expectation to have run the least hazard through their defaults This Parliament after some Adjourment by reason of his Majesties unavoidable occasions interposing being assembled on the Eightéenth day of June It is true that his Commons in Parliament taking into their due and serious Consideration the manifold Occasions which at his first entry did press his Majesty and his most important Affairs which both at home and abroad were then in action did with great readiness and alacrity as a pledge of their most bounden duty and thankfulness and as the first fruits of the most dutiful affections of his loving and loyal Subjects devoted to his service present his Majesty with the frée and cheerful gift of two entire Subsidies which their gift and much more the freeness and heartiness expressed in the giving thereof his Majesty did thankfully and lovingly accept But when he had more narrowly entred into the consideration of his great affairs wherein he was imbarqued and from which he could not without much dishonor and disadvantage withdraw his hand he found that this sum of money was much short of that which of necessity must be presently expended for the setting forward of those great Actions which by advice of his Council he had undertaken and were that Summer to be pursued This his Majesty imparted to his Commons house of Parliament but before the same could receive that debate and due consideration which was fit the fearful Uisitation of the Plague in and about the Cities of London and Westminster where the Lords and the principal Gentlemen of quality of his whole Kingdom were for the time of this their service lodged and abiding did so much increase that his Majesty without extreme peril to the lives of his good Subjects which were dear unto him could not continue the Parliament any longer in that place His Majesty therefore on the eleventh day of July then following adjourned the Parliament from Westminster until the first day of August then following at the City of Oxford And his Highness was so careful to accommodate his Lords and Commons there that as he made choice of that place being then the fréest of all others from the danger of that grievous Sickness so he there fitted the Parliament-men with all things convenient for their entertainment And his Majesty himself being in his own heart sincere and frée from all Ends upon his people which the Searcher of hearts best knoweth he little expected that any misconstruction of his actions would have béen made as he there found But when the Parliament had béen a while assembled and his Majesties affairs opened unto them and a further Supply desired as necessity required he found them so slow and so full of delays and diversions in their Resolutions that before any thing could be determined the fearful Contagion daily increased and was dispersed into all the parts of this Kingdom and came home even to their doors where they assembled His Majesty therefore rather preferred the safety of his people from that present and visible danger then the providing for that which was more remot◠but no less dangerous to the State of this Kingdom and of the affairs of that part of Christendom which then were and yet are in friendship and alliance with his Majesty And thereupon his Majesty not being then able to discern when it might please God to stay his hand of Uisitation nor what place might be more secure then other at a time convenient for their re-assembling his Majesty dissolved that Parliament That Parliament being now ended his Majesty did not therewith cast off his Royal care of his great and important affairs but by the advice of his Privy-Council and of his Council of War he continued his preparations and former resolutions And therein not only expended those monies which by the two Subsidies aforesaid were given unto him for his own private use whereof he had too much occasion as he found the state of his Exchequer at his first entrance but added much more of his own as by his credit and the credit of some of his servants he was able to compass the same At last by much disadvantage by the retarding of provisions and uncertainty of the means his Navy was prepared and set to Sea and the Designs unto which they were sent and specially directed were so probable and so well advised that had they not miscarried in the execution His Majesty is well assured they would have given good satisfaction not only to his own people but to all the world that they were not lightly or unadvisedly undertaken and pursued But it pleased God who is the Lord of Hosts and unto whose providence and good pleasure his Majesty doth and shall submit himself and all his endeavors not to give that success which was desired And yet were those Attempts not altogether so fruitless as the envy of the Times hath apprehended the Enemy receiving thereby no small loss nor our party no little advantage And it would much avail to further his Majesties great affairs and the Peace of Christendom which ought to be the true end of all Hostility were these first beginnings which are most subject to miscarry well seconded and pursued as his Majesty intended and as in the judgment of all men conversant in Actions of this nature were fit not to have béen neglected These things being thus acted and God of his infinite goodness beyond expectation asswaging the rage of the Pestilence and in a manner of a suddain restoring health and safety to the Cities of London and Westminster which are the fittest places for the resort of his Majesty his Lords and Commons to meet in Parliament His Majesty in the depth of winter no sooner descried the probability of a safe assembling of his people and in his princely wisdom and providence foresaw that if the opportunity of seasons should be omitted preparations both defensive and offensive could not be made in such sort as was requisite for their common safety but he advised and resolved of the summoning of a new Parliament where he might freely communicate the necessities of the State and by the Council and advice of the Lords and Commons in Parliament who are the Representative body of the whole Kingdom and the great Council of the Realm might proceed in these enterprises and be enabled thereunto which concern the common good safety and honor both of Prince and people and accordingly the sixth of February last a new Parliament was begun At the first meeting his Majesty did forbear to press them with any thing which might have the least appearance of his own interest but recommended unto them the care of making of good Laws which are the ordinary Subject for a Parliament His Majesty believing that they could not have suffered many days much less many weeks to have passed by before the apprehension and care of the common safety of this Kingdom and the true Religion professed and maintained therein and of
not what way they take to become masters of them sleighting the latter day of Judgment so they may rest secured from yielding any account in this World I have no more to say but that God would be pleased to incline our hearts to do that which may be most for his glory next for the Kings service then for the Countreys happiness To the Doubts which the King propounded the Parliament gave Solution by a Committee of both Houses in the Declaration following delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury with this Introduction May it please your Sacred Majesty WE are come to you again from your most Faithful Subjects and Loyal Servants the Lords and Commons assembled in this present Parliament And first We humbly let your Majesty know how much we hold our selves bounden unto Almighty God that he hath sent a King to rule and reign over us who is pleased in the greatest and weightiest causes to speak and to be spoken to in Parliament by his good and loving people which causeth the King to understand them over whom he beareth rule and them again to understand him And is a true Bond that tieth the heart of the Sovereign to the Subject and of the Subject reciprocally to their Leige Lord and Sovereign And next we rejoyce that your Majesty hath shewed your self sensible of the insincerity of the King of Spain with whom of late you have had a double Treaty and of the indignities offered by them unto your Blessed Son the Prince and to your Royal Daughter And that your Kingly heart is filled with an earnest desire to make Reparation to her noble Consort and her self of the Palatinate their Patrimonial Possession which is agréeable to Iustice and to all Laws of God and Man For the effecting whereof to certifie with what alacrity with what expediteness and uniformity of heart both your Houses of Parliament in the name of your whole Kingdom have borne themselves unto your Majesty with offer to give their Royal assistance we have digested it into writing lest by the verbal or vocal Delivery of any person it may miscarry or the expression of our zeal be weakned or diminished Which we humbly pray your Majesty to give leave to be read unto you Most Gratious Sovereign WE your Majesties most humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled Do first render to your Sacred Majesty our most dutiful thanks for that to our unspeakable comfort you have vouchsafed to express your self so well satisfied with our late Declaration made unto your Majesty of our general Resolution in pursuit of our humble Advice to assist your Majesty in a Parliamentary way with our persons and abilities And whereas your Majesty in your great Wisdom and Iudgment foreséeing that it will make a déeper Impression both in the Enemies of that Cause and in your Friends and Allies if they shall not onely hear of the chearful Offers but also sée the real Performance of your Subjects towards so great a Work Your Majesty was pleased to descend to a particular Proposition for the Advancing of this great business We therefore in all humbleness most ready and willing to give your Majesty and the whole World an ample Testimony of our sincere and dutiful Intensions herein Upon mature Advice and Deliberation as well of the weight and importance of this great Affair as of the present Estate of this your Kingdom the Weal and Safety whereof is in our Iudgments apparently threatned if your Majesties Resolution for the dissolving of the Treaties now in question be longer deferred and that Provision for defence of your Realm and aid of your Friends and Allies be not seasonably made have with a chearful consent of all the Commons no one Dissenting and with a full and chearful Consent of the Lords resolved That upon your Maiesties Publick Declaration for the Dissolution and utter Discharge of both the said Treaties of the Marriage and of the Palatinate in pursuit of our Advice therein and towards the support of that War which is likely to ensue and more particularly for those Four Points proposed by your Majesty namely For the Defence of this your Realm the securing of Ireland the assistance of your Neighbors the States of the United Provinces and other your Majesties Friends and Allies and for the setting forth of your Royal Navy We will grant for the present the greatest Aid which ever was given in Parliament That is to say Thrée intire Subsidies and thrée Fiftéens to be all paid within the compass of one whole year after your Majesty shall be pleased to make the said Declaration the Money to be paid into the hands and expended by the direction of such Committées or Commissioners as hereafter shall be agréed upon at this present Session of Parliament And we most humbly beséech your Majesty to accept of these first-fruits of our hearty Oblation dedicated to that work which we infinitely desire may prosper and be advanced And for the future to rest confidently assured That we your loyal and loving Subjects will never fail in a Parliamentary way to assist your Majesty in so Royal a design wherein your own honor and the honor of your most Noble Son the Prince the antient renown of this Nation the welfare and very subsistence of your Noble and onely Daughter and her Consort and their Posterity the safety of your own Kingdom and People and the prosperity of your Neighbors and Allies are so déeply engaged Herunto his Majesty replied My Lords and Gentlemen all I Have nothing to say to the Preamble of my Lord of Canterbury but that he intimated something in it which I cannot allow of For whereas he said I have shewed my self sensible of the insincerity of those with whom I had lately to deal and of the indignity offered to my Children In this you must give me leave to tell you that I have not expressed my self to be either sensible or insensible of the good or bad dealing It was Buckinghams Relation to you which touched upon it by it you must not bar me nor make Iupiter speak that which Iupiter speaks not For when I speak any such thing I will speak it with that reason and back it with that power which becomes a King As for the matter of the Declaration unto my Demands which you have couched in that Paper which I now heard read unto me I confess it is without example that any King hath had such an offer And with your favor I need fear nothing in this World having so much the hearts of my people For the large offer of assistance I hold it to be more then Millions of Subsidies and indeed it is an ample reward for the trust and freedom which I have used with you But my Lords and Gentlemen you must give me leave on the one side to consider the possibility of the action For in this case I must do as a man that maketh a
and Doctor Stuart to inform him of the nature of this cause and the scandal that might arise thereupon and to certifie what the same may amount unto whither to an irregularity or otherwise and what means may be found for redress However this consultation was managed the Archbishop was not deprived but a Plant was growing up that over-topped him whilst he lived and after his decease obtained the Primacy Doctor Laud who was first chosen to the Bishoprick of St. Davids by the Mediation of the Lord Keeper Williams and was consecrated by the Bishops of London Worcester Chichester Ely Landaff and Oxon the Archbishop in the mean time was not thought irregular for the Casual Homicide This Bishop Doctor Laud was looked upon in those times as an Arminian and a fierce opposer of Puritans and while he lived in Oxford suspected to incline to Popish Tenents as may appear by his Letter of Complaint sent to his Patron Doctor Neal then Bishop of Lincoln against a Sermon preached by Robert Abbot Doctor of the Chair in Oxford in which Letter he inclosed this amongst other Passages of the Doctors Sermon viz. That men under pretence of Truth and Preaching against the Puritans strike at the heart and root of Faith and Religion now established among us That this Preaching against the Puritans was but the practice of Parsons and Campions counsel when they came into England to seduce yong Students And when many of them were afraid to lose their places if they should professedly be thus the counsel they then gave them was That they should speak freely against the Puritans and that should suffice And they cannot intend that they are accounted Papists because they speak against the Puritans But because they indeed are Papists they speak nothing against them If they do at any time speak against the Papists they do beat a little upon the Bush and that softly too for fear of troubling or disquieting the Birds that are in it I Came time enough saith Mr. Laud to be at the rehearsal of this Sermon upon much perswasion where I was fain to sit patiently and hear my self abused almost an hour together being pointed at as I sate For this present abuse I would have taken no notice of it but that the whole University apply it to me and my own Friends tell me I shall sink my credit if I answer not Dr. Abbot in his own Nevertheless in a business of this kinde I will not be swayed from a patient course onely I desire your Lordship to vouchsafe me some direction what to do c. The Arminian Sect opposed by King Iames and by his special concurrence lately broken in the Netherlands by the beheading of Barnevalt the cheif of them began in his latter times to spring up in England and was countenanced by the said Prelate who had newly obtained the opinion and favor of the Marquess of Buckingham The Kings main design then not suffering the suppressing of that way which in common judgment was inclined to Popery or he thought to recover all his losses and to salve all misfortunes by the Spanish Match And for this cause he released multitudes of Priests and Popish Recusants then imprisoned which the Spaniards professed to be a great demonstration of the Kings sincere affection to confirm the correspondence and amity between the Crowns And that this enlargement might be the more expedite and less chargeable the King gave directions to the Lord Keeper Williams Bishop of Lincoln THat whereas he had formerly given order for the release of Recusants by removing them from the several Goals of this Kingdom to be bailed before the Justices of his Bench And finding that this course will be troublesome to the poorer sort of them he doth now require that Writs be directed to the Justices of Assizes enabling and requiring them to enlarge such Recusants as they shall finde in their several Goals upon such conditions and securities as were required by the Judges of his Bench. Accordingly the Writs were issued forth under the Great Seal and the Lord Keeper wrote to the Judges on this manner THat the King having upon deep Reasons of State and in expectation of the like correspondence from Forein Princes to the Professors of our Religion resolved to grant some Grace to the imprisoned Papists had commanded him to pass some Writs under the Broad Seal for that purpose Wherefore it is his Majesties pleasure that they make no niceness or difficulty to extend his Princely favor to all such as they shall finde prisoners in the Gaols of their Circuits for any Church Recusancy or refusing the Oath of Supremacy or dispersing of Popish Books or any other point of Recusancy that shall concern Religion onely and not matters of State But a general offence was taken at this Indulgence to Papists and the Lord Keepers Letter to the Judges which how the Keeper endevored to renounce may be seen in his Letter written to a Person of Honor. AS the Sun in the Firmament appears unto us no bigger then a Platter and the Stars are but as so many Nails in the Pummel of a Saddle because of the enlargement and disproportion between our eye and the object So is there such an unmeasurable distance between the deep resolution of a Prince and the shallow apprehensions of common and ordinary people That as they will ever be judging and censuring so they must needs be obnoxious to error and mistaking The King is now a most Zealous Intercessor for some case and refreshment to all the Protestants in Europe which were unreasonable if he did now execute the rigor of his Laws against the Roman Catholicks Our Viperous Countrymen the English Iesuites in France had many moneths before this favor granted invited the French King by writing a malicious Book to put all the Statutes in execution against the Protestants in those parts which were Enacted in England against the Papists and as they falsly informed severely executed Besides these Papists are no otherwise out of prison then with their shackles about their heels sufficient Sureties and good Recognizances to present themselves at the next Assizes and their own demeanor and the success of his Majesties Negotiations must determine whether they shall continue in this Grace But to conclude from the favor done to the English Papists that the King savors the Romish Religion is a composition of Folly and Malice little deserved by a gratious Prince who by Word Writing Exercise of Religion and Acts of Parliament hath demonstrated himself so resolved a Protestant As for his own Letter to the Iudges he said it recited onely four kindes of Recusancy capable of the Kings clemency not so much to include them as to exclude many other Crimes bearing the name of Recusancy as using the Function of a Romish Priest seducing the Kings Leige-people from the established Religion aspersing the King Church or State or the present Government All which Offences being
Letter quickned the Pope whereupon there ensued a Congregation of Cardinals to determine the matter and afterwards the Popes assent And then the Court of Spain declared such an intire Agreement for the Alliance with England that King Iames was satisfied and could expect no further difficulty But his intelligence from Bruxels and all other parts of the World did quickly cool and almost quench his hopes Sir Richard Weston was a man approved by Gondomar who commended the Kings wisdom in the Election of so fit a Minister for the Treaty at Bruxels yet the man so well disposed and suited to the Kings designs wrote desperate Letters of the Infanta's cold and unworthy manner of Treating in that important business of restoring the Palsgrave Whilest the King of Englands proceedings were so just and clear the Count Palatine was retired to Sedan and there sojourned with his Uncle the Duke of Bouillon and his Partizans Duke Christian of Brunswick and Count Mansfield the pretended obstacles of the Treaty were removed and had taken another course Mansfield went for Holland where the States intended to use him for the raising of the siege of Bergen by cutting off the Convoys between Antwerp and the Spanish Leagure And King Iames had lately offered That in case the forces of Mansfield and Brunswick would not rest but still perturb the Treaty he would joyn with the Emperor and the Arch-Dutchess to quiet them And the English Companies in the Palatinate being penned up in Garrisons could not cause disturbance In the mean while that miserable Countrey was burnt and sacked in the sight of the English Ambassador And now the Imperial and Bavarian forces fall to the besieging of Heidelburgh When the Ambassador at Bruxels complained of these proceedings he received frivolous Answers mixed with Recriminations All that Weston obtained was onely Letters of intreaty from the Infanta to the Emperors Generals to proceed no further though she had before acknowledged a full power from the Emperor to conclude the desired Cessation But they pretended that they would restore all when all was taken For this cause Sir Richard Weston acquainted the Marquess of Buckingham that he could not discern how the weak Hopes given him at Bruxels could agree with those strong Assurances given by the Lord Digby from the Court of Spain Moreover to protract the Palsgraves business the Emperor takes occasion to appoint a Dyet at Ratisbone contrary to his own promise as himself acknowledged Mr. Gage returned from Rome with no better fruit of his Agency for the Dispensation cannot pass till the King give satisfaction to a number of new Conditions which before were never dreamed of and had this mischief in them to bring the King in jealousie with the greatest part of his Subjects A peece of Juggling was observed in this Negotiation For some points of larger Indulgence whereunto King Iames had yielded were concealed from the Pope by the Ministers of the King of Spain The Court then devised to put a good face upon an ill Game and good Sawce to an unsavory Dish For all the World expecting that Gage should bring the Dispensation at his first arival they made him give out That it was passed in Rome and sent from thence to Spain But the King made a close pursuit and resolved they should not escape him The Popes Demands superadded to the Articles of Marriage were taken in hand and Resolutions were given upon them in manner following To the Demand of a Publick Church in London besides a Domestick Chappel assigned to the Infanta and her Family the King made Reply That it was more then was assumed by himself or his Son the Prince That the Chappel allowed was not a private Oratory but in effect a Church where the World might take notice of the Religion which the Infanta professed in publick manner To another Demand That the Superior Minister having Ecclesiastical Authority be in Ordine Episcopali he answered That he would leave it to the King of Spain to appoint as he shall judge expedient But whereas the Pope required That the Ecclesiasticks be subject to no Laws but of their own Ecclesiastical Superiors his answer was That exemption seemed strange as not allowed in all States and Countreys that were of the Roman Religion As for the Education of the Children under the Mothers government Let the King of Spain judge indifferently said the King how unfit it were for us to declare to the World That we engaged our self to permit our Grand-children to be brought up unto years of Marriage in a Religion which we profess not and which is not publickly professed in our Kingdom And further then we have already assented in general to leave the Children under the Mothers tuition for a longer or shorter time according to their constitution and health which may possibly reach unto the time required by the Pope We can by no means condiscend unless the King of Spain think it fit to limit the time to a certainty And whereas the Pope expected some larger offers for the general good of the Roman Church the King shewed That the Articles of Religion agreed upon between himself and the late King of Spain were accounted so satisfactory in the judgment of the Learnedst and greatest Clergy of Spain That they declared their opinion that upon the offer of such Conditions the Pope ought not to withhold the Dispensation And he said further That the Pope was satisfied that he of his own Authority could not grant a general Liberty of exercising the Roman Religion And what is it that they would have For setting that aside he had in a manner done already all that was desired as all the Roman Catholicks have found out of his gratious Clemency towards them and will no doubt acknowledge This Resolution the King sent into Spain for he would not seem to Treat with Rome and therewith this Letter to the Lord Digby now made Earl of Bristol Right Trusty and Welbeloved OUr pleasure is that immediately you crave Audience of that King and represent unto him the merit that we may justly chalenge to our self for our sincere proceedings with the Emperor and him Notwithstanding the many Invitations and Temptations we have had to engage our self on our Son in Laws part That we have both from the Emperor and from him hopes given us from time to time of extraordinary respect howsoever our Son in Law had deserved which we have attended and expected even to the last with much patience and in despight as it were of all opposition which might shake our Resolution in that behalf If now when all impediments are removed and the way is so prepared as that the Emperor may give an end unto the War and make some present Demonstration of his respect towards us in leaving us the honor of holding those poor places which yet remain quietly and peaceably until the general Accommodation the same shall nevertheless be violently taken
from us What can we look for if the whole shall be in his hands and possession who amuzing us with a Treaty of Cessation and protracting it industriously as we have reason to believe doth in the mean time seize himself of the whole Countrey Which being done our Ambassador shall return with scorn and we remain in dishonor And therefore as we have heretofore sundry times promised in testimony of the sincerity of our proceedings and of our great desire to preserve the Amity inviolable between us and the whole House of Austria that in case our Son in Law would not be governed by us that then we would not onely forsake him but take part and joyn our forces with the Emperors against him So you may fairly represent unto that King That in like manner we have reason to expect the same measure from him That upon the Emperors aversness to a Cessation and Accommodation he will likewise actually assist us for the recovery of the Palatinate and Electoral Dignity to our Son in Law as it hath been often times intimated from Spain Yet our meaning is to carry all things fair with that King and not to give him any cause of distrust or jealousie if you perceive that they intend to go really and roundly on with the Match Wherein nevertheless we must tell you That we have no great cause to be well-pleased with the diligencies used on that part when we observe that after so long an expectance of the Dispensation upon which the whole business as they will have it depends there is nothing yet returned but Queres and Objections We have thought fit to let you know how far we are pleased to enlarge our self concerning those points demanded by the Pope And further then that since we cannot go without much prejudice inconvenience and dishonor to our self and our Son we hope and expect that the King of Spain will bring it instantly to an issue without further delay which you are to press with all diligence and earnestness But if respite of time be earnestly demanded and that you perceive it not possible for them to resolve until an answer come from Rome We then think it fit that you give them two moneths time after your Audience that we may understand that Kings final Resolutions before Christmas next at the furthest Likewise the Conde Gondomar who was lately called home is roused by a Letter from England on this manner HEre is a King and a Prince and a faithful Friend and Servant Buckingham besides a number of other Friends to whom every day seems a year till the Match be accomplished all things are prepared on our parts Priests and Recusants are at liberty and the Prisons are filled with zealous Ministers Orders are published for the Universities and Pulpits that none shall hereafter be medling but that all Preach Christ crucified His Majesty never looked to the rising or falling hopes of his Son in Laws fortunes but kept in the same course that seems most agreeable to Honor and Justice and the Peace of Christendom And Gondomar did beseech the King to suffer himself once to be deceived by Spain and promised when the Match was first moved and the King perswaded to break with France That he should be prest to nothing but what might stand with Conscience and Honor and the love of his people And whereas the Pope would know what Bonum Publicum will be granted We remit it to your Conscience whither the favors daily granted to Catholicks which the King resolves to continue if not to increase be not a real publick good considering if the Match break off his Majesty will be importunately urged by his people to whose assistance he must needs have recourse to give life and execution to all Penal Laws now hanging over the heads of Catholicks According to the Kings direction the Earl of Bristol presented a Memorial to the King of Spain and from him and his Ministers received this return That for the accomplishing of the Match on their part there should not one day be lost for the dispatch thereof imported them no less then the King of Great Britain And for the Palatinate they will seek his intire satisfaction and they refer it to his own just judgment whether their forces were called out of the Palatinate with an evil intention or meerly for the defence of Flanders which otherwise had been put in great hazard by Count Mansfield That the besieging of Heidelburgh was no way by their consent or knowledge but was generally disapproved by them And if it should be taken and the Emperor refuse to restore it or to condiscend to such Accommodation as should be adjudged reasonable the King of Great Britain shall be infallibly assisted with the Arms of Spain for the restoring of the Palatine And as concerning the Match Bristol seemed so confident as to declare to the King his Master That he should not willingly give his Majesty hope upon uncertain grounds so he would not conceal what the Spanish Court professed which was to give his Majesty both real and speedy satisfaction And he affirmed If they intended it not they were falser then all the Devils in Hell for deeper Oaths and Protestations of Sincerity could not be made But in the mean while the Town and Castle of Heidelburgh were taken and the English Companies put to the Sword and Sir Edward Herbert the Governor was slain after he had broken four Pikes in charging the Enemy The besieging of Manheim and the blocking of Frankendale followed the loss of Heidelburgh King Iames provoked by the continual progress of these Indignities was impatient of staying for a Reply from Spain to his former Letters but seconded those Resolutions with a vehement new dispatch the Third of October in a peremptory stile as it well became him Commanding the Earl of Bristol to let that King understand how sensible he was of the Emperors proceedings towards him and withal not a little troubled to see that the Infanta at Bruxels having an absolute Commission from the Emperor to conclude a Cessation and Suspension of Arms should now at last when all Objections were answered and the former solely pretended Obstacles removed not onely delay the Conclusion of the Treaty but refuse to lay her Commands upon the Emperors Generals for abstaining from the Garisons during the Treaty upon a pretext of want of Authority So as for the avoiding of further dishonor he hath been forced to recal both his Ambassadors as well the Chancellor of his Exchequer from Bruxels as also the Lord Chichester whom he intended to have sent unto the Emperor to the Dyet at Ratisbone He further enjoyned his Ambassador That having delivered his sense of things he should demand of the King of Spain a promise under his Hand and Seal that the Town and Castle of Heidelburgh shall be delivered to the Palatine within seventy days after the Audience and the like for Manheim and
from others but the Graces vouchsafed to them from himself and they were now confident that such potent intercessions having been made with him and all civil jealousies removed he will not onely command a real performance of what is promised but according to his own Loyal heart will enlarge the benefit Furthermore he assured the King That such difficulties as were already spent and were yet to come have been laid hold on by the Cardinals neither to frustrate nor prolong this Treaty but ouâ— of an opinion that otherwise they could not secure their Consciences proceed upon a just and valuable ground and satisfie the judgments of such discreet persons as may in times to come understand the Passages of this great Business So the long solicited Dispensation came from Pope Gregory the Fifteenth to the Court of Spain But whereas it was expected full and absolute it came with a Clog a Clause thrust in of purpose to retard the proceedings That whereas there were certain Articles condiscended unto by the King of England in favor of the Roman Catholicks in his Dominions Caution should be given for the performance of those Concessions The King answered That he could give no other Caution then his own and the Princes Oath exemplified under the Great Seal of England But this would not satisfie unless some Sovereign Catholick Prince would stand engaged for them Hereupon the frame of things was like to fall a sunder and a rumor went that the Prince intended to get away covertly Amidst the heats of this dispute Olivares whither in a humor or good earnest propounded three ways of accomodation The first was That Prince Charls should become Catholick The second That the Infanta should be delivered to him upon the former security without further condition The third was to binde him as fast as they could and not trust him with any thing And of these three ways he said The two former were good but the last was a bad one At length the King of Spain proffered to engage himself by Oath on the behalf of the King and Prince for the performance of the Articles Provided That he first consult with his Ghostly Fathers whither he might do it with a safe Conscience This was a fair contrivance whereby that King might not onely oblige our King and Prince but lay the ground-plot of a fair pretence of War against England if the Roman Catholicks received not satisfaction in the enjoyment of the Freedom promised Besides he would form a party in these Dominions to a Dependance upon his Protection A Iuncto of Divines were called to determine upon the Case and they go very gravely and tediously to work and protract the time almost beyond the bounds of the Princes patience but they conclude at last Affirmatively And in case the King of England fail to execute what was stipulated the King of Spain was to vindicate his Oath and right himself by the Sword Then was the Match declared publickly and the Prince had frequent access to the Infanta yet always in a publick manner and in the Kings presence Whilest these things were forging in Spain there were not wanting such as warned the King and tendred safer Counsels The Archbishop of Canterbury was bold to press him close in this serious Letter May it please Your Majesty I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my silence I have neglected the duty of the place it hath pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in But now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my duty to your Majesty and therefore I beseech you freely to give me leave to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do with me what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you take into your consideration what your Act is what the consequence may be By your Act you labor to set up the most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How hateful it will be to God and grievous to your good Subjects the Professors of the Gospel That your Majesty who hath often disputed and learnedly written against those Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those wicked Doctrines which your Pen hath told the World and your Conscience tells your self are Superstitious Idolatrous and detestable And hereunto I adde what you have done in sending the Prince into Spain without consent of your Council the Privity and Approbation of your People And although you have a Charge and Interest in the Prince as Son of your Flesh yet have the people a greater as Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty are their Eyes fixed and welfare depends and so tenderly is his going apprehended as believe it however his return may be safe yet the drawers of him into this Action so dangerous to himself so desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestioned unpunished Besides this Toleration which you endeavor to set up by your Proclamation cannot be done without a Parliament unless your Majesty will let your Subjects see that you will take unto your self ability to throw down the Laws of your Land at your pleasure What dread consequence these things may draw afterward I beseech your Majesty to consider and above all lest by this Toleration and discountenancing of the true Profession of the Gospel wherewith God hath blessed us and this Kingdom hath so long flourished under it your Majesty do not draw upon this Kingdom in general and your self in particular Gods heavy wrath and indignation Thus in discharge of my duty towards God to your Majesty and the place of my Calling I have taken humble leave to deliver my Conscience Now Sir do what you please with me The King would not admit any Motion of drawing back but in going forward he would yield to all demands and was accordingly scrued up to the greatest height So at last the Difficulties in Rome and Spain were all surmounted and then these following Articles Stiled by the Cardinals Propositions for the right Augmentation and Weal of the Roman Catholick Religion were sworn unto by the King Prince and Privy Council I. THat the Marriage be made by Dispensation of the Pope but that to be procured by the endeavor of the King of Spain II. That the Marriage be once onely celebrated in Spain and ratified in England in form following In the Morning after the most Gratious Infanta hath ended her Devotions in the Chappel she and the most Excellent Prince Charls shall meet in the Kings Chappel or in some other Room of the Palace where it shall seem most expedient and there shall be read all the Procurations by vertue whereof the Marriage was celebrated in Spain and as well the most Excellent Prince as the most Excellent Infanta shall ratifie the said Marriage celebrated in Spain with all solemnity necessary for such an Act so
of the State and safety of them both I never had any end of mine own and that may be perceived and proved by the expence of mine own estate I am ashamed to speak it and it would become another mans tongue better then mine own My Journey into Spain was all at mine own charge my Journey into France was at my Masters charge my Journey into the Low-Countreys was all at mine own charge I am accused by common Fame to be the cause of the loss of the Narrow Seas and the damage there sustained That I can say is this Since the War begun with Spain I have always had Twelve Ships on the Coasts and allowance but for Four the rest my own care supplied And for the Office of Admiral when I came first to it I found the Navy weak not neglected by my Noble Predecessor for I cannot speak of him but with honor and I shall desire to go to my Grave with the honor he carried hence but by the not paying of moneys in time there were such defects his care could not prevent that if the War had then broken out there would have been found few Ships and those unserviceable I was first perswaded to take this Office by perswasion of Sir Robert Munseld and though I objected I was yong and unexperienced yet he said that by my favor with my Master I might do more good in procuring payment for that charge And because I was yong and unexperienced I took advice as I do in all things and am not ashamed of it I desired my Master to grant a Commission as it were over me I have found a great Debt the Ships defective and few in number the yearly charge of Fifty four thousand pounds which was brought to Thirty thousand pounds per annum we built every year two Ships and when so many were built as were requisite we brought it to Two and twenty thousand pounds per annum which comes not to my hands but goes into its proper streams and issues from the Officers to that purpose deputed Now if any can shew me a Project how to maintain War against Spain Flanders and the Turkish Pirates with less charge he shall do a great work and good service I have had sometimes Twenty sometimes Thirty Ships though sometime disastred by Tempest which disperst the Hollanders Ships and caused them to cut their Masts and forsake their Anchors There are now Twelve Ships victualled for two Moneths and though many Reports have been that they do not do their duty yet I have advertised them thereof from time to time and finde no such fault in them There are Thirty Ships more at Plimouth victualled for six Moneths and Ten more ready so soon as they may be victualled I have been so frugal of making use of the old remain that there is no need of Ammunition or other necessaries Besides all these there are Twenty Ships to come from the Low-Countreys so you have Twelve Twenty Thirty and Ten more which I think you have not heard of And therefore if any have blamed me I do not blame him but think he hath done well but when you know the truth and when all this shall appear I hope I shall stand right in your opinions Gentlemen It is no time to pick quarrels one with another we have enemies enough already and therefore more necessary to be well united at home Follow not examples at least not ill examples of Gondomar and Ynojosa who would have had my head when you thought me worthy of a salute Now though I confess there may be some Errors I will not justifie my self yet they are not such gross defects as the World would make them appear I desire they may be admitted Cum Nota. They are no Errors of Wilfulness nor of Corruption nor oppressing of the People nor Injustice but the contrary and then may I say for what good done by me do I suffer And now I might Answer more particulars but I have been long and so will forbear and will conclude if your Supply answer not your Promises and Engagements to my Master you will make this place which hath been in Peace when others were in War the Seat of War when others are in Peace Now Gentlemen You that were Antient Parliament-men when this Council was first given strive to make good your own Engagement for the Honor of your King and your own safety Let Religion in which I would be glad to be more watchful and industrious then any unite your hearts both at home and abroad and you that are yong men may in these active times gain honor and reputation which is almost sunk and gain the Antient Glory of your Predecessors And remember it is for restoring to her Inheritance the most viruous Lady I think in the World I have nothing more but to intreat your charitable opinion of me and my actions For the further vindicating of the Duke the Lord Conway stood up and said THat whereas divers jealousies have been raised in the House that the Moneys have been expended unusefully and without Council himself who was the onely Secretary and had the hand in guiding the business could best give an accompt of it When King Iames of glorious Memory at the Request of both Houses had broken both the Treaties he considered how to maintain the War for he saw that the King of Spain was awaked and that the Palatinate must be got by the Sword and that Spain would oppose it with all the power they could and computing the charges found the Subsidies granted too short for that it could not be done without an Army of Five and twenty thousand Foot and Five thousand Horse which would amount to Six hundred thousand pounds for the Armies yearly and Three hundred thousand pounds for the Navy but finding all his means short and as the Proverb is Not knowing of what Wood to make his Arrows to hit the Mark withal Count Mansfield stirred up by his own judgment came over and made overture That for Twenty thousand pounds a moneth he would raise an Army of Thirty thousand men and draw in the French King Denmark Sweden Venice Savoy the Cantons of the Switzers perhaps and some other German Princes and raise a War in Alsatia of great consequence to make a Diversion Now about this time the Council of Austria resolved to call a Dyet and exclude the Count Palatine and put in a Popish Elector and for that end offered a general Peace in Germany and so left not a crevice to look into for assistance but if any of them should aid the Count Palatine he should be out of the Peace The King accepts Mansfields offer conditionally that he draw in the French King So Mansfield went over into France and the King by Advice of his Council sent Ambassadors into France Denmark Venice Savoy and Cantons of the Switzers from whom he received cold Answers for King Iames had stood so long on terms of
no man amongst the Thebans was to take upon him any Place of Government in the Commonwealth if that he were a Merchant unless there were ten years distance between And the reason is this Because Merchants are used to buying and selling It is their Trade and Art to to 〈◊〉 Money so that their fingers are accustomed to that which they cannot leave when they come to Places of Trust and Judicature Nay further in honor of the Merchants He is accounted the wisest Merchant that gains most so that if any such comes to Offices and Places of Trust he thinks it best to advance his profit Next to the Pagans the Popes a Generation full of Corruption yet they by their Bulls are full of Declamation against such And this is plain by a Bull of Pius Quintus who lays the Penalty of Confiscation of Goods of any that do for money acquire any Offices and condemns them by his Papal sentence to be great sinners So Gregory the Thirteenth condemns the like And now to come nearer home to come to that which will principally lead your Lordships which are the Judgments of your Ancestors in Parliament wherein it appears by the Statute of 5 H. 6. that the same Statute condemns the Seller and Receiver as well as the Buyer and Giver It further appears by the Preamble of that Statute that such offences were against the Law and they foresaw the Corruptions of those that came into those Places by those means and that it is a hinderance of sufficient and worthy men from those Places And also 2 3 E. 6. which was likewise cited in the Case of the Duke of Somerset by which he was to forfeit his Estate that one thing was for selling of Places in the Commonwealth for money And certainly with your Lordships favor it is most just and probable that they that profess themselves to be Patriots and shew by their actions that they aim at their own lucre and labor to hinder the distributing of Iustice it is most just and proper that those men should return back again to the Publick Treasury of the King and Kingdom what they have by their unsatisfied lucre gotten And so my Lords craving Pardon of you for my boldness confusion and distractions in going through this business I humbly leave my self to the judgments of your favors and charities and this Great man the Duke to your wise Censure and Justice Then was read the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles XI That he the said Duke hath within these ten years last past procured divers Titles of Honor to his Mother Brothers Kindred and Allies as the Title of Countess of Buckingham to his Mother while she was Sir Thomas Compton's wife the Title of Earl of A. to his younger Brother Christopher Villiers the Titles of Baron of M. P. Vicount F. and Earl of D. to his Sisters Husband Sir W. F. the Titles of Baron of S. and Vicount P. to Sir Iohn Villiers elder Brother unto the said Duke and divers more of the like kind to his Kindred and Allies whereby the Noble Barons of England so well deserving in themselves and in their Ancestors have been much prejudiced and the Crown disabled to reward extraordinary Vertues in future times with Honor while the small Estates of those for whom such unnecessary Advancement hath been procured ar◠apparently likely to be more and more burthensom unto the King notwithstanding such Annuities Pensions and Grants of Lands annexed to the Crown of great value which the said Duke hath procured for those his Kindred to support these their Dignities XII He the said Duke 〈◊〉 contented with the great Advancement formerly received from the late King of famous memory by his procurement and practice in the Fourteenth year of the said King for the support of the many Places Honors and Dignities conferred on him did obtain a grant of divers Manors Parcel of the Revenue of the Crown and of the Duchy of Lancaster to the yearly value of One thousand six hundred ninety seven pounds two shillings halfpenny farthing of the old Rent with all Woods Timber Trees and Advowson part whereof amounting to the sum of Seven hundred forty seven pounds thirteen shillings four pence was rated at Two and thirty thousand pounds but in truth of a far greater value And likewise in the Sixteenth year of the same Kings reign did procure divers other Manors annexed to the Crown of the yearly value at the old Rent of Twelve hundred pounds or thereabouts according as in a Schedule hereunto annexed appeareth In the Warrant for passing of which Lands he by his great favour procured divers unusual Clauses to be inserted viz. that no Perquisites of Courts should be valued and that all Bailiffs Fees should be reprised in the particulars upon which those Lands were rated whereby a president hath been introduced which all those who since that time have obtained any Lands from the Crown have pursued to the damage of his late Majesty and of our Soveraign Lord the King that now is to an exceeding great value And afterwards he surrendred to his said Majesty divers Mannors and Lands parcel of those Lands formerly granted unto him to the value of Seven hundred twenty three pounds eighteen shillings and two pence half-penny per annum in consideration of which surrender he procured divers other Lands of the said late King to be sold and contracted for by his own Servants and Agents and thereupon hath obtained grants of the same to pass from his late Majesty to several persons of this Kingdom and hath caused Tallies to be stricken for the money being the consideration mentioned in those Grants in the Receipt of the Exchequer as if any such monies had really come to his Majesties Coffers whereas the Duke or some other by his appointment hath indeed received the same sums and expended them upon his own occasions And notwithstanding the great and inestimable gain by him made by the sale of Offices Honors and by other Suits by him obtained from his Majesty and for the countenancing of divers Projects and other Courses burthensom to his Majesties Realms both of England and Ireland The said Duke hath likewise by his procurement and practise received into his hands and disbursed to his own use exceeding great sums that were the monies of the late King of famous memory as appeareth also in the said Schedule hereunto annexed And the better to colour his doings in that behalf hath obtained several Privy-Seals from his late Majesty and his Majesty that now is warranting the payment of great sums to persons by his named causing it to be recited in such Privy-seals as if those sums were directed for secret Services concerning the State which were notwithstanding disposed of to his own use and other Privy-seals by him have been procured for the discharge of those Persons without accompt and by the like fraud and practice under colour of free gifts from his Majesty he hath gotten into
his Covetousness and therefore their Lordships need not wonder if the Commons desire and that earnestly to be delivered from such a Grievance That this complaint and proceedings of theirs may appear to be suitable to the proceedings of their Predecessors in like Cases he alleaged three Presidents which he said were Presidents in kinde but not in proportion because there hath never been the like The first 10 Rich. 2. in the Complaint against Michael de la Pool Earl of Suffolk out of which he took Three Articles the first That being Chancellor and sworn to the Kings profit he had purchased divers Lands from the King more then he had deserved and at an under rate yet this was thought to be an offence against the State The second That he had bought of one Tydman an Annuity of Five hundred pound per annum which Grant was void by the Laws yet he being Chancellor procured the King to make it good by a new Grant upon Surrender of the old This was complained of in Parliament and there punished The third Whereas the Master of St. Anthonies being a Schismatick had forfeited his Possessions into the Kings hand this Earl took them in Farm at Twenty Marks a year converting the overplus which was One thousand Marks to his own profit which should have come to the King The next President II Rich. 2. in the Judgment against Robert de Vere of Oxford and others out of which he took two Articles the Fifth and the Seventh The Fifth was for taking Mannors and Lands annexed to the Crown whereby they themselves were inriched and the King made poor the Seventh was for intercepting the Subsidies granted for the defence of the Kingdom The third President is that of 28 Hen. 6. in the Parliament Roll out of the Complaint against William de la Pool Duke of Suffolk Article 29. That he being next and primest of Council to the King he had procured him to grant great Possessions to divers persons whereby the King was much impoverished the expence of his House unpaid Wages Wardrobe Castles Navy Debts unsatisfied and so by his subtile Council and unprofitable Labor the Revenues of the Crown and the Dutchy of Lancaster and other the Kings Inheritances so much diminished and the Commons of the Kingdom so extreamly charged that it was near to a final destruction The fourth was That the Kings Treasure was mischievously distributed to himself his friends and well-willers so that for lack of Money no Army nor Ordnance could be provided in time and because these great persons were not brought to judgment upon these Articles alone but for other misdemeanors he made this observation That ravening upon the Kings Estate is always accounted with other great faults that deserve judgment Then he said he had done with that which had been left to him and so he left the Duke to their Lordships Justice That as he had exceeded others in this Offence so he might not come behinde them in punishment And so he humbly desired their Lordships to be pleased to pardon his Delivery and to give a favorable censure of him Lastly The Thirteenth Article was read XIII Whereas especial care and order hath been taken by the Laws of the Realm to restrain and prevent the unskilful Administration of Physick whereby the health and life of men may be much endangered And whereas most especially the Royal Persons of the Kings of the Realm in whom we their Loyal Subjects humbly challenge a great interest are and always have been esteemed by us so sacred that nothing ought to be prepared for them or administred unto them in the way of Physick or Dyet in the times of their sickness without the consent and direction of some of their sworn Physitians Apothecaries or Surgeons And the boldness of such how near soever to them in place and favor who have forgotten their Duties so far as to presume to offer any thing unto them beyond their experience hath been always ranked in the number of high Offences and Misdemeanors And whereas the sworn Physitians of our late Soveraign Lord King Iames of Blessed memory attending on his Majesty in the moneth of March in the Two and twentieth year of his most glorious Raign in the times of his sickness being an Ague did in due and necessary care of and for the recovery of his health and preservation of his Person upon and after several mature Consultations in that behalf had and holden at several times in the same moneth resolve and give directions That nothing should be applied or given unto his Highness by way of Physick or Dyet during his said sickness but by and upon their general advice and consents and after good deliberation thereof first had more especially by their like care and upon like consultations did justly resolve and publickly give warning to and for all the Gentlemen and other Servants and Officers of his said late Majesties Bed-chamber That no Meat nor Drink whatsoever should be given unto him within two or three hours next before the usual time of and for the coming of his Fit in the said Ague nor during the continuance thereof nor afterwards until his cold Fit were past The said Duke of Buckingham being a sworn Servant of his said late Majesty of and in his Majesties said Bed-chamber contrary to his duty and the tender respect which he ought to have had of his Majesties most Sacred Person and after the Consultations Resolutions Directions and Warning aforesaid did nevertheless without any sufficient warrant in that behalf unduly cause and procure certain Plaisters and a certain Drink or Potion to be provided for the use of his said Majesty without the direction or privity of his said late Majesties Physitians not prepared by any of his Majesties sworn Apothecaries or Chirurgeons but compounded of several ingredients to them unknown Notwithstanding the same Plaisters or some Plaister like thereunto having been formerly administred unto his said Majesty did produce such ill effects as that some of the said sworn Physitians did altogether disallow thereof and utterly refused to meddle any further with his said Majesty until these Plaisters were removed as being hurtful and prejudicial to the health of his Majesty yet nevertheless the same Plaisters as also a Drink or Potion was provided by him the said Duke which he the said Duke by colour of some insufficient and slight pretences did upon Monday the One and twentieth day of March in the Two and twentieth year aforesaid when his Majesty by the judgment of his said Physitians was in the declination of his Disease cause and procure the said Plaisters to be applied to the Brest and Wrists of his said late Majesty And then also at and in his Majesties Fit of the said Ague the said Munday and at several times within two hours before the coming of the same Fit and before his Majesties then cold Fit was passed did deliver and cause to be delivered several quantities of the
they ought not to have righted themselves before Legal Complaint and a denial on our part and then by way of Reprisal and not by Imbargo So that the Duke doth humbly leave it to the consideration of your Lordships whether the harm which hath hapned to our Merchants hath not been more occasioned by the unseasonable justifying of the actions of the French which animated them to increase their injuries then by any act either of the Duke or any other To this Article which consisteth of two main Points the one of the Extorting Ten thousand pounds unjustly and without right from the East-India Company the other admitting the Duke had a right as Lord Admiral the compassing it by undue ways and abusing the Parliament to work his private ends the Duke giveth this Answer wherein a plain Narration of the Fact he hopeth will clear the Matters objected and in this he shall lay down no more then will fully appear upon Proof About the end of Michaelmas Term 1623. the Duke had information given him by a principal Member of their own Company that the Company had made a great advantage to themselves in the Seas of East-India and other parts of Asia and Africa by rich prizes gotten there forcibly from the Portugals and others and a large part thereof was due to his Majesty and to the Duke as Admiral by the Law for which neither of them had any satisfaction Whereupon directions were given for a legal prosecution in the Court of Admiralty and to proceed in such Matter as should be held fittest by the Advice of Council In the Moneths of December and Ianuary in that year divers Witnesses were examined in the Admiralty according to the ordinary course of that Court to instruct and furnish Informative Processes in this behalf After the Tenth of March 1623. an Action was commenced in the Court in the joynt names of his Majesty and the Admiral grounded upon the former proceeding this was prosecuted by the Kings Advocate and the demand at first was Fifteen thousand pounds The Action being thus framed in both their names by Advice of Council because it was doubtful in the judgment of the Council Whether it did more properly belong to the one or to the other or to both and the form of entring that Action being most usual in that Court on the Eight and twentieth of April 1624. the Judicial Agreement and Sentence passed thereupon in the Admiralty Court wherein the Companies consent and their own offer plainly appeareth so that for the second part of the right it were very hard to conclude that the Duke had no right contrary to the Companies own consent and the sentence of the Court grounded on their Agreement unless it shall fully appear That the Company was by strong hand inforced thereto and so the money extorted Therefore to clear that scruple That as the matter of the Suit was just or at least so probable as the Company willingly desired it for their peace so the manner was as just and honorable your Lordships are humbly entreated to observe these few true Circumstances The Suit in the Admiralty begun divers moneths before the first mention of it in Parliament and some moneths before the beginning of it in that Parliament it was prosecuted in a legal course and upon such grounds as will yet be maintained to be just The Composition made by the Company was not moved by the Duke but his late Majesty on the behalf of himself and of the Duke treated with divers Members of the Company about it and the Duke himself treated not at all with them The Company without any compulsion at all agreed to the Composition not that they were willing to give so much if they might have escaped for nothing but that they were willing to give so much rather then to hazard the success of the Suit And upon this Composition concluded by his Majesty the Company desired and obtained a Pardon for all that was objected against them The Motion in Parliament about the stay of the Companies Ships then ready prepared and furnished was not out of any respect to draw them the rather to give the Composition but really out of an apprehension that there might be need of their strength for the defence of the Realm at home and if so then all private respects must give way to the Publick Interest These Ships upon the importunity of the Merchants and Reasons given by them were suffered nevertheless to fall down to Tilbury by his late Majesties direction to speed their Voyage the better whilst they might be accommodated for this Voyage without prejudice to the publick safety they were discharged when there was an Accommodation propounded and allowed which was That they should forthwith prepare other Ships for the home service whilst those went over with their Voyage which they accordingly did That the Motion made in the Commons House was without the Dukes knowledge or privity That when there was a rumor that the Duke had drawn on the Composition by staying of the Ships which were then gone the Duke was so much offended thereat that he would have had the former Communication to have broken off and have proceeded in a legal course and he sent to the Company to that purpose but the Company gave him satisfaction That they had raised no such rumor nor would nor could avow any such thing and entreated him to rest satisfied with their publick acts to the contrary That after this their Ships being gone themselves careful of their future security solicited the dispatch of the Composition consulted with Councel upon the Instruments which passed about it and were at the charge thereof and the money was paid long after the sentence and the sentence given after the Ships were gone and no security given at all for the money but the sentence and when this mony was paid to the Duke the whole sum but Two hundred pounds thereof onely was borrowed by the King and employed by his own Officers for the service of the Navy If these things do upon proof appear to your Lordships as is assured they will he humbly submitteth it to your judgments how far verbal Affirmations or Informations extrajudicial shall move your judgments when Judicial Acts and those things which were acted and executed prove the contrary To this Article which is so mixt with Actions of great Princes as that he dareth not in his duty publish every passage thereof he cannot for the present make so particular an Answer as he may hath and will do to the rest of his Charge But he giveth this general Answer the truth whereof he humbly prayeth may rather appear to your Lordships by the Proofs then by any Discourse of his which in Reason of State will happily be conceived fit to be more privately handled That these Ships were lent to the French King at first without the Dukes Privitie That when he knew it he did that which belonged
Judgment and Execution of such Offenders as in time of War and some were executed by those Commissions Nevertheless the Soldiers brake out into great disorders they mastered the people disturbed the peace of Families and the Civil Government of the Land there were frequent Robberies Burglaries Rapes Rapines Murthers and Barbarous Cruelties Unto some places they were sent for a punishment and where ever they came there was a general outcry The High-ways were dangerous and the Markets unfrequented they were a terror to all and an undoing to many Divers Lords of the Council were appointed to repair into their several Countreys for the advancement of the Loan and were ordered to carry a List of the names as well of the Nobility and Privy Counsellors as of the Judges and Serjeants at Law that had subscribed to lend or sent in money for the Publick service to be a Patern and leading Example to the whole Nation But Sir Randolph Crew shewing no zeal for the advancing thereof was then removed from his place of Lord Chief Justice and Sir Nicholas Hide succeeded in his room A person who for his parts and abilities was thought worthy of that preferment yet nevertheless came to the same with a prejudice coming in the place of one so well beloved and so suddenly removed but more especially by reason the Duke appeared in his advancement to express a grateful Acknowledgment to that Knight for the care and pains he took in drawing the Dukes Answer to the Impeachment in Parliament against him This business of the Loan occasioned a Complaint to the Lords of the Council against the Bishop of Lincoln for publickly speaking words concerning it which was conceived to be against the King and Government Whereupon Sir Iohn Lamb and Dr. Sibthorpe informed the Council to this purpose That many were grieved to see the Bishop of Lincoln give place to unconformable Ministers when he turned his back to those that were conformable and how the Puritans ruled all with him and that divers Puritans in Leicestershire being Convented his Lordship would not admit proceedings to be had against them That Dr. Sibthorpe being desired to stay at Leicester this year as Commissary for the High Commission there the Countrey being much over-spread with Puritanism Sir Iohn Lamb and the said Doctor did inform the Bishop of Lincoln then at Bugden what Factious Puritans there were in the County who would not come up to the Table to receive the Communion kneeling and that there were unlawful Fasts and Meetings kept in the County and one Fast that held from nine in the Forenoon till eight at night and that Collections for moneys were made without Authority upon pretence for the Palatinate And therefore they desired leave from the Bishop to proceed against those Puritans Ex Officio The said Bishop replied He would not meddle against the Puritans for his part he expected not another Bishoprick they might complain of them if they would to the Council Table for he was under a Cloud already and he had the Duke of Buckingham for his Enemy and he would not draw the Puritans upon him for he was sure they would carry all things at last Besides he said the King in the First year of his Reign had given Answer to a Petition of the Lower House in favor of the Puritans It appeared also by the Information of others who were present at the Conference at Bugden That Sir Iohn Lamb and Dr. Sibthorpe did notwithstanding the Bishops aversness again press the Bishop to proceed against the Puritans in Leicestershire the Bishop then asked them what manner of people they were and of what condition For his part he knew of none To which Sir Iohn Lamb replied Dr. Sibthorpe being present That they seem to the World to be such as would not Swear Whore nor Drink but yet would Lie Cozen and Deceive That they would frequently hear two Sermons a day and repeat the same again too and afterwards pray and sometimes fast all day long Then the Bishop asked whether those places where those Puritans were did lend money freely upon the Collection of the Loan To which Sir Iohn Lamb and Dr. Sibthorpe replied That they did generally resolve to lend freely Then said the Bishop no man of discretion can say That that place is a place of Puritans For my part said the Bishop I am not satisfied to give way to proceedings against them At which Dr. Sibthorpe was much discontented and said He was troubled to see that the Church was no better regarded These Informations being transmitted to the Council Table were ordered to be sealed up and committed to the Custody of Mr. Trumbal one of the Clerks of the Council nevertheless the Bishop of Lincoln used such means as he got a Copy of them For which and some other matters an Information was afterwards preferred against him in the Star-Chamber Of which more at large when we come in our next Volume to treat of the great and high proceedings of that Court. Bishop Laud not long before this Passage with the Bishop of Lincoln was informed That the Bishop of Lincoln endeavored to be reconciled to the Duke and that night that he was so informed he dreamed That the Bishop of Lincoln came with Iron Chains but returned freed from them That he leaped upon a Horse departed and he could not overtake him The Interpretation of this Dream may not unfitly be thus applied His Chains might signifie the imprisonment of the Bishop of Lincoln afterwards in the Tower his returning free to his being set at Liberty again at the meeting of the Parliament his leaping on Hors-back and departing to his going into Wales and there commanding a Troop in the Parliaments Service and that Bishop Laud could not overtake him might portend that himself should become a Prisoner in the same place and be rendred thereby incapable to follow much less to overtake him At this time the King had Six thousand Foot Soldiers in the Service of the United Provinces under the Command of Sir Charls Morgan Sir Edward Herbert Sir Iohn Burlacy Sir Iames Leviston c. for the assistance of the States against the increasing power of Spinola Upon the present occasion these Forces were called off from the States services to joyn with the King of Denmark under the Command of Sir Charls Morgan against the common enemy the King of Spain and his adherents Some few moneths after One thousand three hundred foot more were embarqued at Hull to be transported by Captain Conisby to the Town of Stoad in Germany and there to be delivered over to the charge of the aforesaid Sir Charls Morgan General of the English Forces in the service of the King of Denmark a person of known Valor and fit for conduct of an Army But the Assessment of the general Loan did not pass currantly with the people for divers persons refused to subscribe their names
unuseful It is needful that you make a good and timely supply of Treasure without which all Councels will prove fruitless I might press many Reasons to this end but I will but name few First for his Majesties sake who requires it Great is the duty which we owe him by the Law of God great by the Law of Nature and our own Allegiance great for his own merit and the memory of his ever blessed Father I do but point at them But methinks our thoughts cannot but recoil on one Consideration touched by his Majesty which to me seems to sound like a Parliamentary Pact or Covenant A War was advised here Assistance professed yea and protested here I do but touch it I know you will deeply think on it and the more for the example the King hath set you His Lands his Plate his Jewels he hath not spared to supply the War What the People hath protested the King for his part hath willingly performed Secondly for the Cause sake It concerns us in Christian charity to tender the distresses of our Friends abroad It concerns us in Honor not to abandon them who have stood for us And if this come not close enough You shall find our Interest so woven and involved with theirs that the Cause is more ours then theirs If Religion be in peril we have the most flourishing and Orthodox Church If Honor be in question the Stories and Monuments in former Ages will shew that our Ancestors have left us as much as any Nation If Trade and Commerce be in danger we are Islanders it is our life All these at once lie at stake and so doth our safety and being Lastly in respect of the manner of his Majesties demand which is in Parliament the way that hath ever best pleased the Subjects of England And good cause for it For Aids granted in Parliament work good effects for the People they be commonly accompanied with wholsom Laws gracious Pardons and the like Besides just and good Kings finding the love of their People and the readiness of their Supplies may the better forbear the use of their Prerogatives and moderate the rigor of the Laws towards their Subjects This way as his Majesty hath told you he hath chosen not as the onely way but as the fittest Not as destitute of others but as most agreeable to the goodness of his own most gracious disposition and to the desire and weal of his people If this be deferred Necessity and the Sword of the Enemy make way to the others Remember his Majesties Admonition I say remember it Let me but add and observe Gods mercy towards this Land above all others The Torrent of War hath overwhelmed other Churches and Countries but God hath hitherto restrained it from us and still gives us warning of every approaching danger to save us from surprise And our gracious Soveraign in a true sense of it calls together his High Court of Parliament the lively Representation of the Wisdom Wealth and Power of the whole Kingdom to join together to repell those hostile Attempts which have distressed our Friends and Allies and threatned our selves And therefore it behoves all to apply their Thoughts unto Councel and Consultations worthy the greatness and wisdom of this Assembly To avoid discontents and divisions which may either distemper or delay And to attend that Unum Necessarium the Common Cause propounding for the scope and work of all the Debates the general good of the King and Kingdom whom God hath joined together with an indissoluble knot which none must attempt to cut or untie And let all by unity and good accord endeavour to pattern this Parliament by the best that have been that it may be a Pattern to future Parliaments and may infuse into Parliaments a kind of Multiplying power and faculty whereby they may be more frequent and the King our Soveraign may delight to sit on his Throne and from thence to distribute his graces and favors amongst his people His Majesty hath given you cause to be confident of this you have heard from his Royal mouth which nevertheless he hath given me express command to redouble If this Parliament by their dutiful and wise proceedings shall but give this occasion His Majesty will be ready not onely to manifest his gracious acceptation but to put out all memory of those distastes that have troubled former Parliaments I have but one thing more to adde and that is As your Consultations be serious so let them be speedy The Enemy is before-hand with us and â—lies on the wings of Success We may dally and play with the Hour-glass that is in our power but the Hour will not stay for us and an Opportunity once lost cannot be regained And therefore resolve of your Supplies that they may be timely and sufficient serving the Occasion Your Councel your Aid all is but lost if your Aid be either too little or too late And his Majesty is resolved that his Affairs cannot permit him to expect it over-long Sir Iohn Finch being chosen Speaker made this Address to his Majesty Wednesday the Nineteenth of March. Most Gracious Soveraign YOur obedient and loyal Subjects the Knights Citizens and Burgesses by your Royal Summons here assembled in obedience to your gracious direction according to their antient usage and priviledge have lately proceeded to the Choice of a Speaker And whether sequestring their better Judgments for your more weighty Affairs or to make it known that their Honor and Wisdom can take neither increase or diminution by the value or demerit of any one particular Member in what place soever serving them Omitting others of worth and ability they have fixed their eyes of favor and affection upon me Their long knowledge of my unfitness every way to undergo a charge of this important weight and consequence gave me some hope they would have admitted my just excuse Yet for their further and clearer satisfaction I drew the Curtains and let in what light I could upon my inmost thoughts truly and really discovering to them what my self best knew and what I most humbly beseech your Royal Majesty to take now into your consideration that of so many hundreds sitting amongst them they could have found few or none whose presentation to your Majesty would have been or less repute or advantage to them for et impeditioris linguae sum and the poor experience I have of that Royal Assembly is so ill ballanced with true Judgement that every gust and wave hath power on me whereby I shall not onely suffer in my own particular but which I apprehend with much more care and sorrow do prejudice to their common interest Wherefore dread and dear Soveraign as low as the lowest step of your Royal Throne I humbly bend appealing to your great and Soveraign Judgement for my discharge from this so unequal a burthen imposed on me most humbly and earnestly beseeching your most excellent Majesty for the Honor of that Great
the best way for Reformation And will not this be a happy union if the whole body concur to reduce all into regularity if Laws be our Birth-rights we shall hereby recover them and their splendor this will have good aspect abroad and it will give courage to our men that have been despised and will prevent practises to continue divisions amongst us both at home and abroad The first Sower of seeds of distractions amongst us was an Agent of Spain Gondomar that did his Master great service here and at home Since that we have had other Ministers that have blown the fire The Ambassador of France told his Master at home what he had wrought here the last Parliament namely divisions between King and people and he was rewarded for it Whilst we sit here in Parliament there was another intended Parliament of Jesuites and other well-willers within a mile of this place that this is true was discovered by Letters sent to Rome The place of their meeting is changed and some of them are there where they ought to be if you look in your Calendar there is a day of St. Ioseph it was called in the Letter the Oriental day and that was the day intended for their meeting I speak this to see Gods hand to work our union in their division they are not more rent from us then they are from themselves I desire the meanest judgement to consider what may follow by giving precedency to his Majesty and by so doing we shall put from our selves many imputations If we give any occasion of breach it is a great disadvantage if otherwise it is an obligation to his Majesty which his Majesty will not forget Then he made a motion that the same Committee may hear Propositions of general heads of Supply and afterward go to other businesses of the day for Grievances Others preferred the Consideration of Grievances as a particular root that invades the main liberty of the Subject It is the Law said they that glorious fundamental Right whereby we have power to give we desire but that his Majesty may see us have that right therein which next to God we all desire and then we doubt not but we shall give his Majesty all supply we can The time was when it was usual to desire favors for sowing discords as Gondomar did for Raleigh's head But the debates of this day came to no Resolution The day following Mr Secretary Cook tendred the House certain Propositions from the King touching Supply and told them That his Majesty finding time precious expects that they should begin speedily lest they spend that time in deliberation which should be spent in action that he esteems the Grievances of the House his own and stands not on Precedence in point of honor Therefore to satisfie his Majesty let the same Committee take his Majesties Propositions into consideration and let both concur whether to sit on one in the forenoon or the other in the afternoon it is all one to his Majesty Hereupon the House turned themselves into a Committee and commanded Edward Littleton Esquire unto the Chair and ordered the Committee to take into Consideration the Liberty of the Subject in his Person and in his Goods and also to take into Consideration his Majesties Supply In this Debate the Grievances were reduced to six Heads as to our Persons 1. Attendance at the Council Board 2. Imprisonment 3. Confinement 4. Designation for Forein Imployment 5. Martial-Law 6. Undue Proceedings in matter of Judicature The first matter debated was the Subjects Liberty in his Person the particular instance was in the Case of Sir Iohn Heveningham and those other Gentlemen who were imprisoned about Loan-money and thereupon had brought their Habeas Corpus had their Case argued and were nevertheless remanded to Prison and a Judgment as it was then said was entred Whereupon Mr. Creswell of Lincolns-Inn spake to this purpose Justice said he is the Life and the Heart-blood of the Common-wealth and if the Commonwealth bleed in the master vein all the Balm in Gilead is but in vain to preserve this our Body of Policy from ruin and destruction Justice is both Columna Corona Reipublicae She is both the Columne and the Pillar the Crown and the Glory of the Commonwealth this is made good in Scripture by the Judgement of Solomon the wisest King that ever Raigned upon Earth For first She is the Pillar for he saith By Justice the Throne shall be Established Secondly She is the Crown for he saith That by Justice a Nation shall be Exalted Our Laws which are the rules of this Justice they are the ne plus ultra to both the King and the Subject and as they are the Hercules Pillar so they are the Pillar to every Hercules to every Prince which he must not pass Give me leave to resemble her to Nebuchadnezar's Tree for she is so great that she doth shade not onely the Palace of the King and the House of Nobles but doth also shelter the Cottage of the poorest Begger Wherefore if either now the blasts of indignation or the unresistable violater of Laws Necessity hath so bruised any of the Branches of this Tree that either our Persons or Goods or Possessions have not the same shelter as before yet let us not therfore neglect the root of this great Tree but water it with our Tears that so these bruised Branches may be recovered and the whole Tree again prosper and flourish I know well that Cor regis inscrutabile and that Kings although they are but men before God yet they are gods before men And therefore to my gracious and dread Soveraign whose vertues are true qualities ingenerate both in his judgment and nature let my arm be cut off nay let my soul not live that day that I shall dare to lift up my arm to touch that forbidden Fruit those Flowers of his Princely Crown and Diadem But yet in our Eden in this Garden of the Commonwealth as there are the Flowers of the Sun which are so glorious that they are to be handled only by Royal Majesty So are there also some Daysies and wholesom Herbs which every common hand that lives and labors in this Garden may pick and gather up and take comfort and repose in them Amongst all which this Oculus Diei this bona libertas is one and the chief one I will now descend to the Question wherein I hold with all dutiful submission to better judgments that these acts of Power in imprisoning and consining of his Majesties Subjects in such manner without any Declaration of the Cause are against the fundamental Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom The first from the great favor which the Law doth give unto and the great care which it hath ever taken of the Liberty and safety of this Kingdom To proceed therefore in maintenance of my first reasons I find our Law doth so much favor the Subjects Liberty of
onely an Award and no Judgement and in the L. Chief Justice his Argument there was no word spoken that the King might commit or detain without cause For the King to commit a man is indignum Regi Mercy and Honor flow immediately from the King Judgement and Justice are his too but they flow from his Ministers the Sword is carried before him but the Scepter in his hands These are true Emblems of a good King The Law admits not the King power of detaining in Prison at pleasure In antient times Prisons were but pro custodia carceres non ad poenam sed ad custodiam Admit the King may commit a man yet to detain him as long as he pleaseth is dangerous and then a man shall be punished before his offence Imprisonment is a Maceration of the body and horror to the minde it is vita pejor morte Mr Selden last of all produced the Statutes Presidents and Book-Cases which were expresseâ— in point to the Question in hand and the House commanded that Case in the Lord Chief Justice Andersons Book all of his own hand-writing to be openly read And for the Presidentâ— cited by the Kings Council in 34 years of the Queen as the Opinion of all the Judges certainly there was a great mistake in it and the mistake was the greater when it passed as currant by the Judges of the Kings-Bench in the last Case of the Habeas Corpus And that the truth of the Opinion may clearly appear let us read the words out of the Lord Chief Justice Andersons Report out of the Book written with his own hand which will contradict all those Apocrypha Reports that go upon the Case The words of the Report were these Divers persons fueront committes a several temps a several prysons sur pleasure sans bon cause parte de queux estiant amesnes en banck le Roy. Et parte en le Commune banck fuerunt accordant a le ley de la terre mise a large discharge de le imprisonment pur que aucunt grands fueront offendus procure un commandment a les Iudges que ils ne fera ainsi apres Ceo nient meins les Iudges ne surcease mes per advise enter eux ils fesoint certain Articles le tenour de queux ensus deliver eux al seignieurs Chancelor Treasurer eux subscribe avec touts lour mainies les Articles sont come erisnoint We her Majesties Iustices of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer desire your Lordships that by some good means some order may be taken that her Highness Subjects may not be committed or detained in prison by commandment of any Noble man or Councellor against the Laws of the Realm either else to help us to have access to her Majesty to the end to become Suitors to her for the same for divers have been imprisoned for suing ordinary Actions and Suits at the Common-Law until they have been constrained to leave the same against their wills and put the same to order albeit Iudgement and Execution have been had therein to their great losses and griefs for the aid of which persons her Majesties Writs have sundry times been directed to sundry persons having the Custody of such persons unlawfully imprisoned upon which Writs no good or lawfull cause of imprisonment hath been returned or certified Whereupon according to the Laws they have been discharged of their imprisonment some of which persons so delivered have been again committed to prison in secret places and not to any common or ordinary Prison or lawfull Officer or Sheriff or other lawfully authorized to have or keep a Goal So that upon complaint made for their delivery the Queens Courts cannot tell to whom to direct her Majesties Writs and by this means Iustice cannot be done And moreover divers Officers and Serjeants of London have been many times committed to Prison for lawfull executing of her Majesties Writs sued forth of her Majesties Court at Westminster and thereby her Majesties Subjects and Officers are so terrified that they dare not sue or execute her Majesties Laws her Writs and Commandments Divers others have been sent for by Pursevants and brought to London from their dwellings and by unlawfull imprisonment have been constrained not only to withdraw their lawfull suits but have been also compelled to pay the Pursevants so bringing such persons great sums of money All which upon complaint the Iudges are bound by Office and Oath to relieve and help by and according to her Majesties Laws And where it pleaseth your Lordships to will divers of us to set down in what Cases a Prisoner sent to custody by her Majesty or her Councel are to be detained in Prison and not to be delivered by her Majesties Court or Iudges We think that if any person be committed by her Majesties command from her person or by order from the Council board and if any one or two of her Council commit one for high Treason such persons so in the Cases before committed may not be delivered by any of her Courts without due Trial by the Law and Iudgement of acquittal had Nevertheless the Iudges may award the Queens Writ to bring the bodies of such Prisoners before them and if upon return thereof the causes of their commitment be certified to the Iudges as it ought to be then the Iudges in the Cases before ought not to deliver him but to remand the Prisoner to the place from whence he came which cannot conveniently be done unless notice of the cause in general or else in special be given to the Keeper or Goaler that shall have the Custody of such a Prisoner All the Iudges and Barons did subscribe their names to these Articles Ter. Paschae 34 Eliz. and delivered one to the L. Chancellor and another to the L. Treasurer after which time there did follow more quietness then before in the Cause before mentioned After the reading of this Report Sir Edw. Cook said That of my own knowledge this Book was written with my L. Andersons own hand it is no flying report of a young Student I was Solicitor then and Treasurer Burley was as much against Commitment as any of this Kingdom It was the White Staves that made this stir Let us draw towards a conclusion The Question is whether a Feeman can be imprisoned by the King without setting down the cause I leave it as bare as Aesops Crow they that argue against it Humores moti non remoti corpus destruunt It is a Maxime the Common-Law hath admeasured the Kings Prerogative that in no Case it can prejudice the Inheritance of the Subjects had the Law given the Prerogative to that which is taken it would have set some time to it else mark what would follow I shall have an Estate of Inheritance for life or for years in my Land or propriety in my Goods and I shall be a Tenant at will for my liberty I shall have
yet acknowledged that the seven Statutes urged by the House of Commons are in force yet said that some of them are in general words and therefore conclude nothing but are to be expounded by Precedents and some of them are applied to the suggestion of Subjects and not to the Kings command simply of its self and that per legem terrae in Magna Charta cannot be understood for process of Law and original Writs for that in Criminal proceedings no original Writ is usual at all but every Constable either for Felony or breach of the Peace or to prevent the breach of the Peace may commit without Process or original Writ it were very hard the King should not have the power of a Constable They also argued That the King was not bound to express the cause of Imprisonment because there may be in it matter of State not fit to be revealed for a time lest the confederates thereupon make means to escape the hands of Justice Besides that which the Commons do say that the party ought to be delivered or bailed is a contradiction in its self for bayling doth signifie a kinde of Imprisonment still Delivery is a total freeing And besides bayling is a grace or favor of a Court of Justice and they may refuse to do it To this it was replyed That the Statutes were direct in Point and though some of them speak of suggestions of the Subjects yet they are in equal reason a commitment by command of the King as when the King taketh notice of a thing himself And for the words per legem terrae original Writs onely are not intended but all other legal process which comprehendeth the whole proceedings of the Law upon Cause other then trial by Jury and the course of the Law is rendred by due process of the Law and no man ought to be imprisoned by special command without indictment or other due process to be made by the Law And whereas it is said there might be danger in revealing the Cause that may be avoided by declaring a general Cause as for Treason suspicion of Treason misprision of Treason Felony without expressing the particulars which can give no greater light to a confederate then will be conceived upon the very apprehension upon the imprisonment if nothing at all were expressed And as for the bayling of the party committed it hath ever been the discretion of the Judges to give so much respect to a commitment by the command of the King or the privy Councel which are ever intended to be done in just and weighty Cases that they will not presently set them free but bail them to answer what shall be objected against them on the Kings behalf but if any other inferior Officer do commit a man without shewing cause they do instantly deliver him as having no cause to expect their leasure so that Delivery is applyed to the imprisoned by command of some mean minister of Justice Bailing when it is done by command of the King or his Councel and though Bailing is a grace and favor of the Court in case of Felony and other crimes for that there is another way to discharge them in convenient time by their trial but where no cause of imprisonment is returned but the command of the King there is no way to deliver such persons by trial or otherwise but that of the Habeas Corpus and if they should be then remanded they might be perpetually imprisoned without any remedy at all and consequently a man that had committed no offence might be in a worse case then a greater offender for the latter should have an ordinary trial to discharge him the other should never be delivered MAster Selden of the Inner-Temple argued next first making this Introduction Your Lordships have heard from the Gentleman that last spake a great part of the grounds upon which the House of Commons upon mature deliberation proceeded to that clear resolution touching the right of liberty of their persons The many Acts of Parliament which are the written Laws of the Land and are expresly in the Point have bin read and opened and such Objections as have been by some made unto them and Objections also made out of another Act of Parliament have been cleared and answered It may seem now perhaps my Lords that little remains needful to be further added for the enforcement and maintenance of so fundamental and established a Right and Liberty belonging to every freeman of the Kingdom The House of Commons taking into consideration that in this question being of so high a nature that never any exceeded it in any Court of Justice whatsoever all the several ways of just examination of the Truth should be used have also most carefully informed themselves of all former Judgements or Precedents concerning this great Point either way and have been no less careful of the due preservation of his Majesties just Prerogative then of their own Rights The Precedents here are of two kinds either meerly matter of Record or else the former resolutions of the Judges after solemn debate in the Point This Point that concerns Precedents the House of Commons have commanded me to present to your Lordships which I shall as briefly as I may so I do it faithfully and perspicuously to that end my Lords before I come to the particulars of any of those Precedents I shall first remember to your Lordships that which will seem as a general key for the opening and true apprehension of all them of record without which key no man unless he be verst in the entries and course of the Kings Bench can possibly understand In all cases my Lords where any Right or Liberty belongs to the Subjects by any positive Law written or unwritten if there were not also a remedy by Law for enjoying or regaining of this Right or Liberty when it is violated or taken from him the positive Law were most vain and to no purpose and it were to no purpose for any man to have any right in any Land or other Inheritance if there were not a known remedy that is an Action or Writ by which in some Court of ordinary Justice he might recover it And in this case of Right of Liberty of Person if there were not a remedy in the Law for regaining it when it is restrained it were of no purpose to speak of Laws that ordain it should not be restrained The Writ of Habeas Corpus or Corpus cum causa is the highest remedy in Law for any man that is imprisoned and the onely remedy for him that is imprisoned by the special command of the King or the Lords of the pâ—ivy Councel without shewing cause of the commitment and if any mâ—n be so imprisoned by any such Command or otherwise whatsoever though England and desire by himself or any other in his behalf this Writ of Hab. Corp. for the purpose in the Court of Kings Bench that Writ is to be granted to him
full of truth and confidence in your Royal Word and Promise as ever House of Commons reposed in any of their best Kings True it is they cannot but remember the publique Trust for which they are accomptable to present and future times and their desires are That your Majesties goodness might in Fruit and Memory be the Blessing and Joy of Posterity They say also That of late there hath been publique violation of the Laws and the Subjects Liberties by some of your Majesties Ministers and thence conceive that no less then a publique remedy will raise the dejected hearts of your loving Subjects to a chearful supply of your Majesty or make them receive content in the proceedings of this House From those considerations they most humbly beg your Majesties leave to lay hold of that gratious offer of yours which gave them assurance That if they thought fit to secure themselves in their Rights and Liberties by way of Bill or otherwise so it might be provided with due respect to Gods Honor and the publique Good you would be graciously pleased to give way unto it Far from their intentions it is any way to incroach upon your Soveraignty or Prerogative nor have they the least thought of stretching or enlarging the former Laws in any sort by any new Interpretations or Additions the Bounds of their desires extend no further then to some necessary Explanation of that which is truly comprehended within the just sense and meaning of those Laws with some moderate provision for execution and performance as in times past upon like occasion hath been used The way how to accomplish these their humble desires is now in serious consideration with them wherein they humbly assure your Majesty they will neither lose time nor seek any thing of your Majesty but that they hope may be fit for Dutiful and Loyal Subjects to ask and for a gracious and just King to grant His Majesties Answer was delivered by the Lord Keeper Mr. Speaker and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons His Majesty hath commanded me to tell you that he expected an Answer by your Actions and not delay by Discourse ye acknowledge his Trust and Confidence in your proceedings but his Majesty sees not how you requite him by your confidence of his Word and Actions For what need Explanations if ye doubted not the performance of the true meaning for Explanations will hazard an incroachment upon his Prerogative And it may well be said What need a new Law to confirm an old if you repose confidence in the Declaration his Majesty made by me to both Houses and your selves acknowledge that your greatest trust and confidence must be in his Majesties Grace and Goodness without which nothing ye can frame will be of safety or avail to you Yet to shew cleerly the sincerity of his Majesties intentions he is content that a Bill be drawn for a confirmation of Magna Charta and the other six Statutes insisted upon for the Subjects Liberties if ye shall choose that as the best way but so as it may be without Additions Paraphrases or Explanations Thus if you please you may be secured from your needless fears and this Parliament may have a happy wished for end whereas by the contrary if ye seek to tie your King by new and indeed impossible bonds you must be accomptable to God and the Countrey for the ill success of this meeting His Majesty hath given his Royal Word that ye shall have no cause to complain hereafter less then which hath been enough to reconcile Great Princes and therefore ought much more to prevail between a King and his Subjects Lastly I am commanded to tell you that his Majesties pleasure is That without further Replies or Messages or other unnecessary delays ye do what ye mean to do speedily remembring the last Message that Secretary Cook brought you in point of time His Majesty always intending to perform his Promise to his power NOtwithstanding the intimation of his Majesties good pleasure for a Bill Mr. Secretary Cook Tuesday May 6. again pressed the House to relye upon the Kings Word saying That he had rather follow others then begin to enter into this business loss of time hath been the greatest complaint the matter fallen now into consideration is what way to take whether to relye on his Majesties Word or on a Bill If we will consider the advantage we have in taking his Majesties Word it will be of the largest extent and we shall choose that that hath most Assurance An Act of Parliament is by the consent of the King and Parliament but this Assurance by Word is that he will govern us by the Laws the King promiseth that and also that they shall be so executed that we shall enjoy as much freedom as ever this contains many Laws and a grant of all good Laws nay it contains a confirmation of those very Laws Assurance which binds the King further then the Law can First it binds his affection which is the greatest bond between King and Subject and that binds his Judgement also nay his Honor and that not at home but abroad the Royal Word of a King is the Ground of all Treaty nay it binds his Conscience this Confirmation between both Houses is in nature of a Vow for my part I think it is the greatest advantage to relie on his Majesties Word He further added this Debate was fitter to be done before the House and not before the Committee and that it was a new Course to go to a Committee of the whole House Whereunto it was replied by Sir Iohn Elliot That the proceeding in a Committee is more Honorable and advantagious to the King and the House for that way leads most to Truth and it is a more open way and where every man may adde his reason and make answer upon the hearing of other mens Reasons and Arguments This being the general Sense the House was turned into a Committee to take into consideration what was delivered to the King by the Speaker and what was delivered to them by the Lord Keeper and all other Messages and the Committee was not to be bounded with any former order the Key was brought up and none were to go out without leave first asked In the Debate of this business at the Committee some were for letting the Bill rest but Sir Edward Cooks reasons prevailed to the contrary Was it ever known said he that general words were a sufficient satisfaction to particular grievances was ever a verbal Declaration of the King verbum Regni when grievances be the Parliament is to redress them Did ever Parliament relie on Messages they put up Petitions of their Grievances and the King ever answered them the Kings Answer is very gracious but what is the Law of the Realm that is the question I put no diffidence in his Majesty the King must speak by a Record and in Particulars and not in General Did you ever
Liberties of the Subject and of the Crown and that the word Leave was debated amongst them and thereby they meant to give no new but what was before for the words Soveraign Power as he is a King he is a Soveraign and must have Power and he said the words were easier then the Prerogative As for the word that which is a relative and referred to that Power that is for the safety of the People and this said he can never grieve any man being thus published it is not Soveraign Power in general but now in confutation of our Reasons he saith Magna Charta was not with a Saving but said he You pursue not the words in Magna Charta and therefore it needs an addition As for the 28 of E. 3. he said there was a Saving and an ill exposition cannot be made of this and both Houses have agreed it in substance already the Commons did it in a Speech delivered by our Speaker and that we said we have not a thought to incroach on the Kings Soveraignty and why may ye not add it in your Petition Upon this Report Mr. Mason readily spake his opinion in maner following IN our Petition of Right to the Kings Majesty we mentioned the Laws and Statutes by which it appeared That no Tax Loan or the like ought to be Levied by the King but by common assent in Parliament That no Freeman ought to be imprisoned but by the Law of the Land That no Freeman ought to be compelled to suffer soldiers in his house In the Petition we have expressed the breach of these Laws and desire we may not suffer the like all which we pray as our Rights and Liberties The Lords have proposed an addition to this Petition in these words We humbly present this Petition to your Majesty not onely with a care of our own Liberties but with a due regard to leave intire that Soveraign Power wherewith your Majesty is intrusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of your People And whether we shall consent unto this addition is the subject of this days discourse and because my Lord Keeper at the conference declared their Lordships had taken the words of the Petition apart I shall do so too The word Leave in a Petition is of the same nature as Saving in a Grant or Act of Parliament when a man grants but part of a thing he saves the rest when he petitions to be restored but to part he leaveth the rest Then in the end of our Petition the word Leave will imply that something is to be left of that or at least with a reference to what we desire The word Intire is very considerable a Conqueror is bound by no Law but hath power dare Leges his Will is a Law and although William the Conqueror at first to make his way to the Crown of England the more easie and the possession of it more sure claimed it by Title but afterward when there were no powerful pretenders to the Crown the title of Conquest to introduce that absolute Power of a Conqueror was claimed and that Statute of Magna Charta and other Statutes mentioned in our Petition do principally limit that Power I hope it is as lawful for me to cite a Jesuit as it is for Doctor Manwaring to falsifie him Suares in his first Book de Legibus Cap. 17. delivered his opinion in these words Amplitudo restrictio potestatis Regum circa ea quae per se mala vel injusta non sunt pendet ex arbitrio hominum ex ambigua conventione vel pacto inter reges regnum And he further expresseth his opinion that the King of Spain was so absolute a Monarch that he might impose Tribute without consent of his people until about Two hundred years since when it was concluded between him and his people that without consent of his people by Proxies he should not impose any Tribute And Suares opinion is That by that agreement the Kings of Spain are bound to impose no Tribute without consent And this Agreement that Author calls a restraining of that Soveraign Power the Statutes then mentioned in our Petition restraining that absolute Power of Conqueror if we recite those Statutes and say we leave the Soveraign Power intire we do take away that restraint which is the vertue and strength of those Statutes and set at liberty the claim of the Soveraign Power of a Conqueror which is to be limited and restrained by no Laws This may be the danger of the word Intire The next word delivered by the Lords as observeable is the particle That because it was said That all Soveraign Power is not mentioned to be left but onely that with which the King is trusted for our Protection Safety and Happiness But I conceive this to be an exception of all Soveraign Power for all Soveraign Power in a King is for the Protection Safety and Happiness of his People If all Soveraign Power be excepted you may easily judge the consequence all Loans and Taxes being imposed by colour of that Soveraign Power The next word is Trusted which is very ambiguous whether it be meant trusted by God onely as a Conqueror or by the people also as King which are to govern also according to Laws ex pacto In this point I will not presume to adventure further onely I like it not by reason of the doubtful Exposition it admits I have likewise considered the Proposition it self and therein I have fallen upon the Dilemma that this addition shall be construed either to refer unto the Petition or not if it do refer unto the Petition it is meerly useless and unnecessary and unbefitting the judgement of this grave and great Assembly to add to a Petition of this weight If it hath reference unto it then it destroys not onely the virtue and strength of our Petition of Right but our Rights themselves for the addition being referred to each part of the Petition will necessarily receive this construction That none ought to be compelled to make any Gift Loan or such like charge without common consent or Act of Parliament unless it be by the Soveraign Power with which the King is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of his People That none ought to be compelled to sojourn or billet Soldiers unless by the same Soveraign Power and so of the rest of the Rights contained in the Petition And then the most favorable construction will be that the King hath an ordinary Prerogative and by that he cannot impose Taxes or Imprison that is he cannot impose Taxes at his will to imploy them as he pleaseth but that he hath an extraordinary and transcendent Soveraign Power for the protection and happiness of his people and for such purpose he may impose Taxes or billet Soldiers as he pleaseth and we may assure our selves that hereafter all Loans Taxes and Billeting of Soldiers will be said to be for the Protection Safety and Happiness
to be applied to the King of England The next kinde of Proof was from his Censures and determinations upon the particular Case of the late Loan which by necessity and parity of reason were likewise applicable to all Cases of the like nature And lest by frailty of memory he might mistake the words or invert the sense he desired leave to resort to his Paper wherein the places were carefully extracted out of the Book it self And then he read each particular Clause by it self pointing to the Page for proof which we here forbear to mention referring the Reader to the Book it self Then he proceeded and said That from this evidence of the Fact doth issue a clear evidence of his wicked intention to misguide and seduce the Kings Conscience touching the observation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom to scandalize and impeach the good Laws and Government of the Realm and the Authority of Parliaments which are two of those Characters of malice which he formerly noted and now inforced thus If to give the King ill Counsel in some one particular Action hath heretofore been heavily punished in this high Court how much more hainous must it needs be thought by ill Counsel to pervert and seduce his Majesties Conscience which is the soveraign Principle of all moral Actions from which they are to receive warrant for their direction before they be acted and Judgement for their reformation afterwards If Scandalum magnatum Slander and Infamy cast upon great Lords and Officers of the Kingdom have been always most severely censured how much more tender ought we to be of that Slander and Infamy which is here cast upon the Laws and Government from whence is derived all the Honor and Reverence which is due to those great Lords and Magistrates All men and so the greatest and highest Magistrates are subject to passions and partialities whereby they may be transported into overhard injurious Courses Which Considerations may sometimes excuse though never justifie the railing and evil speeches of men who have been so provoked it being a true rule That whatsoever gives strength and inforcement to the temptation in any sin doth necessarily imply an abatement and diminution of guilt in that sin But to slander and disgrace the Laws and Government is without possibility of any such excuse it being a simple act of a malignant Will not induced nor excited by any outward provocation the Laws carrying an equal and constant respect to all ought to be reverenced equally by all And thus he derived the Proofs and Inforcements upon the first Article of the Charge The second Article he said contained three Clauses 1. That these refusers had offended against the Law of God 2. Against the supreme Authority 3. By so doing were become guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion Disobedience and lyable to many other Taxes For proof of all these he said he needed no other evidence then what might be easily drawn from those places which he had read already for what impiety can be greater then to contemn the Law of God and to prefer humane Laws before it what greater disloyalty rebellion and disobedience then to depress supreme Authority to tye the hands and clip the wings of Soveraign Princes Yet he desired their Lordships patience in hearing some few other places wherein the Stains and Taint which the Doctor endeavored to lay upon the Refusers might appear by the odiousness of their comparisons in which he doth labor to rank them The first Comparison is with Popish Recusants yet he makes them the worst of the two and for the better resemblance gives them a new name of Temporal Recusants For this he alledgeth the 1. Sermon Page 31 32. and part of the fifth Consideration by which he would perswade them to yield to this Loan Fifthly If they would consider what advantage this their Recusancy in Temporals gives to the common adversary who for disobedience in Spirituals have hitherto alone inherited that name for that which we our selves condemn in them for so doing and profess to hate that Religion which teacheth them so to do that is to refuse subjection unto Princes in Spirituals the same if not worse some of our side now if ours they be dare to practise We must needs be argued of less Conscience and more Ingratitude both to God and the King if in Temporal things we obey not They in Spirituals deny subjection wherein they may perhaps frame unto themselves some reasons of probability that their offence is not so hainous if we in Temporals shall be so refractory what colour of reason can we possibly finde to make our defence withal without the utter shaming of our selves and laying a stain which cannot easily be washed out upon that Religion which his Majesty doth so graciously maintain and our selves profess The second Comparison is with Turks and Jews in the 2. Sermon Page 47. What a Paradox is c. What a Turk will do for a Christian and a Christian for a Turk and a Jew for both c. the same and much less Christian men should deny to a Christian King The third Comparison is with Corah Dathan and Abiram Theudas and Iudas which is taken out of the second Sermon Page 49. where he labors to deprive those refusers of all merit in their sufferings for this Cause Corah Dothan and Abiram whom for their murmurings God suddenly sunk into Hell fire might as well alledge their sufferings had some resemblance with that of the three Children in the Babylonian Furnace and Theudas and Iudas the two Incendiaries of the people in the days of Caesars tribute might as well pretend their Cause to be like the Maccabees Thus he ended the second Article of the Charge upon which he said were imprinted other two of these six Characters of malice formerly vented That is a wicked intention to increase his Majesties displeasure against his good Subjects so refusing and to alienate his heart from the rest of his People Both which were Points so odious that he needed not to adde any further inforcement or illustration The third Article conteined three Clauses 1. That Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies 2. That the slow proceedings of such Assemblies are not fit to supply the urgent necessity of the State 3. That Parliaments are apt to produce sundry Impediments to the just designs of Princes and to give them occasion of displeasure and discontent For proof of all which he alledged two places conteining the two first of those six Considerations which are propounded by the Doctor to induce the refusers to yield to the Loan in the first Sermon Page 26 27. First if they would please to consider that though such Assemblies as are the highest and greatest Representations of a Kingdom be most Sacred and Honorable and Necessary also to those ends to which they were at first instituted yet know we must that ordained they were not to this end to
People to pray for him hoping that God would enable him by some satisfactory benefit to make amends and comfort his Subjects for those pressures To these temporal Precedents of antient times which were alledged he added an Ecclesiastical Precedent out of a book called Pupilla Oculi being published for the instruction of Confessors in the Title De participantibus cum excommunicatis fol. 59. All the Articles of Magna Charta are inserted with this direction Hos articulos ignorare non debent quibus incumbit confessiones audire infra provinciam Cantuariensem He likewise remembred the Proclamation 8. Iac. for the calling in and burning of Doctor Cowel's book for which these reasons are given For mistaking the true state of the Parliament of the Kingdom and fundamental constitution and priviledges thereof For speaking irreverently of the Common Law it being a thing utterly unlawful for any Subject to speak or write against that Law under which he liveth and which we are sworn and resolve to maintain From these Precedents he collected that if former Parliaments were so careful of false rumors and news they would have been much more tender of such doctrines as these which might produce true occasions of discord betwixt the King and his People If those who reported the King would lay Impositions and break his Laws were thought such hainous offenders how much more should this man be condemned who perswaded the King he is not bound to keep those Laws If that great King was so far from challenging any right in this kinde that he professed his own sorrow and repentance for grieving his Subjects with unlawful charges If Confessors were enjoyned to frame the Consciences of the People to the observance of these Laws certainly such Doctrine and such a Preacher as this would have been held most strange and abominable in all these times The third general part was the conclusion or prayer of the Commons which consisted of three Clauses First they reserved to themselves liberty of any other accusation and for this he said there was great reason that as the Doctor multiplied his offences so they may renew their accusations Secondly they saved to themselves liberty of replying to his Answer for they had great cause to think that he who shifted so much in offending would shift much more in answering Thirdly they desire he might be brought to examination and judgement this they thought would be very important for the comfort of the present age for security of the future against such wicked and malitious practises And so he concluded that seeing the cause had strength enough to maintain it self his humble suit to their Lordships was That they would not observe his infirmities and defects to the diminution or prejudice of that strength NOt long after the Commons by their Speaker demanded Judgement of the Lords against the Doctor who not accounting his submission with tears and grief a satisfaction for the great offence wherewith he stood charged gave this Sentence 1. That Dr. Manwaring Doctor in Divinity shall be imprisoned during the pleasure of the House 2. That he be fined one thousand pounds to the King 3. That he shall make such submission and acknowledgement of his offences as shall be set down by a Committee in writing both at the Bar and in the House of Commons 4. That he shall be suspended for the time of three years from the exercise of the Ministery and in the mean time a sufficient preaching Minister shall be provided out of his livings to serve the Cure This suspension and provision to be done by the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction 5. That he shall be hereafter disabled to have any Ecclesiastical Dignity or secular Office 6. That he shall be for ever disabled to preach at the Court hereafter 7. That his said Book is worthy to be burnt and that for the better effecting of this his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be all burnt accordingly in London and both the Universities and for the Inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great penalty Doctor Manwarings submission was in these words MAy it please this Honorable House I do here in all sorrow of Heart and true Repentance acknowledge the many Errors and Indiscretions which I have committed in preaching and publishing those two Sermons of mine which I called Religion and Allegiance and my great fault in falling upon this Theame again and handling the same rashly and unadvisedly in my own Parish Church of St. Giles in the Fields the fourth of May last past I do humbly acknowledge those three Sermons to have been full of many dangerous Passages Inferences and scandalous Aspersions in most part of the same And I do humbly acknowledge the Justice of this Honorable House in that Judgement and Sentence passed upon me for my great offence And I do from the bottom of my Heart crave pardon of God the King and this Honorable House and the Church and this Common-wealth in general and those worthy Persons adjudged to be reflected upon by me in particular for these great Errors and Offences Roger Manwaring Another Message was brought from his Majesty by the Speaker Tuesday 5 of June HIs Majesty wished them to remember the Message he last sent them by which he set a day for the end of this Session and he commanded the Speaker to let them know that he will certainly hold that day prefixed without alteration and because that cannot be if the House entertain more business of length he requires them that they enter not into or proceed with any new business which may spend greater time or which may lay any Scandal or Aspersion upon the State-government or Ministers thereof SIr Robert Phillips upon this occasion expressed himself thus I perceive that towards God and towards man there is little hope after our humble and careful endeavors seeing our Sins are many and so great I consider my own infirmities and if ever my Passions were wrought upon then now this Message stirs me up especially when I remember with what moderation we have proceeded I cannot but wonder to see the miserable straight we are now in What have we not done to have merited Former times have given wounds enough to the peoples Liberty we came hither full of wounds and we have cured what we could and what is the return of all but misery and desolation What did we aim at but to have served his Majesty and to have done that that would have made him Great and Glorious if this be a fault then we are all Criminous What shall we do since our humble purposes are thus prevented which were not to have laid any aspersion on the Government since it tended to no other end but to give his Majesty true information of his and our danger And to this we are enforced out of a necessity of duty to the King our Countrey and to Posterity but we
Circumstance must be dispensed with rather then the Substance be lost and hazarded And herein our will and pleasure is that You or as many of You from time to time as can be spared from attemdance upon Our Person or other our necessary Services doe use all diligence by your frequent meetings and serious considerations And when ye have brought any thing to maturity ye make report thereof unto us for the advancement of this greatt service which with the greatest affection we can we recommend to your best care and judgement whereof ye must not fail as ye tender Our honour and safety of our Dominions and People And for the doing hereof these Presents shall be to you and every of you a sufficient warrant and discharge in that behalâ— In witness whereof we have caused these Our Letters to be made Letters Patents Witness Our self at VVestminster the last day of February in the third year of Our Reign Per ipsum Regem Sir Edward Cook observed some circumstances in the Commission FIrst it was after the Summons to the Parliament Sure some thought the Parliament should not be 2. There is a Pudor in it it was kept secret some great Lords never knew it 3. The end of it was Excises for they are Impositions and to be sure he would have the word otherwise wherefore his advice was to go up to the Lords and desire a Conference to complain of the Commission and desire it may be Cancelled and if there be any inrolment of it to cancel that also and that the Projector may be found out and punished Hereupon there ensued a Conference with the Lords which was thus managed by Sir Edward Cook My Lords The subject of this Conference is a Commission therefore we shall desire your Lordships to hear it read which was done accordingly That which I shall deliver is certain Observations out of the Patent First The Persons to whom it is directed 2. The Authority that is committed 3. The great penalty laid on them if they do it not 4. The Time 1. The Persons to whom it is directed are twenty three Lords and other of his Majesties Councel 2. The Authority commmitted unto them is to consider how Money may be Leavied by Impositions or otherwise It is true it is but a Power to Leavy Money by Imposition We doe not find any thing raised that is left to your Lordships but a Commission to leavy money by Imposition or otherwise give us leave to fear that Excise and what ever is comprehended in it was intended Sure I am it is against the Law it is a very high breach of your Lordships and our the poor Commons Liberties and yet this being ill in it self may produce a happy effect the King and both Houses have given a Judgment the greatest that ever was against this in the Petition of Right and when this Judgment is given see how Gods goodness hath brought it to pass that this Patent shall be part of Execution of that Judgement to dam it for the punishment I do utterly dislike that clause as you tender the Kings Honour That that must come to a thing of this nature and it is strange to me I cannot dive into it I leave it to your Lordships for the time It came out seven days after the Summons of Parliament all knew the Parliament would descry this but I hope it will now turn to good I will not say it was kept secret That which I am to demand of your Lordships first is that as we haveing considered of this Commission finding it ex diametro against the late Judgment in the Petition of Right have condemned it So your Lordships would concurre with us as hitherto ye have done 2. Thâ—t this Commission as a thing against Law may be cancelled 3. That if it be inrolled a Vote may be made of it and if not that Order be taken that it be not inrolled 4. That the warrant may be damned and destroyed 5. That it would please your Lordships in your wisdoms to take into consideration who is the Projector of this device and if he could be found out that some exemplary punishment may be according to justice inflicted on him The Lords accepted the motion and promised to present the same to his Majesty This done the House of Commons Voted that the Commission the not guarding the narrow Seas the decay of Trade and other particulars be inserted in the Remonstrance THe House having well nigh finished the several particulars of grievances of most moment resumeth the former motion to declare who was the cause of all those evils which in a Committee of the whole House was mentioned before The Debate was as hot as ever and the crimes so frequently objected against the Duke were brought in afresh as if they had never been proposed in the House One made a distinction that the Duke was The cause of some and A. cause of other grievances For the first he instanced in the disaster of the Armies the decay of Ports Trade Ships and Mariners For the second he instanced in Religion First his Mother was a Recusant and a fosterer of Recusants Secondly Papists have honour in his own employments and Papists Captains are placed by him And as for Arminians York House is a place of consultation for Mountague and others from whence is like to follow Innovation in Government Another in pursuit of the Argument that Papists were imployed by the Duke named Dalbeer as the man who betrayed our men at the Isle of Ree where all was carried by the advice of private men and some ill affected in Religion and in assault before they came away 500. men were lost and in the Retreat Dalbeer was to make a Bridge which did so intangle them as they could make no defence and all contrary to the advice of the rest of the Commanders Sir Robert Philips was of opinion to have the Declaration run thus We conceive the greatness and power of the Duke of Buckingham is the chief cause of all these evils We are not in a way of Charge but of a Remonstrance Sir Iohn Elliot Sir Edward Cook and Mr. Selden were positively to name the Duke as the cause of our evils for so said they he had been already declared in the last Parliament since when the causes are multiplied and he hath deserved nothing better of the Common-wealth In this Debate there wanted not Mediators which did desire the House for their own ends and happiness to be sparing in that kind Sir Humphrey May put them again in mind of the Kings desire that all personal aspersions might be forborn that his Majesty will take it as an argument of their moderation and judgment if they forbear in this Sir Henry Martin advised that the Remonstrance be so framed as to make it passable to his Majesties judgment and affection Let him be perswaded that it comes from a publick sence and not from private
agreed in one that he ought not by the Law to be tortured by the Rack for no such punishment is known or allowed by our Law And this in case of Treason was brought into this Kingdom in the time of Henry 6. note Fortescue for this Point in his Book de laudibus legum Angliae see the preamble of the Act 28. H. 8. for the Trial of Fellony where Treasons are done upon the Sea and Statute 14. Edw. 3. Ch. 9. of Jaylours or Keepers who by duresse make the prisoners to be approvers Since the last Session of Parliament certain Merchant who traded in Wines had been committed to the Fleet for the non-payment of an Imposition of 20. s. the Tun and were now at liberty upon their entring into bond for the payment of that Imposition Moreover the King in full Councel declared his absolute will and pleasure to have the entry of 2. s. 2. d. the hundred upon all Currens to be satisfied equally with that of 3. s. 4. d. before the landing of that Commodity it being a duty laid by Queen Elizabeth who first gave being to the Levant Company and which had been paid both in his Fathers time and his own and that their Majesties were equally possessed of the whole summe of 5. s. 6. d. the hundred by a solemn and Legal Judgement in the Exchequer and he straightly charged his Councel to examine the great abuse in this point and to make a full reparation to his Honour by inflicting punishment as well upon Officers as Merchants that for the future they may beware of committing such contempts And Divers Merchants of London having forcibly Landed and endeavoured to carry away their Goods and Merchandises from the Custom-house Key without payment of duties were summoned to the Councel-table And the Councel was informed against them that they had caused great and unlawful assemblies of people to be gathered together to the breach of the Kings Peace and Mr. Chambers was committed to prison by the Lords of the Councel for some words spoken at that time Michaelmas 4. Car. Richard Chambers being in Prison in the Marshalsie Del hostel de Roy desired an Habeas Corpus and had it which being returable upon the 16. day of October the Marshall returned that he was committed to prison the 28. day of Septemb. last by command of the Lords of the Councel The Warrant verbatim was That he was committed for insolent behaviour and words spoken at the Councel-Table which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper and twelve others of the Councel The words were as information was given though not expressed in the Return That such great Customes and Impositions were required from the Merchants in England as were in no other place and that they were more screwed up then under the Turk And because it was not mentioned what the words were so as the Court might adjudge of them the Return was held insufficient and the Warden of the Prison advised to amend his Return and he was by Rule of the Court appointed to bring his prisoner by such a day without a new Habeas Corpus and the Prisoner was advised by the Court That in the mean time he should submit to the Lords and Petition them for his enlargement The Warden of the Prison bringing the Prisoner in again in Court the 23. day of October Then Mr. Iermin for the Prisoner moved That forasmuch as it appeared by the Return that he was not committed for Treason or Felony nor doth it appear what the words were whereto he might give answer he therefore prayed he might be dismissed or bailed But the Kings Attourney moved That he might have day untill the 25. of October to consider of the Return and be enformed of the words and that in the interim the Prisoner might attend the Councel-Table and Petition But the Prisoner affirmed that he oftentimes had assayed by Petition and could not prevail although he had not done it since the beginning of October and he prayed the Justice of the Law and the inheritance of a Subject Whereupon at his importunity the Court commanded him to be bailed and he was bound in a Recognizance of four hundred pounds and four good Merchants his Sureties were bound in Recognizance of one hundred pound a piece that he should appear here in Crastino animarum and in the interim should be of the good behaviour And advertized him they might for contemptuous words cause an Indictment or Information in this Court to be drawn against him if they would The Lords of the Councel were much dissatisfied with the Bailing of Chambers Whereupon the Judges were â—ent for to the Lord Keeper at Durham House where were present besides the Lord-Keeper the Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal and the Chancellor of the Dutchy And the Lord Keeper then declared unto them that the said enlargement of Chambers was without due regard had to the Privy Councel in not first acquainting them therewith To this the Judges answered that to keep a fair correspondency with their Lordships they had by the Lord Chief-Justice acquainted the Lord Keeper in private therewith before they baild the party And that what they had done as to the bailing of the prisoner was according to Law and Justice and the conscience of the Judges To this it was replied that it was necessary for the preservation of the State that the power and dignity of the Councel Table should be preserved and that it could not be done without correspondency from the Courts of Justice so they parted in very fair tearms On Thursday the 27. of November Felton was removed from the Tower to the Gate-house in order to his tryal and was the same day brought by the Sheriffs of London to the Kings-bench Bar and the indictment being read he was demanded whether he were guilty of the murder therein mentioned he answered he was guilty in killing the Duke of Buc. and further said that he did deserve death for the same though he did not do it out of malice to him So the Court passed sentence of death upon him whereupon he offered that hand to be cut off that did the fact but the Court could not upon his own offer inflict that further punishment upon him neverthelesse the King sent to the Judges to intimate his desire that his hand might be cut off before execution but the Court answered that it could not be for in all murthers the Judgement was the same unlesse when the Statute of 25. E. 3. did alter the nature of the offence and upon a several indictment as it was in Queen Elizabeths time when a Felon at the Bar flung a stone at a Judge upon the Bench for which he was indicted and his sentence was to have his hand cut off which was accordingly done and they also proceeded against him upon the other indictment for Felony for which he was found guilty and afterwards hanged and Felton was afterwards hung up
for a word and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of nought Blame not before thou have examined the truth understand first and then rebuke answer not before thou hast heard the cause neither interrupt men in the midst of their talk Doth our Law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doth King Agrippa said unto Paul Thou art permitted to speak for thy self Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the poor in his cause thou shalt not respect persons neither take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the eyes of the righteous Woe to them that devise iniquity because it is in the power of their hand and they covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away so they oppress a man and his house even a man and his heritage Thus saith the Lord God Let it suffice you O Princes of Israel remove violence and spoyl and execute judgment and justice take away your exactions from my people saith the Lord God If thou seest the oppression of the Poor and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a Province marvel not at the matter for he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they Per me Richard Chambers Afterwards in the Term of Trinity the 5 yeer of King Charls it is found in the great Roll of this year that there is demanded there of Richard Chambers of London Merchant 2000 l. for a certain fine imposed on him hither sent by vertue of a writ of our said Lord the King under the foot of the great Seal of England directed to the Treasurer and Barons of this Exchequer for making execution thereof to the use of the said Lord the King as is there contained and now that is to say in the Utas of the Blessed Trinity this Term comes the said Richard Chambers in his own proper person and demands Oyer of the demand aforesaid and it is read unto him and he demands Oyer also of the Writ aforesaid under the foot of the Great Seal of England hither sent and it is read unto him in these words CHarls by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To his Treasurer and Barons of his Exchequer health The extret of certain fines taxed and adjudged by Us and our said Council in our said Council in Our Court of Star-Chamber in the Term of St Michael the Term of St. Hillary and the Term of Easter last past upon Thomas Barns of the Parish of St. Clements Danes in the County of Middlesex Carpenter and others severally and dividedly as they be there severally assessed We send unto you included in these presents commanding that looking into them you do that which by Law you ought to do against them for the levying of those fines Witness our Self at Westminster the 21 of May in the yeer of Our Reign the 5 Mutas And the tenor of the Schedule to the said Writ annexed as to the said Richard Chambers followeth in these words IN the Term of Easter the fifth year of King Charles of Richard Chambers of London Merchant 2000 l. which being read heard and by him understood he complains that he is grievously vexed and inquieted by colour of the Premises and that not justly for that protesting that the said great Roll and the matter therein contained is not in Law sufficient to which he hath no need nor is bound by Law to answer yet for Plea the said Richard Chambers saith That he of the demand aforesaid in the great Roll aforesaid mentioned and every parcel thereof ought to be discharged against the said Lord the King for that he said That he from the time of the Taxation oâ— the aforesaid Fine and long before was a Freeman and a Merchant of this Kingdom that is to say In the Parish of the blessed Mary of the Arches in the Ward of Cheap London And that by a certain Act in the Parliament of the Lord Henry late King of England the Third held in the ninth year of his reign it was provided by Authority of the said Parliament That a Freeman shall not be amerced for a little offence but according to the manner of the said offence and for a great offence according to the greatness of the offence saving to him his Contenement or Freehold and a Merchant in the same manner saving unto him his Merchandize and a Villain of any other then the King after the same manner to be amerced saving his Wainage and none of the said Amercements to be imposed but by the Oaths of good and lawful men of the Neighbourhood And by a certain other Act in the Parliament of the Lord Edward late King of England the first held in the Third year of his reign it was and is provided That no City Burrough or Town nor any man should be amerced without reasonable cause and according to his Trespass that is to say A Freeman saving to him his Contenement A Merchant saving to him his Merchandize and A Villan saving to him his Wainage and this by their Peers And by the same Act in the Parliament of the said Lord Henry late King of England the Third held in the ninth year of his reign aforesaid it was and is provided by Authority of the said Parliament That no Freemen should be taken or imprisoned or disseized of his Freehold or Liberties or free Customs or outlaw'd or banish'd or any way destroyed And that the Lord the King should not go upon him nor deal with him but by a lawful judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land And by a certain Act in the Parliament of the Lord Edward late King of England the Third held in the fifth year of his reign it was and is provided by the Authority of the said Parliament That no man henceforward should be attached by reason of any Accusation nor pre-judged of Life or Member nor that his Lands Tenements Goods or Chattels should be seized into the hands of the Lord the King against the form of the great Charter and the Law of the Land And by a certain Act in the Parliament of the Lord Henry late King of England the seventh held in the third year of his reign reciting that by unlawful Maintenances given of liveries signes and tokens and retainders by Indentures Promises Oaths Writings and other Imbraceries of the Subjects of the said Lord the King false Demeanors of Sheriffs in making of Pannels and other false returns by taking of money by Jurors by great ryots and unlawful assemblies the policie and good Government of this Kingdom was almost subdued and by not punishing of the said inconveniences and by occasion of the Premises little or nothing was found by Inquisition by reason thereof the Laws of
and condition he died in Summer 1658. being about the age of seventy years Trinity 5. Car. Banco Regis The first day of this Term upon a Habeas Corpus to Sir Allen Apsley the Lieutenant of the Tower to bring here the body of Iohn Selden Esq with the cause of Detencer he returned the same cause as was in Mr. Stroods Case And Mr. Littleton of the Inner-Temple of Counsel with Mr. Selden moved that the Return was insufficient in substance therefore pray'd that he might be bayled and said that it was a matter of great consequence both to the Crown of the King and to the Liberty of the Subject But as for the difficulty of Law contained in it he said under favour the Case cannot be said Grand And so proceeded to his Argument which for the Reasons before mentioned we have postponed and concluded that the Prisoner ought to be bailed The same day Sir Miles Hubbord Benjamin Valentine Denzil Holles Esq were at the Bar upon the Habeas Corpus directed to several Prisons And their Counsel were ready at the Bar to have argued the Case for them also But because the same Return was made for them as for Mr. Selden they all Declared they would rely on this Argument made by Mr. Littleton Some few days after Sir Robert Heath the Kings Atturney General argued that this Return was good and that Mr. Selden and the rest of the parties ought not to be bailed and that within the Return there appears good cause of their commitment and of their detaining also He said The Case is great in expectation consequence and concerns the Liberty of the Subject on one part whereof the Argument is plausible and on the other part it concerns the safety and Soveraignty of the King which he said is a thing of greater weight and that the consideration of both pertains to you the Judges without flighting the one or too much elevating the other and so proceeded to his Argument of which more at large hereafter and concluded that the Prisoners ought to be remanded When the Court was ready to have delivered their opinions in this great business the Prisoners were not brought to the Bar according to the Rule of the Court. Therefore Proclamation was made for the keepers of the several Prisons to bring in their Prisoners but none of them appeared but the Marshal of the Kings Bench who informed the Court that Mr. Strood who was in his custody was removed yesterday and put in the Tower of London by the Kings own warrant and so it was done with the other Prisoners for each of them was removed out of his prison in which he was before But notwithstanding it was pray'd by the Counsel for the Prisoners that the Court would deliver their opinion as to the matter in Law but the Court refused to do that because it was to no purpose for the Prisoners being absent they could not be bailed delivered or remanded The evening before there came a Letter to the Judges of this Court from the King himself informing the Court with the Reasons wherefore the Prisoners were not suffered to come at the day appointed for the resolution of the Judges These were the words of the Letter To our Trusty and welbeloved Our Chief Justice and the rest of Our Justices of Our Bench. C. R. TRusty and welbeloved we Greet you well Whereas by our special commandment we have lately removed Sir Miles Hubard Walter Long and William Stroud from the several prisons where they were formerly committed and have now sent them to our Tower of London understanding there are various constructions made thereof according to the several apprehensions of those who discourse of it as if we had done it to decline the course of Iustice We have therefore thought fit to let you know the true Reason and occasion thereof as also why we commanded those and the other Prisoners should not come before you the last day We having heard how most of them a while since did carry themselves insolently and unmannerly both towards us and your Lordships were and are very sensible thereof and though we hear your selves gave them some admonition for that miscariage yet we could not but resent our Honour and the Honour of so great a Court of Iustice so far as to let the world know how much we dislike the same And having understood that your Lordships and the rest of our Iudges and Barons of our Court of Common Pleas and Exchequer whose advices and judgments we have desired in this great business so much concerning our Government have not yet resolved the main Question we did not think the presence of those Prisoners necessary and until we should find their temper and discretions to be such as may deserve it we were not willing to afford them favour Nevertheless the respect we bear to the proceedings of that Court hath caused us to give way that Selden and Valentine should attend you tomorrow they being sufficient to appear before you since you cannot as yet give any resolute opinion in the main point in Question Given under our Signet at Our Mannor at Greenwich this 24 Iunii in the 5 yeer of our Reign Within three hours after the receit of those Letters other Letters were brought unto the said Judges as followeth To Our trusty and well-beloved Our Chief Justices and the rest of Our Justices of Our Bench. C. R. TRusty and well-beloved we greet you well Whereas by our Letters of this days date we gave you to understand our pleasure That of those prisoners which by our Commandment are kept in our Tower of London Selden and Valentine should be brought tomorrow before you now upon more mature Deliberation we have resolved That all of them shall receive the same treatment and that none shall come before you until we have cause given us to believe they will make a better demonstration of their Modesty and Civility both towards us and your Lordships then at their last appearance they did Given under our Signet at our Mannor at Greenwich this 24 day of Iune in the fifth year of our Reign So the Court this Term delivered no opinion and the imprisoned Gentlemen continued in restraint all the long Vacation Note That in this Term a Habeas Corpus was prayed to the Pursevant of Arms for four Constables of Hertfordshire to whose custody they were committed by the Lords of the Privy-Council and the Habeas Corpus was granted on their behalf but then they were committed to the Custody of other Pursevants and so upon every Habeas Corpus they were removed from Pursevant to Pursevant and could have no fruit of their Habeas Corpus all this Term. There wanted not some who upon the Kings dissolution of this Parliament and his ill success in two former Parliaments did advise that his Majestie for the future might be no more troubled with the impertinencies of Parliaments holding out for example the like
and Southcot Justices That offences committed in Parliament may be punished out of Parliament And 3 Ed. 3.19 it is good Law And it is usual neer the end of Parliaments to set some petty punishment upon offenders in Parliament to prevent other Courts And I have seen a Roll in this Court in 6 H. 6. where judgment was given in a writ of annuity in Ireland and afterwards the said judgment was reversed in Parliament in Ireland upon which judgment Writ of Error was brought in this Court and reversed Hide Chief Justice to the same intent No new matter hath been offered to us now by them that argue for the Defendants but the same Reasons and Authorities in substance which were objected before all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchequer at Sergeants-Inn in Fleet-street upon an Information in the Star-Chamber for the same matter At which time after great deliberation it was resolved by all of them That an offence committed in Parliament that being ended may be punished out of Parliament And no Court more apt for that purpose then this Court in which we are and it cannot be punished in a future Parliament because it cannot take notice of matters done in a foregoing Parliament As to that that was said That an Inferiour Court cannot meddle with matters done in a Superior True it is That an Inferior Court cannot meddle with judgments of a Superior Court but if the particular members of a Superiour Court offend they are oft-times punishable in an Inferior Court As if a Judg shall commit a capital offence in this Court he may be arraigned thereof at Newgate 3 E. 3.19 and 1 Mar. which have been cited over-rule this case Therefore Whitlock accordingly 1. I say in this Case Nihil dictum quod non dictum prius 2. That all the Judges of England have resolved this very point 3. That now we are but upon the brink and skirts of the Cause for it is not now in Question if these be offences or no or if true or false but only if this Court have jurisdiction But it hath been objected That the offence is not capital therefore it is not examinable in this Court But though it be not capital yet it is criminal for it is sowing of sedition to the destruction of the Commonwealth The Question now is not between us that are Judges of this Court and the Parliament or between the King and the Parliament but between some private Members of the House of Commons and the King himself for here the King himself questions them for those offences as well he may In every Commonwealth there is one supereminent Power which is not subject to be questioned by any other and that is the King in this Commonwealth who as Bracton saith solum Deum habet ultorem But no other within the Realm hath this Priviledge It is true that that which is done in Parliament by consent of all the house shall not be questioned elsewhere but if any private Members exuunt personas judicum induunt malefacientium personas sunt seditiosi is there such Sanctimony in the place that they may not be questioned for it elsewhere The Bishop of Ross as the Case hath been put being Embassadour here practised matters against the State And it was resolved That although Legatus sit Rex in alieno solo yet when he goes out of the bounds of his Office and complots with Traytors in this Kingdom that he shall be punished as an offender here A Minister hath a great Priviledge when he is in the Pulpit but yet if in the Pulpit he utter speeches which are scandalous to the State he is punishable so in this Case when a Burgess of Parliament becomes mutinous he shall not have the Priviledge of Parliament In my opinion the Realm cannot consist without Parliaments but the behaviour of Parliament-men ought to be Parliamentary No outragious speeches were ever used against a great Minister of State in Parliament which have not been punished If a Judge of this Court utter scandalous speeches to the State he may be questioned for them before Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer because this is no judicial act of the Court. But it hath been objected That we cannot examine Acts done by a higher Power To this I put this Case When a Peer of the Realm is arraigned of Treason we are not his Judges but the high Steward and he shall be tryed by his Peers But if errour be committed in this proceeding that shall be reversed by errour in this Court for that which we do is Coram ipso Rege It hath been objected That the Parliament-Law differs from the Law by which we judge in this Court in sundry Cases And for the instance which hath been made That by the Statute none ought to be chosen Burgesse of a Town in which he doth not inhabit but that the usage of Parliament is contrary But if Information be brought upon the said Statute against such a Burgess I think that the Statute is a good warrant for us to give judgement against him And it hath been objected That there is no President in this matter But there are sundry Presidents by which it appears that the Parliament hath transmitted matters to this Court as 2 R. 2. there being a question between a great Peer and a Bishop it was transmitted to this Court being for matter of behaviour and although the Judges of this Court are but inferiour men yet the Court is higher for it appears by the 11 Eliz. Dy. That the Earl Marshal of England is an Officer of this Court and it is always admitted in Parliament That the priviledges of Parliament hold not in three Cases to wit in case of Treason secondly in case of Felony and in suit for the peace and the last is our very case Therefore c. Crook argued to the same intent but I did not well hear him he said That these offences ought to be punished in the Court or no where and all manner off offences which are against the Crown are examinable in this Court It hath been objected That by this means none will adventure to make his complaints in Parliament That is not so for he may complain in a Parliamentary course but not falsely and unlawfully as here is pretended for that which is unlawfully cannot be in a Parliamentary course It hath been objected That the Parliament is a higher Court then this is And it is true But every Member of Parliament is not a Court and if he commit offence he is punishable here Our Court is a Court of high jurisdiction it cannot take cognizance of real Pleas but if a real Plea comes by Error in this Court it shall never be transmitted But this Court may award a grand Cape and other Process usual in real Actions But of all capital and criminal causes we are originally competent Judges and by consequence of this matter But I am not
d. interfecit I. S. upon prepensed malice is good for the nature of the thing is expressed although the formall word be wanting but out of the Return the substance of the offence ought alwaies to appear which appears not here But it hath been said by the other side That let the cause in the Return be as it will yet is it not traversable 9 H. 6.54 and I confesse it But as C. 11. James Baggs case is the Return ought to have certainty so much in it that if it be false the party grieved may have his action upon the case And the grievance complained of in the Petition of Right is that upon such Return no cause was certified that is no such cause upon which any Indictment might be drawn up for we never understand that the party shall be tryed upon the Habeas Corpus but that upon the matter contained within it and Indictment shall be made and he shall have his tryall upon it And yet it is clear and it hath been agreed of all hands in the Argument of the grand Habeas corpus Mich. 3. Car. in this Court that if the cause be certified upon the Return of the Habeas corpus that the Court may judge of the legality of that cause 2. Consider the parts of this Return as they are coupled together for notable contempts by him committed against Our Self and Our Government and for stirring of sedition against Us Upon the entire Return the King joynes sedition with notable contempts so that it is as much as if he had said that Sedition is one of the notable contempts mentioned in the first part of the Return so that he makes it but a contempt For the generality and incertainty of the Return I refer my self to the cases put by Mr. Ask and I will not waive any of them True it is if the Return had been that it was for Treason he had not been bailable but by the discretion of the Court and such Return would have been good but it is not so of sedition Gard. 157. Treason is applyed to a petty offence to the breach of trust by a Guardian in Socage but it is not treason And so sedition is of far lesse nature then treason and is oftentimes taken of a trespasse it is not treason of it self nor seditiosè was never used in an Indictment of treason It was not treason before the 25 of Edw. 3. nor can it be treason for 25 E. 3. is a flat Barre as I have said before to all other offences to be treason which are not contained within the said Act or declared by any Statute afterwards And there are offences which are more heinous in their nature then sedition is which are not treason as Insurrections c. which see in the Statute 11 H. 7. cap. 7. 2 H. 5. cap. 9. 8 H. 6. cap. 14. 5 R. 2. cap. 6. 17 R. 2. cap. 8. and by 3 and 4 E. 6. cap. 5. the assembly of twelve persons to attempt the alteration of any Law and the continuance together by the space of an hour being commanded to return is made treason which Act was continued by the Statute of 1 Mar. cap. 12. and 1 Eliz. cap. 16. but now is expired by her death and is not now in force although the contrary be conceived by some which I pray may be well observed By the Statute of 14 Eliz. cap. 1. rebellious taking of the Castles of the King is made treason if they be not delivered c. which shewes clearly that such taking of Castles in its nature was not treason But the said Statute is now expired and also all Statutes creating new treasons are now repealed But for a conclusion of this part of my Argument I will cite a case which I think expresse in the point or more strong then the case in question And it was M. 9. E. 3. roll 39. B. R. Peter Russells case he was committed to prison by the Deputy-Iustice of North-Wales because he was accused by one William Solyman of sedition and other things touching the King And hereupon a Commission issued out of the Chancery to enquire if the said Peter Russell behaved himselfe well or seditiously against the King and by the Inquisition it was found that he behaved himself well And upon an Habeas Corpus out of this Court his body was returned but no cause But the said Inquisition was brought hither out of Chancery and for that no cause of his caption was returned he prayed Delivery but the Court would not deliver him till it knew the cause of his Commitment Therefore taking no regard of the said Inquisition they now send a Writ to the now Iustice of Wales to certifie the cause of his commitment And thereupon he made this Return That the foresaid Peter Russell was taken because one William Solyman charged him that he had committed divers seditions against the Lord the King and for that cause he was detained and for no other And because the Return mentions not what sedition in speciall he was bayled but not discharged And I desire the baylment of the prisoner onely and not his deliverance I desire that the case be well observed In the said case there was an actuall sedition against the King here is onely a stirring up of sedition The words of the said Award are Videtur curiae which are the solemn words of a Iudgment given upon great deliberation There it was for other things concerning Us This is all one as if it had said for other things against Us Concerning the King and Against the King are all one as appears by 25 E. 3. c. 4. de Clero Stamf. 124. Westm. 1. c. 15. Bracton f. 119. 14 Eliz. c. 2. And the words of the Iudgment in the said case were not dimittitur but ideò dimittendus which imply the right of the party to be bayled The said case in some things was more particular then our case and more strong for there was an Accuser to boot which wants in our case There true it is that he was committed by the Iustice of Wales and here by the King himself but this makes no difference as to this Court for be the commitment by the King himself or by any other if it be not upon just cause the party may be bayled in this Court. And for the Inquisition which is mentioned it was no Tryall in the case nor did the Court give any regard thereto To detain the prisoner by the command of the King singly is against the Petition of Right but it being coupled with the cause the cause is to be considered and the truth of the cause is to be intended as well where it is mentioned to be by an inferiour Iudge as where by the King himself for it is traversable neither in the one nor other And 22 H. 8. roll 37. B. R. and 1 H. 8 roll 8. Harrisons case resolv'd that a man committed by the command of the King is