London Mr. Loe and Mr. Lightfoot Mr. Lane spake and much to this sence and purpose My Lords there is an heavy Charge lieth on me and my Fellows nothing less than to defend the Life the Estate the Reputation yea the Posterity of this Honourable Person at the Bar if therefore we shall be more pressing we hope your Lordships will interpret this our forwardness to be for Honour and Conscience sake in a matter that concerneth both so nearly But it shall be our endeavour to carry our selves with our best respects to your Lordships and with all content and satisfaction to the honourable House of Commons and because your Lordships mentioned the matter of Fact one thing I dare be bold to say that all the time of this Noble Lord's defences he did not so much as crave any one of our Opinions yea or acquainted us with any thing that tended that way And for the matter of Law those Statutes cited by himself were none of our stock but taken up at his own adventure nor do I speak this to derogate from the pertinency of those Statutes for they shall be the subject of my discourse but that the Noble-man be not disappointed of your right Conceptions and his own due Praise My Lords It is your pleasure we meddle not with matter of Fact and indeed we need not meddle at all with it because we hope it is already done and that sufficiently to our hands yet the matter of Law doth so naturally arise out of the matter of Fact that of necessity under your Lordships savours we must somewhat grate on this if we speak of that nor do I conceive it possible for us to speak advantagiously enough for the Lord Strafford's just defence unless the whole matter of Fact be determined either as proved or not proved or at least some states of Questions agreed upon where we may fix and settle our Arguments and therefore it is my Lords that I have chosen not at all to touch the matter of Law until your Lordships shall be pleased to chalk me out â—way unless it be to clear your judgments in one Statute only viz. 25 Ed. 3. Because when the same was alleaged by the Lord Strafford in his own Defence that not being convicted of the Letter thereof he could not be convicted of Treason I remember the Salvo of that Statute was much insisted upon by those from the House of Commons as much conducing to their own ends My Lords I will first speak of the Statute it self and then of its Salvo or Provision The Statute is That if any man shall intend the death of the King his Queen their Children kill the Chancellor or Judge upon the Bench imbase the King's Coyn or counterfeit the Broad-Seal c. he shall be convicted and punished as a Traytor that the Lord Strafford comes within the Letter of this Statute is not so much as once alleaged nor indeed it cannot be with any reason all that can be said is That by Relation or by Argument à minore ad majus he may be drawn thither yet that this cannot be I humbly offer these Considerations First This is a Declarative Law and such are not to be taken by way of Consequence Equity or Construction but by the Letter only otherwise they should imply a contradiction to themselves and be no more Declarative Laws but Laws of Construction or Constitutive Secondly This is a Penal Law and such if our Grounds hitherto unquestioned hold good can admit of no Constructions or Inferences for Penalties are to persuade the keeping of known Laws not of Laws conjectural ambiguous and by consequence which perhaps the most Learned may not in their Disputes question much less the Subject who is not obliged to interpret the Statute doubt of in the point of Obedience yea rather without any doubt he is to obey the Letter of the Statute and conceive and that truly that he is not lyable to the Penalty Thirdly We have a notable Law 13 Eliz. cap. 2. whereby it is declared That the bringing in of Bulls from Rome to stir up the Subject to Mutiny and Rebellion shall be punished as Treason Now if by interpretation or by consequence this sence might have been thrust upon the preceding Statutes the making of this had been superfluous yea the persons then charged with that Crime might have been impeached of Treason even before the making of this Act. Anno 21 of Ed. 3. We have a Statute declaring That for a Servant to kill his Master is an Act of Treason and in the three and twentieth year of the same King a Process of Treason was framed against a man for killing his Father grounded upon the same Argument à minori ad majus But it was found and the Sentence is yet in the Records that although in the one and twentieth year of Edward the third that Argument might have been admitted yet in the 27 it could not by reason of the Declarative Law intervening in the 25 year and this Case comes very home to the Point in Law My Lords I will not demand what kind of Offence it may be for a man to subvert the fundamental Laws of a Kingdom the Crime doubtless is unnatural and monstrous and the punishment must keep the same proportion only I presume to offer these few things to your Lordships considerations First That one or more Acts of Injustice whether maliciously or ignorantly done can in no sence of Law be called the subversion of the fundamental Laws if so as many Judges perhaps so many Traytors It is very incident to man's Nature to err nor doth the Lord Strafford plead his innocency in over-sights but in Treason Secondly I do remember the Case of John de la Poole Duke of Suffolk this man in the twenty eighth of Henry the Sixth was charged by the House of Commons with Articles of Treason and those too very like to these against my Lord Strafford 1. That he had given the King bad advices 2. That he had embased his Coyn. 3. That he had sessed men of War 4. That he had given out summary Decrees 5. That he had Imposed Taxes 6. That he had corrupted the Fountain of Justice 7. That he had persuaded the King to unnecessary War and to the giving over of Anjou in France Ovum Ovo And for all these though he was Charged with High Treason for wronging the right of the Subject and subverting the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom yet after a long Agitation the matter was found by the Lords of Parliament not to imply Treason but only Felony Add to this another who in the twenty third of Henry the eighth was charged for subverting the English Laws and yet no Treason charged upon him Add to both the Charge of Richard Larks pleaded at the Common-Pleas who was charged with Treason for subverting the Law but convicted only of Felony by which you may see my Lords what to this time hath been subverting
Words but if the Demands were read perhaps they would imply nothing less and if so how otherwise to be answered but by the Sword all other Means being first assayed which is ever to be supposed For Sir Henry Vane's and Northumberland's Testimony about perswading of an Offensive War he said he remembred it very well and thought it as free for him to give his Opinion or an Offensive as they for a Defensive War Opinions said he if they be attended with Obstimacy or Pertinacy may make an Heretick but that they ever made a Traytor he never heard it till now nor under favour should I be an Heretick either said he for as I was then so am I now most willing to acknowledge my Weakness and correct my Errors whereof no man hath more or is more sensible of them than I my self yet if that Opinion of mine had been followed it might perhaps have spared us some Money said he and some Reputation too of which we have been prodigal enough For the last about the Ships it proves nothing but he would willingly confess that some Ships were there detained and that by himself and his own Direction as Vice Admiral of Connaugh but it was at the Command of the Lord Admiral the Earl of Northumberland and produced his Letter to that purpose To the English Proof He marvelled much how Sir George Ratcliff's Words could be put upon him Sir George though alledged to be his Bosom Friend yet had thoughts of his own and might have some other thoughts in his Bosom and be to some other Expressions than Sir George Ratcliffe No man said he can commit Treason by his Attorney and should I by my Friend Sir George as by a Proxy For his Brother He never knew him before so rash but that was nothing to him except they could prove a nearer Identity than Nature had instituted and that his Brother's Words and his were â—ll one yet withal he conceived that his Brother's Words might be very well understood of the Scots conquering England but not at all of the Irish and so he wished with all his heart that he had not spoken something which is like a Prophesie To the Primate's Testimony with all Reverence to his Integrity be it spoken he is but one Witness and in Law can prove nothing Add to this said he that it was a private Discourse between him and me and perhaps spoken by me Tentandi gratia and how far this should be laid to a mans Charge let your Lordships judge Yea this seems to me against Humanity it self and will make the Society of men so dangerous and loathsom to us that our Dwelling Houses will be turned to Cells and our Towns to Defarts That which God and Nature our Tongues have bestowed upon us for the greater comfort of venting our own Conceptions or craving the Advice of Wiser and Learnecer men should become Snares and Burdens to us by a curious and needless Fear yet if my Words be taken said he with all that went before and followed after I see no danger in it To the Lord Conway I may reply the same with this Addition That it is a very Natural Motion for a man to preserve himself every Greature hath this Priviledge and shall we deny it to Monarchy provided this be done in a lawful though in an extraordinary way This grain of Salt must be added to season all my Discourse To that of Sir Henry Vane of offering my Service to the King I thank him for the Testimony and think he hath done me much honour thereby but if he or any body else do suspect that his Majesty will employ me in unlawful Enterprizes I shall think them more liable to the Charge of Treason than my self To the subsequent Testimonies I shall not need to wrestle about them much only the last of Sir Henry Vanes pinches and lies sore upon me but to that which the Earl of Clare and I thank him for it hath said already give me leave to add this that the Testimony of one man is not a sufficient Witness nor can a man be Accused much less Condemned of Treason upon this and for that read the Stat. of Hen. 7.12 and of Edw 6.5 Now my Lords said he to give you further satisfaction I shall desire all the Lords of the Councel which were then present only to the number of eight may be examined whether they heard these words or not for the Archbishop and Sir Francis Windebank they cannot be had Sir Henry Vane gives the Testimony I deny it four only remain First The Earl of Northumberlands Testimony which was read had declared expresly that he had never heard those words nor any like them from the Lord Strafford but he spake with great Honour and regard to the Kingdom of England Secondly the Marquess Hamilton who declared upon his Oath that he had never heard such words but that he had heard the Lieutenant often say that the King was to rule his Royal Power Candidè Castè that it would never be well for this Kingdom till the Prerogative of the Crown and the Priviledge of the Subject went in one pace together and that Parliaments were the happiest way to keep a correspondency between the King and People The very same was delivered by the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Cottington Now my Lords you may mervail how these words rested only on the ears of Sir Henry Vane but my Lords said he that I may remove all scruple from you I will make it evident that there was not the least intention that the Irish Army should set a foot in England and then I hope you will conceive that I had no meaning to reduce this Kingdom This he made clear by the Testimony of Northumberland the Oaths of Marquiss Hâ—milton Lord Cottington Lord Treasurer Sir Thomas Lucas who only were private to that matter For other of my words my Lords said he I desire you would not take them by halves if so who should be free from Treason Certainly if such a precident take sooting Westminster-hall shall be more troubled with Treason then with Common-Law look therefore to the Antecedents and Consequents of my Speeches and you shall find the state of the question clearly altered the Antecedents were upon an absolute or inevitable necessity upon a present Invasion when the remedy of a Parliament cannot be expected the Consequents for the defence of the Kingdom which acompts afterward to the Parliament The qualifications too in a lawful convenient and ordinary way so far as the present necessity can permit Add but these and which of you are not of my mind Is the King endowed with no power from the Lord Is he not publicus inspector Regni Stands it not him in hand to do something on present necessities And that these were his words he often proved over and over again by the Marquess by the Lord Treasurer Cottington Sir Tho. Jermine My Lords what I have kept to the
times or help our patience and Resolutions give us either redress in thee or confidence in thee The wiser sort conceived these two Bills too big for them to desire at once and that both of them together might procure a flat denial but the more couragious knew the readier way by far having often had experience of his Majesties readiness to grant just desires resolving that he that expects to lose the day is beaten at his own diffidence and it is the quality of some men to swallow Camels upon a sudden who if you give them leisure will perchance strain at a Gnat. Their Resolutions may aim at this but despair to remedy that Nature gives the reason Omne agens se exercet intra spharam Activitatis Dangers if they come but stragling upon us we may collect our spirits well enough and easily resist them but if they come by whole troops Amazment and Fear admits of no consultation for the future but only intends to decline the present and pressing hazard whereon the ancient Gaâ—ls made their first on-sets with valour beyond the courage of men and with feareful cryings and shouts belying their own Animosity to stupify and quell that of the enemy Sunday All the day the King was resolute never to give way to the Bill against the Lord Strafford telling them withal that it seemed strange to him that the man could not dy unless he and he only by giving Sentence the Kings Legislative way should condemn him The Lord Pembrook brought the King a piece of Scripture 2 Sam. 19. from the 5 to the 9 verse the words indeed became a Joab rather than himself till he had scattered the force of the Kings not eldest Son yet eldest Daughter the Kingdom of Scotland here is some Analogy with Absalom and in nothing else for David was sorry for shedding the nocent they not sorry for shedding the Innocent blood though the Issue be not the same Four Bishops were sent for by the King the Primate of Ireland the Bishop of Durham Lincoln and Carlile Some say and I do rather believe it that the King was desirous the Bill should be voiced again and argued the Bishops had their suffrages in the admission though not in the approbation of the Bill others think in regard the Primate was there who had no Interest in this Kingdom it was to resolve the Kings Conscience for my part I see not how they should do this seeing the business was grounded upon a case in Law which none of them unless the Bishop of Lincoln had learned when he was Lord Keeper could possibly discuss for if the King was tender in it how could they persuade him to give way if not what needed their Resolution But it may be that they persuaded him that in conscience he might prefer the Opinion of the Judges before his own and that if though with some reluctation they thought upon their Oaths the Proceedings to be lawful he might give way to them This is not unlikely because the Judges were sent for the same time and it seems for the same Service and if it be so I admire and adore too the wonderful providence of God who in his preparatory Act to this unlawful Judgment which undoubtedly will follow suffers not only the King and the Country but the Church too as if her Cup were not yet full to be involved But could this be to the matter of Fact the King I am sure knew him to be free from any the least intention of subverting the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and could the Bishops satisfie this scruple too it may be they are persuaded that the Proofs might be taken Implicitly from the House of Commons as the Law from the Judges It is reported indeed that they besought the King with many Tears to give way and that to prevent the ruin of the Kingdom which these Statesmen who will be ever content with the longest life for themselves 'till by piece-meal they be thrust from all did see would necessarily follow Well I dare Prophesie to them they shall not want their Reward neither from the King nor People for the next tumult of people shall be against their Liturgies Surplices and Church-Ornaments And seeing they have now over-persuaded the King in this if they can procure him then to protect themselves from those imminent dangers which hang over their heads they shall do a miracle Sed quos perdere vult Jupiter dementat Some body else will persuade the King that to satisfie the common People and to prevent the Ruin of the Kingdom Bishopricks Deans Prebends and all Cathedrals must down Sed omen avertat Deus optimus Sunday all day nothing sounded in the King's Ears but fears terrors and threatnings of worse and worse the noise of Drums and Trumpets were imagined to be heard of rebelling People from every corner of the Kingdom yea Apprentices Coblers and Fruiterers presented themselves as already running into the King's Bed-Chamber After they they had wrestled him breathless and as they do with great Fishes given him scope of Line wherein to spend his strength at last victus dedit manus being overcome with such uncessant Importunities he yielded up the Buckler And about Nine of the Clock at Night oh deplorable necessity of the times or rather oh the frailty of human Nature that can neither foresee nor sustain this necessity the King promised to Sign both the Bills the next Morning which was accordingly done and a Commission drawn up for his I do not care in what Relation you take the word Execution Ingentes Curae stupent loquuntur leves Though I had resolved with the Painter who could not express his Grief sufficiently in weeping for his Daughter here to have drawn the Curtain yet it will not be something must overflow Consider the Gentleman as a Man his Judgment Memory Eloquence real Perfections in this age of appearances consider him as a Subject his Loyalty his Courage his Integrity to King and Country in these disloyal and faint-hearted times consider him as a Christian his love to the Church his respect to Church-men in this prophane and over-weaning Generation let Worth Honesty and Religion weep his Funerals who suffers for all and yet by all yea as an Enemy to all these talk not hereafter to me of Justice Equity or Conscience they are but Names and those scornful and empty Names too It is Power Faction and Interest that are the managers of human Affairs and sways the times I defie all History to furnish us with the like Parallel of a man accused by his Country by reason of his noble and eager desires to maintain them in plenty and reputation convicted by the Church for his actual performance and serious intention to restore both the Dignities and Revenues thereof his Prince even forced to condemn him after his integrity to persuade due obedience and to protect Royal Authority Happy yea thrice happy he whose Innocence was wedded to
Morning The Crowd of People was neither great nor troublesome all of them saluted him and he them with great Humility and Courtisie both at his entrance and at his return therefore let Fame pretend what it please about the Malice and Discontent of the Multitude That if he pass the stroak of Justice they will tear him in pieces yet I see there is more in Rumor then in Sight and appearance and in this Report as in all others of this nature more is thrust upon the vulgar who seem as well fearful of Punishment as exempt from it for all their great number than they do justly deserve On Tuesday in the Morning he came accompanied as before to Westminster and having stayed in the Exchequer Chamber till nine of the Clock the King Queen and Prince came as before upon the first day Then Master Pym being called for aggravated the Charge which was given the day before by a very ample Speech It is impossible to call to mind all the Hyperboles the Flashes and superlative Expressions that he used the main points were That it was a Treason far beyond the reach of words that he the Lieutenant a native Subject and a Peer of England the prime Governour of Ireland the Commander of his Majesties Forces and a Protestant in Religion should have in such an impious and gross manner recompenced his Majesties favours abused his goodness and drawn all his Dominions into hazard and perill of their Religion Lives Goods and Priviledges That one of these faults alone had been enough and too much for the fulfilling of the exorbitancy and wickedness of any one Man and that no Punishment could be thought upon sufficient to expiat Crimes of such a Transcendent nature The Lieutenant with no less Moderation and Wisdom than the other with heat and passion spake to his own defence and that with such a measure of Eloquence and Lively-hood that his very Enemies were affected with it and do mervailously report of it He modestly recounted his Services done to the King and Crown of England his endeavours for advancement as well of the Honour as Commodity of both Kingdoms in general but in particular that of Ireland How he had engreatned and advanced the Kings Revenues there Restored the Churches maintenance Suppressed the Outlaws established obedience to Royal Authority and impedited the Tyranny and Usurpation of greater ones over the Commons And for the effecting of all these Actions he mentioned himself the most weak and meanest Instrument with a wonderful Prudence in a middle way betwixt the affectation of baseness or dejectedness and Allegeance Master Pym after the close of his Speech told him that there were three new Articles adjoyned by an after search to his Charge and desired that he might presently Reply to the same Whereunto the Liutenant answered It was very strange that after the close of the Process and when matters were come to be scan'd and examined by proof that any new Charge should be given in Yet lest he should seem to decline the maintenance of his own Innocency and the just deâ—ence of his Honour he was most willing to hear them and have them alleaged provided that a convenient time might be assigned him to make his Replies against them as he had done to the other given in before But Master Pym excepted against this and told him that the House did conceive it to be dangerous to grant any farther Prorogation Upon this the Lords of the upper House who did not think it sit as yet to voice any particular in the audience of the House of Commons did retire themselves and after a pretty time of stay they returned and declared that they had found the Lieutenants suit to be equitable in desiring of further time for answering yet seeing the Articles themselves neither for number nor weight seemed to be of that importance but that he might furnish out a present Answer they thought it â—tting to grant no delay The Lieutenant then intreating them to pass by and pardon the weaknesses of his extemporary Answers desired to hear the Articles read which were these First That he had within these two years withdrawn Forty Thousand pound Sterling from the Exchequer in Ireland and imployed it to his own private uses Secondly That in the beginning of his Government the Garrisons in Ireland had been maintained by the English Treasury Thirdly That he had advanced Popish and Infamous persons as the Bishop of Waterford and others to the prime Roomes in the Church of Ireland To the first he answered That Thirty Thousand Pounds were set apart for the Kings late Service at his own most special and most peremptory Commands for which he produced the Kings own Letter already approved as his Acquittance at the Exchequer board in Ireland To the second That at the beginning of that Charge against him as ever before his time the Garrisons had been burthensome to the Kingdom of England but that he had so improved it and setled the Kings Revenue there that the like is not to be heard in all the times that are by past For which if the best endeavours of a Subject may justly expect any reward from his King and Country he craved leave to think that he rather deserved many thanks than the least Punishment To the third He attested all the Clergy in Ireland if ever he had taken upon him any particular medling in advancing their Church-men or whether he had done any thing concerning such Affairs but upon the special advise and desire of the best and wisest of their Number For his part when he befriended the Bishop of Waterford he conceived of him as a Man of Integrity and Learning fit for such an Imployment nor was there then the least suspition of those monstrous Impieties wherewith he was afterwards Charged that he had now justy suffered for the same and that he hoped they would not lay a necessity upon him to Prophecy and divine of the future Conditions and Deportments of Men For others of the Church suspected of Popery he knew none such but should answer to the Particulars so far as they concernd him when they should happen to be alleaged After this the House disolved for that night the Kings Majesty and the Prince having stayed all the time and the Lord Lieutenant was appointed to come thither again on Wednesday Morning at which time they are to proceed to the first Article to give an Oath to the Witnesses and to examine all the Proofs whereon the Process was Builded It will be a very hard matter for him to expect every Mans Testimony and to give his answers either for full satisfaction or diminution of all Objections which way of proceeding will spend at least a Fortnight if not a greater space of time yet it is thought the lower House are impatient of delays The expectations are exceeding various and different about the event of this great action some think it will be
Power in granting Pardons for poenalties of the same was heavier then the Kings Loyns That this was his expression he verified First by the occasion for he spake the words a long time since to some Men who had lain imprisoned at York and were then by the Kings favour set at Liberty whom he incited to thankfulness by this expression towards his Majesty Secondly by witnesses produced by him In the examination of their witnesses he convinced one of them of untruth by interrogating him where he was when the speech was heard and how far distant from him when the Man had replied that he was twelve Yards from him he answered that it was impossibly for him to hear a Man three Yards off by reason of a deafness that had held him 14 years which being found true the witness was rejected Another witness Sir David Fouls was brought against him against whom he excepted as his known and professed Enemy 't was told him that he himself did not use to admit of exceptions against Witnesses and therefore was to expect the same measure He replyed that Master Pim might one day perhaps be atached for perswading the House of Commons to commit the same Crime that was laid upon him as a Charge of Treason But for all this the Witness was received because in matter of Treason a Mans Enemy may witness against him pro Domino nostro Rege Though I suppose the Kings advice was never asked for the present This was all that was done for that time On Thursday he was charged with the second Expression That he said Ireland was a Conquered Kingdom and that the King might prescribe them what Law he pleased This they aggravated as a prime note of his Tyrannical will and affection that would permit no Law to bound the Subject but what himself and such as he might draw up by sinistrous informations from a gracious and well meaning Prince and if this were admitted the whole Power and Liberty of the Republique would be utterly lost To this he replied that neither was the Expression in those words nor in that sence spoken or meant by him The first part of it said he cannot be denied To the second that he had said only that the King was the Law-giver which he hoped none could deny without incurring the Crime of Treason And that the Kings Sentence was a Law in matter not determined by Acts of Parliament which all but disloyal Subjects would grant and that it had ever been his endeavour to have the Liberty of the Subject and the Royal Prerogative follow both in one Channel If either of them crossed other we could expect nothing but a Subversion of the Common-Wealth either by Tyranny or Rebellion That the Prerogative was like the first the Liberty of the Subject like the second Table either both or neither can be preserved that in his duty he stood obliged first to the King as Gods Anointed then in the second place to his Countrey if it did not crosse the Regal Power And therefore hoped that what he had spoken was so far from being Treason that he thought a thousand such Expressions would not make up one Fellony On Friday the two other Expressions were followed That he said He would not suffer his Ordinances to be disputed by Lawyers before inferiour Judicataries and that he would make an Act of State equivalent to an Act of Parliament To the first he said that he had often said more then once that he would not suffer his Ordinance to be contemned because in him his Masters Honour was wounded To the second He thought a proportionable obedience was due to Acts of State as well as to Acts of Parliament otherwise they were made in vain if that both did not bind in one kind The Lord Cork though his mortal Enemy was now examined and admitted as a Witness whom in his Deposition he convinced of two shameful oversights For Corke had declared upon his Oath that the Lieutenant had caused to be interlined an Ordinance against himself and had caused some words to be scraped out which words were notwithstanding still found to be in the Sentence by an authentique Copy under the hand of Sir Paul Davison Clerk to the Councel-board of Ireland Then Cork alleaged that he had advanced a Groom of his to be a Preacher who by a Testimony from the University of Dublin he verified to have been a Master of Arts ten or twelve years before his advancement adding withal that my Lord of Cork was an excellent Scholler who was able to breed such Grooms Upon Satturday having done with his Expressions they canvased the first Article about his Actions Against the Lives of the Kings Subjects both in the Case of the Lord Mount-Norris and also of another of the Kings Subjects both of whom he had Sentenced to Death by Martial-Law contrary to all Law and to the manifest Subversion of the Priviledges of Subjects Magna Charta and the Petition of Right To the Lord Mount-Norris his Case he Replied 1. That though that Sentence had been unjustly given and rigorously prosecuted against him yet the greatest Crime that he could be charged withal would but amount to Man-Slaughter or Fellony at the most 2. That he hoped though this were true to obtain a Pardon from his gracious Master the Kings Majesty as well as Conway and Sir Jacob Ashley had lately done for eâ—ercising Martial Law in the Northern Army Then he Replied to all the parts of the Charge which were four 1. That he had exercised Martial Law in time of Peace To this he Answered 1. That all Armies have been and must be governed ever by Martial Law 2. That there is a standing Army in Ireland and therefore the Case is all one is time of Peace or War And that the Army might be undone if they should not use Martial Law but were to expect Remedy for the setling of a Mutiny or assurance of obedience from the Common Law 3. That it had ever been the practise of the Deputies particularly of Wilmot Faulkland Chichester yea Cork himself and therefore was no new thing brought in by him This he proved both by the production of the Military Ordinances and by divers Witnesses who knew Sentences given in that kind by them 4. That he had a particular Warrant in his Commission for this Power 5. That in the Lord Mount-Norris his Case he was commanded to exercise the same by the Kings particular Letter both which he caused to be read The second Charge was That he was both Party and Judge in the Lord Mount-Norris 's Cause To this he Replied That he had sitten in Judgment because he was one sine quo non the Judgment could not proceed without him but that he was not Judge but Party appeared 1. Because he sate discovered all the time 2. Because he refused to give his own Opinion 3. Because he did not give his Suffrage
the other Secondly That neither he nor they had ever given Sentence or determined any thing concerning Matters of Inheritance but only concerning violent intrusion which fell directly within a Suit of Equity To which he added First The Equity of that Court that it proceeds upon the same Grounds and Evidences of that of the Common Pleas and that he had the assistance of two of the Learned Judges in deciding the Controversie Secondly The Profit of that Court which dispatcheth the poor in a day or two whereas the Common-Law would keep them so many years which they are not able to sustain Thirdly The Necessity of that Court in that Kingdom which hath been ever governed by that way and therefore impossible to debarr the Natives from it without great inconvenience for it would utterly undo them and none is prejudiced by it but the Lawyers And therefore seeing that he had done nothing but what was customary necessary and equitable commanded to it and the Sentence just he hoped rather for Thanks from the State than a Charge for his ill Deportment withal he shewed with what Extortion and Violence the Lord Mount-Norris had taken seisure of that piece of Land and made the playing of his Game to be very foul And at last he added That he had done no more in Ireland than the Courtâ— of Request in England usually doth and that the Chancery-Court in Ireland doth the same daily and the last Chancellor was never Charged said he for such Proceedings though this his Power and Authority was less than mine But the difference of the Person and his Authority it seemeth differeth the Matter And this was the Business on Monday On Tuesday they passed by the 7th Article and the two first parts of the 8th about the Lady Hibbot's Land That he had violently thrust her from her Possession by this Summary way of Justice and afterwards Purchased the Land to his own use by borrowing the Name of Sir Robert Meridith In this Probation the Testimony of the Gentlewomans own Son was used of the Lord of Cork and the Lord Mount-Norris all his back-Friends or professed Enemies and yet they proved very little but what they took upon Hear-sayes Their prime Allegation was First That though the Major part of the Council-Board had Voted for the Lady yet the Lord Lâ—utenant had given Decrees against her Secondly That all was done to his own behoof To the First He produced the Sentence under the Hand of the Clerk of the Council-Board Subscribed by the Major part To the Second He attested that he had no under-dealing with Meredith for the Lady had got her own Lands back from the said Sir Robert Meredith he also declared at length with what fraud and deceit the Lady had come to her Lands and upon what Reasons they were restored After this Article they fell upon the 9th about the giving of Commission to the Bishop of Down and Connar for apprehending all such Persons and presenting them before the Council-Board as contemned the Ecclesiastical Ordinances ' This was aggravated as a Point mainly against the liberty of the Subject To this he Replied First He produced the Primate of Ireland's Testimony under his Hand he being himself sick that the same course had been used in Ireland before and that Bishop Mountgomery his Predecessor in the Bishoprick of Methe had had the same Secondly He shewed the Equity that such assistance should be given to Church-men who otherwise because of Papists and Schismaticks either to God or the King would have no Repect or Obedience given them in that Kingdom Thirdly He proved by two Witnesses that such Warrants were in use before his time Fourthly He said he had never granted any but that one and had presently within some few Months called the same in again what said he was the Bishop of Downes carriage in it he had no reason to answer for but he presumed the Bishop could give a satisfactory answer for himself when he should be called in question and so he concluded that a matter so just so necessary so customary and practical before he hoped should not be Charged upon him as an Introduction of a new and Tyrannical Form of Government and therefore submitted himself to the Mercy of God and the Equity of his Peers in his Trial. And this was the Work on Tuesday ' The Ability of this brave Gentleman ravished his Hearers with admiration though he be ' infinitely spent both in Body and Mind by the continued and almost unâ—interrupted Agitation After the Ninth Article was passed against the Commission issued in favour of the Bishop of Down and Connar Upon Wednesday Mr Glyn proceeded to the Tenth Article The Charge was That the Earl of Strafford having established an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government over the Lives Lands and Liberties of the Kings Subjects his next desire was to make intrusion upon the Crown it self that by applying to his own use the Publick Revenues he might be the more enabled to accomplish his Disloyal and Trayterous Intentions To which end having by a new Book of Rates enhaunced the Customs he had gotten by advantage of his Lease above twenty six thousand pound yearly This they added was a Crime of higher nature than those contained in the preceding Articles because in those there was some colour or pretext of Justice here none those in Particulars this in General those against the Subject only this against the King himself For the Proof of the Charge they produced the Lease of the Duke of Buckingham Which was read and compared with that Lease to the Dutchess of Buckingham which the Lieutenant hath now by Assignment and some Difference shewn arising to the Sum of two thousand pounds in the Dukes Lease only the Moiety of concealed and forfeited Goods were due to him but the whole Goods to the Dutchess in her Lease Again the Kings Ships of Prizes did not pay Custom in the Dukes Lease in the Dutchesses they did Again the Impost of the Wines then belonging to the Earl of Carlile was not in the Dukes Lease in the Dutchesses it was Lastly Whereas the Earl of Strafford paid but fourteen thousand pounds per annum for the Custom it was worth to him as was apparent by the Books of the Exchequer forty thousand pounds Witnesses were examined First Sir James Hay who deposed that the Earl of Carlile had an advantage of one thousand six hundred pounds per annum by his Lease of Wines Secondly The Lord Renelaugh who deposed that by the inspection of the Books of Accompts he had found the Customs to be Anno 1636. thirty six thousand pounds Anno 16â—7 thirty nine thousand pounds Anno 1638. fifty four thousand pounds Anno 1639. fifty nine thousand pounds With the Proof they concluded the Charge That notwithstanding the Lord Strafford pretended a great measure of Zeal and Honesty in His Majesties Service yet it is evident he had abused the Trust put
upon him and by withdrawing so great Sums of Money from the Crown had weakned the King prejudiced the Subject of the Protection they were to expect from him and had been the cause that the extraordinary way of Impost and Monopolies had been undertaken for supplying of the Royal Necessity And that this Act therefore ought to be enough to make the Charge and Impeachment of High Treason laid against him The Lieutenants Reply was That he conceived he had given full satisfaction to all hitherto brought against him about that pretended Arbitrary Government nor would he spend time in vain Repetitions for the present Article though in all its parts it were granted to be true yet he could not perceive by what Interpretation of Law it could imply the least Act of Treason and when it should be directly Charged upon him as a point of Misdemeanor Oppression or Felony he made no doubt but he should be very able to clear himself abundantly in that point also yet lest any prejudice might stick to his Honour by these bold Assertions he was content to step so far out of the way as to give Answer First That it concerned him nothing what particulars in the Lease had past betwixt the King and the Dutchess of Buckingham or whether she had obtained a more eaâ—ie condition than the Duke her Husbands especially seeing that same was granted some years before his coming to that Government yet thus much he could say that the Dutchess had paid thirty thousand pound fine and therefore no marvail her yearly Rent was the less Secondly For the Book of Rates wherein the chief matter of Oppression and Grievance seemed to rest the same was there established by the Deputy Faulkland An. 1628 three years before his going into Ireland and therefore it was exceeding strange in his apprehension now that could rise up in judgment against him Thirdly That he had his interest in the Customs by Assignation of a Lease from the Dutchess which was given her before his Government nor did he ever hear it alledged as a Crime of Treason for a man to make a good Bargain for himself Fourthly That not of his own accord but at the Kings special Command he had undergone that Charge on hopes that upon the enquiry into the worth thereof the Customs might be improved for the Benefit of the Crown and the true value thereof discovered This he proved by the Lord Cottington and Sir Arthur Ingram Fifthly That when a new Book of Rates was recommended to man by the Council Board of England in the time of his Lease he so far preferred a fear he had That the Trade of Ireland might thereby be discouraged before his own Commodity as he presumed in all humility to refuse the said Book of Rates and tendred his Reasons thereof to the Kingdom and Council-Board of England Sixthly That he never understood that the Customes could aâ—â—e to those great Sums alledged but though they should yet his advantage was but â—mall for first dividing the fourteen thousand pounds he paid to the King then five parts of eight which was yearly given in upon Oath and that procured first by himself at the Exchequer-Board the other three parts 〈◊〉 ideâ— amongst four of them which were equal sharers in the Lease would not amount to any great Sum of Money And therefore except it were Treason for him to have â—mproved the Kings Revenue encouraged the Trade and refused the new Book of Rates he could in his own weak â—udgment discern none there nor could he think it a Crime for him to take an Assignation of a Lease granted before his time and to insist in the Book of Rates used before his coming over and therefore was confident the Lords would rather take his Accusation as an exercise of Rhetorick in the Gentlemen his Adversaries than as a thing spoken in good earnest by them The same day the Eleventh Article concerning Tobacco was Charged on by the same man Mr. Glyn after this manner That for the farther advancement of his Tyrannical and Avaritious Designs he had of himself established a Monopoly for the restraint of Tobacco in that Kingdom where they offered Five Particulars to the Proof First That he had restrained the Importation of Tobacco Secondly That in the mean time he had brought in a great quantity himself and sold the same at exorbitant Prices Thirdly That of Tobacco already imported he had forbidden any to be sold but was first sealed by his Officers Fourthly That upon a pretended Disobedience he had punished a great Number of People by Seizures Imprisonments Fining Whipping Pillory and such like cruel and inhumane Vsages Fifthly That by these means he had gained one hundred thousand Pounds yearly For Proof hereof First The Proclamation for restraining Tobacco was read Secondly The Proclamation about the Sealing of the same Thirdly Some Witnesses who declared that Ships had been restrained from Landing Tobacco Fourthly Others who had known some Tobacco seized on as forfeited Fifthly The Remonstrance of the House of Commons in Ireland declaring that the Earl had sold 500 Tun of Tobacco which sold at 2 s. 6 d. per pound amounts to 100000 l. They concluded the Charge That he had sucked up the Blood and eaten up the Kings Liege-People and had by this one point of Oppression raised greater Sums to himself than all the Kings Revenue in that Kingdom extended unto And therefore was liable to the Crime of Treason for troubling the Peace and bereaving the People of their Goods who were entrusted into his Care and Government The Lieutenant's Reply was That his most secret Thoughts were conscious of nothing but of a sincere intention and endeavour to promote and advance the wellfare of that Kingdom and withal he conceived by their leaves that nothing in that Charge could have the least reference to Treason yet as he said before for removing of all prejudice he was content to answer First That long before his coming to Ireland the same restraint had been of Tobacco and the same Impost of eighteen pence per pound enjoyned by King James Secondly That at that time the Tradesmen for this Commodity paid but twenty pounds a year to the Crown for the Impost but now 400 l. Thirdly That the Parliament in Ireland 1628 had Petitioned to have this Impost setled by an Act of State for ever afterwards as a part of the Revenue of the Crown Fourthly That he had express Command from the King for issuing those Proclamations and therefore could not imagine more danger in them than in others for Monopolies in England in the worst sence Fifthly That the Proclamations were not put forth by himself alone but by the whole Councel-Board of Ireland Sixthly That for the Contract of Tobacco he was so tender of it that it was sent over hither and seen and approved of by the Councel-Board of England before it was condiscended to in Ireland For the Proclamations he told them it
At this the Lieutenant rose and humbly intreated the Lords no evidence should be received against him upon an Article of such importance but what might be thought authentique and such a one under favour he conceived that Copy not to be First Because no transcript but the Original only can make faith before the Kings Bench in a matter of Debt therefore far be it from them to receive a most slender Testimony in matter of Life and Death before the supream Judicatory of the Kingdom Secondly If Copies be at any time received they are such as are given in upon Oath to have been compared with the Originals which are upon Record such an one was not that Copy It was Replied by Master Glin for all of them spake as occasion served that the House had but the day before admitted Copies as Evidences much more should they do this when it was prosecuted by the Officer himself who best knew it having executed the same To this the Lieutenant answered that all other Copies ought to be received upon Oath to have been compared with the Original as right reason requireth but that this was not so and for the Officer himself proâ—ucing it that was the best Argument he could use why it should not be admitted For said he Master Savil may be charged with Treason for seising Men of War upon the Kings Subjects he hath nothing for his defence but a pretendedâ—Warrant from me Now what he swears to my prejudice is to his own advantage nor can a Man by any equity in the World be admitted to testify against another in suum justificationem The point seemed exceeding weighty and in effect was the groundwork of the whole Article which not proved nothing could evince him to have been accessary to the Consequence The upper House therefore adjourned themselves and went up to their own Court and after a very hot contestation between the sactions and above an hours stay they returned and declared that the Lords after mature deliberation had resolved that the Copy should not be admitted and desired them to proceed to other preoâ—s which after a little pause they did First the Lord Renelaugh affirms that he heard of such a Warrant and knew sometimes three sometimes five Souldiers Billeted by it Secondly Master Clare declares the very same Thirdly Another Deposeth he had seen such a Warrant under the Deputies Hand and Seal And so much for the proof For the Statute they alleaged one of Edward 3.6 that whosoever should carry about with them English Enemies â—sh Râ—bels or Hooded-Men and less them upon the Subject should be punished as a Traytor Another of Hen. 6.7 That whosoever should â—ess Men of War in his Majesties Dominions should be thought to make War against the King and punished as a Traytor They concluded It was evident the Lord Strafford had incurred the penalty and breach of both the Statutes and therefore desired the Lords should give out Judgment against him as a Traytor The Lord Lieutenants Reply was That in all the course of his Life he had intended nothing more than the preservation of the Lives Goods and welfare of the Kings Subjects and that he dared profess that under no Deputy more than under himself had there been a more free and un-interrupted course of Justice To the Charge he answered First That the Customes of Ireland differed exceedingly from the Customes of England and was clear by Cooks Book and therefore though sessing of Men might seem strange here yet not so there Secondly That even in England he had known Souldiers pressed upon men by the presidents of York and Wales in case of known and open Contempts and that both in point of Outlary and Rebellion and also even for sums of Debt between party and party there is nothing more ordinary than these Sessings to this day in Scotland whereby the chief house of the owner is seized upon Thirdly That to this day there hath been nothing more ordinary in Ireland than for the Governours to appoint Souldiers to put all manner of Sentences in execution which he proved plainly to have been done frequently and familiarly exercised in Grandisons Faulklands Chichesters Wilmot Corks Evers and all preceding Deputies times And had even for Outlaries for the Kings debts in the Exchequer of Collection of Contribution money and which comes home to the point for peteet sums of money between party and party so that he marvailed quâ fronte or with what boldness it could be called an Arbitrary Government lately brought in by him To this the Lord Dillon Sir Adam Loftis and Sir Arthur Teringham deposed the last of whom told that in Faulklands time he knew twenty Souldiers Sessed upon a Man for refusing to pay sixteen shillings sterling Fourthly That in his instructions for executing his Commissions he hath express warrant for the same as were in the instructions to the Lord Faukland before him both of which were produced and read Fifthly That although all these presidents were not yet it were not possible to govern the Kingdom of Ireland otherwise which had been from all times accustomed to such summary proceedings Sixthly That no Testimony brought against him can prove that erer he gave warrant to that effect and for the Deeds of the Serjeant at Arms he did conceive himself to be answerable for it As for the Acts of Parliament he had reserved them to the dispute of his Lawyers but was content to say thus much for the present First That it is a ground in the Civil Law that where the King is not mentioned there he cannot be included But with all distance to his sacred Person be it spoken he conceived himself to be in his Master the Kings place for so his Commission did run in that Kingdom of Ireland Secondly The words of the Statute are not appliable to him for God knows he never went about in person to lay Souldiers upon any of the Kings Subjects Thirdly That the Kings own Souldiers enquiring in a customary way obedience to his Orders could in no construction be called Irish-Rebels English Enemies or Hooded-men Fourthly That the use and custom of the Law was the best Interpreter thereof and for that he had already spoken enough Fifthly That it favoured more of prejudice than equity to start out such an old Statute against him and none others though culpable of the same Fact to the overthrow and ruine of him and his Posterity Sixthly That under favour he conceived for any Irish Custom or upon any Irish Statute he was to be judged by the Peers of Ireland Seventhly That Statute of what force soever was repealed First By the Tenth of Henry the Seventh where it is expresly declared nothing shall be reputed Treason hereafter but what is so declared by the present Statute now not a word there of any such Treason Secondly By the eleventh of Queen Elizabeth where expresly power is given to the Deputy of Ireland to sess and lay
Souldiers although the same be reputed Treason in any other To the Statute of Henry the Sixth he Replied that a slender Answer might serve He hoped that no man would think him so inconsiderate to war against the King of Britain and Ireland by the sessing of five Souldiers that he had been charged by many for taking Arms for the King but to that time never for taking Arms against him and that he heartily wished that no man in all his Majesties Dominions had more practises with Rebels and Rebellious Designs against the King than himself So much for Thursday ' At the Close he desired the intermission of a day that he might recollect his Spirits and ' Strength against the next Quarrel and with some difficulty obtained rest till Saturday Upon Saturday Mr. Palmea proceeded to the sixteenth Article and Charged thus That the Lord Strafford having established a Tyrannical and Independent Authority by giving Summary Decrees and Sentences had deprived the Subject of all just Remedy for in that Kingdom there was none supream to himself to whom they might appeal and lest their just grievances might be made known to His Majesty he had obtained a Restraint That no complaint should be made of Injustice or Oppression done there till the first Address had been made to himself and that no person should come out of that Kingdom but upon Licence obtained from himself For Proof of this First the Instructions were read whereby that Restraint was permitted Seconly the Proclamation That all Noblemen Gentlemen Undertakers Officers or other Subjects that should resort into that Kingdom should not come from thence without a Licence from him Thirdly That he had restrained the Earl of Desmond because of a Suit in Law depending between the Earl and himself till Publication of the same was passed Fourthly That the Lord Roch being informed against before the Star-Chamber he would not Licence him to come into this Kingdom till the Sentence was passed against him Fifthly Than one Marchatee having pretended a mind to travel was denied a Licence Sixthly That the whole Committee for the Parliament was restrained this last year by Deputy Waniford which they said might be interpreted to be his Fact both because they had such intelligence the one from the other as also by the Proclamation issued by him before Seventhly That one Parry Servant to Chancellor Loftis was fined five hundred pounds at his return for departing Ireland without Licence Eightly That the Irish Remonstrance complained of this as the greatest Innovation and Thraldom put upon them since the time of the Conquest They concluded the Charge That by this meanes having taken of that Intelligence which should be between the King and his People and having deprived them of that Remedy which in Reason they might expect from so Just and so gracious a Prince he had taken upon him a Royal and Independent Power and had faulted highly both against King and State The Lievtenants Reply was That he hoped to make it clear that he had done nothing in that particular but what was usual necessary and just and that he should be very well able by the Grace of God not only of that but of all other his publick Actions to give a reasonable Accompt though not be free from much weakness yet certainly from oll Malice and Treason To the Particulars First For Instructions laid upon him he was not so much Chargeable as those of the Council of England whereof there was a great many present who could witness their Commands but lest any thing should seem unjustly enjoyned by them or embraced by him he desired that the Reasons of their Instructions might be read which were That it were Injustice to complain of Injuries of Oppression done in that Kingdom till first the Deputies Judgment was informed and Trial made of his Integrity That it would much discourage the Ministers of State there and expend the Monies of that Kingdom if upon every trifling business Complaints should be admitted in England And that if Justice were there denied by the Deputy it should be lawfull for any man to come over Secondly For the Proclamation That the same was builded upon the Statute of that Kingdom the 25 of Hen. 6. which contained the same Restraint verbatim Thirdly That Anno 1628. the Agents for the Irish Nation had Petitioned for the same from the King Fourthly That the Deputy Faulkland had set forth the same Proclamation Fifthly That he had the Kings express Warrant for it Anno 1634. which was read Sixthly That he had received the Warrant in January yet the Proclamation issued not out till September after Seventhly That the whole Council-Board of Ireland had not only condescended but also pressed him to it Eightly The Necessity of the Kingdom required the same for if the Gentlemen had the Ports open to go to Spain and their Scholars to Doway Rhemes or St. Omers it were likely that at their return they would put fire both in Church and State and produce very sad Events by practising to distemper both Ninthly He conceived that the King as great Master of the Family might restrain whom he pleased from departing his Kingdom without his privity and here it was not lawful for any to go from England without Licence how much more necessary was this from Ireland To the Proofs he answered First For Desmond he granted he was Restrained indeed but not for any Suit of Law betwixt them but because at that time he stood Charged with Treason before the Councel in Ireland for practising against the Life of one Sir Valentine Cooke Secondly For the Lord Roch he had often-times marvailed with what reason the man at that time could seek a Licence seeing he was a Prisoner for Debt in the Castle of Dublin and if he had granted a Licence to him then it had been a far more just Charge of Treason than now Thirdly For Marcattee he was afraid of his going to Spain and if he had intended to go for England and complain of himself he would not have refused him Liberty as he never did to any Fourthly That the Committy of Irish was not restrained by him and therefore did not concern him at all Fifthly That for Parry he was fined indeed but that it is expresly said in his Sentence that it was not for coming over without Licence as is suggested but for sundry contempts against the Councel-Board in Ireland Sixthly That he had Replied in the last Article a Remonstrance was no proof at all He concluded that he hoped the least Suspition of Treason could not accrue to him from the Article For Oppression or Misdemeanour when it was laid to his Charge he made no doubt but he should be able to answer it The same day a new man was hurried out against him Mr. Whitlock who havâ—ng past over the 17 and 18 Articles resteth on the nineteenth about the Oath administred to the Scots in Ireland and Charged thus That it
Monarchical Government and were only to be answered by the Sword Thirdly That he had caused some Scottish Goods and Ships to be seized on in Ireland Fourthly That he had engaged the Irish Parliament by their Declaration in that War against the Scots Fifthly That by all possible means he had put had thoughts and Suspicions into his Majesty against his Scottish Subjects and laboured to make a National quarrel between them and England which if the Kings Piety and the Prudence of better affected States-men had not prevented could not have been sâ—erd up again without much Blood Concerning England his Speeches were either before or after the Parliament First Before his Creature and Bosom friend Sir George Ratcliff he had said to Sir Robert King when he was doubting how the King might have Monies to pay his Armies that the King had four hundred thousand pounds in his Purse thirty Thousand Men in the Field and his Sword by his side and if he wanted Money afterwards who will pitty him Secondly That his Brother Sir George Wentworth had said to Sir Robert Beâ—ington upon the dissolution of the last Parliament that seeing the English would not grant supply to the King it seems they were weary of their Peace and desired to be conquered a second time Thirdly That he himself upon a discourse with the Primate of Ireland had said that he was much of the mind of those English Divines who maintained it lawful for a King having tried the affection and benevolence of his People and then denied their help upon an inevitable necessity and present danger of the Kingdom that he might use his Prerogative for his own supply and the defence of his Subjects Fourthly To the Lord Conway in a Discourse he had said That if the Parliament meaning the last Parliament should not grant a competent Supply that then the King was Acquitted before God and Man and might use the Authority put into his hands Fifthly That he did say at the Council Board If the Parliament should deny to help the King he would take any other way be could for his Majesties Service and Assistance His Expressions after the Parliament were two First That the Parliament had forsaken the King and that the King should not suffer himself to be over-mastered by the frowardness obstinacy and stubbornness of his People Secondly That if his Majesty pleased to employ Forces he had some in Ireland that might serve to reduce this Kingdom The Proofs for the Scots Particulars were these First The Lord Traquiere who was indeed very favourable to the Lord Lieutenant and spake nothing to his Disadvantage but what was scrued from him with much difficulty he told them That when he gave in the Demands he heard him say that it was high time for the King to put himself into a posture of War but that first all the Council of England said the same as well as he secondly That it was a double Supposition 1. That the Demands were truly given in 2. That there was no other Remedy left but Arms to reduce them Secondly The Earl of Morton's Testimony being sick himself was produced and it was one and the same with the Article Thirdly Sir Henry Vane was examined who declared That he had heard the Lieutenant to advise the King to an Offensive War when his own Judgment was for a Defensive Fourthly The Testimony of the Earl of Northumberland was produced which was the very same with Sir Henry Vane's Fifthly The Treasurer of England deposed the same with Traquiere Sixthly One Beane from Ireland told That he had known Ships seized on there but by whose Procurement or Warrant he knew not To the Articles about England First Sir Robert King and the Lord Renelaugh deposed the same that Sir Robert King and the Lord â—enelaugh had heard Sir George Ratcliffe speak those words in the Article Secondly Sir Robert Barrington of Sir George Wentworth Thirdly The Primate's Testimony who is sick was the same with the Article Fourthly The Lord Conway deposed the same with the Article Fifthly Sir Henry Vane deposed He had heard those Words spoken at the Council-Board For the Words spoken after the Parliament To the first Sir Tho. Jermyne Lord Newburg Earl of Bristol Earl of Holland were Examined Bristol did mince the Matter but Holland's Testimony was express because of the exceeding great Love he carried to the Man For the last which were the most dangerous Speeches about the reducing of this Kingdom there was only Sir Henry Vane's Testimony who declared only thus That he had either those Words or the like Here some of the Lieutenants Friends shewed themselves 1. The Lord Savil who desired of Sir Henâ—y Vane to know whether he said their or this or that Kingdom and withal said it was very hard to condemn a man for Treason upon such petit Circumstances 2. The Earl of Southampton desired to know whether Sir Henry Vane would swear those words positively or not Sir Henry Vane said positively either them or the like The Earl replied that under favour those or the like could not be positive 3. The Earl of Clare desired to know what could be meant by this Kingdom for his part he said he thought it meant of the Kingdom of Scotland to which the Word this might very well be relative that Kingdom being only mentioned in the preceding Discourse And that he was the more ready to be of that Opinion because he could not see by what Grammatical Construction it could be gathered from his words that he meant to reduce England which neither then was neither is now God be thanked out of the way of Obedience nor upon Rebellious Courses They at last concluded the Charge That the Words were so monstrous that to aggravate them was to allay them and therefore they would simply leave them to the Judgment of the Lords The Lieutenant's Reply was That though the heaping up of those Articles had put him to a great Confusion yet he would endeavour to bring his Answer into the best Method he could and first he would reply to the Prooâ— then add something in general for himself in what a hard taking and lamentable Condition he was to have his private Discourses his most intimate and bosome friends search'd and sisted to the least Circumstance that he might seem guilty of that which by God's assistance he should never be To the Lord Traquieres and the Deputies Depositions he thought their Proofs did not much stick upon him for upon the Suppositions first That the Demands were true secondly That they were not justifiable thirdly That no other Course could prevail He could not see what other Advice he could possibly give the King than to put himself into a posture of War especially seeing then there was frequent Reports of the Scots invading or entring into England nor was he of any other mind than all the rest of the Council-Board For that of Morton's he doth not positively remember the
last said he is this and I would intreat you seriously to think of it If a mans Table his Bed his House his Brother his Friends and that too after they have given an Oath of Secrecy to be Raâ—â— to find out Treason against him who never knew what it meant what earthly Man shall pass free from Treason Let my misfortune my Lords be your advertisement your wise Ancestors were glad to put bands and limits to this Lion Treason if you give him the large scope of words to range into he will at last pull you or yours all to pieces But my Lords I did never think till now that matter of Opinion should be objected as matter of Treason For first Opinions are free and Men may argue both pro and eon in all faculties without any stain of his Reputation otherwise all consultations would be vain Secondly I may be of another Judgment then I declare my self to be of opinion perhaps to gain better Arguments for the maintenance of my own Grounds Thirdly Many and my self often times have propounded my Opinion yet upon hearing better Judgments have presently changed it Fourthly We use to strain our Opinions too â—igh sometimes that we may meet in a just moderation with those whom we conceive in the other extremity to be too low Fifthly It is expresly commanded by the Stat. Hen. 6.9 That though a Man should say the King is not lawful Heir to the Crown and may be deposed yet he is not to be charged with Treason but only with Felony and I hope my Lords those words are of a more transâ—endent and superlative nature than any alleaged by me to be spoken But my Lords said he lay it to your hearts it must come to you you and your posterity are they whom God and Nature Birth and Education have fitted to beautify the Royal Throne and to sustain the weighty affairs of the Kingdom if to give your Opinions in Political Agitations shall be accounted Treason who will be willing to serve the King or what a dilemma are you in If being sworn Councellors you spake not your minds freely you are convict of perjury if you do Perhaps of Treason What detriment What Incommodity shall fall to King and Kingdom if this be permitted Which of you hereafter will adventure yea dare adventure so much as to help by your advise unless you be weary of your Lives your Estates your Posterity yea your very Honour Let me never live longer than to see this confusion yea I may say it this inhumanity in England for my part my Lords I here confess my self I ever have and ever shall spaâ—k my opinion â—ely in any thing that may concern the Honour and safety either of my gracious King or my deer Countrey though the Sword be two Edged fearing rather him that killeth the Soul than him 〈◊〉 power reacheth only to the body Nor do I see how I am culpable of Treason unless it be Treason for not being Infallible and if it be so my Lords you have this rag of mortality before you loaden with many infirmities though you pull this into shreds yet their is no great loss yea there may be a great gain if by the same I may seem to have dared to far to give a Testimony to the World of of an Innocent Conscience towards God and a Resolute loyalty towards my Prince which have ever been my only Polâ— stâ—râ— in the whole course of my life and if by spilling of mine there be not a way found how to trace out the Blood of the Nobillity which I hope your Lordships will look too there is no disadvantage at all suffered by the loss of me You have his very words as neer as I could recollect Tuesday was a day of Rest Upon Wednesday Whitlock Charged thus That the preceding Articles were of so high a consequence and of so transcendent a Nature that nothing wanted to make up the perfect measure of the most horrid Treason and monstrous Attempt that ever by a Native was intended against his King and Countrey But putting these designed projects into Execution which had undoubtedly hapned to the ruine and Subversion both of Church and State had not the clemency and goodness of the Prince and the Piety and carefulness of the well affected Peers timously foreseen and prevented the same that still the Principles of Tyranny and Oppression had lodged within his 〈◊〉 and therefore had burst forth into these expressions and advises contained in the following Articles where first in the twenty fifth they Charged him with three things First That â—e had advised the King to a rigorous and unlawful exaction of Ship-Money Secondly That he had given Councel that if the Sherifs should deny their best endeavours and assistances to that effect they should be sent for and fined by the Star-Chamber and Imprisonment Thirdly That when the Aldermen of London had in all humillity represented the Causes why the Ship-Money could not be collected amongst them and had given in the Reasons why the refused to give in a List of their names within their City who were able to afford the Loan-Money He in a contemptuous and Tyrannical manner in the face of the Councel-Board had said to the King Sir These Men because of their obstinacy and frowardness deserved very well to be fined ransomed and laid by the heels And it will never go well with your service until some of them be hanged up for examples to others The Proofs were these First The Bishop of Loden Lord Treasurer who declared that he remembred the words very well that the Lord Lieutenant had advised the King to cause the Ship Money to be gathered in but he remembred withal that both himself and all the Councel had done the like and that it was upon a present necessity and defect of Money for entertaining the Army which the condition of the times considered they all conceiued was by any means to be kept on foot Secondly Alderman Wiseman declared that upon an humble Remonstrance made to the Councel Board the City would take it ill if a Tax-role should be delivered of their Estates who were thought able for the Loan Money the Lord Strafford said they deserved to be fined Ransomeâ— and laid by the Heels but for the words of hanging them up he heard not at all Thirdly The Earl of Barkshire declared that the Lord Strafford had said that upon the refusal of such a service enjoined by the Kings Peremptory Command it was his Opinion they might be fined Fourthly Alderman Gâ—â—way attested the preceeding words and â—ithal added that the Lord Lieutenant to his best remembrance had said It were well for the Kings service if some of them were hanged up They closed the Charge That by such undutiful Expressions he had injured the propriety of the Subject and had put such discontent upon the City that they were the less willing upon any occasion to 〈◊〉 for the advantage of the Kings
Service The Lieutenant Replied First That though all the Charge were in the most strict and rigid way oâ— sence verified against him yet he could not conceive by what Interpretation of Law it could be rech't home to High-Treason and to that common objection that the Treason was not individual but Accumulative he replied that under favour he thought to that manner were as much as to say no Treason at all Because First That neither in Statute Law Common Law nor practise there was ever till this time heard of such a matter as Accumulative-Treason or a Treason-by way of Consequence but that it is a word newly coined to attend a Charge newly invented such an one as never was before Secondly That Treason was a thing of a simple and specificative nature and therefore could not be so by accumulation but either must be so in some or either of the Articles or else could not be so at all Thirdly He did conceive that it was against the first principles of Nature and false therefore could not be so by Accumulation but either must be so in some or each of the Articles or else could not be so at all That a heap or Accumulation should be and not be of Homo-genous things and therefore that which in its first being is not treasonable can never confer to make up an accumulative Treason Cumulus an heap of Grain so called because every or at last some of the individuals are grain if otherways an heap it may be but not an heap of Grain Just so perhaps these Articles may make up an heap of Felonies Oppressions Errors Misâ—demeanors and such like and to the thing it self I shall give an answer when under that name they shall be Charged against me but they can no ways confer to the making up of Treason unless some at the least be Treason in the Individual Secondly That the Testimonies brought against him were all of them single not two one way and therefore could not make Faith in matter of Debt much less in matter of Life and Death yea that it was against the Statute expresly to impeach a Man of High-Treason under the evidence of two famous Witnesses much less to adjudg and convince him upon attestation of one Thirdly To the Lord-Treasurers Testimony he did with all his heart condiscend unto it but upon shese grounds only that there was a present necessity of Money that all the Councel-Board had so voiced with him yea before himself and he always thought it Presumption in a Man not to follow the wiser and more judicious and that there was than a Sentence of the Star-Chamber for the right of paying Ship-Money for his part he would never be more prudent then his teachers nor give Judgment against the Judges and therefore he thought it not far amiss to advise the King for the collecting of that which by Law was his own in such a present and urgent necessity and although his opinion and it was no more had been amiss he hoped that though in case of Religion being attended with stubbornness and pertinacy it might come home to Heresie yet in his case opinion could not reach so far as Treason unless it be Treason for a Man to spake his Judgment freely when he is upon his Oath to do the same Fourthly For the words about fining he had already acknowledged in his general Answers to be true but with these qualifications that it was his opinion only that it was upon the refusal as he conceived of a just service that he had spoken them by no means to prejudice the Citizens but to make them the more quick and active in the Kings service that no ill consequence at all hapned upon them that they were words might have been spared indeed but innocently though suddenly spoken which he hoped might proceed from a Man of such a hasty and incircumspect humor as himself made so both by nature and his much infirmity of body without any mind at all to Treasen and that if all Chollerick expressions of that nature should be accounted treasonable there would be more suits of that kind fly up and down Westminster-Hall then Common-Law Fifthly To those words attested by the Alderman he positively denied rhem and hoped they should never rise up against him in Judgment because the Testimony was single and not positive but only to his best remembrance and that it was exceeding strange that not any one man neither of the Councel or other Aldermen were so quick to observe them but only Alderman Garway which he thought sufficient to nullifie that single Testimony except he could demonstrate himself to have some rare and singular faculty of hearing In the Close He desired the Lords from his misfortune to provide for their own safety and seriously to consider what a way was chalked out to ruin them both in their Lives and Estates if for every opinion given in Councel or words suddenly or hastily spoken they who are born to weild the great affairs of the Kingdom should be Arraigned and Sentenced as Traytors Then they went to the twenty sixth Article and Charged thus That the Lord Strafford having by his wicked advises exhausted the Kings Treasury did also Councel him First To imbase the Coin by an allay of Copper-Money Secondly To seize upon all the Bulloin in the Mint Thirdly That in discourse with some of the Aldermen about that business he had said the City was more ready to countenance and relieve the Rebels than the King and that the King of France did use to manage such businesses not by Treaties or Requests but by sending forth his Commissaries to take Accompt of Mens Estates accompanied with Troops of Horses The Proofs were First Sir Thomas Edwards who declared that in discourse with the Lord Strafford having remonstrated unto him that their goods were seized on beyond Seas because of the Money taken out of the Mint he told him that if the Londoners suffered it it was deservedly because they had refused the King a small Loan of Money upon good security and that he thought them more ready to help the Rebels than the King Secondly Mr. Palmer declared that he spake something about the King of France but whether with relation to England or not he did not remember Thirdly Sir William Parkise attested in the same words and withal that the Lord Cottington was then present and could declare the whole business Fourthly Sir Ralph Freeman declared that in a discourse with the Lord Strafford he had said that the servants in the Mint-house would refuse to work the Copper Money and he replied that then it were well to send those Servants to the House of Correction They closed the Charge That by such undutiful Councel and words he had given more then sufficient proof of his Design and purpose to subdue this Kingdom and subvert the Fundamental Laws and Priviledges of the same The Lieutenants Reply First That he had expected some proofs
about the two first particulars but did hear of none and that it was no small disadvantage to him to be charged with a great many odious Crimes by a Book Printed and flying from hand to hand through the whole Kingdom yet when they came to prove there should be no such thing laid against him Secondly About the Speeches He ingeniously confessed that some such thing might perhaps have escaped the dore of his lips when he saw their backwardness to his Majesties Service and as the times were then conditioned he did not think it much amiss to call that faction by the name of Rebels but yet he thought he had abundantly satisfied for that oversight if it was any at York For having understood there that the City of London were willing to make a Loan of Money he there before the great councel of the Peers expressed himself to this sence that the Londoners had sufficiently made up all their delays hitherto by their Act that the King was oblieged to their forwardness and that he himself should be as ready to serve them as any poor Gentleman in England About the other words he said that being in conference with some of the Londoners there came at that time to his hands a Letter from the Earl of Leicester then at Paris wherein were the Gazets inclosed reporting that the Cardinal had given some such order as to leavy Money by forces this he said he only told the Lord Cottington standing by without the last application or intention concerning the English Affairs Cottington being examined upon this declared the same in the same manner Thirdly to Sir Ralph Freeman he said that his Testimony did not concern the Charge at all nor did he think any thing amiss in it though he had said it if the Servants of the Mint refused 〈◊〉 work according to directions they did deserve the House of Correction nor was it Treasonable to say the King might use that House for the Correction of his Servants as well as any Man in the Citty for theirs Fourthly He said that there was no great likelyhood that he had committed real Acts of Treason when his adverse party was content to trifle away so much time about words neither was there any Treason in them though they had been fully verified and therefore in that as in all other Articles he reserved a power for his Councel to dispute in matter of Law They went to the Twenty seventh Article and Charged thus That immediately after his Appointment to be Lord Lieutenant to the Army here in England he shewed what Principles of Arbitrary Government lurked within his bosom for by his own immediate Authority without and against Law he had laid Impost of Money upon the Kings Subjects where they mention three Particulars First That he had imposed 8 d. per diem upon the County of York for entertaining the Trayned Bands there one whole Month. Secondly That they had sent out Warrants for collecting the same and threatned to imprison such as should refuse to pay Thirdly That he said that it was a Crime nigh to the Crime of high Treason not to pay the saâ— Fourthly They added that in his general Replies he had brought two things for his defence first that this mony was freely and voluntarily offered by those in York-shire secondly that the great Councel of the Peers had notice of the same To the first they answered that a Petition was indeed preferred by the York shire men and a Month pay offered but that the Lord Srafford had refused to present the same upon this exception only because in the same they had petitioned for a Parliament whereby he evidently declared what little â—nclination he had to that way To the Second They appeal'd to all the Lords present whether any such Order did pass before the Council of the Peers at York The Proofs were First A Warrant issued by Colonel Pennyman for this Money and another by Sir Edward Osborne Secondly Mr John Burrowes who declared that he was Clerk to the great Council but did remember of no Order and withal added that it might have passed at that time when he attended at Rippon Thirdly Mr. Dunston who declared that he had known that Money levied by some Musqueteers Fourthly By Sir William Ingram who declared that he had heard the Lieutenant say that to refuse the same came nigh to the Crime of High Treason The concluded the Charge That by these Particulars it was more than evident what unhappyâ— Purposes and Trayterous Designes he had to subdue this Kingdom and subvert the Fundamental Laws and Priviledges First To the Petition That it was a true Petition drawn up by the York-shire Gentlemen and as true that he had refused to present the same because of that clause about the Parliament but the matter was thus At his Majesties coming to York it was thought necessary for the defence of that County to keep the Trayned Band on foot because the Enemy was upon the Borders and therefore the King directed him to write to all the Free-holders in York-shire to see what they would do for their own defence The Time and Place were designed by the King but the night before the Meeting a small Number convented and in a private and factious way did draw up that Petition upon the morrow at their appointed Diet in presence of the whole Number the Petition was presented to him where he did advise them to leave out that Clause and that because he knew the King out of his own Gracious Disposition had intended to call a Parliament which he desired should rather be freely done than upon the constraint and importunity of Petitions moreover it would seem a Mercenary thing in them at one and the same time to offer a Benevolence and withal to Petition for his Favour upon this Remonstrance they were all willing to recall the Petition and directed him by word of Mouth to offer unto the King the Months pay in their Names which he did accordingly in the presence of Forty of them to their no small advantage This he proved by Sir William Pennyman Sir Paul Neale Sir George Wentworth Sir William Savil Sir Thomas Danby who all of them declared as much in ample terms and withal added That nothing was done upon better grounds of Necessity and Obedience than the Offer of â—hat Money and that they never had heard any man grudge against it to this time For the Second about the Council of Peers he alledged that he never made mention of any Order of theirs but he remembred very well it was twice propounded before them that the King had approved it at that time a just and necessary Act and none of the Council had contradicted it which he conceived as a tacit approbation and an Order in Equivalence But though that had not been yet there was nothing done in the Business but at the special desires of the Gentlemen themselves and for their necessary
my Guilt If your Lordships will conceive of my Defences as they are in themselves without reference to either and I shall endeavour so to present them I hope to go away from hence as clearly justified as I am now in the testimony of a good conscience by my self My Lords I have all along my Charge watched to see that poysoned Arrow of Treason that some men would sain have to be feathered in my Heart and that deadly Cup of Wine that hath so intoxicated some petty misalleaged Errors as to put them in the Elevation of High Treason but in truth it hath not been my quickness to discern any such Monster yet within my Breast though now perhaps by a sinistrous Information sticking to my Clothes They tell me of a two-fold Treason one against the Statute another by the Common-Law this direct that consecutive this individual that accumulative this in it self that by way of construction For the first I must and do acknowledge that if I had the least suspicion of my own guilt I would spare your Lordships the pains cast the first Stone at my self and pass Sentence of condemnation against my self And whether it be so or not I refer my self to your Lordships Juâ—gment and Declaration You and only you under the favour and protection of my gracious Master are my Judges under favour none of the Commons are my Peers nor can they be my Judges I shall ever celebrate the Providence and Wisdom of your noble Ancestors who have put the Keys of Life and Death so far as concerns you and your Posterity into your own hands not into the hands of your inferiours None but your own selves know the rate of your noble Blood none but your selves must hold the Ballance in dispensing the same I shall proceed in repeating my Defences as they are reduceable to these two main points of Treason and for Treason against the Statute which is the only Treason in effect nothing is alleaged for that but the fifteenth two and twentieth and twenty seventh Articles Here he brought the sum of all his Replies made to these three Articles before and almost in the same words as before only that testimony of Sir Henry Vane's because it seemed pressing he stood upon it and alleaged five Reasons for the nullifying thereof First That it was but a single testimony and would not make Faith in a matter of Debt much less in a matter of Life and Death yea that it was expresly against the Statute to impeach much less to condemn him upon High Treason under the testimony of two famous Witnesses Secondly That he was dubious in it and exprest it with an as I do remember and such or such like Words Thirdly That all the Councel of eight except himself disclaim the words as if by a singular providence they had taken hold of his Ears only Fourthly That at that time the King had levied no Forces in Ireland and therefore he could not be possibly so impudent as to say to the King that he had an Army there which he might imploy for the reducing this Kingdom Fifthly That he had proved by Witnesses beyond all exceptions Marquess Hamilton the Lord Treasurer the Earl of Northumberland Lord Cottington Sir William Pennyman and Sir Arthur Terringham that there was never the least intention to land those Forces in England He went on So much for the Articles that concern Individual Treason To make up the Constructive Treason or Treason by way of Accumulation many Articles are brought against me as if in a heap of Felonies or Misdemeanors for in their conceit they reach no higher some prolifical seed apt to produce what is treasonable could lurk Here I am charged to have designed the ruin and overthrow both of Religion and State The first seemeth rather to have been used to make me odious than guilty for there is not the least Proof alleaged concerning my confederacy with the Popish-faction nor could there be any indeed never a Servant in Authority beneath the King my Master was ever more hated and maligned by those men than my self and that for an Impartial and strict executing of the Laws against them Here your Lordships may observe that the greater number of the Witnesses used against me either from Ireland or from York-shire were men of that Religion But for my own Resolution I thank God I am ready every hour of the day to Seal my disaffection to the Church of Rome with my dearest Blood But my Lords give me leave here to pour forth the grief of my Soul before you these proceedings against me seem to be exceeding rigorous and to have more of prejudice than equity that upon a supposed Charge of my Hypocrisie or Errors in Religion I should be made so monstrously odious to three Kingdoms a great many thousand Eyes have seen my Accusations whose Ears shall never hear that when it came to the upshot I was never accused of them Is this fair dealing amongst Christians But I have lost nothing by that Popular applause was ever nothing in my conceit the uprightness and integrity of a good Conscience was and ever shall be my continual Feast and if I can be justified in your Lordships judgments from this grand imputation as I hope now I am seeing these Gentlemen have thrown down the Bucklers I shall account my self justified by the whole Kingdom because by you who are the Epitomy the better part yea the very Soul and Life of the Kingdom As for my Design against the State I dare plead as much Innocency here as in matter of my Religion I have ever admired the wisdom of our Ancestors who have so fixed the pillars of this Monarchy that each of them keep a due proportion and measure with other and have so handsomly tied up the Nerves and Sinews of the State that the straining of any one may bring danger and sorrow to the whole Oeconomy The Prerogative of the Crown and the Propriety of the Subject have such mutual Relations this takes protection from that that foundation and nourishment from this And as on the Lute if any one string be too high or too lowly wound up you have lost the Harmony so here the excess of a Prerogative is oppression of pretended Liberty in the Subject Disorder and Anarchy The Prerogative must be used as God doth his Omnipotency upon extraordinary Occasions the Laws answerable to that potentia ligata in Creaturis must have place at other times And yet there must be a Prerogative if there must be extraordinary occasions the Propriety of the Subject is ever to be maintained if it go in equal pace with this They are fellows and Companions that have and ever must be inseparable in a well governed Kingdom and no way so fitting so natural to nourish and entertain both as the frequent use of Parliaments By those a commerce and acquaintance is kept betwixt the King and Subject These thoughts have gone along with me these fourteen
years of my public Employments and shall God willing to my Grave God His Majesty and my own Conscience yea and all those who have been most Accessory to my inward thoughts and opinions can bear me witness that I ever did inculcate this That the happiness of a Kingdom consists in a just poize of the King's Prerogative and the Subjects Liberty And that things would never go well 'till they went hand in hand together I thank God for it by my Master's favour and the providence of my Ancestors I have an Estate which so interesseth me in the Common-wealth that I have no great mind to be a Slave but a Subject nor could I wish the Cards to be shuffled over again upon hopes to fall upon a better Set Nor did I ever nourish such base mercenary thoughts as to become a Pander to the Tyranny and Ambition of the greatest man living No I have and ever shall aim at a fair but a bounded Liberty remembring always that I am a Free-man yet a Subject that I have a Right but under a Monarch But it hath been my misfortune now when I am gray-headed to be Charged by the Mistakers of the times who are now so highly bent that all appears to them to be in the extream for Monarchy which is not for themselves Hence it is that Designs Words yea Intentions are brought out for real Demonstrations for my misdemeanors such a multiplying Glass is a prejudicate Opinion The Articles contain Expressions and Actions My Expressions either in Ireland or England my Actions either before or after these late stirs in this Order he went through the whole Charge from the first Article to the last in an excellent Method and repeated all the Sums and Heads of what was spoken by him before only added in the twenty eighth Article if that one Article had been proved against him it contained more weighty matter than all the Charge besides And it had not only been Treason in him but also Villany to have betrayed the trust of His Majesty's Army Yet because the Gentlemen had been sparing by reason of the times to insist upon that Article though it might concern him much he resolved to keep the same Method and not utter the least expression that might seem to disturb the happy agreement intended though he wished the same might deceive his expectation Only thus much he admired how himself being an Incendiary against the Scots in the twenty third Article is now become their Confederate in the twenty eighth Article or how he could be Charged for betraying New-Castle and for fighting with the Scots at Newbourn too seeing fighting with them was no possible means for betraying the Town but to hinder their passage thither That he never advised War farther than in his poor judgment concerned the very life of the King's Authority and the safety and honour of his Kingdoms Nor saw he what advantage could be made by a War in Scotland where nothing could be gained but many hard blows For his part he honoured the Nation but he wished they might be ever under their own Climate and had no desire they should be too well acquainted with the better Soyl of England But he thought that Article had been added in jest or as a supernumerary and he very little suspected to be reckoned a Confederate with the Scots and wished as he hoped it was that every English-man were as free from that imputation as himself closing his Defence with this Speech My Lords You see what may be alleaged for this Constructive rather Destructive Treason For my part I have not the judgment to conceive that such a Treason is agreeable either with the fundamental grounds of Reason or Law not of Reason for how can that be Treason in the lump or mass which is not so in any of the parts Or how can that make a thing Treasonable which in it self is not so Not of Law since neither Statute Common-Law nor Practice hath from the beginning of this Government ever mentioned such a thing and where my Lords hath this Fire without the least appearance of any Smoak lien hid so many hundred years and now breaks forth into a violent Flame to destroy me and my Posterity from the Earth My Lords do we not live by Laws and must we be punished by Laws before they be made Far better were it to live by no Laws at all but to be governed by those Characters of Discretion and Virtue that Nature hath stamped in us than to put this necessity of Divination upon a man and to accuse him of the breach of Law before it be a Law at all If a Water-man upon the Thames split his Boat by grating upon an Anchor and the same have a Buoy appending to it he is to charge his own Inobservance but if it hath none the owner of the Anchor is to pay the loss Mr Lords if this Crime which they call Arbitrary Treason had been marked by any discerner of the Law the ignorance thereof should be no excuse for me but if it be no Law at all how can it in rigour or strictness it self condemn me Beware you do not awake these sleeping Lyons by the searching out some neglected Moth-eaten Records they may one day tare you and your Posterity in pieces It was your Ancestors care to chain them up within the Barracadoes of Statutes be not you ambitious to be more skilful and curious than your fore-Fathers in the Art of killing My Lords it is my present misfortune for ever yours and it is not the smallest part of my Grief that not the Crime of Treason but my other Sins which are exceeding many have presented me before this Bar and except your Lordships wisdoms provide for it it may be the shedding of my Blood may make way for the tracing of yours you your Estates your Posterities lie at the staâ—e If such Learned Gentlemen as these whose Tongues are well acquainted with such Proceedings shall be started out against you if your Friends your Councel denied access unto you if your professed Enemies admitted to witness against you if every Word Intention or Circumstance of yours be sifted and alleaged as Treasonable nâ— because of a Statute but because of a Consequence or Construction of Lawyers pieced up in an high Rhetorical strain and a number of supposed probabilities I leave it to your Lordships consideration to fore-see what may be the issue of such dangerous and Recent Precedences These Gentlemen tell me they speak in defence of the Common-wealth against my Arbitrary Laws give me leave to say it I speak in defence of the Common-wealth against their arbitrary Treason for if this latitude be admitted what prejudice shall follow to King and Country if you and your Posterity be by the same disenabled from the greatest Affairs of the Kingdom for my poor self were it not for your Lordships interest and the interest of a Saint in Heaven who hath left me here two
Pledges on Earth At this his breath stopt and he shed Tears abundantly in mentioning his Wife which moved his very Enemies to Compassion I should never take the pains to keep up this Ruinous Cottage of mine it is loden with such infirmities that in truth I have no great pleasure to carry it about with me any longer Nor could I ever leave it in a better time than this when I hope the better part of the World would perhaps think that by this my misfortune I had given a testimony of my Integrity to God my King and Country I thank God I count not the afflictions of this present life comparable to that Glory which is to be revealed in the time to come My Lords my Lords my Lords Something more I had to say but my Voice and Spirits fail me only I do in all humility and submission cast my self down before your Lordships Feet and desire that I might be a Pharos to keep you from Ship-wrack do not put such Rocks in your own way which no prudency no circumspection can eschew or satisfie but by your utter Ruin and whether your judgments in my Case I wish it were not the Case of you all be either for life or death it shall be righteous in my Eyes and received with a Te Deum Laudamus and then he lifted up his Eyes and said In te Domine confido nè confundar in aeternum This he spake with an inimitable Life and Grace You have his very Words as near as I can remember only with so much loss and detriment as hath perished by transcribing the Copy from his own mouth But you desire impartiality and indeed you have it and with some Grains too of allowance for I was so afraid of my own affection to the Gentleman that I rather bowed to the other extremity and therefore have set down his defences rather to his disadvantage by my rude Pen than in the native Colour to his Eternal Glory and the Confusion of his Enemies The Repetition of the Charge did not spend much time they proceeded orderly Article by Article in the very same Words and Matter as before only there were some remarkable flashes that passed from Mr. Glyn who was the man in the time of their handling He told them that he should represent the Lord Strafford as cunning in his Replies as he had been crafty in his Actions that he waved all that was material and insisted only upon the Secondary Proofs that it was more than evident throughout all his Charge how he had endeavoured to bring in an Arbitrary and Tyrannical form of Government over the Lives Lands and Liberties of the King's Subjects yea had exercised a Tyranny over their Consciences too by the Oath administred in Ireland and though his malicious Designs had taken no effect yet no thanks to him but to the goodness of the King and the vigilancy of the Peers Had they pleas'd it had been too late to have punished him for no Rule of Law had been left whereby to Censure him after the death and expiration of the Laws And if the Intention of Guido Faux might be thought Treason though the House was not blown up then this Intention of his may admit the same censure He closed that throughout all his Defences he had pretended either Warrants from the King or else the Kings Prerogative and what was this else but to draw up a Cloud and exhale the Vapour for the eclipsing of the bright Sun by the Jealousies or Repinings of his Subjects If the strength of his Piety and Justice should not dispel all these Mists and send them down to their Original That the very standing and falling of these three Kingdoms stood upon this Process all of which do conceive their safety so far interessed in his just punishment that no setling of their peace or quiet could be expected without this That they hoped the Law should never protect him who had gone about to subvert all Law nor the Nobility who had the same Blood moving in their Veins by submitting themselves to his base Tyranny lose that privilege and liberty which their Ancestors had bought with their dearest Lives Though there was no Statute for his Treason was it the less monstrous For there was none for so many hundreds of years that durst ever adventure upon such Insolencies to occasion such a Statute And were not the fundamental Grounds Rules and Government sufficient to rise up in Judgment against him without the making a particular Statute This he said he left to the dispute of the Law and concluded That seeing they had found out the Jonah who these many years had tossed and hazarded the Ship of the Common-wealth with continual Storms and Tempests there could no calms be expected but by casting him out into the Seas which in all Justice they must and do expect from their hands who are intrusted by the body of the Kingdom to do the same The Aggravation of the Offence he said he had left to Mr. Pym who here spake that Speech which is now in Print It was a Sport to see how Mr. Pym in his Speech was fearfully out and constrained to pull out his Papers and read with a great deal of confusion and disorder before he could recollect himself which failing of his memory was no small advantage to the Lieutenant because by this means the House perceived it was a premeditated flash not grounded upon the Lieutenant's last Answer but resolved on before whatsoever he should say for his own justification but the Lieutenant was not suffered to reply a word either to Glyn or Pym because the last word must be theirs And so with Tuesday ended the matter of Fact On Thursday the Dispute in Law is expected Upon Wednesday we were big with expectation for the matter of Law having done before with the matter of Fact but it seems the House of Commons had perceived a great defection of their Party and a great increase of the Lord Strafford's Friends in both the Houses occasioned by his insinuating honest and witty defences and therefore they resolved of no more hearing in public therefore it was thought upon by his Accusers to draw up a Bill of Attainder and present the same to the Lords whereby first the matter of Fact should be declared to have been sufficiently proved and then in the matter of Law that he had incurred the censure of Treason for intending to subvert the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom for though said they he cannot be charged by Letter of Statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the third yet he is within the compass of the Salvo whereby it is provided that the King and Parliament hath Power to determin what is Treasonable and what not and that they were confident the Lords would ratifie and approve of this Bill of theirs and give Judgment accordingly The motion was stoutly opposed by three great Lawyers all Members of the House Selden Holborn and
his Perfection and both of them for so it shall ever be in my Kalender crowned with Martyrdom Forgive I intreat you these broken Expressions of a passionate Soul my obligements to the Gentleman were little my expectation from him nothing only an ingenious though perhaps a simple thought of the present Crimes and future punishment of this Kingdom unless God be more merciful whether from the privation of his Life or merit of his Death hath extorted thus much from me Remember the story of Innocent Socrates You desire me to be present and see the Catastrophe of the business I should pluck out mine Eyes if I thought they had so much cruelty to behold such a spectacle you may think it courage but I inhumanity My own Sins do too much interest me in his sufferings though I be not accessory by my sight The zealous Pilgrims of the Turkish Religion after they had seen the blessed Spectacle of Mahomet's Tomb at Mecca do presently make themselves blind by continual poaring upon hot burning Bricks so destroying the Optick Nerves as thinking themselves unworthy ever afterwards to look upon any worldly Object I leave your self Sir to make the application I dare ingeniously say it that all my sufferings to this time and I have not been without a round share of them did never touch me so nearly as the sufferings of Justice Religion and Loyalty by this one Fact Not for any evil consequence to me God knows I am beneath the reach of Fortune and can easily change my Climate but for that Cloud which hangeth over the public and will not I fear be dissolved till the measures of deservings be made up brim full What turbulency what confusion is within me you may easily guess by these Symptomes that are without those raw and indigested expressions it is my dayly labour to obtain the Mastery of my self and my affections but upon such extraordinary times and occasions they grow too strong for me I must give way and retire before I get new strength again Hence it is that though at the Lord Strafford's last departure out of this World I might have been assured of his Mantle that is the doubling of his Perfections upon me and of a capacity to admit of the least of them yet I could not have attended his Execution my heart was too weak and my Eyes too blind to behold such a woful spectacle but be you assured he will not dye like one of the vulgar nor like one of those wanton Coursers who can rush fiercely into the Battel yet withall start at his own shadow He hath done and can do greater things than dye and that too without any in-decorum As he hath lived for the real Demonstration of his service and fidelity so he can dye for the pretended safety of his Soveraign and that in a strange way too as if the head could not be safe but by cutting off the right hand Sir your desires have obliged me to unty my Wounds yet scarce bound up and by reflection upon that sad object to fall a bleeding again nor can I grant your suit to make that great Lord speak in his own dialect Pythagoras's transmutation could not have found out a fit lodging for that noble Soul nor doth nature give us wonders every day nor strain her self ambitiously to shew forth the utmost reach of her perfections or Master-piece and to present us with such a rare conjunction of such a courage attended with loyalty to danger wisdom accompanied with eloquence to admiration What could not that man think What think and not speak What speak and not do But I will not be too Rhetorical that Speech or rather Blemish printed and pretended to be spoken by him in the Tower is as like him as he was to a Pedant his Soul now laughs if that natural sence could reach so high at that poor injury it doth exceedingly well become the Charity of the times not only to perturb his rest but also by belying his Expressions to make his own hands the Scatterers of his own dust and his own Tongue the Trumpet of his own infamy That Speech is a foist and a lye His other Speech on the Scaffold and with it his Letter to the King you shall find at the end of this Letter in the best way we could get it something of his greatness appears in his phrase and as much life too as could by snatches be gathered from his mouth yet it comes far short of that Grace which it had when it was delivered by himself what by the escapes of the Observers what by the Faint-heartedness of the Press which durst not speak freely for fear of Arbitrary Treason Two observable Expressions I had from an understanding Auditor First Sir George Wentworth weeping extreamly upon the Scaffold was thus checked by him Brother what do you see in me that deserves these Tears Doth my fear betray my guiltiness Or my too much boldness any Atheism Think now and this is the third time that you do accompany me to my Marriage Bed Nor did I ever throw off my Clothes with such freedom and content as in this my preparrtion to my Grave That Stock pointing to the Block appointed for his Execution must be my Pillow here must I rest and rest from all my labours no thoughts of Envy no dreams of Treason jealousies of Foes cares for the King the State or my self shall interrupt this nap therefore Brother with me pity mine Enemies who beside their intention have made me blessed rejoyce in my Innocency rejoyce in my happiness Secondly Kneeling down upon the Scaffold he made this Protestation I hope Gentlemen you do think that neither fear of loss nor love to Reputation will cause me to bely God and my own Conscience for now I am in the door going out and my next step must be from Time to Eternity either of Peace or Pain to clear my self to you all I do solemnly protest before God I am not guilty so far as I can understand of that great Crime laid to my Charge nor have ever had the least inclination or intention to damnifie or prejudice the King the State the Laws or Religion of this Kingdom but with my best endeavours to serve all and to support all So might God be merciful to his Soul His words did justifie him more there than in Westminster Hall and made such a deep impression in the hearers that a great many of those who cryed out for Justice against him after their fury was spent and their madness strewed with cold Blood wished their Tongues had been cut out of their heads before they had opened their mouths against him others most ignobly imputed this to his effronted boldness and are so persuaded of their own infallibility that they marvelled he believed not his Actions to be Errors upon their Word and did not confess their Opinions to be Truth it self A kind of People they are beyond the cure of Bedlam and
Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament at Westminster 1641. Sheweth THat seeing it is the good Will and Pleasure of God that your Petitioner is now shortly to pay that duty which we all owe to our frail Nature He shall in all Christian Patience and Charity conform and submit to that Justice in a comfortable assurance of the great hope laid up for us in the Mercy and Merits of our Saviour Blessed for ever Only he humbly craves to return your Lordships most humble thanks for your noble Compassion towards those Innocent Children who now with his last Blessing he commits to the protection of Almighty God beseeching your Lordships to finish your pious Intentions towards them and desiring that the reward thereof may be given you by him who is able to give above all that we are able either to ask or think wherein I trust the Honourable House of Commons will afford their Christian assistance And so beseeching your Lordships charitably to forgive all his omissions and infirmities he doth heartily and truly recommend your Lordships to the Mercies of our Heavenly Father that for his goodness he may protect you in every good work Amen There was a foolish ridiculous and scandalous Speech Printed which was pretended to have been spoken by the Earl of Strafford to certain Lords before his coming out of the Tower which is protested against and avowed to be false by the Lord Primate of Ireland Earl of Cleveland Earl of Newport Lord Rich Sir William Balfoure Sir William Wentworth Sir George Wentworth Dr. Carre Dr. Price De Moriuis nil nisi verum The Paper containing the Heads of the Lord Strafford 's last Speech written with his own hand as it was left upon the Scaffold falling out of his Bosom 1. Come to pay the last Debt we owe to sin 2. Rise to Righteousness 3. Dye willingly 4. Forgive all 5. Submit to justice but in my Intentions Innocent from subverting c. 6. Wishing nothing but good Prosperity to King and People 7. Acquit the King constrained 8. Beseech to Repent 9. Strange way to write the beginning of Reformation and settlement of a Kingdom in Blood 10. Beseech that demand may rest there 11. Call not blood on themselves 12. Dye in the Faith of the Church 13. Pray for it and desire their Prayers with me A true COPY of his SPEECH delivered on the Scaffold My Lord Primate of Ireland IT is my great comfort that I have your Lordship by me this day in regard I have been known to you these many years and I do thank God and your Lordship for it that you are here I should be very glad to obtain so much silence as to be heard a few words but I doubt I shall not the noise is so great My Lords I am come hither by the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to pay that last Debt I owe to Sin which is Death and by the blessing of that God to rise again through the Merits of Jesus Christ to Righteousness and Life Eternal Here he was a little interrupted Mr Lords I am come hither to submit to that Judgment which hath passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented mind I thank God I do freely forgive all the World a forgiveness that is not spoken from the Teeth outward as they say but from the very Heart I speak it in the presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not a displeasing thought arising in me towards any man living I thank God I can say it and truly too my conscience bearing me witness that in all my Imployment since I had the Honour to serve His Majesty I never had any thing in the purpose of my heart but what tended to the joint and individual prosperity of King and People although it hath been my ill fortune to be misconstrued I am not the first that hath suffered in this kind it is the common Portion of us all while we are in this life to err Righteous Judgment we must wait for in another place for here we are very subject to be mis-judged one of another there is one thing that I desire to free my self of and I am very confident speaking it now with much chearfulness that I shall obtain your Christian Charity in the belief of it I was so far from being against Parliaments that I did allways think the Parliaments of England were the most happy constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under and the best means under God to make the King and People happy For my Death I here acquit all the World and beseech the God of Heaven heartily to forgive them that contrived it though in the intentions and purposes of my heart I am not guilty of what I dye for And my Lord Primate it is a great comfort for me that His Majesty conceives me not meriting so severe and heavy a punishment as is the utmost Execution of this Sentence I do infinitely reioyce in this mercy of his and I beseech God return it into his own bosom that he may find mercy when he stands most in need of it I wish this Kingdom all the prosperity and happiness in the World I did it living and now dying it is my wish I do most humbly recommend this to every one who hears me and desire they would lay their hands upon their hearts and consider seriously whether the beginning of the happiness and reformation of a Kingdom should be written in Letters of Blood consider this when you are at your homes and let me be never so unhappy as that the last drop of my Blood should rise up in Judgment against any one of you but I fear you are in a wrong way My Lords I have but one word more and with that I shall end I profess that I dye a true and obedient Son to the Church of England wherein I was born and in which I was bred Peace and prosperity be ever to it It hath been objected if it were an Objection worth the answering that I have been inclined to Popery but I say truly from my heart that from the time that I was one and twenty years of Age to this present going now upon forty nine I never had in my heart to doubt of this Religion of the Church of England nor ever had any man the boldness to suggest any such thing to me to the best of my remembrance And so being reconciled by the merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour into whose bosom I hope I shall shortly be gathered to those Eternal happinesses which shall never have end I desire heartily the forgiveness of every man for any rash or unadvised words or any thing done amiss and so my Lords and Gentlemen farewel farewel all things of this World I desire that you would be silent and Joyn with me in Prayer and I trust in God we shall all meet and live Eternally in Heaven there to receive the accomplishment of