with all imaginable Esteem as a truly noble discreet and well-deserving Prince however the Prince himself had given them Cause sufficient to have detained him if the Prudence of Bristol had not been greater than Buckingham's Rashness and Zeal to break off the Match solemnly sworn to by the Prince and Buckingham himself and this upon the Day when the Prince parted from the King of Spain from the Escurial as you may see in the Bishop of Litchfield's Life of Dr. Williams and Rushworth fol. 284 285. For though the King of Spain and the Prince had solemnly sworn to accomplish the Marriage and to make the Espousals within ten Days after the Ratifications should come from Rome to which purpose the Prince made a Procuration to the King of Spain and Don Charles his Brother to make the Espousals in his Name and left it in the Earl of Bristol's hands yet he the Prince left in the Hands of one of the Duke's Creatures Mr. Edward Clarke a private Instrument with Instructions to the Earl of Bristol to stay the Delivery of the Proxies till farther Direction from him But when this private Instrument was delivered to Bristol he told Buckingham's Favourite that it must for a time be concealed lest the Spaniard coming to the knowledgâ— of it should give Order to stay the Prince So that the Duke left the Earl's Instrument as perplexed and confounded when he went out of Spain as he had made the Treaty of Marriage when he came into it The Temper and Dissimulation of the Duke is so strange at his taking leave of Olivares as is I believe without all Example and also without any Care of the Safety of the Prince for the Duke told him after he had delivered the Instrument to stay the Delivery of the Proxy That he was obliged to the King and Queen and Infanta in an eternal Tie of Gratitude and that he would be an everlasting Servant to them and endeavour to do the best Offices for concluding the Match and strengthning the Amity between the two Crowns but as for himself Olivares he had so disobliged him that he could not without Flattery make the least Profession of Friendship to him Nor was the Ingratitude and Dissimulation of the Prince less than that of Buckingham for when the King of Spain had brought the Prince to the Escurial where the Prince and Duke after the delivery of the Instrument for staying the Proxy solemnly swore the Treaty of Marriage as you may read in Rushworth fol. 285. and the King and Prince had sworn a perpetual League of Friendship as the Bishop of Litchfield says the King at their Departure declared the Obligation which the Prince had put upon him the King by putting himself into his Hands a thing unusual with Princes and protested he earnestly desired a nearer Conjunction of Brotherly Affection for the more intire Unity between them The Prince answered him magnifying the high Favour which he had found during his Stay in his Court and Presence which had begotten such an Estimation of his Worth that he knew not how to value it but would leave a Mediatrix to supply his own Defects if he the King would make him so happy as to continue him the Prince in the good Opinion of her his Dear Mistress Yet the Prince so soon as he came on Ship-board was observed to say That it was a great Weakness and Folly in the Spaniards after they had used him so ill to grant him a free Departure and soon you 'll see both the Prince and the Duke urge the King James to break off the Match so solemnly sworn by them all and make War upon the Spaniards which was so dangerous to the Parliament to mention Having thus taken a View of the Duke's Prudence and deep Insight in Mysteries of State in managing this Match where King James's Proclamation could not restrain Men from talking of State-Affairs We will now take a View of the Duke's Profession in Religion that another may better judg whether he were more eminent in Religion or State-policy and herein I will take the Earl of Bristol's Charge upon him to be a full Proof since the Earl answered the Duke's Charges against him twice first before King James and afterward in Parliament in the 2d of King Charles without any reply and King Charles his dissolving the Parliament rather than the Duke should come to a Tryal upon the Articles which the Earl exhibited against him 1. The Earl in the said Articles charges the Duke that he did secretly combine with the Conde of Gundamor Ambassador from the King of Spain Anno 1622 to carry the Prince into Spain to the end he might be informed in the Roman Religion and thereby have perverted the Prince and subverted the true Religion established in England 2. That Mr. Porter was made acquainted therewith and sent into Spain and such Messages at his Return framed as might serve for a Ground to set on foot this Conspiracy the which was done accordingly and thereby the King and Prince highly abused and their Consents thereby gotten for the said Journey viz. after the Return of the said Mr. Porter which was about the latter end of December or beginning of January 1622. whereas the Duke plotted it many Months before 3. That the Duke at his Arrival in Spain nourished the Spanish Ministers not only in the Belief of his being popishly affected but did both by absenting himself from all Exercises of Religion constantly used in the Earl of Bristol's House and frequented by all other Protestant English and by conforming himself to please the Spaniards in divers Rites of their Religion even so far as to kneel and adore the Sacrament from time to time give the Spaniards Hopes of the Prince's Conversion the which he endeavoured to procure by all means possible and thereby caused the Spanish Minister to propound far worse Conditions for Religion than had been propounded by the Earl and Sir Walter Ashton setled and signed under the K. and Prince's Hand with a clause of the K. of Spain's Answer Dec. 12. 1622 that they held the Articles agreed on sufficicient and such as ought to induce the Pope to grant the Dispensation 4. That the Duke having several times moved and pressed the King James at the Instance of the Conde of Gundamor in the presence of the Earl of Bristol to write a Letter to the Pope and to that purpose having once brought a Letter ready drawn wherewith the Earl of Bristol by his Majesty being made acquainted did so strongly oppose the writing any such Letter that during the Abode of the said Earl in England the Duke could never obtain it but not long after the Earl was gone he the Duke procured such a Letter to be written from the King James to the Pope and to have him stiled Sanctissime Pater 5. That the Pope being informed of the Duke's Inclination and Intention in point of Religion sent unto him a particular Bull
so in Extreams yet his Actions so diametrically opposite to his Profession Here you see a Jesuited Prince pleading for Liberty of Conscience to the breaking down the â—aws which before he had so often professed to maintain and for such a sort of Men whom but little before he had slaughter'd banished and imprisoned as if he had designed to extirpate the whole Race of them If to reconcile these to Truth or Reality be not as great a Miracle as is in any of the Popish Legends I 'll believe them all and be reconciled to the Roman Catholick Church how inconsistible soever the Terms be The generality of the Protestant Dissenters having for near seven years together been so severely treated by the Tories were as forward to congratulate the King for his Indulgence in manifold Addresses as the Tories were in King Charles his time in their Addresses of Abhorrence to petition the King to call a Parliament to settle the Grievances of the Nation However this Declaration was so drawn in the sight of every Bird that of my knowledg many of the sober thinking Men of the Dissenters did both dread and detest it That this Declaration might be more passable Popish Judges were made in Westminster-Hall and Popish Justices of the Peace and Deputy-Lieutenants all England over the Privy Council was replenished with Popish Privy Counsellors the Savoy was laid open to instruct Youth in the Romish Religion and Popish Principles and Schools for that purpose were encouraged in London and all other Places in England Four Foreign Popish Bishops as Vicars Apostolical were allowed in Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction all England and Wales over From instructing the St. Omers Boys how to behave themselves in their Evidence to prove Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 my Lord Castlemain is sent Ambassador to the Pope to render the King's Obedience to the Holy and Apostolical See with great hopes of extirpating the Northern pestilent Heresy In return whereof the Pope sent his Nuncio to give the King his Holy Benediction yet I do not find that he beforehand sent for Leave to enter the Kingdom as was observed by Queen Mary Henry VIII and before The Judges in their Circuits had their private Instructions to know how Men were affected with the King 's Dispensing Power and those who were disaffected to it were turned out from the Lieutenancy and Commission of the Peace Justice Judgment and Righteousness support the Thrones of Princes but these were Strangers to this King's ways other Means must be found out to support and carry them through a standing Army is judged the best Expedient and as the King told the Parliament at their second Meeting he had encreased his Army to double what it was before so he made his Word good that he would employ Men in it not qualified by the late Tests and to this end Tyrconnel having disbanded the English Army in Ireland qualified by the Tests sends over an Army of Irish not qualified by the Tests to encrease the Army in England This Army thus raised against Law committed all manner of lawless Insolences though the King by several Orders would have had their Quarters restrained to Victualling-Houses Houses of publick Entertainments and such as had Licences to sell Wine and other Liquors the Officers too when they pleased would be exempt from the Civil Power And though the King had no other Wars but against the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation yet he would have the Act of the 1 2 Edw. 6. 2. which makes it Felony without Benefit of the Clergy for any Souldier taking Pay in the King's Service in his Wars beyond Sea or upon Sea or in Scotland to desert from his Officer to extend to this Army thus raised by the King And because the Recorder of London Sir J. H. would not expound this Law to the King's Design he was put out of his Place and so was Sir Edward Herbert from being Chief Justice of the King's Bench to make room for Sir Robert Wright to hang a poor Souldier upon this Statute and afterward this Statute did the Work without any further dispute Thus this Prince did not only assume a Power to controul the Laws of the Nation at his pleasure in Civil Affairs but when he pleased made them bend to his Will to establish an illegal Army and countenance the Effusion of Christian Blood but you 'll soon see God will blast these ungodly Ways and that not the Arm of Flesh but Judgment Justice and Righteousness establish the Thrones of Princes Thus Affairs stood in England Scotland and Ireland in the year 1687. wherein I suppose no History mentions so great and violent Alterations in so little time as in this King's Reign all tending to introduce a Foreign Power and to enslave the Nation yet so patiently endured by it but the Dangers of these Designs were not circumscribed within the bounds of this Nation but extended into France where for above twenty years a Conspiracy was carried on for promoting these Designs thus far advanced so that the Year 1688 had a much more terrible Aspect upon England than the Year 1588 had when Philip the II. designed the Conquest of it for then the Nation was firm and intire for its own Interest whereas this Year it was not only torn in pieces by internal Discords but had an Army and Fleet designed to join with the French King in propagating his boundless Ambition not only upon England but upon the Empire of Germany Spain Holland the Duke of Savoy and other Princes of Italy About the beginning of the year 1688 a Gentleman of High Jesuited Principles told me The States of Holland were Rebels against the King of Spain and that I should soon see the King of France would call them to an Account for it and humble them and that the French King would assist our King with Men of War I took more heed to this because I knew that he was frequently visited by several Jesuits in whose Counsels I believe the French King's Designs this Year were locked up for my Lord of Sunderland in his Letter recited in the History of the Desertion fol. 32. protests he knew nothing of a League between the King yet you will see it come out another way But my Lord of Sunderland says that French Ships were offered to join with our Fleet which was refused however this shews there was a Design contriving by these Princes yet at present the Affairs of France seemed to look another way and a French Fleet and Souldiers in them are sent to Canada the Design and Success you will soon hear of The King having thus as he thought laid a Foundation tho it proved a very Sandy one of his Designs and to shew how Absolute he would be in them upon the 4th of May passed an Order in Council that his Declaration of Indulgence should be read in all Churches and Chappels in England and Wales in time of Divine
Peace between England and Spain whereto both Kings were equally disposed more smooth and easy Yet Philip the 3d before he would openly seek it by an Ambassador from the Arch-Duke Albert Governor of Flanders felt the Pulse of the Court how it stood affected to a Peace with Spain which beat high towards it so as soon after it followed which as it was most beneficial to the English Nation so it had been to Spain if it had been as sincerely observed by King James as it was by Philip. Henry the 4th of France tho spited as 't was said that King James should not only come so peaceably but with universal Acclamations to the Crown of England whereas he laboured with such difficulty above seven Years to attain that of France and at last was forced to a dishonourable Submission to the Pope Clement VIII Yet being a Prince of great Prudence in Peace as well as fortunate and victorious in War sent Monsieur de Rosny Great Treasurer of France to renew the Treaty of Peace and Commerce formerly made between Queen Elizabeth and him which was without any difficulty done The King being thus at Peace Abroad and at Home not only in England but in Ireland as if the Wars expired there with Queen Elizabeth he not only pardoned the Earl of Tyrone the Head of that Rebellion but by Proclamation declar'd he was restor'd to the King's Favour and to be honourably used of all Men. But how pleasing soever the King 's coming to the Crown of England was to the English Nation it seems it was not so or something else to God for an horrible Plague greater than any since that in the Reign of Edward the 3d accompanied his coming in There were two Factions in England when the King came to the Crown distinguished by the Names of Puritans and Papists both dissenting from the Religion established in the Church of England the King hated those and wrote against these chiefly for their Doctrine of the Pope's Power of deposing Kings These received the King after different manners the Puritans had a huge Expectation of his Favour because he was bred up in their Doctrine and Discipline but were much deceived in it for he rarely mentioned them but with Detestation which he did not those of the Popish Religion However in January they obtained a Conference with the Church-Party at Hampton-Court where the King himself would be Moderator whilst most of the Nobility and Bishops were Spectators You need not doubt which Party prevail'd the Nobility and Bishops not only giving the King the Victory with the Epithets of The Solomon of the Age The most Learned but of being inspired But what Expectation soever the Puritans had of the King 's coming to the Crown the Papists had another Lesson taught them for tho the Popish Conspiracy against the Person of Queen Elizabeth ceased upon the Death of the Queen of Scots yet did not the Pope's Designs upon the Kingdom of England do so but Clement VIII in the Year 1600 sent Orders to his Emissaries in England that the Catholicks should admit none to succeed the Queen but one obedient to the Holy See and in Conformity hereunto Watson and Clark two Romish Priests joined in Cobhant's Conspiracy to have kept the King from coming to the Crown and were executed for it as Traitors but the Effects of the Pope's Instructions did not die with Clark and Watson as you 'll soon hear and upon the 24th of October 1603 a Proclamation was made for Quietness to be observed in Matters of Religion Notwithstanding the Rage of the Pestilence the first nine Months after the King 's coming to London all were Halcion-days Proclamations Pageants Feastings Creation of Lords and Knights Reception of Foreign Ambassadors erecting a Master of the Ceremonies after the Mode of France c. and in this time the Dignified Clergy and those who courted to be so with the Favourites at Court with whom the Civilians chimed in had so rooted their Doctrine of the King 's Absolute Power and that notwithstanding his Succession to the Crown of Scotland in the Life of his Mother he succeeded by inherent Birth-right and that Primogeniture is the Gift of God by the Law of Nature and that in his Person was reconciled all the Titles of our Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings that being propensly disposed to receive the Impressions they took such deep root in him that in all his Life after he would never with Patience hear any thing to the contrary however it was not long before he heard of it as you shall hear But we will stay a little and see how inconsistently these Flatterers jumbled an Absolute and Hereditary Monarchy together and how this King reconciled the Titles of the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles to the Crown For no Hereditary Monarch that ever reigned in this World but derived his Title from an Ancestor who had no Hereditary Right nor did ever any Hereditary King succeed but to govern by Laws and Constitutions which were established before he became King So however Absolute may be applicable to Conquerors yet it is inconsistent with Hereditary Kings especially in a Regular Monarchy as that of England is and those of old as of the Medes and Persians where the Will of the King alone could not alter the Laws and Constitutions of them And now let us see how King James came to claim his Crown by inherent Birth-right and how all the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles came to be reconciled in his Person It 's evident to me that tho only God can make an Heir and that tho Primogeniture be natural yet God in disposing Kingdoms is not obliged to it tho Grotius lib. 1. Tit. 11. de Jure Belli Pacis is pleased to say the Law of Nature is immutable by God himself but reserves unto himself the Prerogative of disposing Kingdoms without restraining the Succession of the King to Primogeniture or Hereditary Succession Here let us see in Epitome which you may read at large in Sir William Jones his History of the Succession of the Kings of England before and after the Conquest and the History of the Succession of the Crown of England from King Egbert to Henry the 8th printed in the Year 1690 where you will see that tho the Kings of England both before and after the Conquest succeeded in their Royal Families yet many more were not in the right Line than in it and tho before Caesar invaded Britain there was no other Government but Kingly yet Britain was divided into so many petty Kingdoms that tho it had not been barbarous it would have been as difficult to have wrote the History of the Succession of their Kings as to have wrote the History of the Succession of the Kings immediately after the Flood After the Roman Empire oppressed by its own Weight by the Division into Eastern and Western its intestine Jars and the over-flowing of barbarous Nations was so torn
Destruction upon himself having first seen his Son Walter slain in the Design he intended to raise his Fortunes by Tho the King was never poorer than at this time yet the Nation was far richer than in all the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth by reason of the English Trade with Spain made free by that celebrated Law of the 3d of the King cap. 6. and at this time and many Years before the King of Spain made Count Gundamor his Legier Ambassador in England the Count would ape the King iâ— all his Humours but his Cups and hereby became so intimate with the King that he discover'd all his Designs and the Secretâ— if ther were any of the Court In this Posture of Affairs Sir Walter informs the King that 〈◊〉 he would grant him a Commission he would bring Mountains of Gold into the King's Exchequer from Guiana the King who had stopt his Ears to Sir Walter 's Advice concerning the Dutch Fisheâ— upon the Coasts of England and Scotland opens them both to Sir Walter 's Project and grants him a Commission directed Dilecto fideli meo Waltero Raleigh Militi But this Commission ill agreed with the Treaty made between the King and the most renowned King of Spain his dear and loving Brother in the second Year of his Reign wherein in the first Article it was agreed That they should use one another with all kind and friendly Offices and by this Treaty the English were restrain'd to their Trades in Europe For the King of Spain was as jealous of his West-Indies as the Apple of his Eye or the Pope 〈◊〉 of his Triple-Crown or the King of his Prerogative The Fame of Sir Walter and the Expectation of the Mountaiâ—â— of Gold to be poured into the Exchequer by this Expedition bâ—â—zed it all abroad so as Gundamor gave the King of Spain aâ— account of it and this became so much the more publick by how much the King could not contribute any thing but his Commission towards it and tho Sir Walter 's Fame induced many Nobles and Gentlemen to join with him in it yet this being distracted and divided into so many Interests it went on more heavily and became every day more known so that tho Sir Walter intended to have proceeded on his Voyage this Year in the beginning of April it was upward in August before he set out In his Passage a terrible Fever overtook Sir Walter now in the 76th Year of his Age which yet the Strength of his Constitution overcame to bring him to his End by a worse Fate When he arrived at Guiana he found all the Marks which he and Sir Nicholas Kemish had made either worn out by Time being twenty Years before or alter'd by the Spaniards who had so long before had notice of his Design so that Kemish and Sir Walter fell at such odds about it that Kemish killed himself besides the Spaniards to prevent Raleigh's Design had built many new Fortifications unknown to Raleigh or Kemish Hereupon Sir Walter stormed the Town of St. Thomas wherein he lost his Son Walter but took the Town and sack'd it and here the Souldiers took great Spoil but with little Profit to Sir Walter or any of the Adventurers with him For the Souldiers and Sea-men being Reformades and being under no severe Discipline kept what they had got Now was Sir Walter in a most desperate State he had no Friends at Court and which made the matter worse he had disgusted all the Nobles and Gentlemen who had engag'd with him in this Expedition he need not consult the Augurs what should be his Fate upon his Return to prevent which he endeavoured to have got into France and carry his Ship with him but the Sea-men who now had his Fortune in Contempt would not forsake their Wives and Children to partake with him in his Misfortunes and so brought him back again into England It was resolved that Sir Walter 's Misfortunes should lose him his Head but how to do it with a face of Justice was the Question for his Commission protected him from any Prosecution for the sacking of St. Thomas and it would seem strange to execute him upon the Conviction in Cobham's Conspiracy sixteen Years before especially since the King had discharged his Imprisoment upon it and had granted him a Commission wherein he called Sir Walter his beloved and faithful Sir Walter However this was the best Face could be put upon it and upon the 28th of October next Year 1618 Sir Walter was brought from the Tower to the King's-Bench to shew Cause why Sentence of Death should not pass upon him Mountague being Chief Justice upon his former Conviction to which Sir Walter pleaded his Commission which pardoned his Crime For he could not be a Traitor and the King 's beloved and faithful Servant at one and the same time but this was over-ruled by the Court which answered That Treason could not be pardoned by Implication but by express words And next day he had his Head cut off in the Palace-Yard at Westminster In granting Sir Walter Raleigh this Commission you may see by what an undistinguished Power Covetousness governs the Actions of Princes as well as meaner Men against their Honour and Interest for at the same time when the King granted this Commission he was by Sir John Digby after Earl of Bristol treating a Marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain upon the Terms of a Portion of two Millions of Money with her but if this Act of Raleigh's and the difficulty of raising such a Portion put no stop to the Progress of it you 'll soon see an Accident which shall make it utterly impracticable with the Maxims and Policy of Spain yet so far was the King blinded with the Covetousness of getting the Portion that he shall put his only Son into the Power of the Spaniards to obtain it Tho young Villiers and the King's Favourites governed the King without any Controul by the English Conchino Conchini an Italian Marquess d' Ancre and Marshal of France and his Wife succeeded not so well in France for after the Death of Henry the Fourth of France these two governed Henry's Relict and Regent as absolutely as our young Favourite did the King which put the Princes of the Blood and Nobility into such a Ferment that they several times rose in Tumults and Arms against them Yet such was their Power with the Queen that they continued as insolent after the King was declared of Majority as before whereupon the Feuds of the Princes of the Blood and Nobility grew higher hereupon Luynes the King's Favourite prompted the King to take off Ancre any way which was so ordered that Ancre coming into the Louvre and reading a Letter Vitry Captain of the King's Guard arrested him Me said Ancre Yes you by the Death of God answered Vitry who cried out Kill him whereupon he was killed by three Pistol Shots the King owning the Fact But
revoke those Powers more than by the Clause De non revocando procuratore inserted in the Instrument it self and then he conceived the Clause to be matter of Form and tho essentially of no binding Power yet usually thrust into every such Instrument and that the Civilians hold That it is lawful by the Civil and Canon Law for any Man to revoke his Proxy of Marriage notwithstanding it hath the Clause De non revocando procuratore inserted in it Therefore the Duke concluded as to this point That the Earl of Bristol in charging this Matter so highly upon the Prince had much forget himself Can any Man believe that when the Prince made the Procuration to the King of Spain and his Brother to his Espousals with the Infanta in his Name and left it in the Earl of Bristol's hands with the Clause De non revocando procuratore that he then had consulted with the Civilians that he might revoke it when he pleased or that this Marriage nine Years in treating was not founded upon the Honour and Oaths of the Kings the Prince and of Buckingham himself but upon the Niceties and Quirks of the Civilians Or did it become the Prince or the Duke either who when he parted from the King of Spain at the Escurial solemnly to swear the Treaty of Marriage and the Furtherance of it by all that was in his Power in the presence of the Earl of Bristol and Sir Walter Ashton as you may read in Rushworth fol. 285. and now in the face of the King and Parliament to plead a Nicety of the Civilians to absolve the Prince and himself Now let us see what the Earl of Bristol says for himself for the Duke's Charge upon him for Proceedings upon this Match His Reasons were 1. For that he had a Warrant under the Prince's hand for his Proceedings to consummate the Match 2. It was the main Scope of his Embassy 3. He was enjoined by the King and Prince's Commission under the Great Seal 4. He had positive Orders under his Majesty's hand King James since 5. It was agreed by Capitulation that it should be within so many days after the coming of the Dispensation 6. The King James and Prince signified by their Letters to him at the same time when they discharged him of his Commandment touching the Infanta's entring into Religion that they intended to proceed in the Marriage which Letters bear date the 8th of October 1623. 7. The Proxies were to that end left in his hands and after again renewed after the Prince's return into England 8. That he the Earl had overthrown the Marriage without Order for tho Sir Walter Aston and himself had used all possible means for gaining time and deferring the Desponsories yet the King of Spain caused it to be protested that in case the Earl should insist upon the deferring the Desponsories he would free himself from the Treaty by the Earl's infringing the Capitulations And in truth altho the King of Spain should have condescended to have prolonged the Desponsories until one of the Days of Christmas as by the Letter was required yet the Prince's Proxies had been before that time expired and he durst not without a precise Warrant put such a Scorn upon so noble a Lady whom he then conceived was like to have been the Prince's Wife as to nominate a Day of Marriage when the Proxies were out of date and he himself had sworn to the Treaty 9. He the Earl could not in Honour and Honesty but endeavour to perform that publick Trust reposed in him when the Proxies were deposited in his hands with publick and legal Declaration with an Instrument by a Secretary of State to the King of Spain leading and directing the Use of them and the same being then Instrumentum Stipulatum wherein as well the King of Spain was interested by the Acceptation of the Substitution as the Prince by granting the Proxies he could not in Honesty fail the publick Trust without clear and undoubted Warrant which so soon as he had he obeyed See Rushworth fol. 301 302. The Duke 's stating the Question super totam materiam was Whether this being the full Effect and Product of this Negotiation he had opened to them the Parliament be sufficient super totam materiam for his Majest to rely upon with any Safety as well for the Marriage of his only Son as for the Relief of his only Daughter Or that these Treaties set aside his Majesty were best to trust in his own Strength and to stand upon his own Feet So the Duke ended That if the bringing us from Darkness to Light did deserve any Thanks we must wholly ascribe it to his Highness the Prince Here is a Tale finely told parte inaudita altera but the Duke shall hear more of it and indeed it was a Net so spread in the sight of every Bird that it was a wonder it should catch any for at this time the Match was quite broke off with Spain and another entered upon with France when it must be suposed forsooth the Spanish Match was in Treaty and now must be broken off by Advice in Parliament which was before such a Mystery of State as not to be meddled with in Parliament But while the Prince and Duke were wrapt up in security of the Parliament as well as the King's Affections and that now the Duke was become as well the Peoples as the King's Favourite a new Accident happened out of which if the Prince and Duke had not been extricated by the matchless Wit and lively Industry of the Keeper in all appearance it would have put both Prince and Duke out of the King's Favour and Affections dissolved this beloved Parliament and have brought such a train of mischievous Consequences as could not have been foreseen or prevented I desire to be excused if I do not cite the Bishop of Litchfield's words in the Life of the Lord Keeper for I think the Case will more clearly appear without his Paraphrases and Glosses While the Marriage between the Prince and Infanta was in Treaty the King of Spain sent Don John Marquess Inoiosa his Ambassador to be resident in England a Man of true Spanish Gravity and Severity and a most rigid Promoter of the Popish Interest in England so that he was taken notice of to be the most surly and unpleasing Man that ever came to the Keeper about any Business If this Man were thus during the Treaty it could not be expected he would become better natur'd upon the breaking of it and the Duke of Buckingham was as jealous of him that he should spoil the Narrative he had made of the Proceedings in the Spanish Match as he was of the Earl of Bristol and therefore would never admit the Marquess to have any private Audience of the King in the Duke's Absence so that Sir Walter Aston wrote from Spain that it was complained of that Marquess Inoiosa had advertised thither he had not been able
partake with him in any part of his Authority over it And now Monk with a better Authority and more Applause than Cromwel had might have set up himself for Protector or what he pleas'd but he saw the Genius of the Nation lay another way and that 't was more secure to follow it than to set up himself against it He held therefore private Intelligence with the Heads of the Secluded Members about their Restoration on certain Conditions The Secluded Members were zealously disposed to out the Rump upon any Terms whatever came of it they had more to say against the Rump than the Rump had against the Officers of the Army who had twice deposed them and the Rump began the Game with the Secluded Members before the Officers began with them So upon Feb. 21. Monk gave the Command of the Guard to Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper after Earl of Shaftsbury to permit the Secluded Members to enter the House the first whereof was W. Prynn tied to a great Basket-hilted Sword yet the Rumpers were not excluded nor did the Secluded Members care for it being four to one And so the Rumpers left the House and fell into a Relapse of their Convulsion out of which they never recovered nor did Barebone's Rabble afford them any Relief Thus you see the Rump and Secluded Members were like Virginal-Jacks too when one was up the other was down for the Secluded Members who before would not have the Nation or themselves safe unless they were an Undissolvable Parliament now to be revenged on the Rump are content to meet only to do Monk some Journey-work and then dissolve themselves The Secluded Members after they were in repeal their own Exclusion then vote Monk General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland Mountague Admiral of the Fleet set Sir George Booth and those in Prison upon that account at liberty and soon after sent Lambert in his room and grant a Tax for Payment of the Army which now no Man disputed But Monk ' s Cares did not end here the Army without were more than fivefold to his within the City he therefore sent Letters to all the other Regiments of the Armies in England and Ireland To certify the Reason of the re-admission of the Secluded Members that without it there was no way to satisfy the Nation or raise Money to pay the Army and with large Assurances of their Constancy in their old Profession and Principles The Souldiers in general were glad to be out of their starving and wandring state and therefore in shoals submitted to Monk who yet would not receive them unless they would swear to be true to this Parliament as 't was called which he could but little trust to they having so often forswore themselves before yet these at present serv'd his turn and those who refus'd he cashier'd Now had horrible Dread overwhelm'd the Rumpers especially the Regicides they saw themselves hated by almost all the Nation yet at irreconcilable Variance one with another the Body of the Army which had raised them turned now against them they knew the Secluded Members had but a limited time to sit and then to dissolve themselves to make room for another which would certainly bring in the King to their utter Destruction In this Consternation Lambert escap'd out of the Tower and Col. Rich refused to submit Lambert posts to Warwick where he met Axtel Okey Cobbet Creed and some other disbanded Officers to whom many disbanded Soldiers joined which made up a little Army Colonel Streater a Confident of Monk's from Northampton gives Monk an Account of this whereupon the Council of State settled by the Secluded Members proclaim Lambert and all his Adherents Traitors and Monk sent Col. Rich. Ingoldsby a Gentleman of more true Courage than 20 of these sniveling Fellows who was before cashier'd for adhering to Ric. Cromwel when the Officers depos'd him with a strong Squadron of Horse to join Streater's Foot against them When these were joined upon Easter-day near Daventry both Armies came within sight of one another when Lambert made an Overture to Ingoldsby to restore Ric. Cromwel but Ingoldsby knew this Game was lost and that Lambert did not mean sincerely and so they fought Ingoldsby charged home and Lambert's Men could not sustain the Shock but fled and Ingoldsby it 's said took Lambert Prisoner with his own hands Lambert crying Quarter good my Lord for Ingoldsby was one of Oliver's Lords of the other House spare my Life With Lambert Cobbet and Creed were taken Prisoners Okey and Axtel escaped now but could not escape a greater Punishment than befel Lambert Cobbet or Creed for they were hang'd and quarter'd for having been K. Charles's Judges Nor was Rich's Fate much better than Lambert's for Col. Ingoldsby at Bury in Suffolk cashier'd him it 's said at the Head of his Regiment and disbanded it This was the End of that Invincible Army subdu'd by not one 6th part of it self for Monk when he came from Scotland had but 4 Regiments of Horse and 6 of Foot and I believe not 10 Men killed in their Defence and not one in the Reduction of the invincible Armado And now 't is time to see what followed the Secluded Members with much ado having dissolved themselves upon Mar. 17. issued out Writs for another to meet yet in the Name of the Keepers of the Liberties of the Commonwealth of England upon Apr. 25. the Elections to be as they were before the Year 1640. The gazing World eagerly expected the Success of this wondrous Revolution If we look abroad we shall see Mazarine after Cromwel's Death not foreseeing wherein the Confusions and Disorders in England would end unless in the Restoring the King which by Monsieur Bourdeaux the French Ambassador in England he diligently used his utmost Endeavours to prevent now sets up a Treaty of Peace with Spain and to forward it propounds a Marriage between the French King and the eldest Infanta of Spain the younger was after married to the now Emperor Leopold and the now King of Spain not born This Treaty was called The Pyrenaean Treaty But as this Treaty was made in deepest Dissimulation and Treachery so were the Preparations to it for at the same time the War continuing between Spain and Portugal the French King made an offensive League with Portugal for 10 Years not to treat with Spain unless the Portuguese were entirely satisfied in all their exorbitant Demands of Spain in which 't was agreed That all the Harbours the Portuguese should take in Spain either upon the one or other side of the Sea shall be put into the Power of France which you may read in the most excellent Treatise of the truly honourable and learned Statesman the Baron d' Isola Of the Buckler of State and Justice Chap. 1. And in regard there is so great a Connexion of the Pyrenaean Treaty with that of the Life of King Charles II. we 'll be more particular in it before we
the King made with the States The French King after he had taken Ipre and Gaunt Luxemburg proceeded to block up Mons and Schomberg threatned to besiege Cologn and thus the Dutch bound Hand and Foot had no body else to complain to or expect any Relief from but the Court of England The Dutch had a little before sent over one Van Lewen who was the chief of the Town of Leyden who Sir William Temple says was a Man of great Honour and Worth to treat with the King to enter into a War against France which the King was obliged to by the League with them and had received 1200000 l. of the Parliament for carrying it on and by Van Lewen the States acquaint the King with the Terms upon which the French King would restore the six Towns in Flanders to the Spaniards the King at first seemed not to believe it but having sent to the French Ambassador Barillon to know the Truth of this which the Ambassador owning he seemed surprized and angry at this proceeding of France and next Morning sent for Sir William Temple to the Foreign Committee and there declar'd his Resolution of sending him immediately into Holland with a Commission to sign a Treaty with the States by which they should carry on the War and the King to enter into it in case France should not consent to evacuate the Towns within a certain time limited and the King took Pains to press Van Lewen to go over with Sir William to perswade the States of the King's Sincereness and Constancy to pursue these Measures to the utmost of his Power Armed with these Powers away goes Sir William and Van Lewen and were received with all imaginable Joy by the Dutch and Sir William by the Prince hoping by his Errand and Success of it either to continue the War or to recover such Conditions of Peace for his Allies as had been forced out of his Hands by force of a Faction begun at Amsterdam and after spread into the rest of the Provinces All the Provinces even those which were so forward for the Peace upon the French Terms were so forward in this Negotiation that in six days the Treaty was concluded by which France was obliged to declare within fourteen days after the Date thereof that they would evacuate the Spanish Towns or in case of Refusal Holland was engaged to go on with the War and England immediately to declare it against France in Conjunction with Holland and the rest of the Confederates Here observe that tho Sir William was one of the Mediators of Peace at Nimeguen yet whilst this Negotiation was perfected his Post was to be at the Hague for a Tale depends upon it The Wisdom as well as the Integrity of the Prince in the whole Negotiation of this Affair was now so conspicuous that the States owned the Prince had made a truer Judgment than they had done of the Measures which they were to expect either from England or France and if it happens that England in this Business shall prove as fickle and loose as before yet this shall never be ascribed to the Prince who was always the same he was before So now all Preparations were made for the Relief of Mons and ten thousand English being arrived in Flanders who were ordered to join the Prince he resolved to relieve Mons or to die in the Attempt After the Treaty concluded and signified to France all Arts that could be were on that side employed to elude it by drawing this Matter into a Treaty or into greater length which had succeeded so well in England that they offered to treat upon it at Quintin's then at Gaunt but the States were firm not to recede from their late Treaty made with the King and so continued till about Five Days before the Term was to expire You heard before how the King had solicited Van Lewen to accompany Sir William Temple to assure and perswade the States to pursue the Measures Sir William and he went upon to their utmost but alas now when Sir William as well as the Prince were out of Sight they were out of Mind too and now Sir William was gone he forgot the Indignation which Barillon had put upon him in the Treaty for the French Money he was to receive for joining in the French Terms with the Dutch which he then said he would never forget so long as he lived But now you shall see how absolute a Dominion the French King had over him and by what Instruments he governed him viz. a French Man a French Woman and a French Monk who had changed his Frock for a Petticoat The French Man was Barillon the French Woman was the Dutchess of Portsmouth and the French Monk was one Du Cross These three met the King in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber and in one hour's time agreed that Du Cross should carry Sir William Temple a Pacquet wherein the King commanded him to go immediately to Nimeguen and there endeavour all he could to perswade the Swedish Ambassadors as from the King to let the French Ambassadors there know That they would for the Good of Christendom consent and even desire the French King no longer to defer the Evacuation of the Towns and consequently the Peace upon the sole Regard and Interest of the Crown of Sweden and Sir William was likewise commanded to assure the said Ambassadors that after the Peace his Majesty would use all the most effectual Means he could for the Restitution of the Towns and Countries the Swede had lost in the War This was to get Sir William out of the way who spirited the Dutch in the Action that Du Cross might play his Pranks in the rest But before Du Cross had brought his Pacquet to Sir William he had gone about most industriously to the Deputies of the several Towns and acquainted them with it and that the Terms of Peace were absolutely agreed upon between the two Kings That he had brought Sir William Orders straight to get to Nimeguen and that upon his Arrival there he should meet with Letters from my Lord of Sunderland the King's Ambassador at Paris with all the Particulars concluded between them Sir William followed his Instructions and when he came to Nimeguen there were but three Days of the Term fixed by the late Treaty between the King and States at the Hague either for the French Assent to the Evacuation of the Towns or for carrying on the War in Conjunction of Holland with England and consequently with the rest of the Confederates but there found no Letters from my Lord Sunderland of the Particulars of the Peace concluded between the two Kings but on the contrary a Manifesto to the Dutch by the French Ambassadors why their Master could not consent to it without the previous Satisfaction of Sweden whose Interest he esteemed the same with his own but yet declaring he was willing to receive any Expedients the States should offer in this matter
the Design At this time there was not only a high Ferment in all the Nation against the King's Proceedings but in the Army against its mixture with Irish Officers and Soldiers which put the King into a great Agony which was increased by the Dutch Preparation Whereupon the Marquess d' Albeville the King's Envoy at the Hague upon the 2d of Sept. N. S. 23d of Aug. O. S. put in this Memorial to the States General High and Mighty Lords THE great and surprizing Preparations for War made by your Lordships by Sea and Land in a Season when all Action especially by Sea is laid aside giving just Cause of Surprize and Alarm to all Europe obliges the King my Master who has had nothing so much in his Mind since his Accession to the Crown as a Continuation of the Peace and Correspondence with this State to order the Marquess d' Albeville his Envoy Extraordinary to know your Highnesses Intentions thereby His Majesty as your antient Ally and Confederate believes it just to demand this Knowledg which he hoped with good Reason to have heard from your Ambassador but as he sees this Duty of Alliance and Confederation neglected and that such Power is raising without communicating the Intent in the least to him he finds himself obliged to reinforce his Fleet and to put himself in a Condition to maintain the Peace of Christendom The States paused upon an Answer to this Memorial when upon the 9th of September N. S. or the 30th of Aug. O. S. Monsieur d' Avaux the French Ambassador put in a Memorial to the States wherein he foolishly discovers the Contrivances which had been so long hatching between his Master and King James for after a long Story of his Master's Desire of maintaining the Peace of Europe now he had actually broke it he impertinently tells the States All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore His Majesty hath commanded me to declare to the States on his Part that the Bonds of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him the French King not only to assist him the King of Great Britain but also to look on the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops and your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown Though the Dutch made no Answer to this Memorial yet they made no Bones to make this Answer to the Marquess d' Albeville's That they had armed in Imitation of his Britannick Majesty and other Princes and that they had thereby given no just Cause of Offence by arming when all other Princes were in Motion and that they were long since convinced of the Alliance which the King his Master had treated with France and what had been mentioned to them by Monsieur le Count d' Avaux in his Memorial This Answer King James took all one as if the Dutch had declared War against him and all the Eyes of England are now turned toward Holland as if from thence they expected Deliverance from the Designs of King James and his Popish Crew and the Fathers and Sons too of the Church of England are at as much Variance in their private and publick Prayers to God as Whig and Tory were in their Humours for in their private Prayers they pray for Prosperity to the Prince of Orange and in the Liturgy they pray that God would be King James's Defender and Keeper giving him Victory over all his Enemies God was pleased to prefer the private Prayers of the Church-men before those of the Church and to have granted both had been impossible and to put a hook into the French King's Nose who turned those Forces which he had raised not for the Peace and Tranquillity of Europe as d' Avaux said in his Memorial to the Dutch States upon the Empire where without any Declaration of War or Cause alledged he first fell upon Philipsburg which he took and after Heydelberg and Mainheim and while he was thus engaged he left the Prince of Orange free to vindicate his Cause against King James whereas if the French King had turned those Forces which he employed against the Empire upon the Spanish Netherlands and he might as justly have done this as that the Prince of Orange would have had little Force and less Leasure to have made any Attempt upon King James Thus God is pleased often to turn the Wisdom of the Crafty I will not say Wise into Folly and Destruction You have heard before how the French King in the beginning of the Year had sent out a Fleet to Canada whereupon the Company of Hudsons-Bay represented to the King their Apprehensions it was a Design upon their Factories and Plantations and so it succeeded for the French seized upon a Fort and Plantation of theirs called Fort Charles Towards the latter end of the Summer the King without the Knowledg of Hudsons-Bay Company entred into a Treaty of Commerce with his Brother of France in reference to the Trade of Canada wherein it was concluded that the Forts and Factories should be reciprocally enjoyed in the same state they were at the Conclusion of this Treaty the French having taken the Fort and Factory of Charles about three Months before So little did this King regard the Safety and Welfare of his Subjects wherein his Majesty and Honour was founded for to pleasure and endear his Brother of France from whom he expected mighty things for the Advancement of his Prerogative without reserve in England Scotland and Ireland Thus have I brought down the History of this King's Reign to the History of the Desertion where at large and particularly you may read how by a Wonder equal to King Charles his Coming in King James went out And if no human Prospect could have foreseen where the Tyranny of King Charles the I's Reign would have ended if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a full Stop to it so no uninterested Person was so purblind as not to see if the Heroick Magnanimity of this King in his Queen's his own and the Nation 's Right and for the common Safety of Christendom had not put a Stop to King James his Designs but the Popish Superstition and French Tyranny would have been imposed upon these Kingdoms and have overspread Christendom We admit these four Kings of the Scotish Race had an Hereditary Title to have governed England by the Laws and Constitutions of it yet no Hereditary King hath any higher Title nor any Man a Right to do Wrong and for an Hereditary King to govern otherways is a greater Tyranny than if an Usurper does by how much he adds Perfidiousness and Breach of his Trust to it Yet so it was that these four last Kings of the Scotish Race which should have been the Guardians of England in preserving the
luxurious and vicious Prince and that Ferdinand II. after the Victory at Prague endeavoured to subject the Freedom of Germany by force which brought the Swedes into Germany and the French siding with the Swedes took Philipsburg and Brisac upon the Rhine which opened the two Passages into the Empire by which this present King has been enabled to make those Wars and Ravages in the Empire which have since succeeded After the Restoration of King Charles II. the whole Series of his Reign was employed in assisting the French in all their ambitious Designs so did the Dutch and Dane when he had engaged them in a War with England and the Oxford Parliament first made the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel whereby they disjoin'd the Interest and Dependency of Ireland upon England and fixt it upon France and other Countries which traded with them and enabled the French and Dutch to victual Ships cheaper in their Fisheries and other Trades than the English could as much to their Benefit as Prejudice to the English How King James II's Conjunction with the French had brought these Nations and Christendom to the Brink of Destruction was said in his Reign In this state these Kingdoms stood when God was pleased to give them Deliverance by the Interpoâ—tion of his present Majesty and now all the neighbouring Nations upon France I mean Spain the Empire Savoy and the Dutch as well as England were alarmed at their common Danger by the French Ambition and Grandure and all their Eyes were upon England as if from thence they expected Safety and now was the King of England again become the Arbitrator of Christendom after the four former Kings were so contemptible and neglected by it But in two things the French King's Ambition or rather Madness put some Check to his aspiring Designs viz. his Contests with the Pope about his Franchizes at Rome and the Regalia's of France and by the Extream on the other side in his revoking the Edicts of Nants and his Dragooning and Reforming the Protestants of France whereby he lost innumerable of his Subjects to the weakning of his own Power and that in double Proportion for his Enemies as he made them became so much the more numerous and stronger for those which became Exiles being an industrious sort of People had contributed highly to the Encrease of the Wealth of France so that now the Charge of the War must have been supported by those he left yet in this state France alone for above six Years made an offensive and victorious War by Land against Germany Spain Holland the Spanish Netherlands and the Duke of Savoy tho all these were assisted by the Power of England and Scotland Tho England embraced their Deliverance by the King Ireland did not nor was it their Interest for why should the Irish join with the English who would have no Trade with them against the French upon whom the Irish depended by their Trade and Commerce And it 's observable That tho the French assisted the Irish above three Years in their Wars against the English yet it may be a Question Whether the French did not gain more by their Trade with Ireland for Wools Tallow Raw Hides and Provisions for their Fleet than their Expence for carrying on the War against the English did amount to whereas the English in the War were at a foreign Expence and being a Naval War were forced to victual their Fleets at one third greater Expence than the French could do from Ireland Another Advantage the French had over the English in this Naval War was that Brest lying South of Ireland every Wind not North in one Course carries their Fleet to Ireland whereas Chatham from whence the English sent their Fleet to oppose them lies fivefold more remote from Ireland than Brest does nor can the Ships from Chatham be carried to Ireland but by different Winds and steering different Courses almost from all the Points of the Compass for it must be after the Ships are come within the Buoy of the Nore a South or South-west Wind to carry them to the Buoy of the Gunfleet before they turn into the Deep Waters then a quite contrary Wind brings them into the Downs and Channel and when they have sailed above a hundred Leagues another Wind carries them to Ireland From hence it was principally that the French for above three Years together so long as the War lasted sent out their Fleets upon the Coast of Ireland did their Business and returned to Brest before we could get out our Fleets to oppose them Yet Falmouth and Milford-Haven are much better Ports and lie better and more conveniently than Brest Milford much more to have relieved Ireland and oppose the French Designs at Brest yet from neither did we send one Ship to do it I suppose if the Reason hereof be asked it will be answered That there were no Docks Shipwrights or Naval Stores in either to have supplied our Men of War in those Ports But from whence comes this to pass There were two Reasons hereof from within and from without from within Foy and Haverford-West and the Port Towns generally of England are Corporations and the Inhabitants poor yet proud of their Prerogatives in excluding the rest of the Nation and so have so much less means for building Ships Docks or carrying on the Fishing or any foreign Trades as the Inhabitants are fewer and poorer and generally they are all Beggars The other Reason from without is the Act of Navigation against Foreigners partaking equal Benent in Trade with the Natives of England so that tho God and Nature have endowed this Nation with more excellent and noble Ports than any Nation in the World of like Bigness except Ireland for the Benefit and Convenience of the Nation yet by the Iniquity and Folly of our Laws we have made them vain and of no use to our selves nor any other Nation whereas I am confident the French King would give any of his new conquered Provinces in the Spanish Netherlands to have one such Port as either Falmouth or Milford Haven upon the Coast of Normandy or Bretaign within the Channel Notwithstanding these Obstacles the Kingdom of Ireland is again reduced to the Dominion of the Kingdom of England But I say tho we should destroy the French Fleet of War yet if we do not redress the Oppressions which the English in their Trades and Navigation lie under the Nation will be no ways secured from the growing Greatness of either French or Dutch for the same Causes will have the same Effects EXPEDIENTS by which the English Nation may be secured against the growing Greatness of the French and Dutch APOLOGY WE have epitomized the Causes of the declining of the Wealth Strength and Trade of England in this Epilogue that they may be more obvious to the Reader than if he should look for them as they lie dispersed in the Body of the History and I am conscious to
more but to tell me who is your Ingineer that struck these Sparks out of the Flint to light the Candle to find the Groat which was lost The Prince stood mute and the Duke vowed he knew not the Author Well said the King I have a good Nostril and will answer mine own Question my Keeper had the main finger in it I dare swear he bolted the Flower and made it up into Past Sir said the Prince I was precluded by my Promise not to reveal him but I never promised to tell a Lie for him your Majesty has hit the Man And God do him good for it says the King I need not tell you both what you owe him for this Service he has done himself this Right with me that I discern his Sufficiency more and more This you may read in the Keeper's Life Part 1. from fol. 195 to fol. 200. and much more of the Bishop but I think but little more of the Keeper And tho the Spanish Ambassador received a sore Rebuke here and was sent back into Spain the Bishop says he received no Frown nor Disfavour there Now let 's see how the Duke requited the Keeper for his Service which was but in May In the beginning of Michaelmas-Term following the Duke perswaded my Lord Chief Justice Hobart to tell the King or give it under his hand that my Lord Keeper was not fit for the Place and he would undertake to cast the Keeper out and put my Lord Hobart into his place but my Lord Hobart said Somewhat might have been said at first but he should do my Lord Keeper great wrong that said so now See fol. 201. However such was the Temper of the Times that both Houses chimed in with the Duke in his Narrative and justified him against the Spanish Ambassador who took great Offence at the Duke's Relation as reflecting upon his Master's Honour and demanded his Head for Satisfaction The King was so pleased with the Parliament's Justification of the Duke as we have shewed before that as he had been his Favourite Somerset's Advocate to plead his Cause against the Opinion of Archbishop Abbot to make the Countess of Essex to be virgo intacta and so a fit Wife for Somerset so now he becomes his Disciple Buckingham's Advocate to make him a Favourite to the Nation and because of the Excellency and veracity of his Speech which should dispose the Nation to it we 'll give it you verbatim as it is to be seen in Rushworth fol. 127. My Lords and Gentlemen I Might have nothing to speak in regard of the Person whereof you spake but in regard of your Motion it were not civil for if I be silent I shall neither wrong my self nor that Noble Man which you now spake of because he is well known to be such an one as stands in no need of a Prolocutor or Fideâ—ussor to undertake for his Fidelity or well carrying of the Business And indeed to send a Man upon so great an Errand whom I was not to trust for the Carriage thereof were a Fault in my Discretion scarce compatible to the Love and Trust I bear him It is an old Saying That he is a happy Man that serves a good Master and it is no less true That he is a happy Master that enjoys a faithful Servant The greatest Fault if it be a Fault or at leastwise the greatest Error I hope he shall ever commit against me was his desiring this Justification from you as if he had need of any Justification from others towards me and that for these Reasons First Because he being my Disciple and Scholar he may be assured he will trust his own Relation Secondly Because he made the same Relation to me which he did afterwards to both Houses so as I was formerly acquainted with the Matter and Manner thereof and if I should not trust him in the Carriage I was altogether unworthy of such a Servant He hath no Interest of his own in the Business He had ill Thoughts at home for his going thither with my Son altho it was my Command as I told you before and now he hath as little Thanks for his Relation on the other part he has the Thanks of the Parliament yet he that serves God and a good Master cannot miscarry for all this I have noted in the Negotiation these three remarkable things Faith Diligence and Discretion whereof my Son has born Record unto me yet I cannot deny That as he thought to do good Service to his Master he has given an ill Example to Ambassadors in time to come because he went this long Journey upon his own Charge This will prove an ill Example if many of my Ambassadors should take it for a Precedent He run his Head into the Yoke with the People here for undertaking the Journey and when he had spent there 40 or 50000 l. where should he have this Money never offered his Account nor made any Demand for the same nor ever will I hope other Ambassadors will do so no more I am a good Master that never doubted him for I know him to be so good a Scholar of mine that I say without Vanity he will not exceed his Master's Dictates and I trust the Report not the worst he made because it is approved by you all and I am glad he hath so well satisfied you and thank you heartily for taking it in so good part as I find you have done Did ever any old experienced King as he stiles himself so dote upon a young raw and unexperienced Gentleman bred up in no sort of Learning or Business and scarce before he became a Courtier unless in his Infancy breathed any other than French Air as in the face of the Nation to magnify an invidious Tale told by the Duke to the Offence not only of the Spanish Ambassador conversant in the whole Affair but also without hearing the Earl of Bristol who was the greatest Statesman of England if not in Europe and who had so honourably performed several Embassies to the Honour of the King so far as the thing would bear and so manifoldly owned by the King That this Scholar of the King 's unacquainted with the Treaty should break in upon the Earl and not only unravel all but quarrel with him and in another King's Court with the prime Minister of State by whom he might best have attained his End if he designed any However the Parliament address themselves to the King and represent to him That he cannot in Honour proceed in the Treaty of the Match with Spain nor the Palatinate and the Commons offer the King three Subsidies and three Fifteenths for carrying on the War for the Recovery of the Palatinate in case the King will break off the Treaties which the King accepted protesting to God a Penny of this Money should not be bestowed but upon this Work and by their own Committees and the Commons took him at his Word and appointed
she should take other French Catholicks in their Places but nevertheless by the Consent of the King of Great Britain That the King of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales his Son should oblige themselves by Oath not to attempt by any means whatsoever to make her change her Religion or to force her to any thing that might be contrary thereto and should promise by writing in the Faith and Word of a King and Prince to give Order that the Catholicks as well Ecclesiastical as Secular who have been imprisoned since the last Edict against them should be set at Liberty That the English Catholicks should be no more enquired after for their Religion nor constrained to take the Oath which contains something contrary to the Catholick Religion That their Goods that have been seized since the last Edict should be restored to them And generally that they should receive more Graces and Liberty in Favour of the Alliance with France than had been promised them in consideration of that of Spain The Deputation of Father Berule Superior General of the Fathers of the Oratory to his Holiness to obtain the Dispensation for the aforesaid Marriage THE Instructions which were given to Father de Berule were to render himself with all Diligence at Rome to obtain the Pope's Dispensation and to this Effect to represent to his Holiness That the King of Great Britain having demanded of the King his Sister Madame Henrietta Maria for a Wife for the Prince of Wales his Son his Majesty hearken'd the more willingly to this Proposition in that he esteem'd it very profitable towards the Conversion of the English as heretofore a French Princess married into England had induced them to embrace Christianity but the Honour which he had vowed to the Holy See and particularly to his Holiness who baptized him in the Name of Pope Clement VIII did not permit him to execute the Treaty without having obtained his Dispensations That this Marriage ought to be look'd upon not only for the Benefit of the English Catholicks but of all Christendom who would thereby receive great Advantage That there was nothing to be hazarded for in Madame seeing that she was as firm in the Faith and in Piety as he could desire That she had a Bishop and 28 Priests to do their Duties That she had not a Domestick that was not Catholick and that the King of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales would oblige themselves by Writing and by Oath not to solicit her directly or indirectly neither by themselves or by Persons interposed to change her Religion On the contrary having nothing to fear for her he had great Cause to hope that she being dearly beloved of the King who was already well enough disposed to be a Catholick and of the Prince of Wales she might by so much the more contribute to their Conversion as Women have wonderful Power over their Husbands and their Fathers-in-law when Love hath given them the Ascendant over their Spirits That she was so zealous in Religion that there was no doubt but she would employ in this pious Design all that depended upon her Industry and that if God should not bless Intentions in the Person of King James and of the Prince of Wales it was apparent that their Children would be the Restorers of the Faith which their Ancestors had destroyed seeing she would have the Charge to educate them in the Belief and in the Exercises of the Catholick Religion till the Age of 13 Years and that these first Seeds of Piety being laid in their Souls cultivated with Care at the time when they should be more susceptible of Instructions would infallibly produce stable and permanent Fruits that is to say a Faith so firm that it may not be shaken by Heresy in a riper Age. That after all the Catholicks of England would receive no small Profit at present since the King of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales would both oblige themselves upon their Faith and by Writing no more to enquire after them nor punish them when they should be discovered to enlarge all those that had been imprisoned and to make them Restitution of Money and of other Goods that had been taken from them since the last Edict if they were yet in being and generally to treat them with more Favour than they could have expected from the Alliance with Spain And further He had Orders to let the Pope understand that to render more Respect to the Church it had been agreed that Madame should be affianced and married according to the Catholick Form and agreeable to that which was followed at the Marriage which Charles IX made of Madam Margaret of France with the late King Henry IV. then King of Navarre All these things spoke themselves and appeared so visibly that they would admit of no doubt so this Father that wanted neither Spirit nor Fire represented them dexterously to the Pope and his Holiness made him hope for a speedy and favourable Answer c. See the Life of Cardinal Richlieu printed at Paris 1650. fol. 14 15. How does this agree with the King's Speech at the opening of the Parliament in the 18th Year of his Reign That if the Treaty of the Match between his Son and the Infanta of Spain were not for the Benefit of the Established Religion at home and of the Reformed abroad he was not worthy to be their King And how does this agree with that part of the King's Speech at the opening of this Parliament That as for the Toleration of the Roman Religion as God shall surely judg him he said he never thought nor meant nor never in Words expressed any thing that savoured of it Do not Religion Truth and Justice support the Thrones of Princes and Hypocrisy Falshood and Injustice undermine and overthrow them What future Happiness then could either the King or Prince hope to succeed this Treaty sworn to by them both so diametrically contrary to the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation wherein the Majesty of the King as well as the Safety of the Nation is founded and to govern by these and observe this Treaty will be impossible What Peace could the Prince find at home even in his Bed when an imperious French Wife shall be ever instigating him to break his Coronation-Oath to truckle to that imposed upon him by her Brother of France These Pills how bitter soever must be swallowed by the King rather than his Son shall be baulk'd a second time nay it seems they were very sweet to him For Mr. Howel in the Life of Lewis III. says fol. 66. that King James said passionately to the Lords of the Council of the King of France My Lords the King of France has wrote unto me That he is so far my Friend that if ever I have need of him he will render me Offices in Person whensoever I shall desire him the Truth of this you will see by and by Truly he hath gained upon
Peron of the Papal Power of King-Killing and King-Deposing were only Brawls and Contentions and 〈◊〉 Learning on one side or the other A Power disclaimed by our Saviour when the Devil would have given him it and denied any such Power in this World even when the Jews were ready to crucify him John 18. 36. And as there were no Reasons for these Brawls so was the End of them Arrogance on the Popish Part to impose a foreign Power or Jurisdiction upon the King and Kingdom and as foolish on the King's Part it being exploded by the Nation and under the severest Penalty the asserting such a Power prohibited and how could the King by his Writings further secure himself and the Nation against it But it seems the King was in this more zealous for himself and the Preservation of his Inherent Birth-right to the Crown of England than for the Honour of God and our Saviour against the Pope's Usurpations other ways for in his Speech at the Opening the first Parliament of his Reign he calls the Church of Rome a 〈◊〉 Church and our Mother-Church and if they would lay aside their King-killing and King-deposing Doctrine and some Niceties but names them not he was content to meet them mid-way Does not the Pope exalt himself above God and is Antichrist i◠forbidding the Laity the Cup in the partaking the Sacrament a Christ's last Supper If any Man makes a Question of it I 'll demonstrate it by a better Syllogism than can be made up of Aristotle's Analyticks For whosoever shall forbid what another commands exalts himself above that other But the Pope forbids the Drinking of the Cup at the Sacrament to the Laity who are Christ's Members as well as the Priests And our Saviour commands the Cup with an Emphasis Drink ye All of it Therefore the Pope exalts himself above our Saviour and is Antichrist which was to be demonstrated and this Mutilation makes this the Pope's and not a Sacrament of our Saviour's Institution COROLLARY By the same Reason I say the Pope exalts himself above God in forbidding Marriage to the Priests For Marriage is an Institution of God in Paradise Gen. 2. and commanded by God Gen. 9. 1. and the Pope forbids the Marriage of Priests which St. Paul says is the Doctrine of Devils and it 's worthy Observation that the Pope makes Marriage to be a Sacrament yet denies it to Priests and our Saviour commands the Cup in the Sacrament of his last Supper to be drunk by all yet this is denied the Laity and only allowed to Priests I say Pope Julius the 2d in dispensing with Henry the 8th to marry his Brother Arthur's Wife exalted himself above God For whosoever shall dispense with or allow what another forbids exalts himself above that other But Julius dispensed with Henry's Marriage of his Brother's Wife And God forbids the Marriage of a Man's Brother's Wife Lev. 18. 16. Therefore Julius exalted himself above God which was to be demonstrated It 's true I do not find the Marriage of a Man's Sister's Daughter particularly forbidden by the Levitical Law yet by the 17th verse it is by inference forbidden and is abhorrent to Nature So that when Cambyses asked the Magi if it were not lawful to marry his Sister's Daughter they told him it was not yet like Flatterers they told him he might do what he pleased and Platina I think it is in the Life of Pope Boniface the 5th or Honorius exclaims against the Emperor Heraclius his marrying his Sister's Daughter as an Impiety scarce ever heard of yet three Popes successively dispensed with Philip the 2d Philip the 3d and Philip the 4th Kings of Spain marrying with their own Nieces viz. their Sisters Daughters It were endless to enumerate the Doctrines of the Church of Rome how dishonourable they are to God and his sacred Laws I 'll give Instances only in two 1. Their Invocation of Saints after Death many of which are of their own making thereby attributing to them a concurring Power with God in his Omniscience which is a robbing God of his Honour and if Saints after Death be not Omniscient it were in vain to pray to them The other is dispensing with Mens Promises and their own tho they have bound themselves to the Performance of them by an Oath whereby the Popes render themselves Enemies of Mankind and Humane Society for these are founded in Truth and Mens mutual Performance of their Promises That this for several hundreds of Years hath been practised by the Popes upon those Princes and Subjects whom they please to call Hereticks when the Popes are greater is well known to those conversant in their Histories I 'll give but one Instance of the Liberty the Popes take to themselves herein Upon the Death of Pope Marcellus 2d Ann. 1555. the Cardinals in the Conclave before they proceed to the Election of another Pope mutually swore That whosoever should be chosen should call a Synod in six Years and not make more than 4 Cardinals in two Years after the Election and Paul the 4th was chosed See the Council of Trent Anno 1555. Some small time after this Election Paul entred the Conclave to declare his Intentions of a Promotion of Cardinals and the Cardinal of St. James's pressed to him and put him in mind of his Oath before his Election but the Pope thrust the Cardinal back and told him This was to bind the Pope's Authority that it is an Article of Faith that the Pope cannot be bound much less bind himself that to say otherwise was manifest Heresy from which he did absolve those who spake it because he thought they did not speak obstinately but if any should say the same again he would give Order the Inquisition should proceed And this being spoken in the Conclave was in Cathedra and infallible and never since retracted by him or any other Pope These are the Heresies in the Church of Rome for which Men must be slaughtered and burnt and for not believing them against the Evidence of a Man's Senses to the contrary and against the Nature of a Sacrament That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after Consecration is Christ's organical Body and Blood This is that true and Mother-Church which the King would meet mid-way if it would let him and his Inherent Birth-right alone This is that Prince who to prosecute these Brawls and to wallow in sensual Pleasures neglected the foreign and domestick Affairs of his Kingdom only Great in making himself little and not beloved at home and contemptible and dishonoured abroad A Prince who squandred away the sacred Patrimony of the Crown amongst Flatterers and Favourites thereby becoming not able to maintain the Honour of the Nation abroad and neglecting the Encrease and Repair of his Navy-Royal not only rendred the Nation in an unsettled and dangerous Peace at home but notwithstanding the Treaty with the Dutch for Licence to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland suffered
Son is our Enemy Widdrington But the late King's third Son the Duke of Glocester is still among us and too young to have been in Arms against us or infected with the Principles of our Enemies Whitlock There may be a day given for the King 's eldest Son or for the Duke of York his Brother to come in to the Parliament and upon such Terms as shall be thought fit and agreeable both to our Civil and Spiritual Liberties and a Settlement may be made upon them Cromwel This will be a Business of more than ordinary Difficulty but really a Word much used by him I think if it may be done with Safety and Preservation of our Rights both as Englishmen and as Christians that a Settlement of somewhat of Monarchical Power would be very effectual So that the Soldiers were for a Republick except Fleetwood who knew not what to say the Lawyers for a mix'd Monarchy and many for the Duke of Glocester to be King but then Cromwel designing for himself still put off the Debate to some other Point so the Company part without any Result at all yet Cromwel discovered by this Meeting the Inclinations of the Persons which spake for which he fished and made use of what he thus discerned But this Point was too tender to be further pressed at this time and so we leave it till Cromwel shall give a further Occasion In October this Year Haines reduced Jersey to the Rump and in January the Isle of Barbadoes was surrender'd to Askew sent thither by the Rump and in this Month an English Man of War meeting with some Dutch Fishermen demanded the tenth Herring as a Duty for their Fishing in these Seas which the Dutch denying the English sunk one of their Ships and all the Men were lost see Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 487. b. and here began the first Quarrel between the Rump and Dutch The Rump thus every where Victorious at home yet it may be fearing they had disgusted all Christian Princes by the Death of the King and already the Czar of Muscovy had revoked all the Privileges of Trade which had been granted to the English in the Reigns of Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth and continued in the Reigns of King James and King Charles and banished the English out of his Dominions for putting the King to Death upon the 11th of March sent the Chief Justice St. John and Mr. Strickland to treat of a Coalition with the Dutch whose Title and Government were the same or not unlike to the Rump's and if this could be obtained both Republicks being incomparably superiour to all the Kings in the World by Sea they need not fear any Enemies abroad But the Dutch fearing this Coalition with England where the Harbours for Shipping are more and much better than those in Holland would rob them of the Trades they were possessed of and that their rich Merchants in case of a Coalition would be tempted to lay out their Monies upon real Securities in England rather than to venture them in the contingent Accidents of Trade not only refused to enter into a Coalition but rudely treated St. John whose haughty Spirit ill brooking such Affronts made a Report of his Embassy little to the Dutch Advantage Hereupon the Rump made the Act of Navigation designing thereby to have in a great measure lessened the Dutch Trade and encreased the English tho both succeeded quite contrary as hereafter we shall make it appear Yet the English by virtue of this Law took Occasion to search the Dutch Vessels and often to make Prize of them whereupon the Dutch sent over four Ambassadors Catz Van de Peere Sharp and Newport to pacify the Rump which they were so far from effecting that the Rump upon their first Audience upon the 15th of April demand the Arrears for the Dutch Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland that the Survivors of the Dutch assisting in the Massacre of the English at Amboyna should be given up to Justice and a free Trade up the Scheld The Dutch Ambassadors were surprized at these Demands having no Instructions thereupon or if they had could not have given any reasonable Answer against them Yet still they continued to make great Protestations of their Love and Affection to the Commonwealth of England and their most ardent Desire of propagating and encreasing the true Reformed Religion yet privately gave the State an Account how little was to be expected from the Rump by a Treaty Hereupon the Dutch prepare for a War nor was the Rump herein behind hand with them The Dutch in May set out a Fleet of Men of War commanded by Van Trump pretending for the Security of Trade but with Instructions not to strike Sail to the English Flag and upon the 17th of May came into Dover Road with 45 Sail of Men of War where Trump rode at Anchor as if he defied what the English could do to him Blake the English Admiral had but 15 Men of War yet resolved to have an Account of Trump what he had to do in Dover Road and sailed directly to him hereupon Trump stood to the East-ward and by that means being become Head-most of the English Fleet bore directly upon them and being come within Musquet-shot of the English Blake gave Order to fire at Trump's Flag which was done thrice but instead of striking it Trump poured in a Broad-side upon Blake and Major Bourn at this time coming to Blake's Assistance with 8 Men of War both Fleets engaged from four in the Afternoon till Night wherein there were not less than 2000 Shot exchanged upon one and the other side and the Dutch had one Man of War taken and another sunk and 150 Men slain but the English had not one Ship lost or disabled and very few Men killed This Fight was the 19th of May. Van Trump in the Night drew his Ships on the Back of the Goodwin Sands and next Morning sailed back to Zealand instead of securing the Dutch Trade Hereupon the Rump set a Guard upon the Dutch Ambassadors at Chelsey but tho the English Fleet in this Fight received little Damage yet that of the Dutch was so batter'd as made it unfit to fight About this time Virginia submitted to the Rump but not new-New-England nor ever after did that I can find The Dutch thus balk'd in their Expectation of great things to be done by Van Trump and finding the contrary Success sent a Paper to their Ambassadors in England which was presented to the Council of State the 20th of June therein taking God the Searcher of all Hearts to witness that the most unhappy Fight of the Ships of both Commonwealths did happen against the Knowledg and Will of the Lords States-General of the Vnited Netherlands and that with Grief and Astonishment they received the fatal News of that unhappy rash Action A likely matter as if Van Trump should dare to do such an Action without their Order and they not punish him for
it That they did consult and endeavour to find out what Remedy chiefly may be applied to mitigate that raw and bloody Wound and to that end had written to gather a solemn Meeting of Parliament or all the Provinces whereby they doubt not but a Help may be found out for these Troubles and a better hope of our Treaty in hand for the common good of both Nations to shun the detestable shedding of Christian Blood so much desired and would be dearly bought by the common Enemies of both Nations We again crave this most Honourable Council and beseech you by the Pledges both of common Religion and Liberty Terms unusual in the High and Mighty States and never used by them to any King since the Reign of Queen Elizabeth mean while to suffer nothing to be done out of too much Heat that afterwards may prove neither revocable nor repairable but too late Vows and Wishes but rather that you would let us receive a kind Answer without further Delay upon our last Request To this Cant wherein God's sacred Name is exposed to cover Dutch Hypocrisy the Rump gave this Answer That calling to mind with what continued Demonstrations of Friendship and Affection from the beginning of their Intestine Troubles they have proceeded with the Neighbours of the United Provinces they do find themselves much surprized with the unsutable returns they have made thereunto and especially at the Acts of Hostility lately committed in the very Roads of England upon the Fleet of this Commonwealth the matter of Fact whereof stated in clear Proofs is hereto annexed Vpon serious Consideration of all and of the several Papers delivered by your Excellencies to the Council of State the Parliament thinks fit to give this Answer As they are willing to make a charitable Construction of the Expressions used in these Papers endeavouring to represent the late Engagements of the Fleets without their Knowledg and against the Minds of their Superiours so when they consider how disagreeable to that Profession the Resolution and Actions of your State and of their Ministers at Sea have been even in the midst of a Treaty offered by themselves and managed by your Excellencies by the extraordinary Preparations of 150 Sail of Men of War without any visible occasion but what does now appear a just ground of Jealousy in your own Judgments when your Lordships pretended to excuse it and the Instructions themselves given by your Superiours to their Commanders at Sea they do find too much cause to believe that the Lords States of the United Provinces have an Intention by Force to usurp the known Rights of England in the Seas to destroy the Fleets that are under God their Walls and Bulwarks and thereby to expose this Common-wealth to Invasion as by this late Action they attempted to do Whereupon the Parliament conceive they are obliged to endeavour with God's Assistance as they have opportunity to seek Reparation of the Wrong already suffered and Security that the like be not attempted for the future Nevertheless with this Mind and Desire that all Differences between the two Nations may if possible be peaceably and friendly composed as God by his Providence shall open a way thereunto and Circumstances shall be conducing to render such Endeavours less dilatory and more effectual than those of this kind have hitherto yet been See Whitl Mem. f. 510. a b. This was the 10th of June and on the 12th Captain Peacock and Captain Taylor in two of the English Frigats fought with two Dutch Men of War on the Coast of Flanders for refusing to strike their Top-sail and after a short Dispute the English took one of them with all their Officers and Mariners but she was so torn that she presently sunk and run the other upon the Sands to avoid being taken Upon the 13th Blake took 26 Sail of Dutch Merchant-Men near the Downs and three Men of War having before staid ten more of the Holland Ships and upon the 29th the Rump passed these Votes 1. That the Lords States do pay to this Commonwealth the Charges and Damages they have sustained by their Attempts 2. That upon Payment or securing thereof shall be a Cessation and their Ships and Goods released 3. This being assented to and put in Execution the Security for the time to come to be a firm Amity and Interest of the two States for the good of both Hereupon the Dutch Ambassadors the next day viz. June the 30th demanded Audience of Leave to depart which was granted but the Rump would not recede from demanding Satisfaction for all their Damages Hereupon the Dutch Ambassadors returned home The Dutch foreseeing a Coalition with England or a War would necessarily follow and being set against the Coalition resolv'd upon a War and to that end enter into a Confederacy with the King of Denmark against the English Now both Rump and States make all imaginable Preparations for War and about the beginning of July Blake with a gallant Fleet went Northwards and left Sir George Askue to command the rest of the Fleet in the Downs who took five Dutch Merchant Men and Blake in his Passage took two Men of War and two Merchant-Men and within a day or two after viz. the 4th of July Sir George met 40 Dutch Ships took 7 of them burnt 4 and ran 24 on Ground upon the French Shore where tho the French protected them against the English yet coming aboard the Dutch Ships they plunder'd them Upon the 24th Blake took 100 of the Dutch fishing Busses and in them 1500 Prisoners and about the last of July Blake fell upon the Dutch Convoy for their Fishery in the Northern Seas consisting of 12 Men of War and sunk three and took the other nine with all the Dutch Busses and unloaded all their Fish and sent the Fishermen home and Blake also took three of the East-India-Men richly laden In these Actions Blake had but 8 Men of War and Blake sent six of the Dutch Men of War to Major General Dean in Scotland Upon the 20th of August Sir George Askue with 38 Sail of Men of War set upon the Dutch Fleet of 55 Sail and 15 Merchant-Men near Plimouth the Fight lasted three days and the Dutch lost two Ships one sunk the other burnt the English none Hereupon the Dutch retired to the Coast of France and Sir George follow'd them and charged them and sunk the Dutch Admiral and lost but one Fire-ship who having taken out her Men sent her among the Dutch but being upon the French Coast Sir George pursued the Dutch no further and went Northward to repair his Fleet. At this time there was no Peace between the English and French and the Spaniards having besieged Dunkirk the French set out a Fleet under the Duke of Vendosme to relieve it This Fleet was set upon by Blake in the Downs who had then but 7 Men of War with him whereof the Soveraign was one and upon the 6th of September Blake engaged
other Person to be thought so fit for it and therefore the King with many kind Expressions gave order to Sir William to prepare for his Journey and the Secretary to draw up his Instructions But how forward soever the Juncto were for Peace the Dutch out-run them or at least kept equal Pace with them for tho the Prince of Orange were victorious in Holland and with admired Prudence and Conduct like another Scipio carried the War out of his Country and thereby saved it for in the dead of the Year he joined Montecuculi the Emperor 's General and besieged and took Bon the Residence of the Elector of Cologn and thereby cut off the Communication between France and Holland whereby the French were forced not only to quit their conquer'd Towns by heaps but he opened a Passage for the Imperial Forces to join the Dutch and Spanish yet the Dutch having but newly recovered their drowned Country and lost their Trade the Charges of maintaining their Land Army became so great that it was impossible this Year to set out a Fleet by Sea The Dutch States therefore gave the Marquess of Frezno the Spanish Ambassador in England Power to treat and conclude a Peace with the King which came in three Days after the Juncto had sent to Sir William and this by Sir William's Advice stayed his Journey into Holland it being more honourable for the King to be sought to than seek a Peace and that the King's Interest might be better pursued at London than at the Hague The King and Juncto agreed to it and withal added That tho Sir William did not treat the Peace at the Hague he should at London And when Sir William had received his Instructions he at three Meetings with the Marquess concluded the whole Treaty with the Satisfaction of the King Sir William says the Articles being publick need no Place here but the two Points of greatest Difficulty were the Flag and recalling the English Troops out of the French Service But that this last was composed by private Engagements to suffer those to wear out without any Recruits or not to permit new ones to go over yet at the same time to give Leave to the Dutch to raise such Levies as they should think fit in his Majesty's Dominions But this is an odd Equivocation to recal the French Troops which was to let them wear out without Recruits which was not observed neither for Men were not only encouraged but pressed to this Service and to these in the French Service does Sir William and the Germans too ascribe the Glory of all the French Actions who not only in Turenne's Life but at his Death saved the whole French Army But if this be as Sir William says yet the King hereby instead of being the Protector becomes a Murderer of his Subjects in permitting them to kill one another on both sides for it is impossible the War should be just on both sides Nor do I believe the like Precedent can be shewed unless by the King's Grandfather James I. I confess I have not seen the Articles of the Treaty at large but by so much as I have seen I do not find that the Arrears for the Dutch Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland agreed upon in King Charles the First 's Time which was 30000 l. per Annum and a settled Revenue for that Fishery for the Time to come insisted upon at the Treaty of Cologn nor the Damages to the Executors of Sir Paul Pindar and Sir William Courten were so much as mention'd in it It may be the 800000 Patacoons to be paid by the Dutch to the King by this Treaty were intended in Satisfaction of the Executors Demands of which they denied they ever received one Penny This hasty Peace thus huddled up in less than 4 Days viz. between the 5th or 6th and 9th of February would not admit of the Establishment of a Marine Treaty and Regulation of the East-India Trade between the English and Dutch and Treaty at Cologn And therefore it was agreed That Commissioners on both sides were to meet at London to treat of these and determine them in three Months after such Meeting and in case any Differences should not be adjusted these to be referred to the Queen Regent of Spain who should name 11 Commissioners the greater part of whom should determine the Differences in 6 Months after and these to meet in 3 Months after the Queen Regent shall have taken the foresaid Arbitriment upon her self But the States as wise in this Treaty as the English were improvident and hasty got the 7th Article agreed to viz. That the Treaty made at Breda 1667 as also other Treaties renewed by it be confirmed and remain in full Force and Vigour as far as they shall not be contrary to this present Treaty The Marine Treaty was agreed by the Commissioners but the first and fifth Articles ill observed by the Dutch as I have seen made publick but nothing was agreed for the Regulation of the East-India Trade nor any thing concerning it referred to the Queen Regent of Spain This is that honourable Peace to his Majesty's Satisfaction which succeeded this glorious War to the Expence of such vast Treasure and Charge to England and involving Christendom into a War wherein we taught the French to fight by Sea while they encouraged the Dutch and us to destroy one another whereby we got nothing but dry Blows except the 800000 Patacoons for the Flag was ever given by the Dutch to Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles I. and by the Treaty to Oliver in 1654 and to the King in 1666 and 1667 nor ever desired by the States But the Dutch got confirmed the Islands of Amboyna and Polloroon which they had ravished from the English whereby they not only supply Europe but India and Persia with Spice and Surinam and also got discharged again from the Piracy or Robbery perpetrated upon the Bona Esperanza and Henry Bonadventura in Time of Peace and all the Arrears of 30000 l. per Annum for fishing upon our Coasts since 1636. So little Regard was had in this Treaty either of the King's Honour or of the Good or Interest of the Nation However 't was the Interest of Spain to promote this separate Peace with the Dutch for this Year the French King having brib'd the Swiss to a Compliance took the Franche County from Spain the Swiss keeping Garisons in Dole and Besanzon And this Year Messina revolted from Spain and submitted to the French King CHAP. III. A further Detection of this Reign till the breaking out of the Popish Plot. TO mollify his most Christian Majesty highly exasperated you must think by this Peace the King 't was said and I believe it sent his Ship-Carpenters to instruct the French how to build his Men of War and I say Sir Anthony Dean told me that by Order of the King he built the Model of a Man of War as I
alone given Peace to Christendom he might reckon upon what he pleased from the Bounty and Generosity of the King their Master Sir William in a well-composed Answer acknowledged his Obligations for their King 's good Opinion of him but that his Instructions were for a general not for a private Peace For the Prince of Orange he assured them it was his Opinion That the Prince had none for his or any Man 's else further than their Arguments prevailed upon his Judgment The Attacks upon Sir William not succeeding Monsieur d'Estrâ—des turned his Battery upon Pensioner Fagel to the same purpose the Ambassadors had done to Sir William of all the Advantage to the Interest of the Prince How these wrought upon the Pensioner Sir William does not say but says all the Offers of Advantages made to the Interest of the Prince met with no other Reception than what the Prince had foretold tho at this time the Prince struggled under great Difficulty by reason of the Frenchâ—â— â—â— great Treasure and great Order of disposing it The French Magazines were always filled in the Winter so as it enabled them to take the Field as they pleased in the Spring without fearing the Weather for their Foot or expecting Grass for their Horse On the other side the Spaniards wanting Money and Order left their Troops in Flanders neither capable to act by themselves nor in Conjunction with others upon any sudden Attempt nor to supply with Provisions either Dutch or Germans that should come to their Relief and their Towns were ill fortified and worse defended so that the French King in April took Conde in four Days and in May the Duke of Orleans took Bouchain and the Prince of Orange besieged Maestricht without Success But neither the good Success of the French this Campagn nor the ill Success the French Ambassadors had upon the Prince of Orange to induce him to a separate Peace retarded the French from pursuing of it for the French by their Emissaries in Holland but especially at Amsterdam offer such a Reglement of Trade as the People could desire the Restitution of Maestricht and all Satisfaction to the Prince of Orange he could pretend to upon his Loss or their Seizures in the War This put the Mob into a Ferment of having a separate Peace nor could any thing have allayed it but the noble Constancy of the Prince of Orange which stood unshaken in opposing it in all these Difficulties However this Campagn the Elector of Brandenburg in several Encounters beat the Swede and was in a hopeful State to have expelled them out of Germany and it had been just they had been so for the King of England and the King of Sweden were Guarantees in the Triple League at Aix la Chapelle for the Preservation of the Spanish Netherlands against the French King whereas the King of England stood still only looking on whilst the French Arms by Piecemeals devoured them and the King of Sweden in Conjunction with the French King assisting him in the War Put not your Trust therefore in such Princes The Prince of Orange however his Constancy in opposing a separate Peace was unshaken yet in the distracted State of the Confederates and the violent Humour of the Peoples running into it saw it was impossible to keep them out of it unless the King of England would interpose his Authority further than by being a bare Mediator and acquainted the King with it But the King in a long Letter under his own hand instead of an Answer complained That the Confederate Ministers in England caballed with Parliament-Men and raised all Mens Spirits against Peace as high as they could so that it was difficult for him to make any Steps with France towards a general Peace unless the Dutch Ambassador Van Beningham would put in a Memorial pressing the King from the States to do it and declared that without it all Flanders would be lost The Prince to comply with the King replied how willing he was that Van Beningham should put in such a Memorial from the States and that if the King pleased to have a sudden Peace the Prince thought it must be done upon the Foot of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle which he would have the more Ground for because it was a Peace which he both made and warranted Sir William at this time was at the Hague when his Colleague Sir Lionel Jenkins wrote to him That there was a Negotiation of a separate Peace treating between the French Ambassadors and Beverning the Dutch Agent at Nimeguen without any Communication of it to the Mediators upon which Sir Lionel acquainted the Court of England with it Whereupon Orders were dispatched That in case a separate Peace was concluding or concluded the Mediators should publickly protest against it in his Majesty's Name This Sir William Temple wrote to my Lord Treasurer and Secretary Coventry That he could not understand the Reason of such a Protestation for if a separate Peace were thought so dangerous at Court as he knew it was in the Country the King might endeavour to prevent it and had it still in his Power as he had had a great while but if it were once concluded any other Effect of such a Protestation unless it were to irritate both Parties and bind them the faster by our being angry at their Conjunction could not be expected Nor did he know what Ground could be given for such a Protestation for tho the Parties had accepted the King's Mediation for a General Peace yet none of them had obliged themselves to the King not to treat of a separate one without his Mediation or if they had he did not see why the same Interests that could make them break through so many Obligations to their Allies should not make them as bold with a Mediator That as to prevent the thing may be a very wise and necessary Counsel so the King's Resolution in it ought to be signified as early as can be where it is like to be of that moment to France But if the thing should be first done as he could not tell how well to ground any Offence so he could as little how to seek Revenge and it would be to stay till we were struck and then trust to crying out That his Opinion was it were better to anger one of the Parties before a separate Peace than both of them after and if we must strain any Points of Controversy with them to do it rather by making a fair and general Peace than by complaining and protesting against a separate one But our Counsels at Court he says were so in Ballance between the Desires of living at least fair with France and the Fears of too much displeasing the Parliament upon their frequent Sessions that our Paces upon the whole Affair look'd all like cross Purposes which no Man at home or abroad could well understand and were often mistaken by both Parties engaged in the War as well as by both
positive Refusal that the Blow came to be eluded which could not otherwise be avoided as Sir William Temple says tho I believe it was intended even when the Prince went out of England However about the latter end of December 1677 the King sent to Sir William Temple to the Foreign Committee and told him he could get no positive Answer from France and therefore resolved to send him into Holland to make a League there with the States for forcing France and Spain into a Peace upon the Terms proposed if either refused To which Sir William told the King what he had agreed was to enter into a War with all the Confederates in case of no direct and immediate Answer from France That this perhaps would satisfy the Prince and Confederates abroad and the People at home But to make such a League with Holland only would satisfy none of them and disoblige both France and Spain Besides it would not have such an Effect or Force as the Triple Alliance had being a great Original of which this seemed an ill Copy And therefore excused himself from going And so the King sent Mr. Thyn with a Draught of the Treaty to Mr. Hide who was then come from Nimeguen to the Hague upon a Visit to the Princess which was done and the Treaty signed the 16th of January tho not without great Dissatisfaction to the Prince This Tergiversation of the Court set fire to the Jealousies in Holland especially at Amsterdam that the Prince by this Marriage had taken Measures with the King as dangerous to the Liberties of Holland and make it there believed that by this Match the King and Duke had wholly drawn the Prince into their Interests and Sentiments The French hereupon proposed other Terms of Peace to the Dutch far short of the King 's and less safe for Flanders restoring only six Towns to the Spaniard and mentioning Lorain but ambiguously which would not have gone down in Holland but for the Suspicions raised by the Prince's Marriage among the People there who had an incurable Jealousy of our Court and thereupon not that Confidence in the Prince that he deserved If we take this Reign as one thing you 'll find it made up of almost infinite Confusions and Disorders and scarce one regular Act in it and now we are come to one which is without any Precedent which was this You heard before how the King to gratify the French Ambassador for not acquainting him with the Marriage with the Prince had prorogued the Parliament to the 8th of April next viz. 1678. And now Mr. Thyn had made this League with the States the King thought this a good occasion to get Money from the Parliament upon it and was loth to stay till the 8th of April for it and therefore by his Proclamation commands the Parliament to meet upon the 15th of January before the 8th of April Prorogations of Parliaments are new and I think were never heard of in England before the Reign of Henry VIII and are said to be the Acts of the King but Adjournments the Acts of the House to a certain Time and Place and both Houses must be sitting and in being when they are either so prorogued or adjourned I remember upon the discovery of Câ—leman's Letters the Court were mightily surprized at it and the Parliament was to have met some few days after upon a Prorogation which the King in that Surprize unwilling they should did therefore call a Council to advise whether he might not prorogue them to a further day without the Houses meeting and 't was said my Lord Chancellor Finch was of Opinion he might and thereupon Sir Edward Seymour Speaker of the House of Commons having Occasions in the Country went out of Town but some body acquainted the King of the Doubtfulness of the Chancellor's Opinion and desired the King to advise with old John Brown who had been Clerk of the Parliament for near forty Years the King did so and John Brown was positive that in case the Houses did not meet at the Time and Place appointed the King by his Proclamation could not prorogue them but it would be a Dissolution of the Parliament Whereupon the Speaker was sent for back again and so many of both Houses met as would make a Parliament which it 's said is forty Commoners and seven Lords and then the King prorogued them But this Consideration was not that I find taken notice of by either House tho both met according to the King's Proclamation The Houses thus met the King acquainted them with the League he had made with Holland and demanded Money of them to carry on the War against France in case France did not comply with the League whereupon the Parliament granted him a Tex by Poll and otherways which amounted to 1200000 l. not for Peace but to enter into an actual War with France But this Tax shall only beget another to disband an Army raised upon that Pretence tho no War was entred into against France But so far was the French King from giving up any Towns notwithstanding the Agreement the King had made with the Prince or the League he had made with Holland that about the latter end of January he had made an Attempt upon Ipre and threatned Ostend and in March following by open Force takes both Ipre and Gaunt yet the French Ambassador here continued his Court and Treaty with all the Fairness that might be The French having now taken Ipre and Gaunt were so far from proceeding in any Treaty either with England the Confederates or Holland or in the Treaty at Nimeguen that about the first of April the French King made publick Declaration of the Terms upon which he resolved to make Peace which tho very different from those agreed upon between the King and Holland and more from the Pretensions of the Allies yet this way of treating the French pursued in the whole Negotiation afterwards declaring such and such were the Conditions which they would admit and no other and upon which the Enemies might chuse either War or Peace and to which France would not be tied longer than the 10th of May after which they would be at Liberty to change or restrain as they should think fit But how imperious soever the French were abroad yet they dreaded a Conjunction of England either with the Dutch or Confederates and therefore thought fit to wheedle our Court till the Affairs of the Confederates should become so desperate as to submit to what Terms the French King should impose upon them And to this purpose Mr. Mountague now Earl sent a Pacquet to my Lord Treasurer giving an account of a large Conference Monsieur Louvoy the French King 's grand Minister of State had with him by the King his Master's Order wherein he represented the Measures they had already taken for a Peace in Holland upon the French Terms and that since they were agreed there they hoped his Majesty would not be
either by their Ambassadors at Nimeguen or such as the Dutch should send his most Christian Majesty at St. Quintin or Gaunt The Dutch Ambassadors gave an Answer in writing declaring it was a Matter no longer entire since upon the Difficulty raised about the Evacuation of the Towns the States their Masters had been induced to sign a Treaty with England from which they could not recede nor from the Day therein fixed for the determining the Fate of War or Peace and as there was no Time so there could be no Deputation to St. Quintin or Gaunt nor any other Expedient besides the Consent of France to evacuate the Towns The Dutch Ambassadors having blown off his Chaff the French Ambassador then declared to the Dutch that they found the King their Master was resolved at the Desire of the Swedes to retard the Peace no longer upon their Consideration and would consent to evacuate the Towns upon Condition the States would send their Deputies to treat upon the Ways of securing the future Satisfaction to Sweden which was by both intended But the Dutch Ambassadors continued peremptory there could be no Deputation made by their Masters and if the Term fixed by the late Treaty with England should elapse there was no remedy but that the War must go on to which the French Ambassadors replied That their Hands were bound up from further proceeding without such a Deputation Whilst the French were thus wheedling with the Dutch to elude the Term fixed for the French evacuating the Towns at the same time Luxemburg pressed Mons and Schomberg seemed to threaten Cologn when the fatal Day came whether a sudden Peace or long War were to be reckoned upon in Christendom when Boreel came early that Morning from Amsterdam to the Dutch Ambassadors at Nimeguen which were Beverning and one Haren and then Boreel went to the French Ambassadors and after some Conference with them the French Ambassadors and Boreel went immediately to those of Holland and declared to them that they had received Orders to consent to the Evacuation of the Towns and thereupon to sign the Peace and that very Day at Night tho late Beverning signed a Treaty of Peace and Commerce Sir William Temple and Sir Lionel Jenkins refusing to join in it and the Confederates exclaiming against it The next day after this Peace was thus signed came an Express to Sir William Temple from our Court with the Ratificationâ— of the late Treaty between the King and States with Orders immediately to proceed to the Exchange of them whereupon St. William went from Nimeguen to the Hague and the next Day after his Arrival made an Exchange of the Ratifications Now was Holland in as much Disorder as the Confederates were at Nimeguen the Pensioner and several of the Deputies were as much dissatisfied with Beverning's Peace as the Confederates were and said he could not sign the Peace before he had acquainted the States with it and received new Orders there upon it and talked of calling him into Question for it and of disavowing what he had done and thereupon of having recourse to the Treaty made with the King which they now ratified But the Deputies of Amsterdam with whom others joined declared their Satisfaction of the Conclusion of the Peace made by Beverning and argued the Weakness of their Confederates especially Spain and the Unsteadiness and Irresolution of England had made the Peace absolutely necessary to Holland But however this Confusion and indeed the Fate of Christendom were the Consequences of Cross's Pacquet and his acquainting the Deputies with a Peace made between the two Kings yet how dishonourable soever this was to the King he was not at all concerned at it that I can find but pleasantly told Sir William Temple Thâ—â— the Rogue Du Cross had outwitted them all Could this be believed if the great Authority of Sir William Temple had not said it During these Brawls both at Nimeguen and all Holland over the Prince of Orange upon the Fourteenth of August stormed Luxemburg's Camp before Mons wherein the brave Duke of Mâ—mouth and the noble Earl of Ossery were Partakers in the Glory of it and notwithstanding the French Posts were fortified with all imaginable Art and that the Prince's Army had undergone the Fatigue of a hard March attack'd them with a Resolution and Vigour that at first surprized them and after an obstinate-Fight so disordered them that though the Night prevented the further Prosecution of the Action yet it was generally concluded That if the Prince had been at Liberty next Day to have pursued the Action with seven or eight Thousand English who were ready to have joined him he might in all Appearance not only have relieved Mons but have made such an Impression into France as had been often designed but could not be done before And I dare say if Luxemburg had had the like Advantage over the Prince the Dutch would have heard further of it but the Prince was bound up by a limited Authority and so could not pursue the Advantage he had acquired against the French The Success of the Battel at Mons though the Prince's Army were withdrawn gave new Life to the Spaniards and Confederates that the War would go on according to the Ratification of the Treaty at the Hague exchanged the Day before the Fight by Sir William Temple and the States whereas Beverning's Peace at Nimeguen was concluded without the States besides English Forces arrived daily in Flanders as if the King were now resolved to join with the Dutch in carrying on the War pursuant to the League which made the Confederates as well as the Spainards refuse to agree to Beverning's Peace Besides neither the French Pretensions to the County of Beaumont and the Town of Bovignes nor in what Plight the six Towns should be delivered up whether demolished or in the Plight they then stood nor the Dependences upon the Six Towns were adjusted by Beverning's Peace But this Hope of the Spaniards and Confederates shall cost them dear and only serve to advance the French Terms and intolerable Ravages of the French upon them For the French cared little for the Confederates in Disjunction with the Dutch and as little for the Dutch when he had obtained his Ends upon the Confederates and therefore the French fall to their wheedling Trade again with the Dutch and the French King sent a Courier to Nimeguen to satisfy the States in those Clauses of the Treaty wherein they seemed justly to except against Beverning's Conduct thereby to cover the Credit of that Minister who had been so affectionate an Instrument in the Progress of the Treaty and gave them the States Liberty a little to soften the Rigour the French had as yet exercised in the smallest Points contested with the Spaniards and at last dispatched an Express to the Dutch Ambassadors with Power to remit all the Differences which obstructed or retarded the Conclusion of the Treaty between France and Spain to
of Indulgence was an unlawful Act and that if they had submitted to the King's Will to have enjoined it to have been read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses it had been an unlawful Act which was one Reason they could not comply with the King's Will and that this Declaration was not intended a Favour to the Protestant Dissenters but a Design to ruin the established Religion and Church of England and the enjoining the Bishops to have read was a Design upon their Persons as well as the Declaration was upon the Church and that the King professed himself to be of the Popish Religion which they believed and declared to be Idolatry in the worshipping Images and derogatory to God's Honour by Invocation of Saints whereby they grant to Creatures an Omniscience which is inseparable from God and only to be ascribed to him and that the King had owned the Papal Power which not only claims a Dominion over all Kings and Kingdoms to be at the Pope's disposal and who had declared the Church of England to be Heretical Schismatical and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept but had assumed a Power equal or superiour to God himself in dispensing with God's Laws and setting its own above them by sending his Ambassador to the Pope and receiving his Nuncio With what Conscience then could the Bishops approach God's Altars in their highest Acts of Devotion and in the Prayer for the Parliament declare to God that he is their most religious King and in the Litany to pray to God to keep and strengthen the King in the Worship of God or Religion which the King profest And how could they delare to God he is their most gracious Sovereign when he had imprisoned them for not submitting to his unlawful Will and had owned a Power which had declared them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons who were by all ways and means to be extirpated from the Face of the Earth Yet the Bishops by their Canonical Obedience were as much obliged hereto and to enjoin the Clergy in their respective Diocesses to offer these Praises to God as they were not to obey the King's Will by enjoining the King's Declaration of Indulgence to be read by all the Clergy in their Diocesses To this Dilemma had the flattering Church and State in King Charles the II's Reign tho intending it against the Presbyterians by their Act of Vniformity brought the Church and State too in the Reign of King James But lest this establishing of Popery should have no longer support than in the King's Life a new Miracle is to be added to the Legend for the next day after the Bishops were committed to the Tower the Queen was brought to Bed of a Prince of Wales so that now they had got a Prince of Wales and the Queen received the Consecrated Clouts and the Pope by his Nuncio is become God-father a Foundation so infallible is laid for exalting the Papal Chair and extirpating the Pestilent Northern Heresy that it's Heresy to doubt it But Man purposes and God disposes and in truth without God's special Assistance not only these Dominions of England Scotland and Ireland but all the Western Parts of Europe were not to be retrieved out of I may say even a desperate State for in England the King had a standing Army of above 20000 Men and the Whigs were but too forward to congratulate the King in his Designs and in humouring him in giving him up their Charters as the Tories in King Charles his Reign in their Abhorrences of the King 's calling a Parliament and as forward then as the Whigs now in surrendring their Charters The Protestant Army in Ireland not only disbanded by Tyrconnel and a Popish Army set up but the Protestants disarmed and Scotland so perfectly subdued that there the King 's Absolute Will without reserve must pass for Law The King of Spain so weak as not able to defend himself much less relieve others the Empire engaged in a War against the Turks in the East so as the Western Parts were in no Condition to repel the Impression the French should make upon it The Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark remote and at such natural Enmity with one another that if one should side with France or England the other would engage against it and tho Holland were considerable elsewhere at Sea yet their Strength at Sea was inferiour to the English but much more in Conjunction of the French with the English However something must be done for Modesty in this State had been the highest Crime and of all Foreign Princes the Prince of Orange was most immediately concerned not only in the Oppression of the French King upon his Principality of Orange and the Dangers which threatned the Vnited Provinces by the swelling Grandeur of the French but by the King 's Arbitrary Proceedings in England for the Princess was the Presumptive Heir to the Crown of England and Scotland And since it is the Laws and Constitutions which erect these Nations into Kingdoms whereof the King is the Head then if the King destroys the Laws and Constitutions he is neither King nor the Princess of Orange Presumptive Heir to them besides since the King had assumed a Power of Dispensing with the Laws he might as well in Dispensing with the Succession and the Prince was well assured neither those about the King nor the Pope would much favour his or his Lady's Title to the Crown nor was the introducing the Prince of Wales into the World intended to have either the Prince or Princess come to the Crown of England The Prince of Orange thus injured by both these Kings and being denied the Benefit of any Humane Laws for redress has recourse to God and his Sword for relief and opposes the Justice of his Cause against the Potency of his Adversaries Nor does he take up his Sword to vindicate his own Rights only but for restoring the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to their antient Rights Laws and Privileges invaded by King James and to put a stop to the French King 's boundless Ambition and Tyranny in Murdering Ravaging and Destroying rather than making a War upon all his neighbouring Princes not dispossest and ruined by him A Design so great by so little a Prince as no less than a Divine Power could inspire him to such an Undertaking The Prince these two last years had several Conferences with the Electors of Brandenburg Saxony and the Princes of the House of Lunenburg and other Princes of Germany it 's believed in concerting Measures how to behave themselves against the Designs of these two Kings but the Results were so secret that I find no mention of them But how secret soever these Results were yet the Preparations to put them in Execution could be no Secret especially the Naval Preparations by Sea though the Dutch Ambassador assured the King they were not intended against him yet refused to communicate
all other imaginable Advantages they would not be of further use to the Nation than they had Hands to carry them on The Commons in the third Westminster Parliament upon the 31st of December in 1680 Gave leave to bring in a Bill for a General Naturalization of Alien Protestants and allowing them Liberty to exercise their Trades in all Corporations But why was this leave to be given only to Protestant Foreigners Let 's see how the Case stands and what Benefit the Nation can reap from it now the French King has expelled the Reformed out of France As the Case stands Holland France and Flanders are the Places from whence we can expect any Benefit by this Liberty In Holland Protestant Artificers are as free and easy as in England but in Flanders though they be an industrious and honest Sort of People yet are they all Popish and I am confident if they thought they might freely exercise their Religion in England Multitudes of them would seek an Asilum in England to be freed from the Insults and Tyranny they are always subject to from the French and it may be reasonably expected that Multitudes of People in the French Conquests would flee the French Tyranny in them if they might be free in their Religion in England and it is not unlike but upon Advantages given the French we might procure many of them to fish from our Western Ports if they were free in their Religion Object But this Permission would disturb the Peace and endanger the Safety of the Church of England Answ Good Men are scarce and so these Men had need of taking care for themselves and these Men are as careful of the Church as the Free-men are of their Privileges and rather suffer the Nation to sink than they any ways endangered Is not the Church of England in the Kingdom of England and protected by it so that if the Kingdom falls the Church cannot stand Did not our Saviour send his Apostles to propagate the Gospel in this World though they suffered Persecution and Martyrdom for it Yet these good Men are fearful of themselves and the Church of England if others come to support the Kingdom and enrich them When any Foreigners are planted here have not the Church-men if they will make it their Business an Opportunity of winning them to the Church of England and have Reason and the Authority of the Kingdom to do it and if these will not prevail the Fault is others not theirs For my part I detest the Roman Superstition and Idolatry as much as any Man and am as fearful of the Tyranny which the Pope claims as well over Princes as Mens Consciences yet I apprehend no Danger of either by this Liberty granted to Popish Artificers for it is one thing for Jesuits and Popish Priests to make it their Business to pervert Men to their Sentiments and another thing for poor Popish People to make it their Business how to subsist which will take up their whole time especially where they are in a strange Place and Strangers to the People unless by accident in their Dealings for their Support and also to the Language of the People where they live I would know what Inconvenience has followed for permitting Brewer and his Followers which were all Papists to instruct our Natives in making and dying fine Woollen Cloths and in all the Disturbances and Tumults of the late Times after 1640 let any Man shew me one Instance wherein the Walloons and their Descendants planted in London Norwich Colchester or Canterbury contributed to any of them however they had been sufficiently provoked thereto both by Arch-Bishop Laud and Bishop Wren Expedient XX. That it be free for all Foreigners to purchase Lands and Tenements in England The Reason hereof is because where Men purchase Lands and Tenements they design a Habitation whereby the Nation will be so much more peopled as Purchasers are more and the Kingdom so much strengthned and the King's Revenues so much increased as these Purchasers and their Families consume more excizable Goods or foreign which pay Customs and so much more as the Purchase-Money shall be more so much more will the Nation be enriched for the Lands and Houses we retain still and the Purchase-Money is an Addition to the Treasure of the Nation and this is so much an Advantage to the Nation because no Man in it runs any Hazard or Venture of Loss by it whereas in all the Wealth which Merchants acquire by Foreign Trades they run not only the Hazard of Loss but of being undone Expedient XXI That a publick Encouragement be given to all Foreigners which shall carry on the Fishing Trade from the Ports of England in the New-found-land Fishery and to Greenland Iseland Westmony and upon the Coasts of England and Scotland for the taking and curing White-Herring and Cod-fish The Reasons hereof are manifold for above all other Trades the Fishing-Trade encreases Mariners and Navigation for every Man in the Fishing-Trade becomes a Mariner whereas in the East-India and other Trades it may be a thousand Artificers do not employ one Mariner and in the East-India Trade it may be a Question whether we do not lose more Sea-men or make more Mariners and those which survive by reason of the Diversities of the Climates and their feeding upon salted Meats and drinking sour Drinks are so feeble that a Fisherman is able to fight and beat two of them Add hereto the Fishermen are always at home and so at hand upon all Occasions to serve the Nation whereas in the East-India Trade you scarce hear of one in two Years and not in a Year from those to Turkey and our American Plantations Besides these Fishing-Trades above all others employ all sorts of poor People at home in making Ropes Sails and Nets for it If ever these Fisheries be retrieved it will be with great Difficulty and a Work of Time considering the Poverty of the Coast-Towns of England and the Potency of the Dutch and French in opposing us who are possessed of them and it is more difficult to retrieve a lost Game than not to be able to play it before it be lost yet this Benefit we have by it that we have discovered how we lost our Game and how the Dutch and French won theirs In the Fisheries upon the Coast of England and Scotland besides the King 's indubitable Right whatever Grotius in his Mare Liberum says to the contrary the English may take in fresh Water and Provisions and dry their Nets upon the Shore which the King may forbid Foreigners to do in their Fisheries which may be of great Advantage to the English for the Dutch begin their Fisheries of White Herring upon the Coast of Schotland or Schetland upon the Rising Grounds as they call them and follow that Fishery four Months in the Year before the Herrings come to the Coast of Norfolk and Suffolk where we begin ours which Fishery we enjoy no longer than
Person made Chancellor of Ireland 641. Fitz-harris his Plot against the Dissenters 562 564. Is committed to Newgate but his Discovery prevented 564 588. Is tried and hang'd against the express Votes of the Commons 591. Five-mile-Act against Dissenters 458. Design'd to be reviv'd by the Lords with Remarks thereon 501 502. Flanders overrun by the French 470. Fleetwood made General 408. Is advis'd to bring in the King 415. Foreigners to be naturaliz'd and otherwise encourag'd 556 607 608 674 675. but kept out of our American Trades 660. France how bounded 11 28. It s Grandure owing to the Stuarts 160 480 496 498 651 652. It s Success against Spain 256. Franche County invaded 473. Frederick the Palsgrave marries the Princess Elizabeth 67. Has no Relief from his Father-in-law 93 94 95. Enters Prague with an Army 93. Totally routed and retires into Holland 95. Goes to his Army in Disguise 107. which is routed 108. Takes the Covenant and has a Pension from our Parliament 309. Free Ports 679 680. French routed at Sea by the English 354 378. Look'd on while the English and Dutch fought 492. Beat Spaniards and Dutch at Messina 503. Endeavour a separate Peace with the Dutch 509 511. Their Imperiousness 521. Wheedle the English and Dutch 522 529. French King breaks the Pyrenean Treaty 427 428 471. Expels the English out of S. Christophers 460. Pretends to join the Dutch 461. Breaks his Word with the Irish 472 533. Procures the Triple League to be broke 474 484. Sets out a Fleet against the Dutch 475. Declares War to propagate the Catholick Cause 477. His Perfidiousness c. 484 498 604. His Success and Ravages on the Rhine Netherlands c. 485 487 505 513 524 530. Makes Prize of English Ships 498. Endeavours to break the Confederacy 509. His Promise to the States reflected on 523. Falls upon the Empire without declaring War 650. and the English Factories at Canada 644 650. Impolitick in his Persecution 657 662. G. GLemham Sir Tho. for the King 313 316. Godfrey Sir Edmundbury murder'd 533 534. Goodman Bp of Glocester suspended at Mountague's Instigat 273. Grievances increas'd by Intervals of Parliament 49 61. Grotius for the Arminians 121. His Mare â—iberum answer'd at large 244 252. Gundamor Spanish Ambassador here his Character 98. Guthry Mr. James imprison'd and beheaded 443 444. H. HAmbden refuses to pay Ship-Money 258. Is prosecuted 259. Is routed 298. Hamilton Marquess sent to quiet the Covenanters 264. Marches into England on behalf of the King and is routed 326. Is executed 342. Harman Sir John his great Danger in the Dutch Fight 459 460. Beats the French Fleet in America and reduces Surinam 468. Haslerig Sir Arthur against the Army 409. Hatton Lady refuses to part with Hatton-House 274 275. Hayton Capt. his noble Act against the French at Sea 378. Hemp and Flax 677. Henry IV. of France his Character 28 29 67. His great Design prevented by his Death 29 66 67. Henry Pr. of Wales his memorable Sayings and noble Character 65 66. Suspected to be poison'd and why 66 79. Herbert Sir Edw. sent Ambassador to France is misrepresented but boldly offers to clear himself 96. Hewet Dr. put to Death by Cromwel 403. Hide Lord Chancellor vindicated concerning the Sale of Dunkirk and the Match with Portugal 429 430. His Fall and Character 470. High Court of Justice see Rump Holland privately seeks a Peace with the Rump with their canting Letter to 'em 356 357. Agree to exclude the Pr. of Orange 382. Holmes Sir Rob. falls upon the Smirna-Fleet 478. Colonel his suffering in the West a remarkable Story 621. Hotham Sir John conven'd before the Council 267. Keeps Hull for the Parliament 279 294. but after endeavours to deliver it up to the King 299. for which he and his Son lose their Heads 300. Hubert hang'd for firing the City to prevent a Discovery 462. Hungary commended its Story 89 90. Huntley Marquess loses his Head 316. I. JAmes I. his Arbitrary Act at Newark 35. Prodigal of Proclamations 35 48. Caress'd by all especially the Dutch ib. Glories in his Birth-right c. 34 38 51. Historical Remarks thereon 38 47. His profane Swearing and Drinking 36 71 151. Hates the Puritans and is highly flatter'd by the Bishops 37. His Arbitrary Proclamation at calling his first Parliament 50. Quarrels with the Commons about deciding an Election 52. Le ts the K. of Spain raise Forces in his Dominions 54. Monopolizes the Trade to Spain and Italy 56. Is excessive prodigal to his Favourites 59 62 77. Afraid to demand what 's due from the Dutch 60 71 121. His Ways of raising Money out of Parliament 62 106. Invades the Privileges of Parliament 72. His loathsom way of kissing his Favourites 78. Much impos'd on by the Dutch 80 81. Treats of a Marriage for his Son with the Infanta 86 98 100. Commits all to Villiers 87 98. Is contemn'd by the Dutch 87. by France and Germany 97. by the Spaniards with Lampoons 109. Hates Parliaments 88. Huffs his Parliament in a Letter to the Speaker 99. His long Invective against them 100 102. Annuls the Commons Protestation and dissolves them by an Arbitrary Proclamation 104. Imprisons several Members and the Earl of Southampton 104 105. His Arbitrary Charge to the Judges 105. His fickle and perplex'd State at breaking off his Son's Match 114 115 156. Resolves to fall in with Parliaments 115 125. Pretends no favour for Papists 126 145. His Speech on behalf of Buckingham and doting on him 136 137. His weak Letter to the French King on account of his Son's Match 140 141. His Speech to the Lords of the French Council 145. His Death which seem'd suspicious 147. His Character 106 107 148 152. Could meet Popery half way 148. Charg'd his Son to call Parliaments often 156. James II. while Duke of York engages the Dutch 457 480 481. His two Sons die 468 476. Is propos'd to the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck but married to the Princess of Modena 476 477. His Designs against England in conjunction with France 500 502. The Commons Votes against him 541 557. Is sent Commissioner into Scotland 545 568. His Actions there 570. His Designs against the Earl of Argyle 575 c. His rude Answer to him 585. Has 22000 Scots ready to assist him 604. His Declaration to the Privy-Council on his being King 609 610. which he often broke 610 613 617 620 624. Takes the Customs and Excise before given him 610 614. His unparallel'd Cruelty 613 620 623 638. His vast Revenue 615 617 618. His ridiculous Pardon 622. His Proceedings in Ireland 624 625 632 641. His Favour to the Papists 625 626 632. Gets Judges to declare for his Dispensing Power with Reflections thereon 630 632 642. Grants a Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs 633 c. Toleration in Scotland 641. and Liberty of Conscience in England which is descanted on ib. Keeps a standing Army in time of Peace 642 643. Orders his Declaration of
and thereupon the King told the Prince That for his Lands there he would charge himself that the Prince should enjoy them as safe under France as under Spain or if the Prince would part with them the King would undertake to get him what Price he would value them at to which the Prince generously reply'd That he would not trouble himself nor the Peace about that matter and that he would be content to lose all his Lands there to get one good Town more for the Spaniard upon the Frontier of Flanders So here the King and Prince agreed But then another Debate arose between the King and Prince one pretending France would never be brought to this Scheme the other that Spain would never be brought to it but at last it was agreed that the Peace should be made upon these Terms All to be restored by France to the Emperor and Empire that had been taken in the War and the Dutchy of Lorain to the Duke and all on both sides between France and Holland and to Spain the Towns of Aeth Charleroy Oudenard Courtray Tournay Conde Valenciennes St. Gillain and Binch which were nine Towns that the King shall endeavour to procure the Consent of France and the Prince of Spain And to this purpose the King should send some Person immediately over with the Proposition who should be instructed to enter into no Reasoning upon it but demand a positive Answer in two Days and after that term immediately return And then the King ordered Sir William within two Days to make himself ready to go and acquaint the French with it At this Agreement between the King and Prince none were present besides the Duke my Lord Treasurer and Sir William Temple so as the French Ambassador was as much surprized in it as before he was at the Marriage of the Prince but this could not be longer conceal'd from him than when it began to be put in Practice yet it seems to me he was acquainted with it before and that the King had taken other Resolutions than what was agreed upon but the Day before For Sir William having prepared all things in a Readiness to go the Evening before he met the King in the Park St. James's who call'd to him and told him he had been thinking upon Sir William's Errand and how unwelcome he should be in France as well as the Message and that having a Mind to gain Peace he was unwilling to anger them more than needs besides the thing being not to be debated or reasoned any Body else would serve the Turn as well as he whom he had other use of Sir William was very glad of it knowing how ungrateful a Messenger he should be upon this Account Then the King asked Sir William what he thought of my Lord Duras a French-man and a great Favourite of the Duke's and since Earl of Feversham It seems the King asked Sir William's Opinion only for Form and Fashion sake for the thing was the Morning before agreed upon at the Desire of the Duke upon pretence that France would accept of the Terms and that he had a Mind to have the Honour of it by sending a Servant of his own So my Lord Duras went immediately after with the Orders and some few Days after the Prince and Princess embarked for Holland where Affairs pressed his Return beyond the Hopes of my Lord Duras from France the King assuring the Prince he would never part with the least part of the Scheme sent over and would enter into a War with France if they refused it But pudet haec you 'll soon see another Face of Affairs after the Prince was gone nay before he went it was a great Mortification to him to see the Parliament prorogued till the next Spring which the French Ambassador had gained of the King to make up some good Meen with France after the Prince's Marriage and before the Dispatch of the Terms of a Peace to that Court I should not have ventured to say this if that honourable Gentleman Sir William Temple in his second Memoirs which are printed fol. 302. had not said it before But how honourable and sincere soever the Prince's Actions were in the Management of this whole Affair the outward Face of things had another Appearance which caused great Jealousies of him not only among the Amsterdamers and Common People in Holland but even among the Consederates for the Prince sending Monsieur Bentink privately over into England about the beginning of June and Sir William Temple so soon after following and the Prince's raising the Siege before Charlâ—râ—y the next day after my Lord Ossory came to his Camp and the Prince's going in September following into England these things thus concurring passed not without many Reflections not only in Holland but among the Allies as if there were Intelligences between the King and him which were heightned by the Marriage the main Business of the Treaty made by the King and Prince about the Peace being yet in Embrio so as the Prince and Princess were coldly received in Holland upon the Prince's Return and these Jealousies encreased more upon the Transactions between the English Court and France But sacred Truth and the Integrity of the Prince shall vindicate his Honour even among those who most suspected him and were so jealous of his Actions The Noise of a Peace with France so soon after the proroguing the Parliament raised a Ferment in the Nation of some Design of the Court as dangerous to the Nation as the Dutch Jealousies that their Liberties were in by the Prince's Treaty and Marriage with a Daughter of England And now the Prince was gone and out of Sight he was out of Mind too by the King in respect to the Terms of Peace agreed to and the solemn Promise the King made to the Prince upon his Departure that he would never parâ— with the least Point in the Scheme sent into France and make War upon it if it were refused For upon my Lord Duras's Arrival at Paris the Court were surprized at least seemed so both at the thing and more upon the manner of it yet made good Meen upon it took it gently and said The King of England knew very well he might be always Master of the Peace but some few Towns in Flanders seemed very hard especially Tournay upon whose Fortifications such vast Treasure had been expended and that they would take some short time to consider of the Offer But my Lord Duras told them he was tied to two Days stay but when that was out was prevailed upon to stay some few Days longer which he durst not have done without secret Orders from our Court contrary to his Instructions and at last came away without any positive Answer Hereupon the King instead of declaring War against France as he so solemnly promised the Prince entred into a Treaty with the French Ambassador at London which by French Artifice was so spun out in length without any