Blood of Leoline and his Brother David the last of the Welch Princes Next Edward the second was forced by Armes to surrender his Right to his Sonne Edward the third whose Grand-child Richard the second was in like manner by force of Armes deprived by Henry of Lancaster whose Sonne Henry the fifth made good not onely that Title but craved out a new one with his Sword to the Crown of France in defiance of the Salick Constitution and left it so confirmed unto his Sonne Henry the sixth that he was Crowned King of France at Paris and so continued till Fortune turning his Title was Cancell'd there by the Sword of the French as it was likewise in England by that of Edward the fourth whose Sonne Edward the fifth left the Crown in the bloody hands of Richard the third from whence it was wrested by Henry the seventh This Henry from whom the late King derived his Claime came in with an Army and as one hath well observed by meer Power was made King in the Army and by the Army so that in the very Field where he got the Victory the Crown was set upon his Head and there he gave Knighthood to many of his Commanders Upon this Foundation of Military Power he got himself afterwards solemnly Crowned at Westminster And soon after upon Authority thus gotten he called a Parliament and in that Parliament was the Crown entailed upon him and his Heirs Thus both his Crown and his Parliament were founded upon Power As for any just Title he could have none for he descended from a Bastard of John of Gaunt which though legitimated for common Inheritances yet expresly was excluded from Succession to the Crown And for his Wives Title that came in after his Kingship and his Parliament which had setled the Crown before upon him and his Heirs And he was so far from exercising authority in her Right that her Name is not used in any Laws as Queen Mary's was both before and after her Marriage with the Spanish King Now having made it evident out of the Histories of all Times our own and other Nations that the Power of the Sword ever hath been the Foundation of Titles to Government it is as clear likewise out of the same Histories that the People never presumed to spurne at those Powers but for publique Peace and quiet paid a patient submission to them under their various Revolutions But it were vain to raise more dust out of the Cobwebs of Antiquity in so limpid a Case confirmed by the Practises of all Nations Look nearer our own Times into the warres of Germany and those betwixt the French and Spanish of late Time in Catalonia and Flanders one while you might have seen the same Town uuder the Power of the Emperour another while under the Swede this year under the French the next under the Spaniard and upon every new alteration without scruple paying a new Allegiance and Submission and never so much as blamed for it by the Divines of their own or any other Nation Moreover none can deny but that as Henry the seventh and the rest before mentioned came into this Kingdome by meer Power without Title of inheritance so the whole Body of this Nation as one observes swore Fealty and Allegiance to them and obeyed them whilst they ruled yea doth yeeld subjection to those Laws until this very day And the learned in the Laws do continually plead judge justifie and condemn according to those Laws So that herein the very voice of the Nation with one consent seems to speak aloud That those whose Title is supposed unlawfull and founded meerly upon Force yet being possessed of Authority may lawfully be obeyed Nor may they onely but they must else by the Judgement of Civilians such as refuse may be punished as seditious and Trayterous the Victors being ever allowed Jure gentium to use all means for securing what they have gotten and to exercise a right of Dominion over the Conquer'd Party Whosoever therefore shall refuse Submission to an established Government upon pretence of Conscience in regard of former Allegiances Oaths and Covenants or upon suâ—position that it is by the Sword unlawfully erected deserves none but the Character of peevish and a man obstinate against the Reason and Custome of the whole world Let his pretence be what it will Resistance in the eye of the Law of Nations is Treason and if he will needs perish in the Flames of his own phren'tick Zeal he can at the best be reckoned but the Mad-mans Saint and the Fool's Martyr Nescio an Anticyram ratio illi destinet omnem CHAP. III. That Non-submission to Government justly deprives Men of the benefit of its Protection IF at any time it seem good to the wise disposer of States and Kingdoms who puts down one and sets up another to permit the expulsion of such as were formerly in possession and admit others in their places it cannot in reason be expected that those which refuse obedience to their Authority shall receive the Benefit of Protection and that for severall considerations First because Protection implyes a Return of obedience and Friendship from the persons protected to those that protect them otherwise they put themselves into the condition of Enemies and by the Law of Nations which indulges a liberty unto all that are in power to provide for their own security they may be handled as Publique Enemies and Out-lawes wherefore in this Case so little of protection is due to them that they may be punished as Traitors by some shamefull Execution And it appears out of Grotius in case of Non-submission to new Lords after a Victory the Throats of every Reâ—user are wholly at their mercy and all this De Jure Secondly there being a necessity of some Government at all times for the maintenance of Civill conversation and to avoid Confusion therefore such as will not submit because they cannot have such a Governour as themselves like are in some sense meer Anarchists and destroy the two main ends of all Civill Communion The first whereof Aristotle sets down to be Publique Safety in relation whereunto each Member of the Commonwealth is concerned to have a care of the whole The second is Publique Equity for the Administration of Justice encouragement of Vertue and punishment of Vice without which it 's impossible to enjoy Peace or Happinesse Where this humour reignes there those two can never be secured nor any politicall â—â—taxiâ— good Order or Tranquillity maintained which is the very Soul of Government forasmuch as say the Civilians the essence of a Common-weal consists Ratione Imperandi parendi in Imperii Subjectionis rectâ ordinatione in a due course of Commanding and Obeying Rule and Subjection From whence say they we may conclude Regere Subjici that Rule and Suâ—bjection are founded upon the Law both of God and Nature and they must needs be Transgressors against
death it turned to the Churches advantage the succeeding Pope seizing upon all as Heire of Borgia's Usurpations founded upon blood and treachery After this Pope succeeded Iulius who finding the Church thus made great the Barons of â—ome quite extinct and their Parties worn out by Alexanders persecutions found also the way open for heaping up moneyes never practised before Alexanders time wherewith acquiring Forces he endeavoured to make himselfe Master also of Bolonia to extinguish the Venetians and chase the French out of Italy in most of which Designes he gained happy successe And thus you see how his Holinesse himselfe came by a Title to his Temporall possessions yet as among the Iewes none but the high Priest might enter the Sanctum Sanctorum so the Roman high Priest that none might presume to enter upon his Territories hath ever since gilded these magna latrocinia these great Robberies with the faire Title of Saint Peters Patrimony so that having intailed it on himselfe first by the sword of Peter it hath been the easier ever since by vertue of the Keyes to lock the right Owners out of possession Out of Italy let us passe into France and there we finde Charles the seventh who when his Title to the Crowne was adjudged in Parliament lesse valid than that of the Queen of England appealed to his * sword as the only Protector and Patron of Titles Of this Truth the Realme of France is a most sad example at this day where the Tyranny of their Kings is founded and preserved by force not only upon the shoulders of the Peasant but on the destruction of their ancient Princes and the majesty of Parliament which retaines not so much as a shadow of their old Liberty What is become of the Dutchies of Normandy Britany Aquitaine Burgundy c. what Title had the French Kings to those Countries til they worm'd and worried out the right Owners by Force of Armes What Claim had they to this absolute Domination over Parliaments but Tyrannicall usurpation yet Lewis the †eleventh gloried in the Action as if the Fleurs de Lys never flourished so well as when they were watered with the blood and tears of the People For according to the antient Constitution that Kingdome retained a mixture of Aristocratical power so that the then supreme Court of Parliament at Paris had a principall share in the Government and nothing was imposed on the People but by the Consent of their Deputies But now having been mined out of their Authority by the powerfull Incroachments of their Kings and being overawed by armed Powers held continually in pay for the purpose their Authority is defunct and their common Interest in the Affairs of the Publique translated into a private Councell d' Estat which depends upon the meer will of the King And so the Parliament of Paris which was once the Supreme Councel having surrendred its Title to the Sword of the King serves now onely for a petty Court of Judicature and a meer Mock-show of Majesty Thus we see the French King's Title to what he holds at home and if we look abroad he hath but the same Right to what he got in Catalonia and Flanders And yet we must needs say it is as good every jot as that of the Spaniard whose best Plea is that his Theeveries there have been of a longer Prescription And upon the same Termes of late years They have both laine at Catch for the Dutchy of Savoy and severall parcells of Germany Here likewise I might sift the Title of the Family of Oldenburgh the stock of the late King to the Crown of Denmark and of Denmark it self to the Dutchy of Holstein but to bring this discourse to a Period I shall draw nearer home and make it as clearly appear likewise that the Power of the Sword ever hath been the Foundation of all Titles to Government in England both before and since the Norman Conquest First the Sword of Caesar triumphed over the Liberties of the poor Britaines and gave the Romans here a Title to their Dominion Afterwards their Liberty returning again when the Roman Empire fell to pieces a new Title was setled by the Sword of our Progenitors the Saxons who submitted for a Time upon the same Terms also to the Danes till the Saxons impatient of the yoke out-acted by way of Precedent the Parisian Massacre or Sicilian Vespers and made use of their Knives instead of their Swords to recover their own Title against the Danish Tyranny Now if in these nationall revolutions of Government I should examine those also of the Regall Families we cannot from any examples produce more pregnant Instances concerning the Transitions of Title from Family to Family meerly upon the accompt of the Sword But I wave those and will take a view of our own Affairs at a lesse remote distance and see whether William the Conquerour translated the Government upon any better Terms into the hands of the Normans And upon examination it appears he had no better Title to England then the rest before mentioned had at first to their severall Countries or than his Predecessor Rollo had to Normandy it self For about 120. years before it hapned that this Rollo issued in the head of a barbarous Rout out of Denmark and Norway first into the Dutchies of Frize and Henault afterward he seated himself by force in the possession of Rohan in a short time of all Normandy and missed but a little of the Conquest of Paris From him this William was the sixth Duke of Normandy who though a Bastard legitimated his Title by the successe of severall Battels against six or seven of his Competitors more clear in Bloud than himself by which means having secured his Claim at home he became the more confident to tempt his Fortune with a design upon England As for any Right to the Crown he had none save a frivolous Testamentary Title pretending that it was bequeathed to him by the last Will of his Kinsman K. Edward the Confessor upon which pretence he betook himself to Armes and with a Collection of Forces out of Normandy France Flanders and other Countries landing in Sussex he gave Battel at Hastings and established himself a Title by Conquest upon the destruction of King Harold and of the * Laws and Liberties of the Nation as may be seen in all our Chronicles After him his Sonnes the two succeding Kings William Rufus and Henry the first made good their succession by the Sword against Robert their elder Brother as did King Stephen a stranger against Maud the Empresse the right Heire of that Henry Next to Stephen succeeded Henry the second the Son of Maud who as Heir of his Predecessors way of Usurpation Quarter'd the Armes of England with the Lordship of Ireland by the Sword as his Successor Edward the first by the same means cemented the Principality of Wales to the Kingdome of England with the
are borne into the world with soules so Cities have a Fate or Genius given them at the first founding of their Walls and this Fate is so sure and inevitable that no reason or wit of man can conquer it but it directs all things to the appointed end Now that you may understand what Fate is Minucius Felix calls it Quod de unoquoque nostrum fatus est Deus that which God hath spoken or determined concerning every man It is saith Seneca that Providence which pulls downe one Kingdome or Government and sets up another nor is this done leisurely and by degrees but it hurles the powers of the world on a sudden from the highest pinnacle of glory to nothing Hence it is saith the same Author almost in the language of Scripture that a Kingdom is translated from one family to another the Causes whereof are lockt up in the Cabinet of the Deity though Holy Writ hath left the main cause of such Changes upon record viz. the wickednesse and injustice of Rulers It is the weight of Sinne which causeth those fatall Circumvolutions in the vast frame of the world all things being as changeable as the Moon and in a perpetuall Flux and Reflux like the Tides that follow her Motion so that what hath been is that which shall be and there is no new thing under the Sun It was the weight of Sin which sunk the old world in a Deluge and hath been the occasion no doubt of all succeeding alterations by permission of Divine Providence who leaves the men of the world to the fulfilling of their lusts that he may accomplish his own Fatalities or Degrees by an execution of vengeance Hence it comes to passe that the best established and mightiest Governments of the world have been but temporary witnesse the foure great Monarchies the Assyrian the Persian the Grecian and the Roman and the time or age of a Government hath by some been reputed * for the most part 500. years As for example the Assyrian Empire lasted 520. years till it was ruined by the Medos and Persians The Athenian from their first King Cecrops to Codrus the last continued 490. years and then it was translated to a populan Government The Lacedemonian Common-wealth flourished much about the same number of yeares from the time of their Founder Lyâ—urgus to the dayes of Alexander the Great under whom it fell The Roman was governed by Consuls about 500. years too from the expulsion of their Kings till it was reduced again into a Monarchy by Augustus After Augustus it stood in this Form about 500. years more under Emperors till Valentinian the last Emperor of the West was slain at Rome at which time the Empire was rent in pieces The Vandals under the conduct of Gensericus possessed Themselves first of France then of Spain at length of Africk and in Italy of Rome it self The Scots and English shook off the imperiall yoke in Britain The Burgundians and Franks seized part of France The Gothes another part of it and part of Italy the Country of Aquitain with the seats of the ancient Cantabrians and Celliberians in Spain whilst the Lombards laid hold on Gallia Cisalpina By which means the Emperors had no certain power in the West after the time of Valentinian so that relinquishing Rome the old Imperiall City they erected an Exarchate at Ravenna which was soon destroyed likewise by the Lombards Now though 500. years be reputed the usuall period of Governments yet some have not atteined above half the number As the Persian Monarchy which from Cyrus the first to Darius the last florished no longer then about 230. years The Grecian having completed 250. after many struglings and bloudy bickerings betwixt the Competitors was divided into the severall Kindomes of Macedonia Syria Pontus and Egypt The * Kingly government of the Romans was abolished near the one hundred and fiftieth year after its Institution The Lombards domineered in Italy 240. years till they were subdued by Charlemain and their last King Desiderius banished with his wife and children But this is not all I can tell you of many Royall Families and famous Governments that have had their fatall periods in a very short revolution of time not exceeding 100. years As in the one hundreth year after the Empire of Augustus the Roman government came into the hands of Princes that were strangers as Nerva Trajan Adrian by nation Spaniards In the yeer of our Lord 280. Artaxerxes erected a new Kingdom of the Persians out of the ruines of the Parthians In the year 300. the Roman Empire was committed to the tutelage of Princes Christian as Constantius and Constantine the Great Anno Domini 400. divers new Kingdoms were raised out of the Ashes of the Empire inflamed by Divisions viz. in Italy France Spain Africk Asla and England Anno 500. the Western part of the Roman Empire was extinct untill the time of Charlemain and swallowed up at Constantinople in the Grecian I could reckon up many more of these short-liv'd Governments But this may suffice to shew that sooner or later they all have their fatall Periods their Crownes are laid in the dust and their Glories buried in the Grave of Oblivion No wonder then if our English Monarchy having arrived to almost 600. years since the Conquest should now according to the common Fate of all other Governments resigne up her Interest to some other Power Family or Form The late Commotions and Contests betwixt King and Parliament were as so many sharp Fits and feaverish distempers which by a kind of Antiperistasis are ever most violent in old age upon the approaching Instants of dissolution The Corruption of the old Form hath proved the generation of another which is already setled in a way visible and most substantiall before all the world so that 't is not to be doubted but in despight of * opposition it will have a reason of continuance as others have had according to the proportion of time allotted by Divine Providence And this I am the more apt to believe in regard of its confirmation by a continued Series of many signal Victories and Successes to the envie of all opposers and amazement of the world Besides I suppose it cannot be exemplified in History that ever Kings were suddenly re-admitted after they had been once expelled out of a Nation If any one case of this kind may be produced there are a hundred to the contrary So that if it be considered likewise how the Worm works in many parts of Europe to cast off the Regall yoke especially in France Scotland Ireland and other places it must needs be as much madnesse to strive against the stream for the upholding of a power cast down by the Almighty as it were for the old Sons of Earth to heap up Mountains against heaven And when all is done *
Hypothesis is obliquely to charge the present Powers in England as Vsurpers though he have laid the Scene in America To this purpose he spends his first Chapter where telling what Vsurpation is he defines it an Intrusion into the Seat of Authority without any lawfull Right Title or calling and insinuates it to the prejudice of the present Governers as if they were guilty of this Intrusion without right or Title In applying this he first alledgeth that the Right and Title to Government is in a King Lords and Commons co-ordinate in power not in the Commons alone This indeed was true til the King as I shewed before lost his Title by Right of war and until the Lords likewise lost theirs by compliance with the Enemies and Invaders of the Nation for which cause they Themselves also by Right of War forfeited all their Interests and Priviledges as Enemies and so the whose Authority devolved naturally into the hands of the Commons But here the Exercitator objects also that the present Governers have usurped over the majority of the House of Commons in that they were thrust out of the House by Force But for Answer since by the equity of all Laws Accessaries are punishable as well as those that are principall in the Crime therefore by the same Right of war the secluded Members also in adhering to the conquered Party even after the Victory and favouring the Invaders were justly deprived of their Interest and the supreme †Authority descended lawfully to those Members that had the courage to assert their Freedoms secure their own Interest themselves and their Adherents from future Inconveniencies and take the Forfeiture of those Prerogatives and Priviledges of the King Lords and secluded Commons as Heirs apparent by the Law of Arms and Custom of Nations to an Investiture in the whole Supremacy One Objection more he hath how that a Calling from the People being necessary and essentiall to a humanely constituted Magistracy our present Governors ought to have such a Call but not having it they are therefore concluded guilty of Vsurpation This is the summ of the Objection though not Syllogistically deciphered To which I answer 1. That if only a Call from the People constitute a lawfull Magistracy then there hath very rarely ever been any lawfull Magistracy in the world nor among us long before and since the Conquest The proofe of this may be confirmed by a Review of those Instances set down before in the second Chapter where it is evident that all the world over most Princes came into the Seat of Authority not only without a Call but absolutely against the wills of the People and so many of them exercise the Soveraignty to this very day And particularly here in England most of our own Kings reigned without any Call but made way by their Swords there being of those 25 Princes that have King'd it among us not above half a dozen that came to the Crowne in an orderly Succession either by lineall or collaterall Title And not any one of those halfe dozen but laid claime to it by vertue of their Predecessors Usurpations without any Call from the People onely in the Investiture they had their consent because out of a love of publike Peace none would or out of Feare none durst offer to question their Titles Now if the former part of this Objection were true that a Call were the only Essentiall constituting a lawfull Government then it would follow that as all the world so we and our Ancestors have lived and paid obedience for the most part under an unlawfull Magistracie which sure no sober man will affirm But if any will be so mad as to say it I only propound to him this sober Quaere Why we may not now as lawfully submit to the present Magistracy in case it were unlawfull as our Ancestors did heretofore to theirs for the publike Peace of the Nation 2. As to the Assumptive part part of this Objection which insinuates that our present Governors have no Call or Consent of the People I answer That if by the consent be meant the Consent of the Body of the People or of the major part of their Representatives this may hold requisite in a State not divided by Civill War but at Peace within it self where it is most consonant to reason that in case there be occasion to elect a supreme Magistrate or Magistrates the election should be carried by the greater number of Voices in such manner as Voices are usually given in that State But now in a Civil War the case is altered when the controversie touching Government is decided by the Sword For ipso facto the Sword creates a Title for him or those that bear it and installs them with a new Majesty of Empire abolishing the old Because as the Civilians say The ancient Majesty of a State or Common-weal continues no longer if it be changed either by a greater power or by consent of the People where you see force and power is put in equall Balance with popular consent in relation to change of Government And as if it were the best pedegree of supremacy they define the Supreme Authority to be that which holds claim from God and the Sword and therefore is also as it were the Author of it's owne Originall without dependance on any other so that say they every Common-wealth be it never so small which acknowledgeth no Superior but God and the Sword hath a Right of Majesty or politicall Supremacy Camman disput. de Iuribus Majest. 1. Thes. 70. 75. c. To this accords that of Grotius before-recited That as in War all other things fall to the Conquerors by way of Acquisition so likewise a Right to govern the People and even that Right also which the people themselves have to Government so that what Government soever it pleases them to erect the People having lost their Right of Election to them must be as valid de Iure as if it had the Peoples Consent But as in this case there is no need of their expresse positive consent to justifie a new Goverument so a tacit or implied consent is sufficient which Consent as one saith well is the very dictate of Nature or common Reason because it is better to have some Iustice than none at all and there is a necessity of some coercive power or government left all be left to Disorder Violence and Confusion which none even of the conquered Party can be so unnaturall as to desire and therefore saith * Suarez They do tacitly consent that Justice be administred by the Conquerors because it is a lesse evill to be governed by them than altogether to want due coaction and direction Object Now ere I conclude this Chapter I must needs wipe away one Objection very frequent in the mouthes of many That this transmission of Title by Right of war holds good when Nation is ingaged against Nation but in one single Nation
Scots gape after this gude Land who with those of other Nations must be Satisfied out of the Purses of our own whilst those that are their Leaders will be gratified with this that and the other Mans Lands and possessions And that this Insinuation is no Fiction but well grounded upon Precedents out of our owne Histories in the Practices of our Kings may appear by the Proceedings of the Conquerer who being forced to extraordinary Courses to satisfie his forein Soldiery made bold so frequently with the Estates of his Subjects that the great Lords of the Kingdom fearing it would come to their Turns at last to part with their Possesions by way of prevention fled out of the Land some into Scotland some into Denmarke and other Parts to trie if by aide from abroad they might recover Themselves and their Fortunes again at home But by this means they hapned to lose all so much the sooner for miscarrying in the Designe their Estates were possess'd and their Offices supplied by the Norman Favorites Thus also King Stephen himself being a Foreiner and relying most upon forein Arms to preserve him in possession was constrained to take the same Course for the satisfaction of his forein Auxiliaries which consisted most of Flemings and Picards whom he especially trusted in his greatest Actions neglecting and oppressing the English Thus did Henry the third also in his wars with the Barons against whom bringing in Foreiners He for reward invested them with others Lands and Honors and laid heavy Impositions besides upon the whole Kingdom to make Them Satisfaction And in those variations of Fortune between the two Houses of Yorke and Lancaster as often as either of Them had occasion to make use of forein Arms to assert their Titles the Estates of the Adverse Party and the Purses of the People were sure to goe to wrack for the Pay of the Soldiery From hence then it appears that if the Prince put himselfe in possession by Arms we shall be so far that way from any ease of our burthens that they will be doubled and trebled yea and tenfolded upon us Lastly The Prince's Confederation with the Scots and our English Presbyters were there no other Reason might be enough to terrifie any ingeniously minded People from giving their assistance be they Royalists or not For if the Kirke be able to bind the Prince to hard Conditions and prove like the Sons of Zeruiah too strong for him so that his Interest bow to theirs then in stead of a Regall which is more tolerable we must all stoop to the intolerable yoke of a Presbyterian Tyranny that will prove a plague upon the Consciences Bodies and Purses of this free Nation The Scots by this means will effect their Designe upon us by stretching their Covenant-union to an equality of Interest with us in our owne Affairs And the English-Grandees of that Party will seat themselves again in the House and exclude all others or else a New Parliament shall be called of Persons of their owne Faction so that if they should carry the day all the Comfort we shall have by casting off the present Governers will be only that we shall have these furious Jockies for our Riders Things perhaps shall be in the old Statu quo as they were when the late King was at Holdenby whose Son must then lay his Scepter at the Foot-stole of the Kirke or else they will restore him by leisure as they did his Father into the exercise of Royalty By which means we should be brought again as far as ever we were from a condition of Settlement and the Common-wealth reduced to Ashes by endlesse Cumbustions On the other Side put case the Prince have the better end of the Staffe of the Presbyters they relying upon his Courtesie as well as the rest of the People then in case he carry the day They and All are at his mercy and no Bar will be in the way to hinder him from an Ascent unto an unlimited Power So that you plainly see this present Combination of Royallists and Presbyters which soever of them be most prevalent must of necessity put the Nation in hazard between Scylla and Charybdis that we cannot chuse but fall into one of the pernicious Gulphs either of Presbyterian or Monarchicall Tyranny All these Particulars being seriously considered how Improbable it is in the first place that the Prince should goe on with Successe in his Designe and then what miserable Inconveniences must needs follow such a Successe in case he prevaile not only to the Prejudice of any one Party but of All I may undeniably conclude that all mistaken Royallists as well as others who live now under the Protection of the present Government are concerned out of necessity and in respect to their owne well-being and benefit to wish well thereunto rather than prosecute the private Interest of a single Family and of a few Fugitives its Dependants to the hazard of their owne Families with the Peace and happinesse of their native Country CHAP. II. Concerning the Scots I Am sorry I must waste Paper upon this Nation but seeing They make Themselves Considerable by being troublesome it will not be amisse to sound the Depth of their present Design which that I may the better doe give me leave to trace them in their Encroachments from the first to the last upon the English Nation Not to mention those of elder date let us begin with King James who being a native Scot out of love to his Country-men or rather to himselfe that he might keep them quiet by stopping their mouths with the sweet morsels of England was pleased to admit many of them into his Court then into his Councell and to be partakers of Honours and Offices equall to the best of our English His Son the late King knowing danger might come of discontent out of the Northern Corner followed the same Course that his Father tooke to oblige Them holding them in Pension giving accesse to all Beggars with such faire Entertainment that most of Them staid here and none returned empty This heaping of Favors upon Some stirred up the Appetites and Emulation of others who seeing themselves neglected and not like to share in any of these Enjoyments by the Favor of the King bethought them of an other way to make Themselves as considerable as the rest of their Country-men and gain an Interest with the English Seeing they could not thrive with the Court They would trie what They could doe without it Hereupon being men of Power in their owne Country They became most Zealous Assertors of the Presbyterian Discipline against the Episcopall by which means they gained the Friendship of all the Religious Party in England then persecuted by the Bishops who were at Court the only Favourites Hereupon these Leaders of the Scotish Presbyterians beginning to grow active and forward in establishing their own Form at home and also to propagate it abroad by encouraging their Friends gave
such an Alarm to the Bishops that they to crosse the Designe fell foule upon all of the Opinion here in England and not onely so but pressed the King to establish an Episcopall Vniformity in both Kingdoms even in Scotland as well as England The forcing of this upon the Scots was a Cause of the Commotions in that Kingdom whereupon a war ensued betwixt the King and Them through the instigation of the Bishops which was soon ended to the Advantage of the Scots in Money and Credit and to the dishonor of the King and the Episcopall Party This happy Successe wrought a very reverend opinion of them in the hearts of the well-affected Party in England who stood for the purity of Religion and a liberty of Conscience against Episcopall power and Innovations as also for the Lawes and Liberties of the Nation invaded by the Prerogative And for redresse of these things the King was necessitated to call a Parliament who not obtaining such Reliefe of Grievances as they expected by reason of a Corrupt Councell of Bishops and others about the King which alienated him from his great Councell the Parliament and afterward caused Him to breake out into a warre against Them were constrained likewise to take Armes in defence of our Liberties Hereupon recourse was had to the Scots for their assistance who having the same Enemies at Court and being equally involved in the same common Danger it was supposed they were concerned in Reason to joyn with the Parliament without any Dispute or Scruple But They considering now was the Time to make their Markets if ever and their owne interest as much English as might be came not off so roundly as was hoped but fell to bartering like Hucksters and no Bargaine would be forsooth without a Covenant They would not joyn except They might be in a manner all one with us and this Vnion must be sealed with that solemn League and Covenant What their meaning was therein we shall know by and by by taking a view of their Actions ever since which are the most sure Interpreters Yet even at that time some men had their eyes in their heads and many Objections were made at divers Expressions in the Covenant and many Desires for explanation of some Articles more fully But the Scots standing stiffe upon their owne Terms and no Conjunction like to be obtained without the Covenant and the necessity of the Parliaments Affairs admitting no delay we were glad to take it as it was offered without further question or Demurrer It was no sooner taken here at London but immediately every one began to make his Advantage through the multitude and ambiguity of Expressions and by it to promote his severall Interest as if it had been made to engage unto a particular Party not to unite two Nations in a common Interest But above all the Scots having had the honor of this Invention conceived themselves much injured by any that denyed them the Prerogative of making an Interpretation and in matter of Religion urged their owne Discipline as the only Patern to Reform the Church by and their Plea had been fair enough out of the Covenant could they have proved it to be according to the word of God which Clause was most luckily inserted Notwithstanding all the Reasons to the Contrary the Scotish Module was still pressed The Scot was willing to ride and having as he thought the English-man fast bridled with a Covenant he began to switch and spur The Throne of the Kirke was the Stalking-horse to catch geese and if that could have been setled then there had been no denying Them whatsoever they would ask They would have seated themselves surely in this fat Soile There would have been no removing them out of our Councels whereof the necessity of our Affaires had made them Members and Partakers For had the Kirk-Interest been once confirmed among us then by vertue of that Authority which they use to controll the Civill power the Parliament must have been subservient to all their ends And since it would have concerned the English Clergy to make their Party strong and maintein Correspondencies for their owne preservation to have gratified their Scotish Founders in all their Desires the Scots might easily have translated the Covenant-union to as good as an absolute Nationall union by gaining a Joynt-Interest with us in our Affairs for ever and consequently in all the Profits great Offices Councels and Concernments of this Nation Now whether this were their Designe or not in the Covenant ab origine I shall not determine but let it be judged by their insolent behaviour here among us after they were admitted to our Counsells and therefore in the next place I shall examine their Proceedings which most evidently represent them in their Intentions It sufficed them not after they were come in that they had an equall Power with us in publique Affairs in the Committee of both Kingdoms at Derby-house which was willingly allowed them for a time so far as concerned the Common cause of both Nations in prosecuting the war but driving a Powerfull Party in both Houses They tooke upon them to meddle with matters relating to the future Peace and Settlement of this Nation distinct from their owne and to provide for an equall Interest with us therein The first most notable Evidence of this though there had been many before was discovered at the Vxbridge-Treaty where Propositions of both Houses for Peace being presented to the King it was found the Scots had so far Provided for Themselves by their Party in the Houses That in time to come the ordering of the English Militia the Power of making War and Peace and all other Prerogatives of Government were to be administred by a proportionable number of Scots as well as English A thing so ridiculous and an Encroachment so palpable that the King Himself in one of His Answers took notice of it and said He was not so much an Enemy to the English Nation as to signe those Propositions or somewhat I am sure to this Purpose A second evidence or discovery of their Encroachments was made upon their delivering in divers Papers to the Parliament at severall times wherein they disputed their Claim and ventured their Logick upon the Letter of the Covenant to prove an Interest in disposall of matters meerly relating to our welfare which they re-inforced afterwards with new Recruits of Argument when the King came into their Army But not knowing well how to maintaine their Arguments They were contented for that time to quit Them and their King too upon such Terms as are notorious to all the world who being at length reduced under the Power of the Parliament and Army Propositions of Peace were sent to him at Hampton-Court wherein no such Provision being made for the Scotish Interest as was in those at Vxbridge their Commissioners here protested against them accused the Parliament of Breach of Covenant and complained highly in one of their
Declarations that they should be so neglected This may serve as a third evidence of their Covenant-designe of Encroachment whereto may be added one more when the King was at Carisbrooke Castle whither the Commissioners of Parliament were no sooner arived with Propositions againe but the Scots Commissioners were at hand and for the same reason protested furiously against Them By which insolent demeanors and expressions from time to time and crying up the Covenant for their defence it is clear enough what their Intentions were when they urged it upon us and that notwithstanding all the specious Pretences of brotherly Love their Designe in it hitherto hath beene onely to scrue themselves into an equall Interest with us in this Nation Having smelt out their Project thus farre give me leave to trace them on to the end as briefly as may be The Royall Party being totally suppressed and so no further occasion to make use of the Scotish Army the Parliament with some difficulty made shift to send them home into their own Kingdome But being defeated of their Aims and expectations they could not so rest having failed of their ends by pretending for Parliament they resolved next to try what they could do upon the Kings Score and so the Grandees turn'd the Tables in hope of an After-game by closing with Hamilton upon the Royall Accompt not doubting but if they gained the day this way to recompence their Travels with much more Advantage The Covenant like a nose of wax apt to be turned any way served this enterprize every jot as well as the former though the Designe were different from what it was the great ones not caring much what became of the Kirk Interest since they had agreed for the security of their owne which must needs have been very considerable if they could have redeemed the King and restored him into the condition of an absolute Monarch Therefore the Kirk seeing themselves left thus in the Lurch thundered out their Curses amaine upon that Hypocriticall Engagement as destructive to the Covenant But the Grandees being at a losse in this likewise upon Hamilton's Defeat and followed home to their owne dores by the brave English Army were glad to cry Peccavi to the Kirk and also to our English Commanders whom they dismissed with many promises of fair Carriage for the future Within a while after a new dore of hope being opened to them by the supposed Succession of the late Kings Son They to ingratiate with him proclaime him their King and here the Grandees and the Kirk joyning hands againe become friends and offer their Service for his restitution upon Terms of the Covenant which is their Plea now at this very day So that the Covenant which was pretended to be framed at first for the preservation of this Parliament and the Liberties of the People against the usurpations of regall Power is now that the Scots can serve their designe no longer that way become the Ground of their present Combination with the Prince and their Presbyterian Brethren in England for the destruction of our Liberties being resolved this way since they have failed in all the rest to trie whether they can accomplish their profane Projects through the Covenant by insinuating themselves into places of Honour Profit and Power that they may domineere in the possessions as their Pharisaicall Priests would over the Consciences of the English Thus having made way in discovering what the designe of the Scots ever hath beene and is at this Instant under the faire Covert of the Covenant certainly no man that is master of an English spirit but will abhorre the Hypocriticall pretences and Encroachments of that perfideous Nation And therefore now that all men may beware how they be drawne into an Engagement with them I shall according to my way manifest first the Improbability of their Successe and then the Inconveniences which must necessarily follow in case their designe be successefully effected First As to the Improbability of Successe consider by way of Comparison the great difference between the English and Scotish Soldiery Ours are heightned with extraordinary Pay bravely accomplished strong Horse well disciplin'd veterane Soldiers better Spirited by reason of a more generous education and to all these add the advantage of being Englishmen and the Reputation of having been so long victorious let these considerations be laid in the balance against the Scots fresh men for the main newly raised a People of farre lesse generous Soules poor in Body Pay and other Accommodations save what they have purchased by proguing here in England Judge then in reason what these are able to doe against so brave an Army that contemns and scorns Them as having beaten them with a handfull in comparison of their numbers home to their owne dores an Army that to all worldly Advantages hath hitherto had a speciall Protection from Heaven God having Sealed them for his owne by many miraculous victories and Successes to the wonder of the whole world Secondly consider that our English Army are all of a Nation Natives and unanimous especially upon the appearance of any Invaders whereas the Scotish will be made up of divers Factions Royalists and Presbyterians that com in pursuance of different ends which for the time that they continue together must needs be a cause of many Confusions and partialities of Counsells to the prejudice of their Enterprises and Proceedings a spring of perpetuall Emulations that will soone untwist the Confederacy so that in short time they must fall asunder like a Rope of Sand and the private Soldiery be disposed to entertaine thoughts of some new Engagement to the ruine of the first Thirdly We shall not only be provided for them here if they dare be so unworthy as to invade us but 't is like this Common-wealth may find work for them at home and to cure their madnesse divert the humour with Phlebotomie by way of Revulsion Fourthly It is like they will be farre from running much hazard to gain Successe unto the Designe For if they provr a little unfortunate the humour will alter one good beating will make them understand there is another way of Interest and Thriving than under the wings of Royalty It may chance to make them remember because they cannot forget how long they have lived without a King in Scotland while the Grandees and the Kirk did all and that the English have dealt more ingenuously to have no King than a Presbyterian Mock-King One Rout with this consideration puts them presently into the humour of a Republique as well as England And then they will have no more work to doe but to raise the Market and get Chap men for their King to put him off handsomly that they may pay their Army and goe home again like Scots Lastly the Scots having no just Ground of a Warre against England can hardly be prosperous in the Attempt The Covenant can be none being extinct as I have proved in the former part of
Hereditary course of Government was so odious to the Hungarians that when Ferdinand the first King of the Romans laid claim to that Crown as Heir in his Wives Right They chose rather to make a League with the Turk than subject their State to the Inconveniences of an Hereditary Succession Regibus est aliis potiundi jure paterno Certa fides sceptrumque patris novus accipit hares Nos quibus est melior libertas jure vetusto Orba suo quoties vacat inclyta principe Sedes Quodlibet arbitrium statuendi Regis habemus The German Poet Gunther who reduced much of Policy into Poetry in these Verses commends the fashion of his own Country that since they had accepted the Regall or Imperiall Form of Government they were accustomed to trust their own Judgments in making choice of their Emperour rather than receive him blindly from the hand of Chance or Fortune Nor doe I find any that think a Monarchy tolerable otherwise than upon Terms of Election except it be Lipsius and such partiall Pen-men as Himself who were held in pension or relation by Hereditary Tyrants For besides that common Reason disswades men from taking Governers at Adventure without respect of wisdome or vertue so if we take a view of the miserable events of it in all Histories it must needs deterre men from the love of such a Succession And therefore the Argument usually brought in defence of it that it is the only way to prevent the Inconveniences of an Interregnum where the Heire is uncertaine is of no validity since it hath caused ten thousand times more bloody Disputes between Pretenders in point of Title than ever happened in those Inter-regnall Controversies whith have risen betwixt Competitors by way of Election witness the tedious fatall Bickerings which happened in France and other Nations among Princes of the Blood and here in England between the two Houses of Yorke and Lancaster It is observed also out of the antient Roman History that all those Emperors which ruled by right of Inheritance proved most of them no better than savage Beasts and all of Them wicked except Titus but such as were advanced by Election approved Themselves noble and vertuous as you may see in those five that succeeded Nerva to Marcus And no sooner did the Empire return again into a Course of Inheritance but it ran to a losse and at length to the ruine of its glory and greatnesse But to wave this digression touching Hereditary and elective Monarchies I affirm that neither of Them are to be compared with a Free-state nor to be admitted unlesse it be the latter by way of Election and then only in case of extreme necessity as the Roman Common-wealth was wont now and then to create their temporary Dictators into whose single Hands they transmitted the whole Power of ordering Affairs in time of urgent and imminent danger to avoid the Inconvenience of delay which might be occasioned through the variety of Opinions and multiplicity of Counsels Howsoever elective Kings are found fault with because They usually practise such Sleights that in a short time the Government which They received for their own Lives becomes entailed upon their Families It is to be considered also That the Kingly are not much lesse destructive than the Levelling popular Tyrannies to gallant and worthy men Sors ista Tyrannis Convenit invideant claris fortesque trucident Nor is it the worse sort of Kings or Tyrants only that hate brave and deserving Persons but even the most moderate and those that seem to be the best conditioned become jealous and distastfull supposing the Fame and gallantry of their Subjects detracts from their own estimation And therefore They usually consult which way to dishonor or destroy Them by which means men are terrified from the Love of glory and vertue * Demosthenes tells us Philip the Macedonian was so full of vain-glory that he would arrogate the worthy Deeds of his Friends and other men to himself and make them seeme to be his owne And he ever hated those Commanders and Governors which were victorious and successfull more than such as were either carelesse or unfortunate His Son Alexander was of the same humour too For when †Antipater had gained a victory which he intended himself to have had the honor of he could not forbear to utter his Indignation reckoning himself injured by the merits of his Subject and Servant And at another time he caused Parmenio to be put to death for no other cause but because he hated him being suspitious of his extraordinary merits Thus the Emperour Vespasian likewise behaved himself toward the Generall Antonius by whose means Rome was secured from him against Vitellius and the Imperiall Diadem placed on his head which was no sooner done but Vespasian in stead of a Reward casheered him of his Command and all other Imployment whatsoever so that sinking under the Burthen of his owne despaire and the others Ingratitude he lived not long after In like manner Alphonsus Albuquerquius after he had brought most part of the East Indies under the obedience of his Master the King of Portugall was sent for home and outed of his Command died for meer grief and sorrow Nor did Consaluus the great or Ferdinando Cortese fare any better for all their Services * Consaluus after he had driven the French out of the Kingdom of Naples and subdued it to Ferdinand of Arragon was by him at his coming to Naples put out of his Command and carried into Spaine in little better condition than a Prisoner where his heart broke for griefe immediately How miserable then is the condition of the most generous Spirits under Tyrannous Royalty wherein Princes count themselves dis-obliged by the bravest Actions of their Subjects And Tacitus tells of one of the Caesars upon the like occasion That he conceived it prejudiciall to his own honor and Fortune and supposed himselfe insufficient to recompence extraordinary merits For good Turns seem then only acceptable to Princes when they may be easily requited otherwise they return Hatred in stead of Thanks Cominaeus also reports it from Lewis of France his own mouth That he much more loved those whom himselfe had obliged by bounty and courtesie than such as had obliged him by their deserts Yea so dangerous a Thing is Vertue in Prince's Courts that it is as much as a man's life is worth to be commended for it And to this purpose we have a story in Polybius lib. 6. how that one Apelles being Enemy to Aratus a Favorite of King Philip the Macedonian took occasion to extoll him most highly to the King as a Person admired by all for his many rare and incomparable Vertues knowing this was the way to bring him out of the King's Favor which was saith one a new way of revenge and it took effect to the destruction of Aratus For after a while he became so much