the like whereof was in the Statute of 13 o of her Majesties Reign Nota That the business so much before agitated touching M r Fitzherbert received this day the final resolution of the House as is plainly set down in the often before-cited Anonymous Journal although it be wholly omitted in the Original Journal-Book it self which said Case was singly this Thomas Fitzherberts being elected a Burgess of the Parliament two hours after his Election and before the return of the Writ to the Sheriff with the Indenture of his Election the said Sheriff Arresteth him upon a Capias utlagatum in an Outlawry after Judgment at the Queens Suit as may be collected out of the reasons given of their said Resolution and then his Indenture was returned to the Sheriff Upon all which matters there grew two Questions First whether the said M r Fitzherbert were a Member of the House And secondly admitting he were yet whether he ought to have priviledge Which said matters having been formerly much debated on Thursday the first day Friday the second Saturday the 17 th day and on Friday the 30 th day of March last past as also on Tuesday the third day of this instant April foregoing received now at last the Judgment of the House which is inserted out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal in manner and form following The Judgment of the House was That Thomas Fitzherbert was by his Election a Member thereof yet that he ought not to have priviledge in three respects First Because he was taken in Execution before the return of the Indenture of his Election Secondly Because he had been Outlawed at the Queens Suit and was now taken in Execution for her Majesties debt Thirdly and lastly in regard that he was so taken by the Sheriff neither Sedente Parliamento nor eundo nor redeundo Thus far out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal the rest of this present Journal that ensueth to the very end and dissolution thereof is wholly supplied out of the Original Journal-Book it self The Bill concerning Clapboards and Casks which as it seemeth was read presently after the foresaid resolution of the House given in the said Case of M r Fitzherbert had the third reading and passed upon the Question M r Attorney General and M r Doctor Carey do bring from the Lords the Bill for renewing continuing explanation and perfecting of certain Statutes lately passed this House with some Amendments and a Proviso which Bill was sent up to their Lordships from this House The Bill for necessary relief of Souldiers and Mariners was read the third time and passed upon the Question Upon a Motion made by Francis Neale Esq one of the Burgesses for the Borough of Grantham in the County of Lincoln That he was upon Sunday last in the Afternoon Arrested upon an Execution by a Serjeant called John Lightburn at the Suit of one Wessellen Weblen a Beer-Brewer and shewing further that he had satisfied the money due upon the said Execution but yet nevertheless in regard of the preservation of the Liberties and priviledges of this House thought it his duty to make this House acquainted with the matter and so refer and leave it to their grave Wisdoms Whereupon it was upon the Question Ordered that the Serjeant of this House should in the name of this House give warning unto the said Weblen and Lightborn to give their attendance upon this House to Morrow to answer their contempt accordingly Vide diem sequentem On Friday the 6 th day of March Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for restraint of new building converting of great Houses into several Tenements and for restraint of Inmates and Inclosures in and near unto the City of London and Westminster was upon the second reading committed unto all the Privy-Council the Knights and Burgesses of London M r Francis Bacon and others and the Bill was delivered to M r Wroth one of the said Committees who with the rest was appointed to meet this Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber The Bill concerning Devonshire Kerseys was read the third time and passed upon the Question The Proviso in the Bill for reviving continuing Explanation and perfecting of certain Statutes the Amendments being first read and Ordered afterwards to be inserted was three times read and they were all passed upon the question accordingly The Proviso of the Lords to explain the Amendments of this House in the Bill which passed their Lordships and was sent down to this House for the restraining of Popish Recusants to some certain places of aboad was three times read and passed upon the Question The Bill to make void the Spiritual Livings of those that have forsaken the Realm and do cleave to the Pope and his Religion was read the third time and passed upon the Question Eight Bills which lately passed this House viz. the Bill to give liberty to the Lord Harrowden to sell certain Lands for the payment of his debts The Bill concerning Spinners and Weavers The Bill touching Clap-boards and Casks The Bill for relief of Souldiers and Mariners The Bill concerning Devonshire Kerseys The Bill for reviving and perfecting divers Statutes with a new Proviso The Bill for restraining of Popish Recusants to some certain places of aboad And the Bill to make void the Spiritual Livings of those that have forsaken the Realm and do cleave to the Pope and his Religion were sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others M r Doctor Carey and M r Powle do bring from the Lords a Bill Intituled An Act for the avoiding of deceit used in making and selling of twice laid Cordage and for the better preserving of the Navy of this Realm and prayed from their Lordships the speedy expediting of the same Bill for that this Parliament draweth near unto an end Whereupon the same Bill was twice read and committed unto Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Francis Drake M r Lewkenor M r Wroth M r Finch and M r Flower and the Bill was delivered to Sir Francis Drake who were appointed to meet in the Afternoon of this present day The Bill against persons Outlawed and such as will not pay their debts was read the second and third time and dashed upon the question M r Vice-Chamberlain one of the Committees in the Bill for Explanation of a branch made in the twenty third year of her Majesties Reign Intituled An Act to retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due obedience with some Addition to the same shewed the meeting of the said Committees yesterday their long tarrying together in the end their desisting without any determinable resolutions occasioned by reason of many and sundry Arguments and opinions and afterwards somewhat intimating the unkindness of the Lords in neglecting the said Bill in this House adviseth that a Conference be prayed with their Lordships for the better effecting of a convenient Law to be provided for meeting with the disordered
therein Vide touching this Bill in fine diei praecedentis On Thursday the 11 th day of February Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for Servants robbing their Masters Buggery Invocation of evil Spirits Inchantments c. to be Felony was read the third time and passed the House Mr. Attorney and Mr. Sollicitor brought from the Lords a Bill against Forgers of Deeds which was presently read the first time On Friday the 12 th day of February Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill for punishment of Forgers of false Deeds and Wills was read the second time But no mention is made that it was either referr'd to Committees or Ordered to be ingrossed because it had been formerly sent from the Lords The House desired the Privy-Council to 〈◊〉 the Queens Majesty to have in 〈◊〉 their Petition looking for her most Gracious Answer Vide touching this matter on Thursday the 28 th day of January foregoing as also on Tuesday the 16. day of this instant February following The Committees do certifie the House that Sir Hen. Jones his men may be committed to the Serjeant and that he attend Mr. Recorder and Mr. Gargrave with the persons before the Lord Chief Justice to enter with Sureties in Bond of five hundred pound to appear personally in the Queens Bench in Trinity Term next to Answer to such things as shall be then objected to them on the Queens behalf and so set at Liberty Vide concerning this matter on Friday the 5. day on Monday the 8. day and on Wednesday the 10. day of this instant February foregoing On Saturday the 13. day of February Arguments touching the Oath of Assessors in the Subsidy being had the Bill was Ordered to be engrossed Vide plus on Tuesday the 9. day of this instant February foregoing Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the latter being the Bill touching levying of Fines for respite of Homage was read the second time and rejected For that John Harrington Esquire returned Burgess of S t Ives in Cornwal and also for Carnarvon in Wales doth appear for Carnarvon a Writ was required for a Burgess for S t Ives On Monday the 15. day of February the new Bill touching Usury was read the first time Three Bills were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Vice-Chamberlain of which one was the Bill touching Servants robbing their Masters and Buggery to be Felony The Bill against those that extol the Bishop of Rome and refuse the Oath of Allegiance was read the second time and as it should seem committed to Mr. Vice-Chamberlain and others not named Divers Arguments being had upon the Bill for respite of Homage it was at the last rejected On Tuesday the 16. day of February Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill touching Usury was upon the second reading Ordered to be ingrossed Robert Parker Servant to Sir William Woodhouse Knight for Norfolk attached in London at the Suit of Thomas Raber Baker in Transgr had a Warrant for Priviledge notwithstanding a judgment given against him Mr. Serjeant Carus and Mr. Attorney brought from the Lords five Bills for Restitution in Blood of divers persons Mr. Comptroller and Mr. Secretary declared from the Queens Highness that she doubted not but the grave Heads of this House did right well consider that she forgot not the Suit of this House for the Succession the matter being so weighty nor could forget it but she willed the young Heads to take Example of the Antients Vide touching this business on Saturday the 16. day Monday the 18. day Tuesday the 19. day Tuesday the 26. day Wednesday the 27. day and on Thursday the 28. day of January foregoing as also on Friday the 12. day of this instant February preceeding Vide April the 10. postea On Wednesday the 17. day of February Three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill to confirm the Liberties of Exeter was read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed On Thursday the 18. day of February Six Bills had each of them one reading of which the fifth being the Bill for Confirmation of the Liberties of Exeter was read the third time and passed the House And the last being the Bill for punishment of Usury and unlawful Bargains was read also the third time and passed per Divisionem Domus viz. with the Bill a hundred thirty four and against it ninety On Friday the 19. day of February Two Bills had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Subsidy and two Fifteens granted by the Temporalty was read the third time and passed the House Vide touching this Bill on Tuesday the 9. day of this Instant February foregoing Thomas Andrews Esq Burgess for Sudbury in Suffolk and Thomas Eymis Burgess for Thuske in the Country of York for their weighty affairs have Licence to be absent On Saturday the 20. day of February Three Bills had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill against ingrossing of Wooll and that Wooll-Winders may buy Wooll was read the second time and thereupon rejected Three Bills were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Vice-Chamberlain of which one was for the punishment of Usury and another for the Subsidy granted by the Temporalty Four other Bills also had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill against those that shall extol the Bishop of Rome or shall refuse the Oath of Allegiance was read the third time and passed the House Robert Wieth Gent. Burgess for Wiche in the County of Worcester for his necessary affairs is Licensed to be absent On Monday the 22. day of February Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the Bowyers of London And the last to raise Grigg Mills between Plime and Dart in Devonshire were each of them read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill against those that extol the Bishop of Rome c. was sent up to the Lords by Mr. Secretary William Poughnyll Gent. Burgess of Ludlow in the County of Salop for his great affairs in the Marches hath Licence to be absent On Tuesday the 23. day of February Seven Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being for the avoiding of divers Foreign Wares The second touching Badgers of Corn The third for punishment of those that call themselves Egyptians And the fourth for allowance to Sheriffs for Justices Dyets at the Assizes were each of them read the second time and Ordered to be engrossed Richard Bertie Esq one of the Knights of the County of Lincoln for his weighty affairs was Licensed to be absent On Wednesday the 24. day of February Four
Heathens that were most barbarous But here it may be said the mischief appeareth where is the remedy and that it were better not opened in such a presence than opened without the remedy both devised and declared In mine opinion the remedies may easily be devised all the difficulty is in the well Executing of them As first if the chief Parsonages of this Realm both in Town and Country would give good Example it cannot be but it would be much to the remedying of a great part of this mischief Secondly The dividing every one of the Dioceses according to their greatness into Deaneries as I know commonly they be and the committing of the Deaneries to men well chosen as I think commonly they be not and then the keeping of certain ordinary Courts at their prescript times for the well Executing of those Laws of Discipline as they ought to be with a sure controulment of those inferior Ministers by the Bishop or his Chancellor not biennially or triennially but every year twice or thrice which use of necessity without very great difficulty may do much in very short time to the reformation of this the chief Officers Ecclesiastical all being very well and the Laws themselves being first made sufficient and perfect which in this Parliament may very well be brought to pass And because the proceedings of matters in Discipline and Doctrine do chiefly concern my Lords the Bishops both for their understanding and Ecclesiastical Function therefore the Queens Highness looketh that they being called together here in Parliament should take the chiefest care to confer and consult of these matters And if in their Conference they found it behooful to have any Temporal Acts made for the amending and reforming of any of these lacks that then they will exhibit it here in Parliament to be considered upon and so Gladius Gladium juvabit as before time hath been used foreseeing always that all Laws and Ordinances for this matter of Doctrine and Discipline be uniform and so one sort throughout the whole Realm And thus much concerning Religion being the first part Now to the second that is matters of Policy And herein first for the good Government of the Subjects at home the lacks and defaults whereof as in Discipline so in this stand altogether in the imperfection of Laws or else the fearfulness slothfulness and corruption of Temporal Officers that ought to see the due Execution of them For the help of the former you are to Examine whether any Laws already made are too sharp or too sore and so over-burthensom for the Subject or whether any of them are too loose or too soft and so over-dangerous to the State for like as the former may put in danger many an Innocent particularly so the second may put in danger both the nocent and innocent and the whole State universally You are also further to Examine the want and superfluity of Laws and whether crafty Covetousness and Malice have devised any means to defraud Laws already made or how to do any injuries for which there is no Law that hath his being to reform it or whether the Common-Weal and State of this Realm by reason of any imperfection or cause is like to fall to any danger or peril for the greater the danger is the greater would the care and consideration be for the remedy of it You are also to Examine whether there are too many Laws for any one thing which breedeth so many doubts that the Subject is sometimes to seek how to observe them and the Chancellor how to give advice concerning them As to the second imperfection which is the want of the due Execution of Laws because I cannot perceive but all the rest and all Laws made and to be made is but a vain matter therefore I have thought oft with my self what might be the best remedy if not to make all Laws perfectly Executed for that I can hardly hope of yet to make them in much better Case than now they be And when I had considered all things I could find no help but this The first by having great care in the choice of those Officers that have the Execution of Laws The second to do as much as may be for the banishing of sloth corruption and fears from them A third way there is which I leave to your judgments this it is there should be a triennial or biennial Visitation in this nature made of all the Temporal Officers and Ministers that by virtue of their Office have in charge to see the Execution of Laws By this I mean that the Queens Majesty should make choice every second or third year of certain expert and approved persons to whom Commission should be granted to try out and examine by all ways and means the offences of all such as have not seen to the due Execution of the Laws according to the offices and charges committed to them by the Prince And the offences so found and certified to be sharply punished without remission or redemption Of effect much like this and to the like end was the Visitation of the Church first devised whereof in the beginning of it came great good doubtless and reason I see none but the like good ought to follow upon like Visitation made amongst Temporal Officers And the old Commission of Oyer tended somewhat to this end I doubt certainly if the Laws and Statutes of this Realm should not indifferently uprightly and diligently be put in Execution as my trust is they shall especially in the great and open Courts of this Realm then my burthen I confess is equal with the greatest and yet for my part I would gladly every year hear of and yield to such a Comptroller Now to the last and greatest which is the defence against the Foreign Enemy abroad and his Confederates brought up and bred amongst us our selves because these matters be by reason now chiefly in hand and that the dealings of the outward Enemy be matters that go to the whole and that this presence you know representeth the whole Therefore in all congruity it seemeth reason that all we for and in the name of the whole consider carefully of this cause and give present assistance for the help of it And to the end you may be more able to give good Counsel and advice therein it hath been thought meet I should summarily and shortly make you privy of these proceedings which shall be the better understood if I begin at the root as I intend This it is The Queens Majesty at her coming to the Crown finding this her Realm in a ragged and torn State and yet in Wars with a mighty Enemy the Chief Fortress of the same lost to the Realms great dishonour and weakning her Frontier Towns not sufficiently fortified the Revenue of the Crown greatly spoiled the Treasure of the Realm not only wasted but the Realm also greatly indebted The Land of Ireland much out of order The Staple and Store of all kind
many hands though falsly attributed to have been presented unto her Majesty in the Thirteenth Year of her Reign whereas it appears plainly by both the Original Journal-Books of the Upper House and House of Commons and by all other Monuments of the Parliament de an 13 Regin Eliz. that there was not so much as any mention made of the Queen of Scots or her dangerous practices which were so much and so often agitated in this present Session de an 14. And therefore it being so plain that they were tendred unto her Majesty in this said present Session and being also most likely that they were at this time framed in the House of Commons and were the cause of this dayes above-recited Resolution although it doth not certainly appear that they ought to be referred to this very place yet I thought good to have them inserted here in manner and form following Which said reasons as is very probable were presented unto her Majesty the 28 th day of May ensuing Reasons to prove the Queens Majesty bound in Conscience to proceed with Severity in this Case of the late Queen of Scots THE Word of God which is the only Director of Consciences and a certain Rule for all Estates and Offices doth often and most earnestly teach that Godly Princes or Magistrates not only in Conscience safely may but also in Duty towards God ought severely and uprightly to administer Justice For this is one of the Principal Causes for the which the Providence and Wisdom of God hath ordained Magistrates in Common-Wealths that they might by Justice and punishment according to the greatness of the offences repress the wickedness of Mankind whereunto by corruption of nature they are inclined The Magistrate as S t Paul saith Rom. 13. is the Minister of God and the Revenger of wrath towards him that hath done evil c. And S t Peter 1 Pet. 2. Be subject to the King as to the Chief or to the Under-Rulers as sent of him ad vindictam nocentium to the punishment or revengement of Ossendors and to the praise of them that do well If the Magistrate doth not this God threatneth heavy punishment When you were saith Wisdome to Princes Sap. 6. the Ministers of his Kingdom you have not Executed Judgment rightly nor kept the Law nor walked according to his Will Horrible therefore and right soon shall he appear unto you for an hard Judgment shall they have that hear rule Potentes potenter tormenta patientur Now then if the Magistrate be the Minister of God in his name and authority to punish the wicked according to the Measure of their offences and are threatned grievous punishment if they do not and on the other Party the late Scottish Queen hath offended in two highest degrees both concerning Gods Religion and the disinheriting and destruction of our Prince we see not but her Majesty must needs offend in Conscience before God if she do not punish her according to the measure of her offence in the highest degree Small punishment for great offences in respect of any person is partiality and slack Justice which God above all things in Judgment forbiddeth Consider not saith God the person of the poor nor honour the Countenance of the rich Levit. 19. It is not good saith Solomon Prov. 18. to consider the person of the wicked thereby to decline from the truth of Judgment And Jesus Sirach Make no labour to be a Judge except thou have that stoutness that thou mightily mayest put down wickedness for if thou stand in awe of the mighty thou canst not but fail in giving Sentence Ecclus. 7. Wherefore whether the late Queen of Scots be Queen or Subject be Stranger or Citizen be Kin or not Kin by Gods word for so great offences she should have the just deserved punishment and that in the highest degree The second Reason When God by his just Providence doth commit any grievous Offendor into the hands of a Prince or Magistrate as to his Minister to be punished he ought to fear the heavy displeasure of God if by any colour he do omit the same Non enim hominis Judicium est sed Dei maledictus est qui facit opus Domini fraudulenter vel negligenter For God often times brings Sinners to punishment for other offences than those that are known and appear to the World And therefore hath he shewed himself grievously displeased when such by colour of Mercy and Pity in Princes have escaped just Judgment Because Saul spared Agag 1 Reg. 15. although he were a King God took from the same Saul his good Spirit and transferred the Kingdom of Israel from him and from his Heirs for ever When Achab spared Benhadad the King of Syria by his unreasonable Clemency though he were a great Prince God willed the Prophet to say unto him Because thou hast 〈◊〉 escape out of thy hands the man that I would have to die thy life shall be for his life and thy people 〈◊〉 his people In these Examples great pretence might be made for Mercy for sparing of them and great reproach of bloodiness and Cruelty in the contrary but we see how God judged them The late Queen of Scots being a grievous Offendor divers ways both before she came into this Land and afterwards also hath been by Gods special and remarkable Providence put into the Queens Majesties hands to be punished and that far more notably than Agag and Benhadad were put into the hands of Saul and Achab. Therefore it is greatly to be feared if she escape as Benhadad did under pretence of mercy and favourable dealing that Gods heavy displeasure will for the same light both upon the Prince and the Realm as it did upon Achab and the Israelites shortly after This Sentence of the Prophet as it is for certain reported was spoken to the Lord James now Regent in Scotland when with too much lenity he proceeded therein it hath followed too true in him the Lord turn it from our Gracious Soveraign The third Reason Every good Prince ought by Gods Commandment to punish even with Death all such as do seek to seduce the People of God from his true worship unto Superstition and Idolatry For that offence God hath always most grievously punished as committed against the first Table Deut. 13. His words are these If thy Brother the Son of thy Mother or thine own Son or thy Daughter or thy Wife that lieth within thy Bosom or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul unto thee shall entice thee saying Let us go and serve strange Gods c. Thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him thine Eye shall not pity him neither shalt thou have compassion upon him nor keep him secret but cause him to be slain thine own hand shall be first upon him to kill him c. And afterwards addeth and all Israel shall fear to do any more any such wickedness The Residue of that Chapter afterwards containeth
more grievous matter which we would wish all them to read that in great offences under the colour of pity are loth to have sharp punishment used Here you may perceive that God willeth his Magistrate not to spare either Brother or Sister Son or Daughter Wife or Friend be he never so high if he seek to seduce the People of God from his true Worship much less is an Enemy and Traitor to be spared Yea and he addeth the cause why he would have such sharp punishment used in such Cases That Israel may fear to do the like But the late Queen of Scots hath not only sought and wrought by all means she can to seduce the people of God in this Realm from true Religion but is the only hope of all the Adversaries of God throughout all Europe and the Instrument whereby they trust to overthrow the Gospel of Christ in all Countries And therefore if she have not that punishment which God in this place aforementioned appointeth It is of all Christian hearts to be feared that Gods just Plague will light both upon the Magistrates and Subjects but that by our slackness and remiss Justice we give occasion of the overthrow of God's Glory and truth in his Church mercifully restored unto us in those latter days Constantinus Magnus caused Licinius to be put to Death being not his Subject but his Fellow-Emperor for that the said Licinius laboured to subvert Christian Religion And the same Constantinus is for the same in all Histories highly commended Much more shall it be lawful for the Queens Majesty to Execute this Woman who besides the Subversion of Religion hath sought the Life of the same our Gracious Soveraign The Fourth Reason It is dangerous for any Person being a Prince both for his own State as also for that punishment which may come from God's hand by slackness of Justice in great offences to give occasion by hope of impunity of the increase of like wickedness Joab being spared of David for Murthering Abner killed Amasa also Because Amnon was winked at by his Father for committing Rape and Incest with his own Sister Absalom under hope of like Impunity was emboldened to murther his Brother Amnon But look I pray you how grievously God punished that slack Justice of David coloured with a tender heart towards his Children Did he not suffer yea and by his just Judgment raise one of his own Sons towards whom he used that excessive tenderness and pity to rebel against him and drive him out of his own Kingdom The late Scottish Queen hath heaped up together all the Sins of the Licentious Sons of David Adulteries Murders Conspiracies Treasons and Blaspemies against God also and if she escape with small punishment her Majesty in Conscience ought as also good and faithful Subjects to fear that God will reserve her as an Instrument to put her from the Royal Seat of this Kingdom and to plague the unthankful and naughty Subjects Quod omen ut Deus avertat precamur Shall we think that God will not plague it Surely our hearts do fear he will do it grievously The fifth Reason A Prince ought in Conscience before God by all the means he can to see to the Quietness Safety and good Estate of that People over which God hath appointed him Governour For in the Prophets oftentimes under the names of Pastors and Watchmen he threatneth great punishment to Princes and Governours for the contrary especially in Ezechiel 33 and 34. And signifieth that if his People perish either in Soul or Body by slackness in administring justice or by any other mis-government God will require their Blood at the Princes hands which places as they may be applied to Prophets and Teachers so do they not exclude but principally comprehend Kings and Magistrates as Hieronymus noteth in Ezechiel 33. the words of the Prophet are these viz. If the Watchmen see the Sword and blow not the Trumpet so that the people is not warned If the Sword come then and take any man from among them the same shall be taken away in his own sin from among them but his Blood will I require at the Watchmans hand Ezechiel 33. And again Woe unto the Shepherds that destroy and scatter my Flock saith the Lord c. You scatter and thrust out of my Flock and do not look upon them Therefore will I visit the wickedness of your imaginations c. Jer. 23. By these and such other words in many places God signifieth if his People perish either in Soul or Body by the slack or remiss Government of them that are appointed Rulers over them and as it were Shepherds and Herdsmen to keep them from danger that he will require the Blood of his people at their hands But the late Scottish Queen with her Allies by the pretensed Title and other wicked devilish and Traiterous devices and workings is like to bring confusion to this Realm of England and the People thereof as evidently appeareth to all good and faithful Subjects Therefore the Prince offendeth grievously before God and is in danger of the Blood of Gods People if for the safety of the same she doth not cut her off 3 Reg. 2. Solomon a Wise and godly Prince spared not his own natural yea and his Elder Brother Adonijah for suspition and likelihood of Treason and for a Marriage purposed only but put him to Death for the same and that speedily without course of Judgment lest by delay trouble and danger might have ensued not only to his own Person being Prince and Chief Minister of God in that Land but also to that People over which he had charge and for safety whereof in Conscience he was bound to deal He would have thought it a great burthen to his Conscience if by the sparing of one mans Life were he never so nigh of Blood unto him he would have hazarded the Seat in which God had placed him and the Blood of many thousands of his People which by a Rebellion might have been spent But this Woman and her greatly desired Husband as she pretendeth have put far more hainous matters in Execution wherefore her Case standing as it doth there is no scruple in Conscience to proceed with Severity but great danger in Conscience for dealing too mildly and contrary to Order of Justice making the punishment less than the offence with the danger of her Majesties own person the hazard of the Realm and the Subversion of Gods Truth The sixth Reason It is dangerous for any Christian Prince and contrary to the word of God with colour of Mercy and Pity to do that whereby he shall discourage and kill the hearts not only of his own good Subjects and faithful Councellors but also of all other Nations faithfully professing Gods Religion and his true worship as may well appear in the Example of David David having this infirmity of too much Pity and Indulgency towards Offendors which is not of any Prince to be followed
Jurisdiction Paulus de Castro in dictam legem est receptivum ff eo verba ejus enim Major vel aequalis potest se subjicere Jurisdictioni ordinaliter alterius Judicis minoris vel paris tacite si Judex unius Territorii delinquat vel contrahat in territorium alterius Judicis vel minoris vel paris quia ratione delicti vel contractus sortitur ibi forum Rota de definitionibus de Judiciis Ille qui delinquit per delictum amisit mercem imprim sic factus est alius privatus sic compar potest eum punire Quilibet in suo Territorio est major Alexandro But the Scottish Queen having committed High Treason within this Realm hath by contraction of Law submitted her self to this Jurisdiction and therefore to be punished as another private Person And although it be said that one that is not subditus non potest committere crimen laesae Majestatis yet that saying is to be taken whereas the crime is committed out of the Jurisdiction but if it be committed within the Jurisdiction then there to be punished Papa in Clementinam de sententia re judicata And albeit the Pope did reverse the same Sentence yet he saith that if the party had been within the Jurisdiction of the superior at the time of the Crime committed and judgment to the party offended he had been justly condemned c. Verba Papae Quod si Rex infra districtum imperiale suisset invenitus delinquens potuisset contra eum scntentia dici Lo here the Pope declareth plainly that she here offending may justy here be punished in poena Capitis Item a King deposed is not afterwards to be taken for a King Thomas de Turrecremeta definitione 65. Rex Regno privatus non est amplius Rex But the Queen of Scots is deprived Ergo. The benefit or priviledge of safe-Conduct is lost when any crime is committed after the safe-Conduct granted Angelus de maleficiis in verbo publica fama But the Queen of Scots hath committed against the safe-Conduct since her coming into the Realm Ergo. The will and mind in Treasons is punished equally as the Act. Cod. ad legem Juliam laesae Majestatis verba legis In crimine laesae Majestatis voluntatem sceleris aeque ac effectum puniri jura voluerunt But the Scottish Queen hath not only had the affections but hath notoriously proceeded to the actions Ergo. Neither is it any new or rare thing for Kings and Queens to be adjudged and Condemned for Treason for Henry the Seventh Emperour did give a solemn judgment of death at Pisa A. D. 1311. against Robert King of Sicily Diotorus was likewise Condemned by Julius Caesar and Joan Queen of Naples for murthering her Husband and Hanging him out of a Window Punishment ought to be equal to the offences committed ss de poenis but Death is the penalty appointed for Treason Ergo. The foregoing Petition and Reasons for the speedy Execution of the Scottish Queen being thus transcribed out of the before-mentioned written Copy of them I had by me Now follows the residue of this days passages and of this ensuing Journal out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons it self in manner and form following Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Cogshall and Bocking was read the first time The Proviso to the Bill for Worcester was twice read and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for the Free Grammar-School in Tunbridge was committed unto Sir Tho. Scot and others to meet to Morrow in the Afternoon at three of the Clock The Bill for the Explanation of the Statute of 32 H. 8. for Recoveries was read the third time and committed to the former Committees unto whom also were added M r Serjeant Lovelace M r Attorney of the Dutchy M r Popham and M r Townesend who were to meet this Afternoon in the Temple Church M r Treasurer declared that he and certain others of the Committees chosen by themselves out of themselves do presently come from her Majesty and that her Majesty doth very thankfully accept the good will and zeal of this House in their carefulness for her Majesties safety and preservation and that as her Majesty thinketh the course chosen by this House and wherein the Lords have joined with this House to be the best and surest way for her Majesties preservation and safety indeed yet her Highness for certain respects by her self conceived thinketh good for this time to defer but not to reject that course of proceeding as yet and in the mean time with all convenient speed to go forward in the great matter against the Scottish Queen with a second Bill being the other part of the said Choice heretofore offered to this House And that her Majesty minding in that Bill by any implication or drawing of words not to have the Scottish Queen either enabled or disabled to or from any manner of Title to the Crown of this Realm or any other Title to the same whatsoever touched at all willeth that the Bill be first drawn by her Learned Councel and by them penned before the same be treated of or dealt in in this House And that in the mean time of bringing in of the said Bill this House enter not into any Speeches or Arguments of that matter And that her Majesty hath likewise signified the same her like pleasure unto the Lords of the Upper House by some of the said Committees of the same House Vide concerning this matter on Thursday the 26 th day of June following M r Attorney and M r Sollicitor declared from the Lords that their Lordships have appointed six of themselves which were with the Queens Majesty this Forenoon at the Exchequer and that they have appointed the Judges there to attend them and pray that a convenient number of such of this House as were also with her Highness might with some others of this House meet there with their Lordships for further Conference and thereupon were for that purpose appointed by this House M r Treasurer M r Comptroller M r Chancellor of the Dutchy M r Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Maurice Berkeley Sir Tho. Scott Sir Hugh Pawlett Sir John Thynne Sir Hen. Gate M r D r Wilson Master of the Requests M r Serjeant Lovelace M r Attorney of the Court of Wards M r Recorder of London M r Moor. M r Mounson M r Popham M r Attorney of the Dutchy M r Sands M r Norton M r Atkins and M r Dalton Nota That it is not certainly set down why these forenamed Committees were nominated but as is most probable they were appointed either for the great business touching the Scottish Queen or the Execution of the Duke or both The Resolution of this House upon the Question was that Petition should be made by this House unto her Majesty for the present Execution of the Duke and that the same
the second time but no mention is made that it was either referred to Committees or Ordered to be engrossed because it had been sent from the Lords Upon the Argument in the matter between the Earl of Kent and the Lord Compton by their Learned Councel of both sides this House thinketh good to be further advised upon the matter and so it was signified unto their Lordships and their Councel On Monday the 9 th day of June the Bill for Mr. Smith was read the first and second time and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill that no Servant of any Subjects shall be a Justice of Peace or High Constable was read the second time and Ordered to be engrossed Mr. Sandes Mr. Fenner and Mr. Shute were appointed presently to consider and correct the Bill of my Lord of Kent exhibited against the Lord Compton Three Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for Explanation of the Statute of Fugitives was read the third time and with the Bill for Presentations by Lapse and two others of no great moment sent up to the Lords by Mr. Treasurer and others Upon the Question it was resolved by this House that some Committees of this House be appointed to have Conference with the Lords touching the Proviso to the Bill against Mary commonly called the Queen of Scots Mr. Comptroller Mr. Treasurer Sir Thomas Scott Mr. Doctor Wilson Master of the Requests Mr. Recorder of London Mr. Cromwell Mr. Langhorne Mr. Fenner Mr. Snagg Mr. Dalton Mr. S t Leger and Mr. Cowper were for that purpose added to the former Committees Vide touching this matter on Thursday the 26 th day of this instant June following and Monday the 19 th of May foregoing Post Meridiem In the Afternoon three Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Severance of Sheriffs in the Counties of Surrey and Sussex was read the third time and passed upon the Question Upon the Question it was Ordered that the matter be presently proceeded in to the hearing between the Earl of Kent and my Lord Compton notwithstanding my Lord Compton his Allegations of the want of his Councel and the hearing to be dealt in only touching the matter of the release and the procuring of the same Geo. Goscoigne and Tho. Cole being produced Vide de ista materia in die praecedente On Tuesday the 10 th day of June Six Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill that no Houshold Servant or Retainer to any Subject shall be a Justice of Peace or High Constable And the third for Cogshall were each of them read the third time and passed the House and were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Seckford Master of the Requests and others Mr. Sollicitor and Mr. Doctor Huick did signify from the Lords that their Lordships have appointed a Committee to have Conference with the Committees of this House in the Bill against Mary commonly called the Queen of Scots and that their Lordships do require the same to be done presently Vide concerning this matter on Thursday the 26 th of this instant June following The Bill for the transporting of Corn was read the second and third time and passed upon the Question Two Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the Town of Stafford was read the first time Post Meridiem In the Afternoon two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for the marking of tanned Leather was read the first time Six Bills also had each of them their second reading of which the first was the Bill for Corporations and the last for the Earl of Kent was upon the Question Ordered to be ingrossed and both the Parties to be in this House with their Learned Councel at the next Session of this Court to be holden next after this present day On Wednesday the 11 th day of June Mr. Doctor Huick and Mr. Doctor Vaughan did bring word from the Lords that having understood the Queens Majesties Pleasure to be that they should adjourn their Sessions until Tuesday come Se'nnight they did signifie the same unto this House to the end this House may likewise Adjourn until the same time and nevertheless to continue the Session this Forenoon and send unto them such Bills as are already passed this House or shall pass this Forenoon Upon the Question Mr. Snagg was by the whole Voice of the House purged of the words and meaning which it was pretended he should have heretofore uttered in this House to the dishonour and discontentation of the Lords of the Upper House The Bill touching the transporting of Leather and Tallow was sent up to the Lords by all the Privy Council being of this House and others The Bill against fraudulent Gifts and Conveyances of Lands was read the third time and passed the House Mr. Doctor Huick and Mr. Doctor Vaughan did bring from the Lords three Bills of which the first was touching Sea-Marks and the second for Partition of Lands to be had between the Lord Latimer and Sir Robert Wingfeild Knight and their Heirs The Bill against fraudulent Gifts and Conveyances of Lands and the Bill for Partition of Lands between the Lord Latimer and Sir Robert Wingfeild were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer and others and by them brought back again for that the Lords were risen and gone The Bill for Grants by Corporations was read the third time and passed the House The Court was this day Adjourned until Tuesday come S'ennight next coming On Tuesday the 24 th day of June Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill touching Lands and Tenements within the County and City of Exeter was read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Grants by Corporations with two others of no great moment was sent up to the Lords by Mr. Treasurer and others with request to be by them made unto their Lordships for their Answer touching Conference in the Bill against Mary commonly called the Queen of Scots The Bill against delays in Judgment at the Common Law was read the second time but no mention is made that it was either Ordered to be ingrossed or referred to Committees because it had been formerly sent from the Lords The Bill against Mary commonly called the Queen of Scots was sent to the Lords to see and consider by Sir Rowland Hayward Mr. Dr. Wilson Mr. Serjeant Manwood and Mr. Attorney of the Court of Wards The Bill against delays in Judgment was upon the Question committed unto Mr. Serjeant Manwood Mr. Serjeant Jefferies Mr. Popham and Mr. Sands who were appointed to meet at the Temple Church at two of the Clock this
their consents as well as the others Well he that hath an Office saith S t Paul let him wait on his Office or give diligent attendance upon his Ofsice It is a great and special part of our duty and office M r Speaker to maintain the freedom of Consultation and Speech for by this good Laws that do set forth Gods Glory and for the preservation of the Prince and State are made S t Paul in the same place saith hate that which is avil cleave unto that which is good then with S t Paul I do advise you all here present yea and heartily and earnestly desire you from the bottom of your hearts to hate all Messengers Tale-Carriers or any other thing whatsoever it be that any manner of way infringes the Liberties of this Honourable Councel yea hate it or them as venemous and poyson unto our Common-Wealth for they are venemous Beasts that do use it therefore I say again and again hate that which is evil and cleave unto that which is good and this being loving and faithful hearted I do wish to be conceived in fear of God and of love to our Prince and Statè for we are incorporated into this place to serve God and all England and not to be Time-Servers as Humour-feeders as Cancers that would pierce the Bone or as Flatterers that would fain beguile all the World and so worthy to be Condemned both of God and Man but let us shew our selves a People endued with Faith I mean with a lively Faith that bringeth forth good Works and not as Dead And these good Works I wish to break forth in this sort not only in hating the Enemies before-spoken against but also in open reproving them as Enemies to God our Prince and State that do use them for they are so Therefore I would have none spared or forborn that shall from henceforth offend herein of what calling soever he be for the higher place he hath the more harm he may do therefore if he will not eschew offences the higher I wish him hanged I speak this in Charity M r Speaker for it is better that one should be hanged than that this Noble State should be subverted well I pray God with all my heart to turn the hearts of all the Enemies of our Prince and State and to forgive them that wherein they have offended yea and to give them grace to offend therein no more even so I do heartily beseech God to forgive us for holding our peaces when we have heard any injury offered to this Honourable Councel for surely it is no small offence M r Speaker for we offend therein against God our Prince and State and abuse the confidence by them reposed in us Wherefore God for his great mercies sake grant that we may from henceforth shew our selves neither Bastards nor Dastards therein but that as rightly begotten Children we may sharply and boldly reprove Gods Enemies our Princes and State and so shall every one of us discharge our Duties in this our High Office wherein he hath placed us and shew our selves haters of Evil and Cleavers to that that is good to the setting forth of Gods Glory and Honour and to the Preservation of our Noble Queen and Common-Wealth for these are the marks that we ought only in this place to shoot at I am thus earnest I take God to witness for Conscience Sake Love Love unto my Prince and Common-Wealth and for the advancement of Justice for Justice saith an Antient Father is the Prince of all Vertues yea the safe and faithful Guard of mans Life for by it Empires Kingdoms People and Cities be governed the which if it be taken away the Society of man cannot long endure And a King saith Solomon that sitteth in the Throne of Judgment and looketh well about him chaseth away all evil in the which State and Throne God for his great mercies sake grant that our Noble Queen may be heartily vigilant and watchful for surely there was a great fault committed both in the last Parliament and since also that was as faithful hearts as any were unto the Prince and State received most displeasure the which is but an hard point in Policy to encourage the Enemy to discourage the faithful-hearted who of fervent love cannot dissemble but follow the Rule of S t Paul who saith let love be without dissimulation Now to another great fault I found the last Parliament committed by some of this House also the which I would desire of them all might be left I have from right good men in other Causes although I did dislike them in that doing sit in an evil matter against which they had most earnestly spoken I mused at it and asked what it meant for I do think it a shameful thing to serve God their Prince or Country with the tongue only and not with the Heart and Body I was answered that it was a common Policy in this House to mark the best sort of the same and either to sit or arise with them that same common Policy I would gladly have banished this House and have grafted in the stead thereof either to rise or sit as the matter giveth Cause For the Eyes of the Lord behold all the Earth to strengthen all the hearts of them that are whole with him These be Gods own words mark them well I heartily beseech you all for God will not receive half part he will have the whole And again he misliketh those two faced Gentlemen and here be many Eyes that will to their great shame behold their double dealing that use it Thus I have holden you long with my rude Speech the which since it tendeth wholly with pure Conscience to seek the advancement of Gods Glory our Honourable Soveraigns Safety and to the sure defence of this noble Isle of England and all by maintaining of the Liberties of this Honourable Councel the Fountain from whence all these do Spring my humble and hearty Suit unto you all is to accept my good will and that this that I have here spoken out of Conscience and great zeal unto my Prince and State may not be buried in the Pit of Oblivion and so no good come thereof Upon this Speech the House out of a reverend regard of her Majesty's Honour stopped his further proceeding before he had fully finished his Speech The Message he meant and intended was that which was set by her Majesty to the House of Commons in the said fourteenth year of her Reign upon Wednesday the 28 th day of May by Sir Francis Knolles Knight Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold inhibiting them for a certain time to treat or deal in the matter touching the Scottish Queen Now follows the proceeding of the House upon this Speech out of the Original Journal-Book it self M r Wentworth being Sequestred the House as aforesaid for his said Speech it was agreed and Ordered by the House upon the Question after sundry Motions and Disputations had therein
would with the same mind speak it again Commit Yea but you might have uttered it in better terms why did you not so Went. Would you have me to have done as you of her Majesties Privy-Council do to utter a weighty matter in such terms as she should not have understood to have made a fault then it would have done her Majesty no good and my intent was to do her good Commit You have Answered us Went. Then I praise God for it and as I made a Courtesie another spake these words Commit M r Wentworth will never acknowledge himself to make a fault nor say that he is sorry for any thing that he doth speak you shall hear none of these things come out of his mouth Went. M r Seckford I will never confess that to be a fault to love the Queens Majesty whilst I live neither will I be sorry for giving her Majesty warning to avoid danger while the breath is in my Body if you do think it a fault to love her Majesty or to be sorry that her Majesty should have warning to avoid her danger say so for I cannot speak for your self M r Secksord This Examination of M r Wentworth being thus transcribed out of that Copy I had of it now follows the next days passages out of the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and it is not here to be over-passed that the said M r Wentworth was by the Queens special favour restored again to his Liberty and place in the House on Monday the 12 th day of March ensuing On Thursday the 9 th day of February it was Ordered by this House upon a Motion that John Lord Russell Son and Heir Apparent of the Right Honourable the Earl of Bedford being a Burgess for the Borough of Birtport in the County of Dorset shall continue a Member of this House according to the like former President in the like Case had heretofore of the said new Earl his Father This day M r Treasurer in the name of all the Committees yesterday appointed for the Examination of Peter Wentworth Burgess for Tregony declared that all the said Committees did meet Yesterday in the Afternoon in the Star-Chamber according to their Commission and there Examining the said Peter Wentworth touching the violent and wicked words Yesterday pronounced by him in this House touching the Queens Majesty made a Collection of the same words which words so Collected the said Peter Wentworth did acknowledge and confess And then did the said M r Treasurer read unto the House the said Note of Collection which being read he declared further that the said Peter Wentworth being Examined what he could say for the extenuating of his said fault and offence could neither say any thing at all to that purpose neither yet did charge any other person as Author of his said Speech but did take all the burthen thereof unto himself and so the said M r Treasurer thereupon moved for his punishment and Imprisonment in the Tower as the House should think good and consider of whereupon after sundry Disputations and Speeches it was Ordered upon the Question that the said Peter Wentworth should be committed close Prisoner to the Tower for his said offence there to remain until such time as this House should have further Consideration of him And thereupon immediately the said Peter Wentworth being brought to the Bar by the Serjeant received his said Judgment accordingly by the Mouth of M r Speaker in form above-recited And so M r Lieutenant of the Tower was presently charged with the Custody of the said Peter Wentworth But the said Peter Wentworth was shortly by the Queens special Favour restored again to his Liberty and place in the House Ut vide on Monday the 12 th day of March following M r Moor M r Norton M r Yelverton and M r Fenner were appointed to draw a Bill against stealing away of Mens Children by colour of privy Contracts It was resolved by this House that any person being a Member of the same and being either in service of Ambassage or else in Execution or visited with sickness shall not in any wise be amoved from their place in this House nor any other to be during such time of service Execution or sickness Elected Vide consimile January the 19 th Thursday in Anno 23 Reginae Eliz. M r Seckford Master of the Requests Sir Nicholas Arnold M r Atkins and M r Marsh were appointed to confer together touching the number of Knights and Burgesses of the Parliament Three Bills lastly of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the last was the Bill for assurances of Lands and Tenements in antient Demesn and for preservation of the Lords Seignories On Friday the 10 th day of February upon a Motion made by M r Dalton in the behalf of the Lord Russell supposing he should not be continued a Member of this House it is nevertheless generally resolved by this House that he may not be discharged of the same upon present notice whereof given unto him by the Serjeant the said Lord Russell came into this House accordingly Nota That this Lord Russell was Son and Heir Apparent of Francis the second Earl of Bedford of this Sirname who having no place in the Upper House might very well be admitted a Member of the House of Commons and the Precedents of this kind have been so frequent in all the Parliaments of latter times since Queen Elizabeths Death as there shall need no vouching of them And it lies also in the favour of the Prince to make such Heirs Apparent of Earldoms Members of the Upper House by Summoning them thither by Writ but then they take not place there as the Sons of Earls but according to the Antiquity of their Fathers Baronies Two Bills of no great moment had each of them their first reading of which the second was the Bill touching Bastardy M r Chancellor of the Exchequer declaring the great charges of the Queens Majesty many and sundry ways since her Entry to the Crown as well in Foreign as Domestical occasions for the benefit and peaceable Government of the State and Common-Wealth and the great and imminent necessity of present provision to be had and made for the continuance of the same did after many great and weighty reasons shewed move for a Subsidy which Speech in respect that it is but thus abstractedly set down in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons and containeth in it matter of very good moment I have thought good to supply it at large out of a Copy thereof I had by me being as followeth That in the beginning of this our meeting such matters as be of importance may be thought on in time I am bold with your favours to move you of one that in my opinion is both of moment and of necessity To the end if you likewise find the same to be so you may commit it further to the
and it was agreed by the consent of the whole House M r Carleton offered again to speak saying with some repetition that what he had to move was for the liberty of the House but the Speaker notwithstanding and the House out of a tender care as it seemeth to give no further distast to her Majesty did stay him On Wednesday the 25 th day of January the Bill for Children born in England of Fathers that were Aliens not to be accounted or reputed as English was read the second time M r Cromwell now upon the second reading as the Order is spake against the Bill M r Norton for it with Motion also that Englishmen taking Oath to the Pope or Foreign Potentates beyond Sea for Obedience in England shall have no benefit as Englishmen M r Broughton spake against the said Bill Sir Francis Knolles Treasurer of her Majesties Houshold spake for it and M r Dalton spake against it Whereupon the said Bill was after the foresaid second reading according to the course and order in that case usual and accustomed committed to M r Treasurer aforesaid M r Chancellor of the Exchequer Doctor Dale one of the Masters of Requests M r Norton M r Aldrich M r Aldersey M r Dalton M r Fleetwood Recorder of London and M r Serjeant Fenner who were appointed to meet on Friday the 27 th day of January now next following at two of the Clock in the Afternoon in the Exchequer Chamber M r Vice-Chamberlain brought Answer from her Majesty of her most gracious acceptation of the Submission and of her Majesties Admonition and Confidence of their discreet proceeding with one special note that they do not misreport the cause of her misliking which was not for that they desired Fasting and Prayer but for the manner in presuming to indict a form of publick Fast without Order and without her Privity which was to intrude upon her Authority Ecclesiastical Sir Walter Mildmay spake next and delivered a most Honourable Grave Wise and Honest Speech which being not found either in the first Original draught of the Journal of the House of Commons taken by Fulk Onslow Esq Clerk of the same nor otherwise set down in one other fair transcribed Copy of the said Journal by the same M r Onslow's direction then abstractedly and summarily taken I have therefore caused it to be transcribed at large out of a Copy of the said Speech I had by me in manner and form following The principal cause of our Assembly here being to consult of matters that do concern the Realm I have thought good with your patience to remember you of such things as for the weight and necessity of them I take to be worthy of your considerations Wherein I mean to note unto you what I have conceived first of the present state we be in next of the dangers we may justly be in doubt of and lastly what provision ought to be made in time to prevent or resist them These shewed as briefly as the matters will suffer I leave them to your Judgments to proceed further as you shall find it expedient That our most Gracious Queen did at her first Entry loosen us from the Yoke of Rome and did restore unto this Realm the most pure and holy Religion of the Gospel which for a time was over-shadowed with Popery is known of all the World and felt of us to our singular Comforts But from hence as from the Root hath sprung that implacable malice of the Pope and his Confederates against her whereby they have and do seek not only to trouble but if they could to bring the Realm again into a Thraldom the rather for that they hold this as a firm and setled Opinion that England is the only setled Monarchy that most doth maintain and countenance Religion being the Chief Sanctuary for the afflicted Members of the Church that fly thither from the Tyranny of Rome as men being in danger of Shipwrack do from a raging and tempestuous Sea to a calm and quiet Haven This being so what hath not the Pope assaied to annoy the Queen and her State thereby as he thinketh to remove this great obstacle that standeth between him and the over-flowing of the World again with Popery For the proof whereof these may suffice The Northern Rebellion stirred up by the Pope and the quarrel for Popery The maintenance sithence of those Rebels and other Fugitives The publishing of a most impudent blasphemous and malicious Bull against our most Rightful Queen The Invasion into Ireland by James Fitz Marrice with the assistance of some English Rebels The raising of a dangerous Rebellion in Ireland by the Earl of Desmond and others intending thereby to make a general Revolt of all the whole Realm The late Invasion of Strangers into Ireland and their fortifying it The Pope turned thus the venom of his Curses and the Pens of his malicious Parasites into men of War and Weapons to win that by Force which otherwise he could not do And though all these are said to be done by the Pope and in his name yet who seeth not that they be maintained under-hand by some Princes his Confederates And if any man be in doubt of that let him but note from whence the last Invasion into Ireland came of what Country the Ships and of what Nation the most part of the Souldiers were and by direction of whose Ministers they received their Victual and Furniture For the Pope of himself at this present is far unable to make War upon any Prince of that Estate which her Majesty is of having lost as you know many years by the Preaching of the Gospel those infinite Revenues which he was wont to have out of England Scotland Germany Switzerland Denmark and others and now out of France and the Low Countries so as we are to think that his name only is used and all or the most part of the charge born by others The Queen nevertheless by the Almighty Power of God standeth fast maugre the Pope and all his Friends having hitherto resisted all attempts against her to her great honor and their great shame As The Rebellion in the North suppressed without effusion of Blood wherein her Majesty may say as Caesar did veni vidi vici so expedite and so honourable was the Victory that God did give her by the diligence and valour of those noble men that had the conducting thereof The Enterprize of James Fitz Morrice defeated and himself slain The Italians pulled out by the ears at Smirwick in Ireland and cut in pieces by the notable Service of a noble Captain and Valiant Souldiers Neither these nor any other threatnings or fears of danger hath or doth make her to stagger or relent in the Cause of Religion but like a constant Christian Princess she still holdeth fast the profession of the Gospel that hath so long upholden her and made us to live in Peace twenty two Years and more under her most Gracious Government
Arthur Hall for his said offence And upon another Question it was resolved and Ordered in like manner that the same Fine should be five hundred Marks And upon another like question it was likewise resolved and Ordered that the said Arthur Hall should presently be removed severed and cut off from being any longer a Member of this House during the continuance of this present Parliament and that the Speaker by Authority from this House should direct a Warrant from this House to the Clerk of the Crown-Office in the Chancery for awarding of the Queens Majesties Writ to the Sheriff of the said County of Lincoln for a new Burgess to be returned into this present Parliament for the said Borough of Grantham in the lieu and stead of the said Arthur Hall so as before disabled any longer to be a Member of this House And upon another question it was also in like manner resolved and Ordered that the said Book and Libel was and should be holden deemed taken and adjudged to be for so much as doth concern the errors aforesaid condemned Which done the said Arthur Hall was brought in again to the Bar unto whom the Speaker in the name of the whole House pronounced the said Judgment in form aforesaid and so the Serjeant Commanded to take Charge of him and convey him to the said Prison of the Tower and to deliver him to the Lieutenant of the Tower by Warrant from this House to be directed and signed by the said Speaker for that purpose Vide concerning this matter on Saturday the 4 th day Monday the 6 th day and Wednesday the 8 th day of this instant February foregoing On Wednesday the 15 th day of February Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the third being the Bill for granting of one Subsidy two Fifteenths and Tenths was read the second time and Ordered to be ingrossed On Thursday the 16 th day of February the Bill against the Family of Love was read the second time and committed unto Sir Thomas Scott Sir William Moore Sir John Brockett M r Beale and others who were appointed to meet this Afternoon at two of the Clock in the Exchequer Chamber M r Vice-Chamberlain one of the Committees in the Bill for counterfeit Seals who were appointed on Thursday the 26 th day of January foregoing brought in the old Bill amended by the Committees and a new Bill drawn by the said Committees according to the same amendments whereupon the same new Bill was twice read and Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for punishment of unlawful Marriages which was delivered to M r Doctor Dale and other Committees was this day brought in by M r Grimsditch one other of the Committees and a new Bill for that purpose made by the consent of the same Committees After sundry Speeches used against Sir Rowland Hayward one of the Committees in the Bill against Iron-Mills for an error by him done in preferring a new Bill for that purpose to the House not agreed upon by the more part of the residue of the Committees urging some infliction to be laid upon him or at least his Submission with an acknowledgment of his said error therein to the House it was upon a Motion made by M r Speaker and his Declaration of the Proceeding of the said Sir Rowland Hayward with him in the bringing in of the said latter Bill Ordered by the House that the matter of the said Prosecution should be no further dealt in or medled with as a thing of too small moment for this House to be troubled with or spend time in Three Bills also of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the last being the Bill for ratification of an award for certain Copyholders in the County of Worcester was read the third time and passed upon the Question The Calling of this House appointed to have been this Afternoon is for greater causes deferred till another time On Friday the 17 th day of February Five Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the fourth being the Bill for limitation of Formedon in the Descender and the fifth being the Bill against the excessive multitude of Attornies in the Court of Common-Pleas was read the second time and with the former committed unto both Masters of the Requests M r Lieutenant of the Tower Sir Thomas Sampoole M r Attorney of the Dutchy M r Sands M r Carleton M r Layton M r Grimpston M r Vaughan M r Dalton M r Boyes and M r Grimsditch and both the Bills were delivered to M r Doctor Dale Master of the Requests who with the rest was appointed to meet in the new Hall in the Temple at two of the Clock this Afternoon The Bill touching the Children of Aliens and Strangers was once more read with the former amendments and other amendments now presently inserted three times first read was passed upon the Question after many Arguments first had and made Francis Drake Esquire was Licensed this day by M r Speaker to depart for certain his necessary business in the service of her Majesty Francis Vaughan Esquire one of the Burgesses for the Borough of Wilton in the County of Wiltshire was this day Licensed by M r Speaker to be absent for his necessary business at the Assizes On Saturday the 14 th day of February Two Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the second being the Bill for the naturalizing of certain English mens Children born beyond the Seas was read the first time The Bill for the repealing of certain branches of certain Statutes touching the making of Woollen-Cloths and another Bill touching the Shipping of Cloths were each of them committed upon the first reading unto the former Committees for Cloths who were appointed on Saturday the 4 th day of this instant February foregoing The Bill for preservation of Pheasants and Partridges was read the second time and committed unto M r Chancellor of the Dutchy M r Knight Marshal Sir Thomas Cecil Sir Thomas Scott M r Beamond and others who were appointed to meet at M r Chancellors of the Dutchy at two of the Clock in the Afternoon upon Monday next The Bill for Gavelkind Land within the City of Chester was read the third time The four Bills last past before this present day were sent up to the Lords by M r Treasurer and others The Bill against unlawful Hunting of Conies was read the second time and after many Arguments rejected upon the question of ingrossing M r Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that the Committees appointed by this House to have Conference with the Lords touching the Bill for Religion have sundry times met together with their Lordships about the same Bill and that the same Bill is by the said Committees in some parts altered changed and amended and in some other parts abridged and some others added unto and so delivered in the same
well thereof And thereupon made Choice of divers Lords whose names see at large on Thursday the 10 th day of this instant November foregoing And they of the House of Commons appointed their Speaker and all the Privy-Council of that House and so many others as in all with the Privy-Council made up the Number of 42. Persons to join with the said Lords And they altogether understanding first her Majesties pleasure for the time of their repair to her Highness presence which was signified to be on Saturday the 12 th day of November the Lord Chancellor in the name of the Lords and the Speaker in the name of the House of Commons declared unto her Majesty That both the Lords and Commons after often Conferences and long consultation had concluded to be humble Suitors unto her Majesty by way of Petition the effect whereof was then at good length opened unto her Majesty by the Lord Chancellor and Speaker and the Petition thereupon delivered unto her Majesty in writing And where it was before desired by them of the said House of Commons that presently upon the Agreement of the Form of the Petition it might be entered into the Rolls of the Parliament the Lords thought it better to stay the enterance thereof until it were presented unto her Highness which done the Lords ordered that this Friday the 25 th day of November the said Petition should be entered into the Parliament Roll in manner and form following viz. May it please your most Excellent Majesty Our must Gracious Soveraign We your humble loving and faithful Subjects the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled having of long time to our intolerable grief seen by how manifold most dangerous and execrable practices Mary the Daughter and Heir of James the Fifth late King of Scots Dowager of France and commonly called Queen of Scots hath compassed the destruction of your Majesties sacred and most Royal Person in whose safety next under God our chief and only felicity doth consist and thereby not only to bereave us of the sincere and true Religion of Almighty God bringing us and this Noble Crown back again into the Thraldom of the Romish Tyranny but also utterly to ruinate and overthrow the happy State and Common Weal of this most Noble Realm which being from time to time by the great mercy and providence of God and your Highness singular wisdom foreseen and prevented your Majesty of your exceeding great Clemency and Princely Magnanimity hath either most graciously passed over or with singular favour tolerated although often and instantly moved by your most loving and faithful Subjects to the contrary in times of your Parliaments and at many other times and hath also protected and desended the said Scottish Queen from those great dangers which her own people for certain detestable Crimes and offences to her imputed had determined against her All which notwithstanding the same Queen was nothing moved with these and many other your Majesties most gracious favours towards her but rather obdurate in malice and by hope of continual impunity imboldened to prosecute her cruel and mischievous determination by some speedy and violent course and now lately a very dangerous Plot being conceived and set down by Anthony Babington and others That six desperate and wicked persons should undertake that wicked and most horrible enterprize to take away your Majesties Life whom God of his infinite mercy long preserve she did not only give her advice and direction upon every point and all circumstances concerning the same make earnest request to have it performed with all diligence but did also promise assurance of large reward and recompence to the doers thereof which being informed to your Majesty it pleased your Highness upon the earnest Suit of such as tendred the safety of your Royal Person and the good and quiet state of this Realm to direct your Commission under the Great Seal of England to the Lords and others of your Highness Privy-Council and certain other Lords of Parliament of the greatest and most antient Degree with some of your principal Judges to examine hear and determine the same Cause and thereupon to give Sentence or Judgment according to a Statute in that behalf made in the twenty seventh year of your most Gracious Reign By vertue whereof the more part of the same Commissioners being in number thirty six having at sundry times fully heard what was alledged and proved against the said Scottish Queen in her own presence touching the said crimes and offences and what she could say for her defence and excuse therein did after long deliberation give their Sentence and Judgment with one consent that the death and destruction of your Royal Person was imagined and compassed by the said Anthony Babington with the privity of the same Scottish Queen And that she her self did also compass and imagine the death and destruction of your most Royal Person Now for as much as we your Majesties most humble loyal and dutiful Subjects representing unto your most Excellent Majesty the universal State of your whole people of all degrees in this your Realm do well perceive and are fully satisfied that the same Sentence and Judgment is in all things most honourable just and lawful And having carefully and effectually according to our most bounden duties weighed and considered upon what ground and cause so many Traiterous complots and dangerous practices against your most Royal Person and Estate and for the invading of this Realm have for the space of many years past grown and proceeded do certainly find and are undoubtedly perswaded that all the same have been from time to time attempted and practised by and from the Scottish Queen and by her Confederates Ministers and Favourers who conceive an assured hope to atchieve speedily by your Majesties untimely death that which they have long expected and whereof during your Life which God long preserve to our inestimable Comfort they despair to wit to place her the said Scottish Queen in the Imperial and Kingly Seat of this Realm and by her to banish and destroy the Professors and professing of the true Religion of Jesus Christ and the antient Nobility of this Land and to bring this whole State and Common-Weal to Foreign Subjection and utter ruin and confusion which their malicious and traiterous purpose they will never cease to prosecute by all possible means they can so long as they may have their Eyes and Imaginations fixed upon that Lady the only ground of their treasonable hope and conceits and the only Seed-plot of all dangerous and traiterous devices and practices against your Sacred Person And seeing also what insolent boldness is grown in the heart of the same Queen through your Majesties former exceeding favours and Clemencies towards her and thereupon weighing with heavy and sorrowful hearts in what continual peril of such like desperate Conspiracies and practices your Majesties most Royal and Sacred Person and Life more dear unto us than
our own is and shall be still without any possible means to prevent it so long as the said Scottish Queen shall be suffered to continue and shall not receive that due punishment which by Justice and the Laws of this your Realm she hath so often and so many ways for her most wicked and detestable offences deserved Therefore and for that we find that if the said Lady shall now escape the due and deserved punishment of Death for these her most execrable Treasons and offences your Highness Royal Person shall be exposed unto many more and those more secret and dangerous Conspiracies than before and such as shall not or cannot be foreseen or discovered as these her late attempts have been and shall not hereafter be so well able to remove or take away the ground and occasion of the same as now by Justice may and ought to be done We do most humbly beseech your most Excellent Majesty that as well in respect of the continuance of the true Religion now professed amongst us and of the safety of your most Royal Person and Estate as in regard of the preservation and defence of us your most loving dutiful and faithful Subjects and the whole Common-Weal of this Realm It may please your Highness to take speedy Order That Declaration of the same Sentence and Judgment be made and published by Proclamation and that thereupon direction be given for further proceedings against the said Scottish Queen according to the effect and true meaning of the said Statute Because upon advised and great consultation we cannot find that there is any possible means to provide for your Majesties Safety but by the just and speedy Execution of the said Queen the neglecting whereof may procure the heavy displeasure and punishment of Almighty God as by sundry severe Examples of his great Justice in that behalf left us in the Sacred Scriptures doth appear And if the same be not put in present Execution We your most loving and dutiful Subjects shall thereby so far as mans reason can reach be brought into utter despair of the continuance amongst us of the true Religion of Almighty God and of your Majesties Life and the Safety of all your faithful Subjects and the good Estate of this most flourishing Common-Weal Dominus Cancellarius continuavit praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Martis prox On Tuesday the 29 th day of November the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Assembled Commissionar ' Reginae continuaverunt praesens Parliamentum usque in diem Veneris hor â nonâ On Friday the second day of December Commissionarii Reginae adjornaverunt praesens Parliamentum usque in decimum quintum diem Februarii prox Nota That the Parliament was Adjourned without any new Commission from her Majesty which had been used in the last Parliament in Anno 27 Regin Eliz. Anno Dom. 1584. where the Adjournment was from the 27 th day of December unto the 4 th day of February which was near upon the same intervenient time or space for which this present Parliament de Anno 28 29 Regin Eliz. was now Adjourned But the reason and cause is very plain why this Parliament was now Adjourned without any such Commission from her Majesty although she her self was absent and this was only in respect that her Highness Person was represented by Commissioners to whom at first she had by Commission under the Great Seal delegated full and absolute power not only to begin but also to continue Adjourn or Prorogue this instant Parliament ut vide on Saturday the 29 th day of October foregoing which said Delegates or Lords Lieutenants did here being present Adjourn the same accordingly Concerning which said Adjournment and these two Meetings of one and the same Parliament there hath been much mistake and difference both in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House and in that also of the House of Commons in the very Rolls of the Statute of this Parliament transcribed by the Clerk of the Upper House into the Chancery and remaining in the Chappel of the Rolls and lastly in the very Printed Books of the Statutes thereof For in the first place M r Anthony Mason at this time Clerk of the Upper House Entereth these two meetings of this one and the same Parliament in two several Books as if they had been two several Sessions to which mistake he was the rather induced because divers Lords did send their new Proxies upon the second meeting of the two Houses on Wednesday the 15 th day of February Anno Regin Eliz. whereas it doth not appear that in the last Parliament de Anno 27 Regin Eliz. that any new Proxies were then returned upon the second meeting of the two Houses after a like Adjournment But the reason of this seemeth to be not only in respect of this Adjournment that it was somewhat longer than that former in the twenty seventh year of her Majesty which lasted not full two Months whereas this present Adjournment continued for the space of seventy five days or two Months and a Fortnight at the least But also because divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal who were present at this first meeting being desirous as it should seem to hear that great business of the Scottish Queen debated and resolved on did after this Adjournment and their recesses into their several Countries get Licence of her Majesty to be absent from the second meeting of this Parliament which ensued on Wednesday the 15 th day of February following in Anno 29 Regin Eliz. and in which there were none but ordinary matters likely to be handled Execution and Justice being done upon the Scottish Queen the 8 th day of February immediately preceding the said second meeting and did thereupon send their several Proxies of which such as were unusual and extraordinary are set down in the Journal ensuing according to the several days on which they were returned In the second place touching the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons these two meetings of one and the same Parliament are set down as two several Sessions the one by M r Fulk Onslow at this time Clerk of the House of Commons and the other by M r William Onslow his Kinsman who being a Member of the House was Licenced by it to supply the place of the said M r Fulk Onslow who by reason of his sickness was not able to attend who enters this second meeting of the House of Commons upon Wednesday the 15 th day of February in these words viz. This present Session of Parliament holden by Prorogation c. Whereas it had not been Prorogued but Adjourned and was no new Session but meerly a new meeting In the third place the Roll of Statutes transcribed by M r Anthony Mason into the Chancery and remaining in the Chappel of the Rolls is intituled as followeth Rotulus Parliament de Anno Regni Regin Elizabeth vicesimo octavo Whereas the words should likewise have been
beseech you c. that speedy Justice be done upon her whereby your self may be safe the state of your Realm preserved and we not only delivered from this trouble of conscience but also re-comforted to endeavour our selves and all ours into whatsover other peril for the preservation and safety of you Lastly Gods vengeance against Saul for sparing Agag against Ahab for sparing the life of Benhadad is apparent for they were both by the just Judgment of God deprived of their Kingdoms for sparing those wicked Princes whom God had delivered into their hands of purpose to be slain to death by them as by the Ministers of his eternal and divine Justice How much those Magistrates were commended that put to death those mischievous and wicked Queens Jezebel and Athaliah How wisely proceeded Solomon to punishment in putting to death his own natural and elder Brother Adonias for the only intention of a marriage which gave suspicion of Treason whereas there is no more desired of your Majesty than the very Pope now your sworn Enemy some of these late Conspirators and this wicked Lady her self have thought fit to fall on her He in like case gave sentence vita Conradini mors Carolo Mors Conradini vita Carolo. They in their best minds and remorse of Conscience setting down the best means of your safety said He that hath no Arms cannot fight and he that hath no Legs cannot run away but he that hath no head can do no harm Pisces primùm à Capite foetent She by her voluntary subscribing to the late Association c. gave this sentence against her self And after in her Letters of these Treasons to Babington wrote that if she were discovered it would give sufficient cause to you to keep her in continual close Prison By which words she could mean nothing else but pains of death Therefore we seeing on the one side how you have to the offence of mighty Princes advanced Religion with what tender care and more than motherly Piety you have always cherished us the Children of this Land with what Honour and Renown you have restored the ancient Rights of the Crown with what Peace and Justice you have governed and with what store and plenty you have raigned over us On the other side seeing that this Enemy of our Felicity seeks to undermine the Religion c. to supplant us and plant Strangers in the place to transfer the Rights of the Crown to that Italian Priest and the Crown to her self or some other from you and therefore lyeth in continual wait to take your life c. Therefore we pray you c. for the Cause of God his Church this Realm our selves and your self That you will no longer be careless of your life our Soveraign safety nor longer suffer Religion to be threatned the Realm to stand in danger nor us to dwell in fear but as Justice hath given rightful Sentence c. so you will grant Execution That as her life threatneth your death so her death may by Gods favour prolong your life and that this evil being taken away from the Earth we may praise God for our deliverance and pray him for our continuance And with the Psalmist say Dominus fecit Judicium and the ungodly is trapped in the works of her own hand And so pray God to incline her heart to our just desires c. Which short Note seemeth to be thus impersectly set down by the said Speaker only to put him in mind to end and shut up his Speech with some short Prayer to the said purpose Nota That all the several passages of this Saturday are supplied out of a very authentick Copy which I had containing the said reasons delivered by the said Speaker and partly out of the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House being wholly omitted in that of the House of Commons as is also her Majesties Answer which because it is printed at large by Mr. Cambden in Annal. Regin Eliz. edit Lugd. Batav Anno Dom. 1625. pag. 466 467 468. and elsewhere it would be needless to insert it here or any part thereof and the rather because some heads thereof are shortly remembred on Monday next following On Monday the 14 th day of November Mr. Speaker made report to the House of his Message done from this House to her Majesty which see on Saturday last foregoing and also of her Majesties most grateful acceptation of the same and of her Highnesses Answer thereunto but what her Majesties said Answer was is wholly omitted in the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons although Mr. Fulk Onslow at this time Clerk thereof had left the entire 187. leaf of the said Journal a blank for the entring or inserting of it Yet it will not be amiss although the said Answer be extant in print as is abovesaid briefly to touch the heads thereof Which were her Majesties thankful acknowledgment for her many miraculous preservations that she was most grieved that so near a Kinswoman as the Queen of Scots had conspired to take away her life That the Law lately made which seemeth to have been that for the preservation of her Majesties person passed the last Parliament was not enacted to intrap the said Queen as some had pretended but only to deter her from such wicked practices That her Tryal had been just and honourable And lastly that she thanked them for their care of her safety and desired them a while to expect her further and final Answer Mr. Vice-Chamberlain affirming the Report of Mr. Speaker to be very true in all the parts of the same and well and faithfully delivered by him to this House and very much also commending his delivery of the Message of this House to her Majesty upon Saturday last at the Court in such dutiful and due sort as all this whole House had he said very good cause to yield him very hearty thanks for the same and therefore required them so to do which they so then did in very loving and courteous sort And he further shewed That he had something more to add to the said Speech reported by Mr. Speaker not of any thing delivered unto him upon Saturday by her Majesty but of something then omitted and forgotten by her Majesty albeit both before purposed by her Highness and then and yet still intended to be signified unto this House and which he himself that morning was commanded by her Majesty to signifie unto them which was That her Highness moved with some commiseration towards the Scottish Queen in respect of her former Dignity and great Fortunes in her younger years her nearness of Kindred to her Majesty and also of her Sex could be pleased to forbear the taking of her Blood if by any other means to be devised by her Highnesses great Council of this Realm the safety of her Majesties own Person and of the State might be preserved and continued without peril or danger of ruine and destruction and else not
Subsidies would not defray her Majesties Charges though all other Customs and Revenues were added unto them And motioned what should be delivered by the House and what should be delivered to the Lords by the Committees Sir Thomas Heneage her Majesties Vice-Chamberlain affirmed he never saw the House so willing to yield to needful Aids And that he was one who had now served her Majesty a long time and knew something her disposition Wherefore he advised that the wonted course should be followed For he heard her Majesty speak of it that she loved not such fineness of device and novel inventions but liked rather to have the antient usages offered It is best so to have it paid as it hath been heretofore Only a greater discretion to be used in the charging of it To charge the poor men more deeply he thought it not fit yet they to be grateful to her Majesty he thought it would be accepted And that the best able men should offer somewhat to her Majesty of their ability And for the Order of our Proceedings he thought it fit that we first agree to three Subsidies and six Fifteenths this to be considered upon by Committees this Afternoon and to Morrow to be propounded to the House And then if it were allowed we might at our going to the Lords tell them what we have agreed upon Hereupon a murmur was in the House whether we should have a Committee for three Subsidies or a general Committee to confer of all matters of remedies The question being propounded it was Answered that it should be by a general Committee In the Afternoon at the General Committee the Committees met and it was debated how the Subsidy could be levied in shorter time than heretofore The poverty of the people and hard Collections of other Subsidies and the double charge which this would be unto them with many other reasons were alledged against the Parliaments so speedy Collection On the other side it was vehemently pressed that the necessity of the time was such as it could not carry the accustomed time for payment her Majesties Purse and Coffers being empty the danger would be over before the usual payment would come in Wherefore if the help were not timely it would be no service There was much division about this Some of the Committees would have this propounded whether the three Subsidies should be paid in four years or three others dissented from it M r Heale amongst the Committees argued the wealth of the Country to be greater than ever it was affirming that of his own knowledge from the Mount to London the Country was richer many thousand pounds than heretofore He also urged the necessity which being so great and her Majesty having expended as was said since Eighty eight above ten hundred and thirty four thousand pounds and that only in Normandy Brittany and in the Low Countries and upon her Navy and Artillery besides all her Pensions to Foreign Princes her Officers Fees the charges of her Garrison of Barwick standing her yearly in seventeen thousand pounds and all this is besides the Expences in her House These things being considered he thought more than Subsidies would be yielded and if Subsidies only the richer Men must be the more deeply charged and the Commission so penned as the Commissioners may have Authority to force men M r Francis Bacon assented to three Subsidies but not to the payments under six years And to this propounded three questions which he desired might be answered The first Impossibility or difficulty the second Danger or discontentment and thirdly a better manner of supply than Subsidy For Impossibility the poor mens Rent is such as they are not able to yield it nor to pay so much for the present The Gentlemen must sell their Plate and Farmers their Brass Pots ere this will be paid And for us we are here to search the wounds of the Realm and not to skin them over therefore not to perswade our selves of their wealth more than it is The dangers are these We shall first breed discontentment in paying these Subsidies and in the Cause endanger her Majesty's safety which must consist more in the love of the people than in their wealth and therefore not to give them discontentment in paying these Subsidies thus we run into a double peril In putting two payments into one we make a double Subsidy For it maketh four shillings in the pound a double payment The second is this that this being granted in this sort other Princes hereafter will look for the like So we shall put an evil precedent upon our selves and our Posterity And in Histories it is to be observed that of all Nations the English are not to be subject base or Taxable The manner of supply may be by Levy or Imposition when need shall most require so when her Majesties Coffers are empty they may be filled by this means Sir Thomas Heneage her Majesties Vice-Chamberlain said my Opinion shall not prejudice any mans Judgment but this my answer to the Gentlemans two reasons that spake last which were difficulty and discontentment For the first it is strange to count that impossible which hath been proved or that difficulty which hath been used For discontentment a people sound in Religion and faithful to the Queen and State were never found to love their Prince so little as to be discontented c. The necessity of the time is to be considered and shall be informed unto them which is such as has not been at any time these sixty years nor at any time the like was ever heard of Yea such dangers as are not to be read that ever the like was intended to any State Therefore for this extraordinary time some accustomed help must be had and from these Subsidies do but take away the benefit of time and then the payments will yield no help to our necessity for in two years the dangers will be over So he desired that in this Case Examples might not lead us but that the present dangers should move us Sir Thomas Cecill moved also that the Cinque-Ports might be also brought into the Taxes of the Subsidies at this time for that it hath been the use of men having any Lands in the Cinque-Ports to take sanctuary there before the Sessing of the Subsidy by removing themselves and keeping their Houses there Sir Walter Raleigh said I can see no reason that the suspicion of discontentment should cross the provision for the present danger The time is now more dangerous than it was in Eighty eight for then the Spaniard which came from Spain was to pass dangerous Seas and had no place of retreat or relief if he failed But now he hath in Brittany great store of Shipping a Landing place in Scotland and Men and Horses there as good as we have any But for the difficulty in getting this Subsidy I think it seems more difficult by speaking than it would be in gathering Now stood up two or
their Heirs and Assigns notwithstanding any default of payment of their Rents during the time that the Reversion or Inheritance remained in the Crown And the Bill Intituled An Act for the better Execution of Judgment were sent up to the Lords by Mr. Comptroller and others The Bill for the Queens Majesties most gracious general and free pardon was once read and passed upon the Question Nota That whereas to the passing of other Bills three distinct and several Readings are required here the Bill for her Majesties most gracious Pardon passed upon the first Reading M r Serjeant Drew and M r Doctor Carew did bring from the Lords the Bill Intituled An Act for the Grant of three Subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths and did shew that their Lordships have in like manner passed the same Bill and so delivered the same to M r Speaker to the end he may carry the same up into the Upper House to be presented by him unto her Majesty in the name of this whole House Nota That the Original Journal-Book of the House of Commons ended here and contained no other or further Passages of this day although her Majesty came in Person in the Afternoon to the Upper House which is therefore supplied out of the fragmentary and imperfect Journal mentioned more particularly at the beginning of this present Journal as followeth The Queens Majesty came to the Upper House somewhat after three of the Clock in the Afternoon this present Thursday being the 9 th day of this instant February of which the House of Commons having notice repaired thither with Christopher Yelverton Serjeant at Law their Speaker who having in the name of the House presented her Majesty with the Bill of three Subsidies and six Fifteenths and Tenths and amongst other things desired her Majesties Royal Assent to such Laws as had passed the two Houses he was Answered according to her Majesties Commandment by the Lord Keeper that she thankfully accepted the said Gift of her Loving Subjects and very well allowed of the said Speakers pains and Speech Then M r Smith the Clerk of the Upper House having read the Titles of all the Acts her Majesty gave her said Royal Assent to twenty four publick Acts or Statutes and to nineteen private and refused or quashed forty eight several Bills which had passed both the Houses After which Sir Thomas Egerton Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England by her Majesties Commandment Dissolved this present Parliament THE JOURNAL OF THE House of LORDS A Journal of the passages of the Upper House of Parliament holden at Westminster Anno 43 Reginae Eliz. Anno Domini 1601. which began there on Tuesday the 27 th Day of October and then and there continued until the Dissolution thereof on Saturday the 19 th Day of December ensuing Anno 44 Reginae ejusdem THIS Journal of the Upper House containing part of the passages of the Upper House in the 10 th and last Parliament of her Majesties Reign is plentifully stored not only with the ordinary business of Reading Bills with the Committing Amending and expediting of them but also with divers very useful and good Precedents touching the Liberties and Priviledges of the House it self In which also divers Speeches and other passages which were not found in the Original Book of the said House are supplied out of other private Journals of that time of very good Authority But yet to avoid confusion whatsoever is here inserted out of the said private Journals is particularly distinguished from that which is taken out of the above-mentioned Original Journal-Book of the Upper House by some Animadversion or expression thereof both before and after the inserting of it Before the particular relation of each days passages of the Upper House in this Parliament be inserted out of the Original Journal-Book it self of the said House all the Proxies both usual and unusual entred also at the beginning thereof which had been returned and delivered in unto the Clerk of the said House during the continuance of the same are here in the next place to be transcribed and set down all of them together and cannot be so orderly digested and referred to each day on which they were returned as formerly they have been For whereas before this Parliament and the last past in Anno 39 Reginae Eliz. Henry Spilman and Anthony Mason Esquires who had been successively Clerks of the said Upper House did usually enter the said Proxies at the beginning of each Journal with express mention of several days on which they were introducted or returned now Thomas Smith Esquire as well in this Parliament as in that which last preceded in the said 39 th year of her Majesty when he succeeded unto the said Anthony Mason in the place of the said Clerk of the Upper House did only generally enter them at the beginning of this present and that last foregoing Journal de Anno 39 Eliz. as aforesaid as had been formerly accustomed saving that it differed somewhat in the manner of entring them and that the several days also on which they had been introducted and delivered unto him were not at all set down or expressed Which course having heen since also followed unto this present year 1629. the said Proxies can be no more referred to the proper days as in divers foregoing Journals they have been but must be once for all generally set down at the beginning of this present Journal in manner and form following Literae procuratoriae in hoc Parliamento sunt allatae Archipiescopi Eboracensis Matthaei c. qui procuratores suos constituit Johan Archiepiscopum Cantuarien ' Tobiam Episcopum Dunelmen ' conjunctim divisim Nota That whereas there is an c. after the word Matthaei in the Proxie foregoing it seemeth that these words are left out viz. absentis ex licentia Dominae Reginae and so if nothing had been omitted the said Proxie as may very probably be conjectured should have been thus inserted Archiepiscopi Eboracensis Matthaei absentis ex licentia Dominae Reginae qui procuratores c. as is before set down Nota also that the Proxies are all entred in the Genitive Case and must therefore be referred to those foregoing words viz. Literae procuratoriae in hoc Parliamento sunt allatae Henrici Episcopi Carliolen qui procuratores suos constituit Matthaeum Archiepiscopum Eboracen ' Ricardum Episcopum Cestren ' conjunctim divisim Galsridi Episcopi Gloucestren ' qui procuratores suos constituit Ricardum Episcopum London Anthonium Episcopum Meneven ' Gulielmum Episcopum Exon ' conjunctim divisim Herberti Episcopi Hereforden ' qui procuratores suos constituit Johannem Episcopum Rossen ' Gulielmum Episcopum Coventr ' Litchfield Gulielmum Episcopum Norwicen ' conjunctim divisim Gulielmi Episcopi Norwicen ' qui procuratorem suum constituit Johannem Archiepiscopum Cantuarien ' Nota That the Bishops Proxies are set before the Proxies of the
under God even through your Majesties great bounty and favour I am that I am And therefore none of your Majesties most dutiful Subjects more bound to be ready and being ready to perform even the least of your Majesties Commandments I therefore do most humbly beseech your Majesty that in regard the Service of so great a Prince and flourishing Kingdom may the better and more successfully be effected to Command your dutiful and loving Commons the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Lower House to proceed to a new Election Then after he had made three Reverences the Queen called the Lord Keeper to whom she spake something in secret And after the Lord Keeper spake in effect thus much M r Speaker Her Majesty with gracious attention having heard your wise and grave excuse for your discharge Commanded me to say unto you that even your Eloquent Speech of defence for your self is a great motive and a reason very perswasive both to ratifie and approve the choice of the loving Commons the Knights Citizens and Burgesses as also to commend their wise and discreet choice of your self in her gracious censure both for sufficiency well able and for your former Fidelity and Services well approved and accepted of And therefore her Majesty taketh this Choice of you for bonum omen a sign of good and happy success when the beginning is taken in hand with so good Wisdom and Discretion Her Majesty therefore Commanded me to say unto you that she well liketh of your Election and therefore she ratifieth it with her Royal Assent Then M r Speaker making three low Reverences Answered in this sort MOST Sacred and most Puissant Queen seeing it hath pleased you to Command my Service by Consenting to the free Election of your dutiful and loyal Subjects the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of me to be their Speaker I most humbly beseech your Majesty to give me leave to shew unto you the dutiful thoughts and earnest affections of your loyal Subjects to do your Majesty all Services and to defend your Royal and Sacred Person both with their Lives and Goods against c. And so made a vehement Invective agaiost the Tyranny of the King of Spain the Popes Ambition the Rebels of Ireland which he said were like a Snake cut in pieces which did crawl and creep to join themselves together again And lastly with Prayers to continue the prosperous Estate and Peace of this Kingdom which hath been defended as he said by the Mighty Arm of our Dread and Sacred Queen To which she Answered openly her self No but by the mighty hand of God M r Speaker Then he proceeded to the last part to beseech her Majesty for freedom of Speech to every particular Member of this House and their Servants And lastly if any mistaking of any Message delivered unto him from the Commons should happen that her Majesty would attribute that to his weakness in delivery or understanding and not to the House as also any forgetfulness through want of Memory or that things were not so judiciously handled or expressed by him as they were delivered by the House To which after the Queen had spoken to the Lord Keeper as aforesaid after three Reverences by the Speaker the Lord Keeper said in effect as followeth M r Speaker Her Majesty doth greatly commend and like of your grave Speech well divided well contrived the first proceeding from a sound Invention and the other from a setled Judgment and Experience You have well and well indeed weighed the Estate of this Kingdom well observed the greatness of our Puissant and Grand Enemy the King of Spain the continual and excessive Charges of the Wars of Ireland which if they be well weighed do not only shew the Puissance of our Gracious Sovereign in defending us but also the greatness of the charge continually bestowed by her Majesty even out of her own Revenues to protect us and the exposing of her Majesty to continual trouble and toilsome cares for the benefit and safety of her Subjects Wherefore M r Speaker it behoveth us to think and say as was well delivered by a grave Man lately in a Concio ad Clerum Opus est subsidio mè fiat excidium Touching your other requests for freedom of Speech her Majesty willingly consenteth thereto with this Caution that the time be not spent in idle and vain matter painting the same out with froth and volubility of words whereby the Speakers may seem to gain some reputed credit by imboldening themselves to contradiction and by troubling the House of purpose with long and vain Orations to hinder the proceeding in matters of greater and more weighty importance Touching access to her Person she most willingly granteth the same desiring she may not be troubled unless urgent matter and affairs of great consequence compel you thereunto for this hath been held for a wise Maxim In troubling great Estates you must trouble seldom For Liberties unto your selves and persons her Majesty hath Commanded me to say unto you all that she ever intendeth to preserve the Liberties of the House and granteth freedom even unto the meanest Member of this House But her Majesties Pleasure is you should not maintain and keep with you notorious persons either for life or behaviour and desperate Debtors who never come abroad fearing Laws but at these times Pettifoggers and Vipers of the Common-Wealth Prolling and Common Sollicitors that set dissention between Man and Man and men of the like condition to these These her Majesty earnestly wisheth a Law may be made against as also that no Member of this Parliament would entertain or bolster up any man of the like humour or quality on pain of her Highness displeasure For your excuse of the House and of your self Her Majesty Commanded me to say that your sufficiency hath so oftentimes been approved before her that she doubteth not of your sufficient discharge of the place you shall serve in Wherein she willeth you to have a special Eye and regard not to make new and idle Laws and trouble the House with them but rather look to the abridging and repealing of divers obsolete and superfluous Statutes As also first to take in hand matters of greatest moment and consequence In doing thus M r Speaker you shall fulfill her Majesties Commandment do your Country good and satisfie her Highnesses expectation Which being said the Speaker made three Reverences to the Queen Nota That this foregoing Speech of the Lord Keeper is not found in the Original Journal-Book of the Upper House but is supplied out of a private Journal of the House of Commons out of which also the whole business of this Afternoon touching the Speakers Presentment Speech and Allowance are transcribed And I have always conceived it most proper to refer the large relation of these and such like other Speeches and Passages if warranted by any good Authority to the Journals of the Upper House in which they are acted and delivered and
to do our Countries good bereave them of that good help we may justly Administer M r Speaker Qui vadit planè vadit sanè Let us lay down our griefs in the Preamble of our Bill and make it by way of Petition And I doubt not but her Majesty being truly informed of it will give her Royal Assent M r Secretary Herbert said The making of Armamentaria is a Regality belonging only to the power of the King and the Crown of England and therefore no man can either cast or transport without Licence It stood perhaps with the Policy of former times to suffer transportation but as the times alter so doth the Government And we doubt it is now very hurtful and prejudicial to the State and therefore I am of opinion that it is very fit this transportation should be stayed and I concur only with them which would have it by way of Petition and not by Bill M r William Hackwell of Lincolns-Inn said I know the Authority of the Worthy Counsellor that last spake will incline you to yield to this Objection Yet notwithstanding I beseech you suppose him to be a man of my Condition or me to be a man of his sort so I doubt not but our persons being equalized the matter will soon be decided Where he saith transportation is necessary to aid our Friends and retain their Alliance I Answer That it is the subtilty and covetousness of our Friends who finding the inestimable gain and treasure they have by Ordnance brought from us do not only desire them for gain but also to gain to themselves Confederates by which means succouring our Friends we aid our Enemies For look whatsoever we give them we deduct from our selves Now let us stop this transportation and that greatly weakens their Forces by which means they will never be able to encounter us hand to hand Our Ordnance this pretious Jewel of our Realm worth even all we have is as familiarly sold in the Countries of our Confederates as any thing within this Land but being stopt they must be fain to take supply from their Ports to their Ships from their Ships to the Field c. Sir Francis Hastings said How swiftly and sweetly her Majesty apprehends our late griefs I think there is no Subject but knoweth For us then to deal in a matter so highly touching her Prerogative we should give her Majesty just cause to deny our Proceedings by Bill I think therefore by laying open our griefs in a Petition it will move the heart of her Majesty as much being a Case of this consequence as our first Motion by M r Speaker hath done And therefore I am of Opinion there is no way but this way Sir George Moore said It is in vain to dispute of the matter when the manner is only in question and as vain to lose the matter by over-long dispute of the manner The late experience of her Majesties Love and Clemency towards us and of her Care over us striketh such an awful regard into my heart that I wholly dislike this proceeding by Bill and only do approve our former Motion by way of Petition M r Hyde said M r Speaker It is doubted by some that this Bill will not pass by reason of the sudden ending of the Parliament for that I think if we give not too much stop to private Bills this Bill would quickly pass And I see no reason but we may well proceed by Bill and not touch her Majesties Prerogative for her Majesty is not more careful and watchful of her Prerogative than the noble Princes of Famous Memory King Henry the Eighth her Father and King Edward the Sixth her Brother were Then there was no doubt or mention of the Prerogative And therefore I think our surest and soundest course is by way of Bill c. M r Comptroller said I wish we should deal in such manner as we may have our desire and that I think we shall sooner obtain in speaking unto the Queen by way of Petition than in proceeding by way of Bill and Contestation We must note that her Self and her Progenitors will not be forced And I do not hold this course by way of Bill either to stand with respect or duty M r Swale of the Middle-Temple said I would but move thus much to the House if we let slip this Law and proceed by way of Petition then is there no Law to prohibit but the Law of 33 Hen. 8. and 2 d of Edw. 6. And those Laws give so small a remedy that it is no recompence to the loss of the thing M r Serjeant Harris said It hath been thought that the former Statutes do not stretch to Ordnance made of Iron But may it please the House to commit the Bill there shall be shewed to the Committees four or five Precedents and late Judgments that Iron Guns come within this Law M r Sollicitor Flemming said The Gentleman that spake last said very true for it was lately in Matchivells Case in the Exchequer So the Bill was committed to all the Privy Council and all the Queens Learned Councel being of this House Sir Walter Raleigh the Knights and Citizens of London Sir Francis Hastings M r Grevill Sir Robert Wroth Sir Robert Mansell Sir Richard Knightley Sir George Moore and divers others who were appointed to meet in this House at two of the Clock in the Afternoon Then followed a dispute touching the Information against M r Belgrave a Member of the same M r Belgrave said Mr. Speaker Modesty forbids me to speak in my own Case that so nearly concerneth me but necessity urgeth me to appeal to this High Court True it is there was an Information exhibited against me in the Star-Chamber by an Honourable Person of the Upper House the Earl of Huntington in the name of Mr. Attorney General for a Misdemeanor committed to this High Court the substance of that Information I confess yet I am to be an humble Suitor unto this House whether an Information is to be exhibited this House sitting against any Member thereof And for my own part I do submit my self to abide such Censure as this House shall in their Wisdoms think convenient Sir George Moore said viewing the Information I find the words to be against the High Court of Parliament which is as well the Upper House as this House and therefore I wish there might be a Conference with the Lords herein Now this House is but part and a Member of the Parliament and therefore we solely cannot proceed Mr. Serjeant Harris said In the 36 th of Hen. 8. when Ferris Case was who was a Member of this House did not we proceed without any Conference with the Lords Here might be libera suffragin and no man of this House to be chosen by any Friends or Mediation of any great Man neither ought we to be tyed by any Blue Coat in the World But as our Persons are Priviledged so should our Speeches be
that the Return of the Writ ought to have been returnned into the Court of Parliament but whether the Return be to be made into the Upper House or Lower House I know not For in many Cases we have divided Jurisdictions and the Upper House hath Jurisdiction by it self therefore if a Nobleman hath a Servant that were arrested they might make their Writ of Priviledge returnable before themselves and give him Priviledge And here in this House if one that is a Member of this House and have sate here be arrested sedente Parliamento we are to give him Priviledge But if he be taken before his coming hither it is not in our power to deliver him but we must have the assistance of other Courts in such Causes The use is such in other Causes If the Action be a Mahime whether this be a Mahime or no the Court will not judge until those that have Science in those things affirm it to be so And so when a matter Ecclesiastical or Grammatical is in question the opinion of Civilians or Grammarians is known before the Judgment is given So in this Court we ought to desire Instructions from the Judges of the Realm whether in this Cause by the Law we can grant priviledge or no. For Priviledge there be two Writs issuing out of this House the one is a general Corpus cum Causa and this is granted upon apparent cause of Priviledge as if a Member of the House be taken sedente Parliamento The other Writ is called a Writ of Parliament this is granted when the Cause is to be judged by the Parliament But whether Priviledge be to be granted to this party or no it is not apparent And in the Cause the Lord Keeper is not to be Judge But here the whole Record is to remain and we with the advice and opinion of the Judges are to consult if the party be to have priviledge Therefore seeing the Court hath Coercion in it self let us with the advice of the Judges proceed as we have power For if we give away our Coercion we give away our Jurisdiction M r Serjeant Harris said the Record remaining in Chancery this House is sufficiently possessed of it even as in Case of all the Returns of Knights and Burgesses M r Francis Bacon said The Return is well for the Return is an ensuing of the Writ that must be made under Seal As for taking the assistance of the Judges it is a good course for though we sit here to make Laws yet until the new Law is made the old Law is of force and our Conference with them gives away no resolution from us but taketh advice only from them M r Finch said in my opinion the Return should have been into this House For a Writ of Error sued here the Writ used to be returned hither as it appeareth in 3 E. 3. and 17 Edw. 3. and 1 H. 7. It would seem by Trewinnards Case 38 H. 8. that a Writ of priviledge is never returned but the party appearing the Court proceedeth M r Speaker desired to know of the House if for their better Information they would give him leave to speak which the House willingly granted Whereupon he said For the discharge of my own duty and informing of your Judgments who I know will judge wisely and justly I will deliver unto you what I have learned and what I have observed for ever since the lodging of this Parliament I have thought upon and searched after this Question not particularly for this Cause but this point the priviledge of the House for I judged it would come in question for many occasions The Question is drawn to two Heads the one about the Writ the other about the Return First Whether the Writ might have gone out of this House I will tell you plainly my opinion I beseech you let me not be ill thought of if I be rude in what I say for it is my fault I cannot speak so mildly as some but my manner is that which I speak I speak sharply and somewhat roundly but always with this tacite Condition submitting my self to any better reason that shall be shown me Though any Court of Record hath this Jurisdiction to make out Processes yet this Court cannot Why this may seem strange that every Court in Westminster every Court that hath Causes of Plea every Lords Leet and every Court Baron hath his power that they may make out Process yet this Court being the highest of all Courts cannot how can this be The nature of this House must be considered for this Court is not a Court alone and yet there are some things wherein this Court is a Court by it self and other things wherein it is no Court of it self To know then how we are one House and how we can be divided Houses this would give great light to the Question At the first we were all one House and sat together by a precedent which I have of a Parliament holden before the Conquest by Edward the Son of Etheldred For there were Parliaments before the Conquest This appeareth in a Book which a grave Member of this House delivered unto me which is Intituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum out of that Book I learn this and if any man desire to see it I will shew it him And this Book declareth how we all sat together but the Commons sitting in presence of the King and amongst the Nobles disliked it and found fault that they had not free liberty to speak And upon this reason that they might speak more freely being out of the Royal sight of the King and not amongst the great Lords so far their betters the House was divided and came to sit asunder A bold and worthy Knight at the time when this was sought the King desiring a reason of this their request and why they would remove themselves from their Betters Answered shortly That his Majesty and the Nobles being every one a great person represented but themselves but his Commons though they were but inferiour men yet every one of them represented a thousand of men And this Answer was well allowed of But now though we be divided in Seat be we therefore divided Houses No for if any Writ of Error be brought as you shall see a notable Case in 22 E. 3. this Writ must be returned in Parliament that is to the whole House and chiefly then to the Upper House for we are but a limb of the House Now where a Record is removed upon a Writ of Error given to another Court the manner is that the chief of that Court bring the Writ in his hand to the House But humbly sheweth unto the House that the Record being remitted out of the Court no Execution can go forth though the Judgment be affirmed The Court of Parliament thereupon maketh Transcript of the whole Record and returns the Record again to the Court but if the Judgment be reversed then the Record it self is
Cancelled and rased This I read in my Book For in this Case whatsoever a man tells me 〈◊〉 believe it not unless I see it written Non lego non credo in these Cases In the twenty third of the Queen I was of Councel with one in a Cause where we tryed all means to reverse a Judgment and brought a Writ of Error in the Parliament and the Writ was issuing out of the Parliament and upon the fieri facias was set Domina Regina and it was under the Great Seal of England and the Writ was returned in Parliament So this is plain the Writ is always returnable in Parliament but if in Parliament then of the Upper House for of that House we are but a Limb. This Writ I have seen then thus returned but never any man saw a Writ returnable in the Lower House so for this I hold the Writ cannot be returnable into this House But now for the Authority we have for though this be true I say yet I speak not to take any priviledge from this House for some things there are wherein we have Authority all of us But this is certain whatsoever we do sedente Parliamento it is the Act of the whole Court for the Lords without the Commons and the Commons without the Lords can do nothing Now then at the first before the division of the House all Writs were returned proximo Parliamento but since the division of the House it hath been always used and plainly it must be returned into Chancery And to say we cannot have notice of it nor cannot judge upon the Record being in Chancery plainly we may as well as we do upon the Return of every Burgess which is made into the Chancery and the Cause is all one And the Chancery in making the Writ will not alter from that their Warrant made from this House which must be according unto ancient form for waiting the other day upon my Lord Keeper by your Commandments for the making of this Writ I desired to have a recital added in these words Quòd cùm existente Parliamento captus fuit c. with the recital of the Cause of priviledge My Lord Keeper conferring with the Judges upon it would not allow it but thought better the usual form of Habeas Corpus should be kept without any suspicion of priviledge until there appeared a Cause of priviledge for the party As for the Book of 38 H. 8. Trewinnards Case recited in my Lord Diers I have heard great learned men say that that Cause is no good Law and that the House did more than was warrantable Now for the Motion of Conference with the Judges the Case of Thorpe 31 H. 6. is not able for this point I have the Record Thorpe was Speaker in that Parliament The Parliament being Summoned to be in June it was Prorogued until September in the mean time Thorpe was taken in Execution by the Duke of York he notwithstanding this thought to have had the priviledge of the Parliament At the next Sessions the matter being greatly considered whether he could have a priviledge or no a Conference was had in the Cause with the Judges the Judges being required in humble sort refused except it were so that the House did command them for in the House of Parliament the chief Judges and their Judgments are controulable by the Court but if the House did command them they would be willing to inform them what in their opinions they knew and thought This they did in the great Cause of Thorpe and I think we should do well in doing the like Now another thing is to be considered for Judicis Officium est ut res it a temperari c. The consideration of Time must accompany a Judges Office the Parliament draweth to an end and this would be done with expedition so the party was appointed to have his Councel the next Morning in the Parliament and they to be heard and have the advice of the Judges Vide the Resolution and Conclusion of this business upon Thursday the 5 th day of this instant April ensuing Thus far out of the aforesaid Anonymous Journal the residue of this days Passages and part of the next are inserted out of the Original Journal-Book it self M r Francis Bacon one of the Committees in this Bill for relief of Maimed Souldiers and Mariners appointed on Monday the 2 d day of this instant April foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the said Committees and sundry Amendments thought good to be offered by them to this House and shewing the same Amendments with the reasons of them to the House the same Amendments were well liked of by this House and assented to be inserted into this said Bill and after the twice reading of the said Amendments the said Bill so being amended was upon the question Ordered to be ingrossed Post Meridiem Four Bills of no great moment had each of them one reading of which the first being the Bill for Naturalizing of Justin Dormer and George Sheppy born beyond the Seas had its first reading On Wednesday the fourth day of April M r Barker one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Spinners and Weavers who had been appointed on Monday the 26 th day of March foregoing shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their Amendments to the Bill praying the reading of the same Amendments which being read and ordered by the House to be inserted into the Bill the same Amendments were afterwards twice read and the Bill was upon the Question Ordered to be Ingrossed M r Wroth one of the Committees in the Bill concerning Brewers shewed the meeting and travel of the Committees and their Amendments to the said Bill and prayeth the reading of the same Amendments which being read and Ordered by the House to be inserted in the said Bill and also twice read afterwards was upon the Question Ordered to be ingrossed The Bill for Explanation of a Branch of a Statute made in the twenty third year of her Majesties Reign Intitled an Act to retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due obedience with some Amendments to the same was read the second time Upon which divers Speeches passed in the House before the said Bill was committed some of them being of very good moment Which because they are omitted in the Original Journal-Book it self are therefore supplied out of the often before recited Anonymous Journal in manner and form following Sir Thomas Cecill Doctor Lewen M r Sands Sir Thomas Heneage Sir Edward Dimock and some others spake diversly to this Bill touching the Explanation of a Branch of the Statute made in Anno 23 Regin Eliz. for reducing disloyal Subjects to their due obedience as is aforesaid Sir Walter Raleigh said In my conceit the Brownists are worthy to be rooted out of a Commonwealth But what danger may grow to our selves if this Law pass it were fit to be considered For it is to be feared that