both to them and us what practices and mighty indeavours the Royal party hath used these many years to ingage this State against the Parliament now the Common-wealth of England What partial proceedings were there a foot All that came from the King had audience at pleasure the Parliament none The States-men of war were though mostly besides the States knowledge imployed in the service of the King and his Party as if they had been his own What would have been the issue think you if they had ingaged us to make war against the Parliament but to sacrifice our Power our Treasure our Freedome for the inslaving both the Parliament and our Selves Is it forgotten already what past here among us last Summer Had Amsterdam and the Bank of Amsterdam been but surprised once nay had but one man continued alive we should have been in a case sad and bad enough After that this danger was over and we had called the Grand Assembly together for the settlement of our Freedom they acknowledged the Common-wealth of England and resolved to send an Ambassador to them the Parliament shewed themselves so honourable and civil that they prevented us concurring with our own desires of settling both these Republicks in a posture against all that should at any time attempt ought against them They considered who was their present Enemy and how near the King of Scots was allied to him that by his late practises disclosed so much of his Designs against Holland Amsterdam and the whole State Also what special correspondence there past between these two to reduce both Republicks to a plenary Subjection Afterwards when the English had gotten the start of their Adversary by the great Victory at Dunbar Then it is to be observed that they came out of a cordially zeal and affection to deliver us likewise and to further the settlement of our State and by an union with them render us secure at home and feared abroad How and by whom the effect thereof hath been protracted hitherto is well known namely by those who still are Preaching to us that we should submit our selves under the young Prince of Orange that is to say under the sister of the King of Scotland the Guardianess of him whom they would fain force upon us for our Head and Guardian The following both Scripture and prophane Allegations and Histories registred by the Answerer are to no purpose being a thousand times refuted Gods holy Word the instinct of Nature right reason the Laws the Judgements of the Casuists the Oaths Covenants and all these are things the Parliament alledge for themselves with more reason and advantage then the Royalists Those sayings Rex non moritur Rex nulli facit injuriam are known to be rank flatteries and neither in England nor in any other Kingdome allowed of I wonder how this man durst avert such things in the face of this Republick As also that he durst call that a Sophisâ—â—e which the States of Holland had made use of to induce the rest of the Provinces to the Acknowledgment of the English Republick viz to give unto Cesar that is the present Possessor or Incumbent that which is Cesars Why did he not first make known this subtle solution of that Sophism to Spain Portugal Venice Florence Genua France would fain come on too Did they understand the Date Caesari thus we had more reason for it As for those other allegations taken out of several Sermons I shall direct him to infinite other Sermons that were and are daily made in the behalf of the Parliament The Answerers and others wresting of the Scriptures like a Nose of wax to serve their turns is a kind of Prophanation The Memorandums he calls Monstrous things A bold expression They contain the very words set down in the Treaty of Anno 1495. and consequently the States own words delivered unto the English Ambassadors May 2 last which are not monstrous but grounded on very weighty Reason For we do plainly find that for divers years now all along the English and Scots Malignants do not only seek to imbroil us in war but labour likewise daily here to reduce us again under the subjection or Guardianship of the young Prince of Orange that needs a Guardian himself So that it seems Lex Julia de ambitu lies asleep Otherwise this State ought to rid themselves of those strangers that seek to obtrude a new Domination upon us And the English deserve our thanks for having reacht forth their helping hand thus unto us In the Rear now our Answerer falls upon the thirty six Articles and says That the same do prejudice or hinder his Kings Right to the Crown of England All the Kings and Potentates which acknowledge England a Republick do in effect the same thing But indeed neither any of those Kings and Potentates nor we our selves but the Kings owâ— evill Councellors or Proceedings are the cause of all this When the Anserer the rest of his partners the Scots and Covenanters have hurried their Waggon into precipices of ruine it is past our redress To enter into alliance against those that go about to ruine our Commerce and bereave us of our Freedom as much as in them lies is both necessary and commendable If some will needs live under a King let them as for our parts we are resolved by Gods help to maintain our Freedom A League with England will not bring us into a Labyrinth nor make us subjects of Depradation and Slavery but free and secure us from both The Resolutions of Neutrality which he mentioneth are limited with conditions in case the Scots Irish and other Pirats perform Neutrality to us also All the former alliances are between the Nations so their Lord ships the States understand it so also do all the Kings and Potentates understand it that Treat here with the States upon the ancient Treaties as made in those times under the name of the Duke of Burgundy and Austria The Answerer himself implies as much above where he takes the Treaty vvith Duke Philip Anno 1495. as made with their Lordships the States and so likewise the renued Treaty with Scotland in Anno 1594. which Queen Mary had made as Governess in the Netherlands and the King of Scotland notwithstanding renued it with their Lordships Non populi propter Regem sed Rex propter populuÌ„ Kings Princes enter into Treaties as Representers of the People for the peoples sake This Kings forefathers were contented with the Crown of Scotland It grieves the Scots to see themselvs involved in war about a quarrel that doth not concern them but only for the Kings sake who by Pr. Rupert and by other Pyratical ships and other ways plaguing and provoking the English did force them at last to fall with an Army into Scotland for to prevent that Kings falling into England Even so did the great Gustave of Sweden he came with an Army into Prussia and forced the King of Poland his Cousen to
them by a solemn Iudiciall Proceeding as it is set forth by Buchanan their own Historian who affirms it to be More Majorum according to the custome of their Ancestors So that of all other men in the world this Scot Resident hath the least reason to wonder at our Capital Proceeding against a Tyrant as a thing never heard of before in the world since it hath been from all Antiquity the common practice of his own Country Whereas he farther alledgeth the Parliment's manifold reiterated Oaths and their Covenants with above an hundred Parlimentary Declarations and Protestations to protect the King's Person and Posterity c. This must be understood with that tacit Supposition which is naturally included in all those Oaths and Protestations viz. That he do not by any enormous crimes and continued Acts of Tyranny devest himself of his Kingly capacity And in the Covenant it self as much as this comes to is implied by undeniable consequence the whole scope of it being qualified with this special clause In the preservation of Religion and Liberty to shew that if the King should proceed so far as to render himself an irreconcileable enemy to both the Covenant did no longer oblige the Covenanters in any relation to him or his Posterity But he saith The Laws of England favour Kings above the Laws of all other Nations and for this he alledges the parasiticall maxims used by Courtiers Rex non moritur Rex nulli facit injuriam Whereto let us oppose others out of our old Laws more rationall and sound Non debet esse rege major quisquam in exhibitione Juris minimus autem esse debet in judicio suscipiendo si peccat Rex habet superiores Legem per quam factus est Rex Curiam suam c. Nihil aliud potest Rex nisi id solum quod de Jure potest say Bracton and Fleta and whereas he is up again with his pious Divines in and about London whose Declaration he much boasts of in the behalf of the late Tyrant and his Cause In Answer to this he must give us leave to reply in such a sence as out own experiences have taught us that those whom he calls Divines were the greatest Carnalists Formalists and Fanaticks that ever appeared in any Nation Court parasites Trumpets of Tyranny the onely Patrons and Promoters of Slavery both Spirituall and Tempporall They were such as most of the same Tribe ever have been and are men ignorant in the more necessary and solid parts of Learning both Sacred and Civill who make a Trade and Traffique of certain Set-forms and maxims of Divinity wherein being Travell'd as in a Road they cannot out of their old way but immediately they lose themselves and their sences If a Truth though never so bright and glorious come to clash with any of those trading notions which they call Orthodox then immediately like the men of Ephesus they grow stark mad and can sing no other Tune to all the world but Great is their Diana Therefore In those high and weighty Controversies which arise concerning the Rights and Concernments of Commonweals and Kingdoms where their motions are eccentricall little regard is to be had to their frigid Conceptions where in they are wont even in Luce meridianâ toto coelo err are and in this particular it might be made good contrary to their Affirmations and Invectives even as clear as the Sun According to the holy word of God the Instinct of Nature Right Reason The Laws of all Nations and particularly of England That Parliaments or other Supream Assemblies have a Power of Jurisdiction both coercive and punitive over their Kings and of altering Forms of Government according to the Publique exigents and Conveniences of their respective Nations In the meantime this Scot may do well since he often quotes William Prynn to consult that great Scotiser in his Book entitled The Soveraign power of Parliaments as also his own Countriman Rutherford in his Lex Rex who will give him another Account than the raw Pulpiteers of London Next he affirms that the saying of our Saviour which commands the paying of Tribute to Caesar confirmeth and establisheth Lawfull Power Herein we agree with him For though the means whereby that Power of the Caesars was gained were unlawfull and the manner of its Acquisition unjust yet it being once established beyond the controll of any Publique Power and having all Authority seated within it self it immediately became lawfull by way of dispensation having a right to the dispensing of Justice and to the exercise of all Acts of Jurisdiction concerning privat and particular Persons But then saith he should David have acquiessed in the usurped power of Absolom and Solomon in the power of Adonijah Jehoiada in Athalia's and the Machabees in the power of Antiochus Epiphanes Alas the case of these is far different for neither Absolom nor Adonijah were ever seated in a plenary possession nor had they been acknowledged Supream as were the Caesars nor had the Jews made any recognition of Antiochus his Authority nor did he ever bring them under a totall Subjugation as afterwards did the Roman power to whom they then paid a finall submission though they refused it before to Antiochus As for that of Athaliah we finde she had a submission paid for no less than 6 years though her power were usurped and one main reason why the people denied it afterward was becaus she had agrieved the whole Nation with her practises of Idolatry and Tyranny for which cause she was lawfully deposed and put to death in a full Assembly of the Princes and People 2. Kings 11. after which they reduced the Government into its former course of succession Thus much we thought fit to answer as to this particular But what hath this Scottish Resident to do to introduce these Instances of Absolom Adonijah and Athaliah as Arguments against us in England They touch not the matter at all there being as vast a disproportion betwixt them and us as betwixt light and darkness for they were single Usurpers over the People but here in England the People have recovered their own Rights by ridding away an old Tyrannical Usurpation He compares also the Religion that was under Kings in England with the present and saith that in the Kings time it shone as a Lamp more clear then in any other Nation But that now it is nothing like the religion professed in Holland nor indeed Religion it self What the state or religion was in the Kings time I suppose we need not now dispute it having been long since condemned not only by our Presbyterians themselves but in the Iudgement also of Forain reformed Churches as a profane medley of superstitious Innovations And as to the present though we glory not in an external pretended National Vniformity the great Diana of the Clergy and wherein they place all religion because it makes for their profit yet it bears a proportionable conformity to the mind of
Christ and the tenor fo his Gospel which teacheth us to gather Believers into Congregations by the power of the Word and not force men promiscuously into a pretended Church-relation by the power of the sword or commands and constitutions of any worldly Power This together with a prudent Toleration of different opinions is the present state of Religion in England so that whosoever takes a view of the practises of both Nations will easily grant a conformity of profession betwixt us and our neighbours of the Vnited Provinces He alledges farther It would be more safe and profitable for the States that England should continue a Monarchy than become a Republick for that the increase of England in a free State would be the decrease of the other See here O ye people of England what a Confession here is out of the mouth of the Common Enemy of the possibility of that increase both in wealth and honour which our Nation may expect in the settled Form of a Free State or Commonwealth And if so then by consequence it follows that all this stir for a Royal Family and Monarchy is not out of any respect to the increase of the publick weal but only to satisfie the ambition of a single Tyrant and his Followers And rather than not be so satisfied he here by the mouth of his Orator Mac-Donnel offers up the future interest and glory of England as a prey unto the Dutch in hope to allure them unto his party for the restoring of him into a Tyranny so that you see clearly it is a thirst of Dominion and Revenge not the people's benefit that transports him in all his undertakings It is here acknowledged by himself that his own restitution will be a means to keep England from growing richer and greater the fear whereof he useth as an argument to provoke the jealousie and emulation of Holland The inference therefore is natural and easie out of his own mouth that the interest of himself and family is inconsistent with the increase and interest of the English Nation In the next place he indeavors to darken the glory of God in our many wondrous successes saying they are no good argument to justifie a cause because the Turk hath had as great successes as any But what ever this Babler saith we cannot be so ignorant of the good hand of God upon us as to let those glorious works of Providence whereby he hath pleaded the Cause of this Parliament and Commonwealth pass under the common title of Fortune de la guerre The Lord having caried on this marvellous work for time and place with a concurrence of such remarkable circumstances that the very enemies have at length acknowledged it to be digitus Dei as did D. Hamilton before his death and others who saw the stretched out arm of God in the late defeat at Worcester We justifie not our cause by successes but only behold them as the effects of Gods mercy and goodness owning us in a just ingagement against the enemies of himself and people The Turks design was to propagate Tyranny in Christendom ours to pul it down His only to increase his own Dominion ours to exalt the Dominion of Jesus Christ What he did was by main strength multitudes and help of human policy What we have done hath been by a despised remnant inconsiderable both for knowledg number against all the wise and mighty men of this generation who to their power wisdom have had so many great advantages from time to time that the decision of every success in our behalf hath been so manifestly written with the finger of God that all must confess it could be no other hand but his that did it witness the great advantage the Enemy had of us at Naisby the miraculous sally at Dublin with the many glorious defeats that followed in Ireland the great deliverances wrought in 1648 when by a small army divided into two handfuls we with one part quieted South-Wales and vanquisht Hamiltons galiant army and with the other part suppressed the many numerous Insurrections in Kent Essex c. Witness also that glorious deliverance beyond all reason given last year at Dunbar when by a poor handful of sick men wearied out with watchings hunger and incessant marches in tedious weather at length impounded within a narrow neck of Land surrounded by the sea they did notwithstanding in the strength of God defeat the numerous Scottish Army it being accommodated with all necessaries and advantages and one of the best accomplisht armies that ever appeared in Scotland Add to-these omitting many other the late memorable defeat at Worcester attended with a series of many other wondrous successes and it is so much the more observable in regard of that miraculous power of God upon the heasts of the people fastning them to the Government in a most notable time of trial to the shameful confutation of this shameless Resident who had the impudence to affirm that not the hundreth part or as he saith a little after not the thousandth part of the people but do cordially adhere to the Royal Interest and passionatly groan to be delivered from the prevailing party in England as he is pleased to call the Parliament whereas all the time of the Scot's King being among us which was about 28 days courting and wooding the people with all manner of insinuations intreaties and pretences he was not owned by any considerable number of his old friends or his new-reconciled Enemies of the Presbyterian party From all which particulars what ever other men may deem we cannot but see the hand of God reached out unto us for the upholding of this Government in a peculiar manner contrary to all the expectations and reasonings os worldly wisdom Since the drying up of the red sea with the wonders that were wrought in Aegypt and in the Wilderness never have there been more glorious appearances of Gods presence than among his people in England And therefore none but a profane heart will presume so much to detract from the glory of these dispensations as to rank them among the ordinary passages of a permissive or Turkish Providence The last that we shall take notice of is one of the principall arguments that he useth to hold the Dutch to his young Master's party hinting unto them by way of insinuation that no Nation is so subject to change as England that the Earl of Warwick in 11 days Edw. 4. in 20 and Hen. 7. in 1 day successively subdued the English Nation T is true England hath received many a sudden change but never such a change as now Heretofore the poor people toiled themselvs in shifting one Tyrant out of the saddle to set up another but now they have driven out not only the Tyrant but Tyranny it self and cashiered not only a single King but all Kings for ever It is an easie matter for particulars to supplant one another in Government because the interest stands deposited in a single hand but when the whole frame of Government is altered from what it was and the interest of State lies diffused in the hands of the people it is almost impossible to alter it again without such a tract of time as may produce new dispositions and opportunities for the effecting a new alteration Besides it is very rarely observed in the whole course of History that ever Kingly Government was suddenly restored in any Country after it had been once cashiered by the people As for Robert Bruce his recovery of all Scotland 300 years ago out of the hands of the English you know it could not be effected as long as Edw. 1. lived but advantages being taken the infirmities debaucheries and civil broils of Edw. 2. the Scots made a shift to shake off the yoak wherein they were more beholding to that Prince's vanity than the valour and vertue of their own Nation And whereas he calls Sterlin the unconquered and fatall Bulwark of Scotland and tells us that there they stopt the current of the Roman Victories yet their own Historian Buchanan confesseth that both Edw. 1. and 2. were possest of Sterlin by force of arms and both their and our Historians will be able to relate in time to come how that the Commonwealth of England hath done more than Rome and made another Conquest not only of Sterlin but far beyond it which I dare be bold to second with this Omen That as Scotland's happiness will be promoted by a subjection to England so now it is the design of God for the better carrying on of his great work and the good of that people to bring them into an universal submission to the Laws and Government of the English Nation Nec sit Terris Vltima Thule FINIS
to rehearse them The Kings of Spain have been Earls of Holland and acknowledged no superiors now being freed from Spain there is none appearing that pretend any right to Holland Neverthelesse he was bound to the laws by an oath So that King of England was Earle of Essexshire Sussex Yorkshire and of all the rest compendiously called King of England Scotland Ireland but bound to the Lawes They of Holland perceiving their King had infringed the Laws thereupon they opposed him and fought themselves free Bene feliciter saith the King of Spains Embassador Count Pigneranda pro libertate pugnastis ea vobis debetur The English in like manner perceived their King had trespassed against the laws and falsified his oath whereupon they opposed him til they fought themselves into the same condition of Freedom I could say somewhat more here That the King of England out-did Spain He of Spain had sworn to the Roman Religion and conceived himself bound to protect it according to his Oath but the King of England being sworn to the Protestant Religion is charged to have acted against it innovated it and had he gotten the mastery would have changed it That this Assertion owned as well by the Scots as the English is most true appeares by the Covenant first made by the Scots and afterwards embraced also by the English Look upon Chapt. 14. of the Kings Book see what he saith there himselfe of the Covenant Again the Covenant very expresly shewed that the King had an intent to alter Religion and Laws The Answerer himselfe was a Covenanter and Parliamenteer and blew as fiercely and zealously as any against the Kings designe of Innovation as they termed it The second and third Article of the Covenant speaks very plain And there have been a thousand books written both by the Scots English Presbyterians on that subject Nay the Scots themselves have even since the late Kings death excommunicated all that had and did adhere to the King calling them Engagers and declared them Given over to the Devill And for this cause they put poore Montrosse to death and refused him Absolution And what afterwards the King himself and Hamilton Middleton Lauderdale others of this party have suffered is notorious to all the world Also how this King was fain to do penance and to confess the bloud guiltiness of his Father's House How ever all the difference betwixt the Kings of England and Spain was only this that He of England did more and He of Spain less against the Religion that each of them was sworn to It is well known that the Scots were the first that made a Covenant and thereupon took up arms even as the Nobility heretofore in the Netherlands made a League or Union and took up arms to defend it The Scots having cleared their own Land of all the Royall designs and adherents were not content therewith but proceeded to assist the English who were as eager to be rid of the same incumbrances Which being effected and the King brought to this pass that he saw no remedy left him then he betook himself to the Scots at last his own Country men as confiding more in them Why did not the Scots then take him home along with them They said it was not expedient the King might easily put Scotland into new broils as the English found afterwards among themselves for then broke first out those differences betwixt Presbyterians and Independents the former would have a new Hierarchy introduced like that of the Scots the later would have the Reformed Religion maintained as it now stands among them only they would bear with tender consciences and some others as wee doe likewise here The King of Spain hath given up his Right and acknowledged this a Free State had the King of England done the like or would this King content himself yet with the Scottish Crown as his Fore-fathers did the war would soon be at an end And herein Philip shewed himself more reasonable and righteous then Charls whom nevertheless hee styles that Blessed Martyr so highly wronged and persecuted not remembring at least concealing that they were the Scots who began this violent dealing with him But none of this concerns us not can we help it If the Scots vvill begin troubles and war and the Neighbour Kings and Potentates will wink at it vvhat is that to us What is farther said by the Answerer about the Kings death concerns not us of Holland at all If a King wageth war with his subjects he must needs resolve to run the hazard Kings and Princes are flesh and bloud and mortal as well as others As much might have been done in a Charge by the Sword of a private soldier as was afterwards by the hand of the Executioner The Quality or Majesty of a King or Prince is of no consideration to the steel or lead of the meanest soldier nostro sequitur de vulnere sanguis Majestate nihil contemtius nec infirmius si sint qui contemnant A living Dog is better then a dead Lion A Pesant owner of some Land is better then a King vvithout Land He that vvill not submit himself to the Discretion of a Conquerour should not runne the hazard of being conquered The Conquering party saw no other Expedient no farther trust given even during the Kings restraint there was faction upon faction division upon division insurrection upon insurrection raised The meanest creature the poorest worm seeks for self-preservation How much more a Man If there had been any means left under Heaven whereby a firm confidence could have been recovered it is very probable the Prevailing party would have yeilded to it But to put all their Fortunes Reputation Freedom Life and Being upon a new hazard again no Reason could advise them Now as to the matter of deposing and destroying of Kings it is so common both in England and Scotland that I admire why the Answerer makes it so strange and prodigious But all these things are so largely set forth in printed Boooks and Pamphlets that the Answerer hath little reason to make a wonder of it Omnia jam vulgata To make an alliance with England were unnecessary if our Commerce and Liberties were not in danger We are bound to look to their preservation The Depredations are unsupportable We do not afflict the afflicted but those whom he calls the afflicted afflict us As for the affliction of Joseph we know not what it means unless he make Joseph a Cavalier and under that notion the Scots themselves were the first that persecuted him And that party in Scotland which the Answerer himself doth esteem the honester viz. the kirk party they abhor the Royalists calling them Malignants The English Ambassadors have declared here in their first Proposition they came not out of necessity but to shew they were willing to choose this State for their best friends They have not desired to ingage us against the Scots But it is well known
in this acknowledging possession a sufficient ground for us to send as for themselves to receive our Ambassadors The acknowledgements given us likewise by the Ambassadors and Agents of Spain Portugal Venice Florence and Genoa do declare the same How then comes it to passe that the name of a King of Great Britain hath been so rife among the Provinces when they know the young Scot is so farre from having a Foot in the Noblest part of Britain England that he is in a manner outed too in Scotland What face too but that a Scot can face any thing had this Scot to deny our Embassadours the name of English Embassadours and dubbe himself with a Title including a Right to England where his Master is never like to take the Air again if he have his due unlesse it be upon a Scaffold But well may hee own the Title when some of the Dutch have been so forward to give it yea and under that name doe more then give him Audience in their great Assembly Though they have many Bodies of Supremacy in the Netherlands yet we can acknowledge but one Supream in England which is the Parliament who being seated with full Power in the Peoples Right can admit of no Competitor nor permit any other Nation to impose one upon them or dispute their Title but have reason to expect the same acknowledgements that ever have been given to all Supream Powers in possession according to the Custom of Nations which if any Nation shall deny or take occasion to prevaricate in this point they may in time understand that England established in this new Form stands fully possest not only by Right of Warre but also according to the Right of Nature and the ancient Laws and Customes of the Nation being eminently adorned with all the Rights and Priviledges of the People And that she may now have as great abilities as ever to assert her own Independency upon other Powers and make her self as considerable either in enmity or friendship as the proudest of her enemies CHAP. III. That Contracts and Alliances made betwixt States and Princes doe not relate singly and personally to themselves but are made Jure Populi in the behalf and for the benefit of the People VVHere as it hath been alledged by the Resident of the King of Scots that the ancient and successive Contracts and Friendships betwixt England and the Vnited Provinces were made between them and the successive Kings of England and not with England otherwise considered wherby he seems to affirm that the validity of such Contracts depends upon and expires with the persons of the Kings of England or with the Kingly Government excluding the interest of the People from being Principal in them therfore it cannot be inexpedient in that point to manifest the ignorance of this Scot with the absurdity of his Pretence which so highly reflects upon the Majesty and main Concernments of the People For without question it is to be understood that as all the acts of Government ought to tend so Governours themselves by what names on titles soever they be called are erected and intended only for the behalf and benefit of the people Even Kings themselves notwithstanding all their flourishes can arrogate nothing to their Persons or Families separate from the Peoples Interest For a King is no more but a Creature of the People by them created for their good He is their servant for which they give him a Salary or Revenue adorning him with splendid Titles of Majesty and with all the Immunities Priviledges and Prerogatives of Government which are no way inherent in his own Person or Family but Ornaments bestowed upon him as the Peoples Livery in reward of his service The truth of this very evidently appears in the Coronation-solemnities of Kings which all the world over are the same in substance and here in England the custome was thus First the agreement was made between the people and him that was to be entertained as their King he was made acquainted with the work and service of the Commonwealth which was to regulate himselfe and his Charge according to such Lawes that is such Rules and Direction as were or should be appointed by the people and for the true performance of this an Oath was given him Then the peoples consent being asked and had which in old time here was wont to be demanded thrice he was immediatly taken into the service and his Livery given him viz. The Royall Robes the Sword the Ring the Scepter and the Crown This hath been the manner of admission in England most solemnly performed in receiving all the Kings and Queens from the days of Edward the Confessor and long before So that you see the relation wherein a King stands to the Commonwealth or Kingdom is the same with that of a Servant to his Master onely here is the difference betwixt Kings and privat Servants That those publick honorary Servants having great honour confer'd upon them by the service are necessitated to maintain a large retinue and hold many in pension and imployment for which purpose they are allowed an extraordinary proportion of wages for their pains and expence in the performance of their duty with a surplusage of Subsidies or Supplies many times upon emergent occasions of necessity This will further appeare if we consider that Kings hold not the possession of a Kingdom by the same right as privat men doe their patrimonies But yet it is not meant as if Kings might not have possessions as other men have for that is allowable and hath been known here in England as may be seen in the time of Henry the fourth who from the Title of Duke of Lancaster arriving to that of a King enjoyed still an inheritance in his own rights as Duke of Lancaster distinct from that of the Crown and fearing the return of Lex talionis upon himself and Family that as he had dispossessed others of the Kingdom so his heirs might in time be dispossessed again therefore out of a prudent forecast he so ordered the matter as to keep the Revenues of his Dutchie entire and setled them in such a way as might preserve them distinct from those of the Crown that in case any new Turn should happen his posterity might if they lost the Kingship know where to lay claim unto their ancient Patrimony So then we doe not deny but Kings may have possessions of their own as well as other men by inheritance or purchase but those which they hold in the right of the Kingdom or Kingship are none of their own The Patrimony of the Publick Exchequer is one thing that of the Prince another Henry the fourth held the Dutchy of Lancaster as he was Henry but the revenues of the Crown as he was the King or publick servant of the Kingdom not out of any peculiar propriety that he had in them Nor can it in reason be imagined that Kings should have any thing of Propriâ—ty in what
its self fat beyond its wonted wealth and interest forasmuch as for these many hundred years it hath continued labouring and strugling under the yoak of a Tyrant so that it could not possibly arive to such a height and measure of happinesse as it may now attain in a condition of Liberty But why should Englands happinesse be counted an eye-fore to the Netherlands as our Scot would have it Surely the world is wide enough for them both and questionlesse if England shall thrive as the enemies of it feare in this new form the Dutch will then see it much more concerned them both in honor and interest to have settled with us in the relation of a friend then remain in a state of neutrality 'T is but a crude supposition that they shall lose any thing by our Amity but very probable they may lose much without it Yet in another place he alledges to the States that their Lordships having no enemy at present will by uniting with us involve themselves in a labyrinth But their Lordships may be pleased rather to consider it were a strange Wild-goose-chace to be led about by the way of Scotland to settle an interest for themselves in England upon the uncertain favour of a subtile Tyrant and his followers who in times past at Court here were wont to dart the name of Rebell as freely at them as they doe now against us being men of opposite principles to Freedom such as hated the very name of the Vnited Provinces And if the States please to remember the carriage of King James they will find that he himself was of the same humor and opinion and the first that set an edge upon the tongues of the Courtiers In vain therefore doth this Resident tell them that their Lordships have no Enemy at present For however our English Fugitives and Desperado's for present ends may seem to court them yet if they had a while since regained possession in England and should the young Prince of Orange have lived to see it it would have appeared to purpose that they are the very worst of all their enemies How much more secure then had it been for their Lordships to have embraced the late offer of England in its present establishment as a sure friend then to depend upon the good will of a deceitful Enemy And whereas it is insinuated that a League with us would draw enmities upon them elswhere they having no enemy at present it will concern them to remember what a friend they have of the French who onely gives faire words but hates them mortally in heart as appeares by the continuall depredations made upon them at Sea by those of the French Nation Also it were worthy consideration upon what ticklish termes they stand with Denmark and Sweden and in manifest discontent especially with Portugall Not any of these will or can be more a friend or enemy for the sake of the King of Scotland they are all swayed by their own interest and accordingly measure both their love and hate not out of respect to any single Person or Family Therefore it wil concern the States more rationally to weigh what advantages they might have reap't by an union with England which had it been concluded upon such terms as were offered would have rendred them so considerable in the eyes of the world that not any of all the Friendly Pretenders round about but would have been the more inclined to continue their Pretences and the lesse apt to break them Most absurd therefore is that affirmation of the Scotish Resident in saying The States may promise themselves more profit repute and security in Commerce England abiding a Kingdom then being transform'd into a Republick For as a Kingdom the actions both of James and Charls will tell them Kings were no cordiall friends nor indeed can they be whereas being in the form of a Republick the Provinces had they embraced our offers might have been admitted into a neerer union and complication of interests then ever they can hope for from a Monarchy He tells us farther there is a wide difference betwixt the Hollanders and us in the manner of acquiring our Freedom The Hollanders saith he were a free people time out of mind but we in England have been under Soveraign Kings for a thousand years and were bound to them by oaths Besides he saith the K. of Spain after a tedious warre of 80. years hath declared the Provinces free c. But the case is otherwise with us in England To this we say If the Hollanders have of old been a free people so have we been in England and both they and we in the same manner They were of old under Earls or Princes but such as were limited by the laws Auctoritas Principum er at plurimis pro libertate legibus repetitis definita saith the Author de Statu Belgii 1650. So were we in England under Princes called Kings but such only as were limited by lawes It was a Politicall Kingship not Despotick or Tyrannick as may be seen in all our Law-books Let one or two old instances serve for all Bracton l. 2. c. 16. Fletal 1 c. 17. say that the King of England hath the Law and the Parliament for his superiors and therfore if the King have the reins loose and be without a Bridle they ought to bridle him For as Bracton saith again l. 3. c. 9. The King can do nothing but what the Law permits him Thus only and with this limitation implied wee we sworn to our Kings as the Hollanders were first to their Earls and afterwards to the King of Spain but finding the Spaniard to oppresse them contrary to Law and Liberty therefore they conceived themselves acquitted of their former Oaths Et Philippi simul omnium Principum Imperium ejuravere and as our former Author saith bound themselves by a new Oath to abjure the Government not onely of Philip but of all Princes for ever which cours exactly parallels our case here in England all the difference now then is onely in a circumstance of Time We have not had 80 years Warre to make good our Freedom but alas this alters not the verity of the thing For as the Freedom of the provinces being really free from the very first moment wherein they drave out Philip did not depend upon the Spaniards acknowledgement so neither doth ours upon the acknowledgement and declaration of Charls or any future Pretender of the Family Yet notwithstanding this the Resident saith our case in reference to the recovery of our Freedom is no more like to the Hollanders then Milk is like Ink. But for illustration take this farther were they oppressed in matter of Religion So were we tied up to strange forms and innovations Were they crucified with an Inquisition So were we with a High Commission Were they squeezed with Impositions So were we such as Ship-money Privy-seals Coat and Conduct Monopolies and a thousand other devices Besides the Priests
relinquish his pretensions to the Crown of Sweden To conclude the English well knowing that the Scots joyned with English Fugitives and Malignants seek nothing but on the one side to ingage us against the parliament or to make us still subject to their depradations and on the other side to bring us again under the subjection of the Prince of Orange Therefore they very lovingly came and invited us to mutual union to prevent both the one and the other This in effect is the Sum and Truth of the Business AN ADDITIONALL REPLY TO All the pretended Arguments fals Insinuations and Slanders set forth in the Printed Answer OF MACK-DONNELL the Scotish RESIDENT To the Propositions of the Ambassadors of the Common-wealth of ENGLAND Presented at the Hague March 30 20. 1651 CHAP. I. The Necessity Nature and several Forms of Ambassy stated IT being impossible to preserve Intercourse and Amity betwixt Nations for their mutual weal and safety without the intervention of such a person or persons that may represent the sense of either so as to beget a right understanding betwixt them And because if the Supremacy be delegated or invested in one single Person whether a King Duke or Emperour it were for many reasons most inconvenient that he should quit his Charge at home to treat personally abroad in forà in Parts Or if the Supremacy be intrusted in the hands of divers Persons it were absurd to imagine they should all undertake a Voiage upon the like occasion Therefore it must needs be obvious to every mans reason how great a necessity lies upon the Nations of the world to make choice of some intermedial Person or Persons to be commissionated with full Power and sent abroad with such Iustructions as may inable them on the behalf of their respective Countries to confer and debate with forain States and Princes of such matters as tend to mutual Commerce and Communication Without such a course as this saith Petrus Aerodius an old Author no League can be made nor any thing determined touching Peace or War Enmities would prove immortal Murthers Violence and Treachery would perpetually alarm the world with new Combustions Hence it is that in regard of the necessary use of such Ministers and in regard they represent the Majesty of the State that sends them a kind of sanctity hath been annexed to their Persons they have in all Ages and Nations been had in special Veneration indulged with large Priviledges and Immunities even among the Heathen and secured from the reach of violation by as high a reverence as they paid to their very Gods and Temples as may be seen in an Epistle of King Philip the Macedonian to the people of Athens A Legat or Ambassador is Sanctum populis per saecula nomen As for the several Forms of Ambassy or Ambassadors though they pass by divers names yet they are specifically one and the same Office or Function having all the same reason aim or end which is to transact affairs abroad for the good of the Common-wealth according to the directions of those that send them In ancient time a Legat or Ambassador many times passed under the name of an Orator according to that of Virgil 11. Aeneid Jámque Oratores aderant ex urbe Latinâ And he usually retained this name either from the nature of his imploiment in case he were sent to desire or deprecate any matter or else from his Eloquence which is the prime requisit and glory of an Ambassador The other usual name of old was that which the Pope still retains viz. the Nuntio which in English is a Messenger according to that of Livy lib. 34. Rhodios Nuntios in Orbe terrarum arbitria belli pacisque agere which was spoken in contempt of the Rhodians or rather indignation that so inconsiderable a people should be so busie and medling for those usually they called Messengers that were sent from such as either were not acknowledged Supream in power or were but an inferiour Nation or who came with small pomp about matters of the lesser concernment or for the delivery of some dispatches about which they made no long stay But those old titles being antiquated we have new a succession of new ones which are thus divided according to the pesent custom of Nations viz. the Agent or Ambassador in ordinary and the Ambassador extraordinary both which are one and the same in effect differing only in pomp and splendor but equal in priviledge The Agent or Ambassador in ordinary is usually a person eminent for prudence one that undertakes and performs the Ambassy with less outward ostentation who if he be Commissionated to reside with any Prince or Republick is then called a Resident But this Râ—sident being for the most part as a Spy to pry into the Affairs of those to whom he is sent it were far better if that custom of Residence were rather exploded then continued any longer it tending more to the prejudice then the benefit of Nations But of all others the Resident ought to be avoided and not admitted in new and unsetled states and Commonweals if they mean to be safe or preserve their reputation For this cause it was and in this case that of old Ambassadors had a retinue assigned them by the State where they resided under pretence of honour and respect to their Ambassy but really to keep an eye over them and so strictly that they could not so much as drink or do any other necessary but with the privity of these Attendants Procop. l. 1. de Bello Goth. It was the same reason also wherefore our Henry 7. cared so little for their company here in England at the beginning of his unsetled Government And questionless it was in him a most notable point of Prudence in all parallel cases most worthy of imitation Now he whom we call the extraordinary Ambassador is for the most part a Person of some higher rank and interest in the Common-wealth and therefore a far greater stipend and retinue is assigned him to uphold a Majestick Port answerable to his own Quality and for the honour of his Nation The former according to the common acception are styled ordinary Ambassadors Agents and Residents the later Extraordinary sent usually upon eminent and extraordinary occasions Thus you see all the difference betwixt them is onely extrinsecal and formal in respect of Ceremony but de Jure according to the nature and end of the thing they have the same intrinsecal value and an equal right to the same immunities and priviledges An example of the former wee have in the late Agencies of those two Learned but unfortunate Gentlemen Doctor Dorisla and Master Anthony Ashcam the one most barbarously assassinated in Holland the other in Spain And of the later in the late solemn Ambassy into Holland performed by two Honourable persons the one being Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas but both of the Parliamentary or Senatorian Order Now if you would know the reason why