Gaunt's elder Brother So that of the Succession of 14 Kings after the Conqueror there were but four viz. Richard the First Edward the First and Second and Richard the Second which succeeded as Heirs to the Conqueror or his Heirs Admit Edward the 4th succeeded right as Heir to Phillippa Daughter of the Duke of Clarence yet if it be true which Richard the 3d says and which is confirmed by the Authority of the Act of Parliament 1 Rich. 3. that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before he married Elizabeth then did not Edward the 5th if it may be called a Succession succeed right nor could Henry the 7th claim any Right to the Crown of England in Right of his Wife Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth But whether it be true or not that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before his Marriage yet Richard the 3d succeeded not as Heir Edward Earl of Warwick the Son of George Duke of Richard's elder Brother being then alive Of all the Kings of England that succeeded the Conqueror Henry the 7th had the least Pretension to any Title to the Crown for tho he were supposed to have been descended from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet it was the Duke's Paramour Katherine Swinford whose Issue by the Duke tho by Act of Parliament they were legitimated to all other purposes yet were not capacitated to succeed to the Crown of England but if the Title of Lancaster had been preferable to that of York and Henry had been of the legitimate Line yet could not he have succeeded as Heir his Mother under whom he claimed being then alive and out-lived her Son Nor did the King's Marriage with Elizabeth eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th improve his Title to his Succession the Marriage being subsequent to it and before it the Crown by Act of Parliament was entailed upon Henry the 7th and the Heirs of his Body and after Marriage he never used her Name in calling any Parliament or in any Proclamation or the Coin or passing any Act of Parliament and as he reigned without her before Marriage so he did after her Death for he out-lived her tho she left two Sons Arthur and Henry after Henry the Eighth and two Daughters Elizabeth Queen of Scotland and Mary after Queen of France It seems to me that Ferdinand King of Castile and Arragon had the same Opinion which Richard the 3d and the Parliament had that the Issue of Edward the 4th were not legitimate for he would not assent to the Marriage of his Daughter Katherine with Arthur Prince of Wales so long as the Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence lived and there a fine Trick was found out to put the poor Prince to Death for endeavouring to make his Escape out of the Tower with Perkin Warbeck and in him ended the Masculine Line of the Race of the Plantagenets who had governed the English Nation after Stephen to Henry the 7th above 340 Years So that from the Conqueror to Henry the 8th scarce one of four of the Kings of England succeeded in a right Line as Heirs to the Conqueror As the Saxon Dynasty ended in Edward the Confessor and the Norman began in the Conqueror so it seems to me that the Norman ended in Richard the 3d and another of the British was erected in Henry the 7th who was the Son of Edmund of Hadham the Son of Owen Tudor by Katherine Daughter of Charles the 6th of France Wife of Henry the 5th of England and Mother of Henry the 6th So that Henry the 7th's Title to the Crown of France was better than that to the Crown of England for that of England was from a Maternal Ancestor Margaret Countess of Richmond no otherwise related to the Crown of England than descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Paramour Tho I do not find that Henry the 7th or any of his Descendants ever assumed the Sirname of Tudor So that tho the Crown of England neither in the Saxon nor Norman Race of Kings was always Hereditary so neither was the Succession to the Crown elective For in elective Kingdoms after the Death of one King there is an Establishment of the manner of Elections and in the mean time there are Custodes Regni appointed whose Power ceases upon the Election of a King but neither of these were ever heard of in either of the Saxon or Norman Race and tho sometimes it 's said the Kings were chosen as of Edward the Son of Alfred by the Nobles and so of Athelstan and so in the Norman Race Henry the First was said to be chosen for that he promised to abrogate all the Oppressions and Errors brought into the Government by his Father and Brother tho his eldest Brother Robert was then alive and restore the good Laws of Edward the Confessor and Stephen was chosen by the Clergy and Londoners yet this was rather a form of Speaking in those days than any formal Election and the manner differed according to the different Humours of the Times Nor do we read that ever the Parliament meddled with the Succession of the Crown before Henry the Fourth for tho the first Parliament of Edward the Third renounced their Allegiance to Edward the Second and are said to have chosen Edward the Third yet they went no further and such an Election was no more than a Declaration of their Submission as when the Council declared James the Second King But whether the Crown of England was Hereditary in the Saxon and Norman Race it 's evident it was not so in this British Race for as it began in Henry the Seventh so it was entailed by Act of Parment upon him and Heirs of his Body before his Marriage with Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth So the inheritable Right of Edward's Issue and all the Norman Race was barred by this Act. Before we proceed in the Succession of the British Race we 'll take a view of the Genealogy of it John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford had Issue John created Earl of Somerset who had Issue John created Duke of Somerset who had Issue Margaret After the Death of Henry the Fifth Katherine his Wife Sister of Charles the Sixth of France married Owen Tudor a Welch Gentleman who had Issue Edmund of Hadham created Earl of Richmond who married Margaret Daughter and Heir of John Duke of Somerset who had Issue Henry the Seventh Henry the Eighth succeeded his Father without any Contradiction for the Wars between the houses of York and Lancaster had destroyed the whole legitimate Lancastrian Line and Richard the Third after the Murder of his Brother Clarence and Death of Edward the Fourth had murdered his two Nephews Edward and Richard Sons of Edward the Fourth and himself was killed in the Fight in Bosworth-fields and after that Henry the Seventh had put Edward Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence to Death none of all
Male Sex who were a sort of Favourites his Father was not acquainted with nor do I find he ever regarded the Memory of his Father but that he industriously endeavour'd to have it believed the Portraiture of his Father's Sufferings a Book of late so much controverted was none of his However his Mother had a great Ascendant over him so that she being a Daughter of France inclin'd him to embrace the French Interest against his own And she living near ten Years after his Restoration so fixed this into a Habit in him that in all his Life after he could never get rid of it notwithstanding all the Provocations of the French King to the contrary But it 's time now to take a View of this King's Actions The Desires of the King to be restor'd were no less than those of the Nation that he should tho upon any Terms for upon the Dissolution of the secluded Members the King left Brussels as you 'll soon see he left Spain who had harboured and relieved him in the time of his Exile to join with France who had expell'd him to join with Oliver and by its Ambassador Bourdeaux at this time was using all its Endeavours to keep him out and came to Breda from whence he sent Letters by Sir John Greenvile after Earl of Bath to Monk Mountague after Earl of Sandwich and the Mayor of London The Presbyterians who thought to have had the same Power they had when the secluded Members dissolved themselves were shrewdly mistaken for the Body of the Commons were Royalists who chose Sir Harbottle Grimston their Speaker and upon the opening of the Convention the Royalist Lords double more than the Presbyterians entred into the Lords House which the Presbyterians complained of to Monk who answer'd Now they were in he had no Power to turn them out so the Royalists were double to the Factions in both Houses of this Convention so as the King need not fear his Restoration Now half England of all sorts except the Rumpers cross the Seas to Breda to make their Bargains with the King before he should come into England the King promises fair to all which it may be was impossible to perform which caused Murmur afterward And the Convention after they had proclaimed him King by inherent Birth-right sent him 50000 l. 10000 l. to the Duke of York and 5000 l. to the Duke of Glocester and the City of London sent the King and his Brothers 12000 l. Upon the 11th of May both Houses sent Commissioners to Breda to invite the King to return and Admiral Mountague with a Royal Fleet to convoy him over who upon the 25th landed him at Dover where Monk met him upon his Knees the King embracing him and kissing him and next day at Canterbury created him Knight of the Garter the Dukes of York and Glocester putting the George about his Neck 'T was rather a Madness than Jollity all sorts of People expressed in the King's Passage from Dover to White-hall The Nation was never so fine in Cloths even the poor Cavaliers will be as fine as the best tho they never live to pay their Tailors nor shall the King take any care of them his Favourites being of another Stamp than those who served his Father Never were such Pageants Triumphal Arches and sumptuous Feasts seen in the City before for which the poor Orphans Money in the Chamber of London must pay the greatest part When the King was restor'd the Nation was in a Martial Posture and the Manners of the People generally more severe and sober than in his Father's and Grand-father's Reigns The first that made Court to the King were the Dutch when he was at Breda to enter into a League with them but the King by the Advice of Sir Edward Hide it 's said wisely answered That this would look as if 't were done by Restraint the King being in their Power besides he was not yet possest of his Kingdoms nor had established his Privy-Council Yet the Dutch were the first who caress'd him with a most rich and splendid Gilded Yatch to prepare him for a Treaty after his Accession to his Crowns Nor were the rest of the Princes of Europe long after the Dutch in congratulating the King's Restoration the French King being one of the first The Spaniard made not so much haste yet hoped for a better Reception than the French and that the King of Spain might have a better Reception he sent the Prince de Ligny his Ambassador who in the Splendor of his Train much outvied the French It 's true the Prince got a Peace with the King for his Master the King of Spain but he got as little good by it as the King of Spain did by that he made with the King's Grand-father King James the First With better Success came the French Ambassador tho I do not find he made any League with the French against the Spaniard as Oliver did nor was there any need of it the French having made a deceitful Peace with the Spaniard at the Pyrenaean Treaty yet you shall soon see both Kings dealt as ill with the King of Spain as if he had been an open Enemy And the more to endear himself with his Brother of France the King rejected the advantagious Treaty of Commerce which Oliver made with France as done by an Usurper and never after at least that I ever heard of made any other instead of it but left his Subjects to be used even as the French King pleased in their Trades to France Henry the Seventh was the first of our English Kings who used Guards and he set up the Yeomen of the Guard which was followed by all the Kings of England since but tho the Convention had paid off and disbanded the English Armies yet the King besides his Band of Pensioners in imitation of the French must have Guards of Horse and Foot and the Parliament gave him Revenue enough to encrease these to what Number he pleased But it had been better for him if he had imitated the French too in preferring Men who were qualified but few of these were to be found there And tho he gave near double the Pay to these yet was he much worse served than if Men of Merit had been there for half the Pay for scarce one of the Officers but bought their Places and this was so common that the Prices were certain so not he who deserved but he which gave most was preferred and when he was in he owed the King no Service having paid for what he had and so his Business was how to improve his Bargain not serve the King And herein too the poor Cavaliers had the worst they not having so much Money to buy as others had I take it for granted that the first League which the now French King made after he came to Majority I mean after twenty one Years of Age was that of the Pyrenaean Treaty the Breach of all the rest
't was believed was carried on by French Counsels For so long as the English and Dutch stood united it would be very difficult if not impossible for the French King to encrease his Grandeur either by Sea or Land if the English and Dutch should oppose it However the outward Appearance seemed otherwise on the French Part for in the Favour of the Dutch he made War upon the English tho to no Benefit of the Dutch other than by the influence of his Party upon the English Counsels But to return his Courtesy the Dutch during this War built him six great Men of War and the Dane joining with the Dutch and French against the English built the French as many more so that whilst the English and Dutch were fighting with one another to destroy their Men of War the French King looked on and without fighting encreased his The English and Dutch had been above Eighty Years Competitors in the East-India African and American Trades so that if either had a mind to quarrel it would not be hard to find an Occasion for it Queen Elizabeth kept so severe a Hand over the Dutch that they durst not presume to give the English any Cause of Offence during her Reign nor do I find the English gave them any in King James's Reign Yet the Dutch gave the English a most abominable one in the Business of Amboyna The World taking notice of the Vast Power at Sea and Wealth which the Dutch acquired by the Fishery upon the Coasts of England and Scotland King Charles I. required a Tribute or Acknowledgment from them about the Year 1630 as a Right belonging to his Crowns of England and Scotland The Dutch were resolv'd not to part with their Fishery and unwilling to pay the King any Acknowledgment for it and instead of Payment set Hugo Grotius to work with his Pen to discharge it Which he did in a little Treatise called Mare Liberum The King to vindicate his Soveraignty set Mr. Selden then at ill Terms with him for I think he was a Prisoner in the Tower for not submitting the Debates in Parliament to the Cognizance of the Council-Table and Court of King's Bench to write Mare Clausum in Answer to Grotius's Mare Liberum Yet this is observable how much the Dutch Interest governed their Reason for soon after I will not say the certain time in all their Manifesto's in the East-Indies the Dutch stiled themselves Soveraigns of the Southern Seas And as such you 'll hear how they exercised their Soveraignty over the English But King Charles though he raised Ship-Money upon Pretence of suppressing Pirates and for Safety of the Nation in May 1636 issued out a Proclamation forbidding the Dutch and all Foreign Nations Fishing upon the Coasts of England and Scotland which the Dutch little regarding set out for this Fishery notwithstanding Whereupon the King commanded the Earl of Northumberland with a Fleet of sixty Men of War to take an Account of their Disobedience The Earl with this Fleet fell in upon the Dutch and dispersed them and cut their Nets so as the Dutch were forced to seek for Shelter in the King's Harbours where they were detained till they made a Composition to pay the King Thirty Thousand Pounds sterling yearly for Licence to fish And this was all the Action done by raising Ship-Money for the Safety of the Nation whereof the King was sole Judg and for Suppressing Pirates The Dutch in return next Year or the Year after upon Pretence of taking in fresh Water seize upon New-York in Long-Island in America and change the Name into New-Amsterdam But at this time things were in highest Ferment both in England and Scotland about establishing Laud's Injunctions in England and erecting a High Commission in Scotland by the King 's Supreme Ecclesiastical Power which the King was so intent upon that he neglected to call the Dutch to an Account for the Surprisal of new-New-York In the Year 1643 the Dutch by Virtue of their Soveraignty in the Southern Seas by one Geland in a Hostile Manner between Goa and Maccao in the Straits of Malacca made Prey of the Bona Esperanza and spoiled her of all her Tackle Apparel Furniture and all the Goods and Lading in her in her Return of a very hopeful Voyage from China and carried them to Batavia where without due Process of Law they were confiscated and the same Year the Ship called the Henry Bonadventura being come on Ground near the Island Mauritius was seized with all her Goods and Lading by the Dutch East-India Company and kept from the Owners And these Actions both in the East and West-Indies were done in time of Peace between England and Holland These Ships were set out by the Earl of Shrewsbury Sir William Courten Sir Paul Pindar and others by Virtue of a New Charter granted by King Charles the First in the Year 1635 and had laid the Foundation of a much more advantageous Trade for the English than that of the English East-India Company For the Northern and middle Parts of China are cold or temperate and so our Woollen Manufactures would have been very acceptable to them whereas they are of little Use in the Southern Parts of India and all the Islands in the Indian Ocean which lie in the Torrid Zone The Earl of Shrewsbury Sir Paul Pindar and Sir William Courten being Royalists took no Care for Satisfaction in the late times Nor do I find the Rump made any of these the Causes of the War between the Dutch and them nor did Oliver in the Peace he made with the Dutch take any Notice of these Violences used by the Dutch against the English or the Honour of the Nation yet he would not by his Peace discharge the Dutch from the Business of Amboyna but this was referred 't was said to the Cantons of Switzerland to be determined by them but was never after regarded But King Charles II. being at better Terms with his Parliament and Subjects than his Father the next Year after his Restoration viz. 1661 sent Sir Robert Holmes with a Squadron of Men of War and some Soldiers to America with which he reduced New York and all that which the Dutch had taken from the English in Long-Island And from thence Sir Robert Holmes sailed to Africa and took Cape Verd and some other Places where the English had Factories And about the same time the Earl of Shrewsbury with William Courten Grandson of Sir William and the Executors and Creditors of Sir Paul Pindar represented their Case to the King who by Letters under the King's Signet Manual demanded Reparations of the States for these Depredations by Sir George Downing the King's Envoy without any Satisfaction Thus things stood when the Algerines being at War with the English and Dutch the Dutch by their Ambassadour desired the King in 1663 to join a Squadron of Ships with the Dutch to reduce the Algerines to better Terms which the King did and
Contentions not only in civil but religious Affairs Having given an Account of the Reasons of the Ruine of the Roman Western Empire and how like our Case is to that of the Empire in its Declension It 's time to take a view of the State of the Goths and Vandals after they had planted themselves in Spain and herein I observe that though the Romans as well as Grecians esteem all other Nations barbarous but themselves yet the Government of them was equal if not better than either for it was a Regular Monarchy wherein the King did not govern by an absolute despotick Power but by established Laws nor could they make new nor alter the old or raise Money without the Consent of the States of their Kingdoms and this continued for many Hundred Years after how many of the Kingdoms in Spain lost these Privileges is too long to be inserted here yet at this Day the Kingdom of Arragon retains them So that the King of Spain never speaks to them as King of Castile In the Reign of Honorius and Arcadius Ann. 408. about five Years before Gundericus entred Spain Attila King of the Huns over-run the Empire and pierced into Gaul with a huge Army against whom Honorius sent Ecius the greatest General of his time with an Imperial Army which was raised in all parts of the Empire so as Ecius was forced to withdraw the Roman Legions in Britain to oppose Attila nor did they ever return more so that the poor Britains being enured to no warlike Discipline but only to serve their imperious Masters easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots and so were in a more servile State than when they were under the Romans To redeem themselves from which they called the English Saxons to their Assistance who used them worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of Britain now called England But this is observable That as in these Times the rest of the Roman Empire was over-spread with Arianism so was that part of Britain subject to the Roman Empire over-spread with Pelagianism and here observe the Justice of God upon them that these Men who ascribed to themselves a Power of Salvation without God's special Grace and Favour to them should not be able to save themselves from their Enemies but be either slaughtered by them or expelled their Native Country upon the Earth The Saxons which conquered the Britains were Heathen yet was their Government as well as that of the Goths a Regular Monarchy and so continued in all the Dynasties of their Kings and yet is continued notwithstanding the several Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and the Scotish Race to the contrary About ten Years after Ecius recalled the Roman Legions out of Britain viz. in 418. Pharamond entred Gaul and conquered some part of it which he called France after the Name of the Franks and Pharamond was Heathen and so was Meroveus his Successor and Childerick his Son and so continued till about the Year 490 when Clovis was converted to Christianity of whom Messeray glories that he was the only King in the World which was not Infidel or Heretick However the Government of the Franks as well as the Goths and Saxons was a Regular Monarchy till the Reign of Charles the 7th about the Year 1430. which was above a thousand Years after the Franks planted themselves in Gaul If we look back into the Reign of Henry the 2d of England we shall find him it may be the greatest of all the Western Kings and Lord if not of the greatest yet best part of France as he was Duke of Normandy and Aquitain in Right of his Wife Eleanor Aquitain having the Ocean on the West and Normandy the British Sea on the North. But this Dominion did not last long for King Henry's Son and John's Son Henry the 3d endeavouring to usurp a more than Legal Authority over their Subjects caused such a Ferment and Discord in the Kingdom and this lasted near 70 Years that the Kings of France in the mean time took all Normandy and the greatest part of Aquitain from the English When King James became King of England Henry the 4th was French King having composed by Force and Clemency the Civil Wars which had raged near 40 Years all over France and in the Year 1597 made Peace with Spain which was about 5 Years before King James became King of England and here let 's take a view of Spain Though Spain were 1 3 greater than France when King James came to the Crown of England yet France was I believe fivefold better peopled and generally a more fruitful Country How this came to pass it's fit to look back upon the Cause of the Sterility of Men in Spain and their abounding in France Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Castile and Arragon about the Year 1490 having conquered the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia and against their Faith given to the Moors brought in the Inquisition upon them the greatest part of the Moors forsook their Country and thereby left the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia so much less peopled and Ferdinand and Isabella being addicted to the Roman Religion established manifold Bishopricks and Religious Houses in these Kingdoms of both Sexes and the Pope though he pleases to make Marriage a Sacrament yet forbids it to the Clergy and other of both Sexes who take upon them a Religious Life whereby as the Moors leaving Spain unpeopled it at present so future Generations became so much less replenished by how much more People took upon them a Religious Habit. But this Mischief did not stop here for Philip the 2d great Grand-Son of Ferdinand and Isabella and a most bigotted Prince to the Romish Superstition brought the Inquisition upon the Converted Moors which drove them out of Spain to the farther unpeopling of it and my Lord Bacon says that many of these poor converted Moors became as persecuted in their Exile for their Religion as if they had continued in Spain And this Mischief further followed not only to Spain but to Christendom for the exiled Moors having no other Habitation and Means of Living set up their Trade of Piracy in Algiers Tunis and Tripoli within the Straits and in Sally without whereby they have been a Plague to all other Christians as well as Spaniards who trade into the Straits and Affrick and other Southern Countries ever since About the time that Ferdinand and Isabel conquered Spain Columbus discovered the West-Indies and Hornando Cortez siding with one part of the Indians which were at War against the other and thereby becoming Conqueror of those he fought against he got incredible Wealth with a Discovery of the Rich Mines in Mexico The Blaze of this quickly flew all over Spain so that the Spaniards expected Mountains of Gold in running out of Spain into America and therefore near half Spain ran into America to seek new Adventures there the covetous
who have rent themselves from the Nation and are more Enemies to it than any other But over and above these unhappy Accidents which so highly contributed to the weakning of the Spanish Monarchy we may add another that proved no less fatal and destructive and that was Queen Elizabeth's destroying their invincible Armada in the Year 1588. and her sacking and Burning of Cales in 1595. wherein was destroyed such an incredible Mass of Wealth that the Spaniards never after were formidable either by Sea or Land and this was so much the more by how much Philip the 3d proved to be a weak effeminate Prince wholly governed by Favourites Having taken a View of England and Spain and compared the State of them we 'll see how they stand in reference to France which lies between them and so becomes a neighbouring Nation to them both France tho it be not threefold greater than England yet it is manifoldly more peopled in that Proportion and more abounding with great rich and populous Towns and tho it be not an Island yet it has the British Sea on the North the Atlantick Ocean on the West and the Mediterranean Sea on the South so that in its Situation it 's better placed for Trade than if it had been an Island having Spain the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Germany Savoy and Italy to trade to by Land Henry the 4th of France after he had subdued the Popish League and made a Peace with the Spaniard at Vervins in 1597 secured the Murmurs of the Reformed by the famous Edict of Nants and being a Prince not less prudent in Counsel than victorious in War as well to divert the French from their mutinous and quarrelling Humour as to increase the Riches of France gave all imaginable Incouragement to the Inhabitants in Manufactures the Principles whereof abound more in France than any other Country except England yet added to them the breeding Silk-worms and by the lively Ingenuity of the French improved Silk-Manufactures above any other Country Here take notice of the Benefit which arises to any Nation by the Imployment of People in Manufactures above other Countries where the Inhabitants are not employed For suppose a Million of People in France were thus employed and those yearly earned 20 l. per Ann. the Employment of these People are twenty Millions Benefit yearly to France and this Money generally distributed among the Workmen and whatever of these Manufactures are vended in foreign Trade these will be so much an enriching to it whereas if these had not been employed they would have been at least five Millions a Year burden to it and France would have been in so much a worse State to have supported them whereas if the People be not employed as in Spain the Distribution of the Treasure out of the Indies is not only unequally distributed but the Charge of maintaining the Religious and idle Persons most miserable and intolerable Let 's now see the State of England by the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excluding the English Natives not Free-men from working in Market-Towns and Corporations we 'll take a very modest Estimate herein and suppose but 10000 yearly scarce one in a Parish be excluded so that hereby the Nation loses their Imployment this at 20 l. per Ann. will be 200000 pounds a Year loss to the Nation besides the Charge of maintaining them if they do not fly out of the Kingdom for want of Subsistence in it and I pray what does the wholesale and Retail Trades of Shop-keepers in them contribute to the Support of this or of what Benefit are they otherwise to the Nation Henry the 4th having thus imployed the Natives of France and having few Plantations to exhaust it tho France drove no foreign Trade by Sea yet by permitting the English Dutch Swedes Danes and Hamburghers to trade into France by Sea and the Germans by Land it 's scarce credible after the long Civil Wars in France in the Space of but 13 Years for it was no longer between the Peace at Vervins in 1597 and his Death what incredible Treasure he amassed if so great an Author as Messeray did not affirm it whereupon he nourished a Design of new modelling all the Western Parts of Christendom except Britain and Ireland which he knew would not hinder him in it and Messeray did not doubt but he had means enough to have accomplish'd it if he had lived but when his Foot was in the Stirrup to have accomplished this Ravillac put a full Stop to his Career Yet France had in it no Mines of Gold or Silver no more than England hath and the Treasure which England acquires is by the Vent of our Woollen Manufactures and our Lead and Tin and so much more as the Natives are less employed in these and these are less in foreign Trade by restraining the Vent to English Men and more to English Companies so much less Treasure will the Nation acquire and the Natives be less employed As France thus abounds in People more than either England or Spain whereby they acquire such vast Wealth above them by permitting Foreigners to trade with them so are the French Nobility which include the Gentry of a warlike and aspiring Temper and if this had not usually excited them into intestine Broils and Tumults as Secretary Trevor observes all their Neighbour Nations could not have set bounds to their ambitious Humour But the Prosperity of France no ways daunted Queen Elizabeth so that Henry the 4th designing to build some great Men of War at Brest she forbid the King 's making any further Progress in it or she would fire all the Ships in his Harbours whereupon this great Hero desisted nor would she permit the Dutch to build any great Ships but she would have an account of them and so having the Brill Ramakins and Flushing the Keys of the Rivers of the Maes and Scheld in her Hands she died with an uncontrouled Dominion of the Seas and Arbitress of Christendom and in this State King James took Possession of the Crown of England with all its Dependences to which he added that of Scotland whose Reign is now ripe to be exposed A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King JAMES I. c. BOOK I. CHAP. I. A Better View may appear of this Reign if we look back to the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and compare it with that of this King's Reign when he came to join the Crowns of England and Ireland to that of Scotland and thereby became the greatest Monarch that governed England since King John except it was in the Reign of Henry the Fifth and some time of the Reign of Henry the Sixth when Normandy and so great a part of France was subdued to the Dominion of the Crown of England This Kingdom was never in so low an Ebb of Reputation and so dangerous a State both at home and abroad as when Queen Elizabeth came to
Peace between England and Spain whereto both Kings were equally disposed more smooth and easy Yet Philip the 3d before he would openly seek it by an Ambassador from the Arch-Duke Albert Governor of Flanders felt the Pulse of the Court how it stood affected to a Peace with Spain which beat high towards it so as soon after it followed which as it was most beneficial to the English Nation so it had been to Spain if it had been as sincerely observed by King James as it was by Philip. Henry the 4th of France tho spited as 't was said that King James should not only come so peaceably but with universal Acclamations to the Crown of England whereas he laboured with such difficulty above seven Years to attain that of France and at last was forced to a dishonourable Submission to the Pope Clement VIII Yet being a Prince of great Prudence in Peace as well as fortunate and victorious in War sent Monsieur de Rosny Great Treasurer of France to renew the Treaty of Peace and Commerce formerly made between Queen Elizabeth and him which was without any difficulty done The King being thus at Peace Abroad and at Home not only in England but in Ireland as if the Wars expired there with Queen Elizabeth he not only pardoned the Earl of Tyrone the Head of that Rebellion but by Proclamation declar'd he was restor'd to the King's Favour and to be honourably used of all Men. But how pleasing soever the King 's coming to the Crown of England was to the English Nation it seems it was not so or something else to God for an horrible Plague greater than any since that in the Reign of Edward the 3d accompanied his coming in There were two Factions in England when the King came to the Crown distinguished by the Names of Puritans and Papists both dissenting from the Religion established in the Church of England the King hated those and wrote against these chiefly for their Doctrine of the Pope's Power of deposing Kings These received the King after different manners the Puritans had a huge Expectation of his Favour because he was bred up in their Doctrine and Discipline but were much deceived in it for he rarely mentioned them but with Detestation which he did not those of the Popish Religion However in January they obtained a Conference with the Church-Party at Hampton-Court where the King himself would be Moderator whilst most of the Nobility and Bishops were Spectators You need not doubt which Party prevail'd the Nobility and Bishops not only giving the King the Victory with the Epithets of The Solomon of the Age The most Learned but of being inspired But what Expectation soever the Puritans had of the King 's coming to the Crown the Papists had another Lesson taught them for tho the Popish Conspiracy against the Person of Queen Elizabeth ceased upon the Death of the Queen of Scots yet did not the Pope's Designs upon the Kingdom of England do so but Clement VIII in the Year 1600 sent Orders to his Emissaries in England that the Catholicks should admit none to succeed the Queen but one obedient to the Holy See and in Conformity hereunto Watson and Clark two Romish Priests joined in Cobhant's Conspiracy to have kept the King from coming to the Crown and were executed for it as Traitors but the Effects of the Pope's Instructions did not die with Clark and Watson as you 'll soon hear and upon the 24th of October 1603 a Proclamation was made for Quietness to be observed in Matters of Religion Notwithstanding the Rage of the Pestilence the first nine Months after the King 's coming to London all were Halcion-days Proclamations Pageants Feastings Creation of Lords and Knights Reception of Foreign Ambassadors erecting a Master of the Ceremonies after the Mode of France c. and in this time the Dignified Clergy and those who courted to be so with the Favourites at Court with whom the Civilians chimed in had so rooted their Doctrine of the King 's Absolute Power and that notwithstanding his Succession to the Crown of Scotland in the Life of his Mother he succeeded by inherent Birth-right and that Primogeniture is the Gift of God by the Law of Nature and that in his Person was reconciled all the Titles of our Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings that being propensly disposed to receive the Impressions they took such deep root in him that in all his Life after he would never with Patience hear any thing to the contrary however it was not long before he heard of it as you shall hear But we will stay a little and see how inconsistently these Flatterers jumbled an Absolute and Hereditary Monarchy together and how this King reconciled the Titles of the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles to the Crown For no Hereditary Monarch that ever reigned in this World but derived his Title from an Ancestor who had no Hereditary Right nor did ever any Hereditary King succeed but to govern by Laws and Constitutions which were established before he became King So however Absolute may be applicable to Conquerors yet it is inconsistent with Hereditary Kings especially in a Regular Monarchy as that of England is and those of old as of the Medes and Persians where the Will of the King alone could not alter the Laws and Constitutions of them And now let us see how King James came to claim his Crown by inherent Birth-right and how all the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles came to be reconciled in his Person It 's evident to me that tho only God can make an Heir and that tho Primogeniture be natural yet God in disposing Kingdoms is not obliged to it tho Grotius lib. 1. Tit. 11. de Jure Belli Pacis is pleased to say the Law of Nature is immutable by God himself but reserves unto himself the Prerogative of disposing Kingdoms without restraining the Succession of the King to Primogeniture or Hereditary Succession Here let us see in Epitome which you may read at large in Sir William Jones his History of the Succession of the Kings of England before and after the Conquest and the History of the Succession of the Crown of England from King Egbert to Henry the 8th printed in the Year 1690 where you will see that tho the Kings of England both before and after the Conquest succeeded in their Royal Families yet many more were not in the right Line than in it and tho before Caesar invaded Britain there was no other Government but Kingly yet Britain was divided into so many petty Kingdoms that tho it had not been barbarous it would have been as difficult to have wrote the History of the Succession of their Kings as to have wrote the History of the Succession of the Kings immediately after the Flood After the Roman Empire oppressed by its own Weight by the Division into Eastern and Western its intestine Jars and the over-flowing of barbarous Nations was so torn
and shaken that the Legions which governed Britain were recalled by Ecius the Roman General under Honorius and Valentinian the 3d to make Head against Attila the poor Britains disarmed and only made use of to serve their imperious Masters and so utterly destitute of Martial Discipline easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots not subject to the Romans who treated them more intolerably and tyrannically than the Romans had done For Redress whereof the Britains sought Succours from the English Saxons who came to their Relief in the Year 409 as Bede says lib. 1. cap. 15. of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation but these Saxons used the poor Britains worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of the Island now called England Tho the Saxons had their Wills of the Britains they were before the Heptarchy at continual Variance among themselves and so after that it is almost as unaccountable to give a History of the Succession of their Kings as it was of the Britains before Julius Caesar Egbert about the Year 800 viz. 391 Years after the Saxon Invasion was called the first of the Saxon Monarchs tho the Kingdom of the Mercians was not united to his Monarchy who by Merit as well as Birth obtained the Dignity and succeeded Brithric Ethelwolph succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Westsax but not to those of Kent Sussex and Eastsax or Essex these being given by Egbert to Egbert's younger Son Ethelwolph by his Will divided his Kingdoms between his two eldest Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert to Ethelbald he gave the Kingdom of the West Saxons to Ethelbert the Kingdom of Kent and the Eastern Southern and middle Angles But there were two other Sons Ethelred and Alfred Ethelbert after the Death of Ethelbald succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and after the Death of Ethelbert Ethelred succeeded in the whole viz. of the West Saxons and of the Kingdoms of Kent the Eastern Southern and Middle Angles Alfred after the Death of Ethelred by universal Applause the famous the youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded Edward Son of Alfred was chosen by the Nobles on Whit-sunday in 901. Athelstan after the Death of Alfred tho a Bastard was elected by the Nobles of whom 't was said there was nothing ignoble in him But Athelstan dying without Issue his younger Brother Edmund succeeded him without any Opposition and tho he left two Sons Edwy and Edgar yet Edmund's younger Brother succeeded him Edwy after Edred's Death Edred's elder Brother 's elder Son succeeded but being a vicious Prince the Mercians and Northumbrians chose Edgar his younger Brother King in the Life of Edwy and Edgar after the Death of Edwy became King of the whole Nation Edward Son of Edgar after his Death was chosen by the Bishops and Nobles by the Command of his Father Edgar but he being murdered by his Step-mother Edward's younger Brother Ethelred succeeded And after his Death the Saxon Monarchy being rent in pieces by the Danes and Saxons Edmund Ironside Son of Etheldred by an obscure mean Woman tho he had two half-legitimate younger Brothers Edward and Alfred born of Etheldred's Wife was chosen King by one part of the Nobility and Canutus the Dane by another Thus the whole legitimate Race of the Saxon Kings were excluded one part chusing Ironside a Bastard the other Canutus a Stranger to the Saxon Royal Race Edmund Ironside being treacherously murdered by his Brother-in-law Edric Edmund leaving two Sons Edwy and Edward Canutus the Dane became sole Monarch of the Saxon Monarchy So that this was the beginning of the Danish Dynasty which lasted not long Harold Son of Canutus succeeded him and Hardicanute his Brother succeeded Harold neither the Issue of Etheldred Edward or Alfred nor Edwy or Edward the Sons of Edmund Ironside so much as taken notice of with this Hardicanute ended the Danish Rule with the Slaughter and Expulsion of the Danes Edward Son of Etheldred called the Confessor Uncle to Edwy and Edward Sons of Edmund Ironside after Hardicanute was advanced to the Royal Dignity principally by means of Earl Goodwin a powerful and imperious Lord upon the account of Edward's marrying the Earl's Daughter so little was the Hereditary Succession of the Saxon Kings regarded And that Edward's Reign might be more secure this Earl Goodwin caused the Eyes of Alfred the King's Brother to be put out and some say took away his Life Edward the Confessor growing old having no Issue and the Family of the wicked Earl Goodwin growing not only insolent but intolerable to him declared Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside his Cousin his Heir And to the end he might better succeed the King sent to the King of Hungary to return his Nephew Edward whom the King of Hungary had married to his Niece Agatha Daughter to Henry Emperor of Germany which the King of Hungary did and upon Edward's return the Confessor declared that he or his Sons should succeed in his Hereditary Kingdom of England But the Confessor did not long hold in this Mind for his Nephew Edward soon after dying and leaving a Son Edgar unfit for Government either as to his Body or Courage he decreed that his Kinsman William Duke of Normandy tho a Bastard should succeed him in the Kingdom of England which came to pass and so a new Race of Kings have succeeded in England of the Norman Race whose original Title was from a Grant of a King of the Saxon Race and so the beginning creates little Title to an Hereditary Succession in the Norman Race And now we 'll see how an Hereditary Succession was observed in it yet as in the Saxon so in the Norman Kings none succeeded who was not of the Royal Blood as all the Kings of Judah were of the Family or Tribe of Judah William Rufus the second Son of the Conqueror succeeded his elder Brother Robert then alive So did Henry the First his elder Brother Robert living Stephen the Son of the Conqueror's Sister succeeded Henry tho Henry left a Daughter Maud or Matilda Henry the Second succeeded Henry's Mother yet living so his Succession was not Hereditary for Haeres non est viventis Richard the First succeeded Henry the Second John succeeded Richard Arthur the Son of John's elder Brother then alive Henry the Third succeeded Arthur's Sister then alive who was Heir before him So that of seven Successions after the Conqueror but one Richard the First succeeded as Heir to his Father or the Conqueror Admit Edward the First succeeded as Heir to Henry the 3d and Edward the 2d as Heir to Edward the First yet Edward the 3d did not succeed as Heir to Edward the 2d he being then alive Admit Richard the 2d was Heir to Edward the Black Prince eldest Son to Edward the 3d yet neither Henry the 4th 5th or 6th were Heirs from Edward the 3d but the Descendants of Phillippa the Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence John of
the Royal Line of the Plantagenets were left to be Competitors with him yet his Succession could not be Hereditary for his Grand-mother under whom his Father claim'd out-lived her Son and so Henry the Eighth could not claim from her Yet this is observable That as his Father Henry the Seventh entailed the Succession of the Crown of England upon the Heirs of his Body so by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. Henry the Eighth might dispose of the Succession of the Crown by his Will for want of Issue of his Body so little was the inheritable Succession of the Crown of England regarded by these Kings of the British Race It seems the Council in Edward the Sixth's Reign had as little an Opinion of the Hereditary Succession of the Crown as the Parliament had in the Reign of Henry the Eighth for by the Advice of Edward's Council he by his Will disposed of the Succession to his Cousen the Lady Jane Gray Grand-daughter to Edward's Aunt Mary Queen of France contrary to the Will of his Father Henry the Eighth which ordained his Daughter Mary to succeed Edward in case he died without Issue I say that by the Law of Inheritance in England Queen Mary could not inherit the Crown from Edward she being but of half-Blood to him and by the same Reason Queen Elizabeth could not inherit to Queen Mary but Mary the Daughter of James the fifth of Scotland being of the whole Blood to Edward and descended from the elder Daughter of Henry the Seventh could For the Opinion of the Judges after King James came in that the Succession of the Crown of England differs from that of the Inheritance of Subjects in regard of an Alien born and those of half Blood may inherit the Crown it 's Gratis dictum and said to please the King for there never was any such usage in England nor any such Act of Parliament to warrant their Opinion But admit the Crown of England were inheritable from Henry the Seventh and Half-Blood no Bar to the Succession yet Mary and Elizabeth could not both succeed for one of them was Illegitimate Elizabeth being born in the Life of Katherine Queen Mary's Mother If the Parliament in the Reign of Henry the 8th had little or no Opinion of the Inheritable Succession of the Crown of England and therefore impowered the King to dispose of it by Will The Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had less and therefore often petitioned her and that with Importunity to declare her Successor without Consent in Parliament and declared it 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. to be High Treason to affirm that the Crown of England might not be disposed of by Act of Parliament in her Life and a Premunire after her Death Here I make these Remarks upon the Race of the Plantagenets and the Succession of the British Line that as the Plantagenets inherited the Name from Jeffery Duke of Anjou who was never King of England so Henry the 7th if he had any Title derived it from John of Gaunt by an Illegitimate Succession who never was King of England From England we step into Scotland and see how the Hereditary Succession was observed there after the Reign of Alexander the 3d in whom the direct Line of the Race of their Kings failed which was so near as I can compute about the Year 1278 and leave the Succession of their 93 Kings before to the Scrutiny of the Scotish Antiquaries and Heraulds The Scots if they be not clearer in the Genealogy of their 93 Kings before Alexander the 3d than my Author is of retrieving it after the Death of Margaret Daughter of Alexander the 3d do make but a blind Genealogy of their 93 Kings before however we 'll take it as we find it David Brother of William King of Scotland but whether William was Father Brother or Uncle to Alexander the 2d my Author says not and Earl of Huntingdon had Issue by Maud Daughter to the Earl of Chester three Daughters Margaret married to Allen of Galloway the second not named was married to Robert Bruce the third to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Allen of Galloway had a Grand-daughter named Dornagil married to John Baliol. Bruce was Great Grand-child to the second Daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon but being a Male pretended he was to be King before Dornagil a Female though a Degree nearer and descended from the elder Sister Henry Earl of Huntingdon made no claim So the Right between Baliol and Bruce was referred to the Determination of Edward the first King of England who adjudged the Right to be in Baliol and soon after Baliol by Dornagil had a Son named Edward so that Bruce's Pretension of Title as being Son vanished by the Birth of Edward Baliol being descended from the eldest Sister But The Scots or a prevailing Party not liking Baliol's Reign in the Year 1306 crowned Robert Bruce King In the Year 1310 Bruce by Acts of Parliament had the Crown of Scotland entailed upon him and his Heir-male and for want of Issue to his Brother Edward This Robert had Issue a Son named David and a Daughter married to Robert Stuart and by Act of Parliament settled the Crown upon his Son David and for want of Issue by him to Robert Stuart his Grand-child by his Daughter So here is the Succession of the Crown of Scotland twice differently settled by Parliament to the disinheriting of Edward Baliol. But in the Year 1332 Edward Baliol the right Heir was received and crowned King of Scotland After that David Bruce recovered the Kingdom of Scotland and afterwards was taken Prisoner by the Queen of England in the Absence of her Husband Edward the 3d in France and being released he died Ann. 1370. Robert Stuart Grand-son of Robert Bruce by his Daughter succeeded David who married Euphemia Daughter of the Earl of Ross but before he was King had Issue by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine two Sons John and Robert and by the Queen he had Issue Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern yet by Act of Parliament the King disinherited his Legitimate Issue and settled the Crown upon his Issue by Elizabeth Moor from which Issue all the Kings of Scotland have since descended This was the most unaccountable Accident if we consider the Cause and Consequence I think that is recorded in any History That a King and Parliament by the Importunity of a Slut should disinherit his Legitimate Offspring from the Succession to the Crown of Scotland to advance her spurious Issue It 's true for some Reasons of State the right Heir is set aside as Edward Son of Ethelred after the Confessor being young and not a fit Match to oppose the Danes Edmund Ironside tho Illegitimate for his Strength and Courage was said to be chosen King as most likely to withstand the Danish Invasions so Edward the Confessor observing the heavy and slow Nature of Edgar the Grandson of Edmund Ironside not to be a fit
in Christendom when he was putting it into an universal War all the Western Princes 〈◊〉 Christendom except King James were engaged in it against the House of Austria but it was so vast as in the Nature of things if Henry had been young as he was in the 57th Year of his Age he could not have lived to have accomplished it at his Death tho he lived but 13 Years after the Treaty of Vervins when he made Peace with Philip the 2d of Spain he had amassed such a Treasure as is incredible if so great an Historian as Messeray did not testify it especially if it be considered that before the Treaty at Vervins France had for forty Years before been imbroiled in a Civil War and with Spain and these Wars being in all the Parts of France France was never before in so poor and feeble a State and Henry himself after the Peace giving himself up to Venery and Gaming above any King of France before him or since Nor can it be imagined from whence such Treasures should arise for there are no Gold nor Silver Mines in France unless it were from the Trades which the English Dutch Dane Swede and Hamburghers drove into France However Henry was addicted to Women and Gaming yet otherwise he excelled all the Kings of the Age not only in Heroick Vertues but in Prudence Constancy and Secrecy in his Designs curious in Enquiry into the Qualities of Men whom he would prefer as Qualities merited and was pleasant and witty in his Conversation and always disposed to take the Impression of good Counsel He left his Son a Prince of weak Constitution both of Body and Mind at ten Years of Age and his Wife an imperious bigotted Italian to the Church of Rome Regent These overthrew all the Methods which Henry had laid for promoting the French Grandure and gave themselves up to be governed by Favourites yet in a different manner from those in England whereby they squandered away all that inestimable Treasure which Henry left in less than half the time Henry had been collecting it and put all France into Tumults and Wars whilst the English patiently submitted to the Exorbitances of King James his Favourites and by Proclamations were forbid to mention them or talk of their Government no not in Parliament And now 't is time to return to England and see what 's doing there If we begin this Year 1612 with January we shall find two Marriages in it to succeed the two Deaths of the two famous Henry's of England and France The first upon the 14th of February being Shrove-Sunday between Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine commonly called the Palsgrave and the Princess Elizabeth the King 's only Daughter and the Triumphs Pageant◠and other Gaieties upon the Thames in the City and Inns of Court far exceeded any before seen in England which you may read at large in Stow's Chronicle fol. 1004. so as the Tears for the Death of Prince Henry were overflowed by the excess of Joy for this Marriage However Northampton was not pleased with it nor the Emperor or King of Spain and from the same Causes viz. It would so far advance the Protestant Interest in Germany as to make it more formidable to the Popish Religion and 't is certain for I had it from good Authority that Queen Ann was averse to it and to put the Princess out of conceit of it would usually call her Daughter Goodwife Palsgrave to which the Princess would answer she would rather be the Palsgrave ' s Wife than the greatest Papist Queen in Christendom The Reason of the Queen's Aversion to this Marriage is not said but certain it is that these fading Joys for this Marriage were succeeded by fixt and real Calamities which the King took little Care to prevent and shall never live to see nor his Son after him an end of While the Preparations for solemnizing this Marriage were making a different sort was making for another between the Viscount Rochester and the Countess of Essex and to make the Way to it more passable two Rubs were to be removed one to take off Sir Thomas Overbury the other to procure a Divorce not only a Mensa Toro between the Earl and the Countess but a Nullity whereby the Countess should be free to marry as she pleased and she had agreed upon the Person To remove Sir Thomas it was agreed between the Earl of Northampton Rochester and the Countess that Sir Thomas should be sent Ambassador to the Great Duke or Emperor of Russia so that if Sir Thomas did accept of it he should be far enough out of the way to hinder this Design and if he did not to commit him to the Tower where they would do well enough with him The Business of the Embassy was no sooner propounded to the King but assented to by him and Sir Thomas was not unwilling to undertake it How harsh soever Rochester was to Sir Thomas when he disswaded Rochester from marrying the Countess yet now he becomes instant kind to Sir Thomas and tell him how much he relied upon his Integrity and Parts which in his Absence he should not only want but that thereby Sir Thomas would give Occasion to his Enemies which were many and upon Rochester's account to ruine him when as it would not be in Rochester's Power to prevent it but if Sir Thomas would refuse to undertake this Embassy Rochester would in a short time undertake to reconcile him to the King and Sir Thomas would in the mean time be at hand to assist him with his Counsel upon all Occasions This was all deep Dissimulation which Sir Thomas took to be in good earnest and so Sir Thomas excused his going on this Errand and this was what Rochester desired Hereupon Rochester possest the King that Sir Thomas was not only grown insolent and intolerable to him but to the King by contemning him in refusing to go on this Embassage The King becomes incensed hereat and the more as 't was commonly said Sir Thomas had vented some stinging Sarcasms upon the Court which came to the King 's hearing and so ordered him to be committed to the Tower Northampton and Rochester had prepared the Business so that Sir William Wade was removed from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir Jervis Elvis a Gentleman wholly depending upon them was made Lieutenant of it Upon Sir Thomas his Commitment Sir Jervis Elvis by Order from Northampton and Rochester confines him close Prisoner so that Sir Thomas his Father was not permitted to visit him nor any of his Servants tho one desired he might be confined with his Master The Countess that she might not be behind-hand with Rochester and Northampton had consulted with Mrs. Turner for a fit Instrument to practise what was designed upon Sir Thomas Mrs. Turner's Husband was an Apothecary and had a Servant named Richard Weston who since her Husband's Death was become very poor this Man was agreed by the
me more than any of his Predecessors and he may believe me that in any thing that shall concern him I will employ not only my Peoples Lives but my own Bravely spoken and like K. James and whosoever of his Subjects Lewis's shall rise against him either Catholicks or others shall find him James a Party for him Lewis 'T is true if he be provoked to infringe his Edicts he shall impart as much as in him lies by Counsel and Advice to prevent the Inconveniencies Who ever expected he should do more or ever did But Venus must not have the only Ascendant in this Treaty for the Cardinal will have Mars to be in Conjunction with her and 't was high time for at this time Monsieur Sobiez had provided a great Fleet of Men of War as Times went then with the French and had entered and surprised the Fort of Blavet in Bretaign and took and carried away six of the French great Men of War out of it and also taken the Isles of Rhe and Oleron which he began to fortify and being absolute Master of the Sea triumphantly with a Fleet of 75 Men of War of all sorts landed a considerable Force at Medoc near Bourdeaux The Court of France was never so alarmed as at this notwithstanding all the King's Victories over the Reformed by Land and therefore the Cardinal threw another Article into the Treaty That King James should lend the French a Fleet of Ships to repress Soubiez and in lieu thereof the French should permit Mansfield who had raised an Army of 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse in England to land at Calais where the French should join him with another Body of Horse and Foot for the Recovery of the Palatinate But see the French Faith and how well Lewis made good his Promise to King James to render him all Offices in his own Person whensoever King James should desire him for at this time the Army being shipt at Dover and put over to Calais where being denied Entrance and having no other Instructions and wanting Provisions they lay neglected at Sea and in this Distress a Pestilence raged among them so that they were forced to sail to Zealand where having no Orders they were denied Landing there and this being the most terrible Season of the Year in December what by Hunger Cold and Pestilence above two thirds of them perished before Leave could be obtained to land them in Holland so that they never did the King of Spain near so much Hurt as they had done in England before they were shipt living upon Plunder and Free-Quarter These were sad Presages of future Happiness from the designed Marriage yet these things no ways discomposed the quiet Repose of our pacifick King so as he might see his only Son married to a Daughter of France was all his Business no matter how The Thirst which God was his Judg and as he was a Christian King he had contracted equal to that of the wayfaring Man in the Desarts of Arabia and in danger of Death for want of Water for the good Success of the Parliament is now asswaged by the granting of three Subsidies and three Fifteenths Here 's no mention of marrying his only Son with the Tears of his only Daughter and he is still ready with the Lives of his Subjects and his own to assist the most High most Excellent and most Puissant Prince his most dear and most beloved Brother Cousin and antient Ally Lewis The Managers of this Treaty were Hay a Scots-man created Earl of Carlisle and the Lord Kensington for the more Honour of it created Earl of Holland two of the King's Favourites of the second Rate but who bare no proportion to the Sagacity Wisdom and Integrity of the Earl of Bristol Bristol was all Heare of Oak and would not bend to Buckingham's Pride and Ambition but they were Willows that were liable to every Nod and Wind of Buckingham's Breath But how comes Buckingham who must have an Oar in every Boat to be absent from this Treaty The Reason was tho he were not wise yet he was jealous lest King James in his Absence should hear Bristol against him as the King had promised as well as he had heard Buckingham against him which was so dangerous a Rock as our Land-Admiral would not venture to run against Notwithstanding all this Haste for consummating this desired Marriage the Thread of the King's Life was spun out before for upon the 27th of March Ann. 1625. he died at Theobalds in the 58th Year of his Age having reigned twenty two Years compleat Having had an Ague the Duke of Buckingham did upon Monday the 21st before when in the Judgment of the Physicians the Ague was in its Declination apply Plaisters to the Wrists and Belly of the King and also did deliver several quantities of Drink to the King tho some of the King's Physicians did disallow thereof and refused to meddle further with the King until the said Plaisters were removed and that the King found himself worse hereupon and that Droughts Raving Fainting and an intermitting Pulse followed hereupon and that the Drink was twice given by the Duke 's own hands and a third time refused and the Physicians to comfort him telling him that this second Impairment was from Cold taken or some other Cause No no said the King it is that which I had from Buckingham I confess this was but a Charge upon the Duke upon the Impeachment of the Commons as you may read in Rushworth fol. 355 356. yet it was next to positive Proof for King Charles rather than this Charge should come to an Issue dissolved the Parliament which was a Failure of Justice tho the Commons had voted him four Subsidies and four Fifteenths before it was passed into an Act. The Character of King James He was the first of that Name King of England and the first King of the whole Isle of Britain and the first King since Henry the first that was born out of the Allegiance to the King of England and was the first at least since Rich. 2. that affected and endeavoured to introduce an Arbitrary Power in England foreign to the Laws and Constitutions of it and in all his Reign was more governed by Flatterres and Favourites than by the Advice of his Parliament or a wise Council His Flatterers and Favourites seldom spake of him but under the Appellation of Most Sacred rarely I think or never before used to any of the Kings of England and of the Solomon of the Age though never were two Kings more unlike unless it were in their Sons Charles and Rehoboam for Solomon died the richest of all the Kings of the World King James the poorest Solomon was inspired above all other Kings with Wisdom and his Proverbs Divine Sentences for Improvement of Vertue and Morality whereas this King's Learning wherein he and his Flatterers so much boasted was a Scandal to his Crown for all his Writings against Bellarmine and
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
told them that the King of his Grace and Favour upon their granting 12 Subsidies to be paid in three Years would forbear levying Ship-Money and abolish it and for their Grievances they should rely upon his Royal Promise and give as much time now as may be and after at Michaelmas next and that the King expected a positive Answer Hereupon the House was turned into a grand Committee and spent the whole Day upon the Message but came to no Resolution and desired Sir Henry Vane to acquaint the King that the House would next day proceed upon the King's Supply But next Morning early Secretary Windebank in actual Correspondence and Conspiracy with Richlieu's Chaplain for subverting our Religion and introducing Popery commanded the Speaker to Whitehall and the same Day the King dissolved the Parliament and the next Day the Lord Brook's Study Cabinet and Pockets were searched for Papers and Mr. Bellasis and Sir John Hotham were convened before the Council to answer concerning Passages in Parliament and giving no satisfactory Answer were committed Prisoners to the Fleet till further Order from the King and Council and Mr. Crew was committed close Prisoner to the Tower till further Order from the Council and no Cause shewed in either of these Warrants The greatest Objection against Hereditary Monarchy is that Princes Ears are always open to Minions Flatterers and Sycophants whereby they rarely understand the state of their own Affairs or of their Subjects To attemper this the Wisdom of our Constitution ordains That Parliaments be frequently held to represent to the King the state of the Nation and so to inform him of Grievances that they may be redressed And so inviolably has this mutual Correspondence between the King and Parliament been observed in all Ages that I do not believe any King or Queen of England and of the English Race since Henry 3. ever dissolved one Parliament in Displeasure before King James whereas of eight Parliaments these two Kings of the Scotish Race dissolved seven in Displeasure Yet never did Parliaments in any Reign demean themselves more chearfully to any King than to these two and I challenge any one to shew that in any one respect they intrenched upon any just Prerogative of either of these Kings or did any Act not warranted by former Precedents It 's true Queen Elizabeth would not endure to have the Parliament to meddle with the state of the Church as 't was established nor hear of declaring a Successor and when either of these were moved contrary to her express Order she would commit the Members but easily dismiss them otherwise I believe in no Age any Member of Parliament was ever committed or censured by any King of England before King James for debating or reasoning of the state of the Nation or Church In the 20th of Edward 3. John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevil were accused in Parliament for misadvising the King and were sent to the Tower for it and Henry 4. Rot. Parl. 5. upon the Complaint of the Commons against four of his Servants and Counsellors that they might be removed declared openly That tho he knew nothing against them in particular yet he was assured that what the Lords and Commons required of him was for the Good of himself and Kingdom and therefore he banish'd them and at the same time declared he would do so by any other who should be near his Royal Person if they were so unhappy as to fall under the Hatred of his People Whereas this King tho the Duke of Buckingham were accused of more Crimes in Parliament than is recorded of Pierce Gaveston and the Spencers in 2d's time and of the Duke of Ireland Tresilian and Belknap in 2d's time and of the Death of this King's Father to boot yet rather than the Duke shall be brought to Trial the King dissolves the second Parliament of his Reign And in his Declaration for dissolving the three Parliaments calls the questioning his Ministers an Invasion upon his Prerogative and that through them they endeavoured to wound their Soveraign's Honour and Government Since the Statute De Tallagio non Concedendo in the Reign of Edward the I I think no mention has been made that ever any King of England taxed the Subject before this King and his Father except Edward the IV by Benevolence for which his Memory is bitterly stained in the Parliament-Roll of the second Chapter of Richard the III tho it be not in the printed Statutes and by a Loan demanded in the Reign of Henry the VIII by Cardinal Wolsey the raising of which had near raised a Rebellion which when it came to the King's Ear he laid the Blame upon the Cardinal and said he would not rend his Subjects from the Law and forbid further proceeding in it Arch-bishop Abbot excepts against his Licensing Sybthorp's Sermons for that the King 's taxing Loans by his own Authority was neither by the Laws nor Customs of England the King in his Answer says He did not stand upon the Laws and Customs of England for he had a Precedent for it and would insist upon it The Arch-bishop replied He thought it was a Mistake and feared there was no such Precedent and that Henry the VIII desired but the sixth part of Mens Estates but the King required the full six Parts so much as the Men are set at in the Subsidy-Book And when the Commons in the third Year of his Reign made a Remonstrance against the King's taking Tunnage and Poundage not granted by Parliament the King calls this a detracting from their Soveraign and commands all who have or shall have any Copies of it to burn them upon Pain of his Indignation and high Displeasure The King for Causes of dissolving this Parliament the last he shall ever dissolve begins with the usual Stile That he well knows that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to his Imperial Crown of which he is not bound to give any Account but to God alone no more than of his other Regal Actions But quid gloriaris Did ever any King of England say this before his Father and himself Or in what common-Law or Acts of Parliament is this to be found Or if he had such Power Why does the King so often boast of it Sure it had been better done by another than himself Is this a time of day when this Prince had lost all his Honour abroad to magnify himself that he has Power to dissolve Parliaments at home and thereby obstruct those Ways by which he might unite himself to his Subjects and then glory that he is only accountable to God for all his Actions Nebuchadnezzar's Boast Is not this the Babel which I have built was but a Bauble to this He said this but once and God sent him seven Years among Wild Beasts and he saw his Pride and he repented This King upon all Occasions makes his Boasts but I do not
start from and that therein they were the King 's most Dutiful Subjects Things could not long stay here but upon the 20th of August in 1640 the Scots enter England with an Army of about 22000 Men commanded by General Lesley to deliver a Petition for Reformation of Religion and State and to justify their Proceedings and begin as the King did at the opening of all his Parliaments with the Necessity of their Proceedings The King the same day the Scots entred England posts to York having made the Earl of Northumberland General of his Army the Earl of Strafford Lieutenant-General and my Lord Marshal the Earl of Arundel General of his Forces on the South-side of Trent When the King came to York his first Care was to stop the Scots from passing the River Tine and commanded the Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Astly to oppose them but the Scots having the advantage of the Ground and sixfold more in number than the English force their Passage at Newborn about five Miles from Newcastle to the West and take Newcastle and after Durham and tax the Counties of Northumberland and Durham at 850 l. a day but the Rents of the Papists and the Church of Durham they take over and above The King instead of fighting the Scots is encountred with Complaints from the Inhabitants of Yorkshire Durham and Northumberland of the Miseries of their Condition then with Petitions from many of the Nobility the City of London and other Places for a free Parliament upon this the King assembles a great Council of the Nobility to advise what to do Now things are brought to the Point Richlieu had designed them The King in these two Expeditions had spent all the 900000 l. he before had lodged in his Exchequer and now had two Armies to maintain in the Bowels of his Kingdom when he not only had no means to pay either but also without doubt the Scotish Army were Pensioners to France The Lords advise a Truce which is accepted and all agreed but how to pay the Armies till a Parliament meet was a Question the Scots coming for all the English Mens Gudes demand but 40000 l. per Mensem but like their Country Pedlars fall to 25000 l. which is agreed which with the Charge of the English Army would amount to 60000 l. per Mensem to save the Country from Free-quarter In this Treaty the King named the Earl of Traquair to be assistant to the English Peers but the Scots excepted against him as an Incendiary and one to be brought to Punishment the King submits and leaves him out But how to provide Money to pay both Armies till the meeting of the Parliament which was to meet the third of November is the Question The King had not Credit it could not be had but from the City of London which was upon ill Terms with the King for Alderman Atkins Sir Nicholas Ranton and Alderman Geere were by Order of the Council in Prisons in London and the Attorney-General had Orders to draw an Information against them in the Star-Chamber for refusing to return the Names of such as were able to lend upon a Loan of 200000 l. demanded by the King The Lords therefore of the Great Council write to the City of London signifying the King 's gracious Resolution of calling a Parliament wherein he promised all Grievances to be redrest the Miseries of the Country if the Armies were not paid and not less than 200000 l. could prevent them and the Lords would give their Bonds for the City's Security whereupon the City lent the Money and then the Treaty was adjourned from Rippon to London But that we may better see how things stood at the opening of the Parliament let us look back a little After the King had dissolved the Parliament May the 5th he left the Convocation sitting who frame an Oath wherein they swear never to consent to alter the Government of the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-deacons c. as it stands now established and as by right it ought to stand which was interpreted to be Jure Divino They also made sixteen Canons and Goodman Bishop of Glocester for refusing to subscribe the Oath and Canons was suspended Being encouraged by Mountague Bishop of Norwich and Laud ' s Creature who Goodman said had in his Person visited and held Correspondence with the Pope's Nuncio and received his Letters in behalf of his Son who was then travelling to Rome and by his Letters had extraordinary Entertainment there Nor did the Convocation stay here but granted the King a Benevolence of six Subsidies to be paid in six Years the Refusers to be suspended and excommunicated To such an Extremity did the Clergy push things in this techy and disorderly time But any Man may easily guess the Spring which set all these Wheels in motion And it is observable that the Clergy who now taxed their fellow Subjects without Consent of the Commons shall ever hereafter be taxed by the Commons without the Consent of the Clergy CHAP. III. A Continuation of this Reign to the Death of the King UPon the third of November the Parliament met and the Nation which for above fifteen Years had been ridden by a more than French Government now look upon the Parliament I mean the Houses to become their Redeemers and by how much more Honour the Nation gives them so much less they leave to the King And here again you may see the unhappy Fate of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents For the first that forsook the King and run beyond Sea was Canterbury's old Friend Secretary Windebank next after him flies Finch and after the Earl of Arundel and scarce one of his old Favourites I mean before the Scots Troubles stood by him except my Lord Cottington Secretary Cooke was either really or politickly sick Juxton Bishop of London indifferent and in all the Wars lived in the Parliament Quarters but all the rest sided with the Parliament against him Only Laud and Strafford are laid in Prison and after put to Death Nor were the Factions less pliable to entertain these Minions and Favourites than they were forward to join with them I 'll give you one Instance herein In this Parliament all those who would not join them were called Delinquents and upon a Debate in the House of Commons concerning an Order in the Star-Chamber signed by my Lord Privy-Seal Secretary Cooke and others it was moved to send for Secretary Cooke as a Delinquent Another Member my nearest Relation from whom I had this moved That since Sir John Cooke was aged and infirm and above a hundred Miles off and my Lord Privy-Seal in Town therefore that the House should proceed against my Lord To whom Mr. Pym reply'd That whatever my Lord 's ante Acta Vitae were yet since he now went right that all ought to be forgotten Nay so zealous were these new-converted Minions and Favourites
ensue upon such tumultuous Concourse of Men. And why was not this a reasonable Excuse for the King to leave the Parliament and City when they countenanced these Tumults and the King had not Power to suppress them Mr. May goes on and says Vpon this ground twelve Bishops at that time absenting themselves entred a Protestation against all Laws Votes and Orders as Null which in their Absence should pass by reason they durst not for fear of their Lives come to perform their Duties in the House having been rudely menaced and assaulted And why might not the Bishops enter such Protestation for if it be a Maxim in all Assemblies that Plus valet contemptus unius quam consensus omnium then does the Contempt and Affront of a whole Order of Men who have a Right of Suffrage much more render the Actions of the rest invalid However Mr. May goes on and says Whereupon it was agreed by both Lords and Commons that this Protestation of the Bishops was of dangerous Consequence and deeply entrenched upon the Privilege and Being of Parliaments they were therefore accused of High-Treason apprehended and committed Prisoners to the Tower And I say a time shall come when in Parliament these Men who run thus high against the Bishops and established Church of England shall be prosecuted by a contrary Extream and the Church by Law exalted higher than it was before Mr. May goes on and says Thus was the Parliament daily troubled with ill Work whereby the Relief of Ireland was hindred If they were thus troubled they may thank themselves for beginning these Troubles as well by the Commons Remonstrance against the King and Lords as by their countenancing the Tumults By this time things were so envenom'd as would admit of no Lenitives especially by the Commons and the King went from London to Hampton-Court and sent a Message to the Parliament and advises them To digest into one Body all the Grievances of the Kingdom and send them to him promising his favourable Assent to those Means which should be found most effectual for Redress wherein he would not only equal but excel the most indulgent Princes The Parliament thank'd him but nothing but having the Militia at their Disposal would secure their Fears and Jealousies This was as new in England as the perpetuating the sitting of the Parliament and if the King should grant it it would be a total Subversion of the Monarchy For the Parliament being perpetual and having the Power of the Militia the Government must be either a Commonwealth or an Oligarchy and the King insignificant in it yet have it the Parliament would notwithstanding other Grievances and the deplorable State of Ireland And therefore upon the 26th of February they tell the King plainly That the settling the Business of the Militia will admit no more Delay and if his Majesty shall still refuse to agree with his two Houses of Parliament in that Business and shall not be pleased upon their humble Advice to do what they desire therein that then for the Safety of his Majesty of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent future Fears and Jealousies they shall be constrained of themselves without his Majesty to settle that necessary Business of the Militia See Whit. M. f. 54. a. Here 't is observable That as the King feigned a Necessity to raise Ship-money for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general when the whole Kingdom is in danger the Judges gave their Opinion That the King may by his Writ under the Broad Seal of England command all his Subjects of this Kingdom to provide and furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as the King shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger and that by Law the King may compel the doing thereof in Case of Refusal and Refractoriness and that in such Case the King is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same may be prevented and avoided So now the Parliament pretending a Necessity for the Safety of the King and of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof will tear the Militia from him In this State things could not stand long at a Stay Mr. May p. 47. will have the Queen 's going into Holland with her Daughter and carrying with her the Crown-Jewels of England and pawning them there whereby she bought Arms for the War which ensued that it was then designed by the King against the Parliament but if Mr. May had been sincere he should have told too as Mr. Whitlock does f. 59. a. how the Parliament took 100000 l. of the 400000 l. they voted to be raised for Ireland and whether this was not for the War which ensued in England Mr. May p. 48. recites three Votes of Parliament 1. That the King's Absence so far remote being then at York from his Parliament is not only an Obstruction but may be a Destruction to the Affairs in Ireland 2. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall declare what the Law of the Land is to have this not only questioned and controverted but contradicted and a Command that it should not be obeyed is a high Breach of the Privilege of Parliament 3. That they who advised the King to absent himself from the Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourites of the Rebellion in Ireland But Mr. May should have added that it is not the King's Presence in London or any other Place but his assenting to Bills presented to him which he may do by Commission as well as Personally that enacts them into Laws and that the King after he went from London passed the Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament and that no Clergy-Man should exercise any Temporal Jurisdiction which the King did with remorse enough and only to humour and appease the Temporal Lords and Commons in Parliament and the Bishops in Parliament are one of the 3 States of England The King moreover in his Absence upon a Motion by the Parliament put Sir John Byron from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir John Conniers to succeed him and refers the Consideration of the Government and Liturgy of the Church wholly to the two Houses see Whitlock's M. f. 53. b. But nothing less than the King 's parting with the Militia would satisfy the Parliament which the King would not part from so now it 's left fair for indifferent Men to judg whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War And to proceed to set forth who began it I have said in the first Page of this King's Reign or p. 153 That the first Fifteen Years of it were perfectly French and such as were never before seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the Three
January and the same Day issued out Writs for a new one to meet at Westminster the 6th of March following which was just 40 Days between the Test and Return In this Interval the Blaze of the Parliament's Vote of their Apprehensions of a damnable and hellish Popish Plot had taken deep Impressions in the Minds of Men in general and the Whigs taking Advantage of it in this short Interval run down the Tories without Opposition nay even the King himself apprehended there could be no Hopes of attaining his Ends in the next Parliament but by seeming zealous in the prosecuting the Discovery of the Popish Plot and that he would not longer be governed by Favourites and single Councils There had been several Debates in the House of Commons of the dangerous Consequences in reference to the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown and that the Bottom of the Popish Plot centred in the Duke's being a Papist and the presumptive Heir to the Crown but I do not find they came to any Vote upon it yet resolved upon the 8th of November to make an Address to the King That the Duke might withdraw himself from his Person and Councils and in Conformity therewith the Duke went or was sent into Holland and upon the meeting of the Parliament the King acquainted them how great things he had already done for the preventing the Progress of the Popish Plot as the Exclusion of the Popish Lords from their Seats in Parliament and the Execution of several Men upon the Score of the Plot as well as the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but above all that he had commanded his Brother from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him toward Popish Counsels and tells That as he had not been slack in putting the present Laws in Execution against Papists so he was ready to join in making such further Laws as may be necessary for the securing the Kingdom against Popery and then demands a Supply and concludes with his Desires to have this a healing Parliament The House chose Mr. Seymour the Speaker of the last Parliament to be their Speaker in this but the King rejected him which was no good Presage of a healing Parliament and so the Commons chose Mr. Serjeant Gregory and the King accepted him The Commons began where the last Parliament left in prosecuting their Impeachments against the Earl of Danby and the Popish Lords in the Tower but who should be first tried and what were the Jurisdiction of the Bishops Right of Voting in their Impeachments and their Judgments in Cases of Blood run quite through this Sessions wherein the Lords and Commons seldom agreed There were two things which made the Earl of Danby's Case more favourably spoken of one That tho he was prosecuted several Weeks after the Popish Lords were committed yet the Commons would not proceed in their Impeachments against the Popish Lords before the Lords had given their Judgments upon the Earl's Plea The other was a Vote of the Commons upon the 9th of May That no Commoner whatsoever should presume to maintain the Validity of the Earl of Danby ' s Pardon without Leave of the House first obtained and that the Persons so doing shall be accounted Betrayers of England and there was no Nobleman a profest Lawyer so that tho the Earl's Plea upon his Pardon was Matter of Law yet no Commoner must presume to plead his Cause The King besides his sending the Duke of York beyond Sea that the World might now see how otherways he was become a new Man for the future upon the 20th of April 1679 made this Declaration in Council and in Parliament and after publish'd it to the whole Nation how sensible he was of the ill Posture of his Affairs and the great Dissatisfaction and Jealousies of his good Subjects whereby the Crown and Government were become too weak to preserve it self which proceeded from his use of a single Ministry and of private Advices and therefore professed his Resolution to lay them aside for the future and be advised by those whom he had then chosen for his Council in all his weighty and important Affairs together with the frequent Advice of his great Council in Parliament and indeed in this Council were many worthy Members my Lord of Shaftsbury was President of it and the then Sir Henry Capel and Sir William Temple Members of it But this Declaration of the King 's added to the sending the Duke of York into Holland had not the King 's desired Effect the Commons besides the Dread of the Popish Plot as well at present but more in consequence after the King had declared he would not alter the Succession of the Crown in the right Line were no ways satisfied with the Disbursements of the Money nor the disbanding the Army yet were resolved it should be done and voted another Sum of 26462 l. for it but it was not carried without some Difficulty that these Monies should be paid into the Exchequer but Chamber of London however the Commons carried That the Money so raised should be appropriated to that Use and to that End appointed Commissioners to disband the new-rais'd Army and so voted That the Continuance of any standing Forces in this Nation other than the Militia to be illegal and a great Grievance and Vexation to the People hereby meaning the King's Guards They also ordered a Bill to be brought in for annexing Tangier to the Imperial Crown of England and voted That those who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom But how jealous soever the Commons were of the King yet they conceived it was his Life which secured them from the Fears they dreaded of the Duke's coming to the Crown and therefore upon the 11th of May voted Nemine contradicente That in Defence of the King's Person and the Protestant Religion this House does declare that they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty shall come to an untimely End which God forbid they will revenge it upon the Papists It seems the Commons had more Care of the King than he had of himself for he not only countenanced the Plotters but ridiculed the Plot. In his Speech at the opening this Parliament he told them he had not been idle in discovering the Plot and in the last he told Sir William Temple he was displeased with the Earl of Danby for bringing the Popish Plot into Parliament against his absolute Command Oliver's Professions and Actions never appeared so hypocritical and deceitful as this King 's and all this after the Parliament had voted there was a hellish Conspiracy by the Papists against his Life and this proved by a Cloud of Witnesses agreeing in the Manner and Circumstances of it as Oates
the Covenant and burnt several Acts of Parliament made against it and for establishing Prelacy since the Year 1660 and would have affixed their Declaration at Glascow but were prevented by the King's Forces for that time This Rebellion of the Covenanters initiated by so horrid a Fact did not extend so far as the Covenanters in their Frenâ—â— and Zeal imagined yet upon Sunday the 1st of June they rendezvouz'd about fifteen hundred Men upon Louden-Hill onâ—â— Wier commanded the Foot and the Horse was under Robert Hamilton one Patron with Balfour and Hackston which two 〈◊〉 assassinated the Arch-bishop With this Force they took the City of Glasgow and to sheâ— how all Crowns and Scepters must vail to them they published two Proclamations The first of which was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Burgh of Glasgow to furnish us with 24 Carts and 60 Horses for removing our Provisions from this Place to 〈◊〉 Camp where-ever we shall set down the same and to abide with us for that End during our Pleasure under pain of being reputed our Enemies and proceeded against accordingly The other was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command the Magistrates of Glasgow to extend and banish forth thereof all Arch-bishops Bishops and Curates their Wives Berns Servants and Families and Persons concerned in the King's Army within 48 Hours after publishing hereof under highest Pains And then they published a long Declaration of their taking up Arms for a free General Assembly and free and unlimited Parliament to redress the manifold Grievances there enumerated and humbly to request his Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms that was to the Dominion the Rump-Parliament in England had over them which you may read at large in the aforesaid Author from pag. 67 to 74. To these Declarations the said Author p. 17. adds they barbarously treated the dead Body of one Graham whom they had killed at a Conventicle They committed insufferable Insolencies in the Houses of the regular Ministers and Loyal Gentlemen as they marched along to Glasgow stabbing and gashing his Majesty's Picture where-ever they found it They behaved themselves barbarously in the House of the Arch-bishop of Glasgow where they burnt his Books cut in pieces his best Furniture and Hangings and almost kill'd a Gentlewoman with Blows who was left to keep the House for saying Gentlemen I hope you 'll remember you are in an Arch-bishop's House They sacrilegiously entred the Cathedral of Glasgow and finding a Tombstone over two of the Children of the Bishop of Argile with an Inscription of a Modern Date they digged up their Bodies run them through with their Swords and left them lying above Ground In the mean time the Council of Scotland were not idle but raised an Army and quartered it at a place called Blackborn to prevent the Covenanters Approach to Edinburgh and gave the King an Account of these things and expected his Majesty's further Orders And now I 'll tell a wonder which will scarce be believed in future Generations The King sent the Duke of Monmouth from London upon the 20th of June and the Duke rode above three hundred Miles upon that day and the two next days and upon the 23d ordered and disposed the King's Army raised by the Council that he fought the Covenanters and routed them killing about seven hundred of them and took above eleven hundred of them Prisoners and now it may be you will hear of a Wonder in Consequence after this Fight as great as the Fight and the Duke's Journey before it I do not question but the Design of the Court in sending the Duke of Monmouth into Scotland to suppress the Covenanters was by it to make him odious to the Presbyterians and other Dissenters from the Church of England in case he suppressed the Covenanters which tho the Duke did yet the End designed by the Court in it did not succeed For the dreadful Apprehension of the Duke's Succession to the Crown of England had taken a deep Impression in another sort of Men besides Dissenters and where Men are fearful of Danger they will seek all means how to prevent the Danger especially where the Power of doing ill is greater and therefore another sort of Men no Whigs might have their Eyes upon the Duke of Monmouth as the only means to prevent the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown his Title to the Crown of England if he could get an Act of Parliament for it being as good as that of John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Elizabeth Moore from whom the King and the Duke of York were both descended and in whose Right they claimed the Crown of Scotland if not those of England and Ireland However this gave the Lie to the Tories that all those were Commonwealths-Men who would not submit to the Illegal and Arbitrary Will of the King and their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and that Kings Jure Divino may do what they list tho God has set Laws and Bounds to all the created Bodies of Heaven and Earth and all other Creatures in them But how mischievous these Doctrines have proved to these three Kings of the Scotish Nation has been already said and I say it has been such flattering Doctrines as those that ruined all these Kings and Kingdoms except the Gibeonites Joshua 9. the State of Venice and that of Geneva for Du Salez was a just and vertuous Prince from which Commonwealths arose Who ever before King James and King Charles the First 's Reign in England heard of talking of Common-wealths in England and the several sorts of Governments viz. Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy which two latter tho they have the same Names yet no two of either in their Constitutions were like one the other And as these Commonwealths took their Rise from the Tyrannies of Kings and Princes so the exploded Government of the Rump if it were a Democracy or Common-wealth gave Life to all those Confusions Perjuries Breach of Leagues and devilish Practices of this Reign which would have been intolerable in any other and would have been opposed if not by rising in Arms against them yet at least in not so profusely pouring out Money for not continuing and carrying of them on The Popish Faction were more jealous of the Duke of Monmouth than the Tories were of a Commonwealth and the rather because there was a Pamphlet printed that the King was married to the Duke's Mother and rumoured abroad that Sir Gilbert Gerrard had a Black Box in which the Marriage of the King with the Duke's Mother was fully proved and made out and the fear of the Duke of York's Succession was so fix'd in Mens Minds that the Story of the Black Box was generally divulged and for ought I know believed by those who were fearful of the Duke of York's Succession If this could be
be kept with Hereticks which he esteemed all others in England but those of his own Romish Faction to be Could the King believe that the Duke's Succession could be any Security to the Protestant Religion as the King calls it which the Duke esteemed Heresy and to be rooted out by Fire and Sword or that any other but the Duke's Faction could be protected by him when he esteemed them Hereticks Schismaticks Church-Robbers and no Christians It 's true at this time the King of Portugal was made a Prisoner to restrain him from his immoral and wicked Actions whilst his Brother in his Imprisonment acted as Regent of Portugal in his Brother's Name But upon the Duke's Succession how could a Regent act when the King was not a Minor but of full Age double and at large in the King's Name and contrary to his Will and Pleasure and this to consist with the Security of the Protestant Religion or Laws In the Debates in the House of Commons many Expedients were propounded how the established Government in Church and State could be preserved and none could be found in case the Duke succeeded so the Country Party moved that the Court Party would propound Expedients herein but either they could not or had no Instructions from the Court to warrant such Expedients as they should propound But if the due and legal Descent of the Crown must be preserved though to the Destruction of the Church and State they who advised the King to be so positive herein should have done well to have declared what Law in England declares the Descent of the Crown of England or how this becomes due I am sure the Act of the first of Henry the IV intailed the Crown upon the King and the Heirs of his Body and so did that of the first of Henry VII before he married the Lady Elizabeth Edward the Fourth's Daughter and if Henry the seventh's Title to the Crown had been good by inherent Birth-right yet he had been an Usurper For his Mother under whom he claimed lived all his Reign and so she did some time after Henry the VIII became King as you may read in Stow's History p. 487. And how was the due and Legal Succession of the Crown of England observed in the Reign of Henry the VIII when by his Will he might name what Successor he pleased as has been said or in Queen Elizabeth's Reign when it was in Parliament declared Treason to affirm the Parliament might not dispose of the Succession of the Crown in her Reign and a Premunire at this Day And let any Man shew that ever there were three Kings before these of the Scotish Race in the Saxon Danish or Norman Race which succeeded successively by inherent Birth-right I will submit that all I have said is not true and why then must such a Stress be put for the preserving the Descent of the Crown in its due and legal Course without declaring what is that due and legal Course to endanger the Subversion of the Church and State of England Then the King recommends to the Parliament a Strict Enquiry into the Popish Plot and that the Lords in the Tower be brought to a speedy Trial without which he did not think himself or the Parliament safe The constant Vogue was That the King dissolved the two last Parliaments to preserve the Lords in the Tower from being brought to Trial and I am sure that you will soon hear that the King did not believe his and the Nation 's Safety did consist in the Trial of the Lords in the Tower Then the King tells the Parliament what Danger Tangier was in and what vast Expence he must be at to keep it And the Commons last Parliament drew up an Act to settle it upon the Imperial Crown of England and that they who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any Foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom And what Care the King took to keep it will soon appear tho 't was said the Parliament I think it was out of the Chimney-Bill gave him 40000 l. per Annum towards the Preservation of it to the Crown of England The King goes on and says That above all the Treasure in the World which he was sure would give him greater Strength both at home and abroad than any Treasure can do is a perfect Union among our selves yet says not wherein we should unite Truth and Unity are one and consist in intire Parts but Falshood and Discord are infinite What Truth or Unity could be in the King 's loose and irregular Actions so confounding and every day varying from what he had promised before Or how is it possible for the Nation to unite under Terms which are inconsistible and impossible viz. Unite to preserve the Constitutions of the Kingdom and yet be at no Discord with the King who they were morally certain would make it his Business to subvert them If we should be so unhappy the King says as to fall into such Misunderstanding among our selves as would render our Friendship unsafe to trust to it will not be wondred at if our Allies shall begin to take up new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us and advised them not to gratify our Enemies and dishearten our Friends by any unreasonable Disputes viz. to take all by an implicit Faith I do not understand what the King means by Misunderstanding among our selves which may render our Friendship to our or his Allies unsafe nor does he say wherein such Misunderstanding consists I 'm sure the Parliament misunderstood him when they gave him 1200000 l. to enter into an actual War against the French King in the Defence of these Allies and when he had got the Money to make a separate Peace with a Faction of the Dutch to the Ruine of his Allies and take French Money for it and to get the Parliament twice over to disband this Army for fear he should turn it against them and the Nation and now 't was disbanded to give Money to raise another upon Pretence of assisting these Allies now they were forced to such a dishonourable Peace with the French or that our Allies as the King calls them would ever trust to any more of his Alliances If any should so happen the King says the World will see it is no Fault of his for he had done all that was possible for him to do to keep us in Peace while he lived and to leave us so when he died Can any Man believe the King believed himself herein Or that any Man will be his Voucher for it Even my Lord C. F. out of the Field of his sweet lisping Eloquence could not gather one Rhetorical Flower to make a Flourish upon this Speech nor assure the Parliament upon his Veracity that Now Now was the time to secure their Religion and Properties nay the Commons gave so little Credit to this
of Luxemburgh from the Spaniard notwithstanding the late Treaty of Mutual Assistance between the King and Spain and had encreased his Men of War at Sea to be more and greater than those of the King 's and his New-found-land Fishery to be twenty fold more than it was 1660. and the English fallen not to 1 ◠of what it was yet in this dreadful State the Feuds of Whig and Tory no ways abated and both so stupid as if neither were concerned in this Design common to them both But though this most religious and gracious King for so the Tories will have him to whom all their nonsensical Doctrine of Passive Obedience is due had by the help and indefatigable Industry of the Tories laid this Foundation for the Ruine and Destruction of this Church and State yet he lived not to compleat this goodly Structure for he died upon the sixth of February 1684-85 it may be the sooner because he made no more haste to do it in the thirty seventh year of his Reign computing it from his Father's Death after he had lived fifty four Years eight Months and eight days The Character of King Charles II. HIS Person was of a very well composed Structure tall above the ordinary Stature of other Men not much much more resembling his Grandfather Henry IV. of France by his Mother than his Father or his Grandfather King James And as in his Person he more resembled Henry than either his Father or Grandfather James so did he in his Humours for both had lively and pleasant Wits and would be wondrous facetious and pleasant with those which humour'd them in their Pleasures and were of free Access whereas King Charles the Father was grave and severe in his way hard of Access and that by such strained Terms of Submission as were never heard of before in England and I believe no where else and King James was slovenly in his Behaviour and more servile to his Favourites than they to him Like his Grandfather Henry Charles gave himself up to all sensual Pleasures without any Controul but unlike his Father who was temperate and chaste Like his Grandfather Henry in Profession of his Religion for both seemingly professed that which neither believed Unlike his Father who while he did what he would was severely addicted to what he professed Unlike to his Father and Grandfather Henry in Covetousness but like his Grandfather James in profuse Prodigality to his Favourites but unlike his Father and Grandfather Henry in Parsimony ill becoming so great Kings like his Father and Grandfather James in laying the Foundation of the Ruin of the Grandure of England abroad and the Church and State at home unlike his Grandfather Henry who laid the Foundation of the Grandure of France Tho Henry and Charles were esteemed Clement and Merciful Princes till the Rage of the latter end of Charles's Reign yet both were most vindictive against any who reproached their licentious Liberty in their lustful Pleasures as appears by Henry's putting the Duke of Biron to Death more as Sir Walter Raleigh observes for the Taunt he gave when Henry brought Madam Gabriel to the Siege of Amines That she was the Fortune of France than for Biron's Conspiracy with the Duke of Savoy and by that of cutting off Sir Coventry's Nose for the Report which was of Sir John that he asked the Question Which of the King's Favourites Men or Women Unlike to both Father and Grandfather James Charles was to his own Cousin-German the Elector-Palatine for they both at least seemingly endeavoured to have restored the Prince's Father to his Country after he was dispossessed of it by the Emperor and King of Spain whereas after this Prince was restored to a part of it by the Treaty of Munster this King without any Offence or Provocation given him by the Elector assisted the French to ruin and destroy it But he 's gone God knows by what means and the Possession of the Crown takes away all Attainders And now he 's gone he left the Nation more vitiated and debauched in their Manners than ever it was before by any other King having not only squander'd away the antient Revenues of the Crown which were esteemed sacred and which should have supported it against foreign Force and intestine Discord but left such a Debt upon it as never before was heard of nor contracted by such means having prostituted the Majesty of his Crown in becoming a Pensioner to France and advancing that Interest to be as formidable and dangerous to the rest of Christendom as to his own Dominions and embroiled 〈◊〉 Subjects in intestine Feuds and Discords as if thereby he designed them an easy Prey to the French and Popish Interest and having by Bribery and Corruption so vitiated all publick Offices both Sacred Civil and Military that they became habitual and so fix'd that it would become difficult if possible to reform them And as this King's Actions were little and dark so was his Funeral for never any King who died possest was so obscurely and meanly buried hurried in the dead of the Night to his Grave as if his Corps had been to be arrested for Debt and not so much as the Blue-Coat-Boys attending it his Brother then King shewing as little Gratitude to him for all his Favours as he had done to the Nation for all their Loyalty and incredible Sums of Money poured upon him And as his Father and Grandfather had not a Stone to cover their Graves thereby to preserve their Memories in future Generations so neither had he nor any of his Name hereafter is like to have as King of England But now he is gone all the dreadful Presages of the four last Parliaments are come upon the Nation and nothing left to secure the Nation 's Fears unless that the Crown being so in Debt and the Excise for the King's Life dying with him the Parliament would not be so prodigal of their Bounty as to grant this King's Successor such a Revenue which might enable him to attain his Ends by the Ruin of the Church and State of England The Good Deeds of King Charles II. 1. HIS dispensing with the Act of Navigation in the first Dutch War whereby he was enabled to continue the War against the Dutch two Years longer than he did and the Dutch otherwise might have fired the Ships in our Harbours a Year sooner and forced the King to a more inglorious Peace than that he made in the Year 1667 whilst the Parliament in the Temper it was in sat still and took no notice of these things Objection If the King has Power to dispense with the Act of Navigation by the same Reason he may dispense with other Laws and so the Laws of the Nation will be loose and subject to the King's Will at his Pleasure Answer I. I wish all Legislators in passing Laws would be of another Temper than when the Rump made this Law which was in spight of the Dutch without
one the 4th of Edw. the 3d c. 14. the other 36 Edward 3. c. 10. and when Parliaments thus frequently met Grievances were nipt in the Bud the Courts of Law kept to the Administration of Justice uprightly the Ambition of great Men restrained Factions and Innovations suppressed and when the Parliament met thus frequently the King had an Account of the State of the Nation and upon Redress of Grievances if any were the Parliament in acknowledgment of their Duty gave the King a Gratuity sometimes a Fifteenth other times a Subsidy and at other times a Subsidy and a Fifteenth and sometimes a Subsidy and two Fifteenths but never more before the 35 of Eliz. and the King in return granted a general Pardon to his Subjects with such Exceptions as the Parliament pleased and thus a mutual Love and Understanding between the King and his Subjects was nourished and encreased Whereas by the long discontinuance of Parliaments Grievances multiply and take Root so as they become so much more difficult to be redressed by how much longer the Discontinuances last The Favourites by their flattering the Prince not only keep him in Ignorance of the State of his Subjects but fix the Prince so to their Will that it becomes so habitual in him that the Prince prefers them before his Subjects and their Flatteries before the Advice of his Parliament and often takes their parts before that of the Parliament and Nation These long Intervals of Parliaments you 'll see will beget long Parliaments and the Members get to be chosen by the Favour of great Men and vast Expence so that the Grievances with the Parliament should redress become diffused into the Body of the Parliament than which nothing can be more dangerous to the Constitution of Parliament Besides that the publick Business may not be interrupted during the Sessions of Parliament the Members of both Houses have Privileges whereof they are the only Judges both in their own Persons and of their Servants whereby they are exempted from Arrests or any Process at Law which is not only grievous to the Subjects but oft the Ruine of them But now it 's time to see what the King's Proclamation for calling his first Parliament tended to Before King James his coming to the Crown of England the Election of Members in the House of Commons was so free that the Letters of the King or any Noble Man to chuse a Member was judged Cause sufficient to render the Election void but the King by this Proclamation gives order what Sorts of Men and how Qualified should be chosen by the Commons and concludes We Notify by these Presents That all Returns and Certificates of Knights Citizens and Burgesses ought and are to be brought to the Court of Chancery and there to be filed upon Record and if any be found to be made contrary to this Proclamation the same is to be rejected as unlawful and insufficient and the City or Borough to be fined for the same and if it be found that they have committed any gross or wilful Default or Contempt in the Election Return or Certificate that then their Liberties according to the Law are to be seized as forfeited And if any Person take upon him the Place of a Knight Citizen or Burgess not being duly elected and sworn according to the Laws and Statutes in that behalf provided and according to the Purport Effect and true Meaning of this our Proclamation then every Person so offending to be fined and imprisoned for the same Never was such a Prelude to the Meeting of a Parliament by any of the Kings of England either of the Saxon Danish Norman or British Race and if the King in the Beginning thus extends his first Note above ELA to what Pitch will he strain his Prerogative hereafter However since Forfeitures of Charters Fining and Imprisoning of Members not elected and returned according to this Proclamation were the Penalties imposed by it for the better Execution it might have been declared who should judg of these Elections and Returns or by what Law It fell out unluckily I think I may say designedly that upon the opening of the Parliament several of the House of Commons one of which was Sir Herbert Crofts coming to hear the King's Speech in the House of Lords had the Door shut upon them and were repulsed by a Yeoman of the Guard one Bryant Cash with the uncivil and contemptible Terms of Goodman Burgess you come not here The King in a long and tedious Speech which you may read at large in Stow's Chronicle after he had expressed his Thanks to the whole Nation for their Universal Acclamations in receiving him for their undoubted Sovereign which so much conduced to their Happiness in the Union of all Claims in his Person being the undoubted Heir of Hen. 7 and Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th wherein the Titles of the Houses of York and Lancaster were reconciled He tells them the Wonders which he will do both in reference to the inward and outward Peace of the Kingdom which how well he performed you will hear hereafter But as to the Glory which he ascribes to himself of being King by inherent Birthright from Hen. 7. and his Queen I think he could not have taken a worse Topick for what he so much gloried in For no hereditary Monarch has a better Title to his Crown than the Ancestor from whom he first claims had and it is evident Henry the 7th had no Colour of Title to the Crown of England by Inheritance being only descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Concubine when John of Gaunt's Wife was alive nor could the King claim any Title from the Wife of Henry the 7th for Henry himself would never own she had any reigning not only during her Life without naming her in the Coins Proclamations or Laws but after her Death and was not only crowned without her but called a Parliament without her ere he was married to her and had the Crown entailed upon him and the Heirs of his Body before he married her Besides there is no Averment against an Act of Parliament and the Act of the first of Richard the 3d declares all the Issue of Edward the 4th by the Lady Grey the Mother of Henry the 7th's Wife to be Illegitimate and so uncapable of any Inheritance to the Crown of England But how edified soever the Commons were with the King's Speech they were little pleased with the Yeomen of the Guards usage of their Members which in due time the King shall hear of However the King who since his coming in had been acquainted only with Flatteries introduced with the Epithet of most sacred which I find rarely applied to any of his Predecessors and how properly applied to him giving himself up to a dissolute and prophane Life let another judg was buoyed up with a mighty Expectation of the Success of his Proclamation and Speech which did not succeed
Rump who had Intelligence of Lambert's Motion would not tamely be turn'd out but appoint Moss and Morley's Regiments to guard the House yet Lambert upon the 13th of October with a stronger Guard hastens to the Old-Palace-Yard and before the Members came set Guards upon all the Avenues to the House not permitting any Member to enter and sends the Speaker back into the City Now is the Rump's Lethargy from which they were recover'd but five Months and some few Days turned into a Convulsion and the next Fit you 'll see will carry it quite off Instead of the Rump the Officers set up a new thing which they call The Committee of Safety which consisted of 22 whereof Vane Fleetwood and Ludlow were prime Directors Lambert having thus turned out the Rump his Turn shall be next But before we proceed it 's fit to see how things stood in Scotland where at this time all things contrary to the Scotish Temper were in perfect Peace and Quiet and to keep the Scots so the Rump and Cromwel had built four Citadels upon the four principal Passes in Scotland viz. at Leith Aire St. Johnstons and Inverness which bridled the Scots from holding Communication within Land and which cost above 30000 l. being three Regular Fortifications on the North Sea and one upon the West for to relieve the English in case of Land-Sieges or other Accidents After Monk had perfectly subdued Scotland he took Care for constant Supplies out of England for the Payment of his Soldiers whereby he kept them in such regular and severe Discipline that Disorders rarely happen'd among them and hereby Scotland did never before abound in so much Wealth and Trade and to these Monk duly observed all Articles made with the Scots whereby the common sort of Scots enjoyed more Liberty and Wealth than ever before they had under their Lords and Lairds and now no Man durst oppress his poor Tenants and Neighbours He likewise supprest all those Scotish Feuds which before so often raged in Scotland and compelled the Clergy to mind their own Function without meddling with Temporal Affairs So as the Scots never lived so free and happy under their Kings Nobles and Lairds as in that short time they did under Monk's Regency In this State Monk hired the Countess of Bucklough's House about five Miles from Edinburgh which had fine Gardens Orchards and a stately Park walled about belonging to it and here he fell into the Acquaintance of the principal Nobility and Gentry of Scotland and by his Familiarity and Affability with them he gained their Love and Friendship And in this State Cromwel would have found it a hard Task to remove him After Cromwel's Death and that his Son Richard became Protector he caress'd Monk by frequent Letters and great Protestations of Kindness intreating also his Advice and Assistance letting him know that his Father did recommend to him as an especial Command to be chiefly ruled by his Prudence Monk in return answered That he was very remote and could not well tell what to write at such a distance but advised him to call a Parliament which was the Wisdom of the Nation by whom he might be best instructed which Richard did and if he had stood by them it 's thought Monk would have stood by him but Richard spoil'd all by dissolving the Parliament and when the English Army had deposed his Brother Henry by frequent Messages and Letters he invited Monk to appear to give a Check to the mutinous and seditious English Army which now courted Monk as well as he and so did the Rump after they were restored So that in all the Troubles and Alterations in England both England and Ireland too courted Monk who sat still and was quiet in Scotland Lambert's firy Ambition burnt out that Prudence which Cromwel observed in making sure of Monk before he attempted to turn out the Rump which Lambert did not nor so much as made his Design known to Monk The turning out the Rump and erecting a Committee of Safety to govern being Sectaries Republicans and Enemies to Monk which he called Fanaticks he knew no Good was intended him by this Change and therefore resolved not to submit to it But herein Monk proceeded with as much Caution and Prudence as Lambert did in Haste and Folly Here you may see how Ambition and Interest change Mens Actions for herein what Monk allowed in Cromwel he disclaims in Lambert For upon the 18th of October Monk marched with his own Guards from Dalkeith to Edinburgh where his own Regiment of Foot quartered and seized all such Officers as he suspected would not be true to him in his Design and secur'd them and drew his Forces into the Field and gave them an Account of his Resolution To adhere to a Civil Authority and not to follow the English Army in their mad Counsels and Fanatick Courses which was entertained by the Soldiers and generally by the Scots At his Return out of the Field he received an Express from the Governour of Berwick That he feared he should not be able to secure the Town for him almost all the Officers in the Town being Anabaptists Whereupon Monk gave Order for a Troop of Horse to march to Berwick to fetch away the ill-affected Officers and sent also a blank Commission to the Governour to put in what Officers he pleased but it was difficult to get a Troop to march being about 40 Miles from Edinburgh the Days short and Ways deep and bad yet Captain Johnson undertook the Journey and arrived at Berwick but the Night before Colonel Cobbet entered Berwick sent from Lambert whom Johnson seized and sent Cobbet and the suspected Officers Prisoners to Edinburgh 'T was well Monk succeeded so well at Berwick for otherwise he had had a hard Game to play the English Army in Scotland being far off in the more remote Northern and Western Parts of it and Lambert upon his March from London with it may be the bravest Body of Horse in Europe against him and could augment his Foot in his March But if Monk was fortunate in reducing Berwick he was not less unfortunate in endeavouring to reduce Carlisle for having sent Captain Dean upon that Account his whole Troop deserted him and joined with the Garison Besides Monk having sent Letters to many of the Officers in Ireland whom he thought he might confide in and to the Officers in the English Fleet then riding in the Downs they all refused to join with him Hereupon the Sectaries in the English Army grew insolent and drew off from Monk in Discontent whereupon Monk kept back their Pay and bid them seek their Arrears of them to whom they were going which they could not have done in a worse time now the Rump had voted it Treason to raise any Money to pay them these Officers were above 140 and their Arrears Monk kept the better to pay the Officers he could confide in However this could not secure Monk of those Soldiers
Forfeitures by Papists would be insignificant viz. remitted this intended Act did ordain that such Fines and Forfeitures one half should be to the Informers the other to charitable Uses But this Act being so contrary to the Duke's Design the Committee of Religion was discharged from meeting again and another short Act was brought into Parliament ratifying all former Acts for securing the Protestant Religion so that in this first Act the Duke pursued not his Instructions but went contrary to them and to the Custom of Scotland At the passing this Act the Earl of Argyle proposed that all Acts against Popery might be added which was opposed by the King's Advocate and some of the Clergy yet seconded by Sir George Lockhart and the President of the Sessions it passed without a Vote but such was the Jealousy of the Parliament that this did not secure the established Religion that several of the Members desired other Additions and Acts which the Duke in open Parliament promised when Time and Opportunity offered should pass but when at any time this was proposed the Test was obtruded If the Parliament were so zealous to secure the established Religion the Duke was not less to secure the Succession of the Crown of Scotland shrewdly struck at in England in the very Person of the Duke and to that end a Bill was brought in and passed wherein it was declared High Treason to affirm that the Succession of the Crown of Scotland can be altered from the next of Proximity of Blood but how agreeable this was to the Title of the Bruces and Stuarts who had no Title to the Succession of the Crown of Scotland but by Act of Parliament has already been shewed and how disagreeable this Act was to the Duke's Grandfather's Succession to the Crown of Scotland without any Act of Parliament let any Man judg This Act was not only thus contrary to the Laws and Usages of Scotland but the Act is equivocal if not contradictory to the Duke's Design for there is a difference between the next Heir and the next in Proximity of Blood as if a Man had several Sons and the eldest has a Son or Daughter his Father living and after his Father dies his eldest Son's Son is Heir and his other Sons and Daughters are next in Proximity of Blood the Heir being a degree in Blood further removed from the common Ancestor than his Uncles or Aunts and this was the case of Richard II. of England Son of the Black Prince Edward the Third's Eldest Son who succeeded to the Crown of England though his Uncles the Dukes of Clarence Lancaster York and Cambridg were nearer of Blood to Edward the Third This Act for the Succession of the Crown of Scotland was succeeded by another called the Test as contradictory to it self as contrary to the Act of Succession to be taken by all Persons in publick Trust in Scotland wherein they solemnly Swear in the Presence of the Eternal God whom they invoke as Judg and Witness of their sincere Intention of this their Oath That they own and profess the true Protestant Religion contained in the Confession of Faith recorded in the first Parliament of King James the Sixth and believe the same to be founded on and agreeable to the Written Word of God That they will adhere thereto and endeavour to educate their Children therein and never consent to any Change or Alteration contrary thereto and renounce all Popish and Fanatical Doctrines inconsistent with the said Protestant Religion and Confession of Faith And by this their solemn Oath they Swear That King Charles the Second is the only Supream Governour of this Realm over all Persons and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and renounce all Foreign Jurisdiction of the Pope or any other Person and promise to bear true Faith and Allegiance to the King his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to their Power to defend all their Rights and Prerogatives And by this their solemn Oath they Swear They judg it unlawful for Subjects upon pretence of Reformation or any Pretence whatsoever to enter into any Covenants or Leagues or to convene c. in any Council to treat of any Matter of State Ecclesiastical or Civil without his Majesty's special Command or express Licence or to take up Arms against the King or those commissionated by him That they will never rise in Arms or enter into such Covenants or Assemblies That there lies no Obligation upon them by the National Covenant or the solemn League or Covenant or any other way to endeavour any Change or Alteration of the Government either of Church or State as by Law established and promise and swear to the utmost of their Power to maintain the King's Jurisdiction against all deadly and as they shall answer it before God and that they took this Oath in the true and genuine Sense and Meaning of the Words without any Equivocation Mental Reservation or Evasion and never to accept of any Dispensation from any Creature So God help them By these two Acts you may observe the Scotish Temper whether it were natural or in contradiction to the Kirk-Party I will not say nor how much higher it flew than the Tory in England but because of the extraordinariness of these two Acts it 's fit to make some Reflections upon them Such another Law as that of the Succession was made the twenty first of Richard the Second in the Case of Roger Mortimer which lasted not longer than the next Year after when the Law was not only repealed but Henry the Fourth succeeded contrary to it whereas this Law continued for above eight Years after when it not only lost its Force but another Face appeared in Scotland and so continues in spight of this Law Now from this treasonable Law let us make some Remarks upon this ranting swearing Law called the Test We have said elsewhere that all Oaths are assertory of the Truth of Things Speech and Actions in time past or promissory to do or forbear to do some Act in time to come and now let 's consider what is Truth and the End of an assertory Oath Truth is proper to intellectual and reasonable Creatures and is either the apprehension of intelligible Beings as God a Law the Soul Time c. which can never be the Objects of Sense and of the Causes and Consequences of Intentions Speech and Action for Sense is not of Futurity but of present Things and Actions the Consequence or Inference will be whether good or bad just or unjust c. However all intelligible Beings and the Causes of Things and Actions are ever assumed not sworn to and if another does not nor will assent to them swearing to the Truth of them will be to no purpose So it is of the Consequence of Speech and Actions if another be not convinced from the Reason of such Consequence or Inference swearing it to be so will never do it But though sensible Things Speech and Actions
the King a great Revenue and pass the humble Tender 454. Scroggs Chief Justice illegally discharges the Grand Inquest 547. Is impeach'd of High-Treason 556. Sea its Dominion maintain'd by Navigation 660. Sea-men refuse to fight against Rochel 159 162. Are increas'd by the Fishing Trade 390 654. Secluded Members restor'd summon a Free Parliament 419 421. Selden Mr. for the Petition of Right 209. His Speech concerning Grievances 216. Self-denying Ordinance 309 310. Seymour Mr. invades the Commons Privilege 507. Is impeach'd by 'em 555. Shaftsbury see Ashley Cooper Sham-plots of the Court for which good Men are murder'd 601 602. Sharp ABp of St. Andrews murder'd 541 542. Sheriffs instrumental to save honest Mens Lives 590 600. Illegally chosen in London 600 611. Siâ—thorp for the King 's absolute Will 197. Slingsby Sir Henry beheaded 403. Sobiez his Success at Sea on behalf of the Reformed 146. Somerset see Carr. Southampton Lord Treasurer his Death and Character 470. Spain how bounded 1 Jac. I. 11 25. It s Barrenness in People and its Causes 25. Never recover'd its great Loss in 1588 c. 28. It s low State 428 471 472 652. Spaniards their Success against France 389. Spanish Trade tho beneficial forbid by Charles I. 174. Standing Army a Grievance 539. Kept up by K. James 642 643. States of England Three not King Lords and Commons 8. but Nobles Commonalty and Clergy 57. Strasburgh treacherously seiz'd by the French 604. Succession to the Crown in England 38 47 550. Surinam taken by the Dutch 467. but regain'd 468. Surrey-Men rise for the King but are routed 326 327. Sweeds join with the French at War against Brandenburg 499 511. T. TAlbot his Barbarity and Falshood in Ireland 624 625. Is made Lord Lieutenant 641. Tangier the Commons Votes concerning it 539 557. Temple Sir William employ'd in the Treaty at Nimeguen 472 478. in the Peace with the Dutch 495. His Conference with the King 498. Treats of a Peace with the French and Confederates 499. Is highly complimented by the French 509 510. His Thoughts of the Protestation against a separate Peace 512. Is admitted to the Debates with the King concerning the Peace 516 517. His going to France prevented 518. Test in England reflected on 501. In Scotl. with Remarks 570 575. Tiddiman Sir Tho. his Neglect at Bergen 457. Tories charge the Whigs with a Design to kill the King 532. Promote the Popish Designs 544 586. Their Impudence 562. Tour De la Count his Heroick Speech to the Bohemians 91 92. Trade in Market-Towns 27. To Spain gainful 165 387 389 463. to France prejudicial 166 389 463 672. In Wool how we lost it 338 339 662. To Greenland Newfoundland Norway c. 653 656. To America Newcastle 661. To Ireland 656 666. In Timber 669. In Companies and to East-India c. 670. Ought to be free 663 670 674 679. Traquair Lord Treasurer in Scotland 264 266. Prorogues the Parliament there which is protested against 267. Treason made a Stalking Horse 322. Treaty at Munster 339 340. Treaties Account of all between the K. and Parliament 328 332. Treâ—or Secretary his Queries concerning Buckingh c. 489. Triple League 472. Trump Van Admiral for the Dutch see Dutch Tunnage and Poundage see Charles I. and Commons V. VAne Sir Henry opposes the Scots Covenant 299. Promotes Lambert's Interest 409. Villiers his Descent comes into favour 73. Advanc'd by Somerset's Fall 74. His affable Carriage at first 76. Is promoted 77 86 111. Marries the greatest Fortune in England 88. His great Titles 111. Disswades the Prince from his Match with the Infanta 113. Sets up to be popular 115 118 125. His base Dissimulation in Spain 116 117 158. Charg'd with being a Papist and endeavouring to seduce the Prince 118. His Narrative of Proceedings in Spain with Remarks 127 129. Loses the King's Favour by means of the Spanish Ambassador 132 133. Restor'd to it again by the Keeper's fine Contrivance 133 134. Eager for a War with Spain 155. His base dealing with the Rochellers and the Merchants whose Ships he hired 159 163. His Behaviour at Paris 157 163. Is impeach'd by the Commons 189 190. Procures a War with France 193 196 198. His false Steps therein 198. Is routed 198 199. Is stabb'd 225. Vsurer a Story of one 555. Utrecht surrendred to the French 487. W. WAgstaff Sir Jos seizes the Judges at Salisbury 386 Wales its pretended Prince 647. Waller Sir William for the Parliament 298 306. See Fitz-harris Walloons persecuted by Laud 254 255. Settle in Holland 255. Come again into England and encourag'd by Char. II. 472 473 607. Walter Sir Joh. dissents from the Judges and is discharged 236. War with Holland projected by the French 450 473 478 484. War and Peace-making claim'd by the King 506. Warwick Earl Admiral for the Parliament 295. Wenthworth Sir Tho. a true Patriot 209 212. but made President of the North to his Ruin 243. and Lieutenant of Ireland 254 260. Weston Sir Rich. made Lord Treasurer tho a Papist 226. Whigs and Tories 531 532. Compar'd with the Prerogative-men and Puritans in Laud's time 560 561. Whitlock Serjeant his Thoughts of Cromwel c. 304 305 348 349 359 361. Advises to bring in the King 415. Wilkinson Capt. his Story his noble Constancy 596 598. Williams Lord-Keeper his Thoughts of the Spanish Match 113. His Ruin intended by Laud c. 124 179 253. Stops the King's Prohibition to the Judges and Bishops 126. His curious Contrivance on Buckingham's behalf 133 c. Is commended by the King for it 135. Ill requited by Buckingham 136 155. His Reasons against a War with Spain 155. His Advices to the King 168 170 302. to Buckingham 169. His Character 176 177. His Requests to the King c. 177 178. Is fin'd and imprisoned by Laud 239. Willis Sir Cromwel's Spy 393 402. Windebank Sir Fr. seizes Sir Coke's Papers favours Popery 253. Woollen Manufactures the Inconveniences they labour under 666. Worcester Fight 346. Workhouses 665 677. FINIS BOOKS sold by Andrew Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhil THE General History of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William Taken from the most Antient Records Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and State With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyrrel Esq Fol. A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion wherein all the Arguments for Persecution and against Toleration are examin'd and refuted With the most proper Method of destroying all Schisms Heresies c. A Detection of the Court and State of England during the four last Reigns and the Interregnum Consisting of Private Memoirs c. with Observations and Reflections And an Appendix discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many Secrets never before made publick as also a more impartial Account of the Civil Wars in England than has yet been given By Rog. Coke Esq The third Edition much corrected with an Alphabetical Table Scotland's Soveraignty asserted Being a Dispute concerning Homage against those who maintain that Scotland is a Fee Liege of England and that the K. of Scots owes Homage to the K. of England By Sir Tho. Craig Translated from the Latin Manuscript with a Preface containing a Confutation of that Homage said to be performed by Malcom III. to Edward the Confessor and published by Mr. Rymer By Geo. Ridpath Ridpath his Shorthand yet shorter or the Art of Short-writing advanc'd in a more swift easy regular and natural Method than hitherto The second Edition A Discourse on the late Funds of the Million Act Lottery-Act and Bank of England Shewing that they are injurious to the Nobility and Gentry and ruinous to the Trade of the Kingdom By J. Briscoe The third Edition Mr. John Asgil his Plagiarism detected c. Emblems by Fra. Quarles with the Hieroglyphicks All the Cuts being newly illustrated The History of Genesis illustrated with 40 Copper Plates Advice to the Young or the Reasonableness and Advantages of an Early Conversion In three Sermons on Eccles 12. 1. By Joseph Stennett The Groans of a Saint under the Burden of a Mortal Body A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. John Belcher late Minister of the Gospel from 2 Cor. 5. 4. By the same Author Several Practical Pieces of Mr. Daniel Burgess viz. Rules for hearing the Word of God The Sure Way to Wealth The most difficult Duty made easy Foolish Talking and Jesting describ'd and condemn'd The Christian Decalogue or the Gospel's ten Commandments The Church's Triumph over Death a Funeral Sermon on Mr. Robert Fleming A Funeral Sermon from Job 14. 14. on Mrs. Sarah Bull. Holy Union and Holy Contention describ'd and press'd In single Tracts or bound up together Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture Rutherford's Letters An Exposition with Practical Observations on the Book of Ecclesiastes By Alexander Nisbet A Directory of Prayer being a Commentary on the 20th Psalm By R. Campbel Chamberlen's Midwifery the third Edition Artamenes or the Grandâ—Cyrus In 10 Vol. A Birchen Rod for Dr. Birch being an Answer to his Sermon before the Commons Jan. 30. A Defence of the Arch-bishop's Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen and of the Sermons of the late ABp Bp of Lichfield and Coventry Bp of Ely Bp of Salisbury Dr. Sherlock c. on that and other Solemn Occasions against the Aspersions of two Jacobite Pamphlets A Tragedy called the Popish Plot reviv'd Wherein are several Letters c. of Dr. Oates to the Late Kings and other Great Men. The Rye-house Travestie The History of the Late Jacobite Plot in a Letter to the Bp of Rochester by T. Percival * Aesar in the Tuscan Tongue is a God See Suet. c. 97. in the Life of Augustus
seem to court the King and the Parliament sent Propositions of Peace to the King at Hampton-Court the same they sent to the King at New-Castle when he was in the Power of the Scots which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 120. b. and 121. a. But now the Mystery of Iniquity works for Cromwel was as fearful the King should agree with the Parliament as the King was unwilling to agree to them and therefore Cromwel gave Instructions to the Commissioners That if the King would assent to Propositions lower than those of the Parliament that the Army would settle him again in his Throne Hereupon the King returned Answer to the Parliament That he waved now the Propositions sent to him or any Treaty upon them and flies to the Proposals of the Army urges a Treaty upon them and such as he shall make professes he will give Satisfaction to settle the Protestant Religion with Liberty to tender Consciences to secure the Laws Liberty and Property and Privileges of Parliament and of those concerning Scotland he will treat apart with the Scots Commissioners See Whitlock ' s Memoirs fol. 271. b. Upon the reading of the King's Answer a Day was appointed by either House to consider of it and that in the mean time it be communicated to the Scots Commissioners There was a Report at that time and so yet continues tho I cannot find the bottom of it yet I am confident in time it will appear that Cromwel made a private Article with the King That if the King closed with the Propositions of the Army Cromwel should be advanced to a Degree higher than any other as Vicar-General of England as Cromwel was in the Reign of Henry 8. But the King was so Uxorious that he would do nothing without communicating it to the Queen and wrote to her That tho he assented to the Army's Proposals yet if by assenting to them he could procure Peace it would be easier then to take off Cromwel than now he was the Head that govern'd the Army Cromwel who had his Spies upon every Motion of the King intercepts these Letters and resolved never to trust the King again yet doubted that he could not manage his Designs if the King were so near the Parliament and City as Hampton-Court therefore Cromwel sent to the King That he was in no Safety at Hampton-Court by reason of the Hatred which the Adjutators had to him and that he would be in more Safety in the Isle of Wight Hereupon the King upon the 11th of November while the Parliament and Scots Commissioners were debating the King's Answer to their Propositions at Night made his Escape having Post-Horses and a Ship provided for him at Southampton accompanied only with Sir John Berkley Colonel Leg and Mr. Ashburnham and came to the Isle of Wight which would morally have been impossible if Cromwel and his Agents had not put the King upon it But how concealedly soever Cromwel and his Son-in-law Ireton had carried the Business of the King's Escape to the Isle of Wight yet the Adjutators had some Jealousy upon them that they designed to have the King establish'd and possest the Soldiers with much Prejudice against them Fairfax doubting the Event of these Practices dismist the Adjutators to their several Regiments and sent most of their Officers to their several Charges and appointed a General Rendezvouz of the Army at Cork-bush-field between Hertford and Ware upon the 14th which the Adjutators endeavour'd to have prevented The next Day many Soldiers of five whole Regiments mutiny'd against their Officers and wore Marks of Distinction to be known from the rest Cromwel Ireton and some other of the Officers struck at by the Adjutators were very active in suppressing them and seized upon some of the principal Mutineers and one or two of them were shot before their Troops were reduced and most of the Mutineers and the Officers which favoured them were tried at Court-Martials and cashier'd and three of them condemned to die And for this Cromwel had the Thanks of the House but it will not be long before they shall find little Joy of it From the Isle of Wight the King upon October the 18th sent to the Members for a personal Treaty of Peace at London which after much Debate was agreed to upon these four Preliminaries 1. An Act For Raising Settling and Maintaining Forces by Sea and Land within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominion of Wales 2. An Act For recalling all Declarations Oaths and Proclamations against the Parliament or those who had adhered to them 3. An Act That those Peers who were made after the Great Seal was carried from the Parliament may be made uncapable of Sitting in the House of Peers 4. That Power may be given to the Houses to adjourn as they shall think fit The King it may be not knowing Cromwel had intercepted his Letters to the Queen and so trusting to Cromwel's Promises and the Scots Commissioners flatly protesting against these Preliminaries as opposite to Religion the Crown and Agreement of the Kingdoms refused to sign any Propositions till a Peace was made which might comprehend all Interests Which had no other Effects than that the Lords and Commons Voted 1. That they will make no further Applications or Addresses to the King 2. That no Addresses or Applications be made to the King by any Person whatsoever without Leave from both Houses 3. That the Person or Persons that shall make Breach of this Order shall incur the Penalty of High Treason 4. That they will receive no more Messages from the King and that no Person do presume to bring any Message from the King to both or either Houses of Parliament or any other Person But these Votes were too hot to hold long These Votes were so pleasing to the Army that it was declar'd by a Council of War the 17th of January That they resolved to endeavour to preserve the Peerage and Rights and the Rights of the Peers of England notwithstanding any Scandals upon them to the contrary Yet within little more than a Year the Rump set up by the Army shall turn them out of doors as dangerous and useless Here see what a Labyrinth Men run into when they forsake the Paths of Justice for as Socrates says Plato Eutiphro If Men in Dissension will not submit to some certain Rule which may determine them their Dissensions will be endless and that the Will of the Gods if it be divided cannot be the Rule to determine Justice for Men in obeying one God may disobey another If therefore the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation may not be the Rule which may determine the Controversies between the King the Members the Scots and the Army then nothing can for else what pleased one would displease the other The King would gladly have had the Law to have determined the Controversies for this would have vested him in his Royal Power and by the 18th of Henry
7. would have justified all his Subjects who fought for him But the Members would not submit to this being to divest themselves of the Power they thought they had in their hands nor the Scots because their Solemn League and Covenant was enacted by no Law in England nor least of all would it please the Army who nourished Designs against the King Members and Scots To such a deplorable state is this poor King and Kingdom fall'n past all humane Relief yet it 's admirable to consider how Divine Justice pursued the Causers of it even in the Series by which they were promoted The King who would not have the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation to be the Rules of his Subjects Obedience but his Prerogative and Absolute Will and Pleasure cannot now by it command one Servant He who before against Law committed so many of his best Subjects close Prisoners whereof several died in Prison for asserting his Subjects Rights without any Benefit of Law is now by his Subjects made close Prisoner against Law and without any Benefit of it He who before dissolved four Parliaments because they in all dutiful Ways would have addressed unto him to be reconciled to his Subjects is now denied under Penalty of High Treason to have any Address made to him by any of his Subjects He who before had so many Forests for his Pleasure yet not contented with what the Law and his Ancestors had left but would break the Bounds of them that his Subjects Inheritance might become a Prey to wild Beasts has not now a Horse Hound or Beast to take Pleasure in But these things will not stay here for it is the unhappy Fate of Princes rarely in their declining state to stay till they fall to the bottom And here we end the Year 1647 and hereafter shall observe the Divine Justice overtaking the other Promoters of the Miseries both in England Scotland and Ireland And if I shall ill perform it yet it may be a Ground-work for another to do it better In this Confusion the Nation began to forget the times under the King's Government now they saw no end of these And tho the Essex-Men who had the Bounds of their Forests broke down and were the first who petition'd the Parliament to redress Grievances and bring Delinquents to condign Punishment yet they are now the first who petition the Commons for a Personal Treaty with the King and then the Surrey-Men but were differently received and some of the Surrey-Men kill'd This was in May 1648. The Scots too offended that they and their Solemn League and Covenant were not taken notice of in the Preliminary Treaty with the King call a Parliament and order the Raising an Army to deliver the King out of Prison The rude Entertainment of the Essex and Surrey-Men was so far from quelling them that they rise in Arms in Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Wales and the North and declare for the King and People Sir William Batton too who was Vice-Admiral of the English Fleet goes over to Prince Charles with 17 Men of War and declare for the King having set Rainsborough made Admiral by the Army on Shore This was in May and June and soon after viz. in June the Surrey-Men rise being headed by the Duke of Buckingham and his Brother the Lord Francis with the Earl of Holland But it was decreed that this Prince who for 15 Years had violated the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation and without any Law or just Reason had so often imprisoned his best Subjects for endeavouring to reconcile him to his Subjects should now himself being made a Prisoner against Law find no Relief by Law or Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects For Cromwel sends Horton into Wales against Major-General Laughorn and Colonel Poyer who headed the Welch and had seized Pembrook and Tenby-Castles Fairfax marches into Kent and Rainsborough into the North where the Northern-Men had seized Pontfract-Castle and the Members restore the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral and fit out a Fleet under him to suppress that which joined the Prince of Wales Horton beats the Welch and took Laughorn and Poyer Prisoners and besieges and takes Pembrook and Tenby but whilst he besieged these Hamilton who the Year before was released from being a Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle by the King for holding Correspondence with the Covenanters while he was Commissioner now comes into England to discharge the King from his Imprisonment with a numerous Army of Scots which Sir Marmaduke Langdale Major-General Massey and many English join against these Cromwel after the Surrender of Pembrook and Tenby marches and utterly routs them and takes Hamilton Prisoner Nor were the Fate of the Kentish Essex and Suffolk Men better for Fairfax fights and beats the Kentish Men at Maidstone the Remainder under my Lord Goring whom the King had made Earl of Norwich cross the Thames at Greenwich and join the Essex Men headed by Sir Charles Lucas and march to Colchester where my Lord Capel and many Suffolk Men joined them Fairfax pursues them and after a stubborn Siege of 11 Weeks forces it to surrender being reduced to extream Famine and after caused Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle to be shot to Death Equal to this was the Success of the Surrey-Men for they were routed by Sir Michael Lewesly and my Lord Francis killed near Kingston But the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland with those which were escaped fled over Kingston-bridg and were pursued by Colonel Scroop and overtaken at St. Neots where Major-General Dolbier is killed the Earl of Holland taken Prisoner but the Duke of Buckingham escaped But the Northern-Men besieged in Pontfract Castle are not so easily subdued on the contrary a Party of about 30 Horse break through the Besiegers and surprize Rainsborough in his Bed at Doncaster about 12 Miles from Pontfract and kill him because he refused to be carried off a Prisoner but Pure Famine at last forced the Besieged to surrender The revolted Fleet now commanded by the Princes Rupert and Maurice partly cajol'd by the Earl of Warwick their former Admiral and unwilling to forsake their Country Wives and Children in great part return to the Parliament the rest were after pursued by Blake and Popham to Ireland from thence to Portugal from whence they were forced by Blake to Carthagena where Blake run the Princes Ships on shore yet the Princes having then but three Ships left and having no Port in Europe to protect them seek for one in the West-Indies where Prince Maurice is lost in a Hurricane and Prince Rupert after got into France and sold the Remainder of this miserable Fleet being two tatter'd Ships to Mazarine to fit out himself for other Adventures Whilst the Army was thus busied abroad the Members having got possession of the Fleet and the City of London being well affected to them they join with the Scotish Commissioners and rescind the Votes of Non-Addresses to the King