Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	army_n	great_a	king_n	1,878	5	3.7398	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28302	A short history of the last Parliament	Blackmore, Richard, Sir, d. 1729.; Drake, James, 1667-1707.	1699 (1699)	Wing B3088; ESTC R23169	29,604	63

forbid we do hereby farther freely and unanimously oblige our selves to Unite Associate and stand by each other in revenging the same upon his Enemys and their Adherents and in supporting and defending the Succession of the Crown according to an Act made in the first Year of King William and Queen Mary Intituled an Act declaring the Rights and Libertys of the Subject and setling the Succession of the Crown They order'd at the same time a Bill to be brought in that when it should please God to afflict these Realms by the Death of his present Majesty the Parliament then in being should not be dissolv'd thereby till the next Heir of the Crown according to the late Act of Setlement should dissolve it And if there is no Parliament then in being the last preceding Parliament shall immediately convene and sit and it was done accordingly By this wise Act as the Parliament provided against that Confusion and Disorder that might happen by the Cessation of Parliaments and all Commissions on his Majesty's Decease so nothing could have been imagin'd more effectual for the Security of the King 's unvaluable Life against the implacable Malice and Violence of his Enemys seeing by this means all hopes of Escape and Impunity were cut off in case they should succeed in their hellish Attempt They likewise Address'd his Majesty to issue out his Royal Proclamation to Banish all Papists from the Citys of London and Westminster and ten Miles from the same according to the Laws made for that purpose and likewise that he would please to give Instructions to the Judges going the Circuits to put the Laws in Execution against Papists and Non-Jurors By these Proceedings and prudent Provisions for the King's Safety the Parliament equally express'd their unshaken Loyalty to his Majesty and their tender Care and Vigilance for the Happiness of the People it being as clear as Noon-day that had not his Majesty by the gracious Providence of Heaven been deliver'd from this Hellish Design the greatest Calamitys and Desolation must have overwhelm'd the Kingdom that ever befel a miserable People And 't is very observable and must be taken notice of for the Honour of this Parliament that amidst all their Zeal for securing his Majesty's Life on which all our Happiness depended they express'd that Lenity and Memorable Regard to the Libertys of the People that they pass'd no new and extraordinary Law for the Conviction of the Conspirators as Men in such amazing Dangers might have been provoked to do for the Preservation of the Government but they mercifully left them to stand or fall by the known Laws which were then in being And 't is very remarkable that Charnock who was the first Person try'd for this Conspiracy was the first too that had the Benefit of the Law that was beformention'd to be made this very Session to regulate Tryals in Cases of Treason There is but one single Instance that seems to contradict the universal Extent of this Observation and that is the Case of Sir Iohn Fenwick which happen'd in the Second Session of this Parliament yet neither in that Case was any new Law made for the Trial of the Criminal by the Judges in Inferiour Courts But the Parliament thought fit to make use of the Legislative Authority and to proceed aginst him by Bill of Attainder which no Body question'd their Power to do That Government would be defective in its Constitution and uncapable of defending it self that had not a Power lodg'd in it to reach a Criminal in an Extraordinary Case by an extraordinary Manner Neither could the Legislative Power be look'd on as under the same Restraints Limitations and Forms of Proceeding which the Judges who are entrusted only with the executive part of the Law are oblig'd to observe in the ordinary Courts of Justice The Questions therefore in this Case seem'd to be only these two Whether the Parliament had sufficient convincing Grounds to believe the Prisoner Guilty of the Treason he stood accus'd and in the second Place whether this was a Case of that extraordinary Nature and that Importance as required this uncommon way of proceeding by Bill of Attainder As to the first Question All the World as well as the Parliament thought there was sufficient Reason to believe the Prisoner Guilty But whether the Evidence was in all Forms and Limitations such as the Law required for convicting the Prisoner before the Judges in Inferiour Courts was out of the Question the Parliament as was said before being not ty'd up in their Legislative Capacity to the Rules and Restraints by which the Inferiour Courts were oblig'd to Act. And as to the second Question Seeing the Prisoner had so notoriously prevaricated with the Government seeing there was such a vehement Presumption that one of the Evidences was drawn off and absented himself by the management of the Prisoner's Friends to elude the Law in the common course of it and seeing the Crime wherewith he was Charg'd was of no lower Nature than the dethroning of his Majesty and the Subversion of the Government the Parliament believ'd it a Case so Extraordinary and of such Consequence as sufficiently warranted this uncommon tho' not unexampled way of Proceeding These were the chief Transactions of this Parliament in their First Session those of the Second come now to be related The great Deficiencys of the Funds settled by Parliament for the Service of the Year Ninety Six and particularly the unhappy Project of the Land-Bank proving wholly Abortive and not producing one Penny of above two Millions and a half with which it was charg'd were likely to have prov'd fatal to our Affairs the following Summer This Disappointment involv'd the King in so many great Difficulties abroad as well as at Home that no clearer Demonstration could be given of his Majesty's Wise Conduct or of the Fidelity and Affection of his Army than his finishing this Campaign with so little disadvantage His Majestys more discerning Friends could not but tremble to think on the hard Circumstances our Army was in and how dangerous the Issue was like to prove while the Enemys of the Government were all overjoy'd at the hopeful Prospect of our suddain Ruin But to their great Mortification his Majesty whose Spirit was never broken by the greatest Difficulty who never wanted Presence of Mind in the most surprizing and pinching Exigencys by the assistance of Divine Providence weather'd this Storm and having put his Army into Quarters return'd in Safety to meet his Parliament The Parliament came together the twentieth day of October and after they had in a Loyal and most affectionate Address assur'd His Majesty that tho they had born so many years the great Burden of the present War yet they were most stedfastly resolv'd never to desert his Interests or be wanting to their Country till by His Majesty's Arms they should obtain a safe and honourable Peace They enter'd with great Alacrity upon the Business that lay before them

and the Restoration of the late King That is they were for all the means that would certainly bring about the End but not for the End it self However under this plausible pretence of declaring against great Taxes and by other popular Oppositions they thought to recommend themselves to their Country as great Patriots tho' at the same time the greatest Enemys of the Government had in this respect as good a Title to the favour of the People whom they would gladly have deliver'd from their Taxes and thereby have eas'd them of the means of their Preservation The Proceedings of these Men were of all others the most absurd and unaccountable and the opposition they made seem'd to be the effect of some strange Infatuation The best Apology that can be made for 'em is that they were guided by a false Notion of Popularity and suppos'd that the Character of a Patriot was without distinction of Times or Persons to be ever against the Court and in all Cases whatsoever Notwithstanding these Men could not but be sensible that the Preservation of their Religion Laws and Libertys was inseparably interwoven with that of the Government that the Face of Affairs was so far alter'd by the late happy Revolution that the Interest of their Country was plainly the same with that of the Court which appear'd as well by the opposition that was made to it by all those whom these Men themselves ever look'd upon as the greatest Promoters of Popery and Arbitrary Power as by the Principles of Liberty by which the Government was brought about and on which it must always stand and notwithstanding this was a Government of their own seeking and than which they could never expect any other more favourable to them either in their Civil or Religious Interests notwithstanding all this such a satisfaction it was to thwart a Court such a pleasure to express a private Resentment and by the same act to be thought Popular that these Men to the admiration of all and with the secret Derision of their new Friends endeavour'd what they could to make the Government uneasy Moreover at this time another Difficulty lay heavy upon the Nation Our Current Coin had many years before began to be Clip'd a mischief which of late had been secretly carry'd on and promoted by the Enemys of the Government and the dangerous Consequences of it not being heeded or wilfully neglected and therefore no remedy being apply'd our Mony wgs now become so far diminish'd and debas'd that the Nation suffer'd unspeakably by it both in carrying on the War as well as our Commerce The cure of this Evil could no longer be delay'd without apparent and inevitable Ruin The Adherents to the late King and the disaffected to This observ'd it with unconceivable Joy They were very confident the Government must unavoidably split on this Rock and that this single mischief was enough to sink it And tho the Friends of the Government and their Country I call them so because the Interest of both are now so inseparably united that 't is impossible to be one without being the other were fully convinc'd that this Grievance ought to be redress'd yet how to effect it in such a Conjuncture without bringing the Nation into the utmost Confusion was enough to puzzle Men of the deepest Reach and greatest Capacity Our Enemys abroad after the glorious Success of His Majesty's Arms the last Campaign in Flanders grew very diffidenr of the Issue of the War After this Blow which wounded them in so sensible and tender a part they express'd by their Behaviour and Language how much their hopes of subduing us by Force were abated they could not but foresee that if His Majesty could appear in the Field the next Summer in the same Circumstances as he did the last it would be very hard if not impossible for them to oppose his Arms. To prevent this they had two things to wish and promote one was to Embroil our Affairs by creating Mutinys at home the other to ruin our Credit and thereby disable us from carrying on the War abroad The first they hoped would be effected by the ill State of our Coin for to neglect that Disease or to attempt its Cure they judg'd would alike produce such intestine Disorders as would prove our Destruction And as to our Credit they judg'd that if by any means That of the Bank of England could be destroy'd which was then the great Support of the Nation and was by Experience found to be so the following Summer when it contributed so much to the Support of our Army at a time when the Bank it self labour'd under the greatest Streights it would be impossible for us to maintain our Army abroad and for this reason they engag'd their Friends in England to employ themselves with the utmost Diligence to aggravate the Inconveniencys of not recoining our Mony if that should be neglected or to Embarrass and Entangle as much as they were able the methods of recoining it in case that should be agreed on and thereby make it grievous and insupportable and in case any Miracle should happen that this great Business should be accomplish'd without the Confusion that was expected to follow they were instructed to leave no Stone unturn'd whereby they might hope to destroy the Publick Credit and particularly that Branch of it that remain'd most entire the Bank of England If either of these Designs and much more if both succeeded they were well satisfy'd it would be impossible for the King to appear in Flanders the next Spring in that Formidable manner he did the year before In this posture our Affairs stood and indeed this Business of the Coin was such a complicated and almost inextricable a mischief that notwithstanding this Parliament as will appear in the sequel of this History appear'd a most Wise Assembly and did Wonders for the Preservation of the Government and their Country yet it may be perhaps allow'd that some unfitting and unwary Steps were made when they first enter'd upon so delicate and intricate an Affair and indeed the Novelty as well as the Nicety of it was such that it was their Honour they made no more if indeed they made any It is not certain that if according to some Resolutions the Silver Mony had been all call'd in at once and then paid out as fast as recoin'd according to the respective Appropriation we should not have run into the greatest Confusions for 't is not easy to tell how the smaller Necessities of Life and Commerce among the People could have been maintain'd had the Mony been call'd in all at once or how the New Mony should have freely Circulated had it been all paid out as appropriated for it seems that the monied Usurers and the Goldsmiths must of necessity have receiv'd the far greatest part who were not likely to part with it without great Advantage And if these had been the Consequences 't is plain the Nation could by