'd over without some Remark That the Revocation of the Edict of Nants which probably had been some time under Consideration before was now put in Execution to the Astonishment of all Europe The Parliament being dissolv'd and no visible means left to retrieve the Liberties of England King Iames made haste to accomplish the Grand Design which a head strong Party about him push'd on as the certain way in their opinion to Eternize his Name in this World and to merit an Eternal Crown in the other They foresaw that this was the Critical Iuncture and the only one that happen'd since the days of Queen Mary to Restore their Religion in England And if they were wanting to themselves in making use of it the prospect of a Protestant Successor would infallibly prevent their having any such opportunity for the future King Iames was pretty far advanc'd in years and what was to be done requir'd Expedition for all their labour would be lost if he should die before the accomplishment If he had been Younger or the next presumptive Heir had not been a Protestant there had been no such absolute necessity for Dispatch But the Uncertainty of the King's Life call'd for more than ordinary diligence in a Design that depended meerly upon it The Party being resolv'd for these Reasons to bring about in the Compass of one Single Life and that already far spent what seem'd to be the Work of a whole Age they made large steps towards it Roman-Catholicks were not only Employ'd in the Army but brought into Places of greatest Trust in the State The Earl of Clarendon was forthwith remov'd from the Office of Privy-Seal and the Government of Ireland to make room for the Earl of Tyrconel in the one and the Lord Arundel in the other Father Peters a Iesuit was sworn of the Privy Council And though by the Laws it was High-Treason for any to assume the Character of the Pope's Nuncio A Pope's Nuncio in England yet these were become too slender Cobwebs to hinder a Roman Prelate to appear publickly at London in that Quality Duke of Somerset and one of the greatest Peers of England was disgrac'd for not paying him that Respect which the Laws of the Land made Criminal To bear the Publick Character of Ambassador to the Pope An Ambâ—ssador sent to Rome was likewise an open Violation of the Laws But so fond was the governing Party about King Iames to show their new-acquir'd Trophies at Rome that the Earl of Castlemain was dispatch'd thither Extraordinary Ambassador with a Magnificent Train and a most Sumptuous Equipage What his Secret Instructions were may be
partly guess'd by his Publick ones which were To Reconcile the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to the Holy See from which they had for more than an Age fallen off by Heresy Innocent XI And slighted by the Pope receiv'd this Embassy as one that saw further than those who sent it The Ambassador had but a cold Reception of the Holy Father and none of the Cardinals but those of a particular Faction and the good-natur'd Cardinal of Norfolk took any further notice of it than Good Manners oblig'd them The Court of Rome were too refin'd Politicians to be impos'd upon with Show and Noise and knew the World too well to expect great Matters from such hasty ill-tim'd Advances as were made to them Not only so but Innocent having an Aversion in his Nature to a Faction he knew King Iames was embark'd in which he never took pains to dissemble was not over-fond of an Embassy from a Prince who was in an Interest he had long wish'd to see humbled King Iames met with nothing but Mortifications at Rome in the Person of his Ambassador which occasion'd his making as short a Stay as was possible In which may be seen the vast difference there was at that time betwixt the Politicks of Italy and those of a head-strong Party in England And however the World has been impos'd upon to believe that the Pope's Nuncio at the English Court who is since made a Cardinal was an Instrument to push on things to extremities yet certain it is he had too much good sense to approve of all the Measures that were taken and therefore desir'd often to be recall'd lest he should be thought to have a hand in them Although the Earl of Castlemain was pleas'd upon his Examination before the Parliament to say that his Embassy to Rome was only such as is between Two Temporal Princes about Compliment and Commerce yet Father Warner in his Manuscript History quoted by a Learned Author * Dr. Gee's Animadversions on the Iesuits Memorial for the Intended Reformation of England under the first Popish Prince London 1690. gives us another account of it in these words Things being thus setled says he within the Realm the next care his Majesty had was to unite his Countries to the Obedience of the Bishop of Rome and the Apostolick See which had been cut off by Heresy about an Age and a half before To try the Pope's Inclination In the Year 1685. he sent Mr. Carryl thither who succeeding according to his Wishes and being recall'd the Earl of Castlemain was sent the next Year as Extraordinary Ambassador to the Pope in the Name of the King and the Catholicks of England to make their Submission to the Holy See Castlemain had several Audiences of the Pope but to little purpose for whenever he began to talk of Business the Pope was seasonably attack'd with a Fit of Coughing which broke off the Ambassador's Discourse for that time and oblig'd him to retire These Audiences and Fits of Coughing continued from time to time while Castlemain continued at Rome and were the subject of diversion to all but a particular Faction at that Court. At length he was advis'd to come to Threats and to give out that he would be gone since he could not have an opportunity to treat with the Pope about the Business he came for Innocent was so little concern'd for the Ambassador's Resentment that when they told him of it he answer'd with his ordinary Coldness E bene se vuol andarsene ditegli adonque che si levi di buon matino al fresco e che a mezzo giorno si reposi per che in questi paesi non bisogna viaggiare al caldo del giorno Well! let him go and tell him It were fit he rise early in the Morning that he may rest himself at Noon for in this Countrey it 's dangerous to travel in the Heat of the Day In the end he was recall'd being able to obtain of the Pope two trifling Requests only that could hardly be denied to an ordinary Courier The one was a License for the Mareschal d' Humiers's Daughter to marry her Vncle Mercure Historick pour Iune 1687. And the other a Dispensation of the Statutes of the Iesuits Order to Father Peters to enjoy a Bishoprick The want of which says my Author was the reason that the Archbishoprick of York was kept so long vacant Though the Pope carried himself in this manner towards the English Ambassador The Jesuits Noble Entertainment of the English Ambassador at Rome yet the Iesuits paid him the highest Respect imaginable which did him no service with the Old Man for He and That Order were never hearty Friends They entertain'd him in their Seminary with the greatest Magnificence and nothing was wanting in Nature or Art to grace his Reception All their Stores of Sculpture Painting Poetry and Rhetorick seem to have been exhausted upon this Entertainment And though all the Inscriptions and Emblems did center upon the Triumph of the Romish Religion and the Ruin of Heresy in England yet Care was taken not to omit such particular Trophies and Devices as were adapted to their new-acquir'd Liberty of setting up their Publick Schools at London Among a great many other Panegyricks upon King Iames the following Distich was plac'd below an Emblem of England Restituit Veterem tibi Religionis honorem Anglia Magnanimi Regis aperta sides The open Zeal of this Magnanimous King has restor'd to England its Ancient Religion There was also this Inscription put round King Iames's Picture Potentissimo Religiosissimo Magnae Britanniae REGI JACOBO II. Generosâ Catholicae Fidei Confessione Regnum Auspicanti ET INNOCENTIO XI P. M. Per Legatum Nobilissimum Sapientissimum D. Rogerium Palmerium Comitem de Castelmain Obsequium deferenti Collegium Romanum Regia Virtutâ—m Insignia dedicat To the most Potent and most Religious JAMES the Second King of Great Britain beginning his Reign with the Generous Confession of the Catholick Faith AND Paying his Obedience to Pope INNOCENT XI By the most Noble and most Wise D. Roger Palmer Earl of Castlemain The Roman College Dedicates These Royal Emblems of his Virtues In the Great Hall the Ambassador was Harangued by the Rector of the College in a Latin Speech which to show the vain Hopes they had of King Iames and their own Fortune at that time is plac'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 18. Nouveau Voyage d' Italie Edit 3. Tom. 2. Par Monsicur Misson with a Translation of it into English Referring the Reader for the rest of that Solemnity to an Ingenious Gentleman that was then upon the Place and has given a particular Account of it But yet it may not be amiss to mention what the same Gentleman tells us of a Device that related to King Iames's having a Son which was A Lilly from whose Leaves there distill'd some Drops of Water which as the Naturalists say
Charles Stuart and the whole Line of the late King James and of every other person as a single person pretending to the Government of these Nations of England Scotland and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging And that I will by the grace and assistance of Almighty God be true faithful and constant to this Commonwealth against any King single person and House of Peers and every of them and hereunto I subscribe my Name NUMB. XII King James the IId's promising Speech to the Parliament May 30. 1685. My Lords and Gentlemen I Thank you very heartily for the Bill you have presented me this Day and I assure you the Readiness and Chearfulness that hath attended the Dispatch of it is as acceptable to me as the Bill it self After so happy a beginning you may believe I would not call upon you unnecessarily for an extraordinary Supply But when I tell you the Stores of the Navy are extreamly exhausted That the Anticipations upon several Branches of the Revenue are great and burthensome and the Debts of the King my Brother to his Servants and Family are such as deserve Compassion That the Rebellion in Scotland without putting more Weight upon it than it really deserves must oblige me to a considerable Expence extraordinary I am sure such Considerations will move you to give me an Aid to provide for those things wherein the Security the Ease and the Happiness of my Government are so much concern'd But above all I must recommend to you the Care of the Navy the Strength and Glory of this Nation That you will put it into such a Condition as will make us considerable and respected abroad I cannot express my Concerns upon this occasion more suitable to my own Thoughts of it than by assuring you I have a true English Heart as jealous of the Honour of the Nation as you can be And I please my self with the hopes that by God's Blessing and your Assistance I may carry its Reputation yet higher in the World than ever it has been in the time of any of my Ancestors And as I will not call upon you for Supplies but when they are of publick Use and Advantage so I promise you That what you give me upon such Occasions shall be managed with good Husbandry And I will take care it shall be employed to the Uses for which I ask them NUMB. XIII Two Remarkable Letters of a Foreign Minister to their Ambassador in England relating to King Iames's precedeing Speech Translated from the Originals Paris June 29. 1685. Monsieur THE Copy of his B. M.'s Speech to the Parliament inclos'd in yours of the 9 th Instant S. V. affords sufficient matter of thoughts here It is of a strain that looks quite contrary to what we expected or what you your self in yours of the 11 th of the last Month made us believe it would be The King can scarce believe there is any Change in the Affections of that Prince towards him And yet knows not what to make of that new Manner of expressing himself on so publick an Occasion If he and his Parliament come to a cordial Trust in one another it may probably change all the Measures we have been so long concerting for the Glory of our Monarch and the Establishment of the Catholick Religion For my own part I hope the Accession of a Crown has not lessen'd the Zeal that on all occasions appear'd in him when but Duke of York Nor will the King 's inviolable attachment to the Interest of the Duke in the most difficult Emergents permit him now when King to forget his Obligations and Engagements to him There is better things to be hop'd for from one that has run so great hazards upon the account of his Religion and who has so often express'd his Resentments of the good turns the King did him in his Brother's Life-time Yet it 's fit you take all possible care to search into the Motives and Advisers of this Speech And I am commanded to tell you That this is one of the greatest pieces of Service you can do his Majesty in this Iuncture There are not wanting some here that would attribute it to a Change in the King of England's Inclinations and they pretend to have Hints of it from some about his Person What truth is in this Suggestion you are to spare nothing to find out If the Parliament come once to settle a Revenue upon him such as may put him out of our Reverence your Business there will be the more difficult to manage for doubtless he must have Ambition and likewise a desire to please a Nation who had but an ill opinion of him before And nothing can be more taking with them than a Breach with us It will be strange indeed if in the Death of King Charles France has chang'd for the worse But whatever others fear I must once more confess for my self That I am of the same Opinion I was always of even that we must necessarily gain by the Change Your Bills are sent this Post. Nothing can be more earnestly recommended to you in his Majesty's Name than a narrow Enquiry into this Affair by Monsieur Your most humble Servant The other runs thus Iuly 8. 1694. Monsieur IT 's unlucky that hitherto you have not been able to find out what we are to expect from this Change in England In yours of the 13 th of the last Month S. V. you seem to call in question that King's Inclinations to the Common Cause and you surprize us with your Fears that he may come to forget his Obligations to the King With the same Post we receiv'd better News from a sure Hand yet you are to watch as narrowly as if your Fears were well grounded There is a great matter in dependance with relation to the Edict of Nants which must not be declar'd till that King's Inclinations be fully known And yet there is nothing in the world the King desires more eagerly to see done than it if once it might be done safely Receive inclos'd an Answer to every one of your Queries which make use of as occasion offers Only the last is referr'd to your own discretion it depending entirely upon your own knowledge of the Person If he can be brought in it will be a notable piece of Service Much may be known by enquiring exactly how the Prince of Orange stands in the King's Affections and how the Ministers are affected towards him For the Hollanders in general he seem'd on all occasions neither to love nor fear them nothing has fallen out of late to alter his mind On Friday Monsieur Less comes off who is to show you his Dispatches and you are to act in concert with him I am NUMB. XIV Some Passages out of the Duke of Monmouth's Pocket-Book that was seiz'd about him in the West An ORIGINAL L. Came to me at Eleven at Night from 29. Octob. 13. Told me 29 could never be brought to
For my part Iâ—ll run the hazard of being thought any thing rather than a Rash Inconsiderate Man And to tell you my thoughts without disguise I am now so much in love with a Retir'd Life that I 'm never like to be fond of making a Bustle in the World again I have much more to say but the Post cannot stay and I refer the rest till meeting being entirely Yours NUMB. XVI King James the IId's Remarkable Speech to the Parliament after the Duke of Monmouth's Defeat My Lords and Gentlemen AFter the Storm that seem'd to be coming upon us when we parted last I am glad to meet you all again in so great Peace and Quietness God Almighty be praised by whose Blessing that Rebellion was supprest But when I reflect what an Inconsiderable Number of Men began it and how long they carried it on without any opposition I hope every body will be convinc'd That the Militia which hath hitherto been so much depended on is not sufficient for such occasions and that there is nothing but a good Force of well-disciplin'd Troops in constant Pay that can defend us from such as either at home or abroad are dispos'd to disturb us And in truth my Concern for the Peace and Quiet of my Subjects as well as for the Safety of the Government made me think it necessary to increase the Number to the Proportion I have done This I ow'd as well to the Honour as to the Security of the Nation whose Reputation was so infinitely expos'd to all our Neighbours by having lain open to this late wretched Attempt that it is not to be repaired without keeping such a Body of Men on foot that none may ever have the thought again of finding us so miserably unprovided It is for the Support of this great Charge which is now more than double to what it was that I ask your Assistance in giving me a Supply answerable to the Expence it brings along with it And I cannot doubt but what I have begun so much for the Honour and Defence of the Government will be continued by you with all the Chearfulness and Readiness that is requisite for a Work of so great Importance Let no man take exception that there are some Officers in the Army not qualified according to the late Tests for their Employments The Gentlemen I must tell you are most of them well known to me and having formerly serv'd with me in several Occasions and always approv'd the Loyalty of their Principles by their Practice I think them fit now to be employ'd under me And will deal plainly with you That after having had the benefit of their Services in such time of need and danger I will neither expose them to Disgrace nor my self to the want of them if there should be another Rebellion to make them necessary to me I am afraid some men may be so wicked to hope and expect that a difference may happen between you and me upon this Occasion But when you consider what Advantages have arisen to us in a few Months by the good understanding we have hitherto had what wonderful Effects it hath already produced in the Change of the whole Scene of Affairs abroad so much more to the Honour of the Nation and the Figure it ought to make in the World and that nothing can hinder a further Progress in this way to all our satisfactions but Fears and Jealousies amongst our selves I will not apprehend that such a Misfortune can befal us as a Division or but a Coldness between me and you nor that any thing can shake you in your Steadiness and Loyalty to me who by God's Blessing will ever make you all Returns of Kindness and Protection with a Resolution to venture even my own Life in the Defence of the true Interest of this Kingdom NUMB. XVII Some Passages of a Letter from a Foreign Minister to their Ambassador in England upon the occasion of the King's Speech immediately preceding dated November 29. 1685. Done from the ORIGINAL WE are now out of pain about the King's Intentions This last Speech to the Parliament has sufficiently clear'd all our Doubts together with what has writ upon that Subject It 's no more than what I really expected for I had always a better opinion of him than to think he could bear tamely the Fetters which Hereticks would endeavour to impose upon him For the time to come I hope he will act en Maistre Your Conduct there pleases extreamly and above all your last Dispatch about what pass'd at your Audience All you have promis'd shall be made good to a Tittle and it 's hop'd that others will be as zealous to keep their Promises to us The Inclos'd you must deliver but not till you see the Person has deserv'd it for I am more and more persuaded as well as you that we cannot be too much upon the Reserve with him c. NUMB. XVIII The Harangue of the Rector of the Iesuits College at Rome to the Earl of Castlemain upon his Embassy to the Pope IN tanto strepitu Mundi plaudentis gratulantisque Tuo in Vrbem adventui Nouveau Voyage d' Italie p. 259 260. hoc est immortalibus JACOBI II. Magnae Britanniae Regis in Catholicam Ecclesiam meritis Gregorianum hoc Palladis Athenaeum nec debuit tacere nec potuit Quamobrem ego Literariae hujus Vniversitatis nomine primò gratulor INNOCENT XI felicitati quòd Ipso regnante Pontificio accesserit Diademati Augusta haec Triumphalis Corona unde illud cum Apostolo usurpare jure Meritò valeat Gaudium meum Corona mea Hunc laetissimum ferre Mortalibus Diem longissimi aevi spatio distulerunt Superi tùm ut diuturnis Terrarum votis ingentia haec Coeli dona responderent tùm ut simul invenirent regnantem in Anglia Iacobum II. Romae Innocentium XI Gratulor quoque Christiano Orbi necnon Catholicis Regibus quod tanto Dominatore Britannorum Sceptra gerente tam grande advenerit Ipsorum Coronis adversus Christiani nominis hostes munimentum Orthodoxae Fidei ornamentum Imminent quippe ab invictissimi Regis Clâ—ssibus tum Lybicis praedonibus tum Asiae Palestinae Littoribus flammarum procellae magis metuendae quà m Maris At Tibi Oceani Regina Magna Britannia quae à nostro olim Orbe divisa nunc gemini faâ—is commercia Mundi quid non liceat ominari faustitatis sub tanto Principe Erigespes erige vota nec timeas si maxima sed nisi maxima Non libet in die hac faustissima commemâ—rare quà m lugubres passa fueris unius ampliûs saeculi spatio toto Orle Terrarum admirante atque ingemiscente catastrophas Sed si haec una erat via quâ Iacobus II. Britanniae solium ascenderet prope est ut exclamen tanti fuisse Profectò invidebit â—ibi Posteritas non modò praesentium temporum felicitatem sed praeteritorum Calamitates tam grandi mercede redemptas
he frequently ask'd it and particularly in a Printed Letter of his to Cecil The Honour of Knighthood though often prostituted since was in so great Esteem in her Reign that a Gentleman of Lincolnshire having rais'd Three hundred men for her Service at Tilbury Camp upon his own Interest told his Wife at parting That he hop'd thereby to deserve the Queen's Favour so far as that she should be a Lady at his Return She had a particular Friendship for Henry the Fourth of France and to her in a great measure he ow'd his Crown She never laid any thing more to heart than his changing his Religion And it was a long time before she could be brought to believe it But when she receiv'd the Account of it from himself all her Constancy fail'd her and in the Agony of her Grief snatching a Pen she writ him a short Expostulatory Letter worthy of her self Appendix Numb 4. and of that melancholy occasion which is related in the Appendix This her Grief says her Historian she sought to allay by reading the Sacred Scriptures and the Writings of the Fathers and even the Books of Philosophers translating about that time for an Amusement Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae into Elegant English The only Action that seems to reflect upon her Memory was the Death of Mary Queen of Scots The Affair of Mary Stuart Q. of Scots There had been an Emulation betwixt them of a long standing occasioned at first by the latter's assuming the Arms and Title of Queen of England which it 's no wonder Queen Elizabeth highly resented A great many other Accidents did contribute to alienate their Affections But when it fell out that every day produc'd some new Conspiracy against the Life of Queen Elizabeth and that in most of them the Queen of Scots was concern'd either as a Party or the Occasion Queen Elizabeth was put upon a fatal Necessity of either taking off the Queen of Scots or exposing her own Person to the frequent Attempts of her Enemies With what Reluctancy Queen Elizabeth was brought to consent to her Death and how she was deceiv'd at last in Signing the Warrant for her Execution by the over diligence of her Secretary and Privy-Council Cambden her Celebrated Historian has given us a very full and impartial Account Yet Queen Elizabeth is not altogether excusable in this matter for Queen Mary came into England upon a Promise made her long before Queen Elizabeth sent her once a Ring and at the same time a Message That if at any time she wanted her Protection she might be assured of it and the Token betwixt them was Queen Mary's sending her back the same Ring That Unfortunate Princess seeing her Affairs desperate in Scotland dispatch'd a Letter to Queen Elizabeth with the Ring to put her in mind of her Promise but without waiting for an Answer she came into England the very next day They were both to be pitied the one for her Sufferings and the other for being the Cause of them And I have seen several Letters in the Cotton-Library of Queen Mary's Hand to Queen Elizabeth writ in the most moving Strain that could be most of them in French being the Language she did generally write in There was one particularly wherein she tells her That her long Imprisonment had brought her to a Dropsical Swelling in her Legs and other Diseases that for the Honour of her Sex she â—orbears to commit to Paper And concludes thus Your most Affectionate Sister and Cousin and the most miserable Princess that ever wore a Crown When such Letters as these had no influence upon Queen Elizabeth it may reasonably be concluded That nothing but Self-Preservation could oblige her to carry her Resentments so far as she did To sum up the Character of this Renowned Queen in a few words She found the Kingdom at her coming to the Throne in a most afflicted condition embroil'd on the one side with a Scotch and on the other with a French War the Crown overcharg'd with her Father's and Brother's Debts its Treasure exhausted the People distracted with different Opinions in Religion her self without Friends with a controverted Title and strengthen'd with no Alliance abroad After one of the longest Reigns that ever was she died in Peace leaving her Countrey Potent at Sea and Rich in People and Trade her Father's and her Brother's Debts paid the Crown without any Incumbrance a great Treasure in the Exchequer the Coin brought to a true Standard Religion settled upon a regular and lasting Basis her self having been admir'd and fear'd by all her Neighbouring Princes and her Friendship courted by Monarchs that had scarce ever before any further knowledge of England but the Name So that her Successor had good reason to say of her That she was one who in Wisdom and Felicity of Government surpass'd all Princes since the days of Augustus After all To the Reproach of those she had made great and happy she was but ill attended in her last Sickness and near her Death forsaken by all but three or four Persons every body making haste to adore the Rising Sun With Queen Elizabeth dy'd in a great part the Glory and Fortune of the English Nation and the succeeding Reigns serv'd only to render hers the more Ilustrious As she was far from invading the Liberties of her Subjects so she was careful to maintain and preserve her own just Prerogative nor did ever any Prince that sat upon the English Throne carry the true and essential parts of Royalty further But at the same time the whole Conduct of her Life plac'd her beyond the Suspicion of ever having sought Greatness for any other end than to make her People share with her in it It was not so with the Prince that succeeded her The Reign of K. Iames. He was the more fond of Prerogative because he had been kept short of it in his Native Country He grasp'd at an Immoderate Power but with an ill Grace and if we believe the Historians of that time with a design to make his People little If so he had his Wish for from his first Accession to the Crown the Reputation of England began sensibly to sink and Two Kingdoms which disunited had made each of them apart a considerable Figure in the World now when united under one King fell short of the Reputation which the least of them had in former Ages The latter Years of King Iames fill'd our Annals with little else but Misfortunes at home and abroad The Loss of the Palatinate and the Ruin of the Protestants in Bohemia through his Negligence the Trick that was put upon him by the House of Austria in the business of the Spanish Match and the continued Struggle betwixt him and his Parliament about Redress of Grievances were things that help'd on to lessen his Credit abroad and imbitter the Minds of his Subjects at home Repenting of these unlucky Measures too late King Iames went off
Sheets But to return to King Iames as he was equally happy and unhappy in his Children he was for the most part unhappy in his Favourites being oblig'd to abandon one upon the account of Overbury's Murther and coming to hate another the latter part of his Life as much as he had ever lov'd him before In order to obtain of the Emperor the Restoration of his Son-in-Law The Spanish Match he was wheedled into that Inglorious Counsel of sending the Prince into Spain for a Match that was either never design'd him or too late And it was more owing to Philip the Third's Generosity than to King Iames's Politicks that he ever saw England again To this Friendship with Spain he sacrific'd his own Honour with the Life of that Excellent Person Sir Walter Releigh This Gentleman after Fourteen Years Imprisonment in the Tower upon the account of a Mysterious Treason during which time he did oblige the World with one of the best Histories that ever was writ came to be set at liberty and was sent with an ample Commission which was judg'd by Lawyers equivalent to a Pardon to discover and take possession of new Countries and Mines in America He gave King Iames the Plan of his Design and of the Place he was to land at which prov'd the Ruin of that Enterprize for before he could get ready to sail from England the Court of Spain had a Copy of it which Sir Walter Raleigh found to his sad Experience was got to America before him and had thereby enabled the Spaniards to baffle the Attempt At his return to please the Spanish Ambassador who had got a mighty Ascendent over King Iames this last of Queen Elizabeth's Favourites lost his Head upon the former Sentence of Treason there being no other way to reach it All our Histories have mention'd at large the business of the Spanish Match K. Iames's Conduct in the business of the Palatinate but few or none King Iames's Conduct in that of the Palatinate which can hardly be express'd under a softer name than one continued Infatuation on his part The Account of this Matter is writ with the greatest Exactness though as favourably for King Iames as was possible by the Learned Spanhemius in his History of Lowyse Iuliane Electrice Palatine Daughter of William Prince of Orange and Mother to the King of Bohemia who out-liv'd her Son and was one of the greatest Paterns of Virtue that any Age has produc'd Referring the Reader to the Book it self I shall only mention a few things out of it To make this Book and the matter of the Palatinate better understood it 's to be remembred That the Elector after his Marriage with King Iames's Daughter was elected King of Bohemia as the most powerful Prince at that time of the Empire to oppose the House of Austria and protect the Liberty of that Kingdom He was scarce Crown'd but he lost both his New Kingdom and his Ancient Inheritance of the Palatinate by the Battel of Prague where his Army was entirely defeated and he himself forc'd to fly leaving Bohemia and the Palatinate both a Prey to the Emperor Though the Parliament of England was zealous to restore the Palatine Family by Force of Arms as the most effectual means to do it and had offer'd great Supplies to that purpose yet King Iames was so lull'd asleep with the Insinuations of Gundamor the Spanish Ambassador that he could be brought to no other Methods but those of Treaty While he was sending one Embassy after another to Vienna and Brussels the poor King of Bohemia seeing how little was to be expected from them ventur'd to try his Fortune once more in the Palatinate and with the Assistance of Count Mansfield and the Duke of Brunswick beat the Imperialists in several Rencounters and repossess'd himself of several Towns But when he was in a fair way to be Master of the Whole he was obliged to retire and disband his Army merely to please King Iames who was possess'd of this wild Notion That to lay down his Arms was the only way to get good Terms from the Emperor Upon which a Treaty was set a foot at Brussels where King Iames consented by way of Preliminary That his Son-in-Law should not only wave the Title of the King of Bohemia but that of Elector Palatine which had not hitherto been question'd and which the poor Prince was forc'd to comply with This Treaty after a great many other Mortifications put upon the Palatine Family and upon K. Iames himself was by a Contrivance of the Emperor transferr'd to Ratisbon and came to nothing at last as all the other Treaties had done But while the Imperialists were thus amusing King Iames with Terms of Accommodation and that the King of Bohemia had disarm'd himself to please his Father-in-Law Heidleburgh and all the other places he had recover'd before together with the rest of the Palatinate were all seiz'd by the Emperor except only Frankendale which continued to make a vigorous Resistance It would look like a Dream to imagine that King Iames should oblige his Son-in-Law to quit this place also the only one left him of his whole Countrey and that as the only effectual way to get back all the rest Yet it 's true he did so and that at the very time that the Emperor had actually transferr'd the Electoral Dignity from the Palatine Family to the House of Bavaria For Frankendale being a Town then of great Strength The business of Frankendale and the Spaniards lying expos'd to the daily Excursions of its Garison they found a way to trick King Iames out of it in this manner Gundomar represents to him That it being the only place left in the Palatinate it could not hold out much longer and that there was but one way to save it for his Son-in-Law which was To put it into the hands of the Governor of Flanders for some time till things might be brought to an Accommodation by the Treaty then on foot and if there should happen any Interruption in it then the Town should be render'd back to King Iames for the use of his Son-in-Law in the same Condition together with a free Passage for Fifteen hundred Foot and Two hundred Horse to take possession of it and Six Months Provisions King Iames being willing to do any thing rather than break with Spain agreed to this strange Proposition and Frankendale was deliver'd up to the Governor of Flanders for Fifteen Months under these Conditions But the Treaty being once more broke off and the time elaps'd when King Iames demanded that Frankendale should be restor'd it was told him That he might have the Town but by the Terms of the Agreement he was to have a Passage for his Troops through the Spanish Low-Countries but that there was no Article That he should have a Passage through any other Places that were in their possession in Germany And thus King Iames was once more
Mitred Head that had got an Ascendant over his Master's Conscience and Counsels that both the Monarchy and Hierarchy ow'd afterwards their Fall The Division betwixt Archbishop Abboâ— and Bishop Laud. To trace this matter a little higher there arose in the preceding Reign two opposite Parties in the Church which became now more than ever exasperated against each other the one headed by Archbishop Abbot and the other by Bishop Laud. Abbot was a Person of wonderful Temper and Moderation and in all his Conduct shew'd an unwillingness to stretch the Act of Vniformity beyond what was absolutely necessary for the Peace of the Church or the Prerogative of the Crown any further than conduc'd to the good of the State Being not well turn'd for a Court though otherwise of considerable Learning and Gentile Education he either could not or would not stoop to the Humour of the Times and now and then by an unseasonable Stiffness gave occasion to his Enemies to represent him as not well-inclin'd to the Prerogative or too much addicted to a Popular Interest and therefore not fit to be employ'd in Matters of Government Upon the other hand Bishop Laud as he was a Man of greater Learning and yet greater Ambition and Natural Parts so he understood nicely the Art of pleasing a Court and finding no surer way to raise himself to the first Dignitices of the Church than by acting a quite contrary part to that of Archbishop Abbot he went into every thing that seem'd to favour the Prerogative of the Crown or enforce an Absolute Obedience upon the Subject The King 's urgent Necessities and the backwardness of the Parliament to supply them had forc'd him upon unwarrantable Methods of raising Money and the readiness the Roman-Catholicks express'd to assist him in his Wants did beget in him at first a Tenderness towards them and afterwards a Trust and Confidence in them which was unhappily mistaken by his other Subjects as if he inclin'd to their Religion Among other means of raising Money that of Loan was fallen upon which met with great difficulties and was generally taken to be illegal One Sibthorp an obscure Person in a Sermon preach'd at the Assizes at Northampton would make his Court by asserting not only the Lawfulness of this way of imposing Money by Loan but that it was the indispensible Duty of the Subject to comply with it At the same time Dr. Manwaring another Divine preach'd two Sermons before the King at Whitehall in which he advanc'd these Doctrines viz. That the King is not bound to observe the Laws of the Realm concerning the Subjects Rights and Liberties but that his Royal Word and Command in imposing Loans and Taxes without Consent of Parliament does oblige the Subject's Conscience upon pain of eternal Damnation That those who refus'd to pay this Loan did offend against the Law of God and became guilty of Impiety Disloyalty and Rebellion And that the Authority of Parliaments is not necessary for raising of Aids and Subsidies Every body knew Abbot was averse to such Doctrines And to seek an advantage against him Sibthorp's Sermon with a Dedication to the King was sent him by Order of his Majesty to License Abbot refus'd and gave his Reasons in writing which Bishop Laud answer'd and with his own hand Licens'd both Sibthorp's and Manwaring's Sermons Upon this Archbishop Abbot was confin'd to his Countrey-House and suspended from his Function the Administration of which was committed to Bishop Laud and some others of his Recommendation Archbishop Abbot died in disgrace and was succeeded in the See of Canterbury by Bishop Laud while in the mean time things went on from bad to worse and hasten'd to a Crisis The two first Parliaments King Charles had call'd pressing him hard for Redress of Grievances and pushing on the Resentments begun in the preceding Reign he was prevail'd with not only to dissolve them but to leave the Nation without Parliaments for Twelve Years together and all this contrary to the Advice of some of the best and wisest men about him who foresaw the ill consequences that might follow if ever any unlucky Iuncture of Affairs should necessitate him to call one Such a Iuncture fell out The Rise of King Charles's Troubles and the worst that could be the manner thus The Scots had been of a long time sowr'd by the Encroachments they said were made upon their Rights and Liberties and particularly in the matter of Church-Government Archbishop Laud's Zeal for an Vniformity between the two Nations in point of Liturgy prov'd the fatal Torch that put the Two Kingdoms into a flame And it was the sooner kindled there being so much Fuel laid up for many Years that the least Spark was enough to set fire to the Pile In the Year 1637. The Scotch Troubles the Scots had not only in a Tumultuous manner refus'd the Liturgy that was sent them from England of Archbishop Laud's composing but had afterwards assum'd to themselves the Liberty and Power of holding a General Assembly of their Church and in it to abolish Episcopacy and do several other things that were judg'd inconsistent with the Duty of Subjects Upon which they were declar'd Rebels and King Charles thought his Honour was concern'd to reduce them to Obedience by the Sword Instead of venturing to call a Parliament to enable him to prosecute this Design he was necessitated to levy Money another way Great Sums were rais'd by Loan and Benevolence to which the Roman Catholicks and the Clergy of Laud's Faction contributed most The King thus supplied march'd to the North with a Gallant Army and the Scots came as far as the Borders in a posture of Defence To prevent matters coming to extremity the Scots presented his Majesty with their humble Supplication and Remonstrance setting forth their inviolable Fidelity to the Crown and that they desir'd nothing more but the peaceable enjoyment of their Religion and Liberties and that all things may be determin'd and settled by a Free Parliament and General Assembly At length through the Intercession of the Moderate Party about the King and some of the highest Rank in both Kingdoms his Majesty was plea'd to comply with the desires of the Scots by a solemn Pacification sign'd in view of both Armies near Berwick in Iune 1638. This Treaty was but short-liv'd and but ill observ'd on either side The same men that counsell'd the King to the first push'd him on to a second War against the Scots Parliaments had been now discontinu'd for some Years together and there appear'd no great Inclination in the King to call any more if this emergent occasion had not fallen out But his pressing Necessities and this new War oblig'd him once more to try the Affections of his People in a Parliamentary way Accordingly a Parliament meets in April 1640. at the opening of which the King acquainted them with the Affronts he had receiv'd from the Scots and demanded a Supply to reduce
them to their Duty by force of Arms. Both Houses show'd a Willingness to relieve the King's Wants and offer'd him a considerable Supply but with this Condition That their Grievances may be first redress'd which had swell'd up to a considerable Bulk since the last Dissolution Not only so but the Scots had Friends enough in the Parliament to hinder any great matter to be done against them and the greater part both of Lords and Commons were but little inclin'd to a War of Archbishop Laud's kindling The King being thus disappointed dissolv'd this Parliament as he had done the rest when they had scarce sat a Month and made what shifts he could to raise a new Army against the Scots They upon the other hand being resolv'd not to be behind in their Preparations enter'd into England with a numerous Army compos'd for the most part of Veteran Officers and Troops that had serv'd in Germany under Gustavus Adolphus and taking Berwick and Newcastle push'd their way as far as Durham King Charles came in Person to York and there found himself inviron'd with perplexing Difficulties on all hands The Nobility and Gentry that attended him express'd on all occasions their dislike of the Cause and the War they were engag'd in The Scots stood firm to their ground being flesh'd with Success And the King was follow'd from the South with Petitions from the City of London from several Counties and from a considerable Number of Lords desiring him to call a Parliament as the only effectual Means to quiet the Minds of the People and compose the present War without Bloodshed To extricate himself out of this Labyrinth King Charles summon'd the Great Council of Peers to meet at York to consult what was fit to be done in this Juncture who advis'd him unanimously to enter into a Treaty with the Scots at Rippon and to summon a Parliament to meet at Westminster with both which Advices the King comply'd and immediately issu'd out Writs for a Parliament to sit down in November 1640. and adjourn'd the Treaty with the Scots to London No Age ever produc'd Greater Men than those that sat in this Parliament They had sufficient Abilities and Inclinations to have render'd the â—â—ing and their Countrey happy if England had not been through a Chain of concurring Accidents ripen'd for destruction At their sitting down The Parliament 1641. a Scene of Grievances under which the Nation had long groan'd was laid open and all Topicks made use of to paint them out in liveliest Colours The many Cruelties and Illegal Practices of the Star-Chamber and High-Comission-Court that had alienated Peoples Minds from the Hierarchy were now insisted on to throw down those two Arbitrary Tribunals and with them in some time after the Bishops out of the House of Peers and at length Episcopacy it self out of the Church It was not a few of either House but indeed all the Great Patriots that concurr'd at first to make Enquiry into the Grievances of this Reign Sir Edward Hyde afterwards Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chancellor of England the Lord Digby the Lord Falkland the Lord Capell Mr. Grimstone who was chosen afterwards Speaker of the House of Commons that brought in King Charles the Second and was Master of the Rolls Mr. Hollis since Lord Hollis all which suffer'd afterwards on the King's side and in general most of those that took the King's part in the succeeding War were the Men that appear'd with the greatest Zeal for the Redress of Grievances and made the sharpest Speeches upon those Subjects The Intentions of those Gentlemen were certainly Noble and Just and tended to the equal advantage of King and People But the Fate of England urg'd on its own Ruin step by step till an open Rupture between the King and Parliament made the Gap too wide ever to be made up again Sir Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford and Dr. Laud Archbishop of Canterbury had too great a share in the Ministry to escape being Censur'd and they were the first that felt the effects of a Popular Hatred These two Gentlemen and Iames Duke of Hamilton first advis'd King Charles to call this Parliament and all Three fell by it though not at the same time The Earl of Strafford was a Gentleman of extraordinary Parts The Fall and Character of the Earl of Strafford a great Orator and yet a greater Statesman He made a considerable Figure in the first Three Parliaments of King Charles and no man appear'd with greater Zeal against Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage and other Taxes illegally impos'd upon the Subject The Court bought him off and preferr'd him to great Honours and Places which lost him his former Friends and made the Breach irreconcilable There had been a long and intimate Friendship betwixt Mr. Pym and him and they had gone hand in hand in every thing in the House of Commons But when Sir Thomas Wentworth was upon making his Peace with the Court he sent to Pym to meet him alone at Greenwich where he began in a set Speech to sound Mr. Pym about the Dangers they were like to run by the Courses they were in and what Advantages they might have if they would but listen to some Offers would probably be made them from the Court Pym understanding his drift stopt him short with this expression You need not use all this Art to tell me that you have a mind to leave us But remember what I tell you You are going to be undone But remember That though you leave us now I will never leave you while your Head is upon your Shoulders He was as good as his word for it was Pym that first accus'd him of High Treason in the House of Commons he carried up his Impeachment to the House of Lords and was the chief Manager of his Tryal and Bill of Attainder There never was a more solemn Trial than that of the Earl of Strafford whether we consider the Accusers or the Person accus'd the Accusation or the Defence As in every thing else so in this more particularly he express'd a wonderful Presence of Mind and a vast Compass of Thought with such nervous and moving Flights of Eloquence as came nothing short of the most celebrated Pieces of Antiquity This did manifestly appear from his summing up the long Answer he made ex tempore to every one of the Articles against him with this Pathetick Conclusion My Lords said he I have troubled you longer than I should have done were it not for the Interest of these dear Pledges a Saint in Heaven hath left me At this word he stopt pointing to his Children that stood by him and dropt some Tears then went on What I forfeit for my self in nothing but that my Indiscretion should extend to my Posterity woundeth me to the very Soul You will pardon my Infirmity something I should have added but am not able therefore let it pass And now my Lords for my self I have been by the Blessing
of God taught That the Afflictions of this present Life are not to be compar'd to that Eternal Weight of Glory which shall be reveal'd hereafter And so my Lords even so with all Tranquility of Mind I freely submit my self to your Iudgment And whether that Iudgment be of Life or Death Te Deum laudamus It 's believ'd that King Charles's appearing so heartily for him did him no good with the House of Commons And it 's confidently said that he wrote his Majesty a Letter from the Tower praying him not to intercede in his Affair and that his not seeming to be concern'd in it would be the best Method to calm the Rage of his Enemies But notwithstanding this Caution the King came to the House of Lords and sending for the House of Commons made a warm Speech in favour of the Earl which some of his Friends took for so good News that they went straight from Westminster to give him an account of it Stafford receiv'd it as his Doom and told them The King's Kindness had ruin'd him and that he had little else now to do but to prepare himself for Death As King Charles was mistaken in his Intercession for the Earl of Strafford so was the Earl himself much more in neglecting the Advice of his Friends against his coming up to this Parliament It was easy to foresee there was something design'd to his Prejudice and he had fair Warning given him not to come up at that time at least till he saw how matters would go He had two plausible Pretences for his Absence if he had pleas'd to make use of them the necessity of his Presence in Ireland where he was Lord Lieutenant or in the North of England where he was Lieutenant-General of the Army that had been rais'd against the Scots But being too confident not only of the King's Favour and his Interest among the Lords but of the good effects an Humble Honey Speech might have with the House of Commons to use his own words he came late at Night to Town and took his place next Morning in the House of Lords with an Intention to ask leave that very day to go down to the House of Commons to clear himself of the Misrepresentations he lay under Mr. Pym hearing he was come mov'd to have the Doors lock'd and the Keys laid upon the Table lest any Member should give Intelligence of what they were upon Which being done he accus'd the Earl of Strafford of High-Treason and an Impeachment was immediately drawn up and agreed to by the House In the mean time it fell out unluckily for the Earl of Strafford that at his coming into the House of Lords they were upon a Debate that took them up a considerable time and while he was waiting till that was over the Commons came up with their Impeachment As the Earl was strangely unfortunate in most things that befel him in the latter Period of his Life he was no less in the very Opinion of the King himself and those others that did all they could to save his Life For the King in the Speech he made to both Houses in his favour was pleas'd to say That he did not think my Lord Strafford fit hereafter to serve him or the Commonwealth in any Place of Trust no not so much as that of a Constable And the Lord Digby in the Speech he made in the House of Commons against the Bill of Attainder for which among other things he was forc'd to fly treats the Earl in yet much harsher Terms The Name of the Earl of Strafford says he is a Name of Hatred in the present Age by his Practices and fit to be made a Terror to future Ages by his Punishment I am still the same in my Opinions and Affections as to the Earl of Strafford continues he after I believe him to be the most dangerous Minister the most insupportable to free Subjects that can be character'd I believe his Practices in themselves as high as Tyranical as any Subject ever ventur'd upon and the Malignity of them highly aggravated by those rare Qualities of his whereof God has given him the Vse but the Devil the Application In a word adds the Lord Digby I believe him still that Grand Apostate to the Commonwealth who must not expect to be pardon'd in this World till he be dispatch'd into the other And yet let me tell you Mr. Speaker my Hand must not be at that Dispatch Thus far a Nobleman that was entirely in the King's Interest and for his Zeal to the Royal Cause became the most obnoxious to the Parliament After all there seems to have been some Mistake about the main Article in his Accusation of his advising the King to bring over the Army from Ireland to reduce England which contributed more to the undoing of this Minister than all the rest For the Proof of this Article being only Words contain'd in Mr. Secretary Vane's Notes Appendix Numb 6. which are plac'd in the Appendix and said to be spoke at the Council-Table they do naturally refer to the Kingdom of Scotland and not to England the thing then under Debate being how to reduce Scotland And though Secretary Vane swore to the Truth of his Notes yet it was after such a manner as left the matter still more dubious And though he had sworn more positively it was but the Testimony of One Witness and that contradicted by Four Lords who were then present in Council and who declar'd upon their Honours That they did not remember they heard the Earl of Strafford speak those Words I cannot leave the Earl of Strafford without taking notice of a silly Mistake that has gain'd some Credit in the World as if the Bill of Attainder against him was of so extraordinary a nature and so much out of all the known Methods of Justice that the Legislators themselves were oblig'd to insert a Clause into the Body of it That it should never be drawn into President Whereas that Clause does expresly relate only to Judges in Inferior Courts and is conceiv'd in the following words Provided That no Iudge or Iudges Iustice or Iustices whatsoever shall adjudge or interpret any Act or Thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason in any other manner than he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act. As Archbishop Laud was nothing inferior to the Earl of Strafford in Parts and much his Superior in Learning The Fall and Character of Archbishop Laud. so it is as hard to determine which of the two made a Nobler Defence at their Trial. The Fate of the former has been the same with that of most Great Men to be represented to Posterity in Extremes for we have nothing writ of him but what 's either Panegyrick or Satyr rather than History That Archbishop Laud was brought to his Trial and found Guilty during the Heat of a Civil War and when all things were tending
to Confusion was nothing strange Nor was Serjeant Wild's Introduction at the opening of his Charge any thing but what might have been expected at such a time when he told the Lorâ—s That it might be said of the Great Cause of the Archbishop of Canterbury as it was in a like Case Repertum est hodierno die facinus quod nec Poeta fingere nec Histrio sonare nec Mimus imitari potuer it But it was indeed strange and none of the least of this Great Man's Misfortunes That Three Years before he should be declar'd by the House of Commons a Traytor Nemine contradicente at a time when there was not the least Misunderstanding betwixt the King and Parliament being within the first Month after they sat down And which was yet stranger That no body was more severe upon him than some of those that afterwards took the King's Part against the Parliament and were at last the chief Instruments of his Son's Restoration Whoever reads Sir Harbottle Grimstone's Speech upon voting his Impeachment or Pym's upon carrying it up to the Lords will be apt to think That scarce any Age has produc'd a Man whose Actions and Conduct have been more obnoxious to Obloquy or given greater occasion for it There was one Thread that run through his whole Accusation and upon which most of the Articles of his Impeachment turn'd and that was his Inclination to Popery and his design to introduce the Romish Religion Of which his Immortal Book against Fisher and his Declaration at his Death do sufficiently acquit him And yet not Protestants only but even Roman-Catholicks themselves were led into this Mistake otherwise they would not have dar'd to offer one in his Post a Cardinal's Cap as he confesses in his Diary they did twice The Introduction of a great many Pompous Ceremonies into the Church the Licensing some Books that spoke favourably of the Church of Rome and the refusing to License others that were writ against it were the principal Causes of his being thus misrepresented And indeed his Behaviour in some of these matters as likewise in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Court can hardly be accounted for and particularly his Theatrical manner of Consecrating a New Church in London Appendix Numb 7. related at length in the Appendix He was certainly in spite of Malice a Man of an elevated Capacity and vast Designs a great Encourager of Learning and Learned Men and spar'd no Pains nor Cost to enrich England with such a Noble Collection of Books and Manuscripts in most Languages as look'd rather like the Bounty of a King than of a Subject As he left behind him many lasting Monuments of his Beneficence to the Learned World so was he in a way to have carry'd it much further if his Misfortunes had not interven'd and depriv'd Learning of so powerful a Benefactor But after all as there is seldom found a Mind so Great but has some Allay so it seems Archbishop Laud notwithstanding his excellent Endowments was not Proof against either the Impression of Dreams or Revenge of Personal Affronts though never so trivial in themselves nor the Person never so mean Of the one witness his taking so particular notice in his Diary of several of his Dreams and of the other his carrying his Resentments so far against Archie the King's Fool for a mere Iest that he had him turn'd out of Court by an Order of Council Which being so unaccountable a piece of Weakness in so great a Man and done at a full Board the King and the Archbishop present the Order is plac'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 8. for a remarkable Instance how far the Greatest of Men may at some times be left without a Guard against Passion To return to King Charles he did every thing that was possible to give satisfaction to the Parliament or could be reasonably expected from a Gracious and Beneficent Prince He pass'd the Bill for Attainting the Earl of Strafford though with reluctancy as believing he deserv'd not such hard measure He took away Monopolies that had been a great Discouragement to Trade He express'd himself to their Contentment in the matters of Loan Ship-money Tunnage and Poundage and other unwarrantable Methods that had been us'd in raising Money and show'd a settled Resolution to comply with them in every thing that might tend to the Ease and Security of the Subject As in the preceding Parliament he had past the Petition of Right so in the beginning of this he had agreed to the Acts for Triennial Parliaments and for abolishing the Star-Chamber and High Commission Courts which had been great Grievances and with Chearfulness pass'd that Act which seem'd inconsistent with his own just Prerogative That that Parliament should not be dissolv'd but by Act of Parliament nor prorogu'd or adjourn'd but by their own Consent The King having upon these Concessions receiv'd the Publick Thanks of Both Houses and the loud Applauses of his People took a Journey for Scotland in August 1641. to settle matters there that requir'd his Presence leaving the Parliament sitting which they continued to do for some time and then adjournâ—d themselves to October following At the King 's going away Affairs had been already settled betwixt the two Kingdoms by an Act of Pacification and both Armies order'd to be disbanded the Scots returning home for that purpose While the King was in Scotland The Irish Rebellion the Irish Rebellion broke out which became a new Bone of Contention between the King and the Parliaments of both Nations He took what Measures were possible in Scotland about suppressing that Rebellion and made what haste he could back to England to concert with the Parliament there what was further to be done towards it leaving the Scots as he said himself a contented People and every thing settled to their mind both in Church and State He return'd to London the latter end of November and was receiv'd with all demonstrations of Affection The Lord-Mayor and Aldermen the Nobility Gentry and Train'd-Bands met him without the City and conducted him in great State with the Acclamations of the People the City-Companies in their Formalities lining the Streets on each side to Guildhall where he was Royally Feasted and after Dinner conducted with the same Pomp to Whitehall What man that had seen a Prince thus receiv'd into his Capital City could have imagin'd that within less than Seven Weeks he should be oblig'd to leave it upon the account of Tumults never to see it again but as a Prisoner brought thither to dye upon a Scaffold Yet this was King Charles's hard Fortune And it 's here I would willingly draw a Veil over the remaining part of his Reign that ended in one of the most dismal Tragedies that ever was acted upon the English Stage His Virtues and Morals deserv'd a better Fate and he suffer'd for the Faults of others rather than Errors of his own The House of Commons had begun some
few days before his Return to fall into new Heats about Innovations in Religion the Rebellion in Ireland Plots said to be laid in Scotland the disabling the Clergy to exercise Temporal Iurisdiction and excluding the Bishops from Votes in Parliament All which matters together with Reports that were buzz'd about of some Designs against the Parliament led the House into that Remarkable Petition and Remonstrance of the State of the Nation The Petition and Remonstrance of the II of Commons to King Charlâ—s in which they ript up again all the Mismanagements in the Government since the King 's coming to the Crown and attributed all to Evil Counsels and Counsellors and a Malignant Party about the King This Remonstrance was roughly penn'd both for Matter and Expression and met with great Opposition in the House the Debate lasting from Three a Clock in the Afternoon till Ten a Clock next Morning and was presented to his Majesty the Eighth Day after his Return from Scotland It was no wonder King Charles was surpriz'd at this Petition and Remonstrance considering how much he had done to comply with his Parliament in all they desired And since from these two Papers and from the King's Answer to it at its delivery and the Declaration he publish'd more at large afterwards to the same purpose the Reader will be better enabled to make a Judgment of the Cause and Arguments on both Sides for the Civil War that ensued I have plac'd all the Four in the Appendix Appendix Numb 9. The Length of them may be more easily pardon'd since upon the Matters contain'd in them the whole almost of all the Differences that came to be decided by the Sword happen'd to turn Things were now going fast on towards lessening the Confidence betwixt the King and Parliament K. Charles's coming to the II. of Commons to demand the Five Members And yet there were not wanting Endeavours on both Sides to accommodate Matters by soft and healing Methods when the King 's coming to the House of Commons in Person to demand Five of their Members whom he had order'd the day before to be impeach'd of High-Treason did put all into a Combustion and gave occasion to the House to assert their Privileges with a greater Warmth than ever This was the most unlucky Step King Charles could have made at that Juncture And the Indiscretion of some that attended the King to the Lobby of the House was insisted upon as an Argument that the King was resolv'd to use Violence upon the Parliament which it 's to be presum'd was a thing far from his thoughts The Five Members had hardly time to make their Escape just when the King was entring and upon his going away the House adjourn'd in a Flame for some days ordering a Committee to sit in Guildhall in the mean time as if they were not safe at Westminster Whoever they were that advis'd the King to this rash Attempt are justly chargeable with all the Blood that was afterwards spilt for this sudden Action was the first and visible Ground of all our following Miseries It was believ'd That if the King had found the Five Members in the House and had call'd in his Guards to seize them the House would have endeavour'd their defence and oppos'd Force to Force which might have endanger'd the King's Person But the Consequences were bad enough without this for immediately upon it there was nothing but Confusion and Tumults Fears and Iealousies every where which spread themselves to Whitehall in the rudest manner so that his Majesty thinking himself not safe there he retir'd with his Family to Hampton Court The King leaving the Parliament in this manner there were scarce any hopes of a thorough Reconciliation But when after a great many Removes from place to place The Beginning of the Civil Wars his Majesty came to set up his Standard at Nottingham there ensued a Fatal and Bloody War which it's reasonable to believe was never design'd at first by either Side Each Party blam'd the other for beginning this War and it 's not easy to determine which of them began it Though the King made the first Steps that seem'd to tend that way such as raising a Troop for a Guard to his Person summoning the Gentlemen and Freeholders of several Counties to attend him in his Progress to the North and ordering Arms and Ammunition to be bought in Holland for his use Yet the Parliament did as much at the same time for they likewise rais'd Guards of their own and took care that the Magazine of Hull should not fall into the King's hands So that the King and Parliament prepar'd themselves insensibly for War without considering that these Preparations must gradually and inevitably come to Blows in the end The King 's setting up his Standard at Nottingham was not the first publick Notice of this War as has been commonly reported by Historians that should have known better for that was not done till August 22. 1642. and yet the House of Commons past these Two Votes the 12 th of Iuly before 1. That an Army should be forthwith rais'd for the Safety of the King's Person Defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obey'd their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom And 2. That the Earl of Essex should be General and the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse To which Votes the House of Lords agreed Whoever begun the War it was carried on in the beginning with equal Success and it was hard to determine which Side had the better Till in the Sequel the Loss of Essex's Army in the West and other disadvantages brought the Parliaments Affairs to a low Ebb and seem'd to promise the King an entire Mastery To retrieve their sinking Fortune the Parliament was oblig'd to call in the Scots to their Assistance which so far turn'd the Scale that the King lost ground every day after And the Defeat of his Army at the Battels of Marston-Moor and Naseby put him out of capacity to keep the Field and broke entirely all his Measures During the whole Course of this Vnnatural War it was hard to divine what would be the Fate of England whether an Absolute Vnlimited Monarchy a new huddled-up Commonwealth or a downright Anarchy If the king should prevâ—il the first was to â—e fearâ—d considering that the many Indignities put upon him might imbitter him against the Parlâ—ament If the Parliament should prevail the second was to be apprehended And if the Army should set up for themselves as afterwards they did the last was inevitably to follow All which some of the best men about the King wisely foresaw and trembled at the Event of every Battel that was fought whoever happen'd to be Victors It was the dread of these Misfortunes that hinder'd the Lords and Commons whom the King call'd to Oxford to assume to themselves the Name of The Parliament
of England and from declaring those met at Westminster Rebels though the King again and again importun'd them to it and took their Refusal so ill that in one of his Letters to Queen intercepted at Naseby he reflects heavily upon them for it and calls them in derision his Mungrel Parliament It was likewise the dismal Prospect he had of this War even in the beginning of it that mov'd that Accomplish'd Gentleman the Lord Falkland to throw away his Life rather than be a witness of the Miseries were coming upon the Nation For though he was Secretary of State to the King and follow'd his Fortune yet seeing all his Endeavours for promoting a Peace were in vain he went on with a Party to skirmish with the Enemy the day before the first Battel of Newbury and being dissuaded by his Friends as having no Call to it being no Military Person he said He was weary of the Times and foresaw much Misery to his Countrey and hop'd he should be out of it e're night So pushing into the Battel he was slain Many Endeavours were us'd from time to time to bring Matters to an Accommodation by way of Treaty Endeavours that were us'd for an Accommodation but still some one unlucky Accident or another render'd them all abortive At the Treaty of Vxbridge though the Parliament's Demands were high and the King show'd a more than ordinary Aversion to comply with them yet the ill posture of the King's Affairs at that time and the fatal Consequences they fear'd would follow upon breaking off of the Treaty oblig'd a great many of the King's Friends and more particularly that Noble Person the Earl of Southampton who had gone Post from Vxbrige to Oxford for that purpose to press the King again and again upon their Knees to yield to the necessity of the Times and by giving his Assent to some of the most material Propositions that were sent him to settle a lasting Peace with his People The King was at last prevail'd with to follow their Counsel and the next Morning was appointed for signing a Warrant to his Commissioners to the effect And so sure were they of a happy end of all differences that the King at Supper complaining his Wine was not good one told him merrily He hop'd that his Majesty would dâ—ink better before a Week was over at Guildhall with the Lord Mayor But so it was that when they came early next morning to wait upon him with the Warrant that had been agreed upon over Night they found his Majesty had chang'd his Resolution and was become inflexible in these Points The unhappy Occasion this Alteration has lain hitherto a Secret in History and might have continued such still if a Letter from the Marquess of Montross in Scotland Montross's Fatal Letter whereof I have seen a Copy under the Duke of Richmond's Hand did not give a sufficient Light into it To make the Matter better understood it 's necessary to say something of Montross and his Actions in Scotland This Nobleman had been at first very active and zealous for the Liberties of his Countrey and was the first man that past the River Tweed at the Head of Five hundred Horse upon the Scots First Expedition into England But being afterwards disoblig'd or as some say repenting of his former Error he left that Side and came in to the King at the breaking out of the War between Him and the Parliament When the Scots came into England the second time to assist the Parliament Montross apply'd himself to the King for a Commission to levy War against his Rebel Subjâ—cts as they were call'd of Scotland assuring his Majesty he was able with the Assistance of his Friends and Concurrence of the rest of the Royal Party to make at least a very considerable Diversion if not to reduce the whole Countrey to his Majesty's Obedience Accordingly the Marquess was made Governor of Scotland where in the space of five Months with a handful of raw undisciplin'd Men and those not half arm'd he did over-run a great part of the Countrey and gain'd three very considerable Battels the last of which was that of Inverlochy fought the second of February 1644. according to the English and 1645. according to the Scotch Account In this Battel the Earl of Argyle was entirely defeated and the Prime of the Noble Family of the Campbells cut off with inconsiderable Loss on Montross's side who next day dispatch'd an Express to the King with the News of this and his two former Victories And in his Letter express'd his utter Aversion to all Treaties with his Rebel-Parliament in England as he calls them Tells the King he is heartily sorry to hear that his Majesty had consented to Treat and hopes it is not true Advises him not to enter into Terms with his Rebellious Subjects as being a thing unworthy of a King And assures him That he himself was now so much Master of Scotland that he doubted not but to be able within a few Months to march into England to his Majesty's assistance with a brave Army And concludes with this odd Expression When I have conquer'd from Dan to Beersheba as I doubt not I shall very quickly I hope I may have then leave to say as David ' s General said to his Master Come thou lest this Countrey be call'd by my Name This Letter writ with such an Air of Assurance and by a Person that was thought capable to make good his Promises and the Matter contain'd in it suiting but too well with the King's Inclinations was unluckily deliver'd to the King but a few Hours before he was to have sign'd the Warrant before-mention'd and had as ill effects as the worst of King Charles's Enemies could have wish'd for it dash'd out in a moment all the Impressions his best Friends had been making upon him for a considerable time towards a full Settlement with his People It look'd as if there was some secret Fatality in this whole matter for it could hardly have been imagin'd that a Letter writ the Third of February in the furthermost North Corner of Britain should come so soon to Oxford considering the length of the Journey the badness of the Roads at that time of the Year especially through the Mountainous parts of Scotland together with the Parliament's and Scotch Armies and Garisons that were posted all along the Road And yet certain it is it came through all these Dangers and Inconveniences in very few days for it 's indors'd upon the Copy I have seen That it was deliver'd to the King during the Treaty of Vxbridge which every body knows began the 30 th of Ianuary and ended the 22 d of February And further it must have been deliver'd before the 19 th of February because King Charles takes notice of it in a Letter to the Queen of that Date found among others at Naseby where he says Though I leave News to others yet I cannot but tell
thee That even now I have received certain Intelligence of a great Defeat given by Montross to Argyle who upon surprize totally routed those Rebels and kill'd Fifteen hundred upon the place And it 's remarkable That in the same Letter to the Queen immediately after the mentioning Montross's Victory the King adds That as for trusting the Rebels either by going to London or disbanding my Army before a Peace do no ways fear my hazarding so cheaply or foâ—lishly for I esteem the Interest thou hast in me at a far dearer rate and pretend to have a little more Wit at least by the Sympathy that 's betwixt us than to put my self into the Reverence of Persidious Rebels Which Words being compar'd with Montross's Letter it will be found the one is a Commentary upon the other I have plac'd Montross ' s Letter it self in the Appendix Appendix Numb 10. and cannot leave it without making this Observation That considering the time it was writ the Critical Minute it was deliver'd with the sad Consequences that attended it it makes this Axiom true That oftentimes the Fate of Princes and States is chiefly owing to very minute and unforeseen Accidents The Treaty of Vxbridge being thus broke off the War was renew'd with greater Fury than ever till at last the Parliament's Army having beaten the King out of the Field came to kick their Masters out of the House and having modell'd the Parliament and Army to their own minds did set up for themselves and at one Blow compleated the Ruin of their Countrey in the Murther of King Charles I. and the Extirpation of Monarchy In short a continued Series of Misfortunes attended the Royal Cause and several favourable Accidents that seem'd from time to time to promise better Events did concur in the end to the King 's undoing Till at last that Unhappy Prince in being brought before a Tribunal of his own Subjects and submitting his Neck to the Stroke of a Common Executioner taught the World an astonishing Example of the Instability of Human Greatness and in that and the rest of his Sufferings a lasting Patern of Christian Magnanimity and Patience The Character of King Charles I. The Character of King Charles I. may be taken in a great part from what has been already said and I shall only add a few things more He was a Prince of a Comely Presence of a Sweet Grave but Melancholy Aspect His Face was Regular Handsome and well-complexion'd his Body Strong Healthy and well-made and though of a low Stature was capable to endure the greatest Fatigues His Face contrary to that of his Son 's Charles II. was easily taken either in Painting or Sculpture and scarce any one though never so indifferently skill'd in their Art fail'd do hit it He had something in the Lines and Features which Physiognomists account unfortunate And it 's commonly reported that his Picture being sent to Rome to have a Busto done by it a famous Statuary not knowing whose it was told the Gentleman that brought it He was sorry if it was the Face of any Relation of his for it was one of the most Vnfortunate he ever saw and according to all the Rules of Art the Person whose it was must dye a violent Death In his Temper he was Brave Magnificent Liberal and Constant but more affable to Strangers than his own Subjects It was his Noble and Generous Behaviour that took so much with the King of Spain when he went thither to court the Infanta that he rejected the repeated Solicitations of his Council to seize him and paid him more Respect than could have been well expected if he had been King of England at that time Of his Composure of Mind in time of greatest danger he gave a Noble Instance in his Behaviour in that great Storm in the Road of St. Andrees which was worthy the Ancient Philosophers Nor did he fall short of the Bravest in Personal Courage having expos'd his Person in every Battel he was in and oftentimes charging at the Head of his Squadrons He had a good Taste of Learning and a more than ordinary Skill in the Liberal Arts especially Painting Sculpture Architecture and Medals and being a Generous Benefactor to the most Celebrated Masters in those Arts he acquir'd the Noblest Collection of any Prince in his time and more than all the Kings of England had done before him It 's said notwithstanding his Natural Generosity That he bestow'd Favours with a worse Grace than his Son King Charles the Second denied them and many times obliterated the sense of the Obligation by the manner of it But indeed he had seldom much to give being kept short of Money a great part of his Reign The Essentials of Divinity he was as much Master of as ever his Father had been but without the Allay of Pedantry Of this among other things the Papers that past betwixt him and Mr. Henderson at Newcastle will be a lasting Monument He was a great Patron of the Clergy but his employing them in the highest Offices of Trust in State Matters created Envy against them and lessen'd the Love of the Nobility towards him Yet such was the Honesty and Integrity of one of them in the greatest and most obnoxious Post in the Kingdom that when some Years after he had resign'd the Treasurer's Staff and when the Parliament wanted not Will to crush him they could not find upon the narrowest Scrutiny any one thing to object either against his Accounts or his Behaviour in that Place King Charles was a passionate Lover of his Queen who was a Beautiful Lady and in all things very well accomplish'd insomuch that his Friends regretted the Ascendant she had over him on some occasions while others tax'd him with the Character of an Uxorious Husband He was fond of his Children and kind to his Servants though these last felt sometimes the hasty Sallies of his Passion He was not mistaken of himself when he said before the High-Court of Justice That he understood as much Law as any private Gentleman in England And pity it was that any of his Ministers should have advis'd him to make Breaches in what he so well understood He spoke several Languages very well and with a singular good Grace though now and then when he was warm in Discourse he was inclinable to stammer He writ a tolerable Hand for a King but his Sense was strong and his Stile Laconick and yet he seldom wrote in any Language but English Some of his Manifestoes Declarations and other Publick Papers he drew himself and most of them he Corrected In comparing those of the King 's with the Parliament's one will be easily inclin'd to prefer for the most part the King 's for the Strength of Reasoning and the Force of Expression I have seen several Pieces of his own Hand and therefore may the better affirm That both for Matter and Form they surpass those of his Ablest Ministers and come
nothing short of Strafford or Falkland the Two most Celebrated Pens of that time As to his Religion he was Protestant and in the strictest sense of the Church of England and for the Divine Right of Episcopacy But his consenting personally to the total Abolition of that Order in Scotland does not well agree with this part of his Character especially considering his repeated Protestations at the Treaties of Vxbridge and Newport That he could not supersede it but for a time in England What his Opinion was about Subjects defending their Religion and Liberties by Force of Arms appear'd in the business of Rochell For though some would have had us believe of late That Defensive Arms were inconsistent with the Principles of the Church of England it 's hop'd they will not deny but King Charles I. understood the Doctrine and Principles of that Church as well as any other Person can pretend to do and yet its certain that in his Practice and Declarations he allow'd of the People of Rochell's vindicating their Religion and Liberties from the Encroachments made by their Sovereign and that by Force of Arms and assisted them in so doing King Charles did not only assist the Rochellers after the War was actually begun His assisting the Rochellers but we have reason to believe that he encourag'd them to it at first if we look into the Duke of Rhoan 's Memoirs and Apology where that Great Man acquaints the World in what manner he was brought into that War in these words as near as I can translate them from the Original When all our Privileges says he were violated and our Religion brought to Ruin and the City of Rochell in the greatest Danger I could see no possibility to escape but was upon the sad thoughts of submitting our selves to the Mercy of the King meaning Lewis the XIIIth Being in this desperate state there came a Gentleman to me from the King of England who told me from his Master That he seeing our Privileges were violated and our Religion in danger of being subverted had taken compassion on our Sufferings and thought himself oblig'd in Honour and Conscience to assist and protect us which he was resolv'd to do by employing all his Kingdoms and his own Person in so just a War Provided we would join our Arms with his and not enter into any Treaty with the King meaning the French King without him and for that effect he would make War against the French King both by Sea and Land Intreating me continues the Duke of Rhoan not to abandon my Party in so just and honourable a War And a little after in the same Apology he has these words I refer it to all the World if I can be justly call'd the Author of the Third War considering I was sollicited to it by the King of Great Britain But suppose there were no Credit to be given to the Duke of Rhoan whose Honour and Veracity even his very Enemies never call'd in question and suppose it were false which all the World knows to be true that King Charles did actually assist the Rochellers again and again against their Prince yet we have Authentick Accounts of several Speeches made by the Duke of Buckingham's Secretary to the Rochellers and of several Messages sent to them from the Duke in name of the King his Master all to the same purpose And likewise a Manifesto publish'd by him and sign'd with his own Hand dated Iuly 21. 1627. aboard the Admiral Ship in which he has this Expression No private Interest says he has oblig'd my Master to make War against the French King but merely the Defence of the Protestant Church My Master's design is the Re-establishment of the Church their Good is his Interest and their Contentment his End We have also Authentick Copies of the League betwixt King Charles and the People of Rochell in which there is this Expression That the Rochellers may be deliver'd from the Oppressions they groan under And to sum up all there were two Letters writ by King Charles with his own Hand to the Rochellers which are mention'd by Monsieur Mervault a Syndic of that Town and who was active in the whole matter and present during the whole Siege of which the Copies follow To the Mayor Sheriffs Peers and Burgesses of the City of Rochell Gentlemen BE not discouraged though my Fleet be return'd Hold out to the last for I am resolv'd that my whole Fleet shall perish rather than you be not reliev'd For this effect I have order'd It to return back to your Coasts and am sending several Ships to reinforce it With the Help of God the Success shall be happy for you At Westminster May 19. O. S. 1628. Your Good Friend CHARLES R. The other Letter directed as before runs thus Gentlemen I Have been very much troubled to hear that my Fleet was upon the point of returning home without obeying my Orders in supplying you with Provisions cost what it will I have commanded them to return to your Road and not to come away until you are supply'd or at least till they are reinforc'd which I have order'd to be done with all diligence Assure your selves That I shall never abandon you and that I shall employ the whole Power of my Kingdom for your deliverance until God assist me to obtain for you an assured Peace Given at our Palace of Westminster May 27. O. S. 1628. Your Good Friend CHARLES R. I have dwelt the longer upon this Subject because it is easy to draw a Parallel betwixt this Case of King Charles's assisting Subjects against their King in the Defence of their Religion and Liberties and that of another Prince's doing the same upon a late occasion But as the former had no other Right to interpose in the one but the common Interest of Religion so the other had over and above that the Right of a Prince of the Blood and the Interest of the Presumptive Heir of the Crown all which alter'd the Case greatly to the advantage of the latter King Charles was as unfortunate in this War with France as he was in all others he engag'd in The poor City of Rochell after a long and Cruel Siege amidst the Horrors of Famine and Death was at last forc'd to submit to the Will of the Conqueror and the loss of that Bulwark of the French Liberty was in some time follow'd by the total Ruin of the Protestant Interest in France The English Fleet lay within view of the Town when it was taken and which added to the Misfortune that mighty Dyke that had been rais'd at inestimable Charges to block up the Harbour fell down the very next day after the Surrender and open'd a Passage for the Fleet that came to relieve it when it was now too late During this War he lost his Favourite The Character of the D of Buckingham George Villiers Duke of Buckingham This Gentleman was one of the greatest Prodigies of Fortune that
any Age has produc'd and gave us a signal Instance how far it is possible for the same Person to be the Favourite of two Successive Monarchs He possess'd King Iames's Favour without a Rival and without any other Interruption but that Cloud which the Intrigues of Spain rais'd against him in the King's mind which has been already hinted at wherein the Son shar'd equally with the Favourite and which Bishop Williams's dexterity soon dissipated King Charles out-did his Father in his Kindness to Buckingham and had no Favourite after him He had all the Qualities that are requisite for a Court and fit to acquire and preserve his Master's Affection Notwithstanding he was in his Temper highly Generous and Beneficent and that there were few Great Families in England but he had some way or other oblig'd either in themselves or their Relations yet he fell under the Misfortune that attends Favourites but it must be own'd he was rather envied than hated He had the ill luck to be charg'd with a great many things of which he was innocent and particularly in relation to the Spanish Match By all that I have seen he deserv'd the Thanks of the Nation upon that account rather than an Impeachment in Parliament For it was he chiefly that broke off that Match when he saw how much King Iames suffer'd in his Honour through the manner he was treated in it which he found out sooner than the King did himself It 's none of the least Proofs of the Duke of Buckingham's Innocency in these matters that Spanhemius in his History of the Electrice Palatine writ long after Buckingham's Death speaks always honourably of him in the Business of the Palatinate whereas at the same time he exposes King Iames's Conduct It 's a vulgar mistake That he came to be the First Minister merely through the Caprice of King Iames for the Court unanimously promoted his Interest and recommended him to the highest Favour in opposition to Somerset whose Arrogancy Covetousness and Pride had disoblig'd every body and made both the King and the Court weary of him No Servant did his Master more Honour in the Magnificence of his Train and the splendid Manner of his living especially in his Embassy to France whâ—re in the Gracefulness of his Person and Nobleness of his Behaviour and Equipage he out-did any thing that ever was seen of that kind before He was more form'd for a Court than a Camp and though very Brave in his Person he was Unsuccessful in the only Military Expedition he was engag'd in which was that of Rochell And when he was upon the embarking a second time to repair that Disgrace he was basely murder'd amidst a Croud of his Friends and in the height of his Glory To return to King Charles's Character If he had any Personal Faults they were much over-weigh'd by his Virtues But an Immoderate Desire of Power beyond what the Constitution did allow of was the Rock he split upon He might have been happy if he had trusted more to his own Judgment than that of those about him for as in his nature he was an Enemy to all violent Measures so was he apt to submit his own Reason to that of others when any such things came under consideration There was another Error that run through the whole Management of his Affairs both Domestick and Publick and which occasion'd a great part of his Misfortunes He appear'd many times stiff and positive in denying at first what he granted afterwards out of time and too late to give satisfaction which encourag'd ambitious and interested Persons to ask more than they thought of at first and lost him the fruits of his former Concessions So that in the whole Conduct of his Life he verified this Maxim That Errors in Government have ruin'd more Princes than their Personal Vices I shall have done with this Melancholy Subject after the Reader has been acquainted with one remarkable Accident not hitherto mention'd with that Exactness it deserves by any Author I know of which considering its Consequences is an extraordinary Instance upon what small Hinges the greatest Revolutions may turn That the principal Rise of all King Charles's latter Troubles The true Cause of the Scots coming first into England was from the Second War with the Scots has been already show'd But what the Motives were that embolden'd the Scots to alter their Measures from those they had observ'd in the first War continues in great part a Mystery to this day In the first War they stood upon the Defensive only and came no further than their own Borders but in the second they acted so much in the offensive that they march'd into England as far as Durham and were coming on further if the Treaty that was set afoot at Rippon had not stopt them All the Accounts we have of this proceeding of the Scots do seem to be grounded upon the Informations they had of the Backwardness of England to assist the King in this War and that they were well assur'd of Friends all over the Kingdom and some of nearest access to the King's Person who they knew would interpose in their behalf rather than Matters should come to Extremities But these general Encouragements can hardly be thought to have had such weight with the Scots as to make them venture upon so bold an Attempt and therefore it 's but reasonable to believe they went upon surer Grounds when they made this Invasion This matter will be set in a clearer Light when the Reader is acquainted That a Forg'd Letter pretended to be sent from some of the most Leading Men of the Nobility of England came to have the same effects as if it had been a True One and really sign'd by the same Persons whose Names were affix'd to it Which fell out in this manner After the Pacification at Duns which put an end to the first War the King at his Return to London was prevail'd with upon the account of several things the Scots were said to have done contrary to the Articles of the Treaty and the Duty of Subjects to order the Pacification to be burnt by the hands of the Common Hangman To reduce them to obedience he was meditating a New War and in order thereto was levying another Army and was pleas'd to call a Parliament to assist him in it The Scots had their Commissioners at London at that time who wanted not Friends in both Houses to inform them of every thing that happen'd in Parliament and Council which they fail'd not to write home to their Countrey advising them to be on their Guard and to put themselves in a posture not to be surpriz'd The Scots knowing how matters went in England and that a new Storm was like to break out upon them were resolv'd to put themselves into a Posture of Defence and to the Forces they had not yet disbanded they added considerable new Levies both of Horse and Foot Their Preparations went faster on
than the King 's and with the more cheerfulness for by this time he had parted on ill terms with his Parliament and without obtaining a Supply While the King was advancing towards the North the Scots drew to their Borders and it was debated at several Councils of War where a Committee of Estates assisted Whether they should expect the King upon the Borders as they had done before or march into England and carry the War out of their own Countrey But they had taken no Resolution in the matter before the King was got as far as York In this nice Juncture there came a Gentleman to the English Border who sent a Message to the Earl of Rothes That he desir'd to acquaint him with a Matter of the greatest Importance and Secresy if he might privately and with safety speak with him alone Rothes thereupon sent a Trusty Servant with a Passport to conduct him to his Quarters where the Gentleman told him That he was directed particularly to him as a Person of great Honour and whom they could safely trust with a Message from several Great Men of England who were griev'd for the Ruin they foresaw must necessarily attend their Country if the King should make himself Absolute Master of Scotland seeing after that they were to expect the same Fate considering how little to the King's satisfaction things had been carried in the Parliament of England and how much he had resented their refusing a Subsidy to carry on this War He told him That nothing was so much desir'd in England as a Free Parliament to redress their Grievances And if the Scots would march immediately into England the King must necessarily be straitned to that degree in his Affairs as to be oblig'd to call a Parliament And that upon their March the City of London and the greatest part of the Nobility and Gentry would not only petition the King for a Free Parliament but likewise mediate between the King and them and bring matters to such an Accommodation as might be for the good of both Nations Adding withal That if the Scots slipt this Opportunity they were never to expect the like again The Gentleman having deliver'd this Message gave the Earl a Letter directed to him and sign'd by about Twelve Noblemen much to the same purpose but writ more cautiously and in more general terms desiring him for a further Explanation to give entire Credit to the Bearer whom they had fully inform'd of their Intentions Rothes with the Gentleman's leave acquainted General Lesley afterwards Earl of Leven and one or two of the most Leading Men of the Committee of Estates with this Message and upon solemn Promises of Secrecy show'd them the Letter both which agreeing so well in the main with the Intelligence they had receiv'd from England and suiting with their own Inclinations determin'd them in the Point And next morning in the Council of War It was resolv'd to march into England that Afternoon which accordingly they did Rothes in the mean time dispatch'd back the Messenger with an Answer to the Noblemen he suppos'd had writ to him Thanking them for their Advice and acquainting them with the Resolution had been taken thereupon It fell out afterwards at the Treaty of Rippon when the English and Scotch Commissioners grew familiar with one another that the Earl of Rothes came from Newcastle to the Place of Treaty and one of the English Noblemen making him a Visit they fell into Discourse about the present Juncture of Affairs The English Nobleman express'd how much he had been surpriz'd upon the first News of the Scots entring into England and told him That though he hop'd it would now turn to the Advantage of both Nations yet it was in it self a dangerous and rash Attempt and might have been fatal to the Scots if the King had not been pleas'd to enter into a Treaty for an Accommodation of Matâ—ers in dispute between them Rothes was at a stand what to make of this Discourse considering this Nobleman was one of those whose Name was to the Letter formerly mention'd and therefore answer'd That he wondred his Lordship was surpriz'd at an Action he had so much influenc'd And that if it had not been for the Invitation of himself and his Friends perhaps the Scots â—rmy might have continued still on the other side of Tweed The Two Lords being equally in the dark as to one another's meaning were at length upon producing of the Letter both of them undeceiv'd and found it was a mere Forgery which was afterwards acknowledg'd by the Contriver who was the Lord Savile created some time after Earl of Sussex This Letter though forgotten now was much talk'd of during the Civil Wars And I have seen several Original Papers of those Times that mention'd it A Noble Lord lately dead whose Name was to the Letter never made any scruple of telling this Passage to his Friends in the manner I have related it And I once had a Copy of the Letter it self from the Original which was then and I believe is still among the Papers of the Noble Family of Rothes which I have since lost I must confess I have dwelt longer upon this matter than consists with the Brevity I intended and that it might have been more properly mention'd in another place Yet thus it was that a Counterfeit Invitation brought the Scots into England in the Year 1640. And considering the Consequences it may be said That Providence many times seems to play with Human Affairs and influences the Fate of Kingdoms by Counsels and Measures the most improbable to succeed if he had not design'd them to be subservient to his great Ends. There is an Historian for whom I have the highest Veneration Bishop of Salisbury's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton who in his Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton mentions a Passage not unlike to this and perhaps it may be the very same though his Relation and mine differ in the time and some other Circumstances And seeing I happen'd to look into that Book some time after I had writ these Sheets that I may do Justice to its Reverend Author whose Information I am willing to believe may be better than my own though I had mine from no common Hands I shall give his Account of it in his own words and the rather for that I do not remember the Date of the Letter upon which the Passage turns though I do the main Design and Contents of it But that the Reader may not be wholly in the dark says this Great Historian about the Grounds of this Confidence the Covenanters had I shall set down what I had from some Persons of Great Honour who were fully inform'd about it When the Earls of Dumfermling and Loudon came to London a Person of Quality of the English Nation whose Name is suppress'd because of the Infamy of this Action came to them and with great Vehemence press'd them to engage in a new War
a Numerous and Splendid Train of Persons of Quality among whom was a Prince of the Blood and Muncini Mazarine 's Nephew who brought a Letter from his Uncle to the Protector full of the highest Expressions of Respect and assuring his Highness That being within view of the English Shore nothing but the King's Indisposition who lay then ill of the Small-Pox at Calais could have hinder'd him to come over to England that he might enjoy the Honour of waiting upon one of the Greatest Men that ever was and whom next to his Master his greatest Ambition was to serve But being depriv'd of so great a happiness he had sent the Person that was nearest to him in Blood to assure him of the profound Veneration he had for his Person and how much he was resolv'd to the utmost of his power to cultivate a perpetual Amity and Friendship betwixt his Master and him Few Princes ever bore their Character higher upon all occasions than Oliver Cromwell especially in his Treaties with Crown'd Heads And it 's a thing without Example that 's mention'd by one of the best-inform'd Historians of the Age Puffendorf in the Life of the late Elector of Brandenburgh That in Cromwell's League with France against Spain he would not allow the French King to call himself King of France but of the French whereas he took to himself not only the Title of Protector of England but likewise of France And which is yet more surprizing and which can hardly be believ'd but for the Authority of the Author Puffendorf de Rebus Gestis Fredâ—rici Wilhelmi Electoris Brandenburgici p. 313. Id porro Bellum Protectoris in Hispanos adeo opportunum Gallo accedebat ut summo Studio istum faedore sibi innectere studeret etiam concesso ut Cromwellus eundem Gaâ—â—orum Regem non Galliarum nuncuparet aliâs ipse Protectoris quoque Franciae vocabulum ficut Angliae assumpturus Simul pateretur Cromwellum Instrumento suo Nomen titulumque ante Gallicum ponere whose own Words are in the Margin In the Instrument of the Treaty the Protector 's Name was put before the French King's It 's true France was then under a Minority and was not arriv'd at that Greatness to which it has since attain'd Towards which Cromwell contributed not a little by that League with France against Spain being the falsest Step he ever made with respect to the Tranquility of Europe As every thing did contribute to the Fall of King Charles I. so did every thing contribute to the Rise of Cromwell And as there was no design at first against the King's Life so it 's probable that Cromwell had no thoughts for a long time of ever arriving at what he afterwards was It is known he was once in Treaty with the King after the Army had carried his Majesty away from Holmby House to have Restor'd him to the Throne which probably he would have done if the Secret had not been like to take Vent by the Indiscretion of some about the King which push'd Cromwell on to prevent his own by the Ruin of the King It 's likewise certain that the Title of Protector did not satisfy his Ambition but that he aim'd to be King The Matter was for some time under Consideration both in his Mock-Parliament and Council of State in-so-far that a Crown was actually made and brought to Whitehall for that purpose But the Aversion he found in the Army against it and the fear of the Commonwealth-Party oblig'd him to lay the Thoughts of it aside at least for that time Yet it 's probable these high Aims did not dye but with himself For to be able with the help of Spanish Gold to carry on his Design in England without depending upon a Parliament for Money is thought was the true Motive of his Attempt upon St. Domingo which was the only Action of War he fail'd in But notwithstanding his specious Pretences to the contrary Cromwell invaded and betrayed the Liberties of his Countrey and acted a more Tyrannical and Arbitrary Part than all the Kings of England together had done since the Norman Conquest And yet after all his Good Fortune accompanied him to the last for after a long Chain of Success he died in Peace and in the Arms of his Friends was buried among the Kings with a Royal Pomp and his Death condol'd by the Greatest Princes and States of Christendom in Solemn Embassies to his Son But this is not all for whatever Reasons the House of Austria had to hate the Memory of Cromwell yet his causing the Portugal Ambassador's Brother to be Executed for a Tumult in London notwithstanding his Plea of being a Publick Minister as well as his Brother was near Twenty Years after Cromwell's Death brought as a Precedent by the present Emperor to justify his Arresting and carrying off the Prince of Furstenburgh at the Treaty of Cologne notwithstanding Furstenburgh's being a Plenipotentiary for the Elector of that Name And in the Printed Manifesto publish'd by the Emperor upon that occasion this Piece of Cromwellâ—s Justice in executing the Portuguese Gentleman is related at large To sum up Cromwell's Character it 's observable That as the Ides of March were equally Fortunate and Fatal to Iulius Caesar another Famous Invader of the Liberties of his Countrey so was the Third of September to Oliver Cromwell For on that Day he was Bornâ— on that Day he fought the Three Great Battels of Marston-Moor Worcester and Dunbar and on that Day he died Cromwell died in the peaceable Possession of the Sovereign Power though disguis'd under another Name and left it to a Son that had neither Heart nor Abilities to keep it The Genius of the Nation return'd to its Natural Byass and Monarchy was so much interwoven with the Laws Customs and the first Threads of the English Constitution that it was altogether impossible it could be ever totally worn out Our Ancestors had wisely settled themselves upon that Bottom and those very men that some Years before had justled out Monarchy upon the account of its Encroachments upon the Rights of the People were become as zealous now to restore it again upon the Encroachments that the assuming part of the People had made of late upon the Rights of their Fellow-Subjects For near Two Years together after Cromwell's Death the Government of England underwent various Shapes and every Month almost produc'd a New Scheme till in the end all these Convulsions co-operated to turn the Nation again upon its True and Ancient Basis. Thence it was that the Son of King Charles the First The Restoration of King Charles II. after Ten Years Exile was restor'd to his Father's Throne in the Year 1660 without Blood or any remarkable Opposition This Revolution was the more to be admir'd since not only all Attempts to bring King Charles back by Force of Arms prov'd ineffectual but that notwithstanding upon Cromwell's Death every thing at home seem'd to concur to his
Restoration yet the bare Name of an English Parliament though but the Shadow of what formerly it was continued to be so Terrible abroad that neither France nor Spain durst venture to give King Charles the least Assistance to regain his Throne but on the contrary were oblig'd to treat him in a manner altogether unworthy of a Crown'd Head As appears by the following Instance at the Treaty of the Pyrenees The Behaviour of the French and Spaniards to K Charles II at 〈◊〉 Treaty of the Pyrences King Charles after having in vain sought a Sanctuary in France was necessitated to throw himself upon the Friendship of Spain He was at Brussels when he receiv'd the News of the Disposition that was in England to Restore him just at the time the Conferenâ—es were to begin between Cardinal Mazarine and Lewis de Haro the Two Plenipotentiaries of France and Spain in order to a General Peace This determin'd King Charles to take Post from Brussels through France to the Place of Treaty that he might in Person represent his Interests to these Two Ministers He judg'd the Spaniards had reason to be Enemies to the then Government in England for not only having taken Dunkirk and Iamaica from them and enterâ—d into a League with Portugal against them but for endeavouring all that was possible to persuade the French to continue the War Upon the other hand it was but reasonable to think that France could not be well pleas'd to see the English Master of such a Frontier Town as Dunkirk or that Mazarine the most Ambitious Man upon Earth would not be willing to raise his own Glory by espousing the Cause of an Exil'd Prince especially when there was so great probability of Success Notwithstanding all these plausible Appearances King Charles made this long Journey to no purpose It 's true Lewis de Haro receiv'd him with all possible Marks of Respect But the Cardinal positively denied him Access All he could be brought to after several Messages from the King was to allow the Duke of Ormond to talk to him upon the Road from St. Iean de Luz to the Place of Treaty as if it had been but an accidental Rencounter Ormond obtain'd nothing of the Cardinal but general and ambiguous Answers Till being press'd he told Ormond plainly That all his Master could do for his Cousin the King of England was to compassionate his Misfortunes as not being in a condition himself to break with the Government of England with which his Affairs oblig'd him to keep a good Correspondence Over and above this Neglect of Mazarine's King Charles had the Mortification to see Ambassador Lockhart receiv'd at the same time with the greatest Pomp and Splendor having the Cardinal's Coaches and Guards sent a day's Journey to receive him and the Cardinal giving him the Right Hand which was a Respect he denied the Ambassadors of Crown'd Heads Nor was Lewis de Haro kinder upon the matter to King Charles notwithstanding all his Civilities for having ask'd the Command of the Army in Flanders which the Prince of Conde was by the Treaty oblig'd to quit Don Lewis refus'd it All which will be a lasting Example to Posterity how little Trust is to be repos'd in Foreign Aid when a Prince comes to need it for recovering his Throne It were the highest Injustice to deny General Monk the greatest share of the Honour in Restoring King Charles II. Monk's part in the Restoration and yet it is a question whether his Design to do it was of so long standing as some have reported It 's probable he had not Thoughts that way till about the time that Richard Cromwell was depriv'd of the Government In which he was afterwards the more confirm'd upon the Army in England's setting up once more for themselves If he had really a form'd Intention at that time to bring back the King it must be confess'd he acted the part of a Politician much better than that of a Christian for he declar'd once again at that time for a Commonwealth without the King a Single Person or House of Lords and formally Renounc'd the Family of the Stuarts All which will appear by a Letter sign'd by him and his Officers to the Parliament upon Richard's Abdication and the Declaration it self Appendix Numb 11. mention'd at length in the Appendix It 's hardly to be imagin'd he had a mind to set up for himself as his Enemies have given out for he could not but see the whole Nation was returning apace to their Ancient Monarchical Principles and therefore he had little else to do but to comply a while with the Times till by declaring for a Free Parliament he pav'd the way for the King's Return It 's certain the People that then assum'd the Supreme Power were jealous of his Intentions and it was within an Ace he escap'd a Trap laid for him just at the time when he was ready to march from Scotland which would have inevitably ruin'd his Design if a mere Accident had not interven'd For Monk keeping his ordinary Residence at Dalkeith some four Miles on this side of Edinburgh the London Packet touch'd constantly there that the General might have his Letters before it reach'd Edinburgh The Committee of Safety being resolv'd to secure Monk dispatch'd secret Orders to Scotland by the ordinary Packet lest an Express might give suspicion and instead of directing the Label for Dalkeith as was usual it was order'd straight for Edinburgh It happenâ—d that one of Monk's Lifeguard met accidentally the Post turning out of the Road that led to Dalkeith and finding he had not touch'd there he brought him back notwithstanding the Label was directed otherwise Monk suspecting something open'd all the Letters that he found directed to the Officers of the Army among which there was one from the Committee of Safety to Colonel Thomas Wilks ordering him to use the most effectual speedy and secret way to secure the Person of General Monk and to send him up to London under a strong Guard in a Frigat that lay in Leith Road and then to take upâ—n him the Command of the Army till further Order Having taken out this and what other Letters he thought fit together with his own from the same Committee full of high Compliments and Expressions of Trust he sent away the Packet as it was directed But having communicated the matter to some of his particular Friends he gave Orders for a General Review of the Army to be made next morning at Edinburgh where he arrested Colonel Wilks and some other Officers he had reason to suspect and sent them Prisoners to the Castle filling up their Commissions with others of his own Creatures Monk in his March through England and after he came to London carried on the Thread of Dissimulation with wonderful dexterity till all things were fully ripe for throwing off the Mask and calling home the King As he was singularly happy in being the Chief Instrument of
that Revolution he was no less in the Sense King Charles continued to express of so great an Obligation And it show'd him to be a Man of true Judgmen That the Duke of Albemarle behav'd himself in such a manner to the Prince he had thus oblig'd as never to seem to overvalue the Services of General Monk King Charles the Second prov'd one of the Finest Gentlemen of the Age and had Abilities to make one of the Best of Kings The first Years of his Reign were a continued Iubilee And while we were reaping the Fruits of Peace at Home after the Miseries of a long Civil War a Potent Neighbour was laying the Foundation of a Power Abroad that has since been the Envy and Terror of Europe One might have thought that his Parliament had glutted his Ambition to the full by heaping those Prerogatives upon him which had been contested for with his Father at the Expence of so much Blood and Treasure But he grasp'd early after more and from his first Accession to the Croâ—n show'd but little Inclination to depend upon Parliaments Of which we have a remarkable Instance in an Affair that was one of the true Causes of the Disgrace of that Great Man Chancellor Clarendon which happen'd a few Years after It looks as if Heaven took a more than ordinary Care of England that we did not throw up our Liberties all at once upon the Restoration of that King for though some were for bringing him back upon Terms yet after he was once come he possess'd so entirely the Hearts of his People that they thought nothing was too much for them to grant or for him to receive Among other Designs to please him there was one form'd at Court to settle such a Revenue upon him by Parliament during Life as should place him beyond the Necessity of asking more except in the Case of a War or some such extraordinary Occasion The Earl of Southampton Lord High Treasurer came heartily into it out of a mere Principle of Honour and Affection to the King but Chancellor Clarendon secretly opposâ—d it It happenâ—d that they two had a private Conference about the matter and the Chancellor being earnest to bring the Treasurer to his Opinion took the freedom to tell him That he was better acquainted with the King's Temper and Inclinations than Southampton could reasonably expect to be having had long and intimate Acquaintance with his Majesty abroad and that he knew him so well that if such a Revenue was once settled upon him for Life neither of them Two would be of any further use and that they were not in probability to see many more Sessions of Parliament during that Reign Southampton was brought over but this Passage could not be kept so secret but it came to King Charles his Ears which together with other things wherein Clarendon was misrepresented to him prov'd the true reason why he abandon'd him to his Enemies Notwithstanding this disappointment King Charles made a shift partly by his obliging Carriage partly by other Inducements to get more Money from his first Parliament towards the Expence of his Pleasures than all his Predecessors of the Norman Race had obtain'd before towards the Charges of their Wars This Parliament had like to have been Perpetual if the Vigor wherewith they began to prosecute the Popish Plot and the Resentment they express'd against his Brother had not oblig'd him much against his Will to part with them after they had sat near Nineteen Years That there was at that time a Popish Plot The Discovery of the Popish Plot. and that there always has been one since the Reformation to support if not restore the Romish Religion in England scarce any body calls in question How far the near Prospect of a Popish Successor ripen'd the Hopes and gave new Vigor to the Designs of that Party and what Methods they were then upon to bring those Designs about Coleman's Letters alone without any other concurring Evidence are more than sufficient to put the matter out of doubt But what Superstructures might have been afterwards built upon an unquestionable Foundation and how far some of the Witnesses of that Plot might come to darken Truth by subsequent Addttions of their own must be deferr'd till the Great Account to be made before a Higher Tribunal And till then a great part of the Popish Plot as it was then sworn to will in all human probability lye among the darkest Scenes of our English History However this is certain the Discovery of the Popish Plot had great and various Effects upon the Nation And it 's from this remarkable Period of Time we may justly reckon a New Aera in the English Account In the first place Its Effects it awaken'd the Nation out of a deep Lethargy they had been in for Nineteen Years together and alarm'd them with Fears and Iealousies that have been found to our sad Experience but too well grounded In the next it gave the Rise too at least settled that unhappy distinction of Whig and Tory among the People of England that has since occasion'd so many Mischiefs And lastly the Discovery of the Popish Plot began that open Struggle between King Charles and his People that occasion'd him not only to dissolve his first Favourite Parliament and the Three others that succeeded but likewise to call no more during the rest of his Reign All which made way for bringing in question the Charters of London and other Corporations with a great many dismal Effects that follow'd It was likewise about this time that a certain Set of Men began a second time to adopt into our Religion a Mahomet an Principle under the Names of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance which since the time of the Impostor that first broach'd it has been the means to Enslave a great part of the World The great share which the Duke of York was suppos'd to have had very early The Bill of Exclusion in a Design to overturn our Religion and Liberties and the mighty Hopes which the near Prospect of a Popish Successor gave the Romanâ— Catholicks of bringing about their Grand Project of rooting out the Northern Heresy were the Reasons why a great part of Both Houses of Parliament had recourse to a Bill of Exclusion against the Duke as the only effectual means they could think on in that Juncture to prevent our intended Ruin This Prince had been privately reconcil'd to Rome in the time of his Exile But it seems it was not thought convenient he should declare himself till several Years after And though he had abandon'd the Worship of the Church of England it was accounted a heinous Crime to say he was a Roman-Catholick when every body knew that he was one and some were Fin'd in great Sums of Money for saying it King Charle's Conversion if we believe Huddleston the Priest was of an older Date But if true he either wanted Courage or thought it not his Interest to
declare himself in his Life-time If he had any design of introducing Popery he knew the Temper of the Nation too well to imagine it could be brought about in a short time or by such open and barefac'd Methods as his Brother was pleas'd afterwards to put in practice But the truth is King Charles was neither Bigot enough to any Religion nor lov'd his Ease so little as to embark in a Business that must at least have disturb'd his Quiet if not hazarded his Crown The Romish Emissaries knowing this were resolv'd to make sure of one of the Brothers And the Duke was now the Rising Sun King Charles having no prospect of Issue by the Queen It was not the Roman-Catholiâ—ks alone that began to pay him their Early Devotions there were others that came nothing short of them in their Addresses to him He had in the time of his Banishment and after the Restoration acquir'd the Reputation of being Brave and skill'd in the Art of War Flanders and the Ocean were the Theatres on which he had given unquestionable Proofs of both having Commanded the Spanish Horse in the one and the English Fleet on the other From a Prince thus possess'd of a Warlike Character and thus devoted to the See of Rome it was no wonder the Roman Catholicks expected and the Protestants fear'd some extraordinary Change in England if ever he should come to wear the Crown And therefore as it was the Interest of the first to have him upon the Throne so it was equally the Interest of the latter to exclude him from it It 's said King Charles came in at first to the Bill of Exclusion or seem'd to do so The Favourite Mistress was prevail'd with from secret Motives and Prospects of her own to concur with others in persuading him to abandon his Brother and waving the Duke's Right to accept of an Act of Parliament in his own favour like that made in the Reign of Henry VIII by which he should have a Power invested in him to dispose of the Crown at his Death under such Restrictions and Limitations as should be agreed on Whether any such Act was really intended it 's hard to determine but it 's certain such an Offer was made to King Charles with a Promise of a considerable Sum of Money towards the supplying his pressing Wants It 's likewise certain that King Charles seem'd willing to accept of it till it happen'd that a Foreign Court whose Interest it was to support the Duke of York struck up a Bargain with the King to give him more Money for refusing than had been offer'd him for consenting to the Bill of Exclusion Some time before the Popish Plot came upon the Stage King Charles had been prevail'd with to Marry the Eldest of his Nieces to the Prince of Orange as he did afterwards the Youngest to the Prince of Denmark The happiest Actions of his Life and by which he made a sufficient Attonement for all the Errors of his Reign It were Ingratitude to enquire too narrowly into the Motives that induc'd him to these Matches It 's enough to entail a lasting Honour on his Name that he did it and did it against the Advice of his Brother and in spight of all the Sollicitations that were made to him from Abroad to marry them to Princes of the Romish Religion The Parliament had in their view the Princess of Orange in the Bill of Exclusion and it was She and the Prince her Husband that were to have fill'd the Throne upon the Death of their Uncle But King Charles either not daring or not willing to consent to the Bill he dissolv'd both that and the next Parliament at Oxford merely to ward off the Blow that threaten'd his Brother After the Dissolution of the Oxford Parliament King Charles shew'd but little Inclination to call any more and was prevail'd with to enter into harsher Measures than hitherto he had taken and which seem'd contrary to his Natural Goodness and Temper The Charters of the City of London and other Corporations stood in the way of an Absolute Government and it was resolv'd to break through this Barrier In order to which Quo Warranto's were brought against them and in progress of time they were either surrendred by the Corporations themselves or vacated in Westminster-Hall by a Set of Iudges pickt out for that purpose And it was resolv'd thereby to make one of the Estates of Parliament depend entirely upon the Will and Nomination of the Prince While these Quo Warranto's were going on whole Peals of Anathema's were rung out against those Patriots that had stood up for the Liberties of their Countrey in the preceding Parliaments And it was look'd upon as a Crime against the State for any one to regret the approaching Fate of his Countrey Even the Holy Scriptures themselves were made a Stale for Arbitrary Power and the Laws which were given to the Iews as they were a Political State were now brought in upon every occasion to countenance the Designs of the Court. As if those Laws which were intended only to support the Political Government of the Iews were the real Foundation of the Christian Religion or that the Constitution of England was founded upon the Iewish Doctrine All which was not much for the Honour of those Gentlemen that broach'd that Notion This was a Time never to be forgot when to wish well to our Countrey was a Crime and when Heaven it self was rank'd upon our Enemies side by some that pretended to expound its Will In some places a new kind of Funeral Harangues came in fashion Our Laws our Liberties our Parliaments our Native Rights were to be buried but instead of dropping a Tear at their Funeral fulsom Panegyricks were made upon their Murtherers and Curses denounc'd against those that would have retriev'd them from Destruction All these Transactions were attended with the Publick Disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth The Disgrace of the Duke of Monmouth and its Consequences This Gentleman stood possess'd of all the Qualities requisite to gain the Love of the People and stir up the Jealousy of the Duke of York King Charles had heap'd Honours upon him and nothing pleas'd him so much as to see him Great He had been sent to Scotland in the Year 1678 to suppress an Insurrection which the Severity of Lauderdale's Administration had occasion'd where his Lenity towards a People made by Oppression mad gain'd him the ill will of a Predominant Party at Court The Zeal he shew'd some time after in the prosecution of the Popish Plot and his Friendships with some that were profess'd Enemies to the Duke concurr'd to his Fall Yet King Charles still continued underhand the same Tenderness for him though he was declar'd in Publick to be in Disgrace The Duke's Faction at home and a Foreign Interest abroad were too powerful for King Charles to grapple with even though the Fortune of a Favourite Son was at stake The more he was
depress'd by the Envy of his Uncle the higher he rose in the Affections of the People till the breaking out of what was call'd the Protestant Plot The Protestant Plot. overwhelm'd not only him but a whole Party with him This Plot was in some part a greater Mystery than the Popish Plot had been before and had more dismal Effects The shatter'd Remains of English Liberty were then attack'd on every side and some of the Noblest Blood in the Nation was offer'd up a Sacrifice to the Manes of Popish Martyrs and made to atone for the Bill of Exclusion Swearing came once more into Fashion and a New Evidence-Office was erected at Whitehall But whereas the Witnesses of the Popish Plot were brow-beaten and discourag'd those of the Protestant Plot were highly encourag'd and instead of Iudges and Iuries that might perhaps boggle at half-Evidence as it fell out in the Prosecution of the former care was taken in this to pick out such as should stick at nothing to serve a Turn It was by such Iudges and Iuries that the Lord Russel and Mr. Sidney fell and the cutting off those Two Noble Lives may be reckon'd among the first Triumphs of the Duke's Party in England It 's true King Charles seem'd inclin'd to pardon both the one and the other and the very day the Lord Russel was executed some Words escap'd him that show'd sufficiently his Irresolution in that matter But by this time he was too far gone to make a handsome Retreat on a sudden and there was observable ever after a sensible Change in his Temper for from an Easiness and Debonairness that was natural to him he came at length to treat men with Hard Names and upon some occasions to express a Severity in his Disposition that he had been ever averse to before The rest of that Reign was one continued Invasion upon the Rights of the People and the Nation seem'd unwilling now to contend for them any more King Charles notwithstanding his great Abilities and Fitness for business appear'd to be quite lull'd asleep with the Charms of a new swell'd-up Prerogative while some of our Neighbours were playing their Game to the Prejudice of England abroad and the Duke's Creatures were managing all things to their own mind at home Nature prevail'd upon King Charles at length and the shame of seeing himself impos'd upon by others far short of him in Parts and that the Court was anticipating his Death by their Addresses to his Brother as if he had been already King did help to awake him out of his Slumber and brought him to lay a Project for a mighty Change in the Affairs of England which probably might have made both him and the Nation happy If he had liv'd but a few Weeks longer Monmouth had been recall'd to Court the Duke of York had been sent beyond Sea and a New Parliament conven'd But what further was to follow must be buried with his Ashes there being nothing left us but bare Suspicions of what might have been This is certain his Death came opportunely for the Duke and in such a Manner and with such Circumstances as will be a Problem to Posterity whether he died a Natural Death or was hasten'd to his Grave by Treachery In so nice a Point as this is The Death of King 〈◊〉 II. it becomes one that would write Impartially to set down with the exactest Fidelity every thing of Moment of either side that may determine the Reader in his Judgment without venturing to give his own This Rule I have set to my self in laying down the following Particulars It 's confest The Suspicions about the Manner of it consider'd few Princes come to dye a sudden Death but the World is apt to attribute it to Foul Play especially if attended with unusual Circumstances in the Time and Manner of it King Charles had a healthful Constitution beyond most men and took great care to preserve it by Diet and Exercise which naturally promise a long Life And it was more extraordinary to see such a Man dye before Threescore than another in the Bloom of Youth Now if he died a Natural Death it 's agreed by all that it must have been an Apoplexy This Disease seizes all the Vital Faculties at once and yet for the most part does not only give some short Warnings of its Approach by unusual Affections of the Head but many times is occasion'd by some evident preceding Cause In King Charles's Case there appear'd no visible Cause either near or remote to which with any certainty of Reason his Disease could be ascrib'd and the Forerunners of it were rather to be found in the Stomach and Bowels than in the Head For after he was aâ—bed he was over-heard to groan most of the Night And both then and next Morning before he fell into the Fit he complain'd first of a heavy Oppression in his Stomach and about his Heart and afterwards of a sharp Pain in those Parts all which Symptoms had but little relation to an Apoplexy That Morning there appear'd to every body about him a Ghastliness and Paleness in his Looks And when he sat down to be shav'd just before the Fit took him he could not sit straight as he us'd to do but continued in a stooping Posture with his Hand upon his Stomach till the Fit came After he had been brought out of it by opening a Vein he complain'd of a Racking Pain in his Stomach and of no Indisposition any where else And during the whole Time of his Sickness and even when he seem'd most Insensible he was observ'd to lay his Hand for the most part upon his Stomach in a moaning Posture and continued so to his Death And so violent was the Pain that when all hopes were gone the Physicians were desir'd to use all their Art to procure him an Easy Death So much for the Distemper it self There remains some things to be taken notice of that fell out before and after his Death A few days before he was taken ill King Charles being in Company where the present Posture of Affairs was discours'd of there escap'd him some warm Expressions about the uneasy Circumstances he was plung'd into and the ill Measures had been given him And how in a certain particular Affair he was pleas'd to mention he had been abus'd Adding in some Passion That if he liv'd but a Month longer he would find a way to make himself easy for the rest of his Life This Passage was whisper'd abroad next day and the Rumour of recalling the Duke of Monmouth and sending away the Duke of York came to take Air about the same time Indeed all things were making ready to put the latter in execution and there is reason to believe the King had intimated as much to the Duke himself for some of his Richest Furniture was put up and his chief Servants order'd to be in a readiness to attend their Master upon an Hour's warning and
to the Character of one of the Greatest Genius's that ever sat upon a Throne if he had not sullied those Excellent Parts with the soft Pleasures of Ease and had not entertain'd a Fatal Friendship that was incompatible with the Interest of England His Religion was Deism or rather that which is call'd so And if in his Exile or at his Death he went into that of Rome the first was to be imputed to a Complaisance for the Company he was then oblig'd to keep and the last to a lazy Diffidence in all other Religions upon a Review of his past Life and the near Approach of an uncertain State His Person was Tall and well-made his Constitution Vigorous and Healthy and it 's hard to determine whether he took more pains to preserve it by Diet and Exercise or to impair it by Excess in his Pleasures In Health he was a great Pretender to Physick and Encourager of Quacks by whom he was often cheated of considerable Sums of Money for their pretended Secrets But whenever he was indispos'd he consulted his Physicians and depended on their Skill only His Face was compos'd of harsh Features difficult to be trac'd with the Pencil yet in the main it was agreeable and he had a Noble Majestick Mien In contradiction to all the common receiv'd Rules of Physiognomy he was Merciful Good-natur'd and in the last Twenty four Years of his Life Fortunate if to succeed in most of his Designs may be call'd so Never Prince lov'd Ceremony less or despis'd the Pageantry of a Crown more yet he was Master of something in his Person and Aspect that commanded both Love and Veneration at once He was a great Votary to Love and yet the easiest and most unconcern'd Rival He was for the most part not very nice in the choice of his Mistresses and seldom possess'd of their First Favours yet would sacrifice all to please them and upon every Caprice of theirs denied himself the use of his Reason and acted contrary to his Interest He was a Respectful Civil Husband a Fond Father a Kind Brother an Easy Enemy but none of the Firmest or most Grateful Friends Bountiful by Starts one day lavish to his Servants the next leaving them to starve Glad to win a little Money at Play and impatient to lose but the thousandth part of what within an hour after he would throw away in gross He seem'd to have had nothing of Jealousy in his Nature neither in Matters of Love nor Power He bore patiently Rivals in the one and Competitors in the other otherwise he would not have contributed to a Foreign Greatness at Sea nor given his Brother so uncontroul'd a share in the Government Though his Understanding was quick and lively with a vast Compass of Thought yet he would submit his Judgment in greatest Matters to others of much inferior Parts And as he had an extraordinary Share of Wit himself so he lov'd it in others even when pointed against his own Faults and Mismanagements He had read but little yet he had a good Taste of Learning and would reason nicely upon most Sciences The Mechanicks were one of his peculiar Talents especially the Art of building and working of Ships which no body understood better nor if he had liv'd would have carried it farther He had a strong Laconick way of Expression and a Gentile Easy and Polite way of Writing And when he had a mind to lay aside the King which he often did in select Companies of his own there were a thousand irresistible Charms in his Conversation He lov'd Money only to spend it And would privately accept of a small Sum paid to himself in lieu of a far greater to be paid into the Exchequer He lov'd not Busiâ—â—â—s and sought every occasion to avoid it which was one reason that he past so much of his time with his Mistresses Yet when Necessity call'd him none of his Council could reason more closely upon Matters of State and he would often by fits outdo his Ministers in Application and Diligence No Age produc'd a greater Master in the Art of Dissimulation and yet no man was less upon his Guard or sooner deceiv'd in the Sincerity of others If he had any one fix'd Maxim of Government it was to play one Party against another to be thereby the more Master of both And no Prince understood better how to shift hands upon every Change of the Scene To sum up his Character he was dextrous in all the Arts of Insinuation and had acquir'd so great an Ascendant over the Affections of his People in spite of all the unhappy Measures he had taken that it may in some sense be said He died opportunely for England since if he had liv'd it 's probable we might in compliance with him have complimented our selves out of all the Remains of Liberty if he had had but a mind to be Master of them which it 's but Charity to believe he had not at least immediately before his Death There is one thing more that may help to make up the Character of this Prince That in the Liâ—es and Shape of his Face all but the Teeth he had a great Resemblance of the Ancient Bustoes and Statues we have of the Emperor Tiberius Insomuch that one of the most Learned Men of this Age told me That walking in the Furnesian Gardens at Rome with a Noble Italian that had been at the Court of England he took notice of this Resemblance in an Antique Statue of Tiberius and asking the Italian if he remembred any Prince he had seen that resembled it the other immediately nam'd King Charles As there was a great Likeness betwixt these Two Princes in their Faces there was likewise some in their Maxims of Government the Time of their Age in which they came to govern the Length of their Reigns and the Suspicions about the manner of their Death And indeed excepting Tiberius's Temper his Cruelty Jealousy and unnatural Lusts any one that 's acquainted with both their Stories will easily find something of a Parallel betwixt them Nor is this any Reflection upon the Memory of King Charles for except in what I nam'd Tiberius may be reckon'd among the Wisest and the Bravest of those that wore the Imperial Purple Upon King Charles's Death The Reign of King Iames II. Iames Duke of York mounted the Throne by the Name of King Iames the Second All the former Heats and Animosities against him and even the very Memory of a Bill of Exclusion seem'd to be now quite forgot amidst the loud Acclamations of his People at his Accession to the Crown He had many Years of Experience when he came to it and few of his Predecessors could boast of the like Advantages In most of the Transactions of the preceding Reign he had born a considerable Share as to Action but much more as to Counsel and Influence In the Post of Lord High Admiral of England he had large opportunities to be
time Monmouth was absconding and when there was a Proclamation out for apprehending him King Charles not only knew where he was and sent him Messages every day but saw him several times in private When the Duke's Anger was a little appeas'd by the Sacrifices that were offer'd up to it King Charles thought it was then time to have his Son once again about him In order to which he so manag'd the matter that Monmouth should owe the Favour to the Duke of York and that his Pardon should be granted merely at the Duke's Intercession The Night he appear'd first at Court upon his Reconciliation King Charles was so little Master of himself that he could not dissemble a mighty Joy in his Countenance and in every thing he did or said Insomuch that it was the publick Talk about Town and strongly insinuated to the Duke of York That all the King 's former Proceedings against the Duke of Monmouth were but Grimace and that his Royal Highness being made the Instrument of the Reconciliation was all but a Trick put upon him This so far incens'd the Duke that he never rested till King Charles was prevail'd with to demand of Monmouth the Publication of a Paper which he had sign'd under Trust and with an Assurance given him that it should never be made publick which the Party about the Duke knew Monmouth would not consent to as being against his Honour They were not mistaken for Monmouth refus'd it and upon his Refusal was disgrac'd once again King Charles's Kindness ended not here but attended him to Holland whither he was oblig'd to retire He found secret means to furnish him with Money and sent him Messages from time to time and sometimes writ to him with his own Hand He could not bear any hard thing to be said of him in his absence and some officious Courtiers found to their Cost that it was not the way to make their Fortune to aggravate Monmouth's Crimes Nor did the King take any thing more kindly than the Noble Reception Monmouth receiv'd from a Prince of his Blood in a Foreign Countrey when he was forc'd to abandon his own King Charles tir'd out at last with the uncontroul'd Hardships that were every day put upon him by the Duke's Creatures and asham'd to see his own Lustre obscur'd and his Power lessen'd by a Party that had rais'd themselves upon Monmouth's Ruin he resolv'd to shift the Scene and in order to make himself easy for the rest of his Life as he express'd it he determin'd to send away the Duke of York and recall the Duke of Monmouth April was the time agreed on to put this Resolution in practice but there is little left us by which we can judge whether Monmouth was to be recall'd to Court by a formal Invitation of the King 's or whether King Charles's usual Thread of Dissimulation was to be spun out to that length that Monmouth was to Land with an Arm'd Force The first seems more probable if it were but for what he has writ himself in the Pocket-Book which there will be occasion to mention hereafter It 's true the last looks more of a piece with the rest of his Behaviour towards his Brother and Son and more agreeable to his Natural Biass which seldom inclin'd him to chuse the High Road when there could possibly be found a By-Path to tread in But Death put a sudden stop to all King Charles's Designs and Monmouth's Hopes and at the same time warded off a Blow that threaten'd the Duke of York so near And Monmouth being just ready to rise higher than ever was left by all his good Stars which set with that Royal Sun that gave them Birth and Heat I would not be mistaken here as if I were of opinion that in this New Turn that was upon the Anvil immediately before the Death of King Charles there was any Design of altering the Succession or bringing Monmouth within the View of a Crown The whole Course of King Charles's Actions does sufficiently contradict any such thought And though Monmouth was afterwards prevail'd with by a headstrong Party about him to assume the Title of King yet it's next to a Certainty that all that was originally aim'd at by King Charles and the Duke of Monmouth was only to weaken the Duke of York's Faction which was then become insupportable by playing Monmouth's Party against it which was consistent with the only fix'd Maxim of Government in that Reign That when any one Party grew too strong to throw in the Royal Weight into the lightest Scale Monmouth was sufficiently stunn'd with this unexpected Change in his Fortune by the Death of King Charles But his great Courage and vain Confidence in a Popular Affection and Assistance bore him up against all Difficulties and prompted him on to attempt by Force of Arms what was never design'd him by King Charles With Three small Ships and about an Hundred and fifty Men the Duke landed in the West of England the Parliament sitting A Romantick kind of Invasion and scarce parallel'd in History Yet with this Handful of Men and the common People that join'd him without Arms Provisions Martial Discipline Money or any one Place of Strength to retire to in case of Accidents did this Brave Unfortunate Man bid fair for a Crown And if his Ill Fate had not plac'd a Battalion of Dumbarton's Regiment in his way he had in all probability surpriz'd the King's Army in their Camp and perhaps at that single Blow decided the Fortune of England for once Yet this Attempt may be said to have pav'd the Way for a Nobler Change in the Throne by leaving King Iames at liberty through this Success to act without Controul what at length tumbled him down Monmouth paid the Price of his Rebellion with his Blood And King Iames in ordering him to be brought into his Presence under the Sentence of Death was pleas'd to make one Exception against a General Rule observ'd inviolably among Kings Never to allow a Criminal under the Sentence of Death the sight of his Prince's Face without a design to pardon him There is nothing deliver'd concerning this Unfortunate Gentleman but what I have unquestionable Grounds for and which some Persons yet alive of the First Quality know to be true But of the most things above mention'd there is an infallible Proof extant under Monmouth's own Hand in a little Pocket-Book which was taken with him and deliver'd to King Iames which by an Accident is needless to mention here I had leave to copy and did it in part A great many dark Passages there are in it and some clear enough that shall be eternally buried for me And perhaps it had been for King Iames's Honour to have committed them to the Flames as Iulius Caesar is said to have done upon a like occasion All the use that shall be made of it Appendix Numb 14. is only to give in the Appendix some few Passages out of it
that refer to this Subject and confirm what has been above related Monmouth seem'd to be born for a better Fate Monmouths Character for the first part of his Life was all Sunshine though the rest was clouded He was Brave Generous Affable and extremely Handsome Constant in his Friendships just to his Word and an utter Enemy to all sort of Cruelty He was easy in his Nature but fond of Popular Applause which led him insensibly into all his Misfortunes But whatever might be the hidden Designs of some working Heads he embark'd with his own were Noble and chiefly aim'd at the good of his Countrey though he was mistaken in the means to attain it Ambitious he was but not to the degree of aspiring to the Crown till after his Landing in the West and even then he was rather Passive than Active in assuming the Title of King It was Importunity alone that previal'd with him to make that Step and he was inflexible till it was told him That the only way to provide against the Ruin of those that should come into his Assistance in case he fail'd in the Attempt was to declare himself King that they might be shelter'd by the Statute made in the Reign of Henry VII in favour of those that should obey a King de Facto Those that advis'd him had different Ends in it Some to render the Breach betwixt King Iames and him irreconcilable and thereby pave a way for a Commonwealth in playing them against one another Others to prevent a possibility of his being reconcil'd to King Iames by the merit of delivering up those that should join him which was a Thought unworthy of that nice Sincerity he had shown in all the former Conduct of his Life To confirm this I remember to have heard Rumbold say openly at his Execution in Scotland upon the account of Argyle's Invasion That Monmouth had broke his Word with them in declaring himself King And I have reason to know that he was so far from a Design upon the Crown before he left Holland that it was not without great difficulty he was persuaded to come over at all And that upon King Charles's Death he express'd a firm Resolution to make no such Attempt but to live a retir'd Life without giving King Iames any disturbance In his latter Years he us'd to complain of the little Care had been taken of his Education and in his Disgrace endeavour'd to make up that Want by applying himself to Study in which he made in a short time no inconsiderable Progress He took the occasion of his Afflictions to inform his Mind and recollect and amend the Errors of Youth which it was not strange he should be tainted with being bred up in all the Pleasures of a Luxurious Court What sedate Thoughts his Retirement brought him to and which is in a great part hitherto a Secret how little Inclination he had to make a Bustle in the World to give it in his own Words is best express'd in a Letter of his own to one that afterwards lost his Life in his Quarrel Which though without a Date appears to be writ after King Charles's Death and is plac'd in the Appendix Appendix Numb 15. which was deliver'd me by a Gentleman yet alive that was intrusted with the Key of that and other Letters that were writ at that time Mr. Spence Secretary to the late Ear of Argyle Which rather than discover he chose to submit himself to be thrice cruelly tortur'd all which he bore with a Courage worthy of the Ancient Romans The Duke of Monmouth when he was brought Prisoner to King Iames's Presence made the humblest Submissions for his Life and it 's a Mystery what could move King Iames to see him when he had no mind to pardon him But the Manner of his Death Three Days after did more than acquit him of any Meanness of Spirit in desiring to live since he died with the greatest Constancy and Tranquility of Mind and such as became a Christian a Philosopher and a Soldier The Storm being thus blown over that threatn'd his Crown King Iames thought it time to cast off the Mask and to act without disguise what till then he had in some part endeavour'd to dissemble This Parliament had express'd a more than ordinary Zeal in Attainting Monmouth and had readily granted him a competent supply to suppress that Rebellion Not only so but to testify the Confidence they had in his Promises mention'd in the former Speeches the House of Commons Pass'd a Vote nemine contradicente That they did acquiesce and intirely rely and rest wholly satisfied on His Majestyâ—s Gracious Word and repeated Declarations to support and defend the Religion of the Church of England as it is now by Law Establish'd which was dearer to them than their Lives So that they had reason to expect some suitable Returns to all this Kindness and Confidence on their sides But they were mistaken for King Iames began to talk to them in a quite other strain than he had done before And in another Speech from the Throne gave them to understand by a plain Insinuation That he was now Master and that for the future they must expect to be govern'd not by the known Laws of the Land but by his own sole Will and Pleasure No part of the English Constitution was in it self more sacred or better secur'd by Law then That by which Roman Catholicks were declar'd incapable of Places of Trust either Civil or Military in the Government And he himself when Duke of York was forc'd by the Test-Act to lay down his Office of Lord High-Admiral even at a time when he had not publickly own'd his Reconciliation to the Church of Rome But he did what lay in his power to break down this Barrier upon Monmouth ' s Defeat And in a Speech to his Parliament told them That after the Storm that seem'd to be coming when he parted with them last he was glad to meet them again in so great Peace and Quietness But when he reflected what an inconsiderable number of Men began the late Rebellion and how long they carry'd it on without any Opposition He hop'd ev'ry body was convinc'd that the Militia was not sufficient for such Occasions but that nothing but a good Force of Disciplin'd Troops was sufficient to defend Vs from Insults at Home and Abroad And therefore he had increas'd the number of Standing Forces to what they were K. Iames's Speech to the Parment after Monmouth's defeat Appendix Numb 16. And demanded a supply to support the Charge of them which he did not doubt they would comply with Then as the main End of his Speech and to let them know what he was positively resolv'd to do He adds Let no man take Exception that there are some Officers in the Army not qualified according to the late Test for their Employment The Gentlemen I must tell you are most of them well known to
Error too late and found they had been us'd but as Tools to prevent the Dissenters from uniting with the Church of England whenever the common Danger should come to threaten both This Toleration could not subsist K. Iames grants a Toleration of Religion being contrary to the Establish'd Laws of the Realm unless a new Monster was introduc'd to give it life under the Name of a Dispensing Power When King Iames came to assume to himself this Power as his Prerogative and Right he unhindg'd the Constitution all at once for to Dispense with Laws already made is as much a part of the Legislature as the making of new ones And therefore in aarogating to himself such a Dispensing Power he invaded the very Essence of the English Constitution by which the Legislature is lodg'd in King Lords and Commons and every one of them has a Negative upon the other two Charles II. was the first King of England that ever aim'd at any thing like a Dispensing Power In the Year 1662. he was prevail'd upon for some Reasons of State to issue out a Proclamation dispensing with some few things that related to the Act of Vniformity but without the least regard to Roman-Catholicks And though in his Speech to the Parliament upon that occasion he did in a manner acknowledge that he had no such Power in saying That if the Dissenters would demean themselves peaceably and modestly he could heartily wish he had such a Power of Indulgence to use upon occasion Yet the Parliament was so jealous of this Innovation that they presented the King with an Address against the Proclamation and plainly told him That he had no Power to dispense with the Laws without an Act of Parliament King Charles made another Attempt of the like nature in the Year 1672 and in a Speech to Both Houses did mention his Declaration of Indulgence and acquainted them with the Reasons that induc'd him to it telling them withal how little the Roman Catholicks would be the better for it Upon which the House of Commons made an Address to him for recalling this Declaration Wherein they plainly told him That in claiming a Power to dispense with Penal Laws his Majesty had been very much misinform'd since no such Power was ever claim'd or exercis'd by any of his Predecessors and if it should be admitted might tend to the interrupting of the free course of the Laws and altering the Legislative Power which has always been acknowledg'd to reside in his Majesty and his Two Houses of Parliament King Charles was so far satisfied in the matter contain'd in this Address that he immediately thereupon cancell'd his Declaration of Indulgence and order'd the Seal to be torn off and acquainted both Houses That he had done so with this further Declaration which was enter'd upon Record in the House of Lords That it should never be drawn into Example or Consequence The next that attempted such a Dispensing Power though of a far larger Extent was King Iames as has been said And how any thing that look'd that way was relish'd by the House of Commons does appear by their Address against the Roman Catholick Officers which also has been mention'd It was not enough for King Iames to assume this Dispensing Power And assumes a dispensing Power and to act by it but such was the Misery and hard Fate of England that the Party about the King would hâ—ve had us believe That a Power in the King to dispense wiâ—h Laws was Law To maintain this Monstrous Position there were not only Mercenary Pens set a-work but a Set of Iudges found out that to their Eternal Reproach did all was possible for them to Compliment the King with the Liberties of their Countrey For these Gentlemen gave it for Law That the Laws of England are the King's Laws That therefore it 's an incident inseparable Prerogative of the Kings of England as of all other Sovereign Princes to dispense with all Penal Laws in particular Cases and upon particular necâ—ssary Reasons That of those Reasons and Necessities the King is the sole Iudge And which is a Consequent thereupon That this is not a Trust invested in or granted to the King but the Ancient Remains of the Sovereign Power of the Kings of England which never was yet taken from them nor can be Thus were we fallen under the greatest Misfortune that can possibly happen to a Nation To have our Laws and Constitution trampled upon under colour of Law And those very Men whose Office it was to support them became now the Betrayers of them to the Will of the Prince This mighty Point being gain'd or rather forc'd upon us the Roman-Catholicks were not wanting to make the best use of it for themselves The free and open Exercise of their Religion was set up every where and Jesuit Schools and Seminaries erected in the most considerable Towns The Church of England had now but a Precarious Title to the National Church and Romish Candidates had swallow'd up its Preferments and Dignities already in their Hopes Romish Bishops were publickly Consecrated in the Royal Chappel and dispatch'd down to exercise their Episcopal Function in their respective Diocesses Their Pastoral Letters directed to the Lay-Catholicks of England were openly dispers'd up and down and printed by the King 's own Printer with Publick License The Regular Clergy appear'd in their Habits in Whitehall and St. Iames's and made no scruple to tell the Protestants They hop'd in a little time to walk in Procession through Cheapside A mighty Harvest of New Converts was expected and that Labourers might not be wanting Shoals of Priests and Regulars were sent over from beyond Sea to reap it The only Step to Preferment was to be of the King's Religion And to preach against the Errors of Rome was the height of Disloyalty because forsooth it tended to alienate the Subjects Affections from the King An Order was directed to the Protestant Bishops about Preaching which was upon the matter forbidding them to defend their Religion in the Pulpit when it was at the same time attack'd by the Romish Priests with all the Vigor they were capable of both in their Sermons and Books This Order was taken from a Precdent in Queen Mary's time for the first Step she made to introduce Popery notwithstanding her Promises to the Gentlemen of Suffolk and Norfolk to the contrary upon their appearing first of any for her Interest upon the Death of her Brother was to issue out a Proclamation forbidding the Preaching upon controverted Points of Religion for fear it was said of raising Animosities among the people But notwithstanding this insnaring Letter of K. Iames's the Clergy of the Church of England were not wanting in their Duty For to their Immortal Honour they did more to vindicate the Doctrine of their own Church and expose the Errors of the Church of Rome both in their Sermons and Writings than ever had been done either at Home or Abroad since
the Reformation and in such a Stile and with such an Inimitable Force of Reasoning as will be a Standard of Writing to succeeding Ages To hasten on the Project against the Establish'd Church a new Court of Inquisition was erected under the Name of a Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs And to blind the people there were some Bishops of the Church of England nam'd Commissioners whereof one refus'd to act from the beginning and the other excus'd himself after he came to see where the Design of it was levell'd This Commission was another manifest Violation of the Laws and against an express Act of Parliament And as if that had not been enough to mortify the Church of England there were some Roman Catholicks appointed Commissioners and consequently the Enemies of the Protestant Religion were become the Judges and Directors of a Protestant Church in its Doctrine and Discipline These Commissioners thought fit to begin the Exercise of their New Power with the Suspension of Dr. Compton The Suspension of the Bishop of Londâ—n Bishop of London This Noble Prelate by a Conduct worthy of his Birth and Station in the Church had acquir'd the Love and Esteem of all the Protestant Churches at home and abroad and was for that reason the Mark of the Envy and Hatred of the Romish Party at Court They had waited for an occasion to enoble their Ecclesiastical Commission with such an Illustrious Sacrifice and such an occasion was rather taken than given in the Business of Dr. Sharp now Archbishop of York The Priests about the King knowing how much it was their Interest that the Protestant Clergy should not have leave to refute the Errors of the Church of Rome in their Sermons The Occasion of it had advis'd him to send to the Bishops the ensnaring Letter or Order before mention'd containing Directions about Preaâ—hers The Learned Dr. Sharp taking occasion in some of his Sermons to vindicate the Doctrine of the Church of England in opposition to Popery this was in the Court-Dialect understood to be the endeavouring to beget in the minds of his Hearers an ill opinion of the King and his Government by insinuating Fears and Iealousies to dispose them to Discontent and to lead them into Disobedience and Rebellion and consequently a Contempt of the said Order about Preachers Whereupon King Iames sent a Letter to the Bishop of London containing an Order to suspend Dr. Sharp from Preaching in any Parish-Church or Chappel in his Diocess until the Doctor had given Satisfaction and his Majesty's further Pleasure should be known The Bishop of London perceiving what was aim'd at in this Letter endeavour'd all that was possible to divert the Storm that threaten'd him and the Church of England through his sides He writ a Submissive Letter to the Secretary of State to be communicated to the King setting forth That he thought it his Duty to obey his Majesty in whatever Commands he laid upon him that he could perform with a safe Conscience But in this he was oblig'd to proceed according to Law and as a Iudge And by the Law no Iudge condemns a man before he has knowledge of the Cause and has cited the Party That however he had acquainted Dr. Sharp with his Majesty's Displeasure whom he found so ready to give all reasonable Satisfaction that he had made him the Bearer of that Letter Together with this Letter from the Bishop of London Dr. Sharp carried with him a Petition to the King in his own Name shewing That ever since his Majesty was pleas'd to give notice of his Displeasure against him he had forborn the Publick Exercise of his Function And as he had endeavour'd to do the best Service he could to his Majesty and his late Brother in his Station so he had not vented now in the Pulpit any thing tending to Faction or Schism And therefore prayed his Majesty would be pleas'd to lay aside his Displeasure conceiv'd against him and restore him to that Favour which the rest of the Clergy enjoy'd All this Submission was to no purpose Nothing would satisfy the Party but a Revenge upon the Bishop of London for his Exemplary Zeal for the Protestant Interest and this Affair of Dr. Sharp's was made use of as a handle to mortify him and in his Person the whole Body of the Clergy The Bishop was Cited before the Ecclesiastical Commission for not suspending Dr. Sharp according to the King's Order and treated by their Chair-man at his Appearance in a manner unworthy of his Station and Quality All the Defence he could make and his Plea to the Jurisdiction and Legality of the Court which was good beyond all contradiction did signify nothing These New Inquisitors being resolv'd to stick at nothing that might please the Party that set them at work did by their Definitive Sentence declare decree and pronounce That the Bishop of London should for his Disobedience and Contempt be suspended during his Majesty's Pleasure And accordingly was suspended with a peremptory Admonition To abstain from the Function and Execution of his Episcopal Office and other Ecclesiastical Iurisdictions during the said Suspension under the pain of Deprivation The Proceedings against the President and Fellows of Magdalene College and Removal from his Bishoprick The next that felt the weight of this Ecclesiastical Commission were the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen's College in Oxford The two chief Seats of Learning the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge stood in the way of the Grand Design and the Party was impatient to get footing there Magdalen College is one of the Noblest Foundations that perhaps was ever erected to Learning in the World and therefore it was no wonder it was one of the first Marks that was shot at This Illustrious Society from repeated Grants of Kings ratified in Parliament and from their own Statutes was in an uninterrupted Possession of a Right to Elect their own President That Place being vacant by the Death of Dr. Clark a Day was appointed by the Vice-President and Fellows to proceed to the Election of another to fill up the Vacancy But before the day of Election came Charnock one of the Fellows who was since executed for the late Plot to Assassinate his present Majesty brought them a Mandate from King Iames to elect one Fermer into the Place a Man of an Ill Reputation who had promis'd to declare himself Roman Catholick and was altogether uncapable of the Office by the Statutes of the College This Mandate the Vice-President and Fellows receiv'd with all decent Respect and sent their humble Address to the King representing to his Majesty That Fermer was a Person in several respects incapable of that Office according to their Founders Statutes And therefore did earnestly beseech his Majesty either to leave them to the discharge of their Duty and Consciences according to his Majesty's late Gracious Declaration and their Founders Statutes or else to recommend to them such a Person who
might be more serviceable to his Majesty and the College Notwithstanding this humble and submissive Address King Iames signified his Pleasure to them That he expected to be obey'd Upon which the Fellows being oblig'd by the Statutes of their Society to which they were sworn not to delay the Election longer than such a day and Fermer being a Person they could not chuse without incurring the Sin of Perjury they proceeded to Election and chose Dr. Hough now Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry their President Hereupon the New President and Fellows were cited before the Ecclesiastical Commission for disobeying the King's Mandate And notwithstanding they made it appear by their Answer plac'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 19. That they could not comply with that Mandate without Breach of their Oath and that there was no room left for the King to dispense with that Oath because in the Oath it self they were sworn not to make use of any such Dispensation nor in any sort consent thereto Yet against all Law the Ecclesiastical Commissioners did by their Sentence deprive Dr. Hough of his Presidentship and suspended two of the Fellows from their Fellowships While the King at the same time Inhibited the College to elect or admit any person whatsoever into any Fellowship or any other Place or Office in the said College till his further Pleasure The Court finding by this time that Fermer was one of so profligate a Life that though he had promis'd to declare himself Roman-Catholick upon his Promotion to that place they began to be asham'd of him And therefore instead of insisting on the former Mandamus in his favour there was another granted in favour of Dr. Parker then Bishop of Oxford one of the Creatures of the Court and who they knew would stick at nothing to serve a Turn The Place of President being already in a Legal manner fill'd up by the Election of Dr. Hough which though it had not been yet the Bishop of Oxford was likewise incapable by the Statutes of the College of being elected The Fellows did humbly offer a very pathetick Petition to his Majesty mention'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 20. in which they set forth how inexpressible an Affliction it was to them to find themselves reduc'd to such an extremity that either they must disobey his Majesty's Commands contrary to their Inclinations and that constant course of Loyalty which they had ever shew'd hithertâ— upon all occasions or else break their Founders Statutes and deliberately perjure themselves Then they mention'd the Statutes and the Oaths that every one of them had taken at their Admission into their Fellowships and concluded with an humble Prayer to his Majesty To give them leave to lay their Case and Themselves at his Majesty's Royal Feet earnestly beseeching his Sacred Majesty to extend to them his humble Petitioners that Grace and Tenderness which he had vouchsaf'd to all his other Subjects All this Submission was in vain For the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by their final Decree and Sentence depriv'd and expell'd from their Fellowships all the Fellows of Magdalen College but Three that had complied with Breach of Oath being Twenty five in number And to push their Injustice yet further they did by another Sentence decree and declare That Dr. Hough who had been depriv'd before and the said Twenty five Fellows should be incapable of receiving or being admitted into any Ecclesiastical Dignity Benefice or Promotion And such of them who were not yet in Holy Orders they adjudg'd incapable of receiving or being admitted into the same Thus by a Decree of an Illegal Court were a Set of Worthy and Learned Men turn'd out of their Freeholds merely for not obeying an Arbitrary Command which was directly against their Consciences And thus was King Iames prevail'd with by a Headstrong Party to assume a Power not only to dispense with Laws but to make void Oaths The first Declaration for Liberty of Conscience was not thought a sufficient Stretch of Power The Second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and therefore King Iames issued out another of a much higher Strain in which the Roman-Catholicks were chiefly included and indeed it was for their sake alone it was granted To render the Church of England accessary to their own Ruin The Order of Council upon it there was an Order of Council made upon the latter commanding it to be read at the usual times of Divine Service in all Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdom and ordering the Bishops to cause it to be sent and distributed throughout their several and respective Diocesses to be read accordingly The Clergy of the Church of England had reason to take it for the greatest Hardship and Oppression that could be put upon them to be commanded to read from their Pulpits a Declaration they knew to be against Law and which in its Nature and Design was levell'd against their own Interest and that of their Religion Some of them through Fear or Mistake and others to make their Court complied but the Generality refus'd to obey so unjust a Command The Romish Party had their Ends in it for their Refusal laid them open to the severe Lashes of the Ecclesiastical Commission and accordingly every one that had not read the Declaration in their Churches were order'd to be prosecuted before that inexorable Tribunal where they were infallibly to expect to be depriv'd And so most of the Benefices in England must have been made vacant for a new kind of Incumbents But the Scene chang'd before all this could be brought about For King Iames urg'd on by his Fate and by a restless Party about him came at this time to level a Blow against the Archbishop of Canterbury and Six of his Suffragan Bishops that awaken'd the People of England to shake off their Chains and implore Foreign Assistance to retrieve the dying Liberties of their Countrey These Seven Bishops being sensible The Affair of the Seven Bishops as most of the Nation was of what was originally aim'd at in these two Declarations for Liberty of Conscience did consult together about the humblest manner to lay before King Iames the Reasons why they could not comply with the Order of Council Having got leave to attend him they deliver'd to him with the greatest Submission a Petition in behalf of themselves and their absent Brethren and in the name of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses humbly representing That their unwillingness did not proceed from any want of Duty and Obedience to his Majesty nor from any want of due Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom they were willing to come to such a Temper as should be thought fit when that Matter should be consider'd in Parliament and Convocation But among a great many other Considerations from this especially Because That Declaration was founded upon such a Dispensing Power as had been often declar'd Illegal in Parliament and was a matter of
so great moment and consequence to the whole Nation that they could not in Prudence Honour or Conscience so far make themselves Parties to it as the distribution of it all over the Kingdom and the solemn Publication of it even in Gods House and in the Time of his Divine Service must amount to in common and reasonable Construction Therefore did humbly and earnestly beseech his Majesty That he would be graciously pleas'd not to insist upon their Distributing and Reading the said Declaration This Petition tho the humblest that could be and deliver'd by Six of them to the King alone in his Closet was so highly resented that the Six Bishops that presented it and the Archbishop of Canterbury that writ it but was not present at its delivery were committed Prisoners to the Tower They were a few days after brought to the King-Bench Bar and Indicted of a High Misdemeanor for having falsly unlawfuly maliciously seditiously and scandalously fram'd compos'd and writ a false malicious pernicious and seditious Libel concerning the King and his Royal Declaration for Liberty of Conscience under the pretence of a Petition And that they had publish'd the same in presence of the King There was a great Appearance at this Trial and it was a Leading Case for upon it depended in a great measure the Fate of the rest of the Clergy of the Church of England It lasted long and in the end the Seven Bishops were Acquitted with the Acclamations of all but the Court-Party There were two things very remarkable in this Trial The Dispensing Power was learnedly and boldly argued against by the Counsel for the Bishops and demonstrated by invincible Arguments to be an open Violation of the Laws and Constitution of the Kingdom So that in one of the greatest Auditories that was ever seen in Westminster-Hall and upon hearing one of the most Solemn Causes that was ever Tried at the Kings-Bench-Bar King Iames had the Mortification to see his new-assum'd Prerogative baffled and its Illegality expos'd to the World The other thing observable upon this Trial was That the Tables were so far turn'd that some that had largely contributed to the Enslaving their Countrey with false Notions of Law were now of another Opinion While at the same time others that had stood up for the Liberty of their Countrey in two successive Parliaments and had suffer'd upon that account did now as much endeavour to stretch the Prerogative beyond its just Limits as they had oppos'd it before So hard it is for Mankind to be in all times and upon all turns constant to themselves The News of the Bishops being acquitted was receiv'd with the highest Expressions of Joy throughout the whole Kingdom Nor could the King 's own Presence prevent his Army that was then encamp'd at Hounslow-Heath from mixing their loud Acclamations with the rest This last Mortification might have prevented his Fate if his Ears had been open to any but a Hot Party that were positively resolv'd to push for all cost what it would And it was easily seen by the Soldiers Behaviour upon this occasion How impossible it is to debauch an English Army from their Love to their Countrey and their Religion While the Bishops were in the Tower the Roman-Catholicks had their Hope 's â—rown'd with the Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales The Birth of a pretended Prince of Wales The fears of a Protestant Successor had been the only Allay that render'd their Prosperity less perfect Now the happiness of having an Heir to the Crown to be bred up in their own Religion quash'd all those Fears and atonâ—d for the Uncertainty of the King's Life It was so much their Interest to have one and there were so many Circumstances that seem'd to render his Birth suspicious that the Nation in general were inclinable to believe that this was the last Effort of the Party to accomplish our Ruin All things seem'd now to conspire towards it A new Parliament design'd and to what End There was only a Parliament wanting to ratify and approve all the Illegal Steps that had been made which was to be done effectually by taking off the Penal Laws and Test the two chief Barriers of our Religion To obtain such a Parliament no Stone was left unturn'd nor no Threaâ—s nor Promises neglected Regulators were sent-down to every Corporation to model them to this end though a great part of their Work had been done to their hand for in most of the New Charters there had been such Regulations made and such sort of Men put in as was thought would make all sure But to be yet surer Closetting in fashion and to try the Inclinations of People Closetting came into fashion and King Iames was at pains to sound every man's mind how far he might depend upon him for his concurrence with those Designs If they did not readily promise to serve the King in his own way which was the distinguishing word at that time there was some Brand put upon them and they were turn'd out of Place if they had any Nor did King Iames think it below his Dignity after the Priests had fail'd to bring in New Converts to try himself how far his own Arguments might prevail and he Closetted men for that purpose too Some few of no Principles and a great many others of desperate Fortunes complimented him with their Religion and were generally thereupon put into Employments And so fond was the King of making Proselites at any rate that there were of the Scum of the People that pretended to turn Papists merely for the sake of a Weekly small Allowance which was regularly paid them It 's a question after all whether the Parliament which K. Iames was thus labouring to model would have answer'd his Expectation had they come to sit for mens eyes were open'd more and more every day and the Noble Principles of English Liberty began to kindle afresh in the Nation notwithstanding all the endeavours had been usâ—d of a long time to extinguish them Though the Dissenters who might be chosen into Parliament upon this new Model would probably have made Terms for themselves to prevent their falling under any future Persecution yet being as a verse to Popery as any others whatsoever it is not to be imagin'd that they would upon that Consideration have unhindg'd the Constitution of England to enable the Roman Catholicks to break in upon the Establish'd National Church which in the end must have inevitably ruin'd both it and themselves But there fell out a little before this time an Accident that help'd mightily to buoy up the sinking Spirits of the Nation and which was occasion'd by the forward Zeal of some about the King contrary to their Intentions While the Project was going on to take off the Penal Laws and Test and the Protestants were in a maze what to expect the good Genius of England and King Iamâ—s's ill Fate set him on to make a Trial of the
Inclinations of the Prince and Princess of Orange in that matter The Prince and Princess had look'd on with a silent Regret upon all the unlucky Steps that were making in England and were unwilling to publish their Opinion of them since they knew it could not but be displeasing to King Iames. To know their Highnesses mind in the business of the Penal Laws and Test was a thing the most desir'd by the Protestants but there was no possible way to come to this knowledge if King Iames himself had not help'd them to it Mr. Stuart The Prince and Princess of Orange's Opinion about the Penal Laws and Test declar'd in Pensionary Fagell's Letter since Sir Iames Stuart had been pardon'd by King Iames and receiv'd into Favour after a long Banishment He had been acquainted in Holland with the late Pensionary Fagel and persuaded himself of a more than ordinary Friendship with that Wise Minister The King foresaw it was his Interest to find out some one way or other the Prince and Princess's Thoughts of these matters which if they agreed with his own were to be made publick if otherwise were to be conceal'd And Mr. Stuart took that Task upon himself Pensionary Fagel was in a great Post in Holland and in a near Intimacy with the Prince one that was entirely trusted by him and ever firm to his Interest To know the Pensionary's Opinion was thought to be the same with knowing the Prince's since it was to be suppos'd that he would not venture to write of any thing that concern'd England especially such a nice Point as was then in question without the Prince's Approbation at least if not his positive Direction Upon these Considerations and upon a Mistake that Mr. Stuart was in about the Constitution of Holland as if the Roman-Catholicks were not there excluded from Employments and Places of Trust he writ a Letter to Pensionary Fagel It 's needless to give any account of the Letter it self since Fagel's Answer together with what has been already said do give a sufficient Hint of the Design and Scope of it So averse were the Prince and Princess of Orange to meddle and so unwilling to allow Pensionary Fagel to return to this Letter an Answer which they knew would not be pleasing that Mr. Stuart writ by the King's direction five or six more before it was thought fit to answer them But at length their Highnesseâ— were in a manner forc'd to it by the Reports that were industriously spread abroad in England by the Emissaries of the Court as if the Pensionary in an Answer to Mr. Stuart had acquainted him That the Prince and Princess agreed with the King in the Design of taking off the Penal Laws and Test. This was not all for the Marquess de Albeville the English Envoy at the Hague was put upon writing over to several persons That the Prince of Orange had told him the very same thing which Letter of Albeville's was likewise made publick Such Reports were enough to shake the Constancy of all those that design'd to stand firm to the Interest of the Establish'd Church in the ensuing Parliament and to make them give all up for lost To do themselves Justice and to disabuse a Nation they had so near an Interest in Pensionary Fagel was directed by the Prince and Princess to write one Answer to all Mr. Stuart ' s Letters to this purpose That being desir'd by Mr. Stuart to let him know the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Penal Laws and more particularly concerning the Test he told him That he would write without Reserve since Mr. Stuart had said in his Letters that they were writ by the King's Knowledge and Allowance That it was the Prince and Princess's Opinion That no Christian ought to be persecuted for his Conscience or be ill us'd because he differs from the Publick and Establish'd Religion And therefore that they can consent That the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland be suffer'd to continue in their Religion with as much Liberty as is allow'd them by the States of Holland in which it cannot be denied but they enjoy a full Liberty of Conscience And as to the Dissenters their Highnesses did not only consent but did heartily approve of their having an entire Liberty for the full Exercise of their Religion And that their Highnesses were ready to concur to the setling and confirming this Liberty and protect and defend it and likewise confirm it with their Guarantee which Mr. Stuart had mention'd And if his Majesty continues the Pensionary desires their Concurrence in Repealing the Penal Laws their Highnesses were ready to give it provided these Laws remain still in their full force by which the Roman-Catholicks are shut out of both Houses of Parliament and out of all Publick Employments Ecclesiastical Civil and Military as likewise those other Laws which confirm the Protestant Religion and which secure it against all the Attempts of the Roman-Catholicks But their Highnesses cannot agree to the Repeal of the Test and those other Penal Laws last mention'd that tend to the Security of the Protestant Religion since the Roman-Catholicks receive no other Prejudices from these than the being excluded from Parliament and Publick Employments More than this adds Pensionary Fagel their Highnesses do think ought not be ask'd or expected and they wondred how any that profess'd themselves Christians and that may enjoy their Religion freely and without disturbance can judge it lawful for them to disturb the Quiet of any Kingdom or State or overturn Constitutions that so they themselves may be admitted to Employments and that these Laws in which the Security and Quiet of the Establish'd Religion consists should be shaken And as to what Mr. Stuart had writ That the Roman-Catholicks in Holland were not shut out from Employments and Places of Trust he tells him He was grosly mistaken The Pensionary concludes That their Highnesses could not concur with his Majesty in these matters for they believ'd they should have much to answer to God for if the consideration of any present Advantage should carry them to consent to things which they believe would not only be dangerous but mischievous to the Protestant Religion Thus far Pensionary Fagel And I would not have dwelt so long upon this Letter of his if it were not for the Noble Scheme of a just Liberty in matters of Conscience that 's therein contain'd Notwithstanding it was still given out at Court and that even after it came to Mr. Stuart's hands That he had writ the quite contrary though it 's but Charity to suppose that Mr. Stuart was a Man of more Honour than to contribute to the Report At last there was a necessity of making publick the Pensionary's Letter in several Languages which had wonderful Influence upon the Minds of the Protestants of England and was highly resented by King Iames. However King Iames had more than one Method in his View how
Attainder past in Parliament in order to which evey Member of the House of Commons return'd the Names of all such Protestant Gentlemen as liv'd near them or in the County or Borough for which he serv'd and if he was Stranger to any of them he sent to the Countrey for Information about them When this Bill was presented to the King for his Assent the Speaker of the House of Commons told him That many were attainted in that Act upon such Evidence as satisfied the House and the rest upon common Fame In this Act there were no fewer Attainted than Two Archbishops One Duke Seventeen Earls Seven Countesses Twenty eight Viscounts Two Viscountesses Seven Bishops Eighteen Barons Thirty three Baronets Fifty one Knights Eighty three Clergymen Two thousand one hundred eighty two Esquires and Gentlemen And all of them unheard declar'd and adjudg'd Traytors convicted and attainted of High Treason and adjudg'd to suffer the pains of Death and Forfeiture The famous Proscription of Rome during the last Triumvirate came not up in some respects to the Horror of this for there were condemn'd in this little Kingdom more than double the Number that were proscrib'd through the vast Bounds of the Roman Empire And to make this of Ireland yet the more terrible and to put the Persons Attainted out of a possibility of escaping the Act it self was conceal'd and no Protestant allow'd a Copy of it till Four Months after it was past Whereas in that of Rome the Names of the Persons proscrib'd were affix'd upon all the Publick Places of the City the very day the Proscription was concerted and thereby opportunity was given to many of the Noblest Families in Rome to preserve themselves by a speedy flight for better Times There remain'd but one Kingdom more for the Romish Party to act their Designs in and that was Scotland where they reap'd a full Harvest of their Hopes and there were scarce left the least Remains of Ancient Liberty in that Nation Their Miseries were summ'd up in one new-coin'd Word which was us'd in all the King's Declarations and serv'd to express to the full their Absolute Slavery which was this That his Subjects were oblig'd to obey him without Reserve A Word that the Princes of the East how Absolute soever they be did never yet pretend to in their Stile whatever they might in their Actions But I leave the Detail of the Encroachments that were made upon the Laws and Liberties of that Kingdom to others that may be thought more impartial as having suffer'd less in their Ruins While King Iames was thus push'd on by a headstrong Party The Interest that Foreign Princes and States had in England to enslave his Subjects the other Princes and States of Europe look'd on with quite different Sentiments according as their own Interests and Safety mov'd them The greater part did commiserate the Fate of these Three Kingdoms and wish'd for their Deliverance The Protestants saw with Regret that they themselves were within an immediate Prospect of losing the most considerable Support of their Religion and both they and the Roman-Catholicks were equally convinc'd that it was their common Interest to have England continue in a condition to be the Arbiter of Christendom especially at a time when they saw they most needed it On the other hand it was the Interest of another Prince that not only the King of England should be his Friend but the Kingdom of England should become inconsiderable abroad which it could not fail to be when enslav'd at home King Iames had been again and again sollicited not only by Protestant Princes but those of his own Religion to enter into other Measures for the common Safety of Europe at least not to contribute to its Ruin by espousing an Interest which they judg'd was opposite to it The Emperor among others had by his Ambassador made repeated Instances to him to this purpose but with no better Success than the rest as appears by a Letter he writ to him after his Abdication The Emperor's Letter to K. Iames in Latin printed at London 1689. which has been Printed in several Languages and was conceiv'd in Elegant Latin as all the Publick Dispatches of that Court are But all these Remonstrances had no weight with King Iames though they had this good effect in the end as to put those Princes and States upon such Measures as secur'd to them the Friendship of England in another way The Power of France was by this time become the Terror and Envy of the rest of Europe and that Crown had upon all sides extended its Conquests The Empire Spain and Holland seem'd to enjoy a precarious Peace while the common Enemy of the Christian Name was making War with the Emperor and the State of Venice and was once very near being Master of the Imperial Seat whereby he might have carried the War into the Bowels of Germany The main Strength of the Empire being turn'd against the Turks and that with various Success there was another War declar'd against the Emperor by France so that it came to be absolutely necessary for Spain and Holland to interpose not as Mediators for that they were not to hope for but as Allies and Partners in the War These last as well as the other Princes and States that lay nearest the Rhine were expos'd to the Mercy of a Prince whom they were not able to resist if England should look on as Neuters or take part against them the last of which they had reason to fear Thus it happen'd that the Fortune of England and that of the greatest part of Christendom came to be link'd together and their common Liberties must of necessity have undergone one and the same Fate The latter from a Natural Principle of Self-Preservation were resolv'd to make their last Effort to break the Fetters which they saw were ready to be impos'd upon them And the other animated by the Example of their Ancestors and the Constitution of their Countrey which is diametrically opposite to Tyranny were resolv'd to venture All to retrieve themselves and their Posterity from the Chains that were already put upon them Both the one and the others might have struggled in vain to this day with the Ruin that threaten'd them The Interest the Prince of Orange had in England if Heaven in pity to their Condition had not provided in the Person of the Prince of Orange the only Sanctuary that was left them to shelter their sinking State This Prince by his Mother was a Nephew of England and in Right of the Princess his Wife the Presumptive Heir of the Crown By his Father's side he was Heir of an Illustrious Family that had eterniz'd their Name by delivering their Countrey from Slavery and laying the Foundation of a mighty Commonwealth which has since prov'd the greatest Bulwark of the Protestant Religion and the chief Support of the Liberty of Christendom A Family born for the good of Mankind to
be the Scourge of Tyrants and Deliverers of the Oppress'd The Father of this Prince died young The ill Circumstances of the House of Orange at his Birth possess'd of Hereditary Dignities he deriv'd from his Ancestors in the States of the Vnited Provinces which had plac'd them upon a Level with most Princes of Europe and had given them a Figure in the World equal to some Crown'd Heads He had married a Princess of England the Eldest Daughter of King Charles I. and left her with Child of this only Son at a Time when the Royal Family of England was not only bereft of their Regal Power at Home but forc'd to seek Refuge Abroad The Father was scarce dead and the Son yet unborn when a Party in Holland that always oppos'd the House of Orange took hold of that unhappy Juncture to divest the Family by a Publick Decree of all the Dignities and Offices they had enjoy'd since the first Foundation of that Commonwealth and which they had so justly acquir'd as the Rewards of so many glorious Services they had done their Countrey Under these dismal Circumstances was the Prince of Orange now King of England born And in Apartments hung with Mourning for the Untimely Death of a Father and the Murther of a Royal Grandfather he first saw Light He was about Ten Years of Age when his Uncle King Charles the Second was restor'd and whether it proceeded from want of Power or of Will in the one the Condition of the other was little better'd by that Change It 's true King Charles in his Wars with Holland did always mention the Injury done to his Nephew as one of the Motives of his breaking with the States Yet neither in the Treaty of Breda in 1667. nor in the Alliance made at the Hague in 1668. nor that of the Peace concluded at London in 167 1 4. was there any notice taken of the Prince of Orange's Interest In this last it 's confess'd it was needless seeing some little time before he was Restor'd to all his Hereditary Offices and Dignities upon the following Occasion King Charles The manner he was restor'd to the Dignities of his Family the French King and the Bishop of Munster had enter'd into a mutual League against the Hollanders in the Year 1672. While in pursuance of that League King Charles without any previous Declaration of War did send out a strong Squadron of Ships to intercept their Smyrna Fleet and ruin their Trade at Sea and while the Bishop of Munster did invade the Provinces that lay next to him the French King at the Head of a Royal Army of at least 118000 Foot and 26000 Horse broke in upon them on the other side Like an Impetuous Torrent he carried all before him without any remarkable opposition making himself Master in a few Weeks of above Forty Towns and places of Strength some without firing a Gun and the rest with little or no Resistance This Army was compos'd of the best Troops that had been seen together for some Ages before and was made up of several Nations Over above the French themselves there were 3000 English 3000 Catalans 3000 Genoese and other Italians 6000 Savoyards 1200 German Horse 10000 Swissers without reckoning into the Number the Ancient Regiments of that Nation in the French Service and which was altogether new and extraordinary there was a Regiment of Swiss Horse Under the King in Person this Army was commanded by Two of the greatest Generals of the Age the late Prince of Conde and the Mareschal Turenne Never was any State nearer its Ruin The desperate Condition of Holland An. 1672. than that of Holland was upon this Irruption and in the opinion of all the World the end of that flourishing Republick was then at hand The French pierc'd into the Bowels of Holland as far as Vtrecht where the King kept a splendid Court and receiv'd Embassies from all Parts He was already Master of Three of the Seven Provinces and a Fourth was in the hands of the Bishop of Munster his Ally The Consternation was so great in the rest that it 's said it was debated at Amsterdam whether they should send the Keys of that Town to the French King at Vtrecht or hold out a Siege Scarce any thing can paint out in livelier Colours the low Ebb the Common-wealth of Holland was brought to at that time than the Declaration which the French King publish'd at Arnheim plac'd at length in the Appendix Appendix Numb 23. In this the French King declar'd that all the Inhabitants of the Towns in Holland that should render themselves willingly his Subjects and receive his Troops should not only be treated favourably but likewise be maintain'd in their Liberties and Privileges and enjoy the free Exercise of their Religion But upon the contrary whoever of them did not submit themselves of whatever degree or condition they be or should endeavour to resist his Arms by opening their Sluces or any other way they should be punish'd with the utmost Rigor his Majesty being resolv'd to give no Quarter to the Inhabitants of those Towns that shall resist his Arms but an Order to pillage their Goods and burn their Houses Among the more immediate Causes of this surprizing Desolation of Holland The Causes of that Desolation upon the Irruption of the French Army there were chiefly these two 1. The supine Security or rather profound Lethargy they were of late fallen into And 2. Their Intestine Divisions As to the first A vast Opulent Trade through most parts of the World had wonderfully enrich'd them and brought them to neglect and forget the Art of War A Peace that had continued without any remarkable Interruption for about Twenty Years at Land lull'd them so fast asleep with false Notions of their own Strength that they had neglected their Fortifications and Martial Discipline and were brought to believe that their Neighbour's Garisons and Strong Places were sufficient to cover them from all Insults As to the second Their Ancestors at the first founding their State taking into their Consideration that they were to raise a Commonwealth out of a great many distinct Governments independent originally of one another and govern'd by Customs and Laws peculiar to every Town and Province and how difficult it was to prevent Intestine Divisions in a Body thus aggregated did wisely provide against such a destructive Inconvenience by constituting an Hereditary Stadtholder and Captain General whose Office and Power was to be the Center in which all the various Lines of their Constitution should meet and the Cement that should keep the whole Frame together This High and Important Dignity was lodg'd in the Family of Orange and it was to the Auspicious Conduct of the Princes of that House that the States of Holland ow'd their first Settlement and the Figure they have made ever since in the World What their Ancestors foresaw and had thus wisely provided against came to pass
Author Notwithstanding these Difficulties and Discouragements that seem'd insuperable wonderful and surprizing were the Consequences of the Prince of Orange's Restoration As if that Family alone were design'd of Heaven to be the Founder and Restorer of Holland It fell out that immediately upon his being call'd to the Helm the whole Scene of their Affairs chang'd to the better At the Head of a small ill-disciplin'd Army discourag'd by continual Losses he not only put a Stop to the French Conquests but by taking first Naerden in spite of an Army near four times greater than his own and carrying afterwards the War out of his own Countrey he oblig'd the Enemy to abandon their Conquests in Holland as fast as they had gain'd them and be contented to retire to the Defence of their own Frontiers This War was attended with various Successes on all sides and most of the Princes of Europe came to be some way or other engag'd in it till at last it ended in the Treaty of Nimeguen The part King Charles acted in all these Transactions contributed but little to his Glory for he had been unsuccessful while he was engag'd in the War and when he came to be a Mediator for the Peace all Parties grew jealous of him and neglected him It was during the Course of this War as has been said before that King Charles aton'd for all the Errors of his Reign by marrying his Niece the Lady Mary to the Prince of Orange And whatever were the Motives that induc'd him to comply in this with the Universal Wishes of his People it has been found since that not only England but the greatest part of Europe do share at this day in the Blessings that have attended it By this Match the Prince of Orange had a double Interest in England both as a Prince of the Blood himself and in Right of his Princess the next Presumptive Heir He liv'd with King Charles in as much Friendship as was possible for one that would not enter into an Interest separate from that of his Country or of England Insomuch that in all the Endeavours that were made to exclude the Duke of York from the Crown he look'd on without espousing any of the Parties that struggled for or against the Bill of Exclusion though he knew it was design'd that He and the Princess should succeed upon the Death of King Charles When King Iames came to the Throne the Prince of Orange tried all possible means to cultivate a sincere Friendship with him and to persuade him to enter into such Measures as might tend to the Common Safety of Europe and the Happiness of England which if King Iames had given Ear to would have preserv'd the Crown upon his Head And so cautious was he of giving him no reasonable ground of Complaint that though in King Charles's time he had given a Generous Welcome to the Duke of Monmouth at the Request of that King upon his retiring to Holland Yet as soon as he knew that that unhappy Gentleman designâ—d to invade England upon King Iames's Accession to the Throne he offer'd to come over in Person to his Assistance and sent him with all Expedition the English and Scotch Troops that were in the Service of the States It had been happy for King Iames if he had complied with the Advice of the Prince of Orange or had not by his Success against Monmouth been push'd on to make the Steps that have bee mention'd together with a great many more for Brevity's sake here omitted towards his own Ruin and that of the Constitution of England But being flatter'd with the gaudy Charms of Absolute Power and the empty Merit of Restoring the Romish Religion he drove on without Controul till at last he forc'd the People of England upon an inevitable necessity of calling in the Prince of Orange to retrieve the expiring Liberties of their Countrey At the same time an indissoluble Friendship and Alliance which King Iames had enter'd into when Duke of York and had cultivated afterwards when he came to the Crown was a matter of that vast Consequence to the Neighbouring Princes and States as would not permit them to stand by as unconcern'd Spectators of the Scene that was acting in England but oblig'd them likewise to save recourse to the Prince of Orange for breaking off their own Fetters by breaking first those of England But by what Steps and concurring Accidents and with what surprizing Circumstances this Mighty Design came about may some time or other though perhaps not so properly in this Age be the Subject of a Second Part when it meets with one of more Leisure and Capacity to write it FINIS Addenda ad Page 36. Concerning the Reign of King James I. It may not be impertinent in this place to say something of that Convocation that was held in the beginning of this King's Reign Which had never been taken notice of in History if it were not for the use that was made of it in our late Debates about the Lawfulness of the Oaths to his present Majesty This Convocation goes under the name of Overall's Convocation and has been of late years often mentioned in Print upon that account And since a very Learned Divine has told us upon a solemn Occasion Dr. Sherlock That it was the Canons of this Convocation that first Enlightned his Eyes and persuaded him of the Lawfulness of the Oaths to his Majesty I shall only take notice of a few things about them It 's very probable that this Convocation was call'd to clear some Doubts that King Iames might have had about the Lawfulness of the Hollanders the 〈…〉 off the Monarchy of Spain 〈…〉 withdrawing for good and all their Allegiance to that Crown Which was the Great Matter then in Agitation in most Courts of Christendom It appears plainly by some of those Canons that the Highflown Notions of Prerogative and Absolute Obedience which came afterwards into fashion were not much known at that time at least the Clergy were not of that Opinion It 's true This was the first time that the Distinction of a King de jure and de facto was ever mention'd as a Point of Divinity or a Doctrine of the Church though it had been taken notice of before and that but once as a Matter of Law in an Act of Parliament of Henry 7. But these Canons did never receive the Royal Approbation and therefore are in the same case as if they had never been King Iames thought these Points too nice to be much touch'd upon and was highly displeas'd with the Members of that Convocation for medling in Matters which he thought were without their Sphere Thereupon he writ that angry Letter to Dr. Abbot afterwards Bishop of Sarum the Original of which it was my fortune to fall upon and to publish upon another Occasion It 's hop'd the Reader will not be displeas'd to read it again And it runs thus Good Doctor Abbot I Cannot abstain
eaque quibus nunc frueris bona et si post ingens à Te pretiumâ— persolutum Tibi reddita fuerint non à Te coempta arbitrabitur sed quadam Superum prodigentiâ dona data Tibi demum gratulor praestantissime Orator quod tam faustum diem videris in Anglia detuleris in Vrbem Nam de Sapientia Tuâ quâ per eruditissimos libros Haeresim profligasti nihil attinet dicere nihil de Fortitudine quâ Carceres ipsos pro Catholica Religione tuenda non tam pertulisti quà m decorasti nil de Prudentia Nobilitate caeterisque dotibus Tuis Hoc unum universa Tua decora comprehendit quod ad maximum totius Regni negotium hoc est ut splendidissimâ— fungereris apud Innocentium P. M. legatione Iacobus II. Magnae Britanniae Rex maximus Te unum elegit quia unus dignus erat eligi alter eligere The Speech of the Rector of the College of Iesuits to his Excellency Roger Earl of Castlemain SIR YOU must not think this College alone can be mute and if they could their Silence must be a Crime at a Time when this City is filled with Vniversal Ioy upon the News of your Excellency's Arrival and all Places resound the Praises of James the Second and the Obligations the Catholick Church has to that Illustrious Prince I in the Name of this Learned Body do in the first place congratulate thee Innocent in whose Reign this flourishing Imperial Crown is added to the Papal Diadem It is now your Holiness can properly use that Apostolick Expression My Joy and my Crown Heaven has deferr'd this happy Day thus long That so great a Blessing might not be obtained without long and unwearied Prayers and at last effected when Two such Princes as James and Innocent should concur to reign the one in England and the other in Rome What a Support have all Catholick Kings gained by this Accession What an Honour has the Orthodox Faith receiv'd and what a Defence against the Enemies of the Name of Christ The Thunder of his Invincible Fleet will strike greater Terror into the Pyrates of Barbary and the Levant than Storms and Waves can do How highly blest art Thou O Britain Empress of the Ocean once secluded from the Earth now Mistress of the Commerce of the Eastern and Western World What Prosperity may'st thou not hope for under the Reign of so Excellent a Prince Raise thy Hopes Raise thy Courage and banish all unjust and unseasonable Fears I have no Inclination at this time to recount those Disasters and Calamities which England has been the Theatre for above an Age past to the Grief and Astonishment of the rest of the World But if Providence has made these the Steps for James the Second to mount the Throne I can hardly refrain declaring how cheaply thou hast purchased so great a Blessing It is certain their present Happiness will create Envy in succeeding Times and however dear it has cost them Posterity will esteem it more the Bounty and Profusion of Heaven than a Recompence of their Sufferings In the last place I must congratulate your Excellency who has first seen this happy Day at home and has next been the Messenger to bring it hither I shall not here presume to praise your Great Wisdom your Learned Writings against Heresy that steady Courage you have shewn in those many Prisons you have honour'd for your Zeal to the True Religion your prudent Conduct or your other extraordinary Qualities All these are summ'd up in one and your Character is in fine compleated by the Choice your Great Master has made of you to sustain the most considerable Affair of his Kingdom The present Glorious Embassy In which all the World must own Him to be the most competent Iudge and You the fittest Person NUMB. XIX The Answer of the Vice President and Fellows of Magdalen-College Oxon before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Why they could not in Conscience comply with the King's Mandate THE said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows answered and said That the said Colledge of St. Mary Magdalen in Oxon is a Body Corporate governed by Local Statutes granted and confirmed to them by His Majesty's Royal Predecessor King Henry the 6th for Him and His Heirs and Successors under the Great Seal of England which are also since confirmed by several other Letters Patents of others of his Majesty's Royal Predecessors under the Great Seal of England That by the said Statutes of the College to the observation of which each Fellow is sworn it is ordered That the Person elected President thereof shall be a Man of good Life and Reputation approved Understanding and good Temper Discreet Provident and Circumspect both in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs And at the time of Election of a President the said Fellows are bound by the said Statutes to take an Oath that they shall nominate none to that office but such as are or have been Fellows of the said Colledge or of New-Colledge in Oxon or if they are not actually Fellows at that time of Election that they be such as have left their Fellowships in their respective Colledges upon credible accounts And when two qualified persons shall be nominated at the time of Election by the greater number of all the Fellows to the said Office of President the thirteen Seniors also swear that they will Elect one of them whom in their Consciences they think most proper and sufficient most discreet most useful and best qualified for the Place without any regard to love hatred favour or fear And every Fellow when he is first admitted into his Fellowship in the said Colledge swears that he will inviolably keep and observe all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Colledge and every thing therein contained so far as does or may concern him according to the plain literal and grammatical sense and meaning thereof and as much as in him lies will cause the same to be kept and observed by others and that he will not procure any Dispensation contrary to his aforesaid Oath or any part thereof nor contrary to the Statutes and Ordinances to which it relates or any of them nor will he endeavour that such Dispensations shall be procured by any other or others publickly or privately directly or indirectly And if it shall happen that any Dispensation of this sort of whatsoever Authority it shall be whether in general or particular or under what form of Words soever it be granted that he will neither make use of it nor in any sort consent thereunto That upon Notice of the Death of Dr. Clark Late President of the said Colledge the Vice-President called a Meeting of the said Fellows in order to the appointing a day for the Election of a new President and the 13th of April was the time prefix'd with power to proâ—ogue the same as they should see cause till the 15th beyond which time they could not statutably defer their Election and in