SOME FEW OBSERVATIONS upon his Majesties late Answer to the Declaration or Remonstance of the Lords and Commons of the 19. of May 1642. Pag. 1. Or of following the advise of our Councell of Scotland OUr case is not as Scotlands was in all points though in many it be very like for our malignant party here is far greater and stronger and more inraged against us by their owne greatnesse and more animated by our weaknesse Yet we desire but the same satisfaction which Scotland had without so much reluctance given them by the King For their Militia and all other subordinate power in that Kingdome is setled in such hands as are publikely confided in and yet this is utterly denyed us And our holding Hull is not like their holding Newcastle yet their Honour is saved whilst we are called unpararalel'd Traitors and they are restored to all demanded rights and securances whilst we are charged of unpardonable Rebellion and satisfaction is not offered to us but required from us in the most approbrious language that can be yet still we will not refuse the Councell of the Scots Lords in yeelding to a pacification nor depart from the example of them in the manner of securing the same Pag. 2. That we should fancy and create dangers to Our Selfe We have little cause to think that the same malignant party which hath shed so much Protestant blood in Ireland and about the same time plotted a villanous massacre in Edenborough hath been supinely snorting in England all this Parliament since their vigilance is more concerned here then in either of these Kingdomes and since they have advantages to doe mischifes in England far greater than in Scotland and almost as great as in Ireland and for the Plots themselves divers of them have not been invisible and yet if the King had not concealed and did not yet conceale some passages as being below him they had been more visible but iealousie in such cases is not unpolitique and the lesse iealous the King is the more we have cause to be so Ireland a few dayes before its ruine had lesse ground of feare then we have had some of our Treasons here have not been planted in Traines and Mines so deep and dark nor so much resembled the Cockatrice eye as that of Ireland and if the King be not privy to the Plots yet as long as the Plotters having aymes beyond him plow with his heifer and act by his power our condition is the more desperate and remedilesse and since the King cannot see into the breasts of those his followers whom we suspect hee ought not so far to despise the publique iealousies of whole Nations or the distractions or insecurity of such considerable multitudes as he doth but the King appeales to Gods all-searching eye and we doe the same imploring of him to be the more vindicative in this case the more destitute we all are of any other recourse or redresse upon earth Pag. 5. Wherein they usurp the word Parliament The King frequently vowes to maintaine Parliaments in their Priviledges yet his Papers many wayes derogate from them For first if hee please to sever himselfe those great Councels are not to bee named Parliaments Secondly whatsoever name is due the vertue of publique representation is denyed them they are not to bee lookt upon as the whole Kingdome and this is destructive to the essence of Parliaments Thirdly if the concurrence of both Houses Nullo contradicente be of some sanctity and authority yet the maior part of both Houses is not so vigorous as the totall and here is another devise to frustrate all Parliaments Fourthly if the maiority shall binde and the minority acquiesce therein yet if it bee obiected that some few factious spirits mislead and befoole the majority all is void Parliaments thus are made ridiculous Assemblies and all Justice at the last resort is to be expected from the Kings sole breast or else no where for if the King will withdraw himselfe all Courts as well as Parliaments are thus defeated and disabled and then if the King assumes not sole power to himselfe all Government is expired and no way is left for the Kingdome to preserve it selfe and what can be more unnaturall In policy then if wee are growne weaty of Parliaments and will dissolve them into nothing we ought to erect some other Court above them or in their stead or else to resigne all into the Kings sole boundlesse discretion for any forme of Rule is better then none at all and before we demolish old structures we ought to be advised of the fashions of new Pag. 6. And whose advise we are resolved to follow But what if the major and better part of the privy Councell concurre with the King if Parliaments must down that Rule is better then Anarchy But hitherto neither both Houses nor the Judges nor the Lords of the Councell have concurred but if the concurrence of Parliaments be not necessary how can any other seeme but unnecessary and at meere discretion hath not the King the same right to shake off inferiour Councels as that which is supreame or shall he have cause to confide in the knowledge of lesse Honourable Courts more then of that which is the quintessence of all his Subiects which is indeed the very Throne it selfe whereon he sits so sure and whose consent and councell is that very Diadem which inriches his Temples and that Mace which armes his hands who would have thought in time of Parliament to have heard the name of Privy Councellor cited to the lessening of Parliaments yet here nothing but the very name too is cited nor no compsiance promised but arbitrary so many wayes are Parliaments blowne away like bubbles yet none is so much insisted on as that which seemes most incredible that Master Pym and foure or five of his consorts should besot and stupifie two or three hundred Gentlemen chosen out of the flowâ—e of the Kingdome when as the King hath in Parliament some spirits as Mercuriall and heads as watchfull and hearts as resolute without some extreamly violent Magicke may seeme incredible nay were it certaine that Master Pym were the greatest Nigromancer living and the deepest read in black infernall arts I should hardly trust the efficacy of his spells in such expedients Pag. 8. That those Rebels publiquely threaten the rooting out of the name of the English That the Irish Rebels by their successe are now intentive to roote out the English is probable but their first ayme and cause of commotion might be some other more particular inducement for the English Government was long before in the same manner irksome to them as now but some other invitation now happened of shaking it off and not before Ibidem As they have invaded that power of ours over the Militia The Question is not to be put indefinitely whether or no the King ought to order the Militia in times of no extraordinary danger our case is now upon
King hath in a Subiect is not the same nor so intire as that which he hath in his horse for that right which he hath as a Prince is by way of trust and all trust is commonly limited more for the use of the party trusting then the partie trusted in some cases also there are mutuall proprieties and so the King ownes us as his Subiects and wee owne him as our King but that ownership which we have in him as our King is of a farre more excellent and high nature then that ownership which the King hath in us as his Subiects that occasionall interest which the Scots had in Newcastle or the Parliament in Hull did not wholly drowne the Kings interest nor the Particular owners such temporary possessions may sometimes happen without the utter disseisin or dissinherison of each other and we see in a breach of peace the Constable by force takes my sword from me and in such manner as hee may not take my cloake although my interest in my Sword is as good as in my cloake and yet my property in my Sword is not altered by that propertie which the officer seises to himselfe and doubtlesse had the same arguments beene pressed against disseisin of Lesley as have beene since against Sir Iohn Hotham they would have beene held much more impertinent then now they are so much more are wee vilipended and harder treated then other nations are let not common sence then bee so much baffled as to make this temporary possession of Hull taken by Sir John Hotham upon an extraordinary necessity of State so declared by the Judgement of Parliament for the preventing of civill Warre and consequently for the preventing of great dis-service both to King and State the same thing as the violent intrusion of a private dis-seizor upon the just inheritance of his Neighbour he which confesses That the King hath a true and perfect interest in the Kingdom doth not deny That the Kingdom hath a more worthy and transcendent interest in it self and in the King too This is so far from contradiction that he is farre from reason that so conceives it And he which doth not conceive that that which is the judgement of the major part in Parliament is the sence of the whole Parliament and that which is the sence of the whole Parliament is the judgement of the whole Kingdom and that which is the judgement of the whole Kingdom is more vigorous and sacred and unquestionable and further beyond all appeal then that which is the judgement of the King alone without all Councell or of the King with any other inferiour Clandestine Councell most raze those rocky Foundations upon which this State hath been so happily settled for so many ages now past As to the impeachment of the fix Members of Parliament the King pleads retractation satisfaction his retractation is an acknowledgement that it was a casuall single mistake yet in forme only for the grounds of his charge when they shall be published he assures us will satisfie the world But in the mean time these grounds are kept unpublished contrary to the desire of the Parliament and the whole Kingdom and till that publication the world remains unsatisfied nay it is most wonderfull that so desperate and horrid a plot as that yet seems to be should be so long neglected to the Kings vast dis-advantage and the peoples miserable disquiet if cleer satisfaction could be so easily given every man sees that the charge if it had not good grounds did stab furiously at the heart of all Parliaments and at all Liberties in Parliament but till publication of these grounds be no man will presume to judge yet it is of great concernment to His Majesties honour and the Kingdoms peace that it be not too long delayed But in the next place the King conceives That the Parliament hath been injurious to him in Vindication of Parliament priviledges and therefore ought to be satisfied the Parliament still begs for that publication for nothing else can make them appear to have been injurious and till they appear to have been injurious they ought not to be condemned as injurious for de non entibus de non apparentibus eadem est ratio As for the Kings coming into the House of Commons so armed till publication of the cause of that coming the circumstances cannot be duely waighed By this Law the Subjects of England might not use any defensive force against an Officer in any case though of the most undoubted priviledges or rights by a kinde of after game he must seek remedy in the future but for the present he is remedilesse But if this be Law I think every man sees that the English mans liberty and share in the grand Charter is a thing easily deseasable for it is as likely That the King may justifie and protect His Ministers after the execution of unjust commands as to urge them by undue Warrants to the same and if so then where is the Subjects of England freedom and Patrimâ—â—â— what is it still but held upon the Kings meer courtesie It s known to the King who hath incensed Him against His Parliament and who have given Councell derogatory to the honour and destructive to the essence of all Parliaments and to the Parliament this is utterly unknown yet the King desires evidence of these things from the Parliament Nay though he disavow the sheltring of ill Ministers yet he conceals such as have traduced and slandered the Parliament in some things notoriously false and yet to an ordinary understanding it is the same thing to conceal as to shelter a Delinquent and if it be below a King to reveal a trayterous Incendiary that hath abused His ear with pernitious calumnies It is below him too to leave him to justice being otherwayes revealed He which will not accuse the King for want of zeal against the Irish Rebels yet may truly say there is not the same zeal exprest as was against the Scots though the case be farre different for the Scots were Protestants and had been greatly agrieved and were not imbrued willingly in bloud and yet the English Nation against their wills were most rigorously hastned and inforced to Arm against them but now when the English Nation and Scots too were moved to indignation and horrour against the most bloudy perfidious ingratefull villaines in the world their proffered supplyes are retarded and opportunities are neglected and nice exceptions framed and the cursed reproaches of the Rebels themselves calling the Parliament disloyall and Traytors are countenanced and seconded The depositions taken concerning bringing up of the Army do not evince beyond all doubt that any such agitation was with the Kings privity but according to humane judgement which do not alwayes proceed upon certain appearances of things Some such things were in agitation and some presumption there is of the Kings privity and if in other cases such presumptions as
these do not alwayes passe for good and strong proofs yet I in my experience did never here before that they were rejected as light discourses though the King now contemn them so Neither is the meer miscarriage of the plot without the prevention of the Parliament any good argument that no such plot was for so the Irish may be excused in all those places which they failed to surprise for treason were no treason if it were not more obscure and hard to be discovered and that as well by the ill as good successe of it As for those tumults about Westminster how farre the Londoners were ingaged in them offensively and defensively and how farre the souldiers which were entertained at Whiteball were raisers of them and how farre theeves and boutifures intermingled themselves for rapines sake rests yet in judgement and I conceive the Parliament is as desirous to have justice seasonably done therein as the King But sure the English Nation nor the City nor the Parliament cannot be suspected of having any intent to raise Arms against the Kings Person or His Children this were a great scandall and unmerited and if the Kings flight was for fear of any cursed Assassinates for which the English have not been infamous His ordinary Guard had been as safe to him here as it is at York Here it is supposed that Parliaments may make an Ordinance contrary to Law Nature Reason Sence and it is inferred therefore That they are dangerous and may bring the life and liberty of the Subject to a Lawlesse and Arbitrary subjection this supposition is inconsistent with one of the most sacred and venerable pillars of all Law and policy and yet here it is insisted upon Let all Chronicles be searched and let one Story be cited of any Parliament which did tyrannize over King and Subiect or ordain any thing to the mischief of both yet Kings I think will not make the same challenge the best of them have done Acts of oppression and the Reasons are apparant for it but no Reasons can be given why Parliaments should usurpe or how they can usurpe yet the Kings inference runs against all Parliaments He doth not say this Parliament tyrannizeth and therefore he resides from them and pronounces their Votes invalid but because Parliaments may tyrannize therefore they have no power in their Votes at all at any time whatsoever further then the King ratifies them The Parliament sayes not so much they say he is now seduced by wicked Councell and therefore rejects their requests to the danger of the State In such cases they conceive there is a power in them to secure the State without his concurrence At other times when the Kings are not seduced they ought to do nothing without their consent for non recurrendum est ad extraordinaria in iis quae fieri possunt per ordinaria Whether this or that Doctrine enwraps the greatest danger let all the world judge As for seditious Preachers and Pamphletteâ—rs the Parliament will not protect any when greater matters are provided for the Law shall have a free course against them and account shall be given by all which have favoured them In the mean time the Parliament only desires That it may not be put is these times of generall extremity to intend universall enormities and in the leâ—all pursuance thereof be made Informers Solicitors Witnesses and Judges and that they may not be bound to give an account for all misdemeanors or to remedy all mens abuses in an instant and not withstanding all opposition give generall satisfaction to all the world or aspire to a condition above man We hold Parliaments in England as the Apples of our eyes and we know all liberty must stand or fall with them And we conceive Parliaments were never more endangered nor by more conspiracies assayled then they have been since this Parliament began And the persons which possesse the King against them we cannot nominate but he knows and favours and employes them If he have any Councellors which suggest advice to him as his late papers carry in them they are the malignant party and their study is That some way may be found out so to master and quell this Parliament as that is may president future times to do the same Nothing is more visible then that Parliaments are odious to Court parasites and the same disposition which discontinued them so long and dismissed them so often still labours to frustrate and ruinate them for ever What parties have been framed in the Country in the City in the Parliament it self in England in Scotland in Ireland in other Nations to blast this Parliament and to make it scandalous and yet we all see they are Traytors they are unheard-of parallel'd Traytors for seeking their own defence for entertaining any jealousies or for mentioning any plots what late change there is in the King or alienation from the defendors of arbitrary power is not evident by his papers for if they do truely represent him and his Councellors to us we may doubt that Parliaments are not gotten into better grace at Court then they were in my Lord of Straffords time and yet it is undoubted That if we suffer in the Rights of Parliaments no other rights can be done us And as we were better have no Parliaments then Parliaments maimed in their priviledges so we had better have no being at all in England then no Parliaments The main thing begged by the Parliament is the Kings return and that all subordinate power and honour especially during our distractiors may be put into mens hands as the generality is assured of How this should be contrary to His conscience and understanding here and not in Scotland I do not see and yet that which was there reasonable is here treasonable nay and though we be denyed in it yet we must not believe cur eyes for still it is pressed that the Parliament has done nothing for the King and have been denyed nothing from the King in the least degree necessary to the peace plenty and security of the Subiect and yet in publike matters conscience and understanding are not alwayes to be too farre trusted where we depart from Maior-parties or such who are more to be trusted then our selves few Cases are in Law or policy beyond all dispute and scruple and if the King in disputable Cases will charge His Own Apprehension rather then His other Judges and Councellors His brest must prove at last the sole unappealable Judge of all things How the King is to given an account of His Royalty here to His other Kingdoms more then to this or how it is beyond the cognizance of Parliaments because he is accountable to God for it I apprehend not subordinate Magistrates are also accountable to God and their power is derived from God and yet it is not beyond humaine determination but some Courtiers do suggest that all supream dignities are so founded by Gods immediate hand alone as there remains nothing humaine in them and that publike consent of such and such Nations as to such and such limits and conditions is nothing at all requisite this is the ground of all Arbitary unbounded sway for if Nations by common consent can neither set limits or judge of limits set to soveraignty but must look upon it as a thing meerly divine and above al humain consent or comprehension then all nations are equally slaves and we in England are borne to no more by the Laws of England then the Asanine Peasants of France are there whose Wooden shoes and Canvas Breeches sufficiently proclaim what a blessednesse it is to be borne under a meer divine Prerogative but I hope that Prerogative in defence of which the King intends to sacrifice his life is that which is setled and bounded by the known Laws of the Land and whose surest Basis is the common consent and whose most honourable end is the common good and not such a divine Prerogâ—tiâ—e which none understand but our ghostly Councellors which alwayes expresse sufficient Enmity and Antipathy to the publike Acts and Pacts of Men It is generally believed That these late expressions of the Kings had not been so sharp if there had not been more of the divine then either of the Lawyer or Statesman in them But God send our Schollers more grace to think more honourable of their Pulpits that the Church may be more edified and the State lesse pertâ—â—â—ed by them hereafter t was heretofore Levi and Simeon the heads of the main Malignants whose union breeds our disunion were Papists and Hierarchists they now are Hierarchists and Papists FINIS Pag. 10. 11. That no retractation made by us nor no actions since that time committed against us and the Laws of the Land under pretence of vindication of priviledges can satisfie the contriver of that Declaration Pag. 12. Such a Minister might be punished for executing such Authority Pag. 15. And if such be about us or any against whom any notorious malicious crime can be proved if we shelter or protect any such let our injustice be published to the world Pag ibid. They have implyed our connivance as want of zeal against the Rebels in Ireland Pag. 17. When with our privity the Army was in agitation Pag. 19. We will have Iustice for those tumults Page 21. Where is every mans property every mans liberty if a major part of both Houses declare That the Law is That the younger Brother shall inherite what becomes of all the families and estates in the Kingdom Pag. 27. Seditious Pamphlets and Sermons Pag. 24. That such are continually preferred and countenanced by us who are friends or favourers or related unto the chief authors or actors of that arbitrary power heretofore practised and complained of Pag. 27. VVe require no other Liberty to our wills then the meanest of them do we wish they would alwaies use that liberty not to consent to any thing evidently contrary to our conscience and understanding and we have and shall alwayes give as much estimation and regard to the advice and counsell of both Houses Page 27 28. The office and dignity of a King is not within their determinations and of which we must give an account to God and our other Kingdoms