and Authority against all opposition whatsoever And for the better wipeing away all suspicion of the true intent and design of his Brothers coming he sent his Daughter away with him likewise No sooner had the General dismist his Bother but he received a visit from a Scotch Noble Man viz. the Earl of Nitsdale who after some private discourse with him assured him that the King would be restored within the compass of a very few months without the shedding of one drop of Bloud or the hazard of a cut Finger in the accomplishment thereof and that he lookt upon him as the principle Instrument by whose Wisdom and Conduct it was to be effected which prophettick discourse contributed very much toward his encouragment to push the business forward with the greater earnestness and speed Mr. Monk being safely arrived at London repaired privately to Sir John Greenvile and gave him an account that he had delivered his message to the General and imparted it to none else except his Chaplain only but told him as to the success of it he could give him no account being under an Oath of secresie However Sir John thought that was sufficient and therefore immediately acquainted the King with it who was so well satisfied therewith that he ordered him to wait an opportunity as soon as possible to treat personally with him which he did not long after and received a more full and satisfactory account from him how and in what manner he intended to proceed therein And for the discharging of this new Embassy to the Rump he repaired to Dr. Clergies who was Brother in Law to him and the General and Agent for the Scotch and Irish Armies to whom he was ordered by the General to impart his message to be delivered by him to the Parliament wherewith they were so highly pleased that out of a Sence of the Generals supposed Fidelity and to require his offered kindness they made as it were an expiring vote of revenge when they saw they must be forced to yield to Lamberts ambition and have their usurpt Authority suffer a second Rape wherein they constituted him about the seventh part of a Generalissimo which fell out very happily for the promoting his great and generous design for it was by Virtue of that power that he seemed afterwards to act and give forth Commissions And having received on the 7th of October the certain news that Lambert had by the assistance of the Army once more unhoused the Rump he publickly protested that he would not endure that unjust and arbitrary proceding and was resolved therefore to reduce the Military power to the obedience of the Civil and in order thereunto presently entred the Stage against Lambert and his Armies proceedings dispatching away the trusty adjutant Jeremy Smith who was afterwards Knighted for his Fidelity that afternoon to Edenburgh and Leith to secure those places and under the march of such Troops of Horse on whose Captains he could most rely and having stopt the Packquet which should have gone that Night for England he followed him the next day to Edenburgh where he reformed his Army making Captain Morgan Lieftenant Collonel and Captain Nichols Major of his own Regiment and the next day sent a party of Horse commanded by Captain Johnson to secure Barwick which he knew to be a place of great importance to his new designs which was done in the very nick of time for the Governour had no sooner clapt up his dissenting Officers according to the Generals directions but Collonel Cobbit entred the Town with instructions and Authority to assert and defend their Interest who being brought by Johnson to the General he sent him Prisoner to Edenburgh Castle and having assured the Soldiers to him he dispatched three Letters into England directed to Fleetwood Lambert and Lenthal wherein he acquainted them with his resolution to restore these Kingdoms to the free exercise of their Laws and Liberties which expression had more included than was exprest in it which was well enough understood by the Lord Fairfax and some others who were privy to the design These Letters gave some intimation of hope to the Rump that they should be a second time restored to their Authority and infinitely surprised Lambert and the other Grandees of the Army who did not expect to meet with any such opposition believing it diversly opposite to the interest of the Army in general for any one part of it to be divided against and oppose the proceedings of the rest and that although there should be any amongst the Souldiers who should love their Country better then their pay and that Monk should undertake to back them yet they were assured by some of his Officers who were then at London that his interest was too weak in Scotland to make head against them however to make all sure they sent Dr. Clergies and Collonel Talbut to him whom they intreated and conjured to use their utmost endeavors to allay those suddain heats of his which they affirmed had been kindled by some unhappy mistakes of their proceedings and assure him that he and his army should suddainly receive a satisfactory account about them But that attempt signified little for Talbut could not perswade him of the sincerity of Lamberts Friendship nor the reallity of his offered advantages and Clergies did but prevaricate with them that sent him and informed the General of the true state and condition of the English Army who had but little Money and no means left of raising more when that was spent in regard the Rump who saw their doom hastning had before they were turned out by Lambert voted it high Treason to raise money out of Parliament thereby covering their spite and revenge with the shadow of a pretended tenderness for their Countrys freedom These were soon after followed by Captain Dean Treasurer to the English Army who was sent by Fleetwood as a special messenger of his own with a very kind letter to the General and an offer of what preferment in the Army he would please to accept of if he would concur with them which he refused This messenger in his passage into Scotland dispersed divers papers where he endeavoured to seduce Monk's Soldiers by accusing their General of a design to bring in Charles Stuart upon them by his dividing the Army and told the General to his Face as he sat at dinner with him that Charles Stuart was at the bottom of his design upon which Dr. Price replyed no Mr. Treasurer it is you that will bring him in for by your late actions you have more then justified the late King who demanded only the Members of the House of Commons but ye have dissolved a Parliament And passing by one morning as a Company of Foot was drawing up he told them them that Lord Lambert was coming upon them and that all Monks Army would suffice him for a Breakfast to which he received as blunt an answer That Lambert had certainly a very good
and hearty thanks for the same and to assure him of their Loyalty and Duty And that they would give him a speedy Answer to his gracious Proposals Resolving moreover that the sum of 50000 l. should be presented him from that House and 10000 l. to each of his Royal Brothers the Dukes of York and Glocester Which Resolves were no sooner reported in London then the Citizens were extreamly transported with Joy The harmony of Bells and the flaming Piles which enlighted every Street surrounded with incredible Shouts and Acclamations being sufficient demonstrations of the infinite Pleasure and Satisfaction which every one took in that no less strange than happy Revolution And the several Countries taking Allarm from London contended which should outvy the other in expressions of Loyalty and Joy And General Mountague having communicated to the Fleet the Letters he received from the King and the Duke of York together with those directed to the Parliament they unanimously declared their Resolution to adhere to him and to live and die in his defence humbly desiring the Generals to present the same to the King whereupon Mountague himself immediately fired a Gun crying God bless His Majesty and the whole Fleet. Thereupon presently appeared in its pride and glory with Pendants loose Guns roaring Caps flying and Vive le Roys loudly ecchoing from one Ships Company to another which were answered by the great Guns from Dale and Sandwich Castles nor was this Joy confined to England but spread it self into Scotland and Ireland also And now the Parliament longing for the King's presence amongst them as the Israelites did for the return of King David drew up a Letter in answer to that which they had receiv'd from him superscribing it to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty wherein they requested his speedy return to the exercise of his Kingly Office appointing Commissioners to go over to Holland and attend him during his stay there and in his Voyage for England There being six appointed for the House of Lords and twelve for the House of Commons to which upon the Request of the Lord Mayor and Common-Council of London was added twenty on the behalf of that City who having receiv'd their Instructions set sail for Holland with several Frigots appointed by the Parliament to attend them the whole Fleet being likewise committed to the King's pleasure the General whereof had Orders from the Parliament to obey such Orders and Directions as he should receive from His Majesty The Commissioners upon their arrival at Breda delivered their respective Messages with all imaginable reverence and veneration according to the Instructions they had received from their Principals beseeching His Majesty in the name of his Parliament and People to return to his Inheritance and re-assume his Crown and Scepter assuring him that he should be infinitely welcome to them without any Tearms which Invitation was gladly accepted and the Commissioners were received by him with a Grace and Port like himself and entertain'd with extraordinary Magnificence and Bounty The Parliament in the mean time proceeded to the Proclaiming of him which was perform'd with all that Joy Splendor and Magnificence that their Loyalty could inspire the Lord General attended by all the Peers the most Eminent of the Commons the Lord Mayor and Aldermen with the Trained Bands of London assisting at the Ceremony The Proclamation being as followeth viz. Although it can no way be doubted but that his Majesties Right and Title to these Crowns and Kingdoms is and was every way compleat by the Death of his Most Royal Father of Glorious Memory without the Ceremony or Solemnity of a Proclamation yet since Proclamations in such cases have been always used to the end that all good Subjects might upon this occasion testify their Duty and Respect and since the Armed violence and other Calamities of many years last past have hitherto deprived us of any opportunity wherein we might express our Loyalty and Allegiance to his Majesty We therefore the Lords and Commons now Assembled in Parliament together with the Lord Mayor Aldermen and common-Common-Council of the City of London and other Freemen of this Kingdom now present do according to our Duty and Allegiance heartily joyfully and Unanimously acknowledge and Proclaim that immediately upon the Decease of our late Soveraign King Charles the First the Imperial Crown of the Realm of England and all the Kingdoms Dominions and Rights belonging to the same did by Inherent Birth-right and Lawful undoubted Succession Descend and come to his Most Excellent Majesty King Charles the Second as being Lineally Justly and Lawfully next Heir of the Blood Royal of this Realm And that by the Goodness and Providence of Almighty God he is of England Scotland and Ireland the Most Potent Mighty and Undoubted King and thereunto we Most Humbly and Faithfully do submit and oblige our selves our Heirs and Posterities for ever At the reading whereof the whole City rang with the Sound of God Save and God Bless King Charles the Second the Shouts and Acclamations of the crowding multitudes being so extraordinary that although all the Bells throughout the City and Suburbs were then Ringing their Noise was not to be heard The King having now by his extraordinary Wisdom and Conduct thus happily contriv'd his return to his Crown and Kingdom without the spilling of his Subjects Blood and having brought his Affairs to their desired Issue prepared to leave Holland and after so long and tedious an Exile returned to his Harass'd and almost ruined Realms being upon his departure Splendidly Treated by the Dutch for a Fortnight together with all the Pomp and Magnificence imaginable and presented with the Richest Bed and Furniture together with Tapestry for Hangings Embossed with Gold and Silver and adorned with Pictures that could be procured and Highly Complemented by all the Forreign Ministers then Resident there For these Noble Entertainments which together with the Present of the Dutch about one hundred Thousand Pounds he gave the States General and those of Holland his Hearty Thanks in their Publick Assemblies whither he went on Foot and having taken his leave of them and commended to them the interest of his Sister and his Nephew the Prince of Orange they delivered their sence of the present circumstance of Affairs and declared the greatness of that joy they conceived for his Miraculous Restauration in the following Speech If one may judge of the content which we have to see your Majesty depart from our Province by the satisfaction we had to possess you we shall have no great trouble to make it known to you your Majesty might have observed in the countenance of all our People the Joy they had in their Hearts to see a Prince cherished of God a Prince wholly miraculous and a Prince that is probable to make a part of their quietness and felicity your Majesty shall see presently all the Streets filled all the ways covered and all the Hills loaden with People which will
Protestant Successor and limit the Authority of the former if any such should be by providing that all Church-preferments should be conferred on Pious and Learned Protestants That the Parliament which should happen to be in being at his own Death or if none the last that sate should thereupon assemble without any new Summons or Election That during the Reign of any Popish Successor no Privy Councellor or Judg of the Common Law or Chancery should be put in or displaced but by consent of Parliament That none should be Justices of Peace but Protestants and that the Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants of Counties and Officers in the Navy should not be put in nor removed but by the Authority of Parliament Telling them he conceived it hard to invent any other Restraint to be put on a Popish Successor Yet if any thing did occur to their Wisdom whereby their Religion and Liberties might be better secured he was ready to consent to it Whereupon the Commons after they had several times adjourned the consideration of this Speech on the 11th of May resolved That they would stand by His Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes And that if he should come by any violent Death which they prayed God to avert they would revenge it to the utmost upon the Papists According to which Vote an Address was drawn up and presented by them to the King with this Variation in the form of words We shall be ready to revenge upon the Papists any violence offered by them to your Sacred Majesty which words were neither exprest nor intimated in their Vote altho absolutely necessary and essential to the Justice of their designed Revenge And without taking the least notice of the Resolution exprest in his Speech Not to suffer any alteration in the Descent to the Throne brought in a Bill to disable his Royal Highness to inherit the Imperial Crown of England which being put to the Vote was carried in the Affirmative by One and Twenty Voices but being prorogued soon after it proceeded no further In the mean while the Two Houses were very earnest in debating the methods whereby they should bring the Lords in the Tower to their Trials And Danby being demanded at the Bar of the Lords House Whether he would rely on and abide by the Plea of his Pardon returned for answer That having been advised by his Council his Pardon was good in Law he would insist upon his Plea and requested his Council might be heard And the Lords acquainting the Commons with his desire instead of granting it they in the Names of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament and all the Commons of England demanded Judgment against him upon the Impeachment affirming his Pardon to be illegal and void However the Lords appointed him a day to argue his Plea and ordered the Five Lords to be tried the Week after and an Address to be made to the King for the appointing a Lord Steward for their Trials But the Commons not satisfied with their proceedings desired a Committee of both Houses might consider of the most proper methods of proceeding upon Impeachments according to the usage of Parliament but the Lords refused it as contrary to the known Rules and Orders of their House which ever was and ought to be tender in matters relating to their Judicature Whereupon the Commons resolved That no Commoner should presume to maintain the Validity of the Pardon pleaded by Danby without the leave of that House And that the persons so doing should be accounted Betrayers of the Liberties of the Commons of England Upon which the Lords to take away all occasion of disgust between the Two Houses receded from their former resolution and appointed a Committee to treat with them but a difference arising in that joynt Committee about the Bishops Right to be present at Trials in capital cases the Lords affirming they might stay till the Court proceeded to the Vote of Guilty or Not Guilty and the Commons denying it the Bishops endeavour'd to find out a Medium which might satisfie both and therefore desired leave of the Lords to withdraw themselves from the Trials with liberty of entring their usual protestations But this not satisfying the Commons they resolved not to proceed to the Trial of the Five Lords before Judgment given on Danby's Pardon and to insist upon the Bishops having no Right of Voting in capital Offences which made the King who saw that these heats took up their whole time and prevented their entring upon such Debates as more nearly concerned them and would have conduced more toward the setling of the Nation thought it best to prorogue them in hopes that in their next meeting their Debates might be more happy and unanimous About this time the Faction ran higher in Scotland and boiled into an open Râ—bellion which took its first beginning from the barbarous Murder of Dr. Sharp Archbishop of St. Andrews and Primate of that Kindom on the 3d of May 1679. by a company of inveâ—â—â—ate Covenanters as he was travelling from Edenborough to his own Residence who had born him an immorâ—al hatred because having formerly been one of their Party he had revolted as they termed his honest Reformation But appeared more visible toward the latter end of that Month in the Western parts of Scotland when a party of Rebels well mounted and armed coming to Rugland proclaimed the Covenant burnt the following Acts of Parliament viz. Those which concerned the King's Supremacy the Eâ—â—â—blishment of Episcopacy the appointing the Anniversary of the 29th of May and the Recissory Act by which all the Mock-Laws made in the late Anarchy were repealed And publisht an insolent Declaration full of Treason and stuft with the very Spirit and Quintescence of Rebellion inviting others to joyn with them which the Covenanters commonly there called WHIGS from whence the Name was afterward brought into England and applied to all the Dissenting Party accepted of and flockt so fast to them that their Army increased daily to such a considerable number that they became formidable Whereupon the King hastned away the Duke of Monmouth as his Generalissimo to suppress them which with the Assistance of the Loyal Gentry and Herritors of that Nation he easily performed in one Battel at Bothwell-Bridg For having forced his passage over the Bridg and seized the only piece of Cannon they had they fled toward Hamilton-Park And altho they afterward rallied again and Faced about upon the advantage of a rising ground yet so soon as the Cannon began to play on them they all fled in disorder and confusion Robert Hamilton who was their chief Commander being one of the first There were many of the Rebels kill'd in the place and several hundreds taken Prisoners whereof some few were Executed The King who was willing to try all means to please and satisfie his people fearing the Animosities of that Parliament were too great to admit of a Reconciliation and would prevent their doing any
about for some time upon pretence of entring into a League of Friendship with them but meeting of a sudden as he was ranging with his Horse who are accounted the swiftest in the World with some of our Forces who were forraging for Provisions and Horse-meat he surprized and defeated them their manner of Fighting being to take and leave as they find advantage which they do with very active and quick Force and Resolution but the English were not long before they requiâ—ed him and revenged the injury upon some of his adventurous Stragglers after which he freely entred into and finished a Treaty of Peace with them And the King not long after made it a free Port and indowed it with all the Priviledges of a Merchant City being very conveniently Scituated for Commerce and Trade especially in regard of the Security thereof The great discourse and expectation at this time was what the Presbyterians would do after the Act of Uniformity was past which provided that by St. Bartholomews day their Ministers should renounce the Covenant read Divine Service and Common-Prayer in Church Vestments as the Surplise which was the main thing they pretended to â—cruple or else forsake their Livâ—â—gs Many endeavours there had been â—â—ed before to prevail with the Parâ—â—ament for some Tolleration but â—ot being able to carry it there they afterward applyed themselves to the King and His Council but upon 〈◊〉 full Debate of their Petition and â—s full a hearing of what they had â—o say the business was laid aside â—n regard there was none present who could answer and dispute their pretences for the Superseding the express meaning of that Act. But the Bishop of London by his Prudence and foresight had provided Pious and able Ministers to succeed them in their Cures and for the better security of the publick Peace for times to come the Commissioners for regulating Corporations besides the displacing such Officers as were â—ill affected ordered the Walls of such Townes and Cities as had been the reception of and maintained the late Rebellion to be demolished as examples and security to succeeding Ages viz. Glocester Coventry Northampton Taunton and Leicester which was done accordingly And the Town of Dunkirk which was taken from the Spaniards by Cromwell and had ever since been kept at a vast charge was now also by the Advice of His Council in regard it had never been Annext by Act of Parliament to the Crown of England returned to the French King upon the valuable Consideration of Five Hundred Thousand Pounds And there having been great talk and long suspicion of a Plot secretly carryed on against the Government insomuch that the most part of that Summer the Trained-Bands had watcht every night the design now appeared being carryed on by Ludlow Danvers Lockyer Strange and others for the overthrowing of the Government in order whereunto they were to have seized the Tower Deal-Castle and other places of Strength and were â—o have had the word given them â—he night they were to have fallen â—n which was the last of October by George Phillips a Serjeant in the Colâ—onels Company of the White Regiment But being discovered by â—ne of their number they were â—any of them taken and by sufficient Witnesses Convicted of the Conspiracy four whereof viz. Philâ—ips Tongue Gibbs and Stubbs were Executed according to Sentence and â—he rest pardoned by the King who â—lwayes loved to mix Mercy with his Executions The Emperour of Russia about this â—ime sent hither a very Splendid Embassy by three of his Chief Princes one whereof came some time before the other and had Audience of the King in Private at Hampâ—on-Court they were received in greater State than any Ambassadors â—ad been that Arrived before them â—he whole Military Force of the City being in Arms and several of the Companies in their Liveries â—nd the Aldermen with their Gold Chaines riding before them They had about thirty Servants that rode on Horseback with Hawks on their fists as Presents And being Conducted on the New-Years-Day following to their Audience at White-Hall they delivered their Presents which were very rich consisting of Furs Beavers Ermins and the like together with Persian Carpets three Persian Horses Argâ—marick and other Commodities of that Country as Damasks Silks and Embroderies and a whole Ship load of Hemp there were likewise of the same nature sent from the Empress to the Queen and from the Prince of Russia all which were received with that affection and kindness which the King discovered upon all occasions toward that great and Potent Monarch The King having ordered the Earl of Rothes to succeed Middleton as Chief Commissioner in Scotland went in the Vacation time on Progress Westward from London to Bath and from thence through Glocester-Shire to Oxford being presented at Reading and Newbury with Purses of Gold and receiving where-ever he came very high and Splendid Entertainments At Oxford He was met half a Mile from the City by the Doctors and Schollars in their Formalities and upon His entring the Subburbs by the Militia of that City through which he passed to his Lodgings During his stay there he visited the Schollars and was Nobly Enrertained But not long after His return notwithstanding all those Provisions for peace he was informed of a Plot discovered in the North to involve his Subjects in a War again which was to have begun first in Ireland and so to have been brought into England and several of the Conspirators being taken he sent down a Commission to York in the midst of Winter to try them Fifteen whereof were found Guilty the Chief of them was Captain Oates and shortly after divers more were arraigned the chief whereof were Cotton Denham and Atkins some of them were executed at York some at Leeds and some at other places nor wanted they some in London to abett and favour their designes by Libels and such like Methods for which a Printer was Apprehended Tryed and Execued and others pilloryed and Fined The Dutch having notwithstanding all their great pretences of Love and Friendship to the King been guilty of many Injuries and depredations to the English Nation the King and Parliament in the following Spring took into their Consideration the many Complaints that were made against them and both Houses Petitioned the King to take a speedy and effectual course for the redressing thereof promising to assist him therein with their Lives and Fortunes But he alwayes preferring Peace before War when it may be had upon Honourable Conditions resolv'd to see what he could do with them by fair means before he let things come to extremity and therefore by his Agent there demanded satisfaction for the injuries done by them But that subtle people not willing to return a speedy answer resolved to send their own Embassadour into England which as it was a way of answering more Magnificent so it occasioned the greater delay of time which was the thing they chiefly aim'd at that so they might
the Example of the former ill success which had attended such kind of Heats would dispose them to a better Temper and prevent their laying so much weight upon any One Expedient as to refuse all others as ineffectual and to no purpose advising them to remember that without the Safety and Dignity of the Monarchy neither Religion nor Property could be preserved which was the Reason why he had not nor could not depart from what he had formerly so often declared touching the Succession But to remove all reasonable Fears which might arise from the possibility of a Popish Successor's coming to the Crown if means could be found out that in such a case the Administration of the Government might remain in Protestant hands he should be ready to hearken to any such Expedient whereby Religion might be preserved and Monarchy not destroyed wishing them to provide for both because they supported each other And that they would make the known Establisht Laws of the Land the Rules and Measures of all their Votes assuring them that he wonld ever make them the Rules of his Actions After the Speech the Commons repaired to their House and chose for â—heir Speaker Williams who had â—een Speaker of the last Westminster-Parliament And being informed upon the 26th That the Lords had refused to proceed upon the Impeachment of Edward Fitz-Harris who having been seized upon the Information of Everard one of the Evidences about the Poâ—â—sh Plot and Sir William Waller for having framed an Impudent and Damnable Libel against the King and Government had in hopes of saving his Life by that means confest himself Guilty of what he was charged with and had the confidence to say he was imployed by the King pretending moreover to make several considerable Discoveries about the Popish Plot and accusing the Earl of Danby of having a hand in the Murder of Godfrey whereupon he was impeacht by the Commons of High Treason upon a pretence that there were matters of too high a Nature in his Trial to be managed in an Inferior Court and had directed that he should be proceeded against at the Common Law They with the usual Heaâ— wherewith the Affairs of that Housâ— had been for some time managed Voâ—ted that Refusal of the Lords to be â— Denial of Justice a Violation of thâ— Constitution of Parliaments an Obâ—struction to the Discovery of thâ— Plot and of great danger to His Maâ—jesties Person and the Protestant Reliâ—gion And that for any Inferior Court to proceed against him or any other person impeacht by Parliament was an high Breach of the priviledges of Parliaments And notwithstanding the many mischiefs that had always followed upon and were the Natural Consequences of such Attempts on Monday following a Bill was brought likewise into that Parliament against the Duke's Succession And having been read once was ordered a second reading Whereupon the King perceiving it would be impossible for them to do any thing that might tend to the Honour and Settlement of the Nation whilst the Two Houses were so divided with Heats and Animosities and the Commons time wholly taken up in debating a matter that no way concerned them resolved to interpose his power for deciding the quarrel and convince them That he would no longer endure to be trifled with and affronted And therefore having sent for the Commons to the House of Lords he told them That to prevent the ill Effects he foresaw would follow upon the Heats between them and the Lords he had ordered the Chancellor to dissolve them which was done immediately and the King returned the same night to Windsor and the next morning to White-Hall And knowing how industrious some ill minded persons would be to improve that Dissolution for the misrepresenting his Actions to prevent his Subjects being deluded by their fair pretences and bold tho false Affirmations he publisht a Declaration wherein he acquainted them with the Reasons which induced him to dissolve both that and the last Westminster-Parliament and assured them That he was not however out of love with Parliaments notwithstanding the unwarrantable proceedings of the Two former but would frequently advise with them as his great Council in hopes ere long to find his people in a better Temper As the dissolution of this Parliament was accounted by the more Intelligent a very wise and politick Act from whence he might expect many good effects so the consequence answered the Expectation for now all the Weekly Intelligences and the factiouâ— and scurrilous Libels which the Presâ— had vomited out in great Numbers whilst they expected impunity from the Parliament were supprest and easily busht into silence by an Order of Council Sir Francis Pemberton succeeding Scroggs in the Chief Justiceship great Expectation there was to see what would be done in the case of Fitz-Harris but all the Judges of England having met about it in the Exchequer-Chamber they resolved that they might notwithstanding the Impeachment and the Commons Vote proceed to try him And the next day a Bill was preferred and found by the Grand-Jury of Middlesex and thereupon he was on the last day of the Term arraigned at the Bar of the Kings-Bench But being Three several Times bid to hold up his hand he refused insisting upon his impeachment in Parliament and his right to be tried before them but being at last prevailed upon to hold up his hand and hear his Indictment read which was for High Treason exprest in a certain Writing call'd The True English Man full of most horrid Expressions against the King as if he had been a Conspirator in the Plot against himself and thereupon exciting the Nation to rise against him as one man he put in a dilatory Plea against the Jurisdiction of the Court alledging that having been impeached by the Commons in Parliament he could not be tried there but the Plea being not under Councils Hand was refused However he had Time given him to consider whether he would stand by such a Plea in regard it might prove fatal to him in case it should be over-ruled and Winnington Williams Pollixfen and Wallop were assigned him for Council according to his desire to argue the said point of Judicature the next Wednesday if he resolved to persist in his Plea which he resolving to do on Wednesday was brought again to the Bar attended with his Council when the Attorney-General entred a Demurrer to his Plea and Saturday Morning was appointed for his Council to maintain his Plea by Argument if they could and the Court having then heard what could be said on both sides declared that they meddled not at all with the Priviledg of the House of Commons or the Jurisdiction of the Lords in Parliament but only with the Form of the Plea and after the debate was over the Chief Justice declared they would take a convenient time to consider before they would give their Judgment On the Wednesday following being brought again to the Bar the Court declared they had