Memory but a more peculiar Charge of their Friends and that it may be admitted that some Saints have a peculiar Patronage Custody Protection and Power as Angels also have over certain Persons and Countries by special Deputation and that it is not Impiety so to believe And whereas in the 17th Article it is resolved That God has certainly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose working in due season they through Grace obeying the Calling they be justified freely walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy attain to everlasting Felicity He the said Mountague in his Book called The Appeal does maintain That Men justified may fall away and depart from the State they once had and may again arise and become new Men possibly but not certainly nor necessarily And the better to countenance this Opinion he hath in the same Book wilfully added and falsly charged divers Words in the said 16th Article and in the Book of Common-Prayer and so misrecited and changed the said Places he does alledg in his said Appeal endeavouring thereby to lay a most malicious and wicked Scandal upon the Church of England as if he did herein differ from the Reformed Church of England and from the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and did consent to those pernicious Errors which are commonly called Arminianism and which the late famous Queen Elizabeth and King James of happy Memory did so piously and diligently labour to suppress That he had contrary to his Duty and Allegiance endeavoured to raise Factions and Divisions in the Commonwealth by casting the odious and scandalous Name of Furitans upon such as conform themselves to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church of England under that Name laying upon them divers false and malicious Imputations so to bring them into Jealousy and Displeasure with the King and Ignominy and Reproach of the People to the great danger of Sedition and disturbance of the State if it be not timely prevented That the Scope and End of his Books is to give Encouragement to Popery and to withdraw the King's Subjects from the true Established Religion to the Roman Superstition and consequently to be reconciled to the Church of Rome whereby God's true Religion has been scandaliz'd those Mischiefs introduced which the Wisdom of many Laws hath endeavoured to prevent the Devices of his Majesty's Enemies furthered and advanced to the great danger of the King and all his loving Subjects That he has inserted in his Book called The Appeal divers Passages dishonourable to the late King full of Bitterness Railing and injurious Speeches to other Persons disgraceful and contemptible to many worthy Divines of this Kingdom and other Reformed Churches beyond the Seas impious and profane in scoffing at Preaching Meditating and Conferring Pulpits Bibles and all shew of Religion all which do aggravate his former Offences having proceeded from malicious and enormous Heat against the Peace of the Church and the Sincerity of the Reformed Religion publickly professed and by Law established in this Kingdom All which Offences being to the Dishonour of God and of most mischievous Effect and Consequence against the Church and Commonwealth of England and other of his Majesty's Realms and Dominions the Commons assembled in Parliament do hereby pray that the said Richard Mountague may be punished according to his Demerits in such exemplary mannner as may deter others from attempting so presumptuously to disturb the Peace of the Church and State and that the Books aforesaid may be suppressed and burnt This was that special Stick of Wood which Laud in the beginning of this young King's Reign put into his Hand to support him in the establish'd Religion of the Church of England and afterwards planted him to be one of the Cedars of our Church by having him made first Bishop of Chichester and after of Norwich However Laud was so nettled with the Votes of the Commons I do not find Buckingham concerned himself in them it may be believing this might divert the Storm from him but it was impossible for the Commons in looking into the Grievances of the Nation but to meet Buckingham in the Front of every one of them And when they began their Debates concerning the Duke they received a Message from the King of the pressing State of Christendom and with what Care and Patience he expected their Resolutions of Supplies and to let them know he look'd for a full and perfect Answer of what they would give for his Supply according to his Expectation and their Promises and that he would not accept of less than was proportionable for the Greatness and Goodness of the Cause and that it was not fit to depend any longer upon Uncertainties whereby the whole Weight of the Affairs of Christendom may break in upon us upon the sudden as well to his Dishonour as the Shame of the Nation and when this is done they may continue longer and apply themselves to the Redress of Grievances so they do it in a dutiful and mannerly Way without throwing an ill Odor upon his present Government or upon the Government of his late blessed Father You will hear further of the Care he took of Buckingham in his Reply to the Commons Address upon this The Commons in answer beseech the King to rest assured that no King was ever dearer to his People than his Majesty no People more zealous to maintain and advance his Honour and Greatness and especially to support that Cause wherein his Majesty and Allies are now engaged and beseech his Majesty to accept the Advice of his Parliament which can have no other end but the Service of his Majesty and the Safety of his Realm in discovering the Causes and proposing the Remedies of those great Evils which have occasioned his Majesty's Wants and his Peoples Griefs And therefore in Assurance of Redress herein they really intend to assist his Majesty in such a way and in so ample a Measure as may make him safe at home and feared abroad and for dispatch whereof they will use such Diligence as his urgent and Pressing Occasions require The King in answer to the Commons tells them he takes the Cause of their presenting Grievances to be a Parenthesis and not a Condition and will be willing to hear their Grievances so as they apply themselves to redress Grievances and not enquire after Grievances That he will not allow any of his Servants to be question'd by them much less such as are of eminent Place about him that the old question was What shall be done to the Man whom the King honours But now it hath been the Labour of some to seek what may be done against him whom the King thinks fit to honour he saw they specially aimed
Norway for Timber Pitch and Tar and to Liefland and Prussia for rough Hemp and Flax for which Trades the English never built one Ship since this Act and by reason of the Dearness and Inconveniences of our English Ships in these Trades the Norwegians have encreased their Navigation from 6 Ships of about 60 Tun to above 200 of three four five and six hundred Tun and the English pay near double the Price for these they did before the Act. And as the Inhabitants of Liefland and Prussia rarely or never trade with us in rough Hemp and Flax so the Dutch importing these by the Cheapness of their Navigation one third cheaper than the English and when they are made into the Manufactures of Cordage Sails and Nets the Dutch by the Act of Navigation may import them whereby the English in their Fisheries and the Foreign Vent of their Commodities have lost the Manufactures of them and by a Foreign Expence buy them of the Dutch and French as much to their enriching and Employment of their People as to our Impoverishment and the Loss of employing ours It 's fit to give this light Touch of the Mischiefs and Inconveniences this Act has brought upon the Nation but hereafter I shall enlarge upon them when I reply upon Sir Josiah Child and Sir Brewster's Defence of it as before CHAP. II. A Continuation of this Treatise during the Vsurpation of Oliver Cromwel WHEN Men forsake the plain and foreknown Ways of Justice and Righteousness they not only run into Confusion or contrary Extreams but these they endeavour to sanctify by previous swearing to them and imposing them upon other Men. In Scotland 1638 the Scots without the King's Consent made their Covenant wherein they abjure Episcopacy and swear a mutual Defence of one another herein against all Persons whatsoever without excepting the King and imposed this upon all Sorts of People with Violence and Menaces as beating tearing of Clothes drawing of Blood and exposing thousands to Injuries and Reproaches and notwithstanding several Laws to the contrary expelled all Professors of Colleges and Ministers out of their Places who refused to subscribe their Covenant See Baker's Chron. fol. 461. a. To encounter the Scots Covenant by a contrary Extream the English Convocation in the Year 1640 after the King had dissolved the Parliament imposed without Consent in Parliament an Oath wherein they swear That they approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation that they will not endeavour to bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to it That they will not consent to alter the Government of this Church by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. as it now stands and ought by right to stand nor to subject it to the Vsurpations and Supersttitions of Rome That this they do plainly and sincerely acknowledg and swear and do it heartily and willingly Thus was God's Sacred Name exposed to cover their Ambitious Designs on both sides and for which neither gave any Reason Nor did this Convocation stay here but imposed without Consent of Parliament six Subsidies upon the Clergy to be paid in six Years for carrying on a War against the Scots the refusers to be suspended and excommunicated Thus you see now In Nomine Domini on both sides these Feuds began at the Clergy and the King to secure the Convocation set Guards about Westminster Abby Here let 's examine and compare these two Oaths The Covenanters in Scotland swear That according to their Places and Callings they shall endeavour the Preservation of the Reformed Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government At this Time there was no Reformed Church in Scotland but the Episcopal unless the Scots Covenanters erected another So here the Scots do not distinguish which Church they swear to endeavour to preserve nor say what the Doctrine Discipline Worship and Government of the Church of Scotland was So that herein in the first part of the Oath they swear equivocally and in the second they swear by Implicit Faith without declaring wherein their Doctrine Discipline Worship and Government does consist That they shall also endeavour the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresy Schism Prophaneness c. All Oaths are to be taken in Truth viz. of what a Man knows or truly intends Can any Man believe that every Scot which swears the Covenant knows what Popery Prelacy Superstition Schism and Prophaneness are especially when they have an c. joined to them I do not believe that ever the Church of Rome or any other Nation ever imposed such an Equivocal and Canting Oath as this Covenant by a Rout of Men and contrary to the establisht Government in being and against the King's express Will And to make all sure they swear to defend all those that shall enter into this Covenant and shall zealously and constantly all the Days of their Lives continue therein But God shall soon blast this abominable Swearing to the Destruction of these Covenanters The Oath of the Covenant was purely promissory wherein they swear what wondrous Acts they would do in Preservation of their Kirk c. and for the Extirpation of Popery Prelacy c and for the mutual Defence of one another But the first Part of the Convocation-Oath is assertory wherein they swear that they approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation so as there is no further need of searching the Scriptures and no Man needs further to seek his Salvation with Fear and Trembling if he be conversant in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England The next part of it is negatively Promissory that they will not bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to it The third part of it is partly Promissory and partly Assertory Promissory not to give Consent to alter the Government of this Church by Archbishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons c. Assertory as it now stands and ought to stand The fourth part is Promissory not to subject it to the Usurpations and Supersitions of Rome without declaring what these were The last part of this Oath is Assertory That this they do plainly and sincerely acknowledg and swear and do it heartily willingly and truly Now let 's see the Success of this jumbled Oath and Grant of these Subsidies first the King never got one Groat of them Secondly The very next Year after viz. March 10th the Commons voted that no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any judicial Power in the Star-Chamber nor Authority in Temporal Matters and that no Clergy-man shall be in Commission of the Peace and upon the 22d of June the High Commission Court and Star-Chamber wherein Laud and the Prerogative Clergy plaid their Pranks were abolished by Act of Parliament and soon after viz. January 12th Twelve of the Bishops were committed to the Tower for High Treason for protesting against all Votes and Orders of
horrible manner massacred many English and seized upon the English Factories there to the Value of four hundred thousand Pounds and made the rest of the English Slaves and sent them into other Islands which the Dutch had possessed themselves of This was in the Year 1622. Nor did the Dutch stay here but seized upon the English Factories in Seran Nero Waire Rosingen Latro Cambello Hitto Larica Lantare and Poloroone possessing themselves of their Goods and Factories there and took 1800 English which they sent into other Islands and Plantations which they had forced from the Indians Let 's see now how highly King James resented these things he only sent to the Dutch Ambassador and told him He never heard nor read a more cruel and impious Act than that of Amboyna But I do forgive them and I hope God will but my Son's Son shall revenge this Blood and punish this horrid Massacre nor never further vindicated his own Honour or his Subjects Blood and loss of their Goods and Trade herein Whereas about a Year before when he heard of the Commons horrid Invasion upon his Prerogative by asserting their Rights and Privileges in a Fury he dissolves the Parliament and sick as he was or seemed to be to the indangering of his Health he came in a hurry from Theobalds called his Council and Judges about him and propria Manu cut the Commons Protestation out of their Journal-Book and committed many of their Members close Prisoners without Bail or Main-prize and banished others That we may take a better View of the latter end of this Reign and the following one of King Charles it will be convenient to look into Holland and herein observe That Barnevelt and the Dutch States after they had retrieved their Cautionary Towns from King James Barnevelt assisted by Hugo Grotius nourished a Faction in Holland called the Arminian from Arminius who maintained 5 Heads contrary to what Calvin had taught in his Institutions which was the Doctrine of the Church set up in Holland and the other Vnited Provinces By this Faction thus countenanced by Barnevelt and Grotius they endeavoured to have deposed Maurice Prince of Orange State-holder tho he and his Father and Uncles were the principal Instruments whereby the Dutch became States But Maurice proved too hard for them and cut off Barnevelt's Head and had hanged Grotius if his Wife had not conveyed him away in a great Chest pretending it contained Arminian Books This was in the Year 1620. Tho Barnevelt and Grotius propagated the Arminian Tenets to have deposed the Prince of Orange and advanced their Democratical Government yet the Church-men of England who preached the King's absolute Power and exalted his divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation above his Royal Will in Governing by them promoted these Tenets and those that opposed them were stiled Puritans The principal Stickler herein was Dr. William Laud a Man of a most turbulent and aspiring Disposition and one of the first Acts for which he was taken notice of was to marry the Earl of Devonshire to the Lady Rich Mother to Robert Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Holland when her Husband was alive but this was so far from advancing him that the King was highly incensed against him for it Yet Laud's aspiring Humour could not contain him in a private State but follow the Court he would yet could never arrive higher than to be one of the King's Chaplains by means whereof he sometimes got the King's Ear. The King hated the Presbyterian Government and had got the Bishops in Scotland to be re-ordained by three of the English Bishops as a distinct Order which the Kirk in Scotland took for an abominable Usurpation over them and also in the Year 1618 got the five Articles commonly called The five Articles of Perth to be settled as more agreeable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England but this was to the further Indignation of the Kirk-party and herein King James set up his rest as having gained an high Point but tho the King hated the Presbyterian Government yet he opposed the Arminian Tenets Arch-bishop Abbot observed of him when he was at Court he was Buckingham's only inward Counsellor sitting sometimes with him privately whole hours and feeding his Humour with Malice and Spite and when he was at Oxford his Business was to pick Quarrels in the Lectures of publick Readers and to advertise them to the Bishop of Durham Neal the great Countenancer of the Arminian Tenets and Promoter of the King's Prerogative that he might fill the Ears of King James with Discontents against the honest Men that took pains in their Places and settled the Truth which he called Puritanism in their Auditors As you may read in Rush fol. 444. Nor could Laud forbear when he could get the King's Ear but he urged him more than once to promote the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in Scotland after the obtaining the passing of the five Articles at Perth this frighted King James who better knew the Temper of his Country-men and how difficultly he had got the Articles of Perth to pass that Laud ignorant of the Temper of the Scotish Nation should be so audacious to put the King upon this which might as it after did embroil all Scotland in Tumults and Wars and now becomes more averse to Laua's Promotion than before But this was no Consideration to Buckingham whether the King would or nor Laud should rise And soon after Williams was made Lord Keeper the Bishoprick of St. Davids fell and Buckingham resolved Laud should have it and the Keeper must be the Man to propound it to the King and receive no Denial But it 's fit to observe here in what an humbling manner this Promotion was accomplish'd on the part of Laud and take it as it was sent me by a Gentleman with the Attestation of Col. L. and R. L. Esq who often heard Mr. Francis Osburn speak of it as a certain Truth and who had taken notice of it in some of his Works not made publick As soon as Laud had Information that the foresaid Bishoprick was vacant he hastens to wait upon the Duke of Buckingham for that Preferment but found the Duke was not stirring but being impatient of Delay prevails upon one of the Duke's Gentlemen to acquaint him he had earnest Business with his Grace and begged immediate Admittance which being granted the Doctor enters his Grace's Chamber and finds him a-bed with a Whore the Duke asks his Business Laud told him the Bishop of St. Davids was dead and that he came to beg his Grace to recommend him to the King for the vacant See The Duke told him that he had been represented to him as the proudest Man alive and therefore he could not in Honour recommend him to the King Laud assures his Grace that what had been said of him upon that Head was utterly false and the effect of
leaving a Horse alive still in hopes of the Relief promised from England they held out so long till but 4000 of 15000 were left alive most of them died of Famine and when they began to be pinch'd with Extremity of Hunger they died so fast that they usually carried their Coffins into the Church-yard and other Places and therein laid themselves and died great Numbers of them being unburied and many Corps eaten with Vermin Ravens and Birds when the French Army entred the Town The Outrages committed against the Reformed Churches in France were so high as constrained them to implore King Charles his Aid in these Expressions That what they wrote was with their Tears and Blood But how unhappy soever this Prince's Fate was in War abroad yet it had been happy for him if he had not made his Fate worse at home and now let us see what Steps he made towards it even in this short Recess of the Parliament's Meeting Upon the 15th of July the King made Sir Richard Weston who died a declared Papist Lord Treasurer of England and the same Day translated Laud the Firebrand of the Arminian Faction to the Bishoprick of London whose next Step was Arch-bishop of Canterbury who that he might testify his Zeal to this Cause which after set all these Nations on Fire got Richard Mountague to be consecrated Bishop of Chichester the 24th of August following This Mountague was fierce for Arminianism and wrote a Book call'd A new Gag for an old Goose for which he was questioned in the Parliament of 23 Jac. and the Cause was committed to Arch-bishop Abbot which then ended in an Admonition and though the Arch-bishop disallowed the Book and sought to suppress it yet it was reprinted and dedicated to King Charles under the Title of Appello Caesarem Hereupon the Commons 1 Car. questioned Mountague for this and gave Thanks to the Arch-bishop for what he had done but this displeased the King who took the Business out of the Commons Hands but they had taken Bond of Mountague to appear I desire to be more particular herein because Arminianism was not only turn'd up Trump for the flattering Clergy to play their Game but for the Popish Party to undermine the Church of England as it was established by Law and the Canons Doctrine and Homilies of it and now Mountague's Cause was recommended to the Duke of Buckingham by the Bishops of Rochester Oxford and Laud Bishop of St. Davids as the Cause of the Church of England Thus this Cause stood when the King dissolved the first Parliament the 12th of August 1625. But the King's Necessities as he managed Business forcing him to call another before assembled Laud procured the Duke to sound the King whether he would leave Mountague to a Trial in Parliament which the King intended to do whereupon this pious Man Laud said I seem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God of his Mercy dissipate it Note that all those who were not of this Faction of Arminianism were stiled by them Puritans these Mountague treats with bitter Railing and injurious Speeches and inserts divers passages in his Appeal dishonourable to King James the Commons therefore prayed that the said Mountague might be exemplarily punished and his Books supprest and burnt Yet this is the Saint that Laud in the first Act of his Regency as it may be called after he became Bishop of London must have made Bishop of Chichester and after Bishop of Norwich But this is observable that while Neal and Laud were consecrating Mountague News came of the Duke's being stabb'd This was the first step after Laud's Preferment the next was a Pardon for Mountague and Manwaring of all Errors by speaking writing and printing and you cannot believe that Laud would be less kind to Manwaring than to Mountague and therefore notwithstanding Manwaring's Censure he procured Manwaring the fat Rectory of Stamford Rivers in Essex and a Dispensation to hold it with the Rectory of St. Giles in the Fields That you may see the Kindness of this Bishop of London to our Laws in the very Infancy of his Power When Felton was brought before the Lords of the Council for murdering the Duke Laud threatned Felton with the Rack unless he would confess his Inducement for murdering the Duke but the King then in Council refused till the Judges were consulted and said if it could be done by Law he would not use his Prerogative but though the Judges determined he could not be put to the Rack by Law the King was graciously pleased not to use his Prerogative yet this was no thanks to the Bishop of London Now let 's see the Fruits of the Petition of Right and the manifold-Declarations of the King for maintaining the Laws of the Land and the just Rights and Liberties of the Subject but here you may understand that though he had taken the Customs not granted by Parliament yet by virtue of his Prerogative Royal he had enhanced the Rates such as were never granted by any Parliament and declared it his absolute Will and Pleasure besides that of Wines that the 2 s. and 2 d. Duties upon every Hundred of Currants by the Book of Rates should be advanced to 5 s. and 6 d. in the Hundred The first that suffer'd under the King 's absolute Will and Pleasure was Mr. Chambers who was committed by the Lords of the Council this Michaelmass-Term and was bailed by the Court of King's-Bench for which the Judges were check'd having done it without due Respect to the Privy-Council Next Mr. Vassal's Goods were seized for not paying the 5 s. 6 d. upon every hundred pound Weight of Currants upon which the Attorney General Sir Robert Heath exhibited an Information against him in the Exchequer to which Mr. Vassal pleaded the Statute De Tallagio non concedendo and that this was neither Antiqua seu Recta Consuetudo to which the Attorney demurred and Mr. Vassal joined in the Demurrer but the Court would not hear Mr. Vassal's Counsel and said the King was in Possession and they would keep him so and imprisoned Mr. Vassal for not paying the Duty thus imposed About the same time the said Mr. Chambers's Goods were seized by the Customers for not paying such Customs as were demanded by the Farmers Mr. Chambers sues a Writ of Replevin the Barons grant an Injunction against it Mr. Chambers offers to give Security for Payment of such Duties as the Court should direct which the Court refused unless he should pay such Customs as demanded by the Farmers which Chambers refusing the Court ordered the Officers to detain double the Value of Chambers's Goods demanded by them The same Course was taken with Mr. Rolls's Goods though a Parliament-Man one of the Commissioners saying Privilege of Parliament extended only to Persons not Goods another more boldly told Mr. Rolls if all the Parliament were in you we would take your Goods These Proceedings so ill sorting with the Petition
see what Fruits the Petition of Right passed but the Year before had and the King 's repeated Declarations to maintain the Laws of the Land and the Liberty and Property of the Subject But if this Prince has not kept his Word for the time past he will keep it he says for the time to come in the Declaration he made for the Dissolution of this last Parliament I do not find the Date of it yet it begins with the usual Prologue However Princes are not bound to give an account of their Actions but only to God In this the King says nothing of the Eyes of all Christendom being upon him but tells how the Aids granted this last Parliament were for Payment of his Fleet and Army and that with part of those Monies he began to supply his Magazines and Stores and to put his Navy into a constant Form and Order and that notwithstanding the Provocations of evil Men whose Punishment he reserves to a due time he will maintain the Established Religion and Doctrine of the Church of England and the antient and just Rights and Liberties of the Subject Yet as he will maintain the Subjects Rights so he expects that they yield as much Submission and Duty to his Royal Prerogative and as ready Obedience to his Authority and Command as had been performed to any of his Predecessors Then wills his Ministers not to be terrified by the harsh Proceedings strained against them for as he will support them by his Authority and Prerogative so he expects they should obey him and that he will receive the Customs and the Duty of Five in the 100 and if any factious Merchants refuse to pay they shall be assured he will find honourable and just means to support his Estate and Soveraignty and preserve the Authority God had put into his Hands and for this his Subjects ought to acknowledg their own Blessedness and for the same to be thankful to God the Author of all Goodness For this you must take the Prince's Word for the next twelve Years But being thus great and happy at Home let 's see what is doing Abroad The War against France was not more inconsiderately begun about two Years before than the Peace made with it was secret The first time it was made known was when the French King besieged Privas he proclaimed the Peace with his good Brother of England The Reformed were astonished and confounded that the King of England who brought them into the War should leave them out of the Peace Hereupon Privas surrenders so does Castres and Nismes the great Rohan is forced to submit and disband The Power of the Reformed thus rooted up and while the King of England is making War against the Members of Parliament Richlieu marches with an Army into Italy and takes Salusses and Pignerol from the Duke of Savoy Richlieu having thus secured the King of England took no less care that the Empire should not put a stop to the swelling Ambition of his Master and to this purpose enters into a Confederacy with the Protestant Princes of Germany to call the King of Sweden in to Germany who next Year entred into it where for eighteen Years the French Protestant Princes joining the Swede a most dreadful War was raised all over Germany so as the French had no cause to fear any Danger thence on the contrary they took Brisac and other Places and had opportunity to wrest Lorain from that Duke But King Charles prospering as he thought in his Domestick War having taken more Prisoners in it I mean the Members of Parliament and Constables of Hertfordshire than his Father and he had done in all their Wars against France Spain and the Empire for the recovery of the Palatinate was very unwilling to enter into a Foreign and therefore in a kind of petitioning way sends Sir Henry Vane his Ambassador to the King of Sweden to take care of the Patrimony of his Brother but with no better Success yet in a more rough scornful and dishonourable manner than his Father's Ambassadors had with the Emperor But that he might seem to do something the King sent Marquess Hamilton with 6000 Men to assist the Swede who tho every-where else victorious yet this Army under Hamilton had worse Success than that under Mansfield being starved and mouldred away almost to nothing and yet fought not at all and being reduced to two Regiments the King of Sweden would not permit King Charles to name the Officers See Whitlock's M. f. 15. and Franklin's Anno 1630. The ill Success of Hamilton's Army put the King out of all Conceit of prosecuting any Foreign War and therefore wholly makes it his Business to make himself more Absolute at Home There is but one Rub in the way viz. the great Prop of the Church the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Abbot a Prelate of most eminent Learning whose upright Integrity stood as an unshaken Rock against the Innovations both in Church and State which were now so fiercely push'd on by the Arminians I find but little Action in this Year 1631 things were only preparing to what followed yet altho Arch-bishop Abbot was living the Torrent run so high in the University of Oxford that several of the Members were proceeded against and censured for Sermons preach'd against Arminianism and expell'd the University and the Book of Sports and Pastimes upon the Lord's-day was republished Judg Richardson was so hardy as to repress them but the Bishops took this as an intruding upon the Ecclesiastical Power and Bishop Laud complained thereof to the King and the Judg was check'd for it See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 16 17. But in the Year 1632 this Reverend Prelate died and thereby left room for Laud the Fire-brand of Arminianism to take Possession Before we see what follows let 's look back upon what went before He being of a restless aspiring Temper in the beginning of King James his Reign got to be Chaplain to Mountjoy Earl of Devonshire and to shew he would be great upon any account he marries the Earl to the Lady Rich tho her Husband was then alive and had many Children by her viz. Robert then Earl of Warwick and Henry Earl of Holland which Act so displeased King James that the Earl fell into his Displeasure and tho Laud hanker'd near twenty Years after the Court to get Preferment principally under the Countenance of Neal Bishop of Winchester yet the King would never endure to hear of it But at last by the Importunity of Neal and others Williams Bishop of Lincoln and Lord-Keeper was prevailed upon to intercede for him without any Success till at length the Keeper told the King It would be hard to serve a King who could not forgive one Fault At last he got the King to prefer Laud to the Bishoprick of St. Davids but he had not been scarce one Year in his Bishoprick before he became Williams his bitter Enemy and Prosecutor as you may read in the second Part
how to erect a High Commission Court in Scotland by the King's Authority without Consent in Parliament for proceeding against such as would not submit to the Common-Prayer Book and Canons enjoined by the King and Bishops of Scotland and upon the 28th of February the Arch-bishop consecrated Dr. Manwaring Bishop of St. Davids a worthy Successor to so Saint-like and pious a Predecessor for this Bishoprick was Laud's first Preferment You have seen his Grace of Canterbury's Temper towards the King's Subjects now see how it was towards the King His Grace being as high as England could admit viz. Metropolitan and first Peer thereof would visit both Universities by his Metropolitan Right and not by Commission from the King and signified so much to both to which both answered That to admit it without a Warrant from the King was a Wrong to the Vniversities his Grace was Chancellour of Oxford and the Earl of Holland of Cambridg The Cause came to a hearing before the King and Council the 21st of June 1634 where the Attorney General Banks was for his Grace against the King Mr. Gardener the Recorder of London â—or Cambridg and Serjeant Thyn for Oxford the Cause was shortly this Both sides agreed in this that both Universities were of the King's Foundation and so might be visited as they had often been by Commission from the King But this would not do with his Grace he would to use his own Words visit by his own Right Serjeant Thyn urged against this the King's Foundation of the University of Oxford and that never any Arch-bishop so visited But the Recorder could not say so of Cambridg which happened upon this Occasion In the Reign of Richard the Wickliff's Doctrine prevailed much in both Universities and Arundel then Arch-bishop of Canterbury as zealous to suppress the Wicklevites as Laud was the Puritans to suppress them did visit Jure Metropolitano but Oxford opposed him forti Manu Upon this Arundel appeals to the King who being a weak Prince and as zealous for the then Church as King Charles was for Laud's declares the Right to be in the Bishop so did Henry the 4th the Current running against Wickliff which was after confirmed in Parliament but Cambridg was not in it Yet never before did any Arch-bishop visit Oxford nor Cambridg since the Year 1404 Jure Metropolitano as his Grace would do and so the Cause went for the Arch-bishop Plum'd thus in his own Feathers all black and white without one borrowed from Caesar whereby the more he assumes to himself the less he leaves the King he now soars higher the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury in their own Names enjoin the Removal of the Communion Table in the Parish-Churches and Universities from the Body of the Church or Chancel to the East of the Chancel and cause Rails to be set about the Table and refuse to administer the Sacrament to such as shall not come up to the Rails and receive it kneeling that the Book of Sports on Sundays be read in Churches and enjoin Adoration I do not find that Adoration was ever enjoined before nor any of the fore-named Injunctions in any Canon of the Church sure I am they were never publickly put in Execution so that whether these were any of the Canons of the Church or not was not understood by one of 10000 and the Lecturers Chaplains and School-masters who had no Maintenance from the Church being principally struck at by these Injunctions make all the sinister and worst Constructions they could invent against them so that though those Injunctions had been founded in the Canons of the Church yet the contrary was believed and so had the same Effect as if they had not been founded in the Church-Canons Here I cannot omit one Passage That several were deprived by the Bishop's Authority for refusing to read the Book of Sports on Sunday Whereas King James the 2d allowed the seven Bishops a legal Trial for refusing to enjoin the Clergy to read his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops were acquitted That the Legality of these Proceedings might be manifest a Proclamation was issued out that it was the Opinion of the Judges that the Act of the 1 Edw. 6. 2. which ordains that Bishops should hold their Ecclesiastical Courts in the King's Name or by Commission from him was repealed by the 1st of Queen Mary though this Act was repealed by the 1 Jac. 25. and so the Act 1 Edw. 6. 2. was revived and so resolved upon a full Debate in Parliament 7 Jacobi The Thunder of those Canons the terrible and unheard of Execution of them in the Star-Chamber against all Opposers by Speech or Writing so terrified the Puritans which would not submit that incredible Numbers of them left the Kingdom to inhabit in foreign Plantations especially in New-England where these Ecclesiastical Canons could not well play upon them But to restrain the further Evasion of them the King by Proclamation the 30th of April 1638 stops all the Ports of England to keep them in it The Reason was no doubt that they might be better instructed in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England here than elsewhere But Ship-Money notwithstanding my Lord Keeper Coventry's Charge to the Judges last Year that in their Circuits they should give Charge how justly the King required Ship-Money for the common Defence and with what Alacrity and Chearfulness they the Subjects are bound in Duty to contribute yet this did not pass-for true Doctrine with all for Mr. Hambden upon Advice with Holborn St. John and Whitlock denied the Payment whereupon several other Gentlemen refused also Hereupon the King was advised by the Lord Chief Justice Finch to require the Opinion of his Judges which he did in a Letter to them and after much Solicitation by the Chief Justice promising Preferment to some and highly threatning others whom he found doubting he got from them in Answer to the King's Letter and Case their Opinion in these Words We are of Opinion that when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger you may by your Writ under the Great Seal of England command all your Subjects of this your Kingdom at their Charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from Peril and Danger And that your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion that in such Case your Majesty is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided This Opinion was signed by Davenport Denham Hutton Croke Trevor Bramston Finch Vernon Berkly Crawley and Weston See Whitlock ' s Memoirs f. 24. The King having previously extorted the Judges Opinions exparte gave order for the Proceedings against Mr. Hambden in the
Protestation wherein they Promise Vow and Protest in the Presence of God to maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Power and Privilege of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union and Peace between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but herein was the Difference between the Scots and English the Scots would improve their Covenant and establish it in England but the English scarce ever after care for their Protestation However the Commons prevail with the Lords to take it and then impose it upon the Nation upon the Penalty of being deemed Malignants and Disaffected The King little pleased with what he had done and less with what the Houses had done without him follows the Scots into Scotland and there cajoles the Covenanters with all Courtship imaginable makes Lesley the Scots General Earl of Leven and confers other Honours upon the Covenanters calls a Parliament and consents to the Extirpation of the Hierarchy and establishes Presbytery as fully as the Kirk of Scotland could desire The Scots at present promise all Duty and Obedience to him but how well the King found it in a short time will appear Whilst the King was thus busied in Scotland a horrible and hellish Massacre was perpetrated in Ireland by the Irish upon the English wherein it 's computed above 200000 Protestants Men Women and Children were butcher'd after which followed an universal Rebellion excepting in Dublin Londonderry and Inniskillen which was headed by the Pope's Nuncio a most proper Head for such a Body Yet so intent were the Factions in England and Scotland in establishing their Designs that little care was had of the miserable Relicks of the Protestants in Ireland It appears evident to me that Richlieu's Scarlet was deep dy'd in the Blood of the poor English in this Massacre for these Reasons 1. That the Scots who at this time were Pensioners to France were not medled with in their Lives and Fortunes as you may see in Sir Richard Baker f. 315. a b. 2. The King being in Scotland when he heard of the Massacre of the English and Rebellion of the Irish he moved the Parliament of Scotland then sitting for a speedy Relief to the English which they refus'd And it 's strangely observable That tho the Massacre and Rebellion in Ireland brake out the 23d of October yet the King did not proclaim them Rebels till the first of January and then by Proclamation gave a strict Command that no more than forty of them should be printed and that none of them should be published till his Majesty's Pleasure was further signified Upon the King's going into Scotland the Parliament prorogued themselves to a certain Day But the Commons appointed a Committee to prepare Business against their next Meeting yet send Spies to observe all the King's Actions and after the King 's Return to London which was upon the 25th of November 1641 the House of Commons upon the 5th of December make a Remonstrance of all the King's Miscarriages abroad and of the Grievances and Illegalities of his Ministers at home from the beginning of his Reign and that the King might be sure to see it as well as hear of it they print and publish it The King not being used to such Language was stung to the quick by the Commons Declaration and to retaliate it in Act upon the third of January enters the House of Commons and demands five of their Members to be tried for High Treason for holding Correspondence with the Scots Than which he could not have done a more imprudent Act for by it he unravelled all that he had done in Scotland by involving the Scots in the same Crime But the Members had their Agents in the King 's most secret Councils and had notice of the King 's coming before and so the five Members were withdrawn This Act of the King did not only set the House in a Flame and put the City into Tumults but brought Petitions from Buckingham-shire where Mr. Hambden one of the Five Members was Knight that the Privileges of Parliament might be secured and Delinquents brought to condign Punishment All this while poor Ireland lay bleeding The King as unstable in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions retracts all he had done and promises not to do so again But to no purpose for the Members resolve not to trust his Royal Word Prerogative and absolute Will and Pleasure and therefore will tear the Power of the Militia from him Rather than suffer this tho upon the Pretence of Tumults the King resolves to leave London But before the King left London my Lord Mayor Sir Richard Gurney Sir George Whitmore Sir Henry Garoway and other principal Citizens waited upon the King and engaged if he would stay they would guard him with 10000 Men if occasion were and told him If he went he would leave the City open for the Members to do as they pleased and that they were sure to be first undone the King told them he was resolved Then Sir Henry Garoway said Sir I shall never see you again However his Eldest Son Mr. William Garoway a worthy Gentleman who yet lives went with the King and followed him in all his Wars The worthy Citizens proved true Prophets for soon after the King left London the Members imprisoned my Lord Mayor Sir Henry Garoway Sir George Whitmore and all others whom they suspected would be faithful to the King and then in London began to assume the Power of the Militia After the King left London he went to York and from thence went towards Hull but is shut out of the Town by Sir John Hotham whom the King proclaims Traitor and now before it came to Sword and Pistol Men began a War with their Pens And herein it is observable that the Writers for the King chiefly maintained his Cause out of Sir Coke's Pleas of the Crown which by Order of the King's Council was upon Sir Edward's Death-Bed seized as dangerous and seditious and I do not find any who wrote for the Parliament ever used any one Topick out of it to justify their Cause tho it and Sir Edward's other Books of the Comment upon Magna Charta and Jurisdiction of Courts were printed by Order of the House of Commons and by them petitioned that the King would deliver the Originals to Sir Robert Coke Sir Edward's Heir Whilst things were in this Hurly-burly in England Portugal and Catalonia revolt from the Spaniard which as it was a mighty Blow to Spain so it much conduced to the Advancing the Designs of Cardinal Richlieu in France In England things could not hold long at this Stay but upon the 22d of August the King comes to Nottingham and hastily sets up his Standard there and invites all his loving Subjects to come to his Assistance against the Rebels
Wing of Horse of the Parliament's which Prince Rupert pursued too far tho with great Slaughter but the King 's left Wing of Horse was broken by Sir William Balfour Sir Philip Stapleton and the Lord Fielding However the Victory was uncertain the Success was not so for the King took Banbury Town and Castle and Oxford and Prince Rupert took my Lord Say's House at Brought and made Excursions near London whereupon the Parliament recalled Essex to defend themselves And it was time for the King was marching towards London having taken Reading and Henley and at Brentford both Armies fought Essex being assisted by the Trained Bands and Apprentices of London and the King was forced to retreat and if Essex had followed in all Appearance the King would have lost his Army not having Bullet enough to have maintained one quarter of an Hour's Fight and towards the latter end of the Year Prince Rupert storms Cirencester and puts many of my Lord Stamford's Regiment to the Sword and took 1100 Prisoners which were used with great Barbarity and Colonel Nathaniel Fines in the West was routed by Prince Rupert and in the North Sir John Hotham was beaten by the Forces commanded by the Earl of Cumberland Sir Fran. Worsley Sir Marm. Langdale and Sir Thomas Glenham This Year there was a Treaty of Peace at Oxford the Parliament's Propositions were That the King should disband his Army return to the Parliament leave Delinquents to Trial and Papists to be disbanded That a Bill be brought in for abolishing Episcopacy c. and such other Bills as should be presented for Reformation Recusants to abjure Papacy to remove malignant Counsellors to settle the Militia as the Parliament desired to prefer to Offices such as the Parliament should name and to take in all that were put out of Commissions of the Peace A Bill to vindicate the Lord Kimbolton and five Members to enter into Alliances for the Palatinate and to grant a general Pardon excepting to the Earl of New-Castle Digby and others To restore Parliament-Members to their Offices and to restore their Losses The King proposed That his Revenue Magazines Ships and Forts be restored That what had been done contrary to Law and the King 's Right may be recalled That all illegal Power claimed or acted by Order of Parliament be disclaimed And as the King will consent to the Execution of all Laws concerning Popery and Reformation so he desires a Bill for preserving the Common-Prayer against Sectaries that all Persons excepted against by this Treaty may be tried per Pares with a Cessation of Arms and a free Trade This Treaty began March 4. 1642 and broke off April 15. following viz. 1643. But this is observable in this fickle King that four Days before the Treaty broke off the King said he was fully satisfied and promised to give the Parliament-Commissioners his Answer in Writing according to their Desires but because it was past Midnight he would have it drawn up in Writing and give it them in the Morning but instead thereof the King gave them a Paper quite contrary to what was concluded the Night before Whitlock's Mem. fol. 65. a. The Treaty of Peace thus broke off both sides proceed in War The Queen this Year about the beginning of May landed at Scarborough in Yorkshire from Holland having avoided a Squadron of Men of War designed by the Parliament to intercept her and brought abundance of Arms and about 3000 Soldiers and was proclaimed Traitor by the Parliament and after joined with the King and his Army at Edg-Hill in Warwickshire And if the Parliament prospered so ill last Year they succeeded worse this for the Earl of Northampton enters Litchfield and drives the Parliament's Forces into the Close and after that defeats Sir John Gell and Sir W. Brereton but the Earl was slain at the Head of his Forces and the Earl of New-Castle in the North overthrew the Parliament's Forces commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax at Bradforth and Sir William Waller is defeated in the West Prince Rupert takes Bristol and Prince Maurice Exeter Biddiford Barnstable Appleford and Dartmouth The great Hambden is routed and mortally wounded at Chalgrave Field by Prince Rupert And now the King had two conquering Armies in the North and West and the Parliament none considerable to oppose either so that if either the King or the Marquess of New-Castle had marched to London in all Appearance either Army would have found little Opposition but instead hereof the King sits down and besieges Glocester and the Marquess of New-Castle comes before Hull This gave the Parliament an Opportunity to recruit Essex's Army and to enter into a Treaty to procure the Scots to bring an Army into England again for to assist the Parliament In this Treaty a double Consideration is remarkable first The Instability of humane Actions which are founded in Passion and Prejudice for there was but one Year between this Treaty and the National Protestation by the Parliament to Maintain the true Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England which Passage Mr. Whitlock in his Memoirs fol. 43. has left out and according to their Duty and Allegiance to maintain and defend his Majesty's Royal Person and Estate the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subjects and to preserve the Union between the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and this to be taken by all English-men but now the Scots would not stir one Step unless the Parliament of England would join with them in their Covenant which ill agreed with their Protestation which the Parliament submitted to The other was a Discovery of a Spark which soon after broke out into such a Flame as consumed the Covenant Presbytery the Parliament King and Church and State of England for tho during the Prosperity of the King's Affairs this Fire was covered yet when young Sir Henry Vane who was one of the Parliament's Commissioners and one who loved the Presbyterian Government no better than the Episcopal saw that the Parliament would submit to the Scotish Covenant and Discipline he stifly opposed it singly and at last carry'd it that the Nations should join in a Solemn League and the Scots would have Church-Government to be according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches but Sir Henry Vane insisted to have it according to the Word of God only and carried both points Afterwards one of Sir Henry's Fellows expostulated with him why he should put them to so much Trouble about such needless Trifles Sir Henry answer'd He was mistaken and did not see far enough into the matter for a League shewed it was between two Nations and might be broken upon just Reasons but not a Covenant and that Church-Government according to the Word of God by the Difference of Divines and Expositors would be long enough before it were determined for the learnedst held it clearly for Episcopacy so that when all agreed we may take in the Scots Presbytery
the Lords during their Absence and soon after the King passed a Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament so little Success had the Clergy in their Convocation-Oath As the Clergy without Consent in Parliament imposed the Convocation-Oath upon the rest of the Clergy So the Parliament I mean the Lords and Commons without the Consent of the King imposed upon the Subjects a Vow and Protestation to maintain and defend so far as lawfully may be the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England and according to the Duty of the Allegiance to his Majesty's Royal Person Honour and Estate to defend the Privileges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject and by all just and honourable Ways endeavour to preserve the Union and Peace of the Three Kingdoms and neither for fear nor other respect relinquish the Promise Vow and Protestation See Baker's History fol. 508. b. But the Lords and Commons were not constant to their Vow for within less than two Years after they impose their Solemn League and Covenant being basely imposed upon them by the Scots upon the rest of their Fellow-Subjects with all the Scotish Cant and c. too and this is observable that the Presbyterians who so bitterly inveighed against the c. in the Convocation-Oath without any scruple swallowed the c. in their Solemn League and Covenant It 's scarce credible by what Severity this Covenant was after the Scots Temper imposed upon all other sorts of Men as well Dissenters from the Church of England as those of the Church This Temper was too hot to last long for about three Years after the Independents outed the Presbyterians and set up the Engagement to be true to the Rump without King or House of Lords nor did this Engagement last five Years but was outed when Cromwel set up himself and imposed the Recognition for establishing himself Now let any shew how in any Nation since the Creation in less than 13 Years time Men so often swear and forswear Governments which were so often changed and he shall be my great Apoâ—â—â— The Secluded Members and the Rump if you 'll take their Words were the Representatives of the People but without a Head and could not be dissolved by the King without their Consent yet O. Cromwel and his Myrmidons without their Consent dissolved them both And as these were Bodies without a Head so Cromwel and his Army like that of the Egyptian Mamalukes were a Monstrous Head without any Body of the Nation yet with this Difference the Mamalukes chose their Sultan but Cromwel exalted himself without the Army's Choice The first Manifesto that Cromwel made known to the Nation was this I Oliver Cromwel Captain General and Commander in Chief of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth c. So here Cromwel by his own Authority makes the Army perpetual having deposed the Parliament which were made perpetual by Act of Parliament I have often admired upon what Bottom Cromwel stood when he presumed to do these things for the Sectaries and Monarchy-Men who were the Creatures whom he at first most relied upon when they perceived his Ambition then became his utter Enemies the Presbyterians and Independents hated him for the Violences he put upon them and the Royalists both dreaded and hated him All Kings of England in their Coronation-Oath before sware to govern by the received Laws and Constitutions of the Nation but Cromwel having subverted these neither says nor swears by what Laws or Rules he 'll govern and tho both in the Saxon and Nâ—rman Dynasties the Hereditary Succession of the Kings was often changed yet none succeeded which was not of the Royal Blood which cannot be said of the Caroline and Capusian Lines of France nor in the Succession of the Race of the Kings of Spain yet Cromwel without Law or being of the Royal Blood made himself more absolute than any of our Kings before him Now Terras I am sure Britannias Astraea reliquit Justice Truth and Plain-dealing is fled the Land and Dissimulation Hypocrisy Intriguing and Designs rove all England over and Cromwel to support his ill-establish'd Greatness sets all his Agents and Sycophants on work to congratulate and approve his Actions and to stand by and assist him One of the first of these was from the Officers of the English Army in Scotland no doubt but excited by Monk in the State he stood then with Cromwel So that as from Scotland our Civil Wars first began and from thence their solemn League and Covenant was so rigidly imposed in England so from thence now come Congratulatory Addresses to Cromwel for overturning all they had done and a time shall come when a Storm shall come from Scotland which shall disperse and unravel all that the Covenanters Rump and Cromwel had done thus you 'll see how lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake them all Having seen how Cromwel established himself we 'll proceed to see the Success The Dutch above all things dreading the Rump animated Cromwel to dissolve them promising greater things to him than they had done to the Rump in case he would do it which being done the Dutch not unreasonably hoped by the Disorders which would arise in England by it they should be better able to deal with Cromwel than the Rump and notwithstanding their calling God to witness of their sincere Love and Affection to the English Nation and desire of propagating the true Reformed Protestant Religion with all imaginable Diligence set out a greater Fleet to Sea than they had done before and Trump gave out he would fire the English Ships in their Harbours and the Downs before the English Fleet should get out But the Rump who well understood what Faith or Credit was to be given to the Dutch Protestations were not behind-hand with the Dutch in their Naval Preparations which Cromwel found ready to fight with the Dutch and sooner than the Dutch look'd for the English Fleet commanded by Monk and Dean Penn Vice-Admiral and Lawson Rear-Admiral upon the second of June engaged the Dutch and at the beginning Dean was kill'd by a Cannon-Ball but the Dutch sore pressed upon by the English bore away and made a running Fight having a Ship of 42 Guns sunk by Lawson and 140 Men in her but the Winds blowing cross the English could not that day do much more Execution Next day Monk engaged the Dutch Fleet again and sunk six of their best Ships two were blown up and eleven taken one Vice-Admiral and two Rear-Admirals with two of their Hoys and thirteen hundred and fifty Prisoners and of the English not one Ship was lost or disabled and besides Admiral Dean but one Captain killed The Dutch thus balk'd of their Expectation of firing the English Ships in their Harbours and in the Downs send Beverning Newport Vande Parro and Jonstal to Cromwel and the new Council of State for Cromwel had discharged
are commissionated by him So help me God So that from swearing Negatively to Belief in the first part of this Oath we come to swear Affirmatively in this part of it But this part not being Promissory of Time to come is an Assertory Oath too if any besides the taking God's Name in vain or worse An Assertory Oath is of what a Man knows to be certainly true and what was immediately the Object of Sense Here a Man swears not that he knows but abhors and what does he abhor That Traiterous Position of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person or those commissionated by him Is Traiterous Position the Object of Sense and immediate so as the Swearer knows what the meaning of Traiterous Position is Which I believe not one of twenty does Or is not some Inference deduced from some Law or Usage which cannot be the Object of Sense and so not to be sworn to The End of an Assertory Oath is to inform the Judg and Jury so that Justice may be determined by it but here is neither Judg nor Jury to inform What can be the end of this Swearing Why 't is because otherwise the Swearer cannot be a Member of the Corporation but if I cannot take his Word I 'll not take his Oath And he that swears most to get Places is least worthy of them And I dare say he so much less understands his Duty in any Place by how much the more he is ready to swear to get into it And you will see that those Men who are so ready to swear by this Oath which they did not understand to get to be Members of Corporations shall be more ready to forswear themselves in giving up their Charters which they had sworn to maintain and keep and which they understood they ought to do Religion Piety Judgment Justice and Righteousness are the ways by which God is honoured and Peace and Happiness established in Nations and Kingdoms And will God instead of these suffer his Sacred Name to be prostituted by vain Swearing so as to pass unpunished Did not the Prophet Hosea Ch. 4. v. 3. of old complain That the Land mourned because of Oaths And hath not our Land mourned ever since the Convocation after the Dissolution of the Short Parliament 1640 did enjoin the Oath I A. B. swear that I approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation and will not consent to alter the Government in the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. to be taken by all the Clergy Was God well pleased that his Sacred Name should be affixed to such Stuff Or did this establish this Hierarchy Did not the Parliament about a Year after expel the Bishops out of the Lords House and imprisoned their Persons and made them and all Deans and Arch-Deacons uncapable of Temporal Jurisdiction And did not England and Scotland about two Years after join in a Covenant and swear to extirpate Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons Did not the Engagement expel the Covenant and the Recognition to Oliver out the Engagement till Men neither regarded what they had sworn nor cared what they swore to Monk before he came out of Scotland caused the Scots to abjure the King and his Interest So in his coming to London he did by the Officers of the Irish Brigade and the Rump died abjuring the King and Royal Family yet in less than four Months after the King was restor'd Before the Scots would admit the King to land in Scotland the 23d of June 1650 they made him with his Hands lifted up swear in the Presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all Hearts his Allowance and Approbation of the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant and Directories of Worship and not only to give his Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament enjoining the same in all his Dominions but to observe them in his private Family And upon his Coronation on the 11th of January 1651 repeated the same Oath Yet how little did this avail him or the Covenanters for in less than eight Months Cromwel drove him and his Covenanters quite out of Scotland And I dare say the King never after made use of them in his private Family nor ever after give his Assent to any Act of Parliament enjoining the Covenants tho he were restored to all his Dominions From swearing the Corporation-Oath the Parliament proceeds That all Members of Corporations declare against the Solemn League and Covenant in these words I A. B. do declare That I hold there lies no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom This Declaration is as vain and more wild than the Corporation-Oath for 't is but matter of Belief or Opinion and so no Issue can be taken upon it but if there could in him who declares yet none can be taken upon that part which declares there lies no Obligation upon another and I 'll put it upon this Issue that such a Declaration was never before enjoin'd by any Law And if the Covenant be an unlawful Oath in it self because imposed by no lawful Authority yet I say that no Authority under Heaven can make the taking God's Name in vain lawful much less to take a vain or superfluous Oath From new invented swearing and declaring to keep the King in the Kingdom the Church makes many new invented Prayers for him especially that for the Parliament wherein they tell God that the King is their most Religious and Gracious King as if he were so and God did not know it and if he were not so to perswade God he was so De Jove quid sentis Will God be mock'd Is not he Omniscient and knows the Secrets of every Man's Heart Has he any need to be informed what Man is Or did this King's manner of Life induce the Church to inform God that he was most Gracious or full of Grace Or his devout Behaviour at his seldom Presence in Divine Service declare him to be most Religious This King's Father and Grand-father's Flatterers went no higher than to flatter them that they were bound by no Laws and accountable to none but God for all their Actions and that their Subjects were bound to obey them in all under Penalty of Damnation They never went about to perswade God they were most Religious and Gracious in so doing The Parliament chimed in with the Church and by the Act of Vniformity enjoin That every one who holds an Ecclesiastical Promotion shall publickly declare before his Congregation his unfeigned Assent and Consent to every thing contained and prescribed in the Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. Put these together I. A. B. do declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent That the King
Spaniard not considering the Strength and Glory of every Country consists in the well peopling and governing of it and that Desolation is the End of all God's Judgments upon any Country Here note that no Art or Science comes to pass by Fate Inspiration or Chance but by Education Learning Conversation and Experience in Arts and therefore wherever People are thin they are rude ignorant poor heathenish and idle and of little Use to their Country and also where the generality of the People of any Country be not imployed in Labours to supply other Men they become a Burden to the Country to maintain them so that Spain in this state not only lost their antient Virtue and Military Discipline but the Inhabitants being more religious and idle People than in any other part of the World became hereby not only the feeblest of all other Countries but the poorest and notwithstanding the Millions of Treasure which were yearly imported into Spain yet it could not support the Luxury of the Religious and maintain the poor idle Persons in it But Spain could not contain the bloody Superstitious Rage and Tyranny of Philip but he endeavoured to have brought in the Inquisition and Castilian Government into the Netherlands which were Provinces more rich and abounding with People and had more great and populous Towns than any other part of the known World of like Bigness and the Inhabitants of a warlike Constitution these Countries were made free by Philip's Father from their dependance upon France for after Charles had taken Francis the first Prisoner it was one of the Articles for his Enlargement that he should remit the Fealty which those Countries paid him The Fleming for so the Inhabitants of these Provinces were generally called from Flanders the greatest of them did not as the Moors run out of their Country but stoutly stood upon their Liberties and Privileges and rose up in Arms in defence of them and these Wars continuing above 80 Years not only put the Kings of Spain to a greater Expence than the Revenues of those Provinces and the Returns of the Plate Fleets from America could support but after all above seven of these Provinces rent themselves quite from the Dominion of Spain and erected themselves into a Free-state nor till the Duke of Bavaria became their Governour would the Kings of Spain trust the Inhabitants of those which continued in their Subjection with Arms to defend themselves against the French whereby the Government of those Countries became more chargeable to Spain than it could support yet so weak that they could not resist the Insults of the French nor the revolted Provinces and in this State Spain stood when King James became King of England and so continued except the Truâ—e made in 1609 till the Treaty at Munster in 1648. It hath been observed in the Treatises of the Reason of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also of the equal Danger of the Church and State c. of England how much the State of England resembles that of Spain for if the Excursion of the Spaniards into America so much dispeoples Spain so does the Excursion of the Inhabitants of England into our American Plantations and in repeopling Ireland dispeople England and if the Inquisition in Spain be a Bar to keep out Supplies in Spain for their Expence into America so is the Law against naturalizing of Foreigners here in England It is true no Law or Usage in England forbids Marriage to any for supplying future Generations yet I 'le leave it to the Reader to judg if as the Case stands in England it be not worse than if Marriage were forbidden to the ordinary and meaner sort of People in England for in all the Countries of England more poor Children are born than can be employed in Rural or Country affairs and their poor Parents have not means to bind them Apprentice in Market-Towns and Corporations which exclude all other from Trading with them but those which have been bound Apprentice and served their Apprenticeship nay the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excludes all from being bound Apprentices but the Children of Free-men or such whose Parents had 40 Shill per Ann. and by the Act of Eliz. 31. 7. no Cottages shall be built in Country Villages which shall not have 4 Acres of Ground annexed to them which poor Labourers cannot do so that the poor Children not being permitted to inhabit in Country Villages and excluded out of Market-Towns and Corporations are forced either to fly their Country or to be Tapsters Ostlers and Drawers Alehouse-keepers or Strong-Water-Sellers if they can get a Licence so little was the Interest of the Nation understood heretofore for the Strength and Wealth of every Nation is founded in the Number and Industry of the Natives and therefore to neglect to instruct Youth how to employ themselves or to debar any Man from the Benefit of his honest Imployment is not only unjust but impolitick And as these Corporations in excluding other Men are unjust and impolitick so are they dangerous to the Government otherwise as they are Marks of Faction and Distinction in it and as they make themselves to be the only Free-men in them whereby they exclude the rest of the Nation Now let 's see what a Sort of Men these are which claim these Prerogatives over the rest of the Subjects of the Nation but generally a Sort of Shop-keepers Retailers and whole-sale Men who neither labour nor are otherwise of any Use to the Government but by the Prerogatives of their Freedom set what Price they please upon the Labour of poor Artificers who are the Soul of the Nation and impose what Rates they please to the Buyers of these again of them whereby their Riches arise from the Oppression of the Labourer while they are idle and by imposing upon the Nobility Gentry and others in selling whereas it 's said and I believe it that in Holland a Retailer or if you will a Forestaller is not permitted unless to them who are reputed honest and by Misfortune are fallen into Decay so that as London grows rich by its Freedom of Trade with the Nation so Amsterdam and other Towns in Holland grow rich by foreign Trade The Act 3 Jac. c. 6. is of better Authority than any thing I can say and more livelily describes the manifold Mischiefs and Abuses both to the King and Kingdom which attended our foreign Trades by Companies exclusive to other Subjects of the Nation I 'le only therefore observe this in it which the Act does not That these Companies who manage foreign Trades exclusive to other Men are more tyrannous and injurious to their fellow Subjects than any of their Enemies are as has been shewed in the East-India and African Companies and hereby have no reason to expect any Assistance from the Nation to support them against the Insults of the Dutch and French upon them for why should the Nation assist them
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
accordingly The Parliament met on Monday March the 19th and a Debate hapning in the House of Commons about the Return of the Election of Sir Francis Goodwin and Sir John Fortescue for Knight of the Shire for the County of Bucks the Commons Friday the 23d upon a full hearing determined Sir Francis to be lawfully elected and returned An. Reg. 2. An. Dom. 1604. Tuesday March the 26th The Lords by Sir Edward Coke and Dr. Hone sent a Message to the Commons that the former Committees may in a second Conference to be had have Authority to treat touching the Case of Sir Francis Goodwin the Knight of Bucks first of all before any other Matters were proceeded in The Commons returned Answer that they do conceive that it did not stand with the Honour of this House to give an Account of their Proceedings and Doings but if their Lordships have any Purpose to confer for the Reâ—due that then they will be ready at such time and place and such number as their Lordships shall think meet Sir Edward Coke c. delivered from the Lords that their Lordships taking notice in particular of the Return of the Sheriff of Bucks and acquainting his Majesty with it his Highness conceived himself engaged and touched in Honour that there might this be some Conference of it between the two Houses and to that end signified his Pleasure unto them and by them to House The Commons by their Speaker give their Reasons to the King why they cannot confer with the Lords The King in return charges the Commons to admit a Conference with the Judges the Commons give Reason and answer Objections why they cannot confer with the Judges and the 3d of April deliver them at the Council-Chamber by Sir Francis Bacon desiring that their Lordships would be Mediators in behalf of the House for his Majesty's satisfaction the King in return commanded as an Absolute King that there might be a Conference between the House and Judges The House upon return hereof resolved to confer with the King in presence of the King and Council and named a select Committee for the Conference but the Success being doubtful Sir Francis Goodwin fearing this might cause a Rupture between the King and the House and to remove all Impediments to the worthy and weighty Causes which might by this time have been in a good furtherance desired another Writ of Election for a Member in his stead Hereupon and other Accidents succeeding wherein the Commons supposing themselves aggrieved the Commons upon the 16th of June in an humble Apology to his Majesty represent their Privileges and wherein they conceive themselves aggrieved The Stubborness of the Commons for so the King would have it so dissonant from the Flatteries he had constantly sounding in his Ears and of being an Absolute King by Inherent Birth-right put the King so out of Conceit with Parliaments that in all his Life till the last Parliament of his Reign when necessity brought him to it he was never reconciled to them But that we may more clearly see what followed we will look back into the Reign of Queen Elizabeth There were three things which the Queen was impatient of being debated in Parliament the Succession of the Crown after her Death her Marriage and the making any Alterations in the Church as it was established in the first Year of her Reign But the Commons having a fearful Eye of a Relapse into Popery after the Nation had been freed from it and the Queen of Scots being zealously addicted to the Romish Religion and having not only assumed the Arms of England as next Heir to Queen Elizabeth but upon her Return from France into Scotland by many Embassies solicited Queen Elizabeth that she might be declared her Successor in case Queen Elizabeth died without Heirs of her Body To prevent this the Commons in manifold Addresses to the Queen petitioned her to marry and declare her Successor and after the Duke of Norfolk's Conspiracy and the Rebellion in the North under the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland wherein it appeared the Queen of Scots was privy and consenting in all the Parliaments I think from the 9th of Elizabeth to the Queen of Scotland's Death the Commons were importunate with the Queen to cut her off which you may read at large in the Journals of the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth set forth by Sir Simon D' Ewes The Queen fixed in these Resolutions did often forbid the Parliament upon their Allegiance to enter into Debates upon them yet some zealous Members the principal of which was one Mr. Peter Wentworth as well in the case of the Queen of Scots as for some Reformation in the Church did several times endeavour to have them debated upon which the Queen committed them to the Tower tho soon after they were discharged This the Commons in their Apology to the King take notice of and pray that this be no Precedent for the future but that their Debates in Parliament may be free but they shall find that this King 's little Finger and his Son 's after him shall be heavier upon them than Queen Elizabeth's Loins However this Apology of the Commons tended to a Rupture between the King and them within yet the King was resolved to have Peace without the Kingdom how inconsistible soever the Terms were and to that end upon the 18th of August following being the second Year of his Reign he concluded a firm Peace with Philip the 3d of Spain and Albert and Isabel Arch-Dukes of Austria c. and also a Treaty of Commerce which as it was the most beneficial to the English Nation so it was difficult if not impossible to observe the Peace the King as he had managed it made the Treaty of Commerce to be but little beneficial to the Nation For the Year before the King had renewed the Treaty of Alliance which Queen Elizabeth had made with the Dutch States where tho the King was not obliged to maintain such a number of Men for the Dutch Support against the Spaniards to be repaid at the end of the War whereby the Treaty with the Queen Anno 1598. the Dutch were not only to pay but to repay the Queen yearly 100000 l. till a Peace was made with Spain when they were to pay her two Millions of Money with the Interest of 10 per Cent. deducting the 100000 l. per Annum they were to pay yet by the fourth Article of the said Treaty it was agreed That neither the Kings of England nor Spain shall themselves give or shall consent to be given by any of their Vassals Subjects or Inhabitants Aid Favour or Counsel directly or indirectly on Sea Land or fresh Waters nor shall supply or minister or consent to be supplied or ministred by their said Vassals Inhabitants or Subjects unto the Enemies or Rebels of either Part of what Nature or Condition soever they be whether they shall invade the Countries and Dominions of either of them
unanswerable Reasons of a National Interest and the manifold Inconveniences the incorporating those Trades in a Company brought to the Navigation of the Nation both in the Foreign Vent of our Manufactures and in their Returns to the Ruin of infinite Artificers Sea-men and Shipwrights and to the Diminution of the King's Revenue Whereupon these Trades were declared free and have ever since continued so to the inestimable Benefit of this Nation But tho the Reasons in this Act extend to all other Beneficial Trades as to Turkey the East-Country and Hamburgh Trades and to Africa and the East-Indies yet all these Trades are monopolized into Companies exclusive to other Men as much to the Prejudice of the Nation as the making the Spanish Trade free was beneficial to it About this time the Clergy at least a Faction which stiled themselves the Clergy made an Attempt to try how far their Doctrine of Absolute Power in the King had taken root in him they had gained their Point so far as the King had declared his Command to the Commons as Absolute King and now they 'll see whether the King would assert it and the Case was this Arch-bishop Whitgift a Prelate of singular Piety and Humility died the last day of February in the first Year of the King and Doctor Richard Bancroft a Man of a rough Temper a stout Foot-ball-player as zealous an Assertor of the Rights of the Church of England or rather a Faction of Church-men who arrogated to themselves the Title as Julius the 2d was of the Papacy exhibited to the King and Council 25 Articles in the Name of all the Clergy of England called Articuli Cleri which were desired to be reformed in granting Prohibitions tho there were a Parliament and Convocation then sitting which I do not find had any hand in it This Exhibition as it ascribed an Absolute Power to the King so it struck directly at the Constitution of Parliaments the principal End of which is to redress Grievances and Abuses in the Nation and if the King's Council during the sitting of a Parliament shall ascribe to themselves this Power then the great End of Parliaments redressing Grievances and Abuses is in vain However Bancroft herein not only makes the King's Council to have a concurring Power with the Parliament but paramount to it by exhibiting these Articles in the sitting of a Parliament and Convocation but the Judges gave so clear and distinct an Answer to them all that the King did not think fit to meddle in them yet did not Bancroft rest here as you will hear hereafter The Articles and the Judges Answer to them you may read at large in Sir Coke's second Institute tit Articuli Cleri Whilst Bancroft was thus ascribing to the King this Absolute Power and exalting a Faction of Church-men above the true State of the Clergy which is one of the three States of the Nation and above the Nobility and Commonalty which are the other two The Popish Faction were plotting a Design not only to destroy the Church of England but the very Person of the King with the Nobility and Commons convened in Parliament which was to have been executed upon the fifth of November following the day on which the Parliament were to meet The Popish Party hoped and it may be not unreasonably that the King in regard of his Mother's Religion was not averse to theirs so that if he became not of their Church which in his Speech at the opening the Parliament he owns our Mother-Church at least hoped to have their Religion tolerated whereas finding the King in his Speech after he had declaimed against the Heresies and Abuses crept into their Church and the Pope's having arrogated an Imperial Civil Power over Kings and Emperors by dethroning and decrowning them with his Foot and disposing of their Kingdoms and the Jesuits Practice of assassinating and murdering Kings if they be cursed by the Pope That so long as they maintained these they were not sufferable in the Kingdom From this time forward and it may be before a Popish Crew contrived how to bring in their Catholick Religion they cared not which way so it might be done At last it was agreed upon the opening of the Session of Parliament upon the 5th of November one part of the Conspirators should blow up the Lords House while the King Prince with the Nobility and Commons were in it having prepared all things in a readiness whilst another part should seize upon the Lady Elizabeth after Queen of Bohemia and proclaim her Queen But the Plot being discovered the Conspirators were defeated of both their Designs The Horror and Terror of this Conspiracy the Discovery whereof was industriously divulged and believed to be by the King 's great Wisdom and Care reconciled for a time all Differences between him and his Parliament and the Parliament to gratify the King the Clergy gave him four Subsidies at four Shillings in the Pound and the Temporality three Subsidies and â—ix Fifteenths which was threefold more than any Parliament in one Session gave Queen Elizabeth before that of the 35 Eliz. notwithstanding the Payment of her Father's Brother's and Sister's Debts her expelling the French out of Scotland the building and repairing the Navy Royal the Support of the Reformed in France the subduing the Rebellion in the North the Support of the Dutch in the Netherlands the Irish War and the Overthrow of the Spanish Armada in 88. The Parliament enacted the Oath of Allegiance which Bellarmine under the Name of Tortus wrote against and Andrews Bishop of Winton under the Name of Tortura Torti defended it The Parliament too ordained the Anniversary of the Fifth of November to be celebrated for a perpetual Thanksgiving-Day for the King and Kingdom 's Delivery from this Conspiracy All Heats about Prerogative and Privilege were now laid aside the Pulpits and our Universities rang with Declamations against the Heresies and Usurpations of the Church of Rome and now the King gave himself wholly to Hunting Plays Masques Balls and writing against Bellarmine and the Pope's Supremacy in arrogating a Power over Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms and thus the Case stood for four Years after wherein I scarce find any thing worth mentioning This and the next Year was almost wholly spent in Debates concerning the Uniting of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland which the King eanestly solicited and which ended only in Contests and Arguments for the House of Parliament refused to join with the King in it however the King obtained a Judgment in Westminster-Hall in a Case called Calvin's Case that the Post Nati in Scotland after the King's Assumption to the Crown of England were free to purchase and inherit in England But whilst the King was thus wallowing in Pleasure he wholly gave himself up to be governed by Favourites to whom he was above any other King of England except Henry the 8th excessively prodigal not only in Honours and Offices but of
the Revenues of the Crown and Aids given in Parliament and these being of both Nations Scotch as well as English made them to be the more intolerable All things being at Peace Abroad Publick Affairs were neglected or scarce thought of whilst the Dutch still grew more powerful at Sea and without any Aid from the King were Matches for the King of Spain by Land and Henry the 4th of France was accumulating incredible Treasure at Home and laying the Foundation of vast Designs Abroad whereof the King took no notice his Genius lying another way In these Debates at Home and Lethargy of State of Foreign Affairs the Prerogative-Clergy swelled the High Commission to such an height that it was complained of as a Grievance in Parliament as you may read in Wilson's History of Great Britain â—ol 46. Nay Bancroft this Year notwithstanding the Judges Answer to the Articles exhibited to the King against granting Prohibitions and that the Parliament was still sitting repeated his Exhibitions But however the King inclined to favour Bancroft he had not Courage enough to over-rule the Judges Answer to them it may be for fear the Parliament should interpose or indispose them to grant him more Money whereof already he stood in great need But the Parliament however they gratified the King for their Deliverance from the Popish Conspiracy did not think fit to pour it forth so plentifully now in times of Peace to be profusely thrown upon Favourites and Minions who were no more Friends to them than they to the established Church of England To supply the King's Necessities as he made them one Doctor Cowell no doubt set upon by Bancroft and those called the Church the next Year after published his Interpreter wherein he premises these three Principles First That the King was Solutus a Legibus not bound by his Coronation-Oath Secondly That it was not ex Necessitate that the King should call a Parliament to make Laws but might do it by his Absolute Power Thirdly It was a Favour to admit the Consent of the Subjects in giving Subsidies Cowell's Interpeter approved by the King as the Civil Law was highly extolled by the King See Wilson fol. 46. was not only printed but publickly sold without Impunity and this gave Encouragement to the publishing many others to the same purpose among which one Blackwood published one which concluded that we were all Slaves by reason of the Conquest The Commons tho they took no notice of Bancroft and his Articles against Prohibitions took Fire at these and intended to have proceeded severely against him but the King interposed and promised to call in these Books by Proclamation as he did but they were out and the Proclamation could not call them in but only served to make them more taken notice of But this had not the desired Effect of getting more Money than one Subâ—dy and one Tenth whereupon the King by Proclamation dissolved them the 31st of December 1609 after they had sat near seven Years wherein the King set forth that he had proposed many things far differing and surpassing the Graces and Favours of former times both in Nature and Value 〈◊〉 â—â—pectation of a good Conclusion of some weighty Cause which had been there in Deliberation not only for the Supply of the Necessities of his Majesty's Estate but for the Ease and Freedom of his Subjects but these being the two last Sessions little taken notice of and that the Members by reason of the length of the Parliament were debarred from the Hospitality they kept in the Country and that divers Shires Cities and Boroughs had been burdened with Expence of maintaining their Members for these Reasons he dissolved them so that they should not need to meet at the Day set by their Prorogation CHAP. II. A Continuation of this Reign to the Dissolution of the Second Parliament 1614. BUT how precarious soever the King was to get Money of the Parliament he had not Courage enough to demand the 100000 l. per Annum by the Treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Dutch States in 1598 whereby Eleven hundred thousand Pounds was due to him much less to demand the principal Debt viz. two Millions and also two Millions and two hundred thousand Pounds due for eleven Years Interest at 10 l. per Cent. Now by the Mediation of several Princes but especially by King James this Year a Truce or Peace for twelve Years was concluded between the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes Albert and Isabel and the Dutch wherein the Dutch were declared Free States and independent upon the Crown of Spain or Arch-Dukes But tho the King had not Courage enough to demand the Monies due to him from the Dutch by the Treaty with Queen Elizabeth he had so much as to enter into a Treaty with the Dutch for a Tribute to be paid to him for License to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland but the Dutch observed this no better than that with the Queen and the King got less by it Long Parliaments beget long Intervals in which Grievances become so multiplied and fixed that they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Intervals are And since the King could not get Money of the Parliament and was afraid to demand any of the Dutch let 's see what Courses he took to get Money during the Interval from this Parliament to the meeting of the next which was five Years and how the Case stood with them In the opening of the first Parliament the King tells them that he was so far from encreasing their Burden with Rehoboam as that he had so much as either Time Occasion or Law could permit lightned them and at that time had been careful to revise and consider deeply upon the Laws made against them that some Overture may be proposed in Parliament for clearing those Laws by Reason which is the Soul of the Law in case they have been in times past further or more rigorously executed by Judges than the meaning of the Law was or might tend to the Hurt as well of the innocent as guilty Persons At the Dissolution of the Parliament the King 's principal Favourites were Henry Howard Brother to the Duke of Norfolk whom Queen Elizabeth beheaded tho a Papist yet Lord Privy-Seal Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Treasurer Philip Earl of Mountgomery for a certain Reason Thomas Lord Walden Son of the Duke of Norfolk after created Earl of Suffolk and Sir Henry Rich after Earl of Holland English the Earl of Dunbar Sir Alexander Hay and Sir Robert Carr who in a short time shall overtop them all Scotish There was a Story current in those Times which I have heard from some credible Persons which did live in that time That King James having given Sir Robert Carr a Boon of 20000 l. my Lord Treasurer Salisbury that he might make the King sensible of what he had done invited the King to an Entertainment and so
in Christendom when he was putting it into an universal War all the Western Princes 〈◊〉 Christendom except King James were engaged in it against the House of Austria but it was so vast as in the Nature of things if Henry had been young as he was in the 57th Year of his Age he could not have lived to have accomplished it at his Death tho he lived but 13 Years after the Treaty of Vervins when he made Peace with Philip the 2d of Spain he had amassed such a Treasure as is incredible if so great an Historian as Messeray did not testify it especially if it be considered that before the Treaty at Vervins France had for forty Years before been imbroiled in a Civil War and with Spain and these Wars being in all the Parts of France France was never before in so poor and feeble a State and Henry himself after the Peace giving himself up to Venery and Gaming above any King of France before him or since Nor can it be imagined from whence such Treasures should arise for there are no Gold nor Silver Mines in France unless it were from the Trades which the English Dutch Dane Swede and Hamburghers drove into France However Henry was addicted to Women and Gaming yet otherwise he excelled all the Kings of the Age not only in Heroick Vertues but in Prudence Constancy and Secrecy in his Designs curious in Enquiry into the Qualities of Men whom he would prefer as Qualities merited and was pleasant and witty in his Conversation and always disposed to take the Impression of good Counsel He left his Son a Prince of weak Constitution both of Body and Mind at ten Years of Age and his Wife an imperious bigotted Italian to the Church of Rome Regent These overthrew all the Methods which Henry had laid for promoting the French Grandure and gave themselves up to be governed by Favourites yet in a different manner from those in England whereby they squandered away all that inestimable Treasure which Henry left in less than half the time Henry had been collecting it and put all France into Tumults and Wars whilst the English patiently submitted to the Exorbitances of King James his Favourites and by Proclamations were forbid to mention them or talk of their Government no not in Parliament And now 't is time to return to England and see what 's doing there If we begin this Year 1612 with January we shall find two Marriages in it to succeed the two Deaths of the two famous Henry's of England and France The first upon the 14th of February being Shrove-Sunday between Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine commonly called the Palsgrave and the Princess Elizabeth the King 's only Daughter and the Triumphs Pageant◠and other Gaieties upon the Thames in the City and Inns of Court far exceeded any before seen in England which you may read at large in Stow's Chronicle fol. 1004. so as the Tears for the Death of Prince Henry were overflowed by the excess of Joy for this Marriage However Northampton was not pleased with it nor the Emperor or King of Spain and from the same Causes viz. It would so far advance the Protestant Interest in Germany as to make it more formidable to the Popish Religion and 't is certain for I had it from good Authority that Queen Ann was averse to it and to put the Princess out of conceit of it would usually call her Daughter Goodwife Palsgrave to which the Princess would answer she would rather be the Palsgrave ' s Wife than the greatest Papist Queen in Christendom The Reason of the Queen's Aversion to this Marriage is not said but certain it is that these fading Joys for this Marriage were succeeded by fixt and real Calamities which the King took little Care to prevent and shall never live to see nor his Son after him an end of While the Preparations for solemnizing this Marriage were making a different sort was making for another between the Viscount Rochester and the Countess of Essex and to make the Way to it more passable two Rubs were to be removed one to take off Sir Thomas Overbury the other to procure a Divorce not only a Mensa Toro between the Earl and the Countess but a Nullity whereby the Countess should be free to marry as she pleased and she had agreed upon the Person To remove Sir Thomas it was agreed between the Earl of Northampton Rochester and the Countess that Sir Thomas should be sent Ambassador to the Great Duke or Emperor of Russia so that if Sir Thomas did accept of it he should be far enough out of the way to hinder this Design and if he did not to commit him to the Tower where they would do well enough with him The Business of the Embassy was no sooner propounded to the King but assented to by him and Sir Thomas was not unwilling to undertake it How harsh soever Rochester was to Sir Thomas when he disswaded Rochester from marrying the Countess yet now he becomes instant kind to Sir Thomas and tell him how much he relied upon his Integrity and Parts which in his Absence he should not only want but that thereby Sir Thomas would give Occasion to his Enemies which were many and upon Rochester's account to ruine him when as it would not be in Rochester's Power to prevent it but if Sir Thomas would refuse to undertake this Embassy Rochester would in a short time undertake to reconcile him to the King and Sir Thomas would in the mean time be at hand to assist him with his Counsel upon all Occasions This was all deep Dissimulation which Sir Thomas took to be in good earnest and so Sir Thomas excused his going on this Errand and this was what Rochester desired Hereupon Rochester possest the King that Sir Thomas was not only grown insolent and intolerable to him but to the King by contemning him in refusing to go on this Embassage The King becomes incensed hereat and the more as 't was commonly said Sir Thomas had vented some stinging Sarcasms upon the Court which came to the King 's hearing and so ordered him to be committed to the Tower Northampton and Rochester had prepared the Business so that Sir William Wade was removed from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir Jervis Elvis a Gentleman wholly depending upon them was made Lieutenant of it Upon Sir Thomas his Commitment Sir Jervis Elvis by Order from Northampton and Rochester confines him close Prisoner so that Sir Thomas his Father was not permitted to visit him nor any of his Servants tho one desired he might be confined with his Master The Countess that she might not be behind-hand with Rochester and Northampton had consulted with Mrs. Turner for a fit Instrument to practise what was designed upon Sir Thomas Mrs. Turner's Husband was an Apothecary and had a Servant named Richard Weston who since her Husband's Death was become very poor this Man was agreed by the
the Occasion Somerset gave of Villiers's Rise and of his own Fall Somerset was of mean and scarce known Parents and as he was endued with no natural Parts so neither had he acquired any being brought up and bred a Page at Court hereby he became as little capable of demeaning himself in Prosperity as Adversity After Sir Overbury's Confinement he gave himself up wholly to be govern'd by Northampton and soon after his Marriage he fell into an universal Solitariness and Sadness so that it was much taken notice of which Northampton observing and judging not unlikely that the Cares of Somerset did arise from his Fears of the Discovery of Overbury's Death wherein they were both deeply ingaged which if it should come to pass they had no other means to secure themselves but by making themselves so great as to oppose all who should charge them with it or else by being Catholicks they might draw all that Party to assist them and in these they both agreed and to make Matters more perplext Northampton by one Hamon did encourage the Irish to continue firm in their Religion assuring them that God would one way or other protect his Church and that now the greatest Favourite in England would stand firm to them and also give Incouragement to the Papists in the North to meet openly at Mass and foment the Feuds between the English and Scots the English murmuring at the King's Favours more to the Scots than them If I have erred herein the Writer of the historical Narration of the first fourteen Years of King James's Reign cap. 30. led me into it This sullen Humour of Somerset's little suted with the King 's liking being before better pleased with Somerset's Gaiety in humouring him in all his Pleasures After Northampton's Death he was left alone to himself and all Northampton's Designs died with him and then Somerset having forsaken all Men and being forsaken by them appeared in his own Nature without any Disguise wretchedly penurious and intolerably covetous There was no coming at the King's Ear but by him nor any coming at him but by excessive Bribes and as the King began to loath him so all Men detested and hated him So it was every Bodies business to out Somerset and bring young Villiers into the King's Favour All the Court took notice of the King's Affection to young Villiers and the Queen observed it and Villiers not to be wanting to himself daily appeared at Court There was but one Obstacle to be removed and the Way was plain and easy for Villiers to be the King's Favourite the King would receive none into Favour but who was first recommended to him by the Queen and the Queen had observed something in young Villiers which she utterly disliked and how to get the Queen to recommend young Villiers to the King was the only business to be done The Queen a Princess of rare Piety Prudence Temperance and Chastity had a great Veneration for the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Abbot and the Arch-Bishop as much an Aversion to Somerset not only for his Marriage with the Countess of Essex but for his other detestable Qualities so that the Arch-Bishop was the only Instrument which was judged could move the Queen to recommend young Villiers to the King It was no great difficulty to persuade the Arch-Bishop to undertake this Business being of himself disposed to it but when he propounded it to the Queen she was utterly averse from it having before been stung with Favourites but by her Observation of Villiers she told the Arch-Bishop she saw that in that young Villiers that if he became a Favourite he would become more intolerable than any that were before him Hereupon the Arch-Bishop declined the Business but Somerset declining daily from bad to worse the Arch-Bishop was again prevailed upon to move the Queen to recommend young Villiers to the King which he did with more Importunity than before urging Somerset's intolerable Pride and Covetousness and that he observed a good Nature and gentle Disposition in Villiers so that some Good might be hoped from him which could never be expected from the other at last the Queen assented to it but withal told the Arch-Bishop he among the rest would live to repent it After Villiers was recommended by the Queen it became out of her Power and the Power of the Kingdom to get him out of the King's Favour or his Son 's after him and the Arch-Bishop himself shall find the Queen to have been a true Prophetess however at first Villiers acknowledg'd his Favour with the King to have its Original from the Arch-Bishop called him Father and protested to be governed by him before all other Men and the Arch-Bishop gave him some Lessons to observe towards the King and Queen which Villiers repeated to him and promised to observe which you may read at large in the first part of Mr. Rushworth's Collections in the second Year of King Charles the First written by the Arch-Bishop In the beginning of Mr. Villiers's coming into Favour he was affable and courteous and seemed to court all Men as they courted him he promoted Mens Suits to the King gratis which Somerset would not do but for great Sums of Money and hereby Villiers stole all the Hearts of the Courtiers and Petitioners to the King from Somerset who was now wholly forsaken by God and all Men. Somerset thus forsaken of all Men and stung in Conscience for the Death of Overbury and finding a Rival in the King's Favour seeks by that small Portion which he had left to procure a general Pardon from the King to secure him in his Life and Estate which was far the greatest of any Subject in the King's Dominions and to that purpose applies himself to Sir Robert Cotton to draw one as large and general as could be which Sir Robert did wherein the King should declare That of his own Motion and special Favour he did pardon all and all manner of Treasons Misprisions of Treasons Murders Felonies and Outrages whatsoever by the Earl of Somerset had been committed or hereafter should be committed and this Pardon the King signed But Somerset grasping at too much lost all for my Lord Chancellor Egerton refused to seal the Pardon Somerset asked him the Reason which the Chancellor told him was because if he did it he should incur a Praemunire and this the Chancellor told the King who was not displeased with it So that now all Hopes of Pardon for Sir Overbury's Murder failing he had recourse to other Artifices of suppressing all Letters which passed between him the Countess and Northampton either to Sir Thomas the Lieutenant or any of the Prisoners and to make away Franklin the Apothecary who was fled into France and had given Sir Thomas the Glister which dispatcht him but that which Somerset design'd for his preservation 't was thought proved his Overthrow but this was the Product of next Year 1615 being the 13th of the King Tho Villiers
Peace in all his Dominions when all our Neighbours about are in a miserable Combustion of War but Dulce Bellum inexpertis 5. That he had ever professed to restore his Children to their Patrimony by War or Peace and that by his Credit and Intervention with the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes he had preserved the lower Palatinate from the farther conquering for one whole Year and that his Lord Ambassador Digby had extraordinarily secured Heidelburg 6. That he could not couple the War of the Palatinate with the Cause of Religion and that the War was not begun for Religion but only by his Son-in-law's hasty and rash Resolution to take to himself the Crown of Bohemia and that this Usurpation of it from the Emperor had given the Pope and that Party an Occasion to oppress and curb many thousands of our Religion in divers parts of Christendom Here I desire that the Reader take notice of the Case of the Bohemians as it is set forth by Baptista Nani fol. 126. Anno 1618 after they had Liberty of Conscience granted them by Rodolph the Emperor and that Ferdinand had no colour of Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia but as he forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender it to him Ferdinand says he bred up in the Catholick Faith detested all sorts of Errour and therefore by how much not succeeding to the Father he found the Patrimonial Countries incumbred with false Opinions so much more with signal Piety had he applied himself to promote the true Worship with such Success that at last those Provinces rejoiced to be restored to the Bosom of the Antient Religion But this was not without some Sort of Severity so that many not to leave their Errours were constrained to abandon their Country and sell their Estates living elsewhere in Discontent and Poverty and others driven away by force and their Estates confiscate saw them not without Rancour possessed by new Masters and all this done in the Life of Matthias So that Ferdinand as his Title was Vsurpation and Force so was the Exercise of it Tyranny in the highest Degree to the Overthrow of the Bohemian Laws and Liberties therefore the Original of the Bohemian War was not founded in the Election of Frederick to be King for Ferdinand perpetrated these things two Years before Nani goes on and says in the Empire therefore in which the Religion no less than the Genius is for Liberty there appeared great Apprehensions that where Ferdinand should get the Power he would exercise the same Reformation and impose a Yoke so much the more heavy by how much standing in need of Money and the Counsels of Spain he should be governed by the Rules and Maxims of that Nation so hateful to the Germans So that it was not the Election of Frederick to be King of Bohemia that opened that Gate for the Pope and his Party for curbing and oppressing of many thousand of our Religion in divers parts of Christendom as the King said for it was set wide open before by Ferdinand 7. That the Commons Debates concerning the War with Spain and Spanish Match were Matters out of their Sphere and therefore Ne sutor ultra Crepidaâ— and are a Diminution to him and his Crown in Foreign Countries That the Commons in their Petition had attempted the highest Points of Soveraignty except the stamping of Coin 8. That for Religion he could give no other Answer than in general that the Commons may rest secure he will never be weary to do all he can for the Propagation of ours and repressing of Popery but the manner they must remit to his Care and Providence 9. That for the Commons Request of making this a Sessions and granting a General Pardon it shall be their fault if it be not done But the Commons required such Particulars in it that he must be well advised lest he give back double or treble of that he was to receive by their Subsidy but thinks fit that of his free Grace he sends down a Pardon from the higher House containing such Points as he shall think fittest 10. He thinks it strange the Commons should make so bad and unjust a Commentary upon some Words in his former Letter as if he thereby meant to restrain the Commons of their antient Privileges and Liberties in Parliament wherein he discharges them from meddling with Matters of Government and Mysteries of State namely Matters of War and Peace or his dearest Son's Match with Spain or that they meddle with things which have their ordinary Course in the Courts of Justice That a Scholar would be ashamed so to mis-judg and misplace Sentences in another Man's Book for in the coupling these Sentences they plainly leave out Mysteries of State and so err a bene divisis ad mala conjuncta that for the former part concerning Mysteries of State he plainly restrained his meaning to the Particulars which were after mentioned and for the latter he confesses he meant it by Sir Coke's foolish Business and therefore it had well become him especially being his Servant and one of his Council to have complained to him which he never did tho he was ordinarily at Court and never had Access refused him Sir Coke's Business was a Conspiracy against him by my Lord Chancellor Bacon one Lepton and Goldsmith after he was discharged from being Chief Justice to have exhibited an Information against him in the Star-Chamber or have sent him into Ireland The Business was debated in the House of Commons but Sir Edward complained not nor appeared to speak in it If the King were uneasy with the Commons Remonstrance the Commons were not less with the King's Answer and at the Resolution taken at Court to adjourn the Parliament to the 8th of January next which the Commons took to be a Violation of their Privileges and an Omen of their Dissolution whereupon they entred this Protestation THE Commons now Assembled in Parliament being justly occasioned thereunto concerning sundry Liberties Franchises and Privileges of Parliament among others here mentioned do make this Protestation following That the Liberties Franchises Privileges and Jurisdictions of Parliament are the antient and undoubted Birth-right and Inheritance of the Subjects of England and that the ardueus and urgent Affairs concerning the King State and Defence of the Realm and of the Church of England and the maintenance and making of Laws and Redress of Grievances and Mischiefs which may happen within this Realm are proper Subjects and Matter of Counsel and Debate in Parliament and that in the handling and proceeding of those Businesses every Member of the House of Parliament hath and of right ought to have freedom of Speech to propound treat reason and bring to Conclusion the same And that the Commons in Parliament have like Liberty and Freedom to treat of these Matters in such order as in their Judgment they shall think fittest And that every Member in the said House hath likewise freedom from all Impeachment Imprisonments and
two Treaties which were for the Spanish Match and Recovery of the Palatinate and that his Father being thereby engaged in a War for the Recovery of the Palatinate they would now assist him in the carrying of it on The Speech you may read in Rushworth fol. 175 176. But Mr. Rushworth is mistaken and I wonder Nalson and Franklin took no notice of it that my Lord Keeper Coventry did second it for it was my Lord Keeper Williams whose quaint and learned Speech you may read in the second Book of the Life of the Keeper by the Bishop of Litchfield fol. 9 10. Nor was Williams displaced till the 23d of October following as you may see fol. 27. The Commons before they enter'd upon Grievances Sir Edward Coke moving it to ingratiate themselves with the King voted him two entire Subsidies and the last Parliament but the Summer before gave his Father three Subsidies and three Fifteens which were more than ever any Parliament granted the King in threefold the time before But that we may better look forward look a little back King James upon the Rreach of the Spanish Match put forth a Proclamation for putting the Laws in Execution against Popish Recusants but upon the first of May King Charles sent this Warrant to my Lord Keeper Williams Charles Rex RIght Reverend and Right Trusty c. Whereas we have been moved in Contemplation of our Marriage with the Lady Mary Sister of Our dear Brother the Most Christian King to grant to Our Subjects Roman Catholicks a Cessation of all and singular Pains and Penalties as well Corporal as Pecuniary whereunto they be subject or any ways may be liable by any Laws Statutes Ordinances or any thing whatsoever or for or by reason of their Recusancy or Religion in every Matter or thing concerning the same Our Will and Pleasure is and we do by these Presents authorize and require you upon the Receipt hereof That immediately you do give Warrants Order and Directions as well unto all our Commissioners Judges and Justices of the Peace as also unto all other our Officers and Ministers as well Spiritualas Temporal respectively to whom it may appertain that they and every of them do forbear all and all manner and cause to be forborn all manner of Proceedings against our said Subjects Rom. Catholicks and every of them as well by Information Presentment Indictment Conviction Process Seizure Distress or Imprisonment or any other Ways and Means whatsoever whereby they may be molested for the Causes aforesaid And further also That for time to come you take notice of and speedily redress all Causes and Complaints for or by reason of any thing done contrary to this our Will and this shall be unto you and to all to whom you shall give such Warrant Order or Direction sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that Behalf And this is so much more remarkable that this Warrant was granted when Buckingham was so busy in setting out the Fleet against the Rochellers Here was a Suspension of the Laws with a Witness by the King 's absolute Will and Pleasure notwithstanding all the Officers by Law were under the Obligations of their Oaths to the contrary and for the first-Fruits of this Warrant the King granted upon the 10th of May a special Pardon to twenty Roman Priests of all Offences committed by them against the Laws Can any Man now believe that the Parliament 18th Jac. should be so jealous that the Spanish Match would be a Door to let in a Toleration of Popery and therefore advised the King to break off the Match with Spain and yet this Parliament should be so purblind as not to see this put in Execution at the Instance of the French in this King's Reign especially whenas the Spaniards unless in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth were the English Friends and Allies and with whom the English had a most beneficial and gainful Trade for 22 Years in King James's Reign whereby they became doubly more enriched than in the 44 Years Reign of Queen Elizabeth whereas the French as they were a Neighbouring Nation were ever faithless and Enemies to the English Nation and with whom it always had a Trade to the English Loss as much to the enriching France as to the impoverishing the English Hereupon the Commons sent Sir Edward Coke with a Message to the Lords to desire their Concurrence in a Petition to the King against Recusants which was agreed to and presented to the King who answered That he was glad the Parliament were so forward for Religion and assured them they should find him as forward that their Petition being long could not be presently answered Nor were the Commons less alarmed at the countenancing the Arminian Sect whose Tenets next to Laud Mr. Richard Mountague propagated and about the latter end of King James his Reign published a Book entituled A new Gag for an old Goose which the Parliament took notice of and referred it to the Archbishop of Canterbury who disallowed it and sought to suppress it and ended in an Admonition given to Mountague but after King James his Death who was an Enemy to these Tenets Mountague then printed it again and dedicated it to King Charles now Buckingham and Laud ruled all Hereupon the Commons brought Mountague to the Bar of their House and appointed a Committee to examine the Errors therein and gave Thanks to the Arch-bishop for the Admonition to Mountague whose Books they voted to be contrary to the Articles established in the Parliament to tend to the King's Dishonour and Disturbance of the Church and State and took Bond of Mountague for his Appearance But the King intimated to the House that the things determined concerning Mountague without his Privity did not please him for he was his Servant and Chaplain in ordinary and that he had taken the Business into his own Hands whereat the Commons seemed much displeased This was the first Breach between the King and Commons and here let 's see what hasty Steps Laud took to fulfil King James his Prophecy of him in making Dissensions and to be a Fire-brand to set the Nation on fire by fomenting and exasperating the Factions in it In this Act of Mountague you may observe a twofold Crime First his Contempt and Disobedience to the Church of England which Laud pretended so much to exalt and to the Parliament that his Book being questioned in Parliament and by the Commons committed to the Arch-bishop who not only disallowed and suppressed it but Mountague being admonished against it he should upon King James his Death presume to reprint it in Defiance to the Metropolitan of England contrary to his Canonical Obedience and to the Commons thereby to make a Dissension between the King and them And secondly his being so audacious as to dedicate it to the King thereby to engage the King in defence of his Arrogance and Disobedience and for a Reward of this special Piece of Service before King James was two
Months dead to be made the King's Chaplain in Ordinary to be thereby protected from Justice But if it be asked how it does appear that Laud was concerned in this Act and Promotion of Mountague I answer there is a threefold Reason to induce the Belief of it First the end for which this Book was wrote for Promotion of Arminian Tenets whereof Laud was so great a Stickler Secondly none else but Laud could have such an Ascendant in things of this kind and to cause to early a Promotion for such a piece of Service but Thirdly which clears the Question when the King's Necessities caused him to call another Parliament about six or seven Months after Laud fearing the Commons falling again upon Mountague as they did Laud sounded the King by Buckingham whether the King would leave Mountague to the Parliament and finding the King determined to do it in great Zeal said I seem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God in his Mercy dissipate it as you may read in Rush f. 203. as if the questioning a seditious and a disobedient Fellow to his Superiour in the Church were a Cloud to threaten the Church of England If Laud was the first that sowed Dissension between the King and Parliament upon the Pretence of the Church of England Buckingham shall be the second upon the Account of the Church of Rome and herein you 'll see the Temper of Buckingham to any which should presume to give him good Counsel The Dissension between the King and Commons began with Mountague at London where the Plague than raged and all England over so that most of the Members shrunk away to flee the Danger of it and those that staid were in danger of their Lives This put the King into a marvellous Strait what to do for his Necessities as Buckingham managed Affairs and his being imbroiled in the Spanish War were such as the Subsidies granted the King his Father the last Year and those granted the King now could not support Hereupon the King calling a Council at Hampton-Court what to do the King proposed upon the 10th of July to adjourn the Parliament to Oxford which was mainly favoured by the Duke my Lord Keeper Williams opposed the Proposition for two Reasons First That the Infection had overspread the whole Land so that no Man that travelled from his own Home knew where to lodg in Safety that the Lords and Gentlemen would be so distasted to be carried abroad in so mortal a time that it 's likely when they came together they would vote out of Discontent and Displeasure that his Majesty was ill counselled to give Offences in the Bud of his Reign tho small ones Secondly the Parliament had given two Subsidies at Westminster tho they removed to Oxford it is yet the same Sessions and if they alledg it is not the Use of the House to give twice in a Sessions tho I wish heartily they would yet how shall we plead them out of Custom if they be stiff to maintain it It is not fit for the Reputation of the King to fall upon a probable Hazard of a Denial The Duke which heard this with Impatience said That publick Necessity must sway more than one Man's Jealousy The Keeper hereupon besought the King to hear him in private and acquainted the King That the Duke had Enemies in the House of Commons who had contrived Complaints and made them ready to be preferred and would spend time at Oxford about them And what Folly were it to continue a Sessions that had no other Aim but to bring the Duke upon the Stage But if your Majesty think that this is like an Hectick quickly known but hardly cured my humble Opinion is That the Malady or Malice call it what you will may sleep awhile after Christmas there is no time lost in whetting the Sithe well I hope to give an Account by that time by undertaking with the chief Sticklers that they shall supersede their Bitterness against your great Servant and that Passage to your weighty Counsels may be made smooth and peaceable But why said the King do you conceal this from Buckingham Good Sir said the Keeper fain would I begin at that End but he will not hear me with Moderation And because it was the Mishap of the Keeper to give the first Notice of this Storm that was gathering the Duke in Defiance bid him and his Confederates do their worst and besought the King that the Parliament might be continued and he would confront the Faction tho he looked upon himself in that Innocency that he presumed they durst not question him Buckingham's Will must be a Law so on the 10th of July the Parliament was adjourned to Oxford to meet the first of August But to sweeten them the Keeper in the Presence of both Houses in the King's Name promised them That the Rigour of the Law against Popish Priests should not be deluded Here see the Levity of the King and the Dominion Buckingham had over him for upon the 12th of July the King caused a Warrant to be sealed to pardon six Roman Priests When the Parliament met at Oxford the Speaker had no sooner taken his Chair but a Western Knight enlarges the Sense of his Sorrow that he had seen a Pardon for six Priests bearing test July 12th whereas but the Day before it when they were to part from Westminster the Lord Keeper had promised in the King's Name before them all that the Rigour against the Priests should not be deluded Hereupon the Members were in such a Heat that they strived who should blame it most What! their Hope 's blasted in one Night But for the Lord Keeper that brought the King's Message and knew it best and for a Bishop to set the Seal to such a Warrant for him to do wrong to Religion it was enormous Hereupon Mr. Bembo a Servant to the Clerk of the Crown confess'd he brought the Writ to the Keeper to be sealed but it was stopt Mr. Devike Servant to Sir Edward Conway brought it from his Master but it could not speed It was my Lord of Buckingham's hard Hap to move the King to command the Warrant to be sealed in his Sight at Hampton-Court the Sunday following The Commons hereupon turned about to clear the Keeper and commend him but what pleased the Parliament at Oxford did not please the Court at Woodstock where this had not pleased the King The Commons in this Heat desired a Conference with the Lords in Christ-Church-Hall in the Afternoon where Sir Edward Coke open'd the Complaint sharply against my Lord Conway and like an Orator did slide away with a short Animadversion upon the Duke the Commons enlarged hereon that the Duke that put the King upon this was the highest in the King's Favour and that all the important Places of Honour and Offices by Sea and Land were in his Disposal which you may read at large in the Life of the
hasty in it that the King's Promise that the Bishop of Lincoln now no more Lord-Keeper should enjoy the King's Favour was scarce three Months old when they put not only the King out of mind of his Promise but the Bishop out of the Duty of his Place but that Laud should perform it whether the Bishop would or not It has been said with what Difficulty the Bishop of Lincoln for so we must now call him procured Laud the Bishoprick of St. David's and the Bishop staid not there but retained him in his Prebendary at Westminster and so after gave him a Living in the Diocess of St. David's of 120 l. per Annum to help his Revenue These two last being Additions to Laud's Preferment coming from the Bishop of Lincoln voluntarily and unsought for by Laud he by Mr. Winn returned his Thanks to the Bishop with this Expression His Life would be too short to requite his Lordship's Goodness But these Favours were not eighteen Months planted when Laud became the Bishop's sharpest Enemy as you may read in the first Part of his Life f. 108. and his Malice grew so high that the Countess of Buckingham the Duke's Mother took notice of it which the Arch-bishop Abbot takes notice of Rushw f. 144. as well as the Bishop of Litchfield As Acts of Grace and Favour usually were accompany'd by our Kings at their Coronation so in this King's Reign the quite contrary must be practised not only to the Earl of Bristol but much more to the Bishop of Lincoln for he was not only denied to do his Homage to the King with the rest of the Spiritual Lords at the Coronation but his Office as Dean of Westminster in assisting the Arch-bishop in the Solemnity of it and yet this too must be done by Laud as the Bishop's Substitute whether he would or not This was the first noble Favour the King extended to the Bishop according to his reiterated Promise when they parted The second was he was denied his Writ of Summons as a Peer in Parliament which met in four days after the Coronation viz. Feb. 6. which was due ex debito Justitiae and which was never denied to Prisoners or condemned Persons even in his Father's time and at last when he obtained it yet he must not presume to sit in Parliament and had much ado to have his Proxy left with the Bishop of Winchester Dr. Andrews as you may read in the second Part of his Life f. 69. But tho the Privilege of Peers a little eclipsed the Power of the mighty Buckingham yet he was resolved to keep Sir Edward Coke Sir Robert Phillips and Sir Thomas Wentworth out of the Commons House by the King's Prerogative as it has been of late used in making them Sheriffs whether they be returned by the Coroner's Inquest of the Counties or not and by this Prerogative Sir Edward Coke was made Sheriff of the County of Bucks Sir Robert Phillips of Somerset and Sir Thomas Wentworth of Yorkshire It made a mighty Noise and an Inquiry which otherwise would not have been that Sir Edward Coke in his extream Age now 77 Years old and who had been Chief Justice of both Benches and Privy-Counsellor should be made a Sheriff of the County and the more for that Sir Edward Coke took Exceptions to the Oath of a Sheriff whereupon it was altered These were the Counsels which govern'd this King in the Infancy of his Reign Now let us see the Success The Commons were so far from granting Subsidies now as in the last Parliament before Grievances were redrest that upon their first Meeting they fell upon Examination of Grievances and the Miscarriage of the Fleet at Cadiz the evil Counsellors about the King's Misgovernment and Misimployment of the King's Revenue and an Account of the three Subsidies and three Fifteenths granted the 21st of King James That new Impositions and Monopolies were multiplied and settled to continue by Grants Customs enhanced by the new Book of Rates and that Tunnage and Poundage was levied tho by no Act of Parliament and the Guard of the Seas neglected However these were Generals but the first Particular fell upon Mountague in five particular Articles wherein he had broken the Laws and Statutes of the Realm and disturbed the Peace both of the Church and Commonwealth 1. Whereas by the Articles of the Convocation holden in the Year 1â—62 it is determined That the Church of Rome is at present and has been for above 900 Years past so far wide from the Nature of a true Church that nothing can be more he the said Mountague in several places of the Book called The Answer to the Gagg and his other Book called The Appeal advisedly affirms and maintains That the Church of Rome is and ever was a true Church since it was a Church 2. Whereas in the 16th Homily of the second Book of Homilies it is declared that the Church of Rome is not built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and in the 23d Article that Transubstantiation overthrows the Nature of a Sacrament and in the 25th Article that the five other Sacraments are not to be accounted Sacraments yet he the said Mountague maintains in his Book called The Answer to the Gagg That the Church of Rome hath ever remained firm upon the same Foundation of Sacraments and Doctrine instituted by God 3. In the 19th of the same Article it is maintained That the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their Living and Matters of Faith and Ceremonies he in his Book called The Gagg does maintain that none of these are controverted in their Points between the Papists and Protestants and tho in the 35th Article it is resolved that the Sacrifice of Masses in which it is commonly said the Priest did offer Christ for the Quick and the Dead to have Remission of Pain and Guilt too is a blasphemous Fable and dangerous Deceit this being one of the controverted Points between the Church of England and the Church of Rome he in his Book called The Gagg does maintain That these controverted Points are of a less and inferiour Nature of which a Man may be ignorant without any danger of his Soul at all and a Man may oppose this or that without peril of perishing for ever 4. Whereas in the second Homily entituled Against the Peril of Idolatry and approved by the 37th Article it is declared That Images teach no good Lesson neither of God or Godliness but all Error and Wickedness he the said Mountague does maintain Images may be used for the Instruction of the Ignorant and Excitation of Devotion 5. That in the same Homily it is plainly expressed That the attributing certain Countries to Saints is a spoiling God of his Honour and that such Saints are but Dii tutelares of the Gentile Idolaters yet the said Mountague in his Book entituled A Treatise concerning the Invocation of Saints affirmed and maintained That the Saints have not only a
the narrow Passages between the Salt-pits those that escaped were lost in the Salt-Pits and Ditches and the Crowd was so great in passing a Bridg that many were drown'd in the River yet in this Confusion and Adversity the Bravery of the English appear'd for a few having past the Bridg the French following the English rallied and faced about to charge the French who cowardly retreated over the Bridg. Except this little Action yet as great in Fame as any other the English Nation never received like Dishonour as in this loose and unguided Conduct of this lascivious Duke in this Expedition of whom it may be truly said he was Mars ad Opus Veneris Martis ad Arma Venus Home he comes and finds things as much in Disorder here as he had left them in Dishonour abroad the Prisons full of the most eminent Gentry of England by a special Warrant from the King for refusing to lend as they were assess'd by the Commissioners for the Loan and Bail denied them upon return of their Corpus's An Army was kept on foot when this Expedition had consumed all that which should have paid them which had not been done in 80 Years before the People fearing this was more to enslave than defend them In this Confusion Sir Cotton's Advice is called for by the King and Council what 's to be done who in a long and well composed Speech beginning at Charles the 5th sets forth the Design of the House of Austria to attain an universal Monarchy in these Western Parts of Europe How the Design was first check'd by Henry the 8th against Charles but more by Queen Elizabeth against his Son Philip the 2d they following a free Council and thereby winning the Hearts of a loving People ever found Hands and Money for all Occasions That the only way to raise Money speedily and securely was the Via Regia by Parliament other ways were unknown untrodden rough tedious and never succeeded well That Religion lies nearest the Conscience of the Subject and that there was a Jealousy of some Practices against it and that tho the Duke of Bucks had broken the Spanish Match out of a Religious Care that the Articles demanded might endanger the State of the Reformed Religion yet being an Actor in the French Match as hard if not worse passed than those of Spain Sir Robert goes on and enumerates the Miscarriages in these two last Years the Waste of the King's Revenue the Pressures upon the publick Liberty of the Subjects in commanding their Goods without Consent in Parliament imprisoning their Persons without special Cause shewed and this made good against them by the Judges How to obviate these he leaves to the prudent Consideration of the Council but like old Sir Charles Harboard he wishes that the Duke might appear to be the first Adviser for calling a Parliament so that the People may be satisfied this Parliament should be called by the zealous Care and Industry of the Duke Now the Hopes of getting Money by calling the Parliament works more than the Laws of God or sacred Justice could do for upon the 29th of January Writs are issued out for the Assembling of a Parliament to meet the 17th of March following the Prison-Doors are opened for the imprisoned Gentry to go abroad the Arch-bishop the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Lincoln who tho now in Disgrace was the first Raiser of Laud after Bishop of London and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury have Writs to 〈◊〉 in Parliament But see the Unstability of Resolutions not founded in Truth Justice or Prudence for the next Day after the Writs for summoning the Parliament were agreed the King January the 30th granted a Privy-Seal to Burlemach for 30000 l. to be returned to Sir William Balfour and John Daâ—bier for raising a thousand German Hâ—rse with Arms both for Horse and Foot to be sent into England February the 28th where was an Army already upon free Quarter and after grants a Commission to 23 Lords and others to raise Money upon Impositions or otherwise Thus things stood in the State before the Meeting of the Parliament Now let 's see how they stood in the Church Barnevelt having headed a Faction in Holland which called themselves Arminians and designing by them to have deposed the Prince of Orange lost his Head for it about four Years before now on the contrary the Arminian Faction here which called themselves the Church of England ascribed all Dominion to the absolute Power of the King The Principals of this Faction were Neal Bishop of Wâ—â—chester Laud Bishop of Bath and Welâ—s and Richard Mountague afterwards advanced to the Bishopricks of Chichester and Norwich this Faction was headed by the Duke At this time the Jesuits had taken a House at Clarkenwell designing to make a College of it who in a Letter to the Father Rector of the Jesuits at Brussels boast that they had planted the soveraign Drug Arminianism which they hoped would purge the Protestants from their Heresy and that it flourished and bore Fruit in a due Season and they proceeded by Counsel and Consideration how and when to work upon the Duke's Jealousy and Revenge and in that they gave the Honour to those who merit it which were the Church Catholicks they assured themselves they had made the Duke and the Parliament irreconcilable and that they have those of their Religion who stand continually at the Duke's Chamber to see who comes in and who goes out They glory how admirably in their Speech and Gestures they act the Puritans and the Cambridg Scholars shall find by woful Experience they can act the Puritans better than they have done the Jesuits That their Foundation is Arminianism that the Arminians and Projectors affect Mutation Having thus laid the Foundation for propagating their Religion the Jesuits next Care was for the State and in the first place they consider the King's Honour and Necessities and shew how the King may free himself of his Word as Lewis the 11th did and for greater Splendor and Lustre how he may raise a great Revenue and not be beholden to his Subjects which was by way of Excise which must be by a mercenary Army of Horse and Foot For the Horse they had made sure they should be Foreigners and Germans who would eat up the King's Revenue and spoil the Countries wheresoever they came tho they should be paid What Havock then will they make there when they get no Pay or are not duly paid they will do more Mischief than we hope the Army will do This mercenary Army of 2000 Horse and 20000 Foot was to be taken into pay before the Excise be settled In forming the Excise the Country is most likely to rise if the Mercenary Army subjugate the Country the Soldiers are to be paid out of the Confiscations they hope instantly to dissolve Trade and hinder the Building of Ships by devising probable Designs and putting the State upon Expeditions as that of Cadiz and in taking
away the Merchants Ships so that they may not easily catch and light upon the West-India Fleet. A Jesuit and nine Priests were taken with this and many other Papers which were delivered to Sir John Cook Secretary of State the Jesuit was condemn'd but reprieved by the King because Sir John Cook said The King delighted not in Blood and afterward the nine Priests were released by special Warrant from the King and the King in his Reasons for dissolving the Parliament makes the House of Commons Enquiry into this Business to be an exorbitant Encroachment and Usurpation such as was never before attempted by that House By this you may see the Religious care this pious Prince had for the Church of England and how much he regarded the Laws of England or minded the Support of the poor Protestants in France or the Re-establishment of his Brother-in-law in the Palatinate Thus stood things when the Parliament met the 17th of March when the King as Men in a deep Lethargy no ways sensible of their Pain or the dangerous State they are in not considering the dangerous State he was in both abroad and at home Abroad in that he had made War upon the King of Spain without any Declaration of War and that against his Father's Advice and of his Council and upon the King of France wherein himself and his Favourite Buckingham were the Aggressors at Home by his unheard of Invasions upon the Fortunes and Liberties of his Subjects never before done by any King of England in the short Interval of these two Parliaments scarce being 9 Months upon the Opening of the Parliament far unlike his Father in the last Parliament of his Reign when his Case was not near so dangerous as this King's tho their Necessities were equal to get Money by Parliaments when they could get it no other Way begins his Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THese Times are for Action wherefore for Example sake I mean not to spend much Time in Words expecting accordingly that your as I hope good Resolutions will be speedy not spending Time unnecessarily or that I may say dangerously for tedious Consultations at this Conjuncture of Time are as hurtful as ill Resolutions I am sure you now expect from me both to know the Cause of your meeting and what to resolve on yet I think there is none here but knows that common Danger is the Cause of this Parliament and that Supply at this time is the chief End of it so that I need but point to you what to do All this but of Supply is Mysterious and General and had need of an Interpreter The King goes on and says I will use but few Perswasions for if to maintain your own Advices and as the Case now stands for the following thereof the true Religion Laws and Liberties of this State never so violated by any King of England before him and the just Defence of our true Friends and Allies be not sufficient then no Eloquence of Men or Angels will prevail What Parliament or any other Council but that of Buckingham advised him to make War either upon the King of Spain or France search all the Records of the Journals of Parliament of 21 Jac. and Rushworth Franklin and Bishop of Litchfield and see if in any one of them there be one Sentence of making War against the King of Spain but only to break off the Treaty with the Spanish Match and for the Palatinate But admit the Parliament had upon the Misinformation of the King and Duke advised the King to have made War upon the King of Spain yet since the Earl of Bristol so shamefully blasted the whole Story not a Year since in open Parliament without any Reply How was this Parliament obliged to have made good what that had done And since the King dissolved the last Parliament rather than the Duke should be brought to Trial upon the Earl's Charge which was a Failure of Justice sure it had been more to the King's Honour not to have mention'd this to the Parliament than that what he had done was by their Advice Did this Parliament or any other ever advise him to put the Fleet under the Command of Vice-Admiral Pennington into the French King's Power to subdue the poor Rochellers who never did him any wrong to the Ruin of the Reformed Interest in France and to be the Foundation of the French Grandeur by Sea and then on the contrary make War upon the French King when he was the Aggressor Did ever this or any other Parliament advise him to take his Subjects Goods by force without and against Law and imprison their Persons by his Absolute Will and Pleasure denying them the Benefit of their Corpus's the Birth-right of the Subject and to continue them Prisoners during his Will without allowing them a Trial by the Laws whether they were guilty of any Crime or not Or to execute Martial Law impose new Oaths and give Free-Quarter to Soldiers in his own Kingdom in time of Peace However the King goes on and says Only let me remember you that my Duty most of all and every one of yours according to his Degree is to seek the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth and certainly there never was a time in which this Duty was more necessarily required than now Was the Discharge of the Pack of Jesuits conspiring the Ruin of Church and State with Impunity for the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth Or was the Commission which the King granted the next Day after the Writs for the Assembling the Parliament to raise Monies by Imposition in the nature of Excise to be levied throughout the Nation for the Maintenance of the Church and State And at the same time to order my Lord Treasurer to pay 30000 l. to Philip Burlemac a Dutch Merchant in London to be by him returned into the Low-Countries by Bill of Exchange to Sir William Balfour and John Dalbier for the raising of 1000 Horse with Arms both for Horse and Foot for the Maintenance of the Church and Commonwealth of England And also to call a Council for levying Ship-Money now he had by his own Will taken the Customs without any Grant of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Church and State I therefore judging a Parliament to be the antient speediest and best way in this time of Common Danger to give such Supply as to secure our selves and save our Friends from imminent Ruin have called you together Every Man must do according to his Conscience wherefore if you as God forbid should not do your Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs I must in Discharge of my Conscience use those other means which God has put into my hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may otherwise hazard to lose It 's certain a Parliament is the best way in time of Common Danger to give Supplies and secure the Nation from imminent Ruin the Nation being most
concerned in it yet what Parliamentary Advice did the King take the last nine Months If the Nation and the King's Friends be in such imminent Ruin the King should have declared who those Friends were and who they were which threatned this Ruin When his Father died he was at Peace with all the World and it was his own Wilfulness that without any other Counsel but that of Buckingham he made War upon France and Spain and let any Man read the Passages of the short time of his Reign and judg if the imminent Ruin of the Nation were not from himself within as well as without and if the granting him further Supplies would not more endanger the Nation in carrying on his Designs in both Here note Tho the King had made no Conscience of what he had done yet he now tells the Parliament If they shall not do their Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs he must in Discharge of his Conscience use those other Means which God hath put into his hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may other ways hazard to lose The King should have explained what other ways God put into his hands to govern his Subjects than by Justice Judgment and Righteousness for all other ways are unjust and wicked And how any Man how great soever can plead Conscience to perpetrate Injustice and Wickedness must be unfolded by Laud Neal Sibthorp Manwaring Mountague Wren Heylin c. The King proceeds and says Take not this for a Threatning for I scorn to threaten any but my Equals but an Admonition from him that both out of Nature and Duty has most Care of your Preservations and Prosperities This is Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam What a Monster does the King here make a Parliament the Head so incomprehensively big and the Body so scornful and little But if it ill becomes any Man to glory in his own Actions it worse becomes him to glory in that which he himself had not done So that admit the King had been so superlatively great as to scorn all the World besides yet it would better have become any other to have said it than the King A Parliament is a Political Body whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons the Body and What is the Head without the Body Are not all the Members of every Body of Use for the Head And does not the Head stand in need of every Member of the Body But if the Head be overgrown and too big and the Body too scornful and lean is not this not only monstrous but a Symptom of the Imperfection of the whole and that it is in a declining and dangerous State Yet the King tells them The End of calling this Parliament was for Supply And did ever King or other Man before him tell those from whom he expected Supply or any other Benefit that he scorn'd them and if they do not their Duties he would use other Means which God had put in his hands without telling what those other Means were and call them Fools and particular Men if they do not their Duties to save what they may otherwise hazard to lose whereas heretofore the Kings of England ever thank'd the Parliament upon a Bill for Aids But after all this the Parliament must not take it for a Threatning but an Admonition An Admonition may be taken in a double Sense either to instruct another in his Duty or to menace or threaten another if he continues obstinate in some Fault or Crime committed by that other But this Admonition of the King 's in the Parliament must not be taken for a Threatning of them therefore it must be for their Instruction ignorant of their Duties A Parliament was called by the Saxons Wittenage-Mote or the Conventus Sapientum the Meeting of Wise Men who met together to deliberate of the arduous and urgent Businesses of the Kingdom and concerning the State and Defence of the Kingdom and Church of England and is called the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Council of the Kingdom and the Council of the Kingdom See 4th Institute 2. And tho the Writ of Summons of Parliaments be Ad Tractandum Deliberandum de certis arduis Regni negotiis pro statu defensiâ—e Regni Ecclesiae Angliae concernentibus yet the Parliaments of England unlike the Convention of the State of Scotland are not tied up to those things only which the King propounds but are free to treat and deliberate of all things which other ways concern the Kingdom and Church of England So that the great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is to advise the King And all our Saxon Norman and British Kings had ever Parliaments in so high an Esteem that we do not read any where before these two Kings of the Scotish Race came to reign over us that ever any King and Parliament parted in Disgust whereas since King James came to be King five or six parted in Disgust and God knows what would have become of the other if King James had not died before the Parliament met again Did ever any King of England before tho he scorn'd to threaten the Parliament yet admonish them of their Duties or otherwise he would use those other means than by Parliament which God had put into his hands But Quorsum haec or where will the Designs of this young King stop However you may see by this Speech of the King 's that those who govern'd him were as little Politicians as Orators But good Laws often arise from corrupt Times and bad Manners for Magna Charta did arise from the Usurpations of K. John and Henry III. above the Laws and Liberties of this Nation so did the Petition of Right the Magna Charta of this Age from the Usurpations of this King since the Dissolution of the last Parliament to the Meeting of this little more than nine Months And as the old Magna Charta was no new Law but a Declaration of the old restored by Henry II. King John's Father called the Avitae Leges so neither was the Petition of Right which enumerates the Breaches the King had made of Magna Charta and manifold other Laws before it prays Relief against them But these Charta's were obtained after different manners the old by cruel Wars The Doctrines of Passive Obedience and submitting to the Absolute Will and Pleasure of the King were Strangers to those Days and the Bishops were so far from those Doctrines that they were the chief Promoters of Magna Charta and stigmatized the Infringers of it the King himself not excepted with a dreadful Anathema Whereas neither Rome nor Athens could ever glory in such an Assembly as the Commons of this Parliament were for their Vertue and Learning nor any Age produce such a number of Men of the like Integrity to their Country and humble Obedience to
of Right the King as Norton the Printer said commanded the printing of the Petition with other Additions besides the King's Answer and that he had printed 1500 Copies with the King's Answer without the other Additions but these were suppressed by Warrant and the Attorney General commanded no more should be printed and those which were should not be divulged These were the Just and Religious Acts of this pious King and can any Man believe the Parliament at their Meeting should without Breach of a publick Trust sit still and not represent these things to the King The Parliament did meet according to their Prorogation the 23d of January 1628. and debated these Practices against Church and State which hapned since the 26th of June before but now see the Artifice of this little Prince rather than hear of any thing in this kind he commands the Speaker Sir John Finch the late Lord Chancellor Finch's own Uncle to put no Question upon Debates of Grievances So that the House could do nothing but sit still or adjourn and this continued till the 2d of March when the Commons met and urged the Speaker to put the Question concerning Grievances who answered I have a Command from the King to adjourn the House till the 10th of March and put no Question and endeavouring to go out of the House he was held by some Members till the House had made this Protestation 1. Whosoever shall bring in Innovation of Religion or by Favour or Countenance seem to extend or introduce Popery or Arminianism or other Opinions disagreeing from the Truth and Orthodox Church shall be reputed a Capital Enemy to this Kingdom or Common-Wealth 2. Whosoever shall counsel or advise the taking or levying the Subsidies of Tunnage and Poundage not granted by Parliament or shall be an Actor or Instrument therein be likewise reputed an Innovator in the Government and a Capital Enemy to the Kingdom and Common-wealth 3. If any Merchant or Person whatsoever shall voluntarily yield or pay the Subsidies of Tunnage and Poundage not being granted by Parliament he shall likewise be reputed a betrayer of the Liberties of England and an Enemy to the same This Act consisted in two Parts the Speaker and the House the Speaker's of three Parts a Command by the King to put no Question to adjourn till the 10th of March and an endeavour to go out of the House In the former Session of this Parliament Secretary Cook the 10th of April from the King desired the House not to make any Recess those Easter Holy-days that the World may now take notice how earnest his Majesty and We were for the publick Affairs in Christendom which would receive Interruption by this Recess To which Sir Robert Phillips answered that the 12th and 18th Jac. the House resolved it was in their Power to adjourn or sit and that this may be put upon them by Princes of less Piety and that a Committee consider of the House's Right Sir Edward Coke said the King makes a Prorogation the House adjourns it self That a Commission of Adjournment the House never read but say the House adjourns it self yet here the Speaker verbally says I am commanded by the King to adjourn till the 10th of March. His second Command was to put no Question So here was a Speaker which might not speak what did he there then He sits there by the King in his Highest and Regal Capacity under the broad Seal to put the Question and now if you 'll take his Word he says he has a Command from the King to put no Question The third Act was his Endeavour to go out of the House which the House conceiving him to be their Servant would not suffer Here you may understand that the King had privately made Peace with France though not proclaimed at Paris till June following and soon after with Spain so that in his Speech this meeting he did not begin with The Times are for Action and the Eyes of all the World are upon us and therefore demands Supplies in the first place but that without loss of Time they would pass the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage but the House seeing the Dangers of the Church and State in not only pardoning but preferring Mountague and Manwaring and seizing Merchants Goods and imprisoning their Persons even in this Recess they resolve to secure their Religion and redress Grievances before they grant the Customs of Tunnage and Poundage in both they could not but take notice of the Orders of the Star-Chamber Privy-Council Judges and Customers And these were the Invasions upon the King's Perogative Royal which for the future he resolved never to suffer yet he shall live to hear more of them But in regard it may seem strange that Customs of Tunnage and Poundage ever since the Reign of Richard the 3d had been granted to the Kings and Queens of this Realm for securing the Soveraignty of the narrow Seas and of the English Merchants yet was not granted to this King The Reason was this the House of Commons in their Grievances in the two first Parliaments of this King and the former Sessions of this complained that the Duke of Buckingham being Lord High Admiral of England neglected to guard the Seas to the Dishonour of the King and endangering the Trade of England and feared if the Duke were not removed the End designed by the Parliament would be diverted to supply the intolerable Pride and Luxury of the Duke but the King rather than endure this dissolved the two former Parliaments and prorogued this when they were upon settling the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage That the Parliament had Reason for this it appears in their Charge against the Duke in the 2d Year of this King and that in ten Years time he had received of King James and this King 284395 l. besides the Forest of Leyfield the Profits of the third of Strangers Goods and the Profits of the Moiety of the Customs of Ireland besides the Tricks he used to get Money as he was Lord High Admiral of England and Ireland Master of the Horse Lord Warden Chancellor and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and the Members thereof Constable of Dover Castle Justice in Eyre of all his Majesty's Forests and Chases on this side of Trent Constable of Windsor Castle and Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber To these might have been added the Duke's Venality in selling all Places in Church and State at least preferring such Men in Church as should propagate Arminianism and such Judges as shall do what the King and he bid them Objection But the Duke was now dead in this Session of Parliament and so the Reason ceasing the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage ought to have been granted Answer The King would not suffer the Commons to come at it neither in the last Sessions nor this for the Religion of the Church of England and the Laws and Liberties of the Subject being so shaken in this Recess the Commons
resolve that Religion shall have the Precedency in their Debates and make this Vow WE the Commons in Parliament assembled do claim protest and avow for Truth the Sense of the Articles of Religion which were established by Parliament in the 13th Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth which by the Publick Acts of the Church of England and by the general and currant Exposition of the Writers of our Church have been delivered unto Vs And we Reject the Sense of the Jesuits and Arminians and all others wherein they differ from us But the true Reason why the King would not take the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage from the Commons was for fear the Commons should not grant the Duties imposed by his Father and taken by him which he was resolved to continue whether the Parliament would or not The House had a Petition from the Printers and Booksellers in London complaining that Laud Bishop of London who had been so but from the 15th of July last had restrained Books written against Popery and Arminianism and the contrary allowed of only by him and had sent Pursevants for many Printers and Booksellers who had printed Books against Popery and that Licensing Books was only restrained to the Bishop of London and his Chaplains This is the Patron and Saint-like Martyr of the Church of England And all this Ado in the House of Commons was upon Sir Elliot's Speech against Neal Bishop of Winchester a zealous Promoter of Arminianism and Weston Lord Treasurer a Papist in whose Person he said All Evil is contracted acting and building upon those Grounds laid by his great Master the Duke and that his Spirit is moving to these Interruptions and they for fear break Parliaments lest the Parliament should break them That he finds him the Head of all the great Party That Papists Jesuits and Priests derive from him their Shelter and Protection c. But the Speaker upon Motion of the House refused to put the Question being he said otherwise commanded by the King Whereupon the House adjourn'd till Wednesday the 25th and from thence to the 2d of March when the Speaker again refused to put the Question the Success whereof was said before What now was the Crime of the House It was their Endeavour to preserve the Religion of the Church of England and the Laws and Liberties of the Subjects of England and since the Speaker refusing to do his Office they could not represent their Duty to the King they made their Protestation in the Defence of the Church and State And Masters oft-times upon Disobedience of their Servants do that which at other times they would not have done The King having made Peace abroad was resolved now to prosecute a vigorous â—ar at home against those Noble Gentlemen who in a Parliamentary Way had asserted the established Religion and Laws of England The Duke of Buckingham who was stabb'd the 23d of August before you need not fear had furnished the King with Judges Privy-Counsellors and Star-Chamber-Men who should do the King's Work and now let 's see the Order and Method by which it was carried on Upon this very Day viz. the 2d of March a Proclamation was drawn for the Dissolution of the Parliament but not proclaimed the King afterwards doing it himself in Person upon the 10th But next Day Warrants were directed from the Privy-Council for Denzil Hollis Sir Miles Hobert Sir John Elliot Sir Peter Hayman John Selden William Coriton Walter Long William Stroud and Benjamin Valentine Esquires to appear before the Council next day Mr. Hollis Sir John Elliot Mr. Valentine and Mr. Coriton appeared and for refusing to answer out of Parliament for what was said or done in Parliament were committed close Prisoners to the Tower and Warrants were given for sealing up the Studies of Mr. Hollis Mr. Selden Sir John Elliot Mr. Long and Mr. Stroud who not then appearing a Proclamation was issued out for apprehending of them The 10th of March the King comes into the House of Lords and tells the Reasons of his Dissolution of the Parliament that it was the undutiful and seditious Carriage in the lower House but says not wherein calls them Vipers who must look for their Reward and Punishment but promises the Lords the Favour and Protection that a good King oweth to his loving and faithful Nobility and then the Lord Keeper dissolved the Parliament CHAP. II. This Reign detected to the Second Parliament in 1640. JUstice like Truth is one and consists in entire Parts and will not admit of more or less but Injustice like Falshood and Error is distracted into infinite Discord and Confusion King James upon the Dissolution of the Parliament of the 12th and 18th Years of his Reign without any Trial but only by the Prerogative of his own Will commits several Members of Parliament to Prison for presuming to represent the Grievances of the Nation to him for Redress without Bail or Main-prize But this King puts a face of Justice upon his fining and imprisoning the Members of Parliament for their Debates and Transactions in it which was so much worse than his Father's Actions by how much the affixing a sacred Character to a bad Act and Justice is sacred renders the Act so much worse as Perjury is a greater Crime than simple Falshood and to murder a Man under pretence of Justice a greater Crime than simple Murder The Members thus close imprisoned after the Dissolution of the Parliament viz. in Trinity-Term following Mr. Selden was brought by Habeas Corpus to the King's-Bench with the Cause of his Detainer and also the same day Sir Miles Hobert Mr. Benjamin Valentine and Mr. Hollis appeared by Habeas Corpus directed to their several Prisons with their Counsel to argue their several Cases But when the Court were prepared to give their Opinions the Prisoners were not brought according to the Rule of Court Then Proclamation was made to the Keepers of the several Prisons to bring their Prisoners but none appeared But the Marshal of the King's-Bench said that Mr. Stroud was removed out of his Custody the day before to the Tower by the King 's own Warrant and so it was done by the other Prisoners But in the Evening the Judges received a Letter from the King containing Reasons why he would not suffer the Prisoners to appear yet that Selden and Valentine should appear the next day and about three Hours after the Judges received other Letters that upon mature Deliberation neither Selden nor Valentine should appear And the same Term four Constables of Hertfordshire pray'd Corpus's to several Pursevants to whom they were committed by the Lords of the Privy-Council which were granted but then they are committed to other Pursevants and so they were upon every other Habeas Corpus so that the Constables could have no benefit of them The Members as well as the Constables being thus shifted from one Prison to others to prevent the Returns of their Corpus's by special Order from
of the Bishop of Lincoln's Life and within less than three Years after he became Arch-bishop got the Bishop of Lincoln fined and imprisoned and his Estate to be sequestred by an Order of the Star-Chamber and at last acknowledged he had never read the Commission by which he acted These things see in the Bishop of Litchfield par 2. fol. 125. tit 119. Tho Laud had never read the Commission by which he acted yet so zealous was he for the Execution of the Sequestration of the Bishop of Lincoln's Estate that he sends this Warrant to the King's Solicitor I think Sir John Banks It is his Majesty's Pleasure that you prepare a Commission to the Prebendaries of the Collegiate Church of Westminster authorizing them to keep their Audits and other Capitular Meetings at their usual times and to treat and compound with the Tenants for Leases and to pass the same accordingly chuse Officers and confirm and execute all other lawful Acts for the good and benefit of the College and said Prebendaries And to take out the Common or Charter-Seal for sealing such Leases and Grants as will be agreed upon by the Sub-Dean and the major part of the Prebendaries and also to pass all the Premisses under the Title of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster during the Suspension of the Bishop of Lincoln from the Deanary of Westminster and for doing whereof this shall be your Warrant Lambeth-House 22d of November 1637. W. Cant. See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 25. a. Whether the King ever granted any such Warrant to W. Cant. non constat for the King never speaks to his Subjects but either personally in Parliament or under the Broad-seal which here does not appear besides all Warrants of Courts are signed by the Seals of the Courts and executed by their proper and sworn Officers neither of which were W. Cant. or the King's Solicitor Yet at this rate was this Nation ridden during the Regency of W. Cant. This Phaeton thus mounted up on high being the first Peer of England was yet higher in the King's Favour than Richlieu was with the French King But as the Temper of these Princes and their Favourites were different so had they different Fates Lewis was steady and true to his Word from whence he acquired the Title of Just Charles fickle and unstable easily put upon things by his Favourites and as suddenly altering them and doing quite contrary from whence it was that Lewis supported the Cardinal in all his Shocks of adverse Fortune and to the Indignation of his Mother whereas Charles in the Adversity of their Fortunes gave up Laud and all his Favourites as a Sacrifice to their Enemies As the Fates of these Favourites were different so were their Parts Richlieu's High Generous and the ablest Statesman of the Age Laud's Pedantick and Narrow After the marrying the Lady Rich to the Earl of Devonshire he spent his time in seeking Preferment at Court and in setting up Factions in the University of Oxford for promoting Arminianism Richlieu was a Constant Assertor of the Privileges of the Gallican Church and a Hater of the Jesuits who bring in Innovations and exalt a Papal Power above them whereas Laud not only brought Innovations into the Church of England but was the Head of the Arminian Party under whose Banners the Popish Party sought to undermine and destroy the Church of England Richlieu laid the Foundation of the French King's Greatness by Sea and Land Laud put King Charles upon such Ways as proved the Ruin of the King Himself and the Church and State of England But before we proceed herein let us stay a little and consider the unhappy State of the Education of the Youth of England in Grammer Schools and Universities The End designed by God and Nature by Instruction of Youth is to honour and worship God and how to subsist and converse after they become Men for without the latter it will be impossible to perform the former I say this latter no way conduces to the End by breeding Youth up in Grammar-Schools and our Universities for no Man lives out of Society and Commerce and every Man stands in need of being supplied by another in things he stands in want of so that the great End by Education of Youth is to instruct Youth how to supply another so as to be able by another to supply himself of such things as he stands in need of but this is utterly neglected in Grammar-Schools and our Universities and yet double more are bred up in Grammar-Schools and our Universities than the Revenues of the Church can maintain and this Breeding fits Youth for no Conversation and Business but only puffs them up with a Conceit of their Learning when they understand not that of all Mankind they are the most unlearned and unfit for any Business The Supernumeraries of these unhappy Men who can get no Maintenance in the Church and by their Breeding are of no use in Church or State yet desire to live but can get no Living but by nourishing Factions against those who are preferred in the Church and State Poor Men they know no better and if this be taken from them they know not how to live From whence it follows that unless these Supernumeraries be restrained in their Education which cannot be but by rooting out of Grammar-Schools and the chopping Logick in our Universities whereby I say no rational Proposition in any Art or Science was ever inferred from Aristotle Descartes or any since these Supernumeraries will as necessarily nourish Factions in England as the Jesuits do here and in the rest of Christendom Many of these Supernumeraries got their Maintenance by being Chaplains to Noble-men and Gentlemen but in both they regarded more the Humour of the People where they were Lecturers and Disposition of their Patrons and Patronesses where they were Chaplains than the Liturgy of this Church The Diocess of London was too contracted to restrain the boundless Ambition of this Bishop for the last Parliament was no sooner dissolved but Laud presented the King with Considerations for the better setling Church-Government in both Provinces of York as well as Canterbury The 4th of these was That a special Charge be given against frequent and unworthy Ordinations but Latet Anguis in Herba None shall be worthy but Arminians The 5th was That special Care be had of our Lecturers in every Diocess which by reason of Pay are the Peoples Creatures and blow the Bellows of their Sedition But if the Bishop will not let them do this they know no other way to live and willingly would not starve For abating the Peoples Power the 2d Consideration is That every Bishop in his Diocess ordain that every Lecturer do read in his Surplice Divine Service before his Lecture which if he does 't is twenty to one those that pay the Lecturer will pay no more What then becomes of the Lecturer for there 's no other
Provision made for him The 6th is That if a Corporation maintain a Lecturer that he be not permitted to preach till he take care of Souls within the Corporation How this can be I don't understand unless the Lectuâ—er have a concurring or distinct Power from the Incumbent The 7th is That none but Noble-men and Men qualified by law may keep Chaplains Yet in your Religious Care you take no care how otherways they may subsist The 8th is That Emanuel and Sydney Colleges in Cambridg which are the Nurseries of Puritanism may be from time to time furnished with Grave and Orthodox Men for their Governors viz. Such as shall do the Arminian Work without any regard to the Statutes of the College All these Considerations must be taken for Acts of the Church of England and a Neglect or Breach of them sufficient for an Information in the High Commission where he is assured he shall shortly judg and therefore his Majesty in the 9th Consideration 〈◊〉 to countenance the High Commission by the Presence of some of the Privy-Council at least so often as any Cause of Moment is to be settled The 10th Consideration is That Course may be taken that the Judges may not send so many Prohibitions Which if they do from any of his Censures in the High Commission he will proceed against them by Excommunication Thus you see this Icarus is not only content to take a Flight out of his Diocess but over the whole Provinces of York and Canterbury in Ecclesiastical Affairs and extends it as he pleases over the Civil These were the Seeds which this Bishop planted while he was Bishop of London you may be sure he 'll reap a good Crop now he 's become Metropolitan of all England During the time of his being Bishop of London he was look'd upon as the Rising Sun which the flattering Students in both Universities worshipped but after he became Arch-Bishop the Learning of both Universities were Brawls about Arminian Tenents in the Schools and Sermons The Arminians treating their Opponents with all taunting and reproaching Terms and if their Opponents retorted they were had up into the High Commission where the Arch-Bishop presided assisted by his Ecclesiastical Judges and Ministers of the Prerogative Court and some of his Majesty's Privy-Council but I do not read of one cited for maintaining Arminian Tenents It 's scarce credible how the Business of this Court the Star-Chamber and Council-Table swelled and what cruel and unheard of Censures were made especially in the Star-Chamber against all sorts of People who did offend either against the King's Prerogative Royal or the Arch-bishop's Injunctions which must be obeyed as Articles of the Church of England The Thunder of them was not restrained within the Bounds of England but terrified almost all Scotland who were bitter Enemies to Arminianism At this time of day the Court-Bishops disclaimed all Jurisdiction from the King in Bastwick's Censure who was to pay 1000 l. Fine to be excommunicated debarr'd of his Practice of Physick his Books to be burnt and his Person imprisoned till he made a Reclamation and all this for maintaining the King's Prerogative against the Papacy See Whitlock's Memoirs The Bounds of England were too narrow to restrain this Man's Ambition and therefore before he had been two Months Arch-bishop viz. the 8th of October 1633. he advised the King 〈◊〉 make a Reformation in the Church of Scotland not by Confeâ—â— in Parliament but by his Prerogative Royal the Beginning 〈◊〉 this Reformation must begin at the King's Chappel Royal wheâ— the English Service the Surplice and the receiving the Sacramentâ— is enjoined and that the Lords of the Privy Council the Lord of the Sessions and the Advocate Clerks Writers to the Privâ— Signet and Members of the College of Justice be commandeâ— to receive the Sacrament once every Year in the said Chappeâ— and the Dean to report to the King who does or who does 〈◊〉 obey and the Arch-bishop had a Warrant from the King to 〈◊〉 Correspondence with the Bishop of Dunblane and to communicate to him his Majesty's farther Pleasure herein And so we leave the Affairs of the Church here for a while and see how Affairs stood in the State since the Dissolution of the last Parliament In the last Parliament among many famous Members Sir Thomas Wentworth and Mr. Noy excelled Sir Thomas for his admired Parts and natural and easy Elocution Noy as a most profound Lawyer both zealous Patriots for the Rights and Liberties of the Subject And upon the 12th of February 1628. when the Debates for granting Tunnage and Poundage to the King was in the House of Commons Mr. Noy argued We cannot safely give unless we be in Possession and the Proceedings in the Exchequer be nullified as also the Information in the Star-Chamber and the Annexion to the Petition of Right for it will not be a Gift but a Confirmation neither will I give without the Removal of these Interruptions and a Declaration in the Bill that the King has no Right but by our free Gift if it will not be accepted as it is fit for us to give we cannot help it if it be the King 's already we do not give it So that these two must be reckoned among those Vipers which the King declared at the Dissolution of the Parliament and must look for their Reward of Punishment The Reward of Punishment which these two Vipers had was that Sir Thomas Wentworth was made Lord President of the North and Mr. Noy Attorney General Sir Thomas strained the Jurisdiction so high that it proved the Ruin of the Court and the Rise of the Fame of Mr. Edward Hâ—de after Chancellour of England for the Speech he made in 1641 against the Abuses committed in it whilst Sir Thomas was President and Noy now he is become Attorney is become the most intimate Confident of the Arch-bishop and as forward in Informations in the Star-Chamber High Commission and Council-Table as Sir Robert Heath was who is made Chief Justice in the Common Pleas to make room for Noy to be Attorney General But while the King was erecting this new Principality over his Subjects which none of his Ancestors or Predecessors before his Father and himself ever pretended to in England it 's fit to look a little abroad and see how the Case stood there The Dutch the next Year after that his Father had given up the Cautionary Towns which Queen Elizabeth kept and delivered up to him by her Death well knowing the Poverty of King James and the ill Terms between the King and his Subjects took the Boldness to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland with their Busses and other Vessels guarded by Men of War in Defiance of him and now Grotius no doubt set on work by some of his Country-men perceiving how intent King Charles was in erecting his new Dominion over his Subjects that he became careless of all his Foreign Affairs took the Impudence to
so grave an Author as the Bishop of Litchfield had not reported it in the Bishop of Lincoln's Life See the second Part fol. 138. The Writs for Ship-Money are now issued out the Proceedings against the Officers for not collecting the Assessments as Constables Bayliffs and other Officers were to bind them over to answer at the Council-board and Commitment if any refused to give Bond but if Sheriffs neglect to collect all such Assessments in their Year they shall stand charged with the Arrears Thus things at present stood but the breaking the Bounds of the Forests was but in Embrio yet in a hopeful Production Thus things stood in the State about the end of the Year 1634. In the Church the Arch-Bishop had the sole Supremacy not only in England but in Scotland having got a Warrant from the King to hold Correspondence with the Bishops and also in Ireland being chosen Chancellor of the University of Dublin and having got Sir Thomas Wentworth to be Lieutenant of Ireland who was now as much his intimate Confident as Noy was before In England the Arch-bishop's Injunctions for wearing the Surplice receiving the Sacrament kneeling and placing the Communion-Table Altar-ways and railing it about c. were vehemently prosecuted with the opprobrious Names of Puritan and Schismatick fixed upon Nonconformists with Deprivations and Censures upon Lecturers and Chaplains who refused to come up to them if they did they must forsake their Patrons Patronesses and Flocks who provided them Bread so that they contended pro Aris Focis and otherways no Provision was made for them On the contrary they retorted on the Bishops and promoted Clergy with bitter Terms of Popishly affected and Rags of Superstition and Idolatry so that the Contentions all over the Kingdom were as fierce as in the Universities But it had been happy for this Nation if the Effects of these Contentions had been terminated in the Bounds of it For the Arch-bishop in his Metropolitan Visitation this Year 1634 summoned the Ministers of the Dutch and French Churches to appear before his Vicar-General where all the Natives viz. born in England were enjoined to repair to their several Parish-Churches to hear Divine Service and Sermons and perform all Duties and Payments required in that behalf The Descendants of those Walloons persecuted by Alva and of the French by Henry II. of France had for near ninety Years been allowed their several Congregations by Queen Elizabeth King James I and had the Royal Word of King Charles for enjoying of them But now at once they must be turn'd out of them When these Injunctions were to be put in Execution at Norwich the Dutch and French Congregations petitioned Dr. Matthew Wren that these Injunctions might not be imposed upon them but finding no Relief appealed to the Arch-bishop who return'd a sharp Answer that unless they would submit he would proceed against them according to the Laws and Canons Ecclesiastical Here take notice that as the Spanish Trade was the most enriching Trade to this Nation so the Trade to Hamburg and the Countries and Kingdoms within the Sound with our Woollen Mafactures was the best the English had for Employment of People Shipping and Navigation The Company which traded into the Sound was called the East-Country Company and Queen Elizabeth and after her King James to honour them called it the Royal Company This Trade the English enjoyed time out of mind and the Cloths which supplied it were principally made in Suffolk and Yorkshire And Ipswich as it was the finest Town in England and had the Noblest Harbour on the East and most convenient for the Trade of the Northern and Eastern Parts of the World so till this time it was in as flourishing a State as any other in England The Bishop of Norwich straining these Injunctions to the utmost frighted thousands of Families out of Norfolk and Suffolk into New-England and about 140 Families of the Workers of those Woollen Manufactures wherewith Hamburg and the Countries within the Sound were supplied went into Holland where the Dutch as wise as Queen Elizabeth was in entertaining the Walloons persecuted by the Duke of Alva established these English Excise-free and House-Rent free for seven Years and from these the Dutch became instructed in working these Manufactures which before they knew not The Consequence whereof shall be shewn hereafter But the Care of the Arch-bishop for Reformation of the Church of Scotland was not less than for that of England and to that end got the King to sign a Common-Prayer Book for the Use of the Church of Scotland and gave order to the Bishops there to compile certain Canons for the Government of the Church and there to be imposed by Regal and Episcopal Authority and to this end Laud held Correspondence with the Arch-bishop of Saint Andrews and other Bishops of Scotland Whilst these things were brewing in England and Scotland you need not fear Ireland now Sir Thomas Wentworth was Lieutenant there a most dreadful War overspread Germany and Philip the 4th a weak lascivious Prince reigned in Spain so as Richlieu had a fair Opportunity to subdue Monsieur the King's Brother and overthrow the Forces raised by the Duke of Momerancy to assist Monsieur wherein the Duke was unhappily taken Prisoner and had his Head cut off being a young Prince of greatest Hope the most antient of the French Nobility and the last of his Line But the Cardinal did not rest here but built more and better Men of War than had been before in France and Spain shall first find the Force of them in return of their Kindness in joining their Fleet with the French in relieving St. Martins in the Isle of Rhee besieged by the English And this Year 1634 Richlieu trickt Charles Duke of Lorain out of his Dutchy and the next the King of France proclaims open War against Spain by Sea and Land and in 1638 ten Years after the Spaniards joining with the French against the English the French besieged Fontaraby by Land which the Spaniards intending to relieve by Sea the Spanish Fleet is encountred by the French and beaten the French took eleven great Ships whereof six of them were richly laden for the Indies and burnt two Gallions upon the Stocks and six others entirely finished In the Ships taken besides their Equippage and other Ammunition of War the French took an incredible Number of Cannons 100 whereof were Brass with the Arms of the House of Austria upon them Afterward the French and Spanish Fleet fight in the Mediterranean Sea where the Spaniard is again beaten by the French and by Land the French take from the Spaniard Landrecy Beaumont and de la Valette in the Spanish Netherlands Perpignan the Key of Spain on the Foot of the Pyrenean Hills in the Country of Rousillion and Barcelona a good Port and the capital City of Catalonia In England this Year 1635 there was great Contrivance between the Arch-bishop Laud and Bishops of Scotland
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
King James and all the Houshold and afterward King Charles in 1633 being crowned at Edinburgh where the Form ordained by the King was observed and the King swore to observe the Reformation as it then stood But some Alterations were made by King James in 1610 and by the five Articles of Perth in favour of the Bishops and more conformable to the Church of England King James who loved the Presbyterians in Scotland no better than the Puritans in England Anno 1610 called a General Assembly at Glascow wherein these Conclusions were enacted 1. That the Indictions of General Assemblies belong to the King by the Prerogative of his Crown 2. That Synods be kept twice in the Year to be moderated by the Arch-bishop and Bishop of the Diocess 3. That no Excommunication or Absolution be pronounced without the Knowledg and Approbation of the Bishop of the Diocess 4. That the Presentation of Benefices for the time to come by Death or Lapses be directed to the Arch-bishop or Bishop of the Diocess 5. That in Deposition of the Ministers the Bishop do associate himself with some of the Ministers within the Diocess 6. That every Minister at his Admission do swear Obedience to his Majesty and his Ordinary 7. That the Visitation of the Diocess be made by the Bishop himself but if the Diocess be too great by such a worthy Minister of the Diocess as the Bishop shall appoint 8. That no Convention of Ministers be moderated by the Bishop or a Minister named by him No Minister to speak against any of these Conclusions This Year also King James not well pleased with Presbyterian Ordination caused the Arch-bishop of Glascow the Bishops of Brichen and Galloway to be re-ordained in England by the Bishops of London Ely and Bath and also erected a High Commission in Scotland for ordering Ecclesiastical Affairs which you may read in Spotswood's History of the Church and all these were ratified by the Parliament holden at Edinburgh 1612. But King James did not stay here but propounded to have these five Articles to be passed the General Assembly in Scotland 1. That the Sacrament be received Kneeling 2. That the Sacrament be not denied Dying Persons desiring the same 3. That Baptism be not deferred longer than till next Sunday after Birth unless there be reasonable Cause to the contrary 4. That apposite Sermons be made upon the days of Christ's Birth Passion Resurrection Ascension and sending the Holy Ghost 5. That the Minister in every Parish catechize Children so as to be qualified to be confirmed by the Bishop in his Visitation These five Articles with some Difficulties passed the General Assembly at Perth 1618 which were agreed to by a Parliament convened at Edinburg 1621. Thus the Church stood in Scotland when the Arch-bishop Laud would make it conformable in all Points to that he was now establishing in England The first Step he moved herein was by preferring the Bishops in Scotland in almost all Preferments before the Nobility so that of thirteen nine were Privy-Counsellors and Spotswood Arch-bishop of St. Andrews was Chancellor and others were of the Exchequer and Maxwell Bishop of Ross contended with the Earl of Traquair to be Lord-Treasurer and were Sticklers to have Tithes and Impropriations and the Abbots Lands to be restored to the Church and the Weekly Meetings of the Ministers are termed Conventicles by the Bishops Tho the Doctrine of the Church of Scotland were Calvinism yet all Countenance and Encouragement by the Bishops were given to the Professors of the Arminian Tenets So that the Brawls and Contentions about them were as high in the University of St. Andrews as in Cambridg and Oxford There had not been one General Assembly since that of Perth 1618 when in 1637 the Common-Prayer Canons and High-Commission were imposed by the King 's and Bishop's Authority and besides the High-Commission the Bishops had Warrants from the King to grant Commissions in their several Diocesses to name Assessors Ministers and Gentlemen which might punish Offenders And tho the Common-Prayer mutatis mutandis was the same with the English yet in the Administration of the Sacrament the Form was the same in the Mass without the Exhortations in the English Common-Prayer The first Trial how passable they would be was upon Easter-day the Service was read at Edinburgh when no Tumult followed but when it was next read the 23d of July following all the City was in an Uproar and the next day the Lords of the Council issued out a Proclamation to discharge the Tumults of the People upon pain of Death yet divers Ministers at Edinburgh opposed the reading of the Common-Prayer and petitioned the Council against it Harvest coming on all things seemed quiet but at the end of it Edinburgh swelled with all sorts of People the Council fearing whereto this Concourse would tend by three Proclamations commanded all sorts of People not Inhabitants or not having Business to depart upon Penalty of Horning and Rebellion Instead of Obedience the Women and Children petition the Council against the Common-Prayer-Book and soon after the Noblemen Barons Ministers Burgesses and Commons which were sent to the King who commanded the Privy-Council to signify his Majesty's Aversness to Popery and Superstition In this Confusion the Earl of Traquair Treasurer and Roxborough Privy-Seal go to the King for Instructions how to proceed their Instructions were to remove the Session or Term to Sterling and by Proclamation to forbid all Persons coming to Sterling unless they declare the cause to the Council and procure a Warrant for the same upon Penalty of High-Treason This Proclamation was encountred by a Protestation of Noblemen Barons Ministers and Burgers at Edinburgh against the Roman Idolatry and Superstition the Common-Prayer-Book Canons and High-Commission And they enter into a solemn Covenant to maintain the Confession of Faith subscribed by the King's Father and his Houshold 1580 and after by all Ranks of People 1581 to which they swear a mutual Defence of one another against all Opposers and to this purpose they erected Tables or Persons to take Subscriptions of all sorts of People Traquair could not stem the Tide and so acquainted the King herewith who sends the Marquess Hamilton his Commissioner with Instructions one way or other to compose these Disorders When he came into Scotland he first demanded of the Covenanters what they required of the King for accommodating their Grievances Secondly What might be expected from them for returning to their former Obedience especially renouncing their Covenant But nothing would content them but a General Assembly and free Parliament they forbid him the use of the Common-Prayer in the King's Chappel and admonish him and the Council to subscribe their Covenant These Proceedings running so high the Marquess durst not pursue his Instructions being sure they would be affronted The Marquess gives the King an account of these things and desires further Instructions which were to gain time till the King could get a
Fleet and an Army in readiness to compel the Covenanters to Obedience but not to consent to the calling of a Parliament or General Assembly till the Covenant be given up that now his Crown and Reputation for ever lies at stake that he had rather suffer the first which time would help than the last which is irreparable that the Explanation of the damnable Covenant makes him to have no more Power than a Duke of Venice which he will rather die than submit to Yet without dying he did submit to the Revocation of the Service-Book Canons High-Commission and the Articles of Perth forsakes the Bishops and by a Proclamation Sept. 22 1638 commands the Covenant to be subscribed by the Privy-Council and all his Scotish Subjects but this would not content the Covenanters because it came not from a General Assembly and because the Band of mutual Defence was not in the Proclamation Having gone thus far there was no going back and the King's Army and Navy was not yet ready the King therefore indicts a General Assembly to be held the 21st of November 1638 at Glasgow and a Parliament to meet at Edinburgh the 15th of May following The General Assembly met accordingly but the Marquess and the Assembly were at Variance about the Elections and Votes of the Lay-Elders and the Bishops sitting in the Assembly and the Votes of the King's Assessors in it But what the Marquess would have the Covenanters would not whereupon the Marquess on the 28th dissolves the Assembly upon Penalty of High-Treason The Covenanters and General Assembly protest against this Dissolution and sit notwithstanding yet profess all Duty and Obedience to the King in its due Line and Course which in plain English is They 'll do what they will and if the King will do what they would have him they will be obedient Subjects And in this Session they depose and excommunicate all the Bishops of Scotland To this State within less than two Years has his Grace of Canterbury brought the Church of Scotland and a terrible Cloud hangs over that of England whereby his Grace will have the Glory of becoming a Martyr in it Weston Earl of Portland died in the Year 1634 and Dr. Juxton Bishop of London was made Lord-Treasurer by whose prudent Management it 's said that in less than five Years he had lodged 900000 l. in the Exchequer and now the King had raised an Army of about 20000 Horse and Foot made the Earl of Arundel General Lord Viscount Wentworth Lieutenant-General and Earl of Holland General of the Horse and had fitted up a Navy with 5000 Land-Men commanded by Marquess Hamilton to compel the Scots to their Obedience and marches at the Head of this Army himself It was time for the Scots were up in Arms too had seized the Regalia at Dalkeith and brought them to Edinburgh taken Dumbarton and routed the Scots who took the King's part at Aberdeen which they likewise took This King 's good Nature never more appeared than in his Necessities so that when he came to York by Proclamation he recall'd 31 Monopolies and Patents formerly granted by him he not before understanding how grievous they were to his Subjects The Scots that the English might have no Jealousy of an Invasion had resolved not to come within ten Miles of the Borders with their Army When the King came to Berwick the Earl of Holland made two vain and inconsiderate Incursions into Scotland and upon the Approach of the Scots retreated and these were the only Actions of this War by the English Upon the Retreat of the Earl the English Army was contemned by the Scots who advanced to the Borders and pitched their Tents in sight of the English before any notice was given of their Motion this raised a Murmur all over the English Army where Provisions were not only scant but their Bread and Biscake mouldy nor was there any prospect of a further Supply However the Scots propose a Treaty of Accommodation which the King's Necessities compell'd him to submit to which being made the Terms you may read in Rushworth's and Franklin's Collections the King disbands his Army and withdraws his Navy this was all the Scots cared for for the Treaty being upon equivocal Terms the Scots were resolved to make their own Interpretation and stand by it and to that purpose hold Correspondence with the French King and stile him Au Roy and also with the discontented in England and buy Arms and Ammunition at Bremen and Hamburg To forment these Jealousies and propagate the Popish Interest Cardinal Richlieu employs one Chamboy or Chamberlain in Scotland and Con or Cunaeus his own Chaplain in England whose chief Confidents were the Earl of Arundel General of the King's Army and his Countess Sir Francis Windebank Principal Secretary of State Sir Toby Mathews Endymion Porter English and one Read and Maxwel Scots See this at large in Rushworth's Collections fol. 1318 1319 1320 1321 to 1326. This Year my Lord-Keeper Coventry died and Sir John Finch Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas was made Lord-keeper of the Great Seal no doubt for promoting the Legality of Ship-money and enlarging the Bounds of the Forests The Cloud rising so thick in the North presaged a Storm which to dissipate the King summons a Parliament to meet the 23d of April 1640. the Arch-bishop and the Earl of Strafford giving out according to the Advice which Sir Robert Cotton gave the Duke of Buckingham that they were the first Movers of it At the opening of this Parliament the King lays before them his Necessities for Money in the first place as he had done in all the three Parliaments before and that Delay was all one with a Denial and communicates to them the Covenanters Letter to the French King imploring his Assistance But the House of Commons having found the Effects of giving Money before Grievances were redrest both in the 18th of his Father's Reign and in the first of his began at Grievances now multiplied by the Additions of Ship-Money breaking the Bounds of the Forests and Monopolies multiplied without end the Arbitrary Power of the Star-Chamber and High-Commission against those who opposed the Proceedings of the Innovations brought into the Church and the Imprisonment and unheard-of Censures of their Members for their Proceedings in the House last Parliament so that instead of enjoying any Benefit by the Petition of Right the Church and State was in a manifold worse State than before they had now found by Experience that no Laws or Judgments in Parliament could bind the King's Prerogative but that he would act quite contrary as in the Cases of Mountague and Manwaring c. and how could the Parliament rely upon his Royal Word which he would upon all occasions give when they found no Assurance in any Law nor so many Declarations of his observing them However the Commons upon the 2d of May resolved to take care of supplying the King upon the 4th when Sir Henry Vane
told them that the King of his Grace and Favour upon their granting 12 Subsidies to be paid in three Years would forbear levying Ship-Money and abolish it and for their Grievances they should rely upon his Royal Promise and give as much time now as may be and after at Michaelmas next and that the King expected a positive Answer Hereupon the House was turned into a grand Committee and spent the whole Day upon the Message but came to no Resolution and desired Sir Henry Vane to acquaint the King that the House would next day proceed upon the King's Supply But next Morning early Secretary Windebank in actual Correspondence and Conspiracy with Richlieu's Chaplain for subverting our Religion and introducing Popery commanded the Speaker to Whitehall and the same Day the King dissolved the Parliament and the next Day the Lord Brook's Study Cabinet and Pockets were searched for Papers and Mr. Bellasis and Sir John Hotham were convened before the Council to answer concerning Passages in Parliament and giving no satisfactory Answer were committed Prisoners to the Fleet till further Order from the King and Council and Mr. Crew was committed close Prisoner to the Tower till further Order from the Council and no Cause shewed in either of these Warrants The greatest Objection against Hereditary Monarchy is that Princes Ears are always open to Minions Flatterers and Sycophants whereby they rarely understand the state of their own Affairs or of their Subjects To attemper this the Wisdom of our Constitution ordains That Parliaments be frequently held to represent to the King the state of the Nation and so to inform him of Grievances that they may be redressed And so inviolably has this mutual Correspondence between the King and Parliament been observed in all Ages that I do not believe any King or Queen of England and of the English Race since Henry 3. ever dissolved one Parliament in Displeasure before King James whereas of eight Parliaments these two Kings of the Scotish Race dissolved seven in Displeasure Yet never did Parliaments in any Reign demean themselves more chearfully to any King than to these two and I challenge any one to shew that in any one respect they intrenched upon any just Prerogative of either of these Kings or did any Act not warranted by former Precedents It 's true Queen Elizabeth would not endure to have the Parliament to meddle with the state of the Church as 't was established nor hear of declaring a Successor and when either of these were moved contrary to her express Order she would commit the Members but easily dismiss them otherwise I believe in no Age any Member of Parliament was ever committed or censured by any King of England before King James for debating or reasoning of the state of the Nation or Church In the 20th of Edward 3. John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevil were accused in Parliament for misadvising the King and were sent to the Tower for it and Henry 4. Rot. Parl. 5. upon the Complaint of the Commons against four of his Servants and Counsellors that they might be removed declared openly That tho he knew nothing against them in particular yet he was assured that what the Lords and Commons required of him was for the Good of himself and Kingdom and therefore he banish'd them and at the same time declared he would do so by any other who should be near his Royal Person if they were so unhappy as to fall under the Hatred of his People Whereas this King tho the Duke of Buckingham were accused of more Crimes in Parliament than is recorded of Pierce Gaveston and the Spencers in 2d's time and of the Duke of Ireland Tresilian and Belknap in 2d's time and of the Death of this King's Father to boot yet rather than the Duke shall be brought to Trial the King dissolves the second Parliament of his Reign And in his Declaration for dissolving the three Parliaments calls the questioning his Ministers an Invasion upon his Prerogative and that through them they endeavoured to wound their Soveraign's Honour and Government Since the Statute De Tallagio non Concedendo in the Reign of Edward the I I think no mention has been made that ever any King of England taxed the Subject before this King and his Father except Edward the IV by Benevolence for which his Memory is bitterly stained in the Parliament-Roll of the second Chapter of Richard the III tho it be not in the printed Statutes and by a Loan demanded in the Reign of Henry the VIII by Cardinal Wolsey the raising of which had near raised a Rebellion which when it came to the King's Ear he laid the Blame upon the Cardinal and said he would not rend his Subjects from the Law and forbid further proceeding in it Arch-bishop Abbot excepts against his Licensing Sybthorp's Sermons for that the King 's taxing Loans by his own Authority was neither by the Laws nor Customs of England the King in his Answer says He did not stand upon the Laws and Customs of England for he had a Precedent for it and would insist upon it The Arch-bishop replied He thought it was a Mistake and feared there was no such Precedent and that Henry the VIII desired but the sixth part of Mens Estates but the King required the full six Parts so much as the Men are set at in the Subsidy-Book And when the Commons in the third Year of his Reign made a Remonstrance against the King's taking Tunnage and Poundage not granted by Parliament the King calls this a detracting from their Soveraign and commands all who have or shall have any Copies of it to burn them upon Pain of his Indignation and high Displeasure The King for Causes of dissolving this Parliament the last he shall ever dissolve begins with the usual Stile That he well knows that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to his Imperial Crown of which he is not bound to give any Account but to God alone no more than of his other Regal Actions But quid gloriaris Did ever any King of England say this before his Father and himself Or in what common-Law or Acts of Parliament is this to be found Or if he had such Power Why does the King so often boast of it Sure it had been better done by another than himself Is this a time of day when this Prince had lost all his Honour abroad to magnify himself that he has Power to dissolve Parliaments at home and thereby obstruct those Ways by which he might unite himself to his Subjects and then glory that he is only accountable to God for all his Actions Nebuchadnezzar's Boast Is not this the Babel which I have built was but a Bauble to this He said this but once and God sent him seven Years among Wild Beasts and he saw his Pride and he repented This King upon all Occasions makes his Boasts but I do not
Northumberland side by force of them passed the Tine and killed and took 300 English Prisoners and after took New-Castle and seized four great Ships of the English laden with Corn and imposed a Tax of 350 l. a day upon the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. a day upon the County of Northumberland upon pain of Plundering and the Scots committed many Injuries and Insolencies upon the English where the Scots quartered as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 34 35. Thus was the state of things altered Mr. May says pag. 34. it should be pag. 18. And that War which was intended for an Enslavement of both the Nations truly said but untruly intended became the Bond of Concord between them God defend the Nation for time to come of such Concord or such Causes of it The Parliament Mr. May says began with Matters of Religion divers Ministers who had been of good Lives and Conversations conscientious in their ways and diligent in their Preaching and had by the Bishops and those in Authority been motested and imprisoned for not conforming to some Ceremonies which were imposed on them were now by the Parliament relieved and recompensed for their Suffering and others who had been scandalous either for loose wicked living or else Offenders in way of Superstition both which to discountenance the Puritans had been frequently preferred were censured and removed Here Mr. May is right but yet partial in that he does not tell how that the Orthodox Clergy as the Bishops of Lincoln Williams Dr. Hall of Norwich Dr. Prideaux of Worcester Dr. Brownrig of Exeter Dr. Morton of Durham c. and all the Orthodox Anti-Arminian Heads of both Universities and also Dr. Saunderson Dr. Featly and many others underwent the same Fate with those Ministers which Mr. May speaks of Pag. 38. which should have been 24. Mr. May says That the Parliament ordered that the Scots should be recompensed for all their Charges and Loss by that mischievous War which the King had raised against them Here Mr. May is not only partial and unsincere but the contrary hereof is true for the Scots in the former War took up Arms and seized the Regalia at Sterlin took Towns in Scotland and other ways committed Acts of Hostility before the King raised Arms to suppress them as is before and so they did in this latter raise Arms in Scotland before they invaded England before the King raised any Army See Whitlock's Mem. fol. 276. Where Mr. May had this unless framed by himself I cannot tell but Sir Richard Baker recites the Demand at large and the Commons Answer to them And this Mr. May speaks of is the sixth Demand Wherein they desire from the Justice and Kindness of the Kingdom of England Reparations concerning the Losses which the Kingdom of Scotland hath sustained and the vast Charges they have been put unto by occasion of the late Troubles To which the Commons answer That the House thinks fit that a Friendly Assistance and Relief shall be given towards the Supply of the Loss of the Scots and that the Parliament did declare that they did conceive that the Sum of 300000 l. is a fit Proportion for their Friendly Assistance and Relief formerly thought fit to be given towards the Supply of the Loss and Necessities of their Brethren of Scotland and that the Houses would in due time take into Consideration the Manner how and when the same shall be raised Now let any Man shew out of Mr. May where that mischievous War which the King had raised against them is to be found If Mr. May had been a faithful Historian he should have made Truth and not the Distempers of a distracted Time nor the Clamours of his prejudic'd Brain to have been the Measures of his Story He should have set forth how like Pedlars they treated the English in their Particulars in their 8th Demand of 514128 l. 9 s. besides the Loss of their Nation to 440000 l. Yet they did not give in that Account with an Intent to demand a total Reparation of all their Charges and Losses but were content good Men in some measure to bear a Remnant Mr. May should have set forth how perfidiously the Scots dealt with the English Nation when in their Remonstrance at their first coming in they professed that they would take nothing of the English but for Money or Security whereas they plundered and taxed Northumberland New-Castle and the Bishoprick of Durham so that those Places could not recover their Losses in 20 Years as Sir Benjamin Rudyard in open Parliament charged them and that the English formerly established the Scots Reformation at their own bare Charges whereas the Scots presumed to require a greater Sum than was ever given the King Which you may read more at large in Sir Rich. Baker fol. 417. These are the Parliament's Brethren for whose Brotherly Assistance they voted 300000 l. towards a Supply of the Losses and Necessities note that of our Brethren of Scotland and that the Parliament would in due time take into Consideration the Manner of raising and Days of Payment and in the mean time leave New-Castle Northumberland and Durham a Prey to these devouring Scots But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake this Fraternity and that by no visible Power at present but what shall arise from among themselves I could add many more Particulars of Mr. May's Partiality and Insincerity but this already said is sufficient And now it 's time to enquire whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War and who first designed it tho the Distemper of the Times was so distracted and variable that it 's hard to judg of Intentions by Actions The Royalists excuse the King from any Intention of a Civil War in England in that he protected no Man from the Justice of the Parliament and that he had put away all those which the Parliament called Evil Counsellors both in Church and State having made Mr. St. John his Attorney and Mr. Holborn his Solicitor both which were his Antagonists in imposing Ship-Money and upon his going into Scotland made the Earl of Essex Chamberlain and General of his Forces on this side Trent and in the Church reversed all the Proceedings in the Star-Chamber against the Bishop of Lincoln and preferred Dr. Hall from Exeter to the Bishoprick of Norwich and made Dr. Brownrig Bishop of Exeter and Dr. Prideaux Bishop of Worcester who were the most Learned of the Church of England and most opposite to the Arminian Tenets and of most exemplary Life and Piety and before his going into Scotland passed all Bills presented to him by the Houses even that of not dissolving the Parliament without their Consent which he would never have done if he had had any Intention of raising a War against them or a Civil War in England Mr. May p. 43. it should be p. 25. tells us of a twofold Treason against the Parliament if you 'll take his word and that the
ensue upon such tumultuous Concourse of Men. And why was not this a reasonable Excuse for the King to leave the Parliament and City when they countenanced these Tumults and the King had not Power to suppress them Mr. May goes on and says Vpon this ground twelve Bishops at that time absenting themselves entred a Protestation against all Laws Votes and Orders as Null which in their Absence should pass by reason they durst not for fear of their Lives come to perform their Duties in the House having been rudely menaced and assaulted And why might not the Bishops enter such Protestation for if it be a Maxim in all Assemblies that Plus valet contemptus unius quam consensus omnium then does the Contempt and Affront of a whole Order of Men who have a Right of Suffrage much more render the Actions of the rest invalid However Mr. May goes on and says Whereupon it was agreed by both Lords and Commons that this Protestation of the Bishops was of dangerous Consequence and deeply entrenched upon the Privilege and Being of Parliaments they were therefore accused of High-Treason apprehended and committed Prisoners to the Tower And I say a time shall come when in Parliament these Men who run thus high against the Bishops and established Church of England shall be prosecuted by a contrary Extream and the Church by Law exalted higher than it was before Mr. May goes on and says Thus was the Parliament daily troubled with ill Work whereby the Relief of Ireland was hindred If they were thus troubled they may thank themselves for beginning these Troubles as well by the Commons Remonstrance against the King and Lords as by their countenancing the Tumults By this time things were so envenom'd as would admit of no Lenitives especially by the Commons and the King went from London to Hampton-Court and sent a Message to the Parliament and advises them To digest into one Body all the Grievances of the Kingdom and send them to him promising his favourable Assent to those Means which should be found most effectual for Redress wherein he would not only equal but excel the most indulgent Princes The Parliament thank'd him but nothing but having the Militia at their Disposal would secure their Fears and Jealousies This was as new in England as the perpetuating the sitting of the Parliament and if the King should grant it it would be a total Subversion of the Monarchy For the Parliament being perpetual and having the Power of the Militia the Government must be either a Commonwealth or an Oligarchy and the King insignificant in it yet have it the Parliament would notwithstanding other Grievances and the deplorable State of Ireland And therefore upon the 26th of February they tell the King plainly That the settling the Business of the Militia will admit no more Delay and if his Majesty shall still refuse to agree with his two Houses of Parliament in that Business and shall not be pleased upon their humble Advice to do what they desire therein that then for the Safety of his Majesty of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent future Fears and Jealousies they shall be constrained of themselves without his Majesty to settle that necessary Business of the Militia See Whit. M. f. 54. a. Here 't is observable That as the King feigned a Necessity to raise Ship-money for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general when the whole Kingdom is in danger the Judges gave their Opinion That the King may by his Writ under the Broad Seal of England command all his Subjects of this Kingdom to provide and furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as the King shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger and that by Law the King may compel the doing thereof in Case of Refusal and Refractoriness and that in such Case the King is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same may be prevented and avoided So now the Parliament pretending a Necessity for the Safety of the King and of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof will tear the Militia from him In this State things could not stand long at a Stay Mr. May p. 47. will have the Queen 's going into Holland with her Daughter and carrying with her the Crown-Jewels of England and pawning them there whereby she bought Arms for the War which ensued that it was then designed by the King against the Parliament but if Mr. May had been sincere he should have told too as Mr. Whitlock does f. 59. a. how the Parliament took 100000 l. of the 400000 l. they voted to be raised for Ireland and whether this was not for the War which ensued in England Mr. May p. 48. recites three Votes of Parliament 1. That the King's Absence so far remote being then at York from his Parliament is not only an Obstruction but may be a Destruction to the Affairs in Ireland 2. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall declare what the Law of the Land is to have this not only questioned and controverted but contradicted and a Command that it should not be obeyed is a high Breach of the Privilege of Parliament 3. That they who advised the King to absent himself from the Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourites of the Rebellion in Ireland But Mr. May should have added that it is not the King's Presence in London or any other Place but his assenting to Bills presented to him which he may do by Commission as well as Personally that enacts them into Laws and that the King after he went from London passed the Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament and that no Clergy-Man should exercise any Temporal Jurisdiction which the King did with remorse enough and only to humour and appease the Temporal Lords and Commons in Parliament and the Bishops in Parliament are one of the 3 States of England The King moreover in his Absence upon a Motion by the Parliament put Sir John Byron from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir John Conniers to succeed him and refers the Consideration of the Government and Liturgy of the Church wholly to the two Houses see Whitlock's M. f. 53. b. But nothing less than the King 's parting with the Militia would satisfy the Parliament which the King would not part from so now it 's left fair for indifferent Men to judg whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War And to proceed to set forth who began it I have said in the first Page of this King's Reign or p. 153 That the first Fifteen Years of it were perfectly French and such as were never before seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the Three
Presence of God That I will not violate or infringe the Matters and Things therein contained but to my Power observe the same and cause them to be observed and shall in all other things to the best of my Vnderstanding govern these Nations according to the Laws Statutes and Customs seeking their Peace and causing Justice and Law to be equally administred In the former Impression I followed Cromwel's Instrument of Government as it is set forth by Dr. Bates but finding this differ from Mr. Whitlock not only in the Number of the Articles but in the Substance of several of them I shall now follow Mr. Whitlock as being of better Authority tho not particularly recite them all being long but make Remarks upon several of them to shew how inconsistent this Instrument was with Cromwel's Oath and how he observ'd it in his future Actions Cromwel ' s Council was Philip Lord Viscount Lisle now Earl of Leicester Charles Fleetwood his Son-in-law John Lambert Sir Gilbert Pickering Sir Charles Woolsley Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper after Earl of Shaftsbury Edward Mountague after Earl of Sandwich John Desborow his Brother-in-law Walter Strickland Henry Lawrence William Sydenham Philip Jones Richard Major Francis Rouse and Philip Skipton Esquires The 5th Article is That the Protector with the Consent of the major part of the Council have Power of War and Peace How well he observed this in his Peace with the Dutch and French and War with Spain will appear afterward The 6th Article is That the Laws shall not be altered suspended or repealed nor any new Law made nor any Tax Charge or Imposition laid upon the People but by common Assent in Parliaments save only as is expressed in the 30th Article How does this Article agree with the 27th That a constant Revenue shall be raised for the maintaining 10000 Horse and 20000 Foot in England Scotland and Ireland and 200000 l. per Annum to himself beside the Crown-Lands or with the 38th Article To repeal all Laws Statutes and Ordinances contrary to the Liberty Cromwel grants to all tender Consciences as he calls them in the next preceding Articles where he excludes Popery and Prelacy Or how did Cromwel observe this Article when he imprisoned the Royalists which would not give Security for their Good Behaviour to him and whether they did or not took from them the tenth part of their Estates and put them to Death by his High Court of Justice as he call'd it The 8th Article is That Parliament after the first Day of their Meeting shall sit five Months and not in that time be Adjourned Prorogued or Dissolved without their Consent Yet he dissolved the next Parliament as he called them within five Months after their first sitting with their Consent and if they refus'd had his Janizaries in Westminster-hall and in the Court of Requests to have forced them as he did by the Rump this is true of my own Knowledg and declared what should be Treason See Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 563. b. The 34th Article is That the Chancellor Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal the Treasurer Admiral Chief Governours of Scotland and Ireland and the Chief Justices of both the Benches shall be chosen by the Approbation of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Approbation of the major part of the Council to be afterwards approved by Parliament I deny any of these Officers were ever chosen or approved by Parliament if any were it lies upon another to prove them to be so chosen or approved by Parliament Thus by manifold Perjuries deepest Dissimulation Hypocrisy and foul Ingratitude Cromwel waded through a Sea of Blood in England Scotland and Ireland and then deposed them who had raised him for which he had murdered thousands for but attempting to do what he had done He aspired to the Dominion of Britain and Ireland which the Rump had conquered to his hand and by Monk's Victories over the Dutch Holland lies at his Mercy so that as Cromwel was the most absolute Tyrant that ever raged in England so was he not less terrible to his neighbouring Nations And now he had it in his Power to do what he will let 's see how like a Beast he did what he did Of all our neighbouring Nations the Dutch and French were the most formidable to the English the Dutch being not only Competitors with the English in Trade but Contenders with them in the Dominion of the Seas and the French the most formidable and faithless by Land and of all Nations the English Trade to France was the worst being as much to the enriching France as the impoverishing England Spain neither a neighbouring Nation to England except some part of Flanders nor any ways formidable to England by Sea or Land yet of all others the English Trade with Spain was the most beneficial and enriching to the English Now let 's see how diametrically contrary to the English Interest Cromwel acted in every one of these After Cromwel had assumed the Protectorate Mr. Whitlock says he observed new and great State and all Ceremonies and Respects were paid to him by all sorts of Men as to their Prince and Stubbe says upon the 20th Notice was given to the Dutch Plenipotentiaries by Cromwel's Master of the Ceremonies of his being Protector and how ready he was to treat with them and how kind he would be to them but they must pay him the same Honour and Respect which was heretofore exhibited to the English Kings and in their Writings and Discourses give him the Title of Highness which was in Use before that of Majesty that they not being in the Quality of Ambassadors but Lords Deputies Plenipotentiaries must be uncovered in his Presence In this state Cromwel takes the Treaty of Peace out of the Council's Hands tho it ill agreed with his Oath to the Instrument of his Government and upon the 26th of December but ten Days after his assuming the Protectorate by his Secretary Thurloâ— brought the Dutch Plenipotentiaries a Writing wherein the Satisfaction of the 3d Article demanded by the Council was wholly omitted but the Claims of the East-India Merchants and others were to be compounded The 15th Article was changed so as that neither the Dominion of the Seas was mentioned nor their Ships to be searched but they were to strike the Flag and lower their Top-sail to any English Man of War within the British Seas with several other Concessions Now the Dutch Artifice after having made so many Protestations of agreeing with Cromwel upon better Terms than they would if he would dissolve the Rump and Barebone's Parliament appeared for notwithstanding Cromwel had omitted the Satisfaction demanded by the third Article and qualified the fifteenth yet looking upon Cromwel's state uncertain and that he stood in as much need of them as they of him without giving any Answer upon the 28th of December desired a Passport to depart Now Cromwel perceived how the Plenipotentiaries had deluded him
Charles II. is my most Religious and Gracious King If he be so how came you to know it And if you do not know it how came you so unfeignedly to assent and consent that he is so But tho to get your Living you tell the Congregation so when you do not know it I think it 's dreadful for you to tell God Almighty he is so if you be not very well assured he is so But you 'll soon see what Care this King took of the Church of England which took such Care for him Was God well pleased with these things You shall soon see unjust Wars and dishonourable Peace Such Judgments of Plague Fire and Invasion into our Ports as never before were heard of And tho God's Judgments were in the Land the People did not learn Righteousness but continued a divided and factious Nation and a People laden with Iniquity The Honour of the Nation not only lost abroad but a joining with a neighbouring Faithless Boundless and Ambitious Prince to the endangering the Subversion of the Religion Constitutions and Liberties of the English Nation Now let 's see what is doing in Scotland If a Man reads Buchanan's and Drummond's History of Scotland they will better judg of General Monk's prudent Government and Conduct in it for eight Years together For from the Contest between Bruce and Baliol for the Succession to the Crown of Scotland about the Year 1280 till James VI. came to the Crown of England I scarce find five Years Peace together in any of the Reigns between And if for some time the Scots were freed from open War yet scarce at any time were they freed from Feuds among the Nobility or the Nobility at Discord and Variance with their Kings After the Reformation of Religion in Scotland which began in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth by her assisting the Nobility with an Army by Land and a Fleet by Sea whereby the French sent by Henry the Second of France Father of Francis the Dauphin who had married Mary the Scotish Queen to subdue Scotland to a Conformity to the Romish Church were outed the Kirk of Scotland set up a Jurisdiction as independent from the Civil as the Romish was and held it up during the Reign of Mary and after they had expelled her and chosen her Son James King about fourteen Months old in the Regency of Murrey they got their Church-Discipline established by Act of Parliament This was in the Year 1567. The Kirk being possest of this Power during the Minority of King James and several of the Nobility having got a great share of the Crown-Lands of Scotland the King upon his Majority was so poor that he was not in a Condition to keep up the State of a King much less to curb the Insolence of the Kirk the Nobility who had got the Crown-Lands joining with them Tho Queen Elizabeth did not love the Kirk-Party yet was she content to have Scotland in this State for thereby she preserv'd the English Borders free from the Depredations which the Scots usually made upon them and therefore secretly countenanced both the King and Nobility who had got the Crown-Lands However ever she allowed the King a Pension yearly whereby she kept the King as well as Kirk and Nobility depending upon her In this State England and Scotland stood till the Death of Queen Elizabeth but it was ill timed of King Charles I. to grant Commissions to enquire into the Crown-Lands usurped in his Father's Minority and soon after to endeavour to set up Laud's Injunctions and High-Commission in Scotland which made the Nobility as well as Kirk so fierce in opposing them King Charles offended at the Proceedings of the Parliament of England in 1641 goes into Scotland and establishes the Kirk in all their Pretensions and disclaims all Title to the Crown-Lands usurped in his Father's Minority which no ways mollified either But next Year the Scots sent an Army under Lesley made an Earl by the King against him in Aid of the English Parliament But tho the Kirk and Nobility were thus insolent against their Kings they patiently submitted to Monk during his Government in Scotland except some few Disturbances made by General Middleton For neither Cromwel nor the Rump before him trusted to the Scotish Oaths or Solemn League and Covenant but after they had subdued them bridled them with Forts built upon the principal Passages of Scotland and disarm'd all the Nobility and Gentry and thereby kept them in Peace which King Charles by all the Condescensions he submitted to could not procure And hereto that the common sort of Scots lived in more Freedom under Monk than under their Lords and Lairds so that neither the Kirk or Nobility could form the Body of an Army against the English Before the King was restor'd the Army which would have kept him out was dissipated the Year before by Monk and after his Restoration was disbanded and so the English Nation was restored to its former Government But it was not so in Scotland for not only the Forts which bridled them but the Army which conquer'd them was still kept up Nor had the Scots any hopes of being freed from these Fetters but by an intire Submission to the King Upon the King's Restoration many Debates were in the Council in England about the calling a Parliament in Scotland and the demolishing the Forts for keeping the Scots in Subjection but neither were so easily determined for in all Scotland after Montross was butcher'd I do not find there was one of the Nobility except his Son which were not Popish or Presbyterian and the Presbyterian Party had been so rigid against the King when he was in Scotland and intolerable to his Father that above a Year past before any Resolution was taken in either Lauderdale as before said was taken Prisoner after the Fight at Worcester and from that time kept Prisoner in Windsor-Castle from whence he was set free upon the King's Restoration but became so poor that it 's said he could not meet the King for want 〈◊〉 Money to pay for a Pair of Boots This Imprisonment was doubly happy to him for during the Restraint of his Body he enlarged the Faculties of his Mind and being a Man of Parts improved them by Contemplation and Study wherein he met with more Helps than it may be he could have found in Scotland whereby he became of greater Abilitie◠to serve the King than could be found in any other of his Countrymen and being in England found better Opportunities to have them known to the King than any of his absent Country-men could In the late Wars between the King and Parliament he with Sir John Cheesley were ordered Commissioners by the Kirk-Faction to the Parliament in England for propagating the Presbyterian Government But this being most detestable at Court Lauderdale to raise himself set himself with all his Skill to oppose it and by it at first got to be made Principal Secretary
and that there lieth no Obligation upon me or any of the Subjects from the said Oaths or either of them to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either in Church or State as it is now established by the Laws of the Kingdom Thus you see the Parliament throw this upon the Son which his Father so zealously contended for even to the Loss of his Life and when they had done all they could the Son little cared for what they had done For the Year after viz. 1663 the King granted a Toleration and Indulgence to Dissenters from the Church Thinking Men thought this strange that the King should the Year before pass the Act of Vniformity as the best Means to secure the Church against Popery and Fanaticism and in this grant a Toleration It could not be in Favour of them termed Fanaticks who kept him from his Crown and last Year Venner with his Party would have expell'd him again And this Year Swarms of Pamphlets were spread abroad to defame his Person and Government For printing some of which Twyn the Printer was hanged Thinking Men considered too the time when this Indulgence was granted for as the King in the Sale of Dunkirk chose to do it in the Interval of the Sitting of the Parliament so he did grant this Indulgence I think in November when the Parliament was prorogued to February But tho the Parliament would take no notice of the Sale of Dunkirk they did of this and therefore the Commons upon their Meeting entred into a serious Debate about it and made an Address to the King humbly representing How it would reflect upon the Wisdom of the Parliament to have such an Alteration made so soon and that for ought they could foresee would end in Popery And sure the Commons were true Prophets herein However whether the King fearing the Continuance of the Indulgence might retard the Commons in giving him Money or that time was not yet ripe enough to insist upon it at present he recalled his Declaration So that tho the King did establish a High Commission in Scotland by his Prerogative Inherent in his Crown which the Parliament agreed to in Scotland yet this Indulgence had not the like Effect in England This Indulgence may seem more strange if we look into Ireland where the Irish this very Year were contriving a Massacre of the Protestants and holding Intelligence with the French King which you may read at large in Plunket's Trial and this proved by Popish Witnesses I do not find the Irish had any Countenance herein by the King nor do I believe the French King acquainted his Brother of England with it Yet the Insincerity of the King's Intentions of any Benefit the Protestant Dissenters should have by this Indulgence will appear by this that when the Parliament seeing the Danger which the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters might bring upon the Nation had prepared Bills for the Ease of Protestant Dissenters the King would not pass them However the Memory of the Rage and Tyranny of the late Times took deeper Impression in the Parliament than the Fear of Popery intended by the King's Toleration and Indulgence and therefore the Parliament from new invented Swearing and new invented Declaring proceed to new invented Laws against Dissenters and Conventicles and the Act of the 16 Car. 2. c. 4. does declare the 35 of Eliz. c. 1. to stand in full Force and ought to be put in Execution and did also enact That if any Number above Five more than the Family shall meet in any Assembly or Conventicle upon Colour or Pretence of Religion in any other manner than is allowed by the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England he shall be committed Prisoner for the first Offence there to remain for a Term not exceeding three Months unless such Offender shall pay a Sum of Money not exceeding Five Pounds for the second Offence to be committed to Prison for a Term not exceeding Six Months or pay a Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds and for the third Offence to be transported beyond the Seas for the Space of seven Years unless he pay one hundred Pounds I will not dispute the Justice of these Laws but I say no Human Laws can divest Men of Human Nature but that Man as well as all other Creatures will endeavour by such Means as they are endued with to preserve their Being and Subsistence in this World And herein I again observe the unhappy State of this Nation in the Education of Youth in the Grammar-Schools and our Academical Learning as 't is called For tho a great Part of the Youth of England have Means to maintain them after they have lost their time of Youth under this unprofitable Breeding whereby they are no way instructed how to live and converse in this World yet double if not treble Numbers of Youth are thus bred who have little or no Means to maintain them after they become Men and more than can be maintained by the Revenues of the Church as they are established I say therefore this kind of Breeding Youth shall eternally create Feuds and a kind of Civil War between those who are in Church-Preferments and those excluded from them and these for their necessary Subsistence shall become Patrons of Factions opposite to the Church within the Kingdom and to the promoting the Popish Interest without In the late Times when the Presbyterians bare the Sway were there not enow of that Party to supply the Vacancies of the Sequestred Clergy besides such Swarms of the Patrons of Independency as were more numerous than they and who turned them out Yet was there a large Relick for to promote the Popish Faction Upon the Restoration of the King when the Sequestred Clergy were restored were there not Multitudes of such Clergy as would have conformed yet could not get any Preferment in the Church Thus excluded what other means had they to subsist but to become Nurseries of Factions which were opposite to the Church and tho these Laws were intended against Protestant Dissenters who had no other means of living but dissenting yet you shall soon hear of another Sort of Dissenters and these secretly countenanced by this most Religious and Gracious King which shall be much more dangerous to this Church and State than those against whom these Laws were made And I say the Vnreasonableness of Separation from the Communion of the Church of England will no more prevent this than Origines Sacrae by not only confounding but inverting all Rules and Methods of Reasoning prove a Deity or the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures thereby making them the Creatures of a Creature and the Production of a Fantastick Brain CHAP. II. A further Account of this Reign to the End of the Second Dutch War THe King being thus established in England and Scotland tho he was not so in Ireland this Year shews the Effects of his Power by making a War upon the Dutch and even this War
third of June following the English Fleet commanded by the Duke of York Prince Rupert Admiral of the White and the Earl of Sandwich of the Blue fought the Dutch off the Coast of Harwich where the Dutch were put to flight Opdam their Admiral was blown up and Cartinere Stillingwolf and Stamp Flag-Officers killed and eighteen of the Dutch Fleet sunk and taken and if it had not been for fear of disturbing the Duke in his next Night's Sleep it 's believed the whole Dutch Fleet might have been destroy'd But in this Fight the English lost the renowned Earl of Marlborough who tho Admiral in King Charles the First 's Reign died a private Captain in this Fight Rear-Admiral Sanson was killed in it and Vice-Admiral Lawson soon after died of his Wounds The Duke of York was of too estimable a Value to be ventur'd any more in this War for in his Person the Hopes of this War and Declaration of Indulgence resolved So the Earl of Sandwich was made Admiral Sir Thomas Allen of the White and Sir Thomas Tiddiman of the Blue Squadrons The Dutch were so damaged in the first Fight that they were not in a Condition to set out another Fleet this Year But the Dutch having lodged their East-India and other Fleets in Bergen in Norway the English Fleet sailed thither to attack them in it But Sir Thomas Tiddiman who was ordered to do it did not sail into the Harbour as he might have done upon his first Approach but sent to the Governour of the Castle to treat without the Dutch within alarm'd at the Danger set all hands on work that Night so that by the Morning they had so fortified the Castle that it was impossible for the English to force a Passage and the Weather growing boisterous it being towards the latter end of September the English Fleet was forc'd to return nor could the Dutch Fleet stay in Bergen and in their Return home two of their richest East-India Ships and about 80 Sail of their other Ships fell to the English share but tho they were deep laden when the English took them they became much lighter before they came into the English Harbour It seems God was not pleased with these things for this Year he sent a horrible Plague which raged over almost all the Parts of England The greatest Plague which happened since Edward the Third's time in England was in the first Year of this King's Grandfather yet a greater in the first Year of his Father's Reign and now a greater than either in the sixth Year of his actual Reign And as the Plague drove the Parliament to Oxford in his Father's Reign so did it now in his But neither the Mourning of the Land because of Oaths the Plague this Dutch War nor the King's Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters could abate the Parliament's Zeal in prosecuting Protestant Nonconformist Ministers but they made a Law called the Five-Mile-Act whereby they were banished five Miles from any Corporation or Market Town and had this Oath imposed upon them I A. B. do declare That it is not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and that I do abhor that traiterous Position of taking up Arms by his Authority against his Person or any that are commissionated by him in pursuance of such Commission And I do swear that I will not at any time to come endeavour the Alteration of the Government either in Church or State So help me God The poor Non-conforming Ministers did quietly submit to this in England but the Presbyterians did not so to the High Commission erected in Scotland for about this time they rose in Arms at Pentland against the Persecution of the Prelates who disturbed them in the Execution of their Ministry but were soon broken and a terrible Execution follow'd upon them as Traitors and Rebels In England the Parliament at Oxford granted the King 1250000 l. for carrying on the War against the Dutch and in the Spring 1666 the Plague ceasing the King set forth a Fleet under the Command of Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle Sir Thomas Allen Admiral of the White and Sir William Berkley of the Blue But the Dutch and French now try to do that by Craft which they could not do by Force and Plain-dealing And to this purpose it was given out that the French had fitted up a strong Fleet to join the Dutch and this so prevailed upon the King and Council that upon the 29th of May a remarkable Day when the English Fleet was riding in the Downs Prince Rupert in all haste was ordered with the White Squadron to sail to the West to fight the French Fleet coming to join with the Dutch I desire to be particular in some part of what followed because I had it from Sir John Harman himself who was Vice-Admiral of the Blue At the same time Prince Rupert sailed from the Fleet the Dutch put out to Sea the Wind at North-east a fresh Gale this brought the Dutch Fleet on the Coast of Dunkirk and carried the Prince to St. Helens on the Isle of Wight but the Wind suddenly turning into the South-west blew a strong Gale which brought the Dutch and Duke to an Anchor when Captain Bacon of the Bristol by firing of his Guns gave notice to the Duke of the Approach of the Dutch Hereupon the Duke summoned all the Captains on board him not to consult whether to fight the Dutch but to order them to weigh Anchor and fight the Dutch This was the 1st of June the Wind at South-west blowing a stiff Gale so that the Dutch were forced to cut their Cables not having time to weigh Anchor and tho the English had the Weathergage of the Dutch yet the Wind so bowed the English Ships that they could not use their lowest Tire when they came up to fight the Dutch Sir Berkley's Squadron led the Van but the Duke when he came on the Coast of Dunkirk to avoid running on a Sand made a sudden Tack which brought his Top-mast to the Board whereupon he was forced to lie by 4 or 5 Hours till another was set up but the Blue Squadron knowing nothing of this sailed on fighting through the Dutch Fleet which were 5 to 1 of the Blue Here Sir William was killed and his Ship the Swiftsure a second Rate and all her Guns Brass taken so was the Essex a Frigat of the third Rate and Sir John Harman in the Henry got among 9 Ships of the Zeal and Squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Everts and these so disabled the Henry that Everts offered Sir John Quarter if he would yield but Sir John told him 't was not come to that yet and gave him a Broadside and killed Everts Hereupon this Zealand Squadron sailed to assist their Fellows behind and only left Sir John to the Mercy of 3 Fireships one of which grappled the Henry on her Starboard Quarter The Dutch
sit out a greater Fleet of Men of War than ever any French King did before Nor were the Dutch behind-hand but made proportionable Advances not doubting but the King would make good his Proportion according to the League so lately made between the King and them in case the French King made any Attempt upon them Upon the 24th of October 1670 the Parliament met again and notwithstanding all the Aids granted the King in April before my Lord-Keeper Bridgman told the Parliament the great Care his Majesty had of them and the Kingdom since their last Recess and that besides the triple Alliance he had made many advantagious Alliances both for Security and Profit of Trade with the Swede Dane Spaniard and Duke of Savoy But since the Dutch and French made such vast Naval Preparations it was necessary for the Safety and Honour of the Nation that the King should at least keep equal Pace with them which could not be done without great Supplies which must be speedily granted for the King intended to put an End of this Session before Christmas but the Success of this Speech so ill agreeing with the Premises it was not permitted to be printed yet you may read it at large in Mr. Marvel's Growth of Popery But whatever Treaties of Commerce were made with other Princes the Keeper finds none with France where neither the advantagious Treaty made by Oliver was observed nor any new one made but the French King did use the English with all imaginable Oppressions without any Redress from the King However this Speech wrought so pathetically with the Parliament that they gave the King one Shilling in the Pound of the real Value of all the Lands of England for one Year and an Additional Excise upon Beer and Ale for six Years and the Law-Bill for nine Years which three Bills were computed at two Millions and a half And now this dark Design founded in such deep Dissimulation Hypocrisy and Perfidiousness as Oliver Cromwel would have been ashamed of and blush'd at begins to receive Light For the Parliament having granted the King the Aids were in Consequence prorogued and did not meet to act till the fourth of February 167 1 2. But in regard that not only the extirpating the Protestant Religion but the Subversion of the Western Parts of Europe was now designed which extended as far as the Baltick Sea and the Bounds of the Turkish and Tartar Empires we will be a little particular in it But what is most amazing is that the King in appearance a Protestant and a free independent King so used by the French King in his Exile and since his Restoration should be so forward in joining with a Faithless and Boundless Ambitious Neighbouring Prince which if his Design had succeeded had involved the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland in the same Condition with the rest of Christendom The Vizard-Mask under which the Popish Party covered their Hypocrisy in propagating their Catholick Cause for plain-dealing must never be expected in it in King Charles the First 's time was Arminianism which then had the Ascendant in Laud's Regency but since the King's Restoration the Protestant Dissenters being so fiercely prosecuted by the Parliament it was judged that the dispensing with Penal Laws against Dissenters from the Church of England would conjoin the Protestant Dissenters Interest with the Popish and this not only appeared by Practice but by Design in Coleman's Letters to Father Ferier and La Chaise the French King's Confessors As before the first Dutch War the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws in Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Interval of the sitting of the Parliament so did he before the second War It seems to me that the Designers of this War got some secret Oath or Promise from the King that he should not do the like again for the King told the House of Commons he would stand by his Declaration of Indulgence and sure nothing but Queen Money would have got him off However these Conspirators were more zealous than politick for before the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence in England upon the 26th of February 1671 he issued out his Proclamation in Ireland wherein he granted general Licence to all Papists to live in Corporations exercise Trades there and enjoy the same Privileges as other Subjects ought to do which was a greater Privilege than his Protestant Subjects had for by their Charter all who were not free of the Corporations could not have the Benefit of their Privileges But that the Catholick Design might take deeper Root and Continuance the Duke of York's Sons being dead and the Princesses his Daughters being bred up in the Protestant Religion Care must be taken to establish the Popish for the time to come for which it was expedient the Duke should marry some Popish Princess and to this end the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck was propounded and a Treaty entred into upon it But tho the Princess's Religion pleased the French King yet the Interest this Marriage would bring with it did not So that tho the Treaty were far advanced yet the French King who ruled all the Roast propounded the Princess of Modena the Daughter of a little Italian Prince and a Dependant of the French King's yet had a great Interest in the Court of Rome and this against all Endeavours of the Parliament and to the Dishonour of the Treaty with the Arch-Dutchess prevailed the French King having adopted her a Daughter of France and given her a Portion But while these Designs are laid in the dark here in England the French King bare-faced by his Ambassador at Vienna in a solemn Speech declared that his Master had undertaken the War against Holland for propagating the Catholick Cause and that all good Christians were bound to join with him to extirpate Heresy and that he would restore all his Conquests to re-establish the true Worship banish'd out of the Holland's meaning the Vnited Netherlands Territories which you may read more at large in Mr. Secretary Trevor's Appeal c. Now let 's see how agreeable these Mens Morals were to their Religious Pretences in laying the Scene for this designed Dutch War The Treasury since the Death of my Lord Treasurer Southampton was managed by Commissioners and if the Aids granted by the Parliament were not sufficient for carrying on the King's Designs the French King is to supply him further but things were not ripe enough yet for these Monies to be returned into the Exchequer lest they might give cause of Suspicion and therefore between six and seven hundred thousand Pounds were received by Mr. Chiffins he to have two Pence in the Pound to be disposed of as the King shall order If you doubt this you may examine Mr. Chiffins's Accounts when he was advised to pass them and take his Quietus out of the Exchequer Tho by the Defensive League between the King and States when the Triple League
of his Majesty's Subjects who are Dissenters in Matters of Religion from the Church of England And a Bill passed the House accordingly but was stopt in the House of Lords Causa patet the dead Weight joining with the Caballing Party But whatever the Commons thought of the King 's Dispensing Power in England Lauderdale the fifth in the Cabal in England was of another Opinion in Scotland for in the second Parliament c. 1. held by him he gets an Act declaring That by Virtue of the King's Supremacy the ordering the Government of the Church does properly belong to his Majesty and Successors as an inherent Right of the Crown and that he may enact and emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Church-Administrations Persons Meetings and Matters as he in his Royal Wisdom shall think fit c. any Law Act or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding And that he might not be less active in Scotland than his Brother Clifford was in England and Buckingham and Arlington were in Holland being armed with these other Powers he made all sorts of People depose upon Oath their Knowledg of the Persons of Dissenters not Popish Meetings in the Exercise of their Worship upon Penalty of Fining Imprisonment Banishment and Transportation to be sold for Slaves imprisoning all outed Ministers who shall preach out of their Families till they give Security of 5000 Marks Scot not to do the same again every Hearer being a Tenant to pay 25l Scot and Cotter 12 toties quoties they shall offend and that it shall be Death for any to preach in Fields or Houses where any are without doors and 500 Marks Reward for any to secure such dead or alive and gave Orders That every Man for himself and all under him should give Bond not to go to Field-Meetings and to inform against pursue and deliver up all outed Ministers to Judgment The Execution of these Orders was not by legal Officers but by an Army of Highland Robbers who quartered upon the Country so that it may be a Question whether the French King did not take his Measures in his Dragoon-Reformation by the ground-work laid by Lauderdale But his Grace which it seems did work irresistibly did not stay here for his Highland Army which consisted of eight or nine thousand Men not only lived upon Free Quarter upon all sorts of the King 's peaceable Subjects but in most places levied great Sums of Money under the Notion of Dry Quarters they had only regard to the Duke 's private Animosities for the most part of the Places where they quartered and destroyed had not been guilty of Field-Conventicles The King's Subjects were denounced Rebels and Captions issued out for seizing their Persons for not entring into Bond That neither they nor any under them shall go to Field-Conventicles and the Nobility and Gentry were disarmed who had ever been faithful to the King and assisted in suppressing Field-Conventicles Indictments were delivered in by the King's Advocate in the Evening to be answered next Morning upon Oath otherwise they were to be reputed guilty These and many more of this kind in the Matters relating to Lauderdale's Administration of Affairs in Scotland were represented to the King and that by his Command and are in Lauderdale's and his Lady's Impeachment which are all in Print Notwithstanding all this it was this Lauderdale who had procured an Act of Parliament to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse to march into England to serve the King upon all Occasions And tho the Duke to prevent the Fame of his Actions arriving in England had by a Proclamation forbid all Subjects to depart the Kingdom without Licence yet the Noise of his Actions flew every where in England not less than the Censures of the Star-Chamber and High Commission in Laud's Regency did in Scotland and in due time the Duke shall hear of them Can any Man now believe That the King by his Declaration of Indulgence intended any Benefit to the Dissenters in England whilst Lauderdale without doubt by his Order was acting these things in Scotland The House of Commons could not at first step forget all the Loyalty they before profest to the King nor yet would they own the Dutch War and therefore they voted the King 1238750 l. to supply the King 's extraordinary Occasions but before they would let this Bill slip through their Fingers they tack'd a Bill to it by which no Papist should have any publick Employment This Bill catch'd my Lord Treasurer Clifford the first in the Cabal who was forced to resign his Treasurer's Place or renounce Popery which he would not do his Pensioners not being against it hoping thereby to get the Places which the Popish Party held and even my Lord Chancellor Ashley from Delenda Carthago now sets up for the Country Party against the Designs of the Cabal so moultry are all Designs which are not cemented in Justice and Honour The King having got the Bill for the Money the further Sitting of the Parliament became uneasy to him whereupon the Parliament was adjourned till the 20th and after to the 27th of October viz. 1673. During this Recess there were three Sea-Fights between the English French and Dutch Prince Rupert Admiral in all which the French stood aloof looking on whilst the English and Dutch battered one another only Monsieur de Martell for engaging was recalled checked and dismissed As the English thrived no better by Sea so neither did the French by Land for first the Elector of Brandenburg then the Emperour and at last the King or Queen Regent of Spain apprehensive of the Danger common to them all of the French subduing the Dutch Provinces entred into a mutual League for their Defence and by their Conjunction the Prince of Orange recovered many of the Vpland Towns in almost as little Time as the French had taken them In this state the Swede now broke loose from the Triple League whereby he opened the Gap to let in this Confusion and became a Pensioner to France and proposes a Treaty of Peace to be held at Cologn and thither the King the Emperor the French King and the King of Spain send their Plenipotentiaries to treat of it The French King's Propositions were so insolent that if granted our King could have nothing yet the King pudet haec insisted That tho he was contented with such Propositions as he required so as accepted in ten Days yet if granted by the States they should be of no force nor will he enter into any Treaty of Peace unless his most Christian Majesty shall receive Satisfaction from the States in his Particular After the French King should have all the King's Demands were a Regulation of the Trade to the East-Indies a Settlement of the Freedom of Navigation in Europe the Arrears for the Fishing-Trade upon the English Coast to assert a settled Revenue to the Crown for every Buss or Dogger-boat for the future and to make Satisfaction for the Damages
Bedlow Prance Dangerfield Bolron and Mowbray many of which had never seen one the other before they gave their Testimonies Objection These were Witnesses of suspected Fame therefore no Credit ought to be given to them But admit this were true which is not for except Dangerfield and while Prance was frighted with Terror there was no Objection against Oates Bedlow Mowbray and Bolron it will admit of a twofold Answer 1. Truth is one and consists in entire parts whereas Error and Falshood is infinite and therefore it had been impossible that Mowbray and Bolron who had never seen Oates or Bedlow before they gave their Testimonies and Bedlow who had never known Mowbray Bolron nor Oates should concur not only in the Design of killing the King but in the Manner Place and Circumstances of it 2. Admit these Mens Evidence might not have been credited in other Cases yet it 's fit to consider Witnesses in civil or criminal Cases in civil Cases Men may make Elections of what Witnesses they please and it is their Fault if they make not use of Men of know Integrity and Repute that more Credit may be given to their Evidence and the End of civil Actions and Contracts is that they may be known but immoral and wicked Actions are Deeds of Darkness and contrived so as that they may not be known so that the Knowledg of them comes to pass either by Accident or from the Conspirators themselves as if only one Man sees a Murderer or a Thief kill or rob another if his Testimony shall not be taken because otherwise an ill Man Multitudes of Murders and Thefts might pass unpunished So if Cicero when Fulvia first discovered Catiline's Conspiracy to him had told her she was a Whore and no Credit could be given to any thing she said Rome might have been in a Flame as London was and all the Senators Throats might have been cut But admit no Credit could be given to any or all these Mens Testimonies who were all Roman Catholicks I would know what Objection could be against Mr. Jenison a Gentleman of Birth and Quality who gave no Evidence at Ireland's Wakeman's Piâ—kering's or Grove's Trials and changed his Religion when he heard that Ireland who was his Father Confessor at his Death denied that he was in Town but in Staffordshire when Oates and Grove's Maid said he was in London in August 1678 and printed it and the Reasons of it and also at my Lord Stafford's Trial in open Parliament deposed That Ireland told him there was but one that stood in the way and that it was an easy thing to poison the King and that Sir George Wakeman might easily and opportunely do it and that in August 1678 when Ireland at his Death declared he was in Staffordshire Ireland told Mr. Jenison in London when he was newly returned from Windsor how easily the King might be taken off and asked Mr. Jenison if he would be one of them who should go to Windsor and assist at the taking off the King and proffered Mr. Jenison to remit 200 l. which he owed Ireland if he would Then Ireland asked if he knew any stout Irish-men who answer'd he knew Captain Levallian Mr. Kerney Brohal and Wilson Ireland told him he knew Levallian and Wilson and then Ireland asked him if he would go with them and assist them in taking off the King after this Ireland told Mr. Jenison he was going to the Club where Mr. Coleman Mr. Lavallian and Kerney would be and he wanted 80 l. which he desired Mr. Jenison to return him Mr. Jenison further deposed That his Brother Mr. Thomas Jenison a Jesuit said If C. R. will not be R. C. which he interpreted to be Si Carolus diuâ—â—ret â—â—ret Rex Carolus and that it was no great Sin to take him off Mr. Jenison desiring a new Commission in the new rais'd Army his Brother told him he would procure him one from the Duke of York and that there was another Army to be raised but this was not to be till the King was taken off and this I say that about this time there was a general Rumour of a Page being kill'd upon a Couch in the Night at Windsor where the King was laid but a little before and that the King upon the Fright of it came next Morning to London and that it was Prince Rupert who with much Importunity got the King having been drinking hard before from the Couch and put him to Bed and that the Page who was killed asleep upon the Couch was wrap'd up in the Cloak the King was in The Commons likewise resolved Nemine contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Hopes of his coming as such to the Crown have given the greatest Countenance and Encouragement to the present Conspirators and the Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion But the Designs of the King was how to get Money for providing a Fleet for our common Security now in time of such a Peace as the French King had granted Christendom after the King had taken his Money to join in it and after he had taken the Parliament's Money to enter into an actual War against France and after the Parliament had twice given Money for disbanding this Army which not succeeding the Commons dreading how Monies given at this time of Day might be employed took no more Care in it than the King did in the Discovery of the Popish Plot so he prorogued the Parliament upon the Twenty seventh of May to the Fourteenth of August and upon the Twelfth of July dissolved them We shall better take a View of what followed the Prorogation of the Parliament in England if we take a Step into Scotland and see what 's doing there Upon the 3d of this Month of May John Balfour of Kinlock David Hackston of Rathilelet George Balfour of Gilston James Russel in King's Kittle Robert Dingwall a Farmer 's Son in Caddam Andrew Guillon a Weaver in Balmerinoch Alexander Henderson and Andrew Henderson Sons of John Henderson of Rillbrachment and George Flemming Son to George Flemming of Balbuthy murdered Doctor Sharp Arch-bishop of St. Andrews who before the King's Restoration had held an exalted Place in the Scotish Presbytery and was in high Esteem among them in as vindictive a manner as was that of the Marquess of Montross about twenty one Years before as being a perjured Apostate Prelate a Villain a Persecutor of the Godly a Betrayer of Jesus Christ and his Church and which augmented the Horror of the Fact if my Author of the second Address to the Free-men of England pag. 58. says true Thâ—â— they several times beat down the Arch-bishop's Daughter upon her Knees begging her Father's Life and trampled upon heâ— and wounded her This barbarous Act was a Prelude to what followed for upon the 29th of this Month a Party of about 80 of the Covenanters met at Ragland in Scotland well mounted and well armed and proclaimed
the Covenant and burnt several Acts of Parliament made against it and for establishing Prelacy since the Year 1660 and would have affixed their Declaration at Glascow but were prevented by the King's Forces for that time This Rebellion of the Covenanters initiated by so horrid a Fact did not extend so far as the Covenanters in their Frenâ—â— and Zeal imagined yet upon Sunday the 1st of June they rendezvouz'd about fifteen hundred Men upon Louden-Hill onâ—â— Wier commanded the Foot and the Horse was under Robert Hamilton one Patron with Balfour and Hackston which two 〈◊〉 assassinated the Arch-bishop With this Force they took the City of Glasgow and to sheâ— how all Crowns and Scepters must vail to them they published two Proclamations The first of which was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Burgh of Glasgow to furnish us with 24 Carts and 60 Horses for removing our Provisions from this Place to 〈◊〉 Camp where-ever we shall set down the same and to abide with us for that End during our Pleasure under pain of being reputed our Enemies and proceeded against accordingly The other was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command the Magistrates of Glasgow to extend and banish forth thereof all Arch-bishops Bishops and Curates their Wives Berns Servants and Families and Persons concerned in the King's Army within 48 Hours after publishing hereof under highest Pains And then they published a long Declaration of their taking up Arms for a free General Assembly and free and unlimited Parliament to redress the manifold Grievances there enumerated and humbly to request his Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms that was to the Dominion the Rump-Parliament in England had over them which you may read at large in the aforesaid Author from pag. 67 to 74. To these Declarations the said Author p. 17. adds they barbarously treated the dead Body of one Graham whom they had killed at a Conventicle They committed insufferable Insolencies in the Houses of the regular Ministers and Loyal Gentlemen as they marched along to Glasgow stabbing and gashing his Majesty's Picture where-ever they found it They behaved themselves barbarously in the House of the Arch-bishop of Glasgow where they burnt his Books cut in pieces his best Furniture and Hangings and almost kill'd a Gentlewoman with Blows who was left to keep the House for saying Gentlemen I hope you 'll remember you are in an Arch-bishop's House They sacrilegiously entred the Cathedral of Glasgow and finding a Tombstone over two of the Children of the Bishop of Argile with an Inscription of a Modern Date they digged up their Bodies run them through with their Swords and left them lying above Ground In the mean time the Council of Scotland were not idle but raised an Army and quartered it at a place called Blackborn to prevent the Covenanters Approach to Edinburgh and gave the King an Account of these things and expected his Majesty's further Orders And now I 'll tell a wonder which will scarce be believed in future Generations The King sent the Duke of Monmouth from London upon the 20th of June and the Duke rode above three hundred Miles upon that day and the two next days and upon the 23d ordered and disposed the King's Army raised by the Council that he fought the Covenanters and routed them killing about seven hundred of them and took above eleven hundred of them Prisoners and now it may be you will hear of a Wonder in Consequence after this Fight as great as the Fight and the Duke's Journey before it I do not question but the Design of the Court in sending the Duke of Monmouth into Scotland to suppress the Covenanters was by it to make him odious to the Presbyterians and other Dissenters from the Church of England in case he suppressed the Covenanters which tho the Duke did yet the End designed by the Court in it did not succeed For the dreadful Apprehension of the Duke's Succession to the Crown of England had taken a deep Impression in another sort of Men besides Dissenters and where Men are fearful of Danger they will seek all means how to prevent the Danger especially where the Power of doing ill is greater and therefore another sort of Men no Whigs might have their Eyes upon the Duke of Monmouth as the only means to prevent the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown his Title to the Crown of England if he could get an Act of Parliament for it being as good as that of John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Elizabeth Moore from whom the King and the Duke of York were both descended and in whose Right they claimed the Crown of Scotland if not those of England and Ireland However this gave the Lie to the Tories that all those were Commonwealths-Men who would not submit to the Illegal and Arbitrary Will of the King and their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and that Kings Jure Divino may do what they list tho God has set Laws and Bounds to all the created Bodies of Heaven and Earth and all other Creatures in them But how mischievous these Doctrines have proved to these three Kings of the Scotish Nation has been already said and I say it has been such flattering Doctrines as those that ruined all these Kings and Kingdoms except the Gibeonites Joshua 9. the State of Venice and that of Geneva for Du Salez was a just and vertuous Prince from which Commonwealths arose Who ever before King James and King Charles the First 's Reign in England heard of talking of Common-wealths in England and the several sorts of Governments viz. Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy which two latter tho they have the same Names yet no two of either in their Constitutions were like one the other And as these Commonwealths took their Rise from the Tyrannies of Kings and Princes so the exploded Government of the Rump if it were a Democracy or Common-wealth gave Life to all those Confusions Perjuries Breach of Leagues and devilish Practices of this Reign which would have been intolerable in any other and would have been opposed if not by rising in Arms against them yet at least in not so profusely pouring out Money for not continuing and carrying of them on The Popish Faction were more jealous of the Duke of Monmouth than the Tories were of a Commonwealth and the rather because there was a Pamphlet printed that the King was married to the Duke's Mother and rumoured abroad that Sir Gilbert Gerrard had a Black Box in which the Marriage of the King with the Duke's Mother was fully proved and made out and the fear of the Duke of York's Succession was so fix'd in Mens Minds that the Story of the Black Box was generally divulged and for ought I know believed by those who were fearful of the Duke of York's Succession If this could be
be kept with Hereticks which he esteemed all others in England but those of his own Romish Faction to be Could the King believe that the Duke's Succession could be any Security to the Protestant Religion as the King calls it which the Duke esteemed Heresy and to be rooted out by Fire and Sword or that any other but the Duke's Faction could be protected by him when he esteemed them Hereticks Schismaticks Church-Robbers and no Christians It 's true at this time the King of Portugal was made a Prisoner to restrain him from his immoral and wicked Actions whilst his Brother in his Imprisonment acted as Regent of Portugal in his Brother's Name But upon the Duke's Succession how could a Regent act when the King was not a Minor but of full Age double and at large in the King's Name and contrary to his Will and Pleasure and this to consist with the Security of the Protestant Religion or Laws In the Debates in the House of Commons many Expedients were propounded how the established Government in Church and State could be preserved and none could be found in case the Duke succeeded so the Country Party moved that the Court Party would propound Expedients herein but either they could not or had no Instructions from the Court to warrant such Expedients as they should propound But if the due and legal Descent of the Crown must be preserved though to the Destruction of the Church and State they who advised the King to be so positive herein should have done well to have declared what Law in England declares the Descent of the Crown of England or how this becomes due I am sure the Act of the first of Henry the IV intailed the Crown upon the King and the Heirs of his Body and so did that of the first of Henry VII before he married the Lady Elizabeth Edward the Fourth's Daughter and if Henry the seventh's Title to the Crown had been good by inherent Birth-right yet he had been an Usurper For his Mother under whom he claimed lived all his Reign and so she did some time after Henry the VIII became King as you may read in Stow's History p. 487. And how was the due and Legal Succession of the Crown of England observed in the Reign of Henry the VIII when by his Will he might name what Successor he pleased as has been said or in Queen Elizabeth's Reign when it was in Parliament declared Treason to affirm the Parliament might not dispose of the Succession of the Crown in her Reign and a Premunire at this Day And let any Man shew that ever there were three Kings before these of the Scotish Race in the Saxon Danish or Norman Race which succeeded successively by inherent Birth-right I will submit that all I have said is not true and why then must such a Stress be put for the preserving the Descent of the Crown in its due and legal Course without declaring what is that due and legal Course to endanger the Subversion of the Church and State of England Then the King recommends to the Parliament a Strict Enquiry into the Popish Plot and that the Lords in the Tower be brought to a speedy Trial without which he did not think himself or the Parliament safe The constant Vogue was That the King dissolved the two last Parliaments to preserve the Lords in the Tower from being brought to Trial and I am sure that you will soon hear that the King did not believe his and the Nation 's Safety did consist in the Trial of the Lords in the Tower Then the King tells the Parliament what Danger Tangier was in and what vast Expence he must be at to keep it And the Commons last Parliament drew up an Act to settle it upon the Imperial Crown of England and that they who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any Foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom And what Care the King took to keep it will soon appear tho 't was said the Parliament I think it was out of the Chimney-Bill gave him 40000 l. per Annum towards the Preservation of it to the Crown of England The King goes on and says That above all the Treasure in the World which he was sure would give him greater Strength both at home and abroad than any Treasure can do is a perfect Union among our selves yet says not wherein we should unite Truth and Unity are one and consist in intire Parts but Falshood and Discord are infinite What Truth or Unity could be in the King 's loose and irregular Actions so confounding and every day varying from what he had promised before Or how is it possible for the Nation to unite under Terms which are inconsistible and impossible viz. Unite to preserve the Constitutions of the Kingdom and yet be at no Discord with the King who they were morally certain would make it his Business to subvert them If we should be so unhappy the King says as to fall into such Misunderstanding among our selves as would render our Friendship unsafe to trust to it will not be wondred at if our Allies shall begin to take up new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us and advised them not to gratify our Enemies and dishearten our Friends by any unreasonable Disputes viz. to take all by an implicit Faith I do not understand what the King means by Misunderstanding among our selves which may render our Friendship to our or his Allies unsafe nor does he say wherein such Misunderstanding consists I 'm sure the Parliament misunderstood him when they gave him 1200000 l. to enter into an actual War against the French King in the Defence of these Allies and when he had got the Money to make a separate Peace with a Faction of the Dutch to the Ruine of his Allies and take French Money for it and to get the Parliament twice over to disband this Army for fear he should turn it against them and the Nation and now 't was disbanded to give Money to raise another upon Pretence of assisting these Allies now they were forced to such a dishonourable Peace with the French or that our Allies as the King calls them would ever trust to any more of his Alliances If any should so happen the King says the World will see it is no Fault of his for he had done all that was possible for him to do to keep us in Peace while he lived and to leave us so when he died Can any Man believe the King believed himself herein Or that any Man will be his Voucher for it Even my Lord C. F. out of the Field of his sweet lisping Eloquence could not gather one Rhetorical Flower to make a Flourish upon this Speech nor assure the Parliament upon his Veracity that Now Now was the time to secure their Religion and Properties nay the Commons gave so little Credit to this
not foreknown and ordered to be taken into Custody tho in Northumberland and Yorkshire and rarely I think any of them were discharged without paying their Fees but what Fees was what the Serjeant pleased nay the Commons outrun all which was ever thought of before For on Tuesday the 14th of December having voted one Mr. Herbert Herring to be taken into Custody and Mr. Herring absconding from being taken the House resolved That if he did not render himself by a certain Day they would proceed against him by Bill in Parliament for endeavouring by his absconding to avoid the Justice of the House Though I doubt the Lords in the Temper they were in nor the King neither would have passed such a Bill It was strange methought that the Commons should be so zealous against any Arbitrary Power in the King and take such a Latitude to themselves which puts me in mind of a Story I have heard of an old Usurer who had a Nephew who had got a Licence to preach and the Uncle having never done any thing for his Nephew he resolved to be revenged upon his Uncle in a Sermon which he would preach before his Uncle in the Parish where he lived and made a most invective Sermon against Usury and Usurers but after the Sermon was done the Uncle thank'd his Nephew for his good Sermon and gave him 2 Twenty-shilling Pieces the Nephew was confounded at this and begg'd his Uncle's Pardon for what he had done for he thought he had given him great Offence No said the Uncle Nephew go on and preach other Fools out of the Conceit of Vsury and I shall have the better Opportunity of putting out my Money Yet so zealous were the Commons against Popery and Arbitrary Power that upon the 15th of December they resolved that one Mean for the Suppression of Popery is That a Bill be brought in to banish immediately all considerable Papists out of the King's Dominions And that a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesty's Protestant Subjects for the Defence of his Majesty's Person the Defence of the Protestant Religion and for the Preservation of his Majesty's Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and Oppositions whatsoever and for preventing the Duke of York or any other Papist from succeeding to the Crown And upon the 16th of December the Commons read another Bill the first time for exempting his Majesty's Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties imposed upon the Papists and upon the 18th ordered a Bill to be brought in to unite his Majesty's Protestant Subjects In this Ferment of the Commons this Parliament they run counter to the Commons of the last Parliament for then they chose Mr. Edward Seymour to be their Speaker and when the King refused him they were much disgusted but in this Parliament the Commons the 25th of November impeached him upon four Articles and a Motion was made for an Address to be made to remove him from his Majesty's Council and Presence And in the last Parliament the Commons would not proceed to the Trial of the Popish Lords in the Tower before the Lords should give their Judgment upon the Earl of Danby's Plea whereas in this Parliament they proceeded to the Condemnation of my Lord Stafford without taking any notice that I can find of having the Lords Judgment upon the Earl's Plea The Commons took Care also to prosecute and impeach all those that countenanced the Popish Plot or were Abhorrers of petitioning the King for the Meeting of the Parliament in the manifold Prorogations of it and voted That it is and ever hath been the undoubted Right of the Subjects of England to petition the King for the Calling and Sitting of Parliaments and Redress of Grievances And that to traduce such petitioning as a Violation of Duty and to represent it to his Majesty as tumultuous and seditious is to betray the Liberty of the Subject and contributes to the Design of subverting the antient legal Constitutions of this Kingdom and introducing Arbitrary Power The first that fell under these Votes was Sir Francis Withens after made a Judg a Member of the Commons whom they voted to be a Betrayer of the undoubted Rights of the Subjects of England and ordered him to be expelled the House for this high Crime and to receive the Sentence at the Bar of the House kneeling which he submitted to The next was Sir George Jefferies then Recorder of the City and ordered that an humble Address be made to the King to remove him out of all publick Offices and that the Members which served for the City should communicate this Vote to the Court of Aldermen Upon this Account tho the Commons discriminated the Crime they ordered Sir Giles Philips and Mr. Coleman to be sent for into Custody of the Serjeant at Arms for detesting and abhorring the petitioning for sitting of the Parliament and voted it a Breach of Privilege of Parliament the like the Commons did by Captain William Castle Mr. John Hutchinson Mr. Henry Walrond Mr. William Stavel Mr. Thomas Herbert Sir Thomas Holt Serjeant at Law and Mr. Thomas Staples and because Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common Pleas advised and was assisting in drawing up a Proclamation against petitioning for the sitting of the Parliament the Commons voted That it was a sufficient Ground for the House to proceed against him for high Crimes and Misdemeanours The like Vote passed against Sir Thomas Jones one of the Judges of the King's Bench and Sir Richard Weston one of the Barons of the Exchequer I do not find these Votes went further but the Commons actually impeached Sir William Scroggs of High Treason for discharging the Grand Jury of Middlesex before they had finished their Presentments and for the Order made in the King's Bench against Care 's Pacquet of Advice from Rome 〈◊〉 the History of Popery that it should be no more printed or published by any Person whatsoever I do not find the Articles particularly recited but they were ingrossed upon the 7th of January and the Impeachment carried up to the Lords by my Lord Cavâ—â—dish and received by the Lords Note in this common Danger the Commons ordered Leave to bring in a Bill for a general Naturalization of all Protestant Aliens giving them Liberty to exercise their Trades in all Corporations Now it 's time to see wherein the Lords and Commons did agree and wherein they ran counter The Lords agreed with the Commons in repealing the Act of 35 Elizabeth viz. for Payment of 20 l. per mensem for every Man who resorted not to his Parish-Church being so terrible a Law that it lay dormant above 80 Years and in the Feuds between the Tories and Whigs it was begun to be put in Execution which the Commons apprehending would make a Breach so wide as to let in Popery which would make no Distinction between Dissenters and the Sons of the Church they brought in a Bill
to preserve Fire and Water mingled together and was not the Monarchy of Scotland preserved though his Grandfather reigned twenty Years in Scotland while his Mother was alive without her and so continued after her Death That no Expedient would be entertained but a total Exclusion nor could be nor did the King ever propound any how otherwise the established Religion might be preserved That the Business of Fitz-Harris was carried to that Extremity that there were no hopes of a Reconciliation c. and put the Houses out of a Capacity of transacting Business it was upon Friday the twenty sixth of March the Commons sent up the Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and there were but Saturday and Sunday between this and the Dissolution of the Parliament and the Houses sat not on Sunday so that the King 's no Hopes or indeed Fears of a Reconciliation were very sudden Why might not the Lords if they had been permitted to have sat upon Conferences with the Commons and hearing their Reason have altered their Resolutions which is usual and it seems this Resolution of the Lords was very sudden and admitted of no great Debate to receive the Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and the same Day to throw it out which caused him to put an end to that Parliament However the King says that notwithstanding the Malice of ill Men who laboured to perswade the People that he intended to lay aside the Use of Parliaments he declared that no Irregularity in Parliament should make him out of love with them and that he was resolved to have frequent Parliaments yet lived near four Years after and never called another and in the Intervals would use his utmost endeavours to extirpate Popery and redress the Grievances of his Subjects the truth of this will best appear hereafter This Declaration which carries the Title of his Majesty's Declaration to all his loving Subjects was ordered to be read in all the Churches of England but if the Matter of it were so surprizing and amazing to the Nation the Manner of it was not less For never any King of England before as King no not this King's Father or Grandfather ever spake to his Subjects but either personally in Parliament or under the Broad Seal of England Whereas this Declaration is only Signed Francis Gwyn it might have been as well Edward Coleman and the Subjects as much obliged to have taken notice of the one as of the other And the Reason is twofold one That the Chancellor or Keeper is responsible if he puts the Seal to any Declaration or Proclamation not warranted by Law and therefore my Lord Chancellor Finch's Sagacity in not putting the Seal to this Declaration was as apparent as his Veracity which he would not expose in seconding the King's Speech at the opening the last Westminster Parliament And the other is to avoid all Impostures and Cheats which might otherwise be imposed upon the Nation under the Name of the King That we may take a better View of the rest of this King's Reign if it be worthy to be called so it 's fit we look into Scotland and see what 's doing there for the Discovery of the Popish Plot but it 's fit to look a little back and take notice that the King in his Speech at the opening of the Second Westminster Parliament told them that to take away all room for any Jealousy of his not prosecuting the Discovery of the Popish Plot he had sent his Brother beyond Sea but having by the Duke of Monmouth wholly suppressed the Kirk Party in Scotland he fairly sends for the Duke of York back again and from an Exile made him Vice-Roy or Regent of Scotland where all things lay open for him to prosecute his Designs as he pleased When the Duke came into Scotland the Earl of Argyle was one of the first that waited upon him The Earl's Story will better appear if first you take his Character He was Son of the Earl of Argyle after made Marquess by King Charles the First who so preferred him to take him off from heading the Kirk Party and thereby to oblige him to become of the King's side which had no Effect for the Marquess above any other of the Scotish Nobility was a most zealous Assertor of the Kirk's Power and was the Head of them when Montross took up Arms against them but though the Marquess was most unfortunate in it yet it no ways abated his Zeal to the Kirk nor was he less esteemed by them When Cromwel had overthrown Duke Hamilton and taken him Prisoner who came into England not to establish the National League and Covenant but to deliver King Charles out of Prison The zealous Kirk Party were highly offended at it and the Marquess of Argyle was the principal Agent to call Cromwel into Scotland to suppress the Hamiltonian Faction and to establish the Kirk which Cromwel then did though he undid it soon after and for this the Marquess was the first Year after the King's Restoration condemned and executed for High Treason upon which he lost all his Honours as well as his Estate But in all the Marquess's Actions his Son the Lord Lorn run counter to him and when this King Charles was in Scotland he was of all others the most obsequious to him and afterward when Middleton made some Incursions into Scotland for the King Lorn was most assisting in them Hereupon after the Marquess was attainted and executed King Charles restored his Son to all his Father's Estate and Honours except that of Marquess Afterward the Earl of Argyle continued constant in his Integrity to the King in all his Civil Affairs and was most zealous and forward in suppressing Tumults and Field-Conventicles so that before the Duke came into Scotland the King had so entire a Confidence in the Earl that he gloried that in thirty Years which must be computed from the King 's going into Scotland in 1650 he never received one Frown from the King how he should become such a prejured Traitor after the Duke's coming into Scotland is now to be enquired into The Earl of Argyle was one of the Lords of the Articles and by the Duke made one of the Committee for the Articles of Religion which by the Custom of Scotland and by the King's Instruction was to be the first thing treated of In this Committee an Act was prepared for securing the Protestant Religion which approved the Confession of Faith and also the Act containing the Coronation Oath to be taken by all the Kings and Regents of Scotland before their entry to exercise their Government This Act as drawn was less binding to the Successor of the Crown as to his own Profession yet did oblige as strongly the Maintenance of the Protestant Religion in the publick Profession by all others as before and added a Test to be taken by all in publick Emploiments to exclude the Popish Party out of them and because in case of a Popish Successor all Fines and
of Luxemburgh from the Spaniard notwithstanding the late Treaty of Mutual Assistance between the King and Spain and had encreased his Men of War at Sea to be more and greater than those of the King 's and his New-found-land Fishery to be twenty fold more than it was 1660. and the English fallen not to 1 ◠of what it was yet in this dreadful State the Feuds of Whig and Tory no ways abated and both so stupid as if neither were concerned in this Design common to them both But though this most religious and gracious King for so the Tories will have him to whom all their nonsensical Doctrine of Passive Obedience is due had by the help and indefatigable Industry of the Tories laid this Foundation for the Ruine and Destruction of this Church and State yet he lived not to compleat this goodly Structure for he died upon the sixth of February 1684-85 it may be the sooner because he made no more haste to do it in the thirty seventh year of his Reign computing it from his Father's Death after he had lived fifty four Years eight Months and eight days The Character of King Charles II. HIS Person was of a very well composed Structure tall above the ordinary Stature of other Men not much much more resembling his Grandfather Henry IV. of France by his Mother than his Father or his Grandfather King James And as in his Person he more resembled Henry than either his Father or Grandfather James so did he in his Humours for both had lively and pleasant Wits and would be wondrous facetious and pleasant with those which humour'd them in their Pleasures and were of free Access whereas King Charles the Father was grave and severe in his way hard of Access and that by such strained Terms of Submission as were never heard of before in England and I believe no where else and King James was slovenly in his Behaviour and more servile to his Favourites than they to him Like his Grandfather Henry Charles gave himself up to all sensual Pleasures without any Controul but unlike his Father who was temperate and chaste Like his Grandfather Henry in Profession of his Religion for both seemingly professed that which neither believed Unlike his Father who while he did what he would was severely addicted to what he professed Unlike to his Father and Grandfather Henry in Covetousness but like his Grandfather James in profuse Prodigality to his Favourites but unlike his Father and Grandfather Henry in Parsimony ill becoming so great Kings like his Father and Grandfather James in laying the Foundation of the Ruin of the Grandure of England abroad and the Church and State at home unlike his Grandfather Henry who laid the Foundation of the Grandure of France Tho Henry and Charles were esteemed Clement and Merciful Princes till the Rage of the latter end of Charles's Reign yet both were most vindictive against any who reproached their licentious Liberty in their lustful Pleasures as appears by Henry's putting the Duke of Biron to Death more as Sir Walter Raleigh observes for the Taunt he gave when Henry brought Madam Gabriel to the Siege of Amines That she was the Fortune of France than for Biron's Conspiracy with the Duke of Savoy and by that of cutting off Sir Coventry's Nose for the Report which was of Sir John that he asked the Question Which of the King's Favourites Men or Women Unlike to both Father and Grandfather James Charles was to his own Cousin-German the Elector-Palatine for they both at least seemingly endeavoured to have restored the Prince's Father to his Country after he was dispossessed of it by the Emperor and King of Spain whereas after this Prince was restored to a part of it by the Treaty of Munster this King without any Offence or Provocation given him by the Elector assisted the French to ruin and destroy it But he 's gone God knows by what means and the Possession of the Crown takes away all Attainders And now he 's gone he left the Nation more vitiated and debauched in their Manners than ever it was before by any other King having not only squander'd away the antient Revenues of the Crown which were esteemed sacred and which should have supported it against foreign Force and intestine Discord but left such a Debt upon it as never before was heard of nor contracted by such means having prostituted the Majesty of his Crown in becoming a Pensioner to France and advancing that Interest to be as formidable and dangerous to the rest of Christendom as to his own Dominions and embroiled 〈◊〉 Subjects in intestine Feuds and Discords as if thereby he designed them an easy Prey to the French and Popish Interest and having by Bribery and Corruption so vitiated all publick Offices both Sacred Civil and Military that they became habitual and so fix'd that it would become difficult if possible to reform them And as this King's Actions were little and dark so was his Funeral for never any King who died possest was so obscurely and meanly buried hurried in the dead of the Night to his Grave as if his Corps had been to be arrested for Debt and not so much as the Blue-Coat-Boys attending it his Brother then King shewing as little Gratitude to him for all his Favours as he had done to the Nation for all their Loyalty and incredible Sums of Money poured upon him And as his Father and Grandfather had not a Stone to cover their Graves thereby to preserve their Memories in future Generations so neither had he nor any of his Name hereafter is like to have as King of England But now he is gone all the dreadful Presages of the four last Parliaments are come upon the Nation and nothing left to secure the Nation 's Fears unless that the Crown being so in Debt and the Excise for the King's Life dying with him the Parliament would not be so prodigal of their Bounty as to grant this King's Successor such a Revenue which might enable him to attain his Ends by the Ruin of the Church and State of England The Good Deeds of King Charles II. 1. HIS dispensing with the Act of Navigation in the first Dutch War whereby he was enabled to continue the War against the Dutch two Years longer than he did and the Dutch otherwise might have fired the Ships in our Harbours a Year sooner and forced the King to a more inglorious Peace than that he made in the Year 1667 whilst the Parliament in the Temper it was in sat still and took no notice of these things Objection If the King has Power to dispense with the Act of Navigation by the same Reason he may dispense with other Laws and so the Laws of the Nation will be loose and subject to the King's Will at his Pleasure Answer I. I wish all Legislators in passing Laws would be of another Temper than when the Rump made this Law which was in spight of the Dutch without
any Consideration of the dreadful Consequences it has brought upon the Nation both within and without or in another Temper than the Parliament was in in the twelfth Year of the King when they passed or confirmed this Law without any consideration of Times whether in War or Peace II. If the Act of Navigation had been in general a good Law yet Times must be distinguished and in War Civil Laws are silent so that for the Preservation of the Publick the King may destroy particular Mens Interest as in case of firing the Suburbs of a City to preserve the City and destroy the Fruits of the Ground rather than these shall sustain an Enemy to the endangering the whole Nation but it was much more reasonable for the King to grant Liberty without any Destruction or Wrong to his Subjects to dispense with the Act of Navigation and give all Foreigners Liberty to import Gunpowder and all sorts of Naval Scores c. for the Nation 's Preservation in the time of War with the Dutch And I say it was Prudence in Oliver tho in time of Peace to dispense with the Act of Navigation in reference to the Trade to Norway and Sweden after the Norway Merchants had represented to him how grievously the Norwegians by this Act imposed upon not only the English Subjects but upon Oliver himself in building and fitting up his Men of War 2. The second better Act of King Charles was his dispensing with the Law against Foreigners partaking the Benefits of the natural-born Subjects of England by permitting Brewer and his Walloons tho Papists after they fled from the Rage of the French Ravages in Flanders in 1667 to plant and settle themselves in the West whereby the English became instructed how to make and dye fine Woollen Cloths 30 per Cent. cheaper than they could before and herein the King imitated two of his most glorious Predecessors that ever reigned in England I mean Edward III. and Queen Elizabeth Princes who no ways affected Tyranny or Arbitrary Power I say the King might justly and legally do this for tho the King cannot dispense with Laws which have a complicated Interest with himself and Subjects to the Wrong of his Subjects yet the King may dispense with those Penalties which properly belong to him even in criminal Cases as to the Life and Estate of an Offender and therefore much more where there is no Offence and the End for the publick Good as in this Case of Brewer and all other Foreigners the Penalty is if they trade they shall pay Strangers Duties but this is to the King and if he pleases he may take to other Duties than his natural-born Subjects pay whereby the Foreign and Fishing Trades which are carried on in Holland might not be carried out of England and thereby the Navigation of England become double or treble to what it now is and the ruined and even desolate Coast-Towns of England flourish as Hamburgh Amsterdam Gottenburgh Diep St. Maloes and other Ports Would not this be not only for the enriching but strengthning the Nation and that in a double Proportion for we should be so much more rich and strong here as other Nations would be less and in a worse state to make War upon us Nay should we only make our Ports free as Leghorn Marseilles and as of late the Pope has Civita Vecchia would not the Nation be so much more enriched as the Goods imported are more I would know from whence else it was that France became so enriched above all other Countries for Mines they have none but from the vast Trades the English Dutch Swedes and Danes drove in France And suppose the King should dispense with Foreigners purchasing Lands in England and not take them as he may do if he pleases whereby Millions of Money would be brought into England the Lands we shall have still and would not the Nation be so much more enriched hereby as the Purchase-Monies are more And would not the Nation be so much more peopled and strengthned as the Purchasers are more and the King's Revenue by Excise and Customs so much more encreased as the Consumption of these and their Descendants shall be more Merchants to enrich themselves and the Nation run great Hazards and are often undone in their Merchandizing whereas the Nation nor any Man else runs any Hazard by Foreigners purchasing Lands in England Ambitious Princes to acquire more Subjects run great Hazard and destroy and make Men miserable and ruin Countries to accomplish their Designs whereas none of these attend the Permission of Foreigners to trade and inhabit among us and when they are once settled theirs and the Nation 's Interest will be the same and both alike obliged to defend them Xenophon in Cyropaedia says That by reason of the Goodness and Justice of Cyrus's Reign many Nations became his Subjects Will any say Cyrus was less a King hereby Or should we be less a Nation if by the Benefit of our many Advantages in Trade we should by others encrease our Trade which we cannot of our selves Nay should we not so much more enrich and strengthen our selves When I consider these things I wonder Foreigners should be at such Charges to purchase their Freedom by an Act of Parliament whenas the King may do it if he pleases unless it be that their Posterity shall not inherit but if the King may permit Foreigners to purchase without taking the Forfeitures or grant them a Licence to purchase he may grant them a Licence to settle their Estates as they please 3. The third good Act of K. Charles was his marrying the late Queen to his present Majesty tho by the manner of it it seems to me he did it by Surprize and I 'm apt to believe if he could well have come off from it again he would as appears by the Story 4. We may add this fourth That he bred up the late Queen and her Sister after the Religion of the Church of England A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England DURING THE REIGN OF King JAMES II c. BOOK V. WHAT before King Charles II. acted in Masquerade King James did bare-fac'd and here you 'll see how plain and easy a Passage the Absolute Will and Pleasure-Men and Passive Obedience-Men had made for this King to overthrow the whole Church and State of England and by what steps he proceeded in it the King's Speeches looking one way and he going quite contrary Upon the 6th of February in 1684 85. the Day of his Brother's Death the King declared in Council That since it had pleased God to place him in that Station to succeed so good and gracious a King as well as so kind a Brother that he thinks fit to declare his Endeavours to follow his Brother's Example more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People and make it his Endeavour to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it is by
Law established Commends the Church of England's Principles and Members knows likewise that the Laws of England are sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he can wish and therefore as he will never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so he will never invade any Man's Property The next Sunday after his Brother's Death the King went publickly to Mass and that Week I think he order'd his Brother's dying in the Communion of the Church of Rome and before his Death his receiving his Viaticum and other Ceremonies of that Church and attested by Father Huddleston to be printed and also the Papers taken out of the King's Strong-box shewing that however he outwardly appeared otherwise in his Life yet in his Heart he was sincerely a true Roman Catholick So that however he promised to preserve the Church of England as by Law established yet his Profession was of the Church of Rome which curses the Church of England and declares them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept The King's Father Charles I took the Customs before granted by Parliament this King took both Customs and the Excise granted only for the Life of his Brother before they were given him by Parliament How this corresponded with the King's Promise but the Week before that he would never invade any Man's Property I do not understand for tho in every Government no Man has Property against the Supream Power yet by the English Constitutions the Supream Power of the Nation is in the Parliament in Conjunction with the King and the King 's taking both the Customs and Temporary Excise for his Brother's Life by his only Will and Pleasure was as much a Violation upon the Property of the Subject as if he had taken the rest of their Goods and Inheritances To the King's Promise of preserving the Church and State of England as by Law established he adds That he will imitate his kind Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness of his People The first Act of the King's Clemency and Tenderness to his People was extended to Dr. Oates but tho the Act was compleated in this King's Reign the Scene was laid in his good and gracious Brother's when Oates was Fined 100000 l. for Scandalum Magnatum against the Duke of York in saying The Duke was reconciled to the Church of Rome and to be kept close Prisoner till the Fine was paid Oates being thus mew'd up upon the King 's coming to the Crown an Indictment of Perjury is contrived against him upon two Points one That Ireland was not in London from the 3d of August in 1678 till the 14th of September next following when Oates in Ireland's Trial said He was in a Consult concerning the killing the King about the middle of August The other was That Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 when Oates in Harcourt and Whitebread's c. Trials swore They were at a Consult the 24th of April concerning killing the King and establishing the Popish Religion But that a better View may be had of this Trial of Oates it 's fit to look back into King Charles II's Reign It seems evident to me That after the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford and I believe it will to any other that shall read King Charles's History that he designed never after to have another Parliament until he should get the Corporations to surrender their Charters so as they should elect no other Members than pleased him and in the mean time to take off the Heads of those who were zealous in prosecuting the Popish Plot. Upon the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford the Feuds between the Whigs and Tories were in highest Ferment so that whatever was done against the Whigs was cried up by the Tories and Addresses made by them to the King that they would live and die with him in them And because the Whigs as they were called would not find Bills against my Lord of Shaftsbury and Colledge they resolved to carry the Election of Sheriffs in 1682 wherein Mr. Dubois and Mr. Papillon Whigs stood Candidates against Sir Peter Rich and Sir Dudley North Tories but they resolved by Right or Wrong Rich and North should carry it and so they did but by what Right you may judg by the Prints The Tories having gained this Point Sir R. S. Gra. and Burt. are Instruments for packing Juries the Judges North Pemberton and Saunders c. shall do their parts for declaring Charters void and for Trying Fitz-Harris my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney Sir Thomas Armstrong c. But the taking off the Heads of the Whigs was but half this Design the impeached Lords in the Tower must be let loose or the Game was but half play'd This was so ticklish a Point that neither Pemberton nor Saunders could be brought up to it but Saunders dying and Pemberton removed to the Common Pleas Sir Geo. Jeffries was set up to do this Work which he did to content and so was initiated to do what other Journey-work the Court should order And now before him Oates is to be tried for Perjury upon the two Points aforesaid Ireland was tried above six Years before viz. in December 1678 before a Jury of Judges in the Old-Baily and so was Whitebread and Harcourt within about a Month less than six Years viz. in June 1679. Ireland pleaded he was not in London from the 3d of August till the 14th of September and Whitebread Harcourt c. pleaded that Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 so that if their Witnesses said true 't was impossible Oates's Testimony of Whitebread's being at the Consult in April and Ireland's in August could be true That Oates was in Town in April and May in 1678 was proved by Sir Richard Barker Mr. Walker a Minister Mr. Clay a Romish Priest Mrs. Mayo Sarah Ives Mr. Oates's Schoolmaster with whom Oates dined about the Beginning of May Mr. Page and Butler Sir Barker's Coachman But besides Oates and Bedlow's swearing Ireland was at the Consult in August only Sarah Pain who had been Servant to Grove one of the Jesuits swore Ireland was in Town in August Oates thus mew'd up the St. Omers Boys are sent for over in all haste and you need not doubt had new Instructions and the Crew of Staffordshire Witnesses the Boys to swear Oates was at St. Omers all April and May the Staffordshire Witnesses that Ireland was in Staffordshire or thereabouts in August and September Jeffries was the Judg and you need not doubt of a Jury to chime into Jeffries summing up the Evidence Things standing in this Posture Oates is tried upon the 9th of May upon Perjury upon these two Points At the Trial Oates could get only four Witnesses to appear and 't was a Wonder he could get any viz. Mr. Walker the Minister who after so long time durst not trust to his Memory to swear positively
but so ridiculously cruel as will scarcely be believed for not only those who escaped were excepted but a Company of Girls some of 8 or 9 Years old who had made some Colours and presented them to the Duke of Monmouth while he was at Taunton these were excepted by Name and no Pardon could be purchased for this Treason till the Girls Parents had paid more for it than would have provided a Marriage Portion when they should come of Age. But suppose the King did imitate his good and gracious Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People and that Justice only looked forward in these Executions yet we will give Instances wherein this King did not imitate his good and gracious Brother in his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People Alderman Cornish tho he had committed two horrible Crimes in the Reign of King Charles one in presuming to examine Fitz-Harris while he was a Prisoner in Newgate before he was hurried from thence to the Tower to prevent his further Examination the other that he testified at Fitz-Harris's Trial that King Charles told Mr. Cornish that the King did countenance Fitz-Harris in his Design and had given him Money yet King Charles was so good and gracious as not to take away Mr. Cornish's Life But the offended Ghosts of Coleman Ireland Harcourt c. were no ways appeased by the Blood which flowed from the Stripes of Oates's Sentence nothing less than a Sacrifice of humane Blood must be offered to them and this to be performed by affixing Sacred Justice to it Upon Tuesday the of October Mr. Cornish having no dread of any Accusation upon him for any Crime but freely following his Profession was clapt up close Prisoner in Newgate without use of Pen Ink or Paper till Saturday Noon when he had notice of an Indictment of High Treason against him on Monday following and could get no Friend to come to him till 8 a clock at Night Next Day Mr. Cornish's Children petitioned the King to have his Trial put off which was referred to the Judges who you may be assured had their Instructions who denied it tho he knew not whether his Trial were for Treason against this or the late King and his most material Witness was above 140 Miles off and was also denied a Copy of the Pannel of his Jury The Charge of High Treason against him was That in the Year 1682 he had promised to be assisting to James late Duke of Monmouth William Russel Esquire and Sir Thomas Armstrong in their Treasons against King Charles II. The only Witness to prove this was Colonel Rumsey who swore That about the latter end of October or beginning of November at Mr. Sheppard's House Ferguson told Mr. Cornish that he had read a Paper to the Duke of Monmouth Lord Russel Lord Grey and Sir Thomas Armstrong which they desired should be read to Mr. Cornish that Mr. Sheppard held the Candle while it was reading and afterward they asked him how he liked it who said he liked it very well He remembred two Points in it very well one was for Liberty of Conscience the other was That all who would assist in that Insurrection who had had Kings Lands or Church Lands should have them restored to them Rumsey did not hear all the Paper but observed only these two Points it was a Declaration on a Rising and when the Rising was to have been it was to have been dispersed abroad there was a Rising intended at that time and Mr. Cornish said He liked the Declaration and what poor Interest he had he would join in it Rumsey had sworn at my Lord Russel's Trial that Mr. Cornish was not at the Reading or the Declaration by Ferguson and being tax'd for it in this said it was out of Compassion to the Prisoner and Mr. Sheppard who was subpoena'd for the King testified Mr. Cornish was not there Richard Goodenough was the other Witness which was about Words foreign to Rumsey's Testimony about seizing the Tower and a Rising in the City which if what Goodenough said had been true yet Mr. Cornish could not have been found Guilty of Treason for tho by the first Act of Parliament after the Convention of King Charles II. Words were made Treason against the King during his Life yet were they to be prosecuted within six Months and the Person to be indicted in three Months after whereas these Words were pretended to be spoken in Easter Term in 1683 which was two Years and a half before Add hereto the Words were imperfectly said by Goodenough and might be applicable to a pretended Riot wherein Mr. Cornish was concerned and that Goodenough was upon ill Terms with Mr. Cornish because he would not trust Goodenough to be his Under-Sheriff You may read the Trial at large with Mr. Hawles his fine and learned Remarks upon it and how rudely Mr. Cornish and his Witnesses were used at his Trial and how notwithstanding his Quality after Conviction he was tied as if he had been a boisterous and dangerous Rogue and that by Order and executed with the utmost Rigour of the Law for this far-fetch'd and ill-proved Treason But these Tories shall soon see they labour for others not for themselves and these whom they now persecute shall have the Ascendant over them And I observed this of Sir Thomas Jones who was Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and most active in this Trial that he was one of the first if not the first who was turned out of his Place for giving his Opinion the King could not dispense with the Test and Penal Laws The Design thus deep stained in humane Blood first budded in Ireland but whether it was in Affirmance of the King's Promise to his Privy Council and after repeated by him in Parliament that he would make it his Endeavour to preserve the Church and State of England as by Law established let any Man who reads the following Story judg The Book stiled the State of the Protestants in Ireland said to be written by Bishop King fol. 58. says That King James was no sooner settled in his Throne but he began to turn out some Officers who had been most zealous for his Service and had best deserved of him meerly because they had been counted firm to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest such as my Lord Shannon Captain Robert Fitz-Gerald Captain Richard Coote Sir Oliver St. George and put in their places Kerney one of the Russians designed to murder Charles II. Anderson a mean Fellow Sheldon a profest Papist and one Graham and fol. 59. saith the Duke of Ormond was sent for abruptly and divested of the Government and immediately the modelling of the Army was put into the Hands of Colonel Richard Talbot a Man of all others most hated by the Protestants and who had been named by Mr. Oates in his Narrative for this very Employment so that many who believed nothing of the Plot before gave Credit to
intend to make Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland an independent Commission to reform the Army in Ireland and to take the Troopers Horses Pistols Swords and Boots and the Arms and Clothing of the Foot which they had bought and paid for without paying for them I then told you I would endeavour to preserve the Church and State of England as established by Law but now I tell you that I have employed some Officers in the Army not qualified according to the late Tests and will deal plainly with you I will neither expose them to Disgrace nor my self to the want of them The Militia is not sufficient for my Occasions nothing but a good Force of disciplin'd Troops in constant Pay will do it and to that purpose I think it necessary to encrease the Number to the proportion I have done viz. double for which I ask your Assistance in giving me a Supply answerable to the Expence it brings along with it Tho I have disbanded the Army in Ireland which were as true Passive-Obedience-Men as could be got for Love or Money yet were they not fit for my Occasions and tho I have encreased my Army in England to such a Proportion as you now see and officer'd with such Officers as are not qualified by the late Tests yet they are not fit for my Occasions and for which I ask your Assistance in giving me a Supply answerable to the Expence it brings along with it yet let no Man be so wicked as to hope this may put a Difference between you and me but consider what Advantages have arisen to us in a few Months by the good Understanding we have hitherto had and the wonderful Effects it hath already had Now let 's see what Influence this King's Speech had upon the Members The Lords hand over head ordered Thanks to the King for his good and gracious Speech but it did not pass so hastily with the Commons but they debated it Paragraph by Paragraph and because the Militia had not been so forward as the King would have them they voted that they would take into their Consideration how to make it more useful in time to come in case such dangerous Attempts should be made as in Monmouth's Rebellion and upon the 16th of November made this Address to the King Most Gracious Sovereign WE Your Majesty's most Loyal and Faithful Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled do in the first place as in Duty bound return Your Majesty most humble and hearty Thanks for your great Care and Conduct in the Suppression of the late Rebellion which threatned the Overthrow of this Government both of Church and State and the uttter Extirpation of our Religion as by Law established which is most dear to Vs and which Your Majesty has been graciously pleased to give Vs repeated Assurances You will always Defend and Support which with all grateful Hearts we shall ever acknowledg We further crave leave to acquaint Your Majesty that we have with all Duty and Readiness taken into our Consideration Your Majesty's gracious Speech to Vs and as to that part of it relating to the Officers in the Army not qualified for their Imployments according to an Act of Parliament made in the 25th Year of the Reign of Your Majesty's Royal Brother of Blessed Memory Intitled An for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants We do out of Our bounden Duty humbly represent unto Your Majesty that these Officers by Law be uncapable of their Imployment and that the dangers they bring upon themselves thereby can no ways be taken off but by Act of Parliament Therefore out of the great Deference and Duty we owe unto Your Majesty who has been so graciously pleased to take notice of their Services to you we are preparing a Bill to pass both Houses for Your Royal Assent to Indemnify them from the Penalty they have now incurred and because the continuance of them in their Imployments may be taken to be a Dispensing Power with that Law without Act of Parliament the Consequence of which is of the greatest Concernment to the Rights of all your Majesty's Dutiful and Loyal Subjects and to all the Laws made for security of their Religion We therefore the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of your Majesty's House of Commons do most humbly beseech Your Majesty that You would be graciously pleased to give such Directions therein that no Apprehension or Jealousies may remain in the Hearts of Your Majesty's Good and Faithful Subjects This Address was like the shutting the Stable-door when the Steed was stoln these Commons had no such Apprehensions when they heaped such an exorbitant Revenue upon the King to enable him to maintain an Army of 40000 Men to ride them and the Nation when he pleased and now they see the King drives a Way which tends to the Nations as well as their Destructions they tell the King such Ways may give Apprehensions and Jealousies in the Hearts of His Majesty's good and faithful Subjects Did not the Commons in all the four Parliaments in King Charles the 2d's Reign declare what would be the Consequences of the Duke of York's coming to the Crown and did the Duke's Actions while he was Regent in Scotland any ways alleviate those Parliaments Fears Could this Parliament as 't was called now they were got together again and saw Colonel Talbot with an independent Commission from the Lord Lieutenant so barbarously disbanding the Army in Ireland because guilty only of being Protestants yet believe the King would admit of no Papists in his Army in England Could they believe that once professing of the King who was a Jesuited Papist that he would maintain the Church and State as by Law established would wash out all the Jesuit Principles which had taken such deep root in him that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks which the King esteemed these who had prostituted him with such a vast Revenue and all the Nation besides who were not of his Faction to be but that by Fire Faggot and all other such means they were to be rooted out and grow no more upon the Face of the Earth The Bishops retained fresh in memory during the Reign of King Charles the 2d the Indignities the Factions in the late times had shewed to their Persons and Revenues so that they were not only opposite to the Commons in passing the Bills which the Commons had prepared for uniting the King's Protestant Subjects when they perceived the Danger the Nation was in by the Popish Designs but stifly opposed the passing The Bill of Exclusion against the Succession of the Duke of York and all along King Charles his Reign countenanced the Doctrine of Passive Obedience as thinking themselves and their Order most secure under it but herein their Politicks failed them For now the Bishops perceived a more terrible Storm coming upon them by a Faction who never shewed Mercy to any opposite to them whenever it came in their Power and the
Doctrine of Passive Obedience had made a plain and easy Passage for the Popish Faction to take Possession of this Power The Bishop of London therefore after the Lords had voted an Address of Thanks to the King's Speech moved in the name of himself and all his Brethren that the House would debate the King's Speech which as it was extraordinary and unusual in the House so was it not less surprizing to the King and Court who now dreaded the Lords would concur with the Commons in their Address to prevent which the King first prorogued and then dissolved the Parliament and never called another in all his Reign And thus the King made good to the Parliament in his Speech to them the 28th of May That the best Way to engage him to meet them often was to use him well and did expect that they would comply with him in what he desired and that they would do it speedily that it might be a short Sessions and that he and the Parliament might meet again to all their Satisfactions and for the Bishop of London the King shall remember his Motion in due time when he shall plead no Privilege of Parliament The King having so ill performed his Promise to the Parliament of often meeting of them where he might hear of it again which by no means he would endure after he had dissolved them had a fair Field without any Rub to do what he pleased and to petition him or represent the Grievances of the Nation out of Parliament shall be a great Crime next to High Treason And now 't is time to observe the Steps the King proceeded by to maintain the Church and State of England as by Law established His Brother had laid the Foundation of making a Parliament felo de se by hectoring and making Bargains with Corporations to surrender their Charters and taking new ones from him whereby he reserved a Power that if they did not send such Members as pleased him he would resume the Charters he granted them and herein he made a great Progress till his Keeper and Attorney General refused to grant Patents to such poor Corporations as could not pay their Fees so as a new Keeper or Chancellor and Attorney-General must be had who would grant Patents gratis or a Stop would be made in the Progress of so noble a Design In a lucky Hour my Lord Keeper N died at Astrop-Wells I think when Jeffries was in his March to the West and for a Reward of my Lord Jeffries's Clemency that he shewed had the Seals given him with the Title of Lord Chancellour but the Attorney was not so lucky but lived to be turned out and another put in his Place which would perform his Office more charitably to these indigent Corporations which could not pay their Fees in taking new Patents after they had perfidiously betrayed their old But this was but one Step towards this Holy Work the King to make a thorow Reformation will make the Judges in Westminster-Hall to murder the Common Law as well as the King and his Brother designed to murder the Parliament by it self and to this end the King before he would make any Judges would make a Bargain with them that they should declare the King's Power of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests made against Recusants out of Parliament However herein the King stumbled at the Threshold for it 's said he began with Sir Thomas Jones who had merited so much in Mr. Cornish his Trial and in the West yet Sir Thomas bogled at this and told the King He could not do it to which the K. answered He would have Twelve Judges of his Opinion and Sir Thomas replied He might have Twelve Judges of his Opinion but would scarce find Twelve Lawyers of his Opinion The Truth of this I have only from Fame but I 'm sure the King's Practice in reforming the Judges whereof all except my Lord Chief Baron Atkins and Justice Powel were such a Pack as never before sat in Westminster-Hall gave credit to it But if the Lord Chief Justice Thorp for taking a Bribe of 100 l. was adjudged to be hanged and all his Lands and Goods forfeited in the Reign of Edward the 3d because thereby as much as in him lay he had broken the King's Oath made unto the People which the King had intrusted him withal and if Justice Tresilian was hanged drawn and quartered for giving his Judgment that the King might act contrary to one Act of Parliament and if Blake the King's Counsel Vsk the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex and five more of Quality were hanged in the Reign of Henry the 4th for but assisting in Tresilian's Judgment What then did these Judges deserve which made Bargains with the King before-hand to break the King's Oath he had made to the People and entituled the King to a Power to subvert the Laws and gave Judgment before-hand to act contrary to them Andrew Horn in his Mirror of Justice tells us That King Alfred the Mirror of Kings hanged Darling Segnor Cadwine Cole and 40 Judges more because they judged in particular Causes contrary to Law But sure this was not more to Alfred's Honour than it was to the Dishonour of King James to make Bargains before-hand with Judges to give Judgment contrary to the Laws themselves and unless they would break the King's Oath to his People they should not be his Judges The Laws and Constitutions of this Nation as has been already noted make it a Kingdom whereof the King is Head and the Nation the Body so that if you take away the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom there is neither King nor Kingdom Did not the King then descend from his Majesty in rending himself from his Kingdom by breaking Laws whereby he ceases to be a King and the Nation to be a Kingdom And what was it for that the King would not be content with the Soveraignty he had over the Nation wherein his Majesty consisted but would strain it into a Tyranny over the Nation It was to introduce a foreign exploded Dominion of the Pope denied by our Saviour and asserted by the Devil whereby how absolute soever the King would be over his Subjects yet himself and Kingdom must be at the Pope's Disposal to be deposed and destroyed as the Pope pleased Bishop King in the State of the Protestants in Ireland fol. 18. gives this Account of one Moore a Romish Priest who preached before the King at Christ's Church in Dublin in the Beginning of the Year 1690 where he told him to his Face that he did not do Justice to the Church and Churchmen and amongst other things said That Kings ought to consult Churchmen in Temporal Affairs the Clergy having a Temporal as well as Spiritual Right in the Kingdom but Kings had nothing to do in the Management of Spiritual Affairs but were to obey the Orders of the Church Thinking Men could not conceive this dispensing with the Penal Laws
have a Commission but by Law is utterly disabled and disarmed Will you exchange your Birth-right of English Laws and Liberties for Martial and Club-Law and help to destroy all others only to be eaten up at last your selves If I know you well as you are English Men you hate and scorn these things And therefore be not unequally yoked with idolatrous and bloody Papists Be valiant for the Truth and shew your selves Men. The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all English Seamen who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since 88. The first Lightning which the dormant Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs produced fell upon the Bishop of London a Person of Exemplary Vertue and Loyalty and who besides the Nobility of his Birth had his Father slain in the late Civil Wars in defence of the King's Father's Cause and had himself and all his Brothers freely and valiantly exposed their Lives in defence of it The Crime alledged against him was that by the King's Letter he did not suspend Doctor Sharp then Dean of Norwich now Archbishop of York for preaching a Sermon against the Frauds and Corruptions of the Church of Rome by a Power as Arbitrary as that by which the Commissioners acted and for this these Commissioners suspended the Bishop tho every one understood the true Cause was the Bishop's Motion in the House of Lords to have debated the King's Speech Tantum Religio potuit swadere malorum I 'm perswaded King Charles the II. to make a Roman Hierarchy in Scotland made the Bishops out of the most obnoxious of the Clergy who besides their profligate Lives run the King's Prerogative there to a higher pitch than Laud in the King's Father's time did in England And that towards the latter end of his Reign he laid the same design here for the Bishopricks of Oxford York St. David's and Chester becoming void about the latter end of his Reign or beginning of King James's I 'll not name the Bishoprick of Litchfield and Coventry for the Petticoat governed in that Election Dr. Samuel Parker whom Mr. Marvel in his Rehearsal transposed calls Bays a Man of a virulent Disposition and who by railing against the Church got into Preferment and when he was in became a zealous Railer against them without was made Bishop of Oxford Dr. Cartright as high for the Prerogative as Parker was made Bishop of Chester and the Succession to these two Bishopricks was the more observable because Parker succeeded Dr. Fell and Cartright Dr. Peirson Men of Piety and Learning equal to any in their time and one Watson an obscure Man was made Bishop of St. David's but the Archbishoprick of York was reserved for a Person of another Temper whom these Bishops were making way for The Presidentship of Magdalen College in Oxford becoming void and the Fellows fearing a Mandamus would be imposed upon them for some Person not qualified by the Statutes and whom by their Oaths they could not submit to chose Dr. Hough for President a Person qualified by their Statutes for that Place As the Fellows feared so it came to pass for the King sent them a peremptory Mandamus to chuse the Bishop of Oxford Bays their President but he being a Person not qualified by the Statutes of their College which the Fellows were sworn to observe they in a humble Answer excused themselves as being otherways obliged as well by their Oath as Statutes I will not repeat the Anger the King express'd hereupon 't is in Print but sure such Language was never used by any Prince before But if the King 's harsh Language will not work the Fellows to his Will he will send the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs among them to turn them out of their Fellowships wherein they had as much Property as any other had to any real or personal Estate nor shall these Commissioners stay here but by a new strain of Tyranny never practised but by Absolute Tyrants they make the Fellows uncapable of any other Ecclesiastical Preferments The Fellows thus expelled the Statutes of the College are thrown out of Doors to make room for a Seminary of Jesuits and Popish Priests as much tending to the Subversion of the established Church of England as the Statutes of the College But see how God in his Providence blasted these things for the Bishop of Oxford had scarce taken possession of his thus new-acquired Presidentship when he died and you 'll soon see the Fellows restored again in spite of these Commissioners and Dr. Hough made Bishop of Oxford as well as President of Magdalen College If the King were zealous in advancing his Prerogative Royal both in the Church and State of England he will not be less in Scotland whereupon the 12th of February 1686-87 he issues out his Proclamation for Toleration of Religion which you may read in the State Tracts wherein he asserts his Absolute Power which he says his Subjects ought to obey without reserve But the Toleration which the King allows his Roman Catholick Subjects in Scotland he 'll scarce permit to his Protestant Subjects in Ireland for Tyrconnel for so has Talbot merited for his Service in Reforming the Army is not only made an Earl but Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the room of my Lord Clarendon and one Fitton made Sir Alexander an infamous Person detected for Forgery not only at Westminster but at Chester and fined in the House of Lords was brought out of the King's Bench in England to be Chancellor and Keeper of the King's Conscience in Ireland in place of Sir Charles Porter The first Proclamation which Tyrconnel issued out was dated Feb. 21. 1687. wherein he promised to defend the Laws Liberties and established Religion but leaves out the preservation of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation But tho at first he only left out the Acts of Settlement and Explanation being resolved first to out the Protestants and let the Irish into their forfeited Estates yet did he not stay here and Bishop King in his Treatise of the State of the Protestants in Ireland gives so particular and methodical an Account how he proceeded in the destroying the Church and State of Ireland as by Law established that I refer the Reader to it not intending to lessen it by taking parts of it When the Judges had been above a Year propagating the King's Power in Westminster-Hall and in their Circuits of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests against Dissenters from the Church upon the 25th of April 1687 out comes the King's Declaration to all his Subjects for Liberty of Conscience wherein the King declares That it had been a long time his constant Sense and Opinion that Conscience ought not to be restrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion and that it was contrary to his Inclination as he thought it to be the disinterest of the Government by spoiling Trade and depopulating Countries c. Sure no Prince ever acted
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
Service and that all the Bishops in their respective Diocesses should take care to have this done accordingly The Bishops who knew the Declaration of Indulgence was designed to conjoin the Protestant Dissenters with the Popish to ruin the Established Church easily foresaw that the Order to them was to pick a Quarrel with them for the King might have ordered it to be read without as well as by them And besides the Injustice of it it was deemed an undecent thing that the Fathers of the Church in time of Divine Setvice should be the Instruments to give a Liberty to all whether they should come to Divine Service or not Besides the Bishop of London who stood suspended thes Bishops viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Bath and Wells Ely Peterborough Chichester St. Asaph and Bristol were in or about the Town and this Order of Reading the Declaration in Churches was served upon them The Bishops in a humble Petition to the King gave their Reasons in Writing but so cautiously that after it was drawn up they would let no other Man see it before they presented it why they could not comply with the Order of Council The Chancellor tho he thought his Commission big enough to suspend the Bishop of London and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridg and expel the Master and Fellows of Magalen College in Oxford yet it seems did not think it sufficient to suspend these Bishops and therefore advised the King 't was said to try them upon an Information of High Misdemeanour in the King's Bench and in order to it they were committed Prisoners to the Tower Accordingly the Bishops were tried in the King's Bench in Trinty Term following upon an Information of High Misdemeanour for their Petition to the King but how secure soever the King and Chancellor thought themselves of the Judges and tho Sir Robert Wright who was Chief Justice and Sir Richard Allibone a known Papist were two of them yet they were not all of a Piece for Mr. Justice Powel both learnedly and stoutly defended the Bishops Cause If we look down to the Bar we shall see as strange a mixture as in the Bench for the late Attorney-General Sawyer and Solicitor Finch who were so zealous to find my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney and Mr. Cornish c. guilty of High Treason and for Surrender of Charters now they are turned out are as zealous for the acquittal of the Bishops and the then Solicitor-General of a most zealous Prosecutor of Abhorrers and Searcher into the bottom of the Popish Plot as zealous for finding their Misdemeanour However the Jury acquitted the Bishops Unless it were when Monk came into the City the 12th of February 1659-60 and Colonel Cloberry told the Citizens at Guild-Hall they should have a free Parliament or when King Charles came into London the 29th of May following never were such loud Acclamations of Joy exprest as upon the Acquittal of the Bishops nor did the Bounds of the City terminate this Joy but it flew like Lightning to Hounslow Heath where the King would be present to see the Army exercised wherein he trusted more than in Justice and Righteousness to accomplish his Design It seems the King was treated that Day by my Lord of Feversham General of the Army in his Tent when the News of the Bishops Acquittal arrived at the Army which entertained it with a general Shout the King 't was said was startled at it and sent the Earl to enquire the Cause the Earl in return told the King 't was nothing but the Souldiers Joy for the Acquittal of the Bishops And call you that nothing replied the King who was much discomposed upon it and well he might for now he saw how little Confidence was to be imposed in the Army he so much relied upon It 's a Duty incumbent upon Mankind to honour and worship God and give him Thanks for the Benefits received from him and to petition and pray to him for continuance of them Next after God it 's the Duty of all Subjects to honour the King for the Benefits they receive by his Justice and Protection and to petition and pray Relief from him for Oppressions and Injuries which cannot be redressed by the ordinary Course of Law or where the Ministers of the Law either cannot or refuse to do Justice It 's therefore the Wisdom of our Constitution that Parliaments frequently meet not only to receive Petitions against Oppressions or Injuries received which were not or could not be redressed by the King's Ministers of the Law but also to correct and punish the King's Ministers themselves if they transgressed or neglected their Duty But tho frequent Parliaments are the most proper Expedients for the Subjects herein yet oftentimes Accidents may be which will not stay for relief by Parliament as in Case of the Bishops In May they are ordered to have the King's Declaration of Indulgence read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses and to do it and to give no Reasons why they could not do it would have been a manifest Contempt of the King's Authority they could not do it either in Honour or Conscience and by an humble Petition and Address represent this to the King and for ought appeared then the King never intended to call another Parliament till he had modelled them as much to his Will as Cromwel did Barebone's Parliament This Petition is made a High Misdemeanour and the Bishops committed upon it and Father Petre the Club of Jesuits the Attorney and Solicitor-General Graham Burton c. are all plotting how to make it so So as now the Kingdom is without all hopes of a free Parliament and yet it is a High Misdemeanour to address to or petition the King And that this Order upon the Bishops to enjoin the Reading of the King's Declaration for Indulgence was a Design upon their Persons as well as upon the Church is apparent for after their Acquittal Orders from the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs were sent into all parts of England to return an Account to the Lord Chancellor of those that refused to read the Declaration of Indulgence that they might be proceeded against for their Contempt but the Reign and Rage of these Commissioners was too hot to last long and now let 's see what return of Praises and Thanksgivings the Bishops can make to God for their Deliverance God requires Truth in the inward Parts and that it should govern all the Intentions Speech and Actions of every Man in his Conversation with Man yet more in his Prayers and Petitions to God and if it be an High Crime of Hypocrisy to speak or act contrary to a Man's Knowledg or Belief for the end designed thereby is to deceive another though God cannot be deceived it 's a greater Crime to approach his Omniscience with Prayers and Petitions contrary to a Man's certain Knowledg or firm Belief I take it for granted that the Bishops understood the King's Declaration
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
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
infinitely progressive and if the means for carrying on Arts be restrained or denied this will not only cramp the Improvement of this Art but make the present Performance of it more difficult and no Man that is less conversant in any Art or Business understands how to manage them so well as those Men who make it their Business and are more conversant in them It is therefore extream Arrogance and Injustice in any one to prescribe to another how and by what means he shall manage his Business and by no other every Man in his Profession ought to use such just means for carrying on his Business as he shall find most convenient and not be restrained to such means as another shall impose upon him and therefore whatever my Opinion or any Man 's else be of carrying on the New-Castle Trade in English built Ships yet it 's not fit to impose it so upon others Negatively that they shall use no others Trade and all Arts flourishing most where they are more free and have more means to improve them and tho I believe our Turkey and Italian Trades are better carried on in English built Ships than others because they being more Warlike and double better Mann'd than Foreign they will fight their Passage against the Algerin Tunis and Tripoli Pirates when other Foreign Vessels easily become a Prey to them yet I think it unjust to forbid the English to trade in any other Ships into the Straits Expedient III. Since the Strength and Trade of every Nation begins at the Inhabitants it will be the Interest of the Nation to continue the Inhabitants in it and how these Inhabitants may be imployed to the Benefit of the Nation is the next Consideration And therefore it is expedient that the Liberty which at present is granted to Dissenters from the Church be continued lest by proceeding against them by severe means as was done of late for five years together viz. from the year 1635 to 1640 and since they flee out of England into our Foreign Plantations or into Holland as they then did and taught the Dutch the Woollen Manufactures wrought in Suffolk and Essex which was one principal Cause that the English have almost lost all their Trades of Woollen Manufactures in the Kingdoms and Countries within the Sound and thereby the Dutch Trade for these is vastly encreased and also lest they be provoked into intestine Broils as succeeded in the Year 1640. Nor has Holland had the Benefit of the Persecution of the Dissenters in England only but I do assuredly affirm that the raging Persecution of the Protestants by Philip the II. in the Spanish Netherlands and by Henry the II. in France who found an Asylum in Holland against these Persecutionâ— was the Original of the Dutch Greatness and it may be a Problem whether the now French King has not lost more by his revoking the Edict of Nants and by his Dragooning Reformation of the Reformed than he has got by all his Conquests in the Spanish Netherlands the Empire Savoy and Spain and after all he is not sure but in acquiring these he has endangered the safety of his Kingdom of France Expedient IV. In the Imployment of the Natives there is a twofold Consideration First That the poorer sort of Youth be instructed how to be employed And secondly That no Man be excluded out of any Place from having the Benefit of his Breeding and Labours I see no reason why Men should merit their Freedom in any Art or Mystery by their being bound Apprentice to it for seven Years for if they have any Benefit by it let them enjoy it but to exclude any other from exercising his Trade because though a better Artist than one bound Apprentice to it he has not served seven Years in it is not only Tyranny and Injustice but of publick Detriment I say it is Tyranny and Injustice for the generality of Mankind eat their Bread in the sweat of their Brows and Cares of Mind and have no other Subsistence but by their Labours and therefore to take from another his honest means of Labour and Living is a greater wrong than to have robbed him for this hinders him but in his present Condition whereas it is worse to take a Man's means of Living than to take away his Life for this puts a Man upon the ungodly Courses of Thieving Sherking and Deceit and with what Justice can a Man be punished for doing ill who is not permitted to do well I say the denying a Man the benefit of his Labours is a publick Detriment for all Countries flourish by the Inhabitants Labour and Industry in Living and every Man's Labour being a Benefit to another hereby the Publick becomes injured as well as the Man that is denied the Benefit of his Labours Object By the Act of the 5 Eliz. 4. it is unlawful for any to work in any Trade in any Corporation or Market Town but he who has been bound Apprentice to it seven Years Answ All Men by the Law of Nature are obliged to get their Livings by honest Callings and to be helpful to other Men and Humane Laws ought to aid the Law of Nature herein and to punish those who hinder Men from their Labour and Imployment and whenever Humane Laws are contrary to the Law of Nature the Execution of them is practising Iniquity by a Law If a Man has been bound Apprentice seven Years to any Profession it may be he has thereby a Benefit above another not bound seven years but shall this other therefore not subsist or be of any Benefit to the Nation because that was bound Apprentice This is such a Topick in Reasoning as I never desire to be conversant in But why must being bound Apprentice seven Years entitle a Man to a Freedom of working in any Art or Mystery Suppose one is bound and is a Block-head and another more ingenious in it not so bound is there any Reason that shall be free and this other not imployed I am assur'd it is otherwise in Holland where Men in purchasing their Freedom are not questioned how long they have been bound Apprentice but how well they can work in any Art or Mystery I agree there are some Professions which depend chiefly upon bodily Labour as Black-smiths Carpenters Shipwrights Husbandmen c. which cannot be well acquired but by being bound Apprentices to them for some Time or Years but I see no reason why in others which do not so much depend upon bodily Labour Youth should be bound Apprentice at all but may be better instructed without it for as in all scientifical Learning Youth bred up together will better be instructed in Company and learn by one another than where one single Youth is instructed by one Man so in the Arts of Combing Spinning Weaving and Knitting in Woollen Manufactures and Silkthrowing Weaving and in many others Youth will be much better instructed in Consort and Company than when alone There is one
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
Indulgence to be read in Churches 644. Jefferies the Commons Votes against him 556. Releases the impeached Lords 611. His savage Cruelty in the West c. 613 620 621. Is made Lord Chancellor 630. Jesuits their Projects in England 200 201. for which some were taken yet releas'd by the King 201. Ignoramus the Play 74. Ingoldsby sent against Lambert 420. Inoiosa Spanish Ambassador presents the King a Paper against the Prince and Buckingham 130 132. which much perplexes him 132 133. Johnson Mr. Samuel whipt for writing an honest Address to the English Army 638 639. Jones Sir Tho. his Thoughts of a Dispensing Power 630. Sir Will. put out and for what 546. Ireland how bounded c. 12. A horrible Massacre there 277 343. Another design'd 448. and a Rebellion in Conjunction with the French 472 533. K. James's Proceedings there 624 625 632 641. Irish Cattle Act to prohibit their Importation with 9 Observations upon it 462 467. Is made perpetual 559. Judges their Opinion for Ship-Money 258. Those made by Char. II. 501. Juries hated by Cromwel 400 401. Are pack'd to murder honest Men 601 602 611. Jurisdiction of Parliaments discust in relation to Fitz-harris 588 590. Jus Divinum 330 332 544. Juxton Bishop of London made Lord-Treasurer 265. K. KIngs their divided Will against Law 5. Never parted with Parliaments in Disgust till the Stuarts 205 267. Not wont to be present at Debates in Parliament 502. Never speak but in Parliament or under the Great-Seal 568. Kirk Maj. General his barbarous Inhumanity at Taunton 622. Kirk-Party strict with James VI. 34. Mind the King of his Covenant 443. See Scots L. LAmbert turns against Cromwel 399. After against his Son 406. Is made Lieutenant-General 408. Petitions the Rump 409. Is turn'd out by them ib. and after turns them out 410. Marches against Monk 412 414. Is sent to the Tower 416. Is routed and taken Prisoner 421. Langdale Sir Marmad his Success for the King 309. Is discontented 311. Laud his Rise and Character 122 123. Puts the King on altering Religion in Scotland 122 123 242 255 256 260. Gets a Bishoprick by playing the Spaniel 123. His ways to ruin Bishop Williams 124 239. Proves a Firebrand c. 157 166 167 226 239 242. Is made Bp of London 226. Favours Popery 231. His great Care of the Church 167 227 241 242. Prosecutes his Injunctions concerning Ceremonies with great Severity 254 255 257 258. Quarrels with the King about visiting the Vniversities 256 257. Procures an Alteration in the Church of Scotland 262 263. Lauderdale some account of him 441 442 454. Is bitter against the Presbyterians in Scotland his Highland Government there 490 491. Laws c. ought to be in the Mother-Tongue 363 404 405 665. Lenthal made General by the Rump 408. Lestrange Roger Champion of the Tory-Cause 500. Is employ'd to ridicule the Popish Plot 545. Levellers in the Army 318. Liberty of Conscience to be continued 662. See Dissenters and James II. Lindsey Earl sent to relieve Rochel but in vain 225. Lisle Lady her unparallel'd Case is basely murder'd 620. London on ill Terms with the King 272. yet lend him Money 273. Raise Souldiers under Waller c. 321. In Confusion 414. Join with Monk for a Free Parliament 419. Is set on fire 461. See Hubert Long Mr. sentenc'd in Star-Chamber 234. Lorain Duke basely dealt with by the French King 474. Lords five impeach'd by the Commons 535. See Jefferies Lowden Chancellor of Scotland his Speech concerning Cromwel 303 304. Ludlow deposes Henry in Ireland 408. M. MAckenzy Sir Geo. pleads against the Earl of Argyle 584 585. Magdalen-College Story 640. Mansfield denied landing at Calais contrary to Agreement 146. Manwaring for the King 's absolute Power 197. Impeach'd by the Commons and sentenc'd by the Lords 214 215. Is promoted by Laud 227 256. Marriage with France see Charles I. Marsilly murder'd at Paris to the Dishonour of K. Charles 479. Marston-Moor Fight 307. Maurice Prince for the King 298. Is lost in the W Indies 327. May Tho. Esq his Treatise of the Civil Wars disprov'd 280 295. Mazarine turns K. Charles c. out of France 383. His Success against the Pr. of Conde 388 389. and Loss at Ostend 402. Opposes K. Charles's Restoration 421 422. Meal-tub-Plot discover'd 546. Militia who shou'd have the Power of it the chief Cause of the War 296. Whether it belongs to King or Parliament ib. 329. Mombas betrays the Dutch 484 486. Monk takes Sterling-Castle and Dundee 347. Complies with Cromwel 359. Engages the Dutch 356 371 372. Is caress'd on his Victory 373. Sent to Scotland 383. His Pedigree and Story 384 385. His Regency in Scotland 410. Is much courâ—ed secures Berwick 411. His ill Success treats with the Committee of Safety but displeas'd with the Agreement with a Story of him 412 413. Sends to Fleetwood summons a great Assembly at Edinburgh abjures K. Charles 413. His Success 412 416. Is declar'd for in Ireland 412. Marches to London is addrest for a Free Parliament 416. Is carest by the Rump his Speech to them 417. Pulls down the Gates of the City sends an angry Message to the Rump 418. Declares for a Free Parliament at Guild-hall and restores the secluded Members 419. Meets the King at Dover and is made Knight of the Garter 426. Monmouth Duke sent against the Covenanters 543. 'T was believ'd his Mother was married to the King and why 544. Is unjustly put to Death 619. Monopolies injurious 55 56 65. Montross for the King 313 315 316. Is routed and executed 344. Morley Col. Herbert secures the Tower for Monk 418. Mountague accus'd by the Commons of Arminianism 166. Is favour'd by the King 166 167 171 226. Impeach'd by the Commons for favouring Popery 180 183 226. Made Bp of Chichester 226. and after of Norwich 227. Holds Correspondence with the Pope 273. Muscovy the Czar revokes the English Privileges on K. Charles's Death 350. N. NAseby Fight 311 312. Navigation-Act made by the Rump 350. Its Inconveniences 364 367 391 455 653 658. Nayloâ— James his Blasphemy 396 Newberry first Fight 299. Second Fight 308. Newfoundland Fishery how the French got it from us 390 391. North Sir Francis a Tool in the late Times 592. Promoted 603. Northampton Earl concern'd in Overbury's Death see Carr and Overbury Yet in favour with the King tho a Papist 72 73 Incourages the Irish Papists 74. November 5. appointed an Anniversary Thanksgiving 58. Noy Mr. against the Court 208. Is taken off by being made Attorney-General 243. His Pretence for Ship-money c. 252. O. OAtes Dr. first discovers the Popish Plot 532. His excessive Fine 610. Indicted of two pretended Perjuries 610 613. His barbarous and illegal Punishment 613. Oaths Remarks on that of the Scots Covenant 368 438. on the Convocation-Oath 369 438. on the Corporation-Oath 431 439. Orange Prince General for the Dutch 486. Declar'd Stadtholder is courted by the French King his noble Answer to his Proposals
and Tests against Dissenters was any ways intended in favour of the Protestants for notwithstanding the Slaughter Jeffries had made of them in the West the rest all over England were imprisoned and forced to give Security for their good Behaviour Nay my Lord D. of Albermarle who had done the K. so signal Service in keeping the Devonshire Men from joining with the D. of Monmouth must be sent out of England to Jamaica and the Earl of Pembroke and others who had been so active in suppressing Monmouth were scarce thanked and but coldly entertained at Court If things were acted with this indeed bare-fac'd dissimulation in England they were not less in Ireland for the King having revoked the Duke of Ormond from his Lieutenancy and given Talbot an independent Commission to make such a reform of the Army there as is aforesaid made my Lord Clarendon Deputy-Lieutenant and Sir Charles Porter Chancellour who arrived there the 10th of January 1685-86 with a Charge to declare that the King would preserve the Acts of Settlement and Explanation inviolable and to assure all his Subjects he would preserve these Acts as the Magna Charta of Ireland but this Declaration compared with Talbot's reforming the Army in Ireland seemed as strange as that the King 's dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests was in favour of the Protestant Dissenters in England In Scotland the King had so settled Affairs there when he was Commissioner that after the cutting off the Earl of Argyle he did not doubt to carry on his Designs more bare-fac'd there than in England or Ireland and therefore tho he did not call a Parliament till April 1686 yet in his Letter to them of the 12th he takes no Notice of the Protestant Dissenters but recommends to them his innocent Roman Catholick Subjects Who had with their Lives and Fortunes been always assistant to the Crown in the worst of Rebellions and Vsurpations tho they lay under Discouragements hardly to be named These he heartily recommended to their Care to the end that as they have given good Experience of their true Loyalty and peaceable Behaviour so by their Assistance they may have the Protection of his Laws and that Security under his Government which others of his Subjects had not suffering them to lie under Obligations which their Religion cannot admit of by doing whereof they will give a Demonstration of the Duty and Affection they had to him and do him most acceptable Service This Love he expected they would shew to their Brethren as they saw he was an indulgent Father to them all The King having settled his Prerogative in Westminster-Hall by dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests in the Beginning of the Year 1686 granted a Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs but it was not opened to act till the 3d of August following why it lay so long dormant I do not find but only guess that the King might the better settle his Dispensing Power in the Country by such Judges as he had made as well as in Westminster-Hall and that he might be more at leisure to carry on the Design for surrender of Charters wherein one Robert Brent a Roman Catholick was a prime Agent and great Care was taken that the beggarly Corporations might surrender their Charters and take new ones without paying Fees and if any should be so honest as to insist upon their Oaths and Trust reposed in them for Preservation of their Charters to be prosecuted as riotous and seditious Persons But in regard the Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs was not printed that I can find nor is in the State Tracts I thought fit to insert it here as I had it in Manuscript from a learned Hand JAMES the Second by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To the most Reverend Father in God our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Counsellor William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Counsellor George Lord Jeffries Lord Chancellour of England and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Lawrence Earl of Rochester Lord High Treasurer of England and to Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Robert Earl of Sunderland President of Our Council and Our Principal Secretary of State and to the Right Reverend Father in God and Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Nathaniel Lord Bishop of Duresme and to the Right Reverend Father in God Our Right Trusty and well-beloved Thomas Lord Bishop of Rochester and to our Right Trusty and well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Herbert Knight Chief Justice of the Pleas before us to be holden assigned Greeting We for divers good weighty and necessary Causes and Considerations Us hereunto especially moving of our meer Motion and certain Knowledg by force and virtue of Our Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal do assign name and authorize by these our Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England you the said Arch Bp of Canterbury Lord Chancellor of England Lord High Treasurer of England Lord President of Our Council Lord Bishop of Duresme Lord Bishop of Rochester and our Chief Justice aforesaid or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one from time to time and at all times during our Pleasure to exercise use occupy and execute under us all manner of Jurisdiction Privileges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions within this our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all such Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm can or may be lawfully reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the Pleasure of Almighty God and encrease of Vertue and the Conservation of the Peace and Unity of this Realm And we do hereby give and grant unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one thus by Us named assigned authorized and appointed by force of Our Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal full Power and Authority from time to time and at all times during Our Pleasure under us to exercise use and execute all the Premises according to the Tenour and Effect of these our Letters Patents any Matter or Cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And We do by these Presents give full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the Lord Chancellor to be one by all lawful Ways or Means from time to time hereafter during Our Pleasure to enquire of all Offences Contempts Transgressions and Misdemeanours done and commited contrary to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Our Realm in any County City Borough or other Place or Places exempt or not exempt within this our Realm of England