Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	council_n	lord_n	privy_a	4,231	5	10.1951	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50149	Pietas in patriam the life of His Excellency Sir William Phips, Knt. late Captain General and Governour in Chief of the province of the Massachuset-Bay, New England, containing the memorable changes undergone, and actions performed by him / written by one intimately acquainted with him.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing M1138; Wing P2135_CANCELLED; ESTC R931	77,331	134

it is now time for us to return unto Sir William SECT 13. ALL this while CANAD A was as much written upon Sir William's Heart as CALLICE they said once was upon Queen Maries He needed not one to have been his daily Monitor about Canada It lay down with him it rose up with him it engrossed almost all his Thoughts he thought the subduing of Canada to be the greatest service that could be done for New-England or for the Crown of England in America In parsuance whereof after he had been but a few Weeks at Home he took another Voyage for England in the very depth of Winter when Satling was now dangerous conflicting with all the Difficulties of a tedious and a terrible Passage in a very little Vessel which indeed was like enough to have perished if it had not been for the help of his Generous Hand aboard and His Fortunes in the bottom Arriving per tot Discrimina at Bristol he hastned up to London and made his Applications to Their Majesties and the Principal Ministers of State for assistance to Renew an Expedition against Canada concluding his Representation to the King with such Words as these If Your Majesty shall graciously please to Commission and Assist me I am ready to venture my Life again in your Service And I doubt not but by the Blessing of God Canada may be added unto the rest of your Dominions which will all circumstances considered be of more advantage to the Crown of England than all the Territories in the West-Indies are The Reasons here subjoined are humbly Offered unto Your Majesties Consideration First The Success of this Design will greatly add to the Glory and Interest of the English Crown and Nation by the Addition of the Bever-Trade and securing the Hudson's Bay Company some of whose Factories have lately fallen into the Hands of the French and increase of English Shipping and Seamen by gaining the Fishery of Newfoundland and by consequence diminish the number of French Scamen and cut off a great Revenue from the French Crown Secondly The Cause of the English in New-England their failing in the late Attempt upon Canada was their waiting for a Supply of Ammunition from England until August their long Passage up that River the cold Season coming on and the Small-Pox and Fevers being in the Army and Fleet so that they could not stay fourteen days longer in which time probably they might have taken Quebeck yet if a few Frigats be speedily sent they doubt not of an happy Success the strength of the French being small and the Planters desirous to be under the English Government Thirdly The Jesuites endeavour to seduce the Maqua's and other Indians as is by them affirmed suggesting the Greatness of King Lewis and the inability of King William to do any thing against the French in those Parts thereby to Engage them in their Interests In which if they should succeed not only New-England but all our American Plantations would be endangered by the Great Increase of Shipping for the French built in New-England at easie Rates to the Infinite Dishonour and Prejudice of the English Nation But now for the Success of these Applications I must entreat the Patience of my Reader to wait until we have gone through a little more of our History SECT 14. THE Reverend INCREASE MATHER beholding his Country of New-England in a very Deplorable Condition under a Governour that acted by an Iilegal Arbitrary Treasonable Commission and Invaded Liberty and Property after such a manner as that no man could say any thing was his own he did with the Encouragement of the Principal Gentlemen in the Country but not without much Trouble and Hazard unto his own Person go over to White-Hall in the Summer of the Year 1688. and wait upon King James with a full Representation of their Miseries That King did give him Liberty of Access unto him whenever he desired it and with many Good Words promised him to Relieve the Oppressed People in many Instances that were proposed But when the Revolution had brought the Prince and Princess of Orange to the Throne Mr. Mather having the Honour divers Times to Wait upon the King he still prayed for no less a Favour to New-England than the full Restoration of their Charter-Priviledges And Sr. William Phips happening to be then in England very Generously joined with Mr. Mather in some of those Addresses Whereto his Majestie 's Answers were always very expressive of his Gracious Inclinations Mr. Mather herein assisted also by the Right Worshipful Sr Henry Ashurst a most Hearty Friend of all such Good Men as those that once filled New-England solicited the Leading Men of both Houses in the Convention-Parliament until a Bill for the Restoring of the Charters belonging to New-England was sully Passed by the Commons of England but that Parliament being Prorogu'd and then Dissolved all that Sisyphaean Labour came to nothing The Disappointments which afterwards most wonderfully Blasted all the hopes of the Petitioned Restoration obliged Mr. Mather not without the Concurrence of other Agents now also come from New-England unto that Method of Petitioning the King for a New Charter that should contain more than all the Priviledges of the Old and Sir William Phips now being again returned into England lent his utmost Assistance hereunto The King taking a Voyage for Holland before this Petition was answered Mr. Mather in the mean while not only waited upon the greatest part of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council offering them a Paper of Reasons for the Confirmation of the Charter-Priviledges granted unto the Massachuset Colony but also having the Honour to be Introduc'd unto the Queen he assured Her Majesty That there were none in the World better affected unto Their Majesties Government than the People of new-New-England who had indeed been exposed unto great Hardships for their being so and entreated That since the King had referred the New-English Affair unto the Two Lord Chief Justices with the Attorney and Solicitor General there might be granted unto us what They thought was Reasonable Whereto the Queen replied That the Request was Reasonable and that She had spoken divers times to the King on the behalf of New-England and that for Her own Part She desired that the People there might not meerly have Justice but Favour done to them When the King was returned Mr. Mather being by the Duke of Devonshire brought into the King's Presence on April 28. 1691. Humbly Pray'd His Majesties Favour to New-England urging That if their Old Charter-Priviledges might be restored unto them his Name would be Great in those Parts of the World as long as the World should stand adding Sir Your Subjects there have been willing to venture their Lives that they may enlarge Your Dominions The Expedition to Canada was a great and Noble Vndertaking May it Please Your Majesty In your great Wisdom also to consider the circumstances of that People as in Your Wisdom you

have considered the circumstances of England and of Scotland In New-England they differ from other Plantations they are called Congregational and Presbyterian So that such a Governour will not suit with the People of New-England as may be very proper for other English Plantations Two Days after this the King upon what was proposed by certain Lords was very inquisitive whether He might without breach of Law set a Governour over new-New-England whereto the Lord Chief Justice and some others of the Council answered That whatever might be the Merit of the Cause inasmuch as the Charter of new-New-England stood vacated by a Judgment against them it was in the King's Power to put them under what Form of Government He should think best for them The King then said That He believed it would be for the Advantage of the People in that Colony to be under a Governour appointed by Himself Nevertheless because of what Mr. Mather had spoken to Him He would have the Agents of New-England nominate a Person that should be agreeable unto the Inclinations of the People there and notwithstanding this He would have Charter-Priviledges restored and confirmed unto them The Day following the King began another Voyage to Holland and when the Attorney General 's Draught of a Charter according to what he took to be his Majesty's Mind as expressed in Council was presented at the Council-Board on the eighth of June some Objections then made procured an Order to prepare Minutes for another Draught which deprived the New-Englanders of several Essential Priviledges in their other Charter Mr. Mather put in his Objections and vehemently protested that he would sooner part with his Life than consent unto those Minutes or any thing else that should infringe any Liberty or Priviledge of Right belonging unto his Country but he was answered That the Agents of New-England were not Plenipotentiaries from another Soveraign State and that if they would not submit unto the King's Pleasure in the settlement of the Country they must take what would follow The dissatisfactory Minutes were by Mr. Mather's Industry sent over unto the King in Flanders and the Ministers of State then with the King were earnestly applied unto that every mistake about the good Settlement of New-England might be prevented and the Queen Her self with Her own Royal Hand wrote unto the King that the Charter of New-England might either pass as it was drawn by the Attorney General or be deferred until His own Return But after all His Majesties Principal Secretary of State received a Signification of the King's Pleasure That the Charter of New-England should run in the Main Points of it as it was now granted Only there were several Important Articles which Mr. Mather by his unwearied Sollicitations obtained afterwards to be inserted There were some now of the Opinion That instead of submitting to this New Settlement they should in Hopes of getting a Reversion of the Judgment against the Old Charter declare to the Mininisters of State That they had rather have no Charter at all than such an one as was now proposed unto Acceptance But Mr. Mather advising with many unprejudiced Persons and Men of the greatest Abilities in the Kingdom Noblemen Gentlemen Divines and Lawyers they all agreed That it was not only a lawful but all Circumstances then considered a needful Thing and a part of Duty and Wisdom to accept what was now offered and that a peremptory Refusal would not only bring an Inconveniency but a Fatal and perhaps a Final Ruine upon the Country whereof Mankind would lay the blame upon the Agents It was argued That such a Submission was no Surrender of any thing That the Judgment not in the Court of Kings Bench but in Chancery against the Old Charter standing on Record the Pattent was thereby Annihilated That all attempts to have the Judgment against the Old Charter taken off would be altogether in vain as Men and Things were then disposed It was further argued That the Ancient Charter of New-England was in the Opinion of the Lawyers very Defective as to several Powers which yet were absolutely necessary to the subsistence of the Plantation It gave the Government there no more Power than the Corporations have in England Power in Capital Cases was not therein particularly expressed It mentioned not an House of Deputies or an Assembly of Representatives the Governour and Company had thereby they said no Power to impose Taxes on the Inhabitants that were not Freemen or to erect Courts of Admiralty Without such Powers the Colony could not subsist and yet the best Friends that New-England had of Persons most learned in the Law professed that suppose the Judgment against the Massachuset-Charter might be Reversed yet if they should again Exert such Powers as they did before the Quo Warranto against their Charter a new Writ of Scire Facias would undoubtedly be issued out against them It was yet further argued That if an Act of Parliament should have Reversed the Judgment against the Massachuset-Charter without a grant of some other Advantages the whole Territory had been on many Accounts very miserably Incommoded The Province of Main with Hampshire would have been taken from them and Plymouth would have been annexed unto New-York so that this Colony would have been squeezed into an Atom and not only have been render'd Insignificant in it's Trade but by having it's Militia also which was vested in the King taken away it's Insignificancies would have become out of measure humbling whereas now instead of seeing any Relief by Act of Parliament they would have been put under a Governour with a Commission whereby ill Men and the King 's and Country's Enemies might probably have crept into Opportunities to have done ten thousand ill Things and have treated the best Men in the Land after a very uncomfortable Manner It was lastly argued That by the New Charter very great Priviledges were granted unto New-England and in some respects greater than what they formerly enjoyed The Colony is now made a Province and their General Court has with the King's Approbation as much Power in New-England as the King and Parliament have in England They have all English Liberties and can be touched by no Law by no Tax but of their own making All the Liberties of their Holy Religion are for ever secured and their Titles to their Lands once for want of some Forms of legal Conveyance contested are now confirmed unto them If an ill Governour should happen to be imposed on them what Hurt could he do to them None except they themselves pleased for he cannot make one Counsellour or one Judge or one Justice or one Sheriff to serve his Turn Disadvantages enough one would think to discourage any ill Governour from desiring to be Stationed in those uneasie Regions The People have a Negative upon all the Executive Part of the Civil Government as well as the Legislative which is a vast Priviledge enjoyed by no other Plantation in America nor

all possible Service for the Publick while he was not sure of having any proportionable or honourable acknowledgments But yet he minded the Preservation of the King 's Rights with as careful and faithful a Zeal as became a good Steward for the Crown And indeed he studied nothing more than to observe such a Temper in all things as to extinguish what others have gone to distinguish even the Pernicious Notion of a separate Interest There was a Time when the Roman Empire was infested with a vast number of Governours who were infamous for Infinite Avarice and Villany and referring to this Time the Apostle John had a Vision of People killed with the Beasts of the Earth But Sir William Phips was none of those Governours wonderfully contrary to this wretchedness was the Happiness of New-England when they had Governour Phips using the tenderness of a Father towards the People and being of the Opinion Ditare magis esse Regium quàm Ditescere that it was a braver Thing to enrich the People than to grow rich himself A Father I said and what if I had said an Angel too If I should from Clemens Alexandrinus from Theodoret and from Jerom and others among the Ancients as well as from Calvin and Bucan and Peter Martyr and Chemnitius and Bullinger and a thousand more among the Moderns bring Authorities for the Assertion That each Country and Province is under the special care of some Angel by a singular Deputation of Heaven assigned thereunto I could back them with a far greater Authority than any of them all The Scripture it self does plainly assert it And hence the most Learned Grotius writing of Common-Wealths has a passage to this purpose His singulis suos Attributos esse Angelos ex Daniele magno consensu Judaei Christiani veteres colligebant But New-England had now besides the Guardian-Angel who more invisibly intended it's welfare a Governour that became wonderfully agreeable thereunto by his whole Imitation of such a Guardian-Angel He employed his whole Strength to guard his People from all Disasters which threatned them either by Sea or Land and it was remark'd that nothing remarkably Disastrous did befal that People from the Time of his Arrival to the Government until there arrived an Order for his leaving it Except one Thing which was begun before he entred upon the Government But instead thereof the Indians were notably defeated in the Assaults which they now made upon the English and several French Ships did also very advantageously fall into his Hands yea there was by his means a Peace restored unto the Province that had been divers Years languishing under the Hectic Feaver of a Lingring War And there was this one thing more that rendered his Government the more desirable That whereas 't is impossible for a meer Man to govern without some Error when ever this Governour was advised of any Error in any of his Administrations he would immediately retract it and revoke it with all possible ingenuity so that if any occasion of just complaint arose it was usually his endeavour that it should not long be complain'd of O Faelices nimium sua si Bona norânt Nov-Angli But having in a Parenthesis newly intimated that His Excellency when he entred on his Government found one Thing that was remarkably Disastrous begun upon it Of that one Thing we will now give some Account Reader prepare to be entertained with as Prodigious Matters as can be put into any History And let him that writes the next Thaumatographia Pneumatica allow to these Prodigies the chief Place among the wonders SECT 16. ABOUT the Time of our Blessed Lord's coming to Reside on Earth we read of so many possessed with Devils that it is commonly thought the Number of such Miserable Energumens was then encreased above what has been usual in other Ages and the Reason of that Increase has been made a Matter of some Enquiry Nowthough the Devils might herein design by Preternatural Operations to Blast the Miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ which Point they Gained among the Blasphemous Pharisees and the Devils might herein also design a villanous Imitation of what was coming to pass in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein God came to dwell in Flesh yet I am not without suspicion that there may be something further in the Conjecture of the Learned Bartholinus hereupon who says It was Quod judaei praeter modum Artibus Magicis dediti Daemonem Advocaverint the Jews by the frequent use of Magical Tricks called in the Devils among them It is very certain there were hardly any People in the World grown more fond of Sorceries than that unhappy People The Talmuds tell us of the little Parchments with Words upon them which were their common Amulets and of the Charms which they mutter'd over Wounds and of the various Enchantments which they used against all sorts of Disasters whatsoever It is affirmed in the Talmuds that no less than Twenty four Scholars in one School were killed by Witchcraft and that no less than fourscore Persons were Hanged for Witchcraft by one Judge in one Day The Gloss adds upon it That the Women of Israel had generally fallen to the Practice of Witchcrafts and therefore it was required That there should be still chosen into the Council One skilful in the Arts of Sorcerers and able thereby to discover who might be guilty of those Black Arts among such as were accused before them Now the Arrival of Sir William Phips to the Government of new-New-England was at a Time when a Governour would have had Occasion for all the Skill in Sorcerie that was ever necessary to a Jewish Councellor A Time when Scores of poor people had newly fallen under a prodigious Possession of Devils which it was then generally thought had been by Witchcrafts introduced It is to be confessed and Bewailed That many Inhabitants of New-England and Young people especially had been Led away with Little Sorceries wherein they did Secretly those Things that were not Right against the Lord their God They would often cure Hurts with Spells and practise detestable Conjurations with Sieves and Keys and Pease and Nails and Horse-shoes and other Implements to Learn the Things for which they had a forbidden and impious Curiosity Wretched Books had stoln into the Land wherein Fools were instructed how to become able Fortune-Tellers Among which I wonder that a blacker Brand is not set upon that Fortune-telling Wheel which that Sham-Scribler that goes under the Letters of R. B. has proposed in his Delights for the Ingenious as an honest and pleasant Recreation And by these Books the minds of many had been so poisoned that they studied this Finer Witchcraft until 't is well if some of them were not betray'd into what is grosser and more sensible and Capital Although these Diabolical Divinations are more ordinarily committed perhaps all over the whole World than they are in the Country of New-England yet That being